Just recently I've been looking into learning about DSP and potentially starting out with a FPGA. I have looked at the Spartan-3E kit. Would you recommend it for learning? Or something else? I was hoping to stay under $100 but maybe I was fooling myself. I have a background in mechanical engineering (with essentially a math minor), but do a lot of programming and have taken a few entry-level EE classes, and am interested in digital signal processing. There's a lot of information online but it's overwhelming to dig through if you have any recommendations for someone starting out as a hobbyist I'd be glad to hear. Thanks. -philski.
Ever consider the fact that MS has shifted from an operating system company to something else?
Take a look at some of the research coming out of the MS labs and the companies they are buying... yes, they are still producing an OS, and yes, at the moment all of their software (besides the web stuff) targets that platform, but don't be so foolish as to think everything they do - or even a majority of what they do - is the operating system. The OS gives them a window (no pun intended) to create, but I sincerely believe the company and the rest of their products will outlive Windows the Operating System.
We shouldn't spend money we don't have. Not for infrastructure, not for social programs, not for anything. Any money left over by a budget surplus should go directly to paying down the national debt.
There is nothing wrong with a limited amount of debt. I will leave the Slashdot "philosopher-kings" to sort that one out.
Consider the following example, which basically is my world right now: You owe about $150,000 in a 30-year mortgage at a rate between 6%. Do you pay off the mortgage, or do you invest the money?
If you said pay off the mortgage, you fail.
If you can find an investment that pays more than 6% on average (nothing is guaranteed) you put your extra dollars above and beyond the mortgage payments into that investment. Why?
1) liquidity. Investments are liquid, easy to cash out on a moments' notice the value of your house is not (the sale price and sale time of your house is tied to the market). Plus if you sell your house, you have to spend some of that money for future housing. In the same way, there are certain things the government can spend money on that have a higher return-on-investment than paying off debt.
2) time value of money. If you sock away even a little bit of money each month, over 30 years you have a whole lot of money. If you pay down your house in 15 years and then spend the next 15 years saving, you would have to invest a lot more of you own money to match what you could have had, if you were just investing a little bit since day 1 and paying the default amount on your loan. In the same way, the government setting up infrastructure now is often cheaper and more cost-effective in the long run than waiting to pay off debt.
3) the value of debt. Some loans are cheaper than others. In your mortgage's case, you can use it as a tax writeoff, which effectively lowers the interest rate an additional few percent. There are similar 'features' to the national debt.
The value of the dollar is almost directly related to the amount of debt we have
The dollar has only started to drop in very recent history, and we have held a high amount of debt for a long time. It has much more international implications than just the national debt.
That's why they need to let someone like me demo it, not Tom's...
I tinker with CFD and various simulation codes in my spare time, multi threaded based on the number of cores available. I could put all 8 of those cores to work, easy:)
The writers sure as hell don't... but now let's think about all the people that (a) aren't writers and (b) were forced out of a job (suspended, fired, whatever) because of this strike. A lot of innocent bystanders haven't gotten a paycheck in months over this. They deserve that defense.
Welcome to Chicago, like another poster said. (I grew up in WI so I can vouch).
I've flown to Langley (VA), Atlanta, Huntsville (AL), LAX, Nashville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls (SD) and Omaha quite a few times over the past few years, and the good experiences far outweigh the bad.
I don't play many games, but straight-up emulation of the Diablo II and Starcraft discs were damn near impossible back when I played them. I tried, I had friends that tried. Blizzard and plenty of other companies do stuff to the disc that makes emulation difficult for the average gamer.
GIven rising energy prices (and no large-scale miracle hydrogen factories on the horizon), the fuel costs will tend to track oil and nat gas prices.
Hydrogen sucks for aircraft. The energy density is better than gasoline, sure, but the mass density is horrid. Your tanks wind up being huge, which increases the vehicle size and drag, which increases the lift requirements and fuel requirements, which increase the propellant requirements... and the project snowballs its way out of scope. And you haven't even factored in the increased mass and size of cryogenic tankage and pumps.
When fuel costs become the driving force behind any aerospace industry (aircraft or spacecraft) there will be people rejoicing. Aircraft and spacecraft flight are still dominated by other residual costs, including maintenance and staffing.
Especially considering that the dollar is down in value which makes that number look even worse when we pay out to foreign companies.
Except most foreign countries hold US debt in... American dollars. So foreign countries have every incentive to help out an American in a "recession". The debt they hold is less valuable today as it was 6 months ago.
There's a saying, "When America sneezes the world catches a cold"... it is becoming less true, but is still valid. Look at the markets over the last two weeks, internationally. Yeah, the US has been in a slide, but many international markets have taken a negative reaction as well because of it.
I can find, in under 5 minutes of googling, no less than 2 other manufacturers with 32 GB SATA 2.5" drives, under $450 price point. So there goes the theory of "waah, manufacturers are charging twice that for 32GB flash hard drives."
I'm running a Compaq, recently took over by HP... look at some of the (slightly) older or (slightly) beefier models of the notebook you are running, and download their XP drivers (they have XP drivers available on other models). 9 times out of 10, it'll work. That's how I got XP running on my Compaq laptop.
That being said... after a few weeks of tinkering, I deleted the XP partition and stuck with Vista. It really was a comparable experience in the speed and stability department, and offered some niceties I liked.
IIRC (links at work, I'm at home), if it works anything like it does down here in AL, you aren't taxed off the appraised value, you are taxed off the "basis" value, which in my case is 1/10th of the appraised value. I could be wrong. But 40k in property taxes a year sounds ridiculous. 4k is still a lot, but in Wisconsin we paid several thousand a year...
I much prefer Washington's method, not filing income taxes is wonderful.
Well, at least in AL, state income taxes are fairly low, looking at the tax forms this weekend, my liability is under 5% of gross income. Before adjustments, deductions, etc. I'll be getting a refund.
Plus tax avoidance is much easier (don't want to pay the tax? Don't buy property).
Have fun building equity. A home is the easiest way to do that. And right now (low house prices in a lot of areas, coupled with interest rates this year as low as you will see them in the next 20+) is probably the best opportunity to buy a house. I'm in the middle of working on a refinance, and I've found out the house I bought 2 years ago has increased in value by almost 15%. That's not bad...
per the Redmond Chamber of Commerce Site, the property tax levy is 8.81% ($881 on every $100,000) and the sales tax levy is 8.9%. The average home price in Redmond is $499,975. So roughly $4,400 in property tax alone, which another site claims is 30% of the tax income for Washington.
(One of the few reasons I feel blessed to live in AL... I pay about $400 in property tax)
Take a look at Google, Microsoft and Apple over the last 1 month - 6 month performance period. Microsoft has the least decline / most gain in every view. You have to go back a full year to see either company outperform Microsoft.
Slashdot Mirror
... could you please give him his own ID to post under so we could filter out his bullshit along with the likes of kdawson, etc? Thanks.
Tony,
Just recently I've been looking into learning about DSP and potentially starting out with a FPGA. I have looked at the Spartan-3E kit. Would you recommend it for learning? Or something else? I was hoping to stay under $100 but maybe I was fooling myself. I have a background in mechanical engineering (with essentially a math minor), but do a lot of programming and have taken a few entry-level EE classes, and am interested in digital signal processing. There's a lot of information online but it's overwhelming to dig through if you have any recommendations for someone starting out as a hobbyist I'd be glad to hear. Thanks. -philski.
Ever consider the fact that MS has shifted from an operating system company to something else?
... yes, they are still producing an OS, and yes, at the moment all of their software (besides the web stuff) targets that platform, but don't be so foolish as to think everything they do - or even a majority of what they do - is the operating system. The OS gives them a window (no pun intended) to create, but I sincerely believe the company and the rest of their products will outlive Windows the Operating System.
Take a look at some of the research coming out of the MS labs and the companies they are buying
We shouldn't spend money we don't have. Not for infrastructure, not for social programs, not for anything. Any money left over by a budget surplus should go directly to paying down the national debt.
There is nothing wrong with a limited amount of debt. I will leave the Slashdot "philosopher-kings" to sort that one out.
Consider the following example, which basically is my world right now: You owe about $150,000 in a 30-year mortgage at a rate between 6%. Do you pay off the mortgage, or do you invest the money?
If you said pay off the mortgage, you fail.
If you can find an investment that pays more than 6% on average (nothing is guaranteed) you put your extra dollars above and beyond the mortgage payments into that investment. Why?
1) liquidity. Investments are liquid, easy to cash out on a moments' notice the value of your house is not (the sale price and sale time of your house is tied to the market). Plus if you sell your house, you have to spend some of that money for future housing. In the same way, there are certain things the government can spend money on that have a higher return-on-investment than paying off debt.
2) time value of money. If you sock away even a little bit of money each month, over 30 years you have a whole lot of money. If you pay down your house in 15 years and then spend the next 15 years saving, you would have to invest a lot more of you own money to match what you could have had, if you were just investing a little bit since day 1 and paying the default amount on your loan. In the same way, the government setting up infrastructure now is often cheaper and more cost-effective in the long run than waiting to pay off debt.
3) the value of debt. Some loans are cheaper than others. In your mortgage's case, you can use it as a tax writeoff, which effectively lowers the interest rate an additional few percent. There are similar 'features' to the national debt. The value of the dollar is almost directly related to the amount of debt we have
The dollar has only started to drop in very recent history, and we have held a high amount of debt for a long time. It has much more international implications than just the national debt.
That's why they need to let someone like me demo it, not Tom's...
:)
I tinker with CFD and various simulation codes in my spare time, multi threaded based on the number of cores available. I could put all 8 of those cores to work, easy
The writers sure as hell don't ... but now let's think about all the people that (a) aren't writers and (b) were forced out of a job (suspended, fired, whatever) because of this strike. A lot of innocent bystanders haven't gotten a paycheck in months over this. They deserve that defense.
Welcome to Chicago, like another poster said. (I grew up in WI so I can vouch).
I've flown to Langley (VA), Atlanta, Huntsville (AL), LAX, Nashville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls (SD) and Omaha quite a few times over the past few years, and the good experiences far outweigh the bad.
How'd your rip D2 or brood wars? I was using Daemon Tools as well for the imaging. I'd always get crap when I ripped.
... I gave my CD's away a long time ago.
Not that it matters anymore
Never had luck under Windows or linux (Slackware) ... never tried a Mac, I refuse to pay Steve Job's "vanity tax".
I don't play many games, but straight-up emulation of the Diablo II and Starcraft discs were damn near impossible back when I played them. I tried, I had friends that tried. Blizzard and plenty of other companies do stuff to the disc that makes emulation difficult for the average gamer.
GIven rising energy prices (and no large-scale miracle hydrogen factories on the horizon), the fuel costs will tend to track oil and nat gas prices.
... and the project snowballs its way out of scope. And you haven't even factored in the increased mass and size of cryogenic tankage and pumps.
Hydrogen sucks for aircraft. The energy density is better than gasoline, sure, but the mass density is horrid. Your tanks wind up being huge, which increases the vehicle size and drag, which increases the lift requirements and fuel requirements, which increase the propellant requirements
When fuel costs become the driving force behind any aerospace industry (aircraft or spacecraft) there will be people rejoicing. Aircraft and spacecraft flight are still dominated by other residual costs, including maintenance and staffing.
Especially considering that the dollar is down in value which makes that number look even worse when we pay out to foreign companies.
... American dollars. So foreign countries have every incentive to help out an American in a "recession". The debt they hold is less valuable today as it was 6 months ago.
... it is becoming less true, but is still valid. Look at the markets over the last two weeks, internationally. Yeah, the US has been in a slide, but many international markets have taken a negative reaction as well because of it.
Except most foreign countries hold US debt in
There's a saying, "When America sneezes the world catches a cold"
link
I can find, in under 5 minutes of googling, no less than 2 other manufacturers with 32 GB SATA 2.5" drives, under $450 price point. So there goes the theory of "waah, manufacturers are charging twice that for 32GB flash hard drives."
NewEgg, 32gb from $189
HP notebook?
... look at some of the (slightly) older or (slightly) beefier models of the notebook you are running, and download their XP drivers (they have XP drivers available on other models). 9 times out of 10, it'll work. That's how I got XP running on my Compaq laptop.
... after a few weeks of tinkering, I deleted the XP partition and stuck with Vista. It really was a comparable experience in the speed and stability department, and offered some niceties I liked.
I'm running a Compaq, recently took over by HP
That being said
fast user switching?
My wife would notice that missing very quickly if we downgraded to 2000. And she would fall in the category of "normal user"
Oh, to be in the courtroom when they exhibit the "prior art" :)
You confuse quantity with quality ...
IIRC (links at work, I'm at home), if it works anything like it does down here in AL, you aren't taxed off the appraised value, you are taxed off the "basis" value, which in my case is 1/10th of the appraised value. I could be wrong. But 40k in property taxes a year sounds ridiculous. 4k is still a lot, but in Wisconsin we paid several thousand a year ...
I much prefer Washington's method, not filing income taxes is wonderful.
...
Well, at least in AL, state income taxes are fairly low, looking at the tax forms this weekend, my liability is under 5% of gross income. Before adjustments, deductions, etc. I'll be getting a refund.
Plus tax avoidance is much easier (don't want to pay the tax? Don't buy property).
Have fun building equity. A home is the easiest way to do that. And right now (low house prices in a lot of areas, coupled with interest rates this year as low as you will see them in the next 20+) is probably the best opportunity to buy a house. I'm in the middle of working on a refinance, and I've found out the house I bought 2 years ago has increased in value by almost 15%. That's not bad
per the Redmond Chamber of Commerce Site, the property tax levy is 8.81% ($881 on every $100,000) and the sales tax levy is 8.9%. The average home price in Redmond is $499,975. So roughly $4,400 in property tax alone, which another site claims is 30% of the tax income for Washington.
(One of the few reasons I feel blessed to live in AL... I pay about $400 in property tax)
Some fall faster than others.
Take a look at Google, Microsoft and Apple over the last 1 month - 6 month performance period. Microsoft has the least decline / most gain in every view. You have to go back a full year to see either company outperform Microsoft.
Then you, my friend, have been duped. Hook, line and sinker.
NO INTERNET FOR YOU!