If you guys _still_ want to secede from the US, I think now we'd be willing to reconsider!
Keep doing stuff like this, and it will be an easy decision.
You're embarrassing all of us!
Yours truly,
A Yankee
Nobody NEEDS free broadcast TV (with the possible exception of deaf people who can't hear emergency broadcasts via radio). Most people would be better off without it! Here's a hint: somewhere close to you there is something called a "public library" that will let you borrow books, music CDs, even DVD movies, absolutely free of charge and without being subject to advertising! Try it sometime... you may find something there that is even more entertaining than "The Jerry Springer Show".
I used to find it very easy to induce auditory hallucinations with a combination of sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation; e.g. stay up for 36 hours then put in earplugs and try to sleep. Since caffeine is known to interfere with sleep, is it possible that these hallucinations are not caused directly by the caffeine, but rather by a lack of sleep brought on by caffeine consumption on previous days?
"WARNING: Excessive exposure to news coverage of the war in Iraq may lead to aggressive behavior!"
"WARNING: Excessive exposure to politician's speeches may lead to nausea and vomiting!"
And of course the ever popular "WARNING: Excessive exposure to XXX DVD's may cause carpal tunnel and other Repetitive Stress Injuries!"
A multitude of studies have linked cigarettes and lung cancer -- how many valid scientific studies have proven a causal relationship between video games and violence?
Right... so I'm sure it's a lot more cost-effective to buy this keyboard PC than to buy software that would let me use my iPhone to control that box connected to the TV. Then that box connected to the TV would need WiFi to talk to the iPhone, which has got to be a lot cheaper than what it needs to stream HDMI video. Again, this looks like a solution in search of a problem to me; what can you do with this device that you couldn't do before? (Other than hit smart-asses like me over the head with it, thus doing a lot more damage than your existing phone or remote control.)
Healthy as well as with brain disorders?
on
More Brains Needed
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· Score: 5, Funny
What if I'm not quite certain which category I belong in?
Let me see if I got this straight: this box has no DVD drive or large hard drive, so the "killer" app for this toy is to stream video over wireless to the keyboard, decode it, then stream it again to another box connected to your television??? I'm no system engineer, but wouldn't it make a lot more sense to put all the brains in the box connected to the television (and the power outlet), and just use a cheap remote control (with much better battery life) to control it?
Or maybe you could use it to play games on... in which case wouldn't you be better served by any of the current game consoles equipped with a wireless controller? One more thing... if you've got a built-in wireless HDMI for streaming video to a largescreen TV... what the fsck do you need a crappy 5" LCD screen for??? Sure, this is a cute toy, but what does it enable the average user to actually do better than what they are using now?
Luckily, we don't have a problem with waiting while fast forwarding DVDs, because the #*%! pieces of $%&* won't let you fast-forward past the crap they forcibly subject you to before the movie! You would think technology would evolve in the direction of more convenience to the user, not less...
Now I can make sure that hot chick isn't my long-lost sister BEFORE I sleep with her! And save myself the Luke Skywalker type embarrassment of almost having done my sister...
However, don't you just HATE it when your date asks you, "Before this relationship progresses any further, I'll need a sample of your DNA!"
How much data can the TV buffer? I already have a problem with the occaisional pauses while streaming HD video to my PC 'cause my network connection sucks... I suspect it would be even more annoying while having friends over to watch on the big screen. Does the TV have a hard drive, so that it can buffer the entire movie ahead of time?
You are forgetting the ability to accumulate information and pass it on to others. While oral communication and a great memory may accomplish this for small groups of individuals, for organizing larger groups I believe something akin to written communication is necessary.
I suppose you think a microwave oven irradiates your food, too. Planes already fly through the beams emitted by radar installations all the time, and nobody even notices the heating effect caused by that. Does anybody have actual figures on the energy density of the beam used for space-based power, and how long it would have to remain on target to produce real health effects?
The best LEDs now available for street lighting get only 115 lm/W, while Low Pressure Sodium can get up to 200 lm/W. So this system will use more, not less, energy. The only advantage of LEDs then would be increased lifetime of the bulbs. (Sodium bulbs also probably decrease in efficiency over their lifetime, while LED output remains relatively constant.)
When I was a kid, I started designing a Tic Tac Toe game using only mechanical relays. I abandoned the effort when I realized the thousands of relays required to make it play well would be prohibitively expensive. While writing a good Tic Tac Toe in LISP is relatively easy, doing it using discrete components is a major time sink.
I don't mean to belittle your suffering; deep inside I believe that anyone that commits a sexual assault should be killed as quickly as possible in order to make certain they do not cause anyone to suffer. However, I submit that you are handling your assault much better than Mr. Nikolai, committed suicide based on a single 7-year old girls report of inappropriate touching and no physical evidence. I don't think those accused of touching little girls fare very well in prison and I'm sure they have a short life expectancy, regardless of whether the allegations are true or not. I'm not even saying Mr. Nikolai didn't deserve his fate; I'm just saying it is very difficult to strike a balance between always believing the victim and giving too much power to those few unbalanced individuals who would deliberately make false allegations in order to seek twisted vengeance against somebody who has slighted them. Everybody suffers, and everybody feels the psychological scars of injustice for years. I sincerely wish you all the best in healing the pain that was inflicted on you.
The biggest danger to depressed kids is the depressed kids themselves. Personally, I think Lori Drew's conduct calls for a civil, not criminal case against her. Misdemeanor convictions against her help in that case. The last thing you want when you are suing somebody for half their earnings for the rest of their life is for them to be spending several years in jail, earning nothing. And of course, violation of terms of service is a contractual breach, which is entirely a civil matter, and has no business whatsoever being discussing in criminal court. If anything, the Lori Drew case help at-risk kids by making it clear that you shouldn't believe anything people claim online, especially if you've never met them in real life. Anybody can create an online account, and any 2-bit script kiddie can forge an originating email address. Kids _should_ assume that anybody who takes an inordinate interest in them online means to do them harm, even though 99% of them do not. Yeah, it sucks to live in a world that works that way just like it sucks that I can't be trusted around little girls (or boys) due to the fact that I'm an adult male, but that is the world we live in -- get used to it.
I've got an Android G1 phone, which has both a touch screen and a track ball... guess which is easier to navigate with? An any situation where the field you are trying to select is smaller than the fingertip you are trying to select it with, touch navigation sucks. Parallax and uncalibrated touch sensors don't help either. Now, larger touch screens or touch screen activated with a stylus (e.g. Nintendo DS) may work much better. But touch screens like they are putting in all the 3G phones these days really aren't the be-all and end-all of user interfaces. What we really need is a system that communicates in conversational spoken language.
Slashdot Mirror
If you guys _still_ want to secede from the US, I think now we'd be willing to reconsider! Keep doing stuff like this, and it will be an easy decision. You're embarrassing all of us! Yours truly, A Yankee
What?!? You're still using the window? Don't you have access to the hidden spycams?
Nobody NEEDS free broadcast TV (with the possible exception of deaf people who can't hear emergency broadcasts via radio). Most people would be better off without it! Here's a hint: somewhere close to you there is something called a "public library" that will let you borrow books, music CDs, even DVD movies, absolutely free of charge and without being subject to advertising! Try it sometime... you may find something there that is even more entertaining than "The Jerry Springer Show".
I used to find it very easy to induce auditory hallucinations with a combination of sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation; e.g. stay up for 36 hours then put in earplugs and try to sleep. Since caffeine is known to interfere with sleep, is it possible that these hallucinations are not caused directly by the caffeine, but rather by a lack of sleep brought on by caffeine consumption on previous days?
The voices inside my head are telling me that this study is severely flawed, and I should just relax and have another cup of coffee...
Just great... so we can look forward to Congresscritter Baca using the Chewbacca Defense to justify this bill? It seems oddly appropriate!
"WARNING: Excessive exposure to politician's speeches may lead to nausea and vomiting!"
And of course the ever popular "WARNING: Excessive exposure to XXX DVD's may cause carpal tunnel and other Repetitive Stress Injuries!"
A multitude of studies have linked cigarettes and lung cancer -- how many valid scientific studies have proven a causal relationship between video games and violence?
Right... so I'm sure it's a lot more cost-effective to buy this keyboard PC than to buy software that would let me use my iPhone to control that box connected to the TV. Then that box connected to the TV would need WiFi to talk to the iPhone, which has got to be a lot cheaper than what it needs to stream HDMI video. Again, this looks like a solution in search of a problem to me; what can you do with this device that you couldn't do before? (Other than hit smart-asses like me over the head with it, thus doing a lot more damage than your existing phone or remote control.)
What if I'm not quite certain which category I belong in?
Or maybe you could use it to play games on... in which case wouldn't you be better served by any of the current game consoles equipped with a wireless controller? One more thing... if you've got a built-in wireless HDMI for streaming video to a largescreen TV... what the fsck do you need a crappy 5" LCD screen for??? Sure, this is a cute toy, but what does it enable the average user to actually do better than what they are using now?
Luckily, we don't have a problem with waiting while fast forwarding DVDs, because the #*%! pieces of $%&* won't let you fast-forward past the crap they forcibly subject you to before the movie! You would think technology would evolve in the direction of more convenience to the user, not less...
However, don't you just HATE it when your date asks you, "Before this relationship progresses any further, I'll need a sample of your DNA!"
How much data can the TV buffer? I already have a problem with the occaisional pauses while streaming HD video to my PC 'cause my network connection sucks... I suspect it would be even more annoying while having friends over to watch on the big screen. Does the TV have a hard drive, so that it can buffer the entire movie ahead of time?
Water and electricity in close proximity in a jury-rigged device... what could possibly go wrong?
Patch available here.
You are forgetting the ability to accumulate information and pass it on to others. While oral communication and a great memory may accomplish this for small groups of individuals, for organizing larger groups I believe something akin to written communication is necessary.
I suppose you think a microwave oven irradiates your food, too. Planes already fly through the beams emitted by radar installations all the time, and nobody even notices the heating effect caused by that. Does anybody have actual figures on the energy density of the beam used for space-based power, and how long it would have to remain on target to produce real health effects?
The best LEDs now available for street lighting get only 115 lm/W, while Low Pressure Sodium can get up to 200 lm/W. So this system will use more, not less, energy. The only advantage of LEDs then would be increased lifetime of the bulbs. (Sodium bulbs also probably decrease in efficiency over their lifetime, while LED output remains relatively constant.)
When I was a kid, I started designing a Tic Tac Toe game using only mechanical relays. I abandoned the effort when I realized the thousands of relays required to make it play well would be prohibitively expensive. While writing a good Tic Tac Toe in LISP is relatively easy, doing it using discrete components is a major time sink.
Sure, it sounds like a great game, but... where are the screen shots?!?
To say nothing of the talking to animals... most people I know are at least into their sixties before they start talking to animals!
So it's just a matter of time before we see Custer's Revenge for the Wii? I can't wait!
I don't mean to belittle your suffering; deep inside I believe that anyone that commits a sexual assault should be killed as quickly as possible in order to make certain they do not cause anyone to suffer. However, I submit that you are handling your assault much better than Mr. Nikolai, committed suicide based on a single 7-year old girls report of inappropriate touching and no physical evidence. I don't think those accused of touching little girls fare very well in prison and I'm sure they have a short life expectancy, regardless of whether the allegations are true or not. I'm not even saying Mr. Nikolai didn't deserve his fate; I'm just saying it is very difficult to strike a balance between always believing the victim and giving too much power to those few unbalanced individuals who would deliberately make false allegations in order to seek twisted vengeance against somebody who has slighted them. Everybody suffers, and everybody feels the psychological scars of injustice for years. I sincerely wish you all the best in healing the pain that was inflicted on you.
The biggest danger to depressed kids is the depressed kids themselves. Personally, I think Lori Drew's conduct calls for a civil, not criminal case against her. Misdemeanor convictions against her help in that case. The last thing you want when you are suing somebody for half their earnings for the rest of their life is for them to be spending several years in jail, earning nothing. And of course, violation of terms of service is a contractual breach, which is entirely a civil matter, and has no business whatsoever being discussing in criminal court. If anything, the Lori Drew case help at-risk kids by making it clear that you shouldn't believe anything people claim online, especially if you've never met them in real life. Anybody can create an online account, and any 2-bit script kiddie can forge an originating email address. Kids _should_ assume that anybody who takes an inordinate interest in them online means to do them harm, even though 99% of them do not. Yeah, it sucks to live in a world that works that way just like it sucks that I can't be trusted around little girls (or boys) due to the fact that I'm an adult male, but that is the world we live in -- get used to it.
I've got an Android G1 phone, which has both a touch screen and a track ball... guess which is easier to navigate with? An any situation where the field you are trying to select is smaller than the fingertip you are trying to select it with, touch navigation sucks. Parallax and uncalibrated touch sensors don't help either. Now, larger touch screens or touch screen activated with a stylus (e.g. Nintendo DS) may work much better. But touch screens like they are putting in all the 3G phones these days really aren't the be-all and end-all of user interfaces. What we really need is a system that communicates in conversational spoken language.