If you want to trust your government and believe that the FDA knows what they are doing and would never lie to you or cover the truth to enhance corporate profits, then you have nothing to worry about.
But you're right... a perfect shuffle is uniform. A very sloppy shuffle will leave big chunks of cards in the same order. So there is some indeterminate middle ground, I guess.
I'm sorry... I'm not trying to be rude, but what exactly does a librarian do these days?
I'm pretty sure being a librarian requires some sort of advanced degree, but I just don't know why. From my very limited view, they perform the same task as a Blockbuster employee: help customer check out books, return to shelf when done.
The reason that logical, rational people dismiss alien contact is there simply isn't any evidence that is bulletproof.
It's FAR, FAR more likely that people:
1) play hoaxes on the public 2) misremember or misinterpret natural events 3) hallucinate due to drugs/alcohol or mental illness 4) lie for attention
You're right, though, to a certain degree. As we accumulate more and more anecdotal evidence, we SHOULD keep our eyes and ears open. But we must also remember that we're very fallible creatures, so we shouldn't accept any evidence unless it is truly convincing.
So far, no truly convincing evidence has been found.
First, I don't think BluRay can still be called "bleeding edge", nor do I think it can be compared to Betamax. It might not ever be as popular as VHS and DVD, but it is now THE standard for home high-def disc entertainment (am I wrong?)
Recently, I've spent $2000 on a nice big TV, and $400 on a PS3. I sit smug in my home, watching upconverted DVDs and BluRay movies, as well as lots of high definition cable with a low-end home theater surround sound system. I absolutely love it.
You, on the other hand, have spent close to nothing, and enjoy standard definition TV and DVDs, all the while happy with the fact that you've spent much less money than me.
Who's happier?
I can only speak for myself, but I'd guess neither of us would want to trade places with the other...:)
From the article: "Perhaps the most notorious example of this method is Sierra's King's Quest III, in which lengthy passages of potion recipes and other information had to be reproduced from the manual. One typo, and you were greeted with a "Game Over" screen."
I never viewed this as "copy protection", as such. If it was, I thought it brilliantly played into the actual game.
The spot in the game is where you're creating a potion or magical item. You needed to follow the directions PRECISELY, or the spell would backfire. I remember typing VERY slowly and carefully, doublechecking everything. It really enhanced the experience of the game, for me.
If it was meant purely as copy protection, I thought it actually ADDED something to the game.
Remember, solar power is generally available HERE and NOW.
I just invested in a PV system for my house (in sunny SoCal). As a computer geek, I asked our guy if it was stupid to invest, since there always seem to be efficiency breakthroughs on the horizon.
He reminded me that efficiency generally meant "smaller" and perhaps "cheaper". But since my roof was plenty adequate for what I needed, "smaller" wasn't really an issue. Cheaper will ALWAYS be the case, as it always has been.
Don't get frozen by the thought that solar power isn't worth investing in today. It totally is.
If he can take the vocal tract of a fresh cadaver, and using only that, comes up with software that says "Nice weather we're having, eh wot?" then I'll be impressed... Otherwise, how can we verify his claims?
What in the the flying fuck does the Iraq war have to do with solar power? They're both expensive, and both funded by the government. It's not that much of a stretch to wonder if reducing spending for one could increase spending for the other.
I just bought solar panels and had them installed on my roof. If you have the means, and live in a sunny area, I don't see why you wouldn't do this.
A couple notes (I don't know if these are California specific or not): You are not allowed to install solar panels that would generate significantly more than 100% of your average usage. I don't think the state wants everyone to turn their own houses into little power-plants.
Also, for those interested... You only pay a power bill once at the end of the year. If you have generated more power than you've used, you don't get paid. Your balance is wiped clean. If you have used more than you've generated, than you pay the difference. So, unless your charitable (and some people are), there's not much point in straying too far above 100% anyways.
I was worried about buying technology now, thinking that there would be all these cool advances in a couple of years. What I learned is that advances in home PV systems is generally efficiency. Meaning that a smaller installation would yield the same power, and possibly for cheaper. But since I have roof-space to spare, and was willing to pay todays prices, I pulled the trigger. And Iâ(TM)m happy I did!
" For example, if Sally makes a good restaurant suggestion via Twitter, I can drag that message to John's Twitter icon in my sidebar and he'll receive a link to view Sally's message. If a particularly interesting picture comes across my Flickr feed, I can drag it over to a contact on Facebook, and he'll receive a notification to view the image"
Let me expand on the question with a hypothetical (yes, really) situation:
Let's say I pirate a movie. I don't really like the movie. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it on DVD. But I don't feel like deleting it, either, for whatever reason. Maybe I'd buy it if it were $0.50 at a swap meet, but certainly not $15 at a video store.
It's certainly true that I've gained something for nothing. But is it also true that I would never pay full price for it. Can it be said that the movie studio has lost money? (The answer might be an obvious "yes"... it just feels sort of weird)
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In general, anger and berating is a poor response to ignorance.
It comes naturally, but it typically doesn't help much.
I'm glad the author was able to revisit this topic with a cooler head.
And, frankly, we've really only gotten one side of the story. Even the OTHER side of the story came from one side of the story...
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If you want to trust your government and believe that the FDA knows what they are doing and would never lie to you or cover the truth to enhance corporate profits, then you have nothing to worry about.
Ok, phew!
Going WAY back on this one...
http://xkcd.com/16/
It takes a certain amount of 'nad to appear weak and helpless, get people to help you, and then rob them blind and walk way.
I certainly don't have the stomach for it...
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I wonder why they didn't use the Hawaiian name, "humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a"...
*shrug*
In fact, if you do a perfect ABABAB shuffle enough times, the deck will return to its original position.
It's called the Faro Shuffle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_shuffle
But you're right... a perfect shuffle is uniform. A very sloppy shuffle will leave big chunks of cards in the same order. So there is some indeterminate middle ground, I guess.
Wikipedia lists a number of different kinds of pneumonia, including...
# Bacterial pneumonia ...
# Viral pneumonia
# Fungal pneumonia
# Parasitic pneumonia
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Every time I do that, I end up spending the next hour ranting to my wife (seriously, for real, I have one of those)...
Not for long, if you keep that up...! :)
I'm sorry... I'm not trying to be rude, but what exactly does a librarian do these days?
I'm pretty sure being a librarian requires some sort of advanced degree, but I just don't know why. From my very limited view, they perform the same task as a Blockbuster employee: help customer check out books, return to shelf when done.
What am I missing?
You sound so... sincere.
The reason that logical, rational people dismiss alien contact is there simply isn't any evidence that is bulletproof.
It's FAR, FAR more likely that people:
1) play hoaxes on the public
2) misremember or misinterpret natural events
3) hallucinate due to drugs/alcohol or mental illness
4) lie for attention
You're right, though, to a certain degree. As we accumulate more and more anecdotal evidence, we SHOULD keep our eyes and ears open. But we must also remember that we're very fallible creatures, so we shouldn't accept any evidence unless it is truly convincing.
So far, no truly convincing evidence has been found.
Adman
First, I don't think BluRay can still be called "bleeding edge", nor do I think it can be compared to Betamax. It might not ever be as popular as VHS and DVD, but it is now THE standard for home high-def disc entertainment (am I wrong?)
Recently, I've spent $2000 on a nice big TV, and $400 on a PS3. I sit smug in my home, watching upconverted DVDs and BluRay movies, as well as lots of high definition cable with a low-end home theater surround sound system. I absolutely love it.
You, on the other hand, have spent close to nothing, and enjoy standard definition TV and DVDs, all the while happy with the fact that you've spent much less money than me.
Who's happier?
I can only speak for myself, but I'd guess neither of us would want to trade places with the other... :)
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Bewbs?! Where is this site? I want it.
Link please.
From the article: "Perhaps the most notorious example of this method is Sierra's King's Quest III, in which lengthy passages of potion recipes and other information had to be reproduced from the manual. One typo, and you were greeted with a "Game Over" screen."
I never viewed this as "copy protection", as such. If it was, I thought it brilliantly played into the actual game.
The spot in the game is where you're creating a potion or magical item. You needed to follow the directions PRECISELY, or the spell would backfire. I remember typing VERY slowly and carefully, doublechecking everything. It really enhanced the experience of the game, for me.
If it was meant purely as copy protection, I thought it actually ADDED something to the game.
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I'm just an average guy, but I've never heard of any of those names.
"Guitar Hero: Metallica" means something to me.
"Guitar Hero: Malmsteen" means nothing to me, and I'd dare say nothing to lots of other people, too.
Remember, solar power is generally available HERE and NOW.
I just invested in a PV system for my house (in sunny SoCal). As a computer geek, I asked our guy if it was stupid to invest, since there always seem to be efficiency breakthroughs on the horizon.
He reminded me that efficiency generally meant "smaller" and perhaps "cheaper". But since my roof was plenty adequate for what I needed, "smaller" wasn't really an issue. Cheaper will ALWAYS be the case, as it always has been.
Don't get frozen by the thought that solar power isn't worth investing in today. It totally is.
Adman
Didn't Netflix recently send out some sort of user poll saying "If we teamed up with Sony to offer downloads via the PS3, would you be interested?"
Maybe a deal has been made...
http://gizmodo.com/355607/netflix-movie-streaming-coming-to-xbox-360-and-ps3
If he can take the vocal tract of a fresh cadaver, and using only that, comes up with software that says "Nice weather we're having, eh wot?" then I'll be impressed... Otherwise, how can we verify his claims?
32 years is a long time.
In sunny San Diego, we expect to make our money back in 12 years.
The solar panels are under warranty for 20 years.
Sounded like a pretty good deal to me.
And there's just something cool about making your own energy.
I just bought solar panels and had them installed on my roof. If you have the means, and live in a sunny area, I don't see why you wouldn't do this.
A couple notes (I don't know if these are California specific or not): You are not allowed to install solar panels that would generate significantly more than 100% of your average usage. I don't think the state wants everyone to turn their own houses into little power-plants.
Also, for those interested... You only pay a power bill once at the end of the year. If you have generated more power than you've used, you don't get paid. Your balance is wiped clean. If you have used more than you've generated, than you pay the difference. So, unless your charitable (and some people are), there's not much point in straying too far above 100% anyways.
I was worried about buying technology now, thinking that there would be all these cool advances in a couple of years. What I learned is that advances in home PV systems is generally efficiency. Meaning that a smaller installation would yield the same power, and possibly for cheaper. But since I have roof-space to spare, and was willing to pay todays prices, I pulled the trigger. And Iâ(TM)m happy I did!
Now to buy a plug-in car...
" For example, if Sally makes a good restaurant suggestion via Twitter, I can drag that message to John's Twitter icon in my sidebar and he'll receive a link to view Sally's message. If a particularly interesting picture comes across my Flickr feed, I can drag it over to a contact on Facebook, and he'll receive a notification to view the image"
I just threw up a little in my mouth...
I'm a smart software developer, so I'm pretty sure my computer is not affected (secured hardware firewall, etc). But how can I be sure?
I don't necessarily trust that a clean-virus scan means a whole lot.
What's the best way to make this determination?
I'm selling mine for $180!
Let me expand on the question with a hypothetical (yes, really) situation:
Let's say I pirate a movie. I don't really like the movie. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it on DVD. But I don't feel like deleting it, either, for whatever reason. Maybe I'd buy it if it were $0.50 at a swap meet, but certainly not $15 at a video store.
It's certainly true that I've gained something for nothing. But is it also true that I would never pay full price for it. Can it be said that the movie studio has lost money? (The answer might be an obvious "yes"... it just feels sort of weird)
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