Well, when I installed 4.8, the QT tray icon magically came back for some reason.
Also, now iTunes moans about 'CD burning registry settings' being missing whenever it starts, and that this is caused by installing other CD burning software, and that I should re-install.
Despite the fact that the only CD burning software I just installed was iTunes. Oh well.
Buying a computer costs money. If you don't like the results, that's wasted money. For most people, that's an issue. And they don't want to take the finanical hit involved in just 'selling it on' if they don't like it.
There is this thing called a 'deal-breaker'. This is a criteria which, for, say, a purchase, if it doesn't do or satisfy a criteria, then people aren't interested, and they won't buy.
Some people like playing games. Get over it. Ad hominem attacks about them not doing 'worthwhile' things with their time or that they need to do sport is not going to make anyone switch.
Many people don't want two computers, for many reasons - heat, space, inconvenience, extra cost, etc.
Price - yes, the Mac mini is cheap-ish, but it also seems to be pretty much non-upgradeable. This will also put some people off.
In summary, exhorting someone to 're-evaluate their priorities' just because they don't want to switch to a Mac because of reason X is pretty childish. They've explained their reasons, and they're happy with them. You come along and try to insist that they should change the way they feel about those reasons, just so they can switch to a Mac. We seem to have a cart/horse ordering error.
Perpetual complainers are the bane of my existance.
Paging Ms. Morrissette, Ms. Morrissette to the white courtesy telephone...
Re:OVERKILL: Great Movie != Great Animation
on
Lucas's New HQ
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Of course, the wonderful "Shrek" saga is an exception to my thesis.
Really? I liked Ep III, whereas I found Shrek to be dull, predictable, clichéd and poorly animated*.
I remember last xmas Shrek was on TV and it bugged the hell out of me. Then a couple of hours later I watched the DVD of Monsters, Inc. that my sister got for xmas. Talk about chalk and cheese. Monsters, Inc. made me think "Yes, I wasn't imagining it, Shrek is poor."
Why it's so successful, I'm not entirely sure. Probably that darn donkey.
(* This is a reletive term - I mean poorly animated considering the praise it received)
In the case of personal media, digital is a disaster. My grandparents still have stacks of photos documenting their entire lives, as do my parents, as do my parents for me. However, my photo collection currently suffers a gap which will never be recovered, specifically 1997-2000. During those years, I used a digital camera, and I left the photos on a working hard drive for safe keeping - alas, when I went to retrieve some files off of the drive when I wanted to go back and read a paper, I discovered the drive had committed suicide in a year without use. Yeah, that sucks.
This may be hard to believe (and I probably sound smug) but there was a time a while ago when the camera hadn't been invented yet, and nobody had any photos at all. We still seemed to survive as a race/civilisation though.
Linksys do a NAS interface box that you just plug USB2 hard drives into, which, while not $20, is less than $100. I think that's as good as it gets at the moment.
I doubt it will get as cheap as a USB enclosure, because these things are usually running embedded Linux (or similar), so they're not that simple (at least, not as simple as a USB enclosure).
Dell, on the other hand, makes people jump through hoops when they call in with a problem (like a dead hard drive). This even happens on corporate accounts - the field techs at work have been known to spend 4 hours on the phone going through dell's script.
Yes, Dell support sucks. I got my Dad a Dell PC, and the CD burner didn't work properly - it was intermittent when burning CD-RWs - sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. Seemed pretty obvious to me that the drive was screwed in a hardware type way, esp. as sometimes the burn would 'succeed', but the disc would be blank (using media from the same batch).
Anyway, rule #1 with Dell support - you do NOT have an intermittent problem. It goes wrong all the time, every time, ok? If you have to lie, then lie. Otherwise as soon as it works, they say "Oh, it's working now, sir - bye!"
Then I tried CD-Rs - XP cd burning failed every time. I call back, and get passed from pillar to post - they kept wanting me to reinstall the POS burner software they ship out with the system, I keep insisting on keeping it simple and using XP's built-in burning software. They bitch about this because they are not 'trained' to use XP burning software. WTF? You put a blank CD in, open the CD drive, drag some files on, click 'Write to CD'. How much training do you need?
Also one of the guys I talk to tries to tell me that they don't test the drives with XP burning. I point out that it should still work, no? He says they don't test it, and tries to wriggle out of helping me. I ask him if Dell has sold me a burner that doesn't work with XP. "XP is made by Microsoft, not us, and we don't test the XP burning software." So I reply, "So you're telling me that you've sold me a PC with a CD burner that you know doesn't work with XP? Your product doesn't actually work? Isn't that illegal? You've even put one of those 'Designed for Windows XP' stickers on the box and everything." Not surprisingly, he backs down.
Eventually they say it's a software problem, so I'll have to pay for a software call to resolve it. This pisses me off no end, but I confirm that if it turns out to be a hardware problem, then I won't get charged. They try to convince me that it's not a hardware problem because the Dell diags program tests the burner drive and reports success (despite it stating that it does no burning testing).
So anyway, I call the software team and explain the situation. I am told that it can't be a problem with the hardware because otherwise I wouldn't even be able to read normal CD-ROMs, which I can. I query this in-depth analysis, but they are adamant. Riiiight.
Anyway, surprise - the software team fail to get it working. They tell me to reinstall XP. I hadn't realised that people still do this. I tell them this is a pretty unreasonable thing to ask me to do, but the guy says it should only take an hour and a half to reinstall XP and set up all my apps and data again. Sure.
So in frustration I install XP on a scratch hard-drive. Hey guess what, CD burning still fails every time on CD-Rs.
I call the hardware group back, they grudgingly admit my initial diagnosis of hw failure might be correct, and arrange for an engineer to visit the next to day to replace the drive.
He arrives, changes drive, new drive works perfectly.
Total time on phone - about 5 hours, talking to about 8 different people.
For a duff optical drive. Hardly rocket science.
Before anyone replies with "Dell aren't a service company", well, they sure charged me for the next-day on-site service contract.
And before you tell me I'm a mug for paying for that, I live about 120 miles from my parents, and the alternative is to ship the PC back to base, where Dell could sit on it for 6 weeks. My Dad cannot afford to have no PC for 6 weeks.
In summary, I have the service agreement so if they need to repair it, they will come to my Dad, and
If I understand you, whenever you want to write data to the flash, you have to update a whole EU.
So to alter the contents of an EU (e.g. replace the data of 1 block), you read the EU into RAM, make the changes, and then write it out again.
So in your example, I'm not sure why you write the new block 1 to EU4, and then write to EU4 again immediately to write blocks 2 and 3.
Surely this is not exhibiting levelling behaviour? Or is it that block 2 is written and EU1 is used, then when block 3 is written, EU4 is used again, to even out the write distribution?
These organisations try to claim that by buying pirated DVDs and CDs etc, you are supporting terrorism.
But...it's the high prices they enforce that cause people to turn to pirated media. So these organisations are ultimately responsible for funding terrorism.
So, they should reduce their prices to reasonable levels, and they could stamp out terrorism. Think of the good they could do!
GP was possibly referring to the context sensitive adjustments Halo makes to the crosshair movement, rather than straight auto-aiming. It does some quite smart stuff. There was a Gamasutra article a while back about how to implement nice aiming on console controllers, and Halo does a fair number of the techniques, iirc.
e.g. one of the techniques mentioned is that the crosshair slows down when passing over an enemy, etc., given a constant analog stick position (NB. can't be bothered to boot Halo to see if this is one of the things it does)
Just be grateful there isn't one of those usual half-assed 'scientific' formulas attached, like V = G/2 + 5*J/3 - K + T*13, where V is Batman's success, G is the speed of the batmobile, blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit viral marketing, etc. etc.
Slashdot Mirror
I assume your TV is still black and white then?
Well, when I installed 4.8, the QT tray icon magically came back for some reason.
Also, now iTunes moans about 'CD burning registry settings' being missing whenever it starts, and that this is caused by installing other CD burning software, and that I should re-install.
Despite the fact that the only CD burning software I just installed was iTunes. Oh well.
Gosh, I hope iTunes doesn't sell any Gangsta Rap then :)
OK, I'll try.
In summary, exhorting someone to 're-evaluate their priorities' just because they don't want to switch to a Mac because of reason X is pretty childish. They've explained their reasons, and they're happy with them. You come along and try to insist that they should change the way they feel about those reasons, just so they can switch to a Mac. We seem to have a cart/horse ordering error.
Paging Ms. Morrissette, Ms. Morrissette to the white courtesy telephone...
One of my favourites. :-)
Really? I liked Ep III, whereas I found Shrek to be dull, predictable, clichéd and poorly animated*.
I remember last xmas Shrek was on TV and it bugged the hell out of me. Then a couple of hours later I watched the DVD of Monsters, Inc. that my sister got for xmas. Talk about chalk and cheese. Monsters, Inc. made me think "Yes, I wasn't imagining it, Shrek is poor."
Why it's so successful, I'm not entirely sure. Probably that darn donkey.
(* This is a reletive term - I mean poorly animated considering the praise it received)
I wouldn't be too sure about that last part.
Well, if you have Firefox, try this.
No guarantees express or implied.
Let me guess...you use Firefox, right?
:-)
And you just got bitten by the "I won't bother to actually copy that URL onto the clipboard" bug
Damn, I was hoping to find the Cerne Abbas Giant on Google's satellite but they don't have the resolution.
This is the best I can come up with.
Also, here's the London Eye.
This may be hard to believe (and I probably sound smug) but there was a time a while ago when the camera hadn't been invented yet, and nobody had any photos at all. We still seemed to survive as a race/civilisation though.
I doubt it will get as cheap as a USB enclosure, because these things are usually running embedded Linux (or similar), so they're not that simple (at least, not as simple as a USB enclosure).
Where's that (-1, User Friendly) mod when you need it?
Also, looks like Illiad needs to have a chat with Bob the Angry Flower about apostrophes.
Yes, Dell support sucks. I got my Dad a Dell PC, and the CD burner didn't work properly - it was intermittent when burning CD-RWs - sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. Seemed pretty obvious to me that the drive was screwed in a hardware type way, esp. as sometimes the burn would 'succeed', but the disc would be blank (using media from the same batch).
Anyway, rule #1 with Dell support - you do NOT have an intermittent problem. It goes wrong all the time, every time, ok? If you have to lie, then lie. Otherwise as soon as it works, they say "Oh, it's working now, sir - bye!"
Then I tried CD-Rs - XP cd burning failed every time. I call back, and get passed from pillar to post - they kept wanting me to reinstall the POS burner software they ship out with the system, I keep insisting on keeping it simple and using XP's built-in burning software. They bitch about this because they are not 'trained' to use XP burning software. WTF? You put a blank CD in, open the CD drive, drag some files on, click 'Write to CD'. How much training do you need?
Also one of the guys I talk to tries to tell me that they don't test the drives with XP burning. I point out that it should still work, no? He says they don't test it, and tries to wriggle out of helping me. I ask him if Dell has sold me a burner that doesn't work with XP. "XP is made by Microsoft, not us, and we don't test the XP burning software." So I reply, "So you're telling me that you've sold me a PC with a CD burner that you know doesn't work with XP? Your product doesn't actually work? Isn't that illegal? You've even put one of those 'Designed for Windows XP' stickers on the box and everything." Not surprisingly, he backs down.
Eventually they say it's a software problem, so I'll have to pay for a software call to resolve it. This pisses me off no end, but I confirm that if it turns out to be a hardware problem, then I won't get charged. They try to convince me that it's not a hardware problem because the Dell diags program tests the burner drive and reports success (despite it stating that it does no burning testing).
So anyway, I call the software team and explain the situation. I am told that it can't be a problem with the hardware because otherwise I wouldn't even be able to read normal CD-ROMs, which I can. I query this in-depth analysis, but they are adamant. Riiiight.
Anyway, surprise - the software team fail to get it working. They tell me to reinstall XP. I hadn't realised that people still do this. I tell them this is a pretty unreasonable thing to ask me to do, but the guy says it should only take an hour and a half to reinstall XP and set up all my apps and data again. Sure.
So in frustration I install XP on a scratch hard-drive. Hey guess what, CD burning still fails every time on CD-Rs.
I call the hardware group back, they grudgingly admit my initial diagnosis of hw failure might be correct, and arrange for an engineer to visit the next to day to replace the drive.
He arrives, changes drive, new drive works perfectly.
Total time on phone - about 5 hours, talking to about 8 different people.
For a duff optical drive. Hardly rocket science.
Before anyone replies with "Dell aren't a service company", well, they sure charged me for the next-day on-site service contract.
And before you tell me I'm a mug for paying for that, I live about 120 miles from my parents, and the alternative is to ship the PC back to base, where Dell could sit on it for 6 weeks. My Dad cannot afford to have no PC for 6 weeks.
In summary, I have the service agreement so if they need to repair it, they will come to my Dad, and
Hey, you'll probably know the answer to this - why do appeals to vanity work so well?
:-)
If I understand you, whenever you want to write data to the flash, you have to update a whole EU.
:-)
So to alter the contents of an EU (e.g. replace the data of 1 block), you read the EU into RAM, make the changes, and then write it out again.
So in your example, I'm not sure why you write the new block 1 to EU4, and then write to EU4 again immediately to write blocks 2 and 3.
Surely this is not exhibiting levelling behaviour? Or is it that block 2 is written and EU1 is used, then when block 3 is written, EU4 is used again, to even out the write distribution?
Or is it an oversight in your example?
Or am I missing something?
Go on, you know you want to see it again :-)
A thought has just struck me.
:-)
These organisations try to claim that by buying pirated DVDs and CDs etc, you are supporting terrorism.
But...it's the high prices they enforce that cause people to turn to pirated media. So these organisations are ultimately responsible for funding terrorism.
So, they should reduce their prices to reasonable levels, and they could stamp out terrorism. Think of the good they could do!
See - I've worked it all out.
Who's with me?
e.g. one of the techniques mentioned is that the crosshair slows down when passing over an enemy, etc., given a constant analog stick position (NB. can't be bothered to boot Halo to see if this is one of the things it does)
Maybe they have a rich sugar daddy.
Me fail French? That's unpossible!
Just be grateful there isn't one of those usual half-assed 'scientific' formulas attached, like V = G/2 + 5*J/3 - K + T*13, where V is Batman's success, G is the speed of the batmobile, blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit viral marketing, etc. etc.
I've had it for about 5 years. It's basically just a phone. It works great.
I bet Brunel could have done it :-)
Jasper Carrott's show (UK comedian) from way back. Mid 80s, I guess.