Your notation is non-standard, but "correct" in the meaning of a ratio. However, your explanation is backwards; the indication of a ratio means division, in exactly the same way that / does, and exactly the same way that "per" does. In the expression "miles per hour", that denotes miles/hour. You're confusing the issue with the step of solving for one of the quantities, which involves multiplication because that provides the correct unit as the end result. The : in no way indicates multiplication.
I'm definitely not saying it should be illegal for them to do that, but their behavior is most certainly wrong. It's wrong to encourage someone to permanently damage their life for your monetary gain, which is why selling crack is wrong (not because selling crack is illegal). What's so hard to understand about that?
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law", because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
For this guy to talk to the press is unethical. He's stirring up the public based on a study he knows to be weak.
Maybe, but if he's convinced that there's any grain of truth to his study, isn't making a lot of noise the moral thing to do? I think it's safe to say that every study, however weak, that reaches this conclusion and gets noticed is going to motivate further study in the area. It's a pretty vast problem globally speaking if he's right, even if it is only a 1 in 4,000 chance compared to a 1 in 10,000.
And if he's wrong? A few people stop using cell phones for no good reason? I can live with that.
You didn't even have to RTFA to see that this is intended for autistics. It's like saying, "These wheelchairs are just a crutch for inept people that can't walk".
Fuck you, torpor. And if you think autism is a "phony mental health problem", then double fuck you.
GetUserInput()
Practically a no-op, in CPU terms. DoAI()
Parallelism shines here for large-scale AI (i.e., many actors). UpdateWorldState()
With AI out of the equation, this is essentially game logic and physics. Physics calculations are particularly well-suited for offloading to an SPU (or three). I expect the actual utilization here to be quite high, considering the emergence of specialized game physics libraries. Game logic is rarely CPU-intensive enough to warrant mention. PlaySound()
PlayMusic()
Again, not a lot of CPU relevance here. DrawScreen()
The GPU is separate, so the bulk of the operations can (fingers crossed) be performed here. Even the stuff that can't (some dynamically-generated graphics content) can be offloaded to an SPU.
I'm looking for more than innovative gameplay here. Indy games provide plenty of that (Gish for example). What I'm looking for is an innovative gameplay experience, the like of which has been restricted by hardware limitations as of yet. I don't really expect it to happen with the next generation of consoles, but new hardware has usually been the key to these kinds of leaps (like it or not, Quake was a staggeringly different experience than its predecessors).
At the very least, the Cell should provide enough CPU horsepower for the kinds of games we're used to already (which, let's face it, made up the bulk of the offerings for the last generation of consoles as well). At best, a few talented developers will have the time and budget to use it to create more immersive and/or new styles of games. I'm sorry the PS2 didn't live up to your expectations, but that's just not really relevant to the discussion of a new emerging standard for consumer electronics CPUs. Marketing hype is always marketing hype, I'm simply talking about raw potential.
And perhaps you are willing to wink at criminal behaviour so that you can secretly wire a few thousand quid to your mistress without having a few questions raised. I am not.
And here we have it, folks. That fantastic attitude called "If you don't like it, you must be doing something wrong". Every scare and people like you grant the government more power to brighten your fucking night light. It's okay to trample our civil liberties as long as those nasty drug traffickers are brought to justice.
Well, FWIW, I've lived in America all my life (in both Washington and a few parts of northern California), and I've seen what, 0 guns (police officer handguns excluded). Doesn't mean there aren't guns to go around, just means I'm not seeing them.
And if those stats are true, they're certainly hunting rifles, not handguns.
That is, I believe, the point that Bowling is ultimately trying to make.
Re:The PS3's hardware is nothing to sniff at
on
Come the Revolution
·
· Score: 1
However, the Cell is a dog at GENERAL computing tasks
Gee, good thing it's not a desktop CPU.
Nobody has yet to come up with a way to turn standard game code into 9-way SMP DSP code.
A) There's been no incentive to make "standard game code" run on an architecture like the Cell... because no previous consoles utilized such architectures.
B) I'm not particularly even talking about "standard game code". I really don't care if FIFA '07 or CS: Binary or whatever runs well on the Cell. I'm excited by the possibilities opened up by the sheer number-crunching power available. If a single game puts it to good use and does something that was otherwise impossible, I'll be happy... because I could have played the rest of those games on my PC, running "commodity hardware".
The X-box 360, with its three overclocked 604e's will clearly outperform the Cell in every real world application.
"Real world application"?! We're not talking about the Cell running Word, it was always marketed as a special-purpose chip. Theoretical performance is actually a factor here.
The PS3's hardware is nothing to sniff at
on
Come the Revolution
·
· Score: 1
Although I freely admit I'm an avid Nintendo fanboy, I must say I'm excited to see what games will be doing with the Cell processor on the PS3 a few years from now. That thing really does fly if you've got a dedicated enough (read: well-paid and not too rushed) development team. AFAIK, games on any platform still have yet to incorporate large-scale AI, the kind that would make vaguely realistic simulations of a downtown environment possible (no, GTA: Geographical Location still doesn't come close).
That said, the Revolution is still the only "sure thing" next-gen system, in my book. I have a gaming-capable PC, so consoles need to offer something more/different.
Because it takes control from the market (which you are a part of) to an entity that does not always do the right thing.
Umm... so we're more a part of the market than we are the government? The market, where the potency of your vote is determined by how much money you have? The market, where the major actors (corporations) are required to put profits ahead of all other concerns?
I'm sorry, the government has its problems, and frequently sticks its nose where it doesn't belong, but to even imply that the market always does right and is accessible to everyone is total bullshit.
Like wiretapping.
Right. Insert 50 megabytes of corporate transgressions here. Colluding to fix prices. Charging people for rainwater collection. Knowingly marketing dangerous goods. Illegally supporting repressive regimes. Abusive legal tactics. Excessive environmental damage. Etc, etc.
And while you might be a part of the market, there are always going to be companies you're not a part of, and sometimes the only avenue to limit their abuse is that other institution that you are a part of.
I'm more than guilty of not contacting representatives when I clearly should. Thanks for the reminder... I emailed them a lengthy two cents on the issue.
It's ridiculous how much of the perceived performance of a system is simply bound to how fast its hard drive is. But if you know nothing about computer architecture, it makes sense. With a decent broadband connection, hard drive delays are pretty much second only to printer delays (the latter of which are obvious in their nature, unlike the spooky insides of a computer). I can't tell you how many times my parents have described something "on the internet" as being really slow, only to find out it was simply disk access time in firing up Java or something.
Of course, any reports like this are instanly suspect, because I've had near 60% CPU usage from Skype with no conversations running. Which makes sense, considering Skype is a peer-to-peer node routing encrypted traffic. Skype is built on a hierarchy of peer nodes... peer nodes like you! And you! And look at your connection, definitely you too!
There is no reason why people couldn't organize a new institution to protect the enviornment.
There are lots of reasons: Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, etc.
You don't need a police force, atomic weapons, an "elected" leader, and a flag and nationalistic anthem in order to solve problems. There are any number of diverse systems of social organization, economic exchange, and self-regulation society can use instead of government sponsered violence.
Well, back here on Earth, in the year 2006, there are not any number of diverse systems of social organization. Labor unions can only really police the use of their labor. Religions are a disaster when it comes to large-scale decision-making. Corporations are compulsive profit-mongers, by definition. Government, however, is open to change. Government is ultimately subject to the will of the people, even in its current twisted and inept form.
So, to summarize... your solution to our current and pressing environmental problems is, rather than enact change through established (but often faulty) concensus mechanisms, insist on a new social order that will protect the environment through vague (but non-violent!) actions?
Well, fine, how about this. If everyone was nice, we wouldn't have to worry about the environment. I like this solution the best.
Companies that pay their protection fee (i.e. donate to political campaigns) dump with impunity and without regulation.
First off, if you base your argument on an overly broad generalization (like "all you have to do is donate to political campaigns and you can pollute as much as you want"), the argument is bullshit. I have no doubt that some companies get away with that, but your 100%-corruption theory needs some evidence.
Maybe you could argue that the currently the government reduces polution (by limiting it to only people who can afford to bribe politicians)
Right, I could make that argument, and I think I will. If the government didn't limit any polluters, there would be... more polluters... do you follow? But I guess there are some corrupt politicians, clearly we should give up on this whole "government" thing and just let massive corporations do whatever they want.
but that is a bit like claiming McDonalds helps reduce fast food by charging for frachises and driving other chains out of buisness.
But that's a terrible analogy, since McDonald's is purely profit-driven, and fast food is, AFAIK, their only profit source. Any limiting of fast food they do is directly in the interest of serving more fast food. Preventing a business from polluting doesn't "shift" that pollution to another business, and it doesn't "entitle" the government to pollute more. The crap just doesn't get dumped.
a bunch of crap about governmental pollution
Pretty irrelevant. Any government will abuse its power, some (US, China, etc.) more than others. Your attitude that the government itself causes damage and is therefore not a viable solution vector for preventing any damage of that type is completely unserviceable.
But I'll humor you. Since the government couldn't possibly protect any aspects of the environment (since "it" is the very same government damaging others!), I'll let you explain to me how the private sector will do a better job of protecting the environment without government regulation.
By "protect", you mean protect, right? Yeah, it's a shame about those pesky government regulations that prevent companies from dumping whatever they want whereever they want. If only they let the free market do its thing, I'm sure consumers would always be gently guided by an invisible hand to buy environmentally friendly products.
Slashdot Mirror
You ever wonder why password fields don't echo the actual characters back to the screen?
No, seriously. He's talking about the cleartext username box.
Your notation is non-standard, but "correct" in the meaning of a ratio. However, your explanation is backwards; the indication of a ratio means division, in exactly the same way that / does, and exactly the same way that "per" does. In the expression "miles per hour", that denotes miles/hour. You're confusing the issue with the step of solving for one of the quantities, which involves multiplication because that provides the correct unit as the end result. The : in no way indicates multiplication.
Snow Crash was awful.
I'm definitely not saying it should be illegal for them to do that, but their behavior is most certainly wrong. It's wrong to encourage someone to permanently damage their life for your monetary gain, which is why selling crack is wrong (not because selling crack is illegal). What's so hard to understand about that?
The RIAA essentially suggested she drop out of college to pay the settlement. If you think that's okay for them to do, you're wrong.
For this guy to talk to the press is unethical. He's stirring up the public based on a study he knows to be weak.
Maybe, but if he's convinced that there's any grain of truth to his study, isn't making a lot of noise the moral thing to do? I think it's safe to say that every study, however weak, that reaches this conclusion and gets noticed is going to motivate further study in the area. It's a pretty vast problem globally speaking if he's right, even if it is only a 1 in 4,000 chance compared to a 1 in 10,000.
And if he's wrong? A few people stop using cell phones for no good reason? I can live with that.
Wow, what to say? I've known people with these disorders. You're seriously out of touch with reality.
Or, more likely, a troll. Poor you, either way.
You didn't even have to RTFA to see that this is intended for autistics. It's like saying, "These wheelchairs are just a crutch for inept people that can't walk".
Fuck you, torpor. And if you think autism is a "phony mental health problem", then double fuck you.
that and a lot of the documentation being built into the interpreter.
GetUserInput()
Practically a no-op, in CPU terms.
DoAI()
Parallelism shines here for large-scale AI (i.e., many actors).
UpdateWorldState()
With AI out of the equation, this is essentially game logic and physics. Physics calculations are particularly well-suited for offloading to an SPU (or three). I expect the actual utilization here to be quite high, considering the emergence of specialized game physics libraries. Game logic is rarely CPU-intensive enough to warrant mention.
PlaySound()
PlayMusic()
Again, not a lot of CPU relevance here.
DrawScreen()
The GPU is separate, so the bulk of the operations can (fingers crossed) be performed here. Even the stuff that can't (some dynamically-generated graphics content) can be offloaded to an SPU.
I'm looking for more than innovative gameplay here. Indy games provide plenty of that (Gish for example). What I'm looking for is an innovative gameplay experience, the like of which has been restricted by hardware limitations as of yet. I don't really expect it to happen with the next generation of consoles, but new hardware has usually been the key to these kinds of leaps (like it or not, Quake was a staggeringly different experience than its predecessors).
At the very least, the Cell should provide enough CPU horsepower for the kinds of games we're used to already (which, let's face it, made up the bulk of the offerings for the last generation of consoles as well). At best, a few talented developers will have the time and budget to use it to create more immersive and/or new styles of games. I'm sorry the PS2 didn't live up to your expectations, but that's just not really relevant to the discussion of a new emerging standard for consumer electronics CPUs. Marketing hype is always marketing hype, I'm simply talking about raw potential.
And perhaps you are willing to wink at criminal behaviour so that you can secretly wire a few thousand quid to your mistress without having a few questions raised. I am not.
And here we have it, folks. That fantastic attitude called "If you don't like it, you must be doing something wrong". Every scare and people like you grant the government more power to brighten your fucking night light. It's okay to trample our civil liberties as long as those nasty drug traffickers are brought to justice.
Fuck you, Ritz.
Well, FWIW, I've lived in America all my life (in both Washington and a few parts of northern California), and I've seen what, 0 guns (police officer handguns excluded). Doesn't mean there aren't guns to go around, just means I'm not seeing them.
And if those stats are true, they're certainly hunting rifles, not handguns.
That is, I believe, the point that Bowling is ultimately trying to make.
However, the Cell is a dog at GENERAL computing tasks
Gee, good thing it's not a desktop CPU.
Nobody has yet to come up with a way to turn standard game code into 9-way SMP DSP code.
A) There's been no incentive to make "standard game code" run on an architecture like the Cell... because no previous consoles utilized such architectures.
B) I'm not particularly even talking about "standard game code". I really don't care if FIFA '07 or CS: Binary or whatever runs well on the Cell. I'm excited by the possibilities opened up by the sheer number-crunching power available. If a single game puts it to good use and does something that was otherwise impossible, I'll be happy... because I could have played the rest of those games on my PC, running "commodity hardware".
The X-box 360, with its three overclocked 604e's will clearly outperform the Cell in every real world application.
"Real world application"?! We're not talking about the Cell running Word, it was always marketed as a special-purpose chip. Theoretical performance is actually a factor here.
Although I freely admit I'm an avid Nintendo fanboy, I must say I'm excited to see what games will be doing with the Cell processor on the PS3 a few years from now. That thing really does fly if you've got a dedicated enough (read: well-paid and not too rushed) development team. AFAIK, games on any platform still have yet to incorporate large-scale AI, the kind that would make vaguely realistic simulations of a downtown environment possible (no, GTA: Geographical Location still doesn't come close).
That said, the Revolution is still the only "sure thing" next-gen system, in my book. I have a gaming-capable PC, so consoles need to offer something more/different.
I've noticed as well that the option is generally not listed when you look for exporting... but the KDE print system can "print" to a PDF file.
The fact that you generally need to be a lawyer to read and understand the law is... well, criminal. Google Law to the rescue, anyone?
Because it takes control from the market (which you are a part of) to an entity that does not always do the right thing.
Umm... so we're more a part of the market than we are the government? The market, where the potency of your vote is determined by how much money you have? The market, where the major actors (corporations) are required to put profits ahead of all other concerns?
I'm sorry, the government has its problems, and frequently sticks its nose where it doesn't belong, but to even imply that the market always does right and is accessible to everyone is total bullshit.
Like wiretapping.
Right. Insert 50 megabytes of corporate transgressions here. Colluding to fix prices. Charging people for rainwater collection. Knowingly marketing dangerous goods. Illegally supporting repressive regimes. Abusive legal tactics. Excessive environmental damage. Etc, etc.
And while you might be a part of the market, there are always going to be companies you're not a part of, and sometimes the only avenue to limit their abuse is that other institution that you are a part of.
I'm more than guilty of not contacting representatives when I clearly should. Thanks for the reminder... I emailed them a lengthy two cents on the issue.
It's ridiculous how much of the perceived performance of a system is simply bound to how fast its hard drive is. But if you know nothing about computer architecture, it makes sense. With a decent broadband connection, hard drive delays are pretty much second only to printer delays (the latter of which are obvious in their nature, unlike the spooky insides of a computer). I can't tell you how many times my parents have described something "on the internet" as being really slow, only to find out it was simply disk access time in firing up Java or something.
Of course, any reports like this are instanly suspect, because I've had near 60% CPU usage from Skype with no conversations running. Which makes sense, considering Skype is a peer-to-peer node routing encrypted traffic. Skype is built on a hierarchy of peer nodes... peer nodes like you! And you! And look at your connection, definitely you too!
There is no reason why people couldn't organize a new institution to protect the enviornment.
There are lots of reasons: Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, etc.
You don't need a police force, atomic weapons, an "elected" leader, and a flag and nationalistic anthem in order to solve problems. There are any number of diverse systems of social organization, economic exchange, and self-regulation society can use instead of government sponsered violence.
Well, back here on Earth, in the year 2006, there are not any number of diverse systems of social organization. Labor unions can only really police the use of their labor. Religions are a disaster when it comes to large-scale decision-making. Corporations are compulsive profit-mongers, by definition. Government, however, is open to change. Government is ultimately subject to the will of the people, even in its current twisted and inept form.
So, to summarize... your solution to our current and pressing environmental problems is, rather than enact change through established (but often faulty) concensus mechanisms, insist on a new social order that will protect the environment through vague (but non-violent!) actions?
Well, fine, how about this. If everyone was nice, we wouldn't have to worry about the environment. I like this solution the best.
Companies that pay their protection fee (i.e. donate to political campaigns) dump with impunity and without regulation.
First off, if you base your argument on an overly broad generalization (like "all you have to do is donate to political campaigns and you can pollute as much as you want"), the argument is bullshit. I have no doubt that some companies get away with that, but your 100%-corruption theory needs some evidence.
Maybe you could argue that the currently the government reduces polution (by limiting it to only people who can afford to bribe politicians)
Right, I could make that argument, and I think I will. If the government didn't limit any polluters, there would be... more polluters... do you follow? But I guess there are some corrupt politicians, clearly we should give up on this whole "government" thing and just let massive corporations do whatever they want.
but that is a bit like claiming McDonalds helps reduce fast food by charging for frachises and driving other chains out of buisness.
But that's a terrible analogy, since McDonald's is purely profit-driven, and fast food is, AFAIK, their only profit source. Any limiting of fast food they do is directly in the interest of serving more fast food. Preventing a business from polluting doesn't "shift" that pollution to another business, and it doesn't "entitle" the government to pollute more. The crap just doesn't get dumped.
a bunch of crap about governmental pollution
Pretty irrelevant. Any government will abuse its power, some (US, China, etc.) more than others. Your attitude that the government itself causes damage and is therefore not a viable solution vector for preventing any damage of that type is completely unserviceable.
But I'll humor you. Since the government couldn't possibly protect any aspects of the environment (since "it" is the very same government damaging others!), I'll let you explain to me how the private sector will do a better job of protecting the environment without government regulation.
By "protect", you mean protect, right? Yeah, it's a shame about those pesky government regulations that prevent companies from dumping whatever they want whereever they want. If only they let the free market do its thing, I'm sure consumers would always be gently guided by an invisible hand to buy environmentally friendly products.