One reason why aliens are expected to be friendly is that the resources required to successfully undertake interstellar travel are so high that a society that performs such a feat can't afford to spend resources (mental, economic, whatever) on negative efforts, like genocide.
My question is similar to those who have asked about returned Generation 3 iPods being replaced with Generation 4 iPods.
I was reading about Apple's iPod battery replacement program and, from the description, it sounds like they basically replace your iPod with a new one when you send it in for a replacement battery. Does this mean that, if I send in a Generation 3 iPod for a replacement battery say, two years from now, I'll probably end up with a Generation 5 or 6 or whatever is current at the time iPod for my $99?
You don't need to use the dock to charge the iPod. It's cheaper to by a second AC adapter than a second dock (assuming you keep one at work and one at home).
I really don't understand the paranoia about stealing company secrets in relation to USB based devices.
If you have access to a printer, print it ant take it with you.
If you have access to pen and paper, write it down and take it with you.
If you have access to email, email somewhere else.
USB drives make it easier to steal volumes of data. If I wanted to steal one or two credit card numbers from my employer (if my employer managed such information), then yes, pen and paper would work. If I wanted to steal ten thousand credit card numbers, however, I would need a more practical method.
E-mail is certainly a concern, though many corporate IT departments will keep archives of their e-mail logs and will at least be able to determine that such a theft took place, if not catch it while it's happening.
If someone wants to steal secrets, they're going to do so. Yes, I know, it's about minimization of risk just like there is no such thing as secure, but only minization of risk. But sometimes the paranoia can go to far and frustrate workers.
Very true. Again, it's a matter of compromise - there needs to be a level of reasonability, combined with a recognition of the problem, the environment and the organization's requirements.
While I understand the corporate world's concern about data security, banning iPods is overkill. I use my iPod at the office for listening to music while I code. In order to do this, I don't have to have it connected to my office PCs (and, in fact, I don't), so I can't be a threat to corporate data security.
Of course, even if I did connect it, we have anti-virus software deployed throughout our network; one would hope that if I did have a virus on my iPod, our anti-virus software would catch it and kill it.
Also, since I use MacOS X at home and Windows XP here at work, I'm not sure what kind of virus I would be expected to spread between the two environments (Word macro viruses excluded - do they still exist?)...
ASCII is superior to EBCDIC because the English alphabet is contiguous in ASCII, where it is not in EBCDIC. EBCDIC evolved from punch card encoding, and while I don't remember the details, as I recall in EBCDIC the letters were in groups of 9 or 10 (I think A-I were 0xC1 through 0xC9, J-R were 0xD1 through 0xD9, and S-Z were 0xE1 through 0xE8 - or something like that;-).
I recently dug out the first CD I ever bought: Beethoven's 9th Symphony, recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic. I bought it when I bought my first CD player (duh) in 1984. I ripped it into iTunes last month:-). Still sounds CD-quality to me...
how much would you really enjoy an rpg game if your characters had to stop every 4 to 6 hours to eat, or go take a crap in the middle of a fight? oh you gained 13 experience points for washing your clothes..
"Hey, if you'd been listening you'd know that Nintendos pass through everything."
-Col. Jack O'Neil, SG1
I just saw that episode recently. That was one of the funniest lines I've heard in a SciFi show in a long time. Sometimes it's overdone, but generally I really like the humor portrayed through O'Neil's dialogue...
Heavyweight boxer George Foreman beat this guy to it by years: his 4 sons are George Foreman II, George Foreman III, George Foreman IV and George Foreman V.
Every time you use it you are charged by the bank or CC company just to utilize what is rightfully yours(well maybe not so much in terms of CC).
I pay no charge to use my debit card, because I maintain a certain minimum balance in my account. I pay no charge to use my credit cards, because I pay off their balance each month, and use no-annual-fee cards.
A Universal card, properly secured, would be very attractive to me.
Back in the '96-'97 timeframe I used to love playing Deadlock on Windows 95/98. Deadlock is a turn-based strategy game where you control one of up to 7 alien races vying for control of a planet. During the game, your opponents would taunt you (via movie clip with audio). One of the opponent races was the Tarth, consisting of large, brutish creatures who weren't very bright. One day I was playing and my Tarth opponent comes on the screen and blurts out:
"You're losing! Hit Control-Alt-Delete!"
It was a good 10 minutes before I could stop laughing long enough to resume playing the game.
Speaking of this, does anyone remember a series of books (I think it was a series - might have been just one) set in a universe where Earth's nations colonized the galaxy? There were American planets, Russian planets, Chinese planets, etc.? I never read them, only heard about them, but I'd be interested to find them, if they really exist:-).
This was addressed by Star Trek 35 years ago (and probably earlier science fiction as well). In Star Trek it was the root cause of the development of the Prime Directive.
1) Does TurboTax for the Mac include any of this DRM nonsense? 2) What other tax preparation software is available for the Mac (OS X, please)? 3) Doesn't anyone else feel that "just use the web version" is NOT an option due to privacy concerns? (I don't know about you, but I sure don't want my private financial information stored on someone else's web server...)
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So you're asserting that 0% of the people in India, China, Europ and North America are starving? I don't think so.
I read this as
"I sure hope that we're not the PHBs of the universe."
Somehow, I'm afraid we are, however...
One reason why aliens are expected to be friendly is that the resources required to successfully undertake interstellar travel are so high that a society that performs such a feat can't afford to spend resources (mental, economic, whatever) on negative efforts, like genocide.
Obviously a teragig is a trillion billion bytes. (Or, more precisely, 2^40 * 2^30, or 2^70 bytes.)
;-)
(You would have known this if you'd looked at the requirements for Doom3, where a teragigahertz Pentium 9 is recommended...
My question is similar to those who have asked about returned Generation 3 iPods being replaced with Generation 4 iPods.
I was reading about Apple's iPod battery replacement program and, from the description, it sounds like they basically replace your iPod with a new one when you send it in for a replacement battery. Does this mean that, if I send in a Generation 3 iPod for a replacement battery say, two years from now, I'll probably end up with a Generation 5 or 6 or whatever is current at the time iPod for my $99?
You don't need to use the dock to charge the iPod. It's cheaper to by a second AC adapter than a second dock (assuming you keep one at work and one at home).
USB drives make it easier to steal volumes of data. If I wanted to steal one or two credit card numbers from my employer (if my employer managed such information), then yes, pen and paper would work. If I wanted to steal ten thousand credit card numbers, however, I would need a more practical method.
E-mail is certainly a concern, though many corporate IT departments will keep archives of their e-mail logs and will at least be able to determine that such a theft took place, if not catch it while it's happening.
Very true. Again, it's a matter of compromise - there needs to be a level of reasonability, combined with a recognition of the problem, the environment and the organization's requirements.
Sounds like that department you support has never heard of data compression...
While I understand the corporate world's concern about data security, banning iPods is overkill. I use my iPod at the office for listening to music while I code. In order to do this, I don't have to have it connected to my office PCs (and, in fact, I don't), so I can't be a threat to corporate data security.
Of course, even if I did connect it, we have anti-virus software deployed throughout our network; one would hope that if I did have a virus on my iPod, our anti-virus software would catch it and kill it.
Also, since I use MacOS X at home and Windows XP here at work, I'm not sure what kind of virus I would be expected to spread between the two environments (Word macro viruses excluded - do they still exist?)...
ASCII is superior to EBCDIC because the English alphabet is contiguous in ASCII, where it is not in EBCDIC. EBCDIC evolved from punch card encoding, and while I don't remember the details, as I recall in EBCDIC the letters were in groups of 9 or 10 (I think A-I were 0xC1 through 0xC9, J-R were 0xD1 through 0xD9, and S-Z were 0xE1 through 0xE8 - or something like that ;-).
I recently dug out the first CD I ever bought: Beethoven's 9th Symphony, recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic. I bought it when I bought my first CD player (duh) in 1984. I ripped it into iTunes last month :-). Still sounds CD-quality to me...
Beginner's
All-purpose
Symbolic
Instruction
Code
Note the emphasis on Beginner's.
Served me quite well in high school...<sigh/>
NiMH = Nickel Metal Hydride. It is the technology used in many of today's rechargeable batteries.
Personally, I'd be more excited if a company announced a battery that would run a laptop for 80 hours.
This story made my day. One less spammer on the 'net is always a good thing.
Heavyweight boxer George Foreman beat this guy to it by years: his 4 sons are George Foreman II, George Foreman III, George Foreman IV and George Foreman V.
I pay no charge to use my debit card, because I maintain a certain minimum balance in my account. I pay no charge to use my credit cards, because I pay off their balance each month, and use no-annual-fee cards.
A Universal card, properly secured, would be very attractive to me.
Everyone who's read Footfall knows that the spokes were caused by the exhaust wake of the fithp ship on its way to Earth.
Back in the '96-'97 timeframe I used to love playing Deadlock on Windows 95/98. Deadlock is a turn-based strategy game where you control one of up to 7 alien races vying for control of a planet. During the game, your opponents would taunt you (via movie clip with audio). One of the opponent races was the Tarth, consisting of large, brutish creatures who weren't very bright. One day I was playing and my Tarth opponent comes on the screen and blurts out:
"You're losing! Hit Control-Alt-Delete!"
It was a good 10 minutes before I could stop laughing long enough to resume playing the game.
Speaking of this, does anyone remember a series of books (I think it was a series - might have been just one) set in a universe where Earth's nations colonized the galaxy? There were American planets, Russian planets, Chinese planets, etc.? I never read them, only heard about them, but I'd be interested to find them, if they really exist :-).
BTW, I live 35 miles downwind from Davis-Besse. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling...
And I thought you were going to say that it gives you a warm, healthy glow...
This was addressed by Star Trek 35 years ago (and probably earlier science fiction as well). In Star Trek it was the root cause of the development of the Prime Directive.
Here are a few:
1) Stem cell research
2) Cloning
3) Developing "Smart" weapons software
4) Developing "Carnivore"-type software
Three questions:
1) Does TurboTax for the Mac include any of this DRM nonsense?
2) What other tax preparation software is available for the Mac (OS X, please)?
3) Doesn't anyone else feel that "just use the web version" is NOT an option due to privacy concerns? (I don't know about you, but I sure don't want my private financial information stored on someone else's web server...)