Piffle. Every hardware failure I've had in 30 years of computing has been just something up and dying for no apparent reason other than old age. Hardware fails. It ages, even things without moving parts. That's a fact of life with anything.
Professionally, I work in a field where the hardware I design needs to be available with rates approaching 99.99% for years, so we have to do MTBF abnalysis involving every component and, yes, every component has a MTBF rating. It's basically impossible to meet rates like that for those spans for a single circuitboard, so so we design in redundancy and, as a fundamental part of the design, make replacing a failed unit with a spare take less than a minute in the field. A chassis with a backplane and hot swap capability helps here.
but that would be true of any OS, whether it's Mac, Lubuntu, or Chrome.
My 10 year old Mac laptop has never had a re-install of the OS. No Mac I have ever owned has ever required a re-install outside of one hard drive failure. None of the many other Mac owners I know have had to do this either.
Otherwise WinXP just works.
An annual re-install of OS and applications is not "just working."
They certainly don't. People are being put in charge of these channels to turn them into profit centers. That really struck me when I turned on G4 a while back to watch X-Play, and saw something called "Cheaters" on after it. I kept watching, thinking it was another gaming show with hints and cheats, and it turned out to be a "reality" show about videotaping people cheating on spouses. o.O
The broadcast model is dead. Let it die. You watch to watch Firefly? The boxed sets are $15 used on amazon. Got a hankering for some Gerry Anderson fun? The remastered and lovingly put together UFO megaset- all 26 episodes- is less than $30 brand new.
Want some new SF? Hey, here's a crazy thought: READ A BOOK!
Wow. You're cool! Think you could come down from your holy mountain and bless us sad, ignorant serfs with knowledge about what the actual good shows are? TIA!
Who said you were supposed to trust your "congresscritter"?
Not me!
If they promised something and didn't follow up you are supposed to vote for someone who you agree with who will keep promises.
I can only vote for people actually on the ballot, though, and they are all, without exception, level 60 fuckheads, and they seem to raise the level cap each election cycle.
It's called being active in your government and it's what you are supposed to do in a democracy.
Been there, done that, got the little "I voted" sticker. Didn't work. Things still fell apart. The center not only did not hold, it vanished in a deadly smog of Left and Right ideological hoo ha.
It's better than letting the cable companies hire thousands of lobbyists to bribe and manipulate your congresscritter while you sit at home watching American Idol on your way too expensive cable feed.
I got rid of cable. And the American Idol meme is really fucking old, dude. It's not my thing, but I know many intelligent people who are entertained by American Idol. It's just a show with singing. This whole "American Idol = teh stoopid" is just embarrassing geek bullshit.
What is there to do? The companies suck and don't care. The politicians suck and don't care. They're all butt buddies of one another. Voting is for shit because the system filters out anyone but sociopaths even before the primaries.
So give us *your* magical solution.
If it's "contact your sociopathic congressperson in between fuck sessions with lobbyists" we will laugh at you, put dirt in your hair and steal your lunch money.
Ooo! I know! An internet petition! Yeah! That'll learn 'em!
Had that twice now. Annual physical blood test shows something half a sigma off from normal so they need to test. Both times it was harmless conditions well within the human norm, and things you can have and still live to 100.
Why is it such a big deal to you that people like to do more than one thing at a time.
Not a big deal to me, but when someone is moved to invent a device that might as well have a blinking "Douchebag" sign attached to it, one does wonder if there are alternative ways to live ones life that does not require the wearing of a ridiculous elective prostheses.
OBL has had help from many moneyed and powerful people, most recently from elements in the Pakistani government. That mansion they found him in appears to have been built specifically to hide him. I doubt he was in very many caves. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he eventually got a new kidney at some point.
Just stop with the conspiracy theories, people. I'm sorry the world isn't nearly as interesting as you'd like it to be, but at some point you need to grow up and face the sad reality of it all.
As missions take astronauts further and further away from Earth,
ORLY? When's that happening?
they will need to be able to produce their own food.
For a long mission, say Mars, is it more efficient to just pack some sort of dense food or grow your own? You need more than seeds- growing medium, fertilizer, etc. You need to devote space for growing. I suppose you also get oxygen production for your efforts.
If you're taking a permanent presences, say something substantial at L4/L5, well, OK then.
Well, there's that whole "our world is really a 2D surface with information and the third dimension is just an illusion" thing. I'm convinced holographic theory led to the development of the crappy 3D in movie theaters.
Er, no? My employer happily pays for employees who want to get a PhD even in these tough times. The engineering world has a lot of PhDs outside academia. They offered it to me, but, meh...
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Piffle. Every hardware failure I've had in 30 years of computing has been just something up and dying for no apparent reason other than old age. Hardware fails. It ages, even things without moving parts. That's a fact of life with anything.
Professionally, I work in a field where the hardware I design needs to be available with rates approaching 99.99% for years, so we have to do MTBF abnalysis involving every component and, yes, every component has a MTBF rating. It's basically impossible to meet rates like that for those spans for a single circuitboard, so so we design in redundancy and, as a fundamental part of the design, make replacing a failed unit with a spare take less than a minute in the field. A chassis with a backplane and hot swap capability helps here.
but that would be true of any OS, whether it's Mac, Lubuntu, or Chrome.
My 10 year old Mac laptop has never had a re-install of the OS. No Mac I have ever owned has ever required a re-install outside of one hard drive failure. None of the many other Mac owners I know have had to do this either.
Otherwise WinXP just works.
An annual re-install of OS and applications is not "just working."
That seems backwards.
No, it's California, where every day is Opposite Day.
I never got to see all of Farscape, and apparently it's still waiting for its conclusion,
They have these little discs called DVDs... ;-)
And they did do a concluding movie to wrap up the series cliffhanger.
They certainly don't. People are being put in charge of these channels to turn them into profit centers. That really struck me when I turned on G4 a while back to watch X-Play, and saw something called "Cheaters" on after it. I kept watching, thinking it was another gaming show with hints and cheats, and it turned out to be a "reality" show about videotaping people cheating on spouses. o.O
The broadcast model is dead. Let it die. You watch to watch Firefly? The boxed sets are $15 used on amazon. Got a hankering for some Gerry Anderson fun? The remastered and lovingly put together UFO megaset- all 26 episodes- is less than $30 brand new.
Want some new SF? Hey, here's a crazy thought: READ A BOOK!
Actually, Stargate should have ended... um... as the movie.
Roland Emmerich? I didn't know you had a Slashdot account! Or is that you, Devlin?
Wow. You're cool! Think you could come down from your holy mountain and bless us sad, ignorant serfs with knowledge about what the actual good shows are? TIA!
Who said you were supposed to trust your "congresscritter"?
Not me!
If they promised something and didn't follow up you are supposed to vote for someone who you agree with who will keep promises.
I can only vote for people actually on the ballot, though, and they are all, without exception, level 60 fuckheads, and they seem to raise the level cap each election cycle.
It's called being active in your government and it's what you are supposed to do in a democracy.
Been there, done that, got the little "I voted" sticker. Didn't work. Things still fell apart. The center not only did not hold, it vanished in a deadly smog of Left and Right ideological hoo ha.
It's better than letting the cable companies hire thousands of lobbyists to bribe and manipulate your congresscritter while you sit at home watching American Idol on your way too expensive cable feed.
I got rid of cable. And the American Idol meme is really fucking old, dude. It's not my thing, but I know many intelligent people who are entertained by American Idol. It's just a show with singing. This whole "American Idol = teh stoopid" is just embarrassing geek bullshit.
What is there to do? The companies suck and don't care. The politicians suck and don't care. They're all butt buddies of one another. Voting is for shit because the system filters out anyone but sociopaths even before the primaries.
So give us *your* magical solution.
If it's "contact your sociopathic congressperson in between fuck sessions with lobbyists" we will laugh at you, put dirt in your hair and steal your lunch money.
Ooo! I know! An internet petition! Yeah! That'll learn 'em!
But the main thing about it is you can participate in it.
Bah ha ha ha! Boy, that Chomsky kid sounds like a real rube!
The LA Times has really gone downhill lately.
Lately?!?!
Had that twice now. Annual physical blood test shows something half a sigma off from normal so they need to test. Both times it was harmless conditions well within the human norm, and things you can have and still live to 100.
I have some. I can mod someone for you as long as I don't post.
D'oh!
Economically it's similar to existing fuel tax, and it's presumably something the government wants to investigate before electric cars become popular.
Electricity tax.
ll take the $200 million in small bills, thanks.
This sounds like a serious problem! Quick, someone (yawn) go and (eyes droop) and do (yaaaaawn) some sort of thing or somethinzzzzzzzzzzzz (snore)
Why is it such a big deal to you that people like to do more than one thing at a time.
Not a big deal to me, but when someone is moved to invent a device that might as well have a blinking "Douchebag" sign attached to it, one does wonder if there are alternative ways to live ones life that does not require the wearing of a ridiculous elective prostheses.
How many bong hits does it take for you 9/11 Truthers to get going?
Must be some really righteous weed, man. Hydroponic?
OBL has had help from many moneyed and powerful people, most recently from elements in the Pakistani government. That mansion they found him in appears to have been built specifically to hide him. I doubt he was in very many caves. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he eventually got a new kidney at some point.
Just stop with the conspiracy theories, people. I'm sorry the world isn't nearly as interesting as you'd like it to be, but at some point you need to grow up and face the sad reality of it all.
This is Slashdot. Some scholars think the term "Great Satan" for America was actually coined *here*.
D'oh! Spoiler!
As missions take astronauts further and further away from Earth,
ORLY? When's that happening?
they will need to be able to produce their own food.
For a long mission, say Mars, is it more efficient to just pack some sort of dense food or grow your own? You need more than seeds- growing medium, fertilizer, etc. You need to devote space for growing. I suppose you also get oxygen production for your efforts.
If you're taking a permanent presences, say something substantial at L4/L5, well, OK then.
So... what are engineers?
We're awesome!!! :-D
Science: http://www.johnehrenfeld.com/scientist-1.jpg
Engineering: http://www.bugattiveyron1.com/images/bugatti_veyron_price_5.jpg
Well, there's that whole "our world is really a 2D surface with information and the third dimension is just an illusion" thing. I'm convinced holographic theory led to the development of the crappy 3D in movie theaters.
If there were a PhD for thinking with portals, they'd have to give me an honorary one right now.
Er, no? My employer happily pays for employees who want to get a PhD even in these tough times. The engineering world has a lot of PhDs outside academia. They offered it to me, but, meh...