I never said the engine wasn't good -- it appears to be pretty decent, and has for quite a while. My complaint is that the UI sucks if you're transitioning to it, that is all.
OR, "lets use something similar (not necessarily identical) so other people can convert easily"
In the case of GIMP, it simply isn't a substitute for Photoshop for professional work, and the interface is a small part of the reason (mostly a lack of CMYK). And the Photoshop interface certainly isn't "hard" even to do the "hard" things, so I'm not sure where you get the "best interface for hard things is a hard one" bit.
For 3d work (my real complaint), the blender engine is pretty decent, but the UI is holding it back, because transitioning from other packages makes it unusable. If you were learning blender as your first 3d package, the interface may not be as bad, but it is different enough to keep people from transitioning to it if they already know something else.
I'd be interested in any good linux 3d tools at all, but it seems the linux community is happy with blender, and doesn't seem to care that its interface is horrible (ie, the gimp syndrome -- "we want to be different, even at the cost of being good").
IF you can tolerate blender's handicapped interface, you might be able to export into a form google earth can handle (or, as the forums will tell you "write it yourself").
Well, I won't claim to be a professional. But I've been using 3dsmax and Maya in various iterations for the last 6 years, and I do find Blender's UI to be absolutely horrible. The developers have made an effort to be different, and in this case, different is not better.
Sure, its open source, and free, but that doesn't make up for the fact that the UI just flat out sucks.
Most UMR* students leave the dorms as soon as they can. This is a relatively minor inconvenience for freshmen and some sophomores. Minor because since most students live off-campus and large hard drives are cheap, its simply a matter of bringing back sneaker-net for the "last mile", and once the movies/music/warez/whatever is on the local network, sharing folders and USB drives take care of the rest in short order.
As for the comments about losing the CS department - my experience was that the CS students were some of the quickest to get out of the dorms, because the IT policies were so annoying even before this, and you could get faster and more reliable connections via cable and dsl. This isn't likely to bother too many CS students.
*I will continue to call it UMR, changing the name to MS&T "Because nothing in the UMR name emphasized technology" is stupid.
The library I live by has less than 10k books total, and no funding to buy more. While the size of the library has a lot to do with it, even large libraries and library systems are hurting for funding, since they're looked upon as becoming obsolete.
I enjoy rural life, but there's a difference between living out here in the boonies and living in the suburbs. Out here, we don't commute 50+ miles to drive one way from our cookie-cutter neighborhood past 10 identical ones that we didn't like, across a city, just to get to work.
I currently have a 3 mile commute to the office, which is usually done via a small motorcycle. A 5 mile drive takes me to the far side of town from where I am. I can drive to work, walk a few blocks from the office to pretty much any store I need. With a little looking around, most foods can be found locally grown or raised, saving processing and transportation costs. Gardens are very common, and many people hunt as well.
Compare that to my previous place in suburb hell: 50 mile one-way commute, stores located far enough apart to make parking in one place and walking difficult other than at shopping malls, which often only had one store I needed to go to in the first place. Pressure to "keep up with the Joneses" with the amount and size of "stuff" (cars, rarely used boat-as-a-status-symbol-in-the-driveway, TV/home theater/media room, etc) and catching a lot of crap if you refuse to play the game. A lot of wasted gas sitting in traffic. No place for a garden, and everything shipped in.
My only real complaints about city life, assuming a city with a decent public transportation system (Boston, NYC, and DC come to mind, though none are perfect by any measure) are simply a lack of available space, and the cost of that space -- otherwise add traffic and a lack of a good transport system to the list. City life was pretty nice in and shortly after college though.
Short version: Yes, to have a city lifestyle out in the sticks is going to cost a lot more, because you'll be driving farther, or having everything shipped out to you. No, not all of us out here care about having the city lifestyle. Likewise, not all of us out here in the sticks are hillbillies and rednecks (although they do exist, and are every bit as annoying as you imagine). Which lifestyle is best for you depends a lot on exactly what you want out of life, but one isn't inherently "better" than any of the others. Except maybe suburban life, which just sucked.
I'm guilty of using the same password on a lot things online. Several forums, throwaway email addresses, "register to read the rest of this article" news sites, etc. Basically, the stuff I don't really care about, and I don't give two hoots if it gets h4x0r3d.
I don't particularly see that as an "unsafe" practice, since none of it really matters.
Things I actually care about (personal email, anything work related, etc) get real passwords, and things that can really cause problems (banking, etc) don't get done via the internet at all.
I know quite a few people who "need" GPS -- but not in a phone. They're all semi-retired and enjoy offshore sailing. LORAN-C works pretty well, but suffers from atmospheric issues and magnetic storms. Pinpoint accuracy isn't needed, since charts aren't 100% accurate and most in-shore navigation is done via buoys and beacons -- if your navigation is good enough to find the island or port you want to visit, other navaids will do the rest.
Then there's the strange few who insist on celestial navigation "for tradition's sake", but refuse to teach anyone else -- I think they're putting on a facade and using the GPS when no one's looking:)
OT: Anyone know of a free online celestial navigation course? I'd like to learn it just to add it to the list of skills I'm not likely to ever need.
Then you decide if its worth spending money to find out.
There are many albums I've not purchased since there were only one or two songs I knew were good, and was unwilling to risk money to find out if the rest were any good. This is where things like Amazon's 30-second previews can be useful, or better yet, their reviews by people who have the album.
In any case, my point was that that the "I'd only pay $2 for it, but they want $18" argument doesn't give someone the right to pirate music or movies (or software).
If its worth less than the asking price, then the right thing to do is to just move on to something else. Not to pirate it and try to justify it saying "its only worth $5 to me, but you won't sell it to me for less than $10"
I know its not popular to say so, but a buyer has no right to get everything they want at the price they want. They can ask, sure, but if the seller doesn't accept the offer, then too bad. Buyer's choices are to pay asking price, negotiate, or do without.
I've got a desktop trebuchet that gets used to deliver candy around the office. Werther's fly pretty good, but the lifesaver's packaging makes them less than ideal projectiles. Jolly Ranchers also fly quite well, and make a pretty good sounding whack when they hit a cubicle wall.
I'm not sure a pizza box would do to well, and very likely wouldn't land right side up, but it would make a very tasty mess, and take a lot less than 45 minutes to have it delivered via trebuchet.:)
The network's value depends on its target market. If the market is bulk deliveries, then yes, using a standard container is probably better. If, on the other hand, the market is store-to-consumer delivery (Parcel Post, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc) unlikely as that may be, then a smaller container may be more valuable, since those methods already have labor costs, and could likely cut labor costs down by not needing the fleet of delivery drivers wasting time and fuel while sitting in traffic. However, the cost in building such a "tube-to-the-premises" system is probably so high that this ranks up there on the silly idea meter right next to the "5,000mph mag-lev train in a vacuum tube under the atlantic for passenger transport" idea that discovery did a show on a couple years ago.
My biggest gripe is that we've gutted the rail system here in the US in favor of long-haul trucking. With multi-modal capability, there's no reason we can't use trains for the long hauls between major cities, and trucks for regional deliveries, with a fairly easy transition between the two (shipping containers have been standardized for decades, the equipment and process has been figured out already). A working passenger rail system would be nice as well, but government involvement with AMTRAK has proven pretty disastrous outside of a few areas.
Unless, of course, one of those "gadgets" or features that Photoshop has that GIMP is lacking, is needed. Then the price/performance becomes $0/unsuitable, which is very easily beat.
Don't get me wrong, HD is nice, and there's a huge difference between it and SD. But it is not a substitute for having good content, which is my complaint about "entertainment" these days. Right now, the only benefit you have with HD is that you end up with better looking rubbish.
You're the one bragging - the only reason I even mentioned I had an HDTV set is because you are dismissive of anyone who doesn't share your opinion as someone bitching because its "something with which he has no experience. There is a significant difference betwenn DVD and HD when you have the right equipment". As for the rest I've made enough money to make me happy without needing to work anymore, and that's enough for me. You enjoy your thousand dollar bottle of booze and the gold-digger who's impressed enough to take off her clothes because of it. I'm glad you're happy, but I don't want to trade places with you, since I prefer my semi-retired life and hobbies.
My point is the content sucks, and until they fix content, HD or not really doesn't matter. You just end up with a clearer picture of rubbish. But you won't comment on that, preferring instead to continue to brag about how much you make and how much you spend, so I'll spell it out in words even you can understand: HD is nice. The content is still crap. HD is not a substitute for good content.
Basic woodworking, fiberglassing, painting, and welding are all fairly simple skills -- they just take a bit of practice. Being an artisan capable of earning a living doing any of the above may be a different story, but hobby-level skills aren't all that hard to learn. That leave the electronics, and, well, this is slashdot, so you likely know that or know someone who would love to do a project like that.
If you really want to learn other stuff, check with your local community college, see if they have any intro-to-X type evening or weekend classes that'd fit your schedule. Most community colleges have some sort of intro-to-welding class, and I'd imagine a basic carpentry class isn't uncommon.
Go wave your dick somewhere else. I'm not impressed by how much money you make, or what car you drive, or who's ass you kissed at the last party you went to.
Graphics quality isn't worth a damn if the content isn't worth watching to begin with. Until you fix the fundamental problem of having nothing worth watching, all the pixels in the world don't matter.
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I never said the engine wasn't good -- it appears to be pretty decent, and has for quite a while. My complaint is that the UI sucks if you're transitioning to it, that is all.
OR, "lets use something similar (not necessarily identical) so other people can convert easily"
In the case of GIMP, it simply isn't a substitute for Photoshop for professional work, and the interface is a small part of the reason (mostly a lack of CMYK). And the Photoshop interface certainly isn't "hard" even to do the "hard" things, so I'm not sure where you get the "best interface for hard things is a hard one" bit.
For 3d work (my real complaint), the blender engine is pretty decent, but the UI is holding it back, because transitioning from other packages makes it unusable. If you were learning blender as your first 3d package, the interface may not be as bad, but it is different enough to keep people from transitioning to it if they already know something else.
I'd be interested in any good linux 3d tools at all, but it seems the linux community is happy with blender, and doesn't seem to care that its interface is horrible (ie, the gimp syndrome -- "we want to be different, even at the cost of being good").
IF you can tolerate blender's handicapped interface, you might be able to export into a form google earth can handle (or, as the forums will tell you "write it yourself").
Well, I won't claim to be a professional. But I've been using 3dsmax and Maya in various iterations for the last 6 years, and I do find Blender's UI to be absolutely horrible. The developers have made an effort to be different, and in this case, different is not better.
Sure, its open source, and free, but that doesn't make up for the fact that the UI just flat out sucks.
Most UMR* students leave the dorms as soon as they can. This is a relatively minor inconvenience for freshmen and some sophomores. Minor because since most students live off-campus and large hard drives are cheap, its simply a matter of bringing back sneaker-net for the "last mile", and once the movies/music/warez/whatever is on the local network, sharing folders and USB drives take care of the rest in short order.
As for the comments about losing the CS department - my experience was that the CS students were some of the quickest to get out of the dorms, because the IT policies were so annoying even before this, and you could get faster and more reliable connections via cable and dsl. This isn't likely to bother too many CS students.
*I will continue to call it UMR, changing the name to MS&T "Because nothing in the UMR name emphasized technology" is stupid.
The library I live by has less than 10k books total, and no funding to buy more. While the size of the library has a lot to do with it, even large libraries and library systems are hurting for funding, since they're looked upon as becoming obsolete.
I enjoy rural life, but there's a difference between living out here in the boonies and living in the suburbs. Out here, we don't commute 50+ miles to drive one way from our cookie-cutter neighborhood past 10 identical ones that we didn't like, across a city, just to get to work.
I currently have a 3 mile commute to the office, which is usually done via a small motorcycle. A 5 mile drive takes me to the far side of town from where I am. I can drive to work, walk a few blocks from the office to pretty much any store I need. With a little looking around, most foods can be found locally grown or raised, saving processing and transportation costs. Gardens are very common, and many people hunt as well.
Compare that to my previous place in suburb hell: 50 mile one-way commute, stores located far enough apart to make parking in one place and walking difficult other than at shopping malls, which often only had one store I needed to go to in the first place. Pressure to "keep up with the Joneses" with the amount and size of "stuff" (cars, rarely used boat-as-a-status-symbol-in-the-driveway, TV/home theater/media room, etc) and catching a lot of crap if you refuse to play the game. A lot of wasted gas sitting in traffic. No place for a garden, and everything shipped in.
My only real complaints about city life, assuming a city with a decent public transportation system (Boston, NYC, and DC come to mind, though none are perfect by any measure) are simply a lack of available space, and the cost of that space -- otherwise add traffic and a lack of a good transport system to the list. City life was pretty nice in and shortly after college though.
Short version: Yes, to have a city lifestyle out in the sticks is going to cost a lot more, because you'll be driving farther, or having everything shipped out to you. No, not all of us out here care about having the city lifestyle. Likewise, not all of us out here in the sticks are hillbillies and rednecks (although they do exist, and are every bit as annoying as you imagine). Which lifestyle is best for you depends a lot on exactly what you want out of life, but one isn't inherently "better" than any of the others. Except maybe suburban life, which just sucked.
Oh, I know I'm not any real target. But why even have it out there when the bank I use is a 10 minute walk from my house?
Nice try trolling though.
I'm guilty of using the same password on a lot things online. Several forums, throwaway email addresses, "register to read the rest of this article" news sites, etc. Basically, the stuff I don't really care about, and I don't give two hoots if it gets h4x0r3d.
I don't particularly see that as an "unsafe" practice, since none of it really matters.
Things I actually care about (personal email, anything work related, etc) get real passwords, and things that can really cause problems (banking, etc) don't get done via the internet at all.
Someone with a degree in marketing.
That said, I had no problems with ads on the site. (FF2 & Adblock Plus on Vista)
I know quite a few people who "need" GPS -- but not in a phone. They're all semi-retired and enjoy offshore sailing. LORAN-C works pretty well, but suffers from atmospheric issues and magnetic storms. Pinpoint accuracy isn't needed, since charts aren't 100% accurate and most in-shore navigation is done via buoys and beacons -- if your navigation is good enough to find the island or port you want to visit, other navaids will do the rest.
:)
Then there's the strange few who insist on celestial navigation "for tradition's sake", but refuse to teach anyone else -- I think they're putting on a facade and using the GPS when no one's looking
OT: Anyone know of a free online celestial navigation course? I'd like to learn it just to add it to the list of skills I'm not likely to ever need.
You can't drop things for others to pick up. If you remove something from your inventory, it is destroyed.
Then you decide if its worth spending money to find out.
There are many albums I've not purchased since there were only one or two songs I knew were good, and was unwilling to risk money to find out if the rest were any good. This is where things like Amazon's 30-second previews can be useful, or better yet, their reviews by people who have the album.
In any case, my point was that that the "I'd only pay $2 for it, but they want $18" argument doesn't give someone the right to pirate music or movies (or software).
Except if you buy it at a swap meet, you're most likely buying it used, at which point the publisher sees zilch from that sale.
If its worth less than the asking price, then the right thing to do is to just move on to something else. Not to pirate it and try to justify it saying "its only worth $5 to me, but you won't sell it to me for less than $10"
I know its not popular to say so, but a buyer has no right to get everything they want at the price they want. They can ask, sure, but if the seller doesn't accept the offer, then too bad. Buyer's choices are to pay asking price, negotiate, or do without.
I've got a desktop trebuchet that gets used to deliver candy around the office. Werther's fly pretty good, but the lifesaver's packaging makes them less than ideal projectiles. Jolly Ranchers also fly quite well, and make a pretty good sounding whack when they hit a cubicle wall.
:)
I'm not sure a pizza box would do to well, and very likely wouldn't land right side up, but it would make a very tasty mess, and take a lot less than 45 minutes to have it delivered via trebuchet.
The network's value depends on its target market. If the market is bulk deliveries, then yes, using a standard container is probably better. If, on the other hand, the market is store-to-consumer delivery (Parcel Post, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc) unlikely as that may be, then a smaller container may be more valuable, since those methods already have labor costs, and could likely cut labor costs down by not needing the fleet of delivery drivers wasting time and fuel while sitting in traffic. However, the cost in building such a "tube-to-the-premises" system is probably so high that this ranks up there on the silly idea meter right next to the "5,000mph mag-lev train in a vacuum tube under the atlantic for passenger transport" idea that discovery did a show on a couple years ago.
My biggest gripe is that we've gutted the rail system here in the US in favor of long-haul trucking. With multi-modal capability, there's no reason we can't use trains for the long hauls between major cities, and trucks for regional deliveries, with a fairly easy transition between the two (shipping containers have been standardized for decades, the equipment and process has been figured out already). A working passenger rail system would be nice as well, but government involvement with AMTRAK has proven pretty disastrous outside of a few areas.
Try being a programmer that enjoys playing golf. Its hard to keep a believably pasty-white undead-glow when you're out in the sun for hours at a time.
Also, you don't have to let the police in.
Unless, of course, one of those "gadgets" or features that Photoshop has that GIMP is lacking, is needed. Then the price/performance becomes $0/unsuitable, which is very easily beat.
60", LCD, and about 12 feet.
Don't get me wrong, HD is nice, and there's a huge difference between it and SD. But it is not a substitute for having good content, which is my complaint about "entertainment" these days. Right now, the only benefit you have with HD is that you end up with better looking rubbish.
You're the one bragging - the only reason I even mentioned I had an HDTV set is because you are dismissive of anyone who doesn't share your opinion as someone bitching because its "something with which he has no experience. There is a significant difference betwenn DVD and HD when you have the right equipment". As for the rest I've made enough money to make me happy without needing to work anymore, and that's enough for me. You enjoy your thousand dollar bottle of booze and the gold-digger who's impressed enough to take off her clothes because of it. I'm glad you're happy, but I don't want to trade places with you, since I prefer my semi-retired life and hobbies.
My point is the content sucks, and until they fix content, HD or not really doesn't matter. You just end up with a clearer picture of rubbish. But you won't comment on that, preferring instead to continue to brag about how much you make and how much you spend, so I'll spell it out in words even you can understand: HD is nice. The content is still crap. HD is not a substitute for good content.
FYI, there are some that have been converted to civilian use (firefighting in california).
I don't think you give yourself enough credit.
Basic woodworking, fiberglassing, painting, and welding are all fairly simple skills -- they just take a bit of practice. Being an artisan capable of earning a living doing any of the above may be a different story, but hobby-level skills aren't all that hard to learn. That leave the electronics, and, well, this is slashdot, so you likely know that or know someone who would love to do a project like that.
If you really want to learn other stuff, check with your local community college, see if they have any intro-to-X type evening or weekend classes that'd fit your schedule. Most community colleges have some sort of intro-to-welding class, and I'd imagine a basic carpentry class isn't uncommon.
Go wave your dick somewhere else. I'm not impressed by how much money you make, or what car you drive, or who's ass you kissed at the last party you went to.
Graphics quality isn't worth a damn if the content isn't worth watching to begin with. Until you fix the fundamental problem of having nothing worth watching, all the pixels in the world don't matter.