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I don't think it's an issue anymore: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BNO/is_1999_Oct/ai_55899565

--beckerist

The Bureau of Labor statistics, in particular their "100 Years of Consumer Spending" publication. Available here. (~500k PDF)

The graphs you want to look at are the "Expenditure Share for Non-Necessities" graphs for various regions (US generally is on p.11). It started off at a little over 20% just after WWI, and then climbed steadily and dramatically (30% after WWII, which was the real formation of the 'middle class' in the U.S., ~35% in 1960, ~40% in the early 70s) until you get to the current figure which is around 50%. Nationally, that's an all-time high.

If you look at particular areas, like New York City, there has been a small but significant hit in non-necessity spending since the mid-80s boom, probably due to increases in the cost of living due to increased rent. (But in all fairness, NYC is a lot nicer place to live now than it was then.) Spending in Boston also slumped slightly, probably for the same reason. So you get some regions that are probably feeling the pinch -- time to move.

Anyone who thought the 70s were some sort of picnic is looking at them through some seriously rose-colored glasses. The 70s were a time of instability, high unemployment (over 8%!), and out of control inflation. If people were buying things then, it's only because they knew that trying to save it was a waste of time.

It's more difficult to find good data that's correlated with income, but there are a few here and there; including this one from the Family Economics and Nutrition Review, which says flat out: "The data indicate that all household groups were better off in 1989-90 than they were in 1980-81, as measured by the amount and share of total expenditures on nonnecessities ("other")." So that would indicate that there hasn't been some sort of continuous slump from the 70s until today -- in the 80s things actually got better, and the 1980s weren't exactly known as a great period for the economy (certainly not compared to the 1990s).

In terms of cost-adjusted purchasing power (which the BLS estimates in the introduction to the big report above [1], as probably tripled in the last century), you'd be insane to want to live in any previous era, unless your metric for success is purely that of being on the same level as your neighbors. Yes, there were times when there was more income equality, but that's not necessarily an indicator of prosperity; you can still make more money, buy more, and have a better cost of living in a lower socioeconomic bracket today than you could in the past. Lower brackets haven't experienced the growth that higher ones have, but you'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face not to take advantage.

I think the major way the middle class has been 'squeezed' is that there are a lot of people there who traded up to the upper-class (with McMansions, cruise vacations, etc.) on credit, and probably quite a few people in the lower class who borrowed into middle class lifestyles (via shady mortgages) as well. And understandably, income inequality does create a social pressure to overspend. But now that the credit crunch is coming to an end, people living outside their means are going to have to find their way back to a better balance.

[1] "Between 1901 and 2003, the average U.S. household's income increased 67-fold, from $750 to $50,302. During the same period, household expenditures increased 53-fold, from $769 to $40,748. Equally dramatic is that the $40,748 would have bought more than $2,000 worth of goods in 1901 prices, indicating a tripling of purchasing power."

For the pricks that say they don't work, chew on this ...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070822/ai_n19475884

Airlines treat the customers like this.

You're treated as a direct threat from the moment you buy the ticket.

You can be jailed for voicing your displeasure over their ipod policy

You can be jailed for making a stupid joke

You can be held against your will for the runway for 8 hours.

One example would be Jerry Greenwalt, the link goes to an interview with him I was able to dig up.

Nephilium

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20001008/ai_n14520022

There are a large number of elderly people playing golf, who have croaked from heart attack at the golf course (apparently Bing Crosby had just finished a round and died on the way to the clubhouse).. There are people who say golfers are not athletes, of course they have never golfed (and definitely not without a cart), I would say that the fact that so many heart attacks happen, show that it is a strenuous (and stressful) sport. Someone out of shape and newly retired is going to get pretty tuckered hitting a bucket of balls, let alone playing 18 holes.

I've dodged (and been hit by) many a golf ball, and it can be a dangerous sport.. I don't think there are many multiple fatalities though.

As I understand it, this could form the basis of an appeal. There was a case here in Colorado about a death penalty case being overturned because at least one juror consulted the bible to convince another juror of the defendant's guilt. There are numerous similar cases on this subject, but it does look like a juror's comments after the fact - provided they suggest juror misconduct - could be used as grounds for an appeal. Or at least, any decent defense attorney would argue they are ;-)

Will plants grow well in 1/6th gravity? Who knows?

It's actually much more dangerous, not just your brain. Proteins in your body (all over and throughout your body, not just in your brain) will break down if the body temperature gets too high, hence a high fever is a genuine emergency.

Here's a relevent clip:

interactions in many proteins and denature them. This temperature is not that much higher than normal body temperature (37C or 98.6F), so this fact demonstrates how dangerous a high fever can be.

And a general description (high school chemistry needed...:-)) that describes how protein denaturation is the actual problem.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5216/is_2004/ai_n19132650

It does seem to be less than the record there. But we can hardly fualt (har har) the team for not digging the full 50 miles to the asthenosphere. :)

Oh, yes. Only good. No one would ever corrupt humanitarian programs.

Bad idea or not it's been done with a robotic plane. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3819/is_199903/ai_n8848205

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_18_160/ai_80344966 Well, imagine the applications that this might have on poultry farming : apply the correct magnetic field over the coop and your ducks or hens start overfeeding uncontrollably...

Chances are if your wages are really increasing by that percentage, your spending or consumption is up (did you buy that iPhone..?). Inflation has recently been around 2.5-3%, realistically around 2%...so if you're exceeding that in salary increases, it's probably not due to inflation.

" I saw far too many kids there for the party myself "

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_n6_v15/ai_20860361

"Her dad once chastised her for wasting his tuition money by not going to her classes. With typical Esther aplomb, she countered, "Daddy, you don't understand. You don't come to Harvard to study. You come to Harvard to get to know the right people."

You just need to google for :WiMAX unlicensed spectrum

These guys back in late 2005 were quoting me a fixed Wireless solution that goes up to 40+ KM for T1+ performance, and it was based on fixed WiMAX technology operating in public spectrum. Price was aprox $5K per side. In retrospect, this may have been some propriatary Pre-WiMAX falvor of the technology, but still, for just point to point, who cares.
http://www.rad-direct.com/ProdFam-Fixed-Wireless.htm

These guys in Oct 2006 announced WiMAX products that work in both 2.4Ghz & 5.8Ghz public Spectrum, the cost I do not know.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200610/ai_n16767942
+
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=EC58D998-F4FD-40D6-840F-BB89D102A59E

In short, WiMAX comes in various flavours. Fixed & Mobile, which we can already see operating in private spectrum. Rogers (large CLEC) in Canada has just completed a 1 year beta testing of these products and is ready to roll out; and the other flavour will be public spectrum versions of the same Fixed and possibly Mobile, though I would venture to say that Fixed will be more popular.

Cheers,
Adeptus

See here:

"Clinton Boisvert, an art student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, placed ominous black boxes labeled "Fear" in the Union Square subway station for a school project. His teacher, Barbara Schwartz, praised the project and gave the student an "A" in her class. She said the 25-year-old student intended to observe the public's reaction to his project.... Well he certainly got a reaction. In the bustling transit hub that I use continually people were frightened. An evacuation was forced for five hours after the 37 'Fear' boxes were taped to the walls, pillars and benches in this subway station."

The student was allowed to say what he wanted to say, he was not blocked from speaking up at all. In fact he was allowed to keep saying what he wanted to say long after he had broken the rules of the debate (and a Florida law, but that's less important).

In a true police state he would never have been allowed to speak at all. America is not a police state.

In a true police state, he would have been turned away before he had entered if his true intentions were known, or carried away at the doors if he didn't comply with the "go away" request. Oh, wait - this has already been going on around here. Isolated examples - the President has already declared that he doesn't want to see or hear dissent.

The difference between "free country" and "police state" is a continuum, not a line, and such a state can be enforced by simple threat, if not overt action.

Because, after all, gamestop should be parenting rather than, oh, I don't know, the parents. If parents wants to let their kids play games all day instead of studying they're not exactly right, but more power to them.

Not that I disagree on principle, but ...

"The drunken monkey hypothesis: the study of fruit-eating animals could lead to an evolutionary understanding of human alcohol abuse" (link, more)

CC.

Not sure if this article is dated, but as I (poorly) understand it, Hitachi already developed a DVD that dwarfed HDDVD and BluRay.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdpcm/is_200508/ai_n14908621
Please tell me if there have been updates.

All joking aside, of course the PS3 isn't able to properly emulate PS2 games. I mean, the Emotion Engine produces graphics [that] are so amazingly lifelike, for Christ's sake!
FTFA:

Sony and partner Toshiba say the new graphics processor has enough power to show humanlike motions such as facial expressions, as well as to learn, and to recognize speech. One analyst says it will merge TV and video games.

Merely having freedom of speech in the constitution is meaningless. Have you seen the uproar whenever anyone writes or produces anything controversial? How about the banning of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses because it would offend the Muslim minority? How about the moral police that comes out ever so often over ridiculous issues?

Or the very recent Orkut case that went all the way to Parliament, wasting precious time when we have a million more important matters to discuss?
Or-scariest of all, the IT Act of 2000. One of the provisions of the act is to allow the police to search or arrest any individual without a warrant, at the same time giving the govt. and its officers immunity from prosecution in case they made a mistake with respect to said individuals.

How come no one's talking of freedom of speech during such times? What's the use of having these rights in the constitution if no one is going to bother when they are violated??
Freedom is binary-you either have it or you don't. Freedom 'subject to the following terms and conditions' is an oxymoron. (I'm not claiming that the US is any better, they've had their own record of violations)
Going by what you've said, Americans could do the same, sit back on their asses and turn a blind eye to whatever's going on there-be it the debate on net neutrality, or evolution vs. 'intelligent design' and so on. Democracy is something that has to be protected and upheld by citizens, once you allow a legal precedent to ban something because someone gets offended, there's no looking back. In India, given the small proportion of population that is educated and affluent (the fact that we're both posting here puts us firmly in this bracket), it is sad that no one is protesting against these things(yup, this again includes me).

There are several ways spammers get emails. They can do massive internet searches for emails and harvest them that way (if you post on USENET with your email addy its almost gueranteed to be spammed). They also guess a username and if it doesn't bounce back they know they've got a hit.

I'm not positive what detector material was used for the specific application, but CCDs have been around since the mid 1970s in military research. Bob Fugate is the real expert in this area. See http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0RBE/is_200 4_Annual/ai_n8589053

The Chinese spy on us. We spy on them. While it's inane, expensive, and annoying, it will go on for a long time yet. Heck, the CIA spies on various European countries too...

The web locker isn't just a file storage space. It's where students download assignments, upload homework, collaborate with other students, etc.

Of course any technically clueful student will have a thumb drive, unofficial email and IM accounts, and lots of other places to stash/do stuff they don't want teachers and parents to know about. (Though not all students are technically clueful, and the school will try to prevent such unmonitored activity.) But all the stuff they're supposed to be doing will live on the official server.

This school portal idea (which is kind of obvious/inevitable) is less interesting than the laptop program itself. There's still a lot of argument over whether laptops for this age group are a boon or a distraction.

There is NO point to a moonbase or going to Mars. None. We can send robots to do excellent work. Nearly everything a human can do in those harsh miserable environments, a robot can do.

Even the science lead for the Mars rovers, which have performed far above and beyond expectations has stated on several occasions that there are many reasons for getting human scientists on the surface.

Blue Gene's interconnects are not ethernet.

I do believe your confusing porn with something emotional and meaningfull, like say a relationship. Its a quick physical release, nothing more.

I'm not going to suggest that porn doesn't feel good. But you imply that it is emotionless and meaningless, which is absurd. Porn affects your thoughts, your perspectives and attitudes regarding other people (as well as yourself), and the things you may expect or attempt when actually engaged in sex (as opposed to just watching it on video). This has consequences, which are frequently negative (PDF).

Anyway, whether you agree or not, here's a Wired article for the discussion...

Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004 /11/65772

Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday.

Witnesses before the Senate Commerce Committee's Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee spared no superlative in their description of the negative effects of pornography.

Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, called porn the "most concerning thing to psychological health that I know of existing today."

"The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors," Layden said. "To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind."

Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said.

Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist and advisor to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality echoed Layden's concern about the internet and the somatic effects of pornography.

"Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance," Satinover said. "That is, it causes masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect."

The internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards, Satinover said.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the subcommittee's chairman, called the hearing the most disturbing one he'd ever seen in the Senate. Brownback said porn was ubiquitous now, compared to when he was growing up and "some guy would sneak a magazine in somewhere and show some of us, but you had to find him at the right time."

The hearing came just days after a controversy over a sexually suggestive Monday Night Football ad that has many foreseeing a crackdown on indecency by the Federal Communications Commission.

It is unclear what the consequences of Thursday's hearing will be since it was not connected to any pending or proposed legislation.

Brownback, a conservative Christian, is also scheduled to be rotated off the sub-committee in the next session.

When Brownback asked the panelists for suggestions about what should be done, the responses were mild, considering their earlier indictment of pornography. Several suggested that federal money be alloc

The Wizard of Oz stories were Midwestern socialist allegories. Warner, the great media corporation, will surely not make any movie "faithful" to that theme.

But since the books' copyright expired in 1956, anyone who wants will be free to make an adaptation telling a socialist story, promoted by the same hype machine Warner uses to turn its "property" into a huge moneymaker.

-A study at West Virginia University concluded that "the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has had no statistically significant long-run impact on the overall size and profitability of the small business sector in the United States"

-The Ludwig von Misis Institute concluded that Wal-Mart significantly contributes to the wealth of a community

-Mississippi State University concluded that there are "both positive and negative impacts" on the local stores when a Wal-Mart is built

-MIT concluded that Wal-Mart benefits the poorest segments of the population the most

-The University of Missouri concluded that a Wal-Mart does far more economic damage to neighboring towns that it didn't build in compared to the towns where they build a new store

From my recent experience driving through Hays Kansas, I tend to believe these reports more than those who claim that Wal-Mart destroys the community.

It was done about 6 years ago in several cities, including Albuquerque. It was even shown on Discovery channel or something.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IGP/is_10_ 4/ai_80224599

"The problem is why should UK taxpayers pay for people in other countries to have free media that they didn't pay for?"

What the fuck? Have you ever heard of password-protected pages (that you get when you pay your BBC TV license, NOT a tax), or restricting access based on the geographic origination of an IP address? Hell, MTV.com can even do that.

What a stupid comment that is. BTW, BBC already airs terristrial content via sattelite -- DRM FREE!!

This is about Microsoft using their monopoly, again, as even the European COmmission found when it singled out Windows Media Player/formats, or when MS was found to be unduly influencing European cable companies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/686985.stm http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_200 1_April_18/ai_73355519

Guess I need to provide the link to prove that Ohio Arts is using a Chinese manufacturer that only pays $.24/hr- less than half the HIGH wage that Terry Gou pays.

Not that Terry Gou is any great shakes either.

And the products are also designed in China, assembled in China, QC tested in China, and have no parts made anywhere else?

Many "American" companies are now just shells- designers & importers that sell to retailers, nothing more. This has been going on for 40 years now- the slow de-industrialization of America. You can make parts in Mexico too- if you're willing to pay 2-4x as much for labor.

There is nothing on the linked page to suggest that any of the products had anything to do with China at all.

So? You can't do a little research into the state of American Manufacturing? Or have you missed the 40 years of articles warning about this danger?

Assuming they do, how can you be sure the particular failures were down to Chinese component manufacturing?

Because nobody else makes components anymore- low cost cheap labor is the winner, it's the race to the bottom. How do you justify spending $1/hr in Mexico to your stockholders when you could be spending $.60/hr, or even $0.24/hr? Let alone $9/hr for quality control once you get the shipping container back from Mexico? It's far cheaper overall to do these recalls when the customer finds a problem, at least from the point of view of so-called "American" companies (whom I call, free traitors- they're taking money and selling out the American consumer & worker in their search for cheap labor).

Oh, and as for Powell wanting his family to have a "quiet life", that doesn't come with the territory they've staked out for themselves in politics.

His son, Michael Powell spent Bush's first term hooking up media cartels with as much ownership as they wanted, among many other corporate handouts at the expense of the American people, while running the FCC. He scored that gig because he was such a helpful part of Bush's transition team for his 2000 inauguration.

Here's your tin-foil hat.

No, what's scary is that we sit in the United States talking about saving freedom by fighting terrorists and their supporters in the Middle East when we have an entire country like China who openly tracks and oppresses their people but we stand idly by and let their money pay for our war on the wrong tyrannies.

Lets see, you try to point out China's deficiencies to more popular Western cultures and ideals along with some fundamental ideas of human rights. Good job. Most people will not argue against that point.

However, trying to confuse the reader by attempting to relate two truths (America is at War in the Middle East and China's horrible human right violations) to make it sound like it's either a) some how America's fault that China has these violations or that it's b) somehow America's responsibly to fix China's problem is just asinine.

What's worse? You post makes it clear that you're not favorable to this Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Maybe you're just very anti-war in general, and I can respect that, but to try and insinuate that America should be fighting a war with China and not some Middle Eastern countries is just fucking hypocritical. What, Saddam wasn't "bad" enough for you because Iraq wasn't shipping shit loads of junk products into the U.S. produced by near slave labor for nearly unbeatable prices? The raps and murders of people who tried to speak out and that of their families isn't important enough too you because they're of not economic threat to the U.S.?

I could go on to say the same thing about Brittan, the United States itself, etc but I won't bother, I'm preaching to the choir.

*Yawn* You're not preaching to the choir. Netscape forums are ---> that way. All you're doing here is standing on a soap box. What's scary... that people think that most of /. is stupid enough to believe this illogical rhetoric.

What is even more scary is that here in the US, and I'm just as much at fault as anyone I chastise, we are letting more and more occur without standing up for what our country was founded on.

Wow! What are you talking about? That we had free and open elections? You want to argue about the 2000 election and how Bush can win without the popular vote? I could agree that the electoral college is a bit broken. But you cannot change the rules of the game after it's over. It's like you're trying to re-write history to your own perverse propaganda agenda.

We call the true freedom fights protesters instead of patriots.

Oh... right. Protesters are freedom fighters? And who's freedoms are they fighting for? Anti-War protests is not a "Freedom". So maybe it's a Iraqi freedoms? That would be hard to believe, given Iraq was a dictatorship and is now a struggling fledging democratic state. (Arguing if that was the right thing to do is another discussion). So, maybe they're trying to protect the soldiers freedoms. You know, the one's who freely signed up for service (there's no draft). That would also be hard to believe as the these faithful "freedom fighters" have a habit of spitting on them and turning their funerals into a activists playground to preach their "anti-war" so fucking called "freedoms".

No, these extreme activist protesters do not deserve and ounce of respect. Their cause is not moral or humanitarian. They're actions are purely for self indulgence to feel like they're doing something "good" because they saw it in movies or on T.V. and it's been popularized in a small niche of society to be the "cool" thing to do. They don't care about their cause. Extremist protesters only care about looking like they care so they can go to their parties can pat each other on the

With RFID chips already embedded in your Passport and the ability of the Authorities to locate your cell through triangulation, the potential already exists here.

With RFID chips already embedded in your Passport and the ability of the Authorities to locate your cell through triangulation, the potential already exists here.

Ermm, no that's false. What the link says it there would be less cirrus clouds, not more as is supposedly the " widely accepted (albeit unproven) theory". However, why this is supposed to be news is a mystery to me, that was already known 6 years ago: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_10_ 159/ai_71843754 Note that it was brought forward by none less than Richard S. Lindzen then.

Would you please find a reference that todays models don't yet take this into effect? And don't try one of the sources that pretend this is "news".

As someone posted earlier, Sun bought out their license from Novell back in 1994 for over 82million dollars: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_199 4_March_24/ai_15082383/

Actually Sun bought out their license from Novell in 1994

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_199 4_March_24/ai_15082383/