My point was that it was useless. People are never asked to estimate how much a 747 can carry. Other questions, such as GDP, requires enough knowledge such that you either know the answer or are making wild ass guesses. ONly the history questions seemed useful and that's only because, presumably, enough people had exposure to the questions during schooling that they can make an educated guess.
In US terms, someone who went to US schools could probably estimate the year of the Civil War only because they learned about it. The capacity of a 747 is rare enough that you either know the answer or are making wild-ass guesses (as opposed to reasonable estimates based on something you learned 10-20 years ago).
First off, before any American tries the quiz, it should be pointed out that there are a lot of questions that Americans just wouldn't know, so would have to guess (e.g., members of Parliament, distance between cities).
But on a more substantive note, some of the questions cover items that most people won't have the slightest clue about. Number of grocery bags in Australia? Who the hell would even have the slightest idea. Historical dates? Either you know them or you don't know them.
It's also the type of things most people don't estimate. People estimate distances, dates that are personal to them, people's ages. Not the amount of material a 747 can hold.
1. I rarely watch movies more than once or twice. Buying a movie makes no sense for me. Unless it's a demo disc to show off my system. I've bought DVDs that I thought I'd love. Turns out I watched the movies maybe 3 times total, with no desire to watch them again. I have no desire to build a library of DVDs that I own.
2. Used DVDs are about $10 each. Meaning you can get 5 for two months of Netflix service. You can easily watch 10 Netflix movies in 2 months. Easily. At my peak, I was doing 12 DVDs a month.
All the arguments about how it is *possible* to have proportional fonts ignore several facts: (1) it was a memo to his own file--if you were writing a memo to file would you bother changing balls in your typewriter to make it look better; and (2) more importantly, it's the military. The military *Still* uses Courier. They certainly still used it almost exclusively in the mid 90s when I did consulting work. Is there any doubt they were still using typewriter fonts in the 70s?
The California state Bar allows wannabe lawyers to take the bar exam on laptop. The test takers save their essays to a floppy, where it is later printed out to be given to graders.
I would switch also, if it weren't for one thing--GSM sucks where I live. I can't get a signal in my own apartment. My Verizon phone works fine with a a couple of dropped calls. But my Cingular phone gets absolutely no signal and my AT&T Blackberry only rarely has a signal.
That's Verizon's whole schtick--no, they don't have the phones that the other manufacturers have, but they have the best coverage.
AVS Forum is a very large forum dedicated solely to audio video systems. They have a separate sub forum dedicated to HTPCs. While this particular question appears to have been answered elsewhere in this thread, in general, you'll get more helpful advice for A/V related questions from AVS forum than you will from slashdot.
As pointed out by many other people, HP has larger penetration than Apple. E.g., if you search circuitcity.com, they don't sell the iPod. Neither do the Office Superstores. But they do sell Hp products.
2000 was never intended to be a consumer desktop OS. So the upgrade to XP was from ME or 98 or 95. Also, if you want a real reason to upgrade to XP from 2000--games. 2000 didn't support many games. XP does
Re:No one can answer that question
on
Portable Storage?
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· Score: 1
Agreed. This is a stupid question. For under $100, you can get a 256 MB USB drive or a 80GB external USB drive. It all depends on how portable you want it and how much space you need.
Incredibly uninsightful comment. The record and movie industries lobby *both* Dems and Reps. In fact, they lobby Dems more than Reps. Just because Hatch is a Rep doesn't mean that Dems are on the other side. They aren't.
It won't be one month. According to the Utah Local Rules, SCO has 30 days to file its response. Then IBM has 10 days to file its reply to SCO's response. So it'll be 40 days before the court even has all the motions. Then it still has to set oral argument. Depending on the judge's docket, it could be weeks or months until the judge makes a ruling (or it could be just a few days).
I agree with this. If you practice safe surfing, you have no problems. I have 98SE and I've been on broadband for 2+years. I've never installed anti-virus and have not been hit by the latest virus attacks (which were XP specific, anyway). Of course, I don't use Outlook or OE, so that helps. I do get spyware (my wife uses IE and will not switch to Mozilla, which I use), but I can eliminate that with Spybot.
There's a simple way of not leting phone calls interrupt dinner or mowing the lawn--don't answer it. When I first got married, my wife had that habit, if the phone was ringing, she ran to the phone to get it, even if she was busy. I always found that funny. If the phone is ringing and I'm doing something else, I don't answer it and let it go to voicemail. When I'm done, I'll check the VM and call back. Simple solution.
Right. I got a ton of email at my old work address. But I had made the mistake of using that address on signup forms. Plus the address was posted on the web. My personal email account and my current work email account get nearly zero spam just by being careful with it.
Answering machines are much less useful than Vonage's voice mail. 1) voice mail messages over email is pretty cool. 2) voice mail when you are on another call is not possible with a traditional phone.
That's why I've never understood the big deal about the do not call registry. My number hasn't been listed in the phone book for 8 years and I doubt that I've received 1 marketing call per quarter.
WRONG. The Fortune 500 is based on revenue, not market value. See this page for more information:
FORTUNE 500 List
Each year, the FORTUNE 500 List is compiled based on the latest financial data reported to a government agency through January 31 of that year. The List consists of the 500 largest domestic, U.S.-incorporated companies as ranked by total operating revenues, determined on the basis of each company's latest fiscal year.
I have a 2.4 GHz phone and an 802.11b network. Plus, many of my neighbors have WiFi networks. I've never had any problems. Even now, with the phone base and router in the same room.
The requirement of a working model may have been doable in the days of mainly mechanical inventions. But these days, a lot of inventions are electrical. A large processor such as an Athlon 64 probably has dozens have patents. Should they be required to submit an Athlon 64? How will the PTO test it? What if the invention is on a method of making a processor. Can't really model that, can you? Not to mention drug patents, or software patents.
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In US terms, someone who went to US schools could probably estimate the year of the Civil War only because they learned about it. The capacity of a 747 is rare enough that you either know the answer or are making wild-ass guesses (as opposed to reasonable estimates based on something you learned 10-20 years ago).
But on a more substantive note, some of the questions cover items that most people won't have the slightest clue about. Number of grocery bags in Australia? Who the hell would even have the slightest idea. Historical dates? Either you know them or you don't know them.
It's also the type of things most people don't estimate. People estimate distances, dates that are personal to them, people's ages. Not the amount of material a 747 can hold.
2. Used DVDs are about $10 each. Meaning you can get 5 for two months of Netflix service. You can easily watch 10 Netflix movies in 2 months. Easily. At my peak, I was doing 12 DVDs a month.
Unless you like padding the wallets of the movie studios, there is no reason to buy new instead of used.
All the arguments about how it is *possible* to have proportional fonts ignore several facts: (1) it was a memo to his own file--if you were writing a memo to file would you bother changing balls in your typewriter to make it look better; and (2) more importantly, it's the military. The military *Still* uses Courier. They certainly still used it almost exclusively in the mid 90s when I did consulting work. Is there any doubt they were still using typewriter fonts in the 70s?
The California state Bar allows wannabe lawyers to take the bar exam on laptop. The test takers save their essays to a floppy, where it is later printed out to be given to graders.
That's Verizon's whole schtick--no, they don't have the phones that the other manufacturers have, but they have the best coverage.
AVS Forum is a very large forum dedicated solely to audio video systems. They have a separate sub forum dedicated to HTPCs. While this particular question appears to have been answered elsewhere in this thread, in general, you'll get more helpful advice for A/V related questions from AVS forum than you will from slashdot.
As pointed out by many other people, HP has larger penetration than Apple. E.g., if you search circuitcity.com, they don't sell the iPod. Neither do the Office Superstores. But they do sell Hp products.
Really? I find it takes much longer to log in to my Gmail account than it does my yahoo account or my hotmail account.
2000 was never intended to be a consumer desktop OS. So the upgrade to XP was from ME or 98 or 95. Also, if you want a real reason to upgrade to XP from 2000--games. 2000 didn't support many games. XP does
Agreed. This is a stupid question. For under $100, you can get a 256 MB USB drive or a 80GB external USB drive. It all depends on how portable you want it and how much space you need.
Incredibly uninsightful comment. The record and movie industries lobby *both* Dems and Reps. In fact, they lobby Dems more than Reps. Just because Hatch is a Rep doesn't mean that Dems are on the other side. They aren't.
It won't be one month. According to the Utah Local Rules, SCO has 30 days to file its response. Then IBM has 10 days to file its reply to SCO's response. So it'll be 40 days before the court even has all the motions. Then it still has to set oral argument. Depending on the judge's docket, it could be weeks or months until the judge makes a ruling (or it could be just a few days).
King Cobra, starring Pat "Karate Kid" Morita, is easily the worst movie I've ever seen. From the bad plot to the bad acting, it reeks of badness.
I agree with this. If you practice safe surfing, you have no problems. I have 98SE and I've been on broadband for 2+years. I've never installed anti-virus and have not been hit by the latest virus attacks (which were XP specific, anyway). Of course, I don't use Outlook or OE, so that helps. I do get spyware (my wife uses IE and will not switch to Mozilla, which I use), but I can eliminate that with Spybot.
And they've already been paid for that.
There's a simple way of not leting phone calls interrupt dinner or mowing the lawn--don't answer it. When I first got married, my wife had that habit, if the phone was ringing, she ran to the phone to get it, even if she was busy. I always found that funny. If the phone is ringing and I'm doing something else, I don't answer it and let it go to voicemail. When I'm done, I'll check the VM and call back. Simple solution.
Right. I got a ton of email at my old work address. But I had made the mistake of using that address on signup forms. Plus the address was posted on the web. My personal email account and my current work email account get nearly zero spam just by being careful with it.
Answering machines are much less useful than Vonage's voice mail. 1) voice mail messages over email is pretty cool. 2) voice mail when you are on another call is not possible with a traditional phone.
That's why I've never understood the big deal about the do not call registry. My number hasn't been listed in the phone book for 8 years and I doubt that I've received 1 marketing call per quarter.
I have a 2.4 GHz phone and an 802.11b network. Plus, many of my neighbors have WiFi networks. I've never had any problems. Even now, with the phone base and router in the same room.
The requirement of a working model may have been doable in the days of mainly mechanical inventions. But these days, a lot of inventions are electrical. A large processor such as an Athlon 64 probably has dozens have patents. Should they be required to submit an Athlon 64? How will the PTO test it? What if the invention is on a method of making a processor. Can't really model that, can you? Not to mention drug patents, or software patents.
The comparison is wrong in one respect--XBox games are still $49.99, so you don't save much that way.