Nah. If she had a clue, she'd know that copyrights never expire. It's heresy to even say such a thing, and I'm sure men with black helicopters and black mouse ears will be showing up soon to take her away for "questioning."
""Squishing" only occurs when there is a difference in pressure between two parts of the craft."
No, it doesn't. Water at depth is denser than water at the surface, just as your body tissue is denser at 1 atm than in a vacuum. You seem to be confusing straight compression with other forms of deformation (a tennis ball concaving, for instance).
"Iron at 1000 atmospheres, on the other hand, has a not-too-different volume."
We're not talking about 1000 atm, though. 10 m of sea water is about 1 atm, so you hit 1000 atm at only 10 km below the surface of the ocean. The earth's radius is ~6000 km, and the vast majority of it is orders of magnitude denser than water.
"Crystal structure changes are a tougher problem. Squeeze carbon, and it becomes diamond."
Which demonstrates that "squishing" occurs even without a pressure differential.
Besides, I think the more immediate problem is "squeeze something, and it gets hotter."
"Dropping one into Jupiter's deeper layers would be at least as much fun as dropping one into Earth's mantle, for instance."
We have yet to be able to make a probe that can even survive the Venutian atmosphere for any length of time longer than a few hours. And this from the people who built supersonic fighters capable of taking off and landing in grass fields.
"The pressure at one mile down is quite high, but we have mines that go that deep and deeper, so therefore we can build supports that can withstand the load."
If I remember correctly, the radius of the earth is about 3600 miles.
"On the other hand, pressure at the center is exactly zero,"
No, because the surrounding fluid still wants to be at the center and still transmits the weight of all the above fluid to the center. The center of the earth is where the pressure will be at it's greatest, which is why it's so hot down there to begin with.
"Where can we find or drill a hole large enough vertically straight?? Hawaii??"
The advantage of Hawaii is that the hole is already there, open, and has been for a decade or two now. As long as you can handle the upward current, just drop the thing into the Pu'u O'o Vent and be done with it.
Yes, they are. It's just negligible in most real-world situations. Going miles under molten rock doesn't fall into the "real-world situation" category, though.
But even if this probe were going down in a blob of uncompressable molten unobtanium, Pascal still says that the pressure within the blob is the same as the pressure outside the blob.
"Furthermore, if you made the probe a solid sphere, it'd also be pretty much indestructible."
Ignoring the problem of making sure it really is solid (unless it's truly homogeneous, you're going to have gaps) and the fact that even a solid will compress if exposed to enough pressure, how is it going to produce those "seismic waves" it's supposed to use to communicate to the surface?
"While that may not be terribly useful, it would at least prove you'd be able to send something down there."
How, praytell, will you demonstrate that it really did survive the descent? Go down after it and retrieve it?
There's only so much you can cut before you hit bone, even if you're Microsoft. Some would say that they had already hit bone at the $200 mark.
"Right now, Xbox's biggest edge is their online play capability."
How big of an edge is that, though? Is it something that's here to stay, or more of a fad that will burn out in a year or two? Let us not forget the wisdom of Penny Arcade when it comes to playing on-line.
"That ain't chump change, and represents a much larger drop than $20 USD drop in the US"
But all that does is bring it in line with the pricing in the US. 250.00 CAD is ~181.35 USD at the end of the last trading day. And also remember that the USD is still slipping slowly, which will make the CAD price more expensive again. The yen is heading south as well.
"Still waiting to see if Nintendo will make any price adjustments on the Gamecube (still $230 CDN)"
"made out of material which won't melt or dissolve in the iron"
I'd be more worried about the device being able to withstand that pressure. I fail to see how surrounding the probe with molten iron (or any other fluid, for that matter) will prevent the weight of the planet from squishing it like a bug. Or does he plan on violating the laws of physics at the same time?
" There is something reassuring about calm and respectful discussion of a serious issue(...) wheas in the US Senate, it is always a debate, never a discussion"
This is where I convenientlyplug efforts to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment.
This makes either the GBA or the GCN the first console to host two Metroid titles. There are also quite a few other franchise spin-offs here (two games new games with the "Zelda" name, a few intersting Pokemon titles, etc.). I'd wager there are more new franchise titles this E3 than any other.
I wonder if they're quickly trying to beef-up the GCN library to make up for its relatively short life-span, what with the way Nintendo is reminding everybody that they won't let Sony beat them to the market with a PS3.
Speaking of which, whatever became of Yamauchi? If nothing else he made a good saber-rattler.:)
"Corporations also fund campaigns: Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) received $8,000 from AOL, $5,500 from Microsoft, $1,000 from Yahoo, and so on during his last election (2002, opensecrets.org)"
Except he had no campaign to speak of. I can remember maybe one advertisement in each of two local news papers, but that's about it. If you look closer at his expenditures, all he seems to do with most of his money is funnel it off to the national GOP. I wish I had some of the "excess funds" he seems to be troubled with...
The man has been in office since the 1980's and has continued to get obnoxiously large numbers of votes, even after he changed parties in the mid-90's. At this point I'm afraid the only way he'll leave the House is voluntarily.
"Complain hard and loud now or else we lose."
I tried. And there's still a lien on my car after that stunt. I should have followed Bill Bier's example and not spent anything.
"Because NVIDIA and ATI each release more than one new real-time graphics hardware product each year, the PC does not have generational cycles."
Yes, instead of being a money pit you pour some money into once every few years, the PC is a system you pour money in continuously. That's why it doesn't have the generational cycles consoles have. And there are other differences between console gaming and a PC, but that's a flame for another time.
"please precisely define "video game console""
A "black box" whose primary function is to play video games and whose software and hardware are optimized primarily (if not solely) for that purpose. Even if your PC is used mostly to play games, the operating system it runs is too generalized for the machine to be called a games console.
And I use the phrase "black box" to eliminate software revision (ie. patches) and most of the hardware upgrades that are associated with the PC platform.
"Besides, even if console hardware does have generations, franchises don't."
Yes, they do, precisely because of the hardware generational cycle. New hardware allows the software to be drasticly different from games made for the previous platform. You'll never confuse Super Mario Bros. with Super Mario World or Super Mario 64.
"Which was better again? From what I had read of the systems' specifications, the Genesis had more video memory bandwidth, but the Super NES had background scaling and rotation."
From what I recall reading, the SNES trumped the Genesis in both graphics (sprites, colors as well as the effects you mention) and sound (the Genesis' sound processor was the CPU of the Master System while the SNES used a Sony chip designed specifically for it). But I'll welcome sources that can demonstrate otherwise.
" No, Sega would still have been out of business because backwards compatibility was apparently more expensive to fabricate in 1994 when the Sega Saturn was coming out than in 2000 when the PS2 came out."
But backwards compatability was already fabricated into the Sega Saturn to a degree. Just as the Genesis re-used the Master System CPU to take care of sound, the Saturn uses the Genesis CPU in the same way. Release something like the Power Base Converter (play SMS carts and cards on a Gen) for the Sega Saturn, and *POOF*, you don't have to get rid of all those old Genesis/Sega CD titles.
"Most of the franchises that carried the PS1 and PS2 (Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, etc) were carried over from the NES by other companies."
IIRC, that was mostly from Nintendo's decision to continue using cartridges instead of CDs (as well as some bad licensing desicions on Nintendo's part). I fail to see a similar push in the handheld market, especially since GBA games MSRP cheaper than PS2, Xbox and GCN disks.
Can you blame us? Have you tried distinguishing yourselves from Australia lately? Heck, it seems that there are more differences between Canucks and Yanks than between Aussies and Kiwis.
Why don't you start with getting a new flag? Perhaps one that doesn't look like a carbon-copy of the Australian one?
I believe they're publishing 512 megabits as we speak, which pretty much translates into 64 MB. I wouldn't be surprised if they reach gigabit (128 MB) sizes in a year or so. However, consider:
Bigger cartridges that conform to the old form-factor do not need new hardware to read. Cartridge prices don't go down like optical media because cartridge sizes are always growing
Cartridges can also include hardware upgrades, such as additional RAM or even a GPU (Super FX chip, anyone?). Optical media can't do that
And, of course, cartridges are a good deal more durable than optical media, which is a good thing when you're making a system intended to be carried around in pockets and such
And as for the "graphical benefits" you list that a Sony handheld may include, keep in mind that you'll still be playing this on a tiny screen. Even if you are able to make obnoxiously fine LCD displays for cheap, there's only so much small detail that can be discerned by the unaided eye.
"I think this new system is plenty enticing."
I see little to convince me that this system won't get shot down in flames like all the others. The Game Boy family has brutally bitch-slapped almost a dozen technologically superior handhelds in its time, and they weren't pretending to be fifteen different things at once. And don't forget that there are more GBAs out there than PS2s.
What, you're expecting people to know their history? Benjamin Franklin wasn't even president, but nobody seems to question his presence on the $100. It's not that I don't agree with you, it's just that this issue has "lost cause" written all over it.
Slashdot Mirror
Nah. If she had a clue, she'd know that copyrights never expire. It's heresy to even say such a thing, and I'm sure men with black helicopters and black mouse ears will be showing up soon to take her away for "questioning."
I'd expect an article like this to come from the New York Times.
""Squishing" only occurs when there is a difference in pressure between two parts of the craft."
No, it doesn't. Water at depth is denser than water at the surface, just as your body tissue is denser at 1 atm than in a vacuum. You seem to be confusing straight compression with other forms of deformation (a tennis ball concaving, for instance).
"Iron at 1000 atmospheres, on the other hand, has a not-too-different volume."
We're not talking about 1000 atm, though. 10 m of sea water is about 1 atm, so you hit 1000 atm at only 10 km below the surface of the ocean. The earth's radius is ~6000 km, and the vast majority of it is orders of magnitude denser than water.
"Crystal structure changes are a tougher problem. Squeeze carbon, and it becomes diamond."
Which demonstrates that "squishing" occurs even without a pressure differential.
Besides, I think the more immediate problem is "squeeze something, and it gets hotter."
"Dropping one into Jupiter's deeper layers would be at least as much fun as dropping one into Earth's mantle, for instance."
We have yet to be able to make a probe that can even survive the Venutian atmosphere for any length of time longer than a few hours. And this from the people who built supersonic fighters capable of taking off and landing in grass fields.
"The pressure at one mile down is quite high, but we have mines that go that deep and deeper, so therefore we can build supports that can withstand the load."
If I remember correctly, the radius of the earth is about 3600 miles.
"On the other hand, pressure at the center is exactly zero,"
No, because the surrounding fluid still wants to be at the center and still transmits the weight of all the above fluid to the center. The center of the earth is where the pressure will be at it's greatest, which is why it's so hot down there to begin with.
"Where can we find or drill a hole large enough vertically straight?? Hawaii??"
The advantage of Hawaii is that the hole is already there, open, and has been for a decade or two now. As long as you can handle the upward current, just drop the thing into the Pu'u O'o Vent and be done with it.
"Liquids are incompressible."
Yes, they are. It's just negligible in most real-world situations. Going miles under molten rock doesn't fall into the "real-world situation" category, though.
But even if this probe were going down in a blob of uncompressable molten unobtanium, Pascal still says that the pressure within the blob is the same as the pressure outside the blob.
"Furthermore, if you made the probe a solid sphere, it'd also be pretty much indestructible."
Ignoring the problem of making sure it really is solid (unless it's truly homogeneous, you're going to have gaps) and the fact that even a solid will compress if exposed to enough pressure, how is it going to produce those "seismic waves" it's supposed to use to communicate to the surface?
"While that may not be terribly useful, it would at least prove you'd be able to send something down there."
How, praytell, will you demonstrate that it really did survive the descent? Go down after it and retrieve it?
"Why bother with incremental price drops on the console when most potential purchasers are balking at the price of the games?"
Not someone who remembers what the prices of Final Fantasy "III" or Phantasy Star IV were when they were first released, are we?
"Microsoft isn't being aggressive enough."
There's only so much you can cut before you hit bone, even if you're Microsoft. Some would say that they had already hit bone at the $200 mark.
"Right now, Xbox's biggest edge is their online play capability."
How big of an edge is that, though? Is it something that's here to stay, or more of a fad that will burn out in a year or two? Let us not forget the wisdom of Penny Arcade when it comes to playing on-line.
"That ain't chump change, and represents a much larger drop than $20 USD drop in the US"
But all that does is bring it in line with the pricing in the US. 250.00 CAD is ~181.35 USD at the end of the last trading day. And also remember that the USD is still slipping slowly, which will make the CAD price more expensive again. The yen is heading south as well.
"Still waiting to see if Nintendo will make any price adjustments on the Gamecube (still $230 CDN)"
They have room to cut. That's about 166.84 USD.
"MS changed the world of comuting,"
Yeah, instead of idiots reading a newspaper while driving, we now have idiots using a laptop while driving. Thanks Microsoft!
"made out of material which won't melt or dissolve in the iron"
I'd be more worried about the device being able to withstand that pressure. I fail to see how surrounding the probe with molten iron (or any other fluid, for that matter) will prevent the weight of the planet from squishing it like a bug. Or does he plan on violating the laws of physics at the same time?
No, the state standardized on old-fashioned mechanical voting machines a few decades ago and haven't had a problem since.
And why should the state pay a private institution to do all this vote analysis when the state seems to do it just fine by themselves.
"That's the way it has always worked, from Gandhi to Luther King."
That's what, a decade? Two, perhaps? That qualifies as "always?"
" There is something reassuring about calm and respectful discussion of a serious issue(...) wheas in the US Senate, it is always a debate, never a discussion"
This is where I conveniently plug efforts to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment.
This makes either the GBA or the GCN the first console to host two Metroid titles. There are also quite a few other franchise spin-offs here (two games new games with the "Zelda" name, a few intersting Pokemon titles, etc.). I'd wager there are more new franchise titles this E3 than any other.
:)
I wonder if they're quickly trying to beef-up the GCN library to make up for its relatively short life-span, what with the way Nintendo is reminding everybody that they won't let Sony beat them to the market with a PS3.
Speaking of which, whatever became of Yamauchi? If nothing else he made a good saber-rattler.
Until a few years ago, he was "Billy Tauzin (D-La)." Don't even try to blame this one on a particular political party.
"Corporations also fund campaigns: Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) received $8,000 from AOL, $5,500 from Microsoft, $1,000 from Yahoo, and so on during his last election (2002, opensecrets.org)"
Except he had no campaign to speak of. I can remember maybe one advertisement in each of two local news papers, but that's about it. If you look closer at his expenditures, all he seems to do with most of his money is funnel it off to the national GOP. I wish I had some of the "excess funds" he seems to be troubled with...
The man has been in office since the 1980's and has continued to get obnoxiously large numbers of votes, even after he changed parties in the mid-90's. At this point I'm afraid the only way he'll leave the House is voluntarily.
"Complain hard and loud now or else we lose."
I tried. And there's still a lien on my car after that stunt. I should have followed Bill Bier's example and not spent anything.
I know, but all the new games are being called "Metal Gear Solid (number)" instead of "Metal Gear (number)."
"Because NVIDIA and ATI each release more than one new real-time graphics hardware product each year, the PC does not have generational cycles."
Yes, instead of being a money pit you pour some money into once every few years, the PC is a system you pour money in continuously. That's why it doesn't have the generational cycles consoles have. And there are other differences between console gaming and a PC, but that's a flame for another time.
"please precisely define "video game console""
A "black box" whose primary function is to play video games and whose software and hardware are optimized primarily (if not solely) for that purpose. Even if your PC is used mostly to play games, the operating system it runs is too generalized for the machine to be called a games console.
And I use the phrase "black box" to eliminate software revision (ie. patches) and most of the hardware upgrades that are associated with the PC platform.
"Besides, even if console hardware does have generations, franchises don't."
Yes, they do, precisely because of the hardware generational cycle. New hardware allows the software to be drasticly different from games made for the previous platform. You'll never confuse Super Mario Bros. with Super Mario World or Super Mario 64.
"Which was better again? From what I had read of the systems' specifications, the Genesis had more video memory bandwidth, but the Super NES had background scaling and rotation."
From what I recall reading, the SNES trumped the Genesis in both graphics (sprites, colors as well as the effects you mention) and sound (the Genesis' sound processor was the CPU of the Master System while the SNES used a Sony chip designed specifically for it). But I'll welcome sources that can demonstrate otherwise.
" No, Sega would still have been out of business because backwards compatibility was apparently more expensive to fabricate in 1994 when the Sega Saturn was coming out than in 2000 when the PS2 came out."
But backwards compatability was already fabricated into the Sega Saturn to a degree. Just as the Genesis re-used the Master System CPU to take care of sound, the Saturn uses the Genesis CPU in the same way. Release something like the Power Base Converter (play SMS carts and cards on a Gen) for the Sega Saturn, and *POOF*, you don't have to get rid of all those old Genesis/Sega CD titles.
"Most of the franchises that carried the PS1 and PS2 (Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, etc) were carried over from the NES by other companies."
IIRC, that was mostly from Nintendo's decision to continue using cartridges instead of CDs (as well as some bad licensing desicions on Nintendo's part). I fail to see a similar push in the handheld market, especially since GBA games MSRP cheaper than PS2, Xbox and GCN disks.
Can you blame us? Have you tried distinguishing yourselves from Australia lately? Heck, it seems that there are more differences between Canucks and Yanks than between Aussies and Kiwis.
Why don't you start with getting a new flag? Perhaps one that doesn't look like a carbon-copy of the Australian one?
I believe they're publishing 512 megabits as we speak, which pretty much translates into 64 MB. I wouldn't be surprised if they reach gigabit (128 MB) sizes in a year or so. However, consider:
- Bigger cartridges that conform to the old form-factor do not need new hardware to read. Cartridge prices don't go down like optical media because cartridge sizes are always growing
- Cartridges can also include hardware upgrades, such as additional RAM or even a GPU (Super FX chip, anyone?). Optical media can't do that
- And, of course, cartridges are a good deal more durable than optical media, which is a good thing when you're making a system intended to be carried around in pockets and such
And as for the "graphical benefits" you list that a Sony handheld may include, keep in mind that you'll still be playing this on a tiny screen. Even if you are able to make obnoxiously fine LCD displays for cheap, there's only so much small detail that can be discerned by the unaided eye."I think this new system is plenty enticing."
I see little to convince me that this system won't get shot down in flames like all the others. The Game Boy family has brutally bitch-slapped almost a dozen technologically superior handhelds in its time, and they weren't pretending to be fifteen different things at once. And don't forget that there are more GBAs out there than PS2s.
In other news, a glowing blue image of Sir Alec Guinness wishes all these damned kids would get off his lawn.
I was going more by sales numbers than by personal opinion, and I was referring to the franchise in general.
Well, it would be "versatile" if the DVD Consortium would let you actually do something with the damned things.
What, you're expecting people to know their history? Benjamin Franklin wasn't even president, but nobody seems to question his presence on the $100. It's not that I don't agree with you, it's just that this issue has "lost cause" written all over it.