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Music

Ode To Sound Blaster: Are Discrete Audio Cards Still Worth the Investment? 502

MojoKid (1002251) writes "Back in the day (which is a scientific measurement for anyone who used to walk to school during snowstorms, uphill, both ways), integrated audio solutions had trouble earning respect. Many enthusiasts considered a sound card an essential piece to the PC building puzzle. It's been 25 years since the first Sound Blaster card was introduced, a pretty remarkable feat considering the diminished reliance on discrete audio in PCs, in general. These days, the Sound Blaster ZxR is Creative's flagship audio solution for PC power users. It boasts a signal-to-noise (SNR) of 124dB that Creative claims is 89.1 times better than your motherboard's integrated audio solution. It also features a built-in headphone amplifier, beamforming microphone, a multi-core Sound Core3D audio processor, and various proprietary audio technologies. While gaming there is no significant performance impact or benefit when going from onboard audio to the Sound Blaster ZxR. However, the Sound Blaster ZxR produced higher-quality in-game sound effects and it also produces noticeably superior audio in music and movies, provided your speakers can keep up."

Comment Re:And Joe Schmoe wont care. (Score 1) 364

Half our registered voters don't even want to pay for healthcare for our citizens, why do you think we would pay for this?

I haven't met many fellow Americans who are willing to pay for healthcare for anyone. Half of them are willing to subsidize private health insurance, which is still a right-wing approach seen from a world perspective.

It seems like another way to move money from the middle class to corporations, giving the lower income workers extra expenses they can ill afford, even subsidized. It doesn't help to have health insurance if you cannot afford the co-pay and OOP expenses.

The very idea of funding healthcare directly, not going through private insurance intermediates who milk the maximum amount of money from both sides, is one that seems alien to Americans, no matter what party they claim to support.

Comment As you ask... (Score 1) 57

Someone should have vetted the questions. The very first one was painful to read:

Samzenpus: I'm sure you had great hopes for Voyager but did you or others working on the program dream that it would be so successful or travel so far?

Um, "it"? Is Samzenpus unaware that there are more than one?
And of course they expected them to travel so far. They're not like cars which can run out of gas. The risk of something stopping them is astronomical, so they'll of course travel on.

Comment Re:Missing Option: I HATE fireworks. (Score 1) 340

Yes, because anyone who cannot afford to pay for a baby sitter should forego ever eating out or watching a movie.

If you can afford to dine out and go to the movies, you can afford a babysitter. If you can't afford both, then drop the restaurant and go to a museum or library or park instead. You might even enjoy the quiet of the first two.
It's about priorities, and others not being subjected to your child wailing is not high on your priorities. You want to have your cake and eat it too, not liking having to make sacrifices because you now have a child.

Comment Re:4th of July? (Score 1) 340

Every country has a day in the year when they set off the fireworks.

No, thankfully this is not the case anymore. More and more countries ban the practice, which not only starts fires and maim and kill people, but frightens the wildlife and war survivors.
July 5 is roadkill day, because of all the scared shitless animals who ran onto the roads the night before.

Comment Re:The 4th of December? (Score 1) 340

You might want to tell the makers of the One World Trade centre then as they made sure it was 1776 feet tall.

The roof is 1368 feet above ground level.
The top of the radio mast is 1792 feet above ground level.
The 1776 feet is the "official height", by fiat and not measurement.

Comment Re:Fear Mongers Didn't Want to Let Cassini Fly (Score 1) 45

Keep in mind, that while he has had a lot of papers published, the majority of the physical models of the universe he's supported have now been proven wrong (or are pretty close to being proven wrong)

Being proven wrong is a good thing in science. The more we prove wrong, the better supported our remaining hypotheses become. We need more people who come up with falsifiable theories that fit our current knowledge, so we can narrow things down further.

But yeah, the sensationalism is not doing science any favors. I cringe when I see Morgan "We only use ten percent of our brain" Freeman present Michio Kaku yet again.

Comment Re: i don't wanna hear how lazy americans are. (Score 1) 120

I think I did an image search for "obesity country year", and then went into the web sites of the more interesting charts to find the sources.

Regular Google searches have become less useful these days, as advertisers and "famous sites" appear to be bumped towards the top even for the regular results. So I more often start with an image search to narrow it down to places that have information, not something to sell. Unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time before Google catches on to this, and skews image search results too. But for now, image searches tend to be more honest, especially when you want statistical results.

Comment Re: i don't wanna hear how lazy americans are. (Score 1) 120

Are you by any chance British?
In both Scandinavia and Germany, I've always been expected to strip down, at least to my undies, but bare when needed.

Here in the US, you generally have to put on a gown, so the lascivious doctors can't get a peek at your innocent and pure body. (In reality, so you can't sue them for doing so. And possibly so they can charge extra for the single-use gowns.)
In tent sized gowns, there's no way the doctor can spot whether you're getting fatter and losing muscle mass, or have skin cancer for that matter.
They will even smuggle the stethoscope under the gown so you won't have to take it off and expose unholy flesh.

Comment Re: i don't wanna hear how lazy americans are. (Score 1) 120

Don't forget the advantages of traditions of healthier cuisine, and better regulation of food manufacturers.

And socialized healthcare. There's no reason to not go see a doctor, who will tell you how serious your obesity has, and get you help if you need it. That European doctors usually see the patients nude, probably also makes them more aware of who needs a pep talk before it becomes a real problem.

Comment Re: i don't wanna hear how lazy americans are. (Score 4, Informative) 120

statistically germans and english are about as fat... Some years, I think they've surpassed us.

I actually looked this up. For every year there are figures, the US obesity rate has been more than twice as high as Germany.
As for the UK, they're up there too, but has never had a higher rate than the US.

Many of the pacific countries have an even higher percentage of obesity, but among OECD countries, the US ranks top.

Comment Re: i don't wanna hear how lazy americans are. (Score 2) 120

really the whole "americans are fat" thing is mostly a product of misinformation at this point.

Um, no. The obesity here in the US is exceptional.

And really, I don't see why any country should be ashamed of a statistic like this... does it lead to higher incidents of heart disease? Sure... and? People chose bacon over low cholesterol... get over it.

Many supermarkets here supply their obese customers with scooter like shopping carts because they're to fat to walk.
Levi's sells jeans with a 58" waist.
We've become the laughing stock of the world.

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