I think when used correctly price can be a fairly good indicator of performance. Look at the manufacture retail price for different cards. The highest priced cards offer the most performance, likewise the lower priced cards over less performance.
In some cases this works between manufactures. NVIDIA and ATI typically offer the same performance for about the same price. They are obviously competing so it is never exact, but I have never seen one severely undercut the other.
I guess it makes sense, we want performance so that is what they charge us for.
As for their content being "free" because of ads. Well, if they made me register and pay for their content, what are the chances I would (hint: 0%). So what we end up with is this technical cat and mouse game. Hopefully consumers win and we don't end up in the universe of Minority Report. What really pisses me off is stuff that you pay for, but is still full of ads.
Magazines come to mind.
I find it hard to believe that if internet content was "pay-per-view", then it would suddenly become ad free.
Why show people ads for free, when you can charge them to watch?
Letting air out of the tires doesn't work, period. It's like urban legend stuff. If you let too much air out of a tire then the snow bunches up under the middle of the tread which becomes convex.
If you let out too much air the center of the contact patch will become distorted and the foot-print will begin to look more toroidal than rectangular. This is less than ideal as the total foot-print area will be decreased.
However, if you just let out enough air to increase the contact patch area without distorting the shape, it will improve the grip. This is because tires are sensitive to load, and as the load is decreased on the tire the coefficient of friction increases.
As the internal tire pressure is reduced the contact patch area is increased, although the relationship is not linear since part of the tire load is taken up by the sidewall. The increase in contact patch area decrease the overall contact patch pressure, effectively decreasing the load per unit area.
A good book on this topic is "The Racing & High-Performance Tire" by Paul Haney. An overview of the chapter regarding rubber friction can be found here:
I read in an aviation news letter today (I deleted it so I cannot copy it, I will just paraphrase the main ideas) about a push by some politician(s) to make the shuttle a 100% autonomous cargo transportation vehicle. According the article most of the shuttles functions are already autonomous and those that are not could readily be made so. An alternative(read: cheaper, safer) space vehicle is desired for travel from earth to ISS and back. In the mean time while the shuttle is being converted and the new vehicle is being designed, the current astronauts could hitch a ride with the Russians.
NASA, obviously doesnt agree 100% but they said they could start reducing the size of current shuttle crews. Ultimately getting down to just a pilot and co-pilot, during this period of time NASA would hope to have an alternative vehicle constructed. One of the biggest problems is that currently NASA does not have a design for an alternative vehicle. All the past designs have been scrapped for one reason or another. NASA more than likely has been counting on the longevity of the shuttle.
Alastor
...and were about 1/2 the size.
I heard a speech last year from a fellow Rockwell Collins employee. One the stories he mentioned was about a reporter asking him why the GPS Units were so large and bulky. He said "We could make them a fraction of the size without a problem, but what we found is that many of the soldiers are using the units to pound tent stakes into the ground."
Alastor
it proves that 86 straight hours of gaming is not deadly after all, but 86 straight hour of sitting is killer. Note getting up to go sit on the toilet does not help.
Slashdot Mirror
I think when used correctly price can be a fairly good indicator of performance. Look at the manufacture retail price for different cards. The highest priced cards offer the most performance, likewise the lower priced cards over less performance. In some cases this works between manufactures. NVIDIA and ATI typically offer the same performance for about the same price. They are obviously competing so it is never exact, but I have never seen one severely undercut the other. I guess it makes sense, we want performance so that is what they charge us for.
This is why I never RTFA until after I post a comment.
Letting air out of the tires doesn't work, period. It's like urban legend stuff. If you let too much air out of a tire then the snow bunches up under the middle of the tread which becomes convex.
t 1.htm
If you let out too much air the center of the contact patch will become distorted and the foot-print will begin to look more toroidal than rectangular. This is less than ideal as the total foot-print area will be decreased.
However, if you just let out enough air to increase the contact patch area without distorting the shape, it will improve the grip. This is because tires are sensitive to load, and as the load is decreased on the tire the coefficient of friction increases.
As the internal tire pressure is reduced the contact patch area is increased, although the relationship is not linear since part of the tire load is taken up by the sidewall. The increase in contact patch area decrease the overall contact patch pressure, effectively decreasing the load per unit area.
A good book on this topic is "The Racing & High-Performance Tire" by Paul Haney. An overview of the chapter regarding rubber friction can be found here:
http://www.insideracingtechnology.com/tirebkexerp
Please note that this link does not represent all the details covered in the book.
I would be hard to sell those gals as "starving" since they spend a considerable amount of time with their mouths full :)
:P
I think you are right, they would probably be better portrayed in a 'Got Milk' commercial
I read in an aviation news letter today (I deleted it so I cannot copy it, I will just paraphrase the main ideas) about a push by some politician(s) to make the shuttle a 100% autonomous cargo transportation vehicle. According the article most of the shuttles functions are already autonomous and those that are not could readily be made so. An alternative(read: cheaper, safer) space vehicle is desired for travel from earth to ISS and back. In the mean time while the shuttle is being converted and the new vehicle is being designed, the current astronauts could hitch a ride with the Russians. NASA, obviously doesnt agree 100% but they said they could start reducing the size of current shuttle crews. Ultimately getting down to just a pilot and co-pilot, during this period of time NASA would hope to have an alternative vehicle constructed. One of the biggest problems is that currently NASA does not have a design for an alternative vehicle. All the past designs have been scrapped for one reason or another. NASA more than likely has been counting on the longevity of the shuttle. Alastor
...and were about 1/2 the size. I heard a speech last year from a fellow Rockwell Collins employee. One the stories he mentioned was about a reporter asking him why the GPS Units were so large and bulky. He said "We could make them a fraction of the size without a problem, but what we found is that many of the soldiers are using the units to pound tent stakes into the ground." Alastor
it proves that 86 straight hours of gaming is not deadly after all, but 86 straight hour of sitting is killer. Note getting up to go sit on the toilet does not help.