I figure turning the computer off is the worst thing you can do to it.
When does a lightbulb burn out?
When you turn it on, of course. They seldom burn out when they're up to, ah, speed.
Does that mean you leave your lights on 24 hours a day?
Most people don't keep their computers long enough for the power cycling to bite them. My grandmother ran her computer for ten years without a problem (it still worked when she replaced it). My sister's computer is turned on and off several times a day and in six years the only thing that died was the CD rom drive. I, for one, have never had hardware failure due to power cycling. While I'm sure there is an increased risk of failure, I think it's largely over-rated. I've probably saved more in electricity over the years than a new hard drive would cost.
Instead, bitch about Macromedia not properly (not even REMOTELY properly) supporting non Win and Mac platforms. And where's the Flash program itself for Linux?
and the UI of RealPlayer is way, way, way worse than QT.
Ugh. To each his own, I guess. I find the Windows Quicktime player has the worst UI of any program I've ever used. I hope the person who invented the volume "knob" was sent to bed without dinner.
With football... do people actually become absorbed in the game, fantasize themselves as the players, become emotionally involved, etc?
Of course we do! A sporting event is the ultimate movie. No one know the ending (usually), not even the players. It has drama, strategy, and, believe it or not, a story. And the good guy doesn't always win.
What I don't understand is why people who presumably listen to music, watch movies and TV, and read books can't see the parallels between spectator sports and other forms of art.
Sure, watchin the game (having a bud, if you like) is something to do with spare brain cycles, but it's not entertainment. Go play a sport - that's fun, and probably good for you!
I agree that too much emphasis is placed on professional sports in this country, but...
Go look at some art
Why is it bad to watch professionals play sports but good to look at someone else's art?
I like to watch professional sports for the same reason I like to look at art or listen to music. I like to watch (or in the case of music, listen to) people doing what they are really good at.
By selling imaginary items one acquires in the game, it makes it possible for someone with a lot of disposable income (and not much of a life) to gain an unfair advantage over other, possibly more skilled players.
According the theory of Autodynamics (http://www.autodynamics.org/) black holes, being objects with infinite mass in a singularity, don't exist.
No serious scientist claims that black hole have infinite mass. Black holes can be any mass you want; it's the size of the body that matters (more precisely, it's density). No serious scientist claims to know anything about what goes on inside the event horizon, because it's impossible to observe anything inside an event horizon. A black hole does not need infinite density or infinitesimal size (though it tends to be described as such). It only needs to have enough density to accelerate objects to the speed of light before they hit its surface.
Very dense object with enough mass to prevent light from escaping can exist however.
Which is already predicted from GR.
Though the Autodynamics website is quite chaotic it's certainly an interesting read.
I guess. I haven't read much, but I can already find a few mistakes. He claims SR is bogus because of the twin paradox. In a way, I guess, he's right, in the sense that the twin paradox exposes the limitation that SR only applies to non-accelerating reference frames. The twin paradox is explained through GR, though, just fine.
Don't we all want to believe that the lightspeed-barrie is just bogus.
Well, I want to believe eating a lot and sitting on my ass all day will make me thin, but so far that hasn't happened.
Wolfram did this with Mathematica, IIRC. You had to send in a new mathId to get a new serial number (or whatever they called them) every time you'd muck with your machine.
Only if you erase and reinstall Mathematica. The licensing scheme is asinine, but it's not that asinine.
Egghead sent me an e-mail regarding the matter (which I ignored because I never have had any business directly with them) and they also told my bank. My bank promptly killed my credit card as a security measure (without telling me of course).
This is your bank's fault, not Egghead's.
I would like to see a class action suit filed against egghead.com for the trouble they have caused the public.
I guess you would rather not have been informed of a possible security breach.
Why do they have my credit card number on file?
I believe they are required by credit card companies to keep that stuff.
What was that number doing on a machine accessible from the Internet.
This is a good point. I'd chalk it up to customers valuing convenience over security (until the security is compromised, that is). I had to have a warranty repair done on a TV I bought from 800.com and it was nice to have a record of the order online to print out.
The only reason people strive for anonymity on the net is because they know they are doing something they shouldn't be doing.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
People strive for anonymity on the net because they fear the repurcussions of their act. Maybe they don't want to die because they're reporting a dangerous criminal. Maybe they don't want to be fired and made unhireable because you report unjust business practices. Maybe they don't want to be made an outcast because they have HIV, or they're gay, or they're not of the correct religion.
It would be great if the only reason for anonymity was to do bad deeds. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world.
sure this may be the reason why you like KDE more than Aqua, but your little rant has nothing to do with the fact that Aqua is considered "waste" and KDE is "cool."
By whom? You do realize that if person A says that Aqua is a waste and person B says alpha blending on KDE is cool, that doesn't mean that person A also thinks alpha blending on KDE is cool, don't you? Furthermore, if person C says that KDE is cool and Aqua is not, that doesn't mean that everyone on Slashdot but you agrees.
Contrary to what some believe, everyone on Slashdot does not share exactly the same opinion on everything at all times.
I've always argued this point, and I'm glad to see one more argument to back me up. Given time, the earth gradually heals itself, and even adjusts to human intervention and polution.
Uh, the closing of the ozone hole would be an adjustment to the lessening of human pollution.
Going to a particularly politically-correct school (which I absolutely abhor , I hear ecological arguments all the time. Get a grip, people. Humans are not creating "artificial" changes in the way the earth operates. Humans are animals, and thus natural, just like everyone else.
Of course, these natural changes may end up killing off the human species, but that's a minor issue.
Polyurthene may be a naturally growing tree on some other planet.
I found that it had become extremely cold. The green flashes continued, and I also started hearing noises not unlike circuits being grounded. That stereotypical zap-zap noise. I must have stayed outside for an hour wondering how often something like that actually happens. I still had no idea what the hell it was, until I remembered that there was a Coronal Mass Ejection the previous night.
I remember one night the power went out and I noticed a light in the sky. I looked out the window and saw this streak across the sky like an aurora and heard a buzzing noise in the sky. The streak converged somewhere far away. It turned out that a large transformer had blown up for some reason. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It made me want to become a professional transformer-blower-upper.
In this case it seems similar to the USA tax concept of taxing based on value -- if you win a $20,000 car in a contest, you have to pay tax on that $20,000 value (almost as if you had that amount of additional income, except for some gift incantations in the tax code). Even though you paid nothing for the car, you're taxed on the value of the benefit.
Except this is like winning a Yugo and paying tax on a Porche. If you can convince me that Sun sells Star Office for the same price as MS Office and that this is the norm, then I guess you have a point.
The concept is rather similar to several of the taxes we have in Sweden. You are often taxed by the perceived value of something that you own or have the use of. For example, we pay a property tax that is related to what our house MAY bring IF we sell it.
And how much would you get if you tried to sell Star Office, especially without tech support? It won't be anywhere near as much as MS Office.
Not to mention that that particular commercial (the PS9) is one of the most ill-concieved ever.
1.) In 75 years, they only go through seven Playstation?
2.) Wow, the PS9 does all kinds of nifty (and biologically dangerous) stuff! Uh, so what's the PS2 do?
Slashdot Mirror
I figure turning the computer off is the worst thing you can do to it.
When does a lightbulb burn out?
When you turn it on, of course. They seldom burn out when they're up to, ah, speed.
Does that mean you leave your lights on 24 hours a day?
Most people don't keep their computers long enough for the power cycling to bite them. My grandmother ran her computer for ten years without a problem (it still worked when she replaced it). My sister's computer is turned on and off several times a day and in six years the only thing that died was the CD rom drive. I, for one, have never had hardware failure due to power cycling. While I'm sure there is an increased risk of failure, I think it's largely over-rated. I've probably saved more in electricity over the years than a new hard drive would cost.
apparently you need javashi^H^Hcript enabled in order to view this. hmm, isint that a Bad Idea(TM)?
Actually, if you click stop at just the right time, you can stop it after the page loads and before it redirects. This works in Konqueror, anyway.
Right here.
Flash 5.0. Works in Netscape, Mozilla, and Konqueror.
and the UI of RealPlayer is way, way, way worse than QT.
Ugh. To each his own, I guess. I find the Windows Quicktime player has the worst UI of any program I've ever used. I hope the person who invented the volume "knob" was sent to bed without dinner.
With football... do people actually become absorbed in the game, fantasize themselves as the players, become emotionally involved, etc?
Of course we do! A sporting event is the ultimate movie. No one know the ending (usually), not even the players. It has drama, strategy, and, believe it or not, a story. And the good guy doesn't always win.
What I don't understand is why people who presumably listen to music, watch movies and TV, and read books can't see the parallels between spectator sports and other forms of art.
Sure, watchin the game (having a bud, if you like) is something to do with spare brain cycles, but it's not entertainment. Go play a sport - that's fun, and probably good for you!
I agree that too much emphasis is placed on professional sports in this country, but...
Go look at some art
Why is it bad to watch professionals play sports but good to look at someone else's art?
I like to watch professional sports for the same reason I like to look at art or listen to music. I like to watch (or in the case of music, listen to) people doing what they are really good at.
By selling imaginary items one acquires in the game, it makes it possible for someone with a lot of disposable income (and not much of a life) to gain an unfair advantage over other, possibly more skilled players.
Kind of like real life, eh?
Except Everquest isn't supposed to be real life.
There was a time when taxes were not viewed as punishment. This is a tax, not a fine, whether you, I, or the people of France like it.
It's compensation to the recording industry for piracy, hence a fine. The government can call it a tax all they want, but that's not what it is.
If the government spends your tax money on a shelter for battered women, does that mean that it should be legal for you to beat your wife?
If you get married, should you be forced to spend time in jail on the chance that you might someday beat your spouse?
There was a time when you actually had to commit a crime before you were punished for it.
No serious scientist claims that black hole have infinite mass. Black holes can be any mass you want; it's the size of the body that matters (more precisely, it's density). No serious scientist claims to know anything about what goes on inside the event horizon, because it's impossible to observe anything inside an event horizon. A black hole does not need infinite density or infinitesimal size (though it tends to be described as such). It only needs to have enough density to accelerate objects to the speed of light before they hit its surface.
Very dense object with enough mass to prevent light from escaping can exist however.
Which is already predicted from GR.
Though the Autodynamics website is quite chaotic it's certainly an interesting read.
I guess. I haven't read much, but I can already find a few mistakes. He claims SR is bogus because of the twin paradox. In a way, I guess, he's right, in the sense that the twin paradox exposes the limitation that SR only applies to non-accelerating reference frames. The twin paradox is explained through GR, though, just fine.
Don't we all want to believe that the lightspeed-barrie is just bogus.
Well, I want to believe eating a lot and sitting on my ass all day will make me thin, but so far that hasn't happened.
Wolfram did this with Mathematica, IIRC. You had to send in a new mathId to get a new serial number (or whatever they called them) every time you'd muck with your machine.
Only if you erase and reinstall Mathematica. The licensing scheme is asinine, but it's not that asinine.
Egghead sent me an e-mail regarding the matter (which I ignored because I never have had any business directly with them) and they also told my bank. My bank promptly killed my credit card as a security measure (without telling me of course).
This is your bank's fault, not Egghead's.
I would like to see a class action suit filed against egghead.com for the trouble they have caused the public.
I guess you would rather not have been informed of a possible security breach.
Why do they have my credit card number on file?
I believe they are required by credit card companies to keep that stuff.
What was that number doing on a machine accessible from the Internet.
This is a good point. I'd chalk it up to customers valuing convenience over security (until the security is compromised, that is). I had to have a warranty repair done on a TV I bought from 800.com and it was nice to have a record of the order online to print out.
...and kill them.
Snip!
Maybe this is a bit extreme... but fuck 'em.
Before or after they're dead?
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
People strive for anonymity on the net because they fear the repurcussions of their act. Maybe they don't want to die because they're reporting a dangerous criminal. Maybe they don't want to be fired and made unhireable because you report unjust business practices. Maybe they don't want to be made an outcast because they have HIV, or they're gay, or they're not of the correct religion.
It would be great if the only reason for anonymity was to do bad deeds. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world.
Actually, you can get KDE with potato:
deb http://kde.tdyc.com potato main optional crypto qt1apps
...they can't hear you swear.
Unless the mike is on.
sure this may be the reason why you like KDE more than Aqua, but your little rant has nothing to do with the fact that Aqua is considered "waste" and KDE is "cool."
By whom? You do realize that if person A says that Aqua is a waste and person B says alpha blending on KDE is cool, that doesn't mean that person A also thinks alpha blending on KDE is cool, don't you? Furthermore, if person C says that KDE is cool and Aqua is not, that doesn't mean that everyone on Slashdot but you agrees.
Contrary to what some believe, everyone on Slashdot does not share exactly the same opinion on everything at all times.
I've always argued this point, and I'm glad to see one more argument to back me up. Given time, the earth gradually heals itself, and even adjusts to human intervention and polution.
Uh, the closing of the ozone hole would be an adjustment to the lessening of human pollution.
Going to a particularly politically-correct school (which I absolutely abhor , I hear ecological arguments all the time. Get a grip, people. Humans are not creating "artificial" changes in the way the earth operates. Humans are animals, and thus natural, just like everyone else.
Of course, these natural changes may end up killing off the human species, but that's a minor issue.
Polyurthene may be a naturally growing tree on some other planet.
The problem is, it isn't here.
I found that it had become extremely cold. The green flashes continued, and I also started hearing noises not unlike circuits being grounded. That stereotypical zap-zap noise. I must have stayed outside for an hour wondering how often something like that actually happens. I still had no idea what the hell it was, until I remembered that there was a Coronal Mass Ejection the previous night.
I remember one night the power went out and I noticed a light in the sky. I looked out the window and saw this streak across the sky like an aurora and heard a buzzing noise in the sky. The streak converged somewhere far away. It turned out that a large transformer had blown up for some reason. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It made me want to become a professional transformer-blower-upper.
Shame on you. Are you suggesting she's unstable?
Aren't most babies? Most of the ones I've been around almost constantly dump core.
In this case it seems similar to the USA tax concept of taxing based on value -- if you win a $20,000 car in a contest, you have to pay tax on that $20,000 value (almost as if you had that amount of additional income, except for some gift incantations in the tax code). Even though you paid nothing for the car, you're taxed on the value of the benefit.
Except this is like winning a Yugo and paying tax on a Porche. If you can convince me that Sun sells Star Office for the same price as MS Office and that this is the norm, then I guess you have a point.
The concept is rather similar to several of the taxes we have in Sweden. You are often taxed by the perceived value of something that you own or have the use of. For example, we pay a property tax that is related to what our house MAY bring IF we sell it.
And how much would you get if you tried to sell Star Office, especially without tech support? It won't be anywhere near as much as MS Office.
If we were moving really fast, all the stars would look like lines, like in Star Wars.
Ditto, plus you can use KDE2 with woody.
You can also use KDE2 with potato.
deb http://kde.tdyc.com potato kde2
Not to mention that that particular commercial (the PS9) is one of the most ill-concieved ever.
1.) In 75 years, they only go through seven Playstation?
2.) Wow, the PS9 does all kinds of nifty (and biologically dangerous) stuff! Uh, so what's the PS2 do?