In a dangerous environment, the safest and most survivable are those who are most flexible and adaptable.
Right now Firefox rules this...
open source, extension capable, highly customizable, bleeding-edge development... Microsoft Internet Explorer can't even hold a candle in the dark to this. [what a cool analogy hm?:)]
Another aspect of keeping something secure is keeping it simple. The more unneccesary features and bloat that comes with the browser, the more angles the hacker has to exploit you. So use something that will let you turn the bad stuff off. Easy peasy.
Firefox is grand. I can strip it down, streamline it, and if I want... configure it to the point that only HTML displays (no Java/Javascript, ActiveX, or other controls), and keep it fully up to date. Features and functionality is fully under my control. The extensions are excellent at getting rid of ads (adblock), even formatting the raw HTML to my liking. You can hack it, squeeze it, do whatever you want with it and no EULA, or closed source BS is going to keep you from doing what you personally want to do with it. Firefox for the win.
I'm rooting for Novell so much after acquisition of SUSE, that I bought stock in them just to show my support. And my shares just keep on rising. Go Novell!
It's a shame you posted anonymously when you flamed me, because I absolutely agree with you. There are many "true audiophiles" that would consider my setup mid-fi, or horribly low end. So if even I'm complaining about media quality with my "low quality" $6000 stereo, what does that say about the media types these days? Why should you as an extreme audiophile even bother to buy music these days, when you know the production quality of the recording is never going to come close to the abilities of your sound system?
Anyway, I'd be happy to get rid of my "crap" if you'd be willing to send me some better stuff... Wanna help a poor guy out? I would buy it myself, but the cost of the equipment you listed is more money than I could make in 3 years, if I saved every penny, and frankly I'd rather have a 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for the price. =) If you have a heart, please send me some B&W Signature 800s with a pair of high end McIntosh monoblocks, and a Meridian digital processor/DVDA player so I can hear the difference between these "crappy VBR mp3s" and true CD quality. I can sell my current system and spend all the money I get on the wires I would need to hook that system up. Thank you! =)
In my experience, Variable Bitrate is definitely the way to go. You get the most quality per size by far and a VBR with a maximum range of 256kbit/s is pretty much equal to a CBR of 256kbit/s, same if you go higher or lower in bitrate. The LAME presets are good, but you have to know what they are doing to get the most out of them... here is a guide.
I have done a number of blind listening tests on my system and here's what I've found...
Ability to tell the difference:
CD - 128kbit - INSTANTLY... to say that 128kbit is "CD Quality" is laughable.
CD - 192kbit - good quality, but still perceivable difference
CD - 256kbit - excellent... you can only tell the difference on very well produced CDs if you're listening closely... but boy, when you do hear the difference, just knowing it is there drives you crazy.
CD - VBR (range 0-320kbit/s) No perceivable difference in multiple blind listening tests. I was unable to tell the difference, though most audiophiles will always proclaim that "CD quality is always better" it's really hard to tell them apart.
In case you're curious, Here is my setup for 2 channel music. I'm running a pair of B&W CDM-9NT (<0.5% THD 150Hz - 20kHz) front channels with Monster Mseries M1.2S cable to a Denon AVR3300 reciever (105wpc <0.05% THD). I also have a Monster HTS3500 power conditioner. The subwoofer is a Velodyne HGS-15 (18hz - 120hz <0.5% THD) with Monster Ms35 sub cable. My source (one of many) is an optical out from my USB Creative Labs Sound Blaster. I also have a Sony MP3 walkman and a pair of Sony MDR-V600 headphones which sound fairly decent. It's hard to notice a difference above 192kbit/s on the headphones, and though I definately can notice a quality difference between them and my main system, portable is good for some things. =) I've had a lot of this stuff for years and it has held up flawlessly. I'm sure you could get even better signal chain equipment nowdays for the prices I paid, however kudos to the speakers... they are world class quality.
I want to give full respect to the people who put all the research into creating these new audio formats. The results are truly phenomenal for 64kbps codecs. It's a fabulous academic demonstration.
However, each is what it is. A 64kbps codec.
I have about $6000 invested in my 2-channel +subwoofer setup here at home, and I consider that moderate compared to what you can truly achieve. I love listening to music, and it is completely remarkable when it is reproduced as realisticly as possible. So I go to painstaking methods to make sure the AC power is clean, the wiring is right, the distortion is low as possible. The signal to noise ratio is far between, with a good amp, and great speakers... I am especially pleased when the recording I am playing on my wonderful system is in the best production quality that it can possibly be.
As amazing as they are, these 64kbit formats are useless on a person like me. I crave LOSSLESS not LOSSY. I might as well be listening to music on a $60 AIWA boombox, since it would sound relatively similar either way. All the subtle beauty and realism of the music is completely wasted with destructive compression.
And for those of you that say it's for portable devices, It's not too unreasonable to get a portable player that plays high streaming VBR mp3s with some nice ~$100-$150 headphones. The small little investment to hear your music from 20hz-20khz flat response with low distortion is worth every single penny.
I simply do not understand the need to take our ever improving technology and lower the quality of the music. If anything, it should be increasing... higher resolutions. 24bit/192khz technologies, and wonderful DSP equalizers, large portable storage devices... they are all realities now, but nobody seems to care but the fanatics like me. I would think that techno geeks would care more about the music they love, but that does not seem to be the case. The only logic that I can fathom to explain why is that perhaps they don't even know what they're missing. I know I didn't, until I actually experienced how good sound quality can be on the right system.
Freelance tech support is like opening your door and inviting all the world's idiots in. Everyone and their Grandma has a computer these days, and nobody (speaking of general population non-geeks) understands them.
From a business perspective, who do you think your customer base will be? Straight up, candidly speaking (I can't understate this), your customer base will be people who are FUCKING DUMB. =) You're going to get the poor ghetto trash with 8th grade educations that SOMEHOW managed to buy an incredibly outdated computer that won't run anything, and expect you to fix it for them. Like talking to brick walls? Maybe you should try that, instead of trying to fix a PC for a dumb irate redneck egomaniac know-it-all ignoramus who can't even figure out how to click his mouse or scroll the screen from left to right, and expect him to understand a word of non-urban slang gramatically correct English.
However, if you've got a masochistic craving for suffering at the hands of total idiots, this would be the perfect field for you. Personally, I'd rather be a janitor, because cleaning shit up would be preferable to this. =)
If you can show me some research or a source that says different, You might gain some credibility. Think about the POINT of binary, what is the REASON for a base 2 number system? What are its mathematical origins? Learn the PHILOSOPHY behind the idea and get rid of your annoying sig.
Actually, There are believed to be two origins for binary numbers. The more common was developed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz who submitted his Essay d'une nouvelle science des nombres to the Paris Academy in 1701. Leibniz was a German mathematician who was looking for a way to represent all logical thought through a universal mathematical language. Binary numbers represents opposites for Leibniz, such as yes/no, on/off, male/female. He began introducing this idea of "the law of thought" though his work "On the Art of Combination", but the people of his time dismissed him. It wasn't until "...later when the Chinese 'Book of Changes', or 'I Ching', came his way" (pioneers). This book helped to support Leibniz's beliefs and he began refine his beginning work on the binary number system. In the end, Leibniz believed that Binary numbers represented Creation. The number one portraying "God" and zero depicting "Void" (pioneers).
If you want to get technical about how you should be thinking about binary... the representation of opposites.
Your expansion is butchering. The people that laugh because ('cuz isn't a word) they think they do but don't know binary, DON'T KNOW IT. Your extra type of person does not exist. Let me explain the insightfulness of the original joke. Binary has two parts, on and off. There are two kinds of people, those who understand it, and those that don't (on and off people). Also 10 in binary happens to represent the number two, giving the joke novelty.
Your sig proves to me that YOU don't truly understand the point of binary, just that you can translate what it represents. Your expansion is not insightful because there are not 3 parts in binary. It is ignorant.
I cherish BBS Post archives, emails, usenet posts, IM logs, and the like, but I have to admit that a handwritten note adds a personal touch. A person's handwriting often reflects their personality in some strange ways. just look at the way girls tend to write in happy bubbly writing 'vs' the way men write in steel cube script.
Handwriting is recognizable and you can tell who wrote it, just by looking at it. "Courier New" or "Times New Roman" Just isn't as distinctive, and doesn't cause the emotional excitement as getting a sweet handwritten letter from "Melissa".
My dorm roomate decided his desk wasn't quite up to spec, so he drilled large wire holes in it with a circular drill saw, and put in the plastic caps. It looked quite professional, and the Residence Directors didn't even notice it when they did the inspection at the end of the year. Of course I took plenty of pictures in case I needed to blackmail him. =)
You comment is right on though, if you have a 19" monitor, you might want to consult ancient tomes of black magic, because that is what it is going to take to get that thing to fit on your desk.
This is silly. It's like asking "Why build a space probe when we will be flying to other planets someday?" We need this knowledge, and the sooner the better. It will help us understand things that will help us in the future.
How do you measure the value of knowledge? Whether it is in bits and pieces, or leaps and bounds, all of it matters.
According to http://hubble.nasa.gov/faq.html it cost $1.5 billion Plus another $230-250 million each year for maintenence. Estimated costs to fix the lens problem on the telescope were $20 million. Since the Hubble was launched in 1990 and is planned to operate until 2010, that's $230M per year for 20 years = $4.6 Billion + the $1.5 Billion initial cost. That's a total cost of operation equal to $6.1 Billion (low estimate that doesn't include the cost of engineering and scientific knowledge needed for this to happen).
In my opinion, the information it sends back is priceless to humanity, and well worth whatever cost it takes.
No matter what happens, games in all these genres will have devoted fan bases. New games will be made, and old games will be worshipped and cherished, ported and emulated, until the end of time.
Just look at http://www.mame.net/ for examples, all the people you know who worship old hardware and technology and try to revive the old fun they had to be had once again. Some games just never get old. I think my 55 minute completion time of Super Metroid speaks for itself. =]
I simply use my "Taco Test" (Inspired by the Invader Zim cartoon) to thwart chat bots and telemarketers. It's an amazing, powerful test that no computer or automated script can withstand.
I ask the "suspected bot" if they like tacos. If they give me an intelligent answer, they are not a bot. If they give me an answer like "Wanna see my hot pics go to http://192.168.1.112/hotbabezzzz.pl?2345" Then they are a bot.
This test also works on telemarketers in a slightly different fashion. I tell them to "STOP... I'll only buy your product if you send me a taco with it. If not, no deal." since there are big logistical problems with sending me a taco, they are thwarted every time. I'm sure this test would work equally well with any obscure food item.
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The reason this stayed modded at only +3 so long is emperical proof that people never read past the first 20 comments.
In a dangerous environment, the safest and most survivable are those who are most flexible and adaptable.
:)]
Right now Firefox rules this...
open source, extension capable, highly customizable, bleeding-edge development... Microsoft Internet Explorer can't even hold a candle in the dark to this. [what a cool analogy hm?
Another aspect of keeping something secure is keeping it simple. The more unneccesary features and bloat that comes with the browser, the more angles the hacker has to exploit you. So use something that will let you turn the bad stuff off. Easy peasy.
Firefox is grand. I can strip it down, streamline it, and if I want... configure it to the point that only HTML displays (no Java/Javascript, ActiveX, or other controls), and keep it fully up to date. Features and functionality is fully under my control. The extensions are excellent at getting rid of ads (adblock), even formatting the raw HTML to my liking. You can hack it, squeeze it, do whatever you want with it and no EULA, or closed source BS is going to keep you from doing what you personally want to do with it. Firefox for the win.
I'm rooting for Novell so much after acquisition of SUSE, that I bought stock in them just to show my support. And my shares just keep on rising.
Go Novell!
Great, at 130 pounds the American population is out of luck.
It's a shame you posted anonymously when you flamed me, because I absolutely agree with you. There are many "true audiophiles" that would consider my setup mid-fi, or horribly low end. So if even I'm complaining about media quality with my "low quality" $6000 stereo, what does that say about the media types these days? Why should you as an extreme audiophile even bother to buy music these days, when you know the production quality of the recording is never going to come close to the abilities of your sound system?
Anyway, I'd be happy to get rid of my "crap" if you'd be willing to send me some better stuff... Wanna help a poor guy out? I would buy it myself, but the cost of the equipment you listed is more money than I could make in 3 years, if I saved every penny, and frankly I'd rather have a 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for the price. =) If you have a heart, please send me some B&W Signature 800s with a pair of high end McIntosh monoblocks, and a Meridian digital processor/DVDA player so I can hear the difference between these "crappy VBR mp3s" and true CD quality. I can sell my current system and spend all the money I get on the wires I would need to hook that system up. Thank you! =)
In my experience, Variable Bitrate is definitely the way to go. You get the most quality per size by far and a VBR with a maximum range of 256kbit/s is pretty much equal to a CBR of 256kbit/s, same if you go higher or lower in bitrate. The LAME presets are good, but you have to know what they are doing to get the most out of them... here is a guide.
http://www.modatic.net/audio/altpresets_explained
Now for my personally biased explaination =)...
I have done a number of blind listening tests on my system and here's what I've found...
Ability to tell the difference:
CD - 128kbit - INSTANTLY... to say that 128kbit is "CD Quality" is laughable.
CD - 192kbit - good quality, but still perceivable difference
CD - 256kbit - excellent... you can only tell the difference on very well produced CDs if you're listening closely... but boy, when you do hear the difference, just knowing it is there drives you crazy.
CD - VBR (range 0-320kbit/s) No perceivable difference in multiple blind listening tests. I was unable to tell the difference, though most audiophiles will always proclaim that "CD quality is always better" it's really hard to tell them apart.
In case you're curious, Here is my setup for 2 channel music. I'm running a pair of B&W CDM-9NT (<0.5% THD 150Hz - 20kHz) front channels with Monster Mseries M1.2S cable to a Denon AVR3300 reciever (105wpc <0.05% THD). I also have a Monster HTS3500 power conditioner. The subwoofer is a Velodyne HGS-15 (18hz - 120hz <0.5% THD) with Monster Ms35 sub cable. My source (one of many) is an optical out from my USB Creative Labs Sound Blaster. I also have a Sony MP3 walkman and a pair of Sony MDR-V600 headphones which sound fairly decent. It's hard to notice a difference above 192kbit/s on the headphones, and though I definately can notice a quality difference between them and my main system, portable is good for some things. =) I've had a lot of this stuff for years and it has held up flawlessly. I'm sure you could get even better signal chain equipment nowdays for the prices I paid, however kudos to the speakers... they are world class quality.
I want to give full respect to the people who put all the research into creating these new audio formats. The results are truly phenomenal for 64kbps codecs. It's a fabulous academic demonstration.
However, each is what it is. A 64kbps codec.
I have about $6000 invested in my 2-channel +subwoofer setup here at home, and I consider that moderate compared to what you can truly achieve. I love listening to music, and it is completely remarkable when it is reproduced as realisticly as possible. So I go to painstaking methods to make sure the AC power is clean, the wiring is right, the distortion is low as possible. The signal to noise ratio is far between, with a good amp, and great speakers... I am especially pleased when the recording I am playing on my wonderful system is in the best production quality that it can possibly be.
As amazing as they are, these 64kbit formats are useless on a person like me. I crave LOSSLESS not LOSSY. I might as well be listening to music on a $60 AIWA boombox, since it would sound relatively similar either way. All the subtle beauty and realism of the music is completely wasted with destructive compression.
And for those of you that say it's for portable devices, It's not too unreasonable to get a portable player that plays high streaming VBR mp3s with some nice ~$100-$150 headphones. The small little investment to hear your music from 20hz-20khz flat response with low distortion is worth every single penny.
I simply do not understand the need to take our ever improving technology and lower the quality of the music. If anything, it should be increasing... higher resolutions. 24bit/192khz technologies, and wonderful DSP equalizers, large portable storage devices... they are all realities now, but nobody seems to care but the fanatics like me. I would think that techno geeks would care more about the music they love, but that does not seem to be the case. The only logic that I can fathom to explain why is that perhaps they don't even know what they're missing. I know I didn't, until I actually experienced how good sound quality can be on the right system.
Freelance tech support is like opening your door and inviting all the world's idiots in. Everyone and their Grandma has a computer these days, and nobody (speaking of general population non-geeks) understands them.
From a business perspective, who do you think your customer base will be? Straight up, candidly speaking (I can't understate this), your customer base will be people who are FUCKING DUMB. =) You're going to get the poor ghetto trash with 8th grade educations that SOMEHOW managed to buy an incredibly outdated computer that won't run anything, and expect you to fix it for them. Like talking to brick walls? Maybe you should try that, instead of trying to fix a PC for a dumb irate redneck egomaniac know-it-all ignoramus who can't even figure out how to click his mouse or scroll the screen from left to right, and expect him to understand a word of non-urban slang gramatically correct English.
However, if you've got a masochistic craving for suffering at the hands of total idiots, this would be the perfect field for you. Personally, I'd rather be a janitor, because cleaning shit up would be preferable to this. =)
Whatever I think the history is, is confirmed by sources...
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
If you can show me some research or a source that says different, You might gain some credibility.
Think about the POINT of binary, what is the REASON for a base 2 number system? What are its mathematical origins? Learn the PHILOSOPHY behind the idea and get rid of your annoying sig.
Actually, There are believed to be two origins for binary numbers. The more common was developed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz who submitted his Essay d'une nouvelle science des nombres to the Paris Academy in 1701. Leibniz was a German mathematician who was looking for a way to represent all logical thought through a universal mathematical language. Binary numbers represents opposites for Leibniz, such as yes/no, on/off, male/female. He began introducing this idea of "the law of thought" though his work "On the Art of Combination", but the people of his time dismissed him. It wasn't until "...later when the Chinese 'Book of Changes', or 'I Ching', came his way" (pioneers). This book helped to support Leibniz's beliefs and he began refine his beginning work on the binary number system. In the end, Leibniz believed that Binary numbers represented Creation. The number one portraying "God" and zero depicting "Void" (pioneers).
If you want to get technical about how you should be thinking about binary... the representation of opposites.
Your expansion is butchering. The people that laugh because ('cuz isn't a word) they think they do but don't know binary, DON'T KNOW IT. Your extra type of person does not exist. Let me explain the insightfulness of the original joke. Binary has two parts, on and off. There are two kinds of people, those who understand it, and those that don't (on and off people). Also 10 in binary happens to represent the number two, giving the joke novelty.
Your sig proves to me that YOU don't truly understand the point of binary, just that you can translate what it represents. Your expansion is not insightful because there are not 3 parts in binary. It is ignorant.
01010100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 00110001 00110000 00100000 01110100 01111001 01110000 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110000 01100101 01101111 01110000 01101100 01100101 00111010 00100000 01010100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110101 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110000 01100101 01101111 01110000 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110100 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101111 01101001 01101110 01110100 00101110
I cherish BBS Post archives, emails, usenet posts, IM logs, and the like, but I have to admit that a handwritten note adds a personal touch. A person's handwriting often reflects their personality in some strange ways. just look at the way girls tend to write in happy bubbly writing 'vs' the way men write in steel cube script.
Handwriting is recognizable and you can tell who wrote it, just by looking at it. "Courier New" or "Times New Roman" Just isn't as distinctive, and doesn't cause the emotional excitement as getting a sweet handwritten letter from "Melissa".
My dorm roomate decided his desk wasn't quite up to spec, so he drilled large wire holes in it with a circular drill saw, and put in the plastic caps. It looked quite professional, and the Residence Directors didn't even notice it when they did the inspection at the end of the year. Of course I took plenty of pictures in case I needed to blackmail him. =)
You comment is right on though, if you have a 19" monitor, you might want to consult ancient tomes of black magic, because that is what it is going to take to get that thing to fit on your desk.
This is silly. It's like asking "Why build a space probe when we will be flying to other planets someday?" We need this knowledge, and the sooner the better. It will help us understand things that will help us in the future.
How do you measure the value of knowledge? Whether it is in bits and pieces, or leaps and bounds, all of it matters.
Not Several Millions, we're talking Billions...
According to http://hubble.nasa.gov/faq.html it cost $1.5 billion Plus another $230-250 million each year for maintenence. Estimated costs to fix the lens problem on the telescope were $20 million. Since the Hubble was launched in 1990 and is planned to operate until 2010, that's $230M per year for 20 years = $4.6 Billion + the $1.5 Billion initial cost. That's a total cost of operation equal to $6.1 Billion (low estimate that doesn't include the cost of engineering and scientific knowledge needed for this to happen).
In my opinion, the information it sends back is priceless to humanity, and well worth whatever cost it takes.
No matter what happens, games in all these genres will have devoted fan bases. New games will be made, and old games will be worshipped and cherished, ported and emulated, until the end of time.
Just look at http://www.mame.net/ for examples, all the people you know who worship old hardware and technology and try to revive the old fun they had to be had once again. Some games just never get old. I think my 55 minute completion time of Super Metroid speaks for itself. =]
h0h0h0 Merry XMAS one and all.
Awwww... she's dangerous. How cuuute.
I simply use my "Taco Test" (Inspired by the Invader Zim cartoon) to thwart chat bots and telemarketers. It's an amazing, powerful test that no computer or automated script can withstand.
I ask the "suspected bot" if they like tacos. If they give me an intelligent answer, they are not a bot. If they give me an answer like "Wanna see my hot pics go to http://192.168.1.112/hotbabezzzz.pl?2345" Then they are a bot.
This test also works on telemarketers in a slightly different fashion. I tell them to "STOP... I'll only buy your product if you send me a taco with it. If not, no deal." since there are big logistical problems with sending me a taco, they are thwarted every time. I'm sure this test would work equally well with any obscure food item.