It doesn't get turned off like a switch, with the slow decay that comes with Alzheimers. Parts of it are abruptly erased in traumatic brain injuries. Why in the name of the god of all bullshit avoidance should it get turned *on* like a switch, unless we're back in the shiny happy tinsel world of make-believe?
I don't miss it. My desktop has 6 cores, 2 TB of mirrored local storage, 12Gb of RAM, an internet connection faster than the first couple of iterations of *ethernet*, and a GPU that would have caused wars back in the 80s. My *phone* has 8 cores, accelerometers, an inbuilt compass, GPS, always-on data, a less powerful but in context still silly GPU, 2GB RAM, 80GB of local storage in flash, and software that looks like science fiction. My *router* would stand in for a credible mainframe back in the day.
If I had the space, I would love to collect older computer hardware - I had an original Pizza-box Sun 4C when I lived in a large house, and I also had a ZX Spectrum. It doesn't blind me to the realities, though.
I do look back at the 80s with nostalgia, but I remember how frustratingly limited everything seemed. I feel a sense of awe pretty much all the time, now, tinged with hope and a little fear, when I think of how this freakishly powerful technology can be used to accelerate the acquisition of new knowledge.
> Whenever a young life is saved, that is one person who would have been culled from the pack that now grows up and likely will procreate. Nobody can deny that.
You do realise that proximity and exposure is the biggest factor in determining who develops antigens to any given disease?
ie, chance?
You're a proud member of that breed of social darwinist which personifies the saying 'A turkey voting for Christmas'.
This is cultural evolution, rather than genetic evolution. It's as different entropy in thermodynamics, contrasted with entropy in information theory. One of these things is not like the other. Yes, there are similarities, just as there are similarities between a Volkswagen Beetle, and a picture of a Volkswagen Beetle.
The voltage drop across an ideal diode isn't resistive, and doesn't cause a power drain. The *resistive* voltage drop across a real-world diode is tiny. Diodes are actually very efficient devices. Don't take my word for this, you have access to this wonderful research tool called 'The Internet'. Alternatively, buy a diode, a resistor for comparison, a power supply, and do the calorimetry.
With respect, you don't understand enough about the possibilities. If you look up a circuit called a Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier, you'll find that it represents a capacitor/diode array where the diodes are arranged such that the capacitors are charged in parallel, but discharged in series. Same principle.
Whenever I've read any of your posts, I've always been impressed and please to see the intelligence behind them. This post made me smile. For what it's worth, I'm typing this under Archlinux and Gnome 3, but I see the truth in your criticisms; I view the world in much the same way, but with different emotional loadings. Enjoy your semi-retirement.
He'll have been invited to some nice conferences; given an all-expenses-paid trip; stayed at a nice business convention venue where he's had the chance to shag some other random corporate/government flunky.
Cricket isn't really about the game. It's more about the small hamper of cream buns, punnets of strawberries, the chilled champagne, the lounging around in the sun with your girlfriend/boyfriend. That and being frightfully English.
Play with one under a decent system at some point. They're useful for all of the reasons people have already given, plus they make fantastic forensic, repair and testing environments.
Nature optimises for survival, though, whereas a designer pathogen can be optimised to infect, lie low, and then kill as many host organisms as possible, perhaps by employing some kind of biological trigger in the environment to synchronise its action.
It doesn't matter whether its first efflorescence is sustainable in the long term. There will always be a role for it in human politics.
And by the way, since we hacked the algorithmic and neurological underpinnings of intelligence, way back when, we've been so much smarter than you people that it's just not funny.
It's done. My antediluvian Nokia C2 has a cheat code which allows you to force the battery management software to give the entire charge, not just that fraction offered to maximise the number of charge cycles.
Slashdot Mirror
Also, studies of cognitive development in infants actually rather effectively underline the fact that it *doesn't* get turned on like a switch.
It doesn't get turned off like a switch, with the slow decay that comes with Alzheimers. Parts of it are abruptly erased in traumatic brain injuries. Why in the name of the god of all bullshit avoidance should it get turned *on* like a switch, unless we're back in the shiny happy tinsel world of make-believe?
You can lead a donkey to water, but at the end of the day, it's still a donkey.
Look, I know you're a bit special, but piss off.
I don't miss it. My desktop has 6 cores, 2 TB of mirrored local storage, 12Gb of RAM, an internet connection faster than the first couple of iterations of *ethernet*, and a GPU that would have caused wars back in the 80s. My *phone* has 8 cores, accelerometers, an inbuilt compass, GPS, always-on data, a less powerful but in context still silly GPU, 2GB RAM, 80GB of local storage in flash, and software that looks like science fiction. My *router* would stand in for a credible mainframe back in the day.
If I had the space, I would love to collect older computer hardware - I had an original Pizza-box Sun 4C when I lived in a large house, and I also had a ZX Spectrum. It doesn't blind me to the realities, though.
I do look back at the 80s with nostalgia, but I remember how frustratingly limited everything seemed. I feel a sense of awe pretty much all the time, now, tinged with hope and a little fear, when I think of how this freakishly powerful technology can be used to accelerate the acquisition of new knowledge.
Interesting times.
> Whenever a young life is saved, that is one person who would have been culled from the pack that now grows up and likely will procreate. Nobody can deny that.
You do realise that proximity and exposure is the biggest factor in determining who develops antigens to any given disease?
ie, chance?
You're a proud member of that breed of social darwinist which personifies the saying 'A turkey voting for Christmas'.
Congratulations.
This is cultural evolution, rather than genetic evolution. It's as different entropy in thermodynamics, contrasted with entropy in information theory. One of these things is not like the other. Yes, there are similarities, just as there are similarities between a Volkswagen Beetle, and a picture of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Virus. Generation time maybe 20 minutes. Human. Generation time perhaps 20 years.
What do *you* think?
The voltage drop across an ideal diode isn't resistive, and doesn't cause a power drain. The *resistive* voltage drop across a real-world diode is tiny. Diodes are actually very efficient devices. Don't take my word for this, you have access to this wonderful research tool called 'The Internet'. Alternatively, buy a diode, a resistor for comparison, a power supply, and do the calorimetry.
With respect, you don't understand enough about the possibilities. If you look up a circuit called a Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier, you'll find that it represents a capacitor/diode array where the diodes are arranged such that the capacitors are charged in parallel, but discharged in series. Same principle.
signed or unsigned?
Whenever I've read any of your posts, I've always been impressed and please to see the intelligence behind them. This post made me smile. For what it's worth, I'm typing this under Archlinux and Gnome 3, but I see the truth in your criticisms; I view the world in much the same way, but with different emotional loadings. Enjoy your semi-retirement.
I had a friend attempt to disable UAC on my laptop, once. He left with a flea in his ear.
He'll have been invited to some nice conferences; given an all-expenses-paid trip; stayed at a nice business convention venue where he's had the chance to shag some other random corporate/government flunky.
Expect the unexpected!
Hmm...
Hey, not all Westerners are American :P
That's actually a kilogram, you barbarian!
There goes the neighbourhood.
Cricket isn't really about the game. It's more about the small hamper of cream buns, punnets of strawberries, the chilled champagne, the lounging around in the sun with your girlfriend/boyfriend. That and being frightfully English.
Play with one under a decent system at some point. They're useful for all of the reasons people have already given, plus they make fantastic forensic, repair and testing environments.
Nature optimises for survival, though, whereas a designer pathogen can be optimised to infect, lie low, and then kill as many host organisms as possible, perhaps by employing some kind of biological trigger in the environment to synchronise its action.
It doesn't matter whether its first efflorescence is sustainable in the long term. There will always be a role for it in human politics.
And by the way, since we hacked the algorithmic and neurological underpinnings of intelligence, way back when, we've been so much smarter than you people that it's just not funny.
But...
We think you're *so* adorably kawaii!
Who's a good boy! Whooo's a gooood boy!
Mummy loves her little guy, yes she does!
It's done. My antediluvian Nokia C2 has a cheat code which allows you to force the battery management software to give the entire charge, not just that fraction offered to maximise the number of charge cycles.
Would you like to cook some quality methamphetamine at my sekrit underground lab?
Been there, done that, was amused.