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User: wall0159

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  1. Re:At what point do you draw the line? on Real Warriors Trained In Virtual Worlds · · Score: 1

    I wonder if that's why we've never detected intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Perhaps once civilisations reach a technological threshold, they become immersed in the virtual world, and shun the real one.

    I guess the unfortunate consequence of that would be that we'd live in a virtual world that was limited by our creativity, rather than a real one that appears to have infinite variety and complexity..

  2. Re:Why just the soldiers? on Real Warriors Trained In Virtual Worlds · · Score: 1

    In (what is now modern) India, battles were once decided by the 'generals' playing chess. This avoided needless deaths. A pretty cool idea, if you ask me!

  3. Re:Argh on BitTorrent and End to End Encryption · · Score: 1

    what the?!? mod: troll?!? crazyness..

    I think Sloppy's making some valid points. If users piss off their ISPs (eg. by making it harder for them to cache bittorrent), then why should the ISPs help them? Realistically, it's a small group of people using a large amount of bandwidth. No doubt the ISPs would be happy to lose heavy bittorrent users..

  4. bandwidth and syncing on State of Multi-Monitor Gaming? · · Score: 1

    I think the main problem would be that you would be running a cluster. You'd have to do this because you wouldn't get the required data throughput at a sufficiently low latency to just shunt the video over the ethernet*. The difficulty with running a cluster would be that the game would need to be significantly rewritten - perhaps one of the biggest problems being synchronisation.

    Why not just by a dual-head video card? I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that at lease some of those allow you to create a single 'virtual' display from 2 physical displays. Doing this would be at the driver leve, and hence invisible to the game...

    *maybe gigabit ethernet would do this, but that is hardly a low-cost solution! ;-) you'd be better putting your pennies elsewhere...

  5. non RIAA music? on Unlimited Legal Music Downloads for $3.95 a Month? · · Score: 1

    How would they decide how to distribute the money among the labels? I imagine they'd shut out all the smaller, independent labels.. (y'know - the ones that make the good music)
    A similar system already exists , and is called www.emusic.com - although it's more than $5 per month, it only hosts independent artists and labels. You're gauranteed that you're not supporting RIAA, their (oftentimes) crap music and their scummy mates.

  6. Re:sure on Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him · · Score: 3, Informative

    catalytic converters don't reduce emmisions. They catalyse (remove) poisons from the exhaust. These poisons are only present in the exhaust of unledded fuel. It has nothing to do with reducing emmisions of CO2 - it improves the air quality in cities.

    see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter for more info.

    An interesting note is that the lead in leadded fuel will damage/destroy the catalyst - that's why one shouldn't put leadded fuel in an unleadded car. (and why cars running leadded fuel don't have catalytic convertors.)

  7. Re:The REAL story.... on Oboe Offers Portable Playlist · · Score: 1

    yeh. Imagine the music he'd have...

    5000 copies of Britney's up-and-coming single "gimme your money and I'll shake my ass at you.. baby"

    what a lucky guy...

  8. Re:decisions on Wealthy 'Cryonauts' Put Assets on Ice · · Score: 1

    oops. I just read that U.S. law requires the person to be legally dead before they're 'frozen'. I still think the point is valid though. It would be interesting to see how this could link up with euthenasia...

  9. decisions on Wealthy 'Cryonauts' Put Assets on Ice · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The difficult part would have to be deciding when to cut one's losses with life and be frozen. Persumably, if he waits until he's actually dead, it might be too late...

    "I figure I have a better than even chance of coming back," he says. *laughing* based on WHAT?? Just goes to show - wealth doesn't corrolate with intelligence.

    (personally, I reckon his chances are more like 42%... ;-)

  10. Re:no more Barrels on Fast Track to Fine Wine? · · Score: 1

    I read an article recently (no link - sorry) about a reaction of wineries (in Australia) against 'over-oaking' wine. This is thought to overpower the natural tastes of the wine (caused by soil type, grape type, amount of water, climate, etc, etc. Some wineries are now using less oak.

    It seems to me, though, that this machine _is_ snake oil. Wine is an incredibly complex system. It's important to keep it very stable (temperature, especially) while aging. There are so many factors that determine how it ages, I seriously doubt this could be duplicated by a machine. Perhaps some kind of emulation could occur (reducing the tannins, for example), but I doubt it would be the same as aged wine - perhaps it just takes away some of the sharpness of very immature wine...

    On another note - there are heaps of wankers when it comes to wine. I think it depends on palatte. I reckon I can (in general) taste the difference between a $10 bottle, and a $20 bottle, but the difference between a $50 and a $60 bottle is lost on me. I guess prices reflect only supply and demand, just like everything else.

  11. How will it affect us? on Beijing's New Enforcer - Microsoft · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The scary thing about all this, is that it sets a precedent that this kind of thing is not really so bad. China is not at the apex of its power now, but likely it will soon eclipse the combined power of the US and EU.

    In Australia, part of the justification for the recent erosion of workers' rights, is that we need to compete with Asia. How long will it be until there are similar erosions of civil rights and human rights to allow our contries to compete with Asia?

    We are in a position of relative power now - we're relatively wealthy. Free trade is one thing, but it should be contingent on countries respecting worker/human rights. That way, we can force countries to make things better - while we still can. Once China is as wealthy as the West, there'll be bugger all we can do.

    I'm not fearmongering, and I've got nothing against the Chinese, but their government is f*cked (tho Western govts could be a helluva lot better), and it could turn around in a few years and bite us all in the ass.

  12. Re:Yeah why must hollywood remake french movies? on EU to Develop Search Engine · · Score: 1

    Relax, kiddo. He wasn't bashing America, or even the U.S.

    Essentially, he was saying

    1. 'despite being the best, Google is crap, and some more competition would be good for it'
    2. 'don't bash EU companies for competing with US ones'

  13. Re:Legality of Apple tying software to hardware. on Apple Sends Hidden Message to Hackers? · · Score: 1

    But how many times must it be said? Apple don't *have* to sue anybody. It doesn't matter if a few tight-ass hackers get it working on generic hardware, because they wouldn't buy a Mac anyway. Apple will break their hack with each software update, and the system will likely be unreliable.

    *All* Apple has to do, is stop the majority of computer users from doing so.

    I'm against the T.C. crap, but I can see Apple's position. The development of the great software that (almost) everybody loves (and wants without paying for) is subsidised by their hardware sales. Apple tried the generic/clone thing - IT DIDN'T WORK.

  14. Re:OFFS! This is stupid. on Flash Memory to Rival Hard Drives · · Score: 1

    But you're comparing a desktop hard drive solution to one which is designed to be ultra-portable. How much does a 300GB 2.5" drive cost? (hint: current max size is about 120GB)

    For a lot of portable applications, 20 - 30GB of storage is plenty. Esp if it's the size of a credit card and uses 1/10 the energy.

    I'm sure speed issues can be circumvented be having some kind of striped (RAID3, is it?) configuration of the individual chips...

  15. how difficult is this? on Desktop Cold Fusion Reconsidered · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The thing I think is interesting is perception of difficulty. I have an idea:

    We'll get a multiple-hundred-ton platform, and float it on the open ocean. Despite currents and storms, we'll send a 10-inch drill bit down 1-3 kilometres in to the ground below the ocean. From there we'll drill into a big oil resivoir.
    Then we'll pump the oil up - without spilling it. We'll somehow load it onto ships, and distribute it all around the world.

    When you think about it, this is bloody amazing. It shows what we can do if we put our minds to it. Granted - the oil industry has a bit of a headstart over cold-fusion, but we must recognise the limitations of oil and pursue other options.

  16. Re:Problems with the iTab on iBook Converts to iTablet · · Score: 2, Informative

    In System Preferences, if you click on Displays while holding , apparently it will allow you to rotate (90, 180, 270 deg) the internal monitor.

    I've done this before on my G4 800 iBook with no ill effects, but for some reason that option doesn't appear for me now. Buggered if I know why..

    (do this at your own risk of course! ;-)

  17. Re:This should prove... on Bill Gates, Time Magazine "Person of the Year" · · Score: 1

    Not to nitpick, but (at least some of them) were Australians of Lebanese descent.

  18. pathetic on Polar Bears Drowning As Globe Warms · · Score: 2

    Cue the 'I'm more cynical than you' comments, more like.

    'evolution in action' 'they need SUVs'

    More like 'I'm feeling mighty cosy and safe here in one of the richest countries in the world'.

    Unfortunately, kiddo, there's no gaurantee that will protect you.

    Also, a thought. People talk about there being a lack of evidence for climate change. What we're doing at the moment is conducting a global experiment in how hard we can push the climate without it changing. Guess what happens if we cock up?

    So when people talk about making a change in our lifestyle, they're talking about keeping the Earth as consistant as possible, because no one has a bloody clue what the climate might do. If you think about it, you'll realise that reducing CO2 emmisions is actually a conservative approach.

  19. Re:It's not surprising on Man Cures Himself of HIV? · · Score: 1

    Yes, it's not so surprising that there is a person who can fight AIDS. The fact that he's European is neither here nor there. Since AIDS has no known link to plague, it's unlikely that there'd be any advantage in exposure to plague.

    "..were not exposed to a very widespread and violently virulent disease." is simply untrue. I can't remember the exact details of the plagues, but at least one of the outbreaks of plague originated in China (quick search: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bubonic_plagu e_outbreaks).

    Anyway, aside from that, there've been MANY other virulent diseases! ;-)

  20. Re:Video iPod pornography. on iPod Video Coming to a Car Near You · · Score: 1

    surely you mean porncasting? ;-)

  21. EULA on Poisoned Torrents Plague Mybittorrent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Simple. Bittorrent needs an EULA so that people are forced to post legitimate pirated files. Damned liars - spoiling it for all us honest freeloaders.

  22. Re:I need information on Hydrogen Stored in Safe High Density Pellets · · Score: 1

    I agree.

    The safe, long-term storage of energy is one of the biggest difficulties in using inconsistant energy sources (wind, solar, etc). If it becomes possible to hack this to produce something like a hydrogen battery (even if it involves the combustion of these pellets) that'd be revolutionary.

    Imagine having solar panels on your roof connected to the hydro-pellet-synth (TM), which spits out pellets, some of which you stick in your car, and some of which you save for a rainy day ;-)

    (sorry - couldn't help that one)

  23. Re:It's already a solved problem. on Fold 'n' Drop Window Interaction · · Score: 1

    Not only through Expose, one can whilst dragging an object (file from finder, open file from top of window, piece of highlighted text, photo in iPhoto, song in iTunes, etc), and choose a new app (eg. Mail), then drop the object into it.

    In fact, almost everything is movable in this way, and it's bloody convenient.

  24. Re:Engine Noise? on France and Japan Planning New Supersonic Jet · · Score: 1

    Scraping to the bottom of my brain (it's been a while), I think sonic booms only occur when the speed of the vehicle is equal to the speed of sound. Since this aircraft will travel at Mach 1.6, there will be two sonic booms - one during acceleration, and one during deacceleration. I'm sure someone will correct my if I'm wrong ;-).

  25. Mortality on Steve Jobs In Praise of Dropping Out · · Score: 1

    I don't think Jobs is speaking for or against getting a university degree, but that he's saying to live life how you want to, and not to live by others' values.

    I went to a friend's funeral on the weekend. He was 26, and died of Leukaemia. Old saying - live like you'll die tomorrow, but plan as though you'll live forever.