"I guess with the home version of XP they really do mean it this time?"
Kinda. But in the grand tradtion of "Microsoft never really does anything new," XP still has some serious ties to it's past. Click Start, click Run, and type "progman."
On top of that, Windows networking is something kludged together on top of Microsoft LAN Manager (an early "competitor" to NetWare), which itself is kludged together on top of the old MS-NET/PC-NET (where all those net commands come from).
MS-DOS may not be supported by Microsoft any more, but if you can dig up an old MS-NET, LAN Manager or NT networking client for DOS, you can still log into a.NET Server domain from it!:) Hell, I think Microsoft even made a TCP/IP stack for DOS...
MS-DOS died when I got a SiS 735-based motherboard. SiS writes Linux drivers but no DOS drivers. I'm half tempted to get a new sound board just for the sake of "legacy" support.
You can download IBM's PC-DOS 2000 (7.something) for $50 or buy floppies or a CD-ROM for a little under $70. IBM's catalog page is here.
If they're still selling it, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they still support it as well. That, and it has the added advantage of a full honest-to-God license (there's no such thing as a full, retail copy of MS-DOS, no matter what some fraudulent eBay sellers may try to tell you).
And while you're over there, there's also OS/2 Warp 4.
"I really wonder how the academy was able to simple seize the computers."
Um... dude, it's a federal military academy. When you're there, they practically own you (especially plebes). They tell you where to be, what to wear, what to do (and not do), and even what you can't have in your room (especially plebes). We're not exactly talking about UCLA here. They seize the computers the same way they seize radios in plebe rooms.
"this would indicate that these computers were the property of the midshipmen."
1.) The fact that they're "midshipmen" and not just "students" should clue you in that they don't have the same "rights and privileges" us normal civillians have.
2.) They may "own" the computer, but the Naval Academy owns the room (if not the midshipmen).
"It's about avoiding paying for something that cost someone else money to provide."
Ah, but what if the price being asked for is provided by price-fixing? I'd be more than willing to pay for an album's production costs, but the music companies are asking for a lot more than that.
Jumping subway turnstiles is illegal, but things get pretty fuzzy if you're doing it to avoid paying $100 for a lousy subway token.
"In some European countries, the equivalent of representatives are elected by percentage-- in this case 20% of the representatives will be from the independant party."
Ick. The US system may suck, but I'd much rather have it than the European form of "democracy."
So a third party has more of a chance in Europe. But at what cost? You must have a party affiliation to get elected in Europe! While the independents in Congress are few and far between, there are literally infinitely more politicians independent of party politics in Congress than in any European legislature.
"Not to mention presidents aren't even chosen by popular vote..."
In the parliamentary system used by some other democracies it's the legislature that chooses the head of government (prime minister). Which means the only way the voter gets to choose who gets to be the head of government is to vote along straight party lines. Who are the local candidates? Who cares, as long as they'll vote Bob into office when they get there.
Improving representation in democracy? I'm all for that. But not at the price of sacrificing my voice as an individual. If I have to choose the least evil political party to vote for, no matter how many choices I have, I've already lost.
"Let me remind you that SEGA was the first to take the PC online gaming"
Right.
"They did it with the Saturn's Netlink,"
Wrong. They did it with the X-Band Modem for Genesis. And after that, Nintendo dabbled on a satellite service for the Super Famicom, but it didn't pan out either.
"I wouldn't count out M$ just yet, they still have plenty of cash to throw at XBox."
How much money you throw at a game generally doesn't affect how good the game is, one way or the other. They're like movies like that.
"We all know that when Microsoft wants to dominate a market segment they are usually pretty relentless until they get what they want."
But in just about everything else Microsoft had the ability to leverage their operating system monopoly in order to get what they want. But, just like the DVR market, Microsoft doesn't have any such tricks up its sleeves in the console market.
"They have bought exclusive rights to some titles just to boost Box sales."
Nintendo is the only video game company that has show the ability to consistently make exclusive games good enough to drive up hardware sales. If exclusive Sega titles were enough to keep the Xbox competitive, they would have been good enough to have kept the Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Gear, etc. competitive.
"Also I think Xbox live might make them more of a viable competitor, from what I've heard it's a better user experience compared to Nintendo and Sony's online offerings,"
But nobody knows how well console gamers will take to what has originally been a PC-only gimmick. PC gamers and console gamers are apples and oranges.
"Give Microsoft and the Xbox the ammount of time it took Sony to gather their collection of PS2 games"
Do they have that time? The PlayStation 2 didn't have any real competition until the Xbox and GameCube come out. They had to fight the Dreamcast. Microsoft, on the other hand, has to do all that while trying to fight against Sony.
"They have almost as many games and space dedicated to Xbox as PS2."
Think about how much shelf space was still dedicated to the Dreamcast this time two years ago. Then think back to what happened during the following year.
"To drive up sales of the Xbox is why the release them! If a game is just for the Xbox, I know that the development team will have had more time to make it work brilliantly on the Xbox."
It could also mean they didn't have the money to buy more than one console license. Or it could mean that they're really a second-party developer in disguise. You assume too much.
"Also, if the exclusive game is something I really, really want (like Shenmue 2x, Jet Set Radio Future, etc), I am more likely to buy the Xbox to get the access to those exclusive games. I bought an Xbox for JSRF, for example. Platform exclusive games boost sales a lot (the N64 lived and died only for Mario Party, the Zeldas, and Mario 64 for me)."
When it comes to good exclusive games, there are two kinds:
1.) The kind that make you glad you already have the console in question.
2.) The kind that make you want to go out and buy the console in question just to play it.
The second type is a much smaller category than the first. And so far, history has shown that only Nintendo has been able to land in that category consistently. Not even Sega has been able to pull that one off consistently (Game Gear, Saturn, Dreamcast).
"I know that the Xbox one will look better than the PS2 or GameCube version,"
That kind of talk has been around since even before the release of the PS2. Any differences in the performace between the three consoles is vague at best.
But that's besides the point. We're not talking about stereo systems or even gaming PCs here. When it comes to console games, the quality of the game itself comes first, second and third. A/V is somewhere around the seventeenth priority, mattering only to a loud yet small minority. The Atari 2600 beat the pants off even Intellivision and ColecoVision. The NES trumped the unquestionably superior Sega Master System. The SNES had to fight tooth and nail to get market share away from the Genesis. And let's not forget the recent PSX vs. N64 fiasco. And that's before mentioning the Game Boy, which has consistently beaten out superior handhelds for about a decade now.
Final Fantasy VII and VIII were better looking on the PC than the PSX. So why didn't they sell as many copies for the PC as they did with the PSX?
"but you'd still be foolish to buy the PS2 or GameCube version over the Xbox version (unless you like jaggy-ass graphics, or prefer to limit yourself in terms on online play)."
Even if the differences were noticable, only a very small minority of gamers own every console. Would be so smart to buy the Xbox copy if you only have a PS2?
"Sony's not making any deals"
You're assuming that means "Sony has a foolish marketing department." It could also mean "Sony doesn't need to." Giving deals is a gamble (which I'll go into in just a moment), and it could be that Sony feels their current market position is good enough that taking such a risk isn't needed.
"but Microsoft has put out its value added package,"
Using a technique that's usually reserved only for the end of the console's lifespan. The SNES came with several free games when the N64 was already out. The Dreamcast had similar deals after the PS2 came out. Normal, healthy consoles rely on releasing very good exclusive games around the holidays (Final Fantasy X, Metroid Prime, etc.) to boost their sales.
"Nintendo has cut the price on its GameCube again in order to drive lucrative sales."
According to EB, the price is still $150, where the price has been for most of this year. Nintendo's own website makes no mention of this price cut.
"The largest percentage of console sales happen in the next 4 weeks, and they're looking to load up their consumer base."
But you're still assuming "they want to" and not bothering to consider the possibility of "they need to."
"It's not a gimmick, it's plain sense!"
No, it's a gamble. They're spending more money setting up this gimmick than they would be otherwise, with the hopes of making that money back in the future. Whether or not it's a smart gamble is debatable, but it isn't exactly safe.
"Third-parties like Sega are sure as hell keeping the Xbox going, with many great sequels to Dreamcast titles that sold millions of copies being kept Xbox exclusive"
I'm not saying those aren't great games, I'm saying that they're not great enough. Remember: they're sequels to other great games that still weren't great enough to keep the Dreamcast from going tits-up. If I were Microsoft, I'd be looking for something more than just Sega to help me stay afloat.
"If you don't like Microsoft, just say it."
I admit I don't like Microsoft. But neither of our opinions should get in the way of facts. The fact is that more games are being advertised to likely gamers as beying playable on "everything but Xbox" than as being playable on "only Xbox." The fact is that Microsoft is using marketing tactics that are indicative of a failing console. The fact is that Microsoft sales are still neck and neck with Nintendo (both of whom are still well behind Sony). And the fact is that only Nintendo has shown themselves capable of surviving the situation that Microsoft seems to be finding itself in now.
"Now, the Xbox has been out for how long now? Just barely a year, and they have quite an impressive stable of games"
So? GameCube has been out for an almost identical amount of time, and yet they seem to be more supported than Xbox. I've seen plenty of advertisements everywhere for games for everything but Xbox. And I don't mean "one game for PS2, one game for GCN, one for PC," I mean "three games, all playable on PS2, GCN, PC, and not Xbox."
"It just goes to show you that people will take any opportunity to poke the most sucessfull Software company in history in the eye, even if it is just for spite!"
I'm not making this up. Next time you're watching TV, keep an eye out for game commercials. There are a few Nintendo-only commercials, fewer Xbox-only commercials, and the rest advertise support for every hardware platform under the sun except Xbox. You're more likely to see "Available for PS2, GCN and GBA" than "Available for PS2, GCN and Xbox."
You were looking at porn in the privacy of your own bathroom. That's "normal." Looking at porn in the public library (whether it's on the 'net or not) is seriously messed up. The kind of people who do that are the kind of people that probably shouldnt' be allowed to be in public unescorted.
"I understand that this is ruining peoples jobs and lives, but the business of manufacturing or selling mod chips is obviously against the spirit of the law, if not neccessarily the letter of it."
If the spirit of the law is "thou shalt not do with your own property as you see fit," then the law is flawed.
Watch some video game commercials on TV. You'll notice that the games are published for GameCube, Playstation 2, Game Boy Advance, PC... and a distinct lack of Xbox support. The only games I see advertized for Xbox are only for Xbox (which suggests poor third-party support), and they've now resorted to the marketing gimmick of giving away free games with the console.
Mod me down all you want, but I can't escape the impression that Xbox is floundering. Software houses that stressed they were going to be hardware agnostic a year ago now... aren't. Barring any miracles, I forsee the Xbox going the way of 3DO in less than a year. They just don't have the first- and second-party support to keep their heads above water.
"I'm neither a mathematician nor a physicist, but I study mathematics, and I can tell you that "compactified" is a real math word, that real mathematicians use"
Just because mathematicians happen to use a word doesn't make it "real." Mathematicians have the nasty habit of making up new words in order to make equations easier to read out loud.
If you make something smaller, you compact it, not "compactify" it.
" As a mathematician I'm usually very spectical of..."
"Usually there is some problems..."
Whether or not you're a mathematician is debatable, but I'm pretty sure you'll never get confused with an English major. You have some "specticalular" problems with subject/verb agreements...
"There is almost no experimental proofs for quantum field theory."
Psst! You're a mathematician. You're supposed to be satisfied when the equations work out. Experimental proof is something done by... well... physicists.
"And there is no reasonable argument for the choice of 11 dimensions (1 time, 10 space, 6 compactified)."
Forget the funky math you just did, if you made up new math functions as often as you made up new words ("compactified?"), you'd be the next Newton.
"can by explained much easier due to the fact that several cohomology groups of the Yang-Chibara manifolds are simple and the remaining ones freely generated."
Dude! Paramount is looking for you! They need you to help write the next Star Trek series!
"The other well known phenomena of earth core oszillations"
We're off to see the wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Osz!
"A spec of strange Quark matter the size of a human cell is said to be so dense that it could weigh a tonne!"
The same can be said for neutrons or protons or anything else that isn't an atom. Because, as we all (should) know by now, atoms are mostly empty space.
"Why do we STORE nuclear waste versus dispose of it? BECAUSE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DISPOSE OF!"
And why is it dangerous? Becuase it's still giving off neutrons. Which brings me right back to "it's still useful."
At any rate, people "get rid of" toxic wastes as dangerous if not moreso than "spent" nuclear fuel all the time. The only real reason nuclear "waste" is getting all the attention it does is because it's "nukular" and news articles about it get the attention of people like you, while hydrogen fluoride doesn't get much attention at all.
"There is no safe place on earth to dump uncontained nuclear waste,"
Three words: undersea subduction zone
"The only solution is to store it where it can be constantly monitored to ensure that it remains contained."
It's "constantly monitored" because it's kept handy until the day we're able to get more juice out of the "spent" fuel.
"Also to make sure no nasty terrorists get their hands on it."
Yeah, because we all know that, if it doesn't give off enough nutrons to be useful in a controlled chain reaction, it will still give off enough nutrons to start an uncontrolled chain reaction. Right...
"Granted, nuclear power makes sense for super carriers and submarines, although it's too bad we need such implements in the first place."
Not all nuclear-powered ships are warships. The Soviets maintained a nuclear icebreaker fleet, and the US experimented some with nuclear cargo ships (look up the N/S SAVANNAH when you get the chance). While it didn't take off at the time, it was also based on technology that is now 40-years old.
And even the USN's nuclear craft have uses well above and beyond their fucntions as warships. I doubt we'd know even half as much about the Arctic Ocean as we do today without the ability to travel under the icecap indefinately.
And you still didn't mention the use on spacecraft. Even a fission-based rocket would cut a mission to Mars down from three years to less than one.
"Well you haven't really dug a canal then, have you?"
You sure are with your desparate attempts to back up your baseless claims.
Big hole in ground caused by nuclear explosion = less dirt that needs to be moved by machinery/TNT/etc. in ditch-digging work. Sheesh...
"And I think you'd be hard pressed to prove that all of the radiation stayed underground and that you did fling any radioactive dust into the air."
Again, ask the Indians and the Pakistanis. There's nothing flung up into the air because it's that far below ground. The bomb vaporizes a bubble of dirt, the tons of dirt over that bubble fall into it to cavity, effectively burying any and every bit of radiation from the original blast.
"Oh and it sucks for anyone who tries to dig a drinking well in that area for the next 10 million years."
We're not talking about depths shallow enough to affect the water table. We're talking about depths that would resemble an oil drilling operation. A difference of orders of magnitude.
"Biomass fuels are the real solution."
Biodiesel doesn't eliminate toxic gasses, it only lowers the amount. If you're burning carbon chains, you're going to end up with carbon monoxide. Period. Nuclear power puts out no toxic gasses.
"at least untill we develop better photovoltaic technology."
Until you realize you'll have to slash-and-burn forests to make room for an array with a big enough surface area. You're not going to have a solar array that can produce as much power as a nuclear plant and only taking up as much surface area as a nuclear plant (or even ten plants) without some serious violations of the laws of thermodynamics.
Of course, you could build a giant array in orbit, but then you have some vicious microwaves to deal with. If modern high-powered radar arrays can kill birds in an instant, something like that could lay waste to cities.
Slashdot Mirror
"Hell, I think Microsoft even made a TCP/IP stack for DOS..."
I'm a moron. LAN Manager and NT networks are TCP/IP-based, so the TCP/IP stacks are included in the DOS clients for those networks. Dur...
"I guess with the home version of XP they really do mean it this time?"
.NET Server domain from it! :) Hell, I think Microsoft even made a TCP/IP stack for DOS...
Kinda. But in the grand tradtion of "Microsoft never really does anything new," XP still has some serious ties to it's past. Click Start, click Run, and type "progman."
On top of that, Windows networking is something kludged together on top of Microsoft LAN Manager (an early "competitor" to NetWare), which itself is kludged together on top of the old MS-NET/PC-NET (where all those net commands come from).
MS-DOS may not be supported by Microsoft any more, but if you can dig up an old MS-NET, LAN Manager or NT networking client for DOS, you can still log into a
MS-DOS died when I got a SiS 735-based motherboard. SiS writes Linux drivers but no DOS drivers. I'm half tempted to get a new sound board just for the sake of "legacy" support.
You can download IBM's PC-DOS 2000 (7.something) for $50 or buy floppies or a CD-ROM for a little under $70. IBM's catalog page is here.
If they're still selling it, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they still support it as well. That, and it has the added advantage of a full honest-to-God license (there's no such thing as a full, retail copy of MS-DOS, no matter what some fraudulent eBay sellers may try to tell you).
And while you're over there, there's also OS/2 Warp 4.
"I really wonder how the academy was able to simple seize the computers."
Um... dude, it's a federal military academy. When you're there, they practically own you (especially plebes). They tell you where to be, what to wear, what to do (and not do), and even what you can't have in your room (especially plebes). We're not exactly talking about UCLA here. They seize the computers the same way they seize radios in plebe rooms.
"this would indicate that these computers were the property of the midshipmen."
1.) The fact that they're "midshipmen" and not just "students" should clue you in that they don't have the same "rights and privileges" us normal civillians have.
2.) They may "own" the computer, but the Naval Academy owns the room (if not the midshipmen).
"It's about avoiding paying for something that cost someone else money to provide."
Ah, but what if the price being asked for is provided by price-fixing? I'd be more than willing to pay for an album's production costs, but the music companies are asking for a lot more than that.
Jumping subway turnstiles is illegal, but things get pretty fuzzy if you're doing it to avoid paying $100 for a lousy subway token.
... I'm listening to Sirius and the frequency I'm listening to is in the GHz range? :)
"In some European countries, the equivalent of representatives are elected by percentage-- in this case 20% of the representatives will be from the independant party."
Ick. The US system may suck, but I'd much rather have it than the European form of "democracy."
So a third party has more of a chance in Europe. But at what cost? You must have a party affiliation to get elected in Europe! While the independents in Congress are few and far between, there are literally infinitely more politicians independent of party politics in Congress than in any European legislature.
"Not to mention presidents aren't even chosen by popular vote..."
In the parliamentary system used by some other democracies it's the legislature that chooses the head of government (prime minister). Which means the only way the voter gets to choose who gets to be the head of government is to vote along straight party lines. Who are the local candidates? Who cares, as long as they'll vote Bob into office when they get there.
Improving representation in democracy? I'm all for that. But not at the price of sacrificing my voice as an individual. If I have to choose the least evil political party to vote for, no matter how many choices I have, I've already lost.
"The reason Sony and Microsoft didn't use a proprietary media is because both PS2 and X-Box are supposed to be more than a game console."
So? The Panasonic GameQ plays both prorpietary GameCube games and DVDs.
"American games from their headquarters in Tokyo, USA."
:)
Everybody knows that Japan is nothing more than the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet!
Scary factoid: Japan is the only country with foreign military bases in its capital.
"Let me remind you that SEGA was the first to take the PC online gaming"
Right.
"They did it with the Saturn's Netlink,"
Wrong. They did it with the X-Band Modem for Genesis. And after that, Nintendo dabbled on a satellite service for the Super Famicom, but it didn't pan out either.
"I wouldn't count out M$ just yet, they still have plenty of cash to throw at XBox."
How much money you throw at a game generally doesn't affect how good the game is, one way or the other. They're like movies like that.
"We all know that when Microsoft wants to dominate a market segment they are usually pretty relentless until they get what they want."
But in just about everything else Microsoft had the ability to leverage their operating system monopoly in order to get what they want. But, just like the DVR market, Microsoft doesn't have any such tricks up its sleeves in the console market.
"They have bought exclusive rights to some titles just to boost Box sales."
Nintendo is the only video game company that has show the ability to consistently make exclusive games good enough to drive up hardware sales. If exclusive Sega titles were enough to keep the Xbox competitive, they would have been good enough to have kept the Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Gear, etc. competitive.
"Also I think Xbox live might make them more of a viable competitor, from what I've heard it's a better user experience compared to Nintendo and Sony's online offerings,"
But nobody knows how well console gamers will take to what has originally been a PC-only gimmick. PC gamers and console gamers are apples and oranges.
"Give Microsoft and the Xbox the ammount of time it took Sony to gather their collection of PS2 games"
Do they have that time? The PlayStation 2 didn't have any real competition until the Xbox and GameCube come out. They had to fight the Dreamcast. Microsoft, on the other hand, has to do all that while trying to fight against Sony.
"They have almost as many games and space dedicated to Xbox as PS2."
Think about how much shelf space was still dedicated to the Dreamcast this time two years ago. Then think back to what happened during the following year.
"To drive up sales of the Xbox is why the release them! If a game is just for the Xbox, I know that the development team will have had more time to make it work brilliantly on the Xbox."
It could also mean they didn't have the money to buy more than one console license. Or it could mean that they're really a second-party developer in disguise. You assume too much.
"Also, if the exclusive game is something I really, really want (like Shenmue 2x, Jet Set Radio Future, etc), I am more likely to buy the Xbox to get the access to those exclusive games. I bought an Xbox for JSRF, for example. Platform exclusive games boost sales a lot (the N64 lived and died only for Mario Party, the Zeldas, and Mario 64 for me)."
When it comes to good exclusive games, there are two kinds:
1.) The kind that make you glad you already have the console in question.
2.) The kind that make you want to go out and buy the console in question just to play it.
The second type is a much smaller category than the first. And so far, history has shown that only Nintendo has been able to land in that category consistently. Not even Sega has been able to pull that one off consistently (Game Gear, Saturn, Dreamcast).
"I know that the Xbox one will look better than the PS2 or GameCube version,"
That kind of talk has been around since even before the release of the PS2. Any differences in the performace between the three consoles is vague at best.
But that's besides the point. We're not talking about stereo systems or even gaming PCs here. When it comes to console games, the quality of the game itself comes first, second and third. A/V is somewhere around the seventeenth priority, mattering only to a loud yet small minority. The Atari 2600 beat the pants off even Intellivision and ColecoVision. The NES trumped the unquestionably superior Sega Master System. The SNES had to fight tooth and nail to get market share away from the Genesis. And let's not forget the recent PSX vs. N64 fiasco. And that's before mentioning the Game Boy, which has consistently beaten out superior handhelds for about a decade now.
Final Fantasy VII and VIII were better looking on the PC than the PSX. So why didn't they sell as many copies for the PC as they did with the PSX?
"but you'd still be foolish to buy the PS2 or GameCube version over the Xbox version (unless you like jaggy-ass graphics, or prefer to limit yourself in terms on online play)."
Even if the differences were noticable, only a very small minority of gamers own every console. Would be so smart to buy the Xbox copy if you only have a PS2?
"Sony's not making any deals"
You're assuming that means "Sony has a foolish marketing department." It could also mean "Sony doesn't need to." Giving deals is a gamble (which I'll go into in just a moment), and it could be that Sony feels their current market position is good enough that taking such a risk isn't needed.
"but Microsoft has put out its value added package,"
Using a technique that's usually reserved only for the end of the console's lifespan. The SNES came with several free games when the N64 was already out. The Dreamcast had similar deals after the PS2 came out. Normal, healthy consoles rely on releasing very good exclusive games around the holidays (Final Fantasy X, Metroid Prime, etc.) to boost their sales.
"Nintendo has cut the price on its GameCube again in order to drive lucrative sales."
According to EB, the price is still $150, where the price has been for most of this year. Nintendo's own website makes no mention of this price cut.
"The largest percentage of console sales happen in the next 4 weeks, and they're looking to load up their consumer base."
But you're still assuming "they want to" and not bothering to consider the possibility of "they need to."
"It's not a gimmick, it's plain sense!"
No, it's a gamble. They're spending more money setting up this gimmick than they would be otherwise, with the hopes of making that money back in the future. Whether or not it's a smart gamble is debatable, but it isn't exactly safe.
"Third-parties like Sega are sure as hell keeping the Xbox going, with many great sequels to Dreamcast titles that sold millions of copies being kept Xbox exclusive"
I'm not saying those aren't great games, I'm saying that they're not great enough. Remember: they're sequels to other great games that still weren't great enough to keep the Dreamcast from going tits-up. If I were Microsoft, I'd be looking for something more than just Sega to help me stay afloat.
"If you don't like Microsoft, just say it."
I admit I don't like Microsoft. But neither of our opinions should get in the way of facts. The fact is that more games are being advertised to likely gamers as beying playable on "everything but Xbox" than as being playable on "only Xbox." The fact is that Microsoft is using marketing tactics that are indicative of a failing console. The fact is that Microsoft sales are still neck and neck with Nintendo (both of whom are still well behind Sony). And the fact is that only Nintendo has shown themselves capable of surviving the situation that Microsoft seems to be finding itself in now.
"Now, the Xbox has been out for how long now? Just barely a year, and they have quite an impressive stable of games"
So? GameCube has been out for an almost identical amount of time, and yet they seem to be more supported than Xbox. I've seen plenty of advertisements everywhere for games for everything but Xbox. And I don't mean "one game for PS2, one game for GCN, one for PC," I mean "three games, all playable on PS2, GCN, PC, and not Xbox."
"It just goes to show you that people will take any opportunity to poke the most sucessfull Software company in history in the eye, even if it is just for spite!"
I'm not making this up. Next time you're watching TV, keep an eye out for game commercials. There are a few Nintendo-only commercials, fewer Xbox-only commercials, and the rest advertise support for every hardware platform under the sun except Xbox. You're more likely to see "Available for PS2, GCN and GBA" than "Available for PS2, GCN and Xbox."
You were looking at porn in the privacy of your own bathroom. That's "normal." Looking at porn in the public library (whether it's on the 'net or not) is seriously messed up. The kind of people who do that are the kind of people that probably shouldnt' be allowed to be in public unescorted.
"I understand that this is ruining peoples jobs and lives, but the business of manufacturing or selling mod chips is obviously against the spirit of the law, if not neccessarily the letter of it."
If the spirit of the law is "thou shalt not do with your own property as you see fit," then the law is flawed.
Watch some video game commercials on TV. You'll notice that the games are published for GameCube, Playstation 2, Game Boy Advance, PC... and a distinct lack of Xbox support. The only games I see advertized for Xbox are only for Xbox (which suggests poor third-party support), and they've now resorted to the marketing gimmick of giving away free games with the console.
Mod me down all you want, but I can't escape the impression that Xbox is floundering. Software houses that stressed they were going to be hardware agnostic a year ago now... aren't. Barring any miracles, I forsee the Xbox going the way of 3DO in less than a year. They just don't have the first- and second-party support to keep their heads above water.
"I'm neither a mathematician nor a physicist, but I study mathematics, and I can tell you that "compactified" is a real math word, that real mathematicians use"
Just because mathematicians happen to use a word doesn't make it "real." Mathematicians have the nasty habit of making up new words in order to make equations easier to read out loud.
If you make something smaller, you compact it, not "compactify" it.
"Which is it?"
It's both! Special relativity strikes again!
" As a mathematician I'm usually very spectical of ..."
"Usually there is some problems..."
Whether or not you're a mathematician is debatable, but I'm pretty sure you'll never get confused with an English major. You have some "specticalular" problems with subject/verb agreements...
"There is almost no experimental proofs for quantum field theory."
Psst! You're a mathematician. You're supposed to be satisfied when the equations work out. Experimental proof is something done by... well... physicists.
"And there is no reasonable argument for the choice of 11 dimensions (1 time, 10 space, 6 compactified)."
Forget the funky math you just did, if you made up new math functions as often as you made up new words ("compactified?"), you'd be the next Newton.
"can by explained much easier due to the fact that several cohomology groups of the Yang-Chibara manifolds are simple and the remaining ones freely generated."
Dude! Paramount is looking for you! They need you to help write the next Star Trek series!
"The other well known phenomena of earth core oszillations"
We're off to see the wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Osz!
"I think everyone here is overestimating the size of those things."
Man, are you crazy? Leaving the house? There are neutrinos out there, man! Nothing can stop them! We're all going to die!
"A spec of strange Quark matter the size of a human cell is said to be so dense that it could weigh a tonne!"
The same can be said for neutrons or protons or anything else that isn't an atom. Because, as we all (should) know by now, atoms are mostly empty space.
Nothing to see here, move along...
Woo-hoo! Anti-nuke troll! Wheeee!
"Why do we STORE nuclear waste versus dispose of it? BECAUSE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DISPOSE OF!"
And why is it dangerous? Becuase it's still giving off neutrons. Which brings me right back to "it's still useful."
At any rate, people "get rid of" toxic wastes as dangerous if not moreso than "spent" nuclear fuel all the time. The only real reason nuclear "waste" is getting all the attention it does is because it's "nukular" and news articles about it get the attention of people like you, while hydrogen fluoride doesn't get much attention at all.
"There is no safe place on earth to dump uncontained nuclear waste,"
Three words: undersea subduction zone
"The only solution is to store it where it can be constantly monitored to ensure that it remains contained."
It's "constantly monitored" because it's kept handy until the day we're able to get more juice out of the "spent" fuel.
"Also to make sure no nasty terrorists get their hands on it."
Yeah, because we all know that, if it doesn't give off enough nutrons to be useful in a controlled chain reaction, it will still give off enough nutrons to start an uncontrolled chain reaction. Right...
"Granted, nuclear power makes sense for super carriers and submarines, although it's too bad we need such implements in the first place."
Not all nuclear-powered ships are warships. The Soviets maintained a nuclear icebreaker fleet, and the US experimented some with nuclear cargo ships (look up the N/S SAVANNAH when you get the chance). While it didn't take off at the time, it was also based on technology that is now 40-years old.
And even the USN's nuclear craft have uses well above and beyond their fucntions as warships. I doubt we'd know even half as much about the Arctic Ocean as we do today without the ability to travel under the icecap indefinately.
And you still didn't mention the use on spacecraft. Even a fission-based rocket would cut a mission to Mars down from three years to less than one.
"Well you haven't really dug a canal then, have you?"
You sure are with your desparate attempts to back up your baseless claims.
Big hole in ground caused by nuclear explosion = less dirt that needs to be moved by machinery/TNT/etc. in ditch-digging work. Sheesh...
"And I think you'd be hard pressed to prove that all of the radiation stayed underground and that you did fling any radioactive dust into the air."
Again, ask the Indians and the Pakistanis. There's nothing flung up into the air because it's that far below ground. The bomb vaporizes a bubble of dirt, the tons of dirt over that bubble fall into it to cavity, effectively burying any and every bit of radiation from the original blast.
"Oh and it sucks for anyone who tries to dig a drinking well in that area for the next 10 million years."
We're not talking about depths shallow enough to affect the water table. We're talking about depths that would resemble an oil drilling operation. A difference of orders of magnitude.
"Biomass fuels are the real solution."
Biodiesel doesn't eliminate toxic gasses, it only lowers the amount. If you're burning carbon chains, you're going to end up with carbon monoxide. Period. Nuclear power puts out no toxic gasses.
"at least untill we develop better photovoltaic technology."
Until you realize you'll have to slash-and-burn forests to make room for an array with a big enough surface area. You're not going to have a solar array that can produce as much power as a nuclear plant and only taking up as much surface area as a nuclear plant (or even ten plants) without some serious violations of the laws of thermodynamics.
Of course, you could build a giant array in orbit, but then you have some vicious microwaves to deal with. If modern high-powered radar arrays can kill birds in an instant, something like that could lay waste to cities.