My monitor/tv recently died, and I spent ages trying to figure out what to buy to replace it. I wanted, above everything else, a decent monitor, and I couldn't find any tv/monitor combos which look like good monitors. Eventually I went for a 24" Iiyama monitor which supports 1920*1200, with an hdmi input. I bought a freeview box (free digital tv box, gets around 50 channels over the air) with an HDMI out and upscaling, and a cheap 4 way HDMI switch (from a local currys, IIRC, it may have been comet). The monitor came with a DVI to HDMI lead, so my computer just connected straight up. Total cost was around 300ukp, and if I get a PS3 at any point, it'll just plug straight in.
The downside to this setup is you've got to sort out the sound seperately, or put up with 2w monitor speakers for your new films - I use this in my room, with thin walls, so I can't have stuff too loud anyway. If I do want loud, I'll connect up to my stereo seperately (haven't done that for the TV yet, so I'm not sure if there will be sync problems). The PC obviously has to have separate audio outs - the freeview box goes through the HDMI, but has seperate outs too. I usually actually just run my PC sound through the monitor too - there are few times when I want lound on my PC.
Thinking about this, it makes absolutely 0 sense to set up like I did for 99% of people, but for me it's been almost perfect. The monitor obviously doesn't have a remote, but the freeview box does, and that does everything I need, except for turn the monitor off - though it does go into standby after a couple of seconds of no signal anyway. The upscaling is a little sketchy but looks ok to me, since the freeview box was super cheap, and the monitor does not seem to like a 1080i input (it does show it, it just looks crappy - it presumably supports 1080p fine). To be honest, I personally think the picture looks best when I set the freevies to 720p and the monitor does the rest, but I may be imagining it.
Like I said before, this probably is a really crap solution for most people, but for smaller sets outside of the main TV, it works well.
Now, in a vague attempt to return back to topic, I think Sony has _no_idea what people want. My system now can display high definition content just fine (albeit mainly from dubious sources), but I've had 0 inclination to go out and find high def content. The reason I wanted a decent monitor was for games, games and more games. I couldn't care less about high def films. Ok, vague lame on topic post script ending now...
I'm someone who's grown up with windows... I installed Vista recently and it is quick (though it does play with the hard drive far too much for my liking). I play games...
I bought a new PC recently and got vista oem with it because I wanted it. I've got windows 2000 installed on my system too, it's a decent operating system. It was a hell of a lot easier to get up and running than Vista... I just installed the drivers that weren't there and it worked full stop. Anyone who thinks Vista 64 is easy to set up, try it. Mine wouldn't even install - I got the BSOD with no real information of the problem. I did some research for the problem with my win2k installation and it turns out that Vista had a big old bug with 4gb of RAM or more and nvidia motherboard chipsets - it just doesn't work without a hotfix.
I've not got a point here really, save that Vista boots and runs quickly for me now (about 15 seconds from my boot manager), and works ok for me. I want to install some Linux distribution at some point, but I haven't gotten round to it (since a couple of terminal failed attemts on my old PC which had defective hardware). I have just bought a new PC which might explain why Vista runs well on it - I built my PC myself, so it's got decent parts all the way through, rather than some obvious weaknesses. I did go for the 8800GT though which I'm 1/2 regretting... though I had a ti4200 for years and years - I'm hoping that the 8800gt will be the equivalent... but I'm not too sure.
Linux did not install at all on my old system. It crashed and burned because of my dodgy IDE hardware (this was I assume a problem with the hardware, since the bios lost secondary IDE too). Windows 2000 was installed, and did work - though I never tried to install windows when the IDE was playing up (it was installed a lot earlier), it just worked throughout. That's why I used it. I'm one of these people who would use Linux exclusively except for the games.
I admit it - I'm a Windows junkie - their operating systems have worked well for me generally. I personally never liked XP, which to some is the pinnacle of windows to some degree. Windows 2000 did everything XP did as well with less resources with certain technical differences. 2000 is a very good operating system in my opinion - it's served me well, and I'll continue using it (with dodgy serial numbers because I lost mine ages ago... such is life). 2000 does just work - XP did build on it, but added nothing new.
I am an absolute fan of free software, but I am too much of a games junkie to abandon Windows. However, I will get around to putiing a Linux boot on this system soon hopefully. I've left 300Gb of space on my striped drives just for that - no, I don't value integrity over speed before anyone asks.
Ok, karma death : This is most definately why you should not post when high on coke.... you just talk crap which is not relevant. The point I was trying to make was that I, as a consumer, have no reason to leave Windows save those ideological, and the 70 quid I paid for Vista OEM. I'm too much of a gamer slut to actually make a stand and not get Vista. I know this, and I'm unhappy about it. I wish I could game as effectively with Linux, but I know I can't. That being said, I do have Vista 64, and some games just don't work with it - designed purely for XP - could work with 2000 I'm sure, but just deliberately crippled.
This is a long rant about how Windows is not as bad as people make it out to be, without any factual backup. I personally like 2000, and I like Vista - It is actually quicker than 2000 on my system (though 2000 is installed on my old drive, and cannot see my striped drives (nvidia raid). If anyone can tell me how to install drivers to let 2000 see my striped array, 650i motherboard, I'd be very appreciative, because I can't seem to get it working.
It is easy to say switch, but there are loads of reason I personally don't - well 1 reason, really, and that is games. I'm part of the problem if you
Wait... birds don't sing any more? The MAFIAA must have got to them! The whales will be next, mark my words.
Also, if you count my imitative monotone grunts as "song", you're more generous than most. I don't think I'd come out too well in this poll : Who do you want to continue singing, a) Smauler, or b) a nightingale.
there's this place called a library that rents books. It is significantly less expensive to rent your books from the library than to rent your books from Amazon.
You're obviously more organised than me. I can't count the number of times I've paid more in late charges than the books are worth:P. (and yes, you can call me a moron - but most of these books weren't ones I wanted to keep, and I figured paying the charges and giving the books back to the library helps everyone, whereas paying for the books and then having them clutter up my room and no one else being able to read them helps no one).
if you're paying attention to anything but your driving you're a menace.
If you can drive without paying attention to anything else, you're not human. Seriously, listening to the radio is a distraction, daydreaming is a distraction, thinking about where you are ultimately going is a distraction. And anyone who does any of those things is a menace in your view... get a grip. I personally drive around 70,000 miles a year or so and do _so_ many things that are distracting. However, I always know my number one priority when driving - some don't. The closest I've come to accidents in the past few years is when I've been distracted by very little and am lulled into a sense of smug concentration. I try not to let myself get into that state too often - I'd advise you don't too, for your and other's safety.
This is something that spreadsheets are _absolutely_ not designed for. This story is just an interesting thing that can be achieved if the software is used weirdly. If anything, it could be an example of bloat. Anyone who decides to go out and buy a spreadsheet solution with full 3D wireframe integration needs to be shot. Seriously, quit the defensiveness.
ps. All my points are void if they can get elite running on excel.
Thanks for that - I'd just assumed it'd be in the Americas from what I read until your comment. If I'm really determined, I might go straight to bed when I get home on Tuesday, and try to wake up for 3am or so (I get up at 6 for work anyway), but I doubt that will happen. If anyone else in the UK (and most of western Europe) is interested, here's what I found out about times from Alpha Galileo:
It begins at 0035 GMT when the Moon enters the lightest part of the Earth's shadow, the penumbra. Soon after the Moon will have a slight yellowish hue. At 0142 GMT the Moon starts to enter the dark core of the Earth's shadow, the umbra. At 0301 GMT the Moon will be completely within the umbra - the 'total' part of the eclipse has begun. This is the time when it should have an obvious red colour. Mid-eclipse is at 0326 GMT and the total phase ends at 0352 GMT. At 0509 GMT the Moon leaves the umbra and the eclipse ends when the Moon leaves the penumbra at 0617 GMT.
Right.... and how many terraces are farmed commercially? How much energy and cost does it take to farm them, as opposed to just letting sheep graze on them? I'm assuming the GP knew about terracing, but dismissed it because it is much much worse both economically and environmentally than just letting sheep graze and eating the sheep. Don't be stupid, please.
Which is about 5% more expensive (and correspondingly about 5% more energy dense). I put £30 (over $60) of diesel in my car the other day, and it didn't get up to 1/3 full:P. Sometimes I hate having a big fuel tank. Also, if you think diesels are inherently better for the environment, think again.
Exactly, and we have to decide which probabilities we BELIEVE and which not. There is a probability that the golden plover evolved and learned how to migrate over time. There is however also a probability that someone did write the code into its DNA that enables it to find its way across the ocean. There are many migratory creatures that are able to do some astounding feats of pathfinding. There is a probability that their DNA code was written by a programmer, in the same way that one or more programmers wrote the code that runs the computer you are now reading my reply on.
I believe in evidence. That's all. The less evidence there is for something, the less I believe it. There is no evidence for an external programmer of the golden plover's DNA. At all. Zilch.
Mechanistic, evolution is a relatively new notion in human history. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors believed, and millions still do today, that they are a special, eternal creation by a God that has a purpose for everything.
Christianity is a relatively new notion in human history. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors believed, and millions still do today, that the sun and moon were gods constantly doing battle in the skies, and later that the sun revolved around the earth. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors got a load of stuff wrong. If your point was that we should carry on worshipping a god because it's what we have done for a long while, then I think it's a crap point.
I hope for your sake, that I am wrong and you are right, because if I am dissolved into nothing after death, I have not lost a thing. However, if there is even a small probability that I, believing in God, am right and we both stand before God one day, who will be in a better position?
I hope for your sake that another god who hates believers of false gods such as yours, but does not mind misguided atheists, is not the one you're standing before one day. Can you not see how crap that argument I just made was?
I'm not sure what world you live in, but in my world _everything_ is in the past. "Now" does not exist as a concept we can evaluate, since as soon as we start evaluating it it is already in the past. Your entire post seems full of statements about that that we cannot have 100% certainty about, and thus should question or even dismiss. Here's the thing - we can't have 100% certainty about _anything_ (save one or two practically useless concepts). What we do have is differing probabilities for everything, and we have to weigh up all those probabilities.
As to your claim that since we have designed something that works similarly to something in the natural world the latter may have been designed by some higher being, well, good point. No seriously, I give up. Honestly, you got me on that one. Must be a higher being. No other explanation.
Having re-read your post, I can only question my sanity in responding.
The first rule of Karma is you do not talk about Karma. The second rule is you DO NOT talk about Karma.
Seriously, people who complain about bad Karma are taking it far too seriously. If your jokes are getting modded down, they're probably not funny. Stop making unfunny jokes.
If you really want to raise your karma, just think before you hit submit "is that a _really_ a decent point" or "is that _really_ funny". If the answer is maybe, don't post the thing, or post it anonymously. I used to post any old thing, and as with 99% of the rest of the population, 99% of what I posted was crap. If you care about karma, only post what you are sure is a decent point. If you are _really_ that obsessed about karma, never post anything attempting funny, then celebrate in the hollow victory of getting your karma to excellent. I know I did. Now you can too.
How on earth else is one meant to moderate _without_ deciding whether certain people's speech is more valid than others? That is the point of moderation. I, for one, would not welcome an unmoderated/. - It would be way way worse that browsing at -1 now, because trolls would get the exposure they crave, rather than being moderated to -1 and not seen by most. Censorship is useful and valid in many contexts - without censorship the next G8 meeting might be dominated by some bum who wandered in off the street and talked about his skanky feet (though some may claim that to be an improvement, that was not my point).
You can carry on judging each comment identically - personally I will discriminate against idiocy in all its forms as I see it.
I think I heard about this disparity between the US and just about everywhere else somewhere before - In the UK, I'd guess about 50% of phones have no moving mechanical parts (aside from the keypad, if you count that:P). I may be overestimating the percentage slightly, but it's still a large proportion of phones without flip/twist/slide/insert/whatever clever ergonomics. I haven't got any real explanation for why the market's so different here than it is in the US (it's not that we're technological backwards with regards to phones, well at least not compared to anyone but Japan). I guess it could be the lower rates of vendor lock in in Europe, though the UK is about the worst in that regard, we're still part of the European market. We also have loads of people on pay as you go, so they've got to actually pay for their phones directly rather than getting them for "free".
I'm miles OT anyway, so I'll just say this : my phone seems to be close to indestructible, though I haven't actually tested it rigorously. It's a Nokia 6*** or something (not anything good, just good enough for me to make calls). I just started a new job, and my work phone is identical:(.
Ok, this is a stupid argument. Technology does solve, or at least helps to solve, some problems, unwanted pregnancy being one of them. Without contraception, we'd either be having a lot less sex, or be living in a world with about 20 billion others. You choose.
Poor technological designs can adversely affect social interaction, and good designs can enhance it. If you can't see that, you've missed out on a lot.
My boot up from boot manager to Vista Home Premium with Aero fully loaded and ready to use is 15 seconds. If Vista takes minutes to boot up on a decent system, something is wrong. My computer takes about 25 seconds to get from power button to windows boot manager, what with my bios delays, my boot from CD delays, my RAID delays, but that's not really Vista's fault, is it?
Of course, what are Vista's faults for me are numerous... but I do admit it boots quickly. You're welcome to come and test my computer if you like - it's nothing _too_ special, though it is pretty decent (Core2 duo 3ghz, 2*500gb seagate drives striped, 2gb ram, 8800GT).
ps. I'm writing this using win2k because I can't get my wireless card working on Vista, though I supposedly should be able to, and with 2gb of RAM because 4gb doesn't work right with with my motherboard chipset and I can't download the hotfix because my wireless doesn't work, and even though I've got 2k connected and working perfectly, I can't grab the hotfix because "activation is required". There are many thing to criticise Vista for... boot times are not one of them in my experience.
We're the only mammal that bares its fangs - an aggresive trait - when we're happy! Ditto for looking directly into another person's eyes. We're aggresive by nature.
False - look at the narwhal! (Seriously, get a grip before making such categorical statements - the narwhal thing was a joke, but many apes have been shown to make open mouth gestures when happy.)
I find your claim for overt aggression disheartening. Maybe I'm just a decent person, and don't think that someone wants to kill me because they smile at me or look at me. Claiming humans are inherently aggressive is simplistic and counterproductive.
As I recently found out when installing Vista 64. Nice brand new system, built myself, the problem was (and still is) that I've got 4gb of RAM on an nVIDIA chipset motherboard. Vista, from what I can tell, will not install at all with that configuration. Fortunately, I already installed Win2k and got it working properly, so could google it, and figured it out - the solution apparently is to take some of your memory out before installation, install, then go get microsoft's hotfix. Well, I took 2gb out, and it installed fine. Unfortunately, it didn't recognise my wireless card. No problem, I thought... I'll just reboot into 2k, download the hotfix, and plug the RAM back in. BZZZZT - that download is only available to validated users of Vista. So I'm sitting here currently with 2gb in my system and a non-working wireless card on Vista. At least Windows 2000 is working fine.... though it can't see my 2 new striped hard drives, I didn't expect it to really.
Yes, that's right... as far as I understand it, Vista just will not install and BSOD reboot with 4gb or more on one of the major motherboard chipsets. Anyone who says "windows just works" got someone else to set up their system for them, or got lucky.
ps. I know I'm part of the problem for buying their crap, but I got it OEM, cheap, and for games only. You will pry my games from my cold, dead hands.
I read the game description from that page and still don't know what it's about. From that page:
The toy very small on the size, but does not mean poor! In her you on space ship will be shot from a plenty of unidentified flying objects, to avoid interference with them and leave from their outrigger booms. As soon as you will shoot all objects, you pass on other level of complexity. It is necessary to shoot by the "Ctrl" key. By such plain toys well to raise mood in cold evenings!
ps. Please forgive any spelling mistakes, I've just had 4 stitches in my hand. I am probably to blame for doing such dangerous activities as washing up the dishes (a glass broke). Note to self - never do washing up again.
Talking about the Wii, I got one a while back. It was great for a while, some good games to be played with friends, but now I've come to a realisation : It has no depth. Now the X-Box 360, that has depth. It's powerful enough to handle everything thrown at it, and has games I want to play. The PS3 has problems with coding and stuff, and most of the cross-platform games are best on the x-box 360. I never play my Wii anymore, it was a good idea but it's not interesting enough. What was your point again, Nintendo fanboi?
Where on earth do you live? Lending someone a CD is _not_ illegal where I am. Lending someone a book is _not_ illegal where I am. I truly would hate to live where you do, in a state in which you cannot let any of your friends touch your "possessions" in case you break the law by letting them do so.
Completely OT - the radio just said of an accident that "Drivers are advised not to approach that with caution". Well, I found it funny...
This is what is wrong with the law. I was listening to Radio 1 (the largest UK radio station, run by the BBC) the other day, and one presenter had made a compilation CD for other presenters. A mention was made of the legality of it and dismissed, because the legality of it is dumb. They were breaking the law, on the largest radio station in the UK. No one cares, save idiotic music lawyers. If you care about people making copies for friends, you are dumb too.
In a manual, you basically can't touch the brakes when rolling along at tickover in 1st. If you do, you've got to dip the clutch or the engine struggles because of too low rpm. Dipping the clutch results in clutch wear. Leaving gaps annoys those behind you and also results in people cutting in in front of you.
I've never driven in a country where most cars are automatic - trundling along at a constant couple of mph is difficult in a manual without riding the clutch.
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My monitor/tv recently died, and I spent ages trying to figure out what to buy to replace it. I wanted, above everything else, a decent monitor, and I couldn't find any tv/monitor combos which look like good monitors. Eventually I went for a 24" Iiyama monitor which supports 1920*1200, with an hdmi input. I bought a freeview box (free digital tv box, gets around 50 channels over the air) with an HDMI out and upscaling, and a cheap 4 way HDMI switch (from a local currys, IIRC, it may have been comet). The monitor came with a DVI to HDMI lead, so my computer just connected straight up. Total cost was around 300ukp, and if I get a PS3 at any point, it'll just plug straight in.
The downside to this setup is you've got to sort out the sound seperately, or put up with 2w monitor speakers for your new films - I use this in my room, with thin walls, so I can't have stuff too loud anyway. If I do want loud, I'll connect up to my stereo seperately (haven't done that for the TV yet, so I'm not sure if there will be sync problems). The PC obviously has to have separate audio outs - the freeview box goes through the HDMI, but has seperate outs too. I usually actually just run my PC sound through the monitor too - there are few times when I want lound on my PC.
Thinking about this, it makes absolutely 0 sense to set up like I did for 99% of people, but for me it's been almost perfect. The monitor obviously doesn't have a remote, but the freeview box does, and that does everything I need, except for turn the monitor off - though it does go into standby after a couple of seconds of no signal anyway. The upscaling is a little sketchy but looks ok to me, since the freeview box was super cheap, and the monitor does not seem to like a 1080i input (it does show it, it just looks crappy - it presumably supports 1080p fine). To be honest, I personally think the picture looks best when I set the freevies to 720p and the monitor does the rest, but I may be imagining it.
Like I said before, this probably is a really crap solution for most people, but for smaller sets outside of the main TV, it works well.
Now, in a vague attempt to return back to topic, I think Sony has _no_idea what people want. My system now can display high definition content just fine (albeit mainly from dubious sources), but I've had 0 inclination to go out and find high def content. The reason I wanted a decent monitor was for games, games and more games. I couldn't care less about high def films. Ok, vague lame on topic post script ending now...
I'm someone who's grown up with windows... I installed Vista recently and it is quick (though it does play with the hard drive far too much for my liking). I play games...
I bought a new PC recently and got vista oem with it because I wanted it. I've got windows 2000 installed on my system too, it's a decent operating system. It was a hell of a lot easier to get up and running than Vista... I just installed the drivers that weren't there and it worked full stop. Anyone who thinks Vista 64 is easy to set up, try it. Mine wouldn't even install - I got the BSOD with no real information of the problem. I did some research for the problem with my win2k installation and it turns out that Vista had a big old bug with 4gb of RAM or more and nvidia motherboard chipsets - it just doesn't work without a hotfix.
I've not got a point here really, save that Vista boots and runs quickly for me now (about 15 seconds from my boot manager), and works ok for me. I want to install some Linux distribution at some point, but I haven't gotten round to it (since a couple of terminal failed attemts on my old PC which had defective hardware). I have just bought a new PC which might explain why Vista runs well on it - I built my PC myself, so it's got decent parts all the way through, rather than some obvious weaknesses. I did go for the 8800GT though which I'm 1/2 regretting... though I had a ti4200 for years and years - I'm hoping that the 8800gt will be the equivalent... but I'm not too sure.
Linux did not install at all on my old system. It crashed and burned because of my dodgy IDE hardware (this was I assume a problem with the hardware, since the bios lost secondary IDE too). Windows 2000 was installed, and did work - though I never tried to install windows when the IDE was playing up (it was installed a lot earlier), it just worked throughout. That's why I used it. I'm one of these people who would use Linux exclusively except for the games.
I admit it - I'm a Windows junkie - their operating systems have worked well for me generally. I personally never liked XP, which to some is the pinnacle of windows to some degree. Windows 2000 did everything XP did as well with less resources with certain technical differences. 2000 is a very good operating system in my opinion - it's served me well, and I'll continue using it (with dodgy serial numbers because I lost mine ages ago... such is life). 2000 does just work - XP did build on it, but added nothing new.
I am an absolute fan of free software, but I am too much of a games junkie to abandon Windows. However, I will get around to putiing a Linux boot on this system soon hopefully. I've left 300Gb of space on my striped drives just for that - no, I don't value integrity over speed before anyone asks.
Ok, karma death : This is most definately why you should not post when high on coke.... you just talk crap which is not relevant. The point I was trying to make was that I, as a consumer, have no reason to leave Windows save those ideological, and the 70 quid I paid for Vista OEM. I'm too much of a gamer slut to actually make a stand and not get Vista. I know this, and I'm unhappy about it. I wish I could game as effectively with Linux, but I know I can't. That being said, I do have Vista 64, and some games just don't work with it - designed purely for XP - could work with 2000 I'm sure, but just deliberately crippled.
This is a long rant about how Windows is not as bad as people make it out to be, without any factual backup. I personally like 2000, and I like Vista - It is actually quicker than 2000 on my system (though 2000 is installed on my old drive, and cannot see my striped drives (nvidia raid). If anyone can tell me how to install drivers to let 2000 see my striped array, 650i motherboard, I'd be very appreciative, because I can't seem to get it working.
It is easy to say switch, but there are loads of reason I personally don't - well 1 reason, really, and that is games. I'm part of the problem if you
Wait... birds don't sing any more? The MAFIAA must have got to them! The whales will be next, mark my words.
Also, if you count my imitative monotone grunts as "song", you're more generous than most. I don't think I'd come out too well in this poll : Who do you want to continue singing, a) Smauler, or b) a nightingale.
there's this place called a library that rents books. It is significantly less expensive to rent your books from the library than to rent your books from Amazon.
You're obviously more organised than me. I can't count the number of times I've paid more in late charges than the books are worth :P. (and yes, you can call me a moron - but most of these books weren't ones I wanted to keep, and I figured paying the charges and giving the books back to the library helps everyone, whereas paying for the books and then having them clutter up my room and no one else being able to read them helps no one).
if you're paying attention to anything but your driving you're a menace.
If you can drive without paying attention to anything else, you're not human. Seriously, listening to the radio is a distraction, daydreaming is a distraction, thinking about where you are ultimately going is a distraction. And anyone who does any of those things is a menace in your view... get a grip. I personally drive around 70,000 miles a year or so and do _so_ many things that are distracting. However, I always know my number one priority when driving - some don't. The closest I've come to accidents in the past few years is when I've been distracted by very little and am lulled into a sense of smug concentration. I try not to let myself get into that state too often - I'd advise you don't too, for your and other's safety.
This is something that spreadsheets are _absolutely_ not designed for. This story is just an interesting thing that can be achieved if the software is used weirdly. If anything, it could be an example of bloat. Anyone who decides to go out and buy a spreadsheet solution with full 3D wireframe integration needs to be shot. Seriously, quit the defensiveness.
ps. All my points are void if they can get elite running on excel.
Me too! I spell my own way.
By the way, most people would have spelt that phrase "Fuck you! Learn to think, Moran!", but I like my spelling better.
Thanks for that - I'd just assumed it'd be in the Americas from what I read until your comment. If I'm really determined, I might go straight to bed when I get home on Tuesday, and try to wake up for 3am or so (I get up at 6 for work anyway), but I doubt that will happen. If anyone else in the UK (and most of western Europe) is interested, here's what I found out about times from Alpha Galileo :
Right.... and how many terraces are farmed commercially? How much energy and cost does it take to farm them, as opposed to just letting sheep graze on them? I'm assuming the GP knew about terracing, but dismissed it because it is much much worse both economically and environmentally than just letting sheep graze and eating the sheep. Don't be stupid, please.
Which is about 5% more expensive (and correspondingly about 5% more energy dense). I put £30 (over $60) of diesel in my car the other day, and it didn't get up to 1/3 full :P. Sometimes I hate having a big fuel tank. Also, if you think diesels are inherently better for the environment, think again.
Exactly, and we have to decide which probabilities we BELIEVE and which not. There is a probability that the golden plover evolved and learned how to migrate over time. There is however also a probability that someone did write the code into its DNA that enables it to find its way across the ocean. There are many migratory creatures that are able to do some astounding feats of pathfinding. There is a probability that their DNA code was written by a programmer, in the same way that one or more programmers wrote the code that runs the computer you are now reading my reply on.
I believe in evidence. That's all. The less evidence there is for something, the less I believe it. There is no evidence for an external programmer of the golden plover's DNA. At all. Zilch.
Mechanistic, evolution is a relatively new notion in human history. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors believed, and millions still do today, that they are a special, eternal creation by a God that has a purpose for everything.
Christianity is a relatively new notion in human history. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors believed, and millions still do today, that the sun and moon were gods constantly doing battle in the skies, and later that the sun revolved around the earth. Most of your and my not even so distant ancestors got a load of stuff wrong. If your point was that we should carry on worshipping a god because it's what we have done for a long while, then I think it's a crap point.
I hope for your sake, that I am wrong and you are right, because if I am dissolved into nothing after death, I have not lost a thing. However, if there is even a small probability that I, believing in God, am right and we both stand before God one day, who will be in a better position?
I hope for your sake that another god who hates believers of false gods such as yours, but does not mind misguided atheists, is not the one you're standing before one day. Can you not see how crap that argument I just made was?
I'm not sure what world you live in, but in my world _everything_ is in the past. "Now" does not exist as a concept we can evaluate, since as soon as we start evaluating it it is already in the past. Your entire post seems full of statements about that that we cannot have 100% certainty about, and thus should question or even dismiss. Here's the thing - we can't have 100% certainty about _anything_ (save one or two practically useless concepts). What we do have is differing probabilities for everything, and we have to weigh up all those probabilities.
As to your claim that since we have designed something that works similarly to something in the natural world the latter may have been designed by some higher being, well, good point. No seriously, I give up. Honestly, you got me on that one. Must be a higher being. No other explanation.
Having re-read your post, I can only question my sanity in responding.
The first rule of Karma is you do not talk about Karma. The second rule is you DO NOT talk about Karma.
Seriously, people who complain about bad Karma are taking it far too seriously. If your jokes are getting modded down, they're probably not funny. Stop making unfunny jokes.
If you really want to raise your karma, just think before you hit submit "is that a _really_ a decent point" or "is that _really_ funny". If the answer is maybe, don't post the thing, or post it anonymously. I used to post any old thing, and as with 99% of the rest of the population, 99% of what I posted was crap. If you care about karma, only post what you are sure is a decent point. If you are _really_ that obsessed about karma, never post anything attempting funny, then celebrate in the hollow victory of getting your karma to excellent. I know I did. Now you can too.
ps. Never take your own advice.
How on earth else is one meant to moderate _without_ deciding whether certain people's speech is more valid than others? That is the point of moderation. I, for one, would not welcome an unmoderated /. - It would be way way worse that browsing at -1 now, because trolls would get the exposure they crave, rather than being moderated to -1 and not seen by most. Censorship is useful and valid in many contexts - without censorship the next G8 meeting might be dominated by some bum who wandered in off the street and talked about his skanky feet (though some may claim that to be an improvement, that was not my point).
You can carry on judging each comment identically - personally I will discriminate against idiocy in all its forms as I see it.
I think I heard about this disparity between the US and just about everywhere else somewhere before - In the UK, I'd guess about 50% of phones have no moving mechanical parts (aside from the keypad, if you count that :P). I may be overestimating the percentage slightly, but it's still a large proportion of phones without flip/twist/slide/insert/whatever clever ergonomics. I haven't got any real explanation for why the market's so different here than it is in the US (it's not that we're technological backwards with regards to phones, well at least not compared to anyone but Japan). I guess it could be the lower rates of vendor lock in in Europe, though the UK is about the worst in that regard, we're still part of the European market. We also have loads of people on pay as you go, so they've got to actually pay for their phones directly rather than getting them for "free".
I'm miles OT anyway, so I'll just say this : my phone seems to be close to indestructible, though I haven't actually tested it rigorously. It's a Nokia 6*** or something (not anything good, just good enough for me to make calls). I just started a new job, and my work phone is identical :(.
Ok, this is a stupid argument. Technology does solve, or at least helps to solve, some problems, unwanted pregnancy being one of them. Without contraception, we'd either be having a lot less sex, or be living in a world with about 20 billion others. You choose.
Poor technological designs can adversely affect social interaction, and good designs can enhance it. If you can't see that, you've missed out on a lot.
My boot up from boot manager to Vista Home Premium with Aero fully loaded and ready to use is 15 seconds. If Vista takes minutes to boot up on a decent system, something is wrong. My computer takes about 25 seconds to get from power button to windows boot manager, what with my bios delays, my boot from CD delays, my RAID delays, but that's not really Vista's fault, is it?
Of course, what are Vista's faults for me are numerous... but I do admit it boots quickly. You're welcome to come and test my computer if you like - it's nothing _too_ special, though it is pretty decent (Core2 duo 3ghz, 2*500gb seagate drives striped, 2gb ram, 8800GT).
ps. I'm writing this using win2k because I can't get my wireless card working on Vista, though I supposedly should be able to, and with 2gb of RAM because 4gb doesn't work right with with my motherboard chipset and I can't download the hotfix because my wireless doesn't work, and even though I've got 2k connected and working perfectly, I can't grab the hotfix because "activation is required". There are many thing to criticise Vista for... boot times are not one of them in my experience.
We're the only mammal that bares its fangs - an aggresive trait - when we're happy! Ditto for looking directly into another person's eyes. We're aggresive by nature.
False - look at the narwhal! (Seriously, get a grip before making such categorical statements - the narwhal thing was a joke, but many apes have been shown to make open mouth gestures when happy.)
I find your claim for overt aggression disheartening. Maybe I'm just a decent person, and don't think that someone wants to kill me because they smile at me or look at me. Claiming humans are inherently aggressive is simplistic and counterproductive.
ps. :D (take that how you will.)
As I recently found out when installing Vista 64. Nice brand new system, built myself, the problem was (and still is) that I've got 4gb of RAM on an nVIDIA chipset motherboard. Vista, from what I can tell, will not install at all with that configuration. Fortunately, I already installed Win2k and got it working properly, so could google it, and figured it out - the solution apparently is to take some of your memory out before installation, install, then go get microsoft's hotfix. Well, I took 2gb out, and it installed fine. Unfortunately, it didn't recognise my wireless card. No problem, I thought... I'll just reboot into 2k, download the hotfix, and plug the RAM back in. BZZZZT - that download is only available to validated users of Vista. So I'm sitting here currently with 2gb in my system and a non-working wireless card on Vista. At least Windows 2000 is working fine.... though it can't see my 2 new striped hard drives, I didn't expect it to really.
Yes, that's right... as far as I understand it, Vista just will not install and BSOD reboot with 4gb or more on one of the major motherboard chipsets. Anyone who says "windows just works" got someone else to set up their system for them, or got lucky.
ps. I know I'm part of the problem for buying their crap, but I got it OEM, cheap, and for games only. You will pry my games from my cold, dead hands.
I read the game description from that page and still don't know what it's about. From that page:
The toy very small on the size, but does not mean poor! In her you on space ship will be shot from a plenty of unidentified flying objects, to avoid interference with them and leave from their outrigger booms. As soon as you will shoot all objects, you pass on other level of complexity. It is necessary to shoot by the "Ctrl" key. By such plain toys well to raise mood in cold evenings!
ps. Please forgive any spelling mistakes, I've just had 4 stitches in my hand. I am probably to blame for doing such dangerous activities as washing up the dishes (a glass broke). Note to self - never do washing up again.
He claims to be a journalist (blogger) that's a position of trust.
Hahahahahaha........ Hehe , that's good. Oh wait, you were serious. Let me laugh even harder. Haaaaahahahahaaaaaaa.
Seriously, even coming close to thinking that a blogger is in a position of trust is naivity at its worst.
Talking about the Wii, I got one a while back. It was great for a while, some good games to be played with friends, but now I've come to a realisation : It has no depth. Now the X-Box 360, that has depth. It's powerful enough to handle everything thrown at it, and has games I want to play. The PS3 has problems with coding and stuff, and most of the cross-platform games are best on the x-box 360. I never play my Wii anymore, it was a good idea but it's not interesting enough. What was your point again, Nintendo fanboi?
lending music to a friend is still illegal.
Where on earth do you live? Lending someone a CD is _not_ illegal where I am. Lending someone a book is _not_ illegal where I am. I truly would hate to live where you do, in a state in which you cannot let any of your friends touch your "possessions" in case you break the law by letting them do so.
Completely OT - the radio just said of an accident that "Drivers are advised not to approach that with caution". Well, I found it funny...
This is what is wrong with the law. I was listening to Radio 1 (the largest UK radio station, run by the BBC) the other day, and one presenter had made a compilation CD for other presenters. A mention was made of the legality of it and dismissed, because the legality of it is dumb. They were breaking the law, on the largest radio station in the UK. No one cares, save idiotic music lawyers. If you care about people making copies for friends, you are dumb too.
In a manual, you basically can't touch the brakes when rolling along at tickover in 1st. If you do, you've got to dip the clutch or the engine struggles because of too low rpm. Dipping the clutch results in clutch wear. Leaving gaps annoys those behind you and also results in people cutting in in front of you.
I've never driven in a country where most cars are automatic - trundling along at a constant couple of mph is difficult in a manual without riding the clutch.