But "recycling" computers is the epitome of wasting resources. Computers are, for the most part, a cradle to grave product. Very few components are successfully salvaged and recycled. What's left generates e-waste in the form of components that are dumped and or incinerated. And typically this is done cheaply overseas via people who do not aim to contain the toxicity of dumped materials or build high efficiency incinerators which limit pollutants.
Then there is the energy that is consumed during this process. Salvaging, recycling, and incinerating all require energy. Moreover, since most computer parts are junked, new raw materials are needed to build new computers... and that requires energy.
If you look at the big picture, making use of old hardware is a smart idea.
Not to sounds like a know it all SOB, but 3 weeks for pro bono design and development is somewhat rushed. At the very least, this time table is going to alienate the best professional designers that frequent this site. In my experience, the really good designers are busy, and if you want to get free work from them, you need to give them some time. On the other hand, there are tons of mediocre "designers" that have all the time in the world.
Slashdot is a large site and could be a great portfolio piece. I will probably forward this info to my colleagues. Yet I don't think this contest properly geared toward the design process. That could result in a final site that isn't as successful as it could be.
For a high traffic site you really want something more then a shinny skin. You want someone to consider more then development and contemporary graphics. You want someone to who understands branding, interaction, typography, psychology, and other aspects of visual communication. Realistically, a small site for a paying client might need two weeks for sketches and or photoshop / illustrator comps, and an additional week for an interactive comp. For a non-paying client, I'd doubt that time frame.
Once again, I don't intend to sounds like a whiny SOB, and I'm sure someone will flame the hell out of this post, nevertheless there things the boys behind Slashdot could do to assure a better end result. At the very least, give the contest a 2 month deadline, and pass this information to organizations like the AIGA. You'll get a better selection of successful solutions.
I highly doubt this has anything to do with mother nature adapting in a relatively short period of time. Stuff like that is for comic books. Radiation levels, while still incredibly unhealthy, have dropped considerably.
I would imagine animals and plantlife are not thriving or living as well as they should be. Radiation levels in outlaying areas have probbaly dropped to levels that allow life to screw faster then it is consumed by disease and cancer.
Heck people that lived in the chemical waste dump of Love Canal could still have kids... but in a toxic situation like that you're gon'a have a flipper baby or two, and life expectancy is going to be fairly bad.
This woman motorcycled through Chernobyl not to recently. In many parts radiation levels were safe enough for her to travel around. As I recall she carried a geiger counter, but didn't wear a radiation suit. She didn't venture around the epicenter of disaster, but she took a lot of rad photos, and saw wild life. http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/jour nal/articles.html
But who knows, perhaps radiation has produced a race of super bears which are immune to nuclear weapons. If so, someone should notify Steven Colbert.
Transparent Windows: learn from Apple's Mistake
on
How Vista Disappoints
·
· Score: 4, Informative
There are a few useful nitches for transparent windows, but applying them to system windows is a giant no-no.
You'd think MS would learn from Apple's mistake... instead they took it to the next level of ridiculousness. When OS X first came out it was littered with transparent menus, menu bars, dialogs, etc. A lot of the elements have either been removed, or brought up to about 98% opacity. You might not even notice the transparency unless you really look closely.
Drastic transparency looked -awesome- in marketing screen shots, and it was promoted as a way to know if content existed behind something such as a window bar. However, it was really annoying. Interface elements become difficult to distinguish and it hindered the speed in which it took to accomplish a task.
But, at least MS gives users the option to turn this crap off. Apple never did that. Mac users needed to wait for Apple to slowly remedy the UI elements we were complaining about.
For the love of god Slashdot, PLEASE stop liking to Dvorak's column. By Slashdotting him we're only condoning his retarded ramblings and insuring more will come. I refuse to read or follow links to his articles.
If you want to know how the future of technology will play out, take what Dvorak says and evision the exact opposit being successful.
To quote Billy Madison:
"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Although I know "hurricane researcher" is a fairly credible position... especially when you have a degree from hurricane researcher school, or online hurricane researcher school.
That said, most climatologist and meteorologists are well aware that warmer oceans and an atmosphere with an increased CO2 density increases the possibility of stronger storms.
As someone who has also been an active environmentalist for the better part of his live, I would say that the main issue revolving nuclear power revolves around the NIMBY movement, and more importantly, the related waste storage / transportation concerns. Nuclear power is far from a cradle to cradle solution.
First and foremost, there is the issue of building a plant. Most people do not want a nuclear power plants anywhere near their home... if only for the reason that their very existence devalues one's property considerably.
Yet, from an environmental perspective, the issue is not really the fuel in the plant... it's the waste outside of the plant. First their is the issue of limited storage in spent fuel rod pools. Temporary (and questionable) storage solutions are being applied, but space is limited and this stuff needs to be shipped someplace (Yucka Mountain). Then there is the issue of placing spent fuel rods on rail cars traveling through major US cities. We've yet to develop a safe secure method of transportation.
Moreover, there is also the issue of the safety of depleted fuels. Several peer reviewed medical and scientific journals have revealed the dangers of depleted fuels.
Seriously.... people actually visit Real.com? Is this for real (no pun intended)? I visit that site about 2, maybe 3, times a year - TOPS. How the hell are they a top 10 site?
It seems like everything I run into these days is WMV, QT, or FLV.
Walmart has a giant impact upon game design... AND... music production, product (industrial) design, manufacturing, etc etc. I wouldn't be surprised to hear horror stories from software developers outside of the game industry.
If it sits on Walmart's shelf, and Walmart is responsible for selling the hell out of it, you can bet production and content will be how Walmart wants it.
When Fonzie jumped the shark is was -not- a glorious moment of television. It was the lame pinnacle of a horrible Happy Days episode. The jump itself is always bad.
Moreover, the Jump almost always happens after something has already been fairly lame for quite some time. In many cases, the jump affirms that anything that may be good is officially dead.
I've heard people argue time and time again that removable media devices have "unlimited" storage capacity and can last forever on a single AA battery.
Really, storage capacity is limited to the size of the size of your pockets. And as for battery life, well, I never need to change the AA battery in my iPod... it doesn't have one. It plays for about 12 hours and odds are, it will probably find itself connected to my Powerbook before that battery runs out.
I used to think minidisk was useful as a portable recording solution, but I'm kind of over it.
Slashdot Mirror
But "recycling" computers is the epitome of wasting resources. Computers are, for the most part, a cradle to grave product. Very few components are successfully salvaged and recycled. What's left generates e-waste in the form of components that are dumped and or incinerated. And typically this is done cheaply overseas via people who do not aim to contain the toxicity of dumped materials or build high efficiency incinerators which limit pollutants.
Then there is the energy that is consumed during this process. Salvaging, recycling, and incinerating all require energy. Moreover, since most computer parts are junked, new raw materials are needed to build new computers... and that requires energy.
If you look at the big picture, making use of old hardware is a smart idea.
Point of view, opinion, whatever.
Criticism of Walmart is based on cold hard fact.
This is just another example of Apple's quest to turn the computer into a solid brick with no defining characteristics at all.
In other news, the new iBooks are rumored to lack clasps to hold the display shut. Everything will be magnetic.
Not to sounds like a know it all SOB, but 3 weeks for pro bono design and development is somewhat rushed. At the very least, this time table is going to alienate the best professional designers that frequent this site. In my experience, the really good designers are busy, and if you want to get free work from them, you need to give them some time. On the other hand, there are tons of mediocre "designers" that have all the time in the world.
Slashdot is a large site and could be a great portfolio piece. I will probably forward this info to my colleagues. Yet I don't think this contest properly geared toward the design process. That could result in a final site that isn't as successful as it could be.
For a high traffic site you really want something more then a shinny skin. You want someone to consider more then development and contemporary graphics. You want someone to who understands branding, interaction, typography, psychology, and other aspects of visual communication. Realistically, a small site for a paying client might need two weeks for sketches and or photoshop / illustrator comps, and an additional week for an interactive comp. For a non-paying client, I'd doubt that time frame.
Once again, I don't intend to sounds like a whiny SOB, and I'm sure someone will flame the hell out of this post, nevertheless there things the boys behind Slashdot could do to assure a better end result. At the very least, give the contest a 2 month deadline, and pass this information to organizations like the AIGA. You'll get a better selection of successful solutions.
I think this guy forgot about the NeoGeo
I highly doubt this has anything to do with mother nature adapting in a relatively short period of time. Stuff like that is for comic books. Radiation levels, while still incredibly unhealthy, have dropped considerably.
r nal/articles.html
I would imagine animals and plantlife are not thriving or living as well as they should be. Radiation levels in outlaying areas have probbaly dropped to levels that allow life to screw faster then it is consumed by disease and cancer.
Heck people that lived in the chemical waste dump of Love Canal could still have kids... but in a toxic situation like that you're gon'a have a flipper baby or two, and life expectancy is going to be fairly bad.
This woman motorcycled through Chernobyl not to recently. In many parts radiation levels were safe enough for her to travel around. As I recall she carried a geiger counter, but didn't wear a radiation suit. She didn't venture around the epicenter of disaster, but she took a lot of rad photos, and saw wild life.
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/jou
But who knows, perhaps radiation has produced a race of super bears which are immune to nuclear weapons. If so, someone should notify Steven Colbert.
There are a few useful nitches for transparent windows, but applying them to system windows is a giant no-no.
You'd think MS would learn from Apple's mistake... instead they took it to the next level of ridiculousness. When OS X first came out it was littered with transparent menus, menu bars, dialogs, etc. A lot of the elements have either been removed, or brought up to about 98% opacity. You might not even notice the transparency unless you really look closely.
Drastic transparency looked -awesome- in marketing screen shots, and it was promoted as a way to know if content existed behind something such as a window bar. However, it was really annoying. Interface elements become difficult to distinguish and it hindered the speed in which it took to accomplish a task.
But, at least MS gives users the option to turn this crap off. Apple never did that. Mac users needed to wait for Apple to slowly remedy the UI elements we were complaining about.
Nope
What's with these storied marked red and "under construction?"
Any else see that?
For the love of god Slashdot, PLEASE stop liking to Dvorak's column. By Slashdotting him we're only condoning his retarded ramblings and insuring more will come. I refuse to read or follow links to his articles.
If you want to know how the future of technology will play out, take what Dvorak says and evision the exact opposit being successful.
To quote Billy Madison:
"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Although I know "hurricane researcher" is a fairly credible position... especially when you have a degree from hurricane researcher school, or online hurricane researcher school.
That said, most climatologist and meteorologists are well aware that warmer oceans and an atmosphere with an increased CO2 density increases the possibility of stronger storms.
dude.... it's a joke.
As someone who has also been an active environmentalist for the better part of his live, I would say that the main issue revolving nuclear power revolves around the NIMBY movement, and more importantly, the related waste storage / transportation concerns. Nuclear power is far from a cradle to cradle solution.
First and foremost, there is the issue of building a plant. Most people do not want a nuclear power plants anywhere near their home... if only for the reason that their very existence devalues one's property considerably.
Yet, from an environmental perspective, the issue is not really the fuel in the plant... it's the waste outside of the plant. First their is the issue of limited storage in spent fuel rod pools. Temporary (and questionable) storage solutions are being applied, but space is limited and this stuff needs to be shipped someplace (Yucka Mountain). Then there is the issue of placing spent fuel rods on rail cars traveling through major US cities. We've yet to develop a safe secure method of transportation.
Moreover, there is also the issue of the safety of depleted fuels. Several peer reviewed medical and scientific journals have revealed the dangers of depleted fuels.
Alcohol without any of the negative side effects.... wouldn't one of those be anger?
...and it's called pot.
Seriously.... people actually visit Real.com? Is this for real (no pun intended)?
I visit that site about 2, maybe 3, times a year - TOPS. How the hell are they a top 10 site?
It seems like everything I run into these days is WMV, QT, or FLV.
The story was posted to FoxNews... browse around their site, you'll see their is no such thing as global warming.
Walmart has a giant impact upon game design... AND... music production, product (industrial) design, manufacturing, etc etc. I wouldn't be surprised to hear horror stories from software developers outside of the game industry.
If it sits on Walmart's shelf, and Walmart is responsible for selling the hell out of it, you can bet production and content will be how Walmart wants it.
The only time I put my laptop down in a public place is when it is turned on... otherwise it's in my shoulder bag, which I'm wearing.
All in all, I think this is a really cleaver idea. I see it being especially valuable within academic institutions.
That said, if you're really concerned about security a lock, although not full proof, is the way to go.
I don't know if something like this is going to work. People who want to justify superstitious stuff will find a way to do it.
I imagine those crazy people on the 700 Club will ramble on about how God did this on purpose to test faith or something.
what this guy said.
That's not what "jump the shark" means at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_the_shark
When Fonzie jumped the shark is was -not- a glorious moment of television. It was the lame pinnacle of a horrible Happy Days episode. The jump itself is always bad.
Moreover, the Jump almost always happens after something has already been fairly lame for quite some time. In many cases, the jump affirms that anything that may be good is officially dead.
I've heard people argue time and time again that removable media devices have "unlimited" storage capacity and can last forever on a single AA battery.
Really, storage capacity is limited to the size of the size of your pockets. And as for battery life, well, I never need to change the AA battery in my iPod... it doesn't have one. It plays for about 12 hours and odds are, it will probably find itself connected to my Powerbook before that battery runs out.
I used to think minidisk was useful as a portable recording solution, but I'm kind of over it.
If anything, I view MD as audio Beta.
What are you talking about? Fans gobbled that stuff up.
And what about South Park The Movie... that was brilliant.
No, I am... I'm just not a "role playing video game" nerd.
I'm more of a "shoot you in the face" nerd.