Are Mhz a misleading figure? Yeah. But that's because people associate higher clockspeed with higher overall speed. Intel and the rest shouldn't be held responsible for someone's own interpretation.
You're right, except they have embraced this false association and now present it in their marketing, e.g. "...with a blistering fast 2GHz Pentium 4 processor..." MHz/GHz numbers are the only thing in most ads that even come close to a performance rating, so by focusing on them as the sole performance metric, Intel and the OEMs are implying that this is a valid way to measure overall computer speed, even across platforms and/or different processor architectures.
Just because the public at large believes something, that doesn't mean those beliefs can be presented as fact in marketing materials. There just may be some merit to this case.
I dunno about you, but I was all choked up just watching the teaser trailer.
If you're hungry for more, read Voyage. It's the story of a manned Mars mission conceived after the moon landings, and finally coming to fruition in 1986, championed by JFK (who was only wounded in Dallas in 1963).
I just caught a History Channel documentary on the Nordhausen factory last week.
It was not Von Braun's decision to use concentration camp dwelling forced labor in the factory, and the historians doubt he was very enthused about it. But would YOU have spoken out against it in Nazi Germany? I didn't think so. When he did voice an opinion that he felt the rockets were being wasted as weapons and he'd rather work on space travel, he was tossed in prison for a while.
According to the show, Von Braun barely ever visited Nordhausen, which was the assembly plant for the V-2s. He stayed at Peenemunde, the R & D facility. He certainly knew the forced laborers existed, but I don't think he was aware they were being worked and starved to death, and murdered when they were too weak to be useful.
NASA's policy when the war ended and we went in and grabbed all the German rocket scientists was, we couldn't take anyone directly involved in war crimes. Von Braun didn't meet this requirement, though it was discovered one of his right-hand men at NASA was the one who suggested using disposable slave labor at Nordhausen. When they found out, he was booted out of NASA, and I believe deported as well.
In Germany in those days, voicing an unpopular view was the quickest way to a jail cell or a coffin. Von Braun made the best choice he could-- he kept his mouth shut, gritted his teeth, and focused on the bigger picture of what his research would one day accomplish-- and that wasn't turning London into a smoking hole, little by little.
...the book (also later a miniseries) that had a huge earthquake levelling much of NYC?
Not a bad read. The plan to rebuild what was destroyed was interesting... It's been years since I read it, but IIRC there were ideas something like, make it a city for the people, a social and cultural mecca even moreso than it was, packed full of parks, museums, libraries, etc. No internal-combustion vehicles allowed on the island, just people-powered and non-polluting vehicles. Subways would be repaired, but used to move freight, not people, with the rationale, "why force people underground to travel quickly and clog the streets above with trucks full of cargo?"
I'm just kinda rambling here, and that's all I remember now, so time to click "Preview" and "Submit."
Very, very poor timing on this Ask Slashdot. If I'm going to pledge two months' salary to buy ANYTHING today, it'll be a new Power Mac!
Why? Because a computer won't screw my two [alleged, and now-ex] best friends behind my back, like my last girlfriend did a few years ago. If I've learned anything from my dating experiences, it's that to trust people is to set yourself up for disappointment. I'd rather spend the money on a machine-- they're much more reliable.
Moving away from major announcements at shows is their stated intention. They don't like how their sales tank for the month or two before a show, when something major is expected to be announced there.
I guess they want to space out product announcements all year long, and to make them as much of a surprise as possible so as not to affect their sales volume so dramatically.
What sort of TV shows will rise to fill all the time currently taken up by such vapid claptrap as Extra and Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, who currently make it a major news item when Alec Baldwin cuts a bean-burrito fart in public? Once there are no flesh-and-blood celebrities killing ex-spouses, getting DUIs, and, marrying/divorcing each other, killing themselves, etc, what will we do? They'll have to shut the E! channel down, and put Joan and Melissa Rivers in cryostasis.
How will Playboy and Penthouse stay in business without the occasional blockbuster sales brought by an issue with candid shots of some current celebrity sunbathing nude, or a washed-up actress or singer willingly getting naked for the camera in an attempt to revive her career? I mean, trading popular bootleg actress AI's could be the next big P2P rage-- who needs an old-fashioned nudie magazine when one can spend a few minutes downloading the actual Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mira Sorvino* on Kazaa and simply order them to engage in a hot lesbian threesome just the way one likes it, on one's own computer?
*-names of current real actresses used for effect, but I really mean popular CGI actresses of the possible future.
I'm so glad we have vanquished Al Qaeda and their like-minded brethren, so now we can go after the REAL threats to the American way of life-- the people who are depriving Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti from the cash with which they stuff their mattresses.
Those file downloaders can share prison cells with those kids who got 20 years for selling a shroom to a narc in the parking lot at a Phish concert. Meanwhile, the evil CEOs that have looted companies at the expense of their employees' livelihoods and 401K's continue to walk around free.
Memo to Congress: Get your fucking priorities straight.
Droz: Want some advice? Tom: Well, yeah. Droz: Well, here's all you need to know: Classes, nothing before eleven. Beer, it's your best friend, you drink a lot. Women? You're a freshman, so it's pretty much out of the question. Will you have a car? Tom: Uhh...no. Droz: Someone on your floor will. Find them and make friends with them on the first day.
1- You *did* see the ":-)" at the end of that line, right?
2- I am NOT a "consumer," God damn it, I am a *human being* and an *American citizen*! Oh, and a taxpayer, though my money is not as green as that of the big corporations. But that's another thread.
From a showing of "Gone with the Wind" at the Springfield Retirement Castle:
Scarlett O'Hara: "Oh, Rhett! Rhett! Oh, Rhett! Where will I go? What'll I do?" Rhett Butler: "Frankly, my dear, I love you, let's remarry!" THE END (Edited for Seniors)
Weren't DVDs supposed to give us the capability to watch a PG-version of an R-rated movie? Why are studios afraid of this?
Because it hurts their revenue model. Look at this shit they're pulling with the LOTR DVD. A version went on sale yesterday, then there's going to be another "collector's" version in a few months, and then around the holidays the five-disc, king-of-all-collector's-editions edition comes out. And you know there are people that will buy all three.
Why should the studios stuff differently-rated versions onto one disc when they know they can sell multiple versions on different discs and sucker a decent number of people into buying both?
It's done all the time. Blockbuster's the biggest offender (in more ways than one). Really. Most all the movies there for rental are edited, in some it's subtle, some it's dramatic.
This is true. More than a few times, I've rented a movie from there, only to notice that a scene or two that I remembered, was not on the tape. The first couple of times, I thought I was going crazy, then I heard of this odious practice.
Slashdot Mirror
I laughed until my insides hurt. That was hilarious! Thank you.
~Philly
Are Mhz a misleading figure? Yeah. But that's because people associate higher clockspeed with higher overall speed. Intel and the rest shouldn't be held responsible for someone's own interpretation.
You're right, except they have embraced this false association and now present it in their marketing, e.g. "...with a blistering fast 2GHz Pentium 4 processor..." MHz/GHz numbers are the only thing in most ads that even come close to a performance rating, so by focusing on them as the sole performance metric, Intel and the OEMs are implying that this is a valid way to measure overall computer speed, even across platforms and/or different processor architectures.
Just because the public at large believes something, that doesn't mean those beliefs can be presented as fact in marketing materials. There just may be some merit to this case.
~Philly
I dunno about you, but I was all choked up just watching the teaser trailer.
If you're hungry for more, read Voyage. It's the story of a manned Mars mission conceived after the moon landings, and finally coming to fruition in 1986, championed by JFK (who was only wounded in Dallas in 1963).
~Philly
I just caught a History Channel documentary on the Nordhausen factory last week.
It was not Von Braun's decision to use concentration camp dwelling forced labor in the factory, and the historians doubt he was very enthused about it. But would YOU have spoken out against it in Nazi Germany? I didn't think so. When he did voice an opinion that he felt the rockets were being wasted as weapons and he'd rather work on space travel, he was tossed in prison for a while.
According to the show, Von Braun barely ever visited Nordhausen, which was the assembly plant for the V-2s. He stayed at Peenemunde, the R & D facility. He certainly knew the forced laborers existed, but I don't think he was aware they were being worked and starved to death, and murdered when they were too weak to be useful.
NASA's policy when the war ended and we went in and grabbed all the German rocket scientists was, we couldn't take anyone directly involved in war crimes. Von Braun didn't meet this requirement, though it was discovered one of his right-hand men at NASA was the one who suggested using disposable slave labor at Nordhausen. When they found out, he was booted out of NASA, and I believe deported as well.
In Germany in those days, voicing an unpopular view was the quickest way to a jail cell or a coffin. Von Braun made the best choice he could-- he kept his mouth shut, gritted his teeth, and focused on the bigger picture of what his research would one day accomplish-- and that wasn't turning London into a smoking hole, little by little.
~Philly
..to yesterday's item, "Scientist Crushed To Death By Falling Robot In Failed Flight Attempt"
~Philly
...the book (also later a miniseries) that had a huge earthquake levelling much of NYC?
Not a bad read. The plan to rebuild what was destroyed was interesting... It's been years since I read it, but IIRC there were ideas something like, make it a city for the people, a social and cultural mecca even moreso than it was, packed full of parks, museums, libraries, etc. No internal-combustion vehicles allowed on the island, just people-powered and non-polluting vehicles. Subways would be repaired, but used to move freight, not people, with the rationale, "why force people underground to travel quickly and clog the streets above with trucks full of cargo?"
I'm just kinda rambling here, and that's all I remember now, so time to click "Preview" and "Submit."
~Philly
"Diamonds. She'll Pretty Much Have To."
~Philly
Very, very poor timing on this Ask Slashdot. If I'm going to pledge two months' salary to buy ANYTHING today, it'll be a new Power Mac!
Why? Because a computer won't screw my two [alleged, and now-ex] best friends behind my back, like my last girlfriend did a few years ago. If I've learned anything from my dating experiences, it's that to trust people is to set yourself up for disappointment. I'd rather spend the money on a machine-- they're much more reliable.
~Philly
Memo to Indian rocket scientists: You can't EAT national pride!
How about working to make sure the Indian population is adequately fed before striking out to plant flags elsewhere in the solar system?
If the Indian government funds this, they must have caught priorities-ass-backwardsitis from the US government.
~Philly
Moving away from major announcements at shows is their stated intention. They don't like how their sales tank for the month or two before a show, when something major is expected to be announced there.
I guess they want to space out product announcements all year long, and to make them as much of a surprise as possible so as not to affect their sales volume so dramatically.
~Philly
What sort of TV shows will rise to fill all the time currently taken up by such vapid claptrap as Extra and Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, who currently make it a major news item when Alec Baldwin cuts a bean-burrito fart in public? Once there are no flesh-and-blood celebrities killing ex-spouses, getting DUIs, and, marrying/divorcing each other, killing themselves, etc, what will we do? They'll have to shut the E! channel down, and put Joan and Melissa Rivers in cryostasis.
How will Playboy and Penthouse stay in business without the occasional blockbuster sales brought by an issue with candid shots of some current celebrity sunbathing nude, or a washed-up actress or singer willingly getting naked for the camera in an attempt to revive her career? I mean, trading popular bootleg actress AI's could be the next big P2P rage-- who needs an old-fashioned nudie magazine when one can spend a few minutes downloading the actual Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mira Sorvino* on Kazaa and simply order them to engage in a hot lesbian threesome just the way one likes it, on one's own computer?
*-names of current real actresses used for effect, but I really mean popular CGI actresses of the possible future.
~Philly
Hopefully they'll give the over-65 generation free passes, get them off the roads.
They'll have to modify the train cars to accommodate the elderly-- by adding a turn blinker that is on for the entire length of the trip.
~Philly
I'm sorry, I must not have received that memo.
I'm so glad we have vanquished Al Qaeda and their like-minded brethren, so now we can go after the REAL threats to the American way of life-- the people who are depriving Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti from the cash with which they stuff their mattresses.
Those file downloaders can share prison cells with those kids who got 20 years for selling a shroom to a narc in the parking lot at a Phish concert. Meanwhile, the evil CEOs that have looted companies at the expense of their employees' livelihoods and 401K's continue to walk around free.
Memo to Congress: Get your fucking priorities straight.
~Philly
Droz: Want some advice?
Tom: Well, yeah.
Droz: Well, here's all you need to know: Classes, nothing before eleven. Beer, it's your best friend, you drink a lot. Women? You're a freshman, so it's pretty much out of the question. Will you have a car?
Tom: Uhh...no.
Droz: Someone on your floor will. Find them and make friends with them on the first day.
~Philly
Pretty cool video... but since it doesn't have sound, you *really* need to insert "Flight of the Valkyries" on the audio track. :-)
~Philly
I think in this context, they mean "open" like the back of a hospital gown, and the consumer is the person wearing the gown.
~Philly
Nothing says "a mad scientist lives here" quite like having one of these running.
~Philly
1- You *did* see the ":-)" at the end of that line, right?
2- I am NOT a "consumer," God damn it, I am a *human being* and an *American citizen*! Oh, and a taxpayer, though my money is not as green as that of the big corporations. But that's another thread.
~Philly
Illegal, shmillegal.
/me cuts "The Tag" off his mattress to make his point. :-)
If I paid money for the DVD player, I will paint it, mod it, piss on it, or do whatever else I feel like with it (within reason). It's my property.
~Philly
"Groovy."
Not only is that half my weight, but who in the world has a cupholder in their car to hold that?
Here's your answer!
~Philly
How long after they introduce that before some fool (or their kid) drowns in their Big Gulp, and the multi-jillion dollar lawsuit ensues?
~Philly
From a showing of "Gone with the Wind" at the Springfield Retirement Castle:
Scarlett O'Hara: "Oh, Rhett! Rhett! Oh, Rhett! Where will I go? What'll I do?"
Rhett Butler: "Frankly, my dear, I love you, let's remarry!"
THE END
(Edited for Seniors)
From "The Old Man and the C Student," 1999.
~Philly
Weren't DVDs supposed to give us the capability to watch a PG-version of an R-rated movie? Why are studios afraid of this?
Because it hurts their revenue model. Look at this shit they're pulling with the LOTR DVD. A version went on sale yesterday, then there's going to be another "collector's" version in a few months, and then around the holidays the five-disc, king-of-all-collector's-editions edition comes out. And you know there are people that will buy all three.
Why should the studios stuff differently-rated versions onto one disc when they know they can sell multiple versions on different discs and sucker a decent number of people into buying both?
~Philly
It's done all the time. Blockbuster's the biggest offender (in more ways than one). Really. Most all the movies there for rental are edited, in some it's subtle, some it's dramatic.
This is true. More than a few times, I've rented a movie from there, only to notice that a scene or two that I remembered, was not on the tape.
The first couple of times, I thought I was going crazy, then I heard of this odious practice.
~Philly