I've got a Panasonic DVD player that plays MP3's? So, now I can get one that plays WMA too? Big whoop. Do I ever use the MP3 capability? No. Would I ever burn a windows media thingy to disk to watch it on TV in really shitty quality? No.
This is nothing. What is much bigger is next year when M$ comes out with their supercalifragilistic-Xbox-alidocious homestation. At that point, I figure I need two components. One receiver. One UltimateTV/DirecTV/DVD/Xbox/CD-player/PC.
Oh, yeah and my Playstation 2 for Grand Theft Auto III.
Well, I certainly don't think the transmission gear is a barrier to entry. You can most certainly communicate with a satellite with a 100W amplifier and perhaps an 8 foot dish (+45db gain). Mebbe even smaller, it's been years since I've touched the stuff. In fact, I'm sure smaller, but perhaps you'd need a higher power amplifier.
When in the service, we'd regularly use an 8 foot dish (about 45db gain) and transmit anwhere from 5 to 20 watts. You might be able to jam a scientific satellite with a strong signal, but the military jobbers (and prolly the commercial comm sats too) have multi-horned directional antennaes, so the operator can shut off signals from a certain part of the "ground", say, California, but still be able to talk to the rest of it's line of sight.
Anyways, you can get commercial gear for less than $10,000 USD that would give you the capability to communicate with a great many satellites.
I'd just like to comment upon the NSA's Security-Enhanced Linux project.
It is certainly more accessible, and I've prompted my company to look into it. Considering the current political environment, I believe this is a good way for small consulting companies to distinguish themselves.
"Why, yes, Mr. Customer, we are very familiar with computer security and specialize in using products developed by the National Security Agency. If it's good enough for the NSA, don't you think it is good enough for your business?
Umm...perhaps you didn't notice that this device is a cell phone replacement, not a gadget bundled with a service. They are going to be selling them to wireless companies, not consumers...
...and I'm not flaming you here, just disagreeing. LOTR is much more than some run of the mill fantasy work. If anything bad has come from LOTR, it's all the garbage fantasy that was spawned by the popularity of LOTR.
I would compare LOTR to Beowulf before any other fantasy storytelling, certainly nothing I've ever read that has been written in the last 200 years even compares to it.
Lord of the Rings is a work of literature. It's not just another fantasy novel to be picked up at leisure and enjoyed any more than Steinbeck is good bathroom reading. LOTR is an epic to be treasured and awed. It is the book that you should read five or six times before you even begin to try to discuss it.
I picked it up last spring and found many new treasures in the book, and I've stopped counting how many times I've read it...first in junior high, than an average of ever two years since...prolly six times mebbe? I don't remember.
What I do remember is that the book is fascinating and I'll never tire of reading it.
Danger is making what they call a "Hiptop" which is phone/pda/blackberry all rolled into one. They are making a camera device for it...and even more beautifully, it comes with Java, so you can write your own applets for it.
The great beauty of the Trilogy in book form is the attention to detail. I cannot think of a single fictional work that I have a better mental picture of precisely because Tolkein put all the little details in there.
First, thanks to all who wrote quite informative replies to my complaint.
Second, the $125 I spent on my DVD player is much less than what my time to implement all your various solutions would cost me.;-) But thanks anyways!!!
I beg to differ on the video quality. I've got a video out (RCA/S-VIDEO either or) on my Geforce and the quality of DVD's on my television is shite. I can select 640x480 or 800x600, neither of which is suited to my television.
When I bought my computer, I figured I'd pop it down next to my television and not have to purchase a DVD player. I watched one movie from my computer/television setup.
I then proceeded straight to Circuit City to buy a real DVD player.
If you want to respect J.R.R. Tolkein's memory...
on
The Hype of the Rings
·
· Score: 2
...buy the book. The Tolkein estate sold the movie rights a long time ago, and are probably not getting a wholehelluvalot out of the movie (other than increased book sales).
Just because he came up with an idea in a book doesn't mean he "invented" anything. The guy who invented the waldoe was the guy charged with manipulating nuclear material, but decided if he did it with his hands, he'd die.
Science fiction writers are not scientists. Some scientists write science fiction.
We would still have nuclear submarines without Jules Verne. Don't even think of giving credit to Verne for nuclear warships. He wasn't that good, and you are taking credit from whomever the real inventors happened to be.
Just because they named the fucking thing Nautilus has ZERO to do with the underlying technology.
There are zero science fiction writers who are scientists. There are some scientists who write science fiction.
Aye, but Asimov and Sagan were scientists before were writers (and I don't mean in a temporal manner).
Scientific innovation has progressed way beyond Verne thinking of an "atomic" powered submarine. Even still, nuclear submarines would still exist without 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Gene Roddenbury will not be responsible for someone coming up with faster than light technology.
Writing a good novel and doing scientific research are so completely separated, I don't even know how whoever posted this "story" can justify posting it.
Again, science fiction writers write "science fiction". Scientists do science. Learn to separate the two, and stop insulting the scientists and engineers in the world by claiming that their ideas exist only because someone put pen to paper to write a novel.
I wish I had seen this story earlier and posted so that more of you good readers could hear my most vocal opinion on this topic. I cannot stand it when people think that some guy is sitting in a lab at Motorola thinking, "Okay, how do we make Captain Kirk's communicator?".
This whole idea is complete bullshit. Just because some writers come up with some nifty ideas doesn't mean that they are in any-way-shape-or-form responsible for the development of such technology. Even if the Star Trek communicator (in the original) looked differently, we would still have Motorola flip phones, because it is a good way of making the design more compact.
SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS ARE JUST THAT! THEY ARE NOT INNOVATORS (unless you count Clarke...)
"curing cancer" is fodder for the masses, so to speak. It gets peoples attention, and those not familiar with molecular biology can understand that better than a diatribe on why they should help model proteins.
They recently released a 2.0 version. While there still is no screensaver for Linux, I've been running the console version for weeks now with much success.
The windows client is muchmuchmuch better now too. It doesn't only act as a screensaver, but a background console that runs on spare cycles.
Slashdot Mirror
Ugh! VCR... ;-)
Some of my friends are still shocked to find that I don't own a VCR.
"Hey, I'll bring over that movie and...damnit! You don't have a VCR! What's your problem?!?"
Thankfully, I didn't buy any movies until I got a DVD player, and Tivo/UltimateTV has really eliminated the need for any VCR as far as I'm concerned.
I've got a Panasonic DVD player that plays MP3's? So, now I can get one that plays WMA too? Big whoop. Do I ever use the MP3 capability? No. Would I ever burn a windows media thingy to disk to watch it on TV in really shitty quality? No.
This is nothing. What is much bigger is next year when M$ comes out with their supercalifragilistic-Xbox-alidocious homestation. At that point, I figure I need two components. One receiver. One UltimateTV/DirecTV/DVD/Xbox/CD-player/PC.
Oh, yeah and my Playstation 2 for Grand Theft Auto III.
Well, I certainly don't think the transmission gear is a barrier to entry. You can most certainly communicate with a satellite with a 100W amplifier and perhaps an 8 foot dish (+45db gain). Mebbe even smaller, it's been years since I've touched the stuff. In fact, I'm sure smaller, but perhaps you'd need a higher power amplifier.
When in the service, we'd regularly use an 8 foot dish (about 45db gain) and transmit anwhere from 5 to 20 watts. You might be able to jam a scientific satellite with a strong signal, but the military jobbers (and prolly the commercial comm sats too) have multi-horned directional antennaes, so the operator can shut off signals from a certain part of the "ground", say, California, but still be able to talk to the rest of it's line of sight.
Anyways, you can get commercial gear for less than $10,000 USD that would give you the capability to communicate with a great many satellites.
I'd just like to comment upon the NSA's Security-Enhanced Linux project.
It is certainly more accessible, and I've prompted my company to look into it. Considering the current political environment, I believe this is a good way for small consulting companies to distinguish themselves.
"Why, yes, Mr. Customer, we are very familiar with computer security and specialize in using products developed by the National Security Agency. If it's good enough for the NSA, don't you think it is good enough for your business?
It's because the other 96 went out of business...
Umm...perhaps you didn't notice that this device is a cell phone replacement, not a gadget bundled with a service. They are going to be selling them to wireless companies, not consumers...
...and I'm not flaming you here, just disagreeing. LOTR is much more than some run of the mill fantasy work. If anything bad has come from LOTR, it's all the garbage fantasy that was spawned by the popularity of LOTR.
I would compare LOTR to Beowulf before any other fantasy storytelling, certainly nothing I've ever read that has been written in the last 200 years even compares to it.
Lord of the Rings is a work of literature. It's not just another fantasy novel to be picked up at leisure and enjoyed any more than Steinbeck is good bathroom reading. LOTR is an epic to be treasured and awed. It is the book that you should read five or six times before you even begin to try to discuss it.
I picked it up last spring and found many new treasures in the book, and I've stopped counting how many times I've read it...first in junior high, than an average of ever two years since...prolly six times mebbe? I don't remember.
What I do remember is that the book is fascinating and I'll never tire of reading it.
Danger is making what they call a "Hiptop" which is phone/pda/blackberry all rolled into one. They are making a camera device for it...and even more beautifully, it comes with Java, so you can write your own applets for it.
...a gnat!
The great beauty of the Trilogy in book form is the attention to detail. I cannot think of a single fictional work that I have a better mental picture of precisely because Tolkein put all the little details in there.
I read that review, too, and was about to bitch, but to the AC's credit, he did sign the review "RE".
And we're getting "troll" and "flamebait" moderation s just for pointing out the obvious. Fuck you moderators...I've got karma to burn.
If you can call them articles. Sorry Taco, but more people than those with whom you hang are reading this page. Get reals stories or don't bother.
First, thanks to all who wrote quite informative replies to my complaint.
;-) But thanks anyways!!!
Second, the $125 I spent on my DVD player is much less than what my time to implement all your various solutions would cost me.
I beg to differ on the video quality. I've got a video out (RCA/S-VIDEO either or) on my Geforce and the quality of DVD's on my television is shite. I can select 640x480 or 800x600, neither of which is suited to my television.
When I bought my computer, I figured I'd pop it down next to my television and not have to purchase a DVD player. I watched one movie from my computer/television setup.
I then proceeded straight to Circuit City to buy a real DVD player.
...buy the book. The Tolkein estate sold the movie rights a long time ago, and are probably not getting a wholehelluvalot out of the movie (other than increased book sales).
Here, here! Finally, a logical voice in this cloud of idiocy!
Just because he came up with an idea in a book doesn't mean he "invented" anything. The guy who invented the waldoe was the guy charged with manipulating nuclear material, but decided if he did it with his hands, he'd die.
Science fiction writers are not scientists. Some scientists write science fiction.
We would still have nuclear submarines without Jules Verne. Don't even think of giving credit to Verne for nuclear warships. He wasn't that good, and you are taking credit from whomever the real inventors happened to be.
Just because they named the fucking thing Nautilus has ZERO to do with the underlying technology.
There are zero science fiction writers who are scientists. There are some scientists who write science fiction.
Aye, but Asimov and Sagan were scientists before were writers (and I don't mean in a temporal manner).
Scientific innovation has progressed way beyond Verne thinking of an "atomic" powered submarine. Even still, nuclear submarines would still exist without 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Gene Roddenbury will not be responsible for someone coming up with faster than light technology.
Writing a good novel and doing scientific research are so completely separated, I don't even know how whoever posted this "story" can justify posting it.
Again, science fiction writers write "science fiction". Scientists do science. Learn to separate the two, and stop insulting the scientists and engineers in the world by claiming that their ideas exist only because someone put pen to paper to write a novel.
Yes, but you take away Star Trek, and you still have the phone.
I wish I had seen this story earlier and posted so that more of you good readers could hear my most vocal opinion on this topic. I cannot stand it when people think that some guy is sitting in a lab at Motorola thinking, "Okay, how do we make Captain Kirk's communicator?".
This whole idea is complete bullshit. Just because some writers come up with some nifty ideas doesn't mean that they are in any-way-shape-or-form responsible for the development of such technology. Even if the Star Trek communicator (in the original) looked differently, we would still have Motorola flip phones, because it is a good way of making the design more compact.
SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS ARE JUST THAT! THEY ARE NOT INNOVATORS (unless you count Clarke...)
Who cares? It still works...
"curing cancer" is fodder for the masses, so to speak. It gets peoples attention, and those not familiar with molecular biology can understand that better than a diatribe on why they should help model proteins.
They recently released a 2.0 version. While there still is no screensaver for Linux, I've been running the console version for weeks now with much success.
The windows client is muchmuchmuch better now too. It doesn't only act as a screensaver, but a background console that runs on spare cycles.
Too all of you idiots who have so much free time that they are able to complain about my use of the word/un-word "boxen".
So what?