As the Daily Show so aptly put it, "Election DAY" is an antiquated term. And it looks like we may have to wait 10 days before we know how Ohio goes. How about a new article to take the load off this one?
The Douche/Turd Sandwich episode was as predictable as it was unenlightening as it was unfunny. As far as I can tell, the whole purpose of the ep was to justify the brouhaha over Trey and Stone telling people to not vote.
The only good political satire came right at the very end, when Stan finally voted.
Admit it. You're an addict. You couldn't stop if you tried. Getting your buzz is more important to you than pissing off every non-smoker in your vincinity by stinking up their clothes and filling their air with crap. And you'll pay through the nose and ruin your health and that of anyone unfortunate enough to live with you to do so.
You can cop an attitude all you want, but it won't cover up the fact that you're that cancer stick's bitch.
I just haven't found any of the political episodes to be funny, but I'm not sure if that's me or the show. All I see are a lot of ad hominem attacks, false dichotomies, and other bullshit arguements which are neither ethical nor helpful when it comes to deciding the issues. Mostly I see a couple of Hollywood insiders campaigning for certain policies and against other Hollywood Insiders campaigning for other policies. And a lot of idiotic-to-offensive shit and ethnic jokes.
The other eps are alright. Taisetsu wa mono PROTECT MY BALLS.
I sit next to a Venezuelan, and I hear about how corrupt Chavez is at least twice a day without fail. And their recall election was over months ago (Chavez managed to stay).
That Canuck will still be griping if the wrong person wins.
Yes. The more votes third parties get, the more exposure they will get, and eventually meaningful change will happen.
Let me see if I follow you...
Step 1: Increase exposure by running campaign that is guaranteed to lose. Step 2: ???? (Something happens) Step 3: Get elected to highest office in land. Step 4: Profit!
If you ask me, running a campaign you're sure to lose very, very badly just makes your third party seem like a joke. You're better off trying to gain a firm local/regional foothold and growing your party with more modest goals to prove your worth than going straight for the big kahuna. Perhaps such politicians will rarely get the chance to make policy, but they are often critical swing votes and command their share of influence.
As proof of this, I would like to point out that elected independent politicians are more common than elected politicians from third parties, and at higher offices as well. Of course, that's partly due to the fact that independents tend to be practical, moderate politicians in touch with their constituents, while most third parties are made up of sweaty-toothed zealots espousing far-something ideologies.
Seriously. They should just go non-tld and be done with it. That way, companies and orgs won't have to register a half dozen sites just to redirect them to one.
The appeal of Euler's identity is not just that it is simple, but that it includes all the "important" numbers. Thus you have to decide what's important first before you can even consider whether the equation is simple/elegant/meaningful.
Anyway, 1 plus 1 depends on what Field you are computing in. Specifically, in the smallest field 1+1=0; although this field has only two elements, 0 and 1. Of course lots of things are left out of this system, but it does have its uses.
Richard Feynman once famously remarked that Euler's Identity was the most remarkable equation in mathematics, since it combined all the really important numbers into one formula. Recently while attempting to formulate a technically-oriented conlang, I was considering what numbers really were important and concluded that there was one number of massive significance that was left out, and another was formulated somewhat arbitrarily.
Firstly, 2 is a very important number. 0 is null and the origin, 1 is unity - but 2 is the purest expression of difference and distinction. Dualism is everywhere: 0-1, On-Off, Up-Down, Left-Right, In-Out, Real-Imaginary. Everything has its opposite. Many concepts can only be considered in the context of two objects or states. 2 is the base of the humble but indispensible bit - and consequently the base of the logarithm that yields the number of bits necessary to express a number or code. 2 is indispensible.
Secondly, Pi was chosen somewhat haphazardly. For the unit circle of radius 1, Cir = 2*Pi. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter. But from a mathematical standpoint the diameter is not what's important - the radius is. Wouldn't it make just as much sense if not more to use the ratio of the Circumference to the radius (here designated as Cir)? The way things are formulated now, Pi is half a cycle in radians, halfway around the unit circle. Wouldn't a constant that represents a full cycle, Cir, make more sense? Have we grown so used to Pi that we have forgotten the arbitrariness of it's formulation?
Of course if you choose to use Cir, 2 naturally works its way into Euler's equation as well.
IIRC, Halo was originally supposed to be a real-time-strategy/3rd-person-shooter that allowed you to roam the ENTIRE ring as you saw fit in your battle against the Covenant. It would have been huge.
Instead it was a slightly repetitive FPS that followed a tight story, albeit a good one.
Empire was directed by Irvin Kirschner, not Lucas, so he'll take the blame, or rather credit. Actually in my opinion, Empire is the only one of the whole series that is actually good. Not coincidentally, it is also the least re-edited of the originals. The acting and dialogue didn't suck, the use of color and light was far more sophisticated, and the plot had many twists and turns without being overly cliched.
If it were a PVR it might be worth it. But then you'd need to install a bigger drive, an analog/digital video input, encoder/decoder, etc. Really that's a lot of work for a cheap box.
Well, here's hoping the PS3 and XBox2 will be fighting that one out. There's no reason this sort of convergence shouldn't increase in the future. We have too much crap under the TV as is, and don't get me started on the cables.
The way it should be: 1) Progressive-scan high resolution Monitor with built in speakers.
2) The main reciever and brains of the system (possibly built into monitor)
a) Digital/Analog TV input via a single coaxial port
b) multiple firewire ports and multiple usb ports
c) Stereo/5.1 audio out ports
d) A remote designed for simplicity (a la Tivo's).
e) An ethernet port
f) On board mini-os handling navigation and interface with extender devices.
g) Antenna connection for radio and over-air receiving
h) LED information screen and hand controls (at least power and volume)
2) A multitude of devices which extend the TV funcitonality via the firewire ports, which can be converged into fewer components:
a) DVD/HD-DVD playback and possibly recording
b) Hard drive, used by the TV for PVR and radio recording, and storage of all manner of media
c) Game systems, which include the above two functions or borrow them via the firewire network. Controllers attach to the TV via USB or wirelessly using Bluetooth or 802.11. Games are designed to identify with the controllers rather than the ports they plug in to in some fashion.
d) Digital audio solutions
e) LAN or WAN computer systems and filesystems.
f) Wireless controllers of various types, including keyboards, mice, game controllers, and remotes.
All devices support low-power usage by turning themselves on and off via commands from the main TV via the remote. Alternately, the monitor could become a peripheral to the main brain of the TV, which would be the reciever, but.
So basically, it's a matter of making many smaller functionalities play well together so they can be used through a single interface, whether they're built into one device or many.
Seriously. 1.2 megapixels, what's the point? They don't even need much space. Why no one has come up with still cameras of regular size that can plug in and download to an iPod is beyond me. There are cameras with built in hard drives though. OTOH video cameras are better off sticking with miniDV tapes, which hold about 11gb each. I suppose a camera specifically designed to hook onto the iPod might be a good idea too.
Yes, but the context of the article is of using these rather potent substances as propellant or high explosive. Many of those applications involve rather more than a few grams.
Incidentally, we use sodium azide in my lab too. No deaths, but it does have the nastiest warning on the side of the bottle of all our chemicals. Except for that one bottle of ricin, which is potentially fatal with a mere 0.5 milligrams.
Well there is also the slight problem with the fact that azides are EXTREEEEMLY nasty. Here's the short warning:
Sodium azide is extremely toxic (LD50 oral [rat] 27mg/kg) and a powerful poison. Ingesting very small amounts can cause death in a short period of time. When mixed with water or an acid, sodium azide changes rapidly to a toxic gas with a pungent odor. However, the odor may not be sharp enough to give people sufficient warning as to the hazard. When heated to its decomposition temperature of ~275C, sodium azide may undergo violent decomposition. Additional hazards: Sodium azide also changes into a toxic gas when it comes in contact with solid metals. Sodium azide reacts violently with nitric acid, bromine, carbon disulfide, dimethylsulfate, and several heavy metals including copper and lead. Never flush sodium azide (solid or concentrated solution) down the drain -- the azide can react with lead or copper in the drain lines and explode. Do not store on metal shelves or use metal items to handle sodium azide (i.e., spatulas). Contact with metal shelves, containers, and utensils can result in formation of heavy metal azides and the risk of explosion.
Most of these issues stem from the fact that azide packs a very large amount of energy in a very reactive compound. I would imagine nitrodiamond dust could have issues as well. Although a state change between the solid and gas forms would produce no pollution, it could potentially be reactive with other compounds, like oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Don't be silly. If we can make a mouse skin and human bone jacket, surely we can make meat grow in vats too or better yet, on trees. Not necessarily just beef either...
Obligatory quote: Fry: Oh my God! What if the secret ingredient... is people! Leela: No, they already have a drink like that: Soylent Cola. Fry: Oh. How is it? Leela: It varies from person to person.
Mmmm... I'd like to wear Vera Wang. She's hot. And suddenly I find I'm not too interested in wearing any Calvin Klein or Tommy Hillfigger. Wait a minute. Would that be straight or crossdressing?
The only thing I can say for sure is, the Devil wears Prada.
Ad-supported does not equal free in my book. It costs my time and attention, and my monitor is cluttered enough as is. That goes for Eudora as well.
For the record, I use Safari, which boots and runs faster than Firefox in my experience and looks better, although on occasion does not render correctly. My only major wish is for mime-type behavior control. Of course, it's mac-only.
I tried Opera once and while I don't recall the details, I remember not being impressed with performance or stability. I just downloaded again to check it out. My initial impressions: 1) That banner is freaking enormous. 2) It does seem to be fast and rendering correctly, although not much faster. 3) The panel on the left is ugly and takes up too much space
So a casual inspection gives me no compelling reason to switch, and a couple rather obvioius reasons not to.
What I can't understand is why they charge money for satellite radio. Once you put the satellite up, you've covered the most significant single cost. Beyond that, maintenance and operating expenses may actually be cheaper than regular radio, especially considering how widespread the market it! Sure, there will be people willing to pay a premium for commercial-free radio. But they can still make money off the sale of recievers, and once people have recievers they'll be more receptive to upgrading.
So it's the difference between building a new premium radio market, and taking over the existing non-local-news market. The latter could be far more profitable and helps develop the former.
Slashdot Mirror
As the Daily Show so aptly put it, "Election DAY" is an antiquated term. And it looks like we may have to wait 10 days before we know how Ohio goes. How about a new article to take the load off this one?
The Douche/Turd Sandwich episode was as predictable as it was unenlightening as it was unfunny. As far as I can tell, the whole purpose of the ep was to justify the brouhaha over Trey and Stone telling people to not vote.
The only good political satire came right at the very end, when Stan finally voted.
"I CHOOSE to smoke" my ass.
Admit it. You're an addict. You couldn't stop if you tried. Getting your buzz is more important to you than pissing off every non-smoker in your vincinity by stinking up their clothes and filling their air with crap. And you'll pay through the nose and ruin your health and that of anyone unfortunate enough to live with you to do so.
You can cop an attitude all you want, but it won't cover up the fact that you're that cancer stick's bitch.
It's so expressive too. With a cigarrette, you can say "Fuck You" in all of its many meanings, simply by sucking or blowing in one of several ways.
I just haven't found any of the political episodes to be funny, but I'm not sure if that's me or the show. All I see are a lot of ad hominem attacks, false dichotomies, and other bullshit arguements which are neither ethical nor helpful when it comes to deciding the issues. Mostly I see a couple of Hollywood insiders campaigning for certain policies and against other Hollywood Insiders campaigning for other policies. And a lot of idiotic-to-offensive shit and ethnic jokes.
The other eps are alright. Taisetsu wa mono PROTECT MY BALLS.
I sit next to a Venezuelan, and I hear about how corrupt Chavez is at least twice a day without fail. And their recall election was over months ago (Chavez managed to stay).
That Canuck will still be griping if the wrong person wins.
Yes. The more votes third parties get, the more exposure they will get, and eventually meaningful change will happen.
Let me see if I follow you...
Step 1: Increase exposure by running campaign that is guaranteed to lose.
Step 2: ???? (Something happens)
Step 3: Get elected to highest office in land.
Step 4: Profit!
If you ask me, running a campaign you're sure to lose very, very badly just makes your third party seem like a joke. You're better off trying to gain a firm local/regional foothold and growing your party with more modest goals to prove your worth than going straight for the big kahuna. Perhaps such politicians will rarely get the chance to make policy, but they are often critical swing votes and command their share of influence.
As proof of this, I would like to point out that elected independent politicians are more common than elected politicians from third parties, and at higher offices as well. Of course, that's partly due to the fact that independents tend to be practical, moderate politicians in touch with their constituents, while most third parties are made up of sweaty-toothed zealots espousing far-something ideologies.
Cabin Boy, starring Chris Elliot.
Seriously. They should just go non-tld and be done with it. That way, companies and orgs won't have to register a half dozen sites just to redirect them to one.
Get your head out of the closet. The ideal name is GooHole.
The appeal of Euler's identity is not just that it is simple, but that it includes all the "important" numbers. Thus you have to decide what's important first before you can even consider whether the equation is simple/elegant/meaningful.
Anyway, 1 plus 1 depends on what Field you are computing in. Specifically, in the smallest field 1+1=0; although this field has only two elements, 0 and 1. Of course lots of things are left out of this system, but it does have its uses.
Angelina Jolie. That creepy freak.
Richard Feynman once famously remarked that Euler's Identity was the most remarkable equation in mathematics, since it combined all the really important numbers into one formula. Recently while attempting to formulate a technically-oriented conlang, I was considering what numbers really were important and concluded that there was one number of massive significance that was left out, and another was formulated somewhat arbitrarily.
Firstly, 2 is a very important number. 0 is null and the origin, 1 is unity - but 2 is the purest expression of difference and distinction. Dualism is everywhere: 0-1, On-Off, Up-Down, Left-Right, In-Out, Real-Imaginary. Everything has its opposite. Many concepts can only be considered in the context of two objects or states. 2 is the base of the humble but indispensible bit - and consequently the base of the logarithm that yields the number of bits necessary to express a number or code. 2 is indispensible.
Secondly, Pi was chosen somewhat haphazardly. For the unit circle of radius 1, Cir = 2*Pi. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter. But from a mathematical standpoint the diameter is not what's important - the radius is. Wouldn't it make just as much sense if not more to use the ratio of the Circumference to the radius (here designated as Cir)? The way things are formulated now, Pi is half a cycle in radians, halfway around the unit circle. Wouldn't a constant that represents a full cycle, Cir, make more sense? Have we grown so used to Pi that we have forgotten the arbitrariness of it's formulation?
Of course if you choose to use Cir, 2 naturally works its way into Euler's equation as well.
Exp[i*Cir/2]+1=0
Mathematicians, please respond.
IIRC, Halo was originally supposed to be a real-time-strategy/3rd-person-shooter that allowed you to roam the ENTIRE ring as you saw fit in your battle against the Covenant. It would have been huge.
Instead it was a slightly repetitive FPS that followed a tight story, albeit a good one.
Here we go again.
Empire was directed by Irvin Kirschner, not Lucas, so he'll take the blame, or rather credit. Actually in my opinion, Empire is the only one of the whole series that is actually good. Not coincidentally, it is also the least re-edited of the originals. The acting and dialogue didn't suck, the use of color and light was far more sophisticated, and the plot had many twists and turns without being overly cliched.
If it were a PVR it might be worth it. But then you'd need to install a bigger drive, an analog/digital video input, encoder/decoder, etc. Really that's a lot of work for a cheap box.
.
Well, here's hoping the PS3 and XBox2 will be fighting that one out. There's no reason this sort of convergence shouldn't increase in the future. We have too much crap under the TV as is, and don't get me started on the cables.
The way it should be:
1) Progressive-scan high resolution Monitor with built in speakers.
2) The main reciever and brains of the system (possibly built into monitor)
a) Digital/Analog TV input via a single coaxial port
b) multiple firewire ports and multiple usb ports
c) Stereo/5.1 audio out ports
d) A remote designed for simplicity (a la Tivo's).
e) An ethernet port
f) On board mini-os handling navigation and interface with extender devices.
g) Antenna connection for radio and over-air receiving
h) LED information screen and hand controls (at least power and volume)
2) A multitude of devices which extend the TV funcitonality via the firewire ports, which can be converged into fewer components:
a) DVD/HD-DVD playback and possibly recording
b) Hard drive, used by the TV for PVR and radio recording, and storage of all manner of media
c) Game systems, which include the above two functions or borrow them via the firewire network. Controllers attach to the TV via USB or wirelessly using Bluetooth or 802.11. Games are designed to identify with the controllers rather than the ports they plug in to in some fashion.
d) Digital audio solutions
e) LAN or WAN computer systems and filesystems.
f) Wireless controllers of various types, including keyboards, mice, game controllers, and remotes.
All devices support low-power usage by turning themselves on and off via commands from the main TV via the remote. Alternately, the monitor could become a peripheral to the main brain of the TV, which would be the reciever, but
So basically, it's a matter of making many smaller functionalities play well together so they can be used through a single interface, whether they're built into one device or many.
Seriously. 1.2 megapixels, what's the point? They don't even need much space. Why no one has come up with still cameras of regular size that can plug in and download to an iPod is beyond me. There are cameras with built in hard drives though. OTOH video cameras are better off sticking with miniDV tapes, which hold about 11gb each. I suppose a camera specifically designed to hook onto the iPod might be a good idea too.
Yes, but the context of the article is of using these rather potent substances as propellant or high explosive. Many of those applications involve rather more than a few grams.
Incidentally, we use sodium azide in my lab too. No deaths, but it does have the nastiest warning on the side of the bottle of all our chemicals. Except for that one bottle of ricin, which is potentially fatal with a mere 0.5 milligrams.
Well there is also the slight problem with the fact that azides are EXTREEEEMLY nasty. Here's the short warning:
Sodium azide is extremely toxic (LD50 oral [rat] 27mg/kg) and a powerful poison. Ingesting very small amounts can cause death in a short period of time. When mixed with water or an acid, sodium azide changes rapidly to a toxic gas with a pungent odor. However, the odor may not be sharp enough to give people sufficient warning as to the hazard. When heated to its decomposition temperature of ~275C, sodium azide may undergo violent decomposition. Additional hazards: Sodium azide also changes into a toxic gas when it comes in contact with solid metals. Sodium azide reacts violently with nitric acid, bromine, carbon disulfide, dimethylsulfate, and several heavy metals including copper and lead. Never flush sodium azide (solid or concentrated solution) down the drain -- the azide can react with lead or copper in the drain lines and explode. Do not store on metal shelves or use metal items to handle sodium azide (i.e., spatulas). Contact with metal shelves, containers, and utensils can result in formation of heavy metal azides and the risk of explosion.
Most of these issues stem from the fact that azide packs a very large amount of energy in a very reactive compound. I would imagine nitrodiamond dust could have issues as well. Although a state change between the solid and gas forms would produce no pollution, it could potentially be reactive with other compounds, like oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Don't be silly. If we can make a mouse skin and human bone jacket, surely we can make meat grow in vats too or better yet, on trees. Not necessarily just beef either...
Obligatory quote:
Fry: Oh my God! What if the secret ingredient... is people!
Leela: No, they already have a drink like that: Soylent Cola.
Fry: Oh. How is it?
Leela: It varies from person to person.
Mmmm... I'd like to wear Vera Wang. She's hot. And suddenly I find I'm not too interested in wearing any Calvin Klein or Tommy Hillfigger. Wait a minute. Would that be straight or crossdressing?
The only thing I can say for sure is, the Devil wears Prada.
Ad-supported does not equal free in my book. It costs my time and attention, and my monitor is cluttered enough as is. That goes for Eudora as well.
For the record, I use Safari, which boots and runs faster than Firefox in my experience and looks better, although on occasion does not render correctly. My only major wish is for mime-type behavior control. Of course, it's mac-only.
I tried Opera once and while I don't recall the details, I remember not being impressed with performance or stability. I just downloaded again to check it out. My initial impressions:
1) That banner is freaking enormous.
2) It does seem to be fast and rendering correctly, although not much faster.
3) The panel on the left is ugly and takes up too much space
So a casual inspection gives me no compelling reason to switch, and a couple rather obvioius reasons not to.
Opera's Not Free
What I can't understand is why they charge money for satellite radio. Once you put the satellite up, you've covered the most significant single cost. Beyond that, maintenance and operating expenses may actually be cheaper than regular radio, especially considering how widespread the market it! Sure, there will be people willing to pay a premium for commercial-free radio. But they can still make money off the sale of recievers, and once people have recievers they'll be more receptive to upgrading.
So it's the difference between building a new premium radio market, and taking over the existing non-local-news market. The latter could be far more profitable and helps develop the former.