Not only do we not have the flying car we were all promised would be ubiquitous by now, we also lack a retail environment where we can purchase the parts to build one ourselves. You're going to wish you'd taken a more active role in personal manufacturing when it becomes necessary to drill your own oil well in order to be able to afford the non-flying (SUCKAGE) car you're stuck with now.
Enjoy.
But... At 8pm on a Saturday night they had a component I could use to repair the power supply in my friend's projector. The "good" place for this stuff closes at noon on Saturdays (I'm rarely ready to buy electronics before noon on Saturday), and while Radio Shack didn't have exactly what I was looking for (an individual diode), they *DID* have a full bridge rectifier, which I was able to use in place of the discrete diodes to repair it.
So, put down Radio Shack all you want, but damn it I still respect them.
I have a better parts assortment just lying around the house in the form of broken electronics. It's a sad statement that I have a better parts selection to choose from in a couple of graveyard electronics items than Radio Shack has in their entire store these days. That said, I too have purchased what is likely that very same full bridge rectifier from them not that long ago. I used it to convert a section of 12 volt A/C low voltage outdoor lighting into DC for some LED stuff I wanted to mix in with my low watt AC incandescent system. That in no way alleviates the disgust I feel that they haven't been in the forefront of innovation DIY offerings. I don't think it would be an overstatement to say there's more technology available in LEGO Technic toys than the entirety of the Radio Shack domain. Maybe they sell those toys there now since they've about one third a Toys'R'Us these days anyway? At a minimum, they need to hit this Arduino thing hard. Sensors, motors, switches, breadboarding and prototyping tools, etc. And price things fairly FOR A CHANGE.
Once upon a time they were called Allied Radio Shack. That was right about 1970, which, give or take a couple years, is when I purchased my first P-Box kit. I also was the proud owner of a 50-1 electronics kit of theirs. It was back when the shell of the kit was actually made of wood. Jeebus, I'm old as shit.
Their catalog was not as large as Sears back then, but it was very thick. There were all manor/brand/assortment of parts for the board level enthusiast. They got split up by the government as a monopoly in 1973. After the breakup, the stores still carried more parts than they now do, but the handwriting was on the wall. CB radios and CB radio paraphernalia were as plentiful as Ipod and their various accessories back in that era. The cell phone of the late 70's. There was an entire lingo surrounding the communications platform that would make today's basher's and grepper's proud. A proper 'gaming' rig of the era, to be considered truly bad-ass, would couple a single sideband (SSB) CB transceiver (triple the channels!) to an illegal high gain RF amplifier (aka "footwarmer" IIRC) and connect it to a dual antenna system (co-phase dual antenna). The coup de grace came in the final tuning of the antennas using an analog meter to properly adjust the 'standing wave' properties of your transmissions. Ten-four good buddy?
I worked at Radio Shack in the 80's part-time while attending college. CB radio was all dead, relegated to an aisle at the nearest truckers cafe. The toys at Christmas were/are a HUGE profit center for Radio Shack. They make a bunch of money on those remote controlled Chinese manufactured toys AND they suck up $$$batteries$$$ like crazy. By and large, the Radio Shack of today is just a pale imitation of a properly stocked large Walmart electronics department. The few parts they do sell are now relegated to a couple metal cabinets. All DIY items are, and have always been, marked-up to the hilt. The few remaining parts that Radio Shack still carries are priced as if they were made from platinum or gold instead of silica and carbon. Mark-up so high it would make a pawn broker blush. Nothing would please management more than a return to the heady days when lines formed to pay 20,000% markups on quarter watt resistors.
So Radio Shack is looking for suggestion?
I'd suggest Radio Shack dump tons of money on Make events and promote American invention with increased vigor. Carry more hobbyist parts, and at prices that show a concern for their clientele other than just snatching as much of their pitiful weekly allowance money as possible. Ferchrissakes, Doritos haven't gotten any cheaper in the intervening years. Cut a brother some slack.
Enjoy.
When a man has more processor cores in his pocket than he has testicles, I truly believe we've reached the apex of epistemological closure within the mobile computing arena.
Enjoy.
Remove all references to nuclear meltdown from popular culture, lest the public be shocked at how a simple cartoon managed to project tragedy so perfectly into the future, yet the brightest brains in the industry are standing around a smoldering ruin (but not too closely mind you) wondering what the hell went wrong/is going on? Whocouldanode?
Enjoy.
It's not like anybody is gonna buy something besides an Ipad (for the best tablet experience) unless they're lied to or defrauded in some way or fashion. Samsung really has no other choice but to engage in the most crass form of commercialism, or they risk not being able to sell any of their wannabee "Ipad Killer" tablets.
They have to engage in lies or their lame attempt at copying Apple will surely die.
Enjoy.
Two things we'll have for sure in twenty years (because that's a long time.... cough)
Affordable high efficiency solar, and fusion power, which by my recollection have both been stuck in a shifting and endless "next 20 years" prediction cycle for about the last 50 years.
A couple things you won't see in the next twenty years: Mass produced affordable flying cars (which totally pisses me off) and bacon in a squeeze bottle. The promise of never ending technological advancement is merely a diversion to keep the tech crowd from becoming focused, despondent and suicidal over the lack of same.
Enjoy.
Kind of funny reading the debate on whether solar is finally ready for prime time since I see it dam near everywhere here in Germany. The country is pumping A BILLION euros per MONTH into solar installations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany
Pretty impressive what an economy unencumbered by a couple foreign wars can afford to invest in.
Enjoy.
What sounded like a great idea at first, quickly turned to a nightmare as insurgent Muslims armed with Gillette Mach 3's tore through base like a marauding band of Sioux warriors. Not a scalp was left unshaven.
Enjoy.
How long before you can compose a quick tweet to your friends that you're hungry for pizza and before you can finish hitting the submit button, your doorbell rings and it's the Domino's guy standing there holding a large pepperoni and a two liter coke? Right now I'm thinking about bacon.........
Enjoy.
Most people have belief in belief (as opposed to belief in deities) according to Daniel Dennett (one of the four atheist horsemen of the Apocalypse).
The reason people believe is hardwired into our genes. It comes about as a result of our ability to imagine the future, coupled with something referred to as HAAD (hyper acute agency detection). HAAD is just a fancy way of saying that human survival was, at one time, dependent on folks jumping when they saw shadows they thought might be predators, even when they were just shadows. There's some really interesting work being done in the field of evolutionary psychology on this subject.
Enjoy.
The alien grabs the laser pistol from hip of Captain America.
"What is this strange device?" the alien mutters as he clumsily
attempts to inspect it.
"It's for cleaning your teeth", replies Captain America.
"You point it towards your mouth and pull on the little lever."
Profit.
Enjoy.
Can he build a high enough profile to protect himself from danger?"
Not unless he were a former American President or VP who admittedly introduced torture into the war regime.
I'd say he's got the half life of a gnat at this point. If I were him I'd make sure ALL those documents went public PRONTO. That's probably his best option.
Enjoy.
NASA probably scoped out these deposits from space years ago. The reason for the wealth of deposits is that they are the deep water drilling equivalents of mining. No infrastructure, remote mountainous location, hostile citizenry and ongoing war and turmoil. On land we don't own.
Enjoy.
Thank you for your insightful observations on mind preservation. You have confirmed a suspicion that I have harbored for decades.
I've now redoubled my dedication to sitting on the sofa eating Cheetos and daydreaming of daffodils. I expect to reach Mensa status by the time I'm ready to 'retire'.
Enjoy.
This little test will ultimately go down in flames. The propaganda he spews needs to be spread as far and wide as possible. So they'll either reopen the flood gates or find some other form of wingnut welfare to fund the dispersal of misinformation.
The universe of people willing to be paid to be lied to isn't nearly large enough to feed the hunger of such greedy sociopaths. Watch and see.
Enjoy.
Naw. I bought mine because they work. Whatever extra I paid for my Apple computers it has been worth it in savings from not having to deal with virus junk and O/S troubles. You don't have to be gay, pretentious or an Apple fanboy to desire a computing experience free from the hassle that is Windoz.
Enjoy.
It will require that extremely overpaid newspaper 'talent' take the same kind of pay cuts forced on other workers wishing to save their industries. If the people who worked in these high profile reporting jobs were doing their business properly we wouldn't have been lied into war with Iraq over bogus WMD and 9-11 connection claims.
Just look at all the in depth reporting they didn't do on Bernie Madoff over the last decade. A man supposedly buying and selling billions in stocks, but in retrospect we find out he never ever made a trade? How hard is that to figure out for chrissakes??
Enjoy.
I'm claiming that I have the oldest operational car amplifiers until I find somebody who can best me.
Two Kenwood power amps. Circa late 70's, early 80's. Model# KAC-7020 and KAC-8200
Details:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1111037
Enjoy.
Penis recognition software (PRS) is being developed in conjunction with this camera install.
The FBI is keenly aware that "the terrorists" are likely to employ elaborate forms of disguise, even resorting to cosmetic surgery, but hardly anybody ever carves up their Johnson. Soon, all commercial toilets will be online and a massive archive of biometric dicktatude will be available.
"Honey, how did it go at work today?"
"Don't ask darling...nothing but a bunch of dicks down at the airport."
Enjoy.
Slashdot Mirror
Not only do we not have the flying car we were all promised would be ubiquitous by now, we also lack a retail environment where we can purchase the parts to build one ourselves. You're going to wish you'd taken a more active role in personal manufacturing when it becomes necessary to drill your own oil well in order to be able to afford the non-flying (SUCKAGE) car you're stuck with now. Enjoy.
But... At 8pm on a Saturday night they had a component I could use to repair the power supply in my friend's projector. The "good" place for this stuff closes at noon on Saturdays (I'm rarely ready to buy electronics before noon on Saturday), and while Radio Shack didn't have exactly what I was looking for (an individual diode), they *DID* have a full bridge rectifier, which I was able to use in place of the discrete diodes to repair it. So, put down Radio Shack all you want, but damn it I still respect them.
I have a better parts assortment just lying around the house in the form of broken electronics. It's a sad statement that I have a better parts selection to choose from in a couple of graveyard electronics items than Radio Shack has in their entire store these days. That said, I too have purchased what is likely that very same full bridge rectifier from them not that long ago. I used it to convert a section of 12 volt A/C low voltage outdoor lighting into DC for some LED stuff I wanted to mix in with my low watt AC incandescent system. That in no way alleviates the disgust I feel that they haven't been in the forefront of innovation DIY offerings. I don't think it would be an overstatement to say there's more technology available in LEGO Technic toys than the entirety of the Radio Shack domain. Maybe they sell those toys there now since they've about one third a Toys'R'Us these days anyway? At a minimum, they need to hit this Arduino thing hard. Sensors, motors, switches, breadboarding and prototyping tools, etc. And price things fairly FOR A CHANGE.
Once upon a time they were called Allied Radio Shack. That was right about 1970, which, give or take a couple years, is when I purchased my first P-Box kit. I also was the proud owner of a 50-1 electronics kit of theirs. It was back when the shell of the kit was actually made of wood. Jeebus, I'm old as shit. Their catalog was not as large as Sears back then, but it was very thick. There were all manor/brand/assortment of parts for the board level enthusiast. They got split up by the government as a monopoly in 1973. After the breakup, the stores still carried more parts than they now do, but the handwriting was on the wall. CB radios and CB radio paraphernalia were as plentiful as Ipod and their various accessories back in that era. The cell phone of the late 70's. There was an entire lingo surrounding the communications platform that would make today's basher's and grepper's proud. A proper 'gaming' rig of the era, to be considered truly bad-ass, would couple a single sideband (SSB) CB transceiver (triple the channels!) to an illegal high gain RF amplifier (aka "footwarmer" IIRC) and connect it to a dual antenna system (co-phase dual antenna). The coup de grace came in the final tuning of the antennas using an analog meter to properly adjust the 'standing wave' properties of your transmissions. Ten-four good buddy? I worked at Radio Shack in the 80's part-time while attending college. CB radio was all dead, relegated to an aisle at the nearest truckers cafe. The toys at Christmas were/are a HUGE profit center for Radio Shack. They make a bunch of money on those remote controlled Chinese manufactured toys AND they suck up $$$batteries$$$ like crazy. By and large, the Radio Shack of today is just a pale imitation of a properly stocked large Walmart electronics department. The few parts they do sell are now relegated to a couple metal cabinets. All DIY items are, and have always been, marked-up to the hilt. The few remaining parts that Radio Shack still carries are priced as if they were made from platinum or gold instead of silica and carbon. Mark-up so high it would make a pawn broker blush. Nothing would please management more than a return to the heady days when lines formed to pay 20,000% markups on quarter watt resistors. So Radio Shack is looking for suggestion? I'd suggest Radio Shack dump tons of money on Make events and promote American invention with increased vigor. Carry more hobbyist parts, and at prices that show a concern for their clientele other than just snatching as much of their pitiful weekly allowance money as possible. Ferchrissakes, Doritos haven't gotten any cheaper in the intervening years. Cut a brother some slack. Enjoy.
When a man has more processor cores in his pocket than he has testicles, I truly believe we've reached the apex of epistemological closure within the mobile computing arena. Enjoy.
Remove all references to nuclear meltdown from popular culture, lest the public be shocked at how a simple cartoon managed to project tragedy so perfectly into the future, yet the brightest brains in the industry are standing around a smoldering ruin (but not too closely mind you) wondering what the hell went wrong/is going on? Whocouldanode? Enjoy.
Looks like the professor has been label as an SP (suppressive person), and anything done to ruin him is considered "fair game". Enjoy.
It's not like anybody is gonna buy something besides an Ipad (for the best tablet experience) unless they're lied to or defrauded in some way or fashion. Samsung really has no other choice but to engage in the most crass form of commercialism, or they risk not being able to sell any of their wannabee "Ipad Killer" tablets. They have to engage in lies or their lame attempt at copying Apple will surely die. Enjoy.
Two things we'll have for sure in twenty years (because that's a long time .... cough)
Affordable high efficiency solar, and fusion power, which by my recollection have both been stuck in a shifting and endless "next 20 years" prediction cycle for about the last 50 years.
A couple things you won't see in the next twenty years: Mass produced affordable flying cars (which totally pisses me off) and bacon in a squeeze bottle. The promise of never ending technological advancement is merely a diversion to keep the tech crowd from becoming focused, despondent and suicidal over the lack of same.
Enjoy.
Kind of funny reading the debate on whether solar is finally ready for prime time since I see it dam near everywhere here in Germany. The country is pumping A BILLION euros per MONTH into solar installations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany Pretty impressive what an economy unencumbered by a couple foreign wars can afford to invest in. Enjoy.
What sounded like a great idea at first, quickly turned to a nightmare as insurgent Muslims armed with Gillette Mach 3's tore through base like a marauding band of Sioux warriors. Not a scalp was left unshaven. Enjoy.
How long before you can compose a quick tweet to your friends that you're hungry for pizza and before you can finish hitting the submit button, your doorbell rings and it's the Domino's guy standing there holding a large pepperoni and a two liter coke? Right now I'm thinking about bacon......... Enjoy.
What's not to love about this? Enjoy.
Most people have belief in belief (as opposed to belief in deities) according to Daniel Dennett (one of the four atheist horsemen of the Apocalypse). The reason people believe is hardwired into our genes. It comes about as a result of our ability to imagine the future, coupled with something referred to as HAAD (hyper acute agency detection). HAAD is just a fancy way of saying that human survival was, at one time, dependent on folks jumping when they saw shadows they thought might be predators, even when they were just shadows. There's some really interesting work being done in the field of evolutionary psychology on this subject. Enjoy.
The alien grabs the laser pistol from hip of Captain America. "What is this strange device?" the alien mutters as he clumsily attempts to inspect it. "It's for cleaning your teeth", replies Captain America. "You point it towards your mouth and pull on the little lever." Profit. Enjoy.
Can he build a high enough profile to protect himself from danger?" Not unless he were a former American President or VP who admittedly introduced torture into the war regime. I'd say he's got the half life of a gnat at this point. If I were him I'd make sure ALL those documents went public PRONTO. That's probably his best option. Enjoy.
NASA probably scoped out these deposits from space years ago. The reason for the wealth of deposits is that they are the deep water drilling equivalents of mining. No infrastructure, remote mountainous location, hostile citizenry and ongoing war and turmoil. On land we don't own. Enjoy.
Thank you for your insightful observations on mind preservation. You have confirmed a suspicion that I have harbored for decades. I've now redoubled my dedication to sitting on the sofa eating Cheetos and daydreaming of daffodils. I expect to reach Mensa status by the time I'm ready to 'retire'. Enjoy.
This little test will ultimately go down in flames. The propaganda he spews needs to be spread as far and wide as possible. So they'll either reopen the flood gates or find some other form of wingnut welfare to fund the dispersal of misinformation. The universe of people willing to be paid to be lied to isn't nearly large enough to feed the hunger of such greedy sociopaths. Watch and see. Enjoy.
Naw. I bought mine because they work. Whatever extra I paid for my Apple computers it has been worth it in savings from not having to deal with virus junk and O/S troubles. You don't have to be gay, pretentious or an Apple fanboy to desire a computing experience free from the hassle that is Windoz. Enjoy.
It will require that extremely overpaid newspaper 'talent' take the same kind of pay cuts forced on other workers wishing to save their industries. If the people who worked in these high profile reporting jobs were doing their business properly we wouldn't have been lied into war with Iraq over bogus WMD and 9-11 connection claims. Just look at all the in depth reporting they didn't do on Bernie Madoff over the last decade. A man supposedly buying and selling billions in stocks, but in retrospect we find out he never ever made a trade? How hard is that to figure out for chrissakes?? Enjoy.
Marcy at FDL for one. Enjoy.
No answer provided. Enjoy.
Yeah, me too. My Timex-Sinclair 2068 was my upgrade path from the Timex Sinclair 1000. Enjoy.
I'm claiming that I have the oldest operational car amplifiers until I find somebody who can best me. Two Kenwood power amps. Circa late 70's, early 80's. Model# KAC-7020 and KAC-8200 Details: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1111037 Enjoy.
Penis recognition software (PRS) is being developed in conjunction with this camera install. The FBI is keenly aware that "the terrorists" are likely to employ elaborate forms of disguise, even resorting to cosmetic surgery, but hardly anybody ever carves up their Johnson. Soon, all commercial toilets will be online and a massive archive of biometric dicktatude will be available. "Honey, how did it go at work today?" "Don't ask darling...nothing but a bunch of dicks down at the airport." Enjoy.