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i see your points...

would those sweat shops have existed if there hadn't been someone constantly wanting the products they were putting out at fantastically low prices? probably, but i'd like to think that in a more stable economy (i.e. one not in the middle of economic war for mere survival), they might not have.

on a similar note: have you ever read this book?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871564378/102-26 73450-3603322?st=*&v=glance&n=283155

this is an absolutely superb book that tries to quantify exactly how greedy we are when compared to the majority of the humans on the planet...

indeed, there are plenty of people the world over who take advantage of others, to be sure. i'm still thinking we "westerners" tend to be better than most at it...

there's just too much history to suggest otherwise...

Somehow I picture that like these guys do: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578200997/

Step 1: Write better content.

Yup. Elements of Style. Read it.

It's not plagiarising if you name your source. Insightful my ass.

When I interviewed at medical school a couple of years ago my interviewer asked me to name an ethical question and give arguments for both sides. I told him that I had recently read an interesting book that had a chapter describing how an opthalmologist had patented a certain surgical technique and demanded royalties from another opthalmologist who had independently discovered it and had been lecturing on his use of it.

The arguement against this sort of practice is easily the moral high ground, especially in a profession such as medicine which has a tendency to idealize altruism and selflessness. (Not that we succeed all of the time, mind you.) The counter-argument is the old line about creators being entitled to profit from their inventions. This argument is probably stronger in the entertainment industry, but in medicine it's pretty weak.

Proprietary software is actually a big problem in medicine, especially when patient data has to be exchanged between hospitals. I've seen entire imaging studies redone simply because the doctor who needed to see it didn't have the right software to view them. It's absurd to have to repeat an MRI for such a stupid reason.

I've actually considered doing a dual degree program and getting an MD/JD, with a legal specialty in intellectual property law. I predict that the intersection of medicine and IP law will be the scene of an important and bitter battle in the next few decades.

So how did my interview go? I got accepted!

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For example, Intel is designing Xeon2 completely in Bangalore, India! That is an entire product line moved to India. This is very similar to Intel's strategy of moving most mobile chip work to Israel (well, they won the internal product war).

This is a well established phenomenon now. Why hire Indians in the US, when you can hire the same folks in India for 1/4th the price. For Indians, why work in the US, when you can work in your homeland and live a very comfortable life (perhaps more so because money goes a longer way in India in terms of domestic help, etc).

SG

Time is indeed valuable, but where in a professional setting would the equilivent of "lol" be acceptable? I can't think of anywhere I would use that, and in person or in writing most "professionals" would never dream of using that type of reduced language either.

If a person is really so busy as to be bombarded by instant messages non-stop, maybe they should evaluate what percentage are really critical and ignore the rest? That time/money saying is really all about time management!

A great book about Time Management (by the way) is "The Time Trap" by R. Alec MacKenzie.

Well ya. What's your point?

evenprime wrote: > IQ does not change significantly after age 7 or so.

Got a reference handy?

The g Factor.

As muchas I hate to link to Amazon, The Rediscovery of Man is a fantastic collection, containing all the mandatory stories. Which, really, would be all of them.

Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) wrote about this in 1982.

And how exactly are you measuring demand? ;-)

I'm curious at the moderation though, here I was thinking this was funny... For everyone else, this might be a good read.

For what it's worth, I currently have all 14 episodes of Firefly on my iPod. It's as simple as:

1. Buying the DVDs.

2. Converting the DVD video to MP4.

While the option to purchase the episodes individulally would be nice, if you have an urge to listen to the "Hero of Canton" during your commute, this is a good solution.

Don't forget this one... oh but that's too scary for him....

I think there's some sci-fi book where the loser and his lawyer dies. That might work too, but I don't think most people would go for that.

You might be thinking of the Gowachin courtarena in "The Dosadi Experiment". It's nicely described here. Good book.

Can be found @ Amazon (VHS format). -- Not available as of this writing.

There seems to be some major problems with the Norton AntiVirus 2006. Some people are reporting that they have dead PCs, some have performance problems, while others are finding that they can't get the product to activate properly. Infoworld Symantec installs snafu and Amazon.com Norton AntiVirus 2006 reviews

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Or for something a little more software-related, try Showstopper by G. Pascal Zachary.

Send them the book Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. Great read for you and your family if you ever want to explain what it is you do every day. From a review: "A hilarious but frighteningly real look at geek life in the '90's". Extra bonus if you actually happend to live in Silicon Valley (not a requirement). Heh, if you have been an engineer for more then a decade this book is going to freak you out as much as it is going to make you love your lifestyle.

Enjoy.

just as alcohol kills braincells, TV has a direct affect on the brain, by atrophying those parts that involve creativity.

I know this really isn't the point of your post, and although I haven't read the book myself, I find the ideas proposed by Steven Johnson in his book "Everything Bad is Good For You" an interesting counter-argument to the idea that "TV makes you stupid." Television is steadily growing more complex, and requires more thought and concentration to follow it. For example, TV-shows were initially developed for an audience of people at their intelligence levels. So there were shows with 2-4 main characters, who had very simple, understandable relationships (husbands and wives, parents and children, coworkers - think "I Love Lucy" or something similar). Now television programs have more main characters who have more complex relationships and their connections can be unclear or ambiguous. ("ER" might be an example of such a show - a dozen or so main characters, some romantically involved, some not, and some you suspect). So while you're not learning math or another language by watching something like that, you learn a little bit about complex social networks (or a Hollywood-ized version of them) and use more brainpower than you think.

So, even though Intel et al are right now sampling with 65nm chips, since most ASIC companies still have to move to 90nm, I believe the move to finer geometeries will be even slower than before.

Which is why a lot of us think that it's time for governments to be replaced by insurance companies. For a good intro to the concept, see David Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom: A Guide to Radical Capitalism. Why deal with one monopolistic insurance company that forces you to be a customer, when you can accomplish the same thing with a bunch of competing companies that have to get your business by providing good service, instead of by pointing guns at you?

There are tons of bad sci-fi movies about man-made, or at least man-caused, seismic activity.

This is a little bit of a spoiler, but for a little different take, check out Jonathan Franzen's novel "Strong Motion" and get extra English Lit. points for reading a real author.

> they've rolled a car over it without any ill effects

So what did the I-pod select then? "Under pressure"? Something from the Crash Test Dummies?

Clearly nothing from the Beastie Boys.

$200 sounds promising, and I'd be amazed at any release version above $300.

As for the controller... I'm wondering that too. I think it will be very pick up and play, but for those of us who have been using mice, keyboards and joypads for the last decade or two, I don't think a controller that's easy to learn to use, is anything special. Beyond that, I've heard suggestions it would be great for sword fighting, golf and fishing.

Fishing controllers are nothing new:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 01P4YN

Same for golf:

http://www.qmotions.com/

So... it's good for sword fighting? Don't get me wrong, I think this will rock for anyone that's picking up a console controller for the first time, and it's good that Nintendo are trying new things, but I don't think this is some miracle controller that we'll wonder how ever did without...

Here's a summary: http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/win-f riends.html

I'm a registered GM with the RPGA (the organized play arm of WotC), so I can help you out:

1. Pick up Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies. I flipped through it, and it was a very good guide for learning Dnd if you know absolutely nothing about the game.

2. Pick up the Players Handbook. Make sure you get version 3.5e. You don't actually need the Dungeon Master's guide and Monster Manual right away, but do get them some day. Each of the core set can be had for around 20 bucks from Amazon, but if you can afford a little extra, buy them from a local game shop. Its important to support them.

3. Find a place to play. I would recommend a local hobby and/or game shop. Its the most popular game out there, and the oldest, chances are someone out there is playing it. Ask the shopkeep how to find a game. If you can't, you can always start with an online version of the game. The largest and most popular way to play Dnd online is play by post. One of the best sites for that is DNDOG. They have a great community and plenty of people who would love to get another player into the game.

Good luck! Your welcome to email me at dm@aerthon.com if you have any additional questions.

I'm a registered GM with the RPGA (the organized play arm of WotC), so I can help you out:

1. Pick up Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies. I flipped through it, and it was a very good guide for learning Dnd if you know absolutely nothing about the game.

2. Pick up the Players Handbook. Make sure you get version 3.5e. You don't actually need the Dungeon Master's guide and Monster Manual right away, but do get them some day. Each of the core set can be had for around 20 bucks from Amazon, but if you can afford a little extra, buy them from a local game shop. Its important to support them.

3. Find a place to play. I would recommend a local hobby and/or game shop. Its the most popular game out there, and the oldest, chances are someone out there is playing it. Ask the shopkeep how to find a game. If you can't, you can always start with an online version of the game. The largest and most popular way to play Dnd online is play by post. One of the best sites for that is DNDOG. They have a great community and plenty of people who would love to get another player into the game.

Good luck! Your welcome to email me at dm@aerthon.com if you have any additional questions.

imho, dice man is the real world rpg. with board games and computer-aided simulations, player plays a role by immersing him/herself into the virtual world, whereas the diceman plays a role by living it. what can be more real than that?

> The problem is, there is no reason for Java to grow. It absolutely should not change. The whole point of Java is that it is a simple and elegant solution to most programming problems.

You can tell Sun not to work on Mustang then.

Java has bugs. The language needs to change.

> I don't use python, ruby, smalltalk or a veritable army of smaller, nimbler tools because they are smaller and nimbler! They move. Geeks play with them. I just want to work. I don't want my language changing out from under me.

Use ANSI C.

Why do you think the linux kernel is written in C?

> Until then, all I can do is beg sun to continue to defend my favorite language against those that want to add features, fracture it, etc.

Yes, all you can do is beg. But does Sun Microsystems Inc. care what you think? They will do whatever they have to do to maximize shareholder value, so, your begging is a waste of time.

> Seriously, if someone thinks they would prefer a more nimble language, why are they even concerned what sun does with Java? It is obviously not the language for them, and since Sun doesn't prevent you from making a similar language--feel free to do so and start modifying it.

Yes, that is true. And that is why the geeks have moved on. Geeks, I'll have you know, are not pimply-faced 19 year olds in basements. I'm typing from the second floor of a fortune 200 building while listening to a veery boring meeting with my netcom headset. We use java, and we use COBOL, and asp, and .net, and python. I develop tools in python when management asks: Can you do this in 10 minutes? And they know I use python. We use the languages that make sense. Using Java is making less sense each passing day.

> What is the advantage of opening Java over the users you listed just creating a similar related language or set of languages? In your previous post you never addressed that.

You can keep running whatever version of the VM you like (and it probably won't be touched at all except for maybe some securiy-critical back-ports). We're not stopping you. I'm talking about Java 3, 4 and 5 in 2007, 2010 and 2013.

"Standing on the shoulders of giants."

> Can't you admit that different programmers need different things, and that java is just what I need, and that sun opening it would simply ruin it for me and not help anyone else (since nobody is preventing them from creating their own now?)

I absolutely think the appropriate programming languages should be used for the tasks at hand. Sun can do whatever they want, and you can do whatever you want. But neither you or they should complain that nobody uses java in 8 years, and billions of lines of codes go to waste, including yours. What do you think is happening now with people that programmed all those client-server apps in VB5&6 in the 1995-2000 timeframe? Companies are setting up servers and terminal servicing into them to run "old" vb5 apps.

Sun it taking Java down that road.

I know. I was a VB programmer. I junked all that and deleted years of work because "it's obsolete".

By the way, Python started in 1991 to Java's 1995. Smalltalk goes back further. Java is the new kid on the block.

You really should take a look at python. You'll like it. I promise. Bruce Eckel agrees. See http://www.artima.com/intv/aboutme.html. You know Bruce, he's the guy who wrote "Thinking in Java", the de-facto bible of learning java programming.

I feel your pain and frustration, Bill, but in this world what you don't know can definitely hurt you. I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm trying to help you. (not-so-obscure movie line).

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Agreed.

Though a good book not for dummies that covers a lot of theory is Computer Graphics Prinicples and Practice by Foley and Van Dam.

I think the newer versions have C code instead of abstract code.

RFID readers get expensive mighty quick.

My dad just bought me RFID for Dummies(R)because I told him I was interested in 'em. Check out the TOC and Index @ Amazon. The book is geared towards the business aspects of evaluating & implementing an RFID system, but it still has good basic info.

I mostly want a reader for fun & to snoop on all those RFID access cards & key fobs.

Based on the SmartDeck's reviews, I think I'm gonna pass.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00093040Y/qid=11 33479100/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0973299-2753751?n =507846&s=electronics&v=glance

No, wait, c'mere! There's Moore!

See the amazon page for more info. Great as a Christmas gift. Also Hannukah, New Years, and even National Pie Day (December 2nd in the US).

Someone comes along and enters something illegal: how to be a sniper

Illegal? I don't think so.

The Iron Dragon's Daughter [http://www.michaelswanwick.com/revan/daughter.htm l, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380730464/002-93 45583-9077633?v=glance&n=283155%5D will probably be much more suitable to adults, but reading it as a boy was like peering into a secret world adults would never like me to see until I was their age.

Actually, the decline in murder rates corresponds to increased economic performance under Clinton.

You can't really prove anything by correlation. Quite a few things changed over that tiime period. Levitt and Dubner, in "Freakonomics" make a pretty persuasive case that the decline in crime is due to easier access to abortion.

What we can say, however, is that if violent TV, movies, and videogames do not actually reduce real-world violence, then any pro-violence effect of these influences must be small relative to other social, economic, and demographic factors

Mixing violent TV shows with a culture of guns is dangerous. The stats show it - 3x the murder rate.

So are you claiming that the US did not have a higher murder rate than Canada prior to violent US TV shows? It's a bit risky to compare statistics collected with different methodology, but this chart doesn't seem to support the notion that a greater crime rate in the US than Canada is a particularly modern phenomenon. Looking at these data, one would tend to ascribe the difference in crime rates to long-standing cultural differences rather than to modern entertainments.

Gimme my Trillian. I have the Pro version too for the plugin capability. Match this with the Plantronics DSP-400 headset ($39 at Amazon) and you have a great voice chat system that works with Yahoo Audio Chat and a number of others.

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50 bucks, though it's nice looking. For an ugly, cheap, but completely functional alternative, get a power strip and some of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000233WJ6/sr=1-1 9/qid=1133383020/ref=sr_1_19/104-4475143-9029561?_ encoding=UTF8

Another excellent resource on this theme is Translucent Databases by Peter Wayner.

Perhaps you should ask Mr Popper for help? There's a book about it.