I knew a guy once that played EQ or some-such online game for 2 weeks without getting up to so much as take a crap. He ate mostly fruits and breads, stuff that backs you up real good. After hearing his story, I think he wished he was dead when the doctor had to manually extract the feces from his colon.
I love games like every one else, but I definitely place defication above advancement to the next level in a game.
/me awaits the snide comments about my lack of dedication to gaming...
I pay about $20 a month and accrue hours that can be used toward a trial, in the event I'm sued or need to sue. I also get (as far as I can tell) unlimited phone access to attorneys for questions and concerns. Everytime I call, all of my issues are addressed and the lawyer on the other line gives advice on my options is the advice doesn't pan out.
You buy car insurance before your car is whacked in an accident. You get renter's/homeowner's insurance before your dwelling is burglarized. Why not get "legal insurance" before your sued. Check out Pre-Paid Legal -- I haven't regretted my purchase thus far. Besides, if you're querying non-legal websites for advice on what to do when you're legally harassed, you are way past the point of needing legal counsel.
"Lighting" all of the fiber? With all of the layoffs and crap that telecom companies have been going through (at least here in the U.S.), in 2-3 years we'll all be lucky to even have phones to use. I think bandwidth problems stemming from P2P and streaming media are the least of these companies' problems. My 2 pence on the matter.
a) They just made the announcement an hour or two ago.
b) The site is so hammered you can't find out what they hell they announced, let alone frequently ask questions about it.
I knew Blizzard was high on themselves, but jeez...
Language evolution is a far cry from language perversion. Granted new words can sometimes be created out of slang terms of the past, but this is rarely the case. To take the Modern Engligh vs. Olde English case -- the language has morphed, but it's not butchered. We no longer say "ye" and "thou", we spell "old" without the trailing "e". All of this is simply what you label as the evolution of language.
Other slang isn't (and hasn't been) tolerated in formal writing, why should chat shorthand be any different? I don't refer to people as "homies", I don't substitue "hello" for "yo", why would I write "str8" instead of "straight"? Granted, when I chat with friends and family, I often use shorthand like that to avoid typing. Same with text messaging on cell phones, where messages have size limits. But lazy shorthand like this should be reserved for situations where it makes sense -- writing a paper for school is definitely not one of those places.
Education is all about preparing you for The Real World, and in The Real World, writing like that isn't tolerated. You don't see a news anchor on CNN asking the financial analyst "what's the dilly-o down on Da Street?", because it's vernacular that should be reserved for colloquial conversations. Just because words and spellings have uses in laidback situations doesn't mean that they should be allowed to permeate the education system. Teachers should prepare sutdents for life after graduation, and life after graduation usually involves writing skills that don't make you look like a child of The Artist Currently Known As Prince
Regarding Rhino3D:
Hell, even some of the warezers will tell you to stop being a cheap ass and to just go out and buy it.
So then why are Adobe products, most of which are considerably cheaper than USD$895, the most pirated on the 'Net? Same thing with games, and most games cost a small percentage of USD$895 -- yet people still pirate them like crazy.
I think this guy and his associated group were doing more than merely "warez shopping". From a quick glance at the Wired article, simple piracy is just the beginning. Cracking apps, setting up servers, distributing apps, etc -- that's what got him (and others?) the jail time.
While owning copies of software illegally isn't the right thing to do, I doubt you're gonna end up in Oz anytime soon. Start hacking into other people's systems, setting up warez serves, cracking apps for illegal purposes -- well, maybe you'll get to enjoy some conjugal visits from your friendly jailhouse pimp for those "horrific crimes".
Another suggestion I forgot about : Usenet. alt.binaries.tv or groups like that may have MPEGs or similar of Odyssey 5 episodes. If you can at least find the first episode, which is more like a Showtime movie at over 90 minutes, I think you'll be hooked.
That's really odd that Showtime keeps non-USians from viewing the site. It really is well done with all kinds of Flash goodies (if you don't mind that sort of thing) that help you track the back-story.
I'll give you and the other SD-ers the background:
A space shuttle, the Odyssey, is up in orbit. The crew consists of Robocop (Peter Weller. Sorry, Pete -- had to give that reference!), his 22-year-old son, a news reporter, a geneticist and a couple of other astronauts. The news reporter is filming a special from the shuttle when something weird happens -- they lose connectivity with the Earth. One of the astronauts looks out the window and sees the Earth imploding. Oh crap, better strap ourselves in! Anyhow, the shuttle survives the implosion and starts drifting around when they run out of oxygen -- almost. Naturally, some alien with a fancy-shmancy ship picks them up and saves them. He doesn't know why the Earth imploded, but he's seen it happen all over the galaxy. In order to find out what's what, he tells them that he can send them back in time -- but NOT their physical bodies. Only their "information patterns" can go back -- their souls/consciences/whatever-you-wanna-call it. So poof, they're 5 years in the past and they need to figure out why the earth will blow up in the future.
The show is great, IMO, and has some wonderful characters. It's also neat to see how these people try to do things slightly differently the second time around. For example, the news reporter mentioned above has a son who died of cancer in the first timeline. In this new one, she tries to convince doctors that her seemingly non-sick son will die of cancer in the near future. Lots of fun subplots like that.
The show's technical plots focus on a lot of different science. The Sentients, artifical lifeforms that are believed to be behind this destruction, use all sorts of ways to subvert humans into doing their dirty work : gene therapy, Internet attacks, particle accelerators, religion, computer AI, nanotech, etc. Obviously things get slightly distorted since they only have 45 minutes to explain things, but for the most part it's refreshing to watch a sci-fi show that takes place in the real world, using current technology (real and theoretical) to flesh out the plots.
One more thing, we find the acting to be top-notch. Peter Weller is wonderful as the take-no-crap head of this group of 5. Sebastian Roche plays a great cocky geneticst with a penchant for sex. Yadda-yadda. To sum it up, we've yet to see a character or actor on the show that made us say, "Send him/her back to acting school."
Poke around on Google or follow the links someone else posted. If you can find a way to visit the Showtime website, do it. It's fun to poke around in there.
I'm not sure when you cancelled Showtime, but Odyssey 5 is a good sci-fi show. Hell, my wife is addicted to it, which says a lot. I've never seen Farscape, so I can't compare, but O5 certainly has my attention.
In fact, I've been wondering why I haven't seen more about it on Slashdot. Perhaps no one knows about it, or maybe it truly is disliked by the sci-fi crowd.
Add to that Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces. They're mostly conceptual books with no problems for you to work. Still, they're both written for the non-scientist that wishes to know enough to be dangerous.
Outside of pure physics, you'll find anything written by/with Dr. Feynman to be a great read, especially his memoirs.
It matters not now; he's got $330,000 in legal bills to pay back to Alcatel. On top of that, he has no job, no home and no one will probably hire him. Sounds to me like hireing a lawyer would have been much cheaper...
The average Human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid
So the next question is : if you drink one of these 80 ounce monsters, how much of that do you actually piss away? Also, how long will it take for the body to process that? I'll let someone else go search Google for that info!:^)
So it replaced 32 computer servers, based on the time-tested Unix operating systems . . . The Unix servers took 17 hours to calculate how much cash the bank needed in reserve to offset its investment risk. The Linux servers made the same calculation in 11 minutes
WTF? Were they also running the time-tested 486? I suspect that hardware had more to do with the performance increase than the actual OS. I mean, full kudos to the Linux crew, but merde, are you really gonna get an increase in speed of such magnitude just by switching OSes? I would be inclined to say "no"...
Well, that statement isn't 100% correct. The FCC has mandated that broadcasters switch to a digital signal by 2006. This does NOT mean that it has to be HDTV -- it can be the lower-resolution SDTV format. I haven't read anywhere that describes exactly which format stations will choose. One can only hope that it is HDTV.
Now, the real catch is the satellite and cable companies. I believe they are supposed to carry the digital signals, but I don't think there is an FCC ruling preventing them from converting the digital signal to analog. A move like this will certainly slow the consumer adoption of HDTV tuners.
Personally, I hope that the world doesn't suddenly switch to pure digital. HDTV sets are cheaper than they were even last year, but that doesn't mean everyone can (or wants to) afford them. My analog TV works just fine, has a clear picture and lets my watch the few programs that I care about, why shell out money for an upgrade that's pure aesthetics?
And why doesn't NetFlix.com start checking out DVDs in online form... it would reduce tons of overhead as far as shipping goes.
A bit offtopic here, but...
1) It only costs 50 cents or less to ship a DVD. They just send you the disk in a paper envelope, nothing special. 2) I don't even want to KNOW how much bandwidth they would have to pay for each month to stream DVDs. I would say $100,000/month to run a site, minimum. 3) Writing the software would cost money. Licensing the software would cost money. Providing tech support to people would cost money. If you did none of these things, you wouldn't have a wide-spread business like NetFlix currently enjoys. 4) Many people have a DVD player or PS2 or Xbox. Not as many have a computer capable of playing a movie back in high-quality format. 5) It's more fun for the family to gather around the 36" TV than it is to gather around the 17" monitor.
Slashdot Mirror
I knew a guy once that played EQ or some-such online game for 2 weeks without getting up to so much as take a crap. He ate mostly fruits and breads, stuff that backs you up real good. After hearing his story, I think he wished he was dead when the doctor had to manually extract the feces from his colon.
/me awaits the snide comments about my lack of dedication to gaming...
I love games like every one else, but I definitely place defication above advancement to the next level in a game.
http://web.mit.edu/admissions/www/, maybe?
I didn't see this mentioned anywhere : Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
I pay about $20 a month and accrue hours that can be used toward a trial, in the event I'm sued or need to sue. I also get (as far as I can tell) unlimited phone access to attorneys for questions and concerns. Everytime I call, all of my issues are addressed and the lawyer on the other line gives advice on my options is the advice doesn't pan out.
You buy car insurance before your car is whacked in an accident. You get renter's/homeowner's insurance before your dwelling is burglarized. Why not get "legal insurance" before your sued. Check out Pre-Paid Legal -- I haven't regretted my purchase thus far. Besides, if you're querying non-legal websites for advice on what to do when you're legally harassed, you are way past the point of needing legal counsel.
"Lighting" all of the fiber? With all of the layoffs and crap that telecom companies have been going through (at least here in the U.S.), in 2-3 years we'll all be lucky to even have phones to use. I think bandwidth problems stemming from P2P and streaming media are the least of these companies' problems. My 2 pence on the matter.
What are they posting next hour?
"Bill Gates mixes whites and darks in washing machine -- turns socks blue!"
That would explain the reason why everything in XP has a blue tint to it.
Ahem -- I suppose I could learn to spell. That would make the Preview button just a tad more useful. Apologies.
Uh, how can you have a FAQ when :
a) They just made the announcement an hour or two ago.
b) The site is so hammered you can't find out what they hell they announced, let alone frequently ask questions about it.
I knew Blizzard was high on themselves, but jeez...
Language evolution is a far cry from language perversion. Granted new words can sometimes be created out of slang terms of the past, but this is rarely the case. To take the Modern Engligh vs. Olde English case -- the language has morphed, but it's not butchered. We no longer say "ye" and "thou", we spell "old" without the trailing "e". All of this is simply what you label as the evolution of language.
Other slang isn't (and hasn't been) tolerated in formal writing, why should chat shorthand be any different? I don't refer to people as "homies", I don't substitue "hello" for "yo", why would I write "str8" instead of "straight"? Granted, when I chat with friends and family, I often use shorthand like that to avoid typing. Same with text messaging on cell phones, where messages have size limits. But lazy shorthand like this should be reserved for situations where it makes sense -- writing a paper for school is definitely not one of those places.
Education is all about preparing you for The Real World, and in The Real World, writing like that isn't tolerated. You don't see a news anchor on CNN asking the financial analyst "what's the dilly-o down on Da Street?", because it's vernacular that should be reserved for colloquial conversations. Just because words and spellings have uses in laidback situations doesn't mean that they should be allowed to permeate the education system. Teachers should prepare sutdents for life after graduation, and life after graduation usually involves writing skills that don't make you look like a child of The Artist Currently Known As Prince
Sounds a little like "I'll give you this nice, shiny doughnut if you sell me your soul."
As long as it's a Krispy Kreme...where do I sign?
Regarding Rhino3D :
Hell, even some of the warezers will tell you to stop being a cheap ass and to just go out and buy it.
So then why are Adobe products, most of which are considerably cheaper than USD$895, the most pirated on the 'Net? Same thing with games, and most games cost a small percentage of USD$895 -- yet people still pirate them like crazy.
I think this guy and his associated group were doing more than merely "warez shopping". From a quick glance at the Wired article, simple piracy is just the beginning. Cracking apps, setting up servers, distributing apps, etc -- that's what got him (and others?) the jail time.
While owning copies of software illegally isn't the right thing to do, I doubt you're gonna end up in Oz anytime soon. Start hacking into other people's systems, setting up warez serves, cracking apps for illegal purposes -- well, maybe you'll get to enjoy some conjugal visits from your friendly jailhouse pimp for those "horrific crimes".
Another suggestion I forgot about : Usenet. alt.binaries.tv or groups like that may have MPEGs or similar of Odyssey 5 episodes. If you can at least find the first episode, which is more like a Showtime movie at over 90 minutes, I think you'll be hooked.
That's really odd that Showtime keeps non-USians from viewing the site. It really is well done with all kinds of Flash goodies (if you don't mind that sort of thing) that help you track the back-story.
:
I'll give you and the other SD-ers the background
A space shuttle, the Odyssey, is up in orbit. The crew consists of Robocop (Peter Weller. Sorry, Pete -- had to give that reference!), his 22-year-old son, a news reporter, a geneticist and a couple of other astronauts. The news reporter is filming a special from the shuttle when something weird happens -- they lose connectivity with the Earth. One of the astronauts looks out the window and sees the Earth imploding. Oh crap, better strap ourselves in! Anyhow, the shuttle survives the implosion and starts drifting around when they run out of oxygen -- almost. Naturally, some alien with a fancy-shmancy ship picks them up and saves them. He doesn't know why the Earth imploded, but he's seen it happen all over the galaxy. In order to find out what's what, he tells them that he can send them back in time -- but NOT their physical bodies. Only their "information patterns" can go back -- their souls/consciences/whatever-you-wanna-call it. So poof, they're 5 years in the past and they need to figure out why the earth will blow up in the future.
The show is great, IMO, and has some wonderful characters. It's also neat to see how these people try to do things slightly differently the second time around. For example, the news reporter mentioned above has a son who died of cancer in the first timeline. In this new one, she tries to convince doctors that her seemingly non-sick son will die of cancer in the near future. Lots of fun subplots like that.
The show's technical plots focus on a lot of different science. The Sentients, artifical lifeforms that are believed to be behind this destruction, use all sorts of ways to subvert humans into doing their dirty work : gene therapy, Internet attacks, particle accelerators, religion, computer AI, nanotech, etc. Obviously things get slightly distorted since they only have 45 minutes to explain things, but for the most part it's refreshing to watch a sci-fi show that takes place in the real world, using current technology (real and theoretical) to flesh out the plots.
One more thing, we find the acting to be top-notch. Peter Weller is wonderful as the take-no-crap head of this group of 5. Sebastian Roche plays a great cocky geneticst with a penchant for sex. Yadda-yadda. To sum it up, we've yet to see a character or actor on the show that made us say, "Send him/her back to acting school."
Poke around on Google or follow the links someone else posted. If you can find a way to visit the Showtime website, do it. It's fun to poke around in there.
I'm not sure when you cancelled Showtime, but Odyssey 5 is a good sci-fi show. Hell, my wife is addicted to it, which says a lot. I've never seen Farscape, so I can't compare, but O5 certainly has my attention.
In fact, I've been wondering why I haven't seen more about it on Slashdot. Perhaps no one knows about it, or maybe it truly is disliked by the sci-fi crowd.
Add to that Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces. They're mostly conceptual books with no problems for you to work. Still, they're both written for the non-scientist that wishes to know enough to be dangerous.
Outside of pure physics, you'll find anything written by/with Dr. Feynman to be a great read, especially his memoirs.
It matters not now; he's got $330,000 in legal bills to pay back to Alcatel. On top of that, he has no job, no home and no one will probably hire him. Sounds to me like hireing a lawyer would have been much cheaper...
The average Human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid
:^)
So the next question is : if you drink one of these 80 ounce monsters, how much of that do you actually piss away? Also, how long will it take for the body to process that? I'll let someone else go search Google for that info!
Bah, nevermind...I was thinking "quarts" not "pints"...
:)
But still, how much can the human bladder hold, and why does Sweetheart insist on testing such a human limit?
80-ounce cold drink cup - that's 5 pints, folks
1. Can the human bladder even hold that much?
2. Christ, there's not that much blood in the human body! Even on a full bladder, is there even 80 ounces of fluid flowing through one's body?
and has copies of most referance and reserach journels online
Let me guess, you're not an English major...
So it replaced 32 computer servers, based on the time-tested Unix operating systems
.
.
.
The Unix servers took 17 hours to calculate how much cash the bank needed in reserve to offset its investment risk. The Linux servers made the same calculation in 11 minutes
WTF? Were they also running the time-tested 486? I suspect that hardware had more to do with the performance increase than the actual OS. I mean, full kudos to the Linux crew, but merde, are you really gonna get an increase in speed of such magnitude just by switching OSes? I would be inclined to say "no"...
I suspect you'd get even more odd looks if you were playing a flight sim.
Well, that statement isn't 100% correct. The FCC has mandated that broadcasters switch to a digital signal by 2006. This does NOT mean that it has to be HDTV -- it can be the lower-resolution SDTV format. I haven't read anywhere that describes exactly which format stations will choose. One can only hope that it is HDTV.
Now, the real catch is the satellite and cable companies. I believe they are supposed to carry the digital signals, but I don't think there is an FCC ruling preventing them from converting the digital signal to analog. A move like this will certainly slow the consumer adoption of HDTV tuners.
Personally, I hope that the world doesn't suddenly switch to pure digital. HDTV sets are cheaper than they were even last year, but that doesn't mean everyone can (or wants to) afford them. My analog TV works just fine, has a clear picture and lets my watch the few programs that I care about, why shell out money for an upgrade that's pure aesthetics?
Considering they get their bandwidth from WorldCom, we may not need to /. their site. Let bankruptcy do it for them.
Even better, wait until they switch to a new provider, then "test" out their connection to see if it's up to the load.
A bit offtopic here, but...