Casa Video attempts to acquire any
movie if you fill out a card at their location. As a result they have a fine
selection of just about everything, but they make a point of maintaining a good
anime section. Don't feel like coming all the way to the desert of Tucson,
Az. No problem...there's mail
order rental.
Let me spell this out for you: this article is about Warcraft 3 being a killer game. The bnetd project has nothing to do with it.
It's obviously possible to think Blizzard's actions against bnetd are wrong, and think Warcraft 3 is a killer game at the same time.
What you seem to be proposing is that Michael should lie or omit the truth about Warcraft 3, because he disagrees with Blizzard's actions against bnetd.
If the author wants to use mathematics, then he should use the well-agreed [upon] mathematical definitions....
Umm...don't you mean the author should use clear and succinct mathematical definitions? If one is going to be limited to only those definitions which well-established mathematics provides, then the concise expression of mathematical ideas is being limited as well. Mathematicians adapt the definitions of even well established terms all the time to suit their immediate purpose, adapting the definition to fit the context of their current problem. Of course they don't just do it without telling anyone; generally a definitions section precedes the text of the article.
I'm not a doctor or anything, but I don't think the bladder can absorb a significant amount of water. Your kidneys will use water to get the alcohol out of bloodstream, washing the waste into the bladder. You could hold it if you wanted too. I don't think it will help you stay warm, and eventually you will pee your pants: not too good an idea in a blizzard. Having water trapped in your bladder, just doesn't seem useful to me, so that water is essentially already lost.
As for the "water=heat" argument goes, I don't think it's water's heat-retention that's the most important factor here. Your body needs water to do just about anything. People can and do dehydrate in a snowstorm: and not because they've lost valuable heat-retaining water, but because their body is malfunctioning due to a lack of it's favorite reagent/solvent/lubricant. I think you can die of dehydration before you freeze to death. On the other hand, if you eat the snow you can freeze to death trying not to dehydrate. I'm sure a very slow but steady diet of snow is the best way to go.
Also you should keep moving and eat a little bit if you've got something, since both movement and digestion generate body heat. Also eating is psychologically comforting, but then so is drinking alcohol. That is the best argument for alcohol: it's soothing psychological properties. Just don't overdo it.
I sure prefer science-related antiques to crumbly old chairs, tables, lamps, etc. When cleaning out my great-grandparents' home after they both had died we discovered some cool wooden globes. Even one of those solar system model thingamajigs, with wooden planets and iron gears, where you turn the handle and the planets spin and rotate around the sun, the moons orbit the planets, etc.
The chairs, tables, lamps, etc. went to goodwill. My parent's kept the solar system.
Yes I was wrong, but I think my idea would be a better measure of performance: comparing how long it takes for each computer to calculate the same moves. Their way tests the correctness of the algorithms as well: if the programs work correctly more computations will result in better chess. On the other hand it seems possible that like a person, the programs last guess may not always be it's best guess.
Yes I'm totally wrong. I thought they would compare each processors speed at playing the same game. This could be achieved by making sure the random number generator always returns the same values (either manipulating or replacing the random number generator so it isn't random). I'm wrong.
Hey everybody complaining about this not being a benchmark... presumably they are going to compare performance such as "AMD Fritz vs. Intel Shredder" against "Intel Fritz vs. AMD Shredder" when the games are all over. Unless the first move for instance contains some random factor the games should be exactly the same, no matter which processor is running the program. So they'll add up how long it takes for each processor to decide to make the same moves. Maybe?
Slashdot isn't America. It isn't even a good metaphor for America. On the news America is being called "the only remaining superpower." I'm hesitant to put America in a class by itself, so for the sake of argument lets say there are very few countries where an American citizen might live comfortably (without an uncomfortable change in lifestyle). I hardly think being banned from the Slashdot is the equivalent of an American needing to pack their bags and move elsewhere, because their simply aren't that many if any places to go.
There is more text on the Internet than in the Library of Congress. There are probably several million community based sites where one can discuss the news.
I think a better metaphor is that the Internet itself is America. Slashdot is a rather popular church. It is correct to believe that if America is truly free, you have a right to criticize the church. That doesn't mean the members have to let you inside their church to do it.
As for your other thoughts, freedom does not mean being able to do whatever you want without consequence. Speaking out can have consequences in your community. People aren't obligated to let you babysit their kids, or be your friend. You have to earn their trust by what you say and what you do. Engaging in deviant behavior can have consequences in your community: so what? The things you do will always have consequences. It is your recourse when you believe your government is imposing unfair consequences that matters. The system will always move slowly to address an individual's complaints, but you can get involved and make a difference in the direction of your government. Maybe you are already involved. If so, your complaints have merit because you have tested your government's methods of recourse and found them lacking. If not, you really don't know the state of your government well enough to comment.
Just because you get to participate in Slashdot doesn't mean it's a democracy. You are free to post your thoughts elsewhere, even make your own website. Instead you just want to gripe to a captive audience not interested in what you have to say.
The fact is that Slashdot editors have appointed themselves representatives of the Slashdot community, and all those continuing to participate in adding content to the Slashdot website are clearly endorsing that arrangement. Neither cmdrtaco or anyone else is obligated to listen to you or give you a platform to spout your bullshit mean-spirited humor. It is not an act of censorship or a violation of your privacy to use your ip address to kick you out of where you are not wanted. By continuing to hang around, a stronger argument can be made that you are infringing on their right (and clearly demonstrated desire and intent) to be rid of you (or your unwanted additions to the content anyway).
This is not a democracy. You do not have an implicit or god-given right to spout off here. It's a carefully manipulated and engineered community. If you don't care to participate in that community, if it's standards and practices offend you, exercise your right to go elsewhere.
This is Slashdot and banning, moderation, meta-moderation, and editors are part of what makes the site what it is. Yes all those features can lead to situations clearly "unfair": even against the intent of those in charge. Yes like all systems this system is flawed. If you've found something better, go there. If you have ideas about how to make the system better, submit them in a constructive way or implement them yourself.
In the meantime, as far as I'm concerned you should fuck off. I'm sure Alan Cox (and his wife for that matter) is a smarter and better person than you, and more importantly Alan Cox plays a significant role in Slashdot culture. Your comments were hurtful and not constructive or beneficial in any way. You aren't a reformer or a rebel. You are a troll: so who cares about you and your petty complaints?
Cause Tom doesnt test it. That's why. He has no idea what he's doing. I got one of these cards, it cant play ANY divx movies that I have. divx3 or 5 encoded. NADA.. I dunno what this card is good for. BTW I got it for 49 dollars (excluding tax/shipping) from LimeNet
From the article...
"A distinction should be made regarding the different Divx codecs: only films using version 4.02 or higher of the Divx codec are supported by the Sigma Designs decoder. In our test field, the recently launched Divx 5.02 codec did not present any problems. "
This decodes DVD and Circuit city DivX not the DivX that you movie ppl download from p2p networks:) Okay. Just to let you folks who didnt read the article know.
Which is why the article says this on the first page?:
"So what's the point in spending entire days downloading a long-awaited movie from the Internet, only to find you can't even play it properly?"
If you do something illegal on your website, you won't be held responsible more than once just because the data persists on the Wayback machine. If you remove the offensive material from your site, that's all you can do. The Wayback machine can deal with their own lawsuit threats. And I'm sure they'll remove material if you are the site owner and ask nicely.
As far as outdated information, anyone reading pages on the wayback machine and expecting them to be current would have to be crazy. It's an archive after all.
But I was referring more to the actual user interface
I agree the initial program specs should include only the data that needs to be put in and what the client wants to get out. An important exception is when the program needs to interact with existing systems.
Obviously the implementation in general however, is entirely in the realm of the programmer. The user interface on the other hand is done best when you work closely with the client. As a technical person, what works well from your perspective will probably not enhance employee productivity for the client. If you can, talk to the people who will be using your interface to get ideas and feedback on your designs. Come back later and get more feedback after they are actually using the interface. Ask them where they make mistakes and adapt the interface as necessary. This is part of the design process for me.
I agree regarding JSP - but the solution is to not put any logic in your JSP.
Exactly.
In another thread someone was complaining about PHP not switching database backends well. The problem was not PHP, but their coding practices. They were making raw sql calls in their pages instead of going through a database wrapper.
Similarly people embed their program logic in a JSP page, which is exactly what you aren't supposed to do, and then complain that it's slow and hard to debug.
JSP can be used like ASP (yech!), but isn't supposed to be. The whole beauty of JSP pages is that you can seperate the program logic from the page, which makes redesigning the look of pages a snap.
I find this approach works very well for any webapp, big or small.
Speaking of how easy it makes redesigning the web pages, in my current webapp I let people upload page templates and an interpreter fills in appropriate code (replacing simple keywords in the template).
I see the Yoda scene as an expedient solution to problem. I knew Yoda was
going to "throw-down" in AOTC, and I wondered how they'd do it. No
matter what I pictured in my head it didn't look right, and the animators had to
do it on the screen. The solution Lucas came up with seems to be: make him move
so fast you can't look at him while he's fighting. Part of me wants to call it
it a cop out, but personally I think it works.
It also sort of bothers me when adults complain about Jar-Jar and now CG
Yoda. We all saw the original trilogy for the first time when we were younger
than we are now. I don't know about you, but I accepted the Ewoks then, and in
subsequent viewings I've accepted them (for better or worse) as part of Star
Wars package. Attempting impartiality, I don't think they are any better than
Jar Jar or CG Yoda.
George Lucas himself, confronted by the fact that the Death Star explosion
(and other explosions in a vacuum) shouldn't make a boom said something like:
"A lot of people have a lot of money invested in this movie, and when something
blows up they expect there to be a boom, so I give them a boom."
Science fiction can be heavy on the science or heavy on the fiction. I think
it's clear which side of that fence George Lucas has chosen: you can either go
to the show, suspend your disbelief, and be entertained. Or you stay home. But I
don't think anyone should expect the prequel movies to become to them now, what
the original trilogy was to them starting nearly 25 years ago.
As I said, Anonymous Coward: it isn't exactly true. The fact that I only gave ONE reason why it isn't doesn't mean I think that's the ONLY reason. You should never take anything so literally. I said it wasn't exactly true: what more of a disclaimer do you want?.
Your comment seems to suggest you have a personal investment in making your point: as if someone on Slashdot implying your a bad person because you sell your books makes it true.
I don't sell my textbooks, and I'm poor like most students. I've made a personal commitment to keeping them both for the knowledge they contain and to remind me of classes I've taken and the time in which I was taking them. I never sell my other books either. I didn't sell my childhood toys, no matter how hard up for money I got (or how valuable some of them have become on Ebay - can you say MINT Fortress Maximus?), because for me it would feel like selling my childhood away. Call me sentimental or stupid: luckily for me I don't emotionally invest enough in Slashdot to determine my self-worth by what people on it say, but I do like communicating with people (however artificial the medium may be).
That said I understand what it's like being in dire financial straits and the pressure it puts on you. So you caved in and sold some books? I don't REALLY think that makes you a bad person, but I also think from your defensive position you're acknowledging it's not a great thing. But ultimately you do what you have to do, right? If I needed money for an operation for my brother or something, that Fortress Maximus would start looking less like my childhood and more like a piece of plastic. Given the right conditions, we all do what we have to do.
Anyway the point I was TRYING to make was: I don't understand how this market exists, since (in all reasonable situations) you'll get my books when you pry them from my cold, dead hands. I'm sorry if you took that position as an assault on your character.
Slashdot Mirror
Casa Video attempts to acquire any movie if you fill out a card at their location. As a result they have a fine selection of just about everything, but they make a point of maintaining a good anime section. Don't feel like coming all the way to the desert of Tucson, Az. No problem...there's mail order rental.
Let me spell this out for you: this article is about Warcraft 3 being a killer game. The bnetd project has nothing to do with it.
It's obviously possible to think Blizzard's actions against bnetd are wrong, and think Warcraft 3 is a killer game at the same time.
What you seem to be proposing is that Michael should lie or omit the truth about Warcraft 3, because he disagrees with Blizzard's actions against bnetd.
If the author wants to use mathematics, then he should use the well-agreed [upon] mathematical definitions....
Umm...don't you mean the author should use clear and succinct mathematical definitions? If one is going to be limited to only those definitions which well-established mathematics provides, then the concise expression of mathematical ideas is being limited as well. Mathematicians adapt the definitions of even well established terms all the time to suit their immediate purpose, adapting the definition to fit the context of their current problem. Of course they don't just do it without telling anyone; generally a definitions section precedes the text of the article.
I'm not a doctor or anything, but I don't think the bladder can absorb a significant amount of water. Your kidneys will use water to get the alcohol out of bloodstream, washing the waste into the bladder. You could hold it if you wanted too. I don't think it will help you stay warm, and eventually you will pee your pants: not too good an idea in a blizzard. Having water trapped in your bladder, just doesn't seem useful to me, so that water is essentially already lost.
As for the "water=heat" argument goes, I don't think it's water's heat-retention that's the most important factor here. Your body needs water to do just about anything. People can and do dehydrate in a snowstorm: and not because they've lost valuable heat-retaining water, but because their body is malfunctioning due to a lack of it's favorite reagent/solvent/lubricant. I think you can die of dehydration before you freeze to death. On the other hand, if you eat the snow you can freeze to death trying not to dehydrate. I'm sure a very slow but steady diet of snow is the best way to go.
Also you should keep moving and eat a little bit if you've got something, since both movement and digestion generate body heat. Also eating is psychologically comforting, but then so is drinking alcohol. That is the best argument for alcohol: it's soothing psychological properties. Just don't overdo it.
I sure prefer science-related antiques to crumbly old chairs, tables, lamps, etc. When cleaning out my great-grandparents' home after they both had died we discovered some cool wooden globes. Even one of those solar system model thingamajigs, with wooden planets and iron gears, where you turn the handle and the planets spin and rotate around the sun, the moons orbit the planets, etc.
The chairs, tables, lamps, etc. went to goodwill. My parent's kept the solar system.
The serious businessman will know what I am talking about.
What like Steve Forbes?
Yes I was wrong, but I think my idea would be a better measure of performance: comparing how long it takes for each computer to calculate the same moves. Their way tests the correctness of the algorithms as well: if the programs work correctly more computations will result in better chess. On the other hand it seems possible that like a person, the programs last guess may not always be it's best guess.
Yes I'm totally wrong. I thought they would compare each processors speed at playing the same game. This could be achieved by making sure the random number generator always returns the same values (either manipulating or replacing the random number generator so it isn't random). I'm wrong.
Okay so the games are different. Maybe they will seed the random generator on each processor with the same starting value.
Hey everybody complaining about this not being a benchmark... presumably they are going to compare performance such as "AMD Fritz vs. Intel Shredder" against "Intel Fritz vs. AMD Shredder" when the games are all over. Unless the first move for instance contains some random factor the games should be exactly the same, no matter which processor is running the program. So they'll add up how long it takes for each processor to decide to make the same moves. Maybe?
Slashdot isn't America. It isn't even a good metaphor for America. On the news America is being called "the only remaining superpower." I'm hesitant to put America in a class by itself, so for the sake of argument lets say there are very few countries where an American citizen might live comfortably (without an uncomfortable change in lifestyle). I hardly think being banned from the Slashdot is the equivalent of an American needing to pack their bags and move elsewhere, because their simply aren't that many if any places to go.
There is more text on the Internet than in the Library of Congress. There are probably several million community based sites where one can discuss the news.
I think a better metaphor is that the Internet itself is America. Slashdot is a rather popular church. It is correct to believe that if America is truly free, you have a right to criticize the church. That doesn't mean the members have to let you inside their church to do it.
As for your other thoughts, freedom does not mean being able to do whatever you want without consequence. Speaking out can have consequences in your community. People aren't obligated to let you babysit their kids, or be your friend. You have to earn their trust by what you say and what you do. Engaging in deviant behavior can have consequences in your community: so what? The things you do will always have consequences. It is your recourse when you believe your government is imposing unfair consequences that matters. The system will always move slowly to address an individual's complaints, but you can get involved and make a difference in the direction of your government. Maybe you are already involved. If so, your complaints have merit because you have tested your government's methods of recourse and found them lacking. If not, you really don't know the state of your government well enough to comment.
Just because you get to participate in Slashdot doesn't mean it's a democracy. You are free to post your thoughts elsewhere, even make your own website. Instead you just want to gripe to a captive audience not interested in what you have to say.
The fact is that Slashdot editors have appointed themselves representatives of the Slashdot community, and all those continuing to participate in adding content to the Slashdot website are clearly endorsing that arrangement. Neither cmdrtaco or anyone else is obligated to listen to you or give you a platform to spout your bullshit mean-spirited humor. It is not an act of censorship or a violation of your privacy to use your ip address to kick you out of where you are not wanted. By continuing to hang around, a stronger argument can be made that you are infringing on their right (and clearly demonstrated desire and intent) to be rid of you (or your unwanted additions to the content anyway).
This is not a democracy. You do not have an implicit or god-given right to spout off here. It's a carefully manipulated and engineered community. If you don't care to participate in that community, if it's standards and practices offend you, exercise your right to go elsewhere.
This is Slashdot and banning, moderation, meta-moderation, and editors are part of what makes the site what it is. Yes all those features can lead to situations clearly "unfair": even against the intent of those in charge. Yes like all systems this system is flawed. If you've found something better, go there. If you have ideas about how to make the system better, submit them in a constructive way or implement them yourself.
In the meantime, as far as I'm concerned you should fuck off. I'm sure Alan Cox (and his wife for that matter) is a smarter and better person than you, and more importantly Alan Cox plays a significant role in Slashdot culture. Your comments were hurtful and not constructive or beneficial in any way. You aren't a reformer or a rebel. You are a troll: so who cares about you and your petty complaints?
What does this have to do with the Pentiums?
Cause Tom doesnt test it. That's why. He has no idea what he's doing. I got one of these cards, it cant play ANY divx movies that I have. divx3 or 5 encoded. NADA.. I dunno what this card is good for. BTW I got it for 49 dollars (excluding tax/shipping) from LimeNet
From the article...
"A distinction should be made regarding the different Divx codecs: only films using version 4.02 or higher of the Divx codec are supported by the Sigma Designs decoder. In our test field, the recently launched Divx 5.02 codec did not present any problems. "
This decodes DVD and Circuit city DivX not the DivX that you movie ppl download from p2p networks :) Okay. Just to let you folks who didnt read the article know.
Which is why the article says this on the first page?:
"So what's the point in spending entire days downloading a long-awaited movie from the Internet, only to find you can't even play it properly?"
For $99 you can buy more memory and a decent video card that will benefit more than just one application.
My old computer is a Pentium II 233 w/196 MB SDRAM and 32MB video card. I have it hooked to my TV, and it plays DivX just fine.
Don't forget the convenient, accessible self-destruct device!"
What for their server? Why is that good?
Have you read "SQL for Smarties" by Joe Celko?
And for those just getting stated there is:
Instant SQL Programming - Joe Celko
What's the problem?
If you do something illegal on your website, you won't be held responsible more than once just because the data persists on the Wayback machine. If you remove the offensive material from your site, that's all you can do. The Wayback machine can deal with their own lawsuit threats. And I'm sure they'll remove material if you are the site owner and ask nicely.
As far as outdated information, anyone reading pages on the wayback machine and expecting them to be current would have to be crazy. It's an archive after all.
It's easy to opt out. Google provides instructions in there webmaster faq which points out "There is a standard for robot exclusion at http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html."
But I was referring more to the actual user interface
I agree the initial program specs should include only the data that needs to be put in and what the client wants to get out. An important exception is when the program needs to interact with existing systems.
Obviously the implementation in general however, is entirely in the realm of the programmer. The user interface on the other hand is done best when you work closely with the client. As a technical person, what works well from your perspective will probably not enhance employee productivity for the client. If you can, talk to the people who will be using your interface to get ideas and feedback on your designs. Come back later and get more feedback after they are actually using the interface. Ask them where they make mistakes and adapt the interface as necessary. This is part of the design process for me.
Unfortunately it's not always an option...
I agree regarding JSP - but the solution is to not put any logic in your JSP.
Exactly.
In another thread someone was complaining about PHP not switching database backends well. The problem was not PHP, but their coding practices. They were making raw sql calls in their pages instead of going through a database wrapper.
Similarly people embed their program logic in a JSP page, which is exactly what you aren't supposed to do, and then complain that it's slow and hard to debug.
JSP can be used like ASP (yech!), but isn't supposed to be. The whole beauty of JSP pages is that you can seperate the program logic from the page, which makes redesigning the look of pages a snap.
I find this approach works very well for any webapp, big or small.
Speaking of how easy it makes redesigning the web pages, in my current webapp I let people upload page templates and an interpreter fills in appropriate code (replacing simple keywords in the template).
I see the Yoda scene as an expedient solution to problem. I knew Yoda was going to "throw-down" in AOTC, and I wondered how they'd do it. No matter what I pictured in my head it didn't look right, and the animators had to do it on the screen. The solution Lucas came up with seems to be: make him move so fast you can't look at him while he's fighting. Part of me wants to call it it a cop out, but personally I think it works.
It also sort of bothers me when adults complain about Jar-Jar and now CG Yoda. We all saw the original trilogy for the first time when we were younger than we are now. I don't know about you, but I accepted the Ewoks then, and in subsequent viewings I've accepted them (for better or worse) as part of Star Wars package. Attempting impartiality, I don't think they are any better than Jar Jar or CG Yoda.
George Lucas himself, confronted by the fact that the Death Star explosion (and other explosions in a vacuum) shouldn't make a boom said something like: "A lot of people have a lot of money invested in this movie, and when something blows up they expect there to be a boom, so I give them a boom."
Science fiction can be heavy on the science or heavy on the fiction. I think it's clear which side of that fence George Lucas has chosen: you can either go to the show, suspend your disbelief, and be entertained. Or you stay home. But I don't think anyone should expect the prequel movies to become to them now, what the original trilogy was to them starting nearly 25 years ago.
As I said, Anonymous Coward: it isn't exactly true. The fact that I only gave ONE reason why it isn't doesn't mean I think that's the ONLY reason. You should never take anything so literally. I said it wasn't exactly true: what more of a disclaimer do you want?.
Your comment seems to suggest you have a personal investment in making your point: as if someone on Slashdot implying your a bad person because you sell your books makes it true.
I don't sell my textbooks, and I'm poor like most students. I've made a personal commitment to keeping them both for the knowledge they contain and to remind me of classes I've taken and the time in which I was taking them. I never sell my other books either. I didn't sell my childhood toys, no matter how hard up for money I got (or how valuable some of them have become on Ebay - can you say MINT Fortress Maximus?), because for me it would feel like selling my childhood away. Call me sentimental or stupid: luckily for me I don't emotionally invest enough in Slashdot to determine my self-worth by what people on it say, but I do like communicating with people (however artificial the medium may be).
That said I understand what it's like being in dire financial straits and the pressure it puts on you. So you caved in and sold some books? I don't REALLY think that makes you a bad person, but I also think from your defensive position you're acknowledging it's not a great thing. But ultimately you do what you have to do, right? If I needed money for an operation for my brother or something, that Fortress Maximus would start looking less like my childhood and more like a piece of plastic. Given the right conditions, we all do what we have to do.
Anyway the point I was TRYING to make was: I don't understand how this market exists, since (in all reasonable situations) you'll get my books when you pry them from my cold, dead hands. I'm sorry if you took that position as an assault on your character.
A good person won't sell a good book: I know I don't. So you are either buying from a bad person, or buying a bad book, or maybe somebody died.
Okay so maybe that isn't exactly true. I will sell my duplicates if I find a better edition.
Is this a parody piece?
Yeah! I watch Fox News because I'm tired of all the bias!
Very funny!