"die with whatever shred of respect that great machine once had?" No.
I had an email conversation with Bill McEwen a couple of years back, when he became the CEO of the new 'Amiga, Inc.' He is in touch with the Amiga community, and has a vision (albeit an odd one, but you must agree that the world has changed in the last 20 years) for where Amiga should go. It isn't in "name only." The Amiga was brilliant, in terms of architecture and its operating system. It had its flaws, sure, but imagine what it would have become if it weren't for Commodore's awful marketing. It reminds me of a quote that was always passed around among Amiga users, regarding the development of PC architecture: "A barn door can be used as a raft. You can strap an outboard motor onto a barn door, and it might go fast, but it will never be a speedboat." Just look at Vista. Now its a barn door with lovely glass windows.
McEwen's vision, currently, is to develop small, sleek embedded systems that use Amiga principles of design. There is nothing wrong with that, and I would hate for the Amiga to die. He has mentioned that, depending on their success, there may be a set top Amiga device or two, reminiscent of the old Amiga computers for us vintage fans. I, personally, can't wait.
I told him once, the Amiga was way ahead of its time, maybe that was part of its early failure. But now that the world has caught up, it's time for Amiga.
This was even done in Shawn Fanning's original Napster, as you could view other users' libraries and there were genre chat rooms (and possibly user created rooms as well, it was a long time ago.) Thinking back, if he created facebook/myspace style profiles to associate with each user along with storage for youtube style video clips... What a juggernaut that would have been. Too bad large, fast, cheap storage didn't exist back then.
I wonder what Sony could possibly do with that patent. They have been on the road to nowhere lately, all of their "good" ideas haven't been exactly panning out. Now they are trying to reinvent others good ideas?
Does anyone know anyone who keeps receipts of every record/tape/CD/digital download that they buy? Sure, maybe it is a good idea to do that now, but many people have recordings that have been transferred/archived to digital media because the original media was degrading (cassettes) or too bulky to store and delicate (records.) A lifetime of original media can be transferred to digital media, and there is no sense in repurchasing it again. Most people don't keep detailed files of their music purchases, and that sort of behavior is quite ridiculous. Do you (or anyone) seriously believe that the act of transferring a 20 year old ABBA record to MP3/OGG in 2002 and promptly throwing it out constitutes "stealing"?
I personally think that it is a good idea to supplement a technical degree with a business degree, especially an MBA. In my experience, employers have been seeking potential employees who have business training. A friend, who recently graduated with a CS undergrad and MBA, is making $12K more per year than the new hires that didn't have an MBA. The MBA program only lasted a year, and perhaps cost $20K.
Seems to be the general response in this forum. I am no great advocate of caffeine, however, I am less of an advocate of popping any sort of pill to "get through the hardships of life." We live in a pharmeceutical drug-culture in which any of our problems can be easily diagnosed and rectified by a proper, legal, pill. IMO this is total BS, and if you can't deal with what you are doing, and where you are, then maybe it is a sign that you aren't where you should be. Taking a pill to dull that realization won't help you in the long run.
Ideally, each tip makes sense. The problem is that most students are not able to spend that much time preparing for that one exam. Most of my fellow students are also concerned with the research paper that is due the day before, and the presentation that they have to give later that afternoon, etc.
Finals week, in my experience, is a blur of studying, writing, preparing, and meeting deadlines. If you haven't made a conscientious effort to study, keep up on homework, and do what you can to complete a significant portion of your final projects before finals week, you are doomed anyways. The reality of college is that you are going to be scrambling to finish everything that is assigned and get that last bit of studying in before your exams. This very often involves caffeine consumption and sleep loss.
If it was just one exam, and you had nothing else to worry about, sure, you could plan a few days around it. A water fast would be lovely. Sleep the day away before the exam. I do believe that Tylenol PM would make the average student a little groggy in the morning, more than OJ could counteract. In fact, there is the additional risk of sleeping through the alarm clock.
Just in case you come across one... I lucked (?) out and a friend sold me an old Kloss Novabeam CRT projector that spent many years in storage for $100... They usually give you a 9' wide picture. If you can find one, they are worth picking up as a toy if nothing else. They were designed in the 80's (mine's a model 1-A from 1986) so the resolution is great for, say, VHS. Elite Video still carries replacement CRT's at about $300 each. The CRT's seem to last for quite a long time, I've been using mine for years with no noticeable loss in brightness. You can occassionally find them on e-bay for dirt cheap, but good luck trying to get them shipped as they are heavy beasts. They were originally sold with curved 9' wide screens, which I hear were quite delicate and a nightmare to ship.
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"die with whatever shred of respect that great machine once had?" No.
I had an email conversation with Bill McEwen a couple of years back, when he became the CEO of the new 'Amiga, Inc.' He is in touch with the Amiga community, and has a vision (albeit an odd one, but you must agree that the world has changed in the last 20 years) for where Amiga should go. It isn't in "name only." The Amiga was brilliant, in terms of architecture and its operating system. It had its flaws, sure, but imagine what it would have become if it weren't for Commodore's awful marketing. It reminds me of a quote that was always passed around among Amiga users, regarding the development of PC architecture: "A barn door can be used as a raft. You can strap an outboard motor onto a barn door, and it might go fast, but it will never be a speedboat." Just look at Vista. Now its a barn door with lovely glass windows.
McEwen's vision, currently, is to develop small, sleek embedded systems that use Amiga principles of design. There is nothing wrong with that, and I would hate for the Amiga to die. He has mentioned that, depending on their success, there may be a set top Amiga device or two, reminiscent of the old Amiga computers for us vintage fans. I, personally, can't wait.
I told him once, the Amiga was way ahead of its time, maybe that was part of its early failure. But now that the world has caught up, it's time for Amiga.
This was even done in Shawn Fanning's original Napster, as you could view other users' libraries and there were genre chat rooms (and possibly user created rooms as well, it was a long time ago.) Thinking back, if he created facebook/myspace style profiles to associate with each user along with storage for youtube style video clips... What a juggernaut that would have been. Too bad large, fast, cheap storage didn't exist back then. I wonder what Sony could possibly do with that patent. They have been on the road to nowhere lately, all of their "good" ideas haven't been exactly panning out. Now they are trying to reinvent others good ideas?
Does anyone know anyone who keeps receipts of every record/tape/CD/digital download that they buy? Sure, maybe it is a good idea to do that now, but many people have recordings that have been transferred/archived to digital media because the original media was degrading (cassettes) or too bulky to store and delicate (records.) A lifetime of original media can be transferred to digital media, and there is no sense in repurchasing it again. Most people don't keep detailed files of their music purchases, and that sort of behavior is quite ridiculous. Do you (or anyone) seriously believe that the act of transferring a 20 year old ABBA record to MP3/OGG in 2002 and promptly throwing it out constitutes "stealing"?
I personally think that it is a good idea to supplement a technical degree with a business degree, especially an MBA. In my experience, employers have been seeking potential employees who have business training. A friend, who recently graduated with a CS undergrad and MBA, is making $12K more per year than the new hires that didn't have an MBA. The MBA program only lasted a year, and perhaps cost $20K.
Seems to be the general response in this forum. I am no great advocate of caffeine, however, I am less of an advocate of popping any sort of pill to "get through the hardships of life." We live in a pharmeceutical drug-culture in which any of our problems can be easily diagnosed and rectified by a proper, legal, pill. IMO this is total BS, and if you can't deal with what you are doing, and where you are, then maybe it is a sign that you aren't where you should be. Taking a pill to dull that realization won't help you in the long run.
Ideally, each tip makes sense. The problem is that most students are not able to spend that much time preparing for that one exam. Most of my fellow students are also concerned with the research paper that is due the day before, and the presentation that they have to give later that afternoon, etc. Finals week, in my experience, is a blur of studying, writing, preparing, and meeting deadlines. If you haven't made a conscientious effort to study, keep up on homework, and do what you can to complete a significant portion of your final projects before finals week, you are doomed anyways. The reality of college is that you are going to be scrambling to finish everything that is assigned and get that last bit of studying in before your exams. This very often involves caffeine consumption and sleep loss. If it was just one exam, and you had nothing else to worry about, sure, you could plan a few days around it. A water fast would be lovely. Sleep the day away before the exam. I do believe that Tylenol PM would make the average student a little groggy in the morning, more than OJ could counteract. In fact, there is the additional risk of sleeping through the alarm clock.
Just in case you come across one... I lucked (?) out and a friend sold me an old Kloss Novabeam CRT projector that spent many years in storage for $100... They usually give you a 9' wide picture. If you can find one, they are worth picking up as a toy if nothing else. They were designed in the 80's (mine's a model 1-A from 1986) so the resolution is great for, say, VHS. Elite Video still carries replacement CRT's at about $300 each. The CRT's seem to last for quite a long time, I've been using mine for years with no noticeable loss in brightness. You can occassionally find them on e-bay for dirt cheap, but good luck trying to get them shipped as they are heavy beasts. They were originally sold with curved 9' wide screens, which I hear were quite delicate and a nightmare to ship.