For $500 I can get a 1TB NAS. Or a 250GB USB/Firewire drive and a night in a very nice hotel.
And anybody who's paying $500 for a pair of shoes or a hummer is paying too much. Actually, $500 for a Hummer (even the tiny H3) would be a pretty good deal!!
Before "Chroma Key", there was something called "Luma Key", which lets one key based on luminance and not color (chroma). In the case of luma key, yes, you would want to shoot in front of a black background.
Gotcha. Can you tell me how I could read this any other way than as an implication?
I spend a few hours a day using a particular productivity suite. I don't have time to use software designed by amateurs and/or hobbyists. Unless that "particular productivity suite" is SO or OO.org (in which case you have my apologies), the implication is clear.
what you did is rocket science compared with what 99% of Office users do with the software.
Agreed, which is why, when I see people trying to make Office do Enterprise-type stuff (integrating SQL data into your Word doc and such), I start muttering, "Maybe what you really want here is a web-application (whether it's ASP.NET, JSP, Ruby, or what-have-you)".
Sun maintains OpenOffice.org and StarOffice according to posters in this thread.
My question to you is then: how can you say that OpenOffice.org is maintained by amateurs and hobbyists?
In fact, I disagree with your entire premise. Who is more likely to do a good job--someone who is doing what they do because they *enjoy* doing it (amateurs and hobbyists) or somebody that is trying to get by at work without getting fired so that they get the paycheck and can maintain their Red Bull addiction?
I agree with you.
Folks like to bash India because of how blatantly corrupt it is.
I ask: how is the US (or any other Western country) any better. From my own experience, the US is just as corrupt as India (well, I have to admit I've never been to India, but I've heard plenty of stories).
What's worse, going to some government official to get a permit and *knowing* he expects a certain amount of money, or going to some government official, not providing the appropriately discreet and strictly-speaking-legal kickback, and getting your application rejected.
I'd prefer the corruption to be up-front and out-in-the-open or not exist at all!!
I volunteered to help make the bid sheets for a silent auction fund-raiser my daughter's preschool held recently.
On my laptop, where I did most of the work, I have OpenOffice.org and not Office.
I was given a template Word Doc and an Excel spreadsheet with all the donors and the items to be auctioned.
Without referencing the help, I was easily able to modify the template and generate a mail merge to pull in the Excel spreadsheet data.
The process was less painful than I expected. While I consider myself a fairly experience Office user (and not so experienced with Oo.org), what I was able to easily do is certainly not impractical for any motivated and somewhat-competent user.
You guys are also overlooking us tin-foil heads who magnetically-shield and harden all of our electronic gear to prevent the emitted EMF's from driving us mad;)
All my gear will be just fine after the big EMP!!
The ridiculously tiny amount of radioactive waste from nuclear plants. All of which has been sitting on-site at operating reactors in the US since they started up, and hasn't really hurt anyone or taken up much real space in all that time.
Not true. Actually, we've dumped a fair bit of depleted uranium (DU) in Serbia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Tons of it. See "Beyond Treason" for more about the effects on our own troops of DU and other agents we've (we being the USA) used in conducting our wars.
While the rest of the nuclear waste maybe happily sitting safely onsite at nuclear reactors, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years, are you willing to vouch for the safety of this waste for the next 9 billion years or so?
I'm more concerned with poisoning than with climate change.
Another major factor is: the whole CO2 market proposal looks to be a huge subsidy for nuclear power. Due to the low (in some cases zero) carbon impact of nuclear power, reactor operators would be able to sell carbon credits to, say, coal-fired power plants. This is a not-so-indirect subsidy of the nuclear industry.
Of course, this approach completely fails to account for the radioactive waste from nuclear plants (and yes, I know we could be reprocessing the spent feul, but we aren't).
In addition, the US Military would not kill their own like that, or attack their own headquarters. To me that is what ultimately debunks 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Right, they wouldn't kill their own like *that*. Rather, they would kill their own via nuclear testing in the '50s, Agent Orange in the 70's, and depleted uranium, unsafe vaccines, etc. today.
Debunk that!
Oh...I forgot something else: not providing soldiers with the best available body and vehicle armor until shamed into doing so (or at least saying they would do so) by their own troops.
I'm guessing the sig on which you are commenting was referring to the Republican panic that Speaker Pelosi would try to bring "San Francisco values" to Washington.
Yeah? Why don't you tell it to the former residents of Nanking?
Oh, right: I forgot... any enemy of the US and/or Western Civilization gets a free pass, no matter how heinous their crimes might be.
See also: Saddam, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Arafat, Guevara..... Ummmm...I was providing an example of the concept of collective Karma, not making a judgement as to the justifications or lack thereof of the US's use of nuclear weapons on civilians.
I can't speak for the author of the quote, but I'm pretty sure he'd agree that the subjugation of India to first the Muslim Moghuls and then to the British was part of the Indian collective Karma.
FYI: There *is* an established concept of collective karma.
From:
http://www.scsashram.org/oregon/pivot/entry.php?id =6
By using the atom bomb America conquered Japan and intimidated the world. Superficially they enjoyed the pleasure of defeating the world, but that is only apparent. Internally the apprehension is there: "Reaction may come." Such a disastrous action is self-condemned; a heinous crime. But it is just the collective result of our karma. None to blame.
You can't conceal a shotgun or Rifle which I'm sure is what he was using. Banning a concealed weapon wouldn't have changed the outcome of this in any way.
News reports I saw said it was a pair of 9mm handguns.
I doubt many people with concealed weapons permits have ever gone on shooting sprees. Simply because concealed weapons only pertains to handguns, which is not the killing weapon of killing spree choice. Hmmmm...no doubt I could find many examples if I took the time to look. From memory, there as a DA's investigator in California last year who murdered his family and then killed himself. No doubt his weapon was all licensed and such.
Overall, though, I have to agree that, being impractical to completely ban guns in the U.S. (and growing more attached to the Second Ammendment (though I own no firearms myself), we ought to learn from the Swiss approach and ensure that everyone gets proper training on the handling and use of guns (at a young age) we could avoid some innocent bystander deaths from gun violence as well as children accidentally shooting themselves or others.
The way this issue was explained to me the first time I made the faux pas in college (freshman year) of using "Oriental" instead of "Asian", it was explained to me that "Oriental" isn't appropriate to use because the corresponding term "Occidental" is not commonly used to refer to Western people.
It didn't make that much sense to me at the time, but I decided to play along to avoid any more lectures.
I should have been clearer about that (though it certainly was qualified by an "in some ways"). I meant DRM'ed WMA or AAC, not DRM'ed CDs. While DRM'ed files can be burned to CD and then re-ripped, it's certainly not as convenient as popping a CD (which you borrowed from your friend) into the CD player of the boombox, putting a tape in the tape deck and dubbing away.
Today, of course, it's easier to find a "friend" on the 'net from which to "borrow" the CD, but the scenario you describe (Googling a torrent, downloading, etc. (especially for the average person who will have to first install a torrent handler, etc.) is certainly no easier than dubbing a CD to cassette.
In my mind, the music we're hearing today is really pretty much the same as what we were hearing ten years ago but there were a lot more sales in 1997. Why? Honestly I'd have to say ease of piracy has contributed heavily. When it wasn't so easy for the common man to rip off music, if he wanted a new album, he bought it. Now he has the choice to not buy it, and guess what he's going to do? Well, as has been pointed out numerous times, folks have been ripping off music since the days of reel-to-reel tape. I got plenty of tapes from friends in High School (I'm showing my age here).
In fact, I'd argue that, in some ways, it's *harder* now to rip off music, given DRM. Of course, being able to download that new album rather than calling your buddy who just bought it up on the phone and asking him to make a tape for you, but it doesn't mean that he'd rather go out and buy it if he can't download it.
The relatively recent innovation is being able to make perfect digital copies of music, and I contend that's even not such a big deal. Most folks don't care too much about fidelity given the popularity of MP3 players.
With little hope of "striking it big" there becomes less incentive to produce any content.
Wow!!! That actually sounds like a really good idea! Imagine, music created by musicians who actually care about music rather than getting laid/paid. There might be less music, but the crap-to-gold ratio should go way down too, eh?
I've lamented the effects that "professionalism" has had, especially on music. When folks are used to hearing slick, Pro-Tools perfect, pitch-corrected music on the radio, web, they tend to feel more inadequate about their own music/singing, and can only work up the nerve to sing after a few beers at the karaoke bar.
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For $500 I can get a 1TB NAS. Or a 250GB USB/Firewire drive and a night in a very nice hotel.
And anybody who's paying $500 for a pair of shoes or a hummer is paying too much. Actually, $500 for a Hummer (even the tiny H3) would be a pretty good deal!!
You fall victim to the same hubris you decry.
Before "Chroma Key", there was something called "Luma Key", which lets one key based on luminance and not color (chroma). In the case of luma key, yes, you would want to shoot in front of a black background.
I spend a few hours a day using a particular productivity suite. I don't have time to use software designed by amateurs and/or hobbyists.
are not my words.
Hmmm...the original poster posted as an AC. I thought I was responding to the AC. I followed the thread up to the top:http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=251555&thresh
and the first mention of you is in reply to my reply to the AC.
Shrug!! Well, have a nice day!
...maintained BY amateurs...
Gotcha. Can you tell me how I could read this any other way than as an implication? I spend a few hours a day using a particular productivity suite. I don't have time to use software designed by amateurs and/or hobbyists. Unless that "particular productivity suite" is SO or OO.org (in which case you have my apologies), the implication is clear.what you did is rocket science compared with what 99% of Office users do with the software.
Agreed, which is why, when I see people trying to make Office do Enterprise-type stuff (integrating SQL data into your Word doc and such), I start muttering, "Maybe what you really want here is a web-application (whether it's ASP.NET, JSP, Ruby, or what-have-you)".
Sun maintains OpenOffice.org and StarOffice according to posters in this thread.
My question to you is then: how can you say that OpenOffice.org is maintained by amateurs and hobbyists?
In fact, I disagree with your entire premise. Who is more likely to do a good job--someone who is doing what they do because they *enjoy* doing it (amateurs and hobbyists) or somebody that is trying to get by at work without getting fired so that they get the paycheck and can maintain their Red Bull addiction?
I agree with you. Folks like to bash India because of how blatantly corrupt it is.
I ask: how is the US (or any other Western country) any better. From my own experience, the US is just as corrupt as India (well, I have to admit I've never been to India, but I've heard plenty of stories).
What's worse, going to some government official to get a permit and *knowing* he expects a certain amount of money, or going to some government official, not providing the appropriately discreet and strictly-speaking-legal kickback, and getting your application rejected.
I'd prefer the corruption to be up-front and out-in-the-open or not exist at all!!
I volunteered to help make the bid sheets for a silent auction fund-raiser my daughter's preschool held recently. On my laptop, where I did most of the work, I have OpenOffice.org and not Office. I was given a template Word Doc and an Excel spreadsheet with all the donors and the items to be auctioned. Without referencing the help, I was easily able to modify the template and generate a mail merge to pull in the Excel spreadsheet data. The process was less painful than I expected. While I consider myself a fairly experience Office user (and not so experienced with Oo.org), what I was able to easily do is certainly not impractical for any motivated and somewhat-competent user.
My 7 years of experience working for County government (and previous work experience) confirms your assessment.
The "power-users" are few and far between.
Most folks here would be fine using a web-based (intranet) office suite.
So, you're saying Sun Microsystems is a bunch of amateurs and/or hobbyists?
You guys are also overlooking us tin-foil heads who magnetically-shield and harden all of our electronic gear to prevent the emitted EMF's from driving us mad ;)
All my gear will be just fine after the big EMP!!
Actually "all the bad effects of smoking come mostly from the smoke + chronic use" isn't really true... nicotine is very toxic.
So, then, nicotine should fit in just great with all the *other* toxic pharmaceuticals!!
This certainly sounds too good to be true. Makes me wonder who's funding the research.,
Yeah, and the notion that a substance extracted from mold (penicillin) could help cure that gonorrhea infection is just as preposterous!!!
(I am not a doctor, so forgive me if penicillin isn't precisely the antibiotic used to treat gonorrhea)
Next thing, they'll be telling us we could fuel our cars using pond scum!!
The ridiculously tiny amount of radioactive waste from nuclear plants. All of which has been sitting on-site at operating reactors in the US since they started up, and hasn't really hurt anyone or taken up much real space in all that time.
Not true. Actually, we've dumped a fair bit of depleted uranium (DU) in Serbia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Tons of it. See "Beyond Treason" for more about the effects on our own troops of DU and other agents we've (we being the USA) used in conducting our wars.
While the rest of the nuclear waste maybe happily sitting safely onsite at nuclear reactors, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years, are you willing to vouch for the safety of this waste for the next 9 billion years or so?
Almost my feelings exactly.
I'm more concerned with poisoning than with climate change.
Another major factor is: the whole CO2 market proposal looks to be a huge subsidy for nuclear power. Due to the low (in some cases zero) carbon impact of nuclear power, reactor operators would be able to sell carbon credits to, say, coal-fired power plants. This is a not-so-indirect subsidy of the nuclear industry.
Of course, this approach completely fails to account for the radioactive waste from nuclear plants (and yes, I know we could be reprocessing the spent feul, but we aren't).
Do I even want to know what "otaku" is?
Right, they wouldn't kill their own like *that*. Rather, they would kill their own via nuclear testing in the '50s, Agent Orange in the 70's, and depleted uranium, unsafe vaccines, etc. today.
Debunk that! Oh...I forgot something else: not providing soldiers with the best available body and vehicle armor until shamed into doing so (or at least saying they would do so) by their own troops.
I'm guessing the sig on which you are commenting was referring to the Republican panic that Speaker Pelosi would try to bring "San Francisco values" to Washington.
From: http://www.scsashram.org/oregon/pivot/entry.php?i
News reports I saw said it was a pair of 9mm handguns. I doubt many people with concealed weapons permits have ever gone on shooting sprees. Simply because concealed weapons only pertains to handguns, which is not the killing weapon of killing spree choice. Hmmmm...no doubt I could find many examples if I took the time to look. From memory, there as a DA's investigator in California last year who murdered his family and then killed himself. No doubt his weapon was all licensed and such. Overall, though, I have to agree that, being impractical to completely ban guns in the U.S. (and growing more attached to the Second Ammendment (though I own no firearms myself), we ought to learn from the Swiss approach and ensure that everyone gets proper training on the handling and use of guns (at a young age) we could avoid some innocent bystander deaths from gun violence as well as children accidentally shooting themselves or others.
The way this issue was explained to me the first time I made the faux pas in college (freshman year) of using "Oriental" instead of "Asian", it was explained to me that "Oriental" isn't appropriate to use because the corresponding term "Occidental" is not commonly used to refer to Western people. It didn't make that much sense to me at the time, but I decided to play along to avoid any more lectures.
I should have been clearer about that (though it certainly was qualified by an "in some ways"). I meant DRM'ed WMA or AAC, not DRM'ed CDs. While DRM'ed files can be burned to CD and then re-ripped, it's certainly not as convenient as popping a CD (which you borrowed from your friend) into the CD player of the boombox, putting a tape in the tape deck and dubbing away. Today, of course, it's easier to find a "friend" on the 'net from which to "borrow" the CD, but the scenario you describe (Googling a torrent, downloading, etc. (especially for the average person who will have to first install a torrent handler, etc.) is certainly no easier than dubbing a CD to cassette.
In fact, I'd argue that, in some ways, it's *harder* now to rip off music, given DRM. Of course, being able to download that new album rather than calling your buddy who just bought it up on the phone and asking him to make a tape for you, but it doesn't mean that he'd rather go out and buy it if he can't download it. The relatively recent innovation is being able to make perfect digital copies of music, and I contend that's even not such a big deal. Most folks don't care too much about fidelity given the popularity of MP3 players.
With little hope of "striking it big" there becomes less incentive to produce any content.
Wow!!! That actually sounds like a really good idea! Imagine, music created by musicians who actually care about music rather than getting laid/paid. There might be less music, but the crap-to-gold ratio should go way down too, eh?
I've lamented the effects that "professionalism" has had, especially on music. When folks are used to hearing slick, Pro-Tools perfect, pitch-corrected music on the radio, web, they tend to feel more inadequate about their own music/singing, and can only work up the nerve to sing after a few beers at the karaoke bar.