I've personally never liked the idea of replacing a 7-year-old machine only to get the exact same (or worse) performance.
Amen. I believe this is a matter of cultural momentum. During the early days of PC adoption, you could easily forecast that hardware would become faster, memory would become plentiful, and (here's the important bit) that people would be hungry for improvement. This latter point was a crucial business driver, because there was so much unrealised potential in the PC during the early era. Can you actually write an entire book using a PC for example? You can now, but it wasn't so easy then.
When you look at today's performance and price curves, the forecasts have diverged a bit, and the business drivers will again be that strong. You can't keep adding multipliers to the resources an OS needs, because hardware capability isn't increasing logarithmically any more. And more to the point, the hunger isn't there any more. Superb capability has become a commodity, so there is little perceived need to fund improvements.
The issue with Microsoft is that -- largely due to their size -- they have been working on the assumption that people will always hunger for more, when in fact those needs have largely been met by now. If they really want to remain profitable, they should simply stop innovating, cut their team down to where their momentum is less than that of continental drift, and print copies of XP Pro to people who will still continue to insist on Windows for new computers. The rest of us would be grateful to them if they did.
I'm surprised that I've read this far down the thread without encountering some mention of the political strength you need to rise to the top of any academic organisation, much less LRL. Why do you think tweed coats have leather elbows, anyway?
(Actually, self-opening doors were around at least as early as 1952 or so. Almost got hit in the head by one as a kid when trying to look at the phototube assembly.)
Which it won't, because we're all going to die in 2012 when the Ancient Mayans, resurrected by the Antichrist, Barack Obama go to the LHC and use it to create black holes and stranglets.
In Australia several years ago there was a major government advertising campaign with the slogan "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot."
This was accompanied by "Don't fool yourself, speed kills". Once I saw a car where someone had taken a razor to the two bumper stickers and displayed "Don't fool yourself, you're a bloody idiot". I had to pull over for a few minutes.
...The only reason you see a "click here if this is inappropriate" on any website is so they can cover their own ass and prevent getting sued...
Actually, there's another reason. If you click on anything at all, they can record your address in their web journals and tick a box labeled "This person is a potential mark". It's one of the reasons why I close these bogus displays by going around and closing them from the operating system. I do not trust any button or other clickable control presented to me from any window that I didn't specifically ask to see. Even the little X in the top right corner, they can emulate those controls with controls of their own, and can record the fact that you've paid them a bit of attention. And for such people, the less attention you pay them the better.
Ahh, interesting. You'd probably have to work with the interactions between the Earth's magnetic field lines by controlling AC phases in the cable, like the coordinated repeat pushes of windings against windings in an electric motor. I'm not sure how that would be switched though, or even if currents of that magnitude could be given existing technology. Still, it's a good one for a grant application some time in the future.
-but that doesn't turn the information itself into a physical good.
A good example of this is the Traveling Knot.
Take a piece of twine, and attach it to a rope. Attach the other end of the rope to a piece of thin chain.
Now tie a simple overhand knot into the twine. Work the knot across the length of the combined assembly. The same knot is expressed in twine, then rope, then chain. It's the same knot, but it's proven to be independent of the medium.
The knot itself is only a curve. It requires some medium to manifest, but is not directly tied to that medium. You can draw a number of conclusions from this simple relationship, such as (a) the knot requires a medium to express itself in a tangible way, that (b) it isn't tied (sorry) to any particular medium, (c) that it's primarily information, and (d) that it can traverse (be copied) across a medium while leaving it effectively unchanged.
This means the knot is definitely not a physical good, although a knotted string can be. I guess I should add (d) that in general, the properties underlying an apparently simple, tangible thing are often highly complex and non-intuitive.
Good point, recharging batteries. What if they were placed at street intersections to give discrete power boosts to appropriately equipped electric cars -- wouldn't this extend the range of EV's and give people some additional surety that they won't run out of juice on the way to work? It would be a good way to provide EV charging infrastructure without cables.
Sorry, bugger the karma, incomplete thought. That should be sacrificial cathode, and you probably wouldn't get most of your potential from breaking the earth's magnetic field -- OP described the more likely mechanism.
So use the current flow. You're breaking the earth's magnetic field lines with the cable. Not a lot of field strength, but it's a lot of field, sounds like a generator to me. Ship up the necessary kilograms of (i don't know, zinc perhaps) sacrificial anode and dump the potential via ions accelerated as lateral thrusters running continuously, and vary the flow in any particular direction to adjust the position of the cable terminus. The spare current could run the elevator cars.
Most of the crafting professions are not finished yet.
Which doesn't mean there isn't a huge amount of content. Last night my daughter the younger told me she fished up a coin in the Dalaran fountain she said was Inigo's coin. The inscription said "I wish I had my father back".
Subtle. Little things like that make you want to look under every rock in the game.
And as far as Murlocs go, "Mrgl mrgle that, you noisome little toad! (/cast Volley)
...Also, each zone has at least one notable story arc of quests that really pulls the character into the lore of the world.
Aye. Nothing quite like being pelted with fruit as you tour Orgrimmar on your freshly-minted Death Knight, kneeling in front of Thrall and being told "You have just seconds to live". That one cost me a keyboard.
I think you might have skipped a step there. No, it isn't a free pass. That's not under discussion. But in the administration of justice there has to be a certain sensitivity to overall fairness and balance in the treatment of both sides, that's what it's all about. You don't sue people and try to score points off their inability to respond for medical reasons that are manifestly not under their control, that isn't fair. We treat gangsters better than that.
I love your response man. Its not that they are stupid, its that they are stupid and demanding and demeaning to you.
It's all about fear, Shemp. They're afraid of you, and they're trying to distract you from their weak spots by making the ugly monkey face.
Oh, and give your CEO enterprise admin privileges. It can't hurt, he reboots his laptop by shaking it upside down anyway, and if something goes wrong practice the subtle art of rolling your eyes and whistling.
Slashdot Mirror
More to the point, what are the stats on that cloak? Can my hunter have one?
Aack! s/"the business drivers will again be that strong."/the business drivers will never again be that strong/.
I've personally never liked the idea of replacing a 7-year-old machine only to get the exact same (or worse) performance.
Amen. I believe this is a matter of cultural momentum. During the early days of PC adoption, you could easily forecast that hardware would become faster, memory would become plentiful, and (here's the important bit) that people would be hungry for improvement. This latter point was a crucial business driver, because there was so much unrealised potential in the PC during the early era. Can you actually write an entire book using a PC for example? You can now, but it wasn't so easy then.
When you look at today's performance and price curves, the forecasts have diverged a bit, and the business drivers will again be that strong. You can't keep adding multipliers to the resources an OS needs, because hardware capability isn't increasing logarithmically any more. And more to the point, the hunger isn't there any more. Superb capability has become a commodity, so there is little perceived need to fund improvements.
The issue with Microsoft is that -- largely due to their size -- they have been working on the assumption that people will always hunger for more, when in fact those needs have largely been met by now. If they really want to remain profitable, they should simply stop innovating, cut their team down to where their momentum is less than that of continental drift, and print copies of XP Pro to people who will still continue to insist on Windows for new computers. The rest of us would be grateful to them if they did.
I'm surprised that I've read this far down the thread without encountering some mention of the political strength you need to rise to the top of any academic organisation, much less LRL. Why do you think tweed coats have leather elbows, anyway?
Yes, people really seem to underestimate just how dense the Earth is
Not really, I've been reading slashdot for years.
What is it called when centripetal force of a rotating planet exceeds gravity's ability to hold it together?
It's called "The Somewhat Smaller Than The Big But Locally Quite Big Enough Bang", or TSSTTBBLQBEB for short.
Then, we could finally fly beyond the light waves given off during the creation of the moon and take a look ourselves.
You know, I think I've found a way to do that and reach back to affect our history. I'm sure it won't violate causality if i te!%%%####@[NO CARRIER]
Um, are you saying that by "tidal force" you weren't referring to the submerged/air-exposed cycle
Look up "Roche limit" on Wiki. Good explanation of tidal forces. Has nothing to do with tearing up your sneakers looking for starfish.
(Actually, self-opening doors were around at least as early as 1952 or so. Almost got hit in the head by one as a kid when trying to look at the phototube assembly.)
Geek!
I'm more concerned about the amount of life I'd lose if I didn't.
Even with the best focusing he could manage, though, there was enough scatter that he was forced to wear "Faraday cages"
Should have used a MASER. And there's an XKCD reference in there somewhere.
Which it won't, because we're all going to die in 2012 when the Ancient Mayans, resurrected by the Antichrist, Barack Obama go to the LHC and use it to create black holes and stranglets.
Duude! Where is that quest in Northrend?
In Australia several years ago there was a major government advertising campaign with the slogan "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot."
This was accompanied by "Don't fool yourself, speed kills". Once I saw a car where someone had taken a razor to the two bumper stickers and displayed "Don't fool yourself, you're a bloody idiot". I had to pull over for a few minutes.
...The only reason you see a "click here if this is inappropriate" on any website is so they can cover their own ass and prevent getting sued...
Actually, there's another reason. If you click on anything at all, they can record your address in their web journals and tick a box labeled "This person is a potential mark". It's one of the reasons why I close these bogus displays by going around and closing them from the operating system. I do not trust any button or other clickable control presented to me from any window that I didn't specifically ask to see. Even the little X in the top right corner, they can emulate those controls with controls of their own, and can record the fact that you've paid them a bit of attention. And for such people, the less attention you pay them the better.
Ahh, interesting. You'd probably have to work with the interactions between the Earth's magnetic field lines by controlling AC phases in the cable, like the coordinated repeat pushes of windings against windings in an electric motor. I'm not sure how that would be switched though, or even if currents of that magnitude could be given existing technology. Still, it's a good one for a grant application some time in the future.
-but that doesn't turn the information itself into a physical good.
A good example of this is the Traveling Knot.
Take a piece of twine, and attach it to a rope. Attach the other end of the rope to a piece of thin chain.
Now tie a simple overhand knot into the twine. Work the knot across the length of the combined assembly. The same knot is expressed in twine, then rope, then chain. It's the same knot, but it's proven to be independent of the medium.
The knot itself is only a curve. It requires some medium to manifest, but is not directly tied to that medium. You can draw a number of conclusions from this simple relationship, such as (a) the knot requires a medium to express itself in a tangible way, that (b) it isn't tied (sorry) to any particular medium, (c) that it's primarily information, and (d) that it can traverse (be copied) across a medium while leaving it effectively unchanged.
This means the knot is definitely not a physical good, although a knotted string can be. I guess I should add (d) that in general, the properties underlying an apparently simple, tangible thing are often highly complex and non-intuitive.
Good point, recharging batteries. What if they were placed at street intersections to give discrete power boosts to appropriately equipped electric cars -- wouldn't this extend the range of EV's and give people some additional surety that they won't run out of juice on the way to work? It would be a good way to provide EV charging infrastructure without cables.
Sorry, bugger the karma, incomplete thought. That should be sacrificial cathode, and you probably wouldn't get most of your potential from breaking the earth's magnetic field -- OP described the more likely mechanism.
The earth is built very much like a capacitor...
So use the current flow. You're breaking the earth's magnetic field lines with the cable. Not a lot of field strength, but it's a lot of field, sounds like a generator to me. Ship up the necessary kilograms of (i don't know, zinc perhaps) sacrificial anode and dump the potential via ions accelerated as lateral thrusters running continuously, and vary the flow in any particular direction to adjust the position of the cable terminus. The spare current could run the elevator cars.
Most of the crafting professions are not finished yet.
Which doesn't mean there isn't a huge amount of content. Last night my daughter the younger told me she fished up a coin in the Dalaran fountain she said was Inigo's coin. The inscription said "I wish I had my father back".
Subtle. Little things like that make you want to look under every rock in the game.
And as far as Murlocs go, "Mrgl mrgle that, you noisome little toad! (/cast Volley)
...Also, each zone has at least one notable story arc of quests that really pulls the character into the lore of the world.
Aye. Nothing quite like being pelted with fruit as you tour Orgrimmar on your freshly-minted Death Knight, kneeling in front of Thrall and being told "You have just seconds to live". That one cost me a keyboard.
I hope you, and NYCL, aren't trying to claim ...
I think you might have skipped a step there. No, it isn't a free pass. That's not under discussion. But in the administration of justice there has to be a certain sensitivity to overall fairness and balance in the treatment of both sides, that's what it's all about. You don't sue people and try to score points off their inability to respond for medical reasons that are manifestly not under their control, that isn't fair. We treat gangsters better than that.
So a three month job will take 6 years?
Only if you're lucky.
Does anyone else get the impression that Mark Russinovitch is being groomed to take over from David Cutler? He's like St Peter to Cutler's Jesus.
IMHO you have just demoted them both.
I miss SYSGEN.
I love your response man. Its not that they are stupid, its that they are stupid and demanding and demeaning to you.
It's all about fear, Shemp. They're afraid of you, and they're trying to distract you from their weak spots by making the ugly monkey face.
Oh, and give your CEO enterprise admin privileges. It can't hurt, he reboots his laptop by shaking it upside down anyway, and if something goes wrong practice the subtle art of rolling your eyes and whistling.