Think about how they destroyed Tokyo over and over for various movies. Sure it's fun to watch Godzilla put his foot through an apartment complex, but probably less so when you're in it.
Just don't tell Flying-Cam Inc., because they've already done it for Harry Potter, Ocean's 11, Mission Impossible 2, The World Is Not Enough, and a bunch of other cheap flicks you've probably never heard of.
Actually, this is the great thing about OpenGL. It was already implemented on widely varying platforms, from software only to SGI stuff that implemented more in hardware 10 years ago than Geforce 4 cards do today.
(Well, they implemented alot in hardware, anyways. Some stuff wasn't invented yet, of course. Do Geforce 4's finally have a real accumulation buffer?)
So you want to accept their code (for free), base your game on it, then sell the game back to its co-creators? Dang, why didn't they think of that.
The copyright holders for the graphics engine might be persuaded to license to you under different terms. But if you're planning to make money off of their code, you had better expect to pay up first.
Putting money in a Social Security "lockbox" isn't going to make any difference in the long run - or even by the time I retire. It just delays the inevitable.
Longer lifespans and decreasing fertility are changing the demographics that made SS work. The ratio of producers to consumers is changing permanantly. The baby boomers are the last generation of high po;ulation growth rate.
The first generation that received SS never paid into it. Think about that. It's literally a pyramid scheme based on population growth. The enormous SS taxes we pay aren't hanging around for us, they're already spent!
So the problem with the Columbine killers is that they didn't attend enough public lynchings?
As for the other statistics, sure it's very hard to know how accurate statistics are, especially old ones. But it's all too convenient to dismiss them so casually, when doing so supports the desired conclusion.
Oh really? There were school shootings like Columbine in the "bad old days?" Have you ever thought what the illegitimate birth rate would have been before birth control if people were as innately animalistic as you would like to think?
Sure, there will still be music, and it will still sell. But it might not be a hype-fest of the order that it was in the time of the Beatles. And there won't be just 2 or 3 albums taking most of the sales at any given time.
That's a good point, but even centralizing fossil fuel use could have huge benefits. It's a lot easier to put a new scrubber on a single coal plant than on thousands of cars.
It's digital. Computer backups on tape can be read more than a few times before fading away. And video data isn't all that demanding of accuracy; bit errors will hopefully just make one or a few pixels the wrong color for a fraction of a second.
It doesn't really matter what's mathematically impossible. Maybe it's provably impossible to prevent all forgery, speeding, and tax evasion, so what? Economic and political systems all have flaws that are evident without mathematic proof. Yet many of them work - not only well enough to be useful, but well enough that improving them is uneconomic.
"Contrast this to France, where public service carries a lot of prestige, and the most prestigious schools are those designed to churn-out high-quality public officials."
And where the economy is perpetually in the crapper.
Yeah, I could just use a vcr. But it's sure nice to have all that video on one hard drive, with instant seeking. VCR's are useless for automated recording because of the tape juggling, and they wear out after a few recordings.
You're right, it was some company I'd never heard of. I spent an hour on the phone and never figured out how to fix THEIR mistake. One lady said on the the phone I'd have to drive to Arizona (!)
I think they should be liable for their accidents, like anybody else. Otherwise they won't care how many mistakes they make.
In the end it got ironed out because apparently there's a law that if you get turned down for a mortgage due to a bad report, they have to provide you a copy of your credit history and procedures for fixing their errors. But I got that letter like 2 months later.
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Think about how they destroyed Tokyo over and over for various movies. Sure it's fun to watch Godzilla put his foot through an apartment complex, but probably less so when you're in it.
In fact, they won an academy award for technical achievement for filming from radio-controlled helicopters.
No way. Long haul bandwidth is cheap. There's a glut of it.
You know, you would be really good to buy used books from!
(Well, they implemented alot in hardware, anyways. Some stuff wasn't invented yet, of course. Do Geforce 4's finally have a real accumulation buffer?)
The copyright holders for the graphics engine might be persuaded to license to you under different terms. But if you're planning to make money off of their code, you had better expect to pay up first.
Please don't tell me Lance Bass is being recruited for the same reason!
Longer lifespans and decreasing fertility are changing the demographics that made SS work. The ratio of producers to consumers is changing permanantly. The baby boomers are the last generation of high po;ulation growth rate.
The first generation that received SS never paid into it. Think about that. It's literally a pyramid scheme based on population growth. The enormous SS taxes we pay aren't hanging around for us, they're already spent!
As for the other statistics, sure it's very hard to know how accurate statistics are, especially old ones. But it's all too convenient to dismiss them so casually, when doing so supports the desired conclusion.
Oh really? There were school shootings like Columbine in the "bad old days?" Have you ever thought what the illegitimate birth rate would have been before birth control if people were as innately animalistic as you would like to think?
Not if the Hammer costs around the same price as a P4. I just want the best bang for my buck.
The guy who put my toaster together created something of value, but I don't have to pay him every time I make a bagel.
Sure, there will still be music, and it will still sell. But it might not be a hype-fest of the order that it was in the time of the Beatles. And there won't be just 2 or 3 albums taking most of the sales at any given time.
It's the common items like sunscreen and lightbulbs that require the *best* engineering, because every improvement is magnified by millions of users.
As to the scrubbing bubbles, I would be thrilled if somebody can come up with something that can actually remove hard water stains.
Somebody deserves attribution for that. (Unless you wrote it yourself - yeah, right).
That's a good point, but even centralizing fossil fuel use could have huge benefits. It's a lot easier to put a new scrubber on a single coal plant than on thousands of cars.
Tell me that doesn't send a chill up your spine.
It's digital. Computer backups on tape can be read more than a few times before fading away. And video data isn't all that demanding of accuracy; bit errors will hopefully just make one or a few pixels the wrong color for a fraction of a second.
It doesn't really matter what's mathematically impossible. Maybe it's provably impossible to prevent all forgery, speeding, and tax evasion, so what? Economic and political systems all have flaws that are evident without mathematic proof. Yet many of them work - not only well enough to be useful, but well enough that improving them is uneconomic.
Worrying about running out of trees because of paper is like worrying about running out of oats due to Cheerios.
I realize some paper comes from old growth, but those old trees are cut for lumber, and paper is made from the sawdust and other waste.
Have you noticed how many movies are about this exact theme? Most of them. (Harry Potter, Star Wars...)
I'm going to make a wild guess that 95% of slashdotters (including myself) believe the same thing to some extent.
I used to think Nader was a kook and it would be stupid to elect a "consumer advocate" as President. Slowly I'm forgetting why I felt that way.
And where the economy is perpetually in the crapper.
Yeah, I could just use a vcr. But it's sure nice to have all that video on one hard drive, with instant seeking. VCR's are useless for automated recording because of the tape juggling, and they wear out after a few recordings.
I think they should be liable for their accidents, like anybody else. Otherwise they won't care how many mistakes they make.
In the end it got ironed out because apparently there's a law that if you get turned down for a mortgage due to a bad report, they have to provide you a copy of your credit history and procedures for fixing their errors. But I got that letter like 2 months later.