Is anyone else uncomfortable with Obama's lawyers and bean counters architecting America's space program now that it is on a reasonable course?
The assumption here is, of course, that America's space program is actually ON a reasonable course, and I think you'd find a lot of people who would disagree with that pretty vehemently.
I'm not a conspiracy nut, but I do have a soft spot for dreaming about all the cool stuff the military could create in 40 years with trillions of dollars and little oversight.
I imagine a shuttle that can be sent up and the payload bay doors open to let out a bunch of military astronauts in MMUs with lasers mounted on them, in case you need to attack a space station run by a megalomaniac trying to take over the world.
Or perhaps some armored space shuttles that can be sent to an asteroid that's going to destroy the Earth.
Maybe a drilling rig assembled in a piss-poor way to drill into said asteroid, too.
Definitely some research should be spent on making Mac laptops that can upload viruses into alien spacecraft computers. Ya never know when that kind of thing will come in handy.
Maybe a fast car that can drive through a mountain by going through the 8th dimension?
With a powerful enough laser and a spinning mirror, you could vaporize a human target from orbit. That would've been handy for taking out Hussein. "Nice shooting, Crossbow."
I'm pretty ignorant on this subject, and not a US national, but wouldn't this be a rather good way to eliminate redundancy in similar projects across both agencies at a time when the US needs to rationalise expenditure?
You're forgetting we're talking about the U.S. government, here, "Why build one of something when you can build two for twice the price?"
You mean the same Canada that taxes anything even vaguely related to music or movies -- including blank media and concert halls -- and sends that tax money straight to the RIAA/MPAA?
I think he meant the Canada that doesn't have complete freedom of the Press. Or perhaps the Canada that treats its natives even worse than America does. Maybe the Canada that's deliberately destroying its environment in northern Alberta to extract oil from the oil sands to prop up their economy (the ONLY reason their economyh isn't tanking). Probably one of those. Canada's a pretty cool country, but it's not perfect, as much as some would like to think. Now watch this get modded down as troll.:)
Also of interest is that the Netscape code was based on Mosaic, which was also the most popular browser for a time
For a time? Well yeah, it was THE browser back before the original Netscape. As of NN4, though, Mosaic was already long dead. Most browsers of the time _started off_ based on Mosaic, but quickly added vast amounts of code. IE & Spry Mosaic also fall into that category. (I worked for Spry back in the day.)
My understanding is that NN5 was a modified version of NN4, and that it was scrapped entirely in favor of the new Mozilla, which was a from scratch effort. I could be wrong.
I rather like my mini, though. Sure, it has less oomph than a "full size" machine, but it's not too expensive, it has a small desk footprint, and it runs silent. I don't care about not being able to cram in 346 PCI cards, USB works for an increasing range of products nowadays.
I didn't say I needed room for '346 PCI cards'. If it had been, say, twice the volume of the existing mini, it would've been large enough to use regular DIMMs instead of SO-DIMMs, and large enough to use a regular 3.5" HD instead of a laptop HD. Right there, they would've saved enough money to probably make it $100 cheaper.
Make it just a smidge longer, and you could've put in a discrete graphics card - maybe just a low-profile one, but certainly the option for something much more powerful than the one included in the chipset. Even with these size increases, it would still be waaaay smaller than a Mac Pro or iMac. Plus it would've allowed them to sell more upgrades, etc, and more importantly, provided a machine that people have been wanting for _years_. What kind of business flat-out ignored what their user base wants? If they had a cheap upgradeable Mac, they could almost certainly grow their userbase substantially, and thus sell more stuff from the iTunes store, which seems to be their real business model.
When I think about how Jobs operates, I think maybe yeah. Here's the reasoning:
Jobs hears people cry out for the 'xMac', and we get the Mac mini, way too small to be what people wanted (ridiculous expansion, so small in requires more expensive laptop-class components, etc.)
Jobs hears people cry out for the return of the 12-inch Macbook Pro form factor, and we get the MacBook Air, so slim and badly-realized that it lacks essential ports on the back (even though it's big enough to fit them).
Jobs hears people cry out for a netbook-class machine, and we get a MID.
So I'm thinkin' yeah, because it's exactly what people aren't asking for. That's my 2009 prediction!:)
As another poster said, this formfactor would be great to take up the iBook name. Either that or the return of the Newton. Well, the iNewton. Or i(of)Newt. Something along those lines, I'm sure.
By then, hopefully, Dick Cheney will be back in his home state of Wyoming.:)
I hope the aliens at Devil's Tower get outta there before it all blows to hell, though. I wouldn't want those widdle aliens being hurt...I hear they're really into mashed potatoes, so they can't be all-bad, right?
I can't see how something no one can buy yet can beat something like the Nostromo
The Nostromo isn't bad, but there are way too many nooks and crannies for aliens to hide in. I say take off and nuke the keyboard from orbit -- it's the only way to be sure.
(See, that's what you get for giving your computer accessory a stupid name. Let that be a lesson. The Sulaco was way cooler, anyway. Mil-spec, baby!)
Why is it that the number pad on a telephone is vertically mirrored from the number pad on computers and calculators? The number pads on calculators and computers pre-dates those on phones by several decades, so why did the phone guys make theirs upside-down?
I think it was because of a lawsuit, though I can't remember who was suing whom. *sigh*
If I'd known there were going to be _useful_ features to be gained by signing up, I would have signed up earlier. At the time, the 'first poster' jagoffs weren't around yet, and there weren't enough features being offered to make it the effort. Little did I know... *shrug* Oh well.
Slashdot Mirror
I think Canada is a pretty cool guy. Eh uses the metric system and doesn't afraid of anything.
It's easy to not be afraid of anything if you're too much of a pussy to ever make anyone angry.
You know how they spell Canada up there? C eh N eh D eh. :)
Try taking pictures of cops and see how long you go without your camera being smashed or getting arrested on a trivial or obscure charge.
And that's if you're lucky. If you're not, they'll taser you repeatedly until you die. Oops, it was just a taser!
Is anyone else uncomfortable with Obama's lawyers and bean counters architecting America's space program now that it is on a reasonable course?
The assumption here is, of course, that America's space program is actually ON a reasonable course, and I think you'd find a lot of people who would disagree with that pretty vehemently.
I'm not a conspiracy nut, but I do have a soft spot for dreaming about all the cool stuff the military could create in 40 years with trillions of dollars and little oversight.
I imagine a shuttle that can be sent up and the payload bay doors open to let out a bunch of military astronauts in MMUs with lasers mounted on them, in case you need to attack a space station run by a megalomaniac trying to take over the world.
Or perhaps some armored space shuttles that can be sent to an asteroid that's going to destroy the Earth.
Maybe a drilling rig assembled in a piss-poor way to drill into said asteroid, too.
Definitely some research should be spent on making Mac laptops that can upload viruses into alien spacecraft computers. Ya never know when that kind of thing will come in handy.
Maybe a fast car that can drive through a mountain by going through the 8th dimension?
With a powerful enough laser and a spinning mirror, you could vaporize a human target from orbit. That would've been handy for taking out Hussein. "Nice shooting, Crossbow."
I'm pretty ignorant on this subject, and not a US national, but wouldn't this be a rather good way to eliminate redundancy in similar projects across both agencies at a time when the US needs to rationalise expenditure?
You're forgetting we're talking about the U.S. government, here, "Why build one of something when you can build two for twice the price?"
As long as they don't start developing plans for bringing liberty to the hydrocarbon rich populace of Titan.
Don't worry about it, we'll be greeted as liberators!
Will the uniforms ride up every single time you sit down? ;)
Only on the female ensign's mini-skirts.
WTF? Does the DoD even do anything past LEO/polar orbits?
Dude, c'mon - someone's gotta make those flying saucers coming in and out of Area 51 - they don't make themselves! Well, actually...
You mean the same Canada that taxes anything even vaguely related to music or movies -- including blank media and concert halls -- and sends that tax money straight to the RIAA/MPAA?
I think he meant the Canada that doesn't have complete freedom of the Press. Or perhaps the Canada that treats its natives even worse than America does. Maybe the Canada that's deliberately destroying its environment in northern Alberta to extract oil from the oil sands to prop up their economy (the ONLY reason their economyh isn't tanking). Probably one of those. Canada's a pretty cool country, but it's not perfect, as much as some would like to think. Now watch this get modded down as troll. :)
Also of interest is that the Netscape code was based on Mosaic, which was also the most popular browser for a time
For a time? Well yeah, it was THE browser back before the original Netscape. As of NN4, though, Mosaic was already long dead. Most browsers of the time _started off_ based on Mosaic, but quickly added vast amounts of code. IE & Spry Mosaic also fall into that category. (I worked for Spry back in the day.)
since Windows 7 is getting rave reviews, once it comes out, IE marketshare will go back up, I'm guessing. *shrug*
My understanding is that NN5 was a modified version of NN4, and that it was scrapped entirely in favor of the new Mozilla, which was a from scratch effort. I could be wrong.
And then you'd probably need a bigger power supply so you can kiss the form factor goodbye...
External power supply.
I rather like my mini, though. Sure, it has less oomph than a "full size" machine, but it's not too expensive, it has a small desk footprint, and it runs silent. I don't care about not being able to cram in 346 PCI cards, USB works for an increasing range of products nowadays.
I didn't say I needed room for '346 PCI cards'. If it had been, say, twice the volume of the existing mini, it would've been large enough to use regular DIMMs instead of SO-DIMMs, and large enough to use a regular 3.5" HD instead of a laptop HD. Right there, they would've saved enough money to probably make it $100 cheaper.
Make it just a smidge longer, and you could've put in a discrete graphics card - maybe just a low-profile one, but certainly the option for something much more powerful than the one included in the chipset. Even with these size increases, it would still be waaaay smaller than a Mac Pro or iMac. Plus it would've allowed them to sell more upgrades, etc, and more importantly, provided a machine that people have been wanting for _years_. What kind of business flat-out ignored what their user base wants? If they had a cheap upgradeable Mac, they could almost certainly grow their userbase substantially, and thus sell more stuff from the iTunes store, which seems to be their real business model.
I hate to say it, but... "MacPad".
Nah, that's being reserved for their inevitable line of feminine hygiene products. "Bleed Different."
When I think about how Jobs operates, I think maybe yeah. Here's the reasoning:
Jobs hears people cry out for the 'xMac', and we get the Mac mini, way too small to be what people wanted (ridiculous expansion, so small in requires more expensive laptop-class components, etc.)
Jobs hears people cry out for the return of the 12-inch Macbook Pro form factor, and we get the MacBook Air, so slim and badly-realized that it lacks essential ports on the back (even though it's big enough to fit them).
Jobs hears people cry out for a netbook-class machine, and we get a MID.
So I'm thinkin' yeah, because it's exactly what people aren't asking for. That's my 2009 prediction! :)
As another poster said, this formfactor would be great to take up the iBook name. Either that or the return of the Newton. Well, the iNewton. Or i(of)Newt. Something along those lines, I'm sure.
By then, hopefully, Dick Cheney will be back in his home state of Wyoming. :)
I hope the aliens at Devil's Tower get outta there before it all blows to hell, though. I wouldn't want those widdle aliens being hurt...I hear they're really into mashed potatoes, so they can't be all-bad, right?
Yeah, I could write an article right now about what would be coolest in 2009
Dude, don't forget Thunderbird 3! At least, I *hope* it'll be out in 2009. *sigh*
Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for a night.
Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
That reminds me of my personal motto: Immolation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let's go make a new one.
We will go with Internet Emergency Plan A: Move the Internet 10 miles down the road. Done and done!
Nobody uses Reddit, anymore. C'mon, it's all ballbearings.com and Twitter now. Get with the times!
I can't see how something no one can buy yet can beat something like the Nostromo
The Nostromo isn't bad, but there are way too many nooks and crannies for aliens to hide in. I say take off and nuke the keyboard from orbit -- it's the only way to be sure.
(See, that's what you get for giving your computer accessory a stupid name. Let that be a lesson. The Sulaco was way cooler, anyway. Mil-spec, baby!)
Why is it that the number pad on a telephone is vertically mirrored from the number pad on computers and calculators? The number pads on calculators and computers pre-dates those on phones by several decades, so why did the phone guys make theirs upside-down?
I think it was because of a lawsuit, though I can't remember who was suing whom. *sigh*
As I've gotten older, I've learned: if you like something a lot, buy a second one! Some day, they won't make them anymore.
That's why I've got a stack of IBM Model M keyboards around... :)
Seven digits makes someone new, junior? :)
You tell 'em, old-timer! :)
If I'd known there were going to be _useful_ features to be gained by signing up, I would have signed up earlier. At the time, the 'first poster' jagoffs weren't around yet, and there weren't enough features being offered to make it the effort. Little did I know... *shrug* Oh well.