"I have never seen someone promote so much pseudo science horse shit garbage in my entire time here at Slashdot."
A report on two studies (1994 & 1999) of a large sample group that reinforce the results of numerous other studies is "pseudo science horse shit"? Interesting. I would venture that lowering your IQ may not be possible...
So how exactly does this relate to homework? Anakin went bad because he wasn't given homework, or because he was given homework but it was to learn the Jedi ways by rote?
Of course it couldn't be that he was just a typical neurotic, self obsessed teenager exercising the ability to kill at random. Does that ring any bells?
"Im just surprised the pr0n industry wasn't here before"
They were there long before the web. It's called the Penthouse letters page, and it's long been a home to illiterate, implausible drivel, so I think it qualifies.
The critical difference between MicroSoft and Google is that Google aren't in a position to put a URL icon on everyone's desktop in the next Windows service pack.
That's unlikely, sure, but including a bookmark in IE will certainly capture the portion of computer users who can't be bothered looking for an alternative (the MS core market, in other words).
I only saw about three episodes (it had a very short run in Australia). It seemed a bit tacky, but sci-fi serials usually need some time to find their feet, so I'm kind of hesitant to pass judgement.
That would have been convenient, but probably impractical because of the internal layout: either the slot would have to be behind a hatch on the side or rear, or the logic board would have to be split. Both of those options would have added complexity in a machine that was, after all, designed as a cheap locked box for schools.
Frankly, I'm amazed at how much is crammed into an eMac, especially considering the size of the speaker assembly. The only thing that really bugs me about the design is the way the hard drive is between the CPU heatsink and the CRT neck; of course, my hard drive failed because it overheated, but that was my fault for not keeping the vents clear.
"Why is Christian-bashing 'cool,' and making fun of Hindus un-cool and politically-incorrect and trollish?"
Because Hindus are not running things, perhaps? Because Hindus don't invade anyone else's countries and invoke the names of any of their Gods in justification?
In any society it is healthy to question the actions of dominant social group, lest they run amok. It just so happens that members of that dominant group are sensitive to criticism (only human), which is why you tend to notice anti-Christian sentiment more than anti-Hindu sentiment. In other words, just because you may not notice other religions being belittled since it isn't directed at you, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Think of how often you heard the expression "towel-head" in the wake of 9/11, and the fact that Sikhs, who are not even remotely Muslim but also happen to wear turbans, were targetted. Now, if some Christians find it acceptable to vilify, and even in some cases physically attack an adherent of a religion because of the actions of other adherents of the same religion, then all Christians are fair game for criticism based on the actions of the few.
Fair enough if you don't find that acceptable, it shouldn't be. But before you go accusing anyone else of bigotry, be absolutely sure those you are defending do not behave exactly the same way. If you choose to group yourself with such hypocrites, you have no one but yourself to blame for any hurt you feel when the group is criticised.
Of course, it may not have occurred to you that anyone criticising Christians in a country like America has been raised in a largely pro-Christian society and would have had extensive experience with Christians, so would probably not be working from blind, uneducated bigotry but rather from a considered perspective that may have involved a more than a bit of personal pain and disillusionment.
"I still haven't figured out whether this is just ignorance or calculated propaganda..."
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just like all liberals are Michael Moore clones, right? The point here is that if you aren't a Protestant Fundamentalist, you shouldn't be too worried about others ridiculing their excesses, because you know it isn't directed at you. Why take offence at barbs about behaviour you don't engage in? If I were you, I'd be more offended by those making decent Christians a target: the money obsessed tele-evangelists, the corrupt politicians, and those who insist that theirs is a "truth" that must be taught regardless of the beliefs of others, contrary to the very idea of religious freedom. They're doing more to harm the credibility of Christ's teachings than any ridicule ever could, and it is the decent Christians not acting, or worse, acting defensively and denying there are problems letting them get away with it.
Just for the record, my view on this has been shaped by several discussions with some nuns I know through Oxfam (don't be fooled, nuns know how to drink!); even they are capable of distinguishing between Christians of real faith and Christians of convenience.
Space 1999 was brilliant in a non-space-western way; Koenig was a right bastard at times, which made him that bit more believable as an administrator, unlike goody-two-shoes-unless-its-the-Borg Picard. Same with UFO and Straker. Both off-beat, very much in keeping with New Worlds and other sci-fi literature of the time.
I could say the same: I almost never refer to take apart manuals, but I found I needed to with the eMac. To me, that makes it less than easy (less than obvious?). In fact, I found it considerably less intuative than a 333MHz tray-load iMac, which presented no problems at all.
Still, it isn't a job for anyone used to the Lego-style tower form. Those push-tight connectors on the main board give me the heebie-jeebies, and I was bitten by a crashed power management unit. Lots of traps for young players.
"And as long as that noise is within the margins of the logic, it disappears at the next transistor, so that the noise never "cascades" like it would with analog processing."
While that's true, you're forgetting that logic circuits don't use pre-determined voltages, they use thresholds relative to the supply rail (2/3 Vcc=logic 1, for example). If the supply voltage in one portion of a circuit fluctuates while another remains steady because of better filtering or rail decoupling, that can (and does) translate into spurious signals. It is a real effect, and must be taken into account when designing logic board layouts by ensuring the supply rail is extremely low impedence.
That said, fundamentally you are right: an average PSU will generally be good enough, as long as it isn't being asked to provide 105% of it's rated output. That's the mistake a lot of people make; that, and the fact that some cheaper supplies seem to use the same value for the Watt used when measuring PMPO in portable radios...
Switching power supplies don't use full wave rectifiers.
Indeed they do. The switch is essentially a PWM delivering a chopped DC signal with a mark-space ratio modified by feedback from the output rail. The DC is provided by a bridge rectifier feeding a high voltage capacitor of modest value; by using a half-wave rectifier you need double the capacitance to achieve the same ripple trough, and high voltage capacitors are much more expensive than diodes.
I'm not a fan of any component that contains liquid mercury, I'd prefer a nice thermionic rectifier like the GZ34. Of course, the audio loonies would argue they'd make the sound card "sweeter"...
"Apparently the plants grow better with more light, the growers leave plant lights on 24/7."
Not so. More than fourteen hours a day yields no significant improvement in growth rate (plants need a night cycle too), more than that is a waste of electricity, so growers tend to use timer switches. Power companies look at the times the power is being used, not just the amount: if a large load is switched on and off at exactly the same time every day in a residential building, its a good indicator.
"So they're looking for someone using an unusual constant level of power..."
I just checked, the Sonn-T-Agro I have here (two inch diameter, 14 inches long) consumes 400 Watts, or a little more than the computer I'm sitting in front of (which is usually on 24/7), so it's unlikely that anything less than a major server farm would be detectable, let alone mistaken for a growing room.
"I'm not also sure if power companies even care..."
Depending on jurisdiction, if the power company has reason to suspect illegal activity they are obliged to pass on information. That said, the last bust I heard of was because the neighbours complained about the smell...
And before anyone makes accusations, grow lights have legal uses too, just like P2P.
A "quality full wave rectifier" can be made with four power diodes at less than a dollar each; the PX6007 springs to mind, or the BR106 bridge package if you need really heavy currents. But any full-wave rectifier puts out pulsed DC, it is up to the filters and regulator section to provide a clean output.
In my experience repairing PSUs, problems are usually caused by poor quality or inadequate filtering components (which can leave noise on the supply rails), capacitors failing or an under-rated or overheating switching transistor (FET/SCR/IGBT etc). The full wave rectifier is rarely a source of problems, and often remains intact even when the rest of the PSU is a charred mess.
I remember this from the old Sega Master System. The best part is if you hold down the fire button, the energy builds up and...oh, wait, that's R-Type...
Being stupid doesn't preclude someone from accidentally asking a smart question. In fact, anyone who needs to ask a lot of questions has a better chance of asking the occasional clever one, if only because of the law of averages:)
"If it doesn't harm the host then it's not parasitic."
Sorry, "parasitic" does not specifically require harm to the host, just dependency (use of resources) without any reciprocal benefit, and that description fits quite accurately.
"If it was parasitic you can argue that it was theft."
No, I'd argue it was either copyright infringement (in the case of P2P) or just poor manners.
why would you reward such a pathetid and inept display of direction and screenwriting by going and paying seven times the normal price?
Because in 1977 there was no file sharing, no VHS or DVD, hiring a 16mm print was incredibly expensive even if you happened to own a 16mm projector, and at the time it was the best film a seven-year-old could see (small kids aren't overly critical of the technical aspects of film making). Plus, it was being shown at a cinema less than half a kilometer from my house for $1.50 a ticket, which was a good price for the most impressive special effects movie to date. Any further stupid questions?
i would have thought natural selection would have taken care of souls like you by now.
That's funny, coming from someone who can't seem to master the "Shift" key. Knowing the difference between "Polish salami" and "polish salami" could prevent you being arrested...
"Focus on facts if you want to win, otherwise you are picking a battle that like the others who do the same, will never win."
Fact: piracy is a specific offence.
Fact: theft is a specific offence, distinct from piracy.
Fact: copyright infringement is a specific offence, distict from the first two offences.
Fact: in a court of law, copyright infringement is not piracy or theft.
Fact: Slashdot, or the general media for that matter, is not a court of law.
Fact: Unless you are prosecuting someone for a specific act in a court of law, colloquialisms are acceptable to the point of being given space in dictionaries.
Fact: The word piracy as a colloquialism for copyright infringement predates every form of media except the printing press, and is listed in every dictionary with that definition.
Fact: Dictionaries are regarded by most people as being an authoritive reference for the definition of words, not because the dictionaries set arbitrary definitions but because they reflect the common useage of words across the spectrum of society, and are based on very thorough research (an online open source dictionary does not represent all demographic groups, it excludes people who don't own computers or have no interest in language; the sample group isn't large or diverse enough to be truly representative).
Fact: Arguing with a dictionary is pointless, unless you are prepared to present carefully researched evidence to the publisher why your definition is more correct. And no, percieved bias is not evidence, it is opinion, which is why dictionaries still contain words like "nigger", "kike" and "dago"; those words may be offensive, just like "piracy" is around here, but they are still common enough in use to warrant inclusion.
Summary: Outside a courtroom, most reasonable people are prepared to accept the dictionary as the final authority on the accuracy of a word's definition. At best, debating definitions is slimy shyster lawyer tactics; at worst, its plain arrogance. You don't defeat an enemy by becoming him.
Slashdot Mirror
"I have never seen someone promote so much pseudo science horse shit garbage in my entire time here at Slashdot."
A report on two studies (1994 & 1999) of a large sample group that reinforce the results of numerous other studies is "pseudo science horse shit"? Interesting. I would venture that lowering your IQ may not be possible...
So how exactly does this relate to homework? Anakin went bad because he wasn't given homework, or because he was given homework but it was to learn the Jedi ways by rote?
Of course it couldn't be that he was just a typical neurotic, self obsessed teenager exercising the ability to kill at random. Does that ring any bells?
I had a marsupial burger last Saturday. They're available at bistros all over Australia.
"Im just surprised the pr0n industry wasn't here before"
They were there long before the web. It's called the Penthouse letters page, and it's long been a home to illiterate, implausible drivel, so I think it qualifies.
Unfortunately, use of the former sometimes precludes use of the latter.
The critical difference between MicroSoft and Google is that Google aren't in a position to put a URL icon on everyone's desktop in the next Windows service pack.
That's unlikely, sure, but including a bookmark in IE will certainly capture the portion of computer users who can't be bothered looking for an alternative (the MS core market, in other words).
I only saw about three episodes (it had a very short run in Australia). It seemed a bit tacky, but sci-fi serials usually need some time to find their feet, so I'm kind of hesitant to pass judgement.
Ever seen Journey to the Far Side of the Sun?
That would have been convenient, but probably impractical because of the internal layout: either the slot would have to be behind a hatch on the side or rear, or the logic board would have to be split. Both of those options would have added complexity in a machine that was, after all, designed as a cheap locked box for schools.
Frankly, I'm amazed at how much is crammed into an eMac, especially considering the size of the speaker assembly. The only thing that really bugs me about the design is the way the hard drive is between the CPU heatsink and the CRT neck; of course, my hard drive failed because it overheated, but that was my fault for not keeping the vents clear.
"Why is Christian-bashing 'cool,' and making fun of Hindus un-cool and politically-incorrect and trollish?"
Because Hindus are not running things, perhaps? Because Hindus don't invade anyone else's countries and invoke the names of any of their Gods in justification?
In any society it is healthy to question the actions of dominant social group, lest they run amok. It just so happens that members of that dominant group are sensitive to criticism (only human), which is why you tend to notice anti-Christian sentiment more than anti-Hindu sentiment. In other words, just because you may not notice other religions being belittled since it isn't directed at you, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Think of how often you heard the expression "towel-head" in the wake of 9/11, and the fact that Sikhs, who are not even remotely Muslim but also happen to wear turbans, were targetted. Now, if some Christians find it acceptable to vilify, and even in some cases physically attack an adherent of a religion because of the actions of other adherents of the same religion, then all Christians are fair game for criticism based on the actions of the few.
Fair enough if you don't find that acceptable, it shouldn't be. But before you go accusing anyone else of bigotry, be absolutely sure those you are defending do not behave exactly the same way. If you choose to group yourself with such hypocrites, you have no one but yourself to blame for any hurt you feel when the group is criticised.
Of course, it may not have occurred to you that anyone criticising Christians in a country like America has been raised in a largely pro-Christian society and would have had extensive experience with Christians, so would probably not be working from blind, uneducated bigotry but rather from a considered perspective that may have involved a more than a bit of personal pain and disillusionment.
"I still haven't figured out whether this is just ignorance or calculated propaganda..."
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just like all liberals are Michael Moore clones, right? The point here is that if you aren't a Protestant Fundamentalist, you shouldn't be too worried about others ridiculing their excesses, because you know it isn't directed at you. Why take offence at barbs about behaviour you don't engage in? If I were you, I'd be more offended by those making decent Christians a target: the money obsessed tele-evangelists, the corrupt politicians, and those who insist that theirs is a "truth" that must be taught regardless of the beliefs of others, contrary to the very idea of religious freedom. They're doing more to harm the credibility of Christ's teachings than any ridicule ever could, and it is the decent Christians not acting, or worse, acting defensively and denying there are problems letting them get away with it.
Just for the record, my view on this has been shaped by several discussions with some nuns I know through Oxfam (don't be fooled, nuns know how to drink!); even they are capable of distinguishing between Christians of real faith and Christians of convenience.
"My god, someone actually remembers Space: 1999."
Space 1999 was brilliant in a non-space-western way; Koenig was a right bastard at times, which made him that bit more believable as an administrator, unlike goody-two-shoes-unless-its-the-Borg Picard. Same with UFO and Straker. Both off-beat, very much in keeping with New Worlds and other sci-fi literature of the time.
Have you seen the new Captain Scarlet?
I know precisely what you're talking about, I've seen mercury rectifiers in the flesh, so to speak. That's why I prefer thermionic rectifiers...
I could say the same: I almost never refer to take apart manuals, but I found I needed to with the eMac. To me, that makes it less than easy (less than obvious?). In fact, I found it considerably less intuative than a 333MHz tray-load iMac, which presented no problems at all.
Still, it isn't a job for anyone used to the Lego-style tower form. Those push-tight connectors on the main board give me the heebie-jeebies, and I was bitten by a crashed power management unit. Lots of traps for young players.
"If you only want to change the Ram and HDD ,You can with an eMac easily..."
Having recently changed the hard drive in an eMac, I can tell you it ain't exactly easy, and I've fixed VCRs without take-apart diagrams...
"And as long as that noise is within the margins of the logic, it disappears at the next transistor, so that the noise never "cascades" like it would with analog processing."
While that's true, you're forgetting that logic circuits don't use pre-determined voltages, they use thresholds relative to the supply rail (2/3 Vcc=logic 1, for example). If the supply voltage in one portion of a circuit fluctuates while another remains steady because of better filtering or rail decoupling, that can (and does) translate into spurious signals. It is a real effect, and must be taken into account when designing logic board layouts by ensuring the supply rail is extremely low impedence.
That said, fundamentally you are right: an average PSU will generally be good enough, as long as it isn't being asked to provide 105% of it's rated output. That's the mistake a lot of people make; that, and the fact that some cheaper supplies seem to use the same value for the Watt used when measuring PMPO in portable radios...
Switching power supplies don't use full wave rectifiers.
Indeed they do. The switch is essentially a PWM delivering a chopped DC signal with a mark-space ratio modified by feedback from the output rail. The DC is provided by a bridge rectifier feeding a high voltage capacitor of modest value; by using a half-wave rectifier you need double the capacitance to achieve the same ripple trough, and high voltage capacitors are much more expensive than diodes.
Here's an example of an ATX PSU: http://www.pavouk.comp.cz/hw/atxps.png The bridge rectifier is at the top left, components D21-24.
What switchmode PSUs don't use is large stepdown transformers. You can find out more at http://www.smps.us/smpsdesign.html. Google is your friend.
I'm not a fan of any component that contains liquid mercury, I'd prefer a nice thermionic rectifier like the GZ34. Of course, the audio loonies would argue they'd make the sound card "sweeter"...
A name like "Sparkle" for a PSU doesn't fill me with confidence, but at least is isn't called "Flash BANG!"
"Apparently the plants grow better with more light, the growers leave plant lights on 24/7."
Not so. More than fourteen hours a day yields no significant improvement in growth rate (plants need a night cycle too), more than that is a waste of electricity, so growers tend to use timer switches. Power companies look at the times the power is being used, not just the amount: if a large load is switched on and off at exactly the same time every day in a residential building, its a good indicator.
"So they're looking for someone using an unusual constant level of power..."
I just checked, the Sonn-T-Agro I have here (two inch diameter, 14 inches long) consumes 400 Watts, or a little more than the computer I'm sitting in front of (which is usually on 24/7), so it's unlikely that anything less than a major server farm would be detectable, let alone mistaken for a growing room.
"I'm not also sure if power companies even care..."
Depending on jurisdiction, if the power company has reason to suspect illegal activity they are obliged to pass on information. That said, the last bust I heard of was because the neighbours complained about the smell...
And before anyone makes accusations, grow lights have legal uses too, just like P2P.
A "quality full wave rectifier" can be made with four power diodes at less than a dollar each; the PX6007 springs to mind, or the BR106 bridge package if you need really heavy currents. But any full-wave rectifier puts out pulsed DC, it is up to the filters and regulator section to provide a clean output.
In my experience repairing PSUs, problems are usually caused by poor quality or inadequate filtering components (which can leave noise on the supply rails), capacitors failing or an under-rated or overheating switching transistor (FET/SCR/IGBT etc). The full wave rectifier is rarely a source of problems, and often remains intact even when the rest of the PSU is a charred mess.
I remember this from the old Sega Master System. The best part is if you hold down the fire button, the energy builds up and...oh, wait, that's R-Type...
Dude, you're posting on a web site full of nerds. You're seriously expecting NOT to be corrected on a piffling technical point?
Being stupid doesn't preclude someone from accidentally asking a smart question. In fact, anyone who needs to ask a lot of questions has a better chance of asking the occasional clever one, if only because of the law of averages :)
"If it doesn't harm the host then it's not parasitic."
Sorry, "parasitic" does not specifically require harm to the host, just dependency (use of resources) without any reciprocal benefit, and that description fits quite accurately.
"If it was parasitic you can argue that it was theft."
No, I'd argue it was either copyright infringement (in the case of P2P) or just poor manners.
why would you reward such a pathetid and inept display of direction and screenwriting by going and paying seven times the normal price?
Because in 1977 there was no file sharing, no VHS or DVD, hiring a 16mm print was incredibly expensive even if you happened to own a 16mm projector, and at the time it was the best film a seven-year-old could see (small kids aren't overly critical of the technical aspects of film making). Plus, it was being shown at a cinema less than half a kilometer from my house for $1.50 a ticket, which was a good price for the most impressive special effects movie to date. Any further stupid questions?
i would have thought natural selection would have taken care of souls like you by now.
That's funny, coming from someone who can't seem to master the "Shift" key. Knowing the difference between "Polish salami" and "polish salami" could prevent you being arrested...
"Focus on facts if you want to win, otherwise you are picking a battle that like the others who do the same, will never win."
Fact: piracy is a specific offence.
Fact: theft is a specific offence, distinct from piracy.
Fact: copyright infringement is a specific offence, distict from the first two offences.
Fact: in a court of law, copyright infringement is not piracy or theft.
Fact: Slashdot, or the general media for that matter, is not a court of law.
Fact: Unless you are prosecuting someone for a specific act in a court of law, colloquialisms are acceptable to the point of being given space in dictionaries.
Fact: The word piracy as a colloquialism for copyright infringement predates every form of media except the printing press, and is listed in every dictionary with that definition.
Fact: Dictionaries are regarded by most people as being an authoritive reference for the definition of words, not because the dictionaries set arbitrary definitions but because they reflect the common useage of words across the spectrum of society, and are based on very thorough research (an online open source dictionary does not represent all demographic groups, it excludes people who don't own computers or have no interest in language; the sample group isn't large or diverse enough to be truly representative).
Fact: Arguing with a dictionary is pointless, unless you are prepared to present carefully researched evidence to the publisher why your definition is more correct. And no, percieved bias is not evidence, it is opinion, which is why dictionaries still contain words like "nigger", "kike" and "dago"; those words may be offensive, just like "piracy" is around here, but they are still common enough in use to warrant inclusion.
Summary: Outside a courtroom, most reasonable people are prepared to accept the dictionary as the final authority on the accuracy of a word's definition. At best, debating definitions is slimy shyster lawyer tactics; at worst, its plain arrogance. You don't defeat an enemy by becoming him.