The jelly moves through the water. In the heart the water moves through the jelly. Same basic action. Imagine the same device being built using human cells, especially cells from the potential patient, this chimeric pump is a first step, perhaps a major step, in building a bioelectric replacement heart or even an auxiliary heart. They sussed that bioelectric pumps work by sending an electrochemical wave front through the tissue. In principal a jellyfish and a heart have a lot in common. Especially in some people.
Very authoritative/techon.nikkeibp.co.jp article. It claims that even resting the newer 3 bit per cell flash chips earmarked for consumer grade USB thumb drives can lose data in as little as a year. There is better one bit per cell flash. But having read this piece (if it is at all accurate) I would never store a consumer grade SSD for 25 years and expect to read it without difficulty.
I think If I wanted to store data reliably for twenty five years on machine readable media I would choose -- as some have already suggested -- an archival gold DVD. Since a lot of important data are being stored on these currently it should be no trouble to find a reader capable of reading them in twenty-five years. My guess is that at least some future optical drives will be backward compatible. If only because 100 year archives are currently being created on long-life discs. You might have to pay a professional to load your data to your cloud account, however, as consumer hardware might include optical drives. But there is little doubt that you could get a DVD read in twenty five years with ease.
I have read that optical discs should be stored in their jewel cases standing on edge; that is, perpendicular to the ground. I think if you add in a duplicate to the mix then you will guard against some random defect sandbagging you. Maybe the dupe should be from another brand, like Verbatim. Bag the discs in plastic. And throw in a pouch of desiccant as others have said. Not a need for special treatment for the box IMHO. Cool dry place. Twenty five years will go by in the blink of an eye. Lemme tell ya.
I recently opened some storage that was put up when I went overseas in 1989. Everything was in pretty good shape.
The broader question of what to put in the box is more interesting than how to preserve it. A video postcard from each participant would be nice. (Stored on the gold DVD.) A small personal item worn on the day of the silver jubilee might be worth seeing. What about a secret message from each person in a sealed envelope?
Something like: "I loved you from afar in history class back then. But you noticed me not. And I would have never divorced you and taken every penny like SHE did. But then you always were a damned fool, you damned fool."
Then again you could always just do butt scans on the copier. My guess is that the copy paper will hold up better than your butts will after 25 years.
Who was talking about vandalism? Just rode hard and put away wet is all... And we are talking rentals here, Are we not?
"Ouch, podjo, that was a bad pothole." "No worries. It's a rental vehicle."
A friend's car is of course returned clean and full.
Whoa! Fifty GBP for turning in a dirty car. There would be no charge in the US for returning a car with a bit of litter in it. Maybe if the interior was egregiously filthy, or if you smoked in it. Then you could get dinged. That said, I usually police the interior before I turn a car in, if only to double check for my own possessions. I'm currently in Europe. Have to remember to use that litter bag.
I would not want my car rented to "random strangers". What's up with this big sharing movement, anyway? Everything seems up for grabs. Couch surfing, car swapping, my personal data.... What's next? Wife swapping..? Oh, wait!
I would not have believed the story. That is outrageous. Even more incredible was the guy serving hard time for having a poppy seed (well, three poppy seeds) stuck to his shirt. This, after consuming a bread roll at Heathrow. It defies all common sense. What a bunch of totally random bullies. Where is Franz Kafka when you need him.
I once went to Dubai. It was a pleasant enough hotel-land experience -- expensive. But after reading that piece in The Daily Mail I will never return. I was put off the place anyway by another article I read. Hmmm. Bet it is still around... Found it! They have a serious environmental problem and the beaches are befouled. More like Doo Bye.
Anyway, your link just goes to show you what these kinds of technologies can lead to, especially in the wrong hands. But law enforcement everywhere tends to get pushier and pushier. I hate all the creepy useless stuff in our airports, too. It's no good. And it will come to more no good. But I don't have to tell that to this crowd. Old Franz would understand, as well.
However, some sellers are also creating fake accounts with extremely low prices in an attempt to automatically pull down the price of rival products so that they can buy up their competitor’s stock.
It seems to me that that is a matter for law enforcement. Since they would not actually sell those products in good faith. 'Fraud' is the operative word.
As for an Amazon flash crash. I mean, okay, maybe. But what is the big deal if the price of a Dixon stereo tanks artificially? I mean except, perhaps, for the sales executive in charge of that department. He might get a bollocking or lose his job. However, if a blue chip stock price crashes in some kind of algorithm-fueled artificial negative feedback loop, billions can be lost... and thousands of jobs. So to a "flash crash on Amazon" I say, "Meh." That is, unless it helps me cadge a good deal on a Nexus.
A smartphone seemed like overkill since for much of the last five years I was in Tajikistan. Cell coverage is good in some spots but 3G.... not so much. You could guess this from the photos I linked to. (I am the guy with the hair)
Now I am in Norway, which has screamingly fast wireless data. So I am seriously considering an Android Smartphone. I have been researching and have decided on a modest unlocked Nexus S, doubly so since its bootloader is unlocked and I can put that awesome looking Cyanogenmod firmware on it. A little surprised myself that I had never seen anything about Cyanogenmod, but then I have not been looking at all. w00t!
to do a direct upgrade without a clean reinstallation. Fair enough. The upgrade price from XP and Vista and Win 7 is said to be $39.00 as well. I have read that we are probably going to see at a faster OS cycle from Redmond. And I hope the price slide starts to apply to Office. I am currently running 7 on my two newest machines. Vista on my old laptop and XP on my old Desktop. At that price point I might consider an across-the-board upgrade.
You are absolutely correct. I have not used Windows 8. It was pretty clear from my post that I have not. Indeed, I was quoting from an opinion piece. From Wired. I even gave the link . And I did add at the end of my post the caveat: "Hopefully 8 will offer a way for those adapted ADDs among us to jump around as per usual..." Glad to see it does. Shame on Mr Thompson, the author of the Wired piece, for not mentioning, or at least not properly highlighting, the fact that there is a way to reconfigure Win 8 to do multitasking. Since an upgrade from XP is expected to be very reasonable in price, and Windows 8 is meant to be pretty snappy, that is good news. I was wondering why MS chose to cripple their OS. Wondering no more. Thanks for hands on info.
After all in a multi tasking OS if you do not want to multitask you simply don't open any other apps and stay with what you are doing. Then, well, you are single tasking. I agree that it would be a bad move for Microsoft to limit thier new OS. However, I just finished reading this article in Wired that claims that is exactly what Win 8 Metro does. It is apparently a poor environment in which to do multi tasking. It seems odd to restrict the user to one app at a time, as on a phone, essentially creating a "smartphone" like environment on the PC desktop which -- unlike a phone -- has the hardware to support many running applications. People who do a lot of multitasking will probably not like Metro. Limiting multi-tasking seems like a downgrade to me. Or as I said in my post a "dumbgrade." Hopefully 8 will offer a way for those adapted ADDs among us to jump around as per usual...
Oh, wait. A win messenger pop-up. It's my old pal 5eX-T0i from Kiev. Gotta run. Ciao.
There is a reason I read Slashdot. From time to time I still learn stuff. I Googled and I saw: I had no idea that there was a hacked firmware for Android smartphones. (Not that I ever looked.) I am not surprised, but I had heard early on that these appliances were fairly well locked down. Now that I know I can give one an open-source douche I might just have to spring for a Nexus.
This appreciation in lieu of a mod up since I had already posted!
My guess is that there will always be a market for, and a supply of, DYI computing hardware and software. FOSS at the very least will provide OS choice. Commercial OSs are another matter. Windows 8 appears to be some sort of a dumbgrade from Windows 7. It looks set to turn your multi-tasking computer into more of a one-task-at-a-time appliance. I do reckon that the DIY hardware will no doubt get more expensive. This, since more and more people will be choose to use computing appliances. As a result consumers of DYI components won't benefit form economies of scale.. However, the appliance crowd has heretofore only been frustrated and confused by the amount of choice in the PC world anyway. My observation is that the tablet/smartphone model is a relief for many. But I think there will always be a supply of components for computerists. I am not a PC gamer, but that is a vibrant market. Heck, you can still get tubes for high-end audio, turntables and vinyl have come back. And urban outfitters has whole racks of 35mm film cameras for sale.
But I agree that fears of a grimmer future are not unjustified. It does worry me that manufacturers are already starting to build DRM right into the chips. The computer industry seems far more willing to protect the interests of Hollwood than it did in the days of Apple's RIP-MIX-BURN campaign. Mainstream equipment might well be some sort of cripple ware. But I still maintain that unpolluted hardware will be availble. For a price. Nevertheless, hang on to those old MOBOs... The unfettered chips might turn out to be as valuable as, say, the high-end vintage turntable you sold at a garage sale in 1993.
The colder the dryer. In Moscow we ran a humidifier in winter to improve indoor air quality. So if you are in a continental deep freeze this rather sweet clothes dryer hack would give a double benefit.
He knows it's stupid, but he wants some attention. Or he wants to sell a book. Or maybe just get a squib on Slashdot (Okay, maybe not that). It is pretty impossible to get any public attention by taking an established sensible position on anything. As far as media outlets and the public are concerned consensus it is a big fat yawn. "Well-known scientist agrees with other well-known scientists that Einstein was right." One gets respect, of course, from one's peers in this way. But that and two bucks will get you a cup of coffee.
But if you want a turn on The Today Show, and you crave some book sales, then you have to be bold, to swim against the turgid current of normalcy. You have to GET CRAZY -- in a measured academic sort of way. But I have to give Waltz credit for flying high and wild. He must have a new mistress he needs to house. Nonproliferation? Fugedaboudid! Bring it bitches! W00T! Let's have some Plute! Uranium? I want it rich, Bitch. Where's Teller when you need him? Let's give Nicaragua a Super H so they can dig a canal. Why can't we all just get along?
I'm A Dinner Jacket (Ahmadinajad) is an apocalyptic nut case holocaust denier who says Israel should be erased -- but I guess Waltz thinks he is just posturing. If Waltz actually believes in his theory let's see if he moves to Tel Aviv when Iran gets its weapon. Which they will.
Okay, If we were talking real politik globally, as we were during the cold war, then Waltz might have a leg to stand on. Might. But this is a Cosmic war. The problem with Jerusalem is not political. It is religious. Or better put, the politics of this contentious boil poisoning the bloodstream of the planet is religious at root. Whether you are a Taliban or a Talibaptist or an Israeli Zealot we are not talking rational nuclear game theory here. Apocalyptic weapons in the hands of hyper-religious spun up Apocalyptics? I should say not. And Mr Waltz knows better, too. Shame on him!
I have never purchased anything from Google. I use their email and search engine and let them crawl its content so I can be pitched with some fairly unobtrusive ads. I guess I am a viewer or a user. Maybe even a mark. I am a Microsoft customer. They do push stuff at me and I push back. But then so do car salesmen, and the guy haunting the men's department at Macy's. It is, and always has been, a caveat-emptor kind of world. Basically, most people seem up to it and rarely get fleeced with everyday purchases. With tech, however, it is simply a lot easier to trick people into buying stuff they do not need, because, frankly, most people have very little idea of what they are buying. Tech is shyster heaven. One laments, perhaps, the fading of the academic ethic (or at least the pretense of it) that characterized the early years of commercial tech. But to my eye it is just business doing business as usual. Never very nice.
The FOSS movement, for all its flaws, is a ray of sunshine in the 'dark' world of commerce. It really is a pleasant surprise. Like Jazz, maybe. Creative energy from the bottom up. If not always polished or complete, then beautiful nonetheless... But face it... capitalism works. It generates wealth far better than more nobly conceived economic experiments. But it will always spin out of control if left only to itself. Price fixing? Monopolies? Fraud? Markets do not self-correct these built in problems. However, the implementation of thoughtful measured regulations and laws can really put government squarely into the same role with finance and industry that coaches and referees play in sports. Without them... chaos. But too much from them and they spoil the game. In the end it is all about optimizing "the public good." whatever that is at a given moment
The scary thing is corruption. And for that there seems to be no answer. And over the last decade there seems to be more and more of it. On every side of the aisle. And at every level of power. Yikes!
In keeping with the 3-digit status codes we already have and the use of the 4xx series to indicate that the client has apparently made an error, I think status code 451 might be more appropriate.
RIP, Ray Bradbury.
Whoa. What an exceptional post. It deserves a +6. And as far as I am concerned it is the hands-down best idea for a real censorship code. w00t!
Roasted coffee starts to get stale after about a week. And is at its peak about 24 hours after roasting. Only a very few coffee houses consistently serve freshly roasted specialty coffee. (Places that serve Counter Culture coffee do a pretty good job.) Vacuum packing roasted coffee does not prevent the deterioration (It helps a bit, but then the coffee stales almost immediately after exposure to air.) Nor does freezing help either.
The darker roasts served up by the mass market coffee houses are actually eschewed by real coffee geeks, who prefer to roast their own and to a lighter degree. And, in any case, the dark roasted beans at these joints are usually stale anyway. Dude. Once you have tasted, say, a freshly roasted Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, or a great Kenyan AA you will not say "ick". And here is another fact. Green coffee lasts for two years. And is roughly half the price per pound as roasted coffee. Which is why I roast my own coffee in a home roasting appliance. (I use a Nesco). I make about a third of a pound at a time, It is wonderful. Rarely in life is cheaper better. But in this case it is true (Except for the energy involved in roasting of course.) The fact is that coffee, like bread, is just better when it is fresh. A lot better.
With care coffee can be roasted on the stove top in a black cast iron pan. It smokes a lot so you should have a venting hood. There are tons of on-line instructions. To get my beans I go to Sweet Maria's or to Burman Coffee traders. But there are many places to get green beans. Equipment is available from these places I mentioned as well.
Modern proprietary computers are really just appliances to most people. The user is lightyears from the deeply intellectually interesting things about them. And he or she is legally as well as practically barred from really exploring the software. I started using machines that let me program in basic. There were applications, but also real (if very simple) computing and programming tools. Not so now.. And not so for many years
Say what you want about Linux on the desktop for everyday computing, but a Linux box at least has the potential of offering a gifted kid a free ticket to authentic intellectual growth. If he or she gets interested she can download source code for the OS and applications. And she can take advantage of educational materials and supportive communities. All for free. If a kid is playing games on a Windows or an Apple box and asks? "How does this crap really work?" she is kind of SOL. But on a FOSS box there is at least a small chance of digging deeper. Legally. And without paying a dime.
So perhaps we "do gooders" should be sure that some poor people have access to a few cheap Linux boxes. Maybe it will only to light a fire in the mind of that one kid in a hundred -- or that one kid in a thousand. There are such minds, of course. But they need some kindling to burst into flame. Don't believe me? Look at the story of
Srnivsa Rmnujan or the story of Carl Friedrich Gauss These are two of the most sublime geniuses in the history of human thought. And they both came from hunger. (Ultimately they received patronage, but only after their genius was apparent.)
Jack Vance explored some of the social implications of selective immortality in his weird murder mystery. To Live Forever As I read about possible life extension breakthroughs in the news and contemplate the implications -- we really do seem to be getting somewhere -- I often catch myself thinking about this insightful lesser known work of the reclusive and gifted Mr. Vance.
If you are lucky enough to have one of thesevery cool stores near you they are a great place to shop and buy tech. The prices are good, and for a brick and mortar operation they are sometimes awesome -- and the staff is usually informed. They also sell online. But a lot of stuff is in-store only. I have to drive for an hour to get to mine, but it is worth it. You could take your sister with you.
I go into consumer coma in the store near me (Rockville MD). I imagine it is like being in an online operation's warehouse. I just bought components for an Ivy Bridge desktop build. They beat Newegg on the prices of the main components, MoBo and CPU, but Newegg was cheaper for the smaller boards. Cables etc were also reasonable at Microcenter (Unlike Best Buy where the prices of cables and cords are usurious). Laptop selection was also good, but I wasn't buying.
As for comparison tips. I look at likely products with lots of reviews to take advantage of the hive mind. Then the percentage of good to bad reviews for a given product. Then I read a few good and a few bad. Sometimes a bad review of an otherwise good product will expose a deal killer for me. This is not the end all be all of a buying decision, but not all reviews are astroturfed.
Last thing about a laptop buy. Teach your sis to take care of it. Don't run it on a pillow. Don't flop it on a table like a text book. Or slam it shut like a car door. Put it in its case to travel. And follow good practice with the battery (even Lions need some thought.) And wipe it down from time to time. Silicon has a soul and likes to be kept clean.
Slashdot Mirror
-- Wife looks menacingly at husband of 26 years when he is ten for ten on the smoothest ones.
-- Another wife looks on in dismay at her husband when he is ten for ten on the hairy ones.
-- And all look on in fear at the smug woman who is 20 for 20 -- both hairy and smooth.
The jelly moves through the water. In the heart the water moves through the jelly. Same basic action. Imagine the same device being built using human cells, especially cells from the potential patient, this chimeric pump is a first step, perhaps a major step, in building a bioelectric replacement heart or even an auxiliary heart. They sussed that bioelectric pumps work by sending an electrochemical wave front through the tissue. In principal a jellyfish and a heart have a lot in common. Especially in some people.
Very authoritative /techon.nikkeibp.co.jp article. It claims that even resting the newer 3 bit per cell flash chips earmarked for consumer grade USB thumb drives can lose data in as little as a year. There is better one bit per cell flash. But having read this piece (if it is at all accurate) I would never store a consumer grade SSD for 25 years and expect to read it without difficulty.
I think If I wanted to store data reliably for twenty five years on machine readable media I would choose -- as some have already suggested -- an archival gold DVD. Since a lot of important data are being stored on these currently it should be no trouble to find a reader capable of reading them in twenty-five years. My guess is that at least some future optical drives will be backward compatible. If only because 100 year archives are currently being created on long-life discs. You might have to pay a professional to load your data to your cloud account, however, as consumer hardware might include optical drives. But there is little doubt that you could get a DVD read in twenty five years with ease.
I have read that optical discs should be stored in their jewel cases standing on edge; that is, perpendicular to the ground. I think if you add in a duplicate to the mix then you will guard against some random defect sandbagging you. Maybe the dupe should be from another brand, like Verbatim. Bag the discs in plastic. And throw in a pouch of desiccant as others have said. Not a need for special treatment for the box IMHO. Cool dry place. Twenty five years will go by in the blink of an eye. Lemme tell ya. I recently opened some storage that was put up when I went overseas in 1989. Everything was in pretty good shape.
The broader question of what to put in the box is more interesting than how to preserve it. A video postcard from each participant would be nice. (Stored on the gold DVD.) A small personal item worn on the day of the silver jubilee might be worth seeing. What about a secret message from each person in a sealed envelope?
Something like: "I loved you from afar in history class back then. But you noticed me not. And I would have never divorced you and taken every penny like SHE did. But then you always were a damned fool, you damned fool."
Then again you could always just do butt scans on the copier. My guess is that the copy paper will hold up better than your butts will after 25 years.
Mycoplasma genitalium. No jokes, please. This is Science.
Who was talking about vandalism? Just rode hard and put away wet is all... And we are talking rentals here, Are we not?
"Ouch, podjo, that was a bad pothole."
"No worries. It's a rental vehicle."
A friend's car is of course returned clean and full.
Whoa! Fifty GBP for turning in a dirty car. There would be no charge in the US for returning a car with a bit of litter in it. Maybe if the interior was egregiously filthy, or if you smoked in it. Then you could get dinged. That said, I usually police the interior before I turn a car in, if only to double check for my own possessions. I'm currently in Europe. Have to remember to use that litter bag.
I would not want my car rented to "random strangers". What's up with this big sharing movement, anyway? Everything seems up for grabs. Couch surfing, car swapping, my personal data.... What's next? Wife swapping..? Oh, wait!
Who among us treats a rental with the same tender care we treat our own cars?
I always check the tire inflation of a rental. I have gotten cars with 60 lbs of pressure. Does this make drifting easier?
Don't hold your breath.
I would not have believed the story. That is outrageous. Even more incredible was the guy serving hard time for having a poppy seed (well, three poppy seeds) stuck to his shirt. This, after consuming a bread roll at Heathrow. It defies all common sense. What a bunch of totally random bullies. Where is Franz Kafka when you need him.
I once went to Dubai. It was a pleasant enough hotel-land experience -- expensive. But after reading that piece in The Daily Mail I will never return. I was put off the place anyway by another article I read. Hmmm. Bet it is still around... Found it! They have a serious environmental problem and the beaches are befouled. More like Doo Bye.
Anyway, your link just goes to show you what these kinds of technologies can lead to, especially in the wrong hands. But law enforcement everywhere tends to get pushier and pushier. I hate all the creepy useless stuff in our airports, too. It's no good. And it will come to more no good. But I don't have to tell that to this crowd. Old Franz would understand, as well.
From the TFA:
However, some sellers are also creating fake accounts with extremely low prices in an attempt to automatically pull down the price of rival products so that they can buy up their competitor’s stock.
It seems to me that that is a matter for law enforcement. Since they would not actually sell those products in good faith. 'Fraud' is the operative word.
As for an Amazon flash crash. I mean, okay, maybe. But what is the big deal if the price of a Dixon stereo tanks artificially? I mean except, perhaps, for the sales executive in charge of that department. He might get a bollocking or lose his job. However, if a blue chip stock price crashes in some kind of algorithm-fueled artificial negative feedback loop, billions can be lost... and thousands of jobs. So to a "flash crash on Amazon" I say, "Meh." That is, unless it helps me cadge a good deal on a Nexus.
A smartphone seemed like overkill since for much of the last five years I was in Tajikistan. Cell coverage is good in some spots but 3G.... not so much. You could guess this from the photos I linked to. (I am the guy with the hair)
Now I am in Norway, which has screamingly fast wireless data. So I am seriously considering an Android Smartphone. I have been researching and have decided on a modest unlocked Nexus S, doubly so since its bootloader is unlocked and I can put that awesome looking Cyanogenmod firmware on it. A little surprised myself that I had never seen anything about Cyanogenmod, but then I have not been looking at all. w00t!
to do a direct upgrade without a clean reinstallation. Fair enough. The upgrade price from XP and Vista and Win 7 is said to be $39.00 as well. I have read that we are probably going to see at a faster OS cycle from Redmond. And I hope the price slide starts to apply to Office. I am currently running 7 on my two newest machines. Vista on my old laptop and XP on my old Desktop. At that price point I might consider an across-the-board upgrade.
You are absolutely correct. I have not used Windows 8. It was pretty clear from my post that I have not. Indeed, I was quoting from an opinion piece. From Wired. I even gave the link . And I did add at the end of my post the caveat: "Hopefully 8 will offer a way for those adapted ADDs among us to jump around as per usual..." Glad to see it does. Shame on Mr Thompson, the author of the Wired piece, for not mentioning, or at least not properly highlighting, the fact that there is a way to reconfigure Win 8 to do multitasking. Since an upgrade from XP is expected to be very reasonable in price, and Windows 8 is meant to be pretty snappy, that is good news. I was wondering why MS chose to cripple their OS. Wondering no more. Thanks for hands on info.
After all in a multi tasking OS if you do not want to multitask you simply don't open any other apps and stay with what you are doing. Then, well, you are single tasking. I agree that it would be a bad move for Microsoft to limit thier new OS. However, I just finished reading this article in Wired that claims that is exactly what Win 8 Metro does. It is apparently a poor environment in which to do multi tasking. It seems odd to restrict the user to one app at a time, as on a phone, essentially creating a "smartphone" like environment on the PC desktop which -- unlike a phone -- has the hardware to support many running applications. People who do a lot of multitasking will probably not like Metro. Limiting multi-tasking seems like a downgrade to me. Or as I said in my post a "dumbgrade." Hopefully 8 will offer a way for those adapted ADDs among us to jump around as per usual...
Oh, wait. A win messenger pop-up. It's my old pal 5eX-T0i from Kiev. Gotta run. Ciao.
There is a reason I read Slashdot. From time to time I still learn stuff. I Googled and I saw: I had no idea that there was a hacked firmware for Android smartphones. (Not that I ever looked.) I am not surprised, but I had heard early on that these appliances were fairly well locked down. Now that I know I can give one an open-source douche I might just have to spring for a Nexus.
This appreciation in lieu of a mod up since I had already posted!
w00t.
My guess is that there will always be a market for, and a supply of, DYI computing hardware and software. FOSS at the very least will provide OS choice. Commercial OSs are another matter. Windows 8 appears to be some sort of a dumbgrade from Windows 7. It looks set to turn your multi-tasking computer into more of a one-task-at-a-time appliance. I do reckon that the DIY hardware will no doubt get more expensive. This, since more and more people will be choose to use computing appliances. As a result consumers of DYI components won't benefit form economies of scale.. However, the appliance crowd has heretofore only been frustrated and confused by the amount of choice in the PC world anyway. My observation is that the tablet/smartphone model is a relief for many. But I think there will always be a supply of components for computerists. I am not a PC gamer, but that is a vibrant market. Heck, you can still get tubes for high-end audio, turntables and vinyl have come back. And urban outfitters has whole racks of 35mm film cameras for sale.
But I agree that fears of a grimmer future are not unjustified. It does worry me that manufacturers are already starting to build DRM right into the chips. The computer industry seems far more willing to protect the interests of Hollwood than it did in the days of Apple's RIP-MIX-BURN campaign. Mainstream equipment might well be some sort of cripple ware. But I still maintain that unpolluted hardware will be availble. For a price. Nevertheless, hang on to those old MOBOs... The unfettered chips might turn out to be as valuable as, say, the high-end vintage turntable you sold at a garage sale in 1993.
Nobody is dry in Russia...
**Hic**
The colder the dryer. In Moscow we ran a humidifier in winter to improve indoor air quality. So if you are in a continental deep freeze this rather sweet clothes dryer hack would give a double benefit.
He knows it's stupid, but he wants some attention. Or he wants to sell a book. Or maybe just get a squib on Slashdot (Okay, maybe not that). It is pretty impossible to get any public attention by taking an established sensible position on anything. As far as media outlets and the public are concerned consensus it is a big fat yawn. "Well-known scientist agrees with other well-known scientists that Einstein was right." One gets respect, of course, from one's peers in this way. But that and two bucks will get you a cup of coffee.
But if you want a turn on The Today Show, and you crave some book sales, then you have to be bold, to swim against the turgid current of normalcy. You have to GET CRAZY -- in a measured academic sort of way. But I have to give Waltz credit for flying high and wild. He must have a new mistress he needs to house. Nonproliferation? Fugedaboudid! Bring it bitches! W00T! Let's have some Plute! Uranium? I want it rich, Bitch. Where's Teller when you need him? Let's give Nicaragua a Super H so they can dig a canal. Why can't we all just get along?
I'm A Dinner Jacket (Ahmadinajad) is an apocalyptic nut case holocaust denier who says Israel should be erased -- but I guess Waltz thinks he is just posturing. If Waltz actually believes in his theory let's see if he moves to Tel Aviv when Iran gets its weapon. Which they will.
Okay, If we were talking real politik globally, as we were during the cold war, then Waltz might have a leg to stand on. Might. But this is a Cosmic war. The problem with Jerusalem is not political. It is religious. Or better put, the politics of this contentious boil poisoning the bloodstream of the planet is religious at root. Whether you are a Taliban or a Talibaptist or an Israeli Zealot we are not talking rational nuclear game theory here. Apocalyptic weapons in the hands of hyper-religious spun up Apocalyptics? I should say not. And Mr Waltz knows better, too. Shame on him!
No? Okay. I'm easy going. I take no for an answer. I understand.
Soooo, I have this great bridge I want to sell you.
I have never purchased anything from Google. I use their email and search engine and let them crawl its content so I can be pitched with some fairly unobtrusive ads. I guess I am a viewer or a user. Maybe even a mark. I am a Microsoft customer. They do push stuff at me and I push back. But then so do car salesmen, and the guy haunting the men's department at Macy's. It is, and always has been, a caveat-emptor kind of world. Basically, most people seem up to it and rarely get fleeced with everyday purchases. With tech, however, it is simply a lot easier to trick people into buying stuff they do not need, because, frankly, most people have very little idea of what they are buying. Tech is shyster heaven. One laments, perhaps, the fading of the academic ethic (or at least the pretense of it) that characterized the early years of commercial tech. But to my eye it is just business doing business as usual. Never very nice.
The FOSS movement, for all its flaws, is a ray of sunshine in the 'dark' world of commerce. It really is a pleasant surprise. Like Jazz, maybe. Creative energy from the bottom up. If not always polished or complete, then beautiful nonetheless... But face it... capitalism works. It generates wealth far better than more nobly conceived economic experiments. But it will always spin out of control if left only to itself. Price fixing? Monopolies? Fraud? Markets do not self-correct these built in problems. However, the implementation of thoughtful measured regulations and laws can really put government squarely into the same role with finance and industry that coaches and referees play in sports. Without them... chaos. But too much from them and they spoil the game. In the end it is all about optimizing "the public good." whatever that is at a given moment
The scary thing is corruption. And for that there seems to be no answer. And over the last decade there seems to be more and more of it. On every side of the aisle. And at every level of power. Yikes!
In keeping with the 3-digit status codes we already have and the use of the 4xx series to indicate that the client has apparently made an error, I think status code 451 might be more appropriate.
RIP, Ray Bradbury.
Whoa. What an exceptional post. It deserves a +6. And as far as I am concerned it is the hands-down best idea for a real censorship code. w00t!
Roasted coffee starts to get stale after about a week. And is at its peak about 24 hours after roasting. Only a very few coffee houses consistently serve freshly roasted specialty coffee. (Places that serve Counter Culture coffee do a pretty good job.) Vacuum packing roasted coffee does not prevent the deterioration (It helps a bit, but then the coffee stales almost immediately after exposure to air.) Nor does freezing help either.
The darker roasts served up by the mass market coffee houses are actually eschewed by real coffee geeks, who prefer to roast their own and to a lighter degree. And, in any case, the dark roasted beans at these joints are usually stale anyway. Dude. Once you have tasted, say, a freshly roasted Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, or a great Kenyan AA you will not say "ick". And here is another fact. Green coffee lasts for two years. And is roughly half the price per pound as roasted coffee. Which is why I roast my own coffee in a home roasting appliance. (I use a Nesco). I make about a third of a pound at a time, It is wonderful. Rarely in life is cheaper better. But in this case it is true (Except for the energy involved in roasting of course.) The fact is that coffee, like bread, is just better when it is fresh. A lot better.
With care coffee can be roasted on the stove top in a black cast iron pan. It smokes a lot so you should have a venting hood. There are tons of on-line instructions. To get my beans I go to Sweet Maria's or to Burman Coffee traders. But there are many places to get green beans. Equipment is available from these places I mentioned as well.
Modern proprietary computers are really just appliances to most people. The user is lightyears from the deeply intellectually interesting things about them. And he or she is legally as well as practically barred from really exploring the software. I started using machines that let me program in basic. There were applications, but also real (if very simple) computing and programming tools. Not so now.. And not so for many years
Say what you want about Linux on the desktop for everyday computing, but a Linux box at least has the potential of offering a gifted kid a free ticket to authentic intellectual growth. If he or she gets interested she can download source code for the OS and applications. And she can take advantage of educational materials and supportive communities. All for free. If a kid is playing games on a Windows or an Apple box and asks? "How does this crap really work?" she is kind of SOL. But on a FOSS box there is at least a small chance of digging deeper. Legally. And without paying a dime.
So perhaps we "do gooders" should be sure that some poor people have access to a few cheap Linux boxes. Maybe it will only to light a fire in the mind of that one kid in a hundred -- or that one kid in a thousand. There are such minds, of course. But they need some kindling to burst into flame. Don't believe me? Look at the story of Srnivsa Rmnujan or the story of Carl Friedrich Gauss These are two of the most sublime geniuses in the history of human thought. And they both came from hunger. (Ultimately they received patronage, but only after their genius was apparent.)
Jack Vance explored some of the social implications of selective immortality in his weird murder mystery. To Live Forever As I read about possible life extension breakthroughs in the news and contemplate the implications -- we really do seem to be getting somewhere -- I often catch myself thinking about this insightful lesser known work of the reclusive and gifted Mr. Vance.
If you are lucky enough to have one of thesevery cool stores near you they are a great place to shop and buy tech. The prices are good, and for a brick and mortar operation they are sometimes awesome -- and the staff is usually informed. They also sell online. But a lot of stuff is in-store only. I have to drive for an hour to get to mine, but it is worth it. You could take your sister with you.
I go into consumer coma in the store near me (Rockville MD). I imagine it is like being in an online operation's warehouse. I just bought components for an Ivy Bridge desktop build. They beat Newegg on the prices of the main components, MoBo and CPU, but Newegg was cheaper for the smaller boards. Cables etc were also reasonable at Microcenter (Unlike Best Buy where the prices of cables and cords are usurious). Laptop selection was also good, but I wasn't buying.
As for comparison tips. I look at likely products with lots of reviews to take advantage of the hive mind. Then the percentage of good to bad reviews for a given product. Then I read a few good and a few bad. Sometimes a bad review of an otherwise good product will expose a deal killer for me. This is not the end all be all of a buying decision, but not all reviews are astroturfed.
Last thing about a laptop buy. Teach your sis to take care of it. Don't run it on a pillow. Don't flop it on a table like a text book. Or slam it shut like a car door. Put it in its case to travel. And follow good practice with the battery (even Lions need some thought.) And wipe it down from time to time. Silicon has a soul and likes to be kept clean.