Re:why knock down others in a "Review"?
on
Singularity Sky
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Your introduction slams other authors for no aparent good reason. If you are reviewing a book you can easily say it is better or worse, in your opinion, than some other works.
I completely disagree. Having a reviewer state up front who they think rocks or sucks, let's you "calibrate" the review to your own tastes.
I totally agree with the reviewer about Piers Anthony, and so that makes me think that I will probably agree with him about the rest of his review. (of course, there are those who who will consider PA high literature, but as the saying goes, YMMV. Some people watch American Idol, too.) I personally outgrew PA when I was about 12, so I have strong opinions about him.
Of course, it works conversely: one reviewer called a book "The worst thing since David Weber!". I enjoy DW, so I gave it a shot. (mind you, I don't consider his work mindbending or provocative, just an entertaining read. Like Laurel K. Hamilton, for e.g.)
Like I said, YMMV. Which is kind of the whole point.
Wouldn't Moore's Law have failed by now without AMD competing for market share?
No, it wouldn't have. They have the biggest competitor there is, their own product from last year. They need to keep improving and speeding up so that people will see a reason to get rid of their older, perfectly usable computer and replace it with the new model. This is the premise the entire industry is build on.
Admit it, the machines that most people already have are, in most cases, fast enough to do the job they got it for. (exception below)
Aside from video games, (which are on a never-ending upgrade cycle) this sort of demand creation is just about the only thing driving the industry.
The exception: I make my living in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It'll be a very long time before speed improvements stop mattering to me. (thanks, G5) I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority, though.
1. If you even know who Art Bell is, then you listen too much.
2. Mars is a very long way away. A Very, Very long way away. It's moving, too, at a good clip. This distance allows more to go wrong on the way than going somewhere closer, like the moon, by an exponential factor....and why, yes, this is rocket science.
(One more reason why Mars is no place to raise a kid. Ooooo, I'm channeling Shatner!)
I may be wrong, but there's nothing stopping a cable channel from showing hardcore fetish porn aside from sponsor and viewer complaints (guess which they care about more).
Please tell me more about this fascinating concept of hardcore fetish porn.
Ok. let me get this straight. So you're using software (Xplay) that's completely unsupported by Apple, and in fact, has nothing to do with Apple, in order to use a product (the 5gb iPod) which specifically was sold as being Mac-only, on a Windows machine.
It didn't work. It broke your iPod. Now you want Apple to fix it. You're mad because they won't.
Every product is sold with instructions detailing how it is to be used. You did not follow the instructions. Seems pretty straightforward to me. It's not like you didn't *know* that using that version of the iPod with Windows was unsupported, you just chose to ignore the fact.
The Voodoo card was simply a 3D graphics accelerator, which was plugged into a regular 2D video card; known as piggy backing.
This isn't entirely correct, as any Voodoo 1 user could tell you. The card took up its own slot, and used a pass-through video cable to connect the monitor: When a Voodoo-compliant video signal was detected, it hijacked the output to the monitor and took over. Nice design, for the time. The best thing was, it was CHEAP for the time (considering the performance). I think I paid $199.
is one of the (many) scenes in Reloaded where they actually used modified graphics from the video game, and thus the graphics were terrible in some parts of the movie.
I certainly hope that they'll do better CGI work in Revolutions which I haven't seen, because it seems like they rushed it to market just to take advantage of the first two's success.
Aren't you the same guy who posted "what next, they'll be bringing books out" in the last LOTR article?
The Mac Business Unit (where they do Office etc) is based in San Jose, NOT Washington, where this guy was working. The SJ campus is really nice. The Mac BU is in the "water" building (the buildings have elemental themes). To my knowledge, there is ZERO Mac development in MS outside of California. Trust me, I've looked.
Plus, there are only 3 pallets. About 33 G5s, by my count. That is less than half what it would take to give every MBU dev and tester one. Just doesn't add up.
Whatever those G5's are for, it isn't the Mac BU. My suspicion is that they are for the marketing/design dept, where they have always had them, going back into the early '90s. They are also very sensitive about those Macs, and have come down hard before on people who talked about them. Also, it would make sense to have the marketing dept. in the same building as the in-house printshop, which would explain why they freaked when this was disclosed.
This isn't as simple as it seems, and there's usually an explanation when someone overreacts this much. M-
I've been teetering on the edge of getting some kind of PVR... but I have an old Dish Network sat thing (that I don't want to upgrade/change). Can you use this sweet Tivo goodness with an old DishNet box?
Yeah, we have this funny thing here called "free markets", it means that the government didn't legislate a standard for wireless phones, they let the market decide. The market, not surprisingly, has chosen CDMA. Technically, it's better. An arguable point.
Now, a free market doesn't always pick the best technology (or everyone would be using OSX), but it does allow for new ideas to get a shot. European overlegislation and overtaxation is not appealing to us. That's why we here, and didn't stay there.
Not all of us agree with what our government is doing, I for one, but we do have a measure of national pride, which tends to make us stick together in tough times. I would think that a European would know this, but overgeneralizing merely exposes your ignorance.
The reason American steel is more expensive is because we have invested so heavily in modernization and automation. (an expensive process)
Ok, so white paint is made in Germany. Good for you. We have a pretty strong economy so we tend to buy the best, wherever it's from.
BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen make some nice cars, but we buy a lot more Japanese and American cars than German, which tend to be (in my opinion) overpriced and difficult to maintain. I personally prefer Japanese cars.
I'm willing to match up, bottle for bottle, our California wines against any French wine you could name. (and no, we don't mix it with Coke, for that matter. Where do you get this stuff?)
The thing is, we didn't ban French fries, -toast and -kissing, We merely temporarily renamed them. Why? Because after spending a significant of American blood to free Europe in the first half of the last century, you have turned your back on us when we needed you, and I think you've forgotten that you need us more than we need you.
As for hamburgers, yes, they have a European origin. Much of our food does. Not surprising, when you consider that most of our ancestors came from there. Mine did, four generations ago from Germany. We left for a reason.
Disagree with our policies? Fine. However the perception here is that the French have acted not because they disagree with us, but because they desire to put us in our place. This does not sit well over here. We think that you should stand by your friends in their hour of need.
We have very long memories, and we know how to hold a grudge. This isn't a threat, just a reminder.
Ok, talk about lack of ambition: that kind of power, and all the guy wants is to get her under his thumb? I mean, I could come with way better positions without even thinking about it very hard...
This would be a great accessory to a PDA with an 802.11(a/b/g) card. Imagine plugging setting it up at a hotel or on a train and streaming your (legal;) music without even using so much space as a hardcover book.
Yeah! That would be fantastic! All you would need to do would be to shrink it down (use a 1.8" HD), drop the price, build it into a slim, compact package with a great interface... that would kick ass!
If only someone would make such a thing... they could call it, I dunno, the "iPod" (but that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure we could come up with a better name)
*gasp* an activist, how horrible! Even worse, a history teacher? The bastard! (obviously part of the intellectual elite, and we know what they can get up to; i.e. communism and whatnot) That's next door to terrorism!
I mean, come on. Aren't people allowed to have opinions anymore? Besides, that guy (the history teacher) makes a lot of sense, (IMO, of course) and that doesn't require a teaching position.
Who is the guy complaining? A newspaper guy and former talk radio-show host. I quote:
"I work in journalism, but I'm not a journalist - that title is best reserved for people who do the hard work of calling up sources, checking leads, and other forms of diligent labor. I make things up, really."
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Your introduction slams other authors for no aparent good reason. If you are reviewing a book you can easily say it is better or worse, in your opinion, than some other works.
I completely disagree. Having a reviewer state up front who they think rocks or sucks, let's you "calibrate" the review to your own tastes.
I totally agree with the reviewer about Piers Anthony, and so that makes me think that I will probably agree with him about the rest of his review. (of course, there are those who who will consider PA high literature, but as the saying goes, YMMV. Some people watch American Idol, too.) I personally outgrew PA when I was about 12, so I have strong opinions about him.
Of course, it works conversely: one reviewer called a book "The worst thing since David Weber!". I enjoy DW, so I gave it a shot. (mind you, I don't consider his work mindbending or provocative, just an entertaining read. Like Laurel K. Hamilton, for e.g.)
Like I said, YMMV. Which is kind of the whole point.
m-
Centrifugal force spins the gas out into an "accretion disk" and superheats it as it slowly spirals into the black hole.
Well, technically there's no such thing as centrifugal force, it's just an expression of angular momentum.
Yes, it's a nitpick.
m-
(after Bush is re-elected or someone else is elected)
I think you mean "after Bush or someone else is elected."
You need to be elected at least once to be re-elected.
m-
*wheels turning*
So what you're telling me is, I can save up $10-20k, move to Poland and live like a god??
I can see it now...
"ALL HAIL ME!"
"ALL HAIL ME!"
(Just kidding, for the humor-impaired. I was pricing 1-bedroom flats here last month starting at $1200/month, so I'm a bit jealous.)
m-
9 months trying to get out, the rest of my life trying to get back in...
-m
Wouldn't Moore's Law have failed by now without AMD competing for market share?
No, it wouldn't have. They have the biggest competitor there is, their own product from last year. They need to keep improving and speeding up so that people will see a reason to get rid of their older, perfectly usable computer and replace it with the new model. This is the premise the entire industry is build on.
Admit it, the machines that most people already have are, in most cases, fast enough to do the job they got it for. (exception below)
Aside from video games, (which are on a never-ending upgrade cycle) this sort of demand creation is just about the only thing driving the industry.
The exception: I make my living in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It'll be a very long time before speed improvements stop mattering to me. (thanks, G5) I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority, though.
m-
Two points:
...and why, yes, this is rocket science.
1. If you even know who Art Bell is, then you listen too much.
2. Mars is a very long way away. A Very, Very long way away. It's moving, too, at a good clip. This distance allows more to go wrong on the way than going somewhere closer, like the moon, by an exponential factor.
(One more reason why Mars is no place to raise a kid. Ooooo, I'm channeling Shatner!)
m-
I may be wrong, but there's nothing stopping a cable channel from showing hardcore fetish porn aside from sponsor and viewer complaints (guess which they care about more).
Please tell me more about this fascinating concept of hardcore fetish porn.
-m
Am I the only one who read the title and thought, Ewwwww ?
m-
Ok. let me get this straight. So you're using software (Xplay) that's completely unsupported by Apple, and in fact, has nothing to do with Apple, in order to use a product (the 5gb iPod) which specifically was sold as being Mac-only, on a Windows machine.
It didn't work. It broke your iPod. Now you want Apple to fix it. You're mad because they won't.
Every product is sold with instructions detailing how it is to be used. You did not follow the instructions. Seems pretty straightforward to me. It's not like you didn't *know* that using that version of the iPod with Windows was unsupported, you just chose to ignore the fact.
Interesting.
That said, Firewire 2.0 (?) would be very interesting if it ever comes about!
Well, since you asked. Firewire 800 anyone?
M-
The Voodoo card was simply a 3D graphics accelerator, which was plugged into a regular 2D video card; known as piggy backing.
This isn't entirely correct, as any Voodoo 1 user could tell you. The card took up its own slot, and used a pass-through video cable to connect the monitor: When a Voodoo-compliant video signal was detected, it hijacked the output to the monitor and took over.
Nice design, for the time. The best thing was, it was CHEAP for the time (considering the performance). I think I paid $199.
M-
is one of the (many) scenes in Reloaded where they actually used modified graphics from the video game, and thus the graphics were terrible in some parts of the movie.
I certainly hope that they'll do better CGI work in Revolutions which I haven't seen, because it seems like they rushed it to market just to take advantage of the first two's success.
Aren't you the same guy who posted "what next, they'll be bringing books out" in the last LOTR article?
Nice troll. Subtle.
m-
It's Computer Generated Imagery. That what it's always meant. Always. Even back when SGI hardware was doing most of the CGI.
/.
You might want to look things up before you post... but then, this is
m-
The Mac Business Unit (where they do Office etc) is based in San Jose, NOT Washington, where this guy was working. The SJ campus is really nice. The Mac BU is in the "water" building (the buildings have elemental themes). To my knowledge, there is ZERO Mac development in MS outside of California. Trust me, I've looked.
Plus, there are only 3 pallets. About 33 G5s, by my count. That is less than half what it would take to give every MBU dev and tester one. Just doesn't add up.
Whatever those G5's are for, it isn't the Mac BU. My suspicion is that they are for the marketing/design dept, where they have always had them, going back into the early '90s. They are also very sensitive about those Macs, and have come down hard before on people who talked about them. Also, it would make sense to have the marketing dept. in the same building as the in-house printshop, which would explain why they freaked when this was disclosed.
This isn't as simple as it seems, and there's usually an explanation when someone overreacts this much.
M-
Built into every Twinkie. They never age.
True.
-m
I've been teetering on the edge of getting some kind of PVR... but I have an old Dish Network sat thing (that I don't want to upgrade/change). Can you use this sweet Tivo goodness with an old DishNet box?
Hoping the answer is yes...
and no, I don't like the dishplayer.
m-
This is so far fetched they could have said that the president has been replaced by a babbling ape and more people would believe it.
...so you're implying that hasn't already happened?
m-
it isn't burned into your soul, because it isn't a beachball, it's a watch. The minute hand turns.
Dork.
m-
Yeah, we have this funny thing here called "free markets", it means that the government didn't legislate a standard for wireless phones, they let the market decide. The market, not surprisingly, has chosen CDMA. Technically, it's better. An arguable point.
Now, a free market doesn't always pick the best technology (or everyone would be using OSX), but it does allow for new ideas to get a shot. European overlegislation and overtaxation is not appealing to us. That's why we here, and didn't stay there.
Not all of us agree with what our government is doing, I for one, but we do have a measure of national pride, which tends to make us stick together in tough times. I would think that a European would know this, but overgeneralizing merely exposes your ignorance.
The reason American steel is more expensive is because we have invested so heavily in modernization and automation. (an expensive process)
Ok, so white paint is made in Germany. Good for you. We have a pretty strong economy so we tend to buy the best, wherever it's from.
BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen make some nice cars, but we buy a lot more Japanese and American cars than German, which tend to be (in my opinion) overpriced and difficult to maintain. I personally prefer Japanese cars.
I'm willing to match up, bottle for bottle, our California wines against any French wine you could name. (and no, we don't mix it with Coke, for that matter. Where do you get this stuff?)
The thing is, we didn't ban French fries, -toast and -kissing, We merely temporarily renamed them. Why? Because after spending a significant of American blood to free Europe in the first half of the last century, you have turned your back on us when we needed you, and I think you've forgotten that you need us more than we need you.
As for hamburgers, yes, they have a European origin. Much of our food does. Not surprising, when you consider that most of our ancestors came from there. Mine did, four generations ago from Germany. We left for a reason.
Disagree with our policies? Fine. However the perception here is that the French have acted not because they disagree with us, but because they desire to put us in our place. This does not sit well over here. We think that you should stand by your friends in their hour of need.
We have very long memories, and we know how to hold a grudge. This isn't a threat, just a reminder.
M-
Ok, talk about lack of ambition: that kind of power, and all the guy wants is to get her under his thumb? I mean, I could come with way better positions without even thinking about it very hard...
m-
They're Ram-Busssssted!
This would be a great accessory to a PDA with an 802.11(a/b/g) card. Imagine plugging setting it up at a hotel or on a train and streaming your (legal ;) music without even using so much space as a hardcover book.
Yeah! That would be fantastic! All you would need to do would be to shrink it down (use a 1.8" HD), drop the price, build it into a slim, compact package with a great interface... that would kick ass!
If only someone would make such a thing... they could call it, I dunno, the "iPod" (but that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure we could come up with a better name)
m-
*gasp* an activist, how horrible! Even worse, a history teacher? The bastard! (obviously part of the intellectual elite, and we know what they can get up to; i.e. communism and whatnot) That's next door to terrorism!
I mean, come on. Aren't people allowed to have opinions anymore? Besides, that guy (the history teacher) makes a lot of sense, (IMO, of course) and that doesn't require a teaching position.
Who is the guy complaining? A newspaper guy and former talk radio-show host. I quote:
"I work in journalism, but I'm not a journalist - that title is best reserved for people who do the hard work of calling up sources, checking leads, and other forms of diligent labor. I make things up, really."
Yeah, lots better than a history teacher.
M-
"it frelling works great, keep your hands off of it or I'll kick you in the jimmy."
Only a queef would use language like that.