No, what the Microsoft statement says is 'Well, Plays for Sure content might work, but we don't really care one way or another.' So yes, there IS a chance that MSN Music tracks will work on the Zune, but I thing that's highly unlikely.
I recently took college chem, and if I recall correctly, 'Buckyballs' can actually be made into tubes, which have been used in some nanotech applications. Geometrically, if you were to take a soccer ball/buckyball, cut it in half along the seams, and then add in alternating rows of hexagons and pentagons, it forms a tube with hemispherical ends. It's hard to explain, but here's a link: http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1295 (sorry, no html).
Considering the shape of these tubes, I wonder why an egg-shaped buckyball is so odd...it seems like a very short (i.e. 1-2 rows between the ends) buckytube would approximate an egg shape fairly well. If it is truly egg-shaped, then it isn't a buckyball at all as it isn't carbon-60, but rather is another form of carbon with an entirely different bonding pattern.
Actually, more than you'd realize. Out of the DVDs in my collection, about ten percent have alternate audio tracks (not counting alternate languages), several have multiple angles, and over half (including, oddly enough, a re-release of the Big Sleep) have alternate endings that can be viewed seamlessly. So many people complain about the under-utilization of DVD special features, while at the same time proclaiming they don't even use the special features. It all depends on the movie you're watching...The Matrix is more likely to have interesting, engaging special features than, say, Snakes on a Plane.
Also, there's more to the format battle than just features (if you think about it, VHS is still perfectly adequate for most people, but DVD is far superior. same logic applies)
No, what he is implying is that solar technology is more inefficient and expensive than traditional wind-powered vessels. Nuclear is, in this instance, a better option (from a preformance standpoint) since it works all the time at the same efficiency, without resorting to batteries. If it is stormy for an extended period of time (common on the open ocean) the solar panels will be operating at greatly reduced efficiency, whereas a nuclear-powered vessel would operate at equal efficiency as in sunny, calm conditions. In my eyes, this 'experiment' is a waste of (federal?) grant money that would be better spent on other things-i.e. improving solar efficiency so the technology becomes a viable alternative to coal-fired power plants.
Alright, I posted a similar comment earlier in the discussion, but for Christ's sake, have you ever heard of a FUCKING METH LAB? Drug dealers will go from store to store, buying 10-20 bottles of over the counter medications at each store, along with other fun chemicals such as bleach, etc., take these goodies to their meth lab, and create a highly addictive, highly toxic illict drug. So, instead of using some common sense and a adequate working knowledge of current domestic affairs, you use demeaning stereotypes such as "Nanny-State bleeding hearts" to support your position. You, sir, are a demagogue (see definition posted earlier in the discussion).
O.K. Mr. Post-before-thinking Pundit, there is a VERY legitimate reason you must show ID to buy some over-the-counter drugs: these drugs are used to make methamphetamines. Therefore, in most states stores can only sell limited quantities of these drugs to each consumer (usually <2 bottles). Additionally, the store may have to I.D. you to verify your age before you purchase Day-Quil to make sure you are over a certain age (either 16 or 18), since some people use Ny/Day-Quil as a substitute for other illegal drugs.
Do you realize that most of the money a band makes comes from royalties, not merch sales? How many CD's a band sells is the major determinant of its popularity, as it is a quantifiable measure of how many people are listening to the music. Buying CDs is, by far, the best way to support an artist. It is the same difference as voting for a politician, as opposed to donating money to the politician's campaign. The latter will give the politician more money, but voting for him is the only way to elect him.
as a dairy queen employee, i can tell you this. it isn't called ice cream because it is not, in fact, ice cream. it is a milk/sugar/preservative mixture that is chilled slightly, and mixed with air. the product is never frozen, and has a completely different texture from actual ice cream. the FDA doesn't allow companies to label their products as something they're not (a law passed in the early 1900's because of patent medicines).
I don't know what kind of science education YOU had, but i was taught in middle school the difference between a "hypothesis", a "theory", and a "law". In case you don't know, a hypothesis is basically an educated guess, a theory has been supported by repeated experimentation, and a law has, basically, been "proven". however, it was ALWAYS stressed that anything in science can be disproven, even laws. this is one of the most BASIC principles of science-nothing can be proven to be 100% true. this is very important, because, as we advance culturally and scientifically, things that were previously thought to be true can, in fact, be completely incorrect. this sticker is, in my opinion, a very good idea, even if it was made for different reasons that the ones i have put forth. the sticker doesn't say ANYTHING, ANYTHING AT ALL about creationism. as far as the message goes, the sticker could be supporting the extraterrestrial origin of life on earth. the point is, the sticker didn't support or strike down anything. it just stated a FACT-evolution is a theory, and theories can, and sometimes are, wrong. it doesn't matter if i believe in ID, Evolution, or any other religion. this is just basic science, that kid's should be taught. In my opinion, the one most important thing that kids should take out of high school is the knowledge that science is fallible, and scientists aren't always correct. if they don't know this, that just makes them even easier to manipulate, as they will accept anything told to them by a scientist as "the gospel truth", and that is never a good thing. a bit of skepticism never hurt anybody, and is often a very desirable quality.
ummm, don't you know that journalism has been this way for a very long time. "nowadays" must be a period extending back to the first newspapers in the american colonies. many of the facts supporting the stories in early america were fiction created by the editors to further their viewpoint or to "entertain"
your post is just bitching about a problem that can't really be fixed without completely restructuring the way the world's media works, a very difficult, if not impossible, task
as long as newspapers are capalist enterprises, they will be out to make money, and their goal will NOT be helping people. I'm sorry, but it seems really idealistic and stupid to expect buisnesses to be more concerned with helping people and making them feel good about themselves. nice as it sounds, and as much as i would like to see it, those kind of buisnesses don't last very long. however, the last thing we want is a government-run media, especially with bush as president in the U.S, so it's probably better to stick with the current system. after all, if you don't like the way the news you're getting is being presented, all you have to do is seek out another news source, or, better yet, get your news from multiple sources and sort out the facts from the FUD
even so, if they're operating in Canada, they still have to follow Canadian laws. the worst the Canadians can do is kick them out of the county, however IMHO, i think this won't fly, cause there's enough resistance against something like this in Canada
except that the main purpose of antifreeze is to lower the freezing temperature of the water in your car so it doesn't rupture the radiator. by itself, antifreeze isn't a very good coolant, which is why you need to mix it 50/50 with water.
In our home we have a reverse osmosis unit under the sink. since our water comes from a well, it tastes kinda funny, and doesn't pass water quality tests until it runs through the unit. If i recall correctly, it cost several hundred dollars (American) and we need to get $30 worth of filters once a year, but it doesn't use any additional electricity, and the water ends up tasting better than bottled water (usually it ends up tasting plasticy by the time it gets to the store). cheaper, too.
You make a valid point, but it would be infinitly better for these companies to release their patents into the public domain, so that the "ideas" they patented would enjoy the same status as patented ideas that have expired. that way, we would never have to worry about litigation, and could use the ideas without having to worry about "protective patent portfolios". since it is unlikely that software patents will be banned (since there is so much money in it for the gov't), this would seem to be the next best thing.
then it takes even longer to get where you're going, since you have to stop twenty times. also, its less efficient, because braking and accellerating waste energy
you totally missed the point. i didnt say we dont need turn signals, but we definitly dont need playstations and computers (think windows) onboard. it's too distracting to drivers to be messing with all this stuff.
also, i doubt your car has a simplified interface. it's a chevy, for christ's sake! they add buttons and fancy trim and other stuff. a simplified interface would keep a drivers eyes and mind on the road, instead of fumbling with stuff on the dashboard. turn signals are a good example, since they're simple enough that they don't require much thought, and are placed in aconvienient location
what's to insure the even distribution of the cars? what if there are two people who need to leave a store, but nobody going in to the store? if you have to close the store, chances are everybody else has already gone home, taking the car you took to work and leaving you none
i dont know about the future, but what I would like to see is vehicle controls (like cruise control and computer dvd games crap) regress.
My mother just bought a new dodge durango, and it has way more features than she'll ever need. advanced engine control systems and emissions control systems are great, but i have too much crap in my car, and it's a 92 civic.
all of that stuff is just leading to driver distraction, and adding more stuff like cellphone speaker things just makes it worse. sure you dont need your hands when using a "handsfree" device, but you still need to look at the phone to see who's calling, answer the phone, and set up the device (volume, etc.). if it was available, i would choose a vehicle with a simplified, functional interface so i can concentrate on driving. one interface that would be very functional without being unnecessarily distracting would be voice control with either a HUD or voice feedback (with a customizable voiceprint, of course;)
Seriously, who would really trust important data to lexar, anyway? CEO's? AFAIK lexar is a cheap walmart-like brand. also, if your data is THAT important, you should probably just keep track of the drive
Slashdot Mirror
You do know that's still a racist insult, right?
WWII...Jerries=Germans
It's just not as offensive now because no-one uses the word in that context anymore.
No, what the Microsoft statement says is 'Well, Plays for Sure content might work, but we don't really care one way or another.'
So yes, there IS a chance that MSN Music tracks will work on the Zune, but I thing that's highly unlikely.
I recently took college chem, and if I recall correctly, 'Buckyballs' can actually be made into tubes, which have been used in some nanotech applications. Geometrically, if you were to take a soccer ball/buckyball, cut it in half along the seams, and then add in alternating rows of hexagons and pentagons, it forms a tube with hemispherical ends. It's hard to explain, but here's a link: http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1295 (sorry, no html).
Considering the shape of these tubes, I wonder why an egg-shaped buckyball is so odd...it seems like a very short (i.e. 1-2 rows between the ends) buckytube would approximate an egg shape fairly well. If it is truly egg-shaped, then it isn't a buckyball at all as it isn't carbon-60, but rather is another form of carbon with an entirely different bonding pattern.
Actually, more than you'd realize. Out of the DVDs in my collection, about ten percent have alternate audio tracks (not counting alternate languages), several have multiple angles, and over half (including, oddly enough, a re-release of the Big Sleep) have alternate endings that can be viewed seamlessly. So many people complain about the under-utilization of DVD special features, while at the same time proclaiming they don't even use the special features. It all depends on the movie you're watching...The Matrix is more likely to have interesting, engaging special features than, say, Snakes on a Plane.
Also, there's more to the format battle than just features (if you think about it, VHS is still perfectly adequate for most people, but DVD is far superior. same logic applies)
No, what he is implying is that solar technology is more inefficient and expensive than traditional wind-powered vessels. Nuclear is, in this instance, a better option (from a preformance standpoint) since it works all the time at the same efficiency, without resorting to batteries. If it is stormy for an extended period of time (common on the open ocean) the solar panels will be operating at greatly reduced efficiency, whereas a nuclear-powered vessel would operate at equal efficiency as in sunny, calm conditions. In my eyes, this 'experiment' is a waste of (federal?) grant money that would be better spent on other things-i.e. improving solar efficiency so the technology becomes a viable alternative to coal-fired power plants.
Alright, I posted a similar comment earlier in the discussion, but for Christ's sake, have you ever heard of a FUCKING METH LAB? Drug dealers will go from store to store, buying 10-20 bottles of over the counter medications at each store, along with other fun chemicals such as bleach, etc., take these goodies to their meth lab, and create a highly addictive, highly toxic illict drug. So, instead of using some common sense and a adequate working knowledge of current domestic affairs, you use demeaning stereotypes such as "Nanny-State bleeding hearts" to support your position. You, sir, are a demagogue (see definition posted earlier in the discussion).
O.K. Mr. Post-before-thinking Pundit, there is a VERY legitimate reason you must show ID to buy some over-the-counter drugs: these drugs are used to make methamphetamines. Therefore, in most states stores can only sell limited quantities of these drugs to each consumer (usually <2 bottles). Additionally, the store may have to I.D. you to verify your age before you purchase Day-Quil to make sure you are over a certain age (either 16 or 18), since some people use Ny/Day-Quil as a substitute for other illegal drugs.
Steal their music?
Do you realize that most of the money a band makes comes from royalties, not merch sales? How many CD's a band sells is the major determinant of its popularity, as it is a quantifiable measure of how many people are listening to the music. Buying CDs is, by far, the best way to support an artist. It is the same difference as voting for a politician, as opposed to donating money to the politician's campaign. The latter will give the politician more money, but voting for him is the only way to elect him.
as a dairy queen employee, i can tell you this. it isn't called ice cream because it is not, in fact, ice cream. it is a milk/sugar/preservative mixture that is chilled slightly, and mixed with air. the product is never frozen, and has a completely different texture from actual ice cream. the FDA doesn't allow companies to label their products as something they're not (a law passed in the early 1900's because of patent medicines).
In India, you could be killed for shooting a cow. Who says that the U.S. is always right?
(posted from within the United States)
I don't know what kind of science education YOU had, but i was taught in middle school the difference between a "hypothesis", a "theory", and a "law". In case you don't know, a hypothesis is basically an educated guess, a theory has been supported by repeated experimentation, and a law has, basically, been "proven". however, it was ALWAYS stressed that anything in science can be disproven, even laws. this is one of the most BASIC principles of science-nothing can be proven to be 100% true. this is very important, because, as we advance culturally and scientifically, things that were previously thought to be true can, in fact, be completely incorrect. this sticker is, in my opinion, a very good idea, even if it was made for different reasons that the ones i have put forth. the sticker doesn't say ANYTHING, ANYTHING AT ALL about creationism. as far as the message goes, the sticker could be supporting the extraterrestrial origin of life on earth. the point is, the sticker didn't support or strike down anything. it just stated a FACT-evolution is a theory, and theories can, and sometimes are, wrong. it doesn't matter if i believe in ID, Evolution, or any other religion. this is just basic science, that kid's should be taught. In my opinion, the one most important thing that kids should take out of high school is the knowledge that science is fallible, and scientists aren't always correct. if they don't know this, that just makes them even easier to manipulate, as they will accept anything told to them by a scientist as "the gospel truth", and that is never a good thing. a bit of skepticism never hurt anybody, and is often a very desirable quality.
ummm, don't you know that journalism has been this way for a very long time. "nowadays" must be a period extending back to the first newspapers in the american colonies. many of the facts supporting the stories in early america were fiction created by the editors to further their viewpoint or to "entertain"
your post is just bitching about a problem that can't really be fixed without completely restructuring the way the world's media works, a very difficult, if not impossible, task
as long as newspapers are capalist enterprises, they will be out to make money, and their goal will NOT be helping people. I'm sorry, but it seems really idealistic and stupid to expect buisnesses to be more concerned with helping people and making them feel good about themselves. nice as it sounds, and as much as i would like to see it, those kind of buisnesses don't last very long. however, the last thing we want is a government-run media, especially with bush as president in the U.S, so it's probably better to stick with the current system. after all, if you don't like the way the news you're getting is being presented, all you have to do is seek out another news source, or, better yet, get your news from multiple sources and sort out the facts from the FUD
even so, if they're operating in Canada, they still have to follow Canadian laws. the worst the Canadians can do is kick them out of the county, however IMHO, i think this won't fly, cause there's enough resistance against something like this in Canada
ahem..
*cough*whitehouse.com*cough*
except that the main purpose of antifreeze is to lower the freezing temperature of the water in your car so it doesn't rupture the radiator. by itself, antifreeze isn't a very good coolant, which is why you need to mix it 50/50 with water.
water=good coolant/high freezing temp
antifreeze=low freezing temp/bad coolant
In our home we have a reverse osmosis unit under the sink. since our water comes from a well, it tastes kinda funny, and doesn't pass water quality tests until it runs through the unit. If i recall correctly, it cost several hundred dollars (American) and we need to get $30 worth of filters once a year, but it doesn't use any additional electricity, and the water ends up tasting better than bottled water (usually it ends up tasting plasticy by the time it gets to the store). cheaper, too.
i had heard it had something to do with them either publishing real names+addresses+phone #'s of undercover cops or swedish secret police (lol)
/. comments, tho
it was just
You make a valid point, but it would be infinitly better for these companies to release their patents into the public domain, so that the "ideas" they patented would enjoy the same status as patented ideas that have expired. that way, we would never have to worry about litigation, and could use the ideas without having to worry about "protective patent portfolios". since it is unlikely that software patents will be banned (since there is so much money in it for the gov't), this would seem to be the next best thing.
spaceballs, the musical!
i can see it now, opening night, the helmets glistening under the lights. ahhh...
i predict it will come out the same year as history of the world, part II
then it takes even longer to get where you're going, since you have to stop twenty times. also, its less efficient, because braking and accellerating waste energy
you totally missed the point. i didnt say we dont need turn signals, but we definitly dont need playstations and computers (think windows) onboard. it's too distracting to drivers to be messing with all this stuff.
also, i doubt your car has a simplified interface. it's a chevy, for christ's sake! they add buttons and fancy trim and other stuff. a simplified interface would keep a drivers eyes and mind on the road, instead of fumbling with stuff on the dashboard. turn signals are a good example, since they're simple enough that they don't require much thought, and are placed in aconvienient location
sorry, make that ensure
i hate laptop keyboards
what's to insure the even distribution of the cars? what if there are two people who need to leave a store, but nobody going in to the store? if you have to close the store, chances are everybody else has already gone home, taking the car you took to work and leaving you none
i dont know about the future, but what I would like to see is vehicle controls (like cruise control and computer dvd games crap) regress.
;)
My mother just bought a new dodge durango, and it has way more features than she'll ever need. advanced engine control systems and emissions control systems are great, but i have too much crap in my car, and it's a 92 civic.
all of that stuff is just leading to driver distraction, and adding more stuff like cellphone speaker things just makes it worse. sure you dont need your hands when using a "handsfree" device, but you still need to look at the phone to see who's calling, answer the phone, and set up the device (volume, etc.). if it was available, i would choose a vehicle with a simplified, functional interface so i can concentrate on driving. one interface that would be very functional without being unnecessarily distracting would be voice control with either a HUD or voice feedback (with a customizable voiceprint, of course
Seriously, who would really trust important data to lexar, anyway? CEO's? AFAIK lexar is a cheap walmart-like brand. also, if your data is THAT important, you should probably just keep track of the drive