Hence the OTHER major problem with the ISS. The notion that it's "America's Space Station". ISS=International Space Station. If it was America's Space Station then you can be damn sure it would've been finished by now. Since it's the "ISS" we had to wait around for other countries to finish their modules while in the mean time single-handedly propping up the Russian space agency with US tax dollars. The ISS is about politics, not exploration or science.
What a pile of crap. As several others have pointed out, the habitation module was cancelled by the US, because of cut backs in the NASA budget. And, even before the Columbia disaster, the ISS-related shuttle launches were way behind the original schedule.
The other countries involved in the ISS might not have all been on time with their modules, etc but neither has the US. In fact, if you wanted to ask whose fault it is that the entire project is way off plan (time-, money- and size-wise) and you wanted to point one finger at one country then that country would have to the the US of A.
maddmike writes "There is a very interesting article on About.com that shows how to measure the speed of light using your microwave to melt chocholate. "
Bah, that's easy stuff. It's about time that About.com tackled the real holy grail of science - how to teach Slashdot editors to use a spelling checker.
$50,000 US might make you well off by the standards of the average Indian, but it would hardly make you a "millionaire". At best, you'd be able to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
Once you'd used some of that to buy a plot of land, a house, a car and some modern comforts (TV, PC, etc) you'd be surprised at how little would be left over. Please, stop perpetuating the myth that every thing is 20+ times cheaper in India or anywhere else.
Yeah, I thought about Jack Davenport too. He'd be a good choice and a believeable one, one that the older Doctor Who fans (ie, anyone who was around to see the any of series when they originally aired) could see in the role.
Anthony Head doesn't do it for me though - perhaps it's the Buffy and coffee connections (I'm not a Buffy fan, and those coffee ads he did before that look so cringeworthy now).
Yes it is possible for gay people to have interests outside of gayness, buy who would give a damn about the interests of a f#*ked up, morally devoid group of people anyway.
You have to take everything that comes out of their mouth or brain with a grain of salt and be on the defense to protect the morality of our society (that is rapidly declining because of people like them).
Two words for you: Alan Turing.
And if you don't know who he was, or what he acheived, then you're even less intelligent than I'm giving you credit for.
It's people like you, the people say they want to "protect the morality of our society", that it actually need protecting against.
If it's suddenly revealed tomorrow that Einstein was gay would that make relativity any less of an acheivement? If Mahatma Ghandi was reavealed to have been gay would that make his peaceful struggle for democracy any less valid? If a gay man or woman discovers the cure for cancer would it be any less momentous because of his/her sexuality?
You are an ignorant, homophobic, neanderthal. You even know that you're an ignorant, homophobic, neanderthal because you chose to hide your identity by posting as an AC. You're pathetic on so many levels - pathetic for your opinions and pathetic for not even having the courage of your convictions and posting under your real account.
Grow some balls and a brain, you sad, sad, ignorant fool.
That's a real shame. I can see why he'd turn it down even if he was offered the gig - the comparisons with his father's version would be unending and, for an actor who's only just starting to be recognised for being more than his father's son, perhaps unbearable.
Nevertheless, there are only a handful of young British actors that I think would be suitable for the role, and Sean Pertwee is one of them. Unfortunately, I don't think that older actors, such as Sir Ian McClellan, David Suchet, John Hurt, etc would get a look-in - a young Doctor is pretty much a must if they're going to strike a chord across all of their target demographics. On the flip side of the coin, Orlando Bloom is probably too young to play the Doctor himself but he'd make a great companion.
Odds are though, that none of these names will be considered. Pre-Paul McGann, the part of the Doctor has always gone to an actor who's been relatively unknown and whose resume has mainly consisted of TV work.
Let's keep the politics out of it please...
on
Doctor Who Comeback
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Irrespective of the politics of The Daily Telegraph, the story's quite accurate. So, in the context of this story, your "to be read with a pinch of salt" is as redundant as your lambasting of the paper's editorial slant (and people who rip The Guardian for being a "communist rag" are just as bad, if not worse).
As I pointed out in my other post below, the story's being reported by the BBC too. And given that Doctor Who is a BBC production, that makes it pretty hard to refute.
Persononally, if Paul McGann isn't coming back to play the Doctor then I'd prefer Colin Firth, Sean Bean or Sean Pertwee (Jon Pertwee's, the third Doctor, son) to get the title role.
...This look like an interesting addition to any home, even if the article's title is a bit of a misnomer.
Well, here's an idea for you editors then - EDIT! It is traditional (at least it is everywhere but Slashdot) for editors to actually edit. Why not join the club?
They're already up to 80 Hz refresh (12-13 ms respnose times). That's pretty damn impressive for a technology that's still in the basic R&D stage, and it augurs well for the future.
Just how much does this agreement add to the price of a Seagate drive?
Either there are two versions of every such drive - one with Lindows on it and one without - or the software is there to be installed on all of them.
In the former case, the price premium for LindowsHD is clear, in the latter case it's hidden but not non-existant - Lindows hasn't given away its technology for free yet and I doubt it's starting to do that now.
Even if Lindows isn't charging Seagate for the software itself (perhaps because it's hoping to sell subscriptions, using the razor/razor blades business model), there's an associated cost for actually making sure the software's on the hard drives.
And who pays this cost? Well, at the end of the day, it's the end customer. That's fine and dandy if that software's of some use to you but it's not so great if you're never going to run Lindows. And, if that's the case, why not just stick the damned software on a CD or two and send it to anyone who's interested rather than come up with some zany (but far from novel) marketing scheme to shift a few more hard drives and/or Lindows subsriptions?
Am I the only one who thinks that the strategy behind this "strategic alliance" is flawed?
This isn't a keyboard for PDAs, it's a keyboard for mobile phones, hence the juxtaposition of alphabetical keys around a numeric keypad with the primary focus still on the numbers.
The whole purpose of this layout is to make texting (sending text messages via SMS) easier but the primary focus is still on dialling.
This isn't designed for PDA text entry. It's not even designed for PDA/phone convergence devices. It's designed for phones and phones only.
LOTF is just well-dressed propaganda, teaching youngsters that without the guiding adult hand they inevitably descend into primitive violence. No coincidence it's such a favorite of teachers.
Life's real stories of youngsters abandoned shows something quite different. In the Polish ghettos, Nazi camps, streets of Rio and of Kinshasa... children form groups and look after each other...
To quote The Shawshank Redemption, how can you be so obtuse?
LOTF isn't literally about kids, it's about people as a whole, just like Animal Farm isn't about pigs, dogs and other farmyard animals, it's about the failings of a political system.
Either your English teacher was so stupid that s/he didn't point out that Golding was using the shipwrecked children to portray adults or you just missed the point of the book completely.
Lord Of The Flies is a book that illustrates how easy it is for us to fall into anarchy without the presence of a society to keep us in check.
The book isn't about failing systems of government, it's about how, in the absence of any form of government, we quickly we fall back to a selfish "survival of the fittest" state with the strong preying on the weak.
The boys don't try to set up a system of government, they try to live by the rules that society has taught them. But, pretty soon, they realise that without society watching over them, those rules are easily disposed of - and weaker figures like Simon and Piggy suffer as a result.
Witness the near-deification of the conch, the hunting, the return to "normal" behaviour when rescue arrives, etc. This isn't a book about government or society, it's a book about a lack of government and the breakdown of society.
No book more clearly illustrates the mentality that turns ordinary people going about their daily business into a rioting, blood-thirsty mob than William Golding's masterpiece. When it comes to examining how easily we can descend into anarchy, LOTF is the bible.
The point is that they aren't putting these costs of doing business in their base price, allowing them to advertise a price lower than it really is. Where should the line be drawn? Should their be a "corporate income tax" surcharge? A "utility connection tax" surcharge? A "maintenance vehicle licensing tax" surcharge? All those taxes are a part of the cost of doing business.
I don't expect taxes and other costs of doing business to not be passed on to the customer, but I sure am tired of having each one marked up and inserted as a line item, all the while a deceptively low price advertised onto which is tacked numerous pseudo-tax items.
Welcome to the real world, buddy. Everyone does this, so why bitch specifically at Vonage? Almost everywhere you shop in the US has a local or state sales tax, so the price on an item is never the price that you have to pay for it - isn't this just as deceptive? Similarly, airlines often price flights exclusive of any airport taxes and then whack them on at the end, concert, sports, theatre and cinema tickets almost always come with additional booking fee, etc, etc. In all likelyhood, unless it isn't disclosed at all - these things are usually in the small print - it's not illegal.
And, if everyone does it, complaining about one specific instance is pretty pointless.
So, if the price of beef doubled, do you think they would just increase the price of a Big Mac to $6.00 or that they'd advertise and charge $3.00 and then collect a $3.00 "beef price adjustment surcharge?"
I would expect McDonalds (as other businesses have done in the past on countless ocassions) to point out the reason for the price increases somewhere, definitely in poster form in their restaurants and most probably in their advertising too.
It wouldn't matter to me what they labelled the price increase "beef price adjustment surcharge" or not, what would matter to me would be the fact that the price increase reflected the additional cost of making that Big Mac, and wasn't just an excuse to start price gouging.
In this case, Vonage has had its costs significantly increased by regulatory fees. Someone has to pay those fees and, one way or another, that someone is always going to be the end user. I'm sure the average user would be far happier paying $1.50/month more if the reasons behind the price increase was both justified and properly explained to him/her than paying $1.50/month more without any justification or expanation whatsoever.
Just what are you people pissed at: that the prices have gone up for reasons that are clearly beyond Vonage's control, or that they had the cheek to flag this price increase and the reasons for it as a seperate item on their bills?
Like I said before, if you're not happy about having to pay taxes (even indirect ones such as the case here) then talk to your government.
I am getting really sick of these copanies doing scumbag things like this... their fees that THEY are charged are a part of doing business. Just like the bullcrap "destination fees" when you buy a car. Dont pay them, if the dealer is going to let a $20,000.00 deal fall through over some stupid $150.00 fee they will shut up. just like if you get people to bitch about this lame $1.50 fee they will also stop.
Their business model obviously didn't anticipate having to pay this regulatory fee. Quite sensible really - until they were asked for it, there was no reason for them to factor it into their costs.
The cost of them doing business has just gone up, just as McDonalds costs would go up if the price of beef were to suddenly double. And, just as McDonalds would have to raise its prices in that scenario, Vonage is now having to raise its prices to take account of these additional costs.
It's hardly like they raised their prices just for the sake of it - they're doing it for a valid reason. Whether the cost is $1.50 (which isn't that much) or $15 is irrelevant, what's relevant is the fact that it's hardly "a scumbag" move to pass on new costs to your customer if they are legitimate.
If you don't like it, either complain to your government (it's the one setting the fees) or take your business elsewhere (to another provider that charges the same fees, but perhaps not in such a transparent manner).
Hey, what do you wan't me to do about it? Change the world?
The associations between red and danger and green and safety are centuries (if not millennia) old. They're subconcious ones (for the very reasons I gave before) and they're cross-cultural - wherever you go around the world, whatever society you find yourself in, red equating to danger will be a given. And, just because a minority of people are colour-blind, that isn't going to change.
Similarly, we live in a right-handed world. My mouse (ergonomically designed for the right-hand), my keyboard (numeric keypad on the right), even my damn microwave (door hinge on the left, controls on the right) are designed in a way that's unnatural for me and that I am forced to adapt to.
There are far more people out there that are left-handed than colour-blind. When was the last time you saw a popular mouse design available for lefties? When was the last time you saw a keyboard with the numeric keypad on the left? When have you ever seen a microwave with the controls on the left and the door hinged on the right?
Face it, the world is designed for the majority. Moaning about it, whether to me on/. or to someone who really matters isn't really going to change a damn thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Hence the OTHER major problem with the ISS. The notion that it's "America's Space Station". ISS=International Space Station. If it was America's Space Station then you can be damn sure it would've been finished by now. Since it's the "ISS" we had to wait around for other countries to finish their modules while in the mean time single-handedly propping up the Russian space agency with US tax dollars. The ISS is about politics, not exploration or science.
What a pile of crap. As several others have pointed out, the habitation module was cancelled by the US, because of cut backs in the NASA budget. And, even before the Columbia disaster, the ISS-related shuttle launches were way behind the original schedule.
The other countries involved in the ISS might not have all been on time with their modules, etc but neither has the US. In fact, if you wanted to ask whose fault it is that the entire project is way off plan (time-, money- and size-wise) and you wanted to point one finger at one country then that country would have to the the US of A.
...what they really want is a monorail. Oh yeah, and more asbestos. Then they'll show that Space King who's boss.
maddmike writes "There is a very interesting article on About.com that shows how to measure the speed of light using your microwave to melt chocholate. "
Bah, that's easy stuff. It's about time that About.com tackled the real holy grail of science - how to teach Slashdot editors to use a spelling checker.
$50,000 US might make you well off by the standards of the average Indian, but it would hardly make you a "millionaire". At best, you'd be able to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
Once you'd used some of that to buy a plot of land, a house, a car and some modern comforts (TV, PC, etc) you'd be surprised at how little would be left over. Please, stop perpetuating the myth that every thing is 20+ times cheaper in India or anywhere else.
...you're new here, aren't you?
HyperSCSI, huh?
Well, let's just add that to SCSI, SCSI 2, Fast SCSI, Wide SCSI, Fast Wide SCSI, Narrow SCSI, Ultra SCSI (aka SCSI 3), Ultra-2 SCSI, Ultra-3 SCSI (Ultra-160 SCSI to some), Ultra-320 SCSI and iSCSI. (I'm sure I've missed something out.)
So what's next for this party? UberSCSI? 1337SCSI? TheOneRingSCSI?
Yeah, I thought about Jack Davenport too. He'd be a good choice and a believeable one, one that the older Doctor Who fans (ie, anyone who was around to see the any of series when they originally aired) could see in the role.
Anthony Head doesn't do it for me though - perhaps it's the Buffy and coffee connections (I'm not a Buffy fan, and those coffee ads he did before that look so cringeworthy now).
Yes it is possible for gay people to have interests outside of gayness, buy who would give a damn about the interests of a f#*ked up, morally devoid group of people anyway.
You have to take everything that comes out of their mouth or brain with a grain of salt and be on the defense to protect the morality of our society (that is rapidly declining because of people like them).
Two words for you: Alan Turing.
And if you don't know who he was, or what he acheived, then you're even less intelligent than I'm giving you credit for.
It's people like you, the people say they want to "protect the morality of our society", that it actually need protecting against.
If it's suddenly revealed tomorrow that Einstein was gay would that make relativity any less of an acheivement? If Mahatma Ghandi was reavealed to have been gay would that make his peaceful struggle for democracy any less valid? If a gay man or woman discovers the cure for cancer would it be any less momentous because of his/her sexuality?
You are an ignorant, homophobic, neanderthal. You even know that you're an ignorant, homophobic, neanderthal because you chose to hide your identity by posting as an AC. You're pathetic on so many levels - pathetic for your opinions and pathetic for not even having the courage of your convictions and posting under your real account.
Grow some balls and a brain, you sad, sad, ignorant fool.
That's a real shame. I can see why he'd turn it down even if he was offered the gig - the comparisons with his father's version would be unending and, for an actor who's only just starting to be recognised for being more than his father's son, perhaps unbearable.
Nevertheless, there are only a handful of young British actors that I think would be suitable for the role, and Sean Pertwee is one of them. Unfortunately, I don't think that older actors, such as Sir Ian McClellan, David Suchet, John Hurt, etc would get a look-in - a young Doctor is pretty much a must if they're going to strike a chord across all of their target demographics. On the flip side of the coin, Orlando Bloom is probably too young to play the Doctor himself but he'd make a great companion.
Odds are though, that none of these names will be considered. Pre-Paul McGann, the part of the Doctor has always gone to an actor who's been relatively unknown and whose resume has mainly consisted of TV work.
Irrespective of the politics of The Daily Telegraph, the story's quite accurate. So, in the context of this story, your "to be read with a pinch of salt" is as redundant as your lambasting of the paper's editorial slant (and people who rip The Guardian for being a "communist rag" are just as bad, if not worse).
As I pointed out in my other post below, the story's being reported by the BBC too. And given that Doctor Who is a BBC production, that makes it pretty hard to refute.
BBC News story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_ra dio/3140786.stm
s tm
BBC News discussion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3142006.
Persononally, if Paul McGann isn't coming back to play the Doctor then I'd prefer Colin Firth, Sean Bean or Sean Pertwee (Jon Pertwee's, the third Doctor, son) to get the title role.
...This look like an interesting addition to any home, even if the article's title is a bit of a misnomer.
Well, here's an idea for you editors then - EDIT! It is traditional (at least it is everywhere but Slashdot) for editors to actually edit. Why not join the club?
Yeah, there does seem to be something rather fishy about this story making the front page...
Here's the BBC's slant on the news: Electronic paper prepares for video.
They're already up to 80 Hz refresh (12-13 ms respnose times). That's pretty damn impressive for a technology that's still in the basic R&D stage, and it augurs well for the future.
Just how much does this agreement add to the price of a Seagate drive?
Either there are two versions of every such drive - one with Lindows on it and one without - or the software is there to be installed on all of them.
In the former case, the price premium for LindowsHD is clear, in the latter case it's hidden but not non-existant - Lindows hasn't given away its technology for free yet and I doubt it's starting to do that now.
Even if Lindows isn't charging Seagate for the software itself (perhaps because it's hoping to sell subscriptions, using the razor/razor blades business model), there's an associated cost for actually making sure the software's on the hard drives.
And who pays this cost? Well, at the end of the day, it's the end customer. That's fine and dandy if that software's of some use to you but it's not so great if you're never going to run Lindows. And, if that's the case, why not just stick the damned software on a CD or two and send it to anyone who's interested rather than come up with some zany (but far from novel) marketing scheme to shift a few more hard drives and/or Lindows subsriptions?
Am I the only one who thinks that the strategy behind this "strategic alliance" is flawed?
People have finally started benchmarking benchmarking sites.
It's official: the end of the world is nigh.
This isn't a keyboard for PDAs, it's a keyboard for mobile phones, hence the juxtaposition of alphabetical keys around a numeric keypad with the primary focus still on the numbers.
The whole purpose of this layout is to make texting (sending text messages via SMS) easier but the primary focus is still on dialling.
This isn't designed for PDA text entry. It's not even designed for PDA/phone convergence devices. It's designed for phones and phones only.
LOTF is just well-dressed propaganda, teaching youngsters that without the guiding adult hand they inevitably descend into primitive violence. No coincidence it's such a favorite of teachers.
Life's real stories of youngsters abandoned shows something quite different. In the Polish ghettos, Nazi camps, streets of Rio and of Kinshasa... children form groups and look after each other...
To quote The Shawshank Redemption, how can you be so obtuse?
LOTF isn't literally about kids, it's about people as a whole, just like Animal Farm isn't about pigs, dogs and other farmyard animals, it's about the failings of a political system.
Either your English teacher was so stupid that s/he didn't point out that Golding was using the shipwrecked children to portray adults or you just missed the point of the book completely.
Uh, where did I say that LOTF is based upond a true story?
Perhaps you should go back to your English teacher and ask her for some remedial comprehension lessons, because you seem to need them.
...that's a complete load of crap.
Lord Of The Flies is a book that illustrates how easy it is for us to fall into anarchy without the presence of a society to keep us in check.
The book isn't about failing systems of government, it's about how, in the absence of any form of government, we quickly we fall back to a selfish "survival of the fittest" state with the strong preying on the weak.
The boys don't try to set up a system of government, they try to live by the rules that society has taught them. But, pretty soon, they realise that without society watching over them, those rules are easily disposed of - and weaker figures like Simon and Piggy suffer as a result.
Witness the near-deification of the conch, the hunting, the return to "normal" behaviour when rescue arrives, etc. This isn't a book about government or society, it's a book about a lack of government and the breakdown of society.
No book more clearly illustrates the mentality that turns ordinary people going about their daily business into a rioting, blood-thirsty mob than William Golding's masterpiece. When it comes to examining how easily we can descend into anarchy, LOTF is the bible.
The point is that they aren't putting these costs of doing business in their base price, allowing them to advertise a price lower than it really is. Where should the line be drawn? Should their be a "corporate income tax" surcharge? A "utility connection tax" surcharge? A "maintenance vehicle licensing tax" surcharge? All those taxes are a part of the cost of doing business.
I don't expect taxes and other costs of doing business to not be passed on to the customer, but I sure am tired of having each one marked up and inserted as a line item, all the while a deceptively low price advertised onto which is tacked numerous pseudo-tax items.
Welcome to the real world, buddy. Everyone does this, so why bitch specifically at Vonage? Almost everywhere you shop in the US has a local or state sales tax, so the price on an item is never the price that you have to pay for it - isn't this just as deceptive? Similarly, airlines often price flights exclusive of any airport taxes and then whack them on at the end, concert, sports, theatre and cinema tickets almost always come with additional booking fee, etc, etc. In all likelyhood, unless it isn't disclosed at all - these things are usually in the small print - it's not illegal.
And, if everyone does it, complaining about one specific instance is pretty pointless.
So, if the price of beef doubled, do you think they would just increase the price of a Big Mac to $6.00 or that they'd advertise and charge $3.00 and then collect a $3.00 "beef price adjustment surcharge?"
I would expect McDonalds (as other businesses have done in the past on countless ocassions) to point out the reason for the price increases somewhere, definitely in poster form in their restaurants and most probably in their advertising too.
It wouldn't matter to me what they labelled the price increase "beef price adjustment surcharge" or not, what would matter to me would be the fact that the price increase reflected the additional cost of making that Big Mac, and wasn't just an excuse to start price gouging.
In this case, Vonage has had its costs significantly increased by regulatory fees. Someone has to pay those fees and, one way or another, that someone is always going to be the end user. I'm sure the average user would be far happier paying $1.50/month more if the reasons behind the price increase was both justified and properly explained to him/her than paying $1.50/month more without any justification or expanation whatsoever.
Just what are you people pissed at: that the prices have gone up for reasons that are clearly beyond Vonage's control, or that they had the cheek to flag this price increase and the reasons for it as a seperate item on their bills?
Like I said before, if you're not happy about having to pay taxes (even indirect ones such as the case here) then talk to your government.
I am getting really sick of these copanies doing scumbag things like this... their fees that THEY are charged are a part of doing business. Just like the bullcrap "destination fees" when you buy a car. Dont pay them, if the dealer is going to let a $20,000.00 deal fall through over some stupid $150.00 fee they will shut up. just like if you get people to bitch about this lame $1.50 fee they will also stop.
Their business model obviously didn't anticipate having to pay this regulatory fee. Quite sensible really - until they were asked for it, there was no reason for them to factor it into their costs.
The cost of them doing business has just gone up, just as McDonalds costs would go up if the price of beef were to suddenly double. And, just as McDonalds would have to raise its prices in that scenario, Vonage is now having to raise its prices to take account of these additional costs.
It's hardly like they raised their prices just for the sake of it - they're doing it for a valid reason. Whether the cost is $1.50 (which isn't that much) or $15 is irrelevant, what's relevant is the fact that it's hardly "a scumbag" move to pass on new costs to your customer if they are legitimate.
If you don't like it, either complain to your government (it's the one setting the fees) or take your business elsewhere (to another provider that charges the same fees, but perhaps not in such a transparent manner).
It varies depending on whom you ask whether chocolate is in fact a necessity or not.
If you're asking a man the answer might vary but asking a woman that question is like asking the Pope if he's Catholic.
Hey, what do you wan't me to do about it? Change the world?
/. or to someone who really matters isn't really going to change a damn thing.
The associations between red and danger and green and safety are centuries (if not millennia) old. They're subconcious ones (for the very reasons I gave before) and they're cross-cultural - wherever you go around the world, whatever society you find yourself in, red equating to danger will be a given. And, just because a minority of people are colour-blind, that isn't going to change.
Similarly, we live in a right-handed world. My mouse (ergonomically designed for the right-hand), my keyboard (numeric keypad on the right), even my damn microwave (door hinge on the left, controls on the right) are designed in a way that's unnatural for me and that I am forced to adapt to.
There are far more people out there that are left-handed than colour-blind. When was the last time you saw a popular mouse design available for lefties? When was the last time you saw a keyboard with the numeric keypad on the left? When have you ever seen a microwave with the controls on the left and the door hinged on the right?
Face it, the world is designed for the majority. Moaning about it, whether to me on