1) The money saved in the design by not having the electrical engine, battery, extra alternator system
The Prius doesn't have an extra alternator system - the hybrid system replaces the alternator, starter, and serpentine belt. In actuality, there aren't any more motor/generators (MG1 and MG2 replace the alternator and starter), they're just bigger and more powerful.
HSD is more expensive than a conventional transmission right now. That probably won't be the case in 2020 - batteries, power electronics, and electric motors are getting vastly cheaper. Conventional transmisisons aren't.
2) The added vehicle life (if any) by not having extra parts to fail.
The Prius doesn't have "extra parts", it has fewer.
Compared to a conventional automatic vehicle, the Prius has two electric motors, a battery, and an HV control system. All of these parts are highly reliable. What it doesn't have is clutches (multiple in an automatic transmission), high-pressure hydraulics (torque converter), a serpentine belt, alternator, or starter.
The Prius transmission has 12 moving parts. An automatic transmission has hundreds.
The Prius is one of the most reliable vehicles on the road, according to Consumer Reports.
3) A more realistic estimate of the gas money saved under the new, more realistic mileage ratings
OK, compare the yearly fuel cost of the Prius to the slightly smaller Corolla with automatic transmission.
(fueleconomy.gov, new combined numbers, $3.33/gal, 15k mi/year)
Assuming fuel prices stay constant, and you own the car for 7 years, that's a savings of $4452 too shabby, considering that a Corolla configured similarly to the Prius base configuration (auto transmission, side airbags, remote keyless entry, CD, power windows/locks, ABS, cruise control) costs $18,520 - the Prius is $22,795, or $4275 more than the Corolla, or $177 LESS than the Corolla considering fuel savings.
The Prius I drive cost around $27,000. I got nearly $6000 in tax credits (thanks Colorado) and will save nearly $4500 in fuel over the next 7 years. That means that I effectively paid $16,500 for the car which is an absolute steal considering that the Prius has a touchscren, GPS navigation, 6 CD MP3/WMA changer, RF keys and pushbutton start (usually a Lexus feature), CVT, side airbags, stability control, Bluetooth, HID headlights, and numerous other gadgety features.
4)The additional cost of disposing batteries from the hybrid upon the hybrids end
Toyota pays $200 for the battery, because it has valuable nickel in it which can be recycled for cash.
I feel that we still may have been too quick to jump on the bandwagon with hybrids. Air pollution is reduced overall, but the added cost of the electrical engine may not make up for the forgone cost of gas
Remember that ALL energy comes from gas in the Prius. The Prius is just another gasoline vehicle - just one that is cleaner and more efficent.
Most of the Prius is rediculously conventional. The tires, ICE, suspension, low-voltage battery, brakes, and unit body are all very conventional. The Prius is made of steel, just like a normal car. The brakes are regular disk/drum brakes. The suspension is similar to the Toyota Echo. The low-voltage system uses a normal 12V car battery (albeit smaller because it doesn't need to start the car) and negative chassis ground. The ICE is similar to the 1NZ-FE used in the Echo, Yaris, xA, and xB.
What's different? A HV inverter, two electric motors and a simple planetary gearset (replacing the transmission/alternator/starter/serpentine belt), and a Ni-MH battery.
Additionally, how good is it going to be to have a mound of spent batteries laying around in landfills?
Got any source for any of this? All information I've found directly contradicts almost everything you've said...
I couldn't find the maximum speed for the Insight's electric motor so you may be correct that it's helping (minimally) at freeway speeds, but I did previously find 35MPH as the max for the similar Civic hybrid (The Prius' max is 43MPH).
You clearly do not understand how the Prius works. There are two electric motors in the Prius, MG1 and MG2. MG2 is directly proportional to wheel speed, so it is always turning when the vehicle is in motion.
There is no "maximum speed" at which the Prius does not use the electric motors. The electric motors are ALWAYS being used when the Prius is in motion.
41MPH is the maximum speed at which the Prius (3rd-gen NHW20) will operate in electric-only mode. This does not mean that the electric motors do not contribute power above 41MPH. Nor is it even the fastest speed that MG2 is capable of in electric-only mode. 41MPH is the max electric-only speed because, if the ICE is stopped, MG1 reaches its negagtive rev limit at this point. The ICE must spin to prevent an overrev condition at this point. Note that the ICE doesn't actually need to contribute power, it just has to spin.
Also, the electric motor apparently contributes less than 1/10th the horsepower of the engine, so at speed there's very little potential fuel savings to be had by using the electric motor, though significant savings in city driving.
Correct for IMA vehicles (Honda), incorrect for HSD (Toyota/Lexus/Ford). MG2 in the Prius, for example, is 50kW (67HP), which is 93% as powerful as the 72HP ICE.
There seems to be the misunderstanding that the hybrid system in HSD vehicles (including the Prius) is somehow "bolted on", and could be disabled or removed. This is not the case. The hybrid system is an integral part of the vehicle. It is the alternator, starter, transmission, and air-conditioning. The Prius is incapable of moving with the hybrid system disabled. You couldn't even start the ICE, and even if you could, you couldn't deliver any power to the wheels. Nor would there be any power to charge the battery. Nor would the air-conditioning work.
HSD is not a system that you add to a conventional vehicle. It is a completely different way of managing energy. It's less complex mechanically, more reliable, and more efficent. And Toyota is smart enough to realize that it will eventually be cheaper, too.
Your assumption that hybrids are "dead weight" at highway speeds is wrong.
No, it's exactly correct.
Only if the hybrid system weighs more than the larger ICE and automatic transmission required in a normal vehicle. Lighter motors and batteries may make the hybrid drivetrain lighter than a conventional drivetrain because you need a smaller engine to get acceptable performance.
The 1NZ-FXE in the Prius is only 1.5L and only produces 72hp at 5000rpm. Such an engine would be horribly underpowered for a car the size of the Prius (larger than a Civic or Corolla, which typically have 2.4L or larger engines).
Mileage, yes. "Hybrid," no. Your car's hybrid system (electric motor/generator) shuts off at 35MHz, and can't possibly help your gas mileage, in any way, above that speed.
I don't know why you're talking about MHz, so I'll assume you meant MPH. And you're wrong.
The hybrid system allows the vehicle to use an ICE sized closer to average load. The Prius uses an Atkinson/Miller cycle engine that produces less power than an Otto cycle engine but does so more efficently. The 1NZ-FE (found in the Echo/Yaris/xA/xB) has the same basic design as the 1NZ-FXE in the Prius, but it produces 105 HP (just enough for a small car like the Yaris), albeit with reduced efficency.
Note that HSD technology, like in the Prius, replaces the conventional transmisson. The Prius is always operating in electric mode - the car CANNOT move without MG2 moving, although it can move without the ICE running. The electric motors are integral to determining the effective gear ratio of the transmission.
Above 41MPH, the ICE must spin to avoid overreving MG1. That does not mean that it needs to be providing any power. If the HV battery is fully charged (actually only at about 80% charge as the HV battery operates in a narrow range to extend battery life), the vehicle can most certainly travel at highway speeds under electic power.
Let me clarify this again: in HSD-like vehicles (all Toyota, Lexus, and Ford hybrids), the hybrid system never shuts off. The hybrid system replaces the trasmission, alternator, and starter.
Toyota is moving to HSD by 2020 because HSD is simpler. It has fewer moving parts (the Prius transmission has 12 moving parts, no clutches or wear components, and no high-pressure fluids) and fewer mechanical components (no serpentine belt, no alternator, no starter).
I have NEVER heard a single report of the Prius transmission failing. That's not something that any conventional automotive transmisison can match.
Indeed Go is a much bigger challenge. At the moment the best Go playing programs are about 8 Kyu. Which means that they are just childplay for any professional player (in Japan, China, South Korea). Even at the club where I play, half of the players beat these kind of programs with ease.
Indeed, the only way to make computers competitive at Go is to give them a lot of handicap stones.
Note that programs are getting exponentially better, partly because of better hardware, but also because of improved algorithms. The best programs today (MoGo) use new methods (modified Monte Carlo simulations), and are now at around 3kyu, which is solidly in the "advanced ameteur" range. This is a massive improvement over just a few years ago.
The Monte Carlo method is particularly interesting becuase it requires little expert knowledge. It scales well to multiple cores and should get significantly stronger as computer hardware becomes more and more powerful.
I suspect that we will see a 1 dan program before the end of the decade. That's not nearly professional level, but it's a rank that many ameteurs will never achieve.
Good idea. But, remember, computers were as bad at Chess in 1980 as they are at Go today. Wait 25 years. Exponentially faster hardware may not solve the problem, but algorithmic research certainly will.
Computers are smarter than we are at a lot of things. It's only a matter of time until they are smarter at everything. You are as smart as the collective wisdom of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Computers can be.
Microsoft TV was never used extensively on Comcast anyway. The i-Guide software (Guideworks) is indeed pretty bad, as is the Microsoft software. Consensus seems to be that the Microsoft software was slower and buggier, while i-Guide was harder to use, had fewer features, and was more annoying.
One more reason to use Dish Network. Their software has crappy UI, but it's stable (at least on my 625 DVR), has all the features you could want, and responds quickly.
As a pilot in training, I see warnings against relying on the instruments too much all the time. In spite of the fact that a lot of effort has gone into making everything accurate and useful, it is taught that it is critical you have as much awareness of what is going on around you at all times - and this means actually looking out of the airplane to confirm what your instruments are telling you.
Just to be clear - you're referring to flying VFR (visual flight rules). If you are flying in instrument meteorological conditions (and thus under IFR), you most likely can't look out - you MUST trust your instruments.
Of course, flying under IFR requires much more pilot qualification, more rigorous procedures, and much more extensive instrumentation.
Relying on the GPS by itself to plan your route is equivalent to flying with your windows blacked out.
No, flying at night, in clouds, or in other poor visiblity conditions is like flying with your windows blacked out. We still do it all the time. With category III-C ILS, it's even possible to land in zero-visibility.
Of course, none of this matters when you are flying under VFR. By definition, you must be able to "see and avoid" danger.
If your instruments are wrong - and it does happen - you'll never know it, and who knows where you'll end up.
To fly in instrument conditions, you need redundant instruments. Again, this is not something that a Cessna 172 is going to have, but the 2000+ 737s in the air right now most certainly do.
One of the hardest things in becoming instrument rated is learning to trust your instruments. Your inner ear can become confused, and unless you identify the horizon, you really have no idea what's really happening. If your instruments tell you
I find it more amusing the people will spend the time and energy trying to debunk guys who are out there trying to do it for a living. It's entertaining to some, I suppose, but there seem to be people genuinely angry that someone out there can perform a magic trick. I don't get these people, but hey, whatever.
We're not mad that he can perform a magic trick. James Randi is a magician, too. But he admits that he's using trickery to accomplish his illusion. Uri Geller claims that his abilities are real.
You lost me right there. The GMA X3000 isn't a horrible design, but it's not "competitive" in any sense. Even a $40 ATI X1300XT is 5-10x faster.
Now, if your "3D" usage consists mainly of older (much older) games and desktop composition (e.g. Beryl or Aero Glass), then the GMA X3000 is a pretty decent option. But it is by no means competitive.
Roundabouts are far more efficient at traffic control than stop lights.
In many cases, yes. But roundabouts perform poorly where two major streets intersect. And when traffic lights are networked into a proper traffic management system, they become considerably more effective.
Roundabouts are an excellent alternative to stop signs, and they can replace some traffic lights - asssuming that US drivers are willing to accept them (several intersections in my city are being converted right now). But pretending that they are always the best option is foolish.
There is no absolutely accepted terminology to separate that type of hybrid from the kind of hybrid where the engine is coupled to the transmission and helps to drive the vehicle directly.
Series Hybrid = ICE Drives Generator -> Motor Drives Wheels Parallel Hybrid = ICE Drives Wheels / Motor assists Series-Parallel Hybrid = ICE Drives Wheels or Generator, Motor/ICE drive wheels
The PS3 is actually a really, really nice console. Internet capability, free online multiplayer, Linux compatibility, keyboard/mouse support, upgradable HDD (get any SATA drive!), USB mass storage support, tilt controllers, good graphics, HDMI, Blu-Ray, and Folding@Home. It's tough not to love this little box - it's more open than the 360 (particularly since you can run Linux) too.
But, at the end of the day, it comes down to two factors for most people - games and price. The PS3 doesn't have a big enough library yet, although it's getting there fast. And $500 is too much for a video-game console.
Right now, the PS3 is an excellent value. Adding a rechargable battery, the HD-DVD drive, and WiFi to the 360 "Elite" pushes it way past the price of the PS3's high-end model. But the 360 gives you the choice. Maybe I don't need WiFi, and maybe I don't need HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.
$400 is a lot easier to manage. $350 would be even better.
There would be little point in enforcing the GPL if no copyright existed. You would have all the rights to use whatever code you wanted or could get hold of.
See, the "could get hold of" part is the problem. If you think DRM is bad now, think of it in a world where there are no restrictions on copying. If there are no legal protections to prevent me from copying your work, the only possible restrictions are technological.
Say you are writing software and want to make profit without copyright. You need to make it as difficult as possible to duplicate your code. Forget about open source - your source code must now remain absolutely secret to prevent a breach. And you probably won't let your software run on commodity hardware either.
And, in this copyright-free world, what makes companies release the changes they make to your software? Sure, you may be able to legally copy and use their binaries, but what if they run the code through an obfuscator? How are you going to make changes to a complex piece of software when the code is a mixed up jumble? Perhaps you can reverse-engineer the software and make a few changes, but you're never going to merge those changes back into the main tree.
If you're OK with your software being used in a closed-source product, choose a license that allows that. Many people do that today. You can choose the BSD license if you want to require people to acknowledge your project. Or you can put your work in the public domain and allow others to do whatever they please.
Copyrights and patents have a few things in common. They are designed to encourage authors and inventors to create new works, and, more importantly, to disclose their work.
Copyright lasts far too long and is too restrictive. But it is far too important to be abolished altogether.
At first I thought you were trolling but from your "fix their performance" statement I realize you just don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Right. PHP's the fastest language out there, as proven in this test.
You're comparing two completely differnet language types. You might as well compare Java and C++.
Compared to other interpreted (e.g. parse tree is built on the fly rather than by a compiler) languages like Python or Ruby, PHP is about average.
Compare PHP to the CLR (or Mono) or to the JRE, and PHP is going to be way slower.
But calling PHP slow because of some benchmark is just bull. Yes, Java or.NET is faster, and if you're writing an application that does a lot of crunching, by all means you should use a platform that is good at it. There are plenty of good reasons to choose J2EE or ASP.NET over PHP, but performance just isn't one of them in a lot of applications.
The Wikimedia Foundation runs Wikipedia (the 10th most popular website in the world) with PHP and 123 commodity PC servers. What does that prove? It proves that application design and system architecture is FAR more important than what platform you choose. You can run benchmarks all day long, but that doesn't change the fact that Wikipedia does far more with far less than most websites out there - and they do it with PHP.
I serve over 10 million pageviews a month on WS Network using PHP, MySQL, and a virtual server with 50MB of memory, a fraction of a 2.4GHz P4, and 100MB of swap. My informal load testing indicates that I could handle as many as 30 pageviews per second (80 million per month) with my current hardware and DB setup.
Maybe I could do more with J2EE or ASP.NET (or, perhaps I could do far less - ASP.NET and J2EE aren't as easy on memory as PHP for small apps). But the fact is that I am doing a hell of a lot already considering the very limited hardware I'm running on.
PHP code execution performance is not, and has never been, a major issue in my experience. It's the same way with Python, Perl, Ruby, and any other "scripting" language. The fact is, you're not going to write an H.264 codec or a PS3 game in Python. But many, many applications are not constrained by CPU performance. 8-core servers are now cheap. 16-core servers will be soon. Changing your language might give you 10x better performance. But architecture and algorithm improvements will probably get you much, much more.
"Performance isn't a problem until it's a problem."
I don't use a Sidekick anymore (I have a T-Mobile Dash now), but it has a great keyboard, awesome AIM client, decent text messaging, email, web, and you can download relay services from the Catalog. The Sidekick has pretty much become the device of choice among the deaf community, probably because it has one of the best keyboards on a mobile device, good non-audio notifications (e.g. unique vibrate/flash patterns for differnet notifications) and a lot of other nice features.
The new Sidekick iD is $99 with a 2-year contract, and you can get a data-only plan for $30/mo. It's the "no-frills" device of the Sidekick lineup (no camera, Bluetooth, or MP3 playback).
With OS X, battery life went up for some uses when moving from the older versions that didn't have Quartz Extreme to those that did. While it used the GPU more, it used the CPU less. Moving windows no longer triggered redraw events (which cost a lot of CPU cycles), and compositing on the GPU, which has dedicated silicon for it, was cheaper (in terms of power) than using the CPU.
This may be true on notebooks with integrated graphics (e.g. MacBook) or pissy low-power ATI GPUs (e.g. the iBook), but it's not true with high-power dedicated graphics. One of the reasons that the MacBook Pro has pretty bad battery life (yes, 3.5 hours is bad for a system with a battery that's as big as the MacBook Pro's) is that it has a nice high-power ATI GPU.
Forcing a high-end mobile GPU into 3D mode does draw more power. Not a ton more power - certainly not as much as a 3D intensive application like gaming - but more than drawing 2D shapes.
Every watt counts in a notebook. For a notebook with a 64 W*h (6 cells, 2800mAh, 3.7V) battery to have 5 hours of endurance, it needs to draw less than 13W.
Re:There are more things than aero which drain the
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Vista Eating Battery Life
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the drm which is in there left and right adds additional processor cycles
Do you have any fucking clue how DRM works on Windows Vista? It's not some magical happy service that's running all the time. It's integrated into the kernel and into Windows Media Foundation and the Windows Media Framework. Of course, it's integrated into the Kernel and Windows Media Framework on XP too.
XP has many of the same DRM and DRM-esque features as Vista (WGA/Activation, Secure Audio Path, Windows Media DRM, Signed drivers, ICT support). Try playing an HD-DVD on XP with a licensed player and a card/monitor that doesn't support HDCP. Try playing a Region 2 DVD on an XP system where the RPC1 or RPC2 region has been set to Region 1. Try playing a copy of T2 Extreme HD on XP without registering it.
Yes, there are new DRM technologies in Vista. But just like the DRM features in XP or - god forbid - Mac OS X, the solution is obvious: don't buy into bullshit DRM.
I don't have an HD-DVD drive for a very good reason - I don't want to put up with bullshit DRM. Once the DRM has been cracked (truly cracked - not just cracked for movies released prior to date X), I'll consider getting a drive. Until then, I watch plain old DVDs using VLC and my region-hacked drive.
The only problem with that is that only with retail versions do you get both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions. I built a new PC late last year and got a Windows XP Pro license (32 bit, OEM) with a free upgrade to Vista. I got my upgrade, Vista Business (32bit). There was no way for me to upgrade to the 64 bit version. I'm not quite interested in running 64bit quite yet but I want to do it in the future but unfortunately, unless I buy the retail version of Vista I'll be out of luck and the same will be the case for anyone that buys an OEM verisons.
I went to a state college in the 90's and they kept the dorm networks completely separate from the school networks. I don't know if it was foresight or not, but they appeared to keep the college system up and running all the time, but the dorm network often slowed to a crawl (and this was before Napster) and you had to foot it out to a lab if you needed something off the network.
This is the way it is at my university (University of Colorado at Boulder). But the network never "slows to a crawl".
My university has 25,000+ students. We use a lot of bandwidth. But, guess what? We also use a lot of power (30MW), generate a lot of trash, and a lot of crime.
We have our own power plant (although it is now just used for heat because of current market rates for electricity). We have our own recycling plant and our own trash trucks. And we have our own police department.
Students pay a small fraction of the highly subsidized costs of their education - tuition, facilities, infrastructure, salaries - at a TAXPAYER funded public institution such as Ohio University.
You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Of Ohio State's $3.76 billion 2006/2007 budget, only $510 million (13.5%) came from state appropriations.
Considerably more money ($921 million / 24.5%) came from students. And even more than that came from the hospital that Ohio State operates.
Is this information hard to find? No! It's right on the Ohio State site, right here.
The fact is, at Ohio State, students funding is twice as big a factor as state funding. And student funding isn't a "small fraction" - it's nearly a quarter of the entire budget.
I go to a "state funded" school (University of Colorado at Boulder), but Colorado only contributes 8.1% of the funding for my university. Student fees and tuition contribute 39% of the budget - almost five times as much as state funding.
I am so sick and tired about this "what are my tax dollars doing" bullshit with regards to educational institutions. There are 26,000 people who attend my university. That's larger than most of the cities in Wyoming.
If a city offered municipal internet access (as many Slashdot users would like), would it be OK if the city decided that you shouldn't be allowed to use? What if the city prevented other providers from offering services on their premises?
And I assure you, the taxpayers of Ohio have much better things to do with their money than to foot enormous bandwidth bills so that students can illegally download copyrighted music, movies, and porn faster.
Here we go again. Because, if someone is using BitTorrent, they must be a dirty criminal. Give me a break. There are so many legitimite uses for P2P that it's not even funny. I downloaded an Ubuntu CD when 7.04 came out using BitTorrent. Public domain and educational materials - including videos - are distributed with BitTorrent. There are even professors on campus who use BitTorrent to distribute video lectures.
Maybe you are too short-sighted to see the many uses of P2P technology. Guess what? The vast majority of email sent today is spam. That doesn't mean that email isn't a valuable tool.
I remember when Bill Owens made an incredibly stupid statement about how CU should dismiss a particular professor. Owens didn't seem to understand that universities have a large degree of autonomy - it's not the Governor who selects the Regents, it's the voters. If you don't like what's happening at Ohio State, elect different representatives. But don't go pretending that the State legislature should make policy decisions. Ohio doesn't like it when the Federal Government decides to interfere. Your City Council doesn't like it when the State interferes.
No, it's not. Try using Mac OS X on a 24" or 30" display - you'll find that you rarely make apps fullscreen, so the menubar is often way the hell away from what you're doing. That's a problem. Now try using a multi-monitor setup. The menu bar could be on a different screen, 2400 pixels away. That's a BIG problem.
My Media Center box has 768M of memory, a P4 Northwood 2.66GHz, and a GeForce 6200. It's not fast (certainly much slower than XP or GNOME), but it's usable. I used to use XP on this box, but when bad memory ended up corrupting the disk (test your memory BEFORE you move defrag file on the disk), I didn't really feel like digging around for a floppy drive to load the SATA drivers. My notebook has 1.25GB of memory, a Pentium-M "Dothan" 1.73GHz, and a GeForce Go 6400. It's still not as fast as XP or GNOME, but it's pretty darn close. My desktop has 2GB of memory, an Athlon 64 X2 1900+ (@2.7GHz) , and a Radeon X1600 Pro. It pretty much flies.
The thing is, in a year, my "high end" system will be a value system. Walk into a Best Buy and try to buy a desktop that's single-core. Only the cheapest value systems don't have either an Athlon X2 or a Core 2 Duo. Try to buy a box with less than 1GB of memory - again, you'll find that only the cheapest systems are equipped with 512M.
2GB of DDR2 is now like $105. An Athlon 64 X2 1900+ is $65. A GeForce 6100 IGP board is $40.
The Intel/AMD price war has had many effects. One of them is that dual-core is no longer a high-end feature.
My guess would be stress. I've seen grown men cry over single assignments, several of them, over the years here @ VT. The engineering kids are pushed really hard, and many of them don't deal with it very well. 60 hours a week of real work are pretty normal, with classes that everage 27-50%, which are only curved at the end (and nobody knows the curve till then).
Thank god for saying this. I'm an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Colorado, and NO ONE else seems to understand the stress of not knowing how you are doing and how prepared you are for the next round of exams. It seems that CU is not alone in professors who only decide on their grading policies at the END of the semester. Whenever someone asks, "how are you doing", I respond "I don't know". When they reply, "how could that be?", I feel like screaming.
Many engineering students I know end up having fairly empty shells of personalities, as their entire lives so far have circled around work and thinly veiled attempts at having a life on the side.
You can't let THEM get you. Your professors are your greatest allies. They are also your greatest enemies.
My professors tell me that I should be working 4 hours outside class for each hour in class/lab. I spend 18 hours in class/lab per week (despite the fact that I'm taking a "light" 14-credit schedule). That works out to 72 hours per week of studying/homework. Add it up, and I'm supposed to be spending 90 (!) hours per week working on my degree. This is in addition to my 20 hour a week part-time job. That's 110 hours per week. There are 112 hours in a week where I am awake. You do the math.
You get over the idea that you're going to get straight As pretty quickly. Even if you wanted to, you're probably not smart enough - most professors in my College only give As to the top 10%. The top 10% probably shouldn't even be attending my University.
Once you resign yourself to doing an acceptable job rather than an exceptional job, things get easier. It's OK to be average compared to your classmates, because your classmates are pretty damned smart anyway. This is a hard transition for many people - going from being one of the smartest people in their High School class to just being average.
Being smart isn't enough to be exceptional. You need to be smart, and you need to accept that you won't have a life outside of your classes. Unfortunately, it's like WoW - there's always someone willing to take it further.
Refuse to let them have you. Be smart, and work hard. But, at the end of the day, if you learn the material and end up with a B- (or, God forbid, even a C+!), don't freak out. We live in a world with over 6 billion people. Chances are that you're not the best at ANYTHING. University can be the best time or the worst time of your life. It's up to you. You're not here to work 100 hours per week. You're here to learn, grow, and network. That should be your priority.
I seriously doubt that mate. A random armed rabble will not overthrow your government by force. You have invented the most powerful Military on the planet.
Yeah, because that Military is doing so well in Iraq right now. There are 250 million guns in the US. There isn't a military on the planet that could impose military law.
You seem to think that the goal of an opressive government is to kill its citizens. It's not.
In fact, the though that someone might be carrying a gun doesn't even occur to me any more.
Perhaps that should scare you. We live in a society where good people outnumber bad people by a wide, wide margin. I don't want to trust the police with the preservation of my rights and my safety. I want to trust the 25% of the population who is ready and equipped to back up my rights.
In an opressive government, it is the police who are used to subjugate the masses. Why should the police be the only individuals with the right to have firearms?
Its unfortunate, but I suspect that the only way Americans will ever view the preservation of their society
Perhaps we see the right to arms as part of the preservation of our society. And we have some pretty damned good historical evidence to support that belief. Perhaps you believe that military technology has rendered that advantage moot. But occupations are still fought on the ground, and when your army is outnumbered 300:1 by armed civilians, suddenly all of that hardware doesn't look so effective.
Apple to Apples you Americans die more than 10 times more often than us from guns.
We die 10 times more often than you from crimes committed with guns. Perhaps we should ban knives. Perhaps we should ban diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate. Perhaps we should ban chainsaws. All can be used to commit horrible, horrible crimes. But the fact is that the vast, vast majority of guns in the US are used legally and safely.
People die. We all get wrapped up in tragedies. But over 2000 people died today because of heart disease. Perhaps we should ban fatty foods? Perhaps we should ban cars, which killed more than 100 people today. We live in a world of danger. It's all a matter of risk vs. benefit. Perhaps you don't see the benefit. But the 80 million gun owners in the US do.
It's very easy to point fingers at the US. But forget comparing us to Australia - compare us to our neighbors to the north. Canada's gun violence rate (0.53 homicides per 100,000) is far, far lower than the US - but their 21% gun ownership rate is not.
Perhaps you don't think our right to own guns is important. But here, it's so damned important that it's in the Bill of Rights. It's in the same category as freedom of speech and the press. We can't pick and choose which parts of the Constitution we want to uphold. If the advocates for gun control want to propose an Amendment, so be it - then we would get down to the real question of whether or not the right to bear arms really should be a right. But trying to erode the Bill of Rights is a particularly dangerous activity - if the Second Amendment no longer is worth the paper it's printed on, what about the rest of our rights?
OK, as a bleeding heart liberal, I'll say it. The Democratic party sucks their own big donkey balls.
I'll take McCain, even though I disagree with him on several issues, over Hillary any day.
I would have picked McCain over Hillary in 2000, but after he has sold his soul to the right, I just can't see voting for the man. Nor can I see voting for Hillary.
If it comes down to Hillary/McCain, I'm voting 3rd-party. You do have a choice. If a 3rd-party candidate ends up with 20% of the vote, you can bet there will be some BIG changes at the DNC.
Hopefully, it won't come down to that - there's always the primary. Unfortunately, we run primaries in a completely broken manner in this country, so it doesn't really matter who I vote for (the candidate is pretty much decided before the CO primary occurs).
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The Prius doesn't have an extra alternator system - the hybrid system replaces the alternator, starter, and serpentine belt. In actuality, there aren't any more motor/generators (MG1 and MG2 replace the alternator and starter), they're just bigger and more powerful.
HSD is more expensive than a conventional transmission right now. That probably won't be the case in 2020 - batteries, power electronics, and electric motors are getting vastly cheaper. Conventional transmisisons aren't.
The Prius doesn't have "extra parts", it has fewer.
Compared to a conventional automatic vehicle, the Prius has two electric motors, a battery, and an HV control system. All of these parts are highly reliable. What it doesn't have is clutches (multiple in an automatic transmission), high-pressure hydraulics (torque converter), a serpentine belt, alternator, or starter.
The Prius transmission has 12 moving parts. An automatic transmission has hundreds.
The Prius is one of the most reliable vehicles on the road, according to Consumer Reports.
OK, compare the yearly fuel cost of the Prius to the slightly smaller Corolla with automatic transmission.
Prius: $1086(CVT, 46MPG)
Corolla: $1722 (Automatic, 29MPG)
Savings: $636
(fueleconomy.gov, new combined numbers, $3.33/gal, 15k mi/year)
Assuming fuel prices stay constant, and you own the car for 7 years, that's a savings of $4452 too shabby, considering that a Corolla configured similarly to the Prius base configuration (auto transmission, side airbags, remote keyless entry, CD, power windows/locks, ABS, cruise control) costs $18,520 - the Prius is $22,795, or $4275 more than the Corolla, or $177 LESS than the Corolla considering fuel savings.
The Prius I drive cost around $27,000. I got nearly $6000 in tax credits (thanks Colorado) and will save nearly $4500 in fuel over the next 7 years. That means that I effectively paid $16,500 for the car which is an absolute steal considering that the Prius has a touchscren, GPS navigation, 6 CD MP3/WMA changer, RF keys and pushbutton start (usually a Lexus feature), CVT, side airbags, stability control, Bluetooth, HID headlights, and numerous other gadgety features.
Toyota pays $200 for the battery, because it has valuable nickel in it which can be recycled for cash.
Remember that ALL energy comes from gas in the Prius. The Prius is just another gasoline vehicle - just one that is cleaner and more efficent.
Most of the Prius is rediculously conventional. The tires, ICE, suspension, low-voltage battery, brakes, and unit body are all very conventional. The Prius is made of steel, just like a normal car. The brakes are regular disk/drum brakes. The suspension is similar to the Toyota Echo. The low-voltage system uses a normal 12V car battery (albeit smaller because it doesn't need to start the car) and negative chassis ground. The ICE is similar to the 1NZ-FE used in the Echo, Yaris, xA, and xB.
What's different? A HV inverter, two electric motors and a simple planetary gearset (replacing the transmission/alternator/starter/serpentine belt), and a Ni-MH battery.
You clearly do not understand how the Prius works. There are two electric motors in the Prius, MG1 and MG2. MG2 is directly proportional to wheel speed, so it is always turning when the vehicle is in motion.
There is no "maximum speed" at which the Prius does not use the electric motors. The electric motors are ALWAYS being used when the Prius is in motion.
41MPH is the maximum speed at which the Prius (3rd-gen NHW20) will operate in electric-only mode. This does not mean that the electric motors do not contribute power above 41MPH. Nor is it even the fastest speed that MG2 is capable of in electric-only mode. 41MPH is the max electric-only speed because, if the ICE is stopped, MG1 reaches its negagtive rev limit at this point. The ICE must spin to prevent an overrev condition at this point. Note that the ICE doesn't actually need to contribute power, it just has to spin.
Correct for IMA vehicles (Honda), incorrect for HSD (Toyota/Lexus/Ford). MG2 in the Prius, for example, is 50kW (67HP), which is 93% as powerful as the 72HP ICE.
There seems to be the misunderstanding that the hybrid system in HSD vehicles (including the Prius) is somehow "bolted on", and could be disabled or removed. This is not the case. The hybrid system is an integral part of the vehicle. It is the alternator, starter, transmission, and air-conditioning. The Prius is incapable of moving with the hybrid system disabled. You couldn't even start the ICE, and even if you could, you couldn't deliver any power to the wheels. Nor would there be any power to charge the battery. Nor would the air-conditioning work.
HSD is not a system that you add to a conventional vehicle. It is a completely different way of managing energy. It's less complex mechanically, more reliable, and more efficent. And Toyota is smart enough to realize that it will eventually be cheaper, too.
Only if the hybrid system weighs more than the larger ICE and automatic transmission required in a normal vehicle. Lighter motors and batteries may make the hybrid drivetrain lighter than a conventional drivetrain because you need a smaller engine to get acceptable performance.
The 1NZ-FXE in the Prius is only 1.5L and only produces 72hp at 5000rpm. Such an engine would be horribly underpowered for a car the size of the Prius (larger than a Civic or Corolla, which typically have 2.4L or larger engines).
Indeed, the only way to make computers competitive at Go is to give them a lot of handicap stones.
Note that programs are getting exponentially better, partly because of better hardware, but also because of improved algorithms. The best programs today (MoGo) use new methods (modified Monte Carlo simulations), and are now at around 3kyu, which is solidly in the "advanced ameteur" range. This is a massive improvement over just a few years ago.
The Monte Carlo method is particularly interesting becuase it requires little expert knowledge. It scales well to multiple cores and should get significantly stronger as computer hardware becomes more and more powerful.
I suspect that we will see a 1 dan program before the end of the decade. That's not nearly professional level, but it's a rank that many ameteurs will never achieve.
Good idea. But, remember, computers were as bad at Chess in 1980 as they are at Go today. Wait 25 years. Exponentially faster hardware may not solve the problem, but algorithmic research certainly will.
Computers are smarter than we are at a lot of things. It's only a matter of time until they are smarter at everything. You are as smart as the collective wisdom of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Computers can be.
Microsoft TV was never used extensively on Comcast anyway. The i-Guide software (Guideworks) is indeed pretty bad, as is the Microsoft software. Consensus seems to be that the Microsoft software was slower and buggier, while i-Guide was harder to use, had fewer features, and was more annoying.
One more reason to use Dish Network. Their software has crappy UI, but it's stable (at least on my 625 DVR), has all the features you could want, and responds quickly.
Just to be clear - you're referring to flying VFR (visual flight rules). If you are flying in instrument meteorological conditions (and thus under IFR), you most likely can't look out - you MUST trust your instruments.
Of course, flying under IFR requires much more pilot qualification, more rigorous procedures, and much more extensive instrumentation.
No, flying at night, in clouds, or in other poor visiblity conditions is like flying with your windows blacked out. We still do it all the time. With category III-C ILS, it's even possible to land in zero-visibility.
Of course, none of this matters when you are flying under VFR. By definition, you must be able to "see and avoid" danger.
To fly in instrument conditions, you need redundant instruments. Again, this is not something that a Cessna 172 is going to have, but the 2000+ 737s in the air right now most certainly do.
One of the hardest things in becoming instrument rated is learning to trust your instruments. Your inner ear can become confused, and unless you identify the horizon, you really have no idea what's really happening. If your instruments tell you
We're not mad that he can perform a magic trick. James Randi is a magician, too. But he admits that he's using trickery to accomplish his illusion. Uri Geller claims that his abilities are real.
You lost me right there. The GMA X3000 isn't a horrible design, but it's not "competitive" in any sense. Even a $40 ATI X1300XT is 5-10x faster.
Now, if your "3D" usage consists mainly of older (much older) games and desktop composition (e.g. Beryl or Aero Glass), then the GMA X3000 is a pretty decent option. But it is by no means competitive.
In many cases, yes. But roundabouts perform poorly where two major streets intersect. And when traffic lights are networked into a proper traffic management system, they become considerably more effective.
Roundabouts are an excellent alternative to stop signs, and they can replace some traffic lights - asssuming that US drivers are willing to accept them (several intersections in my city are being converted right now). But pretending that they are always the best option is foolish.
Series Hybrid = ICE Drives Generator -> Motor Drives Wheels
Parallel Hybrid = ICE Drives Wheels / Motor assists
Series-Parallel Hybrid = ICE Drives Wheels or Generator, Motor/ICE drive wheels
The PS3 is actually a really, really nice console. Internet capability, free online multiplayer, Linux compatibility, keyboard/mouse support, upgradable HDD (get any SATA drive!), USB mass storage support, tilt controllers, good graphics, HDMI, Blu-Ray, and Folding@Home. It's tough not to love this little box - it's more open than the 360 (particularly since you can run Linux) too.
But, at the end of the day, it comes down to two factors for most people - games and price. The PS3 doesn't have a big enough library yet, although it's getting there fast. And $500 is too much for a video-game console.
Right now, the PS3 is an excellent value. Adding a rechargable battery, the HD-DVD drive, and WiFi to the 360 "Elite" pushes it way past the price of the PS3's high-end model. But the 360 gives you the choice. Maybe I don't need WiFi, and maybe I don't need HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.
$400 is a lot easier to manage. $350 would be even better.
See, the "could get hold of" part is the problem. If you think DRM is bad now, think of it in a world where there are no restrictions on copying. If there are no legal protections to prevent me from copying your work, the only possible restrictions are technological.
Say you are writing software and want to make profit without copyright. You need to make it as difficult as possible to duplicate your code. Forget about open source - your source code must now remain absolutely secret to prevent a breach. And you probably won't let your software run on commodity hardware either.
And, in this copyright-free world, what makes companies release the changes they make to your software? Sure, you may be able to legally copy and use their binaries, but what if they run the code through an obfuscator? How are you going to make changes to a complex piece of software when the code is a mixed up jumble? Perhaps you can reverse-engineer the software and make a few changes, but you're never going to merge those changes back into the main tree.
If you're OK with your software being used in a closed-source product, choose a license that allows that. Many people do that today. You can choose the BSD license if you want to require people to acknowledge your project. Or you can put your work in the public domain and allow others to do whatever they please.
Copyrights and patents have a few things in common. They are designed to encourage authors and inventors to create new works, and, more importantly, to disclose their work.
Copyright lasts far too long and is too restrictive. But it is far too important to be abolished altogether.
You're comparing two completely differnet language types. You might as well compare Java and C++.
Compared to other interpreted (e.g. parse tree is built on the fly rather than by a compiler) languages like Python or Ruby, PHP is about average.
Compare PHP to the CLR (or Mono) or to the JRE, and PHP is going to be way slower.
But calling PHP slow because of some benchmark is just bull. Yes, Java or
The Wikimedia Foundation runs Wikipedia (the 10th most popular website in the world) with PHP and 123 commodity PC servers. What does that prove? It proves that application design and system architecture is FAR more important than what platform you choose. You can run benchmarks all day long, but that doesn't change the fact that Wikipedia does far more with far less than most websites out there - and they do it with PHP.
I serve over 10 million pageviews a month on WS Network using PHP, MySQL, and a virtual server with 50MB of memory, a fraction of a 2.4GHz P4, and 100MB of swap. My informal load testing indicates that I could handle as many as 30 pageviews per second (80 million per month) with my current hardware and DB setup.
Maybe I could do more with J2EE or ASP.NET (or, perhaps I could do far less - ASP.NET and J2EE aren't as easy on memory as PHP for small apps). But the fact is that I am doing a hell of a lot already considering the very limited hardware I'm running on.
PHP code execution performance is not, and has never been, a major issue in my experience. It's the same way with Python, Perl, Ruby, and any other "scripting" language. The fact is, you're not going to write an H.264 codec or a PS3 game in Python. But many, many applications are not constrained by CPU performance. 8-core servers are now cheap. 16-core servers will be soon. Changing your language might give you 10x better performance. But architecture and algorithm improvements will probably get you much, much more.
"Performance isn't a problem until it's a problem."
I don't use a Sidekick anymore (I have a T-Mobile Dash now), but it has a great keyboard, awesome AIM client, decent text messaging, email, web, and you can download relay services from the Catalog. The Sidekick has pretty much become the device of choice among the deaf community, probably because it has one of the best keyboards on a mobile device, good non-audio notifications (e.g. unique vibrate/flash patterns for differnet notifications) and a lot of other nice features.
The new Sidekick iD is $99 with a 2-year contract, and you can get a data-only plan for $30/mo. It's the "no-frills" device of the Sidekick lineup (no camera, Bluetooth, or MP3 playback).
This may be true on notebooks with integrated graphics (e.g. MacBook) or pissy low-power ATI GPUs (e.g. the iBook), but it's not true with high-power dedicated graphics. One of the reasons that the MacBook Pro has pretty bad battery life (yes, 3.5 hours is bad for a system with a battery that's as big as the MacBook Pro's) is that it has a nice high-power ATI GPU.
Forcing a high-end mobile GPU into 3D mode does draw more power. Not a ton more power - certainly not as much as a 3D intensive application like gaming - but more than drawing 2D shapes.
Every watt counts in a notebook. For a notebook with a 64 W*h (6 cells, 2800mAh, 3.7V) battery to have 5 hours of endurance, it needs to draw less than 13W.
Do you have any fucking clue how DRM works on Windows Vista? It's not some magical happy service that's running all the time. It's integrated into the kernel and into Windows Media Foundation and the Windows Media Framework. Of course, it's integrated into the Kernel and Windows Media Framework on XP too.
XP has many of the same DRM and DRM-esque features as Vista (WGA/Activation, Secure Audio Path, Windows Media DRM, Signed drivers, ICT support). Try playing an HD-DVD on XP with a licensed player and a card/monitor that doesn't support HDCP. Try playing a Region 2 DVD on an XP system where the RPC1 or RPC2 region has been set to Region 1. Try playing a copy of T2 Extreme HD on XP without registering it.
Yes, there are new DRM technologies in Vista. But just like the DRM features in XP or - god forbid - Mac OS X, the solution is obvious: don't buy into bullshit DRM.
I don't have an HD-DVD drive for a very good reason - I don't want to put up with bullshit DRM. Once the DRM has been cracked (truly cracked - not just cracked for movies released prior to date X), I'll consider getting a drive. Until then, I watch plain old DVDs using VLC and my region-hacked drive.
You can order 64-bit media for $10.
This is the way it is at my university (University of Colorado at Boulder). But the network never "slows to a crawl".
My university has 25,000+ students. We use a lot of bandwidth. But, guess what? We also use a lot of power (30MW), generate a lot of trash, and a lot of crime.
We have our own power plant (although it is now just used for heat because of current market rates for electricity). We have our own recycling plant and our own trash trucks. And we have our own police department.
You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Of Ohio State's $3.76 billion 2006/2007 budget, only $510 million (13.5%) came from state appropriations.
Considerably more money ($921 million / 24.5%) came from students. And even more than that came from the hospital that Ohio State operates.
Is this information hard to find? No! It's right on the Ohio State site, right here.
The fact is, at Ohio State, students funding is twice as big a factor as state funding. And student funding isn't a "small fraction" - it's nearly a quarter of the entire budget.
I go to a "state funded" school (University of Colorado at Boulder), but Colorado only contributes 8.1% of the funding for my university. Student fees and tuition contribute 39% of the budget - almost five times as much as state funding.
I am so sick and tired about this "what are my tax dollars doing" bullshit with regards to educational institutions. There are 26,000 people who attend my university. That's larger than most of the cities in Wyoming.
If a city offered municipal internet access (as many Slashdot users would like), would it be OK if the city decided that you shouldn't be allowed to use? What if the city prevented other providers from offering services on their premises?
Here we go again. Because, if someone is using BitTorrent, they must be a dirty criminal. Give me a break. There are so many legitimite uses for P2P that it's not even funny. I downloaded an Ubuntu CD when 7.04 came out using BitTorrent. Public domain and educational materials - including videos - are distributed with BitTorrent. There are even professors on campus who use BitTorrent to distribute video lectures.
Maybe you are too short-sighted to see the many uses of P2P technology. Guess what? The vast majority of email sent today is spam. That doesn't mean that email isn't a valuable tool.
I remember when Bill Owens made an incredibly stupid statement about how CU should dismiss a particular professor. Owens didn't seem to understand that universities have a large degree of autonomy - it's not the Governor who selects the Regents, it's the voters. If you don't like what's happening at Ohio State, elect different representatives. But don't go pretending that the State legislature should make policy decisions. Ohio doesn't like it when the Federal Government decides to interfere. Your City Council doesn't like it when the State interferes.
No, it's not. Try using Mac OS X on a 24" or 30" display - you'll find that you rarely make apps fullscreen, so the menubar is often way the hell away from what you're doing. That's a problem. Now try using a multi-monitor setup. The menu bar could be on a different screen, 2400 pixels away. That's a BIG problem.
I use Vista on three systems.
My Media Center box has 768M of memory, a P4 Northwood 2.66GHz, and a GeForce 6200. It's not fast (certainly much slower than XP or GNOME), but it's usable. I used to use XP on this box, but when bad memory ended up corrupting the disk (test your memory BEFORE you move defrag file on the disk), I didn't really feel like digging around for a floppy drive to load the SATA drivers.
My notebook has 1.25GB of memory, a Pentium-M "Dothan" 1.73GHz, and a GeForce Go 6400. It's still not as fast as XP or GNOME, but it's pretty darn close.
My desktop has 2GB of memory, an Athlon 64 X2 1900+ (@2.7GHz) , and a Radeon X1600 Pro. It pretty much flies.
The thing is, in a year, my "high end" system will be a value system. Walk into a Best Buy and try to buy a desktop that's single-core. Only the cheapest value systems don't have either an Athlon X2 or a Core 2 Duo. Try to buy a box with less than 1GB of memory - again, you'll find that only the cheapest systems are equipped with 512M.
2GB of DDR2 is now like $105. An Athlon 64 X2 1900+ is $65. A GeForce 6100 IGP board is $40.
The Intel/AMD price war has had many effects. One of them is that dual-core is no longer a high-end feature.
Thank god for saying this. I'm an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Colorado, and NO ONE else seems to understand the stress of not knowing how you are doing and how prepared you are for the next round of exams. It seems that CU is not alone in professors who only decide on their grading policies at the END of the semester. Whenever someone asks, "how are you doing", I respond "I don't know". When they reply, "how could that be?", I feel like screaming.
You can't let THEM get you. Your professors are your greatest allies. They are also your greatest enemies.
My professors tell me that I should be working 4 hours outside class for each hour in class/lab. I spend 18 hours in class/lab per week (despite the fact that I'm taking a "light" 14-credit schedule). That works out to 72 hours per week of studying/homework. Add it up, and I'm supposed to be spending 90 (!) hours per week working on my degree. This is in addition to my 20 hour a week part-time job. That's 110 hours per week. There are 112 hours in a week where I am awake. You do the math.
You get over the idea that you're going to get straight As pretty quickly. Even if you wanted to, you're probably not smart enough - most professors in my College only give As to the top 10%. The top 10% probably shouldn't even be attending my University.
Once you resign yourself to doing an acceptable job rather than an exceptional job, things get easier. It's OK to be average compared to your classmates, because your classmates are pretty damned smart anyway. This is a hard transition for many people - going from being one of the smartest people in their High School class to just being average.
Being smart isn't enough to be exceptional. You need to be smart, and you need to accept that you won't have a life outside of your classes. Unfortunately, it's like WoW - there's always someone willing to take it further.
Refuse to let them have you. Be smart, and work hard. But, at the end of the day, if you learn the material and end up with a B- (or, God forbid, even a C+!), don't freak out. We live in a world with over 6 billion people. Chances are that you're not the best at ANYTHING. University can be the best time or the worst time of your life. It's up to you. You're not here to work 100 hours per week. You're here to learn, grow, and network. That should be your priority.
Yeah, because that Military is doing so well in Iraq right now. There are 250 million guns in the US. There isn't a military on the planet that could impose military law.
You seem to think that the goal of an opressive government is to kill its citizens. It's not.
Perhaps that should scare you. We live in a society where good people outnumber bad people by a wide, wide margin. I don't want to trust the police with the preservation of my rights and my safety. I want to trust the 25% of the population who is ready and equipped to back up my rights.
In an opressive government, it is the police who are used to subjugate the masses. Why should the police be the only individuals with the right to have firearms?
Perhaps we see the right to arms as part of the preservation of our society. And we have some pretty damned good historical evidence to support that belief. Perhaps you believe that military technology has rendered that advantage moot. But occupations are still fought on the ground, and when your army is outnumbered 300:1 by armed civilians, suddenly all of that hardware doesn't look so effective.
We die 10 times more often than you from crimes committed with guns. Perhaps we should ban knives. Perhaps we should ban diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate. Perhaps we should ban chainsaws. All can be used to commit horrible, horrible crimes. But the fact is that the vast, vast majority of guns in the US are used legally and safely.
People die. We all get wrapped up in tragedies. But over 2000 people died today because of heart disease. Perhaps we should ban fatty foods? Perhaps we should ban cars, which killed more than 100 people today. We live in a world of danger. It's all a matter of risk vs. benefit. Perhaps you don't see the benefit. But the 80 million gun owners in the US do.
It's very easy to point fingers at the US. But forget comparing us to Australia - compare us to our neighbors to the north. Canada's gun violence rate (0.53 homicides per 100,000) is far, far lower than the US - but their 21% gun ownership rate is not.
Perhaps you don't think our right to own guns is important. But here, it's so damned important that it's in the Bill of Rights. It's in the same category as freedom of speech and the press. We can't pick and choose which parts of the Constitution we want to uphold. If the advocates for gun control want to propose an Amendment, so be it - then we would get down to the real question of whether or not the right to bear arms really should be a right. But trying to erode the Bill of Rights is a particularly dangerous activity - if the Second Amendment no longer is worth the paper it's printed on, what about the rest of our rights?
I would have picked McCain over Hillary in 2000, but after he has sold his soul to the right, I just can't see voting for the man. Nor can I see voting for Hillary.
If it comes down to Hillary/McCain, I'm voting 3rd-party. You do have a choice. If a 3rd-party candidate ends up with 20% of the vote, you can bet there will be some BIG changes at the DNC.
Hopefully, it won't come down to that - there's always the primary. Unfortunately, we run primaries in a completely broken manner in this country, so it doesn't really matter who I vote for (the candidate is pretty much decided before the CO primary occurs).