still not sure which formats will properly play in any DVD player
Theorem. Play disks in a DVD burner.
Proof.
(All x) Disk(x) -> Desire to play x. - Assumption. Use DVD-ROM to play x. - Assumption. Possibly DVD-ROM will not play x. - Bummer QED - a proof of sorts, by contradiction.
What's scary is the leaps and bounds of obsolescence. We get so dependent on technology that the industry has us by the short hairs.
On the one hand we're running hard to keep up to the latest standards. On the other hand we're faced with mechanisms that have limited lifespans. These gizmos burn out and when they do, they might not be replaceable!
One of the reasons I bought a DVD burner? I was looking for CD-Rs and I found they were hard to find. Shelf after shelf of DVD recordables where are the CD-Rs??? I saw some but I figured it was time to get into DVDs since the price per byte of a CD is several times higher than the price per byte of a DVD not to mention I can save so much more space with a DVD. DVD burner pricing is also quite reasonable though the idea of being already on the trailing edge of burner format standards is a bit of a problem. Looks like I can burn DVDs for quite some time at 4.7 Gb per platter - it takes a long time to generate so much data, but why have a format war at 9 Gb?? It's so much less than hard disk sizes, especially with 400 Gb drives requiring so many DVDs to back up. Why not improve technology, say to at least a 50 Gb disk for the next format? That would be an order of magnitude step up, still not catching up to hard drives but more sensible. But - let's pay for the research that has brought us to 9 Gb, and I'm asking for open source on hardware so that we can construct replacement hardware and be more sure that we can run things in case of some catastrophe.
Don't know where to get Riteks but so far Memorex has served very well as well as being affordable.
I've tried slightly cheaper disks but they seem to have more failures. If I try a new brand I check my disks and recheck them several days later just in case they deteriorate rapidly. I always check my disks after the first creation since it's bad to lose hundreds of Megs.
Still not too sure about longevity after the years, and it gets tougher when the densities go up because it gets easier to disrupt a larger piece of information. Then again, it's easier to write a second/third copy and put them somewhere safe.
Haven't we enough of this nonsense? I just recently bought a DVD+-RW. Give me a break. It ends up burning both types. I've been told by one source that DVD+R is more compatible with most drives - no real way to substantiate this personally although I have two DVD-ROM drives one that reads the DVD+R and one that doesn't. It's damn frustrating.
Why can't they settle on one format? The resulting drives end up supporting all possible formats. Disks end up being the same price and capacity. Speeds end up converging. Eventually all formats become obsolete - but that doesn't mean it isn't worth coming to an agreement especially when the user just demands support of all formats - well who wouldn't?
Let's Do In Two Birds With One Stone
on
Portable Storage?
·
· Score: 1
I, too, would like to carry data around. Now it's not particularly cost effective to carry all my data since it is heavy and I travel a lot.
But, if you want to go partners, I'll follow you around carrying all your data while I carry all my data. When we stop anywhere I'll use my data and you have full access to yours.
I use VBA to automatically create very complex reports. Perhaps this is not the best way since it tends to be slow but I have so much control over the placement of constructs especially tables, text, pictures, page breaks, etc.
Does anyone else achieve a like objective but not using Word? What I see is what I print - that is definitely a feature I utilize to the fullest advantage. I've always wondered about the possibilities of Crystal Reports, but never had any way of trying the software. I'm going back to look for an evaluation version, but I fear two things: (a) inhibited features in an evaluation version (b) Word offers me all the power I need in terms of programmabile control but will Crystal Reports give me that much control. I'd hate to make a major effort only to come up against a major weakness that requires major hacking or re-planning.
One day I may end up using TeX or LaTeX. I used to write TeX and LaTeX by hand, but how can anyone turn away from the allure of Word's ability to let me compose pages without code?
Programming VBA to control Word is a far cry from TeX code. TeX code is far more definitive. Word code can sometimes be tricky - there are times when I had to really wonder why Word just wouldn't display the page the way I specified in the program. There seeemed to be an incompatibility with certain video card drivers - a problem that fortunately had a programmatic solution. However, TeX to DVI was never 100% guaranteed either, and when I tried DVI generation in Linux I found some strangenesses.
I wonder if my usage of Word is all that reasonable in the eyes of other users... I've never really heard of anyone pushing Word that hard. It certainly doesn't seem to be designed for this kind of work. The programming is awkward. It may be possible to encode my documents in HTML/XML and then send them to Word - very definitive regarding data organization - but how do I specify page breaks? With Word I can query for the results of automatic formatting and in a "second pass" give extra instructions to perfect the formatting - not exactly available with HTML as it would have to be perfect at first specification.
Thus, I say Word is really a powerful tool but so deeply proprietary to Microsoft! Are there open source tools that give the same power? Most people use Word to write documents manually. I generate documents automatically but use poor man's formatting by controlling Word. I can, with a lot of code, produce pages with proper formatting (perhaps Perl...). I don't like being tied to a technology that can change at the whims of Redmond, but the power! The power!
Sure, this seems to be the third or fourth year of my annual view of the earth at night, and I wouldn't even consider using it for my desktop background since there are so many pictures of beautiful women I can use - but I think it's good to talk about.
It's easy to see the fringes or boundaries of the technical world. One may induce that mankind uses the greedy algorithm of resource consumption. Most people want to be economically as well off as possible and will exploit resources available at hand. When and if space travel becomes viable for the general public, we'll see indicators for our population distribution through the sky.
Speculation aside about the possible inefficiency of so many lights burning at night when people should be sleeping, it's amazing how much (a) fear there is in the night. In this age we still can't go outside at night without danger. (b) darkness there is at night. Without the sun most objects lose their identifying shapes and colors. So much for being able to work around the clock. The first time I saw a nighttime baseball game on TV it looked like they were playing in daylight though.
What will we do if the sun becomes too hot/cold even for only a brief time? We are so oriented to activities on the surface of the planet. Can we either go underground or leave the earth?
Africa and South America are so dark. I don't want to see rain forests disappearing though, but capitalists want their money to grow and billions of people living in these lands prove that life can thrive there - so where will the money go?
wouldn't Spain people-living-there experience same problem?
Gender entry is usually limited to combo box/radio button/check box. Even translation from English to Language X and back to English should not return "bitch" - common sense reasoning dictates bitch is not an option in English how can translation obtain it?
The translation dictionary must be more powerful than simple mapping from language to language within the confines of screen controls.
This is a major weakness of translation based understanding of language - you can't translate text into more fundamental (i.e., more machine understandable) text if no attention is paid to semantics. The translator can go off on a tangent. A more powerful translator uses semantics to give the correct translation. Therefore if the target language is more understandable or less ambiguous, machine understanding achievement is closer.
Reminding me of the comedian who was in the market for a new religion. He was comparison shopping for which religion has more holidays, which one was less demanding, etc.
In the year 2012 the earth will cross a major magnetic line of the galaxy. After a mass extinction the resulting population will live according to their feelings of unconditional love.
Ultimately the Illuminati will rule the world but to reach this goal they are creating a constant state of war filled with blood sacrifice.
Farfetched you say? Keep listening to late night radio and these events will be brought to fruition, probably by the brainwashed, who listen to too much late night radio.
There are rumors of the coming of the antichrist, who is described as speaking all languages and bringing solutions to mankind's problems.
So you say capitalism will triumph? How about a deepening of the ice age or the increased heat of the sun followed much later by its death?
Closer to home, I guess it's all up to the whims of the government. Lies and corruption in government and business make us worry about any kind of social direction. A greater connectedness of the Internet and wireless gadgets brings more ability to produce as well as more chances to be victimized. It's going to be fun times.
My suggestion: open source as much technology as possible, both hardware and software. Complete knowledge should be disseminated in order to build and improve a foundation of understanding and trust. This will bring about a more level playing field. I believe in "every man/woman for himself/herself" but taking advantage of technology to collaborate and realize common beneficial goals is hypothesized to be quite desirable with side effects of friendliness and unity.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe it's better to have it down. Then I'll start looking at all my saved pages.
still not sure which formats will properly play in any DVD player
Theorem. Play disks in a DVD burner.
Proof.
(All x) Disk(x) -> Desire to play x. - Assumption.
Use DVD-ROM to play x. - Assumption.
Possibly DVD-ROM will not play x. - Bummer
QED - a proof of sorts, by contradiction.
Distressing.
What's scary is the leaps and bounds of obsolescence. We get so dependent on technology that the industry has us by the short hairs.
On the one hand we're running hard to keep up to the latest standards. On the other hand we're faced with mechanisms that have limited lifespans. These gizmos burn out and when they do, they might not be replaceable!
One of the reasons I bought a DVD burner? I was looking for CD-Rs and I found they were hard to find. Shelf after shelf of DVD recordables where are the CD-Rs??? I saw some but I figured it was time to get into DVDs since the price per byte of a CD is several times higher than the price per byte of a DVD not to mention I can save so much more space with a DVD. DVD burner pricing is also quite reasonable though the idea of being already on the trailing edge of burner format standards is a bit of a problem. Looks like I can burn DVDs for quite some time at 4.7 Gb per platter - it takes a long time to generate so much data, but why have a format war at 9 Gb?? It's so much less than hard disk sizes, especially with 400 Gb drives requiring so many DVDs to back up. Why not improve technology, say to at least a 50 Gb disk for the next format? That would be an order of magnitude step up, still not catching up to hard drives but more sensible. But - let's pay for the research that has brought us to 9 Gb, and I'm asking for open source on hardware so that we can construct replacement hardware and be more sure that we can run things in case of some catastrophe.
Don't know where to get Riteks but so far Memorex has served very well as well as being affordable.
I've tried slightly cheaper disks but they seem to have more failures. If I try a new brand I check my disks and recheck them several days later just in case they deteriorate rapidly. I always check my disks after the first creation since it's bad to lose hundreds of Megs.
Still not too sure about longevity after the years, and it gets tougher when the densities go up because it gets easier to disrupt a larger piece of information. Then again, it's easier to write a second/third copy and put them somewhere safe.
Haven't we enough of this nonsense? I just recently bought a DVD+-RW. Give me a break. It ends up burning both types. I've been told by one source that DVD+R is more compatible with most drives - no real way to substantiate this personally although I have two DVD-ROM drives one that reads the DVD+R and one that doesn't. It's damn frustrating.
Why can't they settle on one format? The resulting drives end up supporting all possible formats. Disks end up being the same price and capacity. Speeds end up converging. Eventually all formats become obsolete - but that doesn't mean it isn't worth coming to an agreement especially when the user just demands support of all formats - well who wouldn't?
Capische?
I, too, would like to carry data around. Now it's not particularly cost effective to carry all my data since it is heavy and I travel a lot.
But, if you want to go partners, I'll follow you around carrying all your data while I carry all my data. When we stop anywhere I'll use my data and you have full access to yours.
I use VBA to automatically create very complex reports. Perhaps this is not the best way since it tends to be slow but I have so much control over the placement of constructs especially tables, text, pictures, page breaks, etc.
... I've never really heard of anyone pushing Word that hard. It certainly doesn't seem to be designed for this kind of work. The programming is awkward. It may be possible to encode my documents in HTML/XML and then send them to Word - very definitive regarding data organization - but how do I specify page breaks? With Word I can query for the results of automatic formatting and in a "second pass" give extra instructions to perfect the formatting - not exactly available with HTML as it would have to be perfect at first specification.
...). I don't like being tied to a technology that can change at the whims of Redmond, but the power! The power!
Does anyone else achieve a like objective but not using Word? What I see is what I print - that is definitely a feature I utilize to the fullest advantage. I've always wondered about the possibilities of Crystal Reports, but never had any way of trying the software. I'm going back to look for an evaluation version, but I fear two things:
(a) inhibited features in an evaluation version
(b) Word offers me all the power I need in terms of programmabile control but will Crystal Reports give me that much control. I'd hate to make a major effort only to come up against a major weakness that requires major hacking or re-planning.
One day I may end up using TeX or LaTeX. I used to write TeX and LaTeX by hand, but how can anyone turn away from the allure of Word's ability to let me compose pages without code?
Programming VBA to control Word is a far cry from TeX code. TeX code is far more definitive. Word code can sometimes be tricky - there are times when I had to really wonder why Word just wouldn't display the page the way I specified in the program. There seeemed to be an incompatibility with certain video card drivers - a problem that fortunately had a programmatic solution. However, TeX to DVI was never 100% guaranteed either, and when I tried DVI generation in Linux I found some strangenesses.
I wonder if my usage of Word is all that reasonable in the eyes of other users
Thus, I say Word is really a powerful tool but so deeply proprietary to Microsoft! Are there open source tools that give the same power? Most people use Word to write documents manually. I generate documents automatically but use poor man's formatting by controlling Word. I can, with a lot of code, produce pages with proper formatting (perhaps Perl
Sure, this seems to be the third or fourth year of my annual view of the earth at night, and I wouldn't even consider using it for my desktop background since there are so many pictures of beautiful women I can use - but I think it's good to talk about.
It's easy to see the fringes or boundaries of the technical world. One may induce that mankind uses the greedy algorithm of resource consumption. Most people want to be economically as well off as possible and will exploit resources available at hand. When and if space travel becomes viable for the general public, we'll see indicators for our population distribution through the sky.
Speculation aside about the possible inefficiency of so many lights burning at night when people should be sleeping, it's amazing how much
(a) fear there is in the night. In this age we still can't go outside at night without danger.
(b) darkness there is at night. Without the sun most objects lose their identifying shapes and colors. So much for being able to work around the clock. The first time I saw a nighttime baseball game on TV it looked like they were playing in daylight though.
What will we do if the sun becomes too hot/cold even for only a brief time? We are so oriented to activities on the surface of the planet. Can we either go underground or leave the earth?
Africa and South America are so dark. I don't want to see rain forests disappearing though, but capitalists want their money to grow and billions of people living in these lands prove that life can thrive there - so where will the money go?
Never mind the article being slashdotted.
Who has logins for The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology?
Also quite cool: Nature has "Members of Slashdot login here". What would it take for us to get a subscription?
Giving new meaning to the word bombshell
wouldn't Spain people-living-there experience same problem?
Gender entry is usually limited to combo box/radio button/check box. Even translation from English to Language X and back to English should not return "bitch" - common sense reasoning dictates bitch is not an option in English how can translation obtain it?
The translation dictionary must be more powerful than simple mapping from language to language within the confines of screen controls.
This is a major weakness of translation based understanding of language - you can't translate text into more fundamental (i.e., more machine understandable) text if no attention is paid to semantics. The translator can go off on a tangent. A more powerful translator uses semantics to give the correct translation. Therefore if the target language is more understandable or less ambiguous, machine understanding achievement is closer.
Did the chicken come first?
Good idea. The people will be deaf by the time they blow it.
That might be 16 feet for water far downstream - but a bit higher at ground zero
How does this involve modern technology?
Damn hypertext syntax
That is
60 much much less than infinity
That's modern enough
It's time to really test the robots for defusing bombs.
How does this involve modern technology?
60 oo
That's modern enough
It's time to really test the robots for defusing bombs.
Extraterrestrials exist.
Their ship has been found.
would be whether Spam is taken at lunch.
Reminding me of the comedian who was in the market for a new religion. He was comparison shopping for which religion has more holidays, which one was less demanding, etc.
In the year 2012 the earth will cross a major magnetic line of the galaxy. After a mass extinction the resulting population will live according to their feelings of unconditional love.
Ultimately the Illuminati will rule the world but to reach this goal they are creating a constant state of war filled with blood sacrifice.
Farfetched you say? Keep listening to late night radio and these events will be brought to fruition, probably by the brainwashed, who listen to too much late night radio.
There are rumors of the coming of the antichrist, who is described as speaking all languages and bringing solutions to mankind's problems.
So you say capitalism will triumph? How about a deepening of the ice age or the increased heat of the sun followed much later by its death?
Closer to home, I guess it's all up to the whims of the government. Lies and corruption in government and business make us worry about any kind of social direction. A greater connectedness of the Internet and wireless gadgets brings more ability to produce as well as more chances to be victimized. It's going to be fun times.
My suggestion: open source as much technology as possible, both hardware and software. Complete knowledge should be disseminated in order to build and improve a foundation of understanding and trust. This will bring about a more level playing field. I believe in "every man/woman for himself/herself" but taking advantage of technology to collaborate and realize common beneficial goals is hypothesized to be quite desirable with side effects of friendliness and unity.
I, for one, welcome our new T-0 overlords.
Oh. It's already there. Time for lunch.
We all know AI will become our worst enemies and humanity will have to escape to the stars.
It's all out of control
chess is about intelligence. It's worth investing in. Plus, good PR will bring investment dollars into surrounding countries
These people are using tactics not just looking for the most obvious opening
Chess would be about fun too but $2.6 * 10^9 will buy the solution. Chess will be as solved as the Rubik's cube and tic-tac-toe