Comment In unrelated news... (Score 1) 139
... announced that they have deployed a World War II technology called Long Range Navigation system,
... announced that they have deployed a World War II technology called Long Range Navigation system,
Are you saying there's absolutely nothing on your PHONE that could possibly incriminate you?
Nope. Mine's a Qualcomm QCP-1900 from 1998 (yes, it still works great) - let them look
One day, scientists are going to play the wrong frequency and it is going to re-arrange all our brains.. then.. zombie apocalypse..
Or discover the feared Brown Note. (Thank you South Park (and MythBusters) for putting that imagery in my head. Some things cannot be unseen.)
I wish I could dredge up some examples, but I seem to remember seeing some things which some of the astronauts said in the middle of a crisis which made them sound like it was just a little thing, when the rest of us would all be screaming "we're all gonna die we're all gonna die".
"Houston, we have a problem" when an oxygen tank has just exploded and practically ripped the service module in half. Yup, that seems like a good start.
I posted this earlier in the thread, but it seems more appropriate here, as you mentioned it explicitly:
Obligatory XKCD: Houston
Remember in the Challenger explosion, when the guy kept reading off telemetry after the explosion? I seem to remember him finally looking up and saying something like "There appears to be a malfunction."
Obligatory XKCD: Houston
NASA
Isn't that pretty much how it's always been to one degree or another? NASA has helped design and mostly operated, but never actually manufactured launch vehicles. Contractors did the rest. Perhaps the distinction is now contractors working *for* NASA vs. contractors/private working *with* NASA.
Unfortunately, Republicans immediately turned against their own plan, because they cared more about preventing reform than in their own reform plans.
To be fair, the Republicans simply care most about preventing *any* success by President Obama, quoting Senator Mitch McConnell, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." They're apparently willing to tank the entire country to see that Republicans get voted into office - Senate, House and White House.
... and the cost of insurance has skyrocketed since the law was passed.
[ citation needed ]
...those who were added to O-Care rolls did not want or feel they needed it should be considered as well...
Uh-huh. Until they get into an accident or get sick. Sure, no one *needs* health (or auto/home) insurance -- until they actually need health care (which is often quite expensive). Then they go to a hospital ER, which is *required by law* to care for them. Many do/can not pay and the expense gets passed along to the rest of us. Now, if everyone is fine with doctors and hospitals denying care to anyone w/o insurance, then I'm fine with people not having any insurance.
If a country has true universal healthcare,
Furthermore, we actually already have *two* universal health insurance systems in the US - Medicare (for the elderly) and Tricare (for the military). I have trouble with people who oppose a universal health care system for the rest of us -- like my mother, who is 70+ and, therefore, gets Medicare, but opposes universal health care and the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare).
The fact that cash price for surgery is $65,000 while insurance paid only $6200 is criminal.
The list price for a 1 month supply of my wife's brain tumor medicine, Temodar, was $11,000 in 2005. My BCBS only required a 10% co-pay, and her Optima only required $40 - what we paid. I still can't wrap my head around the discrepancy.
Pro tip: When your pharmacist says, "I hope you have insurance." - worry.
There's a handful of movies I still want to see in the cinema
Too true. I often decide whether to watch a movie at a theater based on whether that venue would add to the experience vs. watching at home, even with a large-screen TV an surround sound. Some movies are not really any "better" in a theater.
On the other hand, take Gravity for example. Watching that at home on Bluray is *not* the same as in the theater - or, especially, IMAX. Seriously, If you didn't see *that* in a real IMAX theater, you missed out.
I banned the MPAA in 2000, I haven't gone to see any of their shit since then. My life is the better for it. *gently strokes PC* it's solved allllll my entertainment issues.
If you're using your PC and, presumably, the Internet for *all* your entertainment "issues" and stroking your PC, you're doing it wrong.
Actually with right apps it can be a great experience enhanced by delivering personalized content during the movie. Like multi-language subtitles, or facts on actors / previous plot reminders.
Or, you know, you could just watch the movie.
It doesn't *have* to be a dedicated PC or even one PC - the front (display) / back (record/database) ends can be split.
Then you have to buy two more computers
Or you can simply use one PC, like I do. You don't have to use multiple, but can.
Download and install MythBuntu
Onto what computer? Can someone install it on a household's only computer without A. losing ready access to the PC applications on which one depends or B. harming the recording in progress when the computer restarts for security updates?
On just about any system that can run Linux or FreeBSD (and others...). (A) the back-end runs in the background (like a service) and the front end fires ups in X Windows and can be used in an "always on" dedicated fashion, if you're only using the PC for MythTV, or "on demand" as though it were a regular user when you login as user "mythtv". (B) 99.9% of updates on Linux do *not* require a reboot and updates, especially security updates, can be scheduled to be install automatically and/or in the middle of the night, if you wish.
As far as keeping your system up-to-date, until last weekend, my MythTV system was running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, which went out of support in 2013. I just updated it to 10.04. If you're simply using it for a DVR, then it's only pulling XML data from Schedules Direct and keeping updates, even security updates current is not really that important.
MythTV even supports USB and Firewire devices
All makes and models, or is it like the "winmodem" era where Ubuntu has no driver for a lot of the devices out there?
Pretty wide range of support and the drivers are supported natively by Linux. No, not like "winmodem".
Ya, it could possibly be a bit more complicated than a TiVO to build/setup, but I have a friend who had his TiVO blink out - the unit and CableCard lost its pairing - and he spent more time in one evening talking with his cable provider straightening it out than I did maintaining my MythTV system for a whole year.
That said, MythTV also does a whole lot more that most other DVRs. The number of simultaneous recordings is only limited by the system horsepower and number of capture cards installed (I have 2) on the backend (which could also be the frontend). Scheduling 14 days out, a wide range of recording options, able to record only new (or not previously recorded) episodes if you want. Pretty rock-solid commercial skipping (auto or manual) - press a button and skip an entire commercial break. DVD playing, burning and ripping. Store/display photos; store/play videos, music. There are plugins for games, weather, news, movie listings, etc... Control via HTTP. It can even access non-MythTV devices via UPnP.
And it can run all your favorite Linux software. Here are some links:
Now dial down your autism a bit - geesh.
If God had not given us sticky tape, it would have been necessary to invent it.
