Even though he seem to exaggerate some of the consequences and many of his references links to sites with dubious credibility, the overall picture presented is quite disturbing.
Searching the net for "peak oil" gives you many more sites discussing the problem. Many of those are scaringly objective.
Or they'll badmouth the offending website for not working correctly (If they don't know they are using Firefox). In that case the complaints are good things.
If you check the CIA world factbook you will see that US only had something like 4.xx% of the world population in 1993. Chances are the percentage is even less now, since many other countries have a much higher birth rate combined with improving health conditions.
Which makes it look even more odd knowing that the United States energy consumption makes up more than 25% of energy consumption Worldwide.
We don't hate America. We are just not that fond of your current extremist, right wing president and administration.
True, some people here i EU complained over US back when mr Clinton was president, but they could mostly be dismissed as a handful US hating left wingers. We thought the former president's "affairs" were pretty stupid, but more a private matter than world politics as they seemed to be given the media attention. Your foreign policies were balanced and although sometimes controversial, not as extreme as anything we see today.
What do you have now? Most of the arabic world hate your guts more than ever. Torn relations with former allies all over the world. Responsibility for a country that seems was invaded upon reason shown false. Big brother laws in effect in your own home country.
Please note that popularity != quality, more often than not the inverse is closer to the truth. This applies to software as much as to other phenomenons, such as music or art. Imho that makes exercises like this pretty pointless.
Why the hell are most hand held weapons (swords, clubs, etc.) used by characters in 3D fantasy games as big as themselves? Do game developers have any idea how heavy a sword that big would be?
Ahh, ok, it's a magical sword. That explains it. Too bad the other swords marked as "not magical" are as big and carried the same way.
My guess is that a person like you, posting away on slashdot, is at least a bit computer litterate.
Then you have the other very large majority of windows users that don't know you can install alternative players. Even the few that do know, probably won't be bothered installing them anyway, as "I already have a player that were installed together with windows".
I am amazed I even have to write this comment, it's soooo darn obvious.
True. It is unfair to users with high DL/UL value. But it is still a very good idea distributing files with great demand this way. I doubt you would reach even 20 - 30 kBps when downloading a newly released counterstrike update or new Mozilla Firefox beta from hammered servers. With BT, lots of people downloading the torrent would enhance the probability you get the sought after file in shortest possible time, given that you can download the.torrent in first place.
I tried Blizzards downloader a minute ago. Sad to say you have to download a separate Bittorrent application with an embedded torrent file for each large file you want to download. This is crazy. Why should I have to download a +3MB.exe, when a less than 100 kB.torrent would be enough? The speed when downloading that.exe file was so slow, much of the idea with BT downloads is gone allready.
At least they could have a separate.torrent file for us who know how to use a bittorrent client.
Agreed. Their use of the project's name doesn't seem very nice, but some people seem to be complaining because they are converting PG's texts into proprietary Adobe eBook format and charge for the effort. I really fail to see how that is a problem, as long as the original, vanilla text files are still out there.
Yes, just like most of the bigger Linux distro makers out there. Commercial Linux distros are bad things, right?
From my point if view, most things that help promotes free projects and also add some value is an added value. If the ppl complaining doesn't like what's happening, they should have thought of ways of protecting themselves beforehand.
In 1986, my brother-in-law asked for advice on buying his first computer. I strongly recommended the Amiga, mainly because it had MIDI hardware that he needed, and that he'd have to pay extra for on any other system.
Then what you should have recommended would have been an Atari 520 ST. They had integrated MIDI devices, which no Amiga ever had. Also Atari kicked Amiga's ass when it came to professional music recording, all areas, even though you never would have gotten us Amigans admitting that in those days.:-)
Sure, the MIDI cards for Amiga were definately cheaper than their PC/Mac counterparts (if these even existed back then?) but they *were* an added cost nevertheless.
If you decide to use Linux in dual boot, you can install Knoppix (or Mepis) alongside windows, and "dual boot", or you can buy SUSE or Mandrake, or another easy distro, with manuals, for a low price, or download for free from the links I provided.
You should have read my last statement before composing your essay: "Not saying these are reasons not to use linux, just mentioning some of the stuff I miss when I choose the "alternative" option when I boot my box." - That means I *am* dual booting.
I know about all of the workarounds and/or replacement applications you mention. Problem is, they are not complete replacements or just need more work than I think is justified getting them running (x-overoffice).
If you take a minute to search for "Linux" in the forum at Miranda IM's webpage, you will see that Miranda IM neither is easy to convert to a linux app even though it is OSS, nor does it seem to be a real replacement in linux land since many linux users ask the devs to port it to linux.
I stand corrected on one point: Opera. I must admit I haven't checked up on that one in a while. Last time I tried it out, the linux version was desperately lagging behind the windows version.
Because it runs Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Miranda IM, Microsoft Internet explorer (yes, it is still neeeded sometimes, good as FF is), Opera, Steinberg Cubase, drivers for any hardware available and most games you would like to play.
Not saying these are reasons not to use linux, just mentioning some of the stuff I miss when I choose the "alternative" option when I boot my box.
Your neighbors uncle is full of shit or doesn't have any imagination.
Faster than light travel or teleportation aren't by far the most fantastic stuff you could think of in terms of science fiction/fantasy/technology, but I still seriously doubt that they are working on something 50 years past that in the US air force R&D department.
Let me guess, the designers at where you do your engineering doesn't have an easy time?
I bet the manufacturing guys say the same thing: "Well, the engineers take all the credit for doing calculations and stuff, but we build the damn things. Without us there wouldn't be any [insert gizmos of your choice]".
Slashdot Mirror
Even though he seem to exaggerate some of the consequences and many of his references links to sites with dubious credibility, the overall picture presented is quite disturbing.
Searching the net for "peak oil" gives you many more sites discussing the problem. Many of those are scaringly objective.
Or they'll badmouth the offending website for not working correctly (If they don't know they are using Firefox). In that case the complaints are good things.
If you check the CIA world factbook you will see that US only had something like 4.xx% of the world population in 1993. Chances are the percentage is even less now, since many other countries have a much higher birth rate combined with improving health conditions.
Which makes it look even more odd knowing that the United States energy consumption makes up more than 25% of energy consumption Worldwide.
We don't hate America. We are just not that fond of your current extremist, right wing president and administration.
True, some people here i EU complained over US back when mr Clinton was president, but they could mostly be dismissed as a handful US hating left wingers. We thought the former president's "affairs" were pretty stupid, but more a private matter than world politics as they seemed to be given the media attention. Your foreign policies were balanced and although sometimes controversial, not as extreme as anything we see today.
What do you have now? Most of the arabic world hate your guts more than ever. Torn relations with former allies all over the world. Responsibility for a country that seems was invaded upon reason shown false. Big brother laws in effect in your own home country.
No, as shown with regard to US pulling out of the World Court.
Read about it here, here, here or here.
Please note that popularity != quality, more often than not the inverse is closer to the truth. This applies to software as much as to other phenomenons, such as music or art. Imho that makes exercises like this pretty pointless.
Not outright fraud or anything that was really illegal iirc, just plain old sad-but-legal greed.
On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Has Highlander taught you nothing?
This image brings up an interesting subject.
Why the hell are most hand held weapons (swords, clubs, etc.) used by characters in 3D fantasy games as big as themselves? Do game developers have any idea how heavy a sword that big would be?
Ahh, ok, it's a magical sword. That explains it. Too bad the other swords marked as "not magical" are as big and carried the same way.
My guess is that a person like you, posting away on slashdot, is at least a bit computer litterate.
Then you have the other very large majority of windows users that don't know you can install alternative players. Even the few that do know, probably won't be bothered installing them anyway, as "I already have a player that were installed together with windows".
I am amazed I even have to write this comment, it's soooo darn obvious.
True. It is unfair to users with high DL/UL value. But it is still a very good idea distributing files with great demand this way. I doubt you would reach even 20 - 30 kBps when downloading a newly released counterstrike update or new Mozilla Firefox beta from hammered servers. With BT, lots of people downloading the torrent would enhance the probability you get the sought after file in shortest possible time, given that you can download the .torrent in first place.
.exe, when a less than 100 kB .torrent would be enough? The speed when downloading that .exe file was so slow, much of the idea with BT downloads is gone allready.
.torrent file for us who know how to use a bittorrent client.
I tried Blizzards downloader a minute ago. Sad to say you have to download a separate Bittorrent application with an embedded torrent file for each large file you want to download. This is crazy. Why should I have to download a +3MB
At least they could have a separate
Agreed. Their use of the project's name doesn't seem very nice, but some people seem to be complaining because they are converting PG's texts into proprietary Adobe eBook format and charge for the effort. I really fail to see how that is a problem, as long as the original, vanilla text files are still out there.
I personally wish someone would xml-ify these books, so that there would be a number of high-quality open source PG readers out there.
Get your butt over to Project Gutenberg XML then and start helping out.
Yes, just like most of the bigger Linux distro makers out there. Commercial Linux distros are bad things, right?
From my point if view, most things that help promotes free projects and also add some value is an added value. If the ppl complaining doesn't like what's happening, they should have thought of ways of protecting themselves beforehand.
Aaaah, Atari ST... Poor man's Amiga. ;-)
In 1986, my brother-in-law asked for advice on buying his first computer. I strongly recommended the Amiga, mainly because it had MIDI hardware that he needed, and that he'd have to pay extra for on any other system.
:-)
Then what you should have recommended would have been an Atari 520 ST. They had integrated MIDI devices, which no Amiga ever had. Also Atari kicked Amiga's ass when it came to professional music recording, all areas, even though you never would have gotten us Amigans admitting that in those days.
Sure, the MIDI cards for Amiga were definately cheaper than their PC/Mac counterparts (if these even existed back then?) but they *were* an added cost nevertheless.
... Lots of text ...
If you decide to use Linux in dual boot, you can install Knoppix (or Mepis) alongside windows, and "dual boot", or you can buy SUSE or Mandrake, or another easy distro, with manuals, for a low price, or download for free from the links I provided.
You should have read my last statement before composing your essay: "Not saying these are reasons not to use linux, just mentioning some of the stuff I miss when I choose the "alternative" option when I boot my box." - That means I *am* dual booting.
I know about all of the workarounds and/or replacement applications you mention. Problem is, they are not complete replacements or just need more work than I think is justified getting them running (x-overoffice).
If you take a minute to search for "Linux" in the forum at Miranda IM's webpage, you will see that Miranda IM neither is easy to convert to a linux app even though it is OSS, nor does it seem to be a real replacement in linux land since many linux users ask the devs to port it to linux.
I stand corrected on one point: Opera. I must admit I haven't checked up on that one in a while. Last time I tried it out, the linux version was desperately lagging behind the windows version.
Why not buy one of these Western Digital 510 GB SATA disks then, as shown on The Inquirer?
Here or here.
Because it runs Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Miranda IM, Microsoft Internet explorer (yes, it is still neeeded sometimes, good as FF is), Opera, Steinberg Cubase, drivers for any hardware available and most games you would like to play.
Not saying these are reasons not to use linux, just mentioning some of the stuff I miss when I choose the "alternative" option when I boot my box.
Why should we celebrate the demise of one of the few sw patents that really show the right people how ridiculous sw patents really are?
Exactly.
You try as an individual getting one of Microsoft's or IBM's software patents declared invalid. Good luck.
In the election later this year, ask not what you can do for your government, ask what your government can do for you.
However, in the event of wars like in Afghanistan and Iraq I would much rather have one side far more powerful to keep the casualties down.
Yeah, as long as it is your side, right?
Your neighbors uncle is full of shit or doesn't have any imagination.
Faster than light travel or teleportation aren't by far the most fantastic stuff you could think of in terms of science fiction/fantasy/technology, but I still seriously doubt that they are working on something 50 years past that in the US air force R&D department.
Let me guess, the designers at where you do your engineering doesn't have an easy time?
I bet the manufacturing guys say the same thing: "Well, the engineers take all the credit for doing calculations and stuff, but we build the damn things. Without us there wouldn't be any [insert gizmos of your choice]".
See my point?
Just like we shouldn't give Arthur C Clarke credits for satellites?
Sometimes one visionary/designer is worth more than a dozen engineers combined.