Sorry, but in the glossy vs. matte argument, glossy wins every time.
Think about it. You're deep into your work, focusing intently on your screen despite the glare of the sun coming in though the window behind you. Squinting slightly, just as you start a complex cut-and-paste operation, you see reflected in your desktop the image of an axe murderer who is right behind you!
Thankfully you had the foresight to choose a glossy screen, which reflects everything behind you with perfect fidelity! You can easily judge the angle at which the attacker is sneaking up on you, and with a simple twist you suddenly rotate the screen to bounce the sunlight right into his eyes! He screams with pain (since the glossy screen reflects nearly all of the light that falls on it), and involuntarily raises his arms to ward off the photonic assault, giving you enough time to reach under your desk, grab your old CRT (which you had the foresight to keep), and smash him over the head with it.
Well the REAL problem was ISP's selling unlimited bandwidth contracts. Right there is the heart of the issue, one they don't want to talk about.
Time for the airline analogy. Airlines oversell flights on a regular basis. It makes sense for them to do this, because an unsold seat has no value once the plane takes off, so they have to do whatever they can to fill up as many seats as possible, even if it means inconveniencing passengers. They don't advertise that they overbook, so many victims of overbooking are taken aback when they find out about it.
Bandwidth is similar to airliner seats in that unused capacity is not recoverable. ISP's want to sell all the bandwidth they can, so they oversell, promising users "unlimited" bandwidth, which is impossible to deliver.
A similar thing happens in other businesses. If every cellphone user chose to make a call at the same time, many calls would not go through. Or if every member of your health club showed up at the same time to use the treadmills, some would have to be turned away. (OK that last example was the wrong one to use on Slashdot, but you get the point.)
But compare how an airline handles a overbooking situation with how an ISP handles a bandwidth-hungry P2P user -- the airline will offer incentives (such as free tickets) to passengers to take another flight. If that doesn't work they'll pay cash and put overbooked passengers on another flight. (Imagine an ISP giving a Bittorrent user a "bandwidth usage certificate" to complete a download that was interrupted due to the ISP choosing to throttle user's connection).
By law, airlines must offer compensation to overbooked passengers. This is a sensible policy, since it makes best use of limited resources while not placing the full burden of the inconvenience of the passengers (recognizing that getting bumped is not fun).
ISP's must be made to understand that there are ramifications for overselling. If they are not willing to make reasonable policies on their own, the government should step in and do it for them.
Imagine a modern hog factory farm, imagine the veritable rivers of semi-liquid feces squelching downhill from the oinking, shuffling pigflesh. Imagine a rope around your leg, the far end attached to a speedboat. Imagine being pulled backwards through that stinking mass, mouth clenched tight against your bile but still the runny shit makes it up your nostrils and down your throat, between your eyelids, burning your retinas, the impact of the brown waves against your body like sledgehammers. Or to put it another way, if you were to take the paragraph above and adapt it as a screenplay, the result would be better than any Uwe Boll movie.
Why don't the Democrats have the balls to impeach Bush? They have decided that his being in office will keep the electorate focused on what a bad job he has done, and result in the best outcome for Democrats in November.
After all, the true motive of the Democratic Party is to perpetuate itself as an institution, not uphold the Constitution or bring about more prosperity, or any similar high-minded nonsense. The same goes for the Republican Party, with the additional consideration that they are the embodiment of pure evil.
allowing you to tune it by changing the tension, like an incredibly huge guitar string
Great. So now instead of wobble we have to worry about hiss and distortion!
Not to mention that every dork who strolls by will be trying to pluck out a tune on it. The base station will need an incredibly huge "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" sign.
Or if the British had won the war, and were still in charge of the U.S. today, in this urbanized and technologically sophisticated age, what sort of tactics would revolutionaries use to overthrow the colonial government? Would they be considered terrorists if they blew up bridges, downed telephone lines, etc?
Meh. I would've written it as "New Book Rips, Tears, and Slashes Violent Video Game Myths Then Spatters Their Guts All Over The Place While The Other Myths Look On In Horror, Paralyzed With Fear"
Monkeys and humans both evolved from earlier organisms, but their evolution took separate paths. Each path was the result of the emergence of distinct characteristics in response to environmental factors and selective pressure. For example, humans are more intelligent than other primates, while monkeys are more agile. Intelligence is a valuable survival trait, but so is agility, and monkeys make excellent use of it in their natural environment. While all primates evolved from a common ancestor, each type of modern primate is well-suited to a particular set of circumstances. The monkeys of today are not the "losers" of a conflict between species.
Natural selection does not serve to "improve" species, it only makes them better adapted to a particular set of circumstances, and it is not foolproof. A useful characteristic can turn into a drawback when conditions change, which is why there are no more dinosaurs.
Intelligence is arguably an "improvement" that is better for survival than other characteristics, since it improves the ability to survive in a wide range of environmental circumstances. Thus people often make the mistake of perceiving humans as somehow "more evolved" than other organisms.
Not only that, but also get rid of AM/PM and just go to a 24 Hour clock
Why stop there? Why not just get rid of time altogether?
Think of the many benefits:
There would be no more need for clocks
Your favorite shows -- all episodes mind you -- would all air at once. No more Tivo!
You would never be late for work again. In fact, your workday would end as soon as it started!
Unpleasant tasks would take no "time" (doesn't the word already seem archaic?!)...lengthy compile cycles would complete immediately. Imagine the productivity gains!
Orgasms would be of infinite duration. The clumsiest lover would be transformed into a master of sexual technique!
I urge you to write your congressman today to put this into law and thus end temporal oppression!
They started talking about how IBM and Novel stole a whole bunch of their Intellectual Property and put it into Linux, and how Linux is nothing but a bunch a thieves.
Unbridled arrogance combined with a complete disconnection from reality? There is only one explanation -- SCO has been taken over by Scientology.
Turning raw meat into the cyberwarriors of tomorrow -- the drill sergeant at Fort Ran:
ALL RIGHT YOU MAGGOTS LISTEN UP! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IS A PERFECT SPECIMEN OF WELL-MUSCLED MANHOOD, BRIGHT-EYED, NEATLY DRESSED, AND HIGHLY DISCIPLINED. WELL STARTING TODAY I AM GOING TO TURN YOU ALL INTO SLOVENLY, SARCASTIC, ANTI-SOCIAL LOSERS! DO YOU HEAR ME SOLDIER??
Sir, Yes sir!
NEVER CALL ME SIR! YOU ARE TO SHOW NO RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME MAGGOT?!
Sure, whatever dude.
WHAT'S THAT AROUND YOUR NECK SOLDIER??
It's a tie s..., er dude
WELL TAKE IT OFF! YOU WILL WEAR T-SHIRTS AND LOOSE SHORTS AT ALL TIMES! IS THAT CLEAR?
I really don't like people shouting at me.
DAMN RIGHT YOU DON'T. AND WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE LIKE ME PISSES YOU OFF?
Uh, replace your desktop with a screenshot and then watch you trying to click on it while I snicker from my cubicle?
I THINK WE GOT A REAL GEEK HERE! IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE MAGGOT? A REAL GEEK???
I guess so.
OH YOU GUESS SO? WELL WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU THERE WON'T BE ANY DOUBT! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE FOR DAYS ON NOTHING BUT JOLT COLA AND DORITOS! YOU WILL LEARN TO LOVE THE WARM GLOW OF YOUR MONITOR MORE THAN THE LIGHT OF THE SUN! YOU WILL BE ABLE TO WRITE NETWORK PENETRATION CODE IN THE DARK, IN MACHINE CODE, USING A MAGNETIZED NEEDLE AND A STEADY HAND! YOU...WILL..BE...WARRIORS!! HOO! HOO! HOOOO!
I am about to open a Steampunk inspired coffee shop in the imminent future and have been doing research in this subject. It seems not offering outlets is a strategy.
That plan will start to unravel when someone shows up with a steam-powered laptop and a bag full of coal.
Phish from a man and you take advantage of him for a day.
Give a man a phishing kit and you take advantage of him for a lifetime.
(of course by "man" we mean spotty-faced script kiddie, and by "lifetime" we mean until he wipes his harddisk, but proverbs are meant to be pithy and brief, not accurate.)
It can be very hard to tell, given the above circumstances, if the locking sleeve on these aircraft instrumentation connectors had been twisted far enough to complete the lock.
It was a rhetorical question, more or less. I'm currently using Robocopy on a project -- it's very handy.
But the GP (GGP?) was right -- Explorer is bothersome for doing unattended operations. Drag a folder from one folder to another -- it says it's going to take 10 minutes, so you go make some coffee. Come back 5 minutes later and Explorer is asking you "Are you sure you want to move the read-only file blah_blah_blah?" Sheesh.
For server-side stuff Robocopy works great. For day-to-day work I'd appreciate a little more help from Explorer. It shouldn't be that hard, and I'm sure the M$ types have run into the same problem.
(20 minutes into copying tree from REDMOND1 to OFFICEDEV): "Are you sure you want to move the read-only file World Domination Plan (post BillG).doc"?
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, but in the glossy vs. matte argument, glossy wins every time.
Think about it. You're deep into your work, focusing intently on your screen despite the glare of the sun coming in though the window behind you. Squinting slightly, just as you start a complex cut-and-paste operation, you see reflected in your desktop the image of an axe murderer who is right behind you!
Thankfully you had the foresight to choose a glossy screen, which reflects everything behind you with perfect fidelity! You can easily judge the angle at which the attacker is sneaking up on you, and with a simple twist you suddenly rotate the screen to bounce the sunlight right into his eyes! He screams with pain (since the glossy screen reflects nearly all of the light that falls on it), and involuntarily raises his arms to ward off the photonic assault, giving you enough time to reach under your desk, grab your old CRT (which you had the foresight to keep), and smash him over the head with it.
Try THAT with your matte screen.
Well the REAL problem was ISP's selling unlimited bandwidth contracts. Right there is the heart of the issue, one they don't want to talk about.
Time for the airline analogy. Airlines oversell flights on a regular basis. It makes sense for them to do this, because an unsold seat has no value once the plane takes off, so they have to do whatever they can to fill up as many seats as possible, even if it means inconveniencing passengers. They don't advertise that they overbook, so many victims of overbooking are taken aback when they find out about it.
Bandwidth is similar to airliner seats in that unused capacity is not recoverable. ISP's want to sell all the bandwidth they can, so they oversell, promising users "unlimited" bandwidth, which is impossible to deliver.
A similar thing happens in other businesses. If every cellphone user chose to make a call at the same time, many calls would not go through. Or if every member of your health club showed up at the same time to use the treadmills, some would have to be turned away. (OK that last example was the wrong one to use on Slashdot, but you get the point.)
But compare how an airline handles a overbooking situation with how an ISP handles a bandwidth-hungry P2P user -- the airline will offer incentives (such as free tickets) to passengers to take another flight. If that doesn't work they'll pay cash and put overbooked passengers on another flight. (Imagine an ISP giving a Bittorrent user a "bandwidth usage certificate" to complete a download that was interrupted due to the ISP choosing to throttle user's connection).
By law, airlines must offer compensation to overbooked passengers. This is a sensible policy, since it makes best use of limited resources while not placing the full burden of the inconvenience of the passengers (recognizing that getting bumped is not fun).
ISP's must be made to understand that there are ramifications for overselling. If they are not willing to make reasonable policies on their own, the government should step in and do it for them.
Bush destroying Sun? If you spend any time at all on Slashdot, you know that's Microsoft's job.
Just wait until Mercury and Venus jump up and throw their hands in the air, then we're next. Don't mis-time it and spoil things for everybody else!
allowing you to tune it by changing the tension, like an incredibly huge guitar string
Great. So now instead of wobble we have to worry about hiss and distortion!
Not to mention that every dork who strolls by will be trying to pluck out a tune on it. The base station will need an incredibly huge "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" sign.
Or if the British had won the war, and were still in charge of the U.S. today, in this urbanized and technologically sophisticated age, what sort of tactics would revolutionaries use to overthrow the colonial government? Would they be considered terrorists if they blew up bridges, downed telephone lines, etc?
New Book Cuts Through Violent Video Game Myths
Meh. I would've written it as "New Book Rips, Tears, and Slashes Violent Video Game Myths Then Spatters Their Guts All Over The Place While The Other Myths Look On In Horror, Paralyzed With Fear"
Monkeys and humans both evolved from earlier organisms, but their evolution took separate paths. Each path was the result of the emergence of distinct characteristics in response to environmental factors and selective pressure. For example, humans are more intelligent than other primates, while monkeys are more agile. Intelligence is a valuable survival trait, but so is agility, and monkeys make excellent use of it in their natural environment. While all primates evolved from a common ancestor, each type of modern primate is well-suited to a particular set of circumstances. The monkeys of today are not the "losers" of a conflict between species.
Natural selection does not serve to "improve" species, it only makes them better adapted to a particular set of circumstances, and it is not foolproof. A useful characteristic can turn into a drawback when conditions change, which is why there are no more dinosaurs.
Intelligence is arguably an "improvement" that is better for survival than other characteristics, since it improves the ability to survive in a wide range of environmental circumstances. Thus people often make the mistake of perceiving humans as somehow "more evolved" than other organisms.
Not only that, but also get rid of AM/PM and just go to a 24 Hour clock
Why stop there? Why not just get rid of time altogether?
Think of the many benefits:
I urge you to write your congressman today to put this into law and thus end temporal oppression!
George Romero's "Night of the Loving Dead".
Swede Jesus, you perverts disgust me!
They started talking about how IBM and Novel stole a whole bunch of their Intellectual Property and put it into Linux, and how Linux is nothing but a bunch a thieves.
Unbridled arrogance combined with a complete disconnection from reality? There is only one explanation -- SCO has been taken over by Scientology.
Shame on you and your disrespect for other cultures! That is no way to talk about the ancient and bitter feud between Star Trek and Star Wars fans!
Turning raw meat into the cyberwarriors of tomorrow -- the drill sergeant at Fort Ran:
ALL RIGHT YOU MAGGOTS LISTEN UP! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IS A PERFECT SPECIMEN OF WELL-MUSCLED MANHOOD, BRIGHT-EYED,
NEATLY DRESSED, AND HIGHLY DISCIPLINED. WELL STARTING TODAY I AM GOING TO TURN YOU ALL INTO SLOVENLY, SARCASTIC,
ANTI-SOCIAL LOSERS! DO YOU HEAR ME SOLDIER??
Sir, Yes sir!
NEVER CALL ME SIR! YOU ARE TO SHOW NO RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME MAGGOT?!
Sure, whatever dude.
WHAT'S THAT AROUND YOUR NECK SOLDIER??
It's a tie s..., er dude
WELL TAKE IT OFF! YOU WILL WEAR T-SHIRTS AND LOOSE SHORTS AT ALL TIMES! IS THAT CLEAR?
I really don't like people shouting at me.
DAMN RIGHT YOU DON'T. AND WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE LIKE ME PISSES YOU OFF?
Uh, replace your desktop with a screenshot and then watch you trying to click on it while I snicker from my cubicle?
I THINK WE GOT A REAL GEEK HERE! IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE MAGGOT? A REAL GEEK???
I guess so.
OH YOU GUESS SO? WELL WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU THERE WON'T BE ANY DOUBT! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU WILL BE ABLE
TO LIVE FOR DAYS ON NOTHING BUT JOLT COLA AND DORITOS! YOU WILL LEARN TO LOVE THE WARM GLOW OF YOUR MONITOR
MORE THAN THE LIGHT OF THE SUN! YOU WILL BE ABLE TO WRITE NETWORK PENETRATION CODE IN THE DARK, IN MACHINE CODE,
USING A MAGNETIZED NEEDLE AND A STEADY HAND! YOU...WILL..BE...WARRIORS!! HOO! HOO! HOOOO!
I am about to open a Steampunk inspired coffee shop in the imminent future and have been doing research in this subject. It seems not offering outlets is a strategy.
That plan will start to unravel when someone shows up with a steam-powered laptop and a bag full of coal.
Given that smoke detectors contain radioactive isotopes, it's amazing that there aren't more pinheads trying to get them banned.
"If smelling is outlawed, only outlaws will smell."
So there's a silver lining -- as long as you are law-abiding, you won't need deodorant.
It says 'most any organic matter'. Maybe they'll use people instead of corn.
(desperately trying not to make lame crack about "cannibalizing sales"...FAIL)
Phish from a man and you take advantage of him for a day.
Give a man a phishing kit and you take advantage of him for a lifetime.
(of course by "man" we mean spotty-faced script kiddie, and by "lifetime" we mean until he wipes his harddisk, but proverbs are meant to be pithy and brief, not accurate.)
It can be very hard to tell, given the above circumstances, if the locking sleeve on these aircraft instrumentation connectors had been twisted far enough to complete the lock.
That does it. From now on, I'm taking the train.
Airport Security : Please Sir, step into this room and remove all clothing.
Me:(steps into room) So, you're sure about this?
Airport Security: Yes sir, you can disrobe now.
Me: Well, OK then. If you insist (removes clothes)
Airport Security: Gaahhh! For God's sake put your clothes back on!
Me: You sure you don't want a closer look? (turns around, bends over)
Airport Security: (whimpers)
It was a rhetorical question, more or less. I'm currently using Robocopy on a project -- it's very handy.
But the GP (GGP?) was right -- Explorer is bothersome for doing unattended operations. Drag a folder from one folder to another -- it says it's going to take 10 minutes, so you go make some coffee. Come back 5 minutes later and Explorer is asking you "Are you sure you want to move the read-only file blah_blah_blah?" Sheesh.
For server-side stuff Robocopy works great. For day-to-day work I'd appreciate a little more help from Explorer. It shouldn't be that hard, and I'm sure the M$ types have run into the same problem.
(20 minutes into copying tree from REDMOND1 to OFFICEDEV): "Are you sure you want to move the read-only file World Domination Plan (post BillG).doc"?
Vista (or Windows XP w/ Resource Kit) already includes a robust copy tool
Which makes you wonder why such a tool is necessary in the first place. Why can't normal Explorer copy operations be robust?