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Comment Re:The Golden Mean (Score 1) 1328

I disagree with the analogy. The most likely reason that not many people are going around saying "the sun will rise tomorrow" is because there are not many other people who are trying to do things like putting stickers on science books saying that, "tomorrow's rising sun is 'only a theory.'" Or blowing up themselves and sun-believers in the name of a non-sun. When that begins to happen, you will hear more from the Silent Sun Army.

Government

Submission + - Bought and Paid For (balloon-juice.com)

jamie writes: "When the I-Team asked him if the cable industry drew up the bill, Senator Hoyle responded, “Yes, along with my help.”"

Comment Re:SuperSpeed USB... (Score 4, Interesting) 322

The problem is the original nomenclature from USB 1.0 - "full speed" is a whopping 12Mbit/s (vs. "low speed" at 1.5Mb/s). Of course, compared to serial ports that were starting to push 300kbit/s, it was nice. So then USB 2.0 was "high speed" and for 3.0 they needed something "higher" than "high." Pretty stupid, especially when somebody says a USB 2.0 device runs at "full speed" it could simply be MarketSpeak(TM) saying that it won't slow the bus down below 2.0 but the device itself only communicates at 1.1 speeds.

( Oh, BTW, I vote for PlaidSpeed(TM)! )

Comment It depends (Score 1) 2

A few years back, it was end of year finances time at Dell. FatWallet had some seriously crazy coupons. I picked up a fully loaded XPS with one of the first PCIe video cards for cheaper than I could even piece it together at NewEgg.

Checking my old email archives (thanks GMail!):

Now, with coupons, FatCash (3% cash back from FatWallet), $99 shipping rebate, and 1% back on my MC, it comes out to $1626.67 total. Supposed to be $3113 to start with.

But dude, that's a lot of money for a PC. Build one yourself!

OK. NewEgg.com, getting the cheapest possible items to meet the specs:
(you don't care about the details)
Total = $1997 BEFORE NewEgg's shipping. ...and that doesn't include the time to build/configure, 4 year warranty, case, power supply, keyboard, and 17 inch LCD monitor.

The Internet

Submission + - Ip Packet Headers in Lego! (wordpress.com)

gavsta writes: Always having problems explaining packets and headers to non network techs, then attempt no more, its all been visualised in Lego! Colour representation of each part of the packet header, and of course yet another glorious use of lego!

"If you said, “Hey! That’s a TCP header diagram in Lego(TM)”, or perhaps, “Holy &^%@! That idiot made a TCP header diagram in Lego(TM)!”, then you’re exactly right! This is another one of those wild, wacky ideas that we dreamed up in the middle of one of my SANS classes (note to the SANS staff: shorter breaks might be a good idea). I bet my students never thought I’d actually do it."

Submission + - AlienBEware: Why You SHOULD build Your Own PC (igniq.com) 2

An anonymous reader writes: If you're thinking of paying for a company to build you your dream gaming PC, this article might open your eyes as to how much you are being ripped off.

"I am aghast to the nth degree at the exorbitant pricing of Alienware's flagship gaming PC with the build I specified. It boggles the mind thinking how this could actually be justified. I sincerely hope this is an eye-opener for anyone thinking of going for a pre-built gaming PC. Building one yourself is a piece of cake, and you'll save a whole lot of cash in the process and likely end up with something more powerful and ultimately more personal than a mass-production assembly line could ever conjure up."

Open Source

Submission + - 2010's Best Open Source Software (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: "The InfoWorld Test Center rounds up of the past year in open source, highlighting the best open source offerings in several software categories: 'The word "best" here can mean many things. It is sometimes equivalent to "most promising," "most surprising", "most subversive," "most unnerving," "most opportune," "most happening," or some weird, inchoate mixture of them all. The one thing it always means is "most useful" — to developers, IT administrators, and users on a business network.' From enterprise apps, to app dev tools, to platforms and middleware, to networking software, the list is expansive, including 39 hybrid license and community offerings."

Submission + - Futurama Writer Creates New Math Theorem (geekosystem.com)

kevin_conaway writes: In the latest episode of Futurama, writer Ken Keeler wrote and proved a new math theorem based on group theory. From the article:

We all knew the writing staff of Futurama was brainy, but this is something else. In the episode “The Prisoner of Benda,” the Professor and Amy use a new invention to switch bodies. Unfortunately, they discover that the same two brains can’t switch twice and have to come up with some equation to prove that, with enough people switching, eventually everyone will end up in their rightful form. To work out the ridiculous brain switching plot line, writer Ken Keeler (who also just happens to have a PhD in mathematics) ended up writing and proving an entirely new theorem

PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Stardock rescinds "Gamers Bill of Rights" (rockpapershotgun.com)

binarylarry writes: Stardock’s own Gamer’s Bill of Rights is no longer to be found on their site. That’d be the Bill of Rights featuring the proud bulletpoint:

“2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.”

You used to be able to find the bill right here.

PC Gamer are up in arms about it being unfinished in a similar manner to earlier Stardock release, DemiGod, which also came out earlier than its announced release date. PCG go on to quote a post from Stardock CEO Brad Wardell on the Quarter to Three forums in which he responds to a displeased customer, seemingly in absolute contradiction of his own Rule #2:

“the hostility in this thread exceeds my own tolerance for putting up with said hostility.

Also, to anyone, like you Ben, saying the game is like an “early beta” then well, please stay away from our games in the future. I consider it ready for release and if others disagree, don’t buy our games.”

We’ve contacted Stardock for a comment and are awaiting a response.

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