Be VERY VERY careful about this... I tried something similar back when in was in college, and it didn't work out very well. I tried putting up a little site to allow students to discuss professors, with the intention of making it easier for them to figure out which professor was the best fit for each student.
By the time there were two comments on the site - both about the same professor, I was told to take it down - and that the school adminstration was very upset, and that at least two different professors (not even the one with the comments) were prepared to take legal action against me and were fortunately talked out of it by the Network Services head, who I was working for at the time (but of course, not for much longer).
You're definately setting yourself up for trouble - make sure you're willing to put up with it and fight the adminstration and staff. ---
Re:America: the country without a past...
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American Gods
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· Score: 3
Principles that most people in the country are more than willing to throw away when the slighest discomfort comes their way. Why else would the public repeatedly elect people because of their promises to enact laws that contradict these principles? (for example, people willing to dismiss the 4th amendment for the war on some drugs, or willing to dismiss the 1st to eliminate a little discomforting speech)
The more I pay attention, the more I realize why freedom has been so rare throughout history. Most people are unwilling to pay the price necessary for those freedoms - having to deal with things that you don't like. People will talk about how much they enjoy them, then give up bits of those freedoms left and right.
America is getting close to changing from "The Land of the Free" to "The Land of the Willingly Unfree". ---
Assuming I were to live forever, why should I want to? As many tales have been written, one grows weary of seeing friends come and go and children age and die.
Umm... unlike all the fictional stories, if by some freak of nature his promise of immortality were true (or other means that may be arriving sooner and have a better chance of being true), your family and friends can also join in on the immortality thing, and you won't HAVE to see them age and die.
Besides, if you really do get tired of life, there's no reason you can't go and kill yourself, now is there? If you really think 50-100 years is enough for a human life, then by all means, you can go ahead and life that way. I, on the other hand, would much much prefer to have a little more say in when my time comes to a halt. I see thousands of years worth of technology in the future that I want to be around to see and experience. ---
Re:America: the country without a past...
on
American Gods
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· Score: 5
That's a big part of making America what it is. It makes it easier for people to immigrate here, since there's less of a cultural past to find a place in - they can bring much of their culture with them and not have it be so out of place as if it were to a place with a long, rich history and tradition that people feel they need to defend.
There's also a strong sentiment at least among some of the people that they don't WANT a set of traditions, a common identity, that it takes away from individuality. Sort of a longer-term rebellion.
There is one American cultural identity, one tradition... the extreme work ethic. That you are what your job is. It's not what you do for a living, it's who you are. You don't practice medicine, you're a doctor. You don't program, you are a software engineer. All the other factors that determine who you are come in as secondary considerations. Think about it - if someone were to ask you "who are you?" or "what are you?", what would you answer? Most Americans would state what kind of work they do first. Perhaps that's why there is so little else, because people are too busy working.
There's also such an extreme variety of viewpoints, of opinions, that make it hard to get anywhere, when there are always groups out there who totally despise whatever it is you're trying to do...
But you have a very, very good point, a great observation, that many of us don't think about. ---
And I'd like to make it clear for me that it's just the opposite. I have actually bought MORE music as a direct result of Napster.
I have not only used it to sample songs to see if I wanted to buy albums I was aware of, but also to discover new artists, and sample their songs. And in the last three months, after losing my DSL access (thank you Northpoint), my music purchases have seriously decreased again, without this method of previewing music and exploring what is available.
I suppose it's still not something the RIAA would be pleased with since quite a few of those purchases have been independent labels outside of the RIAA's realm - but I plan on continuing to focus mainly, if not exclusively, on non-RIAA artists after their wonderful attempt to keep their distribution monopoly. ---
About the only time I ever listen to the radio is when I take the cartridge out of my car CD changer for the day, and head home at lunchtime without it. With a 12 disc CD changer there, a 200 disc jukebox at home, and a nice mp3 collection on my computer, there's no need for radio.
Though since I lost my DSL connection I haven't touched Napster (OpenNap actually), and as a result I haven't found as much music to buy recently. Napster was my method of being exposted to new music, music I hadn't heard before, and I've lost that... and the radio does really really poorly, except for letting me know when new stuff comes out by the few artists I like that they play. (Informed me that Counting Crows and Sarah McLachlan should have new albums out later this year, for example) ---
And the RIAA has a problem with this?!?! This seems like it would be a GREAT thing for them! But putting a large amount of music on there, as people define what they like and don't like, it would find other artists in the areas the person defines for themselves, and custom target the music right to them. It seems like it should INCREASE sales, by giving people music they're much more likely to want.
It should be the radio stations that are afraid of this, not the RIAA. It's the type of thing that could make radio obsolete. ---
Re:Another day, another lawsuit
on
Launchcast Sued
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· Score: 3
What else do they have to spend it on? It's not like it costs them money to put a few guys who can sing together and plaster them all over the place, like the boy bands, or find some girl who's attractive, give her some cheezy songs, and watch the money roll in.
They don't seem to dig for talent now that they've learned how to "create" it. It's not about music, it's about money. ---
I think the RIAA is working really hard on trying to shoot themselves in the foot. By seeming to go after everyone and everything that doesn't play exactly the way RIAA wants them to play, people are going to get really tired of this big bully. It's one thing to go after people copying copyrighted songs, but to say it's a problem to let people have this level of customization? People are going to start seeing through the show they're putting on, all their claims, and see what they're really doing.
I have to admit that I'm not familiar with LaunchCast, but it doesn't sound like they're doing anything wrong, except giving people the chance to hear what they'd like and not what the RIAA likes. (Which is what radio has become anymore as the middlemen between the publishers and stations serve as little more than a means for the publishers to decide what songs get played, while the middleman gets rich for doing nothing - but then again, isn't that what the point of a middleman is?) It is totally possible that they could have signed some really stupid deal that they're breaking...
I need to go find out who all the RIAA represents so I can make sure to only purchase music that is independent of them... ---
It is disappointing they're looking at a show such as Law and Order for this. I think it takes away from what a quality show it really is, and will drive viewers away with such crass commercialism.
At least pick something that's more the equivalent of intellectual cotton candy, like 3rd Rock from the Sun. Those viewers are more likely to not be as offended... ---
I think the best thing they could do was stop assuming their target audience was teenage boys, and stop pitching games in that direction. That's probably one of the biggest reasons they get so few females buying games. By treating games as belonging only to that realm, they help encourage people to feel that way, and that's a really quick way to get younger girls to avoid it entirely - and they grow up with that attitude.
I am a girl gamer. A big one. (A good selection of PC games, quite a few console systems, and not just games like "The Sims" - Diablo II, Quake 1-3, Civ II, Black & White, Sim City 3k, Pro Pinball series, etc) And I feel like I have to put up with a lot of crap to continue on. (Though to be fair, a lot of the crap is from the teenage boys themselves, at least when I play online, but we've all ranted about those people before) There's a reason why I'd never even consider looking at a gaming magazine - because they're just as targetted to that crowd.
I think this article makes a very, very good point. They're helping define their industry in a way that excludes very large amounts of people from the potential customer base. And doing things the same except making occasional "girl" games featuring Barbie will do little except alienate even more people. ---
Great examples. Bust-a-Move is a definite big game among us in the "fairer sex". Nothing like getting a group together and playing it while somewhat drunk.
Worms is also a really really good one. Yes, even though it's a "violent" game, the extreme sense of humor and comedy in the thing actually helps make it seem much less so - and the cartoonish worms dying is actually quite amusing.
It does just have a lot to do with how the person is raised. My sister and I were raised in a household where we played games. Card games, board games, games on the old Atari. I used to fight with my mom over the Super Nintendo about who would play the RPGs. I'm a bigger gamer than my sister, but we both like to play.
I know people who were raised in homes where they just didn't play games. At all. You know what? They almost never play games now that they're older, either. So those of you with kids, take that into account. Start early, and play things they like, and they'll keep enjoying the entertainment value of games. ---
Yeah, I know we've talked on and on about the web filters and the act to withhold funding from libraries that don't block "porn" and such, but I have a question.
Now, if the act blocks funding if they don't install software that blocks access to pornographic websites, if there isn't any software that does that (since all software lets some of it through), does that mean they can just withhold it all? Perhaps it's sort of a backdoor way to reduce funding, since they know there is no way to fully comply?
And more relevant to the first topic... do you think people are really going to be happy that they can no longer use any of the free e-mail services? Considering how big hotmail and yahoo mail accounts are, all those people are suddenly going to find they can't use them at the library. People aren't going to like it. (But then again, they voted for the people, don't they deserve whatever their elected officials do to them?) ---
Re:Commercial software: A drain on the world econo
on
Mundie Responds
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· Score: 2
it would also put 1.35 million people out of work and with $175 billion less being spent anually you have economic slowdown.
You think all those software developers, testers, product managers, etc, would just sit around and do nothing if the entire software marketplace went to open source? Of course not!
First of all, there is plenty of development for specialized software tools that are not created for commercial purposes, thus all those people would be safely employed - and if the idea of open source was a given, these tools might even be made available (or at least parts), and something might be beneficial.
And the rest would find themselves other productive jobs, and contribute to the economy in other ways.
Of course a sudden loss of the commerical software industry would be bad... but if it were a gradual thing, I don't think it would be any harm, and in fact, might even be helpful. ---
I don't know why we don't use Macs here. All I know is that the people in charge of the computing resources decided on this "OneIT" policy that can be summed up in one word : Microsoft. We switched e-mail infrastructures from unix systems to MS Exchange recently - and had our mail quality and reliability drop. And they're encouraging people to go to Intel/MS platforms everywhere possible.
There were Macs being used, and I know there still are some around. However, support is minimal, and they won't replace any of the ones that go bad with another Mac, but instead with an MS-compliant PC.
And while I didn't write back after the phone comment, I know a lot of people did comment on the whole Mac/PC issue - and interestingly, the whole issue was dropped really quickly. Though I did watch a bunch of people get into quite the debate/war on an internal newsgroup about whether Mot employees should always choose Mot phones that just seemed to get people upset at each other. (One person blamed the employees who have non-Mot phones as partially responsible for the layoffs, even) ---
Hmph... "Intelligence Everywhere" except in managment? I think that's about how it's going now. (I could go on and on about how much sense it makes to require the engineers to empty their own trash, to clean the bathrooms, what, once a week, to remove the plants, and all sorts of other penny-saving "cost reduction" plans that probably reduce morale more than costs. But perhaps that's their solution to preventing more layoffs? Encourage people to leave? though that's going to target the ones that they'd want staying around... I better shut up now:)
Yes, I would say that file definately has double meaning. At least I'm still working in an area which we're all using Suns and the like. ---
All that matters is that they've decided that no Motorola-chip using computers will be used inside Motorola.
How's that for the ultimate in negative adversiting for a product? Even the company that produces it won't use machines that use it.
Personally, I think all us employees should follow their example and buy competitor's phones. After all, we're just taking our cues on how to "support" the company from the higher ups... ---
How's this for irony? Microsoft doesn't require people to use Windows, but the company I work for (which I will not name) is standardizing on the Intel/MS windows, to the point they don't support anything but the "official" software - MS Windows, MS office, Outlook (and web Outlook for us using Sun machines for development). The most amusing part? This is the same company that produces the chips for the Mac! (Along with lots of cell phones)
That's right... while we saw a nice message from the CEO about how all employees should be using our phones, not a competitor's, we refuse to use computers that use our chips. And people wonder why our stock and market shares seem to keep decreasing... (though what I'm working on is actually a good product, and everyone involved gets one of those phones for free, though I wish they'd give us those newly-released Java-enabled handsets...) ---
I always thought that would be one of the coolest ideas for a Q3A mod. Escher-Quake.
I just pictured it with levels that do things like an Escher painting, and gravity would work so that if you ran up one of the sets of stairs, you'd find yourself then standing at like a 90-degree angle to everyone else.
Imagine playing and seeing someone else running along the ceiling!
Somehow, though, I suspect the game engine wouldn't exactly be very supportive of changing the game physics in such a strange way. If it is, someone please, code it up! I'd love to create some maps for it.:) ---
One of the bigger problems for young people is that in many neighborhoods there's literally nothing to do, and nowhere to go until they get old enough to drive. The other big problem is that the sprawl tends to isolate poorer people, denying them access to good jobs outside of their neighborhoods.
Well, they've turned any imaginative and artistic types away from urban planning with the standard ways they do it... put big subdivision here, put big apartment complex here, a couple major roads here, and put all the commercial development along this other big road. Think about it - just about every city of decent size, and the suburbs of the bigger ones, are set up like this. You can't walk from most residential areas to the commercial areas in any decent amount of time - and they often don't even bother with sidewalks because they know that nobody walks.
It's all designed for the automobile, and it's got this feeling like any SimCity designed for maximum efficiency - sure, it works, but it has no personality, no variety - and in real life, forgets about entire groups of people.
Sure, I don't want that three-story Woodfield Mall within walking distance of my apartment. But I would like the opportunity to walk, rollerblade, or bicycle around to places without ending up trying to hurry across roads with 6-8 lanes of traffic while walking on that tiny patch of grass right next to cars doing 60 mph.
America itself is becoming as diverse as the stores we shop at. (ie not very diverse at all, since we've already pretty much got the same stores all over the place) ---
Most cities WERENT designed for cars. Hence the traffic problem.
LA WAS designed as an automobile city. From what I hear, it's not any better off in regards to traffic.
The automobile is become more of a problem than a solution. Sure, it's still good for long trips, especially the long trips to visit grandma in her town with a population of 1500 people, but as far as commuting, living in a bigger city, or trips between big cities, it's doing pretty poorly.
All I can hope is that someone designs a nice mass transportation system that works really well, finds a way to fight past the incredible greed and the amazing stranglehold of the automobile/oil industries, and gets it successfully put into a city.
Doubt it'll happen though, at least not until commutes start reaching the 4 hour mark for a sizable amount of people. (Obviously 1-2 hr commutes aren't that bad, since people do them, and I think they'd even put up with 3 hr, but I think spending 8 hrs a day driving to and from work will make some people realize how incredibly ridiculous and stupid it is) ---
Ok... the house I grew up in is about 110 years old. Some of the windows are the originals. Perhaps some are apt to forget this but, glass is a liquid (albeit an extremely viscous one). Over time, it pours.
Old windows are like that NOT because the glass has "flowed" down over years... but because the methods used to manufacture windows at that time created ones that were thicker on one end, and often slightly rippled. And of course it made more sense for stability to install them with the thicker part downward.
It's all urban legend stuff. So look through the alt.folklore.urban FAQ for details on this.
Besides - there are plenty of people who collect old bottles and the like. My mom does. And there are none of those signs of "flowing" glass, even in some of the REALLY old ones. (As in older than those windows)
I don't believe glass flows at room temperature. At all. And if it does, it's on a much, much longer timescale than what we need to worry about here. ---
ROTFL. I suspect you don't even see the irony of this statement.
Or maybe it's just that nobody has "used a gun properly" toward you. The proper use of a gun still involves sending a projectile at high speed. Toward a living thing.
Proper usage of a gun is to KILL something. Last I checked, killing something doesn't qualify as "safe". Or do you want to go tell Death Row in Alabama that the state's electric chair is "safe"? Somehow I doubt that would affect their fears.
"But wait," you chime in, "you don't have to kill anything when you shoot a gun! I shoot at targets all the time!" Well, there are plenty of ways to do the same thing without launching lethal projectiles. Surely you can shoot a paintball gun for target practice, for example. Or fire rubber bullets (which are still lethal when used like the police use them - ie not firing them at the ground first).
The only purpose of a gun is to kill. I wouldn't call that "safe" in any manner. Perhaps when properly used they're safe to people not in the line of fire... which meant that there was nothing unsafe about their usage in Columbine. ---
Re:Couple of thoughts on tall buildings
on
First Arcology?
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· Score: 2
I also worried about the prospect of pumping clean water UP 3700 ft. How much power is this going to take? Would atmospheric condensers be a viable solution to at least some of this problem?
There is no way for them to pump the water directly up that far. To get any sort of water pressure at the top would require a solid column of water in pipes 3700 feet tall. Coupled with the amount of water necessary, the pipes would have to be many many feet in diameter, the pumps would be pushing water weighing many many TONS, and pipes able to support it. Impossible? Maybe not. Efficient? Not even CLOSE.
Luckily, you don't really have to worry much about sewage. If your sanitation plant is down
below, just dig a hole and say "Look out below!" Who's to say that what works for outhouses can't work for a huge skyscaper?
Yes you do. Imagine if you just had a big pipe heading down. Someone flushes at the top, then their waste goes into FREEFALL for thousands of feet. How long do you think the pipes at the bottom could support those sorts of stresses? And how big in diameter would the pipes have to be to handle that much waste?
I think the only answer is to have waste processing plants inside the tower in multiple places. They could probably reduce the water issue at the same time.
Standard engineering practices for smaller buildings, such as 5-10 floor apartment buildings, do NOT scale up to something this size. Alternative solutions are required. ---
Oh, believe me, I love to do that also. But I don't get to do that nearly as much as I want. I try to keep track of the artists I like, to make sure I get the chance to see them live when I can.
But when I like an artist that plays her shows in a few cities in Canada, and maybe one or two cities in the US that aren't close to me, like Kinnie Starr, then I don't get that chance. I just keep checking the web site occasionally to find out where and when she's playing, in hopes it's somewhere I can make it to... ---
Slashdot Mirror
Be VERY VERY careful about this... I tried something similar back when in was in college, and it didn't work out very well. I tried putting up a little site to allow students to discuss professors, with the intention of making it easier for them to figure out which professor was the best fit for each student.
By the time there were two comments on the site - both about the same professor, I was told to take it down - and that the school adminstration was very upset, and that at least two different professors (not even the one with the comments) were prepared to take legal action against me and were fortunately talked out of it by the Network Services head, who I was working for at the time (but of course, not for much longer).
You're definately setting yourself up for trouble - make sure you're willing to put up with it and fight the adminstration and staff.
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Principles that most people in the country are more than willing to throw away when the slighest discomfort comes their way. Why else would the public repeatedly elect people because of their promises to enact laws that contradict these principles? (for example, people willing to dismiss the 4th amendment for the war on some drugs, or willing to dismiss the 1st to eliminate a little discomforting speech)
The more I pay attention, the more I realize why freedom has been so rare throughout history. Most people are unwilling to pay the price necessary for those freedoms - having to deal with things that you don't like. People will talk about how much they enjoy them, then give up bits of those freedoms left and right.
America is getting close to changing from "The Land of the Free" to "The Land of the Willingly Unfree".
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Assuming I were to live forever, why should I want to? As many tales have been written, one grows weary of seeing friends come and go and children age and die.
Umm... unlike all the fictional stories, if by some freak of nature his promise of immortality were true (or other means that may be arriving sooner and have a better chance of being true), your family and friends can also join in on the immortality thing, and you won't HAVE to see them age and die.
Besides, if you really do get tired of life, there's no reason you can't go and kill yourself, now is there? If you really think 50-100 years is enough for a human life, then by all means, you can go ahead and life that way. I, on the other hand, would much much prefer to have a little more say in when my time comes to a halt. I see thousands of years worth of technology in the future that I want to be around to see and experience.
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That's a big part of making America what it is. It makes it easier for people to immigrate here, since there's less of a cultural past to find a place in - they can bring much of their culture with them and not have it be so out of place as if it were to a place with a long, rich history and tradition that people feel they need to defend.
There's also a strong sentiment at least among some of the people that they don't WANT a set of traditions, a common identity, that it takes away from individuality. Sort of a longer-term rebellion.
There is one American cultural identity, one tradition... the extreme work ethic. That you are what your job is. It's not what you do for a living, it's who you are. You don't practice medicine, you're a doctor. You don't program, you are a software engineer. All the other factors that determine who you are come in as secondary considerations. Think about it - if someone were to ask you "who are you?" or "what are you?", what would you answer? Most Americans would state what kind of work they do first. Perhaps that's why there is so little else, because people are too busy working.
There's also such an extreme variety of viewpoints, of opinions, that make it hard to get anywhere, when there are always groups out there who totally despise whatever it is you're trying to do...
But you have a very, very good point, a great observation, that many of us don't think about.
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And I'd like to make it clear for me that it's just the opposite. I have actually bought MORE music as a direct result of Napster.
I have not only used it to sample songs to see if I wanted to buy albums I was aware of, but also to discover new artists, and sample their songs. And in the last three months, after losing my DSL access (thank you Northpoint), my music purchases have seriously decreased again, without this method of previewing music and exploring what is available.
I suppose it's still not something the RIAA would be pleased with since quite a few of those purchases have been independent labels outside of the RIAA's realm - but I plan on continuing to focus mainly, if not exclusively, on non-RIAA artists after their wonderful attempt to keep their distribution monopoly.
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About the only time I ever listen to the radio is when I take the cartridge out of my car CD changer for the day, and head home at lunchtime without it. With a 12 disc CD changer there, a 200 disc jukebox at home, and a nice mp3 collection on my computer, there's no need for radio.
Though since I lost my DSL connection I haven't touched Napster (OpenNap actually), and as a result I haven't found as much music to buy recently. Napster was my method of being exposted to new music, music I hadn't heard before, and I've lost that... and the radio does really really poorly, except for letting me know when new stuff comes out by the few artists I like that they play. (Informed me that Counting Crows and Sarah McLachlan should have new albums out later this year, for example)
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And the RIAA has a problem with this?!?! This seems like it would be a GREAT thing for them! But putting a large amount of music on there, as people define what they like and don't like, it would find other artists in the areas the person defines for themselves, and custom target the music right to them. It seems like it should INCREASE sales, by giving people music they're much more likely to want.
It should be the radio stations that are afraid of this, not the RIAA. It's the type of thing that could make radio obsolete.
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What else do they have to spend it on? It's not like it costs them money to put a few guys who can sing together and plaster them all over the place, like the boy bands, or find some girl who's attractive, give her some cheezy songs, and watch the money roll in.
They don't seem to dig for talent now that they've learned how to "create" it. It's not about music, it's about money.
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I think the RIAA is working really hard on trying to shoot themselves in the foot. By seeming to go after everyone and everything that doesn't play exactly the way RIAA wants them to play, people are going to get really tired of this big bully. It's one thing to go after people copying copyrighted songs, but to say it's a problem to let people have this level of customization? People are going to start seeing through the show they're putting on, all their claims, and see what they're really doing.
I have to admit that I'm not familiar with LaunchCast, but it doesn't sound like they're doing anything wrong, except giving people the chance to hear what they'd like and not what the RIAA likes. (Which is what radio has become anymore as the middlemen between the publishers and stations serve as little more than a means for the publishers to decide what songs get played, while the middleman gets rich for doing nothing - but then again, isn't that what the point of a middleman is?) It is totally possible that they could have signed some really stupid deal that they're breaking...
I need to go find out who all the RIAA represents so I can make sure to only purchase music that is independent of them...
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It is disappointing they're looking at a show such as Law and Order for this. I think it takes away from what a quality show it really is, and will drive viewers away with such crass commercialism.
At least pick something that's more the equivalent of intellectual cotton candy, like 3rd Rock from the Sun. Those viewers are more likely to not be as offended...
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I think the best thing they could do was stop assuming their target audience was teenage boys, and stop pitching games in that direction. That's probably one of the biggest reasons they get so few females buying games. By treating games as belonging only to that realm, they help encourage people to feel that way, and that's a really quick way to get younger girls to avoid it entirely - and they grow up with that attitude.
I am a girl gamer. A big one. (A good selection of PC games, quite a few console systems, and not just games like "The Sims" - Diablo II, Quake 1-3, Civ II, Black & White, Sim City 3k, Pro Pinball series, etc) And I feel like I have to put up with a lot of crap to continue on. (Though to be fair, a lot of the crap is from the teenage boys themselves, at least when I play online, but we've all ranted about those people before) There's a reason why I'd never even consider looking at a gaming magazine - because they're just as targetted to that crowd.
I think this article makes a very, very good point. They're helping define their industry in a way that excludes very large amounts of people from the potential customer base. And doing things the same except making occasional "girl" games featuring Barbie will do little except alienate even more people.
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Great examples. Bust-a-Move is a definite big game among us in the "fairer sex". Nothing like getting a group together and playing it while somewhat drunk.
Worms is also a really really good one. Yes, even though it's a "violent" game, the extreme sense of humor and comedy in the thing actually helps make it seem much less so - and the cartoonish worms dying is actually quite amusing.
It does just have a lot to do with how the person is raised. My sister and I were raised in a household where we played games. Card games, board games, games on the old Atari. I used to fight with my mom over the Super Nintendo about who would play the RPGs. I'm a bigger gamer than my sister, but we both like to play.
I know people who were raised in homes where they just didn't play games. At all. You know what? They almost never play games now that they're older, either. So those of you with kids, take that into account. Start early, and play things they like, and they'll keep enjoying the entertainment value of games.
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Yeah, I know we've talked on and on about the web filters and the act to withhold funding from libraries that don't block "porn" and such, but I have a question.
Now, if the act blocks funding if they don't install software that blocks access to pornographic websites, if there isn't any software that does that (since all software lets some of it through), does that mean they can just withhold it all? Perhaps it's sort of a backdoor way to reduce funding, since they know there is no way to fully comply?
And more relevant to the first topic... do you think people are really going to be happy that they can no longer use any of the free e-mail services? Considering how big hotmail and yahoo mail accounts are, all those people are suddenly going to find they can't use them at the library. People aren't going to like it. (But then again, they voted for the people, don't they deserve whatever their elected officials do to them?)
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it would also put 1.35 million people out of work and with $175 billion less being spent anually you have economic slowdown.
You think all those software developers, testers, product managers, etc, would just sit around and do nothing if the entire software marketplace went to open source? Of course not!
First of all, there is plenty of development for specialized software tools that are not created for commercial purposes, thus all those people would be safely employed - and if the idea of open source was a given, these tools might even be made available (or at least parts), and something might be beneficial.
And the rest would find themselves other productive jobs, and contribute to the economy in other ways.
Of course a sudden loss of the commerical software industry would be bad... but if it were a gradual thing, I don't think it would be any harm, and in fact, might even be helpful.
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I don't know why we don't use Macs here. All I know is that the people in charge of the computing resources decided on this "OneIT" policy that can be summed up in one word : Microsoft. We switched e-mail infrastructures from unix systems to MS Exchange recently - and had our mail quality and reliability drop. And they're encouraging people to go to Intel/MS platforms everywhere possible.
There were Macs being used, and I know there still are some around. However, support is minimal, and they won't replace any of the ones that go bad with another Mac, but instead with an MS-compliant PC.
And while I didn't write back after the phone comment, I know a lot of people did comment on the whole Mac/PC issue - and interestingly, the whole issue was dropped really quickly. Though I did watch a bunch of people get into quite the debate/war on an internal newsgroup about whether Mot employees should always choose Mot phones that just seemed to get people upset at each other. (One person blamed the employees who have non-Mot phones as partially responsible for the layoffs, even)
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Hmph... "Intelligence Everywhere" except in managment? I think that's about how it's going now. (I could go on and on about how much sense it makes to require the engineers to empty their own trash, to clean the bathrooms, what, once a week, to remove the plants, and all sorts of other penny-saving "cost reduction" plans that probably reduce morale more than costs. But perhaps that's their solution to preventing more layoffs? Encourage people to leave? though that's going to target the ones that they'd want staying around... I better shut up now :)
Yes, I would say that file definately has double meaning. At least I'm still working in an area which we're all using Suns and the like.
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Doesn't matter.
All that matters is that they've decided that no Motorola-chip using computers will be used inside Motorola.
How's that for the ultimate in negative adversiting for a product? Even the company that produces it won't use machines that use it.
Personally, I think all us employees should follow their example and buy competitor's phones. After all, we're just taking our cues on how to "support" the company from the higher ups...
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How's this for irony? Microsoft doesn't require people to use Windows, but the company I work for (which I will not name) is standardizing on the Intel/MS windows, to the point they don't support anything but the "official" software - MS Windows, MS office, Outlook (and web Outlook for us using Sun machines for development). The most amusing part? This is the same company that produces the chips for the Mac! (Along with lots of cell phones)
That's right... while we saw a nice message from the CEO about how all employees should be using our phones, not a competitor's, we refuse to use computers that use our chips. And people wonder why our stock and market shares seem to keep decreasing... (though what I'm working on is actually a good product, and everyone involved gets one of those phones for free, though I wish they'd give us those newly-released Java-enabled handsets...)
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I always thought that would be one of the coolest ideas for a Q3A mod. Escher-Quake.
:)
I just pictured it with levels that do things like an Escher painting, and gravity would work so that if you ran up one of the sets of stairs, you'd find yourself then standing at like a 90-degree angle to everyone else.
Imagine playing and seeing someone else running along the ceiling!
Somehow, though, I suspect the game engine wouldn't exactly be very supportive of changing the game physics in such a strange way. If it is, someone please, code it up! I'd love to create some maps for it.
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One of the bigger problems for young people is that in many neighborhoods there's literally nothing to do, and nowhere to go until they get old enough to drive. The other big problem is that the sprawl tends to isolate poorer people, denying them access to good jobs outside of their neighborhoods.
Well, they've turned any imaginative and artistic types away from urban planning with the standard ways they do it... put big subdivision here, put big apartment complex here, a couple major roads here, and put all the commercial development along this other big road. Think about it - just about every city of decent size, and the suburbs of the bigger ones, are set up like this. You can't walk from most residential areas to the commercial areas in any decent amount of time - and they often don't even bother with sidewalks because they know that nobody walks.
It's all designed for the automobile, and it's got this feeling like any SimCity designed for maximum efficiency - sure, it works, but it has no personality, no variety - and in real life, forgets about entire groups of people.
Sure, I don't want that three-story Woodfield Mall within walking distance of my apartment. But I would like the opportunity to walk, rollerblade, or bicycle around to places without ending up trying to hurry across roads with 6-8 lanes of traffic while walking on that tiny patch of grass right next to cars doing 60 mph.
America itself is becoming as diverse as the stores we shop at. (ie not very diverse at all, since we've already pretty much got the same stores all over the place)
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Most cities WERENT designed for cars. Hence the traffic problem.
LA WAS designed as an automobile city. From what I hear, it's not any better off in regards to traffic.
The automobile is become more of a problem than a solution. Sure, it's still good for long trips, especially the long trips to visit grandma in her town with a population of 1500 people, but as far as commuting, living in a bigger city, or trips between big cities, it's doing pretty poorly.
All I can hope is that someone designs a nice mass transportation system that works really well, finds a way to fight past the incredible greed and the amazing stranglehold of the automobile/oil industries, and gets it successfully put into a city.
Doubt it'll happen though, at least not until commutes start reaching the 4 hour mark for a sizable amount of people. (Obviously 1-2 hr commutes aren't that bad, since people do them, and I think they'd even put up with 3 hr, but I think spending 8 hrs a day driving to and from work will make some people realize how incredibly ridiculous and stupid it is)
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Ok... the house I grew up in is about 110 years old. Some of the windows are the originals. Perhaps some are apt to forget this but, glass is a liquid (albeit an extremely viscous one). Over time, it pours.
Old windows are like that NOT because the glass has "flowed" down over years... but because the methods used to manufacture windows at that time created ones that were thicker on one end, and often slightly rippled. And of course it made more sense for stability to install them with the thicker part downward.
It's all urban legend stuff. So look through the alt.folklore.urban FAQ for details on this.
Besides - there are plenty of people who collect old bottles and the like. My mom does. And there are none of those signs of "flowing" glass, even in some of the REALLY old ones. (As in older than those windows)
I don't believe glass flows at room temperature. At all. And if it does, it's on a much, much longer timescale than what we need to worry about here.
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Guns are entirely safe when used properly.
ROTFL. I suspect you don't even see the irony of this statement.
Or maybe it's just that nobody has "used a gun properly" toward you. The proper use of a gun still involves sending a projectile at high speed. Toward a living thing.
Proper usage of a gun is to KILL something. Last I checked, killing something doesn't qualify as "safe". Or do you want to go tell Death Row in Alabama that the state's electric chair is "safe"? Somehow I doubt that would affect their fears.
"But wait," you chime in, "you don't have to kill anything when you shoot a gun! I shoot at targets all the time!" Well, there are plenty of ways to do the same thing without launching lethal projectiles. Surely you can shoot a paintball gun for target practice, for example. Or fire rubber bullets (which are still lethal when used like the police use them - ie not firing them at the ground first).
The only purpose of a gun is to kill. I wouldn't call that "safe" in any manner. Perhaps when properly used they're safe to people not in the line of fire... which meant that there was nothing unsafe about their usage in Columbine.
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I also worried about the prospect of pumping clean water UP 3700 ft. How much power is this going to take? Would atmospheric condensers be a viable solution to at least some of this problem?
There is no way for them to pump the water directly up that far. To get any sort of water pressure at the top would require a solid column of water in pipes 3700 feet tall. Coupled with the amount of water necessary, the pipes would have to be many many feet in diameter, the pumps would be pushing water weighing many many TONS, and pipes able to support it. Impossible? Maybe not. Efficient? Not even CLOSE.
Luckily, you don't really have to worry much about sewage. If your sanitation plant is down
below, just dig a hole and say "Look out below!" Who's to say that what works for outhouses can't work for a huge skyscaper?
Yes you do. Imagine if you just had a big pipe heading down. Someone flushes at the top, then their waste goes into FREEFALL for thousands of feet. How long do you think the pipes at the bottom could support those sorts of stresses? And how big in diameter would the pipes have to be to handle that much waste?
I think the only answer is to have waste processing plants inside the tower in multiple places. They could probably reduce the water issue at the same time.
Standard engineering practices for smaller buildings, such as 5-10 floor apartment buildings, do NOT scale up to something this size. Alternative solutions are required.
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Oh, believe me, I love to do that also. But I don't get to do that nearly as much as I want. I try to keep track of the artists I like, to make sure I get the chance to see them live when I can.
But when I like an artist that plays her shows in a few cities in Canada, and maybe one or two cities in the US that aren't close to me, like Kinnie Starr, then I don't get that chance. I just keep checking the web site occasionally to find out where and when she's playing, in hopes it's somewhere I can make it to...
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