You may like your bundle, but all I want from SBC is DSL for $25/month, without the extra $10 for phone service that I don't use and then additional $10 in taxes and fees that are charged on top of that phone service I don't use.
If it's true, this will immediately save me $250 or more every year.</I>
It's more like $120 in savings a year... Or do you think the taxes on the phone line use and maintenance charges won't apply to your line just because it's data and not voice being carried over it?
And that's before SBC adjusts its regular vs. bundled pricing to accomodate the court order... naked DSL is probably going to cost a hell of a lot more than the $26.95/month I'm paying to SBC.
"To get significant performance increases from modern engines, over-clocking, or rather hacking the ECM is essential. It's the only way to tweak a stock engine."
Spoken like someone who's never worked under the hood.
Look, there are plenty of engines and cars out there, from import four-bangers to big-block muscle cars, that require knowing zilch about computers other than they're the black (or metal, most likely) box that runs your fuel injection. (Of course, this means we're cutting out the old-school carburetor fanatics from this conversation.)
Take Mustangs, which are my specialty. Several easy ways to add substantial power to a late-model ('94-present) include: installing a decent low-restriction catback exhaust system, putting in a low-restriction air filter, swapping out rear-axle gear ratios,
As far as tweaking the engine itself goes, without touching the ECM, you can: bolt on some performance cylinder heads (within limits), get some shorty headers (or long-tube, depending on your application), change out the intake manifold for a higher flow one, swap out the throttle body for a larger diameter edition, among other things.
Done right, you're talking about adding 100+ rear-wheel horsepower without touching the ECM, or getting into the nitty-gritties of extensively customizing your powertrain through stroking, porting, picking the right camshaft, super/turbocharging, or adding a nitrous system.
The rule of thumb is this: hacking your ECM will optimize your setup AFTER you add performance parts to your car - using it to add significant power in lieu of doing so is stupidly risking your vehicle, not to mention killing your mileage and emissions.
Both shuttles disasters can be directly traced to NASA brass CYA maneuvers at the expense of human lives.
Yes, and as we all know, private corporations never make stupid mistakes trying to cover their asses. I'd be shocked to hear of some corporation cutting corners in the pursuit of greater profit at the expense of safety.
"I wonder if they're looking into giant robot anteaters as an alternative to costly bunker-buster bombs?"
Bunker-buster bomb: Take a normal 2000 lb. dumb iron bomb, strap a GPS guidance system to it, and weld an artillery tube to its nose. These were made on the fly during the First Gulf War to take out Iraqi bunkers.
Cost: $20,000. Works near-instantaneously.
Giant robot anteater: Based on technology and AI routines that don't exist yet. Unsure if one is feasible or even effective at its mission requirements.
Cost: Millions+ to develop, unknown cost estimate to produce. Takes hours or days to work if it does indeed work.
I'd really like to see your sources for the "10 year, $6 billion" budget for a workable, safe, efficient space elevator.
Really, considering carbon nanotube technology is still in the basic sciences phase, it sounds like your figures came from the same people who believe a workable, affordable national ballistic missile defense in 5 years.
""SCO is reported in the Age as saying they 'Have no plans to sue Linux companies...'"
"...as long as they don't object to a licensing fee, in the form of a small annual subscription to access SCO's intellectual property. Oh yeah, and for their convenience, SCO Financing can set cash-strapped Linux providers and users up with an easy-to-pay monthly installment plan."
Do you realize how horribly complicated computers are? Less than 30 years ago it was almost incomprehensible that the things would someday become a household item.
Yes, and we all know how bug-free and rock-solid stable most instances of computers and operating systems are. The tolerance level for failure and breakdown for a machine designed for manned space travel is considerably lower than the tolerance level for a machine designed to browse the internet and help balance your checkbook.
And private industry *doesn't* require safety/redundancy/reliability?
Gee, heard any stories lately about pharmaceutical, biotech, or other high-tech industries cutting safety and reliability corners in their pursuit of the almighty better bottom line? Yeah, me neither. Corporations would never screw over consumers and try to cover it up to earn more profit. So let's go ahead and dump manned space flight entirely into the hands of private industry and the markets.
Well, 100% of this person who likes to think for himself believes that cheap anti-American smears, using statistics probably pulled out of above poster's ass since he didn't bother to source, is bullshit.
I love the First Amendment, in fact, I love the whole damn fading, brittle piece of paper that is the Constitution, and it gets the amount of freedom given to citizens like me just about right. I also know for a fact that every American (besides a few kooks) I know of thinks about the same way, and I'm 99% positive that Mr. Sharpy's statistic, which was somehow modded up, is either a preconceived slant on a confusing and misleading poll, or just an out-and-out lie.
My two cents... flame away, but before you call me stupid, answer for me how stupidity like the above post gets modded up.l
The next generation unseated its elders -- as is the right of every generation - and is making its own culture, moving away from ours. In doing so, these kids balked at mega-hype, rediscovered earnestness, simplicity, the love story, some patriotism, punctured a billion-dollar balloon, and maybe even sparked a (relative) movement away from whorish sellouts, back to simpler story-telling. I, for one, sure hope so.
Heheh... only Katz could consider a movie (Spider-Man) produced by Sony Pictures, Inc. and spender of over $50 million in marketing to the unwashed masses a "balk[ing] at mega-hype", "simplicity", and "punctur[ing] a billion dollar balloon".
Let's see, reasons why Spider-Man made more money its opening weekend than Episode II:
4. It has a shorter running time, and therefore can be shown more times per day by theaters,
3. It showed on over 7,500 screens, as opposed to Episode II's 6,000,
2. It is (subjectively) a better movie, and audiences (maybe) prefer it, and
1. Spider-Man opened to no competition from other summer blockbusters, whereas Episode II opened against Spider-Man.
That Katz. When you need a highly publicized, mega-hyped troll, you know who to call.
People will argue anything for self-justification
on
Mashed-Up Music
·
· Score: 2
This is an interesting answer to arguments that online music sharing is nothing but theft.
Why, yes, I'm sure I could splice together pieces of a Stephen King novel along with pieces of a Dean Koontz novel, just like they're doing with pop music, using nothing but both author's original words, and come up with something that in my mind is better than either of the original works, and I could print out tons of copies of my cut-and-paste novel and give them to Borders and Barnes and Noble to distribute.
Is it theft? No.
Is it a blatant copyright violation, and will I get a hefty fine at the very least? You bet your ass it is.
People need to realize that being online has nothing to do with whether an action is legal or illegal, and no amount of self-justification over "how I'm doing something to improve on it" will let you use someone else's work for free. If that were true, I could just draw up a new book cover to replace some of those fugly cover illustrations in the sci-fi/fantasy genre to give myself free license to do whatever I want.
Here's a better idea: instead of using and abusing the work of pop music to "create" their "own" songs (and I use those terms very loosely), why don't they write and perform their own music, which can't be worse than the latest Britney Spears or 'N Sync album?
Oh, wait, that requires actual creative work...emphasis on the work.
Spider-Man shocked analysts and critics last week, racking up a record-breaking $114 million opening weekend for Sam Raimi's warm-hearted adaptation about the web-slinging arachnoid-nerd from Queens who gets the bad guy but really wants the girl.
My God, Mr. Katz, you make Spider-Man sound like some indie flick from the early Kevin Smith days instead of a summer blockbuster that Sony Pictures, Inc. spent over $50 million marketing the flick to the masses. How does it surprise anyone other than you that it made $114 million? Here's a surprise prediction for you: Spider-Man, AotC, the Two Towers, and Goldmember are all going to make $200+ million dollars for their studios! Wow. I surprise myself! Maybe I should go into internet journalism and write witty and insightful columns about how everything relates to the Columbine shootings and the alienation of nonconformist high-schoolers... oh, wait. That position's filled.
"We may not all be Flash lovers, but is it right to take a good product away from so many people who really do like it just because another company's product isn't taking over the market like they hoped it would?"
Let's see...
"We may not all be GNOME lovers, but is it right to take away XYZ software from so many people who do like it just because it contains GPL violations?"
"We may not all be Netscape lovers, but is it right to take away Internet Explorer from so many people who do like it just because Microsoft is an abusive monopoly?"
The popularity of a software has no bearing or relevance in this case or any legal case involving its use.
...but in your case, it's called reverse engineering. Which is completely legal, as far as I know... I guess Macromedia didn't document their process of creating a tabbed palette.
"Something that chops veggies" is also not analogous to "creating another tabbed palette". It's analogous to "creating a UI tool that lets you have the benefits of a tabbed palette without being a tabbed palette".
Content is King - good presentation will bring in viewers, but good content will bring them in again and again.
Cross-platform - don't rely on obscure plug-ins, Microsoft extensions or other technology that will unnecessarily limit your audience. Preview the growing website with multiple platforms.
Intuitive Interface - frustration at not being able to navigate a site easily will drive away users.
You really can't go wrong if your website follows those three principles. There are hardware concerns, too (make sure your servers and your connection is up to the expected task).
The smallpox virus is a very important element in the preservation of wildlife in the World - wherever there are large concentrations of smallpox virus, there will be much fewer people, since 30% of smallpox cases are fatal. If the smallpox virus was eliminated a major impediment to human overpopulation and people overrunning the natural habitat of World wildlife would be removed, and biodiversity of the region put at further risk. Anyone willing to accept for five seconds that the environment is not a simple system???
I am Chinese, and frankly, you don't make a lot of sense. To further extend your argument, when China becomes "free", Chinese citizens will blame the Russians for selling them tanks and warplanes that fill the arsenal of the People's army, blame the Chinese newspaper editors for writing articles that spread Communist Party ideology and blame the Chinese factory workers that manufactured the bullets that shot the democracy protesters at Tianenmen Square.
I may have grown up in a foreign culture, but I can spot someone with an axe to grind when I see one. Your disgust at "Big Business" and "Big Government" has nothing to do with the rights or attitudes of the Chinese people, but rather with you wanting to blame the what's wrong with the world on those that you don't agree with.
The Chinese nation will sort themselves out over a long time, and probably peacefully, too - that's the Chinese way, to take the long, nonconfrontational view. The best thing that Clinton and Bush have done, and what you seem so opposed to, is to allow US businesses to continue to invest in China, further stimulating the economy and slowly raising living standards for the Chinese people. With increased living standards, more power to the middle class and greater education, the people of China will ask for more freedom and representation incrementally, and the government of China will grant the inevitable.
The average Chinese citizen does not want your revolution. They want orderly, nonviolent change. The US companies are just doing business, no more and no less, and that business helps along that change.
Oh, come on, we have a couple of hundred thousand people in the US who can't figure out how to vote using a punch card with printed directions, for crying out loud. And now people are suggesting standardizing voting using a computer and an internet connection to make things easier? *chuckle*
Now, touch-screen computers at the polling station to simplify voting... that'd be a much better idea.
...before unveiling its secret weapon in the language wars:
COBOL#!
Yes, with the power of COBOL# Sun will be able to monopolize the huge untapped market of legacy COBOL code that could be easily modified and brought up to cross-platform, bytecode standards.
Since there is so much more legacy COBOL code than C/C++ (75-80% of all existing code in businesses is still COBOL), Sun will one-up Microsoft, and along with Java will be able to win over developers with its advanced security features like a rigid sandbox and no direct memory manipulation.
Next up for Sun, Java++... it's rumored that Sun's pulling out all the stops with this one, and even including a full-fledged graphical developing environment with the J++DK, complete with an intelligent "Programming Assistant" that will warn you when you're writing unsafe code! Dancing Bill Joy or paper clip graphics optional.
Slashdot Mirror
You may like your bundle, but all I want from SBC is DSL for $25/month, without the extra $10 for phone service that I don't use and then additional $10 in taxes and fees that are charged on top of that phone service I don't use.
If it's true, this will immediately save me $250 or more every year.</I>
It's more like $120 in savings a year... Or do you think the taxes on the phone line use and maintenance charges won't apply to your line just because it's data and not voice being carried over it?
And that's before SBC adjusts its regular vs. bundled pricing to accomodate the court order... naked DSL is probably going to cost a hell of a lot more than the $26.95/month I'm paying to SBC.
Paper hasn't increased (generally) in complexity for the last 100 years; CPUs, on the other hand, follow Moore's Law (for now).
Increased complexity means sinking capital into R&D, engineering, new fabs and other equipment, and generally, increasing cost.
"To get significant performance increases from modern engines, over-clocking, or rather hacking the ECM is essential. It's the only way to tweak a stock engine."
Spoken like someone who's never worked under the hood.
Look, there are plenty of engines and cars out there, from import four-bangers to big-block muscle cars, that require knowing zilch about computers other than they're the black (or metal, most likely) box that runs your fuel injection. (Of course, this means we're cutting out the old-school carburetor fanatics from this conversation.)
Take Mustangs, which are my specialty. Several easy ways to add substantial power to a late-model ('94-present) include: installing a decent low-restriction catback exhaust system, putting in a low-restriction air filter, swapping out rear-axle gear ratios,
As far as tweaking the engine itself goes, without touching the ECM, you can: bolt on some performance cylinder heads (within limits), get some shorty headers (or long-tube, depending on your application), change out the intake manifold for a higher flow one, swap out the throttle body for a larger diameter edition, among other things.
Done right, you're talking about adding 100+ rear-wheel horsepower without touching the ECM, or getting into the nitty-gritties of extensively customizing your powertrain through stroking, porting, picking the right camshaft, super/turbocharging, or adding a nitrous system.
The rule of thumb is this: hacking your ECM will optimize your setup AFTER you add performance parts to your car - using it to add significant power in lieu of doing so is stupidly risking your vehicle, not to mention killing your mileage and emissions.
...culling humankind of the genetically weak and infirm will probably strengthen the species as a whole.
But that doesn't make murder any more right or palatable, does it?
The ends do not justify copyright violation - although it may make the recording industry think twice about cracking down too hard on it.
Nah, that would mean they'd be thinking intelligently.
...they invariably believe that they must talk on a order of magnitude louder than the hubbub around them in order for them to be clearly heard.
While restaurant background noise is fine, it's really jarring to then hear some lady scream shrilly, "Jimmy got whaaat? A tattoo?! No way!"
Yes, and as we all know, private corporations never make stupid mistakes trying to cover their asses. I'd be shocked to hear of some corporation cutting corners in the pursuit of greater profit at the expense of safety.
Bunker-buster bomb: Take a normal 2000 lb. dumb iron bomb, strap a GPS guidance system to it, and weld an artillery tube to its nose. These were made on the fly during the First Gulf War to take out Iraqi bunkers.
Cost: $20,000. Works near-instantaneously.
Giant robot anteater: Based on technology and AI routines that don't exist yet. Unsure if one is feasible or even effective at its mission requirements.
Cost: Millions+ to develop, unknown cost estimate to produce. Takes hours or days to work if it does indeed work.
Hmm. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
we'd have built it by now.
I'd really like to see your sources for the "10 year, $6 billion" budget for a workable, safe, efficient space elevator.
Really, considering carbon nanotube technology is still in the basic sciences phase, it sounds like your figures came from the same people who believe a workable, affordable national ballistic missile defense in 5 years.
"...as long as they don't object to a licensing fee, in the form of a small annual subscription to access SCO's intellectual property. Oh yeah, and for their convenience, SCO Financing can set cash-strapped Linux providers and users up with an easy-to-pay monthly installment plan."
Do you realize how horribly complicated computers are? Less than 30 years ago it was almost incomprehensible that the things would someday become a household item.
Yes, and we all know how bug-free and rock-solid stable most instances of computers and operating systems are. The tolerance level for failure and breakdown for a machine designed for manned space travel is considerably lower than the tolerance level for a machine designed to browse the internet and help balance your checkbook.
And private industry *doesn't* require safety/redundancy/reliability?
Gee, heard any stories lately about pharmaceutical, biotech, or other high-tech industries cutting safety and reliability corners in their pursuit of the almighty better bottom line? Yeah, me neither. Corporations would never screw over consumers and try to cover it up to earn more profit. So let's go ahead and dump manned space flight entirely into the hands of private industry and the markets.
Well, 100% of this person who likes to think for himself believes that cheap anti-American smears, using statistics probably pulled out of above poster's ass since he didn't bother to source, is bullshit.
I love the First Amendment, in fact, I love the whole damn fading, brittle piece of paper that is the Constitution, and it gets the amount of freedom given to citizens like me just about right. I also know for a fact that every American (besides a few kooks) I know of thinks about the same way, and I'm 99% positive that Mr. Sharpy's statistic, which was somehow modded up, is either a preconceived slant on a confusing and misleading poll, or just an out-and-out lie.
My two cents... flame away, but before you call me stupid, answer for me how stupidity like the above post gets modded up.l
The next generation unseated its elders -- as is the right of every generation - and is making its own culture, moving away from ours. In doing so, these kids balked at mega-hype, rediscovered earnestness, simplicity, the love story, some patriotism, punctured a billion-dollar balloon, and maybe even sparked a (relative) movement away from whorish sellouts, back to simpler story-telling. I, for one, sure hope so.
Heheh... only Katz could consider a movie (Spider-Man) produced by Sony Pictures, Inc. and spender of over $50 million in marketing to the unwashed masses a "balk[ing] at mega-hype", "simplicity", and "punctur[ing] a billion dollar balloon".
Let's see, reasons why Spider-Man made more money its opening weekend than Episode II:
4. It has a shorter running time, and therefore can be shown more times per day by theaters,
3. It showed on over 7,500 screens, as opposed to Episode II's 6,000,
2. It is (subjectively) a better movie, and audiences (maybe) prefer it, and
1. Spider-Man opened to no competition from other summer blockbusters, whereas Episode II opened against Spider-Man.
That Katz. When you need a highly publicized, mega-hyped troll, you know who to call.
This is an interesting answer to arguments that online music sharing is nothing but theft.
Why, yes, I'm sure I could splice together pieces of a Stephen King novel along with pieces of a Dean Koontz novel, just like they're doing with pop music, using nothing but both author's original words, and come up with something that in my mind is better than either of the original works, and I could print out tons of copies of my cut-and-paste novel and give them to Borders and Barnes and Noble to distribute.
Is it theft? No.
Is it a blatant copyright violation, and will I get a hefty fine at the very least? You bet your ass it is.
People need to realize that being online has nothing to do with whether an action is legal or illegal, and no amount of self-justification over "how I'm doing something to improve on it" will let you use someone else's work for free. If that were true, I could just draw up a new book cover to replace some of those fugly cover illustrations in the sci-fi/fantasy genre to give myself free license to do whatever I want.
Here's a better idea: instead of using and abusing the work of pop music to "create" their "own" songs (and I use those terms very loosely), why don't they write and perform their own music, which can't be worse than the latest Britney Spears or 'N Sync album?
Oh, wait, that requires actual creative work...emphasis on the work.
Spider-Man shocked analysts and critics last week, racking up a record-breaking $114 million opening weekend for Sam Raimi's warm-hearted adaptation about the web-slinging arachnoid-nerd from Queens who gets the bad guy but really wants the girl.
My God, Mr. Katz, you make Spider-Man sound like some indie flick from the early Kevin Smith days instead of a summer blockbuster that Sony Pictures, Inc. spent over $50 million marketing the flick to the masses. How does it surprise anyone other than you that it made $114 million? Here's a surprise prediction for you: Spider-Man, AotC, the Two Towers, and Goldmember are all going to make $200+ million dollars for their studios! Wow. I surprise myself! Maybe I should go into internet journalism and write witty and insightful columns about how everything relates to the Columbine shootings and the alienation of nonconformist high-schoolers... oh, wait. That position's filled.
"We may not all be Flash lovers, but is it right to take a good product away from so many people who really do like it just because another company's product isn't taking over the market like they hoped it would?"
Let's see...
"We may not all be GNOME lovers, but is it right to take away XYZ software from so many people who do like it just because it contains GPL violations?"
"We may not all be Netscape lovers, but is it right to take away Internet Explorer from so many people who do like it just because Microsoft is an abusive monopoly?"
The popularity of a software has no bearing or relevance in this case or any legal case involving its use.
...but in your case, it's called reverse engineering. Which is completely legal, as far as I know... I guess Macromedia didn't document their process of creating a tabbed palette.
"Something that chops veggies" is also not analogous to "creating another tabbed palette". It's analogous to "creating a UI tool that lets you have the benefits of a tabbed palette without being a tabbed palette".
(ie. please contribute something to the conversation that a lame attempt at a knee-jerk reaction against Blizzard)
Considering, you know, that every FPS has "ripped off" Wolf3D.
Or that every RTS has "ripped off" Dune II.
You really can't go wrong if your website follows those three principles. There are hardware concerns, too (make sure your servers and your connection is up to the expected task).
The smallpox virus is a very important element in the preservation of wildlife in the World - wherever there are large concentrations of smallpox virus, there will be much fewer people, since 30% of smallpox cases are fatal. If the smallpox virus was eliminated a major impediment to human overpopulation and people overrunning the natural habitat of World wildlife would be removed, and biodiversity of the region put at further risk. Anyone willing to accept for five seconds that the environment is not a simple system???
I am Chinese, and frankly, you don't make a lot of sense. To further extend your argument, when China becomes "free", Chinese citizens will blame the Russians for selling them tanks and warplanes that fill the arsenal of the People's army, blame the Chinese newspaper editors for writing articles that spread Communist Party ideology and blame the Chinese factory workers that manufactured the bullets that shot the democracy protesters at Tianenmen Square.
I may have grown up in a foreign culture, but I can spot someone with an axe to grind when I see one. Your disgust at "Big Business" and "Big Government" has nothing to do with the rights or attitudes of the Chinese people, but rather with you wanting to blame the what's wrong with the world on those that you don't agree with.
The Chinese nation will sort themselves out over a long time, and probably peacefully, too - that's the Chinese way, to take the long, nonconfrontational view. The best thing that Clinton and Bush have done, and what you seem so opposed to, is to allow US businesses to continue to invest in China, further stimulating the economy and slowly raising living standards for the Chinese people. With increased living standards, more power to the middle class and greater education, the people of China will ask for more freedom and representation incrementally, and the government of China will grant the inevitable.
The average Chinese citizen does not want your revolution. They want orderly, nonviolent change. The US companies are just doing business, no more and no less, and that business helps along that change.
we just got a preview of the script for Cats & Dogs 2. ;)
Nope... Bob Barker was the first secret test subject.
How do you think he's still around?
;)
Oh, come on, we have a couple of hundred thousand people in the US who can't figure out how to vote using a punch card with printed directions, for crying out loud. And now people are suggesting standardizing voting using a computer and an internet connection to make things easier? *chuckle*
Now, touch-screen computers at the polling station to simplify voting... that'd be a much better idea.
...before unveiling its secret weapon in the language wars:
COBOL#!
Yes, with the power of COBOL# Sun will be able to monopolize the huge untapped market of legacy COBOL code that could be easily modified and brought up to cross-platform, bytecode standards.
Since there is so much more legacy COBOL code than C/C++ (75-80% of all existing code in businesses is still COBOL), Sun will one-up Microsoft, and along with Java will be able to win over developers with its advanced security features like a rigid sandbox and no direct memory manipulation.
Next up for Sun, Java++... it's rumored that Sun's pulling out all the stops with this one, and even including a full-fledged graphical developing environment with the J++DK, complete with an intelligent "Programming Assistant" that will warn you when you're writing unsafe code! Dancing Bill Joy or paper clip graphics optional.
Sony is coming out with Linux for the Playstation!
40 GB HD, 100 Mb Ethernet connection...
*drools* Now, the kids will have to fight the parents for time on the television...