It's been a while, so maybe they have better resources now. I'd be happy if they did.
Trust me, they do. I had two false starts at learning Blender in earlier days, but I found around v2.3 that the online community's press for good tutorials and other resources was paying off. And, in the two years since I finally cracked that nut, it has improved substantially
As to the general bitching about the UI I see in the comments: it's a complicated piece of software. Try using Photoshop with no prior knowledge and see how well that goes. Accept that you are a newbie and learn the friggin UI before you try to model that blond elf with DD cups and bee-stung lips. There's even a blog for you here, with a video tutorials for the UI and everything.
So, I agree with you (as would this prof) that the American education system is failing our kids.
No it isn't; this is a case of our kids failing the American education system. (Bias Alert: I have taught college courses at several places.) This is, I surmise, a result of the anti-intellectualism prevalent in American culture. This is by no means a new phenomenon in the US, but it has been on the rise after a brief post-Sputnik lull. Here it's money, not academic achievement, that is largely equated with success, and the big money is not in engineering. And hell, you can be a C-student who can't find oil in Texas and still become president. (Then again, Herbert Hoover was an engineer, so that degree is not always the mark of quality.) Students from places that are not anti-intellectual are drawn here: the quality of the graduate programs here is quite high, it's generally a freer society here (so far), and let's face it, an American engineer's salary seems quite appealing compared to the standard of living from whence they came.
Admittedly a simplistic argument, but it seeme a bit more to the point than "Blergh, our schools suck". You reap what you sow.
I learned how to use a slide rule for math competitions (I don't know what you Yankees had, but in Texas we had interschool competitions under an umbrella called UIL). Unfortunately, I never got to compete with my newfound knowledge, because that year they phased them out, replacing them with competitions using a newfangled device called a "calculator".
Yes, I'm old. Now git off'n my lawn, you mountebanks.
As for the theory that the record company nets 78% -- well, keep in mind that after several quarters of having terrible net margins (sub-5%), Warner Music lost money last quarter.
I think you mean that Warner CLAIMS it lost money last quarter. You may want to ask people like Winstom Groom what he thinks of the entertainment industry bookkeeping practices.
Yeah, I agree with almost everything Shipley has to say in that post, but that was a tad hyperbolic. It seems to me that Apple had a choice between selling the phone to the consumer and letting him or her figure out what they could get a cellco to provide, or use the leverage of an exclusive deal with a cellco to get a consistent user experience as well as add features like VVM (which rocketh), as you point out. Since Apple almost always chooses consistent experience over happyfuntime democratic balkanization, this was no surprise.
That being said, the aspect of the iPhone that is most telling is the ringtone situation, which is so indicative of its entanglement with the recording industry that I am amazed the iPhone doesn't stink of hairgel and Axe bodyspray. The loophole-closing machinations in iTunes underline that point quite forcefully, if unsurprisingly. Now, if Apple makes a concerted effort to close off third-party development such as Ambrosia's iToner, THAT will give full throat to Shipley's rant.
Right, because I blame motorola for my verizon service sucking.
Of course you don't — but you can blame Verizon for your Motorola sucking, once they've decided what features in the phone they will and will not allow you to have access. But that's not the approach Apple is taking with the iPhone (or really, any of their stuff.) It's the difference between the manufacturer saying "Here's how the phone could work, depending on what the provider will allow" and "Here's how a phone should work, and only this provider agreed to the required modifications in infrastructure." (Plus, of course, all of that sub rosa stuff that is sadly part and parcel of the US cellco market).
Now, as for
Silly me, after paying $1500 for the damn thing, I was walking around under the mistaken impression it was my computer.
It is. Feel free to wipe your computer (or iPod) and install Linux; Apple doesn't care. They are focussed on people who run their OS; in fact, if you replace "...good experience on their computer" with "...good experience under their OS" in the GP post I think you'll get the point he was trying to say.
Apple's just Microsoft in cooler clothes. Where does the personification of Linux fit in those clever commercials? Oh, right -- it doesn't fit in a 'commercial' at all.
Sure, if by 'cooler clothes', you mean a shirt with the proper number of sleeves, and on opposite sides of the shirt; pants that don't have a hole in the crotch, so you aren't a virus magnet whenever you use a chair; and shoes of the correct size that, when you try to put them on, don't ask 'You are trying to don footwear. Cancel or Allow?'
And, as for where the personification of Linux is, sadly those commercials were not shot in someone's parents' basement.
And, in fact, it may even improve the situation for smaller channels. Because people elect to get these channels, and specifically pay for the privilege of doing so, they have overtly expressed an interest in that channel's content. A little research and ta-da — demographically-targeted commercials, for which they can charge higher ad rates.
One problem with your argument: all of the channels you mention run COMMERCIALS. It already chaps my ass that I have to pay to watch a channel that runs COMMERCIALS, but since I have paid for DVDs that make me watch COMMERCIALS I have become inured to it.
However, one thing that chaps my ass even, er, chappier. Paying for channels that run COMMERCIALS that I will never ever fucking watch (e.g., ESPN*). So, I am basically throwing more money into the pockets of channels that already get revenue from COMMERCIALS. And, in the case of ESPN*, that's after I've had to throw tax money into their stadiums which, due to naming rights, have become gigantic publicly-funded COMMERCIALS; but at least there I was given the picayune satisfaction of casting a vote against those plans.
In short, if you can't keep a network with COMMERCIALS up and running without revenue from huge swaths of people who will never watch your network shows (and COMMERCIALS), then you deserve to die off. To use a good old/. meme, your failed business model is not my problem.
This (a) makes no sense and (b) does not accord with my experience. Sure, short-sellers usually submit limit orders, trying to get a higher price, but sellers of long positions do the same. Short selling pushes the price down because it satisfies the demand at the short-seller's price point, and above
True, bt not every short seller puts in the same level of limit order. So, if the stock is heavily shorted, there IS upward pressure, because (ahem) every extra penny is profit for the seller. If there is a huge pool of shorters, sellers can afford to wait because the lower limit orders are plentiful enough to be filled by other sellers.
(Disclaimer: I did not invest my MBA loan in any stock instead of getting my MBA, because I am not stupid enough to do that. Or stupid enough to get into an MBA program, for that matter.)
The Oklahoma City Bombing should have taught us that ultimately it's futile to think you can see things like this coming.
Yeah, but we shut down all subsequent threats from those groups by arresting and holding without trial at Gitmo all of those ex-military Christian guys with crewcuts. Remember?
Remember, George W. Bush is rich. A man who couldn't find oil in Texas, and traded away Sammy Sosa. Apparently that last name covers up a LOT of bullshit.
First, a book. "Relativity: The Special and the General Theory" by Albert Einstein. A math-light explanation of relativity by the man himself. The descriptions and implications provide several jumping-off points for fiction and non-fiction writing.
Then, a cartoon. "Donald Duck in Mathmagicland". Seriously. Includes demonstrations of the mathematics of music and three-cushion billiards. Would challenge students to consider the mathematical underpinnings of other activities in the junior-high sphere of interest. And the more precocious writers could tackle essays on the destruction of the copyright system wrought by Disney.
Total amount of signal gathered. That is to say, you gather less rain with a few buckets scattered across a field ratherthan a field-sized bucket. On the plus side, since you are monitoring simultaneously at different sites, you can compare the signals among the antennae to get the same spatial resolution of a telescope the size of the Earth. Compare to the VLA, a much smaller version of the same technique.
Slashdot Mirror
As to the general bitching about the UI I see in the comments: it's a complicated piece of software. Try using Photoshop with no prior knowledge and see how well that goes. Accept that you are a newbie and learn the friggin UI before you try to model that blond elf with DD cups and bee-stung lips. There's even a blog for you here, with a video tutorials for the UI and everything.
Admittedly a simplistic argument, but it seeme a bit more to the point than "Blergh, our schools suck". You reap what you sow.
I learned how to use a slide rule for math competitions (I don't know what you Yankees had, but in Texas we had interschool competitions under an umbrella called UIL). Unfortunately, I never got to compete with my newfound knowledge, because that year they phased them out, replacing them with competitions using a newfangled device called a "calculator".
Yes, I'm old. Now git off'n my lawn, you mountebanks.
...it will give them something in common with its customer base.
Yeah, I agree with almost everything Shipley has to say in that post, but that was a tad hyperbolic. It seems to me that Apple had a choice between selling the phone to the consumer and letting him or her figure out what they could get a cellco to provide, or use the leverage of an exclusive deal with a cellco to get a consistent user experience as well as add features like VVM (which rocketh), as you point out. Since Apple almost always chooses consistent experience over happyfuntime democratic balkanization, this was no surprise.
That being said, the aspect of the iPhone that is most telling is the ringtone situation, which is so indicative of its entanglement with the recording industry that I am amazed the iPhone doesn't stink of hairgel and Axe bodyspray. The loophole-closing machinations in iTunes underline that point quite forcefully, if unsurprisingly. Now, if Apple makes a concerted effort to close off third-party development such as Ambrosia's iToner, THAT will give full throat to Shipley's rant.
Now, as for It is. Feel free to wipe your computer (or iPod) and install Linux; Apple doesn't care. They are focussed on people who run their OS; in fact, if you replace "...good experience on their computer" with "...good experience under their OS" in the GP post I think you'll get the point he was trying to say.
And, as for where the personification of Linux is, sadly those commercials were not shot in someone's parents' basement.
And, in fact, it may even improve the situation for smaller channels. Because people elect to get these channels, and specifically pay for the privilege of doing so, they have overtly expressed an interest in that channel's content. A little research and ta-da — demographically-targeted commercials, for which they can charge higher ad rates.
One problem with your argument: all of the channels you mention run COMMERCIALS. It already chaps my ass that I have to pay to watch a channel that runs COMMERCIALS, but since I have paid for DVDs that make me watch COMMERCIALS I have become inured to it.
/. meme, your failed business model is not my problem.
However, one thing that chaps my ass even, er, chappier. Paying for channels that run COMMERCIALS that I will never ever fucking watch (e.g., ESPN*). So, I am basically throwing more money into the pockets of channels that already get revenue from COMMERCIALS. And, in the case of ESPN*, that's after I've had to throw tax money into their stadiums which, due to naming rights, have become gigantic publicly-funded COMMERCIALS; but at least there I was given the picayune satisfaction of casting a vote against those plans.
In short, if you can't keep a network with COMMERCIALS up and running without revenue from huge swaths of people who will never watch your network shows (and COMMERCIALS), then you deserve to die off. To use a good old
Well, he was asking for it. An Apple a day keeps the doctor away.
My head hurts.
Oh ferchrissakes somebody get some mods who watch the fucking news to mod this as "Funny" already. Sheesh.
(Disclaimer: I did not invest my MBA loan in any stock instead of getting my MBA, because I am not stupid enough to do that. Or stupid enough to get into an MBA program, for that matter.)
Thank you, Andrea Dworkin.
waitasec...aren't you dead?
Yeah, but we shut down all subsequent threats from those groups by arresting and holding without trial at Gitmo all of those ex-military Christian guys with crewcuts. Remember?
Remember, George W. Bush is rich. A man who couldn't find oil in Texas, and traded away Sammy Sosa. Apparently that last name covers up a LOT of bullshit.
Oh no, not another WIndows-vs-Mac debate.
No, but I might start using a lot more ketchup.
So the answer is YES. And, it's off by default, so clearly he knew how to turn it on and off.
That said, this dude got screwed. By a cellco; go figure.
It's what you get when you putt your ball into the wrong hole.
Oh, don't treat Americans as so goddam culturally inferior. OK, all the Yanks: 1, 2, 3, go...
"There once was a man from Nantucket..."
First, a book. "Relativity: The Special and the General Theory" by Albert Einstein. A math-light explanation of relativity by the man himself. The descriptions and implications provide several jumping-off points for fiction and non-fiction writing.
Then, a cartoon. "Donald Duck in Mathmagicland". Seriously. Includes demonstrations of the mathematics of music and three-cushion billiards. Would challenge students to consider the mathematical underpinnings of other activities in the junior-high sphere of interest. And the more precocious writers could tackle essays on the destruction of the copyright system wrought by Disney.
Total amount of signal gathered. That is to say, you gather less rain with a few buckets scattered across a field ratherthan a field-sized bucket. On the plus side, since you are monitoring simultaneously at different sites, you can compare the signals among the antennae to get the same spatial resolution of a telescope the size of the Earth. Compare to the VLA, a much smaller version of the same technique.