> I, for one, am perfectly willing to sacrifice a measure of privacy for robot slaves.
Hey, coppertop, didn't you ever watch "The Matrix"? What about "The Terminator"? It's people like you who'll cause the greatest catastrophe mankind has ever seen!
I say, if you want slaves, buy some Republicans or clergy; that's all they're really good for.
I'd suggest you go with "helper monkeys", but anyone who's seen the Planet of the Apes movies knows where _that_ leads.
Do you just watch regular broadcast TV? Are there enough HDTV broadcasts in your area that you're interested in to even bother with an HDTV set? Do you watch a lot of DVDs? The answers to these questions will help you narrow down your list.
If you watch a lot of DVDs, you'll probably want a widescreen set. That'll shoot up the price.
If you want to watch a lot of HDTV broadcasts, same thing, but with a further question: what HDTV spec (there are several) are the broadcasters in your area broadcasting in? Broadcasters are kind of split on whether to broadcast in 720p or 1080i. I'd rather watch 720p over 1080i, but too many people don't understand the difference between progressive and interlaced, and just assume the higher number means it's better. Feh.
How big a screen are you thinking about? There's a world of difference in price between a really good 27" set and a 36" flat-tube screen. Even between a 32" and a 36" can be a big price difference, depending on other features.
What I find annoying is that noone seems to be making intermediate TVs. I want a widescreen flat-tube 36" TV that goes up to 480p. No speakers. PIP (picture in picture) would be nice, too. But the thing is, there seems to be a plateau at a regular NTSC TV, and then it steps up to HDTV specs, with the attendant price increase. I just want to watch good DTV broadcasts and DVDs in full 480p mode (that's the max that DVDs can do - they don't even match low-end HDTV specs, sad to say). And what's with all the high-end tv with speakers? People who buy high-end TVs don't use the crappy built-in speakers - they're hooked up to a decent sound system.
TV manufacturers are downright _weird_ about some things.
Connecting from a friend's computer or from work doesn't mean that you're using a different e-mail address. You'd still have to have a user/login. That would just be for detecting individual's trying to use multiple accounts, and wouldn't be automatic. Just because you can't do something with 100% effectiveness is no reason to leave it at 0.
That is a quote from the "BuffyBot" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy always makes some smartass remark as she's killing the bad guys. Well, the robot version of Buffy, the 'BuffyBot,' was a little weird in its personality, so one of the other characters tried to reprogram it to say smartass things while kicking ass, and that was the result.:)
Obscure, yes, but funny as hell if you watched the show. They're all coming out on DVD, now, though, so you can experience the magick of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series). I hate Sarah Michelle Gellar (the series star), and the title character, but the other actors and characters, and the WRITING, my god, the WRITING, were just fucking amazing. Some of the best dialogue ever written. (and I don't mean just for TV!) Awesome stuff.
Best episode ever: Doppelgangland (starring the drool-inducing vampire Willow) "Bored, now."
1) require e-mail response verified accounts to post
2) enable the ability to 'bozo-bin' someone: their account can be made so that they can still post, and they can see their posts, but noone else can. Most bozos won't even know they've been binned, and thus will not try to create a new account to get around it. Think of it as a honey pot for trolls.
3) Check for bozos all coming from the same domain - likely the same bozo who has realized he's been binned, and has created a new email address from (probably) his own domain - so bin all accounts from that domain.
That should cut down on the vast majority of problems, I'd think. Also, with a 'small' site, as you say, moderation doesn't work well. Well, with a SMALL site, you don't _need_ moderators to handle the load, so that should work out well, right?:)
I bet the parents of those two missing kids in Massachusetts would really love it if their cellphones (which are currently defaulting into voicemail) had this ability. I mean, they're probably dead, but at least they'd know.
Perhaps a cheaper device, nothing more than a panic button that uses the cellphone system, would be a good alternative. It also wouldn't ring and alert your kidnapper that you have it. It wouldn't solve every situation, but I bet it'd be pretty useful in many.
Plus, it would be another product for the cellphone companies to make and sell service on. Get one for every member of your family! Not anywhere near as expensive as a cellphone, so more people could afford them, and they'd all need service, though, like 911, the service portion should be free. These should definitely not be anonymous, though, or the prank potential would be enormous. Plus, you'd want to know who to be looking for. Perhaps have your information (name, address, photo, etc.) at the phone company when you sign up for service, when the thing goes off, all that info is instantly routed to the cops.
Yep, they're about as refreshing as the Iraqi Information Minister!:)
I think they've eaten too many Mentos. They're way too Fresh(tm). They may have, in fact, overdosed on Mentos. At least, that's what the coronor's report will read about 2 hours after the government actually takes notice of this.
1Gig is a lot different situation than the 32Meg that Sklivvz asked about. You should be able to fit pretty much any reasonable distro into a 1Gig space.
Great Caesar's Ghost! You think you're going to get a KDE or Gnome installation into 32Megs? Yeah, right.
What might be a better idea is to leave your machine at home and networked, and have VNC on your USB pen drive to connect directly to it from whatever machine you're using.
Some machines _can_ boot from USB devices, some can't - it depends on your hardware (BIOS issues). Some USB pen drives can boot only from Windows machines, others can boot from Windows or Linux. Not sure about Mac.
Cookies? Please. Try _bookmarks_. Definitely. One's preferred text editor. Compression tools (zip, bzip2, etc.). Perhaps some critical files for 'off-site' backups: your resume, a copy of your network settings, your address book, etc. The garbage file you snagged from that Gibson.
A network tool or tool(s), a virus scanner. Disk partitioning tools (PartitionMagic if you're a Windows user). A copy of your favourite games (BZFlag, GLTron).
Make this thing bootable, too, just in case, as some machines can boot off these things now. Yay!
Slashdot Mirror
> You're still my hero, Timothy ;-)
Yeah, I seem to be quite the sexy bitch lately - weird.
Maybe if I had a Slashdot shirt with my karma rating on it, that'd happen in real life, too?
> you'll have to accept that your future son may not want to play Dig Dug. Even if it'd hurt.
Oh, it'd hurt, all right. Hurt the kid! He'll play Dig Dug and fucking like it, or I'll show him something that hurts, the little bastard!!!
> Wish I still had my old Atari 400
:)
They're readily available for quite reasonable prices on eBay. I've seen complete systems go for as low as $50, and that's with multiple games, etc.
I intend to buy an Atari 800 system (broken) and put in a miniITX mobo and make it a dedicated MAME machine.
Yeah, too bad there's no moderation option for 'nearly funny'.
Kinda like 'mostly harmless'.
> The plural is Lego.
:)
No, the plural is BeoLego! Or LegoWulf. Either way is good.
Now, imagine a MindStorm of these!
> I, for one, am perfectly willing to sacrifice a measure of privacy for robot slaves.
Hey, coppertop, didn't you ever watch "The Matrix"? What about "The Terminator"? It's people like you who'll cause the greatest catastrophe mankind has ever seen!
I say, if you want slaves, buy some Republicans or clergy; that's all they're really good for.
I'd suggest you go with "helper monkeys", but anyone who's seen the Planet of the Apes movies knows where _that_ leads.
Do you just watch regular broadcast TV? Are there enough HDTV broadcasts in your area that you're interested in to even bother with an HDTV set? Do you watch a lot of DVDs? The answers to these questions will help you narrow down your list.
If you watch a lot of DVDs, you'll probably want a widescreen set. That'll shoot up the price.
If you want to watch a lot of HDTV broadcasts, same thing, but with a further question: what HDTV spec (there are several) are the broadcasters in your area broadcasting in? Broadcasters are kind of split on whether to broadcast in 720p or 1080i. I'd rather watch 720p over 1080i, but too many people don't understand the difference between progressive and interlaced, and just assume the higher number means it's better. Feh.
How big a screen are you thinking about? There's a world of difference in price between a really good 27" set and a 36" flat-tube screen. Even between a 32" and a 36" can be a big price difference, depending on other features.
What I find annoying is that noone seems to be making intermediate TVs. I want a widescreen flat-tube 36" TV that goes up to 480p. No speakers. PIP (picture in picture) would be nice, too. But the thing is, there seems to be a plateau at a regular NTSC TV, and then it steps up to HDTV specs, with the attendant price increase. I just want to watch good DTV broadcasts and DVDs in full 480p mode (that's the max that DVDs can do - they don't even match low-end HDTV specs, sad to say). And what's with all the high-end tv with speakers? People who buy high-end TVs don't use the crappy built-in speakers - they're hooked up to a decent sound system.
TV manufacturers are downright _weird_ about some things.
Connecting from a friend's computer or from work doesn't mean that you're using a different e-mail address. You'd still have to have a user/login. That would just be for detecting individual's trying to use multiple accounts, and wouldn't be automatic. Just because you can't do something with 100% effectiveness is no reason to leave it at 0.
That probably *is* a good idea.
And I never said that part would have to be automatic, either. Use your head, squirrel-bait.
"Why do we need all these NEW games? Everyone knows computer games attained perfection with BZFlag. It's a scientific fact!"
That is a quote from the "BuffyBot" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy always makes some smartass remark as she's killing the bad guys. Well, the robot version of Buffy, the 'BuffyBot,' was a little weird in its personality, so one of the other characters tried to reprogram it to say smartass things while kicking ass, and that was the result. :)
Obscure, yes, but funny as hell if you watched the show. They're all coming out on DVD, now, though, so you can experience the magick of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series). I hate Sarah Michelle Gellar (the series star), and the title character, but the other actors and characters, and the WRITING, my god, the WRITING, were just fucking amazing. Some of the best dialogue ever written. (and I don't mean just for TV!) Awesome stuff.
Best episode ever: Doppelgangland (starring the drool-inducing vampire Willow) "Bored, now."
1) require e-mail response verified accounts to post
:)
2) enable the ability to 'bozo-bin' someone: their account can be made so that they can still post, and they can see their posts, but noone else can. Most bozos won't even know they've been binned, and thus will not try to create a new account to get around it. Think of it as a honey pot for trolls.
3) Check for bozos all coming from the same domain - likely the same bozo who has realized he's been binned, and has created a new email address from (probably) his own domain - so bin all accounts from that domain.
That should cut down on the vast majority of problems, I'd think. Also, with a 'small' site, as you say, moderation doesn't work well. Well, with a SMALL site, you don't _need_ moderators to handle the load, so that should work out well, right?
> Then they either get depressed and shoot up their school/workplace, or they discover art as a means of escape and produce a great work.
Or they obsessively post on Slashdot all day long...
Okay, here's the joke I was gonna make, "Take back the night sky, Springfield!"
:)
See? That's all you had to do to get a funny. You're like the kid that turns in a 200 page essay when the teacher requests a 2 page book report.
I bet the parents of those two missing kids in Massachusetts would really love it if their cellphones (which are currently defaulting into voicemail) had this ability. I mean, they're probably dead, but at least they'd know.
Perhaps a cheaper device, nothing more than a panic button that uses the cellphone system, would be a good alternative. It also wouldn't ring and alert your kidnapper that you have it. It wouldn't solve every situation, but I bet it'd be pretty useful in many.
Plus, it would be another product for the cellphone companies to make and sell service on. Get one for every member of your family! Not anywhere near as expensive as a cellphone, so more people could afford them, and they'd all need service, though, like 911, the service portion should be free. These should definitely not be anonymous, though, or the prank potential would be enormous. Plus, you'd want to know who to be looking for. Perhaps have your information (name, address, photo, etc.) at the phone company when you sign up for service, when the thing goes off, all that info is instantly routed to the cops.
This is kinda like the Slashdot Effect, only with weather: Too much heat, and something falls down. :)
Welcome to Seattle, here's your bumbershoot.
"Alas, poor SCO, I knew him well..."
:)
In other news...office equipment & computer hardware sale at SCO - anyone need some used stuff?
Yep, they're about as refreshing as the Iraqi Information Minister! :)
I think they've eaten too many Mentos. They're way too Fresh(tm). They may have, in fact, overdosed on Mentos. At least, that's what the coronor's report will read about 2 hours after the government actually takes notice of this.
> Don't worry, now that the US gov's on our side
Uhm, FYI: the US Government is _never_ on your side, no matter what side you're on.
1Gig is a lot different situation than the 32Meg that Sklivvz asked about. You should be able to fit pretty much any reasonable distro into a 1Gig space.
Great Caesar's Ghost! You think you're going to get a KDE or Gnome installation into 32Megs? Yeah, right.
What might be a better idea is to leave your machine at home and networked, and have VNC on your USB pen drive to connect directly to it from whatever machine you're using.
Some machines _can_ boot from USB devices, some can't - it depends on your hardware (BIOS issues). Some USB pen drives can boot only from Windows machines, others can boot from Windows or Linux. Not sure about Mac.
> A copy of your browser cookies?
Cookies? Please. Try _bookmarks_. Definitely.
One's preferred text editor. Compression tools (zip, bzip2, etc.).
Perhaps some critical files for 'off-site' backups: your resume, a copy of your network settings, your address book, etc. The garbage file you snagged from that Gibson.
A network tool or tool(s), a virus scanner. Disk partitioning tools (PartitionMagic if you're a Windows user). A copy of your favourite games (BZFlag, GLTron).
Make this thing bootable, too, just in case, as some machines can boot off these things now. Yay!
> Don't forget PSpice.
Now _that's_ just gross.
> a Beowulf cluster of horses!
Wouldn't that just be a 'herd'?
The only horse worth cloning, IMO, is the 1966 Ford Mustang Fastback. A black one.