I wasn't taught trig functions as black boxes. We learned right from the start that they're the ratios of the various sides.
They (sine, cosine, and tangent functions) are absolutely black boxes, as we are taught, and as is practically applicable. A black box is basically any function that you don't know the mechanics of how it works. You give it inputs, it gives you outputs, but you don't know what happens inside the box.
There are descriptions of the functions, but (if memory serves, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) you'd be hard pressed to find a closed-form solution. (I think they are described as infinite series that converge.)
As you say, they are "the ratios of the various sides". More specifically, for example, given a right triangle, the cosine of an angle theta is the ratio of the adjacent side over the hypotenuse, or
cos(theta) = A/H
but still you never really know how the cosine function works. (i.e. Given an arbitrary angle, you would be hard-pressed to be able to calculate its cosine by hand.) The explanation of the relationship the classical trig functions describe gives you something of an intuitive feel, but it's kind of a pseudoexplanation--it tells you what it does, not how it works.
I had a PC Chips motherboard (with a Pentium 200 MMX CPU) that I gave to my parents a while back. It had served me well for some years. They didn't need it for anything heavy-duty, so it fit the bill well enough.
Until they broke windows on it. So I put in a NIC (connecting behind my router to high-speed internet) for an easier time backing up, reinstalling, updating, etc. I could not for the life of me get the NIC (or any NIC) to work. Long story short, after much troubleshooting, I am convinced it is the fault of the motherboard. (What kind of semi-modern motherboard can't work with an Intel or Linksys PCI NIC?!)
You know, it was toilsome just to find out who made the motherboard. There were no manufacturer names on the board itself, nor in the user's manual that came with it. (God bless google.)
Due to this round of troubleshooting, and others in the process (of which I don't recall the specifics at the moment), I'll be sure to avoid any PC Chips products now.
Thanks, makes sense. Although I was told to turn off my noise cancellation headphones by the stewardess, so go figure. So the rule is not always applied sensibly.
I've been told to remove completely non-electronic ear plugs during take-off (or was it landing?). The idea is in an emergency, when chaos is generally winning . . . they want you to be able to hear so you don't lumber in the wrong direction and block the aisle.
I've been told the same (about being able to hear in case of emergency) regarding using the noise-cancelling headphones during take-off and/or landing.
As for the GP . . . after some consideration, I don't think that rule is not sensible. Aside from the hearing issue, if it takes batteries, it's an electronic device . . . the noise-cancellation is active, which means it is generating some EM signals. Now hopefully none (little) of that leaks out, and if so, hopefully it's not such that it would interfere with the plane's navigation equipment, but without extensive testing of the device in question (see this post), you really just don't know.
Using headphones is of course just common courtesy.
That said: earplugs. Earplugs, earplugs earplugs.
Another (significantly more expensive) option is noise-cancelling headphones. I have a set of Bose noise-cancelling headphones from work, and they are great on the plane. You can go cordless, or pipe in music with the headphones jack. And mine came with a dual-plug adapter, so you can use them to listen to the sound of the in-flight movie (in most (all?) planes).
Other than the cost (~$300?), the only real downside (in my experience) is that you shouldn't use the noise-cancelling feature during take-off or landing. When I once asked a flight attendant why, she said it was so I could hear instructions in case of any emergency. But I think it may also have something to do with being an electronic device (since the noise-cancelling is active; it does take a battery). I wouldn't think they put out much EM noise, but you just don't know without thorough testing.
Thanks for the reply. I got a kick out of your 'defeatist' comment. (Note, as I said, I plan to get an HD display at some point; s-video out is a temp solution.)
Ah, so if I'm understanding correctly, the video card (or whatever card has the s-video out) does the scaling! Automagically, I presume?
Thats $60 per year. This seems a high number considering Yahoo music service is at $5 / month. I think $12 per year would be more reasonable.
I agree. I'd readily part with $1/month for such a service to save a little hassle. Anything more and I'd probably put the effort into getting the listings for free.
(Note: I haven't yet built my myth box. See this post of mine if you have some experience, I would appreciate any input.)
If you still connect your DVD player to a television set using a composite or even a S/Video connector, odds are that you'll see no improvement with digital television. But if you connect your DVD player up to your monitor using component video, and want your television programs to be displayed with the same level of detail and accuracy, you can buy a ATSC tuner, set it for 480i or 480p (depending on your existing set's sophistication), Connect the spdif out to a suitable input on your stereo, and enjoy "5.1" surround sound.
Now, it won't match the detail of a 720p or 1080i set, but upgrading your display can wait, if it has to, On the other hand, if all you have is an old set with composite or RF connectors, maybe upgrading your display would be in your best interest.
I plan to build a MythTV box soon, with an HD-3000, and possibly an Air2PC card as well. Anyway, I don't plan on upgrading my TV/display for a while after that; I will connect to my SDTV via S-Video for the time being.
Can an HDTV stream be displayed on an SDTV from a myth box via S-Video? Obviously it wouldn't be at HD resolutions, but am I correct in figuring that the quality would approximate that of a DVD player output to SDTV via S-Video (which looks quite a bit better than analog cable)? Has anyone done this? Any other special hardware requirements (aside from S-Video out, which is obvious)? Scaling or conversion (digital-->analog) issues?
Microsoft's website seems only to be able to tell me how to remove Linux
Interestingly, the articles you linked to on m$'s website say (towards the top), "Windows and Linux can coexist on the same computer. For additional information, refer to your Linux documentation." They put the onus on the Linux docs to help you do the deed.
I thought it was an interesting read. Not that I learned a lot from it per se, but it seemed a decent summary of what's going on, if you know enough of it yourself to sort out the half-truths. At least it sounds like the content producers are planning (trying?) to innovate in response.
Thing is, you have to look at what standardisation represents to the participants. It's an opportunity to gain licensing revenue from your patent portfolio, so you need to get as much of your IPR into the standard as possible.
It seems such a shame that their goal isn't to have interoperability (across brands) for the benefit of consumers (the majority), but rather to muscle the system to grab as much money as possible.
At any rate, thanks very much for the reality check. (Not that it surprises me, mind you.)
I posted earlier, at the same level as GGP (which was also your post), essentially saying the same thing (i.e. it's not proper English to use the word "they" as a singular (gender-neutral) pronoun).
Summary of my findings (subject to change upon further research):
Use of "they/their" as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun has been around for quite a while, and was not considered improper until around two centuries ago when certain Grammarians decided to apply Latin rules of grammar logic to English, despite this being counter-intuitive in some cases. (Examples: don't end a sentence with a preposition, don't split infinitives.)
English does lack a singular, gender-neutral pronoun, and this is a problem. (Various work-arounds suggested here.)
The English Language (or language in general, for that matter) is a funny thing. There are some things that are definitely (grammatically) wrong, but since language evolves, and there's no single authority for such things, I'm not sure there's always a right answer to these sorts of issues. There's just what's been done before, and what's popular now.
"He or she" only sounds awkward because you're not used to saying it.
Actually, using "they" doesn't work in this case, because you'd be using a plural noun as the subject, with a singular form of a verb. Moreover, the word "they" is strictly a plural form; it does not function as a gender-neutral singular (GP is related to this to this).
Personally, I just use "he", political correctness be damned. As I understand the English language, it is correct to use "he" to refer to a singular person, gender unknown/unspecified. (See this post, also in this thread, regarding use of a "gender-neutral masculine pronoun".)
Slashdot Mirror
Insightful post. Thanks.
good point, i hadn't thought of that. that's a practical reason why different pricing for different movies wouldn't work out so well.
Thanks to mensan for posting here.
There are descriptions of the functions, but (if memory serves, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) you'd be hard pressed to find a closed-form solution. (I think they are described as infinite series that converge.)
As you say, they are "the ratios of the various sides". More specifically, for example, given a right triangle, the cosine of an angle theta is the ratio of the adjacent side over the hypotenuse, or
cos(theta) = A/H
but still you never really know how the cosine function works. (i.e. Given an arbitrary angle, you would be hard-pressed to be able to calculate its cosine by hand.) The explanation of the relationship the classical trig functions describe gives you something of an intuitive feel, but it's kind of a pseudoexplanation--it tells you what it does, not how it works.
Black box.
--Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(found here, here, and here).
Thanks.
Until they broke windows on it. So I put in a NIC (connecting behind my router to high-speed internet) for an easier time backing up, reinstalling, updating, etc. I could not for the life of me get the NIC (or any NIC) to work. Long story short, after much troubleshooting, I am convinced it is the fault of the motherboard. (What kind of semi-modern motherboard can't work with an Intel or Linksys PCI NIC?!)
You know, it was toilsome just to find out who made the motherboard. There were no manufacturer names on the board itself, nor in the user's manual that came with it. (God bless google.)
Due to this round of troubleshooting, and others in the process (of which I don't recall the specifics at the moment), I'll be sure to avoid any PC Chips products now.
DEJA VU, anybody? Wasn't there another story . . .
As for the GP . . . after some consideration, I don't think that rule is not sensible. Aside from the hearing issue, if it takes batteries, it's an electronic device . . . the noise-cancellation is active, which means it is generating some EM signals. Now hopefully none (little) of that leaks out, and if so, hopefully it's not such that it would interfere with the plane's navigation equipment, but without extensive testing of the device in question (see this post), you really just don't know.
Other than the cost (~$300?), the only real downside (in my experience) is that you shouldn't use the noise-cancelling feature during take-off or landing. When I once asked a flight attendant why, she said it was so I could hear instructions in case of any emergency. But I think it may also have something to do with being an electronic device (since the noise-cancelling is active; it does take a battery). I wouldn't think they put out much EM noise, but you just don't know without thorough testing.
Ah, so if I'm understanding correctly, the video card (or whatever card has the s-video out) does the scaling! Automagically, I presume?
I'd give you that last mod point if I had any.
I agree. I'd readily part with $1/month for such a service to save a little hassle. Anything more and I'd probably put the effort into getting the listings for free.
(Note: I haven't yet built my myth box. See this post of mine if you have some experience, I would appreciate any input.)
I plan to build a MythTV box soon, with an HD-3000, and possibly an Air2PC card as well. Anyway, I don't plan on upgrading my TV/display for a while after that; I will connect to my SDTV via S-Video for the time being.
Can an HDTV stream be displayed on an SDTV from a myth box via S-Video? Obviously it wouldn't be at HD resolutions, but am I correct in figuring that the quality would approximate that of a DVD player output to SDTV via S-Video (which looks quite a bit better than analog cable)? Has anyone done this? Any other special hardware requirements (aside from S-Video out, which is obvious)? Scaling or conversion (digital-->analog) issues?
How could an OS cause an explosion? Should this be modded funny?
Oh, you said BeO, not BeOS! It all makes sense now...
Interestingly, the articles you linked to on m$'s website say (towards the top), "Windows and Linux can coexist on the same computer. For additional information, refer to your Linux documentation." They put the onus on the Linux docs to help you do the deed.
I thought it was an interesting read. Not that I learned a lot from it per se, but it seemed a decent summary of what's going on, if you know enough of it yourself to sort out the half-truths. At least it sounds like the content producers are planning (trying?) to innovate in response.
Maybe it's not so much in-the-future, but rather in-an-alternate-universe.
At any rate, thanks very much for the reality check. (Not that it surprises me, mind you.)
You may have a point about the particular article to which prizog linked, but a Google search for "singular (they OR their)" (without quotes) revealed some interesting results.
Summary of my findings (subject to change upon further research):
The English Language (or language in general, for that matter) is a funny thing. There are some things that are definitely (grammatically) wrong, but since language evolves, and there's no single authority for such things, I'm not sure there's always a right answer to these sorts of issues. There's just what's been done before, and what's popular now.
Actually, using "they" doesn't work in this case, because you'd be using a plural noun as the subject, with a singular form of a verb. Moreover, the word "they" is strictly a plural form; it does not function as a gender-neutral singular (GP is related to this to this).
Personally, I just use "he", political correctness be damned. As I understand the English language, it is correct to use "he" to refer to a singular person, gender unknown/unspecified. (See this post, also in this thread, regarding use of a "gender-neutral masculine pronoun".)
Woo-hoo, now I'm an OT Grammar Nazi!
Your post and follow-ups in the thread were very informative. A good read, thanks.