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skeptic

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Everything posted by skeptic

  1. " I just hope you don;t have any XM stock, because Sirius has been spanking it..." XM has twice as many subscribers at the moment. Xm also had 64% of the retail market for satellite radios in July. Todays Sirius stock price is 6.53 $ currently.XM's stock price is 35.55 $ currently. Yeah...you must have a very strange definition of "spanking it". But I guess a 7 X stock price is because XM sucks so much. Side Note: I know that stock price does not in any way reflect which station has better programming, etc. I just thought it was amusing that the above post seems so far off base in reference of stock prices and market share.
  2. I prefer the Comedy and Alt-rock programming on XM.
  3. All of the vulnerabilities on the linked page are TROJANS not viruses or worms. Just as I was saying, I have never seen a Mac os X virus in the wild. The are basically scripts that run "rm -rf *" or something similar with a changed icon. I never said apple wasn't using BSD code. What I said is, it is not "simply freeBSD with a gui on top". It is a blend of BSD subsystems, the XNU kernel (which has BSD and MACH code). It is not a re-branded freeBSD, it is a completely new system, Darwin. "Mach is the elegant Carnegie Mellon rewrite of the UNIX kernel which has been employed by almost every major UNIX since NEXTStep in 1989." First of all, I am not sure what you mean by "the UNIX kernel". There are A LOT of UNIX kernels around, not just one. The rest of the message is also incorrect, I have no idea where you got it from, if it is correct, I would like to see a link. Mach is a kernel. Linux is a kernel it does not use MACH code. SGI has a kernel for their *NIX, it does not use MACH code. Sun Solaris does not use MACH code. I could go on and on. I would say that NO major UNIX except NEXTStep and Mac OS X use MACH technology.(I know know, you are going to bring up HURD, or MASIX and say they are major, well they aren't.) So what Major UNIX systems are using the MACH kernel?
  4. "there ARE viruses and spyware that can effect the MaC" Can you please list them? Perhaps with urls to their descriptions? Because, except for some proof of concept trojans, I have not seen any viruses or spyware. There are system vulnerabilities, as with most unix systems, however I have seen no automated worms or viruses or spyware which exploit them. "The Mac is simply FreeBSD (Berkeley UNIX) with Apple's GUI residing 'on top'" I disagree with this. It is not a freeBSD kernel. It is the XNU kernel, which is based on some MACH code with a BSD subsystem. Apple has done a lot more than throw a GUI onto a stock BSD system.
  5. I have not seen any virus in the wild for Mac OS X. Even if there were, due to the fact that normal users on Mac boxes aren't administrators, the user would have to enter their admin password to install the virus. While it is possible to create a virus for Macs, this would slow their spread. There have been a few trojans for macs, but so far they have been rather benign. Again, spyware is possible with a Mac, but so far they have not been created, and to have the same effect as they do on windows you have to enter your admin password when prompted.
  6. "well actually this one had a plot as opposed to the first one." blah. House of a thousand corpses was excellent, this movie was lacking in decent cinematography , decent direction, writing, plot, pacing... I'm still trying to figure out if Rob Zombie got lucky with HOATC, or if Devils Reject was just a mistake.
  7. I RMA'd my Karma recently, and got an Ipod photo . Best Buy took my old one and gave me a 30 gig Ipod photo for the 40$ price difference. Sound quality is good so far with the grado cans, and better battery life. -m
  8. "Thanks for the testimonial. Your decision to try the "Cold Heat" soldering contradicts your forum ID." Naaah, as a skeptic I try everything, just to see if it actually works It didn't hurt that I didn't buy this, a engineer in my company did, and he left it in a shared toolbox for others to try.
  9. Works pretty well. I've only used it once, so I'm not sure how the batteries will last. It takes a little bit of getting used to, instead of heating up and staying hot like a normal soldering iron, it works like a arc welder (at least thats what it looked like to me). Electrical current is going to each of 2 prongs at the end of the tip. When the solder goes between them it completes the circuit and heats up, basically like you have a short. As soon as you stop, it cools down in seconds. Its worth the 20$ we paid for it, I doubt it would be as useful for a professional who uses it all day, but for a hobbisyt , or someone who does light work its pretty neat.
  10. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=holla+back+girl&defid=1182906 "A person who verbally postures (hollers back) in an argument and does not step up and fight. Gwen says she is not a holla back girl, implying that she will fight if challenged."
  11. >Why did you post it if you didn't think that there were any spots left? Good Question. >Why did you make mention of the bundle if it isn't relevant? Good Question. >Why do you assume that you're the only (or at least preeminent) technology professional in the >crowd? That one is easy, noone else here even OWNS a computer besides him I bet. "I am getting a quesy feeling that maybe I shouldn't have posted this! As if lots of folks simply run in like they are at ToysRUs it is going to raise quite lot of suspicion, as you will stand out!" I didn't know it was a secret, I don't want to stand out, I guess maybe I should wear pants when I go. Is that correct attire so I don't stand out?
  12. "The whole extended warranty thing pisses me off. ". You def. have to be smart about what you buy it for, but I have found the extended warranties to be a very very good value. For example, I bought an MP3 player (350$ dollars, around that) several years ago (maybe 3-4). It broke after 2-3 years. I took it back, and they gave me a mp3 player of the same value (rio karma) and I rebought the extended warranty for 50$. I had that for a year, and I dropped it, and it broke. I took it back, and they gave me an ipod photo, and I rebought the extended warranty for 50$. So I total have spend 450$ , and gone thru 2 350$ players, and now have an Ipod. Im sure it doesn't work out as good for everyone, but thats the risk. Expensive small electronics that are easy to break, and def. worth the investment. I have the warranty on my Nikon D70, and hopefully I'll never need it. I have had and used the best buy warranty on enough items to know that it probably doesn't pay for large, non-mobile electronics, but for me anything I cart around on a regular basis gets the warranty.
  13. The answer to the 5-7 thing is basically, it makes no sense as posted. It is part of a slightly larger bit, that at least makes a little bit of sense. Oh yeah, and I don't know why it involves blondes here. "Under my bed I have shoe box full of telephone rings. Whenever I get lonely I open it up just a bit and I get a call. One time I dropped the box all over the floor and the phone wouldn't stop ringing, so I had it disconnected. I bought a new phone though. I didn't have much money so I had to buy an irregular phone--it had no number 5 on it. I saw a close friend of mine the other day... He said, "Steven, why haven't you called me?" I said, "I can't call everyone I want. My new phone has no five on it." He said, "How long have you had it?" I said, "I don't know . . . My calendar has no sevens on it."" To really "get it" (not that there is anything to get) you need to look at Steven Wrights other stuff, its just that kind of odd humor. -m
  14. I was 100% wrong. I am eagerly awaiting what will happen in the future, I am currently trying to get my employer to get a Apple Intel development kit. As a long time Mac user, I hope this move doesn't hurt them, as in my eyes with os x they were just picking up new users, who were mostly technically savvy as opposed to design. My new Quad processor Opteron box arrives Monday, I'd love to have OS X running on that...ohwell. -m
  15. "And Apple scaring IBM??? Hardly! As mentioned earlier, the G5 is a downsized reverse engineered version of the smallest previous generation Power4 cpu. And IBM is NOT motivated to push Apple's well being at the expense of their other 'low' power blades." Yeah, I don't care who you are, losing a customer is losing a customer. They profit from having apple use powerPC chips, Apple leaving means losing some sort of profit. It may not be a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but its still losing money. By doing a "were gonna switch any day now!" kind of thing, Apple can keep some pressure on IBM for not being able to deliver the goods. "Bottom line, what is selling in this space are cheap commoditized X86 boxes. NOT proprietary RISC architectures, despite their many performance advances! Face it, if Linux did not run on X86 no one would care about Linux!!" I don't agree. I don't think anyone cares what architecture their home computer is running on, as long as it works. Linux on x86 was important because it was a homebrew effort to run an OS on a machine type that was available to the most people. Apple is not the same, they are a HARDWARE vendor first. " But if Apple is to move into the mainstream, they must address the X86 platform." I disagree, as I have said, I don't think anyone cares what platform they have, as long as it works (well home customers anyway, who represent a huge market) ", and it cannot effectively compete in the Windows and Linux space as it does not run on commoditized X86 hardware." Again, Apple can not let mac os x run on "commoditized" hardware, as they are a hardware company, who makes Mac OS X to sell you the hardware. They could switch this approach, but I fail to see it happening. They need you locked into only using their hardware. "The fact is, the Mac will not increase its market share substantially by riding on a proprietary platform, regardless of how elegant I think it is. " And I think they can "And I am tired of waiting for this long for a G5 Powerbook!" I am in violent agreement.
  16. Sfogg - "OSX is a microkernel OS" Not really. Mach is a microkernel, the Mac os X kernel is called XNU. It contains code based on mach, it does not use Mach as a microkernel. The BSD Layer is actually a PART of the kernel, not run in user-space. Which breaks the idea that is a microkernel. -M
  17. I'll believe this switch when I see it. I don't think Apple will (or can) switch to an X86 architecture, going from 32 general purpose registers on a CPU down to 8 I believe on x86 is a killer. Apple is not going to break backward compatibility, I mean, you can still run 0S 7-9 on your G4-G5 Mac os X box through emulation. Why go through all that trouble, and now drop support? So that leaves emulation to support the current set of Mac os X applications. It can not be done with any reasonable speed at the moment, with a lot of that going to the lack of registers. Emulation of an x86 box on a PowerPC is MUCH easier, as you can see with products like Virtual PC , that run Windows on a PowerPC box at a very usable speed (I'd say 80 percent speed of native or so). Look at emulation of Mac os X on X86, it runs at 5% native performance. Not going to be acceptable. If Apple did switch to Intel, it would have to be to a new Intel chip, or a PPC chip that Intel makes. I don't see either of these things happening. This is right at a time when all 3 major game consoles are switching to using PowerPC chips (isn't the new X BOX going to be using THREE powerpc chips in it?) This means higher volume, and lowering price for PowerPC chips in general. This is the worst time possible for Apple to make the switch. I see this as Apple trying to scare IBM and force them to pay attention, a scare tactic and nothing more. This is NOT an official Apple release, and is just a rumor. I'd put money on the fact that this won't be released at WDC , and not for a long time or ever after that. -M
  18. I have the Marantz sr8200. You may want to try doing a search for sr8200 in the forums as well. I don't know off the top of my head how the sr8400 differs, but I bet it's just a little more power, or some other slight upgrades. The SR8200 is built very well, and I think it sounds great. I have been nothing but happy with it. Seems to me to have a very smooth sound, which sounds really good to me with Klipsch speakers. I'm busy so I'm not going to go into further details, but if you have any specific questions send me a PM. Oh yeah, and the remote I got with the SR8200 rocks, touch screen, huge, best remote I've ever used. Ive never used any Denon receivers, so I can't compare. -M
  19. No problem here, I would never consider it myself either, and it certainly isn't attractive to me.However, I am sure to some people it is the bee's knees. But then again, a lot of them probably wouldn't understand our speaker addiction, and would call US crazy!
  20. I always find it strange that when I get into conversations with people who hate piercings , I usually ask if their wife/gf/mother has her ears pierced. They usually respond with "thats different, its normal, everyone does it". So basically, it is more of a cultural idea, for a majority of our current culture, people accept without even thinking about the piercing of some body parts, and not others. This majority seems to fall mostly in the older age groups. While a large subgroup of that culture , mostly in the early 30's, 20s age groups, feel that piercing can be fine, not just ear piercing, but anywhere. Most of them claim it is about individuality, expression of their ideas of beauty. Who can question that? Even the conservative generation uses ear rings to accessorize and enhance their beauty, if the younger generation feels a belly button ring that matches their dress does the same thing, who can argue that one is better than the other? "The next statement I make is usually 'the trailer park called, they want their trash back'." I think that statement is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Gee, how clever, because someone has a piercing, they obviously are below you, and probably live in a cheaper housing then you. Bravo. The instant someone gets a piercing they instantly fall into a sub-class of humans that dwell in trash heaps. You don't have to think body piercing enhances beauty, you may like the way people look better without any piercing, but there is no need to trash someone because of their feelings. Its like art (some would say it is art) and it is subjective, you don't like it? No one is forcing you to get it done. Live and let live. -M
  21. "woh there, macs support nvidia cards? If so that's a new one for me, lol." Yes. Macs have drivers for NVIDIA cards, some Macs ship with NVIDIA cards by default,other you can customize to have an NVIDIA card installed. Macs and PCs both use PCI and AGP (mostly) for graphics cards, so except for some special exceptions you can just plugin an NVIDIA card into a mac and go. -M
  22. My marantz is a pretty new model, a HT receiver, SR-8200. I spend a lot of time in HT, but recently have been doing more and more 2 channel listening. When I was auditioning receivers I listen to all the major brands, and thought the Marantz were the best match, a very smooth warm sound to me compared to the other brands, but still in your face enough to be dynamic sounding. Remember I am comparing the sound of Corns and tubes at Joe's, to Marantz and Heresys at my place. When I get the Cornwalls hooked up to the Marantz I'll atleast be able to judge a little better if it was more the speakers I was hearing, or the amps. When I left to get them, I explained to my GF that they were going to be pretty big, but I bet she never thought theyd be THIS big. She puts up with my habit though, so I'm sure it will go over smoothly. Thanks guys, I just wish I didn't have to go work this week so I could just sit and listen all night! -Mike
  23. The Corns are at my apartment! Unfortunately my slacker friends are out getting food so I have to wait for them to help me unload them. The bad news is after listening to Joe's setup, I am feeling the upgrade bug. My technics turntable and solid state Marantz receiver should definitely watch out, or when I have some more money they may find themselves homeless. I'm sure I'll post more when I get them setup and have a listen. I can't say enough about how great Joe was. I got to listen to his tubes, heard a song on his La Scalas, and then a few tunes on the Corns. Then he let me pick through his albums and take a few of his doubles, unbelievably nice. His setup really sounds great. Due to my temporarily being stuck in a tiny apartment I won't get to crank them up like he did, but soon Ill be in my house and I can give them some power. Hopefully speaker-wise I'll be content for awhile...but then again those la scalas sounded pretty darn good.... -Mike
  24. Joe , I tried to send you a PM, but kept getting forum errors, so if you have 4 PMs that are identical, it's because I kept trying and kept getting errors. It never said it went through though, so maybe you'll get none!
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