I think a consistent rating with any media is in order. If there is any sexual content of any kind in a movie, magazine, game, etc., it should have an "AO" rating.
Because the human body is something to cover up and be ashamed of?
When American kids can watch death, misery, and mayhem on the evening news but a nipple is taboo there's a problem.
The tobacco companies flippiantly and knowingly lied about the health effects of their products.
My pack clearly states; "CIGARETTES CAUSE LUNG CANCER", yet new smokers light up every day.
Plus exposing third parties to cigarette smoke against their will, no matter how dilute, is a violation of their right to bodily integrety (read: not to be poisoned by some asshole)
Blah blah cars, factories, busses, chemicals, right to not associate with or near smokers, blah blah...
Your loaded question implies there's a serious problem with the current system in the U.S, and that's just not the case. Fresh water is cheap and plentiful in the majority of the U.S. and that's not about to change any time soon.
I live on the northern side of the great lakes. I'm surrounded by fresh water. Yet every summer without fail I find my area in atleast 3 fresh water bans (no lawn watering, restricted laundry, etc.)
Population density is increasing everywhere in North America and the situation is most definately getting worse - especially with all the pollutants we're putting in our water. This increases the need for treatment facilities thereby reducing the availability of clean water.
Matter of fact, a quick Google brought up this interesting piece that discusses a piece of the North American water situation.
# Use high-quality brand DVD-R blanks. Currently about 35 cents/4.4 GiB.
Sorry, but I'm afraid the two are mutually exclusive. "High quality" media doesn't come at a bulk price of $0.35/unit. Generic consumer-grade media does. This is a person who's backing up thousands of hours of unreproducible work, not his MP3 collection.
Raid sounds good, but is there a standard for the controlers? Software to split the data across several drives in a similar fasion to raid 5 might work but I'd only be interested in it if it was open source in a language that was likely to be around for a while (Perl ?)
Yes, there is a well established standard for the controllers. RAID is an enterprise-level technology that has been around for atleast a decade and is the storage medium preference for corporations that literally can't afford data loss and/or downtime.
If long-term data storage is a priority for you (plural); something you similarly can't afford to go awry I would heartily reccomend you find an enterprise-level RAID storage solution. Max out its capacity with the largest disks available to-date and upgrade it in a few years as your needs progress.
First thing that comes to mind is the Dell PowerVault line of storage solutions. Their PowerVault 775N Storage Server, for example, has a capacity of 40TB. You could also look at a PowerVault tape library which can store dozens of multi-GB tapes.
If you wanted to expand on your mission critical storage solution you can look at a small/medium storage area network (SAN) which can be expanded nearly exponentially. Essentially what that will comprise of is a grouping of RAID devices on a high speed backbone. The largest SAN I've had the pleasure of working with was in the neighborhood of 1 Petabyte and only took up 3-4 six foot equipment racks. At a mere 6GB/day of additional data, it would take a very long time to fill an array of that size (the array was being used to store in excess of 50-100GB/day). The benefeits of a SAN is its pure flexibility. Need more storage? Add more disks. More still? More units. More racks. You could expand to fill a basketball court if you really needed to. If a drive fails the system will notify you by a variety of means including an on-screen notification, e-mail, pager/SMS transmission, audible/visual alarm,... Replace the drive and the system syncs the data automatically.
For a solution to meet your needs you can investigate Dell, HP, Intel, Sun, or any number of other smaller organizations depending on your propensity to take risks.
If you're not interested in outlaying the cash for such a solution all on your own you can look at data storage warehouses and pay a monthly/annual fee. This can benefeit you in that you can increase your capacity as required and only pay for what you need at any given time. In short, make it somebody elses problem to maintain the freshness of your backups.
As far as offline storage goes, you're taking a risk either way. You can use tapes, but yes, they fail. As do DVD-Rs, CDs, magneto-optical, etc. To gain maximum long-term effectiveness you need a well regulated room to store the media to maintain humidity, temperature and light penetration. By the time you're done equipping such a location and filling it with media you'll have spent the money that could have gone into a reliable online storage solution which puts the data at your fingertips at any given moment.
As with anything else in life you get what you pay for. If you go to Future Shop / Best Buy / Circuit City and pick up Firewire hard drives, sure, you won't spend much but in return you get a cluttered desk and several possible points of failure with little to no recourse. If you want reliable storage, I'm afraid you're going to have to pay accordingly.
No shit. I was just turned down for a contract because I didn't have 5 years of.Net experience. Hello,.Net went gold in 2002. Unless I invented a time machine in my basement, I don't think I'm going to be able to get those extra 2 years for them.
Thing is, somebody eventually got that contract - right? In all likelyhood there's nobody out there with 5+ years experience with.Net, right?
It's all in how you word it. Think outside of the box, as they say. ".Net development experience since it went gold." Now atleast you have an opening in the interview to explain that you've been developing with it since it became available in 2002. Otherwise, you're just another negative schmoe who said "f&%# it; that's impossible!" and hit the reject pile.
If you let a minor beaurocratic oversight hold you down, I'm afraid you'll never make it very far in this world. It's everywhere - learn to deal with it or you'll get run over.
How many trucks have a towing capacity of less then 500lbs?
An F-75?:)
I haven't looked it up, but I'd suspect that towing capacities would be around two or more tons for most trucks with a typical bumper hitch.
A 'typical bumper hitch' would be a ball-on-bumper configuration, and presuming it's a steel bumper you're looking at Class I capacity which is 2000lb gross trailer weight with 200lb tongue weight. A minimal hitch receiver configuration would carry Class II-III (3500/350 - 5000/500) while a heavier duty hitch as found on a typical F-150 pickup is a Class IV which is rated for 10,000lbs with a 1000lb tongue weight.
If you look at a Heavy/Super duty truck, esp with a diesel engine you'd be looking at weight distributing Class V which rates out at greater than 10,000lbs.
Even a wee Ranger pickup with an inline-4 can tow Class II without breaking a sweat.
Wow, down here in the USA a Prius battery costs 2-3K. The quoteI got was 2K but others have said 3, maybe they didnt quote me labor charges.
The Prius is now in its 7th model year, so the parts have been subsidized almost to the point where the R&D has paid for itself. The Escape Hybrid is a newer vehicle only in its 2nd year so the parts costs are much higher. 5 years from now you'll probably be able to pick up a factory battery for around $1-2k for either unit. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't after-market Prius batteries already available (which will naturally create competition).
I had no idea the US dollar was so strong against it's Canadian brother.
Hah.. Not quite that much. It's trading at $1CDN = $0.84USD, climbing slowly to reach a high of $0.86USD but remaining fairly steady at 84. That would put the Escape battery at approximately $11,760USD and the Prius battery at $3571CDN (according to the $14k and $3k figures used in this thread).
You have to replace those batteries every 8 years at a cost of $7,000. And the car makers only offer a 5 year warranty on batteries.
How does this author figure you must replace the battery after 5 years? How did he arrive at this figure? Also, Ford and Toyota are both offering 8, not 5 year warranties on all hybrid components. Considering the lifespan of a typical car averages somewhere between 5-8 years, this seems like highly flawed math to me.
In some cases, you can easily walk your children to school. In some cases, you can even walk, or take public transportation, to work. Yet people choose not to, for whatever reason.
In my case I face a 30-45 minute drive to work every day. It's not horrible because I drive a small 4-cylinder standard transmission and my fuel economy is fantastic. Were I to ride my bike, it'd be atleast 2 hours. Were I to take the train, it would be a transfer between the west and northbound trains and take atleast 2 hours. When work starts at 8:30 in the morning after working until 9:00 the night before I really don't feel like leaving my house at 6AM to get to work on time.
More and more people are taking advantage of lower cost of living outside of the metropolitan areas in which they work which means, of course, a longer commute.
I'll note that hybrids are pretty heavily subsidized even in the states. Some areas will discount the car $5,000. Even then, they're still expensive enough to make the calculations for 'saving money' complicated.
They're subsidized everywhere. To replace the battery (for whatever reason you may have to, considering the extensive warranties) it'll cost you in the neighborhood of $14,000 CDN! Hybrid manufacturers have a 10 year financial plan in place where they actually lose money for the first 5-7 years, break even for the next three, and become profitable afterwards.
... if it had been going 456km/day EVERY DAY since 1999. Highly doubtful.
It was a taxi-cab. Toyota brought a new Prius on a flatbed and offered to make him an even trade for it. They wanted to see how the vehicle was performing, wearing, etc. after so many kms. I'll see if I can lay my hands on the bulletin Toyota put out to its sales staff about it (it wasn't advertised or released as public information)
To the the concept of buying a new car to save on fuel just doesn't work even with the UKs high fuel prices.
Based on what you've said, no, you're not in a position to purchase a new vehicle and therefore it won't pay for itself. Were you in a position to make a new vehicle purchase (age, damage, wear+tear, excess maintainance, etc.) then you should find the type of vehicle you're interested in and compare the regular version against the hybrid variant. Figure the difference in price, the total time you expect to own the vehicle, and the fuel savings per year (which in many cases can be upwards of 50%). Based on fuel savings, you can extrapolate how long it will take to account for the difference in price before the hybrid starts effectively paying for itself.
Remember that you can spend an eternity trying to find a way to make a car pay for itself but unless you drive a taxi/limo, you're attempting a lost cause. Cars are by far the worst investment you can make but they're a neccesary part of life, so it's a cost of living. Anything else will just give you a headache.:P
the cost of producing and purchasing hybrids should be shared by everyone on the planet, not just by purchasers of hybrids.
In Ontario Canada there's a $1000 Retail Sales Tax Credit offered by the provinicial government for purchase of an "alternate fuel vehicle". Check your local government for information and you may find you have similar incentives.
Look at how much toxic chemicals is in a battery. Now factor in that you have to replace the batt every 2-4 years.
2-4 years? Where, pray tell, did you arrive at that figure? The Ford Escape Hybrid carries an 8 year 160,000km (100,000mi) warranty on all hybrid components; including the battery. The average lifecycle of car ownership in Ontario Canada is 5-8 years.
Just like the Toyota Prius, the Escape Hybrid's charging system is fully automated and self-contained. You never have to worry about the battery life or connect to mains power to charge it.
That number sounds to me like oil cartel propaganda to create Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in what is perceived by many to be new technology. In point of fact hybrid-electric technology has been in use in commercial and consumer applications for decades (diesel/electric train engines being a prime example, the Prius has been around since 1999 and there are many examples where a Prius has topped 1,000,000kms before being turned over for a new(er) model).
I can't help but notice the first line of the URL you referenced says;
S/PDIF or S/P-DIF stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format, also IEC 958 type II, part of IEC-60958.
Sounds to me as if HTH NE1 was rather correct.
The protocol formally called IEC 958 type II and popularly known as S/PDIF is primarily a proper subset of AES/EBU except for one minor detail (the "channel status bit") that most implementations of AES/EBU can probably handle.
Yes, the low level protocol support is nearly identical but the cabling, connector, signal level, subcode information and max resolution all differ. (Again from the very URL you referenced).
This is a great example of what happens when a person who knows little to nothing about a subject arms himself with Google (or Wikipedia) and posts the results on Slashdot.
See, had you worked with any of this technology in the Real World (or, had you read the entirety of your reference material) you'd know that the S/PDIF format is a lower cost, more readily available variant of a professional format used by music studios. It is a joint venture between electronics companies to provide low-cost digital audio to consumers. Another large difference is the size and cost of the cabling required. Professional equipment uses XLR connectors (3 pin, very cumbersome head, thick cables) which is higher cost and complexity. Also, home consumers don't need the ruggedness of the XLR connection as most home theatre equipment is connected once and ignored until the next major component upgrade whereas studio equipment is constantly re-connected depending on the equipment in use at the time.
The ideal unit for that type of setup is a nice receiver. Run all your svideo, composite, component, digital audio connections to it, and then one set of video cables (composite, component, and s-video) to your TV.
I've already got a decent receiver, but the problem is it was bought at the time when multiple digital input switching was becomming all the rage, so lower-end models with only 1 or 2 switchable digital inputs were selling for massive reductions. I let a good deal get the better of me using the justification that most of my other equipment was analog. Since then, I've added digital cable, XBox, a digital CD player, and a new DVD player with component output (opposed to my old s-video). Long and short of it is I'm a tad bereft of digital inputs.
I may just have to bite the bullet and pick up the Harmon Kardon I've had my eye on. This time, however, I'm not going to get the lowest model that suits my present needs.:)
Thank you, Mr. AC, for providing a link that contains useless information. Where, I might ask, is the connection for my digital cable box in any of those provided links?
I was asking about a unit that would connect multiple component/S-Video/digital audio sources to a single input. Sorry once again for not pandering to the 9 year old populous that likes to post anonymously to Slashdot.
I/m using Velcro for mine. They also share the same universal Component AV cable, you just cannot turn them on at the same time.
What sort of cable is that? Do you actually have all three connected to your A/V setup via a splitter? What is the make/model, and where do I find such a beast?
My present receiver has limited digital inputs, so I had to jury-rig my XBox to connect to the VCR/Digital input. If I got a second system and/or a digital cable box it would most likely have to connect to the same source.
I've tried all that. I've got 4 or 5 female friends, and yet none of them has even remotely hinted at dating. Why do I think you have to say magic words to get a date? Because I can only find friends. Granted, they're really good friends (two of them are near the top of my friend charts), but even those two haven't indicated any interest in dating.
Women, in general, prefer to have really good friends to a significant other. If you become a good confidant to them they will value that so much they don't want to ruin it by engaging in a romantic relationship.
Of course, quite often women will remain old fashioned and just want you to make the suggestion of taking your relationship further. In short, sometimes all you have to do is ask. No pickup lines, no fancy footwork, just talk candidly about how you feel about them and ask if they feel the same way about you. Perhaps they never even thought of it, or perhaps they were just waiting for you or waiting for the right time.
But be warned; once you're in a position where she's talking openly to you about their past and present relationships you're probably never going to take it any further.
Otherwise, if you want to find a new girl with whom to start a relationship you could always try a dating website. They're not nearly as taboo as they once were; you'll probably find you even know someone who's connected on such a site. A lot of people who use Mate1, LavaLife, etc. are people who are too busy with careers/kids, don't like the "bar scene", don't have time to go out and seek a relationship, or want to find someone who they can talk to before entering a relationship.
Enter an honest profile, find a nice picture of yourself, and periodically scan the available women in your desired age range and area and try to start conversations. You may meet a few and find that you have no connection, you may feel awkward at first, but if you have open and honest conversations with them online you may find someone that's perfect for you.
On the other hand if you're comfortable being single and honestly aren't looking for a relationship, by all means remain so until you feel you're ready. Be honest with yourself though and don't put it off until you're desperate. Remember; nobody has to settle for just anyone just because they want to be with 'someone'.
I'm getting tired of these damned jokes as well. The only reason I can't manipulate a woman into having sex with me is because I consider manipulating people immoral, and manipulating them into casual sex moreso.
Your first problem is that you believe you have to manipulate a woman into having sex. Women want it just as badly as men.
There are women out there who want to be talked to as a person, and who will then become friendly and soon after intimate with you.
It's actually fairly patronizing towards women to believe they have to be manipulated into sex. If you truly believe that, it's probably coming across to them and you're right; you're never going to get a date. Drop the attitude and just talk to them. Find common interests, make sure you get along with them and let nature take its course.
They just never realize that people like me don't bother to learn how to "pick up" women.
They're not dogs, my friend. They do not need to be duped or lured into coming home with you. They are, however, looking for relationships in much the same way as men.
Thanks for the generalizations. Makes you sound a bit frustrated, though.
When your IT-people are...
Speaking of generalizations, you missed the part where I said I came from an IT background myself. Sorry for not providing my complete resumee, but it includes a number of years' worth of programming. I found myself perfectly comfortable doing so in a pair of slacks and a shirt, with my hair neatly combed (somehow I managed to produce quality code while dressed this way). Sure, I could also produce code while wearing jeans, a t-shirt and no shoes but I didn't get hung up on the fabric covering my appendages. See, I have a professional work ethic so I am able to work in most conditions.
Further to the generalizations; not all rooms with cubicles in them have conversations, ringing telephones and "general office noise", but instead did you consider a lot of these rooms are full of other programmers?
For what it's worth, I've also worked in such environments where video games were not expressly forbidden (they weren't specifically permitted, either) and had small groups of fellow programmers disturb the rest with their screams, grunts, and cheers (not to mention the continuous shotgun blasts, railgun rounds, and grenades exploding from their speakers).
So while you (the general few of you who are making the point) are complaining about sales-people's bonuses, schedules, and perks while at the same time demanding absurd dress codes, no schedules, and access to an XBox - think about what you're saying; it makes you sound childish and silly. As such, you're not likely to meet with success in your demands.
Slashdot Mirror
Because the human body is something to cover up and be ashamed of?
When American kids can watch death, misery, and mayhem on the evening news but a nipple is taboo there's a problem.
My pack clearly states; "CIGARETTES CAUSE LUNG CANCER", yet new smokers light up every day.
Blah blah cars, factories, busses, chemicals, right to not associate with or near smokers, blah blah...
I live on the northern side of the great lakes. I'm surrounded by fresh water. Yet every summer without fail I find my area in atleast 3 fresh water bans (no lawn watering, restricted laundry, etc.)
Population density is increasing everywhere in North America and the situation is most definately getting worse - especially with all the pollutants we're putting in our water. This increases the need for treatment facilities thereby reducing the availability of clean water.
Matter of fact, a quick Google brought up this interesting piece that discusses a piece of the North American water situation.
Sorry, but I'm afraid the two are mutually exclusive. "High quality" media doesn't come at a bulk price of $0.35/unit. Generic consumer-grade media does. This is a person who's backing up thousands of hours of unreproducible work, not his MP3 collection.
Yes, there is a well established standard for the controllers. RAID is an enterprise-level technology that has been around for atleast a decade and is the storage medium preference for corporations that literally can't afford data loss and/or downtime.
If long-term data storage is a priority for you (plural); something you similarly can't afford to go awry I would heartily reccomend you find an enterprise-level RAID storage solution. Max out its capacity with the largest disks available to-date and upgrade it in a few years as your needs progress.
First thing that comes to mind is the Dell PowerVault line of storage solutions. Their PowerVault 775N Storage Server, for example, has a capacity of 40TB. You could also look at a PowerVault tape library which can store dozens of multi-GB tapes.
If you wanted to expand on your mission critical storage solution you can look at a small/medium storage area network (SAN) which can be expanded nearly exponentially. Essentially what that will comprise of is a grouping of RAID devices on a high speed backbone. The largest SAN I've had the pleasure of working with was in the neighborhood of 1 Petabyte and only took up 3-4 six foot equipment racks. At a mere 6GB/day of additional data, it would take a very long time to fill an array of that size (the array was being used to store in excess of 50-100GB/day). The benefeits of a SAN is its pure flexibility. Need more storage? Add more disks. More still? More units. More racks. You could expand to fill a basketball court if you really needed to. If a drive fails the system will notify you by a variety of means including an on-screen notification, e-mail, pager/SMS transmission, audible/visual alarm, ... Replace the drive and the system syncs the data automatically.
For a solution to meet your needs you can investigate Dell, HP, Intel, Sun, or any number of other smaller organizations depending on your propensity to take risks.
If you're not interested in outlaying the cash for such a solution all on your own you can look at data storage warehouses and pay a monthly/annual fee. This can benefeit you in that you can increase your capacity as required and only pay for what you need at any given time. In short, make it somebody elses problem to maintain the freshness of your backups.
As far as offline storage goes, you're taking a risk either way. You can use tapes, but yes, they fail. As do DVD-Rs, CDs, magneto-optical, etc. To gain maximum long-term effectiveness you need a well regulated room to store the media to maintain humidity, temperature and light penetration. By the time you're done equipping such a location and filling it with media you'll have spent the money that could have gone into a reliable online storage solution which puts the data at your fingertips at any given moment.
As with anything else in life you get what you pay for. If you go to Future Shop / Best Buy / Circuit City and pick up Firewire hard drives, sure, you won't spend much but in return you get a cluttered desk and several possible points of failure with little to no recourse. If you want reliable storage, I'm afraid you're going to have to pay accordingly.
Thing is, somebody eventually got that contract - right? In all likelyhood there's nobody out there with 5+ years experience with .Net, right?
It's all in how you word it. Think outside of the box, as they say. ".Net development experience since it went gold." Now atleast you have an opening in the interview to explain that you've been developing with it since it became available in 2002. Otherwise, you're just another negative schmoe who said "f&%# it; that's impossible!" and hit the reject pile.
If you let a minor beaurocratic oversight hold you down, I'm afraid you'll never make it very far in this world. It's everywhere - learn to deal with it or you'll get run over.
An F-75? :)
A 'typical bumper hitch' would be a ball-on-bumper configuration, and presuming it's a steel bumper you're looking at Class I capacity which is 2000lb gross trailer weight with 200lb tongue weight. A minimal hitch receiver configuration would carry Class II-III (3500/350 - 5000/500) while a heavier duty hitch as found on a typical F-150 pickup is a Class IV which is rated for 10,000lbs with a 1000lb tongue weight.
If you look at a Heavy/Super duty truck, esp with a diesel engine you'd be looking at weight distributing Class V which rates out at greater than 10,000lbs.
Even a wee Ranger pickup with an inline-4 can tow Class II without breaking a sweat.
{whoosh} would be the sound of John Wayne's line going over your head.
Otherwise used extensively by the military. Not surprisingly, Wikipedia is wrong. :)
The Prius is now in its 7th model year, so the parts have been subsidized almost to the point where the R&D has paid for itself. The Escape Hybrid is a newer vehicle only in its 2nd year so the parts costs are much higher. 5 years from now you'll probably be able to pick up a factory battery for around $1-2k for either unit. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't after-market Prius batteries already available (which will naturally create competition).
Hah.. Not quite that much. It's trading at $1CDN = $0.84USD, climbing slowly to reach a high of $0.86USD but remaining fairly steady at 84. That would put the Escape battery at approximately $11,760USD and the Prius battery at $3571CDN (according to the $14k and $3k figures used in this thread).
Care to elaborate on that rather bold statement?
How does this author figure you must replace the battery after 5 years? How did he arrive at this figure? Also, Ford and Toyota are both offering 8, not 5 year warranties on all hybrid components. Considering the lifespan of a typical car averages somewhere between 5-8 years, this seems like highly flawed math to me.
In my case I face a 30-45 minute drive to work every day. It's not horrible because I drive a small 4-cylinder standard transmission and my fuel economy is fantastic. Were I to ride my bike, it'd be atleast 2 hours. Were I to take the train, it would be a transfer between the west and northbound trains and take atleast 2 hours. When work starts at 8:30 in the morning after working until 9:00 the night before I really don't feel like leaving my house at 6AM to get to work on time.
More and more people are taking advantage of lower cost of living outside of the metropolitan areas in which they work which means, of course, a longer commute.
They're subsidized everywhere. To replace the battery (for whatever reason you may have to, considering the extensive warranties) it'll cost you in the neighborhood of $14,000 CDN! Hybrid manufacturers have a 10 year financial plan in place where they actually lose money for the first 5-7 years, break even for the next three, and become profitable afterwards.
It was a taxi-cab. Toyota brought a new Prius on a flatbed and offered to make him an even trade for it. They wanted to see how the vehicle was performing, wearing, etc. after so many kms. I'll see if I can lay my hands on the bulletin Toyota put out to its sales staff about it (it wasn't advertised or released as public information)
Based on what you've said, no, you're not in a position to purchase a new vehicle and therefore it won't pay for itself. Were you in a position to make a new vehicle purchase (age, damage, wear+tear, excess maintainance, etc.) then you should find the type of vehicle you're interested in and compare the regular version against the hybrid variant. Figure the difference in price, the total time you expect to own the vehicle, and the fuel savings per year (which in many cases can be upwards of 50%). Based on fuel savings, you can extrapolate how long it will take to account for the difference in price before the hybrid starts effectively paying for itself.
Remember that you can spend an eternity trying to find a way to make a car pay for itself but unless you drive a taxi/limo, you're attempting a lost cause. Cars are by far the worst investment you can make but they're a neccesary part of life, so it's a cost of living. Anything else will just give you a headache. :P
In Ontario Canada there's a $1000 Retail Sales Tax Credit offered by the provinicial government for purchase of an "alternate fuel vehicle". Check your local government for information and you may find you have similar incentives.
2-4 years? Where, pray tell, did you arrive at that figure? The Ford Escape Hybrid carries an 8 year 160,000km (100,000mi) warranty on all hybrid components; including the battery. The average lifecycle of car ownership in Ontario Canada is 5-8 years.
Just like the Toyota Prius, the Escape Hybrid's charging system is fully automated and self-contained. You never have to worry about the battery life or connect to mains power to charge it.
That number sounds to me like oil cartel propaganda to create Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in what is perceived by many to be new technology. In point of fact hybrid-electric technology has been in use in commercial and consumer applications for decades (diesel/electric train engines being a prime example, the Prius has been around since 1999 and there are many examples where a Prius has topped 1,000,000kms before being turned over for a new(er) model).
There is no J in Cisco.
I can't help but notice the first line of the URL you referenced says;
Sounds to me as if HTH NE1 was rather correct.
Yes, the low level protocol support is nearly identical but the cabling, connector, signal level, subcode information and max resolution all differ. (Again from the very URL you referenced).
This is a great example of what happens when a person who knows little to nothing about a subject arms himself with Google (or Wikipedia) and posts the results on Slashdot.
See, had you worked with any of this technology in the Real World (or, had you read the entirety of your reference material) you'd know that the S/PDIF format is a lower cost, more readily available variant of a professional format used by music studios. It is a joint venture between electronics companies to provide low-cost digital audio to consumers. Another large difference is the size and cost of the cabling required. Professional equipment uses XLR connectors (3 pin, very cumbersome head, thick cables) which is higher cost and complexity. Also, home consumers don't need the ruggedness of the XLR connection as most home theatre equipment is connected once and ignored until the next major component upgrade whereas studio equipment is constantly re-connected depending on the equipment in use at the time.
I've already got a decent receiver, but the problem is it was bought at the time when multiple digital input switching was becomming all the rage, so lower-end models with only 1 or 2 switchable digital inputs were selling for massive reductions. I let a good deal get the better of me using the justification that most of my other equipment was analog. Since then, I've added digital cable, XBox, a digital CD player, and a new DVD player with component output (opposed to my old s-video). Long and short of it is I'm a tad bereft of digital inputs.
I may just have to bite the bullet and pick up the Harmon Kardon I've had my eye on. This time, however, I'm not going to get the lowest model that suits my present needs. :)
I was asking about a unit that would connect multiple component/S-Video/digital audio sources to a single input. Sorry once again for not pandering to the 9 year old populous that likes to post anonymously to Slashdot.
What sort of cable is that? Do you actually have all three connected to your A/V setup via a splitter? What is the make/model, and where do I find such a beast?
My present receiver has limited digital inputs, so I had to jury-rig my XBox to connect to the VCR/Digital input. If I got a second system and/or a digital cable box it would most likely have to connect to the same source.
Women, in general, prefer to have really good friends to a significant other. If you become a good confidant to them they will value that so much they don't want to ruin it by engaging in a romantic relationship.
Of course, quite often women will remain old fashioned and just want you to make the suggestion of taking your relationship further. In short, sometimes all you have to do is ask. No pickup lines, no fancy footwork, just talk candidly about how you feel about them and ask if they feel the same way about you. Perhaps they never even thought of it, or perhaps they were just waiting for you or waiting for the right time.
But be warned; once you're in a position where she's talking openly to you about their past and present relationships you're probably never going to take it any further.
Otherwise, if you want to find a new girl with whom to start a relationship you could always try a dating website. They're not nearly as taboo as they once were; you'll probably find you even know someone who's connected on such a site. A lot of people who use Mate1, LavaLife, etc. are people who are too busy with careers/kids, don't like the "bar scene", don't have time to go out and seek a relationship, or want to find someone who they can talk to before entering a relationship.
Enter an honest profile, find a nice picture of yourself, and periodically scan the available women in your desired age range and area and try to start conversations. You may meet a few and find that you have no connection, you may feel awkward at first, but if you have open and honest conversations with them online you may find someone that's perfect for you.
On the other hand if you're comfortable being single and honestly aren't looking for a relationship, by all means remain so until you feel you're ready. Be honest with yourself though and don't put it off until you're desperate. Remember; nobody has to settle for just anyone just because they want to be with 'someone'.
Aside from the fact that this is a massive red herring, stupid people start (or cause) fires every day. Many of them don't even smoke.
By the by, did you see anywhere in my post that I remotely suggested that smoking "never hurts anyone but the smoker"?
Your first problem is that you believe you have to manipulate a woman into having sex. Women want it just as badly as men.
There are women out there who want to be talked to as a person, and who will then become friendly and soon after intimate with you.
It's actually fairly patronizing towards women to believe they have to be manipulated into sex. If you truly believe that, it's probably coming across to them and you're right; you're never going to get a date. Drop the attitude and just talk to them. Find common interests, make sure you get along with them and let nature take its course.
They're not dogs, my friend. They do not need to be duped or lured into coming home with you. They are, however, looking for relationships in much the same way as men.
Speaking of generalizations, you missed the part where I said I came from an IT background myself. Sorry for not providing my complete resumee, but it includes a number of years' worth of programming. I found myself perfectly comfortable doing so in a pair of slacks and a shirt, with my hair neatly combed (somehow I managed to produce quality code while dressed this way). Sure, I could also produce code while wearing jeans, a t-shirt and no shoes but I didn't get hung up on the fabric covering my appendages. See, I have a professional work ethic so I am able to work in most conditions.
Further to the generalizations; not all rooms with cubicles in them have conversations, ringing telephones and "general office noise", but instead did you consider a lot of these rooms are full of other programmers?
For what it's worth, I've also worked in such environments where video games were not expressly forbidden (they weren't specifically permitted, either) and had small groups of fellow programmers disturb the rest with their screams, grunts, and cheers (not to mention the continuous shotgun blasts, railgun rounds, and grenades exploding from their speakers).
So while you (the general few of you who are making the point) are complaining about sales-people's bonuses, schedules, and perks while at the same time demanding absurd dress codes, no schedules, and access to an XBox - think about what you're saying; it makes you sound childish and silly. As such, you're not likely to meet with success in your demands.