Aside from digital recreations of an analog gauge/meter, an analog instrument has a built in range that can be easily seen relative to its current reading. Look at a speedometer, you're running say 80 on a 160mph guage. You're at 15 psi on a 60psi gauge. You at least know how much you have left before you run out of or get too much of what you're measuring.
When you learn how to tell time, a responsible parent would have used an analog watch to have you learn. Why? Because you can see the big picture and gain an understanding of how time works, rather than just read a set of numbers off a watch face. With digital watches, there is not much to reference for understanding. This is the simplicity of analog.
For the elegance piece, (to me) few things in instrumentation compares to the sweeping of an arm across a set of numbers. Maybe it is the old clock arguement (retro is cool?)? If you look at cars, there are few if any luxury cars with dedicated digital gauges for speed, rpm, temperature, fuel (the most used ones). It just doesn't LOOK elegant. It looks like a cheap watch. Hell, Infinity put in an analog watch in their cars to make it seem more luxurious.
With all that said, I'm still keeping my digital tuner in my car, some things are just better suited for digital.
I'm not kidding. I noticed on Fatwallet that a MP3 player was being sold for $50 with a $50 rebate. Yea it was not the greatest, but who cares, it would ultimately cost me only tax plus time waiting for the rebate. When I went to the register, the guy said, "I guess you don't want the PSP huh?". I said if this sucker breaks, it goes in the trash. They have to ask the question, but at least this guy was intelligent enough to realize it made no sense.
The funny thing was when the rebate arrived, it was already past its "cash by date". I called and bitched about it, and ended up getting 2 checks due to a screw up on their end.
but that is when it is going downhill, with a 40mph wind at my back, with the tires at ideal pressure, the AC off, the air temp below 50degF, when I've skipped breakfast, after a big dump, no other passengers, the spare tire sitting at home, and my aero kit installed.
Other that that it gets around 8mpg.... and that's rounding up.
my 540i-6spd gets around 23.5 mpg on avg. Of course on the hwy I go 70-80+.
What is odd is that the automatic gets better mpg (according to EPA). Usually it is the other way around.
I wonder why the iPod won't work with the microsoft iDrive software on the new 5 and 7 series? hmmmmm... I'm sure they'll eventually get them to play well together (yea right)
Like any true geek, we probably do our own tech support. So we are we really calling "customer support" to complain?
Anyhow, here is how I see it: 1. We've either diagnosed the problem and fixed it, and want to call someone with the company to give them a detailed explanation on what is wrong, just to hear them say, "huh!?" This is good material for/. users to post.
2. We've diagnosed the problem and found that it couldn't be fixed, so we return the item and want to complain to someone about their POS product. The support guys then feel our wrath. It has got to be reeeaally bad for a/. user to post about these.
3. We've diagnosed the problem and found we can't fix it because it is on their end. Of course this is the one that started the discussion. We call anyway hoping to talk to a fellow geek that won't mix up his bits and bytes and can say, "oh, here is the problem." IMNSHO, this gets the least/. attention for posts.
I call it "Outhouse"... I guess "Outhouse Express" works as well, but to me it would then imply some sort of quick service. Maybe used for emergencies only, eh?
if you want a classic fantasy anti-hero, check out The Elric of Melnibone series. This may be a bit too much of a fantasy to be a success on the big screen (multiple planes; multiple character manifestations). For those who have never heard of it, the series was written by Michael Moorcock.
On another note, I'd love to see Brian Lumley's Necroscope series on the big screen. This is a great spin on the vampires/spy games/metaphysical.
Farscape was cool and refreshing, but they squashed it. I know it is impossible to satisfy everyone (I didn't much care for Babylon 5 or Firefly), but if old "classics" are rehashed and reimaged, refreshing creativity will be seen as too risky to produce. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don't, but unfortunately taking a gamble on something new is going out of style. If they are not careful, we'll only be left with:
Buck Rogers (with a gay Tweety) Superman (again and again and again, but Lex gets a toupe and Lois is a goth chick) more Batman (Robin has a side job at Blockbuster) Star Trek (some other new captain, but he -still human- is an Australian Aboriginal this time, how refreshingly new!) Star Wars (this time Han and Greedo shoot at the same time) Flash Gordon (he's now a black dude that played rugby and volunteers as a Big brother) Green Hornet (he's really an alien this time)
paper! According to the list, three of the items require it for use. Many of the others were brought to life from a design.... on paper.
Until they start beaming digital images into our brain for a "digital to neuroreceptor" converter to use, this granddaddy of them all will still be around. Until then enjoy your books on the throne and keep complaining that the software company did not include a "printed" manual.
they probably got their info from some marketing guy who figured that there was a huge untapped market for people who drive Hummers. If they never had to make the trip back to the rental store, they would save $4 in gas for the roundtrip, so they'd come out ahead!!
I hope that if they are using MS software they: 1) have their fees paid in full 2) have their licenses in order 3) hope MS has a short memory when the PI guys decide to buy new software.
Of course PI could always run a favorable article just as they start software negotiations to give MS some free advertising to show how much they love MS.
1. Considering the amount of Lego posts, I propose banning "Legos". One sheep, two sheep: one Lego, two Lego.
2. Banning the use of "your" in the wrong context as in: "Your going to like this new programming job in India."
I don't mind "suspension of belief", there are times where it is just more "fun" to do so. HOWEVER there are times when I absolutely cannot do this and the movie is ruined. Let's take for example a movie that doesn't even try to pass as a true sci-fi flick, like True Lies.
If I recall correctly, there was a scene near the end where Arnold was flying a Harrier jump jet and his kid was hanging off of it (maybe the wing... it has been awhile). So with the canopy open and the jet in full hover mode (engines roaring), he's yelling directions at his kid. Even an idiot would know that there is no friggin way in hell you're going to talk above a jet engine. Maybe he was reading Arnie's lips, but why the hell weren't they holding their hands over their ears. Look at thoe guys at the airport, you think those muffs are fashion statements. I know from working at a testing facility that jet engines are loud as hell. With earplugs AND earmuffs, I couldn't hear someone right next to me as he yelled at the top of his lungs into my earmuffs. Granted we were 25' in front of an SR-71 engine on full afterburner, but you get the idea.
Junk science is not defintely not restricted to sci-fi. Even the most ordinary action movies completely abandon the laws of physics like car crash victims walking away after a big wreck when no one had seatbelts on, the ever popular launching of a car when it rear ends a parked one (that must be some badass grip on those tires), Drew Barrymore fighting (love that realistic wire work), explosions underwater that don't screw up your eardrums, etc etc)
As an engineer, I'd love to be a consultant for movies. I'd be the "non-scifi is this even remotely realistic consultant." If a superhero has no superpowers (batman) he cannot jump down 5 floors and glide to the fuckin ground like a ballet dancer. If he was superman I could suspend my "yea right" lines, but he's a friggin normal guy who works out.
I guess some pc makers went the cheap route with respect to being able to monitor fan status. They want you to use your senses.
1.You now have the amazing option to have a window in the side of the case. Now rather than relying on software notification, you can just look thru the window and check the fan status.
2. You can put your hand on the case. If it burns, then you may have a fan problem
3. If the jet engine sound that you hear when you boot up is gone, you may have a fan problem
4. If you smell something smokey-like, then you may have a fan problem.
Agreed, He may have done this for the fun of it, we may never really know. I happen to play Lego with my Kids primarily because it is a good way to develop spatial thinking (plus it can be fun). If we see a picture of some spaceship, we try to recreate it (if we have decent pieces). It is amazing to see what people can build after simply visualizing it. It is almost like a good painter putting a picture in his mind on canvas.
On a related note, this reminds me of an article I read recently. Its position was that we (genetically) are on the decline. The main reason was that our science is now at the point that it can compensate for so many things.
Have bad eyes? Well in the old days, if you couldn't see to hunt, you weren't likely to find a mate that expected you to provide? ** Now we have glasses
Crippled? Same thing, except you'd probably starve. ** Now we say "what kind of wheelchair or prosthesis so you want"
Can't get the little man up? Well it looks like your genes are out of the race. **Now we say here take this pill, or gimme a sample and we'll inject it into the egg in this dish then implant it.
Ugly? You definitely ain't gettin' any, well unless she's ugly, but then that suports the argument. ** Now we have cosmetic surgery.
Basically, the argument is that the "weak" (yes, it is a loaded word for this discussion) are reproducing, weakening or diluting the gene pool. On the other hand in days of old, they'd probably die, or were found undesireable so they wouldn't or couldn't reproduce so the genetic pool became stronger.
Well, I personally am thankful for my contact lenses, otherwise I wouldn't have had a good look at my wife to be (now wife). Luckily, I had no fertility issues and I'm not ugly. But, the ACL surgery to fix my knee lets me continue to play sports, which keeps my bootie tight, keeping me desirable, which is probably why my wife decided to have kids with me. So I'm personally thankful for Science -ahh but I ramble...
---But the PVR is too much of a tech toy right now. I can't see grandma using one day to day to record her soap opera. Remember, millions of people out ther can't get rid of the blinbking 12:00 thing in their VCRs to save their lives.---
the PVR is still a misunderstood toy now. Unfortunately, people still don't get it.
When they were clearing out the showstoppers I found one for $80 after some rebate. I was talking to my office mate across the hall about how cool they were, because he was constantly whining about missed shows (forgot to put the tape in etc). I offered to pick it up for him (to be paid back of course), but he declined. He then went and bought another VCR to juggle more tapes. I'm sorry, but at $80 (no activation), you gotta be afraid of new technology or something to avoid a deal like that! Well, it went to my brother who appreciates it.
My mother 65 and father 83 (grandparents!!) have one and love it. It was only after they saw it being used at my brother's house and how it caputured shows that they decided they had to have one. They really can be easier than a VCR to program.
Other than the setup (which I handled over the phone) they have not had any issues with it.
The PVR manufacturers should push them hard and offer a 30 day money back risk free sort of deal also. Getting them in the door is the hard part, but once they are in a home more tend to follow. I bet the growth of the industry is like the home PC market, people buying second and third machines with a small to moderate percentage being first time owners. I have 2 PVRs and 2 computers (well, I'm one data point at least)
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Aside from digital recreations of an analog gauge/meter, an analog instrument has a built in range that can be easily seen relative to its current reading. Look at a speedometer, you're running say 80 on a 160mph guage. You're at 15 psi on a 60psi gauge. You at least know how much you have left before you run out of or get too much of what you're measuring.
When you learn how to tell time, a responsible parent would have used an analog watch to have you learn. Why? Because you can see the big picture and gain an understanding of how time works, rather than just read a set of numbers off a watch face. With digital watches, there is not much to reference for understanding. This is the simplicity of analog.
For the elegance piece, (to me) few things in instrumentation compares to the sweeping of an arm across a set of numbers. Maybe it is the old clock arguement (retro is cool?)? If you look at cars, there are few if any luxury cars with dedicated digital gauges for speed, rpm, temperature, fuel (the most used ones). It just doesn't LOOK elegant. It looks like a cheap watch. Hell, Infinity put in an analog watch in their cars to make it seem more luxurious.
With all that said, I'm still keeping my digital tuner in my car, some things are just better suited for digital.
check out:
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=38585 60
I hope the link still works when I post, as it has a space in the URL in the preview pane ..
I'm not kidding. I noticed on Fatwallet that a MP3 player was being sold for $50 with a $50 rebate. Yea it was not the greatest, but who cares, it would ultimately cost me only tax plus time waiting for the rebate. When I went to the register, the guy said, "I guess you don't want the PSP huh?". I said if this sucker breaks, it goes in the trash. They have to ask the question, but at least this guy was intelligent enough to realize it made no sense.
The funny thing was when the rebate arrived, it was already past its "cash by date". I called and bitched about it, and ended up getting 2 checks due to a screw up on their end.
but that is when it is going downhill, with a 40mph wind at my back, with the tires at ideal pressure, the AC off, the air temp below 50degF, when I've skipped breakfast, after a big dump, no other passengers, the spare tire sitting at home, and my aero kit installed.
.... and that's rounding up.
Other that that it gets around 8mpg
my 540i-6spd gets around 23.5 mpg on avg. Of course on the hwy I go 70-80+. What is odd is that the automatic gets better mpg (according to EPA). Usually it is the other way around.
I wonder why the iPod won't work with the microsoft iDrive software on the new 5 and 7 series? hmmmmm... I'm sure they'll eventually get them to play well together (yea right)
Like any true geek, we probably do our own tech support. So we are we really calling "customer support" to complain?
/. users to post.
/. user to post about these.
/. attention for posts.
Anyhow, here is how I see it:
1. We've either diagnosed the problem and fixed it, and want to call someone with the company to give them a detailed explanation on what is wrong, just to hear them say, "huh!?" This is good material for
2. We've diagnosed the problem and found that it couldn't be fixed, so we return the item and want to complain to someone about their POS product. The support guys then feel our wrath. It has got to be reeeaally bad for a
3. We've diagnosed the problem and found we can't fix it because it is on their end. Of course this is the one that started the discussion. We call anyway hoping to talk to a fellow geek that won't mix up his bits and bytes and can say, "oh, here is the problem." IMNSHO, this gets the least
Oh well.
He just drives downhill with the wind at his back (each way).
I call it "Outhouse" ... I guess "Outhouse Express" works as well, but to me it would then imply some sort of quick service. Maybe used for emergencies only, eh?
if you want a classic fantasy anti-hero, check out The Elric of Melnibone series. This may be a bit too much of a fantasy to be a success on the big screen (multiple planes; multiple character manifestations). For those who have never heard of it, the series was written by Michael Moorcock. On another note, I'd love to see Brian Lumley's Necroscope series on the big screen. This is a great spin on the vampires/spy games/metaphysical.
Farscape was cool and refreshing, but they squashed it. I know it is impossible to satisfy everyone (I didn't much care for Babylon 5 or Firefly), but if old "classics" are rehashed and reimaged, refreshing creativity will be seen as too risky to produce. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don't, but unfortunately taking a gamble on something new is going out of style. If they are not careful, we'll only be left with:
Buck Rogers (with a gay Tweety)
Superman (again and again and again, but Lex gets a toupe and Lois is a goth chick)
more Batman (Robin has a side job at Blockbuster)
Star Trek (some other new captain, but he -still human- is an Australian Aboriginal this time, how refreshingly new!)
Star Wars (this time Han and Greedo shoot at the same time)
Flash Gordon (he's now a black dude that played rugby and volunteers as a Big brother)
Green Hornet (he's really an alien this time)
paper! According to the list, three of the items require it for use. Many of the others were brought to life from a design .... on paper.
Until they start beaming digital images into our brain for a "digital to neuroreceptor" converter to use, this granddaddy of them all will still be around. Until then enjoy your books on the throne and keep complaining that the software company did not include a "printed" manual.
they probably got their info from some marketing guy who figured that there was a huge untapped market for people who drive Hummers. If they never had to make the trip back to the rental store, they would save $4 in gas for the roundtrip, so they'd come out ahead!!
yea that worked out well didn't it.
I hope that if they are using MS software they:
1) have their fees paid in full
2) have their licenses in order
3) hope MS has a short memory when the PI guys decide to buy new software.
Of course PI could always run a favorable article just as they start software negotiations to give MS some free advertising to show how much they love MS.
1. Considering the amount of Lego posts, I propose banning "Legos". One sheep, two sheep: one Lego, two Lego. 2. Banning the use of "your" in the wrong context as in: "Your going to like this new programming job in India."
They must have received an early beta of the new MS OS. They need more horsepower.
-rant on-
... it has been awhile). So with the canopy open and the jet in full hover mode (engines roaring), he's yelling directions at his kid. Even an idiot would know that there is no friggin way in hell you're going to talk above a jet engine. Maybe he was reading Arnie's lips, but why the hell weren't they holding their hands over their ears. Look at thoe guys at the airport, you think those muffs are fashion statements. I know from working at a testing facility that jet engines are loud as hell. With earplugs AND earmuffs, I couldn't hear someone right next to me as he yelled at the top of his lungs into my earmuffs. Granted we were 25' in front of an SR-71 engine on full afterburner, but you get the idea.
I don't mind "suspension of belief", there are times where it is just more "fun" to do so. HOWEVER there are times when I absolutely cannot do this and the movie is ruined. Let's take for example a movie that doesn't even try to pass as a true sci-fi flick, like True Lies.
If I recall correctly, there was a scene near the end where Arnold was flying a Harrier jump jet and his kid was hanging off of it (maybe the wing
Junk science is not defintely not restricted to sci-fi. Even the most ordinary action movies completely abandon the laws of physics like car crash victims walking away after a big wreck when no one had seatbelts on, the ever popular launching of a car when it rear ends a parked one (that must be some badass grip on those tires), Drew Barrymore fighting (love that realistic wire work), explosions underwater that don't screw up your eardrums, etc etc)
As an engineer, I'd love to be a consultant for movies. I'd be the "non-scifi is this even remotely realistic consultant." If a superhero has no superpowers (batman) he cannot jump down 5 floors and glide to the fuckin ground like a ballet dancer. If he was superman I could suspend my "yea right" lines, but he's a friggin normal guy who works out.
-rant off-
I guess some pc makers went the cheap route with respect to being able to monitor fan status. They want you to use your senses.
1.You now have the amazing option to have a window in the side of the case. Now rather than relying on software notification, you can just look thru the window and check the fan status.
2. You can put your hand on the case. If it burns, then you may have a fan problem
3. If the jet engine sound that you hear when you boot up is gone, you may have a fan problem
4. If you smell something smokey-like, then you may have a fan problem.
5. If you taste (well let's not address that one)
Agreed, He may have done this for the fun of it, we may never really know. I happen to play Lego with my Kids primarily because it is a good way to develop spatial thinking (plus it can be fun). If we see a picture of some spaceship, we try to recreate it (if we have decent pieces). It is amazing to see what people can build after simply visualizing it. It is almost like a good painter putting a picture in his mind on canvas.
On a related note, this reminds me of an article I read recently. Its position was that we (genetically) are on the decline. The main reason was that our science is now at the point that it can compensate for so many things. Have bad eyes? Well in the old days, if you couldn't see to hunt, you weren't likely to find a mate that expected you to provide? ** Now we have glasses Crippled? Same thing, except you'd probably starve. ** Now we say "what kind of wheelchair or prosthesis so you want" Can't get the little man up? Well it looks like your genes are out of the race. **Now we say here take this pill, or gimme a sample and we'll inject it into the egg in this dish then implant it. Ugly? You definitely ain't gettin' any, well unless she's ugly, but then that suports the argument. ** Now we have cosmetic surgery. Basically, the argument is that the "weak" (yes, it is a loaded word for this discussion) are reproducing, weakening or diluting the gene pool. On the other hand in days of old, they'd probably die, or were found undesireable so they wouldn't or couldn't reproduce so the genetic pool became stronger. Well, I personally am thankful for my contact lenses, otherwise I wouldn't have had a good look at my wife to be (now wife). Luckily, I had no fertility issues and I'm not ugly. But, the ACL surgery to fix my knee lets me continue to play sports, which keeps my bootie tight, keeping me desirable, which is probably why my wife decided to have kids with me. So I'm personally thankful for Science -ahh but I ramble ...
---But the PVR is too much of a tech toy right now. I can't see grandma using one day to day to record her soap opera. Remember, millions of people out ther can't get rid of the blinbking 12:00 thing in their VCRs to save their lives.---
the PVR is still a misunderstood toy now. Unfortunately, people still don't get it.
When they were clearing out the showstoppers I found one for $80 after some rebate. I was talking to my office mate across the hall about how cool they were, because he was constantly whining about missed shows (forgot to put the tape in etc). I offered to pick it up for him (to be paid back of course), but he declined. He then went and bought another VCR to juggle more tapes. I'm sorry, but at $80 (no activation), you gotta be afraid of new technology or something to avoid a deal like that! Well, it went to my brother who appreciates it.
My mother 65 and father 83 (grandparents!!) have one and love it. It was only after they saw it being used at my brother's house and how it caputured shows that they decided they had to have one. They really can be easier than a VCR to program.
Other than the setup (which I handled over the phone) they have not had any issues with it.
The PVR manufacturers should push them hard and offer a 30 day money back risk free sort of deal also. Getting them in the door is the hard part, but once they are in a home more tend to follow. I bet the growth of the industry is like the home PC market, people buying second and third machines with a small to moderate percentage being first time owners. I have 2 PVRs and 2 computers (well, I'm one data point at least)