so what about 1.66 or 1.83s with similar features, chipset, and such at a lower cost. 1gb memory, discreet graphics, for around $1500?
Ummm... Because at that pricepoint they have the black MacBook? And the only real difference between what you're describing and a standard MacBook is the separate video card.
When I bought my MacBook (in January), I was a little wary of the idea of share video/system RAM, but it actually makes sense if you're not doing 3D work. Why carry around a bunch of RAM for your display if you're only going to render 2D windows with text and images? I've even played a few 3D games on it, and it performs acceptably, though has to work pretty hard and gets quite hot. Plugging in a 1680 x 1050 additional screen was no problem and it looks great for photos/videos.
Seriously, if you're a gamer, get a desktop; if you're a 3D artist, get a MacBook Pro; but if you're someone who wants a fully-featured laptop for $1500, just give up on your 'I have to have the pro level gear' attitude and get the black MacBook. You'll be glad you did.
'Carebears' in WoW choose to play that way, just like PVPers play their way.
I'm guessing the OP didn't really mean carebear are better people as opposed to PVPers. The real distinction is between those who PVP fairly and those whose idea of fun is to corpse-camp someone who is 20 levels below them.
I mean, sure, kill them if they get in your way, but I never understood people who would spend hours in lowbie areas camping people and running off when some high-level reinforcements came along. What kind of personality finds that entertaining?
First off, the people are posting their own pictures, hence have consent.
Actually someone sent me a link that they'd come across of someone's Flickr page with a photo of me on it. The title was 'That Guy' and they'd made the whole photo black and white except for me. I am clearly the subject of the photo and I never knew it was taken (it was at a street art exhibition opening, so it was quite crowded).
Much like this Street View situation, since it was taken in a public place, I have no recourse to do anything about it, even if I wanted to. (Though I'm actually rather flattered.)
"That doesn't mean that the van is on constant duty in that city, retreading the same routes and taking new pictures."
At the moment, but precedent is being set.
Maybe if people wanted to be really nasty, they could fix the camera in place and watch a certain area all the time. What a scary dystopian vision that would be...
It sucks, yes. But what most people don't understand is that it's worth it.
What is 'it' that's so worthwhile? Democracy? Because in case you haven't noticed, it's not about to happen there. Iraq is in the middle of a civil war, and whichever side wins is going to royally fuck the other side over. I don't really consider that a worthwhile cause myself.
Perhaps you'd care to spell out what you actually expect to happen in Iraq? Because I foresee a continuing conflict between various factions that will go on for the next five to ten years. In the next six to eighteen months I expect the US government to announce that all the goals for rebuilding Iraq have been achieved, that the 'coalition of the willing' is no longer needed in Iraq, and that the continuing violence is 'isolated' and being taken care of. There will be stories on how Iraq is still in the grip of civil war for about a year after the pull out, after which the media will lose interest and it'll receive the same level of coverage as Zimbabwe or Darfur. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm yet to see any evidence of it.
If you were to watch any channel other than Fox News during the first part of the war, you would have thought that we were losing...[snip]
Can you explain precisely how we're winning? We've blown hundreds of billions of dollars, sent thousands of young people away to die, and increased the momentum behind Islamic fundamentalism and terrorist groups.
The Iraqi people have gone from a horrible dictatorship to civil war and chaos, and around 65,000 of them have been killed in the process. (Twenty times more than were killed in 9/11, to put things into perspective - Iraqi's have endured the equivalent of twenty 9/11s.) Living conditions are far worse for the vast majority of people, and democracy that was being installed there doesn't really seem to have gotten out of the gate.
Tell me again how we (or any other group) are winning.
Interesting point. IANAP (I Am Not A Psychologist), so, who (or which organization) dictates that it's unethical to expose people to pornography ala. actual scientific research?
IANAPBISPAU (I am not a psychologist but I studied psychology at university.) Pretty much all universities have their own ethics committee whose job it is to come up with very pedantic rules for how any experiments should be done so that no-one is hurt or distressed. Getting permission from these groups can be incredibly difficult and they will often hold up grad students' research for months.
Going another level up, the APA (American Psychology Association) is the dominant body with regard to psychology (around the world, not just in the USA). They have an ethics committee which set a best practice policy on what other ethics committees should think about.
While I agree that it would be nice to be able to study anything without having to worry about the ethics, the can lead to interesting, yet morally flawed experiments such as the Stanford Prison experiment or the Milgram experiment, which were informative, but quite traumatic for participants. As a rule psychologists don't like to leave people more messed up than when they got them, so they tend to view overly cautious ethics committees as a necessary annoyance.
You can keep the ring. It's not real, it's just some piece of glass I found on the sidewalk.
You know you've been playing too much Nethack when you think 'if I were photobucket I wouldn't put on a ring without having identified it'. Perhaps this was a Cursed Ring of Buyout.
I'm sick of picking up worthless bits of glass too. I can never get enough scrolls of identify.
Except for the fact that dictionary.com lists "sexual intercourse" as "genital contact, esp. the insertion of the penis into the vagina followed by orgasm; coitus; copulation." I believe that is also known as penetration.
I wasn't suggesting that penetration is not sexual intercourse, indeed penetration is the most common form of intercourse. I was replying to a post which had implied that sexual intercourse could only mean penetration. It's like the difference between "all dogs are mammals" and "all mammals are dogs".
No word has an immutable definition. Words are defined by usage, and as the GP pointed the word 'rape' has different usages in various parts of the world.
So you're wrong.
You don't get to use the words interchangeably simply because you don't know what they mean literally.
A quick check of the dictionary doesn't use the word 'penetration' at all in defining 'rape', instead using more ambiguous term 'sexual intercourse'. In turn, you'll note that most of the subsequent definitions are quite specific in not limiting the term to penile penetration.
Ya know, when I bought my alarm clock, no where in the documentation did it state I would be able to rip apart it's innards and utilize whatever components I wanted. It said it would keep time, and beep when I told it to beep.
Yes, but they didn't design the damn thing so that you couldn't rip it apart either. If you wanted to get at its innards, you'd just need a screwdriver. Perhaps you should stick to car metaphors.
Do you understand how a free market is supposed to work? Have you ever heard of supply and demand?
It's not my job to pay attention to Apple. It's Apple's job to make products that I want to buy.
No, it's Apple's job to make products that someone wants to buy. That someone may not be you.
Given that Apple doesn't exactly seem to be going bankrupt, I'd suggest that your little rant about supply and demand misses the point that plenty of people do want to buy their products. Apple's business model is different from how you'd like it to be (and very different from most businesses in the computing industry since it makes both an OS and the hardware it runs on). That's not really a bad thing, except for you.
I still don't understand why anyone would want to watch a movie on their computer. Tinny little satellite speakers with a 17-20" monitor vs. Full blown 150W 7.1 surround sound and 50" widescreen tv. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
My computer's screen has a higher resolution than my TV and is connected to my stereo, which gives better sound than my TV.
I'd love an over-the-top home theater system, but a) I don't have the space and b) I'd rather spend the money on other things (eg. food, shelter, computer).
Given that I don't spend that much time watching TV or DVDs I can't understand why I, or anyone else in my situation, would want to duplicate the main features of a home theater system (hi-res screen and sounds system) for their computer and TV (and stereo).
That said, I wouldn't buy one of these chips if I could possibly avoid it. If that means I can't watch a specific DRMed format, then I guess I'll just download it. Same thing happened with those damn copy-protected CDs.
Just thought I'd mention the E-3 visa for any Australians that happen to be reading this and want to work in the US. It's a handy little visa specifically for Aussies who can find work in a 'specialty occupation' (jobs which require a degree) in America.
There's practically no demand for them at the moment which makes it much easier to get them, since they'll never use up the maximum allotment per year (10,500). The application process is a pain in the ass (I'm here on one), but I imagine that's the case with all visas. If you're interested, I found this FAQ rather helpful.
For the record, this came out of the recent FTA between the USA and Australia. So at least we got something of it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm getting this engraved on my tombstone...
When I bought my MacBook (in January), I was a little wary of the idea of share video/system RAM, but it actually makes sense if you're not doing 3D work. Why carry around a bunch of RAM for your display if you're only going to render 2D windows with text and images? I've even played a few 3D games on it, and it performs acceptably, though has to work pretty hard and gets quite hot. Plugging in a 1680 x 1050 additional screen was no problem and it looks great for photos/videos.
Seriously, if you're a gamer, get a desktop; if you're a 3D artist, get a MacBook Pro; but if you're someone who wants a fully-featured laptop for $1500, just give up on your 'I have to have the pro level gear' attitude and get the black MacBook. You'll be glad you did.
Where's that +1 Bizarre moderation option when you need it?
I mean, sure, kill them if they get in your way, but I never understood people who would spend hours in lowbie areas camping people and running off when some high-level reinforcements came along. What kind of personality finds that entertaining?
Toohey's? Don't even joke about that swill. (I'm a Melbournian.)
How about I get us some Coopers and we'll keep everyone happy?
Speaking as an Aussie who's currently working in the USA, this is pretty much dead on.
Fine, fine.
Much like this Street View situation, since it was taken in a public place, I have no recourse to do anything about it, even if I wanted to. (Though I'm actually rather flattered.)
Maybe if people wanted to be really nasty, they could fix the camera in place and watch a certain area all the time. What a scary dystopian vision that would be...Glad to see the US is in such good company. That cogent argument has certainly ensured my support for firearms.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with all your other points. But probabilities stay the same no matter how many trials you do.
Don't look now, but they have these little miniature desktop rigs now. They're called "laptops" or some crazy name...
Perhaps you'd care to spell out what you actually expect to happen in Iraq? Because I foresee a continuing conflict between various factions that will go on for the next five to ten years. In the next six to eighteen months I expect the US government to announce that all the goals for rebuilding Iraq have been achieved, that the 'coalition of the willing' is no longer needed in Iraq, and that the continuing violence is 'isolated' and being taken care of. There will be stories on how Iraq is still in the grip of civil war for about a year after the pull out, after which the media will lose interest and it'll receive the same level of coverage as Zimbabwe or Darfur. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm yet to see any evidence of it.
The Iraqi people have gone from a horrible dictatorship to civil war and chaos, and around 65,000 of them have been killed in the process. (Twenty times more than were killed in 9/11, to put things into perspective - Iraqi's have endured the equivalent of twenty 9/11s.) Living conditions are far worse for the vast majority of people, and democracy that was being installed there doesn't really seem to have gotten out of the gate.
Tell me again how we (or any other group) are winning.
IANAPBISPAU (I am not a psychologist but I studied psychology at university.) Pretty much all universities have their own ethics committee whose job it is to come up with very pedantic rules for how any experiments should be done so that no-one is hurt or distressed. Getting permission from these groups can be incredibly difficult and they will often hold up grad students' research for months.
Going another level up, the APA (American Psychology Association) is the dominant body with regard to psychology (around the world, not just in the USA). They have an ethics committee which set a best practice policy on what other ethics committees should think about.
While I agree that it would be nice to be able to study anything without having to worry about the ethics, the can lead to interesting, yet morally flawed experiments such as the Stanford Prison experiment or the Milgram experiment, which were informative, but quite traumatic for participants. As a rule psychologists don't like to leave people more messed up than when they got them, so they tend to view overly cautious ethics committees as a necessary annoyance.
I'm sick of picking up worthless bits of glass too. I can never get enough scrolls of identify.
So you're wrong.
A quick check of the dictionary doesn't use the word 'penetration' at all in defining 'rape', instead using more ambiguous term 'sexual intercourse'. In turn, you'll note that most of the subsequent definitions are quite specific in not limiting the term to penile penetration.So you're wrong twice.
And as a recent 'switcher', I would have to agree with you about cryptic error messages.
Yes, but they didn't design the damn thing so that you couldn't rip it apart either. If you wanted to get at its innards, you'd just need a screwdriver. Perhaps you should stick to car metaphors.
No, it's Apple's job to make products that someone wants to buy. That someone may not be you.
Given that Apple doesn't exactly seem to be going bankrupt, I'd suggest that your little rant about supply and demand misses the point that plenty of people do want to buy their products. Apple's business model is different from how you'd like it to be (and very different from most businesses in the computing industry since it makes both an OS and the hardware it runs on). That's not really a bad thing, except for you.
My computer's screen has a higher resolution than my TV and is connected to my stereo, which gives better sound than my TV.
I'd love an over-the-top home theater system, but a) I don't have the space and b) I'd rather spend the money on other things (eg. food, shelter, computer).
Given that I don't spend that much time watching TV or DVDs I can't understand why I, or anyone else in my situation, would want to duplicate the main features of a home theater system (hi-res screen and sounds system) for their computer and TV (and stereo).
That said, I wouldn't buy one of these chips if I could possibly avoid it. If that means I can't watch a specific DRMed format, then I guess I'll just download it. Same thing happened with those damn copy-protected CDs.
There's practically no demand for them at the moment which makes it much easier to get them, since they'll never use up the maximum allotment per year (10,500). The application process is a pain in the ass (I'm here on one), but I imagine that's the case with all visas. If you're interested, I found this FAQ rather helpful.
For the record, this came out of the recent FTA between the USA and Australia. So at least we got something of it.