But most people would agree to community standards when it comes to what is or isn't moral or smut. Religion doesn't directly enter into it.
Perhaps where Sid lives such visual delights are taboo. Where I live, I bet I'd be labelled at least a pr0n-hound if I got caught with media like that. Well, in the 'burbs anyway. Downtown, all bets would be off.
See, it's all relative. No big deal. And did Sid actually SAY he was OPPOSED to adult entertainment?
Well, I'll tell you why *I* was interested in this 2.0 beta: The ability to chain perl scripts and have the whole thing SSI'd.
I'd already modularized my pages as far as 1.3 would allow without using mod-perl but I had a few perl "utilities" that I couldn't get to work with my standard INCLUDEd navbar, header or footer scripts.
With 2.0, I can. In fact, I just did.
GTRacer
- Apache and Gimp on Win32...What's wrong with me?
What does God knowing have to do with me doing? God, in addition to being omniscient is eternal. He knows what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen.
I however, am neither omniscient nor eternal (as a human). I do not know what I will do *EXACTLY* tomorrow or what will happen to me.
Just because God DOES know doesn't mean I didn't have free will to do it. And unlike a later poster, I believe He knows in a precise fashion, not through brute-force iteratons. I suspect that, due to His eternal nature, the entirety of this universe is just a DVD to Him - We're stuck in Chapter 18 and He's checking out the Special Features.
MiataMX5 has done a good job answering these questions, but I'm going to give one of my own: People have asked me the "Why does God let good things happen? etc, etc."
My answer is this: This universe is God's version of SimCity. For whatever reason He felt compelled, He built a cosmological system with fairly stable rules and populated it. He gave us intelligence and we took free will (but He knew that was coming;) ). He alters things here and there, but He isn't the only one in the game - Satan gets some play.
He also gave us the rulebook. He may have thrown some misinformation into the mix (carbon-dating, aliens, etc), or others may have. He set up a somewhat confusing, and to many, bizarre win condition - Believe in Him and His Son. That's it. Believe and win. Get your wings and live in paradise, so to speak.
Maybe it's BECAUSE I'm a science-fiction-fueled geek that the concepts of a triune God, infinity, and SimUniverse don't bother me. If I had that kind of power, I'm sure I could concoct some odd experiments of my own.
GTRacer
- Does sacrificing Karma for Him count for anything?
Well, we all have different stories to tell, but seriosly, Waiting to pay 300$ for a PS2? Where do you live? For at least the last 6 months in Florida (and I'd assume any largish state), if not longer, PS2's have been in stock. Maybe not floor-to-ceiling, maybe not EVERY store, but it shouldn't have taken more than 2 or 3 stores to find one. Now of course, they're everywhere.
Back in early 2000 when DVD's were starting to take up more than one shelf at Wal-Mart, I thought about buying a standalone player. But I had committed to buying a PS2 for Gran Turismo. When Sony confirmed DVD capability, I waited for my pre-order call and picked one up.
Now, all I buy or rent is DVD and my wife and I have no trouble in our living room. From the couch, the fan is inaudible and all we really need is a better TV to go with our sound system.
And let's not forget soon-to-be-released hacks that will allow VCD or MP3 playback like the ones on Dreamcast. Of course, YMMV.
RE: Status Frienships - I couldn't think of a way to describe what I meant, but I didn't mean "status" in the hoity-toity society sense.
I mean the kind of friendship where you go out or meet because of a company function or a wedding or something and then nobody wants to end it, even if one or both sides is not enjoying themselves.
The few friends we have ARE close, and we really enjoy their company. We try to see them at least once a month, maybe twice. Then there's family, too. We usually see my parents 2 or 3 times a month and my wife's about the same.
As for the I/T job, I went down this path because of a Coleco ADAM. Being in a profession where my main responsibilities are computer-centric means not having to rely upon humans for my performance. I interact CONSTANTLY with the people here, and in this and all previous jobs save one, my superiors have always commented on my social skills.
I have no problem with people or social situations. I'm not a shy self-conscious geek. I'm no Adonis either, but I can handle myself around people. I just prefer not to.
GTRacer
- You can't legally switch off annoying *people*
Hmmm...maybe it's just me, but my general non-need for social interaction is one thing that led me to my career choice of I/T.
Don't get me wrong, I have a lovely wife of 7 years and 2 kids, and we have a few friends we hang out with. We go to movies, dinners out, theme parks, all kinds of places with people.
What I don't get is many people's apparent need for several close friendships. How on earth are you supposed to have time to work 10-hour days, spend quality time with the family and still have personal time greater than 15 minutes a night if you have a whole bunch of friends you feel compelled to socialize with?
I'd much rather be playing Ace Combat 4 or GTA3 than trying to hold up one end of a "status" fiendship any day!
Brento used the oft-stated "If you don't, who will?" in regards to services people want but are too apathetic to pay for.
My reply is more about the fact that I already pay for public broadcasting, albeit in a very indirect and marginal way, through taxation. I have no problem with tax funds going for this purpose.
GTRacer
- Our military rocks harder on a larger scale than anyone else's!
Does this take into account state and local government funding?
And how does that graph match your claim that "...public radio is no longer allowed to accept government funding. Hasn't been for years. It's 100% listener-supported."
2 percent isn't zero. Not trying to be anal, but I'd bet doughnuts to dollars, some fraction of my local, state and fed tax dollars are propping up public radio and TV here.
GTRacer
- And at the $90 level, we have this tote bag...
Less than half of the industry's total income comes from tax-based sources such as federal, state, and local governments. Sixty-one percent of the income is from private sources such as businesses and memberships.
...and...
How much does the federal government contribute?
In 1999 Congress appropriated $250 million to CPB, approximately 11.6 percent of the industry's total income.
...or this...
By law, 95 percent of the funds allocated to CPB go directly to benefit viewers and listeners either through Community Service Grants to stations, programming grants to producers, or other station-related activities.
Are you telling me that NONE of this money makes it to any public radio stations? Where I live, the public TV and radio station share the same facilities.
I thought that was supposed to be supported with tax dollars. Tax dollars that are collected and spent even if I don't use public radio/TV.
Yes, I understand the position these stations find themselves in with money always being cut or diverted. And no, I'm not completely heartless. Although I probably won't ever contribute to my local stations because nowadays they have too many thinly-disguised commercials!
GTRacer
- Needs to be AC every now and again...
PKZip! C'mon, it's right there in the strapline!
on
Tiny Apps
·
· Score: 2
*NOBODY* has mentioned using PKZip yet? Maybe my Search isn't working. Anyway, truly one of the most useful tiny apps I've ever gotten so much use out of.
I STLL use 2.04g today, when I get mainframe files from our vendors. They have all these specs and formats and whatnot, and invariably send them in several pieces. I've written batch files and VBA code to unzip, format for the data records, concat, and import, all in one or two steps. Most of these vendors included "installers" that were more trouble than they were worth and usually put crap where I didn't want it.
A couple of jobs ago (1997), I used it with a comms program to do remote updates of hospital software. It was so much better than personally visiting over 150 workstations.
RIP, PK.
GTRacer
- It's not the size of the package, it's the compression ratio
Unless you've seen (or better yet, played) either of the Oddysee games on PSX, then you might not realise what you're looking at - a stellar platformer with a bit of humour thrown in.
OTOH, as a demo of the almighty XBox, it leaves one with a bitter taste. It's too linear and it doesn't really push any limits. One can only hope Oddworld Inhabitants can reach the same levels that the first two did (at least, before they port it to PS2/GCN).
And yes, I've seen an XBox crash, at Babbage's, and it was in its Microsoft-designed XBox kiosk. I'm thinking of getting some green vinyl sign letters and putting "E"s on all the XBox signs!
I just bought her a Polaroid I-Zone Digital combo for 30 bucks and she's thrilled. Sure, she'd love something with better than 640x480. But odds are good she'll lose this thing within the year.
I wanted to buy her a true digicam, but, as much as she loves photography (for scrapbooking/family projects), she couldn't stomach the $400-odd price (plus printer).
I'm sure someday she'll *WANT* a real camera, but until then, she's very satisfied with the Polaroid.
GTRacer
- "But this is HDTV...It's got better resolution than Real Life"
Alright, Pope! You beat me. But how do you determine what to buy if you don't hear it on the radio?
Also, maybe my point should have been (or included): Too many CDs produced now are done in a manner to lure buyers in with that great new #1 hit, and then the rest is shit filler.
Obviously, you haven't met my wife. She loves to frag. And not co-op style either. She's just as competitive as me, even though I win 2/3rds of the time.
She doesn't do the adventure/RPG thing, so that's out. One thing she likes to do is watch me play survival horror games. Weird...
GTRacer
- My wife is cool. She puts up with my PS2 habit...
With the last 20 CD's you bought, count total tracks. Then count all tracks you like (then or now). Divide "like" by "total". Report average here.
I'd be willing to bet that for a statistically-valid population, the average is less than 40%. That seems like a pretty poor ROI. But that's not where I'm going.
I started buying CD's in 1987. The Cure's "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" was my first. It has a 10-page libretto. It has a full lyric set. It has no ads in it.
Fast-forward to 2001. "The Fast And the Furious" soundtrack. It's one of those "music from and inspired by" jobs. None of the cool techno is on it. There is a preponderance of Ja Rule, who had, what, 10 minutes of screen time? I don't have it in front of me, but I don't remember seeing any lyrics. I did see a lot of ads for Ja Rule crap, F&F crap, and other crap.
Both CD's cost $16.99, not adjusted for inflation. I think the decline in production values is obvious to all. Maybe some people are luckier or more resourceful when it comes to not buying duds. Maybe some people "just like everything". I'm not one of them.
GTRacer
- Why the hell does a CD "single" cost 7 bucks?
What is so frigging hard to understand? We have the "right" (I thought they *were* rights, but whatever the permission is called...) to format-shift. We have the right to time-shift. They (for now) have the right to make it hard for us to do these things.
Mutual exclusivity aside, until the Supremes do something about it, we still have fair-use rights.
What we don't have is the right to distribute copies. There's a big difference. I don't care if 90% of burner owners use them with illegal MP3's. That doesn't mean I do, or that I should be further deprived of my fair-use rights.
Slashdot Mirror
But most people would agree to community standards when it comes to what is or isn't moral or smut. Religion doesn't directly enter into it.
Perhaps where Sid lives such visual delights are taboo. Where I live, I bet I'd be labelled at least a pr0n-hound if I got caught with media like that. Well, in the 'burbs anyway. Downtown, all bets would be off.
See, it's all relative. No big deal. And did Sid actually SAY he was OPPOSED to adult entertainment?
GTRacer
- freaky
Your purose in life is to decorate the back entrance to the Magrathean planet-forges via high-altitude high-velocity impact with the ground.
And no, it will NOT be friends with you.
GTRacer
- I know where my towel is.
I'd already modularized my pages as far as 1.3 would allow without using mod-perl but I had a few perl "utilities" that I couldn't get to work with my standard INCLUDEd navbar, header or footer scripts.
With 2.0, I can. In fact, I just did.
GTRacer
- Apache and Gimp on Win32...What's wrong with me?
Many words are invented by writers. This one just seems to be less abstract than others.
GTRacer
- You'd think Asimov would've finished his bio by now...
And MarcusQ, I thought he co-developed the 3 Laws with Campbell...
GTRacer
- Humans would be better off if they were robots like me
I however, am neither omniscient nor eternal (as a human). I do not know what I will do *EXACTLY* tomorrow or what will happen to me.
Just because God DOES know doesn't mean I didn't have free will to do it. And unlike a later poster, I believe He knows in a precise fashion, not through brute-force iteratons. I suspect that, due to His eternal nature, the entirety of this universe is just a DVD to Him - We're stuck in Chapter 18 and He's checking out the Special Features.
MiataMX5 has done a good job answering these questions, but I'm going to give one of my own: People have asked me the "Why does God let good things happen? etc, etc."
My answer is this: This universe is God's version of SimCity. For whatever reason He felt compelled, He built a cosmological system with fairly stable rules and populated it. He gave us intelligence and we took free will (but He knew that was coming ;) ). He alters things here and there, but He isn't the only one in the game - Satan gets some play.
He also gave us the rulebook. He may have thrown some misinformation into the mix (carbon-dating, aliens, etc), or others may have. He set up a somewhat confusing, and to many, bizarre win condition - Believe in Him and His Son. That's it. Believe and win. Get your wings and live in paradise, so to speak.
Maybe it's BECAUSE I'm a science-fiction-fueled geek that the concepts of a triune God, infinity, and SimUniverse don't bother me. If I had that kind of power, I'm sure I could concoct some odd experiments of my own.
GTRacer
- Does sacrificing Karma for Him count for anything?
Back in early 2000 when DVD's were starting to take up more than one shelf at Wal-Mart, I thought about buying a standalone player. But I had committed to buying a PS2 for Gran Turismo. When Sony confirmed DVD capability, I waited for my pre-order call and picked one up.
Now, all I buy or rent is DVD and my wife and I have no trouble in our living room. From the couch, the fan is inaudible and all we really need is a better TV to go with our sound system.
And let's not forget soon-to-be-released hacks that will allow VCD or MP3 playback like the ones on Dreamcast. Of course, YMMV.
GTRacer
- Will Xbox for MAME
I mean the kind of friendship where you go out or meet because of a company function or a wedding or something and then nobody wants to end it, even if one or both sides is not enjoying themselves.
The few friends we have ARE close, and we really enjoy their company. We try to see them at least once a month, maybe twice. Then there's family, too. We usually see my parents 2 or 3 times a month and my wife's about the same.
As for the I/T job, I went down this path because of a Coleco ADAM. Being in a profession where my main responsibilities are computer-centric means not having to rely upon humans for my performance. I interact CONSTANTLY with the people here, and in this and all previous jobs save one, my superiors have always commented on my social skills.
I have no problem with people or social situations. I'm not a shy self-conscious geek. I'm no Adonis either, but I can handle myself around people. I just prefer not to.
GTRacer
- You can't legally switch off annoying *people*
Don't get me wrong, I have a lovely wife of 7 years and 2 kids, and we have a few friends we hang out with. We go to movies, dinners out, theme parks, all kinds of places with people.
What I don't get is many people's apparent need for several close friendships. How on earth are you supposed to have time to work 10-hour days, spend quality time with the family and still have personal time greater than 15 minutes a night if you have a whole bunch of friends you feel compelled to socialize with?
I'd much rather be playing Ace Combat 4 or GTA3 than trying to hold up one end of a "status" fiendship any day!
GTRacer
- Likes people, more or less...
Brento used the oft-stated "If you don't, who will?" in regards to services people want but are too apathetic to pay for.
My reply is more about the fact that I already pay for public broadcasting, albeit in a very indirect and marginal way, through taxation. I have no problem with tax funds going for this purpose.
GTRacer
- Our military rocks harder on a larger scale than anyone else's!
Does this take into account state and local government funding?
And how does that graph match your claim that "...public radio is no longer allowed to accept government funding. Hasn't been for years. It's 100% listener-supported."
2 percent isn't zero. Not trying to be anal, but I'd bet doughnuts to dollars, some fraction of my local, state and fed tax dollars are propping up public radio and TV here.
GTRacer
- And at the $90 level, we have this tote bag...
Are you telling me that NONE of this money makes it to any public radio stations? Where I live, the public TV and radio station share the same facilities.
But I could be wrong. I have been wrong before...
GTRacer
- Still missing Dan Hickman and "Metro".
I thought that was supposed to be supported with tax dollars. Tax dollars that are collected and spent even if I don't use public radio/TV.
Yes, I understand the position these stations find themselves in with money always being cut or diverted. And no, I'm not completely heartless. Although I probably won't ever contribute to my local stations because nowadays they have too many thinly-disguised commercials!
GTRacer
- Needs to be AC every now and again...
I STLL use 2.04g today, when I get mainframe files from our vendors. They have all these specs and formats and whatnot, and invariably send them in several pieces. I've written batch files and VBA code to unzip, format for the data records, concat, and import, all in one or two steps. Most of these vendors included "installers" that were more trouble than they were worth and usually put crap where I didn't want it.
A couple of jobs ago (1997), I used it with a comms program to do remote updates of hospital software. It was so much better than personally visiting over 150 workstations.
RIP, PK.
GTRacer
- It's not the size of the package, it's the compression ratio
Unless you've seen (or better yet, played) either of the Oddysee games on PSX, then you might not realise what you're looking at - a stellar platformer with a bit of humour thrown in.
OTOH, as a demo of the almighty XBox, it leaves one with a bitter taste. It's too linear and it doesn't really push any limits. One can only hope Oddworld Inhabitants can reach the same levels that the first two did (at least, before they port it to PS2/GCN).
And yes, I've seen an XBox crash, at Babbage's, and it was in its Microsoft-designed XBox kiosk. I'm thinking of getting some green vinyl sign letters and putting "E"s on all the XBox signs!
GTRacer
- Where's my XBox, Taco Bell?
I just bought her a Polaroid I-Zone Digital combo for 30 bucks and she's thrilled. Sure, she'd love something with better than 640x480. But odds are good she'll lose this thing within the year.
I wanted to buy her a true digicam, but, as much as she loves photography (for scrapbooking/family projects), she couldn't stomach the $400-odd price (plus printer).
I'm sure someday she'll *WANT* a real camera, but until then, she's very satisfied with the Polaroid.
GTRacer
- "But this is HDTV...It's got better resolution than Real Life"
Mine happens to have a $50 liability limit, per the same rules as the credit cards.
But there's also a clause that says they offer it as a service and they can change the rules at any time.
GTRacer
- Thank God for Credit Unions!
GTRacer
- "Fix that soft hyphen with this new virility drug! $19.95 for a 5-day supply!"
There's one at a mall near me run by a super-cool guy named Larry. I've shopped there for maybe 15 years.
I've always found it cool that, at the entrance to the store they have a plaque with Babbage's picture and brief bio on it.
GTRacer
- Anybody remember typing in "SmarTerm" for the Atari 130XE? (From magazine bought at Babbage's)
Also, maybe my point should have been (or included): Too many CDs produced now are done in a manner to lure buyers in with that great new #1 hit, and then the rest is shit filler.
GTRacer
- Still thinks the Cure is #1
She doesn't do the adventure/RPG thing, so that's out. One thing she likes to do is watch me play survival horror games. Weird...
GTRacer
- My wife is cool. She puts up with my PS2 habit...
With the last 20 CD's you bought, count total tracks. Then count all tracks you like (then or now). Divide "like" by "total". Report average here.
I'd be willing to bet that for a statistically-valid population, the average is less than 40%. That seems like a pretty poor ROI. But that's not where I'm going.
I started buying CD's in 1987. The Cure's "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" was my first. It has a 10-page libretto. It has a full lyric set. It has no ads in it.
Fast-forward to 2001. "The Fast And the Furious" soundtrack. It's one of those "music from and inspired by" jobs. None of the cool techno is on it. There is a preponderance of Ja Rule, who had, what, 10 minutes of screen time? I don't have it in front of me, but I don't remember seeing any lyrics. I did see a lot of ads for Ja Rule crap, F&F crap, and other crap.
Both CD's cost $16.99, not adjusted for inflation. I think the decline in production values is obvious to all. Maybe some people are luckier or more resourceful when it comes to not buying duds. Maybe some people "just like everything". I'm not one of them.
GTRacer
- Why the hell does a CD "single" cost 7 bucks?
What is so frigging hard to understand? We have the "right" (I thought they *were* rights, but whatever the permission is called...) to format-shift. We have the right to time-shift. They (for now) have the right to make it hard for us to do these things.
Mutual exclusivity aside, until the Supremes do something about it, we still have fair-use rights.
What we don't have is the right to distribute copies. There's a big difference. I don't care if 90% of burner owners use them with illegal MP3's. That doesn't mean I do, or that I should be further deprived of my fair-use rights.
GTRacer
- Stop the insanity!
Principal of a loan, not principle.
Good day!
GTRacer
- Doesn't make anywhere near the "-4" income...
Contrary to what the "culture" wants you to believe, FPing isn't better when stoned.
GTRacer
- Hi, Mr. Moderator!