You're both right (self-congratulatory claptrap) and wrong (communism just doesn't work very well). There was no single factor that caused the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, but the most under-reported significant causes were grain (the USSR had no choice but to buy foreign grain to feed its increasingly urbanized population) and oil (the sharp drop in oil prices was a major economic blow). For a more lengthy look into the role of grain and oil in the USSR's collapse, see this article or download the PDF of the article.
USB drives?? Think bigger. A 1 TB external HD is far more effective if physical size and convenience of portability are less of a concern. I'm sure many co-workers and college dorm students already share files via external hard drives.
If there were a country with minimal tax, strong protection from the government, freedom to think and act - I know I would move there.
Better start packing then. This place is a Republican wet dream come true. Minimal taxes, practically no government, and a free market economy! Check out their site for tourists!
Huh? The Mac came out in 1984 and the color Mac II came out in 1987. I'd hardly call 3 years "many" and yes, the competition (Amiga, Atari ST) had color from the start (1985) and until VGA appeared for PCs in 1987, the state of color PC graphics (CGA, EGA) was poor, to say the least.
For vector graphics, check out Adobe Illustrator's nearest competitor, CorelDraw. For bitmap image editing, check Corel PhotoPaint (part of the CorelDraw suite) or Corel's PaintShop Pro software. For desktop publishing, consider QuarkXpress or the open source app, Scribus. For making PDF files, look into Foxit PDF Creator or PDF Creator. I don't believe there are many low priced or open-source alternatives that are comparable to Front Page or DreamWeaver. However, take a look at Kompozer (an improved version of the open-source NVU). For what it's worth, that's my advice for low cost alternatives to the Adobe Creative Suite.
Yeah, WTF is it with these recent Top/Most/Best/Worst/etc of 2007 lists?? Is the news media that starved for eyeballs they need to pretend it's late December and crank out these stupid lists? Will we be seeing "Top 10 Natural Disasters of 2007" or "Worst Celebrity Scandals of 2007" in the next few weeks?
You're absolutely right, you don't need a 600 round per minute fire rate to kill game. And I suspect the number of people who hunt and kill deer with a rifle on full auto is EXACTLY ZERO for two reasons: First, nobody wants to be "making hamburger" out of their target game, so you're right on that count. Second, one has to go through far more scrutiny from the authorities to be able to purchase a full auto rifle, plus there's the economics of owning a full auto rifle. Legal full auto rifles are *very* expensive ($15,000 and up), as only federally registered automatic firearms manufactured before 1986 can be sold.
BTW, you DO know the difference between automatic and semi-automatic, right?
Certainly not a technical book, but definitely non-fiction, The Guide to Getting It On! is probably the best sex manual I have ever read (yes, read, which means I didn't just look at it for the illustrations!). Unlike most matter-of-fact sex books which usually try to distract the reader from the dry prose with slick illustrations, this book approaches its subject with a style that's very light-hearted and fun (but it does cover the more serious topics, such as STDs and other bad stuff, so the authors aren't oblivious to the risks). The black & white inked illustrations are well done, reminding me of the kind of art that graced most RPG manuals before they went to color. I highly recommend it (to those over 18, of course).
I've given that argument a lot of thought before and so here's my 2 cents worth. Many on the left like to attribute Middle-East terrorism to American meddling, and that argument is not entirely without basis in fact (CIA overthrow of a democratic Iranian regime, kneejerk support of Israel, military bases in Saudi Arabia, etc). But where the argument falls apart is the fact that the US has meddled in other regions as much as, if not more than, the Middle East. Uncle Sam has a long history of poking his nose into Central American and Asian affairs. So why haven't those regions spawned thier own international anti-US terrorist movements?
Culture. From what I've observed about Arab-Islamic culture, the attitude seems to be "If you don't like things, grab a gun/bomb and do something about it!" and so being brave, violent, and stupid are considered admirable qualities. Killing yourself for a futile cause is easy, but striving to better yourself and your part of the world is hard work. Unfortunately, Arab-Islamic culture puts a higher value on the "jihad warrior" than it does on the "rags to riches entrepreneur" or "smart techie" and so, to borrow Thomas Friedmans' semi-analogy, they're stuck making potato chips in a world that makes microchips.
*Very* good point. About 10 years or so ago, I came across an issue of Entertainment magazine and in it they listed the top 10 movies for some week in 1972. I only recognized *one* movie title in that list. That pretty much confirms your point (and Sturgeon's Law). The vast majority of entertainment is junk and only the test of time and/or the strength of collective memory prevents an entertainment product (movie, novel, song, game, etc) from sliding into total obscurity after a few years have passed.
You're absolutely right, but not in quite the way that you think. Remember the Hollywood writer's strike in the late 80's? If you don't, I guarantee you the studios certainly do. That strike thrust Hollywood into major turmoil, and the studios weren't going to let that happen again anytime soon. Why did the television industry latch onto "reality" shows so enthusaiastically? No real scripts and no writers required (not to mention low wage non-SAG "talent" in front of the camera). For more about the writer's strike (and a little insight into the machinery of Hollywood), check out this article.
*sigh* Okay, I can understand a certain level of frustration with NASA, as the manned space program has been rife with a lot of problems for the past few years. But as troubled as our manned space program has been, it's still way better than the dark days after Apollo and Skylab. For seven long years the US had absolutely no manned presence in space at all.
Despite NASA's flaws, the one bright spot in our space program has been the Jet Propulsion Lab and the unmanned exploration program. In the past 3 decades we have almost single-handely mapped the solar system, had *4* successful Mars landings (with more to come!), and peered into the universe like never before. As for other nations' space programs, only the former Soviet Union's space exploration program comes close, with successful probe landings on the moon, Mars, and Venus. The ESA comes in at a distant third, Japan at a barely noticeable 4th place, and other than a copy of the Mercury program, China has done practically nothing.
The last few members of my extended family just entered the 20th century and went to broadband.
I'm confused. Is this the 21st century, or are your kin time travelers?
Computer graphics apps can't teach anatomy, proportion, shading, perspective, and composition. Dicking around on the computer is NOT going to impart these eessential skills. Having a modicum of drawing talent, the best thing that ever happened to my drawing ability was to learn the above basics. Want to draw sexy chicks? Learn anatomy and proportion for starters, then move on to shading/lighting. For drawing people, a great starting point is Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. The best drawing books are by Andrew Loomis, but unfortunately most of them are out of print but they can be found *cough* online.
there's not much chance of making a good sequel to "Beauty & the Beast" or "The Little Mermaid."
Uh, although a direct to video release, the sequel to The Little Mermaid came out a few years ago. And as for Beauty & the Beast, there kinda-sorta was a sequel (more of an "untold tale" than a sequel, it took place in the first movie's timeline, but was never shown).
Both movies were so-so at best and I guess there's a Little Mermaid III in the works (but unless it's good, I hope it gets axed).
I honestly don't know about China's future in space. But if the quality of the young people at JPL are an indication, then I feel confidence and pride in our future space exploration capability. The only real limits are financial and political, NOT in talent or imagination. NASA may have its problems, but we can be proud of the fact that NASA has almost single-handedly expanded mankind's knowledge of the solar system to an incalculable degree.
It's nice to know Unisys's heart-warming corporate culture hasn't changed over the past few years. Ah yes, I remember well the days of the great GIF Patent Shakedown indeed! Bastards.
If any of you have been working with computers for over 20 years, you know that until the mid 90's or so, the schism between consumer and IT PCs was a hairline crack at most. Back then, there was no "consumer grade" variants of DOS, Win 3.x, or Win95. The OS used at home was *exactly* the same as used in the office. Applications (word processors, utilities, etc) were pretty much the same way as well, with no major distinction between home/business use. Plus back then, hardware & software came with manuals that were half-inch thick BOOKS and tech support quality was great (maybe because people usually only called support as last resort). The average home user had a genuine interest in computers and was up to the task of manually editing a batch or INI file.
In the office, PCs were primitively networked and the variety of applications were pretty sparse. IT departments had a fairly loose grip on the average user's PC and the only major security concern was viruses or user ineptitude.
Fast forward to the present and what do we have? Windows has a patronizing 'Fisher Price' interface and is brain-dead easy to configure for basic tasks. Windows Vista will have SEVEN variants. There's a plethora of apps for every picayune interest out there (do people really buy programs to design a deck or quilt??) Heavy duty applications (office apps, graphics, web site creation, etc) have watered down variants. Today's average PC user has so little clue how their system works it's no wonder Geek Squad is raking in the cash. Today's users never see a command line prompt and soil themselves when they do. Now with DRM and "Trusted Computing" around the corner, it seems the home PC will be little more than an entertainment center that interfaces with the Internet (so Joe User can get porn, spam, and shop at Amazon.com).
In the world of IT, the PC has become a terminal on steroids. Hardware is barely "good enough" (who needs more than 256MB of RAM or USB 2.0?), Windows is heavily locked down, desktop apps are limited to what IT deems "safe" (non-MS apps are always viewed warily), and don't even THINK about customizing more than the desktop wallpaper or boot WAV file. Between keyloggers, Internet access logs, and remote access to your local hard drive, you are always under the digital gaze of IT. All for "security" of course. In the near future, the average office drone's computer will be a boxless thin-client terminal and the only thing a user can do is launch an app to retrieve, edit, and store files on a remote server.
"PC" once stood for Personal Computer (with the emphasis on 'personal') but now I have to wonder if that is really true anymore...
No kidding. The quality of PDX area radio has gone from bad to worse. KUFO's loss of Pork Chop & Dog Face made the commute home from work less entertaining (although I admit I was starting to tire of their juvenille humor). I can't say I'm crazy about "Charlie FM" (radio's iPod Shuffle). And the most recent loss was "The River" changing its format to jazz. Of course, Stern's imminent departure will make the morning commute a little more dreary.
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You're both right (self-congratulatory claptrap) and wrong (communism just doesn't work very well). There was no single factor that caused the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, but the most under-reported significant causes were grain (the USSR had no choice but to buy foreign grain to feed its increasingly urbanized population) and oil (the sharp drop in oil prices was a major economic blow). For a more lengthy look into the role of grain and oil in the USSR's collapse, see this article or download the PDF of the article.
USB drives?? Think bigger. A 1 TB external HD is far more effective if physical size and convenience of portability are less of a concern. I'm sure many co-workers and college dorm students already share files via external hard drives.
If there were a country with minimal tax, strong protection from the government, freedom to think and act - I know I would move there.
Better start packing then. This place is a Republican wet dream come true. Minimal taxes, practically no government, and a free market economy! Check out their site for tourists!
The first x-ray laser was part of SDI research in the early 80's. Click here and here for more info.
Who won the Cold War? Because I'm really having a hard time telling the difference anymore.
Dejah Thoris
the Mac wasn't colour for many years
Huh? The Mac came out in 1984 and the color Mac II came out in 1987. I'd hardly call 3 years "many" and yes, the competition (Amiga, Atari ST) had color from the start (1985) and until VGA appeared for PCs in 1987, the state of color PC graphics (CGA, EGA) was poor, to say the least.
For vector graphics, check out Adobe Illustrator's nearest competitor, CorelDraw. For bitmap image editing, check Corel PhotoPaint (part of the CorelDraw suite) or Corel's PaintShop Pro software. For desktop publishing, consider QuarkXpress or the open source app, Scribus. For making PDF files, look into Foxit PDF Creator or PDF Creator. I don't believe there are many low priced or open-source alternatives that are comparable to Front Page or DreamWeaver. However, take a look at Kompozer (an improved version of the open-source NVU). For what it's worth, that's my advice for low cost alternatives to the Adobe Creative Suite.
Yeah, WTF is it with these recent Top/Most/Best/Worst/etc of 2007 lists?? Is the news media that starved for eyeballs they need to pretend it's late December and crank out these stupid lists? Will we be seeing "Top 10 Natural Disasters of 2007" or "Worst Celebrity Scandals of 2007" in the next few weeks?
You're absolutely right, you don't need a 600 round per minute fire rate to kill game. And I suspect the number of people who hunt and kill deer with a rifle on full auto is EXACTLY ZERO for two reasons: First, nobody wants to be "making hamburger" out of their target game, so you're right on that count. Second, one has to go through far more scrutiny from the authorities to be able to purchase a full auto rifle, plus there's the economics of owning a full auto rifle. Legal full auto rifles are *very* expensive ($15,000 and up), as only federally registered automatic firearms manufactured before 1986 can be sold.
BTW, you DO know the difference between automatic and semi-automatic, right?
Certainly not a technical book, but definitely non-fiction, The Guide to Getting It On! is probably the best sex manual I have ever read (yes, read, which means I didn't just look at it for the illustrations!). Unlike most matter-of-fact sex books which usually try to distract the reader from the dry prose with slick illustrations, this book approaches its subject with a style that's very light-hearted and fun (but it does cover the more serious topics, such as STDs and other bad stuff, so the authors aren't oblivious to the risks). The black & white inked illustrations are well done, reminding me of the kind of art that graced most RPG manuals before they went to color. I highly recommend it (to those over 18, of course).
The fact is, U.S meddling in Mid-east affairs.
I've given that argument a lot of thought before and so here's my 2 cents worth. Many on the left like to attribute Middle-East terrorism to American meddling, and that argument is not entirely without basis in fact (CIA overthrow of a democratic Iranian regime, kneejerk support of Israel, military bases in Saudi Arabia, etc). But where the argument falls apart is the fact that the US has meddled in other regions as much as, if not more than, the Middle East. Uncle Sam has a long history of poking his nose into Central American and Asian affairs. So why haven't those regions spawned thier own international anti-US terrorist movements?
Culture. From what I've observed about Arab-Islamic culture, the attitude seems to be "If you don't like things, grab a gun/bomb and do something about it!" and so being brave, violent, and stupid are considered admirable qualities. Killing yourself for a futile cause is easy, but striving to better yourself and your part of the world is hard work. Unfortunately, Arab-Islamic culture puts a higher value on the "jihad warrior" than it does on the "rags to riches entrepreneur" or "smart techie" and so, to borrow Thomas Friedmans' semi-analogy, they're stuck making potato chips in a world that makes microchips.
*Very* good point. About 10 years or so ago, I came across an issue of Entertainment magazine and in it they listed the top 10 movies for some week in 1972. I only recognized *one* movie title in that list. That pretty much confirms your point (and Sturgeon's Law). The vast majority of entertainment is junk and only the test of time and/or the strength of collective memory prevents an entertainment product (movie, novel, song, game, etc) from sliding into total obscurity after a few years have passed.
You're absolutely right, but not in quite the way that you think. Remember the Hollywood writer's strike in the late 80's? If you don't, I guarantee you the studios certainly do. That strike thrust Hollywood into major turmoil, and the studios weren't going to let that happen again anytime soon. Why did the television industry latch onto "reality" shows so enthusaiastically? No real scripts and no writers required (not to mention low wage non-SAG "talent" in front of the camera). For more about the writer's strike (and a little insight into the machinery of Hollywood), check out this article.
*sigh* Okay, I can understand a certain level of frustration with NASA, as the manned space program has been rife with a lot of problems for the past few years. But as troubled as our manned space program has been, it's still way better than the dark days after Apollo and Skylab. For seven long years the US had absolutely no manned presence in space at all.
Despite NASA's flaws, the one bright spot in our space program has been the Jet Propulsion Lab and the unmanned exploration program. In the past 3 decades we have almost single-handely mapped the solar system, had *4* successful Mars landings (with more to come!), and peered into the universe like never before. As for other nations' space programs, only the former Soviet Union's space exploration program comes close, with successful probe landings on the moon, Mars, and Venus. The ESA comes in at a distant third, Japan at a barely noticeable 4th place, and other than a copy of the Mercury program, China has done practically nothing.
Who killed US inter- and intra-city passenger rail transportation?
The last few members of my extended family just entered the 20th century and went to broadband.
I'm confused. Is this the 21st century, or are your kin time travelers?
Computer graphics apps can't teach anatomy, proportion, shading, perspective, and composition. Dicking around on the computer is NOT going to impart these eessential skills. Having a modicum of drawing talent, the best thing that ever happened to my drawing ability was to learn the above basics. Want to draw sexy chicks? Learn anatomy and proportion for starters, then move on to shading/lighting. For drawing people, a great starting point is Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. The best drawing books are by Andrew Loomis, but unfortunately most of them are out of print but they can be found *cough* online.
there's not much chance of making a good sequel to "Beauty & the Beast" or "The Little Mermaid."
Uh, although a direct to video release, the sequel to The Little Mermaid came out a few years ago. And as for Beauty & the Beast, there kinda-sorta was a sequel (more of an "untold tale" than a sequel, it took place in the first movie's timeline, but was never shown).
Both movies were so-so at best and I guess there's a Little Mermaid III in the works (but unless it's good, I hope it gets axed).
I honestly don't know about China's future in space. But if the quality of the young people at JPL are an indication, then I feel confidence and pride in our future space exploration capability. The only real limits are financial and political, NOT in talent or imagination. NASA may have its problems, but we can be proud of the fact that NASA has almost single-handedly expanded mankind's knowledge of the solar system to an incalculable degree.
It's nice to know Unisys's heart-warming corporate culture hasn't changed over the past few years. Ah yes, I remember well the days of the great GIF Patent Shakedown indeed! Bastards.
If any of you have been working with computers for over 20 years, you know that until the mid 90's or so, the schism between consumer and IT PCs was a hairline crack at most. Back then, there was no "consumer grade" variants of DOS, Win 3.x, or Win95. The OS used at home was *exactly* the same as used in the office. Applications (word processors, utilities, etc) were pretty much the same way as well, with no major distinction between home/business use. Plus back then, hardware & software came with manuals that were half-inch thick BOOKS and tech support quality was great (maybe because people usually only called support as last resort). The average home user had a genuine interest in computers and was up to the task of manually editing a batch or INI file.
In the office, PCs were primitively networked and the variety of applications were pretty sparse. IT departments had a fairly loose grip on the average user's PC and the only major security concern was viruses or user ineptitude.
Fast forward to the present and what do we have? Windows has a patronizing 'Fisher Price' interface and is brain-dead easy to configure for basic tasks. Windows Vista will have SEVEN variants. There's a plethora of apps for every picayune interest out there (do people really buy programs to design a deck or quilt??) Heavy duty applications (office apps, graphics, web site creation, etc) have watered down variants. Today's average PC user has so little clue how their system works it's no wonder Geek Squad is raking in the cash. Today's users never see a command line prompt and soil themselves when they do. Now with DRM and "Trusted Computing" around the corner, it seems the home PC will be little more than an entertainment center that interfaces with the Internet (so Joe User can get porn, spam, and shop at Amazon.com).
In the world of IT, the PC has become a terminal on steroids. Hardware is barely "good enough" (who needs more than 256MB of RAM or USB 2.0?), Windows is heavily locked down, desktop apps are limited to what IT deems "safe" (non-MS apps are always viewed warily), and don't even THINK about customizing more than the desktop wallpaper or boot WAV file. Between keyloggers, Internet access logs, and remote access to your local hard drive, you are always under the digital gaze of IT. All for "security" of course. In the near future, the average office drone's computer will be a boxless thin-client terminal and the only thing a user can do is launch an app to retrieve, edit, and store files on a remote server.
"PC" once stood for Personal Computer (with the emphasis on 'personal') but now I have to wonder if that is really true anymore...
[end gruff old fart rant]Tvayu Maht
No kidding. The quality of PDX area radio has gone from bad to worse. KUFO's loss of Pork Chop & Dog Face made the commute home from work less entertaining (although I admit I was starting to tire of their juvenille humor). I can't say I'm crazy about "Charlie FM" (radio's iPod Shuffle). And the most recent loss was "The River" changing its format to jazz. Of course, Stern's imminent departure will make the morning commute a little more dreary.
...and you're a thief. Steal millions of dollars and you're a good businessman.