Back in high school I knew several 19 and even a couple 20 year old seniors. They were far more common than the 16 year old (or younger) seniors. He probably didn't even need to lie.
With a $200-$400 difference in prices compared to the competition, I'm sure Nintendo can sell the Wii at $199 just as well as it would be able to at $175. They could probably even price it at $250 and still stores would be sold out of stock for months (and not just because of hideously bad under-supply shipments as happened with the 360), while $600+ bundle-packs of PS3s sit on the shelf collecting dust by x-mas. (the initial shipments of PS3 will sell out to the hard-core fanboys with more money than sense, and the scalpers looking to make a few bucks re-selling on eBay. But when working-class Mom & Dad go shopping for Jr.'s present, $199 is much more affordable than $499)
Those were the inspiration for the MagSafe connectors. If it's a good safety feature to keep the average user from dumping fondue pots or kettles of boiling oil all over themself, it ought to be good for keeping the same user from unintentionally yanking their laptop to the ground.
I think the price variance between the 2GHz white and black models is a correction to fit the desired price-points, and that the $1299 white model is actually priced below ideal. To go from the $1099 model to the $1299, the CDRW/DVD drive is swapped for a Superdrive, and the processor speed is increased. In previous pricing structures, the combo -> superdrive upgrade has added as much as $100 to the price (from the old Mini models), and the processor speed increase added up to $300 (MacBook Pro's before the speed price increase). The HD upgrade from 60 to 80GB is a $50 option, giving apple a $450 range on these models, yet to meet 3 identifiably distinct price-points in an affordable (sub-$1500) price range, they spaced the upgrades out at $200 intervals. Since having two of the three models with minimalist combo drives or slowest processor speeds would look conspicuous, these are the upgrades needed to differentiate between the lowest-priced MacBook and the next step up. Unfortunately this leaves only a minor HD upgrade and color difference for the top-level MacBook. The price spread would have looked better if Apple had increased the default RAM on the black model to 1GB or given a 100GB HD, but the low-end MacBook Pro model is also at 512MB ram and 80GB HD. The only other obvious alternative would be to price the MacBooks at $1099, $1399 and $1499, but that doesn't make for as pretty of a price-spread.
I ran into almost the exact same problem with my dad's last computer a few years ago (we didn't try to uninstall/reinstall, but Norton corrupted itself somehow and refused to update or allow a repair reinstall) Not too much later I switched him over to AVG Free edition, which worked fine until we replaced the comp with an iMac just over a year ago (his choice, and I wasn't going to discourage him on it -- I gutted the old box and turned it into a fileserver for myself, Norton-free of course).
I think in an age where gaming systems are essentially referred to by their acronyms (DS, PSP, PS2, GC) Wii isn't that strange of a moniker.
Just so long as I don't have to call it W.
I don't think I could handle the potential of my new console carrying out a pre-emptive attack on my PS2 game collection, with or without the support of my GC, NES, GBAs or DS.
it is a difference between e on the 6th string, open or e on the 5th string, 5th fret.
it sounds different and there is a difference of the frets you can reach easily from that position.
Are you pretending orchestral strings don't have to deal with this? Just because it isn't explicitly spelled out in our music?
That "4th string open e" could also be played "3rd string" in any of 4 hand positions, or 2nd string, 5th position depending on the coloring of the tone the musician is looking for.
And vibrato? We got that too. We just don't get a wammy-bar to make it easy.
I'm no fan of tabs, either (having been trained to read traditional musical notation) I may not always enjoy my music changing back and forth between Alto and Treble clef multiple times in the same line, but it makes more sense to me than a string of numbers (I play viola; violinists don't have to worry about the hazards of Alto clef, and I don't have to try and keep a finicky "e" string in tune)
But aside from that, each instrument presents its own set of challenges; each class of instruments is better for different styles of music and have their own advantages and disadvantages when compared to others. I rather enjoyed marching band as a trumpet player, but I wouldn't dare try taking my viola for a walk like that while playing.
Guitars may be easier to figure things out by having a jam session and counting frets, but not every lesson is applicable to the violin.
Not to mention even the initial pricing of the Classic NES series of games was below market average for new GBA games. Here in the central US, new GBA games typically go from $25-35, and the Classic NES games started at $20 and quickly fell from there. As for DS games, they tend to range $30-35, with possibly a few at $40 (though I can't remember any specific ones offhand that went that high) I don't follow the PSP game market as closely, but I know they are priced at least $5-10 above the DS games (PSP is too expensive for my tastes for a glorified media player. I'm a gamer, not a media junkie, and they don't have enough PSP games that I want to play in order to hold my interest.)
You might get lucky and find one of the updated versions - if so, I highly recommend one with at least 512MB of ram. Also, the speed (or lack thereof) of 800MHz Transmeta CPU really showed on the one I had. Even with all of the WinXP "graphical enhancements" disabled, it is slow responding at times, even drawing with the pen in MS Paint felt a bit labored. As for the pen, I'm now much more in favor of the Wacom digitizers (which this model does NOT have), simply for the fact that the Wacoms don't require a battery in the pen itself. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a rechargeable AAAA battery, and the non-rechargeable ones aren't terribly common or inexpensive, either.
Nowadays, there are some newer TabletPC's with similar sized screens, though you'll have to check the prices to see if they are in your budget (the v800xpt was about $900 when I bought it, far cheaper than anything else at that time, over 2 years ago) http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evalua tion/products.mspx It looks like Fujitsu, Motion Computing, and Itronix all have TabletPC's in the 8.4" to 8.9" screen-size range now.
Correct. From all the specs I can find on the Origami, it's just a small-form-factor TabletPC. Uses Intel Pentium/Centrino M processor, up to 60GB HD, minimum 256MB ram, minimum 800x480 touchscreen. And of course, full WinXP TabletPC edition. - this means it does everything a desktop WinXP box will do and more, except high-end graphics hungry apps (no WoW, I presume).
I assume Microsoft is aiming at the potential consumers out there who like the idea of TabletPC but don't want to spend the typical $1400-2500 it costs for a full-sized one.
If I didn't already switch from a smallish-form-factor TabletPC (8.4" screen) to the smallest-form-factor WinXP Oqo Model 01 a year ago, I'd seriously be looking to get one of these when they hit the market.
I've seen the Nokia 770 in stores. The user interface isn't intuitive enough for my tastes (I'm a long-time windows user) and I was surprised at how small the screen is. Granted, it didn't heat up as much as most Win boxes I've seen, and has impressive battery life, but that's mostly hardware as the 770 doesn't use a full x86 processor. (for comparison, the Oqo uses a Transmeta Crusoe, and I get about 1 3/4 hours battery-life before having to swap batteries or recharge. They now have a double-sized battery available which should help on this end, but that adds to the bulk of the unit)
I used to have one of those tablets (an earlier revision, the v800xpt, with 256MB ram and a 20GB hard drive) It was nice, smaller than a laptop (but not by much), built-in Wi-Fi, camera (which sucked, btw), USB, ethernet, modem and came with two carrying cases - one with an integrated keyboard. Decently packaged, if a bit cheap on the material (but at the time the only tablet PC for less than $1000) It was slow compared to modern computers (800MHz Transmeta CPU, 256MB of ram with WinXP will do that), did not have stellar graphics (large resolution or high compression movies were a no-go) and pen response was a bit slow (even drawing in MS Paint was a painful experience) One of the cost-factors which kept the price under $1k was the use of a non-Wacom digitizer. Unfortunately this required the use of AAAA battery in the pen. Not only is this size battery difficult to find, having to house them in the pen made the pen itself less durable and prone to breaking (I cracked one, my mom has since cracked a second).
Other than that, it's still a decent little computer, easy to travel with, good for use with GPS and mapping software, and especially playing solitare (I gave it to my mom for christmas a year ago, that's the primary use it's been getting for much of it's life)
I've since replaced my mini-tablet with an even smaller Oqo, but my interest is also piqued into what Origami truly is.
It definitely looks like a mini-Tablet style handheld. If so, I'm hoping by now they've managed to overcome the early mini-tablet's shortcomings (listed all too generously above) MS has since dropped the requirement of a digitizer screen and 1024x768 resolution for a computer to count as TabletPC (the v800 was only 800x600, but they went TabletPC anyway), so they might go straight touch-screen to save costs on Origami. Hopefully at least they include a decent 3d-capable graphics chip and Intel CPU + 512MB ram if this thing's gonna run XP. Other than that, it shouldn't take too many high-end components if they want to keep the price-point as a sub-Tablet range product. One more week to see how the speculation plays out, I guess.
I find the 'safety gear on a race car' analogy to be a good comparison, so long as the issue of computer security isn't involved. If I think about how my station wagon is properly equipped to drive the local roads and interstates with only regular maintenance it serves me well as a daily driver taking me anywhere the general public is likely to go, but I'd probably get beat down if I were to try to run at a race track. But if I had a Formula 1 race car in my garage, I could tear things up at the track all day long, but it doesn't have all the right features required by law to drive to the grocery store (it can get there, but the road choices are limited to where the police aren't patrolling, etc.) Now the MacBook and new iMac come out. This is like making a race car with a rotary engine. Yeah, it's different, but it works as a race car, but it's still not street legal. I can also buy a Mazda RX-8 with a rotary engine, but it's not a race car. There's more to making a race car street legal than changing the engine, just like there's more to running Windows on a computer than changing the processor. Especially one that was built for a different purpose. Sure, it's theoretically possible in both cases, but some technical expertise is required for both, and in either case don't expect the manufacturer to go out of their way for a few end-users who want to do something that wasn't supported.
In other words, driving with a manual transmission provides you with a reflexive distraction related to the driving of the vehicle which prevents or severely restricts you from engaging in non-driving-related distractions (cellphone, eating a burger, fiddling with the GPS, etc.)
While driving a manual transmission cuts down on the ability of a driver to engage in unrelated distractions, I have the feeling that those who regularly distract themselves in an automatic would be severely distracted by the requirements of shifting and could therefore be even more dangerous.
I drove a manual for a couple years when I first acquired my license, and it really helped me appreciate the concentration required for driving. However, in the past few years I've since moved to a larger metropolitan area, and I prefer automatics (shiftable autos if possible - I like to play with the gears from time to time) simply because there are far too many other dangers (ie: other drivers) on the road around here, and I don't always want to have to remember which gear I'm in and which is important for how badly the highway is backed up around the next bend. For me it depends on where and how I'm driving, but for my normal commute I prefer automatic so I can concentrate on driving to avoid the idiots who aren't paying attention.
Or, as I like to say, given enough dice and enough time, eventually you will roll a trillion 1's in a row.
That sounds correct.
One of the major factors that most of the simplistic "it happened this way because that's what I think" arguements on either side of this ID vs evolution debate fail to take into accout is scale.
Scale of time, and scale of the sheer number of organisms alive at any given time.
Here's an overly simplistic arguement to demonstrate this.
Since someone above mentioned the evolution of eyes, let's just say there are roughly 10,000 steps involved in creating the modern eye. (for simplicity's sake, I'm just arguing 1 kind of modern eye)
Life has been around for a long time on this planet. Let's set an arbitrary starting point of 300 million years ago (well after the origins of life, but close enough).
Now lets say the organism we are evolving here reproduces once every 20 years (again, highly unrealistic, but close enough)
300,000,000 years
/ 20
= 15,000,000 generations
Okay, so we now have 15 million generations of the same genetic line to play with. Let's put a random eye mutation in every 100 generations.
15,000,000
/ 100
= 150,000 mutations
So, over the course of 300 million years, it is possible that 1 out of every 15 eye mutations is beneficial and carried on in one of the 10,000 steps to the modern eye.
And given the facts that most animals, humans included, rarely wait 20 years before reproducing, that life has been around more than a mere 300 million years, and that far more than a single genetic line has been carried forward since life started on this planet, I fail to see how "it's too complex" can be used in a valid arguement without being immediately followed by "...for me to understand in my short 72 year lifespan"
Most people who try to oversimplify the arguement forget one very important rule:
Never underestimate the power of entropy in large quantities.
I even fail to see why entropy/random chance, over the course of a couple billion years, would not be sufficient for even random chemicals on a dynamic planetary surface to comobine in the proper proportions to eventually find a way to reproduce itself and thus become life.
I swear, there must be some hidden self-destruct in Maxtor drives. I had two 40GB Maxtors die on me in the past year, within a month or two of eachother. One had been purchased new by me 2 years prior, the other used about 6 months prior. Currently about 50% of my drives are Seagates, from the two in my DVR, the RAID1'd pair of 400GB's in my fileserver, and the 6 year old 6GB that's been part of a few of my computers over the years. Seagate has definitely become my #1 preferred brand, with Western Digital running not too far behind in 2nd.
The original articles I saw about this (I lost the links from Chicago Tribune and Yahoo News) claimed the speed was doubled from 2 to 4, still nowhere near the 10 claimed here. Definitely a math error on someone's part here.
At the 2004 North American International Auto Show, I saw Mazda showing off a dual-fuel RX-8 that had Hydrogen and Gasoline tanks and just the single engine to use for either.
It debuted at the 2003 Tokyo auto show.
Ah yes, that was a good joke (and practical idea) on a recent Simpsons episode, too. IIRC, Marge got it out of a magazine with an iPod-in-a-blender punishment depicted on the cover.
So far, the insistance of the game to reposition the camera at an awkward moment is my only grip with the game as well. I am still fairly early on in the game (up to colossus #4), but this is already very evident. Such as when trying to lure the colossus into position, I stop moving for 3 seconds with the camera aligned for best viewing, then it swings the view around behind my character and completely away from the colossus, simply because I stopped touching the controls for too long.
Slashdot Mirror
A phone made by Fisher Price would probably hold up better to abuse.
That's a neat trick...can't wait till the next time I stop by an Apple store... (wonder how long it'll take the geniuses there to fix it)
Back in high school I knew several 19 and even a couple 20 year old seniors. They were far more common than the 16 year old (or younger) seniors. He probably didn't even need to lie.
With a $200-$400 difference in prices compared to the competition, I'm sure Nintendo can sell the Wii at $199 just as well as it would be able to at $175. They could probably even price it at $250 and still stores would be sold out of stock for months (and not just because of hideously bad under-supply shipments as happened with the 360), while $600+ bundle-packs of PS3s sit on the shelf collecting dust by x-mas.
(the initial shipments of PS3 will sell out to the hard-core fanboys with more money than sense, and the scalpers looking to make a few bucks re-selling on eBay. But when working-class Mom & Dad go shopping for Jr.'s present, $199 is much more affordable than $499)
Those were the inspiration for the MagSafe connectors. If it's a good safety feature to keep the average user from dumping fondue pots or kettles of boiling oil all over themself, it ought to be good for keeping the same user from unintentionally yanking their laptop to the ground.
I think the price variance between the 2GHz white and black models is a correction to fit the desired price-points, and that the $1299 white model is actually priced below ideal.
To go from the $1099 model to the $1299, the CDRW/DVD drive is swapped for a Superdrive, and the processor speed is increased.
In previous pricing structures, the combo -> superdrive upgrade has added as much as $100 to the price (from the old Mini models), and the processor speed increase added up to $300 (MacBook Pro's before the speed price increase).
The HD upgrade from 60 to 80GB is a $50 option, giving apple a $450 range on these models, yet to meet 3 identifiably distinct price-points in an affordable (sub-$1500) price range, they spaced the upgrades out at $200 intervals.
Since having two of the three models with minimalist combo drives or slowest processor speeds would look conspicuous, these are the upgrades needed to differentiate between the lowest-priced MacBook and the next step up. Unfortunately this leaves only a minor HD upgrade and color difference for the top-level MacBook.
The price spread would have looked better if Apple had increased the default RAM on the black model to 1GB or given a 100GB HD, but the low-end MacBook Pro model is also at 512MB ram and 80GB HD. The only other obvious alternative would be to price the MacBooks at $1099, $1399 and $1499, but that doesn't make for as pretty of a price-spread.
Considering they're now at the same price point, it will be interesting to see what the sales figures look like in a year.
I ran into almost the exact same problem with my dad's last computer a few years ago (we didn't try to uninstall/reinstall, but Norton corrupted itself somehow and refused to update or allow a repair reinstall)
Not too much later I switched him over to AVG Free edition, which worked fine until we replaced the comp with an iMac just over a year ago (his choice, and I wasn't going to discourage him on it -- I gutted the old box and turned it into a fileserver for myself, Norton-free of course).
I don't think I could handle the potential of my new console carrying out a pre-emptive attack on my PS2 game collection, with or without the support of my GC, NES, GBAs or DS.
Are you pretending orchestral strings don't have to deal with this? Just because it isn't explicitly spelled out in our music?
That "4th string open e" could also be played "3rd string" in any of 4 hand positions, or 2nd string, 5th position depending on the coloring of the tone the musician is looking for.
And vibrato? We got that too. We just don't get a wammy-bar to make it easy.
I'm no fan of tabs, either (having been trained to read traditional musical notation) I may not always enjoy my music changing back and forth between Alto and Treble clef multiple times in the same line, but it makes more sense to me than a string of numbers (I play viola; violinists don't have to worry about the hazards of Alto clef, and I don't have to try and keep a finicky "e" string in tune)
But aside from that, each instrument presents its own set of challenges; each class of instruments is better for different styles of music and have their own advantages and disadvantages when compared to others. I rather enjoyed marching band as a trumpet player, but I wouldn't dare try taking my viola for a walk like that while playing.
Guitars may be easier to figure things out by having a jam session and counting frets, but not every lesson is applicable to the violin.
Yeah, I mean, if I can play DVDs on the Revolution, what use would I have for my PS2 anymore?
Not to mention even the initial pricing of the Classic NES series of games was below market average for new GBA games.
Here in the central US, new GBA games typically go from $25-35, and the Classic NES games started at $20 and quickly fell from there.
As for DS games, they tend to range $30-35, with possibly a few at $40 (though I can't remember any specific ones offhand that went that high)
I don't follow the PSP game market as closely, but I know they are priced at least $5-10 above the DS games (PSP is too expensive for my tastes for a glorified media player. I'm a gamer, not a media junkie, and they don't have enough PSP games that I want to play in order to hold my interest.)
TDV Vision v800xpt, though I'm not sure if they can be found for sale anywhere anymore.
a tion/products.mspx
http://www.advueu.com/003/productitem.php?id=36
You might get lucky and find one of the updated versions - if so, I highly recommend one with at least 512MB of ram.
Also, the speed (or lack thereof) of 800MHz Transmeta CPU really showed on the one I had. Even with all of the WinXP "graphical enhancements" disabled, it is slow responding at times, even drawing with the pen in MS Paint felt a bit labored.
As for the pen, I'm now much more in favor of the Wacom digitizers (which this model does NOT have), simply for the fact that the Wacoms don't require a battery in the pen itself.
I don't know about you, but I've never seen a rechargeable AAAA battery, and the non-rechargeable ones aren't terribly common or inexpensive, either.
Nowadays, there are some newer TabletPC's with similar sized screens, though you'll have to check the prices to see if they are in your budget (the v800xpt was about $900 when I bought it, far cheaper than anything else at that time, over 2 years ago)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evalu
It looks like Fujitsu, Motion Computing, and Itronix all have TabletPC's in the 8.4" to 8.9" screen-size range now.
don't know, don't care.
Correct.
From all the specs I can find on the Origami, it's just a small-form-factor TabletPC.
Uses Intel Pentium/Centrino M processor, up to 60GB HD, minimum 256MB ram, minimum 800x480 touchscreen.
And of course, full WinXP TabletPC edition.
- this means it does everything a desktop WinXP box will do and more, except high-end graphics hungry apps (no WoW, I presume).
I assume Microsoft is aiming at the potential consumers out there who like the idea of TabletPC but don't want to spend the typical $1400-2500 it costs for a full-sized one.
If I didn't already switch from a smallish-form-factor TabletPC (8.4" screen) to the smallest-form-factor WinXP Oqo Model 01 a year ago, I'd seriously be looking to get one of these when they hit the market.
I've seen the Nokia 770 in stores. The user interface isn't intuitive enough for my tastes (I'm a long-time windows user) and I was surprised at how small the screen is.
Granted, it didn't heat up as much as most Win boxes I've seen, and has impressive battery life, but that's mostly hardware as the 770 doesn't use a full x86 processor.
(for comparison, the Oqo uses a Transmeta Crusoe, and I get about 1 3/4 hours battery-life before having to swap batteries or recharge. They now have a double-sized battery available which should help on this end, but that adds to the bulk of the unit)
Yes.
I used to have one of those tablets (an earlier revision, the v800xpt, with 256MB ram and a 20GB hard drive)
It was nice, smaller than a laptop (but not by much), built-in Wi-Fi, camera (which sucked, btw), USB, ethernet, modem and came with two carrying cases - one with an integrated keyboard.
Decently packaged, if a bit cheap on the material (but at the time the only tablet PC for less than $1000)
It was slow compared to modern computers (800MHz Transmeta CPU, 256MB of ram with WinXP will do that), did not have stellar graphics (large resolution or high compression movies were a no-go) and pen response was a bit slow (even drawing in MS Paint was a painful experience)
One of the cost-factors which kept the price under $1k was the use of a non-Wacom digitizer. Unfortunately this required the use of AAAA battery in the pen. Not only is this size battery difficult to find, having to house them in the pen made the pen itself less durable and prone to breaking (I cracked one, my mom has since cracked a second).
Other than that, it's still a decent little computer, easy to travel with, good for use with GPS and mapping software, and especially playing solitare (I gave it to my mom for christmas a year ago, that's the primary use it's been getting for much of it's life)
I've since replaced my mini-tablet with an even smaller Oqo, but my interest is also piqued into what Origami truly is.
It definitely looks like a mini-Tablet style handheld.
If so, I'm hoping by now they've managed to overcome the early mini-tablet's shortcomings (listed all too generously above)
MS has since dropped the requirement of a digitizer screen and 1024x768 resolution for a computer to count as TabletPC (the v800 was only 800x600, but they went TabletPC anyway), so they might go straight touch-screen to save costs on Origami.
Hopefully at least they include a decent 3d-capable graphics chip and Intel CPU + 512MB ram if this thing's gonna run XP. Other than that, it shouldn't take too many high-end components if they want to keep the price-point as a sub-Tablet range product.
One more week to see how the speculation plays out, I guess.
I find the 'safety gear on a race car' analogy to be a good comparison, so long as the issue of computer security isn't involved.
If I think about how my station wagon is properly equipped to drive the local roads and interstates with only regular maintenance it serves me well as a daily driver taking me anywhere the general public is likely to go, but I'd probably get beat down if I were to try to run at a race track.
But if I had a Formula 1 race car in my garage, I could tear things up at the track all day long, but it doesn't have all the right features required by law to drive to the grocery store (it can get there, but the road choices are limited to where the police aren't patrolling, etc.)
Now the MacBook and new iMac come out. This is like making a race car with a rotary engine. Yeah, it's different, but it works as a race car, but it's still not street legal. I can also buy a Mazda RX-8 with a rotary engine, but it's not a race car.
There's more to making a race car street legal than changing the engine, just like there's more to running Windows on a computer than changing the processor. Especially one that was built for a different purpose. Sure, it's theoretically possible in both cases, but some technical expertise is required for both, and in either case don't expect the manufacturer to go out of their way for a few end-users who want to do something that wasn't supported.
In other words, driving with a manual transmission provides you with a reflexive distraction related to the driving of the vehicle which prevents or severely restricts you from engaging in non-driving-related distractions (cellphone, eating a burger, fiddling with the GPS, etc.)
While driving a manual transmission cuts down on the ability of a driver to engage in unrelated distractions, I have the feeling that those who regularly distract themselves in an automatic would be severely distracted by the requirements of shifting and could therefore be even more dangerous.
I drove a manual for a couple years when I first acquired my license, and it really helped me appreciate the concentration required for driving. However, in the past few years I've since moved to a larger metropolitan area, and I prefer automatics (shiftable autos if possible - I like to play with the gears from time to time) simply because there are far too many other dangers (ie: other drivers) on the road around here, and I don't always want to have to remember which gear I'm in and which is important for how badly the highway is backed up around the next bend.
For me it depends on where and how I'm driving, but for my normal commute I prefer automatic so I can concentrate on driving to avoid the idiots who aren't paying attention.
Or, as I like to say, given enough dice and enough time, eventually you will roll a trillion 1's in a row.
That sounds correct.
One of the major factors that most of the simplistic "it happened this way because that's what I think" arguements on either side of this ID vs evolution debate fail to take into accout is scale.
Scale of time, and scale of the sheer number of organisms alive at any given time.
Here's an overly simplistic arguement to demonstrate this. Since someone above mentioned the evolution of eyes, let's just say there are roughly 10,000 steps involved in creating the modern eye. (for simplicity's sake, I'm just arguing 1 kind of modern eye)
Life has been around for a long time on this planet. Let's set an arbitrary starting point of 300 million years ago (well after the origins of life, but close enough).
Now lets say the organism we are evolving here reproduces once every 20 years (again, highly unrealistic, but close enough)
300,000,000 years
/ 20
= 15,000,000 generations
Okay, so we now have 15 million generations of the same genetic line to play with. Let's put a random eye mutation in every 100 generations.
15,000,000
/ 100
= 150,000 mutations
So, over the course of 300 million years, it is possible that 1 out of every 15 eye mutations is beneficial and carried on in one of the 10,000 steps to the modern eye.
And given the facts that most animals, humans included, rarely wait 20 years before reproducing, that life has been around more than a mere 300 million years, and that far more than a single genetic line has been carried forward since life started on this planet, I fail to see how "it's too complex" can be used in a valid arguement without being immediately followed by "...for me to understand in my short 72 year lifespan"
Most people who try to oversimplify the arguement forget one very important rule:
Never underestimate the power of entropy in large quantities.
I even fail to see why entropy/random chance, over the course of a couple billion years, would not be sufficient for even random chemicals on a dynamic planetary surface to comobine in the proper proportions to eventually find a way to reproduce itself and thus become life.
I swear, there must be some hidden self-destruct in Maxtor drives.
I had two 40GB Maxtors die on me in the past year, within a month or two of eachother. One had been purchased new by me 2 years prior, the other used about 6 months prior.
Currently about 50% of my drives are Seagates, from the two in my DVR, the RAID1'd pair of 400GB's in my fileserver, and the 6 year old 6GB that's been part of a few of my computers over the years.
Seagate has definitely become my #1 preferred brand, with Western Digital running not too far behind in 2nd.
The original articles I saw about this (I lost the links from Chicago Tribune and Yahoo News) claimed the speed was doubled from 2 to 4, still nowhere near the 10 claimed here.
Definitely a math error on someone's part here.
At the 2004 North American International Auto Show, I saw Mazda showing off a dual-fuel RX-8 that had Hydrogen and Gasoline tanks and just the single engine to use for either.
It debuted at the 2003 Tokyo auto show.
Ah yes, that was a good joke (and practical idea) on a recent Simpsons episode, too. IIRC, Marge got it out of a magazine with an iPod-in-a-blender punishment depicted on the cover.
So far, the insistance of the game to reposition the camera at an awkward moment is my only grip with the game as well.
I am still fairly early on in the game (up to colossus #4), but this is already very evident. Such as when trying to lure the colossus into position, I stop moving for 3 seconds with the camera aligned for best viewing, then it swings the view around behind my character and completely away from the colossus, simply because I stopped touching the controls for too long.