As I said, I am not saying that a college education wasn't a good thing. I am just saying that just because a given person doesn't have a college education doesn't mean they are stupid. Maybe I was giving the exception and not the rule. But as any scientist will tell you, it is important to note that there are exceptions to the rule when there are exceptions to the rule.
don't worry, the more gen-x and gen-y sit around on their butts debating whether or not to go to college, the less of a future you have. unless your idea of a cool future is that line from the dead kennedys song, how does it go?
Hmmm, I don't think going to college really has a terrible lot to do with it. I mean the most evil tyrannical dictator in the history of the world second only to Hitler, Bill Gates, dropped out of college and is sadly one of the most powerful men alive today, and the richest. Nikola Tesla went to college, where he was told by his professor that a brushless electric motor was "impossible". In fact just about everything he invented defied what college professors thought at the time to be true. Albert Einstein often cut class to study physics on his own, he went on to become the most famous scientist of all time. I am by no means saying that a college education is a bad thing. But just because someone isn't a college graduate doesn't make them dumb, and just because someone is a college graduate doesn't mean they are smart. I believe the saying is "It's sad that having a science degree doesn't make one a scientist."
I actually thought of starting an Open Source Magazine. I figured that ad revenue from the magazine could fund Open Source games and other projects that could have professionally done graphics and sound. There are so many types of games I would like to play but aren't available to Linux, such as a Motocross game and other sports games. I even went as far as to write a review for madbomber as a start on the magazine and wrote into Ask Slashdot for peoples opinions. Unfortunately for me the question didn't get accepted. I later began to realize that I couldn't do it all by myself anyhow and lack the funds to put together a whole operation so I guess the idea got shelfed, at least until such a time that I am more fit to bring it into reality. Anybody near Smithfield, Virginia looking for a business partner:) Anyhow I don't think computer magazines are dying. I still much prefer to read my material without a monitor. I want to be able to lay down and read or take my reading material with me.
You used the words simulator and VR Games together. I think you should distinquish the difference. I have seen Quake ( a walking game) set up in VR units in malls before. I haven't played it but it would appear as though you walk using a joystick or control pad. If the user wants it to seem realistic all s(he) has to do is walk in place as his or her character is moving. If the character is running the player can jog in place. The VR Headset should be immersive enough that the player eventually pays no mind to the controller and just feels and experiences the walking movement. Even some regular video games provide this experience. I was just playing the old SNES game uniracers today. You scroll sideways and have to change directions alot. Eventually once you learn the track the moving of the control pad becomes habitual. You hardly notice you are doing it.
Well, there may be one more syllable and 6 more chars in year 2000, but it is made up of phonic matches that are designed to roll of the tongue. Y-2-k, requires three distinct pauses. In other words Year Two-Thousand comes out as two words. Year pause Two-Thousand. Y2K comes out Y pause 2 pause k. Besides people usually say y2k bug. And it isn't just the computer people saying it. Know they trying to sell y2k cars and y2k emergency generators and y2k toilet paper I get so sick of everything I could ever possibly buy having the words y2k on them.
I think we should beat them at their own game guys. Even if you have absolutely no intention of buying the game, download the executable. This will raise the ratio of Linux downloads to Copies bought and maybe the next version will ship with Linux supported. I know you all are going to say that then when a linux version comes out it won't perform as good. But I disagree. When I bought Civ:CTP for Linux it was completely impulse buy. I had no intentions of buying a computer game when I went into EB that day, but seeing the word Linux I said "hey, I loved Civilization one. Why not get the sequal. I't here, it works on my machine, why not buy it" so I bought it. I still haven't bought Ultima Online or Kingpin. I see them in the stores and know they are supported under Linux, but don't really have the impulse to buy. I think the impulse sales of a linux version would be far greater than downloads of people that just intentional bought the game to download the linux executable. Marketing has alway been about forcing impulse buys (just look at what credit cards did) GT seems to have forgot that.
I don't understand your point. They wouldn't have to "justify" the linux executable. If the CD has the space to put the executable onto it, what is the cost that needs justified. Let's see:
1) Cost of space on the CD: Oops they weren't going to use that space anyhow, I'm sure the CD wasn't filled completely up. No cost there. 2) Cost of extra boxes and manuals for the linux version: Oops they could be put into the same box with an extra sentence added to each. Works with Windows95 (and Linux) on the box and (linux users will find the executable in such and such directory) in the manual. No noticable extra cost there Where is the need to justify it. It is just a file. Put it in the damn box and write the word linux in the requirements. It's neither hard nor expensive. What is expensive is the bandwidth usage of all the Linux users downloading the thing.
Hmm, I wander if the big company's are taking care of the Y20K bug already?:) BTW am I the only one that gets really sick of hearing the acronym Y2K? I mean "year 2000" flows easier than Y2K and doesn't really take longer to say. Why must we give "cute" names to everything?
Look under the "Snapshots" section of the website. (When it is not Slashdotted of course). They only have one picture from what I say but it is there. It annoys me when screenshots go under the "snapshots" heading, I usually expect to find code there, but oh well.
Goto.com claims that the go.com logo is too much like their own. I say they should be happy about that fact. The go logo is everywhere, you can't turn on the tv hardly anymore without seeing the go logo on a commercial. If people associate goto.com with such a big well branded name, then I would think that that is a good thing.
This whole thing reminds me of one of the swerves in Pro Wrestling. It seems as though Al plans to switch to the republican party and is going to intentionally throw the election. I mean come on, everybody on the face of the planet knows that Al Gore's monotone talking ass didn't invent the internet and all you have to do is type in the words "Microsoft Sucks" or "Anti-Microsoft" into Yahoo to determine the publics opinion of MS, whom Al seems to be bedding down with.
I can see it now. It is the day after the election. The Democrats lost horrendously cause Al didn't even get one vote. Then the President Elect steps up to the mic
"Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to introduce to you the newest member of the GOP." Pyro goes off, Rock and Roll music starts, and out comes Al Gore, who takes the mic
"I would just like to say, that I am tired of Bill Clinton getting all the women, and as far as I'm concerned the Democrats can SUCK IT! And now that I am certified to represent the G-O-P, we will insure that the common man is forever opprosed by the wealthy. And leading the charge as head opproser I would like to introduce....Heir Gates!"
Bill Gates comes out to some really lame music and takes the microphone.
"From now on all computers will run Windows. Running Linux will result in the death penalty. And that's the bottom line cause Bill Gates said so!"
*Sigh* Oh well if we are lucky maybe we will see Bill Gates powerbombed through a table by some irate democrats. hehe.
I am really getting sick of defending the man, but lets look at the facts:
1) Without Tesla we would not have Alternating Current. I hate to tell you bud, but AC is what powers your house.
2) Without Tesla we wouldn't have TV or Moniters. Tesla Coils are inside of TV's and Monitors
3) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radio. Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he "invented" radio
4) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radar, Tesla was a pioneer in Radar Technology
5) Without Tesla we wouldn't have X-rays, Tesla was a pioneer in X-Ray technology.
6) Tesla's work provided the basis for MRI, without Tesla lots of people with back problems would be far worse off.
7) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron. Many experimenters have duplicated his wireless energy experiments. (I will be one I hope) In fact it is a common school-age science fair project to remotely light a bulb with a Tesla coil.
8) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are moron reason 2. Have you read the interview with Tesla when describing his Tesla Turbine (a purely mechanical and infinetly genius device)? In that interview he admits that he had been to engrossed in his work with electrictiy but realized that advances in steam and gas technology had yeilded a very valuable form of power.
9) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron reason 3. Tesla invented and patented a VTOL aircraft that has, even recently been built and flown. Why would a man that thinks electricity is the be all end all of technology re-invent flight without using electrictity?
10) Tesla might be overated due to media hype. But just because you don't understand his work don't call the man a psycho. He did plenty of work that didn't revolve around electricity, and ALL of it was genius.
There you have it the top ten reason why you are wrong. Before you say a man was too engrossed in one form of technology please next time due some research into what he actually accomplished with the technology (almost all of which was considered impossible) and what he has done with other forms of technology.
You've obviously never seen a picture of even science fair coil technology. Do yourself a favor and look around, there are plenty pictures of people sticking coins up to a tesla coil and letting the arcs run across their fingers. Their is a small (very small if the coil is built right) chance of on of the arcs or streamers coming into contact with the primary coil and sending down the 60hz energy that can fry you but good. The output from the secondary coil is not however dangerous because it is HIGH FREQUENCY. Because there is a chance of danger I wouldn't recommend spending all day with lightening charging through you but you seem to be misinformed as to what a tesla coil does and how it works. Either that or you are just a troll, there have been countless numbers of people who come in contact with a coils energy. I could argue with this flamebait all day but I have a better way. I don't know the rules of slashdot as far as posting images is concerned, so just follow this link and take a look at this:
Yeah I agree about skepticism in what the man could do. I believe that if he said he could do something then we should be inclined to believe that it is at least possible. Also alot of the stuff is documented fact by newspapers and such. I think it is the belief of the scientific community at the time that led to a sort of blowing out or proportions of Tesla's work. Also I think people mis-interpreted his explanations of what he could do. One example is when he was accused of that massive explosion at the T-word that I don't know how to spell in the north pole. He said his Wardenclyffe coil could transmit a weapon like blast anywhere in the world. Which was probably true. The number given in the article was 100 megatons. I don't know if that was Tesla's number or just the media's. Given the high power output of the coil if he could have concentrated it at one focal point and remotely (big IF there) lowered the frquency of the energy to a more low-level dangerous one, then it might indeed be possible. But I don't think the Wardenclyffe project was ever completed to a level that would be capable of firing such a blast as he ran out of funds before it's completion. So I know almost for a fact he didn't blow up the north pole (Poor Santa. hehe), and I think that in his mind he might have had the designs for turning the Wardenclyffe transmitter into a weapon of mass destruction, and those plans might have even been possible (the man did do the "impossible" on a regular basis), but I don't think that those mental plans had at this point made it into the material world. Tesla was also accused of blowing up the french ship, "Lena", I think was the name. He had by this time created the radio controlled torpedo. His claims of being able to use such a device to send a remote spark to a ships magazine led to theories that he had blew up the Lena. I belief his response was "If I did it there would have been a bigger explosion". Whether he was just playing with the press or not is unknown, he very well could have said it in a joking tone, but had it blown out of proportion by the media. We already know that the Tesla coil can use the atmosphere as a conductor, but I still don't think he had develped the technology to pinpoint an exact spot to send the blast. Electricity tends to want to go where it wants to and that huge body of water would seem like a far better choice to me than inside a specific room of a ship. Of course one can easily make electricity go where one wants it to go, to an extent but can one make it go there without ever having been aboard the ship? And an even better question: Why did I use the word one so much in that sentence.:) Perhaps the world will never know exactly what the man was capable off. But I can say one thing. This thread as well as the past few days of my intense interest prior to the thread can tell me that it won't be because I don't try I can tell you that. By the way it really is ironic that the thread appeared right at the peak of my interest in this. It's almost as if some force is just pushing me to study. I know it sounds rediculus but hey, whatever gets me motivated right?
Yeah, it's like I was telling my friend today that even though it is lots of voltage, it doesn't have the ability to really hurt anyone. But there would be mass panic if lightening shot out of every metal object. As I said before I will put up a website and try to have it posted by slashdot. If the news doesn't make it though I will he email you. (I guess your website will have your email address right?)
Oops, sorry I didn't realize that my email address wasn't posted My email address is jeg@visi.net for those that want to know. Spammers will be shot with a 100 megaton blast from my compeleted Tesla magnifier. hehe I will definetly be putting up a website soon. I will try to tell Slashdot about it so hopefully you will here about it. If not I have written down your email and will send the info to you. Thanks for the advice, I will check into some non-profit organizations and amatuer research clubs.
My main problem with broadcast power is that any usable levels of electricity in the air will make things difficult on our modern transistor-based way of life. I think this is one reason why Tesla might have wanted to use the earth itself as his conductor. Even in his day Tesla coils had wierd effects on all sorts of things, by using the earth you would have to want to use the power. As I said in another reply, his experiments in colorado caused sparks to fly from metal objects in the ground such as fire hydrants, but after he got it tuned that supposedly stopped. A metal rod stuck into the earth though was supposed to be able to serve as a power supply. But unless I am mistaken the power output of a Tesla coil would have to be ran throught a transformer to be useful as the 250,000 volt arcs of a tesla coil has a low current. (When a tranformer doubles the volts, it half the amps. Tesla coils do far more that double the volts) That is why the extreme voltage is relatively safe. So it would take more than just a metal power to use the power.
I think EVERONE's school knowledge on Tesla's work is a bit scarce. It seems as though Tesla and guys like him set us up to go in one grand direction, but then we went off in a whole nother direction entirely. Even in his day most scientists accused him of "black magic" and all sorts of other stuff, which didn't help to make him share his knowledge. He didn't like keeping paper records and liked to keep it all in his head, what little papers he did keep on free/broadcasted energy were supposedly confiscated by the government. It was said however that his energy broadcast system could be used as a massive weapon, which sparked the rumor that he was behing the tung uh.. tusk.. hmm, I don't remember how to spell it but I am talking about the huge explosion near the north pole heard for a 600 mile radius that left no crator. The potential for use as a weapon might have scared the government. As far as the negative effects of the coil, I meant to mention this in the first post. I don't have the link, but when reading about his colorado experiment (the huge Tesla Magnifier that he used to charge a section of the earth and that was being replaced by the full scale coil on the Wardenclyffe sight in New York.) It stated that when he first fired it up, of course there was a blue glow around the area the coil was in caused by the lightning flying around, and off course like every small Tesla coil all the lights and vacuum tubes started glowing, except this huge coil caused it to happen in the town as well. There were reports of electricity arcing from fire hydrants and sign posts to metal objects. (in other words from metal connected to the earth to metal not connected to the earth) Can you imagine walking down the street and having a lightning bolt jump from the fire hydrant to your keys! After he got the thing tuned (as I said he was trying to tune it to the earths natural frequencies, see the object was to get the electricity to travel all the way around the earth, or through it, and he said that a single blast of energy would run out of power, but a pulsating energy working at the same pulse as the earth's natural pulses wouldn't be acted on by the earth's pulses and instead would go with the flow) Anyhow once he got it tuned I believe the wierd occurances stopped. So as you say if all the output of the coil is shot into the earth then only grounded objects would be affected. So I assume that this would prevent the wierd electrical disturbances that the coil causes. At least the ones in Colorado Springs seemed to have died down. The implications would be huge though as any metal object in the ground would automatically become a high voltage power supply. I am inclined to say however that it wouldn't be all that dangerous as one experiment with a Tesla coil is to hold a quarter near it and watch the sparks fly to your hand. (not sure if the same thing is safe on a big coil though) However the Colorado instance used a specialized Tesla Coil, with and added coil called a Tesla magnifier, so again I don't know if the same relative safetly can be assumed. I don't on the other hand think anyone got killed or injured during Tesla's tuning phase. After the tuning phase the wierdness supposedly stopped though, so maybe something else must be done after the device is tuned to get the energy from the earth than just putting a conductor down there, maybe a Tesla Coil reciever as I stated earlier? It should be noted that the machine also caused the greatest man-made power surge ever. When he finally tuned it and shot the output into the earth the lightning (supposedly) travelled to the other side of the earth and on its way back (end supposedly) a huge arc shot out 130 feet into the air, a crack of thunder was heard for 22 miles and the power company (that up until this point had been providing Tesla free energy) had its power generator catch fire. All of this phenomenon makes for a hairy experience for witnesses of the modern day tesla broadcasted energy, which may be one reason that such a large coil hasn't been built since. I think the more likely reason though is that science doesn't want to try what they call 'alternative' science. Luckily I live in the booneys so there are miles of farmland and not miles of people using cell phones and computers and other electronic equipment. My greatest hardship (aside from the price tag) would be scaring some passerby redneck with the images of flashing lights and lighting bolts coming from the ground. hehe. Either way, both finacially and practically I am limited to small experiments to begin with. I really think though that a modified tesla coil could act as a reciever instead of a transmitter. getting energy to travel through the ground I assume could be done on a small scale, even if it means filling an aquarium with dirt and making my own "earth"
This has been done as far back as 1899 by a man called Nikola Tesla. You might have heard of a Tesla Coil, well one of the strange properties of a Tesla Coil is it's ability to use air as a conductor. If you get a vacuum tube near a tesla coil it will light. If you put another tesla coil near it, then that tesla coil will fire up. Tesla had in fact began development on a large 200 foot tall Tesla coil (actually a tesla magnifier) that he said would provide wireless energy to the whole world using the earth as his conducter. Documented experiments show that he could successfully cause the earth to conduct, whether or not he could cause the whole earth to conduct is another story, but Tesla is the man who invented AC Current, Radio (Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he invented the conventional radio and some think he ruined the coarse of broadcast power by limiting it to voice), Pioneering work on Radar and X-Rays, Electrical Transformers. There is almost literally nothing in your day to day life that Tesla didn't invent or make possible. I have been doing lots of research on this in the past few days and have many ideas on how to make something like this work. One of Tesla's easiest to prove theories is his apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy. He said that all energy is present in the air at all times and that we could "grab" it for use. The way to do that is to cover a large conductor(sheet of metal) with and insulator. Connect a wire from this antennae to one end of a capacitor. Electricity will slowly charge the capacitor. Very slowly. The concep though can be prove with a TV set and a coin. Take a quarter and use some masking tape to tape the probe of an electrical meter to it. I just used one layer of tape. Ground the other probe then put the quarter up to a tv set. The voltage will go on, very very small voltage. Turn off the TV to cause the cathode rays to surge, I have gotten an instant of 1.5 volts from this using a Quarter! Not very many amps though, but power can be transmitted from one device to another with this theory using a cathode ray tube or ion propulsion or any such electrical charging substance. The basic theory is that the insulator (the tape) won't stop the cathode rays from going in, but will stop the electricity generated from coming back out. It is so ironic that this question was posted now, as I have been very active in searching through Tesla's ideas and looking for ways to bring them into reality in the modern age. I am learning alot and plan on begining experiments that could see this type of technology developed. Tesla himself though eventually realized the opposition he would face in the power companies, there would be no real way to meter the power being used, so they couldn't charge all that money for it anymore. They off course wouldn't like this even if it would mean that cell phones and laptops and stuff would work anyhwere without worry of batteries. But in todays day and age it would still be good for each person to have an in-home power transmitter. As I said I plan to begin experiments soon and hope to find some way of raising funds for such an endeavor, I would pretty much have to start almost from ground zero though as all Tesla's data is in his head. I might put up a website for either fund raising purposes or purely informational. I'll try to post the news to Slashdot, but it seems to be as though real tech news doesn't seem to make it onto/.'s pages anymore.:(
PS: If anyone has a few million dollars to through my way for research I would be much obliged. hehe)
I definetly agree that art is not about complexity. I have tried many times to convince my friend of this as it pertains to music. Alot of music is relatively easy, a simple backbeat makes for the best rhythm. In fact some of my favorite songs have easy to play parts. (which is good because I'm not a great guitarist.) It like the paintings in the article, the complex scene with the deer and the hippo has some simple to paint parts as well, it has to because everything can't be intricate. I think if you looked at the tab to the Korn songs you would see what I mean, all the songs are basically the same, the fingers hardly have to change position and there in little or no syncopation to complicate playing. The music's lack of anything resembling form or fashion is held together by distortion and the singer's horrible voice is hid by shouting at the top of his lungs. Watching the band further proves their lack of grasp on the music, they jump up and down in a way that is not even.."in sync" with the music, for lack of a better definition. If you have played seriously I think you will know what I mean about feeling the music. I probably have just offended alot of Korn fans, and I am sorry, if you like the music then that is fine, I am not here to impose my beliefs on anyone. And maybe I am underestimating thier talent, but if they have any then I need to become a musician because I have a far better grasp on music theory than anything I have heard from them.
I guess you've made a fair comparison, but pop stars aren't about popularity per se, they are about the money that comes with it. Even the producers admit that bands like NSync were just put together because the girls would think they were cute and buy the albums. I don't think too many artists out there are going to do what they do just for money, they have to get some joy from it to be good. By the way, when did Metallica switch to 'alternative'? I think you are confused. The definition of Heavy Metal might have changed, and Metallica has definetly evolved as a band, but maturity is a good thing, and they still rock as hard as ever. If you think that typical heavy metal is a band like Korn, then do me a favor. Go look at some Korn tab, they don't have a single song that I can't memorize how to play in like 5 minutes. Then go look at Metallica. The don't have a single riff that I can memorize in 5 minutes.
Well, I've never heard of anyone responding to a.sig, but if you must now, here is why it matters. It matters because my dad's friends had to just pay $40 for tech support because their computer was locked in safe mode. It matters because "Bubbleboy" is affecting lots of computers because MS has dummyified users to the point that email programs have to open thier mail attachments for them. Let me put this another way, let's say that instead of Shakespeare in 12th grade we gave our kids tests on "The Cat and The Hat", now every single high school student gets straight a's. Should we congradulate ourselves because all our kids can succeed? I think not. A System like Linux wouldn't BE hard to use if MS hadn't came in and stupified the populous, and maybe if people actually knew how to use thier computers then they wouldn't have to blow money on tech support or re-install the freaking OS every month or so. Maybe this is just my opinion, but if anything society has to raise the bar, not lower it if we are going to thrive. I think you will find that people will adapt, just look at the difference in the school curriculum even since I was in high school three years ago. When my parents were in school they didn't teach pre-algebra in the seventh grade, but we raised the bar, and the kids adapted. I think it is an insult that you think that the average computer user CAN'T learn to use a computer. I started programming in BASIC at 13, my 21 year old friend doesn't know the difference between.html and.com, it's not because I'm smarter, it's because I took the time to learn. I'm not sure if I am getting through to you at all, but the bottom line is the stupider the consumer gets, the more money MS makes on tech support and that is wrong anyway you look at it.
Is it just me or does Radio Shack just seem to be one big industry flunky? I mean the have some deal with Sprint where they try to con you into phones, and some deal where they try to con you into Primestar, now MS. What happened to the days when Radio Shack carried Tandy and Optimus products and you could just go in there and by some resistors and transistors and stuff without being bombarded by salesmen? Also is mine the only Radio Shack where the employees think they know everything, but know nothing. I HATE getting into arguments with Radio Shack employees. I could go in there and say I am going to invent an Astral Demoleculizer to travel to another dimension and the employees at my radio shack would insist that I am buying the wrong parts to make it work even though they obviously don't know anything about Astral Demoleculizers they feel the need to be right. It really annoys me. *NOTE*: If you are with a Government agency I do not know anything about Astral Demoleculizers and have by no circumstances built such a device and traveled to PS389 to read the blue book. Honest.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe I was giving the exception and not the rule. But as any scientist will tell you, it is important to note that there are exceptions to the rule when there are exceptions to the rule.
Hmmm, I don't think going to college really has a terrible lot to do with it. I mean the most evil tyrannical dictator in the history of the world second only to Hitler, Bill Gates, dropped out of college and is sadly one of the most powerful men alive today, and the richest.
Nikola Tesla went to college, where he was told by his professor that a brushless electric motor was "impossible". In fact just about everything he invented defied what college professors thought at the time to be true.
Albert Einstein often cut class to study physics on his own, he went on to become the most famous scientist of all time.
I am by no means saying that a college education is a bad thing. But just because someone isn't a college graduate doesn't make them dumb, and just because someone is a college graduate doesn't mean they are smart.
I believe the saying is "It's sad that having a science degree doesn't make one a scientist."
I even went as far as to write a review for madbomber as a start on the magazine and wrote into Ask Slashdot for peoples opinions. Unfortunately for me the question didn't get accepted. I later began to realize that I couldn't do it all by myself anyhow and lack the funds to put together a whole operation so I guess the idea got shelfed, at least until such a time that I am more fit to bring it into reality. Anybody near Smithfield, Virginia looking for a business partner
Anyhow I don't think computer magazines are dying. I still much prefer to read my material without a monitor. I want to be able to lay down and read or take my reading material with me.
Even some regular video games provide this experience. I was just playing the old SNES game uniracers today. You scroll sideways and have to change directions alot. Eventually once you learn the track the moving of the control pad becomes habitual. You hardly notice you are doing it.
I know you all are going to say that then when a linux version comes out it won't perform as good. But I disagree. When I bought Civ:CTP for Linux it was completely impulse buy. I had no intentions of buying a computer game when I went into EB that day, but seeing the word Linux I said "hey, I loved Civilization one. Why not get the sequal. I't here, it works on my machine, why not buy it" so I bought it. I still haven't bought Ultima Online or Kingpin. I see them in the stores and know they are supported under Linux, but don't really have the impulse to buy.
I think the impulse sales of a linux version would be far greater than downloads of people that just intentional bought the game to download the linux executable. Marketing has alway been about forcing impulse buys (just look at what credit cards did) GT seems to have forgot that.
1) Cost of space on the CD: Oops they weren't going to use that space anyhow, I'm sure the CD wasn't filled completely up. No cost there.
2) Cost of extra boxes and manuals for the linux version: Oops they could be put into the same box with an extra sentence added to each. Works with Windows95 (and Linux) on the box and (linux users will find the executable in such and such directory) in the manual. No noticable extra cost there
Where is the need to justify it. It is just a file. Put it in the damn box and write the word linux in the requirements. It's neither hard nor expensive. What is expensive is the bandwidth usage of all the Linux users downloading the thing.
BTW am I the only one that gets really sick of hearing the acronym Y2K? I mean "year 2000" flows easier than Y2K and doesn't really take longer to say. Why must we give "cute" names to everything?
It annoys me when screenshots go under the "snapshots" heading, I usually expect to find code there, but oh well.
I can see it now. It is the day after the election. The Democrats lost horrendously cause Al didn't even get one vote. Then the President Elect steps up to the mic
"Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to introduce to you the newest member of the GOP." Pyro goes off, Rock and Roll music starts, and out comes Al Gore, who takes the mic
"I would just like to say, that I am tired of Bill Clinton getting all the women, and as far as I'm concerned the Democrats can SUCK IT! And now that I am certified to represent the G-O-P, we will insure that the common man is forever opprosed by the wealthy. And leading the charge as head opproser I would like to introduce....Heir Gates!"
Bill Gates comes out to some really lame music and takes the microphone.
"From now on all computers will run Windows. Running Linux will result in the death penalty. And that's the bottom line cause Bill Gates said so!"
*Sigh* Oh well if we are lucky maybe we will see Bill Gates powerbombed through a table by some irate democrats. hehe.
1) Without Tesla we would not have Alternating Current. I hate to tell you bud, but AC is what powers your house.
2) Without Tesla we wouldn't have TV or Moniters. Tesla Coils are inside of TV's and Monitors
3) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radio. Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he "invented" radio
4) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radar, Tesla was a pioneer in Radar Technology
5) Without Tesla we wouldn't have X-rays, Tesla was a pioneer in X-Ray technology.
6) Tesla's work provided the basis for MRI, without Tesla lots of people with back problems would be far worse off.
7) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron. Many experimenters have duplicated his wireless energy experiments. (I will be one I hope) In fact it is a common school-age science fair project to remotely light a bulb with a Tesla coil.
8) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are moron reason 2. Have you read the interview with Tesla when describing his Tesla Turbine (a purely mechanical and infinetly genius device)? In that interview he admits that he had been to engrossed in his work with electrictiy but realized that advances in steam and gas technology had yeilded a very valuable form of power.
9) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron reason 3. Tesla invented and patented a VTOL aircraft that has, even recently been built and flown. Why would a man that thinks electricity is the be all end all of technology re-invent flight without using electrictity?
10) Tesla might be overated due to media hype. But just because you don't understand his work don't call the man a psycho. He did plenty of work that didn't revolve around electricity, and ALL of it was genius.
There you have it the top ten reason why you are wrong. Before you say a man was too engrossed in one form of technology please next time due some research into what he actually accomplished with the technology (almost all of which was considered impossible) and what he has done with other forms of technology.
I could argue with this flamebait all day but I have a better way. I don't know the rules of slashdot as far as posting images is concerned, so just follow this link and take a look at this:
tesla coil picture
He doesn't seem to be in to much pain to me.
Microwaves work on an entirely different principle. Please do some research before you tell me I am wrong. I seldom post wrong information.
One example is when he was accused of that massive explosion at the T-word that I don't know how to spell in the north pole. He said his Wardenclyffe coil could transmit a weapon like blast anywhere in the world. Which was probably true. The number given in the article was 100 megatons. I don't know if that was Tesla's number or just the media's. Given the high power output of the coil if he could have concentrated it at one focal point and remotely (big IF there) lowered the frquency of the energy to a more low-level dangerous one, then it might indeed be possible. But I don't think the Wardenclyffe project was ever completed to a level that would be capable of firing such a blast as he ran out of funds before it's completion. So I know almost for a fact he didn't blow up the north pole (Poor Santa. hehe), and I think that in his mind he might have had the designs for turning the Wardenclyffe transmitter into a weapon of mass destruction, and those plans might have even been possible (the man did do the "impossible" on a regular basis), but I don't think that those mental plans had at this point made it into the material world.
Tesla was also accused of blowing up the french ship, "Lena", I think was the name. He had by this time created the radio controlled torpedo. His claims of being able to use such a device to send a remote spark to a ships magazine led to theories that he had blew up the Lena. I belief his response was "If I did it there would have been a bigger explosion". Whether he was just playing with the press or not is unknown, he very well could have said it in a joking tone, but had it blown out of proportion by the media. We already know that the Tesla coil can use the atmosphere as a conductor, but I still don't think he had develped the technology to pinpoint an exact spot to send the blast. Electricity tends to want to go where it wants to and that huge body of water would seem like a far better choice to me than inside a specific room of a ship.
Of course one can easily make electricity go where one wants it to go, to an extent but can one make it go there without ever having been aboard the ship? And an even better question: Why did I use the word one so much in that sentence.
Perhaps the world will never know exactly what the man was capable off. But I can say one thing. This thread as well as the past few days of my intense interest prior to the thread can tell me that it won't be because I don't try I can tell you that.
By the way it really is ironic that the thread appeared right at the peak of my interest in this. It's almost as if some force is just pushing me to study. I know it sounds rediculus but hey, whatever gets me motivated right?
As I said before I will put up a website and try to have it posted by slashdot. If the news doesn't make it though I will he email you. (I guess your website will have your email address right?)
I will definetly be putting up a website soon. I will try to tell Slashdot about it so hopefully you will here about it. If not I have written down your email and will send the info to you.
Thanks for the advice, I will check into some non-profit organizations and amatuer research clubs.
As far as the negative effects of the coil, I meant to mention this in the first post. I don't have the link, but when reading about his colorado experiment (the huge Tesla Magnifier that he used to charge a section of the earth and that was being replaced by the full scale coil on the Wardenclyffe sight in New York.) It stated that when he first fired it up, of course there was a blue glow around the area the coil was in caused by the lightning flying around, and off course like every small Tesla coil all the lights and vacuum tubes started glowing, except this huge coil caused it to happen in the town as well. There were reports of electricity arcing from fire hydrants and sign posts to metal objects. (in other words from metal connected to the earth to metal not connected to the earth) Can you imagine walking down the street and having a lightning bolt jump from the fire hydrant to your keys! After he got the thing tuned (as I said he was trying to tune it to the earths natural frequencies, see the object was to get the electricity to travel all the way around the earth, or through it, and he said that a single blast of energy would run out of power, but a pulsating energy working at the same pulse as the earth's natural pulses wouldn't be acted on by the earth's pulses and instead would go with the flow) Anyhow once he got it tuned I believe the wierd occurances stopped. So as you say if all the output of the coil is shot into the earth then only grounded objects would be affected. So I assume that this would prevent the wierd electrical disturbances that the coil causes. At least the ones in Colorado Springs seemed to have died down.
The implications would be huge though as any metal object in the ground would automatically become a high voltage power supply. I am inclined to say however that it wouldn't be all that dangerous as one experiment with a Tesla coil is to hold a quarter near it and watch the sparks fly to your hand. (not sure if the same thing is safe on a big coil though) However the Colorado instance used a specialized Tesla Coil, with and added coil called a Tesla magnifier, so again I don't know if the same relative safetly can be assumed. I don't on the other hand think anyone got killed or injured during Tesla's tuning phase. After the tuning phase the wierdness supposedly stopped though, so maybe something else must be done after the device is tuned to get the energy from the earth than just putting a conductor down there, maybe a Tesla Coil reciever as I stated earlier?
It should be noted that the machine also caused the greatest man-made power surge ever. When he finally tuned it and shot the output into the earth the lightning (supposedly) travelled to the other side of the earth and on its way back (end supposedly) a huge arc shot out 130 feet into the air, a crack of thunder was heard for 22 miles and the power company (that up until this point had been providing Tesla free energy) had its power generator catch fire.
All of this phenomenon makes for a hairy experience for witnesses of the modern day tesla broadcasted energy, which may be one reason that such a large coil hasn't been built since. I think the more likely reason though is that science doesn't want to try what they call 'alternative' science. Luckily I live in the booneys so there are miles of farmland and not miles of people using cell phones and computers and other electronic equipment. My greatest hardship (aside from the price tag) would be scaring some passerby redneck with the images of flashing lights and lighting bolts coming from the ground. hehe. Either way, both finacially and practically I am limited to small experiments to begin with. I really think though that a modified tesla coil could act as a reciever instead of a transmitter. getting energy to travel through the ground I assume could be done on a small scale, even if it means filling an aquarium with dirt and making my own "earth"
Tesla had in fact began development on a large 200 foot tall Tesla coil (actually a tesla magnifier) that he said would provide wireless energy to the whole world using the earth as his conducter. Documented experiments show that he could successfully cause the earth to conduct, whether or not he could cause the whole earth to conduct is another story, but Tesla is the man who invented AC Current, Radio (Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he invented the conventional radio and some think he ruined the coarse of broadcast power by limiting it to voice), Pioneering work on Radar and X-Rays, Electrical Transformers. There is almost literally nothing in your day to day life that Tesla didn't invent or make possible.
I have been doing lots of research on this in the past few days and have many ideas on how to make something like this work. One of Tesla's easiest to prove theories is his apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy. He said that all energy is present in the air at all times and that we could "grab" it for use. The way to do that is to cover a large conductor(sheet of metal) with and insulator. Connect a wire from this antennae to one end of a capacitor. Electricity will slowly charge the capacitor. Very slowly. The concep though can be prove with a TV set and a coin. Take a quarter and use some masking tape to tape the probe of an electrical meter to it. I just used one layer of tape. Ground the other probe then put the quarter up to a tv set. The voltage will go on, very very small voltage. Turn off the TV to cause the cathode rays to surge, I have gotten an instant of 1.5 volts from this using a Quarter! Not very many amps though, but power can be transmitted from one device to another with this theory using a cathode ray tube or ion propulsion or any such electrical charging substance. The basic theory is that the insulator (the tape) won't stop the cathode rays from going in, but will stop the electricity generated from coming back out.
It is so ironic that this question was posted now, as I have been very active in searching through Tesla's ideas and looking for ways to bring them into reality in the modern age. I am learning alot and plan on begining experiments that could see this type of technology developed. Tesla himself though eventually realized the opposition he would face in the power companies, there would be no real way to meter the power being used, so they couldn't charge all that money for it anymore. They off course wouldn't like this even if it would mean that cell phones and laptops and stuff would work anyhwere without worry of batteries. But in todays day and age it would still be good for each person to have an in-home power transmitter.
As I said I plan to begin experiments soon and hope to find some way of raising funds for such an endeavor, I would pretty much have to start almost from ground zero though as all Tesla's data is in his head. I might put up a website for either fund raising purposes or purely informational. I'll try to post the news to Slashdot, but it seems to be as though real tech news doesn't seem to make it onto
PS: If anyone has a few million dollars to through my way for research I would be much obliged. hehe)
I think if you looked at the tab to the Korn songs you would see what I mean, all the songs are basically the same, the fingers hardly have to change position and there in little or no syncopation to complicate playing. The music's lack of anything resembling form or fashion is held together by distortion and the singer's horrible voice is hid by shouting at the top of his lungs. Watching the band further proves their lack of grasp on the music, they jump up and down in a way that is not even.."in sync" with the music, for lack of a better definition. If you have played seriously I think you will know what I mean about feeling the music.
I probably have just offended alot of Korn fans, and I am sorry, if you like the music then that is fine, I am not here to impose my beliefs on anyone. And maybe I am underestimating thier talent, but if they have any then I need to become a musician because I have a far better grasp on music theory than anything I have heard from them.
By the way, when did Metallica switch to 'alternative'? I think you are confused. The definition of Heavy Metal might have changed, and Metallica has definetly evolved as a band, but maturity is a good thing, and they still rock as hard as ever. If you think that typical heavy metal is a band like Korn, then do me a favor. Go look at some Korn tab, they don't have a single song that I can't memorize how to play in like 5 minutes. Then go look at Metallica. The don't have a single riff that I can memorize in 5 minutes.
Let me put this another way, let's say that instead of Shakespeare in 12th grade we gave our kids tests on "The Cat and The Hat", now every single high school student gets straight a's. Should we congradulate ourselves because all our kids can succeed? I think not.
A System like Linux wouldn't BE hard to use if MS hadn't came in and stupified the populous, and maybe if people actually knew how to use thier computers then they wouldn't have to blow money on tech support or re-install the freaking OS every month or so. Maybe this is just my opinion, but if anything society has to raise the bar, not lower it if we are going to thrive. I think you will find that people will adapt, just look at the difference in the school curriculum even since I was in high school three years ago. When my parents were in school they didn't teach pre-algebra in the seventh grade, but we raised the bar, and the kids adapted. I think it is an insult that you think that the average computer user CAN'T learn to use a computer. I started programming in BASIC at 13, my 21 year old friend doesn't know the difference between
I'm not sure if I am getting through to you at all, but the bottom line is the stupider the consumer gets, the more money MS makes on tech support and that is wrong anyway you look at it.
Also is mine the only Radio Shack where the employees think they know everything, but know nothing. I HATE getting into arguments with Radio Shack employees. I could go in there and say I am going to invent an Astral Demoleculizer to travel to another dimension and the employees at my radio shack would insist that I am buying the wrong parts to make it work even though they obviously don't know anything about Astral Demoleculizers they feel the need to be right. It really annoys me.
*NOTE*: If you are with a Government agency I do not know anything about Astral Demoleculizers and have by no circumstances built such a device and traveled to PS389 to read the blue book. Honest.