There's no such thing as "spare" CPU cycles, as in computations that will be done whether you ask for them or not. Either your computer is computing, or it's idle. When it's idle, it uses less electricity. Say you decide to run one of these background tasks instead of letting it ever go idle. That means you're actually paying (in higher electricity bills) to run these programs. The benefit of better searches may be worth it to you, but don't think there is no cost to you whatsoever.
I'd argue that the main incentive for learning Dvorak is actually not typing speed, but finger and wrist strain. I've read numerous comments here on Slashdot from people that switched to Dvorak that said it pretty much alleviated the growing pain in their wrists. I've had the same experience.
It actually doesn't matter how many monkeys there are.
As long as it is given an infinite amount of time, eventually all of Shakespeare's plays will be produced. Even further, all of Shakespeare's plays will be produced in every possible order. Further still, all of human literature will be produced in every possible order. Given an infinite amount of time generating random sequences of letters and punctuation, anything that is possible to write will be written, even if you have only one generator.
Honestly hwo the wii's selling i'm not sure, doesn't have a library,
It doesn't have a library for gamers, you mean. Many of the people buying Wiis are those that haven't owned consoles in the past. They don't play through a game in two days and need something else. They'll be happy playing the same two or three games in half hour stints for a couple months. Believe me, if you're a casual gamer, there are more than enough good Wii games out right now. Only "hardcore" gamers are complaining of a game drought on the Wii.
The cello works, but because of the richer tones, websites are going to seem a bit sadder, more melancholy. Try substituting a fiddle when you need an extra jolt of jig in your browsing.
Do you have a Wii? I've owned two. They come with a nunchuck and a game, at least in the US. I think in Japan they don't come with Wii Sports, but they still get the nunchuck. In the US, there is no way to buy the console "by itself" without a nunchuck.
I have the opposite problem. We normally watch TV or movies on a volume setting of 15-20 (max is 40). But with the Wii, a volume of 5 is almost too loud. Our Gamecube was the same way.
The "edit" button already exists, except it's labeled "Preview". Editing submitted posts opens all kinds of trolling possibilities. I think it would be much worse than the benefit.
I guess no one will read this at this point, being five days after the story hit, but I've found the No Comment option useful on a couple of occasions. Say I read a story I think someone I know (who doesn't read Slashdot) would find interesting. They probably wouldn't care about the comments, so I modify the link I send them to end with "&mode=nocomment". Then they just see the story and don't have to wait for hundreds of comments to load.
I would hate to buy one now to have it be $100 less by the end of the year.
I know you didn't relate your entire financial setup in your post, but waiting six months or more to save $100 doesn't seem like that great of a deal. Especially if you consider all of the time you'll lose to actually play the thing. Plus, you don't even know that the price will drop (although I think it might), or that the drop will be $100 (unlikely, in my opinion).
I'm not a PS3 supporter, but I am a supporter of people weighing their options more critically. Life's short, delaying six months of fun to save $100 doesn't seem worth it.
Key layouts can get tricky, but it sounds like you artificially limited yourself. For example, WASD is a horrible place to keep your hand. Look at how many keys are too far to the right to use. Move over and put your index finger on G. Now you have these keys in easy reach: QWERTY ASDFGH ZXCVBN. That's 18 keys!
Now your basic movement becomes: R (forward), F (backward), D (strafe left), G (strafe right). Never map keys for turning; the mouse does that faster and more accurately. V can be crouch (although I never played games that needed it). Jump should probably be space, since it's used so often. Use-item can be S. That still leaves 12 keys unused, for weapons or whatever else. Actually in Quake, I never used the weapon specific hotkeys. I mapped the next-weapon, previous-weapon keys and just scrolled through. It was a bit slower, though.
Let me tell you, FPSs are much easier to control than EverQuest2. They use key-assignable "hotbars" for spell and item hotkeys. There are so many, you need to use SHIFTed and CTRLed letters as well. But I had 30 spells within easy reach. Great fun.
There exist such boxes into which you can plug multiple inputs, with only one output to the TV. Then you switch between devices with a simple switch. I imagine they are sold in China, though I've never been there so perhaps not.
Slashdot Mirror
Pretty much the only thing I need a mouse for is firefox.
Not anymore:
- keyboard navigation: mozless
- "click" links by typing labels: Hit-a-Hint
I haven't used mozless, but Hit-a-Hint is very nice for mouse-less browsing.
There's no such thing as "spare" CPU cycles, as in computations that will be done whether you ask for them or not. Either your computer is computing, or it's idle. When it's idle, it uses less electricity. Say you decide to run one of these background tasks instead of letting it ever go idle. That means you're actually paying (in higher electricity bills) to run these programs. The benefit of better searches may be worth it to you, but don't think there is no cost to you whatsoever.
I'd argue that the main incentive for learning Dvorak is actually not typing speed, but finger and wrist strain. I've read numerous comments here on Slashdot from people that switched to Dvorak that said it pretty much alleviated the growing pain in their wrists. I've had the same experience.
It actually doesn't matter how many monkeys there are.
As long as it is given an infinite amount of time, eventually all of Shakespeare's plays will be produced. Even further, all of Shakespeare's plays will be produced in every possible order. Further still, all of human literature will be produced in every possible order. Given an infinite amount of time generating random sequences of letters and punctuation, anything that is possible to write will be written, even if you have only one generator.
Honestly hwo the wii's selling i'm not sure, doesn't have a library,
It doesn't have a library for gamers, you mean. Many of the people buying Wiis are those that haven't owned consoles in the past. They don't play through a game in two days and need something else. They'll be happy playing the same two or three games in half hour stints for a couple months. Believe me, if you're a casual gamer, there are more than enough good Wii games out right now. Only "hardcore" gamers are complaining of a game drought on the Wii.
The cello works, but because of the richer tones, websites are going to seem a bit sadder, more melancholy. Try substituting a fiddle when you need an extra jolt of jig in your browsing.
Pizza Pizza also doesn't work in Linux which means I have to boot my Windows laptop to get some chow ... :-(
No, you don't.
You'd think that Comcast would care about thier customers
Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.
Doesn't your bank let you pay bills through their website? Why go to each individual utility's site when you can do it from one spot?
If you love type safety, you should check out Haskell.
Buffalo Wild Wings bars are starting to do this, actually.
If you win, you get his lack of imagination? Sounds like a bad bet.
Names, on their own, usually aren't that important. Snopes on the "Nova"
Yes, it does come with a nunchuck. What is wrong with you people?
Do you have a Wii? I've owned two. They come with a nunchuck and a game, at least in the US. I think in Japan they don't come with Wii Sports, but they still get the nunchuck. In the US, there is no way to buy the console "by itself" without a nunchuck.
I have the opposite problem. We normally watch TV or movies on a volume setting of 15-20 (max is 40). But with the Wii, a volume of 5 is almost too loud. Our Gamecube was the same way.
The "edit" button already exists, except it's labeled "Preview". Editing submitted posts opens all kinds of trolling possibilities. I think it would be much worse than the benefit.
TIME FOR GROUP HUG
Learn to count to 31 with just five fingers!
Step 1: Counting to ten
I guess no one will read this at this point, being five days after the story hit, but I've found the No Comment option useful on a couple of occasions. Say I read a story I think someone I know (who doesn't read Slashdot) would find interesting. They probably wouldn't care about the comments, so I modify the link I send them to end with "&mode=nocomment". Then they just see the story and don't have to wait for hundreds of comments to load.
I would hate to buy one now to have it be $100 less by the end of the year.
I know you didn't relate your entire financial setup in your post, but waiting six months or more to save $100 doesn't seem like that great of a deal. Especially if you consider all of the time you'll lose to actually play the thing. Plus, you don't even know that the price will drop (although I think it might), or that the drop will be $100 (unlikely, in my opinion).
I'm not a PS3 supporter, but I am a supporter of people weighing their options more critically. Life's short, delaying six months of fun to save $100 doesn't seem worth it.
Don't you know that the defacto analogy on Slashdot is a car analogy. Please keep up.
It's like a bunch of cars proclaiming that they use a certain brand of sugar to flavor their gasoline, because it makes them run smoother.
Fun trivia: The Earth is actually farthest from the sun during the northern hemisphere's summer.
Key layouts can get tricky, but it sounds like you artificially limited yourself. For example, WASD is a horrible place to keep your hand. Look at how many keys are too far to the right to use. Move over and put your index finger on G. Now you have these keys in easy reach: QWERTY ASDFGH ZXCVBN. That's 18 keys!
Now your basic movement becomes: R (forward), F (backward), D (strafe left), G (strafe right). Never map keys for turning; the mouse does that faster and more accurately. V can be crouch (although I never played games that needed it). Jump should probably be space, since it's used so often. Use-item can be S. That still leaves 12 keys unused, for weapons or whatever else. Actually in Quake, I never used the weapon specific hotkeys. I mapped the next-weapon, previous-weapon keys and just scrolled through. It was a bit slower, though.
Let me tell you, FPSs are much easier to control than EverQuest2. They use key-assignable "hotbars" for spell and item hotkeys. There are so many, you need to use SHIFTed and CTRLed letters as well. But I had 30 spells within easy reach. Great fun.
There exist such boxes into which you can plug multiple inputs, with only one output to the TV. Then you switch between devices with a simple switch. I imagine they are sold in China, though I've never been there so perhaps not.