It may be anecdotal but I doubt many local corn farmers are getting terribly rich off of subsidies. Basically I'll defer to the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma (Pollan, 2006) and he spends a lot of time talking about corn. Its origins, its uses, he spends time speaking with a corn farmer in Iowa to give his research and data-points a face so to speak. There is not so much a demand for corn as there is too much of it, a lot of corn is grown in the US (10 billion bushels cited by Pollan) of a kind known as number 2 which is basically commodity corn. Not really useful for eating as it takes several hours of boiling to make edible and tastes like corn starch as opposed to corn. It is this number 2 corn that is sold on the cheap and what is used for such things as high fructose corn syrup as well as a myriad of others. It is also used to feed the majority of beef cattle in the USA as well, despite the fact that cows were not designed to eat grain and that if it weren't for slaughter they would die a horrible death very quickly from their forced grain-fed diet.
So I guess really I only wanted to take issue with the remark that corn being used for ethanol could be used for food (not likely if it is number 2 corn) and also with the idea that corn farmers are mighty corn kingpins of the midwest reaping vast riches. The anecdotal case presented by Pollan gives me the image of anything but that.
As an aside to the off-chance this gets modded despite terribly lacking a point, to those who have not yet checked The Omnivore's Dilemma I highly recommend, informative and entertaining.
I was totally with you until the last 2 paragraphs or so. While I do agree that people in the fast/passing lane impeding traffic are very annoying there is no justification making an already crummy situation worse by either tailgating or turning on your high beams which may simply make them driver slower because you're blinding the fuck out of them.
PG&E in California is currently running a program where they take the bill for rebates on CFL bulbs so they can be had for under a dollar easily from Wal-Mart. Stock up and switch all your homes lighting over if you have not done so already.
The series turned to crap the day it went 3d and turned into a teen angst soap opera. FF7 was okay but FF8 was the death of the series as far as I'm concerned.
Well, now it's too late. Total Information Awareness is upon us and all of our communications by phone/cell/computer are being listened in on and filtered through. There really is nowhere go but downhill. You watch. Within 5 years all foreigners visiting the US will have to have GPS enabled chip implants. Within 10 all prisoners will have them. Within 15 it will be a Felony for any US citizen to remove/disable their chip implant. Anyone want to join me while I go live in cave somewhere?
Can anyone explain how this is NOT a thinly-veiled a ruse to encourage use of Microsoft's proprietary file formats for potentially important, widely distributed documents?
I like how you started out with an assumption then expect other people to verify that assumption for you. Oh shit I mean.... rawr M$ is teh evil rofl mao
Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do.
Makes sense to me. It didn't work particularly well for Sega with the SegaCD and the 32X. Add-ons for consoles just generally don't go over too well.
Found this as a comment on the site, who knows if its legit?
Sony Responds
Posted by: J Piazza, Sony Employee
I would like to clarify this issue regarding the content that was shown last night at the Sony VAIO 10th anniversary event.
The demonstration in question was a side-by-side comparison of Blu-ray Disc recorded content compared with a DVD recording of the same content. The identical notebooks were each playing the Sony Pictures release, "House of Flying Daggers"- one notebook showing the DVD format and the other showing the Blu-ray Disc format.
The photograph taken by one of the reporters attending the event was of the DVD version used for demo. The Blu-ray Disc media had no label.
I can attest that the disc in question was a Blu-ray Disc as I organized the event. The Blu-ray Disc media used, though not a final master, was encoded and displayed using Blu-ray Disc technology and rendered in true 1080p resolution. This resolution could not possibly have been duplicated using a DVD. I hope this clears up any confusion.
What about normal games? You know, the ones that (for better or worse) make up a majority of game sales? Racing games, no throwing a jeep down a mountain doesn't count, I mean real racing as in precise throttle response and braking response in addition to precise left-right directioning and being able to shift.
Also fighting games. While I do not think the PS design is the best regarding fighting games it was definetely a lot better than say the N64 or Gamecube controllers. I made the mistake of buying Soul Calibur II for the GC. I went out and bought a ps2->gamecube controller adapter but I think it introduced lag so unfortunately that great game went mostly unplayed.
And thats the thing, Nintendo seems to be very focused on making these cute little innovative controllers that their in-house developers just love to design around but when it comes to all the third-party guys it just never seems to work right. Like I said with Soul Calibur II, played horrible on the Gamecube but other games like Super Smash Brothers Melee and Wind Waker just worked flawless.
I really don't care that Sony "ripped off" (since when has motion sensing tech been new?) all that matters is if it will work well and does it get in the way. Doesn't seem to get in the way, and hopefully the tech in the controller is developed enough for the game makers to get some use out of it. Whereas Nintendo seems to be banking all the biscuits on the motion sensing fiasco. Which is kind of what they did with the GC and N64, cute but a bit unpractical for a large swath of normal game use. Maybe that'll change, that'd be cool, we'll only know after a year or two of all 3 being out the game.
Also it is pretty lame for people to get their panties in a twist about Sony deciding to implement the motion-sensing after the reaction to Nintendo's Wii, well just as lame as people to say it isn't a "rip off". Thats how technology and innovation tend to work. Someone makes a technology, other people make it better.
Slashdot Mirror
"but it's beta...."
And it's a free service too, isn't it?
Slightly off tangent, but hibernation (S4) fails in WinXP SP2 if you have more than 1GB of RAM.
Works just fine for me. Probably because I installed the udpate mentioned in the resolution section of the article sometime last year.
It may be anecdotal but I doubt many local corn farmers are getting terribly rich off of subsidies. Basically I'll defer to the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma (Pollan, 2006) and he spends a lot of time talking about corn. Its origins, its uses, he spends time speaking with a corn farmer in Iowa to give his research and data-points a face so to speak. There is not so much a demand for corn as there is too much of it, a lot of corn is grown in the US (10 billion bushels cited by Pollan) of a kind known as number 2 which is basically commodity corn. Not really useful for eating as it takes several hours of boiling to make edible and tastes like corn starch as opposed to corn. It is this number 2 corn that is sold on the cheap and what is used for such things as high fructose corn syrup as well as a myriad of others. It is also used to feed the majority of beef cattle in the USA as well, despite the fact that cows were not designed to eat grain and that if it weren't for slaughter they would die a horrible death very quickly from their forced grain-fed diet.
So I guess really I only wanted to take issue with the remark that corn being used for ethanol could be used for food (not likely if it is number 2 corn) and also with the idea that corn farmers are mighty corn kingpins of the midwest reaping vast riches. The anecdotal case presented by Pollan gives me the image of anything but that.
As an aside to the off-chance this gets modded despite terribly lacking a point, to those who have not yet checked The Omnivore's Dilemma I highly recommend, informative and entertaining.
With legal charades they don't have to pay for clothing, sheltering, or feeding them.
I was totally with you until the last 2 paragraphs or so. While I do agree that people in the fast/passing lane impeding traffic are very annoying there is no justification making an already crummy situation worse by either tailgating or turning on your high beams which may simply make them driver slower because you're blinding the fuck out of them.
You must be new here. =P
PG&E in California is currently running a program where they take the bill for rebates on CFL bulbs so they can be had for under a dollar easily from Wal-Mart. Stock up and switch all your homes lighting over if you have not done so already.
There's nothing hip or cool about having some music device from a giant corporation.
You do realise what a trendy douchebag you made yourself sound like right?
The series turned to crap the day it went 3d and turned into a teen angst soap opera. FF7 was okay but FF8 was the death of the series as far as I'm concerned.
Amen. FF6 and Chrono Trigger ftw.
Yup good old Britain, my birthplace will prolly beat the yanks to full a full authoritarian state.
Well it ain't called Airstrip One for nothin.
Theres a page 2 and 3 you know.
click me
Well, now it's too late. Total Information Awareness is upon us and all of our communications by phone/cell/computer are being listened in on and filtered through. There really is nowhere go but downhill. You watch. Within 5 years all foreigners visiting the US will have to have GPS enabled chip implants. Within 10 all prisoners will have them. Within 15 it will be a Felony for any US citizen to remove/disable their chip implant. Anyone want to join me while I go live in cave somewhere?
No cos the cave will have cameras in it, duh.
Can anyone explain how this is NOT a thinly-veiled a ruse to encourage use of Microsoft's proprietary file formats for potentially important, widely distributed documents?
I like how you started out with an assumption then expect other people to verify that assumption for you. Oh shit I mean.... rawr M$ is teh evil rofl mao
Microsoft is coming out with an HD-DVD accessory for HD movies as an add-on only a year after they launched: that is exactly the kind of thing we don't want to do.
Makes sense to me. It didn't work particularly well for Sega with the SegaCD and the 32X. Add-ons for consoles just generally don't go over too well.
Eastasia set the tone and Oceania is keeping in step. Just wait for the perpetual war, that'll be fun.
Found this as a comment on the site, who knows if its legit?
Sony Responds
Posted by: J Piazza, Sony Employee
I would like to clarify this issue regarding the content that was shown last night at the Sony VAIO 10th anniversary event.
The demonstration in question was a side-by-side comparison of Blu-ray Disc recorded content compared with a DVD recording of the same content. The identical notebooks were each playing the Sony Pictures release, "House of Flying Daggers"- one notebook showing the DVD format and the other showing the Blu-ray Disc format.
The photograph taken by one of the reporters attending the event was of the DVD version used for demo. The Blu-ray Disc media had no label.
I can attest that the disc in question was a Blu-ray Disc as I organized the event. The Blu-ray Disc media used, though not a final master, was encoded and displayed using Blu-ray Disc technology and rendered in true 1080p resolution. This resolution could not possibly have been duplicated using a DVD. I hope this clears up any confusion.
What about normal games? You know, the ones that (for better or worse) make up a majority of game sales? Racing games, no throwing a jeep down a mountain doesn't count, I mean real racing as in precise throttle response and braking response in addition to precise left-right directioning and being able to shift.
Also fighting games. While I do not think the PS design is the best regarding fighting games it was definetely a lot better than say the N64 or Gamecube controllers. I made the mistake of buying Soul Calibur II for the GC. I went out and bought a ps2->gamecube controller adapter but I think it introduced lag so unfortunately that great game went mostly unplayed.
And thats the thing, Nintendo seems to be very focused on making these cute little innovative controllers that their in-house developers just love to design around but when it comes to all the third-party guys it just never seems to work right. Like I said with Soul Calibur II, played horrible on the Gamecube but other games like Super Smash Brothers Melee and Wind Waker just worked flawless.
I really don't care that Sony "ripped off" (since when has motion sensing tech been new?) all that matters is if it will work well and does it get in the way. Doesn't seem to get in the way, and hopefully the tech in the controller is developed enough for the game makers to get some use out of it. Whereas Nintendo seems to be banking all the biscuits on the motion sensing fiasco. Which is kind of what they did with the GC and N64, cute but a bit unpractical for a large swath of normal game use. Maybe that'll change, that'd be cool, we'll only know after a year or two of all 3 being out the game.
Also it is pretty lame for people to get their panties in a twist about Sony deciding to implement the motion-sensing after the reaction to Nintendo's Wii, well just as lame as people to say it isn't a "rip off". Thats how technology and innovation tend to work. Someone makes a technology, other people make it better.
Good. Lord. Kill. Me. Now.
Answer to Subject: Horrible, horrible, horrible shit. Horrible. *shudders*
And I don't mean to troll but I know the way most DDR communities works and, yeah, god, horrible, yich.
This Court consistently has held that a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties
So that means I have no expectation of privacy in my medical records and say financial transactions?
In English this means, Tivo, in an increasingly desperate attempt...
I thought the Tivo death knell sounded off last month, and the month before, and the month before, and the month before...
Nintendo Power Glove and Nintendo U-Force (both 1989).
Cue Nintendo-fanboy flames in three, two... aw fuck too late.
I've been hearing about such a thing for a couple of years now I think. I prefer the jet-engined Toyota MR2 I saw on ebay a year ago myself.
Actually it went like this, but why be picky? =P
Captain: Take off every "zig"! You know what you doing. Move "zig". For great justice.