Meanwhile, all the smart people have entire space cities set up with their space elevator.
s/all the smart people/The Disney Company and Rupert Murdoch/
Unless something snaps, our future in space is almost inevitably going to be held in the clammy hands of big companies. Forget the Federation, Jedi Council, Landsraad or your personal favourite; imagine Celebration, Florida on an interplanetary scale.
Sorry, I'm in one of those moods today (I watched Gattaca last night). I do agree with you, we should be moving forward on this sort of thing - waiting for quantum leaps in technology to come along is a gamble at best and a losing proposition at worst. Besides, these sort of innovations aren't predictable: we might invent matter teleportation before we invent the perfect rocket fuel, and then all bets are off.
Nigel Kennedy's latest recording of the Four Seasons is like this. I'm not sure why, though, because although it plays and rips perfectly on every computer I own, the only CD player in the house (crufty old Cheapsui that must be easily 15 years old) just chokes and says "No disc".
As a result, if you want to listen to this music in our front room, you have to turn on the chipped Xbox and listen to the MP3 rip through Media Centre.
I'm not quite sure what all this DRM stuff is supposed to achieve, but whatever it is it's not working yet.
You're in.uk? Richer Sounds (and Comet, and Currys, and everywhere else) are selling multi-region players. If they're illegal then no-one's bothered:-)
I drive between 500 and 700 miles each week, visiting clients to do PC and network support. It takes around the same time for me get to my family in Somerset as it does for you to get to Arkansas, and although I'm impressed by your faith in our public transport system I can promise you it's a lot cheaper and easier (as well as marginally quicker) for me to drive rather than get the train.
It's driving or walking, and I sure as hell ain't walkin'.
Well, you could get a Segway:-)
Seriously, I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to drive. But even if gas prices in the US double you'd still be cheaper than just about everywhere else, plus there's suddenly a serious incentive for people to buy more eco-friendly vehicles (and manufacturers to develop better ones).
So go wait in line at the bus stop or train station and STFU yourself. A lot of us over here don't have a choice on buying gas.
It's not just those in the US that don't have a choice - and BTW if you want to drive into London or on certain roads there are additional charges, just as there have been on French autoroutes for years.
Pfft. Doesn't really matter though. In forty or fifty years, when all the oil runs out, you *really* won't have a choice.
It's like playing chess with a 5 second time limit for every move...
+1
In speed chess, each player has five minutes on the clock for their whole game. It's not exactly the five seconds per move you suggest - you get your opening out as quickly as possible to conserve time for the endgame - but it's pretty close. If you've memorised a huge litany of openings and you're good at seeing the board rather than the pieces, it's a lot of fun (especially when time starts running out).
Playing speed chess is a good way to test your knowledge, find out what your peers are up to, and maybe meet some interesting people or think some interesting thoughts along the way. Ultimately, though, it's not as fulfilling as getting completely lost in a full-length game that you actually care about.
A programming competition is a good way to test your knowledge, find out what your peers are up to, and maybe meet some interesting people or think some interesting thoughts along the way. Ultimately, though, it's not as fulfilling as getting completely lost in a full-length project that you actually care about.
Note that this is a good thing - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to live in a country where how parents should raise their children was completely specified by law.
My wife's pregnant, so she's off the booze for a while. I wish our five-year old would start drinking so he could keep me company at the pub. However, as he can't possibly handle the effects of alcohol at that age, it's illegal for him to do so.
Just as he's physically ill-equipped to deal with alcohol at that age, he's also mentally ill-equipped to deal with games like GTA or films like The Ring.
Personally I think it's a Good Thing that here in.uk these things can't legally be supplied to him until he's at least got a chance of handling them responsibly (or until he gets a decent fake ID).
Is that unique identifier such as SSID or access point MAC address (is that even accessible to a client)?
Yes, it's sent as part of the initial handshake - it's actually called the BSSID, or Basic Service Set Identification, and contains the MAC of the AP. See here, section 2.3.
Have you ever looked up republic and democracy in the dictionary? They mean the same thing
I think there's a subtle difference, to do with who actually has the power to give power. From dictionary.com:
A democracy is "the common people, considered as the primary source of political power", or your basic one-man-one-vote system.
For example, in.uk, if someone wins the most votes in their constituency at an election, they represent that constituency in the next government (of course, as Churchill said, the best argument against democracy is a five-minute coversation with the average voter).
A republic, OTOH, is "a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them".
Not being from.us I'm not entirely sure, but isn't it technically the electoral college who return representatives? If so, surely that qualifies as a "body of citizens"?
Now, I don't know if electoral college votes have ever been cast against the popular vote (or even if they can be), so I guess you've really got a demublic or a repocracy or something:-)
Slashdot Mirror
s/all the smart people/The Disney Company and Rupert Murdoch/
Unless something snaps, our future in space is almost inevitably going to be held in the clammy hands of big companies. Forget the Federation, Jedi Council, Landsraad or your personal favourite; imagine Celebration, Florida on an interplanetary scale.
Sorry, I'm in one of those moods today (I watched Gattaca last night). I do agree with you, we should be moving forward on this sort of thing - waiting for quantum leaps in technology to come along is a gamble at best and a losing proposition at worst. Besides, these sort of innovations aren't predictable: we might invent matter teleportation before we invent the perfect rocket fuel, and then all bets are off.
As a result, if you want to listen to this music in our front room, you have to turn on the chipped Xbox and listen to the MP3 rip through Media Centre.
I'm not quite sure what all this DRM stuff is supposed to achieve, but whatever it is it's not working yet.
For example, try here.
It's driving or walking, and I sure as hell ain't walkin'.
Well, you could get a Segway :-)
Seriously, I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to drive. But even if gas prices in the US double you'd still be cheaper than just about everywhere else, plus there's suddenly a serious incentive for people to buy more eco-friendly vehicles (and manufacturers to develop better ones).
So go wait in line at the bus stop or train station and STFU yourself. A lot of us over here don't have a choice on buying gas.
It's not just those in the US that don't have a choice - and BTW if you want to drive into London or on certain roads there are additional charges, just as there have been on French autoroutes for years.
Pfft. Doesn't really matter though. In forty or fifty years, when all the oil runs out, you *really* won't have a choice.
+1
In speed chess, each player has five minutes on the clock for their whole game. It's not exactly the five seconds per move you suggest - you get your opening out as quickly as possible to conserve time for the endgame - but it's pretty close. If you've memorised a huge litany of openings and you're good at seeing the board rather than the pieces, it's a lot of fun (especially when time starts running out).
Playing speed chess is a good way to test your knowledge, find out what your peers are up to, and maybe meet some interesting people or think some interesting thoughts along the way. Ultimately, though, it's not as fulfilling as getting completely lost in a full-length game that you actually care about.
A programming competition is a good way to test your knowledge, find out what your peers are up to, and maybe meet some interesting people or think some interesting thoughts along the way. Ultimately, though, it's not as fulfilling as getting completely lost in a full-length project that you actually care about.
My wife's pregnant, so she's off the booze for a while. I wish our five-year old would start drinking so he could keep me company at the pub. However, as he can't possibly handle the effects of alcohol at that age, it's illegal for him to do so.
Just as he's physically ill-equipped to deal with alcohol at that age, he's also mentally ill-equipped to deal with games like GTA or films like The Ring.
Personally I think it's a Good Thing that here in .uk these things can't legally be supplied to him until he's at least got a chance of handling them responsibly (or until he gets a decent fake ID).
Yes, it's sent as part of the initial handshake - it's actually called the BSSID, or Basic Service Set Identification, and contains the MAC of the AP. See here, section 2.3.
I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this comment is too narrow to contain.
I think there's a subtle difference, to do with who actually has the power to give power. From dictionary.com:
A democracy is "the common people, considered as the primary source of political power", or your basic one-man-one-vote system.
For example, in .uk, if someone wins the most votes in their constituency at an election, they represent that constituency in the next government (of course, as Churchill said, the best argument against democracy is a five-minute coversation with the average voter).
A republic, OTOH, is "a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them".
Not being from .us I'm not entirely sure, but isn't it technically the electoral college who return representatives? If so, surely that qualifies as a "body of citizens"?
Now, I don't know if electoral college votes have ever been cast against the popular vote (or even if they can be), so I guess you've really got a demublic or a repocracy or something :-)
FWIW, TweakUI lets you stop this happening, or change it so the program trying to steal focus can only flash its taskbar button.