While I always obey the speed limit (to avoid being ticketed, and also because I know my reflexes are shit...;) ), I do have to agree with you. Exceeding the speed limit in and of itself is probably the safest way to break a traffic law. However, many people who speed also do other things that do endanger others, like tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, passing on curves and in no-passing zones, blowing red lights and stop signs, etc. Personally, I don't have a problem if I'm doing the speed limit on a highway and someone passes me going a little faster. I do have a problem if that same person spends half a mile riding three inches from my rear bumper flashing their lights at me because I'm not going fast enough for them, or almost takes my front end off while weaving in and out of heavy traffic.
Speed by itself doesn't kill most of the time, but unfortunatly, the same mentality that causes many people to speed also causes them to drive like maniacs.
Actually, it wasn't the initial impact that caused the collapse of the towers, it was the heat from the burning jet fuel inside of the towers that weakened the steel supports and caused them to collapse. Had it been a chunk of rock or other inert matter instead of planes loaded with volitile fuel than struck the towers, they would probably still be standing now.
They already make standard IDE cables like this one that are round instead of flat ribbons. Of course, the connectors still have to be 20 pins wide, so it's not perfect, but it is much better than the standard cable for airflow and space.
I know hardly anything about the biology involved, but I know that sometimes when I go to the bathroom after drinking a hell of a lot and holding it a while, once I've voided my bladder, if I stand for a few seconds, a little more will trickle out...then a little more...then a little more. So it seems that, though the bladder isn't filling up again immediatly, it does begin to trickle in as soon as you've got some room in there. Either that or mine is just defective...;-D
Last I heard, Netscape 6/7 does not have the "Open unrequested windows" option in the GUI. It is still in the browser, however, and can be enabled by using the following line in your prefs.js file:
At the web hosting company I work for, we still get complaints from clients insisting that our mail server must have a virus because people keep sending them mail complaining of Klez attacks from their email addresses. Even explaining to them that their mail account is on a Linux server that can't be infected by Klez doesn't do any good with some of 'em...;)
The idea of using worms or exploits to fix holes in systems you don't own, now...I think it's a bad one. The intent might be benign, but the results would likely be ugly. A worm that alters a system enough to close a security hole (even using an "official" patch or hotfix) could do some serious unintentional damage to a machine. Bugs in the worm itself, unusual system configurations, obscure software conflicts...the potential for completely breaking the target system is pretty high.
Besides which, I don't believe anyone has the right to invade a system they don't own for any reason, benign or otherwise. I am all for convincing the owners of infected machines to clean them up, but there are ways to do this without cracking their systems. Complain to their ISP, their CEO, or someone else who can pull the plug on them until the problem is fixed, if you like. It may not work in all cases, but it can't hurt, and if it doesn't work..well, that's life on the Internet.;)
Odd...I was able to read the article with no Flash and images from Salon blocked. Then again, I didn't see any "Get this plugin" boxes either, so maybe I just didn't get the Flash ads this time...
What did the page do to you? The only time I have trouble with having no Flash plugin is when stupid webmasters insist on making their only navigation system in Flash. Sites with Flash ads or extraneous components have never caused a problem. Do you use IE? I've seen IE harass users endlessly when it encounters content for a plugin like Flash it doesn't have. Moz and Netscape just replace the content with a "click here to get the plugin" box and go on their merry way, though...
Good thing or not, I want to know how the ArsTechnica folks think Moz doesn't "feel like a Windows application". I use the Classic skin on Windows 98, and I'll be damned if I can find anything that sets it apart (visually/operationally, at least) from any other Windows program. What exactly do they mean by "Rather than use the default 'widgets' (menu bars, pop-up menus, drop downs and the like), Navigator comes complete with its own set of widgets."? Granted, Mozilla may use XUL instead of the Windows API to create it's widgets, but they then go on to say that "a Windows application should have Windows' look and feel." What exactly is not "Windows" about Moz with the Classic skin?
I never did understand why so many people have to format+reinstall every X months on Windows. My copy of Windows 98 (first edition, too!) has been running for close to two years now. I've installed tons of crap and removed tons of crap (usually by half-assed methods, too), run half a dozen P2P programs at one time or another, downloaded...err...full-featured demonstrations of popular software from...um...questionable sources, and generally treated the thing like shit for those two years. (Hell, it has my entire Windows 95 install from my previous machine lying around in a backup folder on the C: drive somewhere...) Yet it's still running almost as well as the day I installed it. There's been some slowdown, but certainly not nearly enough for me to want to wipe the whole thing and start over. Crashes are relatively infrequent, and 85-90% of them are software bugs in applications. Moz dies every now and again, Netscape4 chokes on crappy Javascript, Pegasus occasionally eats a much-too-big mail folder, Q3+Urban Terror locks up when connecting to some servers. All of 'em are known bugs in the software, not symptoms of a dying OS. The only time I see a BSOD is very occasionally when shutting down the machine with a whole bunch of stuff open, and that only started after I switched to DSL and installed a PPPoE client. There's also a video glitch that shows up occasionally at boot time when the network logon appears, but that's been happening since the Ethernet card was first installed, and in fact, it actually happens less that it used to these days.
So...what is it about my computer that makes it keep ticking long past the point when others have to throw up their hands and pull out their Windows CDs and boot disks? It certainly can't be anything I'm doing...I'm worse at cleaning my computer than I am at cleaning house, and believe me, that's pretty damn bad...;) Does my computer just like me? Do I have a special magic aura that keeps it running when I'm around? Does Windows 98 become immune to cruft after ingesting massive amounts of it? I dunno. All I know is this thing keeps humming along, with an occasional hiccup now and then, no matter what I throw at it. I'm not even sure I remember where my Windows CD is...;)
In all seriousness...anyone have any ideas why it keeps on ticking?
Unfortunatly, the "except as may be reasonably neccesary" clause pretty much invalidates that idea. If the big corporation with the big campaign contributions says "Sadly, it was neccesary to destroy all of Joe Schmoe the Evil Music Pirate's files to protect our copyright", who do you think will disagree with them? Only all the Joe Schmoes out there, and they count for almost nothing in political circles. And since Joe Schmoe has to ask the Attorney General permission to sue the copyright holder or their representatives for any damages they cause, he's pretty well skunked.
Heck, usually it's LESS work to lie. Much easier to select the first or last option in a list than to hunt for the one that applies to you, or say you live in "dkjhgkjhdgs dshkjgdsh, AL" than to actually type your real address. And if they insist on cross-checking your ZIP and state, then what else is there except CA and 90210?;) (Guess crappy TV shows can have their uses after all...;) ) I'd love to see a study done about what % of visitors put CA/90210 for a state/ZIP in those places that do the cross-checking. That would give you a damn good idea about how many people lie like hell on those surveys...;)
With billiards, the computer can't tell me how hard to strike the cue ball, what english I need, and so on.
Actually, the computer probably could tell you all of that (though it may take a while and require more input than a simple visual image of the table), but the problem is, it's useless information, because you can't really translate what the computer tells you into a physical action. The computer might be able to tell you what point on the sphere of the cue ball your cue needs to strike and how fast your cue should be moving at the time of impact, but the chances of you reproducing what the computer tells you are pretty much nil. There's a lot more to pool than math...you also need the physical skills.
Although this might technically be called a BIOS, it certainly doesn't sound like something intended for a traditional PC. Looks more like Phoenix is after the embedded devices market...
Phoenix FirstView Connect software delivers an easy-to-implement, low cost/high value architecture that supports Internet TV, interactive screen phones, game consoles, customizable set-top devices, handheld appliances, and more.
This has really useful applications for small, specialized devices...it could turn just about anything into a Web-capable appliance. It would be kind of pointless on a full-fledged PC, however.
If it was implemented on a PC, it would probably end up a very annoying big brother of PhoenixNet. *shudder* Just imagine having to sit through ten minutes of downloading and playing Flash-based advertisements every time you booted your new DellPaq...;-)
Did you ever ask for a raise or express that you were less than happy with your current salary to your current employer? If so, did they ignore you or blow you off? If that is the case, I'd be a little more concerned about their counter-offer.
On the other hand, if you never have asked for a raise, how is your employer supposed to know you felt underpaid? A business isn't a charity. They aren't going to simply hand you a 50% raise out of the blue if you seem to be happy with (i.e. quiet about) your current situation. For all you know, they might have been willing to give you a similar raise if you had simply asked.
The Jedi are "keepers of the peace", not traffic cops. They would be more like a cross between the FBI and a diplomatic corps. I doubt they would be concerned with minor things like traffic violations.;)
1. There are no police, or more importantly, traffic cops or highway patrol officers, on Coruscant. Endangering pedestrians and other vehicles is just "no big deal."
Maybe there are...but you know there's never a cop around when you need one...;)
2. Six-year old Jedi trainees are so capable with their light sabres that you can group them very tightly together -- even wearing "blast shield helmets" -- and have them swing away at training beacons without any concerns for safety.
They could have been "practice" lightsabers...capable of deflecting a target drone's light blaster bolts, but not of removing the appendages of the trainee next to you.;)
3. Saruman can wield a mean light sabre -- although thankfully, he hasn't forgotten how to use telekinesis (but why didn't he do some more body-slamming?!? Wait -whaddyou mean this is Star Wars...?)
Heh...glad I wasn't the only one having deja vu during that point in the movie...;)
4. Just because you put a homing device on your opponent's getaway vehicle does NOT mean you shouldn't also follow him or her into a really dangerous asteroid belt instead of just waiting for him or her to come out the other side (you have a tracking device, remember!) -- of course, on the other hand, flying through asteroid belts at high speed is required in the Star Wars universe.
Maybe it's a short-range tracking device? Maybe great Jedi Master Obi-Wan's a little hot under the collar at being thrashed by a low-life bounty hunter and his clone-kid, and isn't thinking straight?;)
5. The GSO -- Galactic Standards Organization (the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org) -- has been so successful that not only have ALL major industrial manufacturers adopted the same data access, networking, and transfer protocols throughout the Republic, but so have secret, guerilla arms factories -- and besides, those same factories wouldn't use security software or electronic countermeasures to defend themselves against network intrusions anyway.
Artoo's just a rolling, beeping Black Box. He can crack any system in seconds. Maybe there's a Powerbook under that blue dome?;-D
6. Even though the Republic has scads of enormous, elongated wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, you should never put them into high orbit around a planet and use them to prevent enemy starships from taking off, let alone using them offensively as long-range artillery weapons against enemy ground forces. Pitting land force against land force is pretty much the best way to go -- you can always make or get more robot or clone soldiers...
Those big ships aren't Star Destroyers, though they are probably early ancestors. They seem to be designed more for troop transport and deployment than planetary bombardment. For all we know, they could be lightly-armed transports...we never see them in battle. Remember, the clone army, developed in secret over a decade or so, was Palaptine's ace in the hole. I don't think he had the time or the resources to construct a fleet of powerful warships in the short time he was in power, and it's reasonable to assume that a Republic without a standing army probably didn't have much in the way of a battle fleet either. Palaptine's primary goal at that time would have been to move his army to the battle zone. Once the war gets rolling, he will have plenty of time (and public support) for constructing fleets of massive battle cruisers.
7. C3PO is so well-designed that there are power cells in every major constituent of his body -- including his head.
Well, it wouldn't be suprising that he would have at least a redundant power supply in his head (which obviously contains his cognitive functions). It would make him more modular (as we've seen;) ), and allow his memory to be kept functional and accessible in the event of damage to his torso or primary power unit. We've never seen his arms or legs move on their own when they fall off, so it would seem that his head and his torso each have a power supply.
8. You don't need to wear a helmet or even goggles while you drive hovercraft, land speeders, or other flying vehicles in a desert environment such as Tatooine.
Luke's landspeeder in ANH had a windscreen. Granted, it was pretty small, but it would have helped. It's also possible that the repulsorlifts in vehicles may have the side effect of repelling sand, dirt, and other particles. Even if they didn't, a light deflector screen could be employed...it wouldn't take much to deflect incoming particles away from the driver. And Anakin has the Force, of course...;)
9. Little Boba Fett is so accustomed to seeing his dad's face only behind his cool helmet that it just wouldn't occur to him to lift the visor or remove the helmet to look at his poor dead dad's decapitated visage (try saying that three times fast!).
Barring the argument of whether dear old Dad's head was still in his helmet or not (I wasn't paying that much attention, to be honest...), assuming his head WAS still in there, just how is little Boba going to remove the helmet? Reach up his Daddy's neck, grab a handy vertebra, and yank? Ewww...
10. One's reputation, manner, and conduct just can't be guessed by observation alone -- you need to have a name which transparently broadcasts to all but the stupidest that you're not a nice person: Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?) -- not to mention Darth Maul, etc....
Well, for the Sith, perhaps they choose their own names. Obviously, until they gained control of most of the galaxy, they didn't parade them around much. I doubt Darth Sidious introduced himself as such at cocktail parties...;) As for the others...Dooku isn't really a sinister-sounding name (silly, yes, sinister, no...;) ). And maybe I missed something, but who the heck is Lord Tyranno? Don't remember hearing that name before...
11. Who's the biggest, baddest dude of the whole Galaxy? He's short, he's green, he has thinning hair, and nope -- he doesn't _really_ need that walking stick after all...
Hoo yeah...;) Although I just can't picture Yoda with a full head of hair. Maybe he never did have one. Heck, maybe he never had any hair at all when he was a young...um...green short dude. Ya know how old men get hair growing out of their ears?;)
Actually, that's pretty much true. All you get for your money is a piece of paper that says the Folks In Charge won't object to your occupancy of a particular plot of land and any structures on it. Of course, you attach a particular value to your ability to live somewhere without behing harassed or removed by force, but what it really boils down to is you giving the guy who currently has that piece of paper some money, and transferring that agreement to yourself.
Not really, in the way the authors are referring to waste. If a business producing non-biodegradable, disposable products, and sells 90% of the material the business produces, they wouldn't consider that waste, they would consider it profit. But that 90% will still end up in a landfill, accomplishing nothing, in a few weeks/months/years/whatever, and that is what the authors are referring to as "waste". If it cost twice as much to make those products environmentally friendly, what incentive is there for a business (whose primary goal is probably to make as much money as possible in the short term, remember) to take those steps, when all it does *for them* is reduce their profits and increase their costs?
To determin file type by the extension is getting a little old IMHO
Old? I think it's a perfectly logical method, myself, although I don't neccesarily like the way Windows locks application associations to file extensions instead of actual file types. (I get tired of jumping through hoops to open plain ASCII.doc files in Notepad instead of Word...) An extension, however, is an excellent tool for telling at a glance what kind of a file you are looking at, especially in a CLI. How else do you propose looking at a long, unfamiliar directory listing and picking out the HTML files from the text files, or the audio tracks from the video clips?
Extensions are handy markers, but I do prefer the way they're implemented on *nix...allowed and easy to use, but not required, and not really used by the OS itself.
I've always wondered if my unique method of typing is the reason why I don't suffer much from RSI despite being on a computer 10-12 hours a day. After reading some of the responses, though, I'm pretty sure it is...because the way I type, I keep my wrists and hands at a more natural angle on a standard keyboard. The downside is that I cannot type on a split keyboard at all. I also can't type as fast as a touch typist (~50wpm is my max), but for my job, that's not a big deal. And if someone moves my keyboard 1/2" to the right, it gets me completely screwed up until I move it back...;-D
(For those who are curious, I use a really warped version of "hunt and peck" typing, but without the "hunt" part...I already know where all the keys are and just type primarily with two fingers, the middle ones, with occasional help from the index fingers or ring fingers. This method keeps my wrists elevated and removed the up/down angle entirely, and keeps my hands mostly parallel with my arms. I also use my arms more than my wrists to strike the keys, which takes a lot of the load off the tendons in my wrists. It looks fairly cumbersome, and when people see me type for the first time, they usually ask "What the hell are you doing?", but I've been doing it for so long now that it seems perfectly natural to me. I've tried to learn to touch type, but never could do it...partly, I think, because my fingers are rather stubby, and partly because I have some fine motor control problems.)
I think when it comes to input devices, the right device is the one that feels the most natural to you. If it doesn't cause you any discomfort or pain over extended use and feels "right" to you, who gives a damn whether it's "officially" egronomic?;) Half the "egronomic" stuff I've tried myself has either been really cumbersome, if not impossible, for me to use, or even more uncomfortable than my good old reliable square keyboard and mouse-shaped mouse...;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Err, I think they were referring to how much the group improved as a whole, not how many members of the group showed improvement.
Still, it would be nice to see the experiment done on a larger sample.
DennyK
While I always obey the speed limit (to avoid being ticketed, and also because I know my reflexes are shit... ;) ), I do have to agree with you. Exceeding the speed limit in and of itself is probably the safest way to break a traffic law. However, many people who speed also do other things that do endanger others, like tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, passing on curves and in no-passing zones, blowing red lights and stop signs, etc. Personally, I don't have a problem if I'm doing the speed limit on a highway and someone passes me going a little faster. I do have a problem if that same person spends half a mile riding three inches from my rear bumper flashing their lights at me because I'm not going fast enough for them, or almost takes my front end off while weaving in and out of heavy traffic.
Speed by itself doesn't kill most of the time, but unfortunatly, the same mentality that causes many people to speed also causes them to drive like maniacs.
DennyK
Actually, it wasn't the initial impact that caused the collapse of the towers, it was the heat from the burning jet fuel inside of the towers that weakened the steel supports and caused them to collapse. Had it been a chunk of rock or other inert matter instead of planes loaded with volitile fuel than struck the towers, they would probably still be standing now.
DennyK
They already make standard IDE cables like this one that are round instead of flat ribbons. Of course, the connectors still have to be 20 pins wide, so it's not perfect, but it is much better than the standard cable for airflow and space.
DennyK
Next time they do that, just tell them you're gonna eat it right there, and then park in front of their drive-thru window for a half hour or so... ;-D
DennyK
I know hardly anything about the biology involved, but I know that sometimes when I go to the bathroom after drinking a hell of a lot and holding it a while, once I've voided my bladder, if I stand for a few seconds, a little more will trickle out...then a little more...then a little more. So it seems that, though the bladder isn't filling up again immediatly, it does begin to trickle in as soon as you've got some room in there. Either that or mine is just defective... ;-D
DennyK
Last I heard, Netscape 6/7 does not have the "Open unrequested windows" option in the GUI. It is still in the browser, however, and can be enabled by using the following line in your prefs.js file:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true);
DennyK
At the web hosting company I work for, we still get complaints from clients insisting that our mail server must have a virus because people keep sending them mail complaining of Klez attacks from their email addresses. Even explaining to them that their mail account is on a Linux server that can't be infected by Klez doesn't do any good with some of 'em... ;)
;)
The idea of using worms or exploits to fix holes in systems you don't own, now...I think it's a bad one. The intent might be benign, but the results would likely be ugly. A worm that alters a system enough to close a security hole (even using an "official" patch or hotfix) could do some serious unintentional damage to a machine. Bugs in the worm itself, unusual system configurations, obscure software conflicts...the potential for completely breaking the target system is pretty high.
Besides which, I don't believe anyone has the right to invade a system they don't own for any reason, benign or otherwise. I am all for convincing the owners of infected machines to clean them up, but there are ways to do this without cracking their systems. Complain to their ISP, their CEO, or someone else who can pull the plug on them until the problem is fixed, if you like. It may not work in all cases, but it can't hurt, and if it doesn't work..well, that's life on the Internet.
DennyK
Odd...I was able to read the article with no Flash and images from Salon blocked. Then again, I didn't see any "Get this plugin" boxes either, so maybe I just didn't get the Flash ads this time...
What did the page do to you? The only time I have trouble with having no Flash plugin is when stupid webmasters insist on making their only navigation system in Flash. Sites with Flash ads or extraneous components have never caused a problem. Do you use IE? I've seen IE harass users endlessly when it encounters content for a plugin like Flash it doesn't have. Moz and Netscape just replace the content with a "click here to get the plugin" box and go on their merry way, though...
DennyK
Good thing or not, I want to know how the ArsTechnica folks think Moz doesn't "feel like a Windows application". I use the Classic skin on Windows 98, and I'll be damned if I can find anything that sets it apart (visually/operationally, at least) from any other Windows program. What exactly do they mean by "Rather than use the default 'widgets' (menu bars, pop-up menus, drop downs and the like), Navigator comes complete with its own set of widgets."? Granted, Mozilla may use XUL instead of the Windows API to create it's widgets, but they then go on to say that "a Windows application should have Windows' look and feel." What exactly is not "Windows" about Moz with the Classic skin?
DennyK
I never did understand why so many people have to format+reinstall every X months on Windows. My copy of Windows 98 (first edition, too!) has been running for close to two years now. I've installed tons of crap and removed tons of crap (usually by half-assed methods, too), run half a dozen P2P programs at one time or another, downloaded...err...full-featured demonstrations of popular software from...um...questionable sources, and generally treated the thing like shit for those two years. (Hell, it has my entire Windows 95 install from my previous machine lying around in a backup folder on the C: drive somewhere...) Yet it's still running almost as well as the day I installed it. There's been some slowdown, but certainly not nearly enough for me to want to wipe the whole thing and start over. Crashes are relatively infrequent, and 85-90% of them are software bugs in applications. Moz dies every now and again, Netscape4 chokes on crappy Javascript, Pegasus occasionally eats a much-too-big mail folder, Q3+Urban Terror locks up when connecting to some servers. All of 'em are known bugs in the software, not symptoms of a dying OS. The only time I see a BSOD is very occasionally when shutting down the machine with a whole bunch of stuff open, and that only started after I switched to DSL and installed a PPPoE client. There's also a video glitch that shows up occasionally at boot time when the network logon appears, but that's been happening since the Ethernet card was first installed, and in fact, it actually happens less that it used to these days.
;) Does my computer just like me? Do I have a special magic aura that keeps it running when I'm around? Does Windows 98 become immune to cruft after ingesting massive amounts of it? I dunno. All I know is this thing keeps humming along, with an occasional hiccup now and then, no matter what I throw at it. I'm not even sure I remember where my Windows CD is... ;)
So...what is it about my computer that makes it keep ticking long past the point when others have to throw up their hands and pull out their Windows CDs and boot disks? It certainly can't be anything I'm doing...I'm worse at cleaning my computer than I am at cleaning house, and believe me, that's pretty damn bad...
In all seriousness...anyone have any ideas why it keeps on ticking?
DennyK
Unfortunatly, the "except as may be reasonably neccesary" clause pretty much invalidates that idea. If the big corporation with the big campaign contributions says "Sadly, it was neccesary to destroy all of Joe Schmoe the Evil Music Pirate's files to protect our copyright", who do you think will disagree with them? Only all the Joe Schmoes out there, and they count for almost nothing in political circles. And since Joe Schmoe has to ask the Attorney General permission to sue the copyright holder or their representatives for any damages they cause, he's pretty well skunked.
DennyK
Heck, usually it's LESS work to lie. Much easier to select the first or last option in a list than to hunt for the one that applies to you, or say you live in "dkjhgkjhdgs dshkjgdsh, AL" than to actually type your real address. And if they insist on cross-checking your ZIP and state, then what else is there except CA and 90210? ;) (Guess crappy TV shows can have their uses after all... ;) ) I'd love to see a study done about what % of visitors put CA/90210 for a state/ZIP in those places that do the cross-checking. That would give you a damn good idea about how many people lie like hell on those surveys... ;)
DennyK
How 'bout some plush kitties filled with contaminated water? Yuck... ;-D
DennyK
With billiards, the computer can't tell me how hard to strike the cue ball, what english I need, and so on.
Actually, the computer probably could tell you all of that (though it may take a while and require more input than a simple visual image of the table), but the problem is, it's useless information, because you can't really translate what the computer tells you into a physical action. The computer might be able to tell you what point on the sphere of the cue ball your cue needs to strike and how fast your cue should be moving at the time of impact, but the chances of you reproducing what the computer tells you are pretty much nil. There's a lot more to pool than math...you also need the physical skills.
DennyK
Although this might technically be called a BIOS, it certainly doesn't sound like something intended for a traditional PC. Looks more like Phoenix is after the embedded devices market...
;-)
Phoenix FirstView Connect software delivers an easy-to-implement, low cost/high value architecture that supports Internet TV, interactive screen phones, game consoles, customizable set-top devices, handheld appliances, and more.
This has really useful applications for small, specialized devices...it could turn just about anything into a Web-capable appliance. It would be kind of pointless on a full-fledged PC, however.
If it was implemented on a PC, it would probably end up a very annoying big brother of PhoenixNet. *shudder* Just imagine having to sit through ten minutes of downloading and playing Flash-based advertisements every time you booted your new DellPaq...
DennyK
Did you ever ask for a raise or express that you were less than happy with your current salary to your current employer? If so, did they ignore you or blow you off? If that is the case, I'd be a little more concerned about their counter-offer.
On the other hand, if you never have asked for a raise, how is your employer supposed to know you felt underpaid? A business isn't a charity. They aren't going to simply hand you a 50% raise out of the blue if you seem to be happy with (i.e. quiet about) your current situation. For all you know, they might have been willing to give you a similar raise if you had simply asked.
DennyK
The Jedi are "keepers of the peace", not traffic cops. They would be more like a cross between the FBI and a diplomatic corps. I doubt they would be concerned with minor things like traffic violations. ;)
DennyK
Aah...yes, I think you're right. Well, in that case, like the other Sith, he probably chose his own sinister moniker, or had it chosen for him. ;)
DennyK
1. There are no police, or more importantly, traffic cops or highway patrol officers, on Coruscant. Endangering pedestrians and other vehicles is just "no big deal."
;)
;)
;)
;)
;-D
;) ), and allow his memory to be kept functional and accessible in the event of damage to his torso or primary power unit. We've never seen his arms or legs move on their own when they fall off, so it would seem that his head and his torso each have a power supply.
;)
;) As for the others...Dooku isn't really a sinister-sounding name (silly, yes, sinister, no... ;) ). And maybe I missed something, but who the heck is Lord Tyranno? Don't remember hearing that name before...
;) Although I just can't picture Yoda with a full head of hair. Maybe he never did have one. Heck, maybe he never had any hair at all when he was a young...um...green short dude. Ya know how old men get hair growing out of their ears? ;)
Maybe there are...but you know there's never a cop around when you need one...
2. Six-year old Jedi trainees are so capable with their light sabres that you can group them very tightly together -- even wearing "blast shield helmets" -- and have them swing away at training beacons without any concerns for safety.
They could have been "practice" lightsabers...capable of deflecting a target drone's light blaster bolts, but not of removing the appendages of the trainee next to you.
3. Saruman can wield a mean light sabre -- although thankfully, he hasn't forgotten how to use telekinesis (but why didn't he do some more body-slamming?!? Wait -whaddyou mean this is Star Wars...?)
Heh...glad I wasn't the only one having deja vu during that point in the movie...
4. Just because you put a homing device on your opponent's getaway vehicle does NOT mean you shouldn't also follow him or her into a really dangerous asteroid belt instead of just waiting for him or her to come out the other side (you have a tracking device, remember!) -- of course, on the other hand, flying through asteroid belts at high speed is required in the Star Wars universe.
Maybe it's a short-range tracking device? Maybe great Jedi Master Obi-Wan's a little hot under the collar at being thrashed by a low-life bounty hunter and his clone-kid, and isn't thinking straight?
5. The GSO -- Galactic Standards Organization (the future counterpart to the ISO and W3.org) -- has been so successful that not only have ALL major industrial manufacturers adopted the same data access, networking, and transfer protocols throughout the Republic, but so have secret, guerilla arms factories -- and besides, those same factories wouldn't use security software or electronic countermeasures to defend themselves against network intrusions anyway.
Artoo's just a rolling, beeping Black Box. He can crack any system in seconds. Maybe there's a Powerbook under that blue dome?
6. Even though the Republic has scads of enormous, elongated wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, you should never put them into high orbit around a planet and use them to prevent enemy starships from taking off, let alone using them offensively as long-range artillery weapons against enemy ground forces. Pitting land force against land force is pretty much the best way to go -- you can always make or get more robot or clone soldiers...
Those big ships aren't Star Destroyers, though they are probably early ancestors. They seem to be designed more for troop transport and deployment than planetary bombardment. For all we know, they could be lightly-armed transports...we never see them in battle. Remember, the clone army, developed in secret over a decade or so, was Palaptine's ace in the hole. I don't think he had the time or the resources to construct a fleet of powerful warships in the short time he was in power, and it's reasonable to assume that a Republic without a standing army probably didn't have much in the way of a battle fleet either. Palaptine's primary goal at that time would have been to move his army to the battle zone. Once the war gets rolling, he will have plenty of time (and public support) for constructing fleets of massive battle cruisers.
7. C3PO is so well-designed that there are power cells in every major constituent of his body -- including his head.
Well, it wouldn't be suprising that he would have at least a redundant power supply in his head (which obviously contains his cognitive functions). It would make him more modular (as we've seen
8. You don't need to wear a helmet or even goggles while you drive hovercraft, land speeders, or other flying vehicles in a desert environment such as Tatooine.
Luke's landspeeder in ANH had a windscreen. Granted, it was pretty small, but it would have helped. It's also possible that the repulsorlifts in vehicles may have the side effect of repelling sand, dirt, and other particles. Even if they didn't, a light deflector screen could be employed...it wouldn't take much to deflect incoming particles away from the driver. And Anakin has the Force, of course...
9. Little Boba Fett is so accustomed to seeing his dad's face only behind his cool helmet that it just wouldn't occur to him to lift the visor or remove the helmet to look at his poor dead dad's decapitated visage (try saying that three times fast!).
Barring the argument of whether dear old Dad's head was still in his helmet or not (I wasn't paying that much attention, to be honest...), assuming his head WAS still in there, just how is little Boba going to remove the helmet? Reach up his Daddy's neck, grab a handy vertebra, and yank? Ewww...
10. One's reputation, manner, and conduct just can't be guessed by observation alone -- you need to have a name which transparently broadcasts to all but the stupidest that you're not a nice person: Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranno, Count Dooku (?!?) -- not to mention Darth Maul, etc....
Well, for the Sith, perhaps they choose their own names. Obviously, until they gained control of most of the galaxy, they didn't parade them around much. I doubt Darth Sidious introduced himself as such at cocktail parties...
11. Who's the biggest, baddest dude of the whole Galaxy? He's short, he's green, he has thinning hair, and nope -- he doesn't _really_ need that walking stick after all...
Hoo yeah...
DennyK
Actually, that's pretty much true. All you get for your money is a piece of paper that says the Folks In Charge won't object to your occupancy of a particular plot of land and any structures on it. Of course, you attach a particular value to your ability to live somewhere without behing harassed or removed by force, but what it really boils down to is you giving the guy who currently has that piece of paper some money, and transferring that agreement to yourself.
DennyK
Trees are renewable, but it takes a *long* time to renew the amount of tree that goes in to a reasonably successful book printing run... ;)
DennyK
Not really, in the way the authors are referring to waste. If a business producing non-biodegradable, disposable products, and sells 90% of the material the business produces, they wouldn't consider that waste, they would consider it profit. But that 90% will still end up in a landfill, accomplishing nothing, in a few weeks/months/years/whatever, and that is what the authors are referring to as "waste". If it cost twice as much to make those products environmentally friendly, what incentive is there for a business (whose primary goal is probably to make as much money as possible in the short term, remember) to take those steps, when all it does *for them* is reduce their profits and increase their costs?
DennyK
To determin file type by the extension is getting a little old IMHO
.doc files in Notepad instead of Word...) An extension, however, is an excellent tool for telling at a glance what kind of a file you are looking at, especially in a CLI. How else do you propose looking at a long, unfamiliar directory listing and picking out the HTML files from the text files, or the audio tracks from the video clips?
Old? I think it's a perfectly logical method, myself, although I don't neccesarily like the way Windows locks application associations to file extensions instead of actual file types. (I get tired of jumping through hoops to open plain ASCII
Extensions are handy markers, but I do prefer the way they're implemented on *nix...allowed and easy to use, but not required, and not really used by the OS itself.
DennyK
I've always wondered if my unique method of typing is the reason why I don't suffer much from RSI despite being on a computer 10-12 hours a day. After reading some of the responses, though, I'm pretty sure it is...because the way I type, I keep my wrists and hands at a more natural angle on a standard keyboard. The downside is that I cannot type on a split keyboard at all. I also can't type as fast as a touch typist (~50wpm is my max), but for my job, that's not a big deal. And if someone moves my keyboard 1/2" to the right, it gets me completely screwed up until I move it back... ;-D
;) Half the "egronomic" stuff I've tried myself has either been really cumbersome, if not impossible, for me to use, or even more uncomfortable than my good old reliable square keyboard and mouse-shaped mouse... ;-)
(For those who are curious, I use a really warped version of "hunt and peck" typing, but without the "hunt" part...I already know where all the keys are and just type primarily with two fingers, the middle ones, with occasional help from the index fingers or ring fingers. This method keeps my wrists elevated and removed the up/down angle entirely, and keeps my hands mostly parallel with my arms. I also use my arms more than my wrists to strike the keys, which takes a lot of the load off the tendons in my wrists. It looks fairly cumbersome, and when people see me type for the first time, they usually ask "What the hell are you doing?", but I've been doing it for so long now that it seems perfectly natural to me. I've tried to learn to touch type, but never could do it...partly, I think, because my fingers are rather stubby, and partly because I have some fine motor control problems.)
I think when it comes to input devices, the right device is the one that feels the most natural to you. If it doesn't cause you any discomfort or pain over extended use and feels "right" to you, who gives a damn whether it's "officially" egronomic?
DennyK