Not really. This "news" comes as no surprise. This practice is so common in just about every walk of life. There is an upside to this practice though. In a way. Sort of.
There are many technologies, medicines, and techniques that may well have never seen the light of day without a little fudging of the results or effects. The majority of these have beneficial results that far outweigh the usually miniscule harmful effects. Take for example Viagra. Yes, we all know about the heart attack stories and so forth, but you have to consider the percentage of people who have suffered some type of bad side effect compared to the people who have only had a beneficial experience. I in no way profess to be an expert on the issue, but I seem to recall reading several reports indicating that the percentage was less than one or two percent. (of course, THOSE studies may have been altered!).
On the flip side you have very dangerous alterations to scientific research, such as cigarrettes (sp?). We all know how dangerous they are, and the havoc they wreak on the human body, and that the tobacco companies have done nothing to change the dangers involved in smoking. The sad part is that there are companies who have done test on the cig's themselves, and published reports heavily understating the chemicals and dangers involved, because the tobacco companies can afford to pay them huge sums of money. This was especially common back in the seventies and eighties.
Fudging your results to make your research look better has been a common practice probably since research began thousands of years ago. I doubt it'll stop anytime soon.
P.S. I am a smoker, so don't take this as a troll against smoking, and I have never even seen a Viagra pill, so don't think I'm trying to champion Viagra. Just my input that will probably get modded redundant, just like everything else I have ever said on Slashdot. Oh well.
People believe what people believe. I for one do not get upset over what others believe. EXCEPT for these frickin' religious asswipes who try to make everyone think as they do, who turn a blind eye to the world around them and spew religious nonsense in the face of proof/evidence to the contrary/people who don't want to hear it. The single biggest piece of what I consider proof that god does not exist is that I have never met him, nor has anyone else ever in recorded history. There are people who claim to have spoken to him, and I will not refute SOME of those claims, as it is possible they were contacted by some supreme being (but I don't think it was the traditional "God" as viewed by Christians) Now, I know all you religious people have some kind of explanation as to why God choses not to prove to his people that he exists. "Oh, he wants us to have faith", "He is punishing us for our sins", "He has a big zit that embarasses him". The fact is, I can't prove beyond all shadow of a doubt that he doesn't exist, and no one can prove beyond any kind of doubt that he does exist. I also would like to point out something: If the earth was created 30,000 years ago (probably not the right number, but I try not to pay much attention to ID tripe), then God is, by the admission of ALL ID supporters, a LIAR. The earth is full of provable evidence that it is much older, it contains dinosaurs and other animals that existed before this time, including human remains. So if God created the earth that long ago, and God wants us to believe in him and believe the Bible and that he created us, why give us false evidence and proof to the contrary? AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF SAYING IT'S TO TEST FAITH! THAT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A VALIDLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION! IT NEVER HAS BEEN AND NEVER WILL BE! I don't pretend to have all the answers, nor do I pretend to be an expert on any of these matters. This is simply my point of view, and I welcome intelligent, unbiased feedback or debate. But don't come at me with your blind sycophant bullshit, because I don't want to hear what I have to believe. I want to hear why what I believe may or may not be totally correct in a civil manner.
Not to be a troll or flamebait, but are you saying that we should take anything said about Linux being better than Windows in xyz regards should be automatically accepted as law? And that anything saying that Windows is better than Linux in xyz regards should be taken as immediately suspect and that it should be researched until disproved to your satisfaction? That's a bit fucked up. Aside from all the "Windows : Tastes Great , Linux : Less Filling" arguments, both OS's have strong points and weak points. It's very close minded to just automatically assume an article showing one of them in a good light over the other HAS to be rigged/funded/blatantly lying. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, Windows has advantages over Linux in the security area. If you believe this isn't the case, then I challenge you to prove it one way or the other, instead of pushing your tunnel vision view that really has no substance.
and I'm also sure I'll be modded redundant, but oh well. In my opinion it becomes false advertising when the product is sold as being faster, more reliable, stronger, bigger, sleeker, better than it really is. Video games are a prime example. It is false advertising to hype or advertise a game as revolutionary or "jaw-dropping graphics/physics/ai" when it most certainly isn't true. I understand that companies have a need to make their product stand out in order to compete. But I'm tired of companies trying to make their product stand out with words alone. TRY MAKING A PRODUCT THAT STANDS OUT BECAUSE OF IT'S QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE, NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT'S QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE ARE! I learned long ago to not buy anything based on the packaging or advertising, but by peer reviews, forums, and support pages. If I think a game looks sweet, the first thing I do is go to the games website and check the forums and support pages to see what everyone else is saying about it. If it has bugs up the ying yang (95% of the schlock on the market), I either don't buy it or I wait until a confirmed fix is issued, then buy it at a discounted wholesale sale-priced bin price. Same goes with hardware. I don't buy the latest and greatest, and it has nothing to do with the price. I want to KNOW that the product delivers what the packaging says it does. Not waste my money only to discover that quadruple-filtered-polygonal-pixelated-sprited-non -linear-fusional-monkey shader is just a buzz word for "comes with a manual in broken English that is absolutely useless to you!"
To be fair, there are a lot of companies out there who deliver on what they promise, or come close enough that it is barely even spin doctoring. LG and Lite-On optical drives have always been my favorites, and I buy them without hesitation or review, because they have always done what they say they will, and no less. (at least for me). Same goes for AMD and ASUS.
Just my opinion, based on small samples of my experiences as a consumer.
What is up with moderators modding posts redundant when it is the second post or the post is the only one on the thread that states whatever it says? That is getting very annoying, and is bullshit. KNOCK IT OFF!
Dunno if anyone else posted this yet, but here is a link to a CNN report on this blast:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/nkorea.blast/index.html
I got it through the Science Fiction Book club as a selection of the month a while back, read it, and was satisfied. I read the original Ringworld a long time ago, and never read Ringworld Throne, but it was pretty easy to pick up the story none the less. I am not a big fan of Niven, but Children wasn't too bad. It was paced fairly well, decent descriptives that put a fairly detailed image in your head, and almost-really-interesting sub plots. My main lack of interest in Niven is, as has been stated by others in this thread, is his lack of character development. He doesn't really do much to make you care about the characters.
Of course, I don't read much Sci-Fi fantasy. I'm more of a Jordan/Eddings/Goodkind type. The Sword of Truth is really my favorite series, by Terry Goodkind. He really knows character development and sub-plot placement. The only one of his books I didn't absolutely love was Pillars of Creation, but that's because I was really into the main story, and that book is a complete side-track (yes, I know it's story will eventually play a significant role in the future books in the series, but still...).
I just want to add my two cents and say that all this patent stuff is getting to be rediculous. The ability to patent everyday things, like navigating a website using your keyboard, is just plain stupid. I can see patenting a specific key combo that controls a feature only available by the company applying for the patent, but the rest is just stupid. Next thing you know someone will patent the human reproduction system, or respiratory system. This is really getting out of hand. Just my two cents.
I shouldn't even have posted this. I now have bad karma for making what I thought was a funny post. That pisses me off. Fuck everyone who modded me down, but didn't bother to mod down other posts that were completely off topic.
Uh, ok, how is it offtopic to ask if this technique would work with ATI video cards as well? Granted the homepage advertising is cheesy, but there is a legitimate question in my original post. Don't hate on me for offering something extra in my post.
I'm glad I wasn't part of this. I don't think that I would have been believed as a gamer: decent tan, 210lbs (muscular, but not cut), eyes not sunken, perfect english skills, no twitches, and a bit of bling on the neck, wrists, and fingers. Not to say I am the only healthy and blinging gamer, but c'mon. I don't personally know any other gamers (read: people who play video games at least 4 hours a day every day) who go to the pool all the time or work out. Or go to the clubs dressed in last years income.
Holy fuck. This is THE largest gathering of geeks, nerds, dorks, virgins, l33t g33k3, and other assorted "I live in my parents basement and study Star Trek/Star Wars/D&D/Babylon 5/Battlestar Galactica/My Little Pony rulebooks/data sheets/manuals and I am 34 years old" people I have ever seen! Fucking AWESOME!!
Just because a distro comes "with 5 discs, loaded with every app I ever needed" doesn't mean those apps are quality/useful/feature rich/etc. I mean, c'mon. That's like saying PC Chips motherboards are better than Asus if the PC Chips motherboard comes with Betrayal At Krondor on floppy and AOL 3.0 and the Asus doesn't. Not to knock distros or tout Windows, but that was really not a good way to compare. Yes, Windows DOESN'T come with as many apps, but maybe the people at Windows don't want to waste time throwing a bunch of crappy apps into their OS just to say they did, not to mention they don't need to do that to sell their OS. Don't get me wrong, not saying one is better than the other, just pointing out that extra apps do not a better OS make. The OS is what makes a good OS, not the add-ons. (/begin slashdotters posting jokes about Windows being the crappy app)
Anyway, just my two cents. BTW, this IS America (where I'm typing this) and I AM entitled to voice my opinion WITHOUT ridicule. So flame on, retort it up, touche to all.
Slashdot Mirror
Not really. This "news" comes as no surprise. This practice is so common in just about every walk of life. There is an upside to this practice though. In a way. Sort of.
There are many technologies, medicines, and techniques that may well have never seen the light of day without a little fudging of the results or effects. The majority of these have beneficial results that far outweigh the usually miniscule harmful effects. Take for example Viagra. Yes, we all know about the heart attack stories and so forth, but you have to consider the percentage of people who have suffered some type of bad side effect compared to the people who have only had a beneficial experience. I in no way profess to be an expert on the issue, but I seem to recall reading several reports indicating that the percentage was less than one or two percent. (of course, THOSE studies may have been altered!).
On the flip side you have very dangerous alterations to scientific research, such as cigarrettes (sp?). We all know how dangerous they are, and the havoc they wreak on the human body, and that the tobacco companies have done nothing to change the dangers involved in smoking. The sad part is that there are companies who have done test on the cig's themselves, and published reports heavily understating the chemicals and dangers involved, because the tobacco companies can afford to pay them huge sums of money. This was especially common back in the seventies and eighties.
Fudging your results to make your research look better has been a common practice probably since research began thousands of years ago. I doubt it'll stop anytime soon.
P.S. I am a smoker, so don't take this as a troll against smoking, and I have never even seen a Viagra pill, so don't think I'm trying to champion Viagra. Just my input that will probably get modded redundant, just like everything else I have ever said on Slashdot. Oh well.
People believe what people believe. I for one do not get upset over what others believe. EXCEPT for these frickin' religious asswipes who try to make everyone think as they do, who turn a blind eye to the world around them and spew religious nonsense in the face of proof/evidence to the contrary/people who don't want to hear it. The single biggest piece of what I consider proof that god does not exist is that I have never met him, nor has anyone else ever in recorded history. There are people who claim to have spoken to him, and I will not refute SOME of those claims, as it is possible they were contacted by some supreme being (but I don't think it was the traditional "God" as viewed by Christians) Now, I know all you religious people have some kind of explanation as to why God choses not to prove to his people that he exists. "Oh, he wants us to have faith", "He is punishing us for our sins", "He has a big zit that embarasses him". The fact is, I can't prove beyond all shadow of a doubt that he doesn't exist, and no one can prove beyond any kind of doubt that he does exist. I also would like to point out something: If the earth was created 30,000 years ago (probably not the right number, but I try not to pay much attention to ID tripe), then God is, by the admission of ALL ID supporters, a LIAR. The earth is full of provable evidence that it is much older, it contains dinosaurs and other animals that existed before this time, including human remains. So if God created the earth that long ago, and God wants us to believe in him and believe the Bible and that he created us, why give us false evidence and proof to the contrary? AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF SAYING IT'S TO TEST FAITH! THAT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A VALIDLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION! IT NEVER HAS BEEN AND NEVER WILL BE!
I don't pretend to have all the answers, nor do I pretend to be an expert on any of these matters. This is simply my point of view, and I welcome intelligent, unbiased feedback or debate. But don't come at me with your blind sycophant bullshit, because I don't want to hear what I have to believe. I want to hear why what I believe may or may not be totally correct in a civil manner.
Mod me how you wish, I care not.
It's only a model.
Not to be a troll or flamebait, but are you saying that we should take anything said about Linux being better than Windows in xyz regards should be automatically accepted as law? And that anything saying that Windows is better than Linux in xyz regards should be taken as immediately suspect and that it should be researched until disproved to your satisfaction? That's a bit fucked up. Aside from all the "Windows : Tastes Great , Linux : Less Filling" arguments, both OS's have strong points and weak points. It's very close minded to just automatically assume an article showing one of them in a good light over the other HAS to be rigged/funded/blatantly lying. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, Windows has advantages over Linux in the security area. If you believe this isn't the case, then I challenge you to prove it one way or the other, instead of pushing your tunnel vision view that really has no substance.
when it can do the robot.
AND the worm.
and I'm also sure I'll be modded redundant, but oh well. In my opinion it becomes false advertising when the product is sold as being faster, more reliable, stronger, bigger, sleeker, better than it really is. Video games are a prime example. It is false advertising to hype or advertise a game as revolutionary or "jaw-dropping graphics/physics/ai" when it most certainly isn't true. I understand that companies have a need to make their product stand out in order to compete. But I'm tired of companies trying to make their product stand out with words alone. TRY MAKING A PRODUCT THAT STANDS OUT BECAUSE OF IT'S QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE, NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT'S QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE ARE! I learned long ago to not buy anything based on the packaging or advertising, but by peer reviews, forums, and support pages. If I think a game looks sweet, the first thing I do is go to the games website and check the forums and support pages to see what everyone else is saying about it. If it has bugs up the ying yang (95% of the schlock on the market), I either don't buy it or I wait until a confirmed fix is issued, then buy it at a discounted wholesale sale-priced bin price. Same goes with hardware. I don't buy the latest and greatest, and it has nothing to do with the price. I want to KNOW that the product delivers what the packaging says it does. Not waste my money only to discover that quadruple-filtered-polygonal-pixelated-sprited-non -linear-fusional-monkey shader is just a buzz word for "comes with a manual in broken English that is absolutely useless to you!"
To be fair, there are a lot of companies out there who deliver on what they promise, or come close enough that it is barely even spin doctoring. LG and Lite-On optical drives have always been my favorites, and I buy them without hesitation or review, because they have always done what they say they will, and no less. (at least for me). Same goes for AMD and ASUS.
Just my opinion, based on small samples of my experiences as a consumer.
but this project is doomed, as they have no where to outsource it to. Unless the building across the street counts as outsourcing.
Dead and Buried
I'll be impressed when I see it run Doom 3 smoothly @ 1600X1200, 4XFSAA, 8XAnisotropy.
What is up with moderators modding posts redundant when it is the second post or the post is the only one on the thread that states whatever it says? That is getting very annoying, and is bullshit. KNOCK IT OFF!
How the hell is the above post redundant when it is THE ONLY POST stating that the wife has prior art for her ice blood? Wtf is up with that?
My wife has prior art on this one. Get her pissed off (there by raising her body temperature), and her blood turns to ice.
I actually am using SP2 and have not found any problems as of yet. Had to shut off the firewall to use a p2p app, but otherwise I can't complain. Yet.
A recent finding shows that products packaged in anything containing the Microsoft logo slow down business apps. And computers.
Dunno if anyone else posted this yet, but here is a link to a CNN report on this blast:a .blast/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/nkore
where exactly did it say that Lucas was "officially confirming" a Star Wars TV series?
I got it through the Science Fiction Book club as a selection of the month a while back, read it, and was satisfied. I read the original Ringworld a long time ago, and never read Ringworld Throne, but it was pretty easy to pick up the story none the less. I am not a big fan of Niven, but Children wasn't too bad. It was paced fairly well, decent descriptives that put a fairly detailed image in your head, and almost-really-interesting sub plots. My main lack of interest in Niven is, as has been stated by others in this thread, is his lack of character development. He doesn't really do much to make you care about the characters.
Of course, I don't read much Sci-Fi fantasy. I'm more of a Jordan/Eddings/Goodkind type. The Sword of Truth is really my favorite series, by Terry Goodkind. He really knows character development and sub-plot placement. The only one of his books I didn't absolutely love was Pillars of Creation, but that's because I was really into the main story, and that book is a complete side-track (yes, I know it's story will eventually play a significant role in the future books in the series, but still...).
Anyway, that's my two cents worth.
I just want to add my two cents and say that all this patent stuff is getting to be rediculous. The ability to patent everyday things, like navigating a website using your keyboard, is just plain stupid. I can see patenting a specific key combo that controls a feature only available by the company applying for the patent, but the rest is just stupid. Next thing you know someone will patent the human reproduction system, or respiratory system. This is really getting out of hand. Just my two cents.
I shouldn't even have posted this. I now have bad karma for making what I thought was a funny post. That pisses me off. Fuck everyone who modded me down, but didn't bother to mod down other posts that were completely off topic.
Thank you for the response. Your right, I din't RTFA, and I apologize. I got lazy. But thank you for the reply anyway.
Uh, ok, how is it offtopic to ask if this technique would work with ATI video cards as well? Granted the homepage advertising is cheesy, but there is a legitimate question in my original post. Don't hate on me for offering something extra in my post.
I'm glad I wasn't part of this. I don't think that I would have been believed as a gamer: decent tan, 210lbs (muscular, but not cut), eyes not sunken, perfect english skills, no twitches, and a bit of bling on the neck, wrists, and fingers. Not to say I am the only healthy and blinging gamer, but c'mon. I don't personally know any other gamers (read: people who play video games at least 4 hours a day every day) who go to the pool all the time or work out. Or go to the clubs dressed in last years income.
I wonder if this technique will work with ATI vid cards as well.
Check my homepage for some laptop,desktop,and networking items for sale, as well as an autographed Amazing Spiderman hologram set!
Holy fuck. This is THE largest gathering of geeks, nerds, dorks, virgins, l33t g33k3, and other assorted "I live in my parents basement and study Star Trek/Star Wars/D&D/Babylon 5/Battlestar Galactica/My Little Pony rulebooks/data sheets/manuals and I am 34 years old" people I have ever seen!
Fucking AWESOME!!
Just because a distro comes "with 5 discs, loaded with every app I ever needed" doesn't mean those apps are quality/useful/feature rich/etc. I mean, c'mon. That's like saying PC Chips motherboards are better than Asus if the PC Chips motherboard comes with Betrayal At Krondor on floppy and AOL 3.0 and the Asus doesn't. Not to knock distros or tout Windows, but that was really not a good way to compare. Yes, Windows DOESN'T come with as many apps, but maybe the people at Windows don't want to waste time throwing a bunch of crappy apps into their OS just to say they did, not to mention they don't need to do that to sell their OS. Don't get me wrong, not saying one is better than the other, just pointing out that extra apps do not a better OS make. The OS is what makes a good OS, not the add-ons. (/begin slashdotters posting jokes about Windows being the crappy app) Anyway, just my two cents. BTW, this IS America (where I'm typing this) and I AM entitled to voice my opinion WITHOUT ridicule. So flame on, retort it up, touche to all.