synapticflame

It's been a hectic week for me since I am a computer administrator at my local community college. Rather than say a lot of interesting things in many different threads, I thought it might be interesting to put many interesting things in a single thread and see what happens from there.

Interesting thing number one:

I teach a math class this semester. There's a better way to subtract that many people have never encountered. Instead of crossing out the number to the left when you borrow, put a 1 under the number you would have crossed out, down on the subtraction line. Just read the link... look for the section on subtraction, second image.

Interesting thing number two:

If you take digital photos, there is a free tool available from imagenomic that will reduce noise in your digital images. Here is a direct link to the Noiseware Community Edition v 2.0.3 for Windows XP. I have taken many many images with my digital camera and sometimes I need to use a high ISO setting to avoid a blurry image. This thing works magic

Interesting thing number three:

Three will have to wait - I have to do some other stuff now. I'll add a post to this thread when I get a minute to myself

The black spot sneaker is an interesting "anti-brand". This is designed to be a shoe that stands for everything Nike doesn't but should. From the company web site:

Made from organic hemp in a Portuguese union shop, everything about the Blackspot, from its red toe tip and hand-drawn anti logo to its renegade billboards and TV ads, is designed to kick Phil Knight�s [derriere]. We�re aiming to cut into his market share, unswoosh his swoosh and give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry.

Worth at least a quick read.

I was reading a discussion on how Google can afford to offer 1GB of email per user, and it ends up making sense - for email. One of the essential things that makes it work is how each user's disk space

a) is pretty much only accessed by that one person

is filled up slowly or not at all

Both of these conditions fail when you try to apply them to web hosting.

Caveman - lol... I've thought the same thing. Good thing google's corporate policy is to not be evil! (item 6) Glad I trust them! Is that a mistake? Maybe...

...not talking about Style XP, the XP theme installer.... talking about using styles in Word XP, as in the document editor. Oh well.

My new year's resolution is 1280x1024.You knew someone would say it.Really though, I want to get back in shape, get a car and a house, and meet someone new.

This is such a hard choice... I don't think either choice is optimal. I went to a wireless-enabled college, and I found this solution optimal: get a desktop and a laptop! Just get an old or used laptop that you can work on but not play on... since you have wireless access, your laptop can always "call home" to the desktop, letting you use the desktop as the real workhorse. Gaming on desktops is always better than on laptops anyway. The laptop won't wear out as fast cause you'll only use it when you're "out". For the cost of a good PDA you can get a laptop that's a few years old... maybe as fast as 1 Gigahertz, with a basic graphics card and wireless access. Use the laptop as a portable connection to your desktop, and you're all set!

I got COALS. Just kidding. My family exchanges gifts on January 6, Three Kings Day. So I don't know what I'm getting yet. But I will be getting myself a car. Yay!

I use MS Word XP all the time. I use the Styles feature in most of my documents along with semantic markup so that I have a consistent look across the whole document that I can change easily. If you don't know what I'm talking about, nevermind. But if you do....

I like to have my paragraphs separated by some vertical whitespace, so I edit the Normal paragraph style (space after: 0.75 line). The topmost part of the styles pane shows the "Formatting of selected text". When I apply the Normal style to something, instead of simply saying "Normal" in that field, it says "Normal + After: 0.75 line". However, the 0.75 line shouldn't be an extra thing on just this text, it's part of the Normal style, since I edited the style to add the spacing.

 

Has anyone else seen this behavior before?

Does anyone else even use styles?

Also check out http://www.deviantart.com/ - lots of art in different categories, and it just keeps growing. If you're an artist, you should consider joining! They have everything available for download of course, but they also sell prints of your work if you want. A very active community. Check it out!

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas HofstadterGodel is a mathematician who proved that any useful consistent symbolic system is incomplete.Escher is an artist whose drawings contain self-referential themes, tesselations, and paradoxes.Bach is a master musician whose music contains mathematical elements for the keen observer to notice.This is a FABULOUS book.

Where do you see yourself in the near future?

Working at my community college as a computer administrator.

Where would you be?

Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, Earth, Solar System, Universe.

What would you do?

Fix stuff, help noobs, program stuff, go to meetings.

Are you married?

Not yet.

Any kids?

See above...

 

WHAT????????? SPILL!!!

Hey! I was drinking that!

It's out!!!!! Will be released for PC on February 5 2005. YEAH!The first game was amazing. This looks even better :DWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!Ok, seriously. SWKOTOR was game of the year in 2003 - it's a roleplaying turn-based combat game. You aren't limited by the turn-based combat, though. I know some folks who play entirely in realtime. You control the main character and whichever party members you choose to bring with you. You can pause combat and queue up actions for each party member. Your choices have a ginormous impact on your surroundings. This has to be one of my favorite games of 2003. I have nothing but high hopes for the sequel.

Red Dwarf as in the british BBC program?

 

With rimmer and lister and criton and all that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes smeghead ... the link mentions that the actor for Kryton was the main source of information

Besides, there can only be one Red Dwarf.

Dot Pitch:

The distance between a dot and the closest dot of the same colour (red, green or blue) on a color CRT. Dot pitch is typically from 0.28 to 0.51 mm but large presentation monitors may go up to 1.0 mm. The smaller the dot pitch, the crisper the image, 0.31 or less provides a sharp image, especially when displaying text.

Dot pitch measurements between conventional tubes and Sony's Trinitron tubes are roughly, but not exactly comparable. Sony's CRTs use vertical stripes, not dots, and its measurement is the distance between stripes, not the diagonal distance between dots.

So lower dp (dot pitch) means less distance between the pixels, and therefore more detail. This is really important for LCD monitors because unlike CRTs, the pixels are fixed in place.

Lower DP = more detailed image

Wow... a movie... that would be smeggin' awesome! The plot sounds reminiscent of Star Trek's borg but with Red Dawrf I'm sure it will be original and hilarious. Red Dwarf is such a classic series that they should have no trouble promoting the movie.

Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game and Alvin Maker series)

Isaac Asimov (Foundation series)

Neil Postman (Technopoly, Amusing Ourselves to Death)

Douglas Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach)

Michael Crighton (The Sphere, The Weapon)

Madeline L'engle (A Swiftly Tilting Planet, And Both Were Young)

C. S. Lewis (The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia)

These are my initial picks anyway...

I imagine you're talking about intelligent agents. http://www.agentland.com/ has a good compilation of these - sometimes it's hard to believe there's not a person at the other end of the conversation.

If you liked the virtual bartender, there's another website that uses video in response to things you type: http://www.subservientchicken.com/. This is an instance of viral advertising for Burger King, but it's creatively done, and oddly humorous.

Thanks - I can identify with you a lot better now. It's hard to be someone's friend when they're doing things like that to push you away, and at the same time trying to manipulate you into accepting them. I know, because I've had friends like that. Hang in there man!

Go to imageshack and upload an image. It will give you the address for the image in a bunch of different formats. The unique thing about imageshack is that you don't have to register! The image stays on the server forever.

An english teacher said a Redwall book was too hard for her???!!! This is not how things are supposed to be!

 

If you want another good series to start, you might enjoy the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. I am sure that you are up to the intellectual level of the series, even if your english teacher isn't!

If it breaks the TOS of the game, then it's illegal. The TOS is a legally binding contract between you and the company that made the game.I know that some websites get around this by offering their resource on an honor system... i.e. ROM sites have a disclaimer saying that you may only download a ROM if you own the original game cartridge. That way, if there is something illegal about someone downloading a ROM, the site is protected, since the person using the site agreed to the site's terms.This, in my opinion, is still immoral, if not outright illegal, since the owner of the site is aware that his/her visitors don't generally own the original game.Overall verdict... no.

Renegade-designs, I would suggest that your friend is probably a robot, being controlled from outer space by aliens from another galaxy. He probably has his "parents" under hypnotic control, and is using his experiences manipulating his classmates and teachers as practice for the day when he will finally rule the world, with a fist of iron and a funny expression on his face!

He probably doesn't have feelings, or reallywant any friends. I bet he likes being a loner. I've been the loner in the past, and I can tell you, the last thing he wants is a friend. He probably has tons of friends outside of school. Your best bet is probably to continue rejecting him and making fun of him with your friends.

 

(Apologies in advance for the *very* heavy sarcasm!)

Higher level mathematics don't just teach math skills - they are an introduction to more complex modes of thought, as well as an introduction to higler learning in general. Students who like calculus are probably more likely to work towards a math or science degree... and this country certainly needs more mathematicians and scientists!

This is a completely painless process, which is guaranteed to help you MAKE $$$$ FAST!!! This technique has allowed many people to make lots of $$$$ on their computer, from the comfort and convenience of their own home! I am sharing this offer with you out of the goodness of my heart; I do not stand to benefit from your $$$$. Here are the easy steps!

Step 1: Hold down the Shift key.

Step 2: Press the number "4" near the top of the keyboard.

Step 3: Go back to Step 1 and do it again until you have lots of $$$!

This method is GUARANTEED to produce $$$$ EFFICIENTLY and EASILY. And it's COMPLETELY FREE!

If you were to post a URL for the document, perhaps we could help you solve the problem more easily.