Depdending on how you define "institution", your argument is a bit off. If the institution encompasses the entire idea of the religion, then yes, being religious is about being married to the institution. But if you are simply talking about the "giant metal and glass dispenser of salvation", then being married to the institution is only true for people who are spiritually lost. In reality, the religion has absolutely nothing to do with the construct of the modern day "church" (ie that building over there and the society within it) and so much more to do with the fellowship that results from interactions within the church.
I do agree that these mega churches have gotten extremely ridiculous. They are causing people to lose sight of what their religion and faith are really about. However, they are simply one faction and do not represent the entire relgion. There are still many more congregations across the country that only have a couple hundred members. And their focus is about the people involved, not the physical church and the society within the church.
I think a great example of the true meaning of religion and church are these mountain churches that you see at national parks and ski areas. They have meetings at certains times, and you can take a hike along a trail or ride a lift chair up a little ways and you end up at a clearing with nothing but a few benches gathered around. There, people can sit and talk to each other. There's no physical construct, there's no society, anyone can stop in and see what's up. I think that is an accurate representation of the church and religion, not these mega churches.
Actually, the sequel would probably get a bad rating for only adding a few cars and levels while trying to milk another $50 out of its fan base. Game ratings aren't persistent through sequels, just as movie ratings aren't persistent through sequels. If they were persistent, Alien 4 would have been an academy award winner.
I'm sure the cost/satellite or cost/payload pound on almost anything is less than the shuttle. Still, this launch is probably costing a couple 100 $million. Things like this don't come cheap. $200 million compared to $500 million for the shuttle is a significant savings, but it's not astoundingly less. And if you account for other properties of the space shuttle such as the human rating, and deorbit capabilities, the difference shrinks dramatically.
I think developments like this Ariane are in the wrong direction though. If they designed a rocket from the start that was sized for just one of the satellites it is launching today, it would cost less per launch and would cost less for development. And cost development could be spread across more launches.
As well, satellites should be getting smaller as time moves on. The state of bus architecture on satellites is about 5 years behind the state of bus architecture on the ground. Sure, transceiver antennae will always be a given size, but launches in the $30 to $50 million/launch range of thing should be able to handle 90% of the satellite launches in another 10 years. Which may seem like a long ways away, but that's only about 1 generation of satellites down the road. Most comm satellites spend around 2 years in development, and spend probably 3 years from customer request to activation in orbit. New generations aren't produced with every satellites, only every few satellites if improvements can be seen as useful.
It's sort of like the Airbus A380. How many flight will use the A380 over the next 10 years? How many will continue using Boeing 737s? The 737s (and similar sizes from other companies) can cover 90% of the flights needed. They're small, relatively efficient (in capacity, performance, etc), and capable.
Well, it's up to you if you want to play kickass games on some shitty 5" screen in your bed. Personally, I play games to have fun, not because I'm so addicted that I'm playing every night as I try to fall asleep. And it's not that expensive, nor does it require grand living rooms with vaulted ceilings. People play on projectors right in their dens or whatever. And with systems like the xbox 360 going for $400, and games going for $50 each, spending $500 on a decent projector doesn't sound that bad anymore. You better hope you can get some HD action on that thing (although it's not actually HD, at least it's higher than NTSC).
And if you haven't actually tried playing on a properly set up system and projector, you have no idea what you are missing. I'd suggest checking it out.
I have a solution to the problem, charge a fee if your patent is denied. Since the patent will rake in $7000 in revenues over its life if it is accepted, make the patent rejection fee $7100. Problem solved.
On a more serious note, perhaps the more patents a particular entity (or related entity) submits, the higher the price should be? Amazon is on their... 5000th, 6000th now? The price per patent should be in the $million dollar range now. This way companies will pick and choose which patents to submit because they know their current activity will spike future costs... so no more throwing hundred of useless patents at the patent office as a crap shoot.
Sure, 1600x1200 on a 15" CRT may be no big deal, but have you seen 1600x1200 thrown up on an 8' diagonal projection screen? Talk about being immersed in the game. I was playing HL1:TFC at 800x600 thrown up on a 6' diagonal screen and I was absolutely thrilled, despite the low resolution. It can only get better from there. Can you imagine playing the Raventhorn level from HL2 in a dark room with full surround sound on a 720p projection screen at a 10' diagonal? Amazing. Or racing games... or anything. It would be great. The higher resolutions allow you to have a bigger screen without losing quality.
Well, I did a little rough analysis to see what the worse case scenario might be. I didn't have much time to pull stats on wind generators, so I just pulled the numbers from the article and extrapolated from there. From the article: The municipal-grade 1 MW turbine would be about 220 feet high, half the size of a comparable propeller system.
Comparable propeller system: 440 feet high from base to propeller tip. Base height + propeller radius = 440 feet. I made some guesses about the size of the propellers based on what I have seen in real life.
Propeller radius = (1/4) base height
Which gives us:
Base height = 352.0 feet
Propeller radius = 88.0 feet
From the article:... while the propeller designs typically can only generate energy into the low 50's. and The tips of the blades spin much faster than the wind speed, chopping through the air sometimes at speeds of 200 mph.
Propeller max wind speed: 55 mph ~ 80.7 feet/sec. Propeller max tip speed: 200 mph ~ 293.3 feet/sec.
Find the rotational velocity:
v = r * w
293.3 = 88.0 * w
w = 3.3 rad/sec
Let's assume that if the bird is hit by a portion of the propeller that is traveling less than 40 mph, they will only be grazed and not killed. So let's find the radius at which that occurs:
40 mph ~ 58.7 feet/sec
v = r * w
58.7 = r * 3.3
r = 17.8 feet
Next let's define the bird kill envelope as a cylinder 2 feet long and 2 feet in radius (a normal sized flock-type bird). And we will say that if the propeller hits the bird anywhere in this envelope, the result is a kill (tail feathers and such can hang outside this envelope). Since the birds are in a 55 mph tail wind (max conditions for the propeller), we will say they are traveling at a conservative 65 mph (wrt ground).
65 mph ~ 95.3 feet/sec
Time it takes the bird to travel through the propeller plane (idealized to be a plane with no thickness):
2 feet / (95.3 feet/sec) = 21 msec
Angle sweeped out by a single propeller in that time:
3.3 rad/sec * 0.021 sec = 0.069 rad * (180 deg / pi rad) = 4.0 deg
Given enough time, total possible propeller sweep area:
total_A = pi * 88.0^2 = 24 328.5 ft^2
Given enough time, total possible kill zone area (tangential speed over 40 mph):
total_kill_A = total_A - pi * 17.8^2 = 23 333.1 ft^2
Over our actual time, actual possible kill zone area:
kill_A = total_kill_A * (12.0 deg / 360.0 deg) = 777.8 ft^2
Ratio of our actual possible kill zone area to total possible propeller sweep area:
ratio = kill_A / total_A = 0.032
Assuming a solid wall of birds flies directly into total_A, we'll use a standard packing density of 0.907 (more details).
birds_killed_A = 0.907 * kill_A = 705.5 ft^2
Single bird area:
bird_A = pi * 1^2 = pi ft^2
Number of birds killed in that area:
birds_killed = birds_killed_A / bird_A = 224
Number of birds that made it through alive:
alive_A = total_A - kill_A
birds_alive_A = 0.907 * alive_A
birds_alive = birds_alive_A / bird_A = 6799
So there you have it, 7023 total birds at risk, 6799 survived, 224 died. And that's just the birds that could have possibly been killed. Assuming they are flying uniformly through risk areas (propellers over 40 mph) and non-risk areas (open air), the percentage that die drops dramatically.
However, this estimation does not take into account things like migration paths, nesting areas, non-uniform bird attractions towards the towers, birds flying repeatedly through risk areas, etc, etc, etc. I think careful studies should be done whenever putting up a wind farm to ensure the local avian populations are not adversely affected. Especially when smaller groups of unique birds are considered, such as birds of prey.
Well, the vibrating shaft was my guess at how it worked. But, pitching the blades at 20 or 30 Hz? That's a freaking mechanical nightmare backwards way of producing sound. I still stand by my observation that the noise in the signal is pretty bad, and the fact that you are still getting around 100 dB at 0 Hz can't be a good indication of how this thing actually sounds.
Calling Planetside an MMORPG is being very nice. It's a glorified persistent FPS. I played it right around the time it came out for a couple weeks (for free), looked at the monthly price, then laughed and uninstalled the game. I think many others have done the same.
This is newsworthy because someone can legitimately use the Sony CD and have the rootkit installed, and then play WoW. So blizzard can't just look for signs of the rootkit and ban that account - people will be pissed for a non-legit ban. At the same time, people can do the same thing AND initiate a cheat on WoW and claim to be pissed for the same "non-legit" ban.
This thing is dumb for other reasons. You know what you call a 100 dB signal at 0 Hz? A stiff breeze. All this thing is doing is spinning the blades like a normal fan to give you your ability to work the fluid (air). Then, the spinning shaft is vibrated axially at whatever frequency to give you the "sound" at that frequency. Looking at the response curve here:
You can see that at most frequencies, the signal is fairly noisy. But as it goes down to 0 Hz, it levels out very nicely. What's going on here? Is this a good thing? Not really. While claiming a flat response down to 0 Hz might sound cool, the effect is that you are proving what this thing really is: a fan. So the ability of this thing to perform as a speaker is dependent on two abilities: how well the fan can spin the blade (and how consistent), and how well the motor can vibrate the shaft axially. A normal speaker is only subject to the second ability, how well the speaker can vibrate the speaker cone axially. So I doubt adding another degree of complexity really helps this system to perform better than traditional systems.
Looking at the noise of the response of this thing in the 10 Hz to 20 Hz range, I'm not impressed. If you are really concerned about getting low frequencies down to around 9 Hz (or further depending on the design), check out infinite baffle (IB) subwoofers. They are custom built into the wall (floor, ceiling, etc) of your sound room with the back wave of the sound going into an infinite baffle (an adjacent room, outside, attic, basement, etc - something with a large volume), and the front wave going into your sound room. Some of these systems have been able to get flat responses down to the single-digit frequency range with very little noise. And if you do the work yourself by learning the technology, it's pretty cheap (and fun). Spend $600 on 4 15" speakers, $400 on the amps, $200 on other related electronic equipment and materials, and $100 on construction materials. And for 1/10th the cost, you can get something that performs better.
I'm sorry, you can not call anything on PMR "phat". That show is a complete joke. Take an 87 civic that is rusting over and stalling in the driveway... bondo over the rust, slap on some paint, throw in some LCDs, and suddenly the ride is pimp? No thanks. The body is still falling apart, the engine is still immersed in sludge, the whole thing is still just a piece of crap and it moves down the road like a boat. If you want to see some serious ride pimping then watch the show on TLC called "Overhaulin". Whereas PMR has 4 or 5 guys working on a car for 1 or 2 days, Overhaulin has like 50 guys working on a car for 1 week. And even then it's amazing that they get all the work done. They take the thing down to the bare frame and customize the entire car from the bottom up. We're talking serious power under the hood, custom interiors, slick paint jobs, rims and tires, sound systems, everything. I'll watch PMR on occassion for laughs. I'll watch Overhaulin to be seriously impressed.
Does anyone fall for that stupid Disney Vault thing anymore? Pick a movie that is currently in the "vault" and I'll bet you $100 I can find somewhere to buy it.
Well, I don't think they were THAT dodgy to the point that they would steal your SSN and info. But they might be dodgy enough to try and making canceling their service A Very Difficult Task. It's always good to be wary though. I usually send notices to the credit bureaus that someone accessed my credit report and that they need to send me a free copy. Since you are due a free copy whenever someone accesses your credit report, and someone is always accessing your credit report (for marketing or whatever), then you can pretty much get an endless supply of free credit reports by continually sending out those notices. Only problem with those is that sometimes I want to check my report right now and can't wait the couple weeks for a report in the mail. I justed started mailing out the notices 2 or 3 years back and I've already received like 5 or 6 free reports.
Ah sorry, I was assuming that like so many other things in Socialist England that it was subsidized by the government. Instead, you are bombarded with advertisements up the wazoo, kind of like those free real estate magazines at the local chamber of commerce. I guess whether something is "free" or "useless" is all in the eye of the beholder.
This is great for using with companies that are difficult to deal with as well. I was attempting to get free copies of my credit report online and exhausted the usual websites. These websites usually work by giving you a free trial to their service then charging a full $15/mo fee after the first month is up. I ended up at a website that looked a little cheesy but still gives you a report for free (looks like they actually charge you $1 for the first month). So I generated a number with a limit of $1 and used it on the website. Since then I have tried to figure out how to cancel the service because I don't want to deal with the hassle of an unauthorized charge attempt. Nothing on the website on how to cancel. Nothing in the confirmation email about how to cancel. When I log into my account, no options to cancel my account. All I could find was a single phone number that doesn't answer half the time and holds bad hours. Good thing I had the foresight to use a temp CC number.
Um, Rambus is just as filthy as the rest of these guys. I know a guy that used to work for Rambus during that period of time. As most technology writers have reported on by now, Rambus was pushing their ram to become the next standard in the industry. While they secretly had plans to patent everything at just the right time so that they would have everyone on the hook. This guy that worked there knew all about the shenanigans and subsequently quit (from a fairly cushy job into unemployment) because he didn't want to be a part of it. I have as much distaste (if not more) for Rambus as I do for the other guys.
Well, maybe the financial track you typically envision runs a bit slower than mine. By time I hit 35, I'll be sitting comfortably enough to set my own work hours and take time off whenever needed to spend a week in the mountains or a month across seas. I think I'll be plenty young enough to enjoy it. And I'm not depriving myself along the way, I'm just being smart about how I play my cards. It doesn't take long to get yourself independent - people who aren't so until age 60 just didn't think about it early enough.
The only people who read newspapers regularly are those who have made a habit out of it their entire life. I still catch the paper once in a while if it looks like they might have an interesting article. But for all your current news, the newspaper is a day late and $0.50 too expensive. Why pay for info that I can get from my computer for free? Unless it is very locally specific news.
Re:Is Ghost ever, ever EVER going to be released??
on
Blizzcon Writeup
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· Score: 1
I'm dreading the wait for StarCraft 2. Let's see, StarCraft 1 was released in 1997. Here it's almost 2006 and nothing has even been mentioned about StarCraft 2. Assuming they start leaking info about StarCraft 2 by 2010, it'll be 2015 before we might be able to play.
Hmmm, 2015... I'll be how old then? And when StarCraft 2 finally comes out, I'll be like "wow, I remember the good old days back when I was a kid in high school and StarCraft 1 came out". *sigh*
1) Go out and buy crappy Sony music CD. 2) Play crappy Sony music CD on computer. 3) Crappy Sony music CD installs rootkit malware. 4) Sue Sony under computer laws? 5) Profit?
I actually almost followed through with that threat. My first year in college, there was this company that was assembling a registry of alumni for my high school. They had an automated system call you up and leave a phone number for you to call them back, and then hand over all your information so they could include it in a registry that they sell (to alumni) and make a profit on. Well, for some reason they decided that they best way to get us to call them back was to call 2x a day every day for 2 months straight. And the calls were always on schedule, one around 8:15 am every day (extremely fucking annoying on the weekends when I'm trying to sleep in), and one around 6:00 pm every day (right in the middle of dinner, lovely). About 0.5 months into the whole deal, my dad called (I was commuting from home at the time) and told them to stop. Didn't work. About 1 month into the whole deal, I called and told them to stop. Didn't work. At 1.5 months into the deal I did my research and contacted the executives of the company (not the stupid service line we contacted before) and threatened to sue them under the do-not-call legislation (not the registry, this was before then). They told me they would handle it personally and that I would be taken off the list immediately. Took them another 2 weeks to fully stop calling us. In the mean time they offered us copies of their "deluxe edition registries" for free as compensation... as if we really gave a shit about their product at this point. I subsequently wrote letters to the state attorney general to investigate them, with the goal that they would collect penal damages (something like $500 per call I think). I had documented the exact dates and times of about 50 calls, and provided for sworn testimonies by my other family members who had answered the calls. I got the company riled up enough to get their lawyers to send back an 8 page document explaining why they are not responsible for damages since they "were not selling a service" in their calls, and that they offered us substantial compensation - the deluxe registries - they even said something like "an $80 value for free". At that point I flirted with the idea of taking them to small claims court which has a limit of $5000 or so on the cases, but I kind of lost interest. Besides, technically they might have had me since they did not try to sell the registries in their phone call, but when you called them back to give up your info I'm sure they do hock their registries. Would have been interesting to have gone the whole way though. They probably would have never paid, then I could've tried tracking down some of their assets and get a sheriff to cease them for me. Now that would have been hilarious.
Re:Too late! Already attacked American Idol!
on
How Zombies Work
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· Score: 2, Funny
Muntean's group is part of a "zombie renaissance" that, according to a Los Angeles Daily News article, is sweeping the nation.
I find this alarming, how will we be able to tell the real zombies from these fake zombies? This is a serious concern. I think we need to talk to congress about enacting legislation against these fake zombies in order to protect the children.
Slashdot Mirror
Depdending on how you define "institution", your argument is a bit off. If the institution encompasses the entire idea of the religion, then yes, being religious is about being married to the institution. But if you are simply talking about the "giant metal and glass dispenser of salvation", then being married to the institution is only true for people who are spiritually lost. In reality, the religion has absolutely nothing to do with the construct of the modern day "church" (ie that building over there and the society within it) and so much more to do with the fellowship that results from interactions within the church.
I do agree that these mega churches have gotten extremely ridiculous. They are causing people to lose sight of what their religion and faith are really about. However, they are simply one faction and do not represent the entire relgion. There are still many more congregations across the country that only have a couple hundred members. And their focus is about the people involved, not the physical church and the society within the church.
I think a great example of the true meaning of religion and church are these mountain churches that you see at national parks and ski areas. They have meetings at certains times, and you can take a hike along a trail or ride a lift chair up a little ways and you end up at a clearing with nothing but a few benches gathered around. There, people can sit and talk to each other. There's no physical construct, there's no society, anyone can stop in and see what's up. I think that is an accurate representation of the church and religion, not these mega churches.
Actually, the sequel would probably get a bad rating for only adding a few cars and levels while trying to milk another $50 out of its fan base. Game ratings aren't persistent through sequels, just as movie ratings aren't persistent through sequels. If they were persistent, Alien 4 would have been an academy award winner.
I'm sure the cost/satellite or cost/payload pound on almost anything is less than the shuttle. Still, this launch is probably costing a couple 100 $million. Things like this don't come cheap. $200 million compared to $500 million for the shuttle is a significant savings, but it's not astoundingly less. And if you account for other properties of the space shuttle such as the human rating, and deorbit capabilities, the difference shrinks dramatically.
I think developments like this Ariane are in the wrong direction though. If they designed a rocket from the start that was sized for just one of the satellites it is launching today, it would cost less per launch and would cost less for development. And cost development could be spread across more launches.
As well, satellites should be getting smaller as time moves on. The state of bus architecture on satellites is about 5 years behind the state of bus architecture on the ground. Sure, transceiver antennae will always be a given size, but launches in the $30 to $50 million/launch range of thing should be able to handle 90% of the satellite launches in another 10 years. Which may seem like a long ways away, but that's only about 1 generation of satellites down the road. Most comm satellites spend around 2 years in development, and spend probably 3 years from customer request to activation in orbit. New generations aren't produced with every satellites, only every few satellites if improvements can be seen as useful.
It's sort of like the Airbus A380. How many flight will use the A380 over the next 10 years? How many will continue using Boeing 737s? The 737s (and similar sizes from other companies) can cover 90% of the flights needed. They're small, relatively efficient (in capacity, performance, etc), and capable.
Well, it's up to you if you want to play kickass games on some shitty 5" screen in your bed. Personally, I play games to have fun, not because I'm so addicted that I'm playing every night as I try to fall asleep. And it's not that expensive, nor does it require grand living rooms with vaulted ceilings. People play on projectors right in their dens or whatever. And with systems like the xbox 360 going for $400, and games going for $50 each, spending $500 on a decent projector doesn't sound that bad anymore. You better hope you can get some HD action on that thing (although it's not actually HD, at least it's higher than NTSC).
And if you haven't actually tried playing on a properly set up system and projector, you have no idea what you are missing. I'd suggest checking it out.
I have a solution to the problem, charge a fee if your patent is denied. Since the patent will rake in $7000 in revenues over its life if it is accepted, make the patent rejection fee $7100. Problem solved.
... 5000th, 6000th now? The price per patent should be in the $million dollar range now. This way companies will pick and choose which patents to submit because they know their current activity will spike future costs ... so no more throwing hundred of useless patents at the patent office as a crap shoot.
On a more serious note, perhaps the more patents a particular entity (or related entity) submits, the higher the price should be? Amazon is on their
Sure, 1600x1200 on a 15" CRT may be no big deal, but have you seen 1600x1200 thrown up on an 8' diagonal projection screen? Talk about being immersed in the game. I was playing HL1:TFC at 800x600 thrown up on a 6' diagonal screen and I was absolutely thrilled, despite the low resolution. It can only get better from there. Can you imagine playing the Raventhorn level from HL2 in a dark room with full surround sound on a 720p projection screen at a 10' diagonal? Amazing. Or racing games... or anything. It would be great. The higher resolutions allow you to have a bigger screen without losing quality.
What's the difference?
Well, I did a little rough analysis to see what the worse case scenario might be. I didn't have much time to pull stats on wind generators, so I just pulled the numbers from the article and extrapolated from there. From the article: The municipal-grade 1 MW turbine would be about 220 feet high, half the size of a comparable propeller system.
... while the propeller designs typically can only generate energy into the low 50's. and The tips of the blades spin much faster than the wind speed, chopping through the air sometimes at speeds of 200 mph.
Comparable propeller system: 440 feet high from base to propeller tip. Base height + propeller radius = 440 feet. I made some guesses about the size of the propellers based on what I have seen in real life.
Propeller radius = (1/4) base height
Which gives us:
Base height = 352.0 feet
Propeller radius = 88.0 feet
From the article:
Propeller max wind speed: 55 mph ~ 80.7 feet/sec. Propeller max tip speed: 200 mph ~ 293.3 feet/sec.
Find the rotational velocity:
v = r * w
293.3 = 88.0 * w
w = 3.3 rad/sec
Let's assume that if the bird is hit by a portion of the propeller that is traveling less than 40 mph, they will only be grazed and not killed. So let's find the radius at which that occurs:
40 mph ~ 58.7 feet/sec
v = r * w
58.7 = r * 3.3
r = 17.8 feet
Next let's define the bird kill envelope as a cylinder 2 feet long and 2 feet in radius (a normal sized flock-type bird). And we will say that if the propeller hits the bird anywhere in this envelope, the result is a kill (tail feathers and such can hang outside this envelope). Since the birds are in a 55 mph tail wind (max conditions for the propeller), we will say they are traveling at a conservative 65 mph (wrt ground).
65 mph ~ 95.3 feet/sec
Time it takes the bird to travel through the propeller plane (idealized to be a plane with no thickness):
2 feet / (95.3 feet/sec) = 21 msec
Angle sweeped out by a single propeller in that time:
3.3 rad/sec * 0.021 sec = 0.069 rad * (180 deg / pi rad) = 4.0 deg
Typical 3 propeller design: 4.0 deg * 3 = 12.0 deg
Given enough time, total possible propeller sweep area:
total_A = pi * 88.0^2 = 24 328.5 ft^2
Given enough time, total possible kill zone area (tangential speed over 40 mph):
total_kill_A = total_A - pi * 17.8^2 = 23 333.1 ft^2
Over our actual time, actual possible kill zone area:
kill_A = total_kill_A * (12.0 deg / 360.0 deg) = 777.8 ft^2
Ratio of our actual possible kill zone area to total possible propeller sweep area:
ratio = kill_A / total_A = 0.032
Assuming a solid wall of birds flies directly into total_A, we'll use a standard packing density of 0.907 (more details).
birds_killed_A = 0.907 * kill_A = 705.5 ft^2
Single bird area:
bird_A = pi * 1^2 = pi ft^2
Number of birds killed in that area:
birds_killed = birds_killed_A / bird_A = 224
Number of birds that made it through alive:
alive_A = total_A - kill_A
birds_alive_A = 0.907 * alive_A
birds_alive = birds_alive_A / bird_A = 6799
So there you have it, 7023 total birds at risk, 6799 survived, 224 died. And that's just the birds that could have possibly been killed. Assuming they are flying uniformly through risk areas (propellers over 40 mph) and non-risk areas (open air), the percentage that die drops dramatically.
However, this estimation does not take into account things like migration paths, nesting areas, non-uniform bird attractions towards the towers, birds flying repeatedly through risk areas, etc, etc, etc. I think careful studies should be done whenever putting up a wind farm to ensure the local avian populations are not adversely affected. Especially when smaller groups of unique birds are considered, such as birds of prey.
Well, the vibrating shaft was my guess at how it worked. But, pitching the blades at 20 or 30 Hz? That's a freaking mechanical nightmare backwards way of producing sound. I still stand by my observation that the noise in the signal is pretty bad, and the fact that you are still getting around 100 dB at 0 Hz can't be a good indication of how this thing actually sounds.
Calling Planetside an MMORPG is being very nice. It's a glorified persistent FPS. I played it right around the time it came out for a couple weeks (for free), looked at the monthly price, then laughed and uninstalled the game. I think many others have done the same.
This is newsworthy because someone can legitimately use the Sony CD and have the rootkit installed, and then play WoW. So blizzard can't just look for signs of the rootkit and ban that account - people will be pissed for a non-legit ban. At the same time, people can do the same thing AND initiate a cheat on WoW and claim to be pissed for the same "non-legit" ban.
This thing is dumb for other reasons. You know what you call a 100 dB signal at 0 Hz? A stiff breeze. All this thing is doing is spinning the blades like a normal fan to give you your ability to work the fluid (air). Then, the spinning shaft is vibrated axially at whatever frequency to give you the "sound" at that frequency. Looking at the response curve here:
http://www.eminent-tech.com/graphics/RWimage2.jpg
You can see that at most frequencies, the signal is fairly noisy. But as it goes down to 0 Hz, it levels out very nicely. What's going on here? Is this a good thing? Not really. While claiming a flat response down to 0 Hz might sound cool, the effect is that you are proving what this thing really is: a fan. So the ability of this thing to perform as a speaker is dependent on two abilities: how well the fan can spin the blade (and how consistent), and how well the motor can vibrate the shaft axially. A normal speaker is only subject to the second ability, how well the speaker can vibrate the speaker cone axially. So I doubt adding another degree of complexity really helps this system to perform better than traditional systems.
Looking at the noise of the response of this thing in the 10 Hz to 20 Hz range, I'm not impressed. If you are really concerned about getting low frequencies down to around 9 Hz (or further depending on the design), check out infinite baffle (IB) subwoofers. They are custom built into the wall (floor, ceiling, etc) of your sound room with the back wave of the sound going into an infinite baffle (an adjacent room, outside, attic, basement, etc - something with a large volume), and the front wave going into your sound room. Some of these systems have been able to get flat responses down to the single-digit frequency range with very little noise. And if you do the work yourself by learning the technology, it's pretty cheap (and fun). Spend $600 on 4 15" speakers, $400 on the amps, $200 on other related electronic equipment and materials, and $100 on construction materials. And for 1/10th the cost, you can get something that performs better.
I'm sorry, you can not call anything on PMR "phat". That show is a complete joke. Take an 87 civic that is rusting over and stalling in the driveway ... bondo over the rust, slap on some paint, throw in some LCDs, and suddenly the ride is pimp? No thanks. The body is still falling apart, the engine is still immersed in sludge, the whole thing is still just a piece of crap and it moves down the road like a boat. If you want to see some serious ride pimping then watch the show on TLC called "Overhaulin". Whereas PMR has 4 or 5 guys working on a car for 1 or 2 days, Overhaulin has like 50 guys working on a car for 1 week. And even then it's amazing that they get all the work done. They take the thing down to the bare frame and customize the entire car from the bottom up. We're talking serious power under the hood, custom interiors, slick paint jobs, rims and tires, sound systems, everything. I'll watch PMR on occassion for laughs. I'll watch Overhaulin to be seriously impressed.
Does anyone fall for that stupid Disney Vault thing anymore? Pick a movie that is currently in the "vault" and I'll bet you $100 I can find somewhere to buy it.
Well, I don't think they were THAT dodgy to the point that they would steal your SSN and info. But they might be dodgy enough to try and making canceling their service A Very Difficult Task. It's always good to be wary though. I usually send notices to the credit bureaus that someone accessed my credit report and that they need to send me a free copy. Since you are due a free copy whenever someone accesses your credit report, and someone is always accessing your credit report (for marketing or whatever), then you can pretty much get an endless supply of free credit reports by continually sending out those notices. Only problem with those is that sometimes I want to check my report right now and can't wait the couple weeks for a report in the mail. I justed started mailing out the notices 2 or 3 years back and I've already received like 5 or 6 free reports.
Ah sorry, I was assuming that like so many other things in Socialist England that it was subsidized by the government. Instead, you are bombarded with advertisements up the wazoo, kind of like those free real estate magazines at the local chamber of commerce. I guess whether something is "free" or "useless" is all in the eye of the beholder.
This is great for using with companies that are difficult to deal with as well. I was attempting to get free copies of my credit report online and exhausted the usual websites. These websites usually work by giving you a free trial to their service then charging a full $15/mo fee after the first month is up. I ended up at a website that looked a little cheesy but still gives you a report for free (looks like they actually charge you $1 for the first month). So I generated a number with a limit of $1 and used it on the website. Since then I have tried to figure out how to cancel the service because I don't want to deal with the hassle of an unauthorized charge attempt. Nothing on the website on how to cancel. Nothing in the confirmation email about how to cancel. When I log into my account, no options to cancel my account. All I could find was a single phone number that doesn't answer half the time and holds bad hours. Good thing I had the foresight to use a temp CC number.
Um, Rambus is just as filthy as the rest of these guys. I know a guy that used to work for Rambus during that period of time. As most technology writers have reported on by now, Rambus was pushing their ram to become the next standard in the industry. While they secretly had plans to patent everything at just the right time so that they would have everyone on the hook. This guy that worked there knew all about the shenanigans and subsequently quit (from a fairly cushy job into unemployment) because he didn't want to be a part of it. I have as much distaste (if not more) for Rambus as I do for the other guys.
Well, maybe the financial track you typically envision runs a bit slower than mine. By time I hit 35, I'll be sitting comfortably enough to set my own work hours and take time off whenever needed to spend a week in the mountains or a month across seas. I think I'll be plenty young enough to enjoy it. And I'm not depriving myself along the way, I'm just being smart about how I play my cards. It doesn't take long to get yourself independent - people who aren't so until age 60 just didn't think about it early enough.
Except it's subsidized by your taxes - so you're already paying for it. Nothing in this world is "free".
The only people who read newspapers regularly are those who have made a habit out of it their entire life. I still catch the paper once in a while if it looks like they might have an interesting article. But for all your current news, the newspaper is a day late and $0.50 too expensive. Why pay for info that I can get from my computer for free? Unless it is very locally specific news.
I'm dreading the wait for StarCraft 2. Let's see, StarCraft 1 was released in 1997. Here it's almost 2006 and nothing has even been mentioned about StarCraft 2. Assuming they start leaking info about StarCraft 2 by 2010, it'll be 2015 before we might be able to play.
... I'll be how old then? And when StarCraft 2 finally comes out, I'll be like "wow, I remember the good old days back when I was a kid in high school and StarCraft 1 came out". *sigh*
Hmmm, 2015
1) Go out and buy crappy Sony music CD.
2) Play crappy Sony music CD on computer.
3) Crappy Sony music CD installs rootkit malware.
4) Sue Sony under computer laws?
5) Profit?
I actually almost followed through with that threat. My first year in college, there was this company that was assembling a registry of alumni for my high school. They had an automated system call you up and leave a phone number for you to call them back, and then hand over all your information so they could include it in a registry that they sell (to alumni) and make a profit on. Well, for some reason they decided that they best way to get us to call them back was to call 2x a day every day for 2 months straight. And the calls were always on schedule, one around 8:15 am every day (extremely fucking annoying on the weekends when I'm trying to sleep in), and one around 6:00 pm every day (right in the middle of dinner, lovely). About 0.5 months into the whole deal, my dad called (I was commuting from home at the time) and told them to stop. Didn't work. About 1 month into the whole deal, I called and told them to stop. Didn't work. At 1.5 months into the deal I did my research and contacted the executives of the company (not the stupid service line we contacted before) and threatened to sue them under the do-not-call legislation (not the registry, this was before then). They told me they would handle it personally and that I would be taken off the list immediately. Took them another 2 weeks to fully stop calling us. In the mean time they offered us copies of their "deluxe edition registries" for free as compensation ... as if we really gave a shit about their product at this point. I subsequently wrote letters to the state attorney general to investigate them, with the goal that they would collect penal damages (something like $500 per call I think). I had documented the exact dates and times of about 50 calls, and provided for sworn testimonies by my other family members who had answered the calls. I got the company riled up enough to get their lawyers to send back an 8 page document explaining why they are not responsible for damages since they "were not selling a service" in their calls, and that they offered us substantial compensation - the deluxe registries - they even said something like "an $80 value for free". At that point I flirted with the idea of taking them to small claims court which has a limit of $5000 or so on the cases, but I kind of lost interest. Besides, technically they might have had me since they did not try to sell the registries in their phone call, but when you called them back to give up your info I'm sure they do hock their registries. Would have been interesting to have gone the whole way though. They probably would have never paid, then I could've tried tracking down some of their assets and get a sheriff to cease them for me. Now that would have been hilarious.
Muntean's group is part of a "zombie renaissance" that, according to a Los Angeles Daily News article, is sweeping the nation.
I find this alarming, how will we be able to tell the real zombies from these fake zombies? This is a serious concern. I think we need to talk to congress about enacting legislation against these fake zombies in order to protect the children.