i find the problem is often not with my pulling information to my system, but the server being able to push more bits my way. of course i may be searching the wrong mirrors
what you are talking about is price elasticity. it basically means that how much a product's demand is affected by a coeficcient of >/;+/-1 due to price increase or decrease. A product is price elastic if by raising or lowering the price you see a change in demand. how great that demand is of course how you determine the range of the elasiticity. FI, if I sell 100 gamecubes at 149us dollars, and then lower my price to 99 and sell 400, that is a massive price elasticity. by reducing price by 1/3, i increase sales drastically.
This does not often work in taxes and govt, becasue the revenue that is returned to the people is not always spent back into the govt. FI, the US tax cuts this time around went to paying down debt and in very secure, low yield securities, with no one selling and everyone holding because prices were so low that they had to go up. In a bear market, not only are prices low, but you buy stock at low price to reap a high reward later. So, in effect, in several years, yes, we might get more money from reduced taxes. However, this has nothing to do with tax revenue in the short run as a decrease in the cost of govt (taxes) did not increase spending one iota, and on top of that there was an increase in govt spending that decreaesd revenue to the point that the govt has taken to using future revenue (credit, defecit spending) in order to make up for the non-elastic outcome of lowering taxes. Don't worry, someone will have to raise taxes in the future to pay for lower taxes today.
Needless to say, lowering the price on a gamecube is a bit more simple than fiscal and monetary policy of billion-trillion dollar economies
That those in the IT field still cannot figure out that this has nothing to do with protectionism or govenment, but that we have lost our franchisement to those who wield the most money. There are those who will argue about the principle of capitalism until they starve themselves and their families. the truth remains that techies lack the political will to enact change in their favor. I think it truly sad that someone would kill themselves over a lost job. no one will think of him tomorrow. is everyome too proud to work at mcdonalds until things pick up? is everyone too proud to stop purchasing the latest gadget? is everyone too proud to move into a lesser house or even a cheap apartment in the slums? the truth is that you have painted yourselves into a corner, proudly declaring superority moral and intellectual and now must face thec prospect of being what you despise poor and unemployed and 'like the rest of them' . I quote Bob Dylan: 'how does it feel?'
What is probably going to happen (whether in this iteration of Nintendo's console or the next) is that AOL will offer a service much like XBOX Live's newly integrated browser with buddies and all. So instead of paying 29 a month for a gui for you internet service, you get 29 or 15 or 10 a month for a Gaming ISP, that is a clone of Xbox live out of the box. Think of it. AOL already has content delivery, streaming movies, and broadband to spare. Why not piggy back on it and make a viable gaming platform without having to rely on independent gaming companies or digging too deep into your pockets to do so. It is a intelligent move by Nintendo, to get *instant* online capabilities, and a coup for AOL time Warner, because there will be a whole new demographic (a growth area at that) that will subscribe to their AOL service.
Plus AIM is one of the superior IM clients out there.
while i do not condone the using of spam relays to further political goals, I think it would be quite a dangerous thing to try to regulate such speech on the internet. the truth is that few candidates can afford airtime to campaign, while the internet and email can provide a low barrier of entry to the political process. this is a way to level the playing field and get out additional voices on issues and policies.
Just not the content that most deliver. I can't stand sites that you pay for that give you a tiny screen with crappy compression or sound that cuts out every time you start dloading an iso.
I think it funny that the big media providers can't play nice with the television makers and put built in decoders on TVs. Yeah I'd pay ten bucks extra to watch Star Wars on demand, yeah, I'd pay to play for decent content on video games. Nothing like Starwars Galxies where I have to pay 15/mo. just for the privledge of playing my game that I already purchased for 50.
The problem is not that content is not available. THe problem is that the method of deliver is still sloppy and unprofessional or too expensive to maintain. It is STILL easier to go to BlockBuster and rent. It is STLL easier to put a lan party together, and often more fun. The only thing that was worthwhile, the radio broadcasters sucked the life out of (internet broadcasters). most of what you see these days (not all, mind you) are simply sites asking for money out of goodwill. While that might work for private, small and community-like ventures penny arcade, that doesn't work for corporate America.
TIMEWarner/AOL, NYT, Bloomberg, I will pay for content! Make it as easy as the TV, but make it better quality, and you'll make a fortune. People my age don't watch TV anymore. The net is my TV.
LOL you might be the most on the mark out here. Although independent films might not be your cup of tea (and they are not always mine), you should really see one called the Spanish Prisoner. It is really well crafted. I think it was directed by Steve Martin (you know, the Jerk, My Blue Heaven), although this one is not a comedy.
There is always noise that is undesireable in a place that advocates free speech and independence--noise that you or I may not find desirable. To say that because the noise exists and is given an oportunity to be heard is "hard-left" is a false positive. PLEASE use your thinking skills. I've seen some lousy movies come from both independent and Hollywood films. They have nothing to do with being politically sided or not. Not all films are political. Some are just nauseating self gratifying or self depcrecating hogwash. Some are wonderful thoughtful films. There are films from both sides of the spectrum, but many only choose to point out those with which they disagree.
1. I am quite relieved that you are no association of mine.
2. Being to different countries does not a cultured person make. There are McDonalds in every country that has electricity for a cash register
3. Friend, I live in Utah. I hike through Sundance. Unfortunately, people use PC as an excuse not to be courteous. People who are rude and obnoxious sometimes use PC as a straw man saying "I'm not PC" and saying that they are not frank, when in reality they are boorish and of low character. Bigotry and intolerance are not frankness, PC or not.
4. Sundance does not exist to forward any agenda except Robert Redfords. The reason that there is no "Gun ownership of white people movies" is because they don't try hard enough. Maybe it's because they don't make good movies. They have just as much chance as anyone else does to make a good movie. Besides the point, white people with guns are all over hollywood, and so really don't have a lack of funding. OR lack of shots in Hollywood.
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. You're paid to think critcally, right? Did you ever think the reason why there is so many INDEPENDENT films about minorities, gender issues and enviros because the non independent film industry does not release films with those kind of issues???
I mean give me a break. That is the most callous and non-thinking reply i've heard in a long time. Talk about a flawed sense of history.
There was this girl once whom I was crazy about that asked me a similarly stupid question . . . she asked me why blacks had to have an INDEPENDENT black television station like BET (quality issues aside) and always try to make *ourselves* different (as if I had anything to do with the founding of BET or other blacks)!
I told her that the reason that BET existed is that MTV at the time refused to put on black music artists as actually seeing blacks on tv was considered unmarketable (this was the eighties)!
You really need to get out from in front of that dead interface and go outside and see real life, buddy. Inject some new code into that aging architecture. True independence exists because the proper channels are closed to legitimate pursuers.
You can simply wait six months and get the same model for thousands less. It might have a thousand miles on it. I would never buy a new car just to get the options I want.
However... I could see myself buying this kind of car, if the options were right. The problem is, (and has been) getting the right kind of options. Yes, I want a fuel cell powering my vehicle. Probably not going to get the SUV model in the near future. Yes, I want and inboard dash that runs a decent navigation os. Probably can do, but you need to get it from one of the distributors that manufacture it. I want an onboard real-time diagnostics system like they have at "authorized dealers" shops so that I can diagnose the problem before I have to pay a couple hundred dollars for inspection. I want a jet cockpit harness for a seatbelt too. Did I mention I want to pay about 15 thousand for it?
Cause that's what Dell and other PC manufacturers have done. With the open PC format they have commoditized the hardware enough, so that real expenses are marketing and manufacturing, not the purchasing of parts itself. Dell has gone ahead of the curve by developing it's own printers and PDA's and charging less for more. The truth is, unless you can control your distributors and supply chain, you will not be making the 15-20 percent that you want. You will be eaten alive by every factor you cannot control, namely price for parts and labor. I would buy a car at the 35000 mark, if it were truly customizable, but I don't know if that is possible. Just ask Dell.
It is pretty hard to say that the Matrix was pedestrian because it contained fundamental beliefs that most humans embrace.
If you saw beyond the guns (and I don't have any idea of the Wachowski Bros intended it so) you have a pretty strict gothic tale, along the lines of Caleb Williams--that is the paradox that we reject the tools and premise of modern society, but at the same time find ourselves beholden to the very things that we detest. . . No one finds it powerful that we wage a war of machines by using the machines themselves? That because machines are evil and man created the machines, that by extension that man is evil? The truth is that even those who lived without the Matrix, in order to survive had to live by its rules. It is only by "obeying" the laws of the Matrix that the humans in Zion were ever able to defeat the machines. Kind of ironic. In order to beat the machines, we had to think like machines, in other words, man evolved (or de-evolved) into machines in order to survive the evolutionary flood that almost overtook them. We are fascinated by micororganisms that exist for billions of years because of their simple genetic adaptability, but humans have a remarkable abilty to evolve (we rarely think of it that way, but human evolution is mostly within the head with very little cosmetic changes)
So in one movie you have the gothic premise of knowledge and enlightenment will always come back to bite you, the co-dependency of man and machine, robotics and cybernetics as an evolutionary principle etc. . . Like I said, there is no way that we actually know that the Bros. intended it that way, but when one confronts art, the true experience is the one that requires an exercise in thought to apreciate the metaphor.
A telephone that hooks up to a number that pulls up contact info? Sounds like a softmodem that has access to a evo-like api.
Thumbprint access? A small usb hand scanner with a watermarked or fractal-ized image of your thumb.
Hardware standard? Sounds like something that should be included in many Linux Boxes (something that says. . . (this hard ware is guaranteed to boot Grub, lilo, read foobar card and access through whatchamacalit protocol).
These are GOOD ideas! There is nothing wrong with wanting new technology to mesh with new software.
The only bad idea is having MS hold an exclusive right to work woth hardware vendors to sync their new technology. The only good thing is that it is only with the large Computer manufacturers, and I don't buy from them.
Surely Acidus and his colleagues informed the Universities about this before they went public with this information. That is of course the most effective way to get the system to change. . . Imagine inviting the Dean of Purchasing and Procurement to a Coke and a Apple pie on campus and using a facsimile of his id and account to pay for it. Or even more fun - - getting a sweet new laptop at the bookstore with a hyper-inflated account balance. Most certainly then Blackboard would think about upgrading their machines. Announcing that you are going to circumvent their digitally encrypted system in public, no less, simply gave Blackboard a way to facilitate their illegitimate hardware and polices and making it legitimate under the cover of an unjust law.
As my good old Uncle Scrooge always said: Work Smarrrrrterrrr not harrrrrderrrrr
I must disagree about Gentoo not being for Newbies. I think that Gentoo is the ultimate distro for Newbies. The instructions are direct and concise, with real world examples. Their forums are professionally moderated and updated frequently with users of varying degrees of experience. The difficult part is making sure that your kernel is configured just right, but a person with commodity hardware could install Gentoo on his/her system and be up and running within one day of compiling.
Red Hat' documentation is erratic at best and not easily navigable. SuSe was useful as soon as I figured out the correct path to download the distro from FTP. Mandrake didn't cut it for me. Believe me, I shopped around. I PURCHASED Red Hat at every new milestone release up to 7.2. I was really liking the way Gnome was looking on 7.2 Red Hat, and then they went and screwed up everything with 8.0. That was the most difficult distro for me, not becuase of the difficulty in understanding linux (although I am an intermediate user at best), but because it was so difficult to get *under the hood* to change anything. I used 8.0 for about two days and started hunting for a new Linux distro. I even went to Yellow Dog to be loyal to Red Hat, but found it to be wanting.
Gentoo was by far the easiest to configure, straightforward to understand and helpful in documentation. The first attempt was a disaster, the second attempt booted right up. The third attempt, on my 700 mhz Ibook was a total sucess with very minor cosmetic glitches. I can't praise Gentoo enough for making a Linux OS for the masses. Don't let anyone fool you: Gentoo is easyand configurable up the wazoo. I've never been more pleased with a linux distro. I'm only dissapointed that I didn't discover Gentoo until a few months ago. I would even be willing to sell gentoo on a prebuilt system-THAT's how much I like it. I've never sold linux on a prebuilt system because I make custom systems. I'd always burn some CD's to let others TRY it, but I"d install gentoo on any system that wanted it, it is so simple to use. I think that a CD with a stage 4 tarball and Unreal on it would sell to more people that would want it. I was even considering writing Gentoo to see if they would be willing to do tarball specifically for Nvidia's Cinema Platform with MythTV or something of the sort. Anyway, this is too long of a ramble. The short, no Gentoo is not for everyone, but its sheer simplicity is mindboggling.
That is not quite true. While it holds that the musician is the source of the quality of music that is played, there are things that will reduce the acoustic pleasures one hears when playing a guitar. It might sound *great* to others around, but a talented player will notice.
Take for instance a guitar that is more difficult to press down on the fret board. I've played these kinds of guitars. It takes *twice* as much pressure to produce a terrible sound. The extra pressure causes more time from switching cords or notes and so you limit the versatility of the composition. Poorly constructed guitars also have poor tuning quality. A couple of strums and you can feel the dissonant tones eating into your brain. You have to tune it up even during a performance. That's lousy.
Not having an exact measurement from the strings to the fret board causes mistakes also. After playing a guitar after a while, it is not so much a heavy percussion instrument as a light tickle of the strings, almost like a harp. Hendrix described this as "jelly", when the licks come out smooth and unhindered, almost jumping from the fretboard to the amp. The seasoned guitarist doesn't want to be hindered to much with getting the exact pressure. The right strings, enough play in the fretboard and a deft touch can produce more expression in a guitar.
I'm not saying that a guitar *can't* be played well that has a lousy construction, all i'm saying is that is is more than *studio* that makes a production smooth. Good equipment is nothing to sneeze at.
I actually LIKE the idea of a PDA phone. I was quite impressed with my Handspring's communitcator line of phone/pda. I was tempted to buy a Treo 180 a couple months back (had a pretty good deal. I needed a new service and they were offering a 150 rebate). Thing is, it's not available on the Handspring site anymore. It was just the right PDA for me. Nice, simple interface, small enough to really use it as a phone, and CHEAP (99 US dollars at the time). Why it isn't even on back order is beyond me. I can't stand the fact that every phone/pda/ir remote/rocket launcher phone comes with a camera and an mp3 player. The mp3 i could justify for voice memos, but the goofballs market it like a portable jukebox! Camera? Do I want to pay to transfer a 100k photo on a 10 MB data plan? A lot of what you get is fluff. But the Treo 180 was just enough to keep me going. Oh, well.
Just one question -- what is the benefit of the economy at the other extreme -- take for instance unlimited power of executives -- is that good for the economy? Enron, WorldCom, anyone? The truth is too much power on either side will destroy the economy. Controls are put on both labor and capital because both sides will try to exploit the weakness of the free market and loot the unaware. I have been on both sides of the equation. Don't be too eager to take any side of this argument. Neither are justified in using people and resources as if there were no consequences to their poorly executed decisions
Your comments are pretty interesting but you would willingly force yourself and thereby *believe* the opposite to be true,
that is mostly true. however the real insidiousness of it lay in the fact that the people were not *forcing* themselves. Infact, winston was tortured becasue he was *forcing himself* to believe what the party was telling him.
forcing oneself to believe has the implication of somewhere knowing that one is still aware that one is lying to oneself.
the true "converts" (there can be no converts) to the party were those who could believe two things at once with no contradiction (we are at war with Eurasia, we were always at war with eurasia).
in other words, people unconsiously thought in terms of dual or multiple realities. there was no deception on anyone's part, only acceptance of all things at once.
In other words, one of the reasons that amatuer development is so limited is not simply cost. It's large space programs saying things like "we have experience and the finances to absorb failure, so that is why we reccomend you stay out of it. "the stars are not for man" kind of philosophy, if you get my drift. I'm not saying that it's great that something blew up, I'm saying that the it's bunk to say things like "leave this to the pros. space exploration is too complicated for civilians." or haven't you noticed, that instead of when airplanes, televisions, and computers were in the early stage of innovation, there aren't many private backers of orbital ventures. Is that a coincidence? BTW, I could really do without commenting on the moderation and have an intelligent conversation. You might almost think that moderation has any great bearing on the subjects that we discuss:)
In other words, this unmasks the myth that somehow exists that private innovators have no place in the big league of space. If billions of dollars and hundreds of scientists, plus the backing of a unified europe fails sometimes too, maybe there is hope for those who don't have as much resources but have the same if not greater desire.
I consider this good news--a nation with billions of dollars invested in a project get the same results as some amatuer projects : kerplop. Gives me hope that non institutionalized entities can make it to space despite the negative publicity they get because of the trial and error process.
Can't say that they shouldn't be in space when some one this big fouls up too.
Of course the reason that they did this was because Morther Russia had the most experience and expertise in those fields of Life Support and cheapest payload delivery souyez (don't know if i spelled it right), most information on long stays in orbit, and the infrastructure to be an immediate key player, and although poor, it is a relatively rich nation in resources.
Slashdot Mirror
i find the problem is often not with my pulling information to my system, but the server being able to push more bits my way. of course i may be searching the wrong mirrors
what you are talking about is price elasticity. it basically means that how much a product's demand is affected by a coeficcient of >/;+/-1 due to price increase or decrease. A product is price elastic if by raising or lowering the price you see a change in demand. how great that demand is of course how you determine the range of the elasiticity. FI, if I sell 100 gamecubes at 149us dollars, and then lower my price to 99 and sell 400, that is a massive price elasticity. by reducing price by 1/3, i increase sales drastically.
This does not often work in taxes and govt, becasue the revenue that is returned to the people is not always spent back into the govt. FI, the US tax cuts this time around went to paying down debt and in very secure, low yield securities, with no one selling and everyone holding because prices were so low that they had to go up. In a bear market, not only are prices low, but you buy stock at low price to reap a high reward later. So, in effect, in several years, yes, we might get more money from reduced taxes. However, this has nothing to do with tax revenue in the short run as a decrease in the cost of govt (taxes) did not increase spending one iota, and on top of that there was an increase in govt spending that decreaesd revenue to the point that the govt has taken to using future revenue (credit, defecit spending) in order to make up for the non-elastic outcome of lowering taxes. Don't worry, someone will have to raise taxes in the future to pay for lower taxes today.
Needless to say, lowering the price on a gamecube is a bit more simple than fiscal and monetary policy of billion-trillion dollar economies
That those in the IT field still cannot figure out that this has nothing to do with protectionism or govenment, but that we have lost our franchisement to those who wield the most money. There are those who will argue about the principle of capitalism until they starve themselves and their families. the truth remains that techies lack the political will to enact change in their favor. I think it truly sad that someone would kill themselves over a lost job. no one will think of him tomorrow. is everyome too proud to work at mcdonalds until things pick up? is everyone too proud to stop purchasing the latest gadget? is everyone too proud to move into a lesser house or even a cheap apartment in the slums? the truth is that you have painted yourselves into a corner, proudly declaring superority moral and intellectual and now must face thec prospect of being what you despise poor and unemployed and 'like the rest of them' . I quote Bob Dylan: 'how does it feel?'
What is probably going to happen (whether in this iteration of Nintendo's console or the next) is that AOL will offer a service much like XBOX Live's newly integrated browser with buddies and all. So instead of paying 29 a month for a gui for you internet service, you get 29 or 15 or 10 a month for a Gaming ISP, that is a clone of Xbox live out of the box. Think of it. AOL already has content delivery, streaming movies, and broadband to spare. Why not piggy back on it and make a viable gaming platform without having to rely on independent gaming companies or digging too deep into your pockets to do so. It is a intelligent move by Nintendo, to get *instant* online capabilities, and a coup for AOL time Warner, because there will be a whole new demographic (a growth area at that) that will subscribe to their AOL service.
Plus AIM is one of the superior IM clients out there.
while i do not condone the using of spam relays to further political goals, I think it would be quite a dangerous thing to try to regulate such speech on the internet. the truth is that few candidates can afford airtime to campaign, while the internet and email can provide a low barrier of entry to the political process. this is a way to level the playing field and get out additional voices on issues and policies.
Just not the content that most deliver. I can't stand sites that you pay for that give you a tiny screen with crappy compression or sound that cuts out every time you start dloading an iso.
I think it funny that the big media providers can't play nice with the television makers and put built in decoders on TVs. Yeah I'd pay ten bucks extra to watch Star Wars on demand, yeah, I'd pay to play for decent content on video games. Nothing like Starwars Galxies where I have to pay 15/mo. just for the privledge of playing my game that I already purchased for 50.
The problem is not that content is not available. THe problem is that the method of deliver is still sloppy and unprofessional or too expensive to maintain. It is STILL easier to go to BlockBuster and rent. It is STLL easier to put a lan party together, and often more fun. The only thing that was worthwhile, the radio broadcasters sucked the life out of (internet broadcasters). most of what you see these days (not all, mind you) are simply sites asking for money out of goodwill. While that might work for private, small and community-like ventures penny arcade, that doesn't work for corporate America.
TIMEWarner/AOL, NYT, Bloomberg, I will pay for content! Make it as easy as the TV, but make it better quality, and you'll make a fortune. People my age don't watch TV anymore. The net is my TV.
LOL you might be the most on the mark out here. Although independent films might not be your cup of tea (and they are not always mine), you should really see one called the Spanish Prisoner. It is really well crafted. I think it was directed by Steve Martin (you know, the Jerk, My Blue Heaven), although this one is not a comedy.
There is always noise that is undesireable in a place that advocates free speech and independence--noise that you or I may not find desirable. To say that because the noise exists and is given an oportunity to be heard is "hard-left" is a false positive. PLEASE use your thinking skills. I've seen some lousy movies come from both independent and Hollywood films. They have nothing to do with being politically sided or not. Not all films are political. Some are just nauseating self gratifying or self depcrecating hogwash. Some are wonderful thoughtful films. There are films from both sides of the spectrum, but many only choose to point out those with which they disagree.
1. I am quite relieved that you are no association of mine.
2. Being to different countries does not a cultured person make. There are McDonalds in every country that has electricity for a cash register
3. Friend, I live in Utah. I hike through Sundance. Unfortunately, people use PC as an excuse not to be courteous. People who are rude and obnoxious sometimes use PC as a straw man saying "I'm not PC" and saying that they are not frank, when in reality they are boorish and of low character. Bigotry and intolerance are not frankness, PC or not.
4. Sundance does not exist to forward any agenda except Robert Redfords. The reason that there is no "Gun ownership of white people movies" is because they don't try hard enough. Maybe it's because they don't make good movies. They have just as much chance as anyone else does to make a good movie. Besides the point, white people with guns are all over hollywood, and so really don't have a lack of funding. OR lack of shots in Hollywood.
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. You're paid to think critcally, right? Did you ever think the reason why there is so many INDEPENDENT films about minorities, gender issues and enviros because the non independent film industry does not release films with those kind of issues???
I mean give me a break. That is the most callous and non-thinking reply i've heard in a long time. Talk about a flawed sense of history.
There was this girl once whom I was crazy about that asked me a similarly stupid question . . . she asked me why blacks had to have an INDEPENDENT black television station like BET (quality issues aside) and always try to make *ourselves* different (as if I had anything to do with the founding of BET or other blacks)!
I told her that the reason that BET existed is that MTV at the time refused to put on black music artists as actually seeing blacks on tv was considered unmarketable (this was the eighties)!
You really need to get out from in front of that dead interface and go outside and see real life, buddy. Inject some new code into that aging architecture. True independence exists because the proper channels are closed to legitimate pursuers.
they didn't mention that half of that $722 million was me paying late fees on final fantasy x and kotor. ;|
You can simply wait six months and get the same model for thousands less. It might have a thousand miles on it. I would never buy a new car just to get the options I want.
However... I could see myself buying this kind of car, if the options were right. The problem is, (and has been) getting the right kind of options. Yes, I want a fuel cell powering my vehicle. Probably not going to get the SUV model in the near future. Yes, I want and inboard dash that runs a decent navigation os. Probably can do, but you need to get it from one of the distributors that manufacture it. I want an onboard real-time diagnostics system like they have at "authorized dealers" shops so that I can diagnose the problem before I have to pay a couple hundred dollars for inspection. I want a jet cockpit harness for a seatbelt too. Did I mention I want to pay about 15 thousand for it?
Cause that's what Dell and other PC manufacturers have done. With the open PC format they have commoditized the hardware enough, so that real expenses are marketing and manufacturing, not the purchasing of parts itself. Dell has gone ahead of the curve by developing it's own printers and PDA's and charging less for more. The truth is, unless you can control your distributors and supply chain, you will not be making the 15-20 percent that you want. You will be eaten alive by every factor you cannot control, namely price for parts and labor. I would buy a car at the 35000 mark, if it were truly customizable, but I don't know if that is possible. Just ask Dell.
It is pretty hard to say that the Matrix was pedestrian because it contained fundamental beliefs that most humans embrace.
If you saw beyond the guns (and I don't have any idea of the Wachowski Bros intended it so) you have a pretty strict gothic tale, along the lines of Caleb Williams--that is the paradox that we reject the tools and premise of modern society, but at the same time find ourselves beholden to the very things that we detest. . . No one finds it powerful that we wage a war of machines by using the machines themselves? That because machines are evil and man created the machines, that by extension that man is evil? The truth is that even those who lived without the Matrix, in order to survive had to live by its rules. It is only by "obeying" the laws of the Matrix that the humans in Zion were ever able to defeat the machines. Kind of ironic. In order to beat the machines, we had to think like machines, in other words, man evolved (or de-evolved) into machines in order to survive the evolutionary flood that almost overtook them. We are fascinated by micororganisms that exist for billions of years because of their simple genetic adaptability, but humans have a remarkable abilty to evolve (we rarely think of it that way, but human evolution is mostly within the head with very little cosmetic changes)
So in one movie you have the gothic premise of knowledge and enlightenment will always come back to bite you, the co-dependency of man and machine, robotics and cybernetics as an evolutionary principle etc. . . Like I said, there is no way that we actually know that the Bros. intended it that way, but when one confronts art, the true experience is the one that requires an exercise in thought to apreciate the metaphor.
What do you mean by pedestrian? Could you elaborate for those who found it entertaining?
A telephone that hooks up to a number that pulls up contact info? Sounds like a softmodem that has access to a evo-like api.
Thumbprint access? A small usb hand scanner with a watermarked or fractal-ized image of your thumb.
Hardware standard? Sounds like something that should be included in many Linux Boxes (something that says. . . (this hard ware is guaranteed to boot Grub, lilo, read foobar card and access through whatchamacalit protocol).
These are GOOD ideas! There is nothing wrong with wanting new technology to mesh with new software.
The only bad idea is having MS hold an exclusive right to work woth hardware vendors to sync their new technology. The only good thing is that it is only with the large Computer manufacturers, and I don't buy from them.
Surely Acidus and his colleagues informed the Universities about this before they went public with this information. That is of course the most effective way to get the system to change. . . Imagine inviting the Dean of Purchasing and Procurement to a Coke and a Apple pie on campus and using a facsimile of his id and account to pay for it. Or even more fun - - getting a sweet new laptop at the bookstore with a hyper-inflated account balance. Most certainly then Blackboard would think about upgrading their machines. Announcing that you are going to circumvent their digitally encrypted system in public, no less, simply gave Blackboard a way to facilitate their illegitimate hardware and polices and making it legitimate under the cover of an unjust law.
As my good old Uncle Scrooge always said: Work Smarrrrrterrrr not harrrrrderrrrr
I must disagree about Gentoo not being for Newbies. I think that Gentoo is the ultimate distro for Newbies. The instructions are direct and concise, with real world examples. Their forums are professionally moderated and updated frequently with users of varying degrees of experience. The difficult part is making sure that your kernel is configured just right, but a person with commodity hardware could install Gentoo on his/her system and be up and running within one day of compiling.
Red Hat' documentation is erratic at best and not easily navigable. SuSe was useful as soon as I figured out the correct path to download the distro from FTP. Mandrake didn't cut it for me. Believe me, I shopped around. I PURCHASED Red Hat at every new milestone release up to 7.2. I was really liking the way Gnome was looking on 7.2 Red Hat, and then they went and screwed up everything with 8.0. That was the most difficult distro for me, not becuase of the difficulty in understanding linux (although I am an intermediate user at best), but because it was so difficult to get *under the hood* to change anything. I used 8.0 for about two days and started hunting for a new Linux distro. I even went to Yellow Dog to be loyal to Red Hat, but found it to be wanting.
Gentoo was by far the easiest to configure, straightforward to understand and helpful in documentation. The first attempt was a disaster, the second attempt booted right up. The third attempt, on my 700 mhz Ibook was a total sucess with very minor cosmetic glitches. I can't praise Gentoo enough for making a Linux OS for the masses. Don't let anyone fool you: Gentoo is easy and configurable up the wazoo. I've never been more pleased with a linux distro. I'm only dissapointed that I didn't discover Gentoo until a few months ago. I would even be willing to sell gentoo on a prebuilt system-THAT's how much I like it. I've never sold linux on a prebuilt system because I make custom systems. I'd always burn some CD's to let others TRY it, but I"d install gentoo on any system that wanted it, it is so simple to use. I think that a CD with a stage 4 tarball and Unreal on it would sell to more people that would want it. I was even considering writing Gentoo to see if they would be willing to do tarball specifically for Nvidia's Cinema Platform with MythTV or something of the sort. Anyway, this is too long of a ramble. The short, no Gentoo is not for everyone, but its sheer simplicity is mindboggling.
That is not quite true. While it holds that the musician is the source of the quality of music that is played, there are things that will reduce the acoustic pleasures one hears when playing a guitar. It might sound *great* to others around, but a talented player will notice.
Take for instance a guitar that is more difficult to press down on the fret board. I've played these kinds of guitars. It takes *twice* as much pressure to produce a terrible sound. The extra pressure causes more time from switching cords or notes and so you limit the versatility of the composition. Poorly constructed guitars also have poor tuning quality. A couple of strums and you can feel the dissonant tones eating into your brain. You have to tune it up even during a performance. That's lousy.
Not having an exact measurement from the strings to the fret board causes mistakes also. After playing a guitar after a while, it is not so much a heavy percussion instrument as a light tickle of the strings, almost like a harp. Hendrix described this as "jelly", when the licks come out smooth and unhindered, almost jumping from the fretboard to the amp. The seasoned guitarist doesn't want to be hindered to much with getting the exact pressure. The right strings, enough play in the fretboard and a deft touch can produce more expression in a guitar.
I'm not saying that a guitar *can't* be played well that has a lousy construction, all i'm saying is that is is more than *studio* that makes a production smooth. Good equipment is nothing to sneeze at.
that was a great show. aphrodite and her "breast rockets"... bobo-bot..
I actually LIKE the idea of a PDA phone. I was quite impressed with my Handspring's communitcator line of phone/pda. I was tempted to buy a Treo 180 a couple months back (had a pretty good deal. I needed a new service and they were offering a 150 rebate). Thing is, it's not available on the Handspring site anymore. It was just the right PDA for me. Nice, simple interface, small enough to really use it as a phone, and CHEAP (99 US dollars at the time). Why it isn't even on back order is beyond me. I can't stand the fact that every phone/pda/ir remote/rocket launcher phone comes with a camera and an mp3 player. The mp3 i could justify for voice memos, but the goofballs market it like a portable jukebox! Camera? Do I want to pay to transfer a 100k photo on a 10 MB data plan? A lot of what you get is fluff. But the Treo 180 was just enough to keep me going. Oh, well.
Just one question -- what is the benefit of the economy at the other extreme -- take for instance unlimited power of executives -- is that good for the economy? Enron, WorldCom, anyone? The truth is too much power on either side will destroy the economy. Controls are put on both labor and capital because both sides will try to exploit the weakness of the free market and loot the unaware. I have been on both sides of the equation. Don't be too eager to take any side of this argument. Neither are justified in using people and resources as if there were no consequences to their poorly executed decisions
Your comments are pretty interesting
but you would willingly force yourself and thereby *believe* the opposite to be true,
that is mostly true. however the real insidiousness of it lay in the fact that the people were not *forcing* themselves. Infact, winston was tortured becasue he was *forcing himself* to believe what the party was telling him.
forcing oneself to believe has the implication of somewhere knowing that one is still aware that one is lying to oneself.
the true "converts" (there can be no converts) to the party were those who could believe two things at once with no contradiction (we are at war with Eurasia, we were always at war with eurasia).
in other words, people unconsiously thought in terms of dual or multiple realities. there was no deception on anyone's part, only acceptance of all things at once.
scary, huh.
In other words, one of the reasons that amatuer development is so limited is not simply cost. It's large space programs saying things like "we have experience and the finances to absorb failure, so that is why we reccomend you stay out of it. "the stars are not for man" kind of philosophy, if you get my drift. I'm not saying that it's great that something blew up, I'm saying that the it's bunk to say things like "leave this to the pros. space exploration is too complicated for civilians." or haven't you noticed, that instead of when airplanes, televisions, and computers were in the early stage of innovation, there aren't many private backers of orbital ventures. Is that a coincidence? BTW, I could really do without commenting on the moderation and have an intelligent conversation. You might almost think that moderation has any great bearing on the subjects that we discuss :)
In other words, this unmasks the myth that somehow exists that private innovators have no place in the big league of space. If billions of dollars and hundreds of scientists, plus the backing of a unified europe fails sometimes too, maybe there is hope for those who don't have as much resources but have the same if not greater desire.
I consider this good news--a nation with billions of dollars invested in a project get the same results as some amatuer projects : kerplop. Gives me hope that non institutionalized entities can make it to space despite the negative publicity they get because of the trial and error process.
Can't say that they shouldn't be in space when some one this big fouls up too.
Of course the reason that they did this was because Morther Russia had the most experience and expertise in those fields of Life Support and cheapest payload delivery souyez (don't know if i spelled it right), most information on long stays in orbit, and the infrastructure to be an immediate key player, and although poor, it is a relatively rich nation in resources.