Of traditional block-based MPEG codecs, Nero Recode's H.264 implementation is by far the best for low bitrates. For high bitrate archival purposes, XviD might be better.
Sounds like you haven't done the exercise yet. Well then, this may or may not be the biggest decision of your life.
Will you be forever damned to agonize over decisions?
Is it worth 10 minutes of your time to find out whether or not you already know what the results of the exercise will be?
Presumably you agonize because you want to make good decisions. Wouldn't it be cool if you knew whether it was a good decision before you made it? Maybe then you could make the right decisions in your career, love life and social life... and be happy.
First write down five good decisions you made: where you were sure it was a good decision, it turned well and you're glad you made it. Then write down five bad decisions you made. Then notice how you originally felt about making the good decisions - what feelings they had in common. Lastly notice how you felt about making the bad decisions - what they had in common.
The Independent (check spelling) is one of 3 highly respected newspapers in the UK whose reputation and hence profitability is based on providing good journalism of issues important to the wider world.
What's wrong with buying individual, specialized devices that are good at what they are specifically designed to do, instead of all-in-one devices that by definition have to be compromises?
Having to carry around 2 bulky devices instead of 1? OTOH, I wonder if Wi-Fi will eventually make carrying a cell phone around the city superfluous.
> Why, then, can't we make these technological marvels safe?
Pseudoscience begins with a hypothesis -- usually one which is appealing
emotionally, and spectacularly implausible -- and then looks only for items
which appear to support it.
Which you are guilty of too. You should have pointed out the presupposition
in his quoted introduction that cell phones are not safe.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to
suppress his or her work.
When a group is emotionally or financial invested in something, any competing
idea will threaten them.
Pseudoscience makes extraordinary claims and advances fantastic theories
that contradict what is known about nature.
As do many scientific advances. The Earth isn't flat.
Gads, always with the Toxins, you people.
Pseudoscience appeals to false authority, to emotion, sentiment,
or distrust of established fact.
Which you just did right there.
*wtf* does this have to do with radiation and cancer?
Why does it have to be about radiation?
> This is not a cell phones cause brain cancer scare
story.
As Penn and Teller might say... BULLSHIT.
Pseudoscience appeals to false authority, to emotion, sentiment, or distrust
of established fact.
"My name is Dave and I'm a computer games addict. It's been 52 days since I deleted every last one and threw out the CDs."
As a hypnotherapist, I think that nicotine addiction is taken too seriously. It's plainly not addictive in my client's experience - most withdrawal symptoms are due to the nocebo effect & behavioural adjustment.
But computer game addiction should be taken more seriously. I never grew out of my childhood excitement for a new game.
Good post. I want to make one very important point though.
Just because self-replicating molecules and evolution are plausible explanations of "us", it doesn't mean they are the sole explanation.
For those wanting to invoke Occam's Razor, understand that it only advises you of the limits of such explanations rather than "proving" any of them are correct/incorrect.
Easter Europe had 5 to "deal" with their tyrants. Your point?
Eastern Europe was controlled by the Soviet Union. The US went to war
with them as well.
Even if their land is a warzone, Iraqis are now free.
If you define "freedom" as "free to get blown into bits" I agree. I am
sick and tired of right-wingnuts blabber about "freedom". Naked and hungry on
a 2-foot square rock in the middle of Atlantic you are also "free" from political
opression. Would you expect a Chinese political dissident to take that option
to become "free"? Freedom by itself is worthless, it is the entrie framework
of free scociety that makes it worthwile and thats what the USA idologue-nuts
destroyed while installing their brand of "freedom".
It is funny how I get called left-wing one day and right-wing the next.
I am sorry that your government has tainted the concept of freedom for you.
For me, being free to make my own decisions and influence those who have power over me is fundamental to my existence.
Before you & your family might be publicly executed if you
said the wrong thing.
You must be kidding. Seriously. I mean the Al-Qeida nuts will not slit
your throat if you do not grow a beard or are a woman on the street not in a
burka, right? How about Baathist guerillas when you say the "wrong thing": "I
work for Halliburton"?
Al-Qaeda is nothing but a call to arms. These guerillas aren't the Taliban.
They're a violent underclass that every country suppresses (or builds an army
out of).
if the guerillas don't chill after the elections and/or the withdrawal
of Israel from the West Bank, it's going to be years before it's safe.
Again, reality dysfunction here: the "elections" will not chill anything
even if "successful" (provide your definition of succes here because they are
all equally laughable). In the most rosy, pie-in-the-sky scenario, the elections
result in Shia-controlled constitutional comission (you do realise that the
elections are to elect the commission not the real government which is to be
elected in the next elections sonewhere in 2006? 7? 8?..., no?). Following
which Sunni rebellion (who at that point will really have nothing to lose) will
get massively worse and will require wholesale pacification of places like Baghdad
via the Falluja method of cluster bombing. In the ruins of what remains of Iraq,
a theocratic Shia government will craft its Sharia-law based constitution. And
there are many worse scenarios possible, invovling combined Sunni/Shia
revolts.
Maybe you're right. I don't think anyone knows for sure.
However, long term peace in the Middle East will make even that
carnage worthwhile.
This is how brainless empires a born. You statement here says it all: "I
the stupendous, infallable, all-wise UpnAtom will bring to the barbarians the
light of my religion and bring them into its fold by the might of His word or
the steel of my sword if they refuse!".
My statement is clear (it's the one in bold). Deal with it, not some
pathetic argument that you made up. Have some respect for yourself and
your audience.
The religion being: market libertarianism, Christianity, USA-rendition
of "democracy", take your pick. You just declared yourself fit to decide that
600,000 people dead
Where did you get that 600,000 figure from?
and many more crippled and maimed are "advancing" your cause
If you really need to deceive people as to what I said, then maybe your point
isn't worth making.
and not only that, a direct and personally perpetrated carnage on their
lands is "justified" because it will "make peace in the long term".
You make some good points but you also make some stupid ones.
The Iraqis had 4 decades to deal with Saddam. Even after his army was "destroyed" in the Gulf War, they didn't stand a chance.
Even if their land is a warzone, Iraqis are now free. Before you & your family might be publicly executed if you said the wrong thing.
Yes, it's still a mess and if the guerillas don't chill after the elections and/or the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, it's going to be years before it's safe.
However, long term peace in the Middle East will make even that carnage worthwhile.
Slashdot Mirror
As I understand it, matching wavelets with motion compensation is very computationally intensive.
Snow (cached) is the most promising attempt.
Of traditional block-based MPEG codecs, Nero Recode's H.264 implementation is by far the best for low bitrates.
For high bitrate archival purposes, XviD might be better.
Sounds like you haven't done the exercise yet. Well then, this may or may not be the biggest decision of your life.
Will you be forever damned to agonize over decisions?
Is it worth 10 minutes of your time to find out whether or not you already know what the results of the exercise will be?
Presumably you agonize because you want to make good decisions. Wouldn't it be cool if you knew whether it was a good decision before you made it? Maybe then you could make the right decisions in your career, love life and social life... and be happy.
First write down five good decisions you made: where you were sure it was a good decision, it turned well and you're glad you made it.
Then write down five bad decisions you made.
Then notice how you originally felt about making the good decisions - what feelings they had in common. Lastly notice how you felt about making the bad decisions - what they had in common.
According to The Power Of Nightmares William Casey led the CIA astray in regards to Soviet military technology.
Makes you wonder if Porter Goss' agenda is any more helpful.
As regards to graphology, it's easy enough to scientifically evaluate different correlations.
My Plan
The Independent (check spelling) is one of 3 highly respected newspapers in the UK whose reputation and hence profitability is based on providing good journalism of issues important to the wider world.
Having fun is relaxing, which improves your health, well-being & creativity.
If you can get paid for doing it, or learn stuff that will help you in life, all the better.
Agree with parent. Don't give you kids self-fulfilling expectations. Otherwise, great advice.
You're probably right, any female genetic instinct can probably be overridden until "it's too late". Too late now being in your 60s:
This woman gave birth at 67, which is way above life expectancy for much of the world.
As for men, our genes would prosper the more children we had raised to sexual maturity. But we could trick other men into raising our children...
Stuff pissing you off is probably the main cause of aging.
Of course, the scientific research into this is still in the stone age so go with whatever makes you feel young.
Women at least seem to have a genetic predisposition to want children. Their own children too.
I know we've been starving for decent sci-fi, but yes, the new series puts the original to shame.
All the characters have much greater depth. Better actors I guess.
The plotlines have been awesome so far (11 eps). Hope they can keep going.
CGI is top notch. Tension & drama elements fantastic. Lots of food for thought too.
Yeah same here with the schedule. Given all the reported dangers, I was thinking of getting a Bluetooth headset.
What's wrong with buying individual, specialized devices that are good at what they are specifically designed to do, instead of all-in-one devices that by definition have to be compromises?
Having to carry around 2 bulky devices instead of 1? OTOH, I wonder if Wi-Fi will eventually make carrying a cell phone around the city superfluous.
What cost do you put on having to use an inferior browser for a year?
> Why, then, can't we make these technological marvels safe?
Pseudoscience begins with a hypothesis -- usually one which is appealing emotionally, and spectacularly implausible -- and then looks only for items which appear to support it.
Which you are guilty of too. You should have pointed out the presupposition in his quoted introduction that cell phones are not safe.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.
When a group is emotionally or financial invested in something, any competing idea will threaten them.
Pseudoscience makes extraordinary claims and advances fantastic theories that contradict what is known about nature.
As do many scientific advances. The Earth isn't flat.
Gads, always with the Toxins, you people.
Pseudoscience appeals to false authority, to emotion, sentiment, or distrust of established fact.
Which you just did right there.
*wtf* does this have to do with radiation and cancer?
Why does it have to be about radiation?
> This is not a cell phones cause brain cancer scare story.
As Penn and Teller might say... BULLSHIT.
Pseudoscience appeals to false authority, to emotion, sentiment, or distrust of established fact.
What if it is a Bluetooth headset?
"My name is Dave and I'm a computer games addict. It's been 52 days since I deleted every last one and threw out the CDs."
;)
As a hypnotherapist, I think that nicotine addiction is taken too seriously. It's plainly not addictive in my client's experience - most withdrawal symptoms are due to the nocebo effect & behavioural adjustment.
But computer game addiction should be taken more seriously. I never grew out of my childhood excitement for a new game.
Damn, now I want a fix...
Here's the thing: no other method comes anywhere close to the scientific one for generating real knowledge about the observable universe.
Depends what you mean by real knowledge. Before you even knew about science, you learnt to see, walk, eat and talk.
If we could eliminate everything you learnt outside of science, you'd be a gibbering, drooling vegetable.
Science does best at what science does best - ratifying any knowledge that we can 100% agree upon.
Good post. I want to make one very important point though.
Just because self-replicating molecules and evolution are plausible explanations of "us", it doesn't mean they are the sole explanation.
For those wanting to invoke Occam's Razor, understand that it only advises you of the limits of such explanations rather than "proving" any of them are correct/incorrect.
God's god?
You got hundreds of spam that day. So did millions of other people from the same spammers.
Add together the collective cost of stress, lost time, lost emails, support & software costs, you might say death was too good for them.
I despise the Neocons as much as you, but I can also distinguish between them and people who disagree with me.
Unfortunately since your position on this is indistinguishable from that of the Necoons, the distinction between them and you is nil.
Since you just proved my point, and destroyed your credibility in the process, I guess we'll leave it there.
Easter Europe had 5 to "deal" with their tyrants. Your point?
Eastern Europe was controlled by the Soviet Union. The US went to war with them as well.
Even if their land is a warzone, Iraqis are now free.
If you define "freedom" as "free to get blown into bits" I agree. I am sick and tired of right-wingnuts blabber about "freedom". Naked and hungry on a 2-foot square rock in the middle of Atlantic you are also "free" from political opression. Would you expect a Chinese political dissident to take that option to become "free"? Freedom by itself is worthless, it is the entrie framework of free scociety that makes it worthwile and thats what the USA idologue-nuts destroyed while installing their brand of "freedom".
It is funny how I get called left-wing one day and right-wing the next. I am sorry that your government has tainted the concept of freedom for you. For me, being free to make my own decisions and influence those who have power over me is fundamental to my existence.
Before you & your family might be publicly executed if you said the wrong thing.
You must be kidding. Seriously. I mean the Al-Qeida nuts will not slit your throat if you do not grow a beard or are a woman on the street not in a burka, right? How about Baathist guerillas when you say the "wrong thing": "I work for Halliburton"?
Al-Qaeda is nothing but a call to arms. These guerillas aren't the Taliban. They're a violent underclass that every country suppresses (or builds an army out of).
if the guerillas don't chill after the elections and/or the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, it's going to be years before it's safe.
Again, reality dysfunction here: the "elections" will not chill anything even if "successful" (provide your definition of succes here because they are all equally laughable). In the most rosy, pie-in-the-sky scenario, the elections result in Shia-controlled constitutional comission (you do realise that the elections are to elect the commission not the real government which is to be elected in the next elections sonewhere in 2006? 7? 8?..., no?). Following which Sunni rebellion (who at that point will really have nothing to lose) will get massively worse and will require wholesale pacification of places like Baghdad via the Falluja method of cluster bombing. In the ruins of what remains of Iraq, a theocratic Shia government will craft its Sharia-law based constitution. And there are many worse scenarios possible, invovling combined Sunni/Shia revolts.
Maybe you're right. I don't think anyone knows for sure.
However, long term peace in the Middle East will make even that carnage worthwhile.
This is how brainless empires a born. You statement here says it all: "I the stupendous, infallable, all-wise UpnAtom will bring to the barbarians the light of my religion and bring them into its fold by the might of His word or the steel of my sword if they refuse!".
My statement is clear (it's the one in bold). Deal with it, not some pathetic argument that you made up. Have some respect for yourself and your audience.
The religion being: market libertarianism, Christianity, USA-rendition of "democracy", take your pick. You just declared yourself fit to decide that 600,000 people dead
Where did you get that 600,000 figure from?
and many more crippled and maimed are "advancing" your cause
If you really need to deceive people as to what I said, then maybe your point isn't worth making.
and not only that, a direct and personally perpetrated carnage on their lands is "justified" because it will "make peace in the long term".
This is your issue, not mine. I am not Geor
You make some good points but you also make some stupid ones.
The Iraqis had 4 decades to deal with Saddam. Even after his army was "destroyed" in the Gulf War, they didn't stand a chance.
Even if their land is a warzone, Iraqis are now free. Before you & your family might be publicly executed if you said the wrong thing.
Yes, it's still a mess and if the guerillas don't chill after the elections and/or the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, it's going to be years before it's safe.
However, long term peace in the Middle East will make even that carnage worthwhile.