For years it's been a given that this year's computers have more available resources than last year's. This goes for processor speed, RAM, storage, GPU speed. So the usual MO for many has been to use those extra resources to the fullest extent, leaving only a small gain in functional speed for the consumer to notice. Apparently it hasn't fully sunk in yet that battery capacity (like pretty much everything else in life) does not conform to Moore's Law and that including the kitchen sink software-wise is going to drain the battery faster.
with only 2 reaction wheels, the spacecraft will drift around one axis, so there's a good chance the solar pressure will be converted into rotation rather than delta-V.
And oh yes, keeping Kepler running in this mode for another decade means another decade of operation cost for no benefit.
No, they can't do either.
- spiral into the sun needs alot of delta-V Kepler doesn't have
- use light reflection to sail it requires an active system to keep the attitude stable, Kepler doesn't have that either.
Lawsuits aren't handled by "governmental" courts. In first-world countries, great care is taken to make the judiciary independent of the government. Private arbitration is a company's wet dream. They get to stack the deck in their favor and if the arbitration is binding, there's no legal recourse either.
The real world has rejected your notion of 'freedom'. In every civilized country government and judiciary keep individual and corporate greed in check.
The nice thing about government as it's set up today is that it requires no unusual virtue. There are checks and balances in place on every government function. Is this ideal? No. Is it much better than the free-for-all you're dreaming of? You bet.
The MacBook Air..., have gone several years without notable changes
Well, the notable change was that every Apple laptop is now effectively a MacBook Air. Soldered, nonupgradable RAM and SSD, crappy minimal-thickness keyboard, not enough ports. So what would be a notable change now is a MacBook Pro that is actually aimed at pro users.
(typing this on a 2012 MBP that's festooned with upgrades, and may be my last Apple laptop if they keep going like this)
There is a massive disparity in power and resources between large companies and individuals. It's far too easy for a company to bury individual lawsuits in paperwork until the opposition has exhausted its resources.
There also needs to be a level playing field: there must be boundaries that are the same for every company, or you get the unhealthy situation that the company most willing to damage its surroundings outcompetes its competitors.
There can't be a separation of business and state. Businesses have too often shown themselves to be willing to screw everyone else to be left to their own devices.
The government's role is to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of each individual in the face of forces too large for the individual to handle. It's role also includes protecting the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of the collective.
Libertarian Utopia is just that: an unrealistic dream.
I suspect Apple has enough cash on hand to build a complete toolchain from scratch, from silicon refinery to component manufacture, chip foundry and final assembly.
In Windows, that's living on the edge. It takes considerable fiddling before you can safely do that: you have to reduce the volume of every sound-capable application to safe levels, otherwise your music will be nice and quiet, but a notification, Windows system sound or (the worst offender of all) an incoming VOIP call will sound like a bomb going off. I got so sick and tired of applications doing that, that I bought an external DAC for my headphones, and only VLC gets routed to that DAC. All other sounds go out the default audio path (laptop internal speakers).
VLC allows you to set the volume to more than 100%, yes. The control goes up to 200%. This is useful for very quiet tracks. Distortion doesn't set in until the audio starts clipping because the signal doesn't fit in 16 bits any more.
Many projects are in dire need of a good user interface. However, there are two kinds of UI designers:
1. people from the field of human interface design. Responsible for things like Apple's Human Interface Guidelines book which set the rules for the original Mac OS interface. This group tries to optimize the user experience via solid design principles and user testing.
2. Graphic designers with delusions of grandeur. These have no idea of what constitutes a good interface, and are responsible for idiocy like the flat UI and over-the-top skeuomorphism. Liable to move things around for no good reason, and very susceptible to fads.
On a 24" screen I struggle to keep Photoshop's bazillion palettes, panels and whatnot from completely obscuring the artwork I'm trying to draw. On a 9" iPad there'll be constant panning/zooming and switching between palettes.
There are so many critics these days because most new coins (and there are hundreds of them) are no more than a pump-and-dump scheme. Let's face it: any innovation is being snowed under by case after case of financial malfeasance. The influx of speculators also means digital coins are far too volatile for everyday use, which means these coins only get used for shady purposes: money laundering, purchase of illegal goods and other transactions you want to be difficult to trace. Most people see the state controlling the value of money as a good thing, because this generates stability. Only when a state allows huge inflation do you go looking for an alternative.
And you're the poorer for it, because you've missed Baker's entire point. A company that limits its talent pool to one type of person suffers from not just blind spots, but tunnel vision. Such a company tries to solve a problem that requires a full toolbox just by using a hammer.
Interestingly it is "economy" cars that have higher rates than expensive cars - which supports my theory that the demographic is likely an important factor, not just the vehicle.
Demographics could go either way though. New economy cars are driven by women and older people, both low-risk groups. High-risk groups (young drivers) tend to drive second-hand cars. Teslas are driven by affluent high-mileage drivers, and in my experience those tend to drive agressively, increasing their risk.
Don't discount the vehicle itself. Economy cars have higher death rates because
- their crumple zones are smaller, so less margin
- they're at a weight disadvantage compared to the many two-tonne SUVs and pickups
- fewer safety systems installed to keep cost down
1. Lots of knowledge was lost as civilizations were overrun by barbarians, libraries were burned etc.
2. Knowledge was also lost because it was difficult and costly to spread it around before the invention of the printing press. If only one copy of a map exists, a single fire leads to point 1 above.
3. On occasion, knowledge was seen as a competitive advantage and hoarded instead of shared. I suspect this goes for a bunch of Chinese inventions/discoveries that were subsequently rediscovered by the Europeans. Hoarding also leads to few, if any, copies being made.
4. Language barriers: if you can count the number of Europeans traveling to China on one hand, the amount of knowledge they can transport to Europe is tiny.
No need to ascribe to malice when more plausible reasons exist.
Slashdot Mirror
I should get a refund for all the downtime they're causing with ill-advised 'updates'.
Criminals don't deserve loyalty. Informing the police of a crime is what civilized people do and should do.
I have one day to vote, gotta take some unpaid time off work.
In civilized countries, polling stations are open for 12-14 hours to make sure you don't have to choose between work and voting.
For years it's been a given that this year's computers have more available resources than last year's. This goes for processor speed, RAM, storage, GPU speed.
So the usual MO for many has been to use those extra resources to the fullest extent, leaving only a small gain in functional speed for the consumer to notice.
Apparently it hasn't fully sunk in yet that battery capacity (like pretty much everything else in life) does not conform to Moore's Law and that including the kitchen sink software-wise is going to drain the battery faster.
with only 2 reaction wheels, the spacecraft will drift around one axis, so there's a good chance the solar pressure will be converted into rotation rather than delta-V.
And oh yes, keeping Kepler running in this mode for another decade means another decade of operation cost for no benefit.
No, they can't do either.
- spiral into the sun needs alot of delta-V Kepler doesn't have
- use light reflection to sail it requires an active system to keep the attitude stable, Kepler doesn't have that either.
Sure there is. Just apply plenty of butter for them to leave footprints in.
Lawsuits aren't handled by "governmental" courts. In first-world countries, great care is taken to make the judiciary independent of the government.
Private arbitration is a company's wet dream. They get to stack the deck in their favor and if the arbitration is binding, there's no legal recourse either.
The real world has rejected your notion of 'freedom'. In every civilized country government and judiciary keep individual and corporate greed in check.
The nice thing about government as it's set up today is that it requires no unusual virtue. There are checks and balances in place on every government function. Is this ideal? No. Is it much better than the free-for-all you're dreaming of? You bet.
The MacBook Air ..., have gone several years without notable changes
Well, the notable change was that every Apple laptop is now effectively a MacBook Air. Soldered, nonupgradable RAM and SSD, crappy minimal-thickness keyboard, not enough ports.
So what would be a notable change now is a MacBook Pro that is actually aimed at pro users.
(typing this on a 2012 MBP that's festooned with upgrades, and may be my last Apple laptop if they keep going like this)
There is a massive disparity in power and resources between large companies and individuals. It's far too easy for a company to bury individual lawsuits in paperwork until the opposition has exhausted its resources.
There also needs to be a level playing field: there must be boundaries that are the same for every company, or you get the unhealthy situation that the company most willing to damage its surroundings outcompetes its competitors.
There can't be a separation of business and state. Businesses have too often shown themselves to be willing to screw everyone else to be left to their own devices.
The government's role is to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of each individual in the face of forces too large for the individual to handle. It's role also includes protecting the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of the collective.
Libertarian Utopia is just that: an unrealistic dream.
I suspect Apple has enough cash on hand to build a complete toolchain from scratch, from silicon refinery to component manufacture, chip foundry and final assembly.
In Windows, that's living on the edge. It takes considerable fiddling before you can safely do that: you have to reduce the volume of every sound-capable application to safe levels, otherwise your music will be nice and quiet, but a notification, Windows system sound or (the worst offender of all) an incoming VOIP call will sound like a bomb going off.
I got so sick and tired of applications doing that, that I bought an external DAC for my headphones, and only VLC gets routed to that DAC. All other sounds go out the default audio path (laptop internal speakers).
At 100%, there is no attenuation or amplification of the signal in the audio file: the signal gets sent to the OS' audio system unmodified.
VLC allows you to set the volume to more than 100%, yes. The control goes up to 200%.
This is useful for very quiet tracks. Distortion doesn't set in until the audio starts clipping because the signal doesn't fit in 16 bits any more.
Does it still distort the audio if you get close to 100% volume?
(That was the reason I moved from Winamp to VLC a long time ago)
To illustrate:
my previous laptop was built in 2008, it ran Windows 7. 8 GB RAM, 4 cores.
CPU% when idle: 1%
Available RAM before starting applications: >7 GB.
Current laptop built in 2018, runs W10. 8 GB RAM, 4 cores.
CPU when idle: 10-60%
Available RAM before starting applications: 4-5 GB.
Many projects are in dire need of a good user interface. However, there are two kinds of UI designers:
1. people from the field of human interface design. Responsible for things like Apple's Human Interface Guidelines book which set the rules for the original Mac OS interface. This group tries to optimize the user experience via solid design principles and user testing.
2. Graphic designers with delusions of grandeur. These have no idea of what constitutes a good interface, and are responsible for idiocy like the flat UI and over-the-top skeuomorphism. Liable to move things around for no good reason, and very susceptible to fads.
These days you're more likely to find #2 than #1.
On a 24" screen I struggle to keep Photoshop's bazillion palettes, panels and whatnot from completely obscuring the artwork I'm trying to draw. On a 9" iPad there'll be constant panning/zooming and switching between palettes.
I'd rather pay for services with money than with my privacy. Now at least I have the choice.
There are so many critics these days because most new coins (and there are hundreds of them) are no more than a pump-and-dump scheme. Let's face it: any innovation is being snowed under by case after case of financial malfeasance.
The influx of speculators also means digital coins are far too volatile for everyday use, which means these coins only get used for shady purposes: money laundering, purchase of illegal goods and other transactions you want to be difficult to trace.
Most people see the state controlling the value of money as a good thing, because this generates stability. Only when a state allows huge inflation do you go looking for an alternative.
And that's where I stop reading.
And you're the poorer for it, because you've missed Baker's entire point. A company that limits its talent pool to one type of person suffers from not just blind spots, but tunnel vision. Such a company tries to solve a problem that requires a full toolbox just by using a hammer.
Interestingly it is "economy" cars that have higher rates than expensive cars - which supports my theory that the demographic is likely an important factor, not just the vehicle.
Demographics could go either way though. New economy cars are driven by women and older people, both low-risk groups. High-risk groups (young drivers) tend to drive second-hand cars. Teslas are driven by affluent high-mileage drivers, and in my experience those tend to drive agressively, increasing their risk.
Don't discount the vehicle itself. Economy cars have higher death rates because
- their crumple zones are smaller, so less margin
- they're at a weight disadvantage compared to the many two-tonne SUVs and pickups
- fewer safety systems installed to keep cost down
1. Lots of knowledge was lost as civilizations were overrun by barbarians, libraries were burned etc.
2. Knowledge was also lost because it was difficult and costly to spread it around before the invention of the printing press. If only one copy of a map exists, a single fire leads to point 1 above.
3. On occasion, knowledge was seen as a competitive advantage and hoarded instead of shared. I suspect this goes for a bunch of Chinese inventions/discoveries that were subsequently rediscovered by the Europeans. Hoarding also leads to few, if any, copies being made.
4. Language barriers: if you can count the number of Europeans traveling to China on one hand, the amount of knowledge they can transport to Europe is tiny.
No need to ascribe to malice when more plausible reasons exist.
I'd like to know where I can find Batavia, 3.
When you pay peanuts, the work is done by monkeys. Or very small shell scripts.