My DVD player just burned out so I replaced it with a DVD recorder. While it is technically true that the new DVD recorder plays audio CDs, it is not an acceptable substitute for a CD player.
After listening to three tracks I found myself dusting off my old CD player and hooking it up to the receiver.
Why?
There is a long wait between pressing 'play' and hearing music. I guess it takes the machine that long to figure out what format it's looking at and act accordingly. It can play DVD, DVD+-R, DVD+-RW, CD+-R, CD+-RW, and data CDs with MP3 etc. Rah Rah. It takes a small eternity for it to figure out that it's looking at a 1X CLV CDDA and act accordingly.
It does not actually act accordingly. It inserts momentary pauses between tracks! This is fine for CDs which are just collections of discrete tracks, but I've got real albums. Beethoven, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd are not supposed to hickup between tracks.
My first CD player would skip tracks almost instantly. My current (NAD) CD player is a bit slower, but it still responds fast enough for me to click 'forward' three times instead of adding three to the current track number and typing it in. Not so on this DVD machine. It takes forever to change tracks, and seems to keep remote codes in a FIFO so it's easy to overshoot when you're trying to skip ahead a couple of tracks. Anti-skip buffering is all well and good, but four seconds between action and reaction?
MCT (magneto-convulsive therapy) is sometimes called MST (magnetic seizure therapy). It's ECT by induction, and should not be confused with rTMS (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation).
rTMS uses magnetic fields to treat some of the same things but it does not require anesthesia or muscle relaxant and does not induce seizures. (The film buffs may not realize that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of shock treatment has not been reality for 60 years. The magic of anesthesia and muscle relaxants allow patients sleep through the whole thing without straining a muscle.)
rTMS stimulates a targeted region of the brain (say, a few cubic centimeters). Example? You can hit just the right frontal lobe. Move the coil backwards to aim for motor functions- twitch city. Move it to the center (above the cingulate) and you get a sort of Magnetic Valium effect. Put it over your knee to simulate a rubber mallet.
disclaimer: I know what I've seen, but I'm not a physician. I'm a humble firmware guy. [Why yes, these machines do contain microcontrollers.] rTMS is approved in Canada and elsewhere but is still in clinical trials in the USA.
Do not try this at home. You don't want to find out the hard way that you are a latent epileptic.
The magnetic muscle stimulation machines used by physical therapists and sports-medics are, um, different on the outside...
Not scientific how? ECT has been around for ~100 years. It has its own journals and an active research community. We may not know exactly how inducing a seizure helps schizophrenic and depressive patients, but medicine is an empirical science.
Recent research shows that the occurance and severity of ECT's side effects can be greatly reduced without reducing the treatment's effectiveness by using short duration pulses. An emerging variation called 'MCT' which induces the seizure using a magnetic field instead of of an electric current also shows fewer side effects.
[Don't confuse MCT with other magnetic field treatments like rTMS that do not induce seizures or require general anesthesia.]
Some research indicates that the severity of side effects varies considerably depending on the patient's tolerance of the anesthesiologist's cocktail. (typically a mix of Succinylcholine, Propofol, and Alfentanil)
This book belongs in the humor section, not with the science fiction or (as I found it) engineering books. Its deadpan delivery is funny in a Monty Python "How not to be seen" way. The author recommends exploiting the very real limitations such robots might exhibit if they were based on today's industrial robot technology. Distort your silhouette, mask your thermal signature, do NOT anthropomorphise, etc. I learned a few things about modern industrial robotics.
This standard sized paperback is a quick read. It contains large print and is printed on unusually thick glossy paper with silver leaf edges. It doesn't feel like an ordinary book.
It's 11:00 PM on Friday. I just finished book #2 of the Pageturner Trilogy. I want to read book #3. I already know that my local bookseller does not have a copy (I stopped there after work). It's the weekend, so any book I order will not be shipped until Monday. Paying for FedEx still means waiting until Tuesday morning to see if our hero prevails.
Hmm... [surf...click] eBook to the rescue!
True Story. I was actually able to purchase and download the entire Shall Remain Nameless eTrilogy from Amazon for less than the cost of a single paperback (plus tax). No waiting. How cool is that?
Alas, the DRM reader software crashed partway through the third book. Page number overflow on the PocketPC or something. Three long books in a single eBook file reflowed to fit a tiny screen exceeded 65535 numbered pages. Their DRM prevented me from splitting it up or even using a different reader program.
I could have finished reading the book on my desktop PC, but I was tired and it wasn't that kind of book. I bought the paperback.
...THEIR intellectual property that they have developed...
Microsoft hires talented people (Hi Justin!), but most of their innovations are, um, adopted. They have done some truly original things here and there, but I think their real strength is deciding which competing products to ignore, which to purchase, and which to clone for free inclusion in the next point oh release.
The USPTO grants both DESIGN patents and UTILITY patents. They are completely different animals. A design patent protects only the ornamental appearance of an invention, not its utilitarian features.
The santa hat received a DESIGN patent, which is perfectly reasonable. It provides stronger protection against knock-offs, clones, and imitations.
As mentioned elsewhere, some states (many? most? at least three...) which collect sales tax also impose varying forms of "use tax". These "use taxes" are supposed to be paid on goods which are purchased tax free from out of state.
It is true that vanishingly few individual taxpayers report such purchases and pay the tax.
It is also true that businesses which make such purchases and fail to report them can end up in serious trouble. The last time I checked the Illinois Use Tax was 5%, which was still cheaper than the 6.5% sales tax.
We sell consumables to businesses. When we sell to an Illinois customer (i.e. if either the bill-to or ship-to address is in Illinois) we must collect the sales tax unless we have an official resale or machinery exemption certificate on file. [If a customer is going to resell our product then they collect the sales tax, not us. If our product is consumed as part of a larger manufacturing process it is also exempt. Only the final purchaser of the finished product gets hit with sales tax. Things like cutting oil and filter elements are not taxed when they are used up during the of manufacture taxable goods.]
We were recently audited by the state sales tax guys and had to pay a modest penalty because one of our customers failed to renew their machinery exemption. We now pay a lot more attention to expiration dates. -sigh-
My point? Here's the kicker:
In many cases we now have to collect and remit Wisconsin Sales Tax even though we have NO physical presence there. Basically, Wisconsin threatened to sue us because we weren't collecting sales or use tax from certain large corporate customers. We now collect this tax.
But, but, but... can they do that? They do it. We collect it. We pay it. It's not our money, and we have no desire to become a test case in Federal Court. The extra paperwork is a pain in the ass, but not worth losing the sale over.
P.S. In order to get the Illinois tax audit guy out of our offices quicker I offered to extract relevent data from our SQL server and put it in an Excel spreadsheet for him. His state issued laptop had no CD-ROM drive or internet email capability. An embarrassing interval passed while we arranged for a floppy disk.
Slashdot Mirror
My DVD player just burned out so I replaced it with a DVD recorder. While it is technically true that the new DVD recorder plays audio CDs, it is not an acceptable substitute for a CD player.
After listening to three tracks I found myself dusting off my old CD player and hooking it up to the receiver.
Why?
3) Release it just prior to the attack. That way the media can preview the tape but still present it as a live broadcast.
rTMS uses magnetic fields to treat some of the same things but it does not require anesthesia or muscle relaxant and does not induce seizures. (The film buffs may not realize that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of shock treatment has not been reality for 60 years. The magic of anesthesia and muscle relaxants allow patients sleep through the whole thing without straining a muscle.)
rTMS stimulates a targeted region of the brain (say, a few cubic centimeters). Example? You can hit just the right frontal lobe. Move the coil backwards to aim for motor functions- twitch city. Move it to the center (above the cingulate) and you get a sort of Magnetic Valium effect. Put it over your knee to simulate a rubber mallet.
disclaimer: I know what I've seen, but I'm not a physician. I'm a humble firmware guy. [Why yes, these machines do contain microcontrollers.] rTMS is approved in Canada and elsewhere but is still in clinical trials in the USA.
Do not try this at home. You don't want to find out the hard way that you are a latent epileptic.
The magnetic muscle stimulation machines used by physical therapists and sports-medics are, um, different on the outside...
There's a bit more on this stuff in ieee Spectrum. See: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar06/3050/1
Not scientific how? ECT has been around for ~100 years. It has its own journals and an active research community. We may not know exactly how inducing a seizure helps schizophrenic and depressive patients, but medicine is an empirical science.
Recent research shows that the occurance and severity of ECT's side effects can be greatly reduced without reducing the treatment's effectiveness by using short duration pulses. An emerging variation called 'MCT' which induces the seizure using a magnetic field instead of of an electric current also shows fewer side effects. [Don't confuse MCT with other magnetic field treatments like rTMS that do not induce seizures or require general anesthesia.] Some research indicates that the severity of side effects varies considerably depending on the patient's tolerance of the anesthesiologist's cocktail. (typically a mix of Succinylcholine, Propofol, and Alfentanil)
The first time I registered a domain it was free (10+ years ago). The didn't institute registration fees until the volume became a problem.
This book belongs in the humor section, not with the science fiction or (as I found it) engineering books. Its deadpan delivery is funny in a Monty Python "How not to be seen" way. The author recommends exploiting the very real limitations such robots might exhibit if they were based on today's industrial robot technology. Distort your silhouette, mask your thermal signature, do NOT anthropomorphise, etc. I learned a few things about modern industrial robotics .
This standard sized paperback is a quick read. It contains large print and is printed on unusually thick glossy paper with silver leaf edges. It doesn't feel like an ordinary book.
It's 11:00 PM on Friday. I just finished book #2 of the Pageturner Trilogy. I want to read book #3. I already know that my local bookseller does not have a copy (I stopped there after work). It's the weekend, so any book I order will not be shipped until Monday. Paying for FedEx still means waiting until Tuesday morning to see if our hero prevails.
Hmm... [surf...click] eBook to the rescue!
True Story. I was actually able to purchase and download the entire Shall Remain Nameless eTrilogy from Amazon for less than the cost of a single paperback (plus tax). No waiting. How cool is that?
Alas, the DRM reader software crashed partway through the third book. Page number overflow on the PocketPC or something. Three long books in a single eBook file reflowed to fit a tiny screen exceeded 65535 numbered pages. Their DRM prevented me from splitting it up or even using a different reader program.
I could have finished reading the book on my desktop PC, but I was tired and it wasn't that kind of book. I bought the paperback.
Microsoft hires talented people (Hi Justin!), but most of their innovations are, um, adopted. They have done some truly original things here and there, but I think their real strength is deciding which competing products to ignore, which to purchase, and which to clone for free inclusion in the next point oh release.
It's awfully hard to compete with free.
I wonder if there are plans to repel a Canadian invasion force? Canada has its own nuclear submarines (I kid you not).
The USPTO grants both DESIGN patents and UTILITY patents. They are completely different animals. A design patent protects only the ornamental appearance of an invention, not its utilitarian features. The santa hat received a DESIGN patent, which is perfectly reasonable. It provides stronger protection against knock-offs, clones, and imitations.
Six million Jews. Eleven million people. Guess who the other five million were?
As mentioned elsewhere, some states (many? most? at least three...) which collect sales tax also impose varying forms of "use tax". These "use taxes" are supposed to be paid on goods which are purchased tax free from out of state.
It is true that vanishingly few individual taxpayers report such purchases and pay the tax.
It is also true that businesses which make such purchases and fail to report them can end up in serious trouble. The last time I checked the Illinois Use Tax was 5%, which was still cheaper than the 6.5% sales tax.
We sell consumables to businesses. When we sell to an Illinois customer (i.e. if either the bill-to or ship-to address is in Illinois) we must collect the sales tax unless we have an official resale or machinery exemption certificate on file. [If a customer is going to resell our product then they collect the sales tax, not us. If our product is consumed as part of a larger manufacturing process it is also exempt. Only the final purchaser of the finished product gets hit with sales tax. Things like cutting oil and filter elements are not taxed when they are used up during the of manufacture taxable goods.]
We were recently audited by the state sales tax guys and had to pay a modest penalty because one of our customers failed to renew their machinery exemption. We now pay a lot more attention to expiration dates. -sigh-
My point? Here's the kicker: In many cases we now have to collect and remit Wisconsin Sales Tax even though we have NO physical presence there. Basically, Wisconsin threatened to sue us because we weren't collecting sales or use tax from certain large corporate customers. We now collect this tax.
But, but, but... can they do that? They do it. We collect it. We pay it. It's not our money, and we have no desire to become a test case in Federal Court. The extra paperwork is a pain in the ass, but not worth losing the sale over.
P.S. In order to get the Illinois tax audit guy out of our offices quicker I offered to extract relevent data from our SQL server and put it in an Excel spreadsheet for him. His state issued laptop had no CD-ROM drive or internet email capability. An embarrassing interval passed while we arranged for a floppy disk.