Products for people must be designed for people. It's quite simple really. If not, people will bitch and moan and maybe not buy your product. All else being equal, anyone would prefer a more robust device to one that requires special care and cooling. You seem to be saying that all else isn't equal (it's not of course), and that you prefer a more powerful machine that requires extra care to a we. That's fine, many people do, many people don't. Don't make excuses and shrug off deficiences as "progress". It may be progress to you, but it's regression to me.
If you find yourself forgetting what you wanted... then maybe you didn't really want it. I find this a great way to reduce my spending. I've become so senile that only the pangs of starvation or the bite of the cold prod me to open my wallet.
Not really; with perfectly elastic collisions is would bounce forever. The energy dissapates as heat and sound from friction against the surface, internal plastic deformation, and friction with the air. Similarly, an ideal pendulum will swing forever.
Cinepaint (formerly Film Gimp) supports higher bit depths... I was under the impression that this would eventually make it's way back to Gimp proper, but I don't know the status of that.
*Yawn* For lack of a better word... Am I supposed to take your use of "his" to mean you believe God is a male figure? I can only speak about God in terms of my human language. I find it useful to mix things up a bit to encourage thought... But if you're already so sure of yourself that you cannot bother to question what you've learned or make a useful response, then I am truly sorry.
I'm not sure if the browser would warn you if it changed (to a
different cert still signed by a CA), but it certainly won't warn you if
your first visit to the site you get a spoofed cert...
So go to the bank (or phone them if you trust that) and request a
copy of the fingerprint. I'm sure you'll get blank stares, but banks
seem to be somewhat aware of security, so maybe it will catch on.
God created nature, yes? Why can God not work through the mechanisms
of nature? Why does she always invoke her supernatural power to get
things done? Is doing things through nature not an example of her
power? Is nature not a part of God? I think if one believes in God,
then it's no strech at all to consider science a study of God and God's
creation. To say "the hand of God just did it, there is no how" is such
a cop out. For me, nature, the laws of physics, biology, etc. are the
hand of God.
I've often felt the same way about various things I've heard about. I wonder, is there anything scientific to this? If someone tells me X has been done (even if it hasn't), am I more likely to come up with a way to accomplish X? Or is it just my imagination?
I did not say it was difficult. Merely more difficult. It's a very minor point, but one I find interesting.
Ok, I'll agree it's more difficult to turn a knob to 2:34 than to 1:00*. Though I submit that this difference is quite a bit smaller than in the keypad's case (which is already very small, yes). Unless maybe it's a computer keyboard and you've mastered touch typing...
And on a keypad, what happens if you make a mistake? I've yet to see a microwave with a backspace key, but neither backspace nor starting over are very appealing. With a knob it's all but impossible to "hit the wrong button". (well, you could be thinking one thing and turning the knob to another thing, but in that case both microwaves are about equal).
* Or maybe it isn't. There are probably certain angles that are very easy for the wrist to turn to such as the approx 135 deg turn from palm down to palm mostly up. So wherever the easy turns line up are easy... which may not be a simple linear function.
Ok, I think I've gone too far in my [likely flawed] analysis. But I hope you will agree that microwave manufactures have not gone nearly far enough. And if the manufacturer insists on avoiding a low tech knob, it can use an iPod style clickwheel... Just don't make me push so many buttons to do such a simple thing. Or at least leave off the "beverage" and "snacks" buttons... My microwave has 26 buttons. Seriously.
I meant "continually". Another advantage is that it's just as easy to set it to 1:00 as it is to 2:43. It's an interesting thought that with a button pad, it's easier to set it to 1:11 than 1:00.
And that's not going to happen until devices accept some common plug and voltage. But yes, it would be fantastic to have a single high quality DC source either at each house's main circuits or even further upstream (I don't really know the point where distributing DC becomes inefficient).
I really want devices with real power switches. I personally like those gleaming chrome toggle switches. But anything will do, anything that actually physically breaks the circuit. I hate "soft" power switches. I hate my computer. My ideal computer would have a hard power switch and an ultracapacitor or small battery to supply the power needed to shut down. A failure to shut down would still result in what I want (after the battery ran out): OFF.
I can't say enough bad things about "modern" microwaves. So many buttons, so little time. My all time favorite microwave design is the kind with two knobs: one points to the power level; turn the other to point to the desired time, it counts down to zero, then dings once. This design offers several advantages: inherent [real] power switch, obvious and easy to remember operation, and no chance for obnoxious "intelligence" to beep at me continuously until I open the door (my current microwave does this; I'd like to shoot it).
The only disadvantage I can see is that it doesn't allow times greater than the knob's maximum. But the advantages are so overwhelming, I don't think this is an issue.
To all those vehemtly disagreeing with the above post: there was an example
a few years ago that happened in Norway I believe. Norway, if I remember
correctly, has two widespread languages. Miscrosoft Windows was only available
in one of the languages, due to the economic loss of adding a relatively
obscure language. I remember Norway threatening to move to KDE, which did
support the language. The details aren't really important. The point is that
sometimes a corporation can't or won't support something people want because
the people who want it aren't a large enough group to make it economically
feasible. This thing may be an extra feature, an additional language, or an
accessability improvement. If your group isn't large enough to convice a corp.
to do what you want you've got three options: live with it, make it yourself
based on free software, or convince the government to pass a law effectively
increasing the size of your group making your feature economically feasibile
for a corp. to implement. (I left out "start your own corp." under the
assumption that the market is insufficient for success.)
I guess I didn't answer your question so it's ok if you don't answer mine... though I suppose you did answer my question by continuing to ridicule the notion that free software is important to the point of rejecting a freely given non-free alternative even when that alternative is perceived by many as top quality.
As for your original question: as long as you're not harming anyone else, then it's quite alright to hold to asinine beliefs. It's called freedom. Now, you may believe that in this case, the alleged asinine beliefs are indeed harming people. I would disagree, on both the point that the beliefs are asinine and on the point that the beliefs are harming others, and I would encourage you to make your own $100 laptop under your own definition of pragmatism to give to children in poor countries.
That's actually a good idea... wrap your money and a copy of your EULA in plastic, slap a sticker on the front "by opening this you agree to the enclosed", and pay with that. If you ever get sued for "violating" their EULA, then the same legal reasoning would surely enforce your EULA.
Question: Is there a wiki or something that has product reviews, product maker reviews (e.g. Sony == evil, in a somewhat more impartial way), product component manufactures, etc.?
Or some easy way to research a particular product before buying it? Ideally, it'd be set up in a way that could allow searching like "DVD player that (not Sony) (ignores Macrovision) (lets me ff whenever I want) (plays PAL and NTSC) (region free)", but that sounds pretty difficult if the wiki/database covers a wide range of products.
If done well, something like this might be able to have an impact. Nah, who am I kidding...
Slashdot Mirror
"I won't fail you. I'm not afraid."
"You will be. You will be."
Actually you could disclose the hardware pretty easily: use a pen on some paper.
Products for people must be designed for people. It's quite simple really. If not, people will bitch and moan and maybe not buy your product. All else being equal, anyone would prefer a more robust device to one that requires special care and cooling. You seem to be saying that all else isn't equal (it's not of course), and that you prefer a more powerful machine that requires extra care to a we. That's fine, many people do, many people don't. Don't make excuses and shrug off deficiences as "progress". It may be progress to you, but it's regression to me.
If you find yourself forgetting what you wanted... then maybe you didn't really want it. I find this a great way to reduce my spending. I've become so senile that only the pangs of starvation or the bite of the cold prod me to open my wallet.
Not really; with perfectly elastic collisions is would bounce forever. The energy dissapates as heat and sound from friction against the surface, internal plastic deformation, and friction with the air. Similarly, an ideal pendulum will swing forever.
Cinepaint (formerly Film Gimp) supports higher bit depths... I was under the impression that this would eventually make it's way back to Gimp proper, but I don't know the status of that.
*Yawn* For lack of a better word... Am I supposed to take your use of "his" to mean you believe God is a male figure? I can only speak about God in terms of my human language. I find it useful to mix things up a bit to encourage thought... But if you're already so sure of yourself that you cannot bother to question what you've learned or make a useful response, then I am truly sorry.
I'm not sure if the browser would warn you if it changed (to a different cert still signed by a CA), but it certainly won't warn you if your first visit to the site you get a spoofed cert...
So go to the bank (or phone them if you trust that) and request a copy of the fingerprint. I'm sure you'll get blank stares, but banks seem to be somewhat aware of security, so maybe it will catch on.
Well said.
God created nature, yes? Why can God not work through the mechanisms of nature? Why does she always invoke her supernatural power to get things done? Is doing things through nature not an example of her power? Is nature not a part of God? I think if one believes in God, then it's no strech at all to consider science a study of God and God's creation. To say "the hand of God just did it, there is no how" is such a cop out. For me, nature, the laws of physics, biology, etc. are the hand of God.
I've often felt the same way about various things I've heard about. I wonder, is there anything scientific to this? If someone tells me X has been done (even if it hasn't), am I more likely to come up with a way to accomplish X? Or is it just my imagination?
I did not say it was difficult. Merely more difficult. It's a very minor point, but one I find interesting.
Ok, I'll agree it's more difficult to turn a knob to 2:34 than to 1:00*. Though I submit that this difference is quite a bit smaller than in the keypad's case (which is already very small, yes). Unless maybe it's a computer keyboard and you've mastered touch typing...
And on a keypad, what happens if you make a mistake? I've yet to see a microwave with a backspace key, but neither backspace nor starting over are very appealing. With a knob it's all but impossible to "hit the wrong button". (well, you could be thinking one thing and turning the knob to another thing, but in that case both microwaves are about equal).
* Or maybe it isn't. There are probably certain angles that are very easy for the wrist to turn to such as the approx 135 deg turn from palm down to palm mostly up. So wherever the easy turns line up are easy... which may not be a simple linear function.
Ok, I think I've gone too far in my [likely flawed] analysis. But I hope you will agree that microwave manufactures have not gone nearly far enough. And if the manufacturer insists on avoiding a low tech knob, it can use an iPod style clickwheel... Just don't make me push so many buttons to do such a simple thing. Or at least leave off the "beverage" and "snacks" buttons... My microwave has 26 buttons. Seriously.
I meant "continually". Another advantage is that it's just as easy to set it to 1:00 as it is to 2:43. It's an interesting thought that with a button pad, it's easier to set it to 1:11 than 1:00.
And that's not going to happen until devices accept some common plug and voltage. But yes, it would be fantastic to have a single high quality DC source either at each house's main circuits or even further upstream (I don't really know the point where distributing DC becomes inefficient).
I really want devices with real power switches. I personally like those gleaming chrome toggle switches. But anything will do, anything that actually physically breaks the circuit. I hate "soft" power switches. I hate my computer. My ideal computer would have a hard power switch and an ultracapacitor or small battery to supply the power needed to shut down. A failure to shut down would still result in what I want (after the battery ran out): OFF.
*sigh*
I can't say enough bad things about "modern" microwaves. So many buttons, so little time. My all time favorite microwave design is the kind with two knobs: one points to the power level; turn the other to point to the desired time, it counts down to zero, then dings once. This design offers several advantages: inherent [real] power switch, obvious and easy to remember operation, and no chance for obnoxious "intelligence" to beep at me continuously until I open the door (my current microwave does this; I'd like to shoot it).
The only disadvantage I can see is that it doesn't allow times greater than the knob's maximum. But the advantages are so overwhelming, I don't think this is an issue.
"Worth the few bucks", or maybe a trip to the library?
Er, I mean don't use a normal computer...
"Remember how when you tried to move your assignment from my computer to your computer and it didn't work because I don't have Word?"
-"Yeah, 'cause you're a weirdo and use a normal computer"
At least, that's how it's always gone for me... *sigh*
To all those vehemtly disagreeing with the above post: there was an example a few years ago that happened in Norway I believe. Norway, if I remember correctly, has two widespread languages. Miscrosoft Windows was only available in one of the languages, due to the economic loss of adding a relatively obscure language. I remember Norway threatening to move to KDE, which did support the language. The details aren't really important. The point is that sometimes a corporation can't or won't support something people want because the people who want it aren't a large enough group to make it economically feasible. This thing may be an extra feature, an additional language, or an accessability improvement. If your group isn't large enough to convice a corp. to do what you want you've got three options: live with it, make it yourself based on free software, or convince the government to pass a law effectively increasing the size of your group making your feature economically feasibile for a corp. to implement. (I left out "start your own corp." under the assumption that the market is insufficient for success.)
I guess I didn't answer your question so it's ok if you don't answer mine... though I suppose you did answer my question by continuing to ridicule the notion that free software is important to the point of rejecting a freely given non-free alternative even when that alternative is perceived by many as top quality.
As for your original question: as long as you're not harming anyone else, then it's quite alright to hold to asinine beliefs. It's called freedom. Now, you may believe that in this case, the alleged asinine beliefs are indeed harming people. I would disagree, on both the point that the beliefs are asinine and on the point that the beliefs are harming others, and I would encourage you to make your own $100 laptop under your own definition of pragmatism to give to children in poor countries.
It's asinine to wish to be able to take things apart?
That's actually a good idea... wrap your money and a copy of your EULA in plastic, slap a sticker on the front "by opening this you agree to the enclosed", and pay with that. If you ever get sued for "violating" their EULA, then the same legal reasoning would surely enforce your EULA.
Question: Is there a wiki or something that has product reviews, product maker reviews (e.g. Sony == evil, in a somewhat more impartial way), product component manufactures, etc.?
Or some easy way to research a particular product before buying it? Ideally, it'd be set up in a way that could allow searching like "DVD player that (not Sony) (ignores Macrovision) (lets me ff whenever I want) (plays PAL and NTSC) (region free)", but that sounds pretty difficult if the wiki/database covers a wide range of products.
If done well, something like this might be able to have an impact. Nah, who am I kidding...