Sorry, but I really find it hard to believe that these people really are clueless.
I find it easier to believe that the cluelessness is simply a temporary condition caused by big wads of money being put into their hands by shady lobby groups.
Good point though, as energy prices increase then nuclear will become more cost effective. It's probably less environmentally damaging too, as you need so much less of the stuff than you do fossil fuels.
Papers here (in UK) were suggesting that the costs for Nuclear are being massively underestimated, and that the *net* . That was back when there was talk of replacing the current power stations, so may well have been more greenie FUD.
Just saw this on the BBC from 2005:
> Nuclear electricity has been reported to be cheaper than > gas as long as oil is more expensive than $28 a barrel. > It's currently above the $50 mark
That'd make Nuclear the ideal choice for energy, given that Oil's over $100 a barrel (though the dollar then was worth a third more).
It's pretty valid comparing the cost of clean coal to the cost of Nuclear or Oil? Should I have phrased it a little different? I.e. spell out the cost of ensuring a steady supply of oil is, erm, enormous?
'Clean' coal is one of the few alternative which would actually scale enough to be able to provide the energy we require. It's also something which should be possible within a reasonable timescale - certainly before oil starts to run out.
Sure, it's not a pancea - but it might be able to give us the time figure out how to exploit renewable energies cheaply and safely enough..
Really, why do you guys play it Sunday evenining? It'd make way more sense to play on Saturdays - then you could all stay up late and get real pissed. Plus, then those of us who live in Europe could join in the fun.
Heck, after England's second half performance against Wales, I needed something to cheer me up. Superbowl would have been perfect.
> A National ID card scheme has loads of great advantages > and trying to argue that it does not is foolish. The only > arguments are either that the disadvantages of such a scheme > to civil liberties are too great a cost or that the financial > costs are so great that equivalent advantages are cheaper or > are simply not required if the price is that high.
The thing is, it isn't just an National ID card. There'd be no fuss if it was a simple ID card.
What the UK government want to make is a sort of super database of citizens which they can cross reference with all other databases. On its own, that sounds bad.
However, when you see their OTHER plans you'd be crazy not to get paranoid. They want to introduce a system which would have a black box installed in every car on the road, which would record and report its location to the government. They've already got a massive network of CCTV cameras, and they're planning on vastly expanding that.
Of course, it's probably all just a ruse to syphon tax payers money into the hands of the ruling classes, the same as pretty much every other IT project / construction project (Dome, Wembley) appears to outsiders to be.
From my basic understanding of microkernal based OSes - that they're systems where each function is represented by a closed boxed subsystem, aka a clean OO model.
Wouldn't such a system be a perfect fit for multicore processors? Seems pretty straightforward to split the tasks up between the cores, as they're all independant 'black boxes'.
Yeah, fast, reliable, extensible and relatively secure networking is really a thing of the past.
Wireless is fine if you've got no neighbors and only a device or two, but it's really a second rate solution. Especially in an environment where you've got 3+ networked devices, stream video (especially HD) or have devices which interfere with wireless (some microwaves, cordless phones, radiotransmitters).
I agree: to make a living you'd have to sell the music for a really high price, or tour 24/7. Or keep producing NEW music.
My opinion is that copyright should default to 5 years. After that time, it may be extended by 15 years. However then it must be supplied in escrow (to the Government) in a form that can be easily reproduced and stored. That'd be given with a fee to lock the copyright. Once the copyright expires the work will be released into the public domain.
I'd have a downwards modifier on computer games and software. Everything here moves really fast, so I'd make the extension to a maximum of 10 years.
To fix patents, I'd have the same time frame - 5 years after first filing then 15 years extra after renewal. However, I'd add a compulsory license which applies to the last 15 years. Say a fee of 5% of total revenue from the finished product, or a fixed fee (for patented things which had massive research). That'd stop incumbents killing new ideas with patents whilst giving a big benefit to everyone involved.
That'd probably be the new Wembely stadium, which cost £778 million pounds, and have a roof that doesn't even close. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the Stade de France in Paris both cost a fraction of that.
Actually, I'm wrong. They sunk £779 million pounds into the Millennium Dome, which was open for only a very short time before being demolished. Complete and utter waste of money.
Both seem like daylight robbery of the British tax payer to me.
So, if I'm understanding you right, you're saying that having a RAID mirror is less reliable than having the second drive setup as a separate drive and relying on backups?..because a RAID mirror uses two drives, whereas having a spare and manually backing up.. also uses two drives?..and someone modded that as Informative? Confused, yes. Informative, no.
I think that that is more of an American disease than anything. I read Edge and GamesTM in the UK, neither of which have ads distracting from the editorial.
Having seen EGM in the past I really don't understand why you all put up with it. Especially the 'infomercials' which are made to look like reviews, they really suck.
> According to some guideline, he was expected to shed 25-30lbs since > he was "overweight". It took a lot of work to convince them that the > arbitrary measure of "overweight" wasn't applicable to someone with > 6% body fat and a lot of big muscles. The individual doctors could see > that he wasn't overweight; but the forms didn't really account for > them to override the rating of "obese".
Now I understand where all these people with IQs 100 work.
If you've not seen it yet, go watch a show called Little Britain. Second series of this has an excellent character based upon those sort of dumb peeps:-)
BMI, as a measurement of fatness, gives a really good combination of coverage, it's accurate for the majority of westerners, it's very easy to check and it's easy to explain to people.
Sure, it breaks down when applied to fit people, but works a charm when applied to fatties or anorexics. I honestly can't believe that anyone who was fit enough to be over BMI 25 with muscle would ever think the scale has any application to them.
> well i reckon if i ran a business where people knocked >on my door and asked me where to buy some cocaine, and >i told them which address and what time to go to, and >they gave me $1 for my time, then I'd be in a cell right >away, despite not physically having any cocaine or selling it.
No way, you'd be headhunted by the RIAA and MPAA and paid millions for you're irreplacable skills.
Slashdot Mirror
Anything that can improve the experience of browsing with a single hand would be a godsend to us avid, erm, 'surfers'.
Reminds me of Brass Eye. Fantastic series.
Sorry, but I really find it hard to believe that these people really are clueless.
I find it easier to believe that the cluelessness is simply a temporary condition caused by big wads of money being put into their hands by shady lobby groups.
Good point though, as energy prices increase then nuclear will become more cost effective. It's probably less environmentally damaging too, as you need so much less of the stuff than you do fossil fuels.
Papers here (in UK) were suggesting that the costs for Nuclear are being massively underestimated, and that the *net* . That was back when there was talk of replacing the current power stations, so may well have been more greenie FUD.
Just saw this on the BBC from 2005:
> Nuclear electricity has been reported to be cheaper than
> gas as long as oil is more expensive than $28 a barrel.
> It's currently above the $50 mark
That'd make Nuclear the ideal choice for energy, given that Oil's over $100 a barrel (though the dollar then was worth a third more).
Flamebait?
It's pretty valid comparing the cost of clean coal to the cost of Nuclear or Oil? Should I have phrased it a little different? I.e. spell out the cost of ensuring a steady supply of oil is, erm, enormous?
'Clean' coal is one of the few alternative which would actually scale enough to be able to provide the energy we require. It's also something which should be possible within a reasonable timescale - certainly before oil starts to run out.
Sure, it's not a pancea - but it might be able to give us the time figure out how to exploit renewable energies cheaply and safely enough..
$1.8bill isn't a lot of money when compared to the cost of nuclear power, or the money spend blowing up parts of the Middle East..
Really, why do you guys play it Sunday evenining? It'd make way more sense to play on Saturdays - then you could all stay up late and get real pissed. Plus, then those of us who live in Europe could join in the fun.
Heck, after England's second half performance against Wales, I needed something to cheer me up. Superbowl would have been perfect.
> A National ID card scheme has loads of great advantages
> and trying to argue that it does not is foolish. The only
> arguments are either that the disadvantages of such a scheme
> to civil liberties are too great a cost or that the financial
> costs are so great that equivalent advantages are cheaper or
> are simply not required if the price is that high.
The thing is, it isn't just an National ID card. There'd be no fuss if it was a simple ID card.
What the UK government want to make is a sort of super database of citizens which they can cross reference with all other databases. On its own, that sounds bad.
However, when you see their OTHER plans you'd be crazy not to get paranoid. They want to introduce a system which would have a black box installed in every car on the road, which would record and report its location to the government. They've already got a massive network of CCTV cameras, and they're planning on vastly expanding that.
Of course, it's probably all just a ruse to syphon tax payers money into the hands of the ruling classes, the same as pretty much every other IT project / construction project (Dome, Wembley) appears to outsiders to be.
Give everyone a basic cap, then let the rest of the bandwidth go to the highest bidder.
From my basic understanding of microkernal based OSes - that they're systems where each function is represented by a closed boxed subsystem, aka a clean OO model.
Wouldn't such a system be a perfect fit for multicore processors? Seems pretty straightforward to split the tasks up between the cores, as they're all independant 'black boxes'.
Might well be a nice solution, assuming that your remote users are frequently throwing large files around.
Yeah, fast, reliable, extensible and relatively secure networking is really a thing of the past.
Wireless is fine if you've got no neighbors and only a device or two, but it's really a second rate solution. Especially in an environment where you've got 3+ networked devices, stream video (especially HD) or have devices which interfere with wireless (some microwaves, cordless phones, radiotransmitters).
I agree: to make a living you'd have to sell the music for a really high price, or tour 24/7. Or keep producing NEW music.
My opinion is that copyright should default to 5 years. After that time, it may be extended by 15 years. However then it must be supplied in escrow (to the Government) in a form that can be easily reproduced and stored. That'd be given with a fee to lock the copyright. Once the copyright expires the work will be released into the public domain.
I'd have a downwards modifier on computer games and software. Everything here moves really fast, so I'd make the extension to a maximum of 10 years.
To fix patents, I'd have the same time frame - 5 years after first filing then 15 years extra after renewal. However, I'd add a compulsory license which applies to the last 15 years. Say a fee of 5% of total revenue from the finished product, or a fixed fee (for patented things which had massive research). That'd stop incumbents killing new ideas with patents whilst giving a big benefit to everyone involved.
I've about 15 disks, the only one without is the Jungle Book.
PAL mind, maybe they change it in the US only.
Disney disks have been doing this for years, sticking tonnes of unskippable commercials on the disk. Usually 10-15 minutes of them.
Only they charge you a premium for the disks when compared to other studios.
Biggest waste of money in history?
That'd probably be the new Wembely stadium, which cost £778 million pounds, and have a roof that doesn't even close. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the Stade de France in Paris both cost a fraction of that.
Actually, I'm wrong. They sunk £779 million pounds into the Millennium Dome, which was open for only a very short time before being demolished. Complete and utter waste of money.
Both seem like daylight robbery of the British tax payer to me.
So, if I'm understanding you right, you're saying that having a RAID mirror is less reliable than having the second drive setup as a separate drive and relying on backups? ..because a RAID mirror uses two drives, whereas having a spare and manually backing up.. also uses two drives? ..and someone modded that as Informative? Confused, yes. Informative, no.
>The record execs don't sign bands that they think people like, the sign bands that make money.
They don't sign bands, they manufacture them.
I think that that is more of an American disease than anything. I read Edge and GamesTM in the UK, neither of which have ads distracting from the editorial.
Having seen EGM in the past I really don't understand why you all put up with it. Especially the 'infomercials' which are made to look like reviews, they really suck.
> According to some guideline, he was expected to shed 25-30lbs since
:-)
> he was "overweight". It took a lot of work to convince them that the
> arbitrary measure of "overweight" wasn't applicable to someone with
> 6% body fat and a lot of big muscles. The individual doctors could see
> that he wasn't overweight; but the forms didn't really account for
> them to override the rating of "obese".
Now I understand where all these people with IQs 100 work.
If you've not seen it yet, go watch a show called Little Britain. Second series of this has an excellent character based upon those sort of dumb peeps
You're technically correct, but I disagreed.
BMI, as a measurement of fatness, gives a really good combination of coverage, it's accurate for the majority of westerners, it's very easy to check and it's easy to explain to people.
Sure, it breaks down when applied to fit people, but works a charm when applied to fatties or anorexics. I honestly can't believe that anyone who was fit enough to be over BMI 25 with muscle would ever think the scale has any application to them.
So, it's technically wrong but practically good.
Really, it's horrible.
What kinda of operating system hides screen config options under the phone security menus?
Their whole UI seems to have been built by a randomisation script.
The technical background might be fine but when the user experience is so poor it just drags the whole experience down.
I own an Nokia N91, I'd add.
Wow, someone else who has heard of Burmashave. They fookin' rocked.
> well i reckon if i ran a business where people knocked
>on my door and asked me where to buy some cocaine, and
>i told them which address and what time to go to, and
>they gave me $1 for my time, then I'd be in a cell right
>away, despite not physically having any cocaine or selling it.
No way, you'd be headhunted by the RIAA and MPAA and paid millions for you're irreplacable skills.