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User: ch-chuck

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  1. Re:Who's claiming this is doing 3-D? on 3-D Monitors From Actual Depth · · Score: 1

    What they need to develop are electronically generated, software defined, holograms.*

    Ive seen hologram / photographic plates at a hamfest once laying flat on a table, illuminated with ordinary room lighting, but you actually DO see DOWN into the table - it was so astounding you want to reach under the table and check it out! Somehow it reconstructs a wavefront plane such that as you change your point of view you get a different image from that point of view, i.e., each eye does get a slightly different image.

    * This idea copyright ©2002, Pat. Pending.

  2. Gas Giants on Earth to...Earth? Are you there? · · Score: 2

    For some reason, that makes me think of some prominent politicians...

    Or some baddies in a SciFi series, "The Attack of the red Gas Giants!!"

  3. Re:play fair on What Should Microsoft's Open Source Strategy Be? · · Score: 2

    What are they supposed to do? It's hard to innovate when a standard is set in stone.

    Well, this is one of the facets of a developing immature field like software that they take advantage of - but it would not be impossible for a court to look at a specific example of an "extended" standard and determine whether it 1) actually is an improvement in the state of the art that provides a significant benefit for the consumer, or 2) is merely an alteration of protocol make to break existing standards of interoperability and used as an unfair competitive weapon against another business.

    Economically speaking, the value of the benefit of the 'extended' standard to consumers should be relative to the cost imposted on a competitor for being forced by a monopoly system to extend their implementation of the standard to remain interoperable and competitive with said monopoly.

  4. Invasive *American* Culture ???? on Globalism Post 9/11 · · Score: 2

    Let's just nip this tired old saw right now - how much of "American" culture is made up of Chinese restaurants, Italian sausage, Danish pastry, French Fries, etc etc etc. Look at how governer races in Texas are now being held in Spanish. Every ATM machine I go to now is multilingual - and you people have to chutzpah to say US "culture" (which, if it exists at all, is pretty disposable) is invading - Heck we American feel like WE are the ones being invaded by 3rd world low lifes and mouchers.

  5. Antec Outside on Intel Puts The Squeeze On ... A Yoga Foundation? · · Score: 2

    Ever see those stickers on Antec cases?

    Thankfully it's protected by fair use / parody. I usually toss logos out when assembling a PC but thought that was amusing enough to actually stick on the case.

  6. US needs system advert reform on Microsoft To Start Running Anti-Unix Ads · · Score: 2

    Obviously the entire computer system marketing industry has become corrupted by "big money" and needs to be reformed immediately. Too many companies are choosing to install such-and-such a system just because they have the biggest advertising budget and the little guy has no say in the matter. To this end, I suggest we eleminate all 'hard money' from system advertising (no referances to specific vendors allowed), especially with 90 days of a large company making a purchsing decision, but allow limited amounts of 'soft money', that is, adverts that advocate competing styles of computing such as command line, gui, client/server vs standalone, etc.

  7. Re:Proud on Kazaa Is Legal, Dutch Appeals Court Rules · · Score: 1

    but there are no laws against nepotism

    Are you sure about that?. I just typed "nepotism laws" into google and the pertinate SC code came up on the first page.

    "Title 8 - Public Officers and Employees CHAPTER 5. NEPOTISM AND BUYING AND SELLING OF OFFICES PROHIBITED"

  8. Re:You're COMPLETELY missing the issue... on Gateway Testifies To Microsoft's OEM Treatment · · Score: 2

    Microsoft requested that large portions of the submitted testimony be dismissed because they have to do with the states presening NEW evidence.

    That's right - these NEW crimes will be delt with in due course in the antitrust trials of 2112, when Msft has a savings account of 2.5 Trillion, and all digital devices are their property.

    But seriously, I think this behavior is pertinant to the case as it was going on at the time of the browser/Java wars. This is NOT a new issue. How did they deploy their late to market browser? By OS integration and the pre-existing and ongoing vendor intimidation.

  9. Used Car Ad on Most Outrageous Vendor Lie Ever Told? · · Score: 2

    Consumer Reports used to make fun of mktng, and one they published was a misprint in a newspaper:

    Used Cars at New Car Prices!!!

  10. 5 years from now on Science Grid Genesis · · Score: 3, Funny

    AOL/TW starts mailing out free sign up DVD's to access their portal to the Science Grid. Within days messages start appearing in highly technical discussion forums that simply state "Me Too!".

  11. Re:Not far off the mark on Bandwidth Shortage And The Telephone Company · · Score: 1

    It's the same with me - best I can get is 24.6 - borrowed a 56Kbps modem from work to test and didn't get much better, if not worse, speed. I'm only about 2 miles from the co but due to some dslick or something, no DSL.

    You got to admit tho, home service just isn't a pot of gold - you have to staff a tech support crew to assist Sandra Sandpile when her cat chews thru the cable, and little Johnny's hershey bar in the cdrom bay. At least businesses often have someone with nearly a clue on their staff. I called up a local wireless service to ask about their coverage - about $300 / mo for 256kbps up/dn - but as soon as I mentioned possible home service the sales guy just sounded disgusted and begged off real quick, even tho I said we where getting quotes for business service.

  12. Could it be because on Soviet Moon Rocket · · Score: 3, Insightful

    after WWII the US got the better German V2 rocket scientists like Wernher Von Braun, instead of the USSR? Certainly the US didn't have the will to fully use their experience and talents, however, untill after Sputnik.

  13. The Bigger Problem on County-wide Wireless Broadband · · Score: 2

    If you step back a little and look at the big picture, you can see what the big problem with connectivity is in pure capitalism: Verizon et al do not see any profit in rolling out bandwidth to rural communities, so, pfft, tough luck. Fortunately, we've been there before, so there's hope that some day, some politico will have the vision and leadership to grab the bullcrap by the horns and get a data utility deployed, and overcome the so called 'digital divide' so all can benefit from the increased economic effeciency.

  14. Note the subtle use of spelling in the article on Alleged eBay Hacker Goofs up and Goes to Jail · · Score: 4, Funny

    The computer whiz then asked the court

    Per dictionary.com:

    Wiz - A person considered exceptionally gifted or skilled.

    Whiz - To urinate.

  15. Re:Who caused the Ice Age? on Larsen Ice Shelf Collapses · · Score: 1

    I can only presume you're joking, and that you don't really believe in this facile logic

    Actually, people actually do introduce increased levels of CO2 in their gardens and yes, it does help increase plant growth, provided there are no other limiting factors (such as poor soil nutrients, lack of water, etc).

  16. Re:Two graphs to consider. on Larsen Ice Shelf Collapses · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cut to the chase: human population is rapidly rising. Everything else is just a byproduct. Seriously, just look at population statistics for the root cause. Now who'se going to stand up and advocate killing off a couple billion in order to improve the lives of those left? What's really ironic (if that's the proper word) is that it's modern greenhouse gas emitting industry that is extending life support to the growing population! We can't all revert to a pastoral, agrarian, earth friendly communal lifestyle w/o losing a bunch of folks. What's the limiting factor in population, particularly in latin america and asia anyway? Self control, or war, famine, pestilence, disease?

    Anyway, I always view these chicken little reports as a communist "Lets screw the US!" ploy - reguardless of the facts about Mexico pollution (including continued production of ozone depleting freon there, while it's controlled in the US), Brazilian slash and burn, Iraqui oil well fires, Indonesian fires, etc etc etc. US industry is much cleaner than any developing 3rd world or former Soviet industry, yet it's always the US they want to screw over! Lets see Russia or Japan sign the Kyoto accords, don't hand us the hari kiri knife.

  17. Re:And? on Microsoft Kicks Playstation2 out of CeBit. · · Score: 2

    So Sony breaks the rules, and get caught doing it

    Oh, criminey - Msft complaining about someone else breaking rules? That is so patently absurd and hypocritical it's pathetic. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Those jerks should be dangling from the end of a rope for all the rules they've broken, have been convicted of having broken, so damn hell bent on world domination they trample any and all rules of antitrust, propriety, simple business etiquete, etc - bitching about a tame minor infraction of another company letting a few people actually enjoy their product, cheesus. It's just your basic emperial hypocracy mindset at work: we can do anything we want, but you are limited by the rules.

  18. Re:Duh, quit using Outlook on No More Unrestricted Internet At Work · · Score: 1

    Yep - banning email because your client is susceptible to every virus and worm that comes along is like is like trying to carpet the world in place of of wearing good shoes.

    Like someone else pointed out - the article is mostly a sales presentation by filter/scanner/blocker software vendors. Our email is restricted at Outlook with the Msft security 'upgrades' ("It's not a security hole" it says) that prevent any access whatsoever to 'dangerous' attachments, .exe, .scr, .vbs, etc. And it was free.

  19. Re:What are these still used for? on Sun's New Workstations and Graphics Cards · · Score: 1

    If I had the $$$ to burn, it would almost be worth it just to be able make the sort of elvis raised lip condescending sneer whenever you say 'PC' and a kind of subtle spitting noise whenever you say 'Windows', pffft.

    With these, I'm sure you don't have to buy CPU fans every 3 months, or subject users to disposable $20 keyboards and mice, and other associated WinTel inconviences - just pay the price, plug them in and work for years. On these, if something screws up, it probably IS the users fault!

  20. Re:It doesn't matter... on Darwin Streaming Server Beats Real, Windows Media · · Score: 1

    That's just the 'embrace' phase - Once other media players fall by the wayside, an automatic 'upgrade' will make it incompatible with other servers.

    I've some real old sound files recorded way back in Win311 days with a Creative sound card, using Msft ADPCM, and the current WMP won't play them. It's goes out to look for a CODEC but comes back "Sorry".

    Yes, I'm pessimistic today ;))

  21. Re:It doesn't matter... on Darwin Streaming Server Beats Real, Windows Media · · Score: 1

    Actually it's not 'people like me' (hey,I rebel against the Msft status quo at every opportunity) - that was more a pessimistic observation about the current anti-trust settlement status in reguard to the browser wars: they're taking the heat off, and Msft will continue to get away with bundling in any hotly competitive application as the 'default' - Msft owns the arena of competition, can extend it into any market they want, and there's nothing the DOJ is going to/able to do about it.

    Heck, I'm probably going to try out the Darwin video server out soon myself.

    Also, was just dreaming about company movie day - conduct an email poll of what employees would like to see, run down to the video rental store, get it and stream it to desktops (after, say, a good sales quarter or something).

  22. It doesn't matter... on Darwin Streaming Server Beats Real, Windows Media · · Score: 1, Troll

    Which one is better - Windoes Media Player runs on the Windows that comes with each new PC, built right in so the consumer doesn't have to do anything! It's tightly integrated with the OS just like the consumer wants it. WMP is going to win the mp wars, too. Sorry WinAmp, Real and Quicktime. That's just the way it goes these days. Better luck in the next life.

  23. Everytime I see the word "Therapist" on The Company Therapist (dot.com) · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I see "The Rapist"

  24. Re:I would buy this bumper sticker on Doctorow and Sterling Cyber-Riffing at SXSW · · Score: 2

    I'm waiting for someone to finally prove, Gödel like, that perfect copy protection is an uncomputable number...

    Nice romp tho.

  25. How about a compromise on Cure For Bad Software? Legal Liability · · Score: 2

    As it is, software companies get off scott free, with only their reputations at stake (and those w/ deep pockets can afford the advertising budget to counter the bad experiences and boost their reputation). But it would be nice to see some sort of financial incentive to produce better quality, reliable software instead of just a lousy implementation of the latest greatest big idea. Just like there are contracts that reward being completed on time and punished for being late, we could have mandated licensing terms where a major bug (like the UPnP hole thing) VERIFIED by a disinterested 3rd party, would result in a partial refund, to partially cover the expenses of patching. I would not go so far as making a company legally liable for some of those always overinflated 'costs' that show up in class action lawsuits. Noone should have to code in fear that a missing comma is going to cost the company a million dollars. But a simple system of rewards and punishments to get over the 'flashy crud' that so many consumers fall for, and onto a more stable, robust, secure world.