Eh. Depends where you shop and what you need. My entire computer was under $100, I've got Firewire and USB2, 3.5GB of RAM, 800GB hard drive, 2GHz Dual-core CPU. Not to mention dual monitors and 5.2 surround sound (I had an extra subwoofer laying around:) ). Plus I can overclock it.
And I'm not saying if you need a mac you shouldn't get one. That'd be like saying you should never overnight a package because it's too expensive. I'm just saying macs are really expensive, and for most applications there's no reason for it. And if you need Photoshop, you should pay for Photoshop, and not have to pay a few hundred extra on the computer to run it too.
True, the mac mini is small. But as I said, macs are good for high end systems, but not so good for lower prices. If you want a cheap computer, size is probably low on the priorities. And Dells really aren't that loud. I've got one in the other room. Only one fan in the whole system, and I think it's running below full speed.
I also find it funny that you had to list gig ethernet and DVI as your 'extra features' that the mac has. Personally, I think it'd be harder to find a computer _without_ those than with. Wireless G is pretty much standard too anymore, and all three are in fact on the Dell from what I can see. No bluetooth...but then again, I don't really know how useful that is. I've never seen a device in person that actually has bluetooth capability. I can see potential uses for that though, and the remote and firewire, but I don't think they're worth $600.
But then again, I'm a budget buyer. I don't even consider mac products unless they're broken and I can fix them (How I got all three of my iPods for under $100), and I like being able to build my own system and customize everything. Macs just don't offer either of those. So yea, I'm bias. I admit it. But it's hard to find reason to like something that's that locked down and is used and marketed almost as a status symbol.
Dell also has no monitor options. And a Dell XPS One has much higher specs than the mac mini. I mean, even their cheapest inspiron has higher specs than the mac mini. Point is, mac doesn't do budget computers. As I said in my original post, when you're looking at higher end things (like the Dell XPS), mac is just as good as anywhere else. But if you're like myself, and need a dual-core processor, a terrabyte of hard drive space, 4 gigs of RAM and dual monitors, all for under $1000, a mac ain't gonna cut it. Of course, neither would a Dell...but a Dell would come a lot closer. Oh, there's something else I forgot to mention in my original post. You can build a Linux PC. You can't build a mac. So yes, you can say you can just buy that 23" Viewsonic, buy a mac in parts...and I'll just go to Newegg, buy a PC in parts. Guess which is cheaper?
Yea. An LG monitor is $200. I was talking about apple, not LG. Go on their online store, select that $600 mac mini, and look for your monitor choices. $600 for that, $100 for keyboard and mouse...and yet, the components are still, for the most part, worse than a cheap Dell. In fact, I'm trying to build a Dell with the same parts, but I can't. They don't offer a CPU that slow. They don't offer a hard drive that small either. And their 20 inch flat panel is $50, not $600. Anyways, when you add it all up, the Dell is $800, the mac mini is $1300...and the Dell has a faster CPU by.4GHz and 240GB more hard drive space.
So yea, it's not quite as bad as I said, I got a few of the numbers confused, but still...you're paying $500 more for a worse machine.
Yea, and also unlike Linux, you probably paid $2000 for a $800 computer. I mean seriously, their cheapest computer is something like $1000...and if you want it to actually include a monitor, I believe the price for that is another $1300. For high end systems their pricing is someone decent, but if you're not gaming or rendering huge graphics, you're going to pay way more than you need to.
Since particles shouldn't be able to move faster than light, and temperature is simply a measure of the vibration of particles, wouldn't the maximum possible temperature be the temperature at which the molecules are moving at the speed of light? Perhaps the limit is lower, but I can't see any way there could not be a limit.
I've seen it used legitimately plenty of times, but that's not the problem I have with it. My problem is, why should I spend a week downloading a Linux ISO from Bittorrent, when I can download it off the official mirror in an hour? Currently downloading one now that I couldn't find elsewhere, 80 peers, 72 of those seeds, no firewall, no NAT, but I still can't get more than 4KB/s down...when I'm uploading at 43KB/s.
It's a laser. The fact that he's 1000 feet up isn't going to matter much. Of course, he is moving at 100mph through a beam much less than an inch in diameter (by my calculations, he would be in the beam for less than 1/2000 of a second at most) with (assuming he's flying correctly) nothing anywhere in the vicinity to crash into. So it's not nearly as bad as someone not turning off their high beams.
Retaliate. Get your own sonic speaker thing, pick the most obnoxious annoying painful sound you can think of (Nails on chalkboard?), and whenever you spot one of these, wait. As soon as someone approaches in the room (even if it's just sitting there and/or automatic, they must come up there at some point), blast them. Or perhaps set one up to continually bombard the window this is coming from. Or just find a way to screw up the speaker.
Ohh, I know. If they have someone up there directing it, blast them back. If not, just get your own speaker, point it at the same place, and overpower their message, either with your own or with inverse waves to theirs (though that would be rather difficult to do, if not impossible)
Um, what? Congress is pretty much the _only_ way the constitution is amended. It can be redefined by the Supreme Court, but it can only be actually amended by Congress or the states, and AFAIK, all the current amendments were done by Congress.
Have you tried any of the recent Mandriva releases? For me they work much better than Ubuntu with wireless...and in fact, I no longer have to do any manual configuration at all. I run the installer, it picks up my card, all is good.
A kid in my high school physics class decided to create a unit for momentum named after the teacher. He put it on the wikipedia page for momentum. It was up there about 3 days before the teacher mentioned this to the class and another student went on and removed it. So yes, wikipedia is a great resource. Most of my teachers say that it's a good place to get background information from. But what they won't let you do it use it as a source in your final work...which I agree with.
Meh. Only large computer store (well, I guess you could call it that) within at least 50 miles of me is Staples. And all they've got in terms of parts are hard drives and maybe a modem or two. But right downtown we've got 'EZ Webz 4 U' (actually much better than it sounds, trust me), Richard's Enterprises (They're mostly for businesses, but they've got nothing against selling a kid a single stick of RAM), and a couple other small local shops. And this is a pretty small town. Anyways, point is, there are gonna be other stores there if you look. Might be hard to find them (Who would think a small house on main street would actually be a computer store), but they're there. Though it's still probably best to just order online.
And just for the record, I've never even seen a Fry's. Not even a picture of one. So yea, they're definitely not so big on the east coast.
Obviously you don't know the kind of drug dealers that I used to. Some of them _were_ pretty much unlicensed pharmacists. And, unlike a real pharmacist, they tested everything they sold on themselves first. They'd usually do lots of research, carefully measure doses, and various other things.
To quote something that I don't quite remember: "If videogames had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around dark rooms munching pills and listening to repetitive music." (Pacman for any of you that don't get it)
I did not read the article, but I did read the bill. And the summary is completely made up. Nowhere near true. I don't see where they're getting those ideas from at all. To quote the bill:
"`(f) Protection of Privacy- Nothing in this section shall be construed to require an electronic communication service provider or a remote computing service provider to--
`(1) monitor any user, subscriber, or customer of that provider;
`(2) monitor the content of any communication of any person described in paragraph (1); or
`(3) affirmatively seek facts or circumstances described in subsection (a)(2)."
And the legal requirement to report part:
"`(a) Duty To Report-
`(1) IN GENERAL- Whoever, while engaged in providing an electronic communication service or a remote computing service to the public through a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, obtains actual knowledge of any facts or circumstances described in paragraph (2) shall, as soon as reasonably possible, make a report of such facts or circumstances to the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or any successor to the CyberTipline operated by such center."
So, IANAL, but it seems to me to be saying that you must report it if you know about it, but it seems to specifically state that you are in no way required to actually seek out that information.
What about RPGs? I mean, take a look at games like Baldur's Gate. There are no real levels. I mean, there are certain things you must do to unlock certain areas of the map, but you can attempt those at any time. Or not. And if you took that basic style, but removed that limitation, you would have a game without levels. You could try to attack the 'boss' at any time, but you would be very unlikely to succeed without doing the lower level quests first. But at the same time, there are no required quests. If you wanted to, you could just go into the forest and hunt until you get the XP you need. Basically, look at MMORPGs. Though they don't really tell a story, you could put one in. Basically, 'This happened to you, and because of that you must kill this guy. But you should probably spend some time getting more experienced and better equipment first. Go.'
...So cell phones aren't that expensive, and even deactivated ones can usually still call 911. But what if the batteries die? I know I generally have to charge my phone at least twice a day. Damn thing won't last more than 8 hours on a charge. Sometimes it's as low as 5. This sucks. Even though I have a cell, I still use pay phones fairly often.
>Not only is this of highly questionable legality, but it also doesn't work on non-Intel machines since you can't recompile for your architecture.
I'm kinda confused as to what exactly you're saying. Because it sounds to me like you're saying you can't play WMV, rm, etc on an AMD machine. Running Mandriva 2007.1 on an AMD, I've never had a problem with any of them. Yes, they're often a pain in the ass, having to download the codecs and such, but they work just fine.
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Um, both the CNN and MSNBC exit polls predicted a win for Obama. A slight win, but a win.
Eh. Depends where you shop and what you need. My entire computer was under $100, I've got Firewire and USB2, 3.5GB of RAM, 800GB hard drive, 2GHz Dual-core CPU. Not to mention dual monitors and 5.2 surround sound (I had an extra subwoofer laying around :) ). Plus I can overclock it.
And I'm not saying if you need a mac you shouldn't get one. That'd be like saying you should never overnight a package because it's too expensive. I'm just saying macs are really expensive, and for most applications there's no reason for it. And if you need Photoshop, you should pay for Photoshop, and not have to pay a few hundred extra on the computer to run it too.
True, the mac mini is small. But as I said, macs are good for high end systems, but not so good for lower prices. If you want a cheap computer, size is probably low on the priorities. And Dells really aren't that loud. I've got one in the other room. Only one fan in the whole system, and I think it's running below full speed.
I also find it funny that you had to list gig ethernet and DVI as your 'extra features' that the mac has. Personally, I think it'd be harder to find a computer _without_ those than with. Wireless G is pretty much standard too anymore, and all three are in fact on the Dell from what I can see. No bluetooth...but then again, I don't really know how useful that is. I've never seen a device in person that actually has bluetooth capability. I can see potential uses for that though, and the remote and firewire, but I don't think they're worth $600.
But then again, I'm a budget buyer. I don't even consider mac products unless they're broken and I can fix them (How I got all three of my iPods for under $100), and I like being able to build my own system and customize everything. Macs just don't offer either of those. So yea, I'm bias. I admit it. But it's hard to find reason to like something that's that locked down and is used and marketed almost as a status symbol.
Dell also has no monitor options. And a Dell XPS One has much higher specs than the mac mini. I mean, even their cheapest inspiron has higher specs than the mac mini. Point is, mac doesn't do budget computers. As I said in my original post, when you're looking at higher end things (like the Dell XPS), mac is just as good as anywhere else. But if you're like myself, and need a dual-core processor, a terrabyte of hard drive space, 4 gigs of RAM and dual monitors, all for under $1000, a mac ain't gonna cut it. Of course, neither would a Dell...but a Dell would come a lot closer. Oh, there's something else I forgot to mention in my original post. You can build a Linux PC. You can't build a mac. So yes, you can say you can just buy that 23" Viewsonic, buy a mac in parts...and I'll just go to Newegg, buy a PC in parts. Guess which is cheaper?
Yea. An LG monitor is $200. I was talking about apple, not LG. Go on their online store, select that $600 mac mini, and look for your monitor choices. $600 for that, $100 for keyboard and mouse...and yet, the components are still, for the most part, worse than a cheap Dell. In fact, I'm trying to build a Dell with the same parts, but I can't. They don't offer a CPU that slow. They don't offer a hard drive that small either. And their 20 inch flat panel is $50, not $600. Anyways, when you add it all up, the Dell is $800, the mac mini is $1300...and the Dell has a faster CPU by .4GHz and 240GB more hard drive space.
So yea, it's not quite as bad as I said, I got a few of the numbers confused, but still...you're paying $500 more for a worse machine.
Yea, and also unlike Linux, you probably paid $2000 for a $800 computer. I mean seriously, their cheapest computer is something like $1000...and if you want it to actually include a monitor, I believe the price for that is another $1300. For high end systems their pricing is someone decent, but if you're not gaming or rendering huge graphics, you're going to pay way more than you need to.
Since particles shouldn't be able to move faster than light, and temperature is simply a measure of the vibration of particles, wouldn't the maximum possible temperature be the temperature at which the molecules are moving at the speed of light? Perhaps the limit is lower, but I can't see any way there could not be a limit.
I've seen it used legitimately plenty of times, but that's not the problem I have with it. My problem is, why should I spend a week downloading a Linux ISO from Bittorrent, when I can download it off the official mirror in an hour? Currently downloading one now that I couldn't find elsewhere, 80 peers, 72 of those seeds, no firewall, no NAT, but I still can't get more than 4KB/s down...when I'm uploading at 43KB/s.
It's a laser. The fact that he's 1000 feet up isn't going to matter much. Of course, he is moving at 100mph through a beam much less than an inch in diameter (by my calculations, he would be in the beam for less than 1/2000 of a second at most) with (assuming he's flying correctly) nothing anywhere in the vicinity to crash into. So it's not nearly as bad as someone not turning off their high beams.
I installed WinXP SP0 on a '98 Compaq Presario. 667Mhz, 64MB of RAM. It ran just as fast as Win98.
Retaliate. Get your own sonic speaker thing, pick the most obnoxious annoying painful sound you can think of (Nails on chalkboard?), and whenever you spot one of these, wait. As soon as someone approaches in the room (even if it's just sitting there and/or automatic, they must come up there at some point), blast them. Or perhaps set one up to continually bombard the window this is coming from. Or just find a way to screw up the speaker.
Ohh, I know. If they have someone up there directing it, blast them back. If not, just get your own speaker, point it at the same place, and overpower their message, either with your own or with inverse waves to theirs (though that would be rather difficult to do, if not impossible)
Um, what? Congress is pretty much the _only_ way the constitution is amended. It can be redefined by the Supreme Court, but it can only be actually amended by Congress or the states, and AFAIK, all the current amendments were done by Congress.
Have you tried any of the recent Mandriva releases? For me they work much better than Ubuntu with wireless...and in fact, I no longer have to do any manual configuration at all. I run the installer, it picks up my card, all is good.
A kid in my high school physics class decided to create a unit for momentum named after the teacher. He put it on the wikipedia page for momentum. It was up there about 3 days before the teacher mentioned this to the class and another student went on and removed it. So yes, wikipedia is a great resource. Most of my teachers say that it's a good place to get background information from. But what they won't let you do it use it as a source in your final work...which I agree with.
Meh. Only large computer store (well, I guess you could call it that) within at least 50 miles of me is Staples. And all they've got in terms of parts are hard drives and maybe a modem or two. But right downtown we've got 'EZ Webz 4 U' (actually much better than it sounds, trust me), Richard's Enterprises (They're mostly for businesses, but they've got nothing against selling a kid a single stick of RAM), and a couple other small local shops. And this is a pretty small town. Anyways, point is, there are gonna be other stores there if you look. Might be hard to find them (Who would think a small house on main street would actually be a computer store), but they're there. Though it's still probably best to just order online.
And just for the record, I've never even seen a Fry's. Not even a picture of one. So yea, they're definitely not so big on the east coast.
Obviously you don't know the kind of drug dealers that I used to. Some of them _were_ pretty much unlicensed pharmacists. And, unlike a real pharmacist, they tested everything they sold on themselves first. They'd usually do lots of research, carefully measure doses, and various other things.
To quote something that I don't quite remember:
"If videogames had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around dark rooms munching pills and listening to repetitive music." (Pacman for any of you that don't get it)
I did not read the article, but I did read the bill. And the summary is completely made up. Nowhere near true. I don't see where they're getting those ideas from at all. To quote the bill:
"`(f) Protection of Privacy- Nothing in this section shall be construed to require an electronic communication service provider or a remote computing service provider to--
`(1) monitor any user, subscriber, or customer of that provider;
`(2) monitor the content of any communication of any person described in paragraph (1); or
`(3) affirmatively seek facts or circumstances described in subsection (a)(2)."
And the legal requirement to report part:
"`(a) Duty To Report-
`(1) IN GENERAL- Whoever, while engaged in providing an electronic communication service or a remote computing service to the public through a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, obtains actual knowledge of any facts or circumstances described in paragraph (2) shall, as soon as reasonably possible, make a report of such facts or circumstances to the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or any successor to the CyberTipline operated by such center."
So, IANAL, but it seems to me to be saying that you must report it if you know about it, but it seems to specifically state that you are in no way required to actually seek out that information.
What about RPGs? I mean, take a look at games like Baldur's Gate. There are no real levels. I mean, there are certain things you must do to unlock certain areas of the map, but you can attempt those at any time. Or not. And if you took that basic style, but removed that limitation, you would have a game without levels. You could try to attack the 'boss' at any time, but you would be very unlikely to succeed without doing the lower level quests first. But at the same time, there are no required quests. If you wanted to, you could just go into the forest and hunt until you get the XP you need.
Basically, look at MMORPGs. Though they don't really tell a story, you could put one in. Basically, 'This happened to you, and because of that you must kill this guy. But you should probably spend some time getting more experienced and better equipment first. Go.'
And you're replying to my comment instead of one of the many other above mine arguing that same point because...?
The point of that phrase was basically 'OK, you people seem to have decided on these two, but what about....?'
They've been like that since the day I got the phone. It's just a piece of crap.
...So cell phones aren't that expensive, and even deactivated ones can usually still call 911. But what if the batteries die? I know I generally have to charge my phone at least twice a day. Damn thing won't last more than 8 hours on a charge. Sometimes it's as low as 5.
This sucks. Even though I have a cell, I still use pay phones fairly often.
>Not only is this of highly questionable legality, but it also doesn't work on non-Intel machines since you can't recompile for your architecture.
I'm kinda confused as to what exactly you're saying. Because it sounds to me like you're saying you can't play WMV, rm, etc on an AMD machine. Running Mandriva 2007.1 on an AMD, I've never had a problem with any of them. Yes, they're often a pain in the ass, having to download the codecs and such, but they work just fine.
For an alternative viewpoint:
I have one.
I use it MAYBE once a week. It's useless.
I would be more interested in how many genius aerospace engineers we lost due to lawn darts themselves.