**Excuse me? What the fuck does my money have to do with changing political systems? And yes, I'm sure the USA is the only country that has ever given any foreign aid... **
It has a lot to do with it.. before you demand the removal of something that has the capability (and has) of improving the quality of life for millions of people.. (mammograms? Angioplasty? Tang?) for the welfare of considerably fewer starving people who will be starving again the day the food runs out, or who will be under a different "bad" government three years after we bail them out of this one, give from yourself. Surely *your* money and *your* happiness is unimportant compared to those poor pitiful starving people, political dissidents, and prisoners on death row.
Changing a political system means a lot more than sitting there saying "yeah.. thats unfair". lot of people sacrifice, go to jail, get killed, and end up homeless or worse every year to "change a political system".
Yammering on/. about how horrible it is probably makes you feel better, but does nothing to help the situation.
As far as the foreign aid thing, no.. we are not the only one.. but we are by far the *largest* one.. whether it be direct contributions, military deployments, or money and aid handed out through the UN. When California broke a few years ago, how many people did you see here from other countrys helping dig out? Now that the electricity is going out in Cali (why does everything happen to cali?) how many foreign countries stepped in to pump money in to the problem?
My apology.. I meant to say the largest thing that ever launched. It definately has the worst fuel consumption of any vehicle.
I was pointing out that astronauts are *aware* of the risk.. and they accept it.. however, there is "unforseen" risk, and then there is gross negligence.. Challenger was gross negligence.
The Russians have only lost 10 cosmonauts, but have lost a *hell* of a lot more equipment. (and dont forget, that is ten that we *know* of.. there may have been more.. and we may never know).
All of which are clearly more important than justice and basic human rights. ***
Okay, for all your bitching and whining about justice ahd basic human rights, what have *YOU* done about it?
Do you hand your entire paycheck over to shelters? Do you volunteer? do you not have a TV, or a car, so that you can hand that extra money over to help those less fortunate than you?
Please.. there is a core of people here who *INCESSANTLY* whine about "human rights in this country" and "help the starving masses in (that) country" and "save china", etc. They all have computers, they all have jobs. Put your money where your mouth is. Go to Africa.. take food. Go to China, fight the good fight.. end up dead.
Sorry again, if this sounds too uppity, but I'm an american.. we came from behind.. we fought a revolution, and we have spent 200 years bailing out every small country with a problem on the planet. No-one stands up to help us when we have disasters, but we are expected to help everyone else out.
If you arent from america, then this apparently doesnt apply to you, as NASA is wholly within this country, and last time I checked the US is *not* the world, and money collected from US citizens, (against their will, in a lot of cases) should not be used to *PROTECT* the world from itself.
What I am wondering is if Fortune 500 companies go out of their way to set up their servers with Triple Mirroring Hard Disk setups, why doesn't NASA also use doubly redundant cabling? I mean this is billions of dollars and lives we're talking about here. Shouldn't they be extra sure? It seems to me that one backup isn't enough
On the ground, the redundancy NASA uses is *scary*. However, on the orbiter, you are facing some very solid scientific principles that are set in stone. One is the weight to launch ratio.. the Saturn 5 was the largest thing to ever move.. and it was right down to the pound.. as you add more equipment, cables, backup machines, HDD's, you name it you add more weight. More weight means more fuel. More fuel means more size. More size means more fuel. It becomes an exponential expansion that at some point kills the ability to move.
Larry Niven goes into this pretty heavily in "Playgrounds of the Mind" and describes *why* once you get to Dyson Spheres, Ringworlds, or Generation Ships (heinleins variant) you are looking at Nuclear or Solar (radiation ram-scoops or flare-riders) due to the limitations of conventional energy ships.
basically, the SPace Program is as safe as it can be. The fact that we have *never* lost a ship in space, and that we have lost 7 on the challenger and 3 in apollo ground fires, means we have one *hell* of a safety record, one that shines compared to any other industry. Compare ours with the Russian or Chinese and you will see what I mean.
basically, Astronauts *know* it is risky, and they accept this.. the problem with the Challenger misfortune was that it *was* within their control. And the instruction booklet *FROM* morton thiokol explaining the O-ring seals specifically *states* that the O0rings may not work in cold temperatures. *THAT* was the basis of the suit...
bowing to media pressure is a bad thing, especially when 7 peoples lives are on the line.
Anyway.. I hope that sort of answered your concern.
I mostly agree. NASA is another one of those "I believe in this, so I'm going to force you to pay for it" programs. If you believe in NASA, then fund a private organization to do it. Don't force me to pay for it, too.
Somehow I believe that 20 years ago you would have complained that your tax money was going to fund the backbone of the Internet as well, when the NSF had it and was building it for "experimentation."
Remember.. it is programs like the NSF and NASA that give us these things.. if they werent doing it, no-one else would. No single private orginization has the funds or the contracting abilities to get this stuff done, so it *has* to be subsidized.
Sorry.. but I disagree with a lot of government appropriations, but this is one that has real rewards for us in everyday life. (satellite TV?)
How many starving children could be fed with the money it takes to launch one spacecraft? NASA is a parasite on our society and needs to be put on hold until we can sort out our real problems.
Read a few articles on what the space program has done *for* the people here on earth before you go bashing it, please.
A few of the things developed for the Space program that you use *every* day..
titanium
high impact plastics
gold plated connectors
anti-fog wipes and products for glasses/etc
growth methods for plants that produce higher yields/lower growing space
new energy technologies (solar, specifically)
advances in metallurgy *other* than titanium.
The space program has a *huge* impact on daily life, that most people do not realize. There used to be a good magazine called "spinoff" that listed these things, why they were developed, and their use in every day life.
That is basically like saying "we should stop gaming development until we get world hunger stopped". gaming drives, in a lot of ways, the bigger faster better development boom we have had in microelectronics lately. The space program is the same way. And when NASA comes up with new technology, it sells liscences to it to help pay for itself. And remember, a lot of those missions also carry corporate payloads, which also defrays the cost of the missions. Without Nasa, you would *not* have your nifty satellite TV, Satellite Internet, etc etc.
The problem actually boils down to this. There are two energy companys in california, basically.
These companies, through deregulation, were forced to sell electricity at a state mandated rate, and carry other peoples electricity for the customer, at a cut rate, losing money.
Also due to this deregulation, they were forced by the PUC to keep their charge for supplied electricity at a low.. well below the profit margin they could make money at, due to an unchecked rise in the cost of electricity *to* them from nationwide suppliers.
Now you have a fundamental block in supply and demand.. they are forced to supply at a rate a lot lower than their profit margin demands, and they will eventually go out of business at this rate. It's *not* the environmentalists, its the people yammering for a huge booming economy, but unwilling to pay the price for that.
It's not the net... its the fact that shortsighted legislators have done their best to hamstring the profitable companies (power, for one, telephone as another example) that they feel are "preying" on the consumer.
Jon, yet again your headline has nothing to do with your content.. but we will let that slide.
One thing makes this all possible. Just one. Money. Yup. Folding Green.
It has *nothing* to do with background checks, they are an added bonus. It has nothing to do with criminal records, or bank accounts.
It has everything to do with targeted marketing. With pyramid schemes. With "simply reply with remove in the subject line" to email addresses on forged domains that dont exist. (even if you could read the email, which you cant, cause it is in swahili)
Money makes the world go round.. like it or lump it, it doesnt change it. If someone thinks they are gonna save 20 bucks on groceries, they will tell you over the phone whether their children were circumcised and whether they masturbate or not. THAT is where the loss of privacy has come from. Of all the people on the net, how many actually pay attention to all the pretty little pre-checked boxes on their Yahoo sign up page? the ones that say "send me information" and "share my information with other companies"?
Very few.. but they will complain like demons scorned when they get emails.. with headers like "you were referred to us as someone with an interest in bovine oreinted pornographic material".
Its money man.. its Technocracy at work. And the only way to fix it is to burn down TRW, and the clearing houses, and the credit cards, and the car loans. Nothing this side of that is going to change anything, because we need *money* and to get money, we give out information that we would not ordinarily give to our best friends.
"neither a borrower nor a lender be" is trite and annoying, but its good advice.
**That we've failed to enforce the Constitution is hardly the fault of our government. Governments have a certain nature -- to take away freedom. Woe until any citizenry that forgets that as ours has**
Excellent point! The problem I see is that people just dont *care* that their rights are being eroded. As long as it isnt in *their* doorway that it is happening. If a lot of the people who support the actions of the ATF and the gun-grabbers woke up on the wrong end of a search warrant and suffered a day of gestapo tactics until they found out it was a false report or mis-typed address (and that happens) they would think differently.
If they were on the wrong end of a drug raid, or if they had a suit slapped against them by a woman who could, simply because the legal system allows a woman to claim assault, tho prove no damage or even prove that it happened. Course, they are trying to CYA themselves, so that if it *did* happen they "did the right thing". Then the charges are dropped.. and there is *no* penalty.. bringing a false suit is not a crime anymore, in certain situations.
Feel good laws pretty much mean losing ones liberty, ones rights. How is it any worse for a jew to spraypaint a synagogue than a white guy? Is it any worse? what is a "hate crime".. isnt a crime a crime? No.. we all feel we are part of one little elitist social group or another, and demand special protection above and beyond the constitutional guarantee of "equal protection". (some are more equal than others).
And we gladly give these freedoms up. Daily. Parents have basically given up the right to raise their children for fear that one child might get hurt.. the state can now take your child because you spanked him/her. This is wrong.
(yet, you will be held accountable if your 17 year old skips school.. you *cannot* discipline them.. but you must control them. how is this to work?)
Those of us who are scared, and think the government is making a slow, deliberate and shadowed grab at *all* the rights we hold dear, those of us that fear a "one world economy" and fear "the world bank" and the UN, are labeled. Crazy. And god *forbid* you should be a christian and have these views, because you are automatically the "opressor" and the person most in need of losing your rights, so others can "catch up" to you.
Its crazy, but most just laugh it off to paranoia.
"When they came for the jews.. I did nothing.. for I was not a jew....."
**America claims to be the "Land of the Free", but a greater percentage of its citizens are in prison than in any other democracy**
Uhh.. totally new concept here, but maybe if that percentage of citizens felt like following the laws, this wouldnt be a problem?
**Do I even need to mention the farce that they called an election? The world leader in technology, inventor of the internet, and they don't even have a modern voting system. It would funny if it wasn't so sad.**
More flamboyant crap that says nothing.. the presidential election is decided by the electoral college.. this is not news to anyone. This is not a new thing. The problem with this election was the whining by "disenfranchised" voters (IE: we were outnumbered by people who thought differently, therefore its unfair) and people who wanted to steal the office in spite of the laws put into place to keep it from happening. Get a clue friend, you were sucked into the media circus too. Open your eyes.
**Don't even get me started on this one. What other civilized country still excecutes people? This is something that 3rd world countries are great at, as well as places like China and Iraq. But the USA? How can a country that is so ahead economically, be so behind in social policy and human rights? **
Social Policy? Human Rights? oh.. sorry.. I forgot that when someone goes ape with an ak-47 and shoots up a school, it is everyones fault but their own.. it is the gubmints fault, the legal gun owners, the nasty republicans.. *anyone* but the person that pulled the trigger or stepped on the gas pedal or switched the detonator on.
GROW UP! THere are penalties for crimes.. if you kill three people you will *DIE*.. you make that decision at the time you decide to end three lives. No sense whining about it afterwards.. sure.. killing people looks like a good alternative, if you are guaranteed houseing, cable tv, three square meals a day and weight priveleges for life! why not? It's certainly easier than actually *working* for a living!
Yes, I know it's off topic.. but this had to be said, at least IMHO.
Laws are laws, and have penalties.. except for the very rich or the elected, that applies. And it should. I dont speed because I dont want to pay fines or lose the right to drive. I dont kill the annoying neighbor with the lound thumping stereo in his car at 3 am because I dont want to go to jail. It's as simple as that.
And yes, if they said "go nuts, start kakking people" I probably wouldnt either.. but still.. The *LACK* of following laws is what leads to most of these situations. That guy with the loud stereo is in violation of at least three laws I can think of, but when the frazzled neighbor goes out and confronts him the fourth night in a row and gets into a fistfight, no-one will care that the incosiderate sod with the radio actually *caused* the problem.. it will be the one who used "violence" first. I'm not saying either is right, I'm just saying.. it takes two.. in a lot of cases.
you are actually missing the bigger picture. This is money making for them *and* a host of other companys. You can deal directly with TRW or Equifax, and hemm and haw and get yanked around and request transcripts and whatnot, and pay mildly for them, or you can go to one of these companies that trumpets in the media about allowin *YOU* to clean up your credit record.. just send them 100 bucks and they will check with the three major agencies and see if there is anything you need to deal with.
How much you wanna bet those companies are in some way owned or related to the credit bureaus?
Aiwa doesn't make *anything* that qualifies as good. They are the shit that Sony is too embarassed to put their own name on when selling. Go ahead, pick up the Aiwa set of yours and squeeze the sides a little bit, did they bow in and creak? Thought so. Now grasp the volume knob, wiggle it up and down a little. Amazing how much it moves in ways it isn't supposed to ain't it.
(end quote)
Well, I tried your torture test.. (and then rewired the entertainment center for shits and giggles) and no, neither of those things happened. I can see your point, but ya know what? I paid under 500 for the thing. I figure if I get two or three years out of it, I got my money's worth. And it sounds great to me. In two years, I will have enough money put together for the full on top of the line SOny component system I want, but for now.. *grin* IT WORKS.
ANd its a great stopgap that works, nicely, while I pick out the high end system I *really* want.. these things cant be picked or bought in a day.
They left out the 5.1 decode in favor of a co-Axial and optical out, as well as two sets of RCA jacks. I really won't miss the built-in decoder, since all it does is add cost for something you can do better externally. It also has RGB three-channel video output, as well as S-Video. It's a rather nice piece of hardware.
WEll, my Aiwa (which I will replace someday) has 5.1 in on it, which IMHO sound a *lot* better than its crappy 3.2 decoding. (If I want single rear channel, I'll only use one speaker, thanks).
Speaking of the RGB.. does anyone even *make* A tv anymore that takes RGB? Last time I checked there was *one* that was available, and it was a high end sony.
The sony DVD I got, (dont remember the number) has optical, coax, svideo, two sets of RCA, and 5.1 out.. thats enough to keep me happy for a *long* time. no zoom however, And it doesnt play V-cd's, why I dont know. Cause Sony is just like that I guess.
**The basic Bose home theater cube system comes with 10 cubes and an impressive horn subwoofer....has absolutely EXCELLENT sound quality,**
Ya know.. I used to think that too. Then I had a friend who is a screaming blue audiophile take me out shopping one day. By the end of the day, I recognized Bose for what it is.. rather muddy mid-range optimized black magic boxen that are *way* overpriced for what you get out of them.
Those lil cubes are a nice selling point, and yes, they are teensy.. but for what they want for that amp and those lil things, I can put together a system with half again as much punch, Gallien Kreuger speakers which will handle the amp at 11, and still have money left over for fries, a coke, and a couple of DVD's to enjoy on the system.
Bose has really good advertising.. but their products are definately not on a par with the level they claim they are.
>>You paid extra for a dvd player with a 5.1 decoder. This means you can get a good "5.1 ready" receiver. They are being discontinued by most mfg's so you can pick up good quality for quite cheap. spend the $$ you save on better speakers for now.
yeah.. I noticed that they were getting harder to find. It's also getting very hard to find a DVD player with built in 5.1 decoding. (Sony was the only one for a reasonable (read under 500 bucks) price I could find. According to Dolby Labs website, the external decoder gives you better sound, often, than the internal decoders. (they dont specify why.)
It seems to me that the audio industry is rolling out new technologies just to get people hooked on them and then discontinue them.. making it damn difficult to build a system over years anymore. Seems now everytime you want to upgrade something, the connector she don fit no mo.
Is this due to moving forward in technology? Or is this planned obsolescence? (face it.. I can't hear the difference between the optical and gold plated RCA.. nor can I see the difference between Svideo and Component video.. but thats me.. I have people telling me I'm an idiot for either having or not having any/all of the above on a regular basis)
So.. what are the real answers?
For the best interconnectivity, lasting usefulness, and sounds that humans (not dogs and not testing labs) find pleasurable, where is it all at?
I have a fairly small (32 inch) tube TV.. Mitsu, I think.. (gotten due to the double SVID in and cable in and rca in/out).
Sony top of the line DVD, with real 5.1 rca outs on it.
Audio? I have a cheapy Aiwa.. it was like.. 500 bucks on sale at Wal-Mart.. I love it! The speakers are small, yet deliver *real* good sound, and its out of the box.. no extra cables, no crap to deal with. Granted.. I live in a row home, but I have a fairly large living room, and the cables for the satellites make it all the way to the back, (across the cieling.. 19 foot wide room) and the sound is *excellent*.
Plus, it takes like, six things *out* of your audio setup.. its a 5 disc carousel, double deck with h/s dub, full audio tuner, (w karaoke!) and has a slick lil video game built in.
Bose is okay I guess, but I always feel like I'm in a cage listening to those little teeny tiny cubes, as that huge bass cannon of theirs dose most of the work.
So.. thats my.02.. Aiwa makes some *good* stuff.. and I heard somewhere they are made by Sony.. though I'm not certain about that.
>>Voltaire did not actually say that, but while you're up, say "disagree", which makes a sronger statement than MAY not agree with.
Quoteland.com gives "disapprove":
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
I dont know.. define "addictive".. is there a difference between "addiction" and "stubborness"?
I'll play Q3 if I have nothing better to do, but I dont think there are any games that just *call* me to the PC.. well.. except possibly "same gnome".. marbles is worse than Tetris used to be.
(does that count as an online game?)
But yeah.. I think that gaming is a great diversion, its *cheap* comparitively, when you figure what a lot of us used to pump into pinballs and pacman machines, now that most out of the box machines come with kickass video cards and processors. So what if Quake costs 40 bucks? thats only 160 games of pacman.. a cheap price to pay for a full game like that.
Okay.. I have a few comments. (I work as a hardware tech for a company with 10,000 systems)
1) what are the criteria they use for "breaking down".. does that mean critical hardware failure? or does it mean "I installed AOL 7 and now it doesnt boot"
2) one cannot judge desktops and laptops by the same scale.. face it.. desktops dont suffer the abuse that laptops do.. they seldom get dropped, dont have the heat or miniaturization issues, or the sudden shutdown problems on a regular basis that a laptop does.
3) As someone said earlier "slap on a warranty and let the user test it".,. not exactly true. THey (I am fairly certain) all pass the standard rigorous BIOS test and diagnostics, they do what they are supposed to do at the factory. IT takes days, weeks, and even months to discover a cold solder joint error, or chip creep issues (hello Dell) and other things.. they probably DID perform fine at the factory.
I Beg to differ. Yes, they are around us, but they wouldnt (and dont) know an ethernet dongle from a modem dongle. Maybe I'm just bizarre, but I find that satisfying, in a way, that I'm bottom of the food chain (second level hardware tech, onsite contractor) yet the entire operation of their multi-million dollar company hinges on me. And yes, I do see the people who whupped my arse in school now, and they are very very nice to me. If they arent, I get my boss, who was also a geek in high-school, and he makes *their* lives a living hell for a while. It all works out in the end.. Karma takes a while, but it gets there.
I'm warmed, from the heart, every time I hear "All I did was install AOL 7.. I know I wasnt supposed too.. but then nothing worked.. am I going to get in trouble?".. *GRIN*
Please, somebody, explain what it is that attracts you to video games and what satisfaction you get from it. I'm
(and I'm sure others) are genuinely curious.
Okay.. I will tell you.. I play quake.. A LOT.. and I play it against other people. Live people. My friends. It is a test of skill, as much as playing football or basketball or darts is a test of skill. I wear thick glasses. I cant wear contacts.. but.. this lets me let out all those agressive contest-laden feelings in a positive and extremely safe environment.. about the most hurt anyone's feelings get is when I call em a lo-ping bastard. So for me, it *is* interactive.. with other humans.. sure.. the models they use may not be them, but the reactions behind them are.
Slashdot Mirror
**Excuse me? What the fuck does my money have to do with changing political systems? And yes, I'm sure the USA is the only country that has ever given any foreign aid... **
/. about how horrible it is probably makes you feel better, but does nothing to help the situation.
It has a lot to do with it.. before you demand the removal of something that has the capability (and has) of improving the quality of life for millions of people.. (mammograms? Angioplasty? Tang?) for the welfare of considerably fewer starving people who will be starving again the day the food runs out, or who will be under a different "bad" government three years after we bail them out of this one, give from yourself. Surely *your* money and *your* happiness is unimportant compared to those poor pitiful starving people, political dissidents, and prisoners on death row.
Changing a political system means a lot more than sitting there saying "yeah.. thats unfair". lot of people sacrifice, go to jail, get killed, and end up homeless or worse every year to "change a political system".
Yammering on
As far as the foreign aid thing, no.. we are not the only one.. but we are by far the *largest* one.. whether it be direct contributions, military deployments, or money and aid handed out through the UN. When California broke a few years ago, how many people did you see here from other countrys helping dig out? Now that the electricity is going out in Cali (why does everything happen to cali?) how many foreign countries stepped in to pump money in to the problem?
Maeryk
My bad.. as several people pointed out, it is not Titanium.
I was thinking Teflon, but somewhere the neurons misfired, and typed Titanium.
Maeryk.
Here.. consider yourself enlightened.
Like programmable pacemakers? Breast exams? Ultrasound? thank NASA.
http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
Maeryk
I hit on this in an earlier post, but I figured I would post the link so people can find out for themselves what the space program has done.
h tml"> here </A>
IT is far more than just landing on Mars or walking on the moon..
link is <A HREF="http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.
Read it.
Maeryk
Without reading that link, or reading anything about this for the last 10 years:
McNair, Scobbe, Onizuka, MaCauliffe, Resnick, I want to say Hamilton, but I dont think its right.
Maeryk
My apology.. I meant to say the largest thing that ever launched. It definately has the worst fuel consumption of any vehicle.
I was pointing out that astronauts are *aware* of the risk.. and they accept it.. however, there is "unforseen" risk, and then there is gross negligence.. Challenger was gross negligence.
The Russians have only lost 10 cosmonauts, but have lost a *hell* of a lot more equipment. (and dont forget, that is ten that we *know* of.. there may have been more.. and we may never know).
Maeryk
All of which are clearly more important than justice and basic human rights. ***
Okay, for all your bitching and whining about justice ahd basic human rights, what have *YOU* done about it?
Do you hand your entire paycheck over to shelters? Do you volunteer? do you not have a TV, or a car, so that you can hand that extra money over to help those less fortunate than you?
Please.. there is a core of people here who *INCESSANTLY* whine about "human rights in this country" and "help the starving masses in (that) country" and "save china", etc. They all have computers, they all have jobs. Put your money where your mouth is. Go to Africa.. take food. Go to China, fight the good fight.. end up dead.
Sorry again, if this sounds too uppity, but I'm an american.. we came from behind.. we fought a revolution, and we have spent 200 years bailing out every small country with a problem on the planet. No-one stands up to help us when we have disasters, but we are expected to help everyone else out.
If you arent from america, then this apparently doesnt apply to you, as NASA is wholly within this country, and last time I checked the US is *not* the world, and money collected from US citizens, (against their will, in a lot of cases) should not be used to *PROTECT* the world from itself.
Maeryk
What I am wondering is if Fortune 500 companies go out of their way to set up their servers with Triple Mirroring Hard Disk setups, why doesn't NASA also use doubly redundant cabling? I mean this is billions of dollars and lives we're talking about here. Shouldn't they be extra sure? It seems to me that one backup isn't enough
On the ground, the redundancy NASA uses is *scary*. However, on the orbiter, you are facing some very solid scientific principles that are set in stone. One is the weight to launch ratio.. the Saturn 5 was the largest thing to ever move.. and it was right down to the pound.. as you add more equipment, cables, backup machines, HDD's, you name it you add more weight. More weight means more fuel. More fuel means more size. More size means more fuel. It becomes an exponential expansion that at some point kills the ability to move.
Larry Niven goes into this pretty heavily in "Playgrounds of the Mind" and describes *why* once you get to Dyson Spheres, Ringworlds, or Generation Ships (heinleins variant) you are looking at Nuclear or Solar (radiation ram-scoops or flare-riders) due to the limitations of conventional energy ships.
basically, the SPace Program is as safe as it can be. The fact that we have *never* lost a ship in space, and that we have lost 7 on the challenger and 3 in apollo ground fires, means we have one *hell* of a safety record, one that shines compared to any other industry. Compare ours with the Russian or Chinese and you will see what I mean.
basically, Astronauts *know* it is risky, and they accept this.. the problem with the Challenger misfortune was that it *was* within their control. And the instruction booklet *FROM* morton thiokol explaining the O-ring seals specifically *states* that the O0rings may not work in cold temperatures. *THAT* was the basis of the suit...
bowing to media pressure is a bad thing, especially when 7 peoples lives are on the line.
Anyway.. I hope that sort of answered your concern.
maeryk
I mostly agree. NASA is another one of those "I believe in this, so I'm going to force you to pay for it" programs. If you believe in NASA, then fund a private organization to do it. Don't force me to pay for it, too.
Somehow I believe that 20 years ago you would have complained that your tax money was going to fund the backbone of the Internet as well, when the NSF had it and was building it for "experimentation."
Remember.. it is programs like the NSF and NASA that give us these things.. if they werent doing it, no-one else would. No single private orginization has the funds or the contracting abilities to get this stuff done, so it *has* to be subsidized.
Sorry.. but I disagree with a lot of government appropriations, but this is one that has real rewards for us in everyday life. (satellite TV?)
Maeryk
How many starving children could be fed with the money it takes to launch one spacecraft? NASA is a parasite on our society and needs to be put on hold until we can sort out our real problems.
Read a few articles on what the space program has done *for* the people here on earth before you go bashing it, please.
A few of the things developed for the Space program that you use *every* day..
titanium
high impact plastics
gold plated connectors
anti-fog wipes and products for glasses/etc
growth methods for plants that produce higher yields/lower growing space
new energy technologies (solar, specifically)
advances in metallurgy *other* than titanium.
The space program has a *huge* impact on daily life, that most people do not realize. There used to be a good magazine called "spinoff" that listed these things, why they were developed, and their use in every day life.
That is basically like saying "we should stop gaming development until we get world hunger stopped". gaming drives, in a lot of ways, the bigger faster better development boom we have had in microelectronics lately. The space program is the same way. And when NASA comes up with new technology, it sells liscences to it to help pay for itself. And remember, a lot of those missions also carry corporate payloads, which also defrays the cost of the missions. Without Nasa, you would *not* have your nifty satellite TV, Satellite Internet, etc etc.
Maeryk
The problem actually boils down to this. There are two energy companys in california, basically.
These companies, through deregulation, were forced to sell electricity at a state mandated rate, and carry other peoples electricity for the customer, at a cut rate, losing money.
Also due to this deregulation, they were forced by the PUC to keep their charge for supplied electricity at a low.. well below the profit margin they could make money at, due to an unchecked rise in the cost of electricity *to* them from nationwide suppliers.
Now you have a fundamental block in supply and demand.. they are forced to supply at a rate a lot lower than their profit margin demands, and they will eventually go out of business at this rate. It's *not* the environmentalists, its the people yammering for a huge booming economy, but unwilling to pay the price for that.
It's not the net... its the fact that shortsighted legislators have done their best to hamstring the profitable companies (power, for one, telephone as another example) that they feel are "preying" on the consumer.
Wake up and smell the electrons folks.
step 1) remove all lawyers.
step 2) lather, rinse, repeat.
Maeryk
Jon, yet again your headline has nothing to do with your content.. but we will let that slide.
One thing makes this all possible. Just one. Money. Yup. Folding Green.
It has *nothing* to do with background checks, they are an added bonus. It has nothing to do with criminal records, or bank accounts.
It has everything to do with targeted marketing. With pyramid schemes. With "simply reply with remove in the subject line" to email addresses on forged domains that dont exist. (even if you could read the email, which you cant, cause it is in swahili)
Money makes the world go round.. like it or lump it, it doesnt change it. If someone thinks they are gonna save 20 bucks on groceries, they will tell you over the phone whether their children were circumcised and whether they masturbate or not. THAT is where the loss of privacy has come from. Of all the people on the net, how many actually pay attention to all the pretty little pre-checked boxes on their Yahoo sign up page? the ones that say "send me information" and "share my information with other companies"?
Very few.. but they will complain like demons scorned when they get emails.. with headers like "you were referred to us as someone with an interest in bovine oreinted pornographic material".
Its money man.. its Technocracy at work. And the only way to fix it is to burn down TRW, and the clearing houses, and the credit cards, and the car loans. Nothing this side of that is going to change anything, because we need *money* and to get money, we give out information that we would not ordinarily give to our best friends.
"neither a borrower nor a lender be" is trite and annoying, but its good advice.
Maeryk.
**That we've failed to enforce the Constitution is hardly the fault of our government. Governments have a certain nature -- to take away freedom. Woe until any citizenry that forgets that as ours has**
Excellent point! The problem I see is that people just dont *care* that their rights are being eroded. As long as it isnt in *their* doorway that it is happening. If a lot of the people who support the actions of the ATF and the gun-grabbers woke up on the wrong end of a search warrant and suffered a day of gestapo tactics until they found out it was a false report or mis-typed address (and that happens) they would think differently.
If they were on the wrong end of a drug raid, or if they had a suit slapped against them by a woman who could, simply because the legal system allows a woman to claim assault, tho prove no damage or even prove that it happened. Course, they are trying to CYA themselves, so that if it *did* happen they "did the right thing". Then the charges are dropped.. and there is *no* penalty.. bringing a false suit is not a crime anymore, in certain situations.
Feel good laws pretty much mean losing ones liberty, ones rights. How is it any worse for a jew to spraypaint a synagogue than a white guy? Is it any worse? what is a "hate crime".. isnt a crime a crime? No.. we all feel we are part of one little elitist social group or another, and demand special protection above and beyond the constitutional guarantee of "equal protection". (some are more equal than others).
And we gladly give these freedoms up. Daily. Parents have basically given up the right to raise their children for fear that one child might get hurt.. the state can now take your child because you spanked him/her. This is wrong.
(yet, you will be held accountable if your 17 year old skips school.. you *cannot* discipline them.. but you must control them. how is this to work?)
Those of us who are scared, and think the government is making a slow, deliberate and shadowed grab at *all* the rights we hold dear, those of us that fear a "one world economy" and fear "the world bank" and the UN, are labeled. Crazy. And god *forbid* you should be a christian and have these views, because you are automatically the "opressor" and the person most in need of losing your rights, so others can "catch up" to you.
Its crazy, but most just laugh it off to paranoia.
"When they came for the jews.. I did nothing.. for I was not a jew....."
you know the rest of it.
Maeryk
**America claims to be the "Land of the Free", but a greater percentage of its citizens are in prison than in any other democracy**
.02, no change.
Uhh.. totally new concept here, but maybe if that percentage of citizens felt like following the laws, this wouldnt be a problem?
**Do I even need to mention the farce that they called an election? The world leader in technology, inventor of the internet, and they don't even have a modern voting system. It would funny if it wasn't so sad.**
More flamboyant crap that says nothing.. the presidential election is decided by the electoral college.. this is not news to anyone. This is not a new thing. The problem with this election was the whining by "disenfranchised" voters (IE: we were outnumbered by people who thought differently, therefore its unfair) and people who wanted to steal the office in spite of the laws put into place to keep it from happening. Get a clue friend, you were sucked into the media circus too. Open your eyes.
**Don't even get me started on this one. What other civilized country still excecutes people? This is something that 3rd world countries are great at, as well as places like China and Iraq. But the USA? How can a country that is so ahead economically, be so behind in social policy and human rights? **
Social Policy? Human Rights? oh.. sorry.. I forgot that when someone goes ape with an ak-47 and shoots up a school, it is everyones fault but their own.. it is the gubmints fault, the legal gun owners, the nasty republicans.. *anyone* but the person that pulled the trigger or stepped on the gas pedal or switched the detonator on.
GROW UP! THere are penalties for crimes.. if you kill three people you will *DIE*.. you make that decision at the time you decide to end three lives. No sense whining about it afterwards.. sure.. killing people looks like a good alternative, if you are guaranteed houseing, cable tv, three square meals a day and weight priveleges for life! why not? It's certainly easier than actually *working* for a living!
Yes, I know it's off topic.. but this had to be said, at least IMHO.
Laws are laws, and have penalties.. except for the very rich or the elected, that applies. And it should. I dont speed because I dont want to pay fines or lose the right to drive. I dont kill the annoying neighbor with the lound thumping stereo in his car at 3 am because I dont want to go to jail. It's as simple as that.
And yes, if they said "go nuts, start kakking people" I probably wouldnt either.. but still.. The *LACK* of following laws is what leads to most of these situations. That guy with the loud stereo is in violation of at least three laws I can think of, but when the frazzled neighbor goes out and confronts him the fourth night in a row and gets into a fistfight, no-one will care that the incosiderate sod with the radio actually *caused* the problem.. it will be the one who used "violence" first. I'm not saying either is right, I'm just saying.. it takes two.. in a lot of cases.
Maeryk
my
you are actually missing the bigger picture. This is money making for them *and* a host of other companys. You can deal directly with TRW or Equifax, and hemm and haw and get yanked around and request transcripts and whatnot, and pay mildly for them, or you can go to one of these companies that trumpets in the media about allowin *YOU* to clean up your credit record.. just send them 100 bucks and they will check with the three major agencies and see if there is anything you need to deal with.
How much you wanna bet those companies are in some way owned or related to the credit bureaus?
Maeryk
Aiwa doesn't make *anything* that qualifies as good. They are the shit that Sony is too embarassed to put their own name on when selling. Go ahead, pick up the Aiwa set of yours and squeeze the sides a little bit, did they bow in and creak? Thought so. Now grasp the volume knob, wiggle it up and down a little. Amazing how much it moves in ways it isn't supposed to ain't it.
(end quote)
Well, I tried your torture test.. (and then rewired the entertainment center for shits and giggles) and no, neither of those things happened. I can see your point, but ya know what? I paid under 500 for the thing. I figure if I get two or three years out of it, I got my money's worth. And it sounds great to me. In two years, I will have enough money put together for the full on top of the line SOny component system I want, but for now.. *grin* IT WORKS.
ANd its a great stopgap that works, nicely, while I pick out the high end system I *really* want.. these things cant be picked or bought in a day.
Maeryk
They left out the 5.1 decode in favor of a co-Axial and optical out, as well as two sets of RCA jacks. I really won't miss the built-in decoder, since all it does is add cost for something you can do better externally. It also has RGB three-channel video output, as well as S-Video. It's a rather nice piece of hardware.
WEll, my Aiwa (which I will replace someday) has 5.1 in on it, which IMHO sound a *lot* better than its crappy 3.2 decoding. (If I want single rear channel, I'll only use one speaker, thanks).
Speaking of the RGB.. does anyone even *make* A tv anymore that takes RGB? Last time I checked there was *one* that was available, and it was a high end sony.
The sony DVD I got, (dont remember the number) has optical, coax, svideo, two sets of RCA, and 5.1 out.. thats enough to keep me happy for a *long* time. no zoom however, And it doesnt play V-cd's, why I dont know. Cause Sony is just like that I guess.
Maeryk
**The basic Bose home theater cube system comes with 10 cubes and an impressive horn subwoofer....has absolutely EXCELLENT sound quality,**
Ya know.. I used to think that too. Then I had a friend who is a screaming blue audiophile take me out shopping one day. By the end of the day, I recognized Bose for what it is.. rather muddy mid-range optimized black magic boxen that are *way* overpriced for what you get out of them.
Those lil cubes are a nice selling point, and yes, they are teensy.. but for what they want for that amp and those lil things, I can put together a system with half again as much punch, Gallien Kreuger speakers which will handle the amp at 11, and still have money left over for fries, a coke, and a couple of DVD's to enjoy on the system.
Bose has really good advertising.. but their products are definately not on a par with the level they claim they are.
maeryk
>>You paid extra for a dvd player with a 5.1 decoder. This means you can get a good "5.1 ready" receiver. They are being discontinued by most mfg's so you can pick up good quality for quite cheap. spend the $$ you save on better speakers for now.
yeah.. I noticed that they were getting harder to find. It's also getting very hard to find a DVD player with built in 5.1 decoding. (Sony was the only one for a reasonable (read under 500 bucks) price I could find. According to Dolby Labs website, the external decoder gives you better sound, often, than the internal decoders. (they dont specify why.)
It seems to me that the audio industry is rolling out new technologies just to get people hooked on them and then discontinue them.. making it damn difficult to build a system over years anymore. Seems now everytime you want to upgrade something, the connector she don fit no mo.
Is this due to moving forward in technology? Or is this planned obsolescence? (face it.. I can't hear the difference between the optical and gold plated RCA.. nor can I see the difference between Svideo and Component video.. but thats me.. I have people telling me I'm an idiot for either having or not having any/all of the above on a regular basis)
So.. what are the real answers?
For the best interconnectivity, lasting usefulness, and sounds that humans (not dogs and not testing labs) find pleasurable, where is it all at?
Anyone?
maeryk
I have a fairly small (32 inch) tube TV.. Mitsu, I think.. (gotten due to the double SVID in and cable in and rca in/out).
.02.. Aiwa makes some *good* stuff.. and I heard somewhere they are made by Sony.. though I'm not certain about that.
Sony top of the line DVD, with real 5.1 rca outs on it.
Audio? I have a cheapy Aiwa.. it was like.. 500 bucks on sale at Wal-Mart.. I love it! The speakers are small, yet deliver *real* good sound, and its out of the box.. no extra cables, no crap to deal with. Granted.. I live in a row home, but I have a fairly large living room, and the cables for the satellites make it all the way to the back, (across the cieling.. 19 foot wide room) and the sound is *excellent*.
Plus, it takes like, six things *out* of your audio setup.. its a 5 disc carousel, double deck with h/s dub, full audio tuner, (w karaoke!) and has a slick lil video game built in.
Bose is okay I guess, but I always feel like I'm in a cage listening to those little teeny tiny cubes, as that huge bass cannon of theirs dose most of the work.
So.. thats my
Maeryk
>>Voltaire did not actually say that, but while you're up, say "disagree", which makes a sronger statement than MAY not agree with.
Quoteland.com gives "disapprove":
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Fixed.. thanks for the info.
Maeryk
I dont know.. define "addictive".. is there a difference between "addiction" and "stubborness"?
.02 frags
I'll play Q3 if I have nothing better to do, but I dont think there are any games that just *call* me to the PC.. well.. except possibly "same gnome".. marbles is worse than Tetris used to be.
(does that count as an online game?)
But yeah.. I think that gaming is a great diversion, its *cheap* comparitively, when you figure what a lot of us used to pump into pinballs and pacman machines, now that most out of the box machines come with kickass video cards and processors. So what if Quake costs 40 bucks? thats only 160 games of pacman.. a cheap price to pay for a full game like that.
*sigh*
my
Maeryk
Okay.. I have a few comments. (I work as a hardware tech for a company with 10,000 systems)
.02 cents, from what I have seen daily.
1) what are the criteria they use for "breaking down".. does that mean critical hardware failure? or does it mean "I installed AOL 7 and now it doesnt boot"
2) one cannot judge desktops and laptops by the same scale.. face it.. desktops dont suffer the abuse that laptops do.. they seldom get dropped, dont have the heat or miniaturization issues, or the sudden shutdown problems on a regular basis that a laptop does.
3) As someone said earlier "slap on a warranty and let the user test it".,. not exactly true. THey (I am fairly certain) all pass the standard rigorous BIOS test and diagnostics, they do what they are supposed to do at the factory. IT takes days, weeks, and even months to discover a cold solder joint error, or chip creep issues (hello Dell) and other things.. they probably DID perform fine at the factory.
Just my
I Beg to differ. Yes, they are around us, but they wouldnt (and dont) know an ethernet dongle from a modem dongle. Maybe I'm just bizarre, but I find that satisfying, in a way, that I'm bottom of the food chain (second level hardware tech, onsite contractor) yet the entire operation of their multi-million dollar company hinges on me. And yes, I do see the people who whupped my arse in school now, and they are very very nice to me. If they arent, I get my boss, who was also a geek in high-school, and he makes *their* lives a living hell for a while. It all works out in the end.. Karma takes a while, but it gets there.
I'm warmed, from the heart, every time I hear "All I did was install AOL 7.. I know I wasnt supposed too.. but then nothing worked.. am I going to get in trouble?".. *GRIN*
Maeryk
Please, somebody, explain what it is that attracts you to video games and what satisfaction you get from it. I'm
(and I'm sure others) are genuinely curious.
Okay.. I will tell you.. I play quake.. A LOT.. and I play it against other people. Live people. My friends. It is a test of skill, as much as playing football or basketball or darts is a test of skill. I wear thick glasses. I cant wear contacts.. but.. this lets me let out all those agressive contest-laden feelings in a positive and extremely safe environment.. about the most hurt anyone's feelings get is when I call em a lo-ping bastard. So for me, it *is* interactive.. with other humans.. sure.. the models they use may not be them, but the reactions behind them are.
Maeryk