When someone uses the phrase "exonerate the innocent", it just says that air travelers are presumed to be guilty of terrorist activities and have to prove themselves innocent. Not exactly an American ideal, but American ideals are all too readily sacrificed on the altar of security theater.
Yeah, I was wondering how they got the multi-touch interface with velocity sensitive scrolling into the RAZR. I mean, I have a RAZR, and touching my screen doesn't seem to do anything...
Well, in many ways, I think you're actually right. Too many Trek games are all about starship combat, and ship-to-ship combat has generally been a relatively rare thing in Trek. They prefer to solve problems with character interaction and stuff like that. Trying to shoehorn a starship combat simulation into the Trek universe is just not a wise thing to do. You start to have to try and make sense of Trek ships, classes, capabilities, and so forth, when the writers never really did.
No I did not copy you; in fact I believe you copied me! There's a lawsuit in there somewhere...:-)
On a more serious note, probably just a coincidence since I've been signing my name like that since about 1990, and have only been reading slashdot for the last couple of years.
With the number of people in the world named "John" it was bound to happen sooner or later.
SUVS: Safer for the owners, more dangerous for everyone else on the road.
Acutally, I have read many reports that SUVs are actually more dangerous for the owners. They do not have to meet the same safety requirements as regular passenger cars, and their higher center of gravity causes them to roll more frequently. Additionally, many of them are sold to the public under the pretense that they are just as easy to handle on the road as a regular passenger car. Well, surprise, they are not. They are larger, mass more, and are higher off the ground than regular cars, which means they will handle much more differently. People whose instincts are trained by driving in regular cars for years will find that, in an emergency, their instincts are dangerous in SUVs.
Well, at least that's what I've read in CR and other similar magazines.
In that case, I think parents have a reasonable expectation that society will fulfull some responsibility for monitoring their children and preventing them from exposure to things that they would rather their kids not see at a young age.
This would work if we could all agree upon a set of standards for what is appropriate and what is not. Personally, I would have no problems with a school library containing copies of "Heather Has Two Mommies", but I'd bet that some of my neighbors would be quite adamant that having such a book would be against the values they want to instill in their children.
I don't meant to abrogate all societal reponsibilities, but it's not quite as easy as you seem to imply in your statement.
I suppose that works for Windows users (which I am only when at work), but it's not really a universal solution. However, it works for you, which is great. I find -clicking really fits my browsing style. (For example, I have five tabs open right now, one for my Yahoo news page, one for the CNN page, both for any news coming out of the US or Washington, D.C., then one tab for what I'm currently viewing in Slashdot, one tab for a link found in Slashdot, BookCrossing, and one tab for this reply, so that I can get back to the original Slashdot page without a reload.) Are tabs for everyone? Obviously not, what (beyond basic needs) is? But for some of it, it really is a big deal.
JOhn.
Re:Dave hit the nail on the head
on
Hyatt Discusses Tabs
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
The number one reason I like tabs is that most browsers enable page loading in the background. I use this a lot. If I'm browsing a page with a lot of links, I can simply click to open each one in a new tab, and continue reading the orginal page while each of the links loads quietly (assuming all goes well) in the background. When I'm done with the current page, I can close the tab and start looking at the linked pages. If I try that in IE (or any non-tabbed browser), either I have to read the new link when the new window pops up in front of everything, or I have to wait for the window to appear and then click on the old window to continue reading the original page.
If there is an easy way to do this in a non-tabbed , non-load-tabs-in-the-background browser, I'd be delighted to know it!
While it may be a bargain for those people who only like 1 or 2 songs (or even, as I've read on this thread, up to 4) on an album, it's not as much of a bargain for those of us who tend to like more tracks. Out of my CD collection (right around 500 these days), there are only a handful that I don't listen to beginning to end. Most of the small number of "one track" CDs are compilations that include tracks not released elsewhere (prime example being the "King of the Hill" soundtrack which has a Barenaked Ladies song that I can't find anywhere else). Maybe it's the artists I listen to, but it is rare that I find more than one track on a CD not worth listening to.
There may be some very bad things in your life, but being gay is not one of them. Agonizing about it now will only lead to suicide attempts, self-loathing, and the alienation of everyone who tries to befriend you. Mom and dad can cope and you'll be happier (and healthier!) when you find you can be true to yourself, not some f*cked up theories about gay people that you've read in misguided self-help books or seen on television.
And yes, I knew when I was twelve, and was already miserable about it. I made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this is the only one I'd want to change.
I realize you were trolling, but I do have a response to your query, "Why would someone want a digital camera integrated in their PDA?" I have the NX70V, with the camera. I don't use it much, but what I tend to use it for is to snap a quick pic of something I find to be interesting or amusing as I'm out and about that I might want to share with other people. I could carry a camera around to do that, but since I already carry my PDA with me everywhere I go, it seemed to be a useful addition. I've used it to get pics of amusing bumper stickers, interesting plants, the dog doing something amusing, and things like that.
JOhn.
Re:The aliens are too mystical/magical for me
on
Spielberg's Taken
·
· Score: 1
Bottom line - too much fantasy is being injected into this science fiction.
This is on the Sci-Fi channel. The fact that it is more fantasy than science surprises you in exactly what way?
munition sez: I am all for protecting kids and making sure they are not exposed to "adult" material, but that should be the job of the parent, not the government, not the religious institution, not the ISP, etc. There is a lot of material that I find perfectly suitable for a child under 18 to read other than Disney. However, it does not sound like this moderation system will allow children to read about certain topics that are legitimate.
Well, I don't see anything that says that parents are required to use the.kids.us domain or are forced to only allow their children to surf.kids.us sites. It is an option given to the parents, and the parents can choose to use it if they wish. All that is being done is setting aside a potential "safe space" that will have content tightly controlled. I would worry a bit about over-zealous limiting of information (i.e., will they allow pages that speak well of Islam, alternative families, and the like), but again, that's a choice that will be left to the parents.
Hayzeus said: Censorship is a bad thing only when foisted on adults. I think, however, that you are going to have a pretty hard time making the case that keeping a 7 year-old from accidentally encountering www.fursuitsex.com is a bad thing.
I agree with you for the specific example, but there are many things that are not quite so black and white. Here's an example: What about a site that objectively talks about families that have a non-nuclear structure? One Mom is probably okay to a lot of people, but what about two dads? Who makes that judgement call? Imagine if you're a 12 year old child realizing something is different about yourself (i.e., you have same-sex attractions), and don't feel you can turn to your parents. A site that honestly and objectively talks about the experiences of gay people, especially gay youth, might be something that would keep you from doing something stupid (like trying to commit suicide).
Some of us are very concerned about this kind of censorship when applied to non-adults.
I don't know about you, but that flag looks like my shirts do just after I retrieve them from the laundry basket they have been sitting in for a week after I took them out of the dryer. It's all crumpled and creased, not waving. As for the shadow, the shadow from the flag would be off camera (especially since in the picture you can only see the shadow of the astronaut's legs, not the rest of his body, implying that the angle of the sun is very low), while the flag pole's shadow is probably blotted out by the overexposure from the lunar soil.
As for the non-parallel shadows, your theory would be right if all three objects casting shadows were standing perfectly upright AND the lunar surface was perfectly flat. There's no way to guarantee either case, and no way to really tell from the photo.
I swear, sometimes I wonder if they've stopped teaching logic in college...
The problem with great programming on premium channels is that it's programming on premium channels. Not all consumers are eager to add a set-top box just to get one or two programs. Personally, my cable wiring for my A/V system is complicated enough without the extra splitters and such I'd need to get all of my A/V gear talking with the set-top box. Nor are all fans interested in shelling out the extra bucks. I really do not want to see shows like Farscape jump to Showtime because no matter how much I like the show, I don't like it enough to pay the extra money and get a set-top box just to watch it. When this "Odyssey 5" jumps to broadcast or non-premium cable, I'll take a look, much like I did with Stargate SG-1 (which I have started to watch on Sci-Fi). But if Farscape jumps to SHO, it will lose at least 3 regular viewers (myself and my housemates).
I seem to be one of the few that feel that "Kahn," while a very entertaining movie, falls far short of "Trek as it should be." The purpose of Trek is summed up in the words spoken at the beginning of every original generation and next generation episode. ". . . to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no [man|one] has gone before." "Kahn" did none of these.
I would not be one of the people rushing out to buy this product. I don't have the time to pore through TV Guide (or any on-line equivalent) on a weekly basis to find all of the programs I might want to watch and then program them in. I don't have time to monitor those sources for "special date and time" airings of my favorite shows. I don't have the inkling to check whether this week's episode of my favorite show is a repeat or a first-run.
I certainly would not mind having the features you list, but I would not be interested in any such device that makes it harder, not easier, to watch the kinds of programs I want to watch when I want to watch them. Your "ideal" machine would be painful and thus far from ideal for me. I would guess that a majority of American consumers would also find your "ideal" less than spiffy.
For the record, I'm quite happy with my current TiVo, don't mind the subscription (I feel I more than get what I pay for), and am looking at upgrading the hardware with my next bonus check.
There is another similar product out there called WingCast. I understand it will be available for Ford and Nissan cars soon. If you go to this page and view the first movie, there is a bit where the guy has driven to a restaurant to meet with a client. While dining, the *car* calls him on his cellular phone. He answers and you see the valet driving his car somewhere other than to the parking lot. I love the look on the valet's face when the owner's voice demands to know where the car is going...
I still think that the fastest way to begin switching the masses to Linux would be for the Game manufacurers to release games for Linux first.
This would never happen! No sane company right now would have a business model that had deployment on a non-mainstream platform as the primary business strategy. You'd never get investment! Besides, if you did, all of the geeks would call for the game to be released in open source and for free. Games are not cheap to produce, so no company with sane management is going to want to invest that kind of money with no hope of return on that investment.
The only way this dream could come true is if someone created a "killer app" game in their spare time in their garage. That might have worked once, but these days the popular games are too big for one person to code in a reasonable amount of time by themselves.
You may have misunderstood. They were planning on spending the entire month of February, shortest month of the year, focused on bug fixes. It's March now. They're done focusing. Of course, we're all anxiously waiting to see the results of this focus.
They're diametrically opposed. Libertarians think Slashdot should be able to charge whatever the hell it's owners want, and that anybody who doesn't like it is free to fuck off. Socialists would think Slashdot should be funded by the government and freely distributed to the masses.
Slashdot Mirror
When someone uses the phrase "exonerate the innocent", it just says that air travelers are presumed to be guilty of terrorist activities and have to prove themselves innocent. Not exactly an American ideal, but American ideals are all too readily sacrificed on the altar of security theater.
Yeah, I was wondering how they got the multi-touch interface with velocity sensitive scrolling into the RAZR. I mean, I have a RAZR, and touching my screen doesn't seem to do anything...
JOhn.
Well, in many ways, I think you're actually right. Too many Trek games are all about starship combat, and ship-to-ship combat has generally been a relatively rare thing in Trek. They prefer to solve problems with character interaction and stuff like that. Trying to shoehorn a starship combat simulation into the Trek universe is just not a wise thing to do. You start to have to try and make sense of Trek ships, classes, capabilities, and so forth, when the writers never really did.
JOhn.
No I did not copy you; in fact I believe you copied me! There's a lawsuit in there somewhere... :-)
On a more serious note, probably just a coincidence since I've been signing my name like that since about 1990, and have only been reading slashdot for the last couple of years.
With the number of people in the world named "John" it was bound to happen sooner or later.
JOhn (the original).
Acutally, I have read many reports that SUVs are actually more dangerous for the owners. They do not have to meet the same safety requirements as regular passenger cars, and their higher center of gravity causes them to roll more frequently. Additionally, many of them are sold to the public under the pretense that they are just as easy to handle on the road as a regular passenger car. Well, surprise, they are not. They are larger, mass more, and are higher off the ground than regular cars, which means they will handle much more differently. People whose instincts are trained by driving in regular cars for years will find that, in an emergency, their instincts are dangerous in SUVs.
Well, at least that's what I've read in CR and other similar magazines.
JOhn.
This would work if we could all agree upon a set of standards for what is appropriate and what is not. Personally, I would have no problems with a school library containing copies of "Heather Has Two Mommies", but I'd bet that some of my neighbors would be quite adamant that having such a book would be against the values they want to instill in their children.
I don't meant to abrogate all societal reponsibilities, but it's not quite as easy as you seem to imply in your statement.
JOhn.
I suppose that works for Windows users (which I am only when at work), but it's not really a universal solution. However, it works for you, which is great. I find -clicking really fits my browsing style. (For example, I have five tabs open right now, one for my Yahoo news page, one for the CNN page, both for any news coming out of the US or Washington, D.C., then one tab for what I'm currently viewing in Slashdot, one tab for a link found in Slashdot, BookCrossing, and one tab for this reply, so that I can get back to the original Slashdot page without a reload.) Are tabs for everyone? Obviously not, what (beyond basic needs) is? But for some of it, it really is a big deal.
JOhn.
The number one reason I like tabs is that most browsers enable page loading in the background. I use this a lot. If I'm browsing a page with a lot of links, I can simply click to open each one in a new tab, and continue reading the orginal page while each of the links loads quietly (assuming all goes well) in the background. When I'm done with the current page, I can close the tab and start looking at the linked pages. If I try that in IE (or any non-tabbed browser), either I have to read the new link when the new window pops up in front of everything, or I have to wait for the window to appear and then click on the old window to continue reading the original page.
If there is an easy way to do this in a non-tabbed , non-load-tabs-in-the-background browser, I'd be delighted to know it!
JOhn.
While it may be a bargain for those people who only like 1 or 2 songs (or even, as I've read on this thread, up to 4) on an album, it's not as much of a bargain for those of us who tend to like more tracks. Out of my CD collection (right around 500 these days), there are only a handful that I don't listen to beginning to end. Most of the small number of "one track" CDs are compilations that include tracks not released elsewhere (prime example being the "King of the Hill" soundtrack which has a Barenaked Ladies song that I can't find anywhere else). Maybe it's the artists I listen to, but it is rare that I find more than one track on a CD not worth listening to.
JOhn.
This would be way cool, especially if it could be accessed by other platforms (like the WinXP box I use at work).
JOhn.
There may be some very bad things in your life, but being gay is not one of them. Agonizing about it now will only lead to suicide attempts, self-loathing, and the alienation of everyone who tries to befriend you. Mom and dad can cope and you'll be happier (and healthier!) when you find you can be true to yourself, not some f*cked up theories about gay people that you've read in misguided self-help books or seen on television.
And yes, I knew when I was twelve, and was already miserable about it. I made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this is the only one I'd want to change.
JOhn.
JOhn.
This is on the Sci-Fi channel. The fact that it is more fantasy than science surprises you in exactly what way?
JOhn.
I am all for protecting kids and making sure they are not exposed to "adult" material, but that should be the job of the parent, not the government, not the religious institution, not the ISP, etc. There is a lot of material that I find perfectly suitable for a child under 18 to read other than Disney. However, it does not sound like this moderation system will allow children to read about certain topics that are legitimate.
Well, I don't see anything that says that parents are required to use the .kids.us domain or are forced to only allow their children to surf .kids.us sites. It is an option given to the parents, and the parents can choose to use it if they wish. All that is being done is setting aside a potential "safe space" that will have content tightly controlled. I would worry a bit about over-zealous limiting of information (i.e., will they allow pages that speak well of Islam, alternative families, and the like), but again, that's a choice that will be left to the parents.
JOhn.
Censorship is a bad thing only when foisted on adults. I think, however, that you are going to have a pretty hard time making the case that keeping a 7 year-old from accidentally encountering www.fursuitsex.com is a bad thing.
I agree with you for the specific example, but there are many things that are not quite so black and white. Here's an example: What about a site that objectively talks about families that have a non-nuclear structure? One Mom is probably okay to a lot of people, but what about two dads? Who makes that judgement call? Imagine if you're a 12 year old child realizing something is different about yourself (i.e., you have same-sex attractions), and don't feel you can turn to your parents. A site that honestly and objectively talks about the experiences of gay people, especially gay youth, might be something that would keep you from doing something stupid (like trying to commit suicide).
Some of us are very concerned about this kind of censorship when applied to non-adults.
JOhn.
I don't know about you, but that flag looks like my shirts do just after I retrieve them from the laundry basket they have been sitting in for a week after I took them out of the dryer. It's all crumpled and creased, not waving. As for the shadow, the shadow from the flag would be off camera (especially since in the picture you can only see the shadow of the astronaut's legs, not the rest of his body, implying that the angle of the sun is very low), while the flag pole's shadow is probably blotted out by the overexposure from the lunar soil.
As for the non-parallel shadows, your theory would be right if all three objects casting shadows were standing perfectly upright AND the lunar surface was perfectly flat. There's no way to guarantee either case, and no way to really tell from the photo.
I swear, sometimes I wonder if they've stopped teaching logic in college...
JOhn.
JOhn.
The problem with great programming on premium channels is that it's programming on premium channels. Not all consumers are eager to add a set-top box just to get one or two programs. Personally, my cable wiring for my A/V system is complicated enough without the extra splitters and such I'd need to get all of my A/V gear talking with the set-top box. Nor are all fans interested in shelling out the extra bucks. I really do not want to see shows like Farscape jump to Showtime because no matter how much I like the show, I don't like it enough to pay the extra money and get a set-top box just to watch it. When this "Odyssey 5" jumps to broadcast or non-premium cable, I'll take a look, much like I did with Stargate SG-1 (which I have started to watch on Sci-Fi). But if Farscape jumps to SHO, it will lose at least 3 regular viewers (myself and my housemates).
I seem to be one of the few that feel that "Kahn," while a very entertaining movie, falls far short of "Trek as it should be." The purpose of Trek is summed up in the words spoken at the beginning of every original generation and next generation episode. ". . . to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no [man|one] has gone before." "Kahn" did none of these.
JOhn.
Mu.
I would not be one of the people rushing out to buy this product. I don't have the time to pore through TV Guide (or any on-line equivalent) on a weekly basis to find all of the programs I might want to watch and then program them in. I don't have time to monitor those sources for "special date and time" airings of my favorite shows. I don't have the inkling to check whether this week's episode of my favorite show is a repeat or a first-run.
I certainly would not mind having the features you list, but I would not be interested in any such device that makes it harder, not easier, to watch the kinds of programs I want to watch when I want to watch them. Your "ideal" machine would be painful and thus far from ideal for me. I would guess that a majority of American consumers would also find your "ideal" less than spiffy.
For the record, I'm quite happy with my current TiVo, don't mind the subscription (I feel I more than get what I pay for), and am looking at upgrading the hardware with my next bonus check.
JOhn.
There is another similar product out there called WingCast. I understand it will be available for Ford and Nissan cars soon. If you go to this page and view the first movie, there is a bit where the guy has driven to a restaurant to meet with a client. While dining, the *car* calls him on his cellular phone. He answers and you see the valet driving his car somewhere other than to the parking lot. I love the look on the valet's face when the owner's voice demands to know where the car is going...
JOhn.
This would never happen! No sane company right now would have a business model that had deployment on a non-mainstream platform as the primary business strategy. You'd never get investment! Besides, if you did, all of the geeks would call for the game to be released in open source and for free. Games are not cheap to produce, so no company with sane management is going to want to invest that kind of money with no hope of return on that investment.
The only way this dream could come true is if someone created a "killer app" game in their spare time in their garage. That might have worked once, but these days the popular games are too big for one person to code in a reasonable amount of time by themselves.
You may have misunderstood. They were planning on spending the entire month of February, shortest month of the year, focused on bug fixes. It's March now. They're done focusing. Of course, we're all anxiously waiting to see the results of this focus.
JOhn.
Thus the use of the word "dichotomy." Look it up.
--JOhn.