... thought I'm a a long time computer bobbyist I keep looking for simple equipement to buy. I consider that a piece of hardware (VCR, TVs, sound system, etc...) with a simple and straitghforward interface is a well designed system... nowadays, simplicity is a mark of quality. Electronic stuff with lots of buttons and functions is a sign of a company who cares more about marketing than making usefull products.
Yes, some people will NEVER learn. They still repeat the old proprietary format again... even worse, they lunch a new one that offers nothing more than the already well established competition. Some marketing guys are way overpaid !
Well, you can call it the "wild capitalism" too. After all capitalism is a system where the stronger kills the weakers and where competition is encouraged as much as possible. This shows up as presure in the workplace (produce more, work longer) or in school (get a better diploma) or in society as a whole (be popular, show your success, etc...).
Putting people under pressure always create things such as Colombine.
I agree that "far-west" in US is a cliché, yet there are plenty of americans (not only rednecks) who keep this mentality.
I think the US stayed into the far-west mentality, still thinking that everybody's against them (including the governement, the communist and aliens) and stockpiling guns so that they are ready to shoot at the first problem that shows up. Obviously this type of mentality doesn't fit in a modern society where people have to cooperate and trust each others to keep things going smoothly.
Now I can run gnupg under Windows (mind you, that's what I use at work and the gnupg team still has no binaries for Windows, eventhough it is supposed to allow "everybody" to exchange secure stuff).
This is all fine except that future 3D card have their own geometry engine, which means the only job left to the CPU is AI and a bunch of small non-intensive tasks. This means there will be hardly any difference between a 400 Mhz Celeron and a Athlon 700 if you fit a card with geometry engine. My opinion is that the video chipmaker (nVidia) are going to get the big bucks Intel and AMD used to have from gamers. Now it is common to pay more for your 3D card than for your CPU, and according to price quotes from nVidia on the new GeForce 256, it is going to be even worse.
Honestly USA is certainly not the land of freedom. It is the land of knee-jerks. Ruled by an army of lawyers at the order of minorities, puritans and paranoids.
If there is a country of freedom and tolerance this must be Holland (no, I'm not from there).
Remember in 92 when he proclaimed the immediate necessity of imposing a $4.50/gallon gas tax in order to "save the economy" (!)? His reasoning was "because Europe does it" (his words)!
Well that could save the planet by forcing people to drive gas-efficient cars instead of those silly SUVs. If that save the planet that saves the economy too... remember that Americans use about twice more energy per-capita than Europeans...
Unregulated != free . There is ALWAYS somebody or someone regulating. It is just the matter of choosing who regulates : the governement (elected) or big companies (so called "self-regulated"). If something as to be regulated I prefer that it is by someone elected rather than a fat CEO in a Lexus.
Actually what I want is a S/MIME compliant stuff, so that anyone with Outlook/Netscape can check my signature and encrypt email. Stuff like PGP/GnuPG sounds fine from the technical side but is hardly of any use in "the real world" (think about business world and sales people, not a group of linux geek friends...)
NB: Yes I know, OpenSSL makes OE/Netscape compatible certificates usable for signing/encrypt, but it still has lots of compatibily issues.
Since Netscape 4.04 and IE 4, PNG is natively supported (at least on Winblows). They still don't handle alpha channels correctly, but we can live without that.
Yeah, and the death penalty has turned the US into the safest place in the world, right ! This "the biggest the penalty, the less offender you get" is stupid and unefficient. Most people do things without considering the consequences, and sometimes they don't even have a choice, so it doesn't change much in the end.
That assumes you ONLY loose money when somebody pirates your software... it is not always that simple, some software are sold because they are pirated. Do you think so many companies would buy 3D Studio Max if they didn't get all those workers who trained themselves at home on a pirate copy ? Student get a copy of 3DS Max (they couldn't buy it anyway considered the high price) and play with it, then they go into a business and ask to use the same software. Other more professional software are not bought because nobody ever get to play with a pirated copy of it in the first place. Same thing for M$ Office, people want it in the office because they can all have a pirate copy at home. So in the end a "lost" sale (not really lost because the person wouldn't buy it in the first place) turns into a real sale. That's the reason why so many companies make their software free for individuals and not business, they try to push this effect to its maximum - and it works.
Problem is, most part of science fall into your category 1). The bible says that the universe is less than 10000 years old. Does that mean we have to remove all references to things before this period in teaching ? Does we have to remove images of earth where it appear round and not flat ? Or pictures of the solar system because the earth doesn't appear to be the center of the universe ? Science and religion don't mix, we have to choose one or the other, there's no safe in-between or compromises.
USA is going to be the next Iran, a country ruled by religious zealots.
Hell you already export them, I'm in France and 3 days ago two American mormons rang on my door. We got McDonald's, reality shows and now THAT ! Keep your garbage in your country please;-)
Yeah, like other Christians never did anything wrong in the name of their religion. Right in the US, you can see abortion providers getting murdered every year in the name of God. It doesn't matter which kind of religion it is, most of the time it always end up in blood and tears. As soon as believers think they are protected by their God and that the laws of their religion are above humans laws, the door is open to all kind of horrors (Algeria is a good example).
No, I don't want to censor you. The current moderation setup is not censorship. I'd just want to rate my opinion that your post looks like a troll.
Call it "troll" if you want, just another neat name for censorship. Every organization in history has a name for people that are censored (see "terrorist", "deviant", etc...)
And if the Romans had managed to crush Christianity, we'd probably have never gotten the idea that fusion reactors were possible. The Christians in the so-called "Dark" ages worked a lot harder on replacing manpower with machinepower (windmills and watermills) than the Romans did, because the Romans had gotten addicted to slavery.
Copernic, Galileo, Darwin, etc... science has always been the victim of religion.
You just seriously compared murder (burning heretics) to political power. I fail to see the difference between what you are describing and any other political party. Isn't a political party a bunch of people who share a set of beliefs and work together to gain political power?
Which is exactly my point : if Falun Gong want to be a political power (which is obviously their goal), then they can make a political party and have a clear program. But no, they prefer to recruit people under religious stuff... why ? Because it is much easier to manipulate people under the fear of "God" (or whatever) rather than talk them like any politicians would do to its partisans.
Obviously the Scientologie is a business, not a religion. So why do they stay religious ? Tax relief ? Sure, and also because they lure people easier that way.
I guess you just don't like the ones with "funny" beliefs. That makes you a bigot.
Since I'm an atheist I guess I must be the first "biggot" atheist. My take is that any religion is evil because it never stays a religion: the people who control it soon try to take advantage of it for their sole. Earth would be a better place without religion, but we have to deal with it anyway. Would you want to protect the Aum sect (Japan, not sure of spelling), even when they release toxic gaz in the subway, spread Anthrax and stockpile weapons for "the end of the world" (sound familiar ?) ? I bet no, because they are not acting like just a religion but like a bunch of dangerous terrorists. Falun Gong is the same, they are under control of one guru, and they want power. The Chinese governement can either let them have their way and take over the country (the true goal of the sect it seems) or crush them before that. I would trust a bunch of lunatics with control of a nuclear arsenal...
You think the Roman Empire fell because of Christians?
Nope, where did I said that ? I said it failed to crush the Christians. That doesn't mean the opposite is true. Don't people learn logic nowadays ?
You think that the Roman Empire was a pluralistic, democratic society which encouraged innovation?
Nope, never said that either. But at least they were much better than the Chrisitan biggots who reigned over Europe for a good millenium. Romans where quite open to innovation, while the Christians where strongly against anything new (like every religion is).
You think the Roman Empire was even worth saving when the barbarians sacked Rome?
Nope, I didn't even spoke about the barbarians and the fall of Rome. You need to have your eyes checked.
So you want to censor me ? And what about freedom of speech ?
Freedom of religion is one thing, but there is a line between religion and political weapons, and Falun Gong is walking on this thin line. Sure you are free to be Christian, but not to burn heretics. They should be free to do their gymnastics, but when they try to gain political power, infiltrate governement agencies and manipulate foreign press, they are a real threats. The Chinese governement is definitely a dictatorship, but Falun Gong will be even worse if they succeed in taking over the country (don't be fooled, they are not just a bunch of peaceful Asian hippies, like every sect they have a "higher" goal decided by the guru).
My take is that if the roman had succeded in crushing the Christian sect at its beginning, we would already have fusion reactors by now, skipping 1000 years of middle age, inquisition and relious zealotry.
Actually religion is really a form of governement, just like democracy or dictatorship. It is a kind of dictatorship were the rulers hide themselves behind "God" or whatever divinity is suited for them to rule other mortals. As for Falun Gong it is another dangerous sect which profess that the end of the world is close... it is ruled by one guru. They look much more dangerous to me than the present Chinese governement. Never forget that the first mass genocide were organised by religious zealots, and I fear 1 billion religious zealots who believe the world is coming to an end soon. So as chocking as it might be I support the Chinese governement on this issue (flame protection : on)
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... thought I'm a a long time computer bobbyist I keep looking for simple equipement to buy. I consider that a piece of hardware (VCR, TVs, sound system, etc...) with a simple and straitghforward interface is a well designed system... nowadays, simplicity is a mark of quality. Electronic stuff with lots of buttons and functions is a sign of a company who cares more about marketing than making usefull products.
Yes, some people will NEVER learn. They still repeat the old proprietary format again... even worse, they lunch a new one that offers nothing more than the already well established competition. Some marketing guys are way overpaid !
Well, you can call it the "wild capitalism" too. After all capitalism is a system where the stronger kills the weakers and where competition is encouraged as much as possible. This shows up as presure in the workplace (produce more, work longer) or in school (get a better diploma) or in society as a whole (be popular, show your success, etc...).
Putting people under pressure always create things such as Colombine.
I agree that "far-west" in US is a cliché, yet there are plenty of americans (not only rednecks) who keep this mentality.
I think the US stayed into the far-west mentality, still thinking that everybody's against them (including the governement, the communist and aliens) and stockpiling guns so that they are ready to shoot at the first problem that shows up. Obviously this type of mentality doesn't fit in a modern society where people have to cooperate and trust each others to keep things going smoothly.
Now I can run gnupg under Windows (mind you, that's what I use at work and the gnupg team still has no binaries for Windows, eventhough it is supposed to allow "everybody" to exchange secure stuff).
This is all fine except that future 3D card have their own geometry engine, which means the only job left to the CPU is AI and a bunch of small non-intensive tasks. This means there will be hardly any difference between a 400 Mhz Celeron and a Athlon 700 if you fit a card with geometry engine. My opinion is that the video chipmaker (nVidia) are going to get the big bucks Intel and AMD used to have from gamers. Now it is common to pay more for your 3D card than for your CPU, and according to price quotes from nVidia on the new GeForce 256, it is going to be even worse.
Honestly USA is certainly not the land of freedom. It is the land of knee-jerks. Ruled by an army of lawyers at the order of minorities, puritans and paranoids.
If there is a country of freedom and tolerance this must be Holland (no, I'm not from there).
Remember in 92 when he proclaimed the immediate necessity of imposing a $4.50/gallon gas tax in order to "save the economy" (!)? His reasoning was "because Europe does it" (his words)!
Well that could save the planet by forcing people to drive gas-efficient cars instead of those silly SUVs. If that save the planet that saves the economy too... remember that Americans use about twice more energy per-capita than Europeans...
Unregulated != free . There is ALWAYS somebody or someone regulating. It is just the matter of choosing who regulates : the governement (elected) or big companies (so called "self-regulated"). If something as to be regulated I prefer that it is by someone elected rather than a fat CEO in a Lexus.
I think this is a Maestro ESS 2 PCI sound card. Not as famous as the Live! but quite some cheap sound card use this chipset.
Runs fine too on the Dell i7000, except for the damn modem AND audio.
Is my favorite :)
Actually what I want is a S/MIME compliant stuff, so that anyone with Outlook/Netscape can check my signature and encrypt email. Stuff like PGP/GnuPG sounds fine from the technical side but is hardly of any use in "the real world" (think about business world and sales people, not a group of linux geek friends...)
NB: Yes I know, OpenSSL makes OE/Netscape compatible certificates usable for signing/encrypt, but it still has lots of compatibily issues.
Actually in BeOS the mime types are handled by the OS and application register their services/supported filetypes there...
Since Netscape 4.04 and IE 4, PNG is natively supported (at least on Winblows). They still don't handle alpha channels correctly, but we can live without that.
Yeah, and the death penalty has turned the US into the safest place in the world, right ! This "the biggest the penalty, the less offender you get" is stupid and unefficient. Most people do things without considering the consequences, and sometimes they don't even have a choice, so it doesn't change much in the end.
That assumes you ONLY loose money when somebody pirates your software... it is not always that simple, some software are sold because they are pirated. Do you think so many companies would buy 3D Studio Max if they didn't get all those workers who trained themselves at home on a pirate copy ? Student get a copy of 3DS Max (they couldn't buy it anyway considered the high price) and play with it, then they go into a business and ask to use the same software. Other more professional software are not bought because nobody ever get to play with a pirated copy of it in the first place. Same thing for M$ Office, people want it in the office because they can all have a pirate copy at home. So in the end a "lost" sale (not really lost because the person wouldn't buy it in the first place) turns into a real sale. That's the reason why so many companies make their software free for individuals and not business, they try to push this effect to its maximum - and it works.
Problem is, most part of science fall into your category 1). The bible says that the universe is less than 10000 years old. Does that mean we have to remove all references to things before this period in teaching ? Does we have to remove images of earth where it appear round and not flat ? Or pictures of the solar system because the earth doesn't appear to be the center of the universe ? Science and religion don't mix, we have to choose one or the other, there's no safe in-between or compromises.
USA is going to be the next Iran, a country ruled by religious zealots.
Hell you already export them, I'm in France and 3 days ago two American mormons rang on my door. We got McDonald's, reality shows and now THAT ! Keep your garbage in your country please ;-)
Well, you get the governement you pay for... :-)
Yeah, like other Christians never did anything wrong in the name of their religion. Right in the US, you can see abortion providers getting murdered every year in the name of God. It doesn't matter which kind of religion it is, most of the time it always end up in blood and tears. As soon as believers think they are protected by their God and that the laws of their religion are above humans laws, the door is open to all kind of horrors (Algeria is a good example).
No, I don't want to censor you. The current moderation setup is not censorship. I'd just want to rate my opinion that your post looks like a troll.
Call it "troll" if you want, just another neat name for censorship. Every organization in history has a name for people that are censored (see "terrorist", "deviant", etc...)
And if the Romans had managed to crush Christianity, we'd probably have never gotten the idea that fusion reactors were possible. The Christians in the so-called "Dark" ages worked a lot harder on replacing manpower with machinepower (windmills and watermills) than the Romans did, because the Romans had gotten addicted to slavery.
Copernic, Galileo, Darwin, etc... science has always been the victim of religion.
You just seriously compared murder (burning heretics) to political power. I fail to see the difference between what you are describing and any other political party. Isn't a political party a bunch of people who share a set of beliefs and work together to gain political power?
Which is exactly my point : if Falun Gong want to be a political power (which is obviously their goal), then they can make a political party and have a clear program. But no, they prefer to recruit people under religious stuff... why ? Because it is much easier to manipulate people under the fear of "God" (or whatever) rather than talk them like any politicians would do to its partisans.
Obviously the Scientologie is a business, not a religion. So why do they stay religious ? Tax relief ? Sure, and also because they lure people easier that way.
I guess you just don't like the ones with "funny" beliefs. That makes you a bigot.
Since I'm an atheist I guess I must be the first "biggot" atheist. My take is that any religion is evil because it never stays a religion: the people who control it soon try to take advantage of it for their sole. Earth would be a better place without religion, but we have to deal with it anyway. Would you want to protect the Aum sect (Japan, not sure of spelling), even when they release toxic gaz in the subway, spread Anthrax and stockpile weapons for "the end of the world" (sound familiar ?) ? I bet no, because they are not acting like just a religion but like a bunch of dangerous terrorists. Falun Gong is the same, they are under control of one guru, and they want power. The Chinese governement can either let them have their way and take over the country (the true goal of the sect it seems) or crush them before that. I would trust a bunch of lunatics with control of a nuclear arsenal...
You think the Roman Empire fell because of Christians?
Nope, where did I said that ? I said it failed to crush the Christians. That doesn't mean the opposite is true. Don't people learn logic nowadays ?
You think that the Roman Empire was a pluralistic, democratic society which encouraged innovation?
Nope, never said that either. But at least they were much better than the Chrisitan biggots who reigned over Europe for a good millenium. Romans where quite open to innovation, while the Christians where strongly against anything new (like every religion is).
You think the Roman Empire was even worth saving when the barbarians sacked Rome?
Nope, I didn't even spoke about the barbarians and the fall of Rome. You need to have your eyes checked.
So you want to censor me ? And what about freedom of speech ?
Freedom of religion is one thing, but there is a line between religion and political weapons, and Falun Gong is walking on this thin line. Sure you are free to be Christian, but not to burn heretics. They should be free to do their gymnastics, but when they try to gain political power, infiltrate governement agencies and manipulate foreign press, they are a real threats. The Chinese governement is definitely a dictatorship, but Falun Gong will be even worse if they succeed in taking over the country (don't be fooled, they are not just a bunch of peaceful Asian hippies, like every sect they have a "higher" goal decided by the guru).
My take is that if the roman had succeded in crushing the Christian sect at its beginning, we would already have fusion reactors by now, skipping 1000 years of middle age, inquisition and relious zealotry.
Actually religion is really a form of governement, just like democracy or dictatorship. It is a kind of dictatorship were the rulers hide themselves behind "God" or whatever divinity is suited for them to rule other mortals. As for Falun Gong it is another dangerous sect which profess that the end of the world is close... it is ruled by one guru. They look much more dangerous to me than the present Chinese governement. Never forget that the first mass genocide were organised by religious zealots, and I fear 1 billion religious zealots who believe the world is coming to an end soon. So as chocking as it might be I support the Chinese governement on this issue (flame protection : on)