Search found 73 matches

by Paul
Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:25 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Wow! ipods are crap! arn't they?!
Replies: 29
Views: 1415

itunes uses too much processing power. Now itunes wouldn't be such a big problem if the computer my fiend owns was better than a Pent4 2.4Ghz system with 2gigs of ram. I reformatted this system to do nothing else other than hold media for the ipod. And I only have a few select codecs for playing me...
by Paul
Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:45 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: An Evolution Question
Replies: 95
Views: 7263

Prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria, are relatively simple and have no nuclei. It is believed they evolved first then absorbed other prokaryotes and became eukaryotes - complex cells that have nuclei and structures like the energy-producing mitochondria. Article , more background OK, I was wrong ab...
by Paul
Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:50 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: An Evolution Question
Replies: 95
Views: 7263

Birds, Palz, Mercury - since you all asked - here's my fuller opinion on 'systems winding up', and why I find the idea of evolution so implausible. Sorry for the ressurection, but I just came along the following two paragraphs while reading The God Delusion . I would recommend that book to anyone i...
by Paul
Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:48 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: CEOs out of control
Replies: 39
Views: 3171

Probably the board thing... without doing any research, I'm guessing he was probably pulling in close to $100 million a year salary, and got frequent and large bonuses and stock options on top of that... but yeah, it is rather sickening.
by Paul
Fri Oct 20, 2006 9:01 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: SNAP! Or crap?: Invisibility Cloak Yahoo Headline
Replies: 7
Views: 759

I'd imagine there's also power loss involved in bending those rays, so strong enough rays could overwhelm the cloaking field and pierce through. You might be able to cloak from ground radar, but an AEW&C might see right through it. It's a passive technique, so power shouldn't really matter, unl...
by Paul
Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:51 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Losing our rights?
Replies: 59
Views: 3838

You only have a certificate of title to a car. the actual title belongs to the state. The car manufacturers ship the MSO to the state when the car leaves the assembly line. It was never yours, even if you paid cash. You used to own property/cars by Allodial title . This has changed sometime in the ...
by Paul
Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:29 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Losing our rights?
Replies: 59
Views: 3838

That does not imply a lack of ownership. It does imply a lack of complete and total ownership. So, since there are laws prohibiting murder, I guess that means we don't have complete and total ownership over any item that could potentially be used as a murder weapon, since we no longer have the righ...
by Paul
Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:48 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: The face of jihad.
Replies: 19
Views: 1772

I suppose if you walk down a street and get mugged it's your own fault for walking down that street...

But in the real world, the mugger should be arrested.
by Paul
Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:44 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Noam Chomsky
Replies: 8
Views: 998

9/11 was no suprise, we've been asking for it for years, screwing those countries over and over and over. We made Osama rich... if he really cared about his people so much, you'd think he would use the wealth we were giving him to help them... those countries are screwed over by their own corrupt l...
by Paul
Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:37 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Losing our rights?
Replies: 59
Views: 3838

I'm far too lazy to search for myself. Please enlighten me as to why I don't own the car I purchased myself. Cash purchase, not on a payment plan. I rent, but I suppose if I bought a house I would own it, too, and the land on which it stood. Slavery is illegal, so certainly no one else owns my body....
by Paul
Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:23 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Losing our rights?
Replies: 59
Views: 3838

As a US army/navy/air force person, you used to have a right under the Geneva Convention to be treated fairly. But bush **** that up, so if you are captured by the enemy then it's most likely you'll be tortured, because the US has been torturing its captives in violation of an international agreeme...
by Paul
Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:35 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Why all firearms must be outlawed.
Replies: 33
Views: 2884

Funny stuff, but where exactly doe this come from?:
15: Private citizens do not need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them, even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.
It seems like a decision worth knowing about.
by Paul
Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:15 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: This is just too creepy
Replies: 15
Views: 1168

Fetal dog chia pets??? :shock:
by Paul
Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:33 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: AIRBUS A380-800
Replies: 28
Views: 2801

Seems it doesn't work in the emergency, either! :D
by Paul
Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:33 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: AIRBUS A380-800
Replies: 28
Views: 2801

Dang, that thing is massive! Nice pictures, too! :D
by Paul
Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:53 am
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: An anteater looks like a cool pet!
Replies: 21
Views: 1069

I read somewhere they made stepping on ants illegal in Germany... would you be allowed to have a pet anteater?

I've never actually heard of a pet anteater before, anyway, though. :D
by Paul
Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:03 pm
Forum: Tech Forum
Topic: Why dual core?
Replies: 24
Views: 1482

Re:

THREE: "...however, if designed perfectly, a Dual core CPU could use one core to communicate solely with the GPU, and the other core to punch out the raw math. this function will soon be replaced by a PPU, but games have to support that, otherwise its useless." Having each CPU core do dif...
by Paul
Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:51 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: Censored? I think not.
Replies: 38
Views: 2708

Interestingly, seems like they were going to have Mohammed in there, but that got censored by Comedy Central, so they did Jesus instead. And, what do you know, it aired. At least, that's what this seems to indicate... I haven't seen it. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/13/southpark.muhammad.ap/...
by Paul
Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:40 pm
Forum: Ethics and Commentary
Topic: More lies
Replies: 65
Views: 4228

Re:

Cuda, Fern...you guys do understand this is Bush's 2nd term and he can't be voted back in? Seems to me we should all be wondering who is going to be the next president and how they will handle things. Might just be you'll be wishing for the good 'ole glory days of GWB. Yup, but he is trying to use ...
by Paul
Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:30 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Someone flipped me the bird.
Replies: 19
Views: 1239

mm, not often you actually get flipped a bird! :D
by Paul
Wed Apr 12, 2006 3:37 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Physics question
Replies: 23
Views: 1034

Oh, a real-world problem, huh? :P Yeah, in that case you'll have to consider inefficiencies, also... but that should be good as a rough approximation.
by Paul
Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:14 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Physics question
Replies: 23
Views: 1034

Wind resistance is 1/2*rho*v^2*A where rho is the air density, v is the speed, and A is the frontal area. This gives you a constant force opposing it at 50 MPH. But to find the HP, you need a power. However, thinking about the units is useful here. Power = Force x Distance / Time You have a force fr...
by Paul
Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:42 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Optical illusion.
Replies: 12
Views: 717

When you step back a ways they kind of look like they've switched positions...
by Paul
Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:35 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Scramjets
Replies: 15
Views: 2016

Re:

Taking an hour really isn't necessary to accelerate safely. The Blackbird could get from NewYork to London in under an hour. Mach 5 flight would really be advantagious in trans-Pacific flights which can take up to 14 hours. (That's real time) So ,yeah, it WOULD help. Even it was only to cut that ti...
by Paul
Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:34 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Will the Plane FLY?
Replies: 112
Views: 4902

Re:

Also, here's a video (3 MB .mov) I took of a project for school where we added a small wing to the front of a speedboat to try to induce a down pitching moment, and put it in a wind tunnel with a smoke stream. As you can see, we actually curved the airfoil the opposite way than normal, so that it w...
by Paul
Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:06 pm
Forum: Coders Corner
Topic: Need help on OpenGL projection stuff
Replies: 5
Views: 3177

It probably depends how your orientation matrices are defined... In Event Horizon, I use position as <x, y, z>, and then orientation in terms of angles around the axes. Here's the code I use: glLoadIdentity(); glRotatef( -sys->pitch, 1, 0, 0 ); glRotatef( -sys->roll, 0, 0, 1 ); glRotatef( -sys->angl...
by Paul
Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:38 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Will the Plane FLY?
Replies: 112
Views: 4902

Also, here's a video (3 MB .mov) I took of a project for school where we added a small wing to the front of a speedboat to try to induce a down pitching moment, and put it in a wind tunnel with a smoke stream. As you can see, we actually curved the airfoil the opposite way than normal, so that it wo...
by Paul
Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:35 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Will the Plane FLY?
Replies: 112
Views: 4902

Re:

Just for fun, I would be interested in trying to keep the plane from taking off but don't see how it could happen. In the original scenario, the conveyer could be built and a real plane put on it, then the problem could be acted out and the plane would take off. The hypothetical scenario of causing...
by Paul
Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:22 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: SnailMail spam Revenge!
Replies: 21
Views: 1280

Re:

Another great idea: go to your local grocery store, and buy several cans...no, CRATES of Spam meat. Let it sit overnight at room temperature. Just before you put them in the box, punch some holes in the top of each can. Make sure to make them just big enough to expose the meat inside to the air aro...
by Paul
Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:18 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Come See Mars and hop like a kangaroo with a giant head!!
Replies: 18
Views: 1205

Re:

Bet51987 wrote:On a side note, I feel sorry for Mars. We messed up this planet enough with global warming and now we have our sights on another to mess up. Sad. :(

Bee
Not really anything to mess up there... it's just a rock. :)
by Paul
Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:05 am
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Will the Plane FLY?
Replies: 112
Views: 4902

As an aerospace engineer, I can tell you that lift is proportional to the square of the relative wind speed. If the air is not flowing over the wing, the relative speed is 0, 0 squared is still 0, and anything proportional to that is also 0. Now, if the airplane is powerful enough (like some jet fig...
by Paul
Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:34 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: I thought she was nice
Replies: 15
Views: 961

I told one I knew a shady arms dealer in the area, and that he might be of assistance to use in our collective bilking in of the local government... never heard back. :D
by Paul
Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:27 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: MS launches an assault on phishers
Replies: 1
Views: 366

And the phishers are getting good... almost got me a couple weeks ago with a good eBay scam!
by Paul
Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:08 pm
Forum: Other 6DoF Game Efforts
Topic: New version adds a few nice things: EH 0.6.6
Replies: 1
Views: 9058

New version adds a few nice things: EH 0.6.6

New version adds a few nice things: EH 0.6.6 • Fixed backdrop location display • Fixed collision code • Added menu interface • Shield spots change color with shield strength • Added Saturn, reshaped Sol • Planets can have rings • Improved mouse control model • Multi-threaded Split into new topic to ...
by Paul
Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:00 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: quack
Replies: 16
Views: 999

Re:

Diedel wrote:Did it have chicken's influenza (or whatever it is called in English)? :P
Bird flu...
by Paul
Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:40 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Spore - Will Wright's new creation
Replies: 10
Views: 736

I heard about the presentation, but I'd never seen the video... this game looks like it should be awesome when it comes out!
by Paul
Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:53 am
Forum: Descent Old Skool
Topic: D1 MAC Trax
Replies: 7
Views: 1929

I have tracks 2-14 from the CD that came bundled with my 6400.
by Paul
Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:40 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Plasma Weapons?
Replies: 16
Views: 1024

Re:

Duper wrote:
Isaac wrote: "breakthrough technology" -gillette.com :shock:

Why on earth does anyone need 5 blades on one razor???
Five? Five is for pansies...

10-bladed razor

Yeah, just a spoof, but just you wait...
by Paul
Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:35 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Man, that's gotta be some kinda record
Replies: 13
Views: 880

One thing to note, though, is that everyone was given local access... it wasn't a remote exploit.
by Paul
Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:52 pm
Forum: Coders Corner
Topic: Java Help Take 2
Replies: 1
Views: 2411

I didn't run it, so I don't know what every problem you're having is, but I did notice this: if(taxStatus = S && income < 10000) taxAmount = income * taxRate1; else taxAmount = income * taxRate2; if(taxStatus = M && income < 20000) You need to have \"==\" instead of \"...