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• http://www.langston.com/Fun_People/1999/1999ALL.html
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• http://www.davehitt.com/jan02/tmmmda.html

I suppose at some point this will become an arms race - that is, telemarketers will be openly hostile and completely annoy every single person they call. I'll enjoy it!

Nice false dichotomy.
Smoking kills people who don't wish to participate,

Citation needed.

I'd say the odds of getting cancer from SHS are exactly the same as cancer from a cell phone.

Zero. Nada. Zip. Bupkis.

If you've fallen for the SHS myth, read, learn:

http://www.davehitt.com/facts

Here's something that might work: Ask, nicely.

Back in '99 I wrote an article about someone who threatened lawsuits against people who had posted his poem. Last summer I got an e-mail from him ,asking, not demanding, that I take the article down because it was the first thing that came up when someone searched on his name. It was ancient history and not something he was proud of.

I thought about it a bit, and, rather than remove the article, removed his name from it. It took about a month for Google to forget, but now when you search on his name the article is nowhere to be found.

If he had demanded that it be taken down, I would have laughed and ignored him. If he had threatened legal action, I would have blogged about it and brought it even more attention. But he asked. That made all the difference.

Just wait awhile, till it starts forgetting to record shows, or recording random crap you don't want. Or it records something, and won't let you watch it. Or just starts crashing. Or you get more than a few recordings on it, and the GUI becomes unusably slow. I've heard of so many failure modes - and the solution is always "well, we'll give you another box, and see what happens". Guess what - that never solves it, the new one starts doing the same thing before much longer. The GUI is by all accounts wretched, and pretty much universally loathed.

See this, or this, or this, or this, or this for some reviews of the steaming pile that SA calls a DVR. And in two months, let me know how that 8300HD is working for you.

Except for the fact that they really suck...

So now, not only are smoker responsible for 1000's of deaths from 2nd hand smoke, they are now responsible for global freaking warming?

Hehehe...geez. I mean, so far, not even the WHO's study on SHS shows a meaningful connections between SHS and lung cancer in non-smokers....

Lordy...if it is that bad, why not just make it against the law...or is this global warming connection thing the last nail in the coffin of tobacco smokers?

(Note: Former smoker here...trying to quit, but, againts all the laws disallowing smoking in bars or other privately owned establishments.)

Firstly, get off your high horse about being 'forced' to work. The way you're talking it seems you'd want to shut down half the country. Everyone has a choice, it might not be a very appealing choice, but it's still a choice. People die in certain jobs. Actually die. Miners, soldiers, oil rig workers...

If you don't want to work at a "dangerous" job, or one that infringes on your rights - DON'T. There's always another job, or at least welfare.


Oh, and the smoking thing? That shits as dangerous as putting a chip in your arm. I direct you to the facts.

Same principle as the boneheads who bitched about outlawing smoking in bars and then discovered that the young people and bar crowd still goes out but now so do the non smokers. Go figure.

Saying that the majority of the scientific community believes that global warming exists and is caused by humans is like saying the majority of the scientific community agrees that second-hand smoke causes cancer.

How many studies are there about the subject? How well were they conducted? These are the questions that aren't asked about global warming. People want to believe that human actions cause global warming, but the science isn't there.

Studies like this one are put out to remind people about global warming exists. Warm waters create stronger huricanes? Well, duh! That's nothing new. Saying this is only an excuse to talk about global warming.

It just doesn't seem logical to think that human actions cause global warming. This article uses data from, what 40 years? And the Earth is 4 billion years old? How can you make any kind of assumption on 0.000001 % of the total data?


Remember: it doesn't matter how many people believe you, it only matter that you're right.

You've got Google, use it. According to the budget explorer roughly 644 billion for health and human services and 475 billion for the DOD. And NASA? 15 billion. The Executive office of the President gets about 25 billion BTW.

Eliminate cigarettes and alcohol and you end up with a heck of a lot of money not being spent that could be used for any number of better things.

Well isn't that just a load of off topic flamebait. Yet here at Slashdot, that's what mods call Insightful!

Well, allow me to retort with a few "insightful" comments of my own. I smoke and drink and I say, go right ahead slick... You also eliminate cigarette and alcohol taxes. Oops! Forgot about that, didn't ya sport? So, your "money saved" is already being spent. Here's a better idea... Why don't we institute a fat ass tax on fast food and junk food. Then we can go for a diabeties tax on colas with caffeine... You know, those deadly addictive products with no warning labels. Then we can have All Kinds Of Extra Money to spend on things like space travel and research! ... No? Don't like the idea of taxing your twinkies? Well damn! I could've sworn heart disease was the number one killer in America. Pot, meet kettle.

Alright. Go ahead, mod me down you guys. I know you want to.

I am an ex-smoker. I smoked for about 8 years and quit just about two years ago. To me, most smokers are fairly courteous to non-smokers. Most are used to go outside, stand out of the way, and don't go blowing smoke into the path of anyone walking past.
            Anti-smokers seem to think that they have a right to tell other people what to do, primarily based on dislike. The EPA's environmental tobacco smoke study (the basis for most claims that secondhand smoke causes cancer) was tossed from court in the tobacco trials, because the work was shoddy (http://www.davehitt.com/facts/epa.html).
            So, if smoke doesn't hurt anyone but the smoker, then the premise of controlling smokers is about personal taste. That's not cool. You don't have a right to have people only say nice things to you and make nice smells around you. You have a right to live, but other people get to make decisions, like driving cars, whether or not to wear deodorant, eating food loaded with fat and cholesterol, etc. Smokers don't want you to smoke, and there's nothing wrong with telling kids that smoking is bad for them. But when an adult makes a decision about how they want to live, it should be respected.

Two years ago I wrote a review comparing my Tivo to the Time Warner's Scientific Atlanta DVR. After three weeks I told TW to remove it immediately. I was amazed that anyone could fit that much suck into such a small box.

Looks like things haven't changed much since then.

It's kind of funny to me that people will pay $80 cable bills without a whimper but will cry foul at the concept of paying $13 a month to TiVo to make the cable service so much more worthwhile.

When people ask me about it, I ask them "would you pay $13 a month for to have a TV channel that always has something you like on it, whenever you want to watch it, with no commercials?

Cable DVRs suck. Most people would be much happier with a TiVo and would find the extra expense to be justified. I know I'm biased but I honestly believe that.

I have no connection to Tivo, other than being a long time user, and agree completely. I had Time Warner's Scientific Atlanta box in my home for three weeks before I called and demanded they remove it immediately. I gave back 40 channels of digital music and 50 hours of recording capacity with two tuners for my little single tuner, 15 hour Tivo. The TW box was that bad. I was amazed that they could pack that much suck into just one box.

How badly did it suck? Let me count the ways.

Smokers have the right to purchase cancer-causing tobacco sticks at a low price, light those cancer-causing tobacco sticks on fire anywhere they want to, raise the cost of health care for everyone, cause cancer in people that are affected by their second-hand smoke, and shirk taxes that have been levied on products they purchase.

Coming from a non-smoker, you're being totally self-righteous. We don't have socialized healthcare, so they don't necessatily raise the cost of healthcare for everyone. If you don't like second-hand smoke -- go somewhere else. It's illegal in most public places in this country anyway, so there are lots of places where you can go. Further, tobacco taxes usually don't go to things like healthcare. Finally, most of the anti-second-hand-smoking legislature in this country is based on bad science.

The fact is that the market should get to decide what it wants. Guess who the smoking bans in NYC screwed over? The people it was designed to help; the bartenders and restaraunt staff. Bartenders there now make half of their previous take-home salary in tips. Rather than going to a bar which catered to non-smokers, the nannying legislature people decided that they were smarter than the rest of us.

Got any more great ideas on how people should live their lives? I've got a good idea about where you can stick 'em.

Tivo vs. Time-Warner DVR review

KFG

To whatever morons labeled the parent as flamebait and troll, "Bullshit" is the name of a TV show on Showtime. The link points to the episode description on Showtime's website. Apparently, Showtime is blocking access from outside the USA. Sad. Here's another link with some facts: http://www.davehitt.com/facts/

http://davehitt.com/june00/sents.html

Unfortunately, I can't find it anymore. I seem to remember it was on a cigar smokers' site.

Well, I've just looked again and I found it.

and most features that you'd find in a Tivo.

I presume that you've never owned a TiVo before then.

I'll admit -- I've never owned the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 DVR (which is what the Comcast and TW boxes actually are), but there's a couple of good pages to read about the differences and just how feature poor the cable PVRs are.

Want a quick summary? Very poor searching, amazingly poor recording management, poor conflict resolution, barely adequate playback controls, and crappy live tv support. Oh, and it's less stable to boot.

The only upside is that the hardware is usually free and has a low monthly cost. That's great, except that Dish has a free PVR as well, and DirecTV with TiVo is only $99. Both have a monthly fee, but it's pretty much the same as the cable ones (and with DirecTV it's waived w/ the top of the line package). Oh, and that fee is once per household, not once per unit -- at least for sat.

And, of course, the signal quality is better over sat than it is from cable -- particularly for the analog channels (usually anything under 100, sometimes anything under 80, depends on your cable carrier).

Personally, I switched from my cable company (Charter) to DirecTV last October. My picture quality went up, I added about a dozen channels, and my monthly charge went down. Even with the forthcoming DirecTV price increases (all of $3 for me -- I can't think of a cable hike that was that little) I'll be paying less for more. Oh, and unlike cable, my TV doesn't go out randomly or with any really severe storm.

First, every time we buy a blank CD, DVD, VHS, or even audio cassette tape we are helping them out. There is a tax which we, in the US, pay every time we purchase any of the above. We also pay it every time we buy a radio, TV, or even a computer. So - we lose.

Every time we rent a CD, DVD, VHS, or even game cartridge - we are (again) paying this tax. So we lose there also.

Should we buy a book, a script, magazine, newspaper, or the like we are probably still paying this tax. So we've lost again.

Finally, even if everyone in the US refused to have anything else to do with the RIAA or MPAA they are still powerful enough to have new laws passed. As in "Atlas Shrugged," by Ayn Rand, if they can not take our money legally - then the thing to do is to change the laws so they can take it legally. After all - laws are nothing more than rules by which we play and those who have the money usually get to make the rules.

Sorry if this shocks anyone but the truth is that it is only because we respected each other, had a unified common sense approach to things, a scrupulous populus, and the knowledge that if you did wrong you would be held accountable for it - that we have made it this far. The "Anything goes" way of looking at things, not holding people's feet to the fire for doing something wrong, and (as bad as it might seem) not being willing to put to death those who really are doing terrible things to others (like Enron's execs who have ruined hundreds if not thousands of people's lives) that has caused us to come to this. What these people are doing is, IMHO, treasonous. Look it up. The act of "Treason" is where two or more groups (whether they be people, organizations, corporations, or whatever) attempt to remove the rights of their fellow citizens. According to the texts it is their "intentions" which merit this stamp So ask yourself this - what are their intentions when they attempt to force upon you their yoke of slavery? What are their "intentions" when they try to sneak, like theives, laws into Congress which remove our rights and preserve or expand upon their rights. What are their intentions? Those intentions are to take away your rights.

Now, someone will probably say "You don't go around killing people just because they are trying to get laws passed." That's true. You don't. Normally. But this is different. It is different because they are not trying to get laws passed for the betterment of mankind or to right an injustice. No. They are trying to twist the laws and our country (Heck! The world even!) to their needs. To enslave it. To enshackle it to their beliefs. Just like some religious cults have tried to enslave others to their will. It is an evil thing to do and it will have terrible consequences if it is allowed to endure.

Even if they were only brought up on charges it would shake up the corporate world enough that many things companies are beginning to attempt to do through the rewriting of our laws would be stopped. Companies would think twice about trying to change laws so they benefit only them and remove our rights. Which brings up - why do groups think they can get away with this? The answer is - they have in the past. The difference is the internet. Whereas before there was this huge time lag between when something happened and when we knew about it - now it only takes hours or minutes for word to be sent and a transgression found out. The problem is still though the complancey of many of the people in our country. "Oh! I might get involved." some whine. "I don't have the time." another chats. "It's not my place." a third comments. If you don't stand up and write your congressmen/women then you are already shackled. You already bear their mark. You already curl up at their feet, lick their hands, and eat the crumbs they throw to you.

So as always the question is - what are you going to do about it? Wallow in the filth on the floor or write and demand that these groups stop trying to infringe on your god given rights!

First, every time we buy a blank CD, DVD, VHS, or even audio cassette tape we are helping them out. There is a tax which we, in the US, pay every time we purchase any of the above. We also pay it every time we buy a radio, TV, or even a computer. So - we lose.

Every time we rent a CD, DVD, VHS, or even game cartridge - we are (again) paying this tax. So we lose there also.

Should we buy a book, a script, magazine, newspaper, or the like we are probably still paying this tax. So we've lost again.

Finally, even if everyone in the US refused to have anything else to do with the RIAA or MPAA they are still powerful enough to have new laws passed. As in "Atlas Shrugged," by Ayn Rand, if they can not take our money legally - then the thing to do is to change the laws so they can take it legally. After all - laws are nothing more than rules by which we play and those who have the money usually get to make the rules.

Sorry if this shocks anyone but the truth is that it is only because we respected each other, had a unified common sense approach to things, a scrupulous populus, and the knowledge that if you did wrong you would be held accountable for it - that we have made it this far. The "Anything goes" way of looking at things, not holding people's feet to the fire for doing something wrong, and (as bad as it might seem) not being willing to put to death those who really are doing terrible things to others (like Enron's execs who have ruined hundreds if not thousands of people's lives) that has caused us to come to this. What these people are doing is, IMHO, treasonous. Look it up. The act of "Treason" is where two or more groups (whether they be people, organizations, corporations, or whatever) attempt to remove the rights of their fellow citizens. According to the texts it is their "intentions" which merit this stamp So ask yourself this - what are their intentions when they attempt to force upon you their yoke of slavery? What are their "intentions" when they try to sneak, like theives, laws into Congress which remove our rights and preserve or expand upon their rights. What are their intentions? Those intentions are to take away your rights.

Now, someone will probably say "You don't go around killing people just because they are trying to get laws passed." That's true. You don't. Normally. But this is different. It is different because they are not trying to get laws passed for the betterment of mankind or to right an injustice. No. They are trying to twist the laws and our country (Heck! The world even!) to their needs. To enslave it. To enshackle it to their beliefs. Just like some religious cults have tried to enslave others to their will. It is an evil thing to do and it will have terrible consequences if it is allowed to endure.

Even if they were only brought up on charges it would shake up the corporate world enough that many things companies are beginning to attempt to do through the rewriting of our laws would be stopped. Companies would think twice about trying to change laws so they benefit only them and remove our rights. Which brings up - why do groups think they can get away with this? The answer is - they have in the past. The difference is the internet. Whereas before there was this huge time lag between when something happened and when we knew about it - now it only takes hours or minutes for word to be sent and a transgression found out. The problem is still though the complancey of many of the people in our country. "Oh! I might get involved." some whine. "I don't have the time." another chats. "It's not my place." a third comments. If you don't stand up and write your congressmen/women then you are already shackled. You already bear their mark. You already curl up at their feet, lick their hands, and eat the crumbs they throw to you.

So as always the question is - what are you going to do about it? Wallow in the filth on the floor or write and demand that these groups stop trying to infringe on your god given rights!

I did contract work at GE's CR&D from 1997-1999. There are some engineers there, but most of the work is pure R&D, conducted by some of the best scientists in the world. GE literally scouts the globe for them; it wasn't uncommon to hear six researchers having a conversation in six distinct accents. CR&D registers 800-900 patents per year, year after year. They have one large department that does nothing but handle the patents.

Our company provided computer support, and researcher's natural curiosity meant they screwed up their PCs a lot, in new and amazing ways. Few things were more frightening then hearing one of them say "Hey, I just discovered Regedit!"

They liked to look over your shoulder to see what you were doing, and when that got annoying I'd just ask "What do you do in this lab?" I learned a lot about Lexan and aircraft engines and MRIs and polymers and rapid prototyping and refrigerators and washing machines and avionics and light bulbs and chip fabrication and a thousand other things that had nothing to do with my job.

In the main reception area of the plant there was a large framed display that featured head shots of their top researchers, in order of the number of patents they had received. There were a couple with more than 150, quite a few with more than 100, even more with more than 50 and then lots with 25 or more. While most folks would be quite impressed with anyone who had ten or fifteen or twenty patents, that wasn't enough to even get noticed there.

I can't speak for anyone else's R&D, but GE's is still alive and well, and cranking out new inventions and improvement to old ones on a regular basis.

---
Check out The Hittman Chronicle

How do you "lose your rights" by getting your damn picture taken when you enter a private building of your own volition? If you wanted to set up a camera to take pictures of people on your property, shouldn't you have the right to do that? If so, then why doesn't that right extend to other property owners?

You failed to mention that it was the police who were doing this. That makes just a bit of difference, don't you think?

They were not protecting their property. They were cooperating with the cops to do the electronic equalivent of stopping everyone and saying "may I haff you papers, please." They were not looking for a specific criminal. They were casting a giant net on everyone who entered that stadium. Does this seem like a good idea to you?

It's interesting to note that the only "criminal" they discovered was a ticket scalper - someone who participates in what should be a perfectly valid trade of a legal item. As we continue to criminalize harmless activities like this, to the point where it's virtually impossible for anyone to avoid being a criminal, this technology will become more and more valuable to the authorities. Post a link to a drug related web site, and you better stay home.

For all the news that might amuse read The Hittman Chroincle.

Health information is unique. It makes sense to have some form of objective evaluation of sites providing healthcare information.

If that's your goal that the WHO is one of the worst choices you could make. They are a political organization with a political agenda, and as such their conclusions should be considered suspect, if not highly suspect.

A couple of years ago they did a very comprehensive, well designed study on the issue of Second Hand Smoke. Much to their displeasure and horror, they found that it caused no harm at all. They tried to bury the report. When the British press, though constant hounding, embarrassed them into publicizing their results, they issued a press release. In the body of the release they admitted that the tiny increases they found were not at all statistically significant, but they outright lied in the headline.

More information is available here.

These are not the people who should be determining what is and is not good for you. A more valid approach would be convening an independent group of experts who would look at sites and give them their stamp of approval. They could also maintain a list of sites they considered quacky.

Political organizations are always tainted by their quest to increase their funding and power. If you doubt that, a close look at the EPA or the FDA should convince you rather quickly

-- Get Smartenized! Read the Hittman Chronicle

Health information is unique. It makes sense to have some form of objective evaluation of sites providing healthcare information.

If that's your goal that the WHO is one of the worst choices you could make. They are a political organization with a political agenda, and as such their conclusions should be considered suspect, if not highly suspect.

A couple of years ago they did a very comprehensive, well designed study on the issue of Second Hand Smoke. Much to their displeasure and horror, they found that it caused no harm at all. They tried to bury the report. When the British press, though constant hounding, embarrassed them into publicizing their results, they issued a press release. In the body of the release they admitted that the tiny increases they found were not at all statistically significant, but they outright lied in the headline.

More information is available here.

These are not the people who should be determining what is and is not good for you. A more valid approach would be convening an independent group of experts who would look at sites and give them their stamp of approval. They could also maintain a list of sites they considered quacky.

Political organizations are always tainted by their quest to increase their funding and power. If you doubt that, a close look at the EPA or the FDA should convince you rather quickly

-- Get Smartenized! Read the Hittman Chronicle