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You just stated that huge numbers of people are buying lo def tv's today every hour.
No, I didn't. I stated that lots of people are buying TVs, I made no mention of what type other than that the proportion which are HD will obviously rise going forward. Your assertion that it's currently a very low percentage is not backed up by my own experience, or what I am reading. As an example, this article says that 1 in 6 homes already have at least 1 HDTV. And this one says that HDTV sales are expected to exceed SDTV sales next year.

any HD tv without HDMI soon won't be able to decode HD signals
That's simply not true. Nothing (short of a hammer) is going to stop my existing TV from being able to display the same signals it can now. Whilst new devices and new formats (e.g. BluRay) may have the capability to block non-HDMI output there is a growing feeling that the studios are in reality unlikley to ever use that capability. Time will tell. What is perfectly evident is that in 2 or 3 years HD will be entirely mainstream, and the Wii will be the only console on the market which doesn't support it. I think that's a mistake, but again, only time will tell.

In the end it's better to wait, stick with your lo def tv that's been fine for the past 20 years, and see what stabilizes. YYou save time, headaches, and money
Well duh. Of course you save money by waiting, that's always the way with technology. In fact, taken to it's natural conclusion you could decide to never buy anything ever and save all your money. I could have saved $2k by buying my main TV now instead of 3 years ago, but then I wouldn't have been watching HD for the last 3 years. Likewise, I spent $600 on an Intel PII some years ago - if only I'd waited! It's a pointless argument - there's always something better and cheaper around the corner.

Before I start, let me just say:

- I'm not a registered Democrat, but rather I vote for the people I best identify with. Right now, the Republican party has strayed pretty far from my own views.

- I served in the U.S. military and I have nothing against the troops, or the proper use of them as needed for the defense and security of this nation.

Now, on to your points:

The only definite thing I am hearing from their camp is the desire to repeal the tax breaks, but it was those tax breaks that got the economy back on its feet.

Please cite your sources.

Republicans love to tout this methodology but the simple fact is that uncontrolled deficit spending is BAD for the economy except in the very short term. I don't have a problem with tax cuts IF Congress matches those tax cuts with spending cuts. Neither major party does that, however. They fear losing votes when they have to make a cut in someone's pet project or program for their state.

Yes the Clinton administration had faults but it proved you can maintain a strong economy while avoiding a deficit. Granted, part of this was due to availability of the line-item veto, but the administration was fiscally responsible.

I don't really care if the Democrats want to repeal tax breaks or if they actually man up and cut spending. Either way, balancing the budget is better than continuing to live in fantasy-land.

When it comes to the war, they say to pull out the troops, but I have not really heard a coherent plan for how to achieve a solid ending for the war in Iraq.

The Iraq War Part 2 is a war we shouldn't have been involved with in the first place. I don't see the need for a "coherent plan". There is no solid ending. We've seen it before in Vietnam, and the Soviet Union saw it in Afghanistan. You can't impose your will on religious zealots in a land where they live there and you have no desire to. Get the troops home and let Iraqis sort out how they want to run their country. It's what they want. It's what most of the world wants. And it's what oh... 60+ percent of the U.S. citizens want. Not to mention, getting out of Iraq would save around 170 million dollars a day, keeping that economy on its feet like you mentioned.

What is their plan for dealing with terrorism going forward? What is their plan for solving the border problems with Mexico?

Post 9/11 resources should have been and should still be spent going after the source(s) of the attack, which were not Iraqi. Not to mention, U.S. troops being committed in Iraq has emboldened Iran and North Korea, and generally weakened U.S. leverage in matters of foreign policy. I would like to see enhanced focus on Afghanistan and homeland security, rather than Iraq.

I'm not a Democratic candidate, but it's really not difficult to offer alternatives to the rhetoric the Republicans are feeding this nation right now.

Unfortuneately, it seems (according to the article) that the real explaination is much more mundane- touch screens need recalibrating from time to time, and somebody has been sloppy with the recalibration schedule.

How did I find out about this speech? I watched it at the time, live on C-Span.

You don't mean the address of the U.N. General Assembly, back on, September 24, 2006? Looking at the full transcript, I see that it doesn't contain this phrase.

On the other hand, back in March I can find references to stories with quotes like this: "I am convinced that in this century we will bury U.S. imperialism, sooner rather than later," Chavez said.

The US got the hell out of the empire game decades ago.

Well, I wish they'd do it again.

US imperialism does not exist, nor does a US empire.

Let us note for a moment that "imperialism" would be an attempt at attaining an "empire", it does not presuppose the existance of an empire.

Call me whacky, but since that Iraq had no direct connection to the 9/11 attack, I've had the odd thought that maybe the Bush regime figured that the US needed to conquer the entire Middle East. You don't have to squint real hard to call that "imperialism".

Anyway, considering that Chavez was plugging the Noam Chomsky book Hegemony of Survival, I think it's a fair guess that he was talking about Chomsky's notions about US imperial strategy:

Noam Chomsky on Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest For Global Dominance:

... when the bombing began, Arthur Schlesinger, a very respectable senior American historian, highly respected, one of Kennedy's advisers, had an article in which he said that the bombing of Iraq resembles the actions of imperial Japan at Pearl Harbor on a date, which the President at the time said, the date that will live in infamy. And he said President Roosevelt was correct. It's a date that will live in infamy, except that now it's Americans who live in infamy, and the world knows it.

Chavez is considerably worse than just "not a saint". And comparing him to an elected President of the US is somewhat absurd. Anyone who thinks life in Venezuela under Chavez would be nicer than life in the United States under Bush should put their money where their mouth is and move there.

Conversely, I'm sure Microsoft HATES lines like these.

Well, not when it takes this long and when it costs this much. From the article:

After a decision was made in 2003 to migrate to Linux

If anything, this project demonstrates that open-source isn't a magic silver bullet solution to everyone's problems. It should also be noted that the final Microsoft solution was actually less expensive than the open-source one, so one cannot look to cost as a compelling factor for switch. This article - http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-05-29-linux -munich-choose_x.htm - provides a few more details.

It would be more direct to simply postpone the election. But only temporarily, of course, only until we're out of danger from terrorism.

A funny thing happened on the way to finding a resource for your question: http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/richric her/2844

I used to know Robert Kiyosaki very well. I wouldn't use him as a authoritative source, but I know some of the people he gets some of his ideas from, and they are pretty savvy.

Although you can google for yourself, here's a starting point: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-14 -fiscal-hurricane-cover_x.htm

Actually, you wrote that there was a federal program that provided health care to all Americans. You then specified that the program you were on was AHCCCS. The conclusion that you were implying that AHCCCS was available to all American students comes directly from your sloppy writing. And despite your insistence that Medicaid provides health care to everyone, there's still 46 million Americans without health insurance. Even in Arizona, apparently, 18.7% of the population doesn't have health insurance. Oh, and here's a demographic breakdown of the people without insurance.

Furthermore, you don't seem to know the difference between "anecdotes" and "evidence". Your friends, money-driven nice-people that they may be, are going to be pretty self-selectingly biased. You would only meet nurses and/or doctors who decided to emigrate. Beyond that, you're just plain wrong. Every study I've ever seen on the issue has agreed with one fact: The U.S. pays a higher percentage (16%) of it's GDP for health care than any other country in the world. FYI the number is 9.7% in Canada. Thus, your UK doctor friend is simply wrong.

As for why they don't mention AHCCCS, I would hazard a guess that they don't mention the existence of those plans for the same reason they don't enumerate the private plans that exist, the annual budget of NASA, or the percentage of people who drive cars. It's not actually relevent.

I can say "Fuck Bush" all I want. I don't even have to substitute a letter like you did, to make it seem like I can't (self-censorship). That won't get me arrested.

Try Janes for the weapons counts, they tend to be the gold standard.

The US has pulled back from the border. That should actually increase their combat power and flexibility if it comes to that.

I probably sound like a paranoid nut, but banks are pushing this 'touchless' card technology because we buy more when we use it. By 'we' I mean consumers. And we buy more when using plastic than when using cash. In this USAToday article - http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2006-10 -09-credit-cards-usat_x.htm - a great quote sums it up:

Merchants, too, benefit from faster no-signature transactions, credit card companies say, because the stores can serve more customers -- resulting in higher overall sales. And "people will spend more if they come in with a card vs. cash," says Gareth Forsey of MasterCard Worldwide (MA).

"People will spend more".

So, if people already spend more by putting a card in a reader, it stands to reason that they'll spend even more when they don't even have to get the card out of the wallet - just wave it around in front of the reader. The speedpass technology is pretty much doing this already, and McDonald's adopted it a few years back. Obviously it was a pretty big expense for them to put the machines in, refit their networks to accomodate it, etc. Why would they do it unless it meant people were buying more? In fact, Visa's own website (http://merchants.visa.com/solutions/qsr.jsp) states that

A recent Visa study of 100,000 QSR transactions showed that customers using payment cards spent an average of 30 percent more than those who paid with cash. Other industry studies suggest that the average spread may be even higher.

So for everyone saying "when did we get so lazy?" and similar notions, it's not that we're lazy. We simply spend more the less psychologically painful it is to do so. If I lay down 5 $20s to do my grocery shopping, it's more painful than swiping a card, because it's not as real at that moment. When I get view my statement later, yes, it all tallies up, but there's no difference between using plastic for groceries, clothes, the movies, or anything else, even if all the prices are wildly different.

The actual issue that people who created things years ago have stopped doing any interesting new work or contributing to society, yet still expect to get paid?

Or the actual issue that these copyrights do nothing but stifle everything except "approved creativity". Ask Apotheosis about that one.

Maybe the actual issue of companies like Disney leeching off of public domain works and parlaying them into a profit, but then lobbying to keep their work out of the public domain and giving others the same benefit they had?

Or maybe you just wish you were one of those entitled "artists" in the above categories.

Copper pennies aren't made anymore, because, you guessed it, the amount of copper required to make a penny is worth more than 1c,

Pennies are made of over 95% zinc. But the price of zinc has risen to more than 1c per penny as well (blame the Chinese economy). But that's only the beginning of why pennies ought to be eliminated.

Nobody will pay that much for the pills -- you shouldn't attempt to make this into a class warfare thing. Insurance companies will pick up the bulk of the costs, as they do for most medicines these days, which is also why drug prices can inflate so easily.

Okay, I can't just let this one go by without a comment.

Insurance may "pick up the bulk of the costs" in your mind, but they are a business. What happens when a business has increased costs?

"Average premiums have risen 87% since 2000, while workers' earnings have risen 20%."

The amount I pay for health insurance for my family is the second largest item on our budget, right after rent. So premiums nearly double, which means more people simply cannot afford to pay them.

"Last year, the percentage of people who received health insurance through their jobs was 59.5%, Census Bureau data released in August show. That's the lowest rate since 1993"

"Nationally, nearly 16% of the population, or 46.6 million, are uninsured, according to recent Census estimates"

So tell me again why class doesn't matter with this? We aren't talking about welfare recipients, we are talking about hard working middle class families who will not be able to benefit from this because they can neither afford the pills nor the insurance you so flippantly take for granted.

(Source of Quotes: USA Today)

The modern version of this "salami-slicing" progression with regards to installation of surveillance technology:

1) We're installing cameras in selected areas for limited purposes, eg. at street intersections to catch speeders. Don't be paranoid; we'd never link 'em up into an all-purpose surveillance system.

2) We're expanding the camera network to pedestrian areas to fight crime and, if you're in the UK, "anti-social behavio(u)r" (shudder). Don't be paranoid; it's not like we're trying to track you everywhere you go.

3) We're linking up the cameras into a region-wide surveillance system. How can you complain? You already accepted the monitoring itself, and now we're just coordinating our law-enforcement efforts among various places and agencies. It'll help us protect you better.

4) We're adding new software capabilities to the surveillance network, such as automatic license-plate reading, identification of "suspicious behavior," and cameras that bark orders. What's wrong? You already agreed to be watched everywhere you go; now we're simply going to look a little more closely.

5) We, who rule you, hereby exempt ourselves from monitoring. Transparency is for our side of the glass.

Just hope Homeland Security doesn't start conflating their explosives registration and no-fly lists...

And when we see fearless regenerative howling hyper-muscular mice with giant human brains, then we know our world is lost.

Also, I wonder what Fatmouse thinks of all this? Some mice get all the good mutations...

"I remember when Windows 95 came out, with its weak, obviously-an-afterthought "web browser" (IE 3.0)", ronkronk

It wasn't an afterthought it was a renamed Spyglass browser which they subsequently 'gave away' with Windows so as they wouldn't have to pay royaltees. After failing to buyout Netscape and get an exclusive deal from NCSA they settled with Spyglass.

"It took them some time to get it right, but eventually IE took over", ronkronk

IE took over by billg strong arming the OEMs to take Netscape off the desktop. Can't you remember what the MS AOL court case was all about.

"AOL's March 12 and October 28, 1996 agreements with Microsoft also guaranteed that, for all practical purposes, Internet Explorer would be AOL's browser of choice"

"Compaq was the only one to fully commit itself to Microsoft's terms for distributing and promoting Internet Explorer to the exclusion of Navigator"

"now it's becoming more and more obvious that they're taking security every bit as seriously as they once took the Internet", ronkronk

Like as an after thought.

"within a few years, we're going to see some really damn secure stuff coming out of Microsoft", ronkronk

I've heard exactly the same kind of thing when NT came out.

"In the meantime, Firefox exploits are cropping up at a seemingly greater pace. This worries me. It looks like a repeat of 1997, when Netscape lost huge amounts of ground to IE by producing a product that wasn't as good as the competition.", ronkronk

Netcape was never inferior to IE. As this test proves. The MS stratagy at the time was to make it a jolting experience for the enduser. Why are you trolling slashdot with patently false pro-MS propaganda.

"We will bind the (Windows) shell to the Internet Explorer, so that running any other browser is a jolting experience" .

Firefox running on a more secure OS as standard user are not as serious as bugs in IE running on WinVista. You see as MS embedded the browser directly into the OS so as it couldn't be removed.

Secondly Netscape lost ground because of backroom shenagenans by billg an Co. After threatening to withold technical information, they offered to carve up the market between them or else they would cut off Netscapes oxygen supply.

`The delay in turn forced Netscape to postpone the release of its Windows 95 browser until substantially after the release of Windows 95 (and Internet Explorer) in August 1995. As a result, Netscape was excluded from most of the holiday selling season.'

"Microsoft representative J. Allard had told Barksdale that the way in which the two companies concluded the meeting would determine whether Netscape received the RNA API immediately or in three months.'"

`After Netscape refused Microsoft's offer to divide the browser market, Microsoft embarked on a predatory campaign to eliminate the browser threat'

`In subsequent meetings in the Fall of 1995, Microsoft explained to Intel that its strategy would be to kill Netscape and control Internet standards'

`in exchange for steering clear of the Windows browser segment Netscape would be made a preferred Microsoft partner'

"I'll be telling clients to go with Microsoft products, because they're more secure than F/OSS. And I don't want to see that happen.", ronkronk

I'm really an Open Source advocate except for bla, bla, bla

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2600/2613-1.htm
http://www.theregister.co.u

We have set up two workstations with treadmills, inspired by Dr. James A. Levine's work at the Mayo clinic:
        http://www.mayoclinic.org/endocrinology-rst/112066 08.html
        http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/levine_ lab/
        http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-07-offic e-fit_x.htm?csp=34
Each has three LCD monitors on a shelf on the wall in front of the treadmill.

One big issue is we had to rearrange our house to have the heavy (~250lb) treadmills on the ground floor -- both to not carry them up the stairs and also for concerns about noise.

So it seems the Space Arms Race is begining afresh. We just have to hope that the technology it produces outweighs the destruction.

You know what? A browser doesn't get any better by people using it. Popularity doesn't make something the best choice.

If the majority always made the right choices, it would be smart to be overweight: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-10-08-wei ght-usat_x.htm

Most people using IE don't know Firefox or Opera. There are probably more IE users that never heard of Firefox than there are Firefox users... I'd go even farther that there are more IE users who don't know what is meant by the acronym IE than there are Firefox users... It's a perfect example of ignorance is bliss: Most IE users just eat what is put in front of them, follow the flock mentality. All of the Firefox and Opera users switched _from_ IE to Firefox by choice.

Also don't forget that nobody forces anybody to use Firefox or Opera, but many big company IT departments force many office workers to use IE...

Call Firefox 'irrelevant' because it has the number '16%' associated to it if you will, but for the millions of Firefox users, it's far from irrelevant.

Firefox is not perfect, I'd like the Firefox people to fix a couple of things here and there, but boy it's a lot better than the alternative.

We should just tell the US to go fuck themselves over the data and not travel there

I'm actually blown away that so many people are willing to travel voluntarily to the US based on the new laws. The first thing we do to everyone who isn't a Canadian or Mexican is photograph and fingerprint them. I wouldn't travel to any country that did that to me. (And I do support other countries doing it to US citizens until we stop doing it to their citizens.)

This article implies that some tourists are already telling the US to go to hell.

I wasn't aware that Turkish sheep had seen the South Park Cow Days episode. Good for them!

I haven't been able to use that line on my kid ever since the Turkish sheep incident. She just replies, "If the bodies are piled high enough to cushion my fall, then sure!"

Microsoft and Yahoo: soft, fluffy bodies?

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that every republican is a hypocrite. Indeed, that would be a logical fallacy.

What I'm saying is that time after time, high-profile republicans, which run on a platforms of traditional values, have repeatedly demonstrated that, privately, such values aren't important to them at all. This should cast doubt upon the party's position that it is a beacon of morality in American politics

Just to bring a human dimension to all this shadenfreude - here's a quick bio in USAToday: link

One big reason may be that the Diebold problems haven't been very prominent in the type of media that the average American consumes. This problem with the Dutch computers was featured on national tv, during prime time, on what would be considered "basic cable". Maybe if "60 minutes" covered it there would be a difference, although since only 15 million people watch 60 minutes, and there are 300 million people in the USA, I doubt it.

Also, since the Netherlands is very densely populated, if someone missed this news and isn't (yet) outraged by it, chances are good that they will come across someone who will tell them all about it. Outrage travels like a virus, and (un)fortunately the USA's sparse population acts as an inhibitor. In the Netherlands 5% will grow to 100% much faster than in the states.

More reasonable? Not in the slightest.

The first incident occured on the Bill O'liely show. A recorded show that had the insert at the bottom of the screen describing Foley as a Democrat.

Following that, the AP then makes the same 'mistake', although with hastert included this time. While I agree that it might have been picked up by a cut-and-paste press, that should just show you the lelel of respect that news outlets have for your intelligence. If they cant be bothered to check that what they are reporting are actually facts, it puts a little more light on the fact that they are just acting as shills to the highest bidder.

Its not like this administration has never done this before. Its amazing what a few bucks can do these days.

Perhaps you grew up in this type of atmosphere and find it acceptable, but what you are describing, is in no way whatsoever 'reasonable'.

The study comes amid a burst of research into neuroeconomics, which studies the brain's role in buying and selling decisions. Economists have embraced the idea in recent years that irrational psychology, rather than cool calculation, plays a role in such decisions. The brain study goes further and suggests that emotions rule decisions almost completely.

Although we are closer to the end of the season than the beginning, it does officially last until November 30, so there is a chance of more activity.

However, there have been reports that a developing El Nino has reduced the likelihood of hurricane formation.

Video news releases
Armstrong Williams
Judith Miller

Look for yourself, you'll find more.

Asia is now leading in this kind of research. I think the GP post meant this too.

Here's your 200 million:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/200 5/01/08/china_plans_to_ban_selective_abortion_over _gender?mode=PF

Now here's a more conservative estimate:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/19/chin a-usat.htm (40 million baby girls destroyed)

That's only 3 times worse than the # of Jews killed in Germany.

Now you're haggling with me over the magnitude of how much worse China is than Germany.... not whether or not it is.

Every Soldier who deploys uses some type of simulation to train critical Warfighting skills. Simulations help our Soldiers hone their skills, rehearse their missions and return to their families safely when their missions are complete. PEO STRI responds quickly to critical, emerging requirements with innovative acquisition and technology solutions and puts the power of simulation into the hands of America's Warfighters!

The three pilots in Florida continued with their training. Atta and Shehhi finished up at Huffman and earned their instrument certificates from the FAA in November. In mid-December 2000, they passed their commercial pilot tests and received their licenses. They then began training to fly large jets on a flight simulator. At about the same time, Jarrah began simulator training, also in Florida but at a different center. By the end of 2000, less than six months after their arrival, the three pilots on the East Coast were simulating flights on large jets.65

Oh yes. The best solution is for the well-funded, well-equipped, politically influencial stabilizing force to leave the unstable power-vacuum suddenly. That worked so well when the Russians did it in the 80s.

Same logic used in Vietnam. Whee history does repeat itself.

We are not winning in Iraq. Every indication is that things get worse, day by day, not better. Projecting this into the future, things will continue to get worse. There are no indications -- none, zero, zip, nada -- that things are improving let alone stabilizing.

So of course the RATIONAL thing to do is to continue hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. Someday, somehow, it will stop being so painful. Just you wait!

Whether or not you agree with the Republicans currently in office, I think almost every rational person understands that us leaving Iraq would be about the *worst* action we could take.

Poll: 72% of U.S. Troops Say End War in 2006

81% of non-Kurdish Iraqis want Americans to leave "immediately"

Opposition to Iraq War at All Time High - Only 35% support it, 61% oppose

But of course none of those people are irrational, so in the true spirit of democracy their wishes shouldn't be respected or, really, even listened to.

Mainstream TV and newspapers are hardly immune to this effect.

Yeah he 'stole' it... I mean, this map right here just proves that Bush had no support!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vot e2004/countymap.htm


Way to read the article dude!

The whole point of the article was the count was wrong, and the scale of fraud was such that such a map as that is utterly meaningless.

Keep in mind also that that nice flat distribution there says NOTHING about population density.

Yeah he 'stole' it... I mean, this map right here just proves that Bush had no support!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vot e2004/countymap.htm

Doesn't really help the Dems that they cry that the election was stolen every election year now. Especially given that there's at least as much conspiracy surrounding the Dems actively registering illegal immigrants to sway the vote in their direction.

I'm no fan of Bush, but this election stealing conspiracy is getting almost as tired as the 9/11 'inside job' stuff. Oops I probably sturred up the Slashdot believers.

It seems that the economic engine that is the health care industry is already having its fuel siphoned to India. Employers are enrolling their staff in healthcare plans that will send patients overseas for medical procedures that can be scheduled in advance.

The appeal is obvious: Heart surgeries and hip replacements in such countries as India, Thailand and Mexico can be had for less than one-third the cost in the USA.

At the same time, medical costs in the USA are rising rapidly, with no end in sight.

Seth

Excuses excuses excuses. We see smoke and mirrors from the democratic party that doesn't want to admit that they have been unable the last two presidential elections to present a legitimate contender for president. Trust me if the Democrats could put forward a candidate that was even halfway decent he would win the election in a landslide. Instead we get candidates that are wanted by the leftist fringe that has started to infest the democratic party. Just like the republicans have their anti-science, pro-war, pro-israel right wing idealogues. The democrats have their anti-religion, pro-appeasement, anti-israel etc left wing idealogues. Both of the parties are slowly starting to become controlled by these people. Hopefully it will result in a legitimate third political party with moderate policies (which is what I would like).

Fraud happens, there were several legitimate cases of Democrats committing election fraud such as the son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis. and some of his friends being arrested for slashing the tires of 25 cars and vans rented by republicans to help get people without transportation to voter sites (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-24-ti res-slashed_x.htm). Also as another voter said democrats nation wide are famous for having dead people vote for them.

It truly depresses me as I see slashdot.org politically becoming like http://dailykos.com/ when really you should be focusing on things besides crying about how the democrats lost the elections and republicans must be evil because (insert celebrity) said so.

Your comment and the parent were interesting to me.

We are setting up workstations with treadmills, inspired by Dr. James A. Levine's work at the Mayo clinic:
    http://www.mayoclinic.org/endocrinology-rst/112066 08.html
    http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/levine_ lab/
    http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-07-offic e-fit_x.htm?csp=34

While we had a custom tray made for a treadmill by a generous neighbor a couple days ago, on reading your comment I do now realize it is a bit low and I am hunching to use the keyboard and mouse on it. So a few boxes to prop up the keyboard and mouse pad added just now and it feels better.

As the parent post to yours suggests, having multiple monitors also helps, and I have three in this setup, and it is nice to switch between them for moving around the neck and so on.

Anyway, the treadmill may be nice, but for the week or so that I was standing just with a drafting desk moved to standing height with three LCD monitors, I felt a big improvement. We also had tall chairs for variety, and also a floor rest for alternating resting feet while standing. The more you can keep moving in various ways and vary your body position while working for a long time, the better. The treadmill is mostly geared towards weight loss in my case. :-)

And I am typing this going half a mile an hour on the treadmill, having just walked about a mile during the two hours I have been web surfing (including reading this slashdot article and replying to this).

Well, except for hopping off the treadmill to give a treat to our two dogs. :-) We work at home, so dogs and workstation customizations are more possible here. Could ergonomics be a push for more home offices?

Imagine if you have a gigantic bag that has 5,000,000 marbles in it. Let's say that 1% of the marbles are black. 1% certainly sounds like a small number, but if you do the math it means that there are 50000 black marbles. That's a lot. The reason why there are a lot of black marbles is because there are so many marbles in total. If there are five billion marbles in total, then there will be 50 million black marbles in the bag. You can apply the same concept to planets. Right now around 200 extrasolar planets have been discovered. Two puffed up, bloated planets have been discovered. 2 out of 200 is 1%. 1% of all the planets out there is A LOT if you consider the sheer number of planets in the universe.

Actually, that's the exact reasoning they use to arrest teenagers for posting pictures of themselves on the internet.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife /2004-03-29-child-self-porn_x.htm

Just tracked down a USA Today article that names the company as NDS. Article URL is
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technolog y/2004-11-29-dvr_x.htm
Company URL is
http://www.nds.com/personal_tv/personal_tv.html

Just eliminate voting. It is apparent that voting is a bad idea that *just doesn't work*. I mean the free market can and *should* be allowed to solve all of our governance problems and so we should just auction off our federal, local and state governments to the highest bidders; who will eliminate taxes and replace them with 'users fees'. Though corporate users will get breaks and 'bulk discounts' since they are so important for the economy and preserving freedom.

No more taxes? No more wars? No more eminent domain? No more tariffs? No more pollution? No more inflation? No more licenses? No more doctor shortages? I get to choose my police department, fire department, and school? Instead of preparing for a natural disaster by sending my money to the local, state, and federal governments, I get to decide how my money is spent?

Where do I sign up?

Patricia Dunn has been HP's non-executive chairman since she helped engineer last year's ouster of former chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technolog y/2006-09-08-hp-dunn-denies_x.htm

Hell, by the given definition, any pictures of me are child pornography, since I happen to be 17 years old. Oops, guess I can send anyone other than my family with such pictures to jail!

Driving the truck. That's what the job looks like. Those guys even look like truck drivers.

Then when they get there, they have to unload the truck. ""There's an awful lot going on, and it's going to be non-stop work from start to finish ... with virtually no time for breaks."

That's the reality of the job.

When someone asks me why we have to spend so much money on space exploration, I should have them watch a launch with my daughters. It's all about the thrill of exploration, the daring of it, the wonder of fellow humans climbing up off this planet and touching the stars.

Um...not to be cynical, and Slashdotters hate being reminded of these things, but your daughters are in awe because they don't know that:

• It costs $16BN a year to keep NASA running of which $3BN is political pork, and a fair bit goes towards research which is primarily for the purposes of weapons and has nothing to do with the "quest for knowledge".
• The ISS, which this mission supports, is falling apart after just a few years in space. It was supposed to last JUST 10 years after final assembly, and it hasn't even been fully assembled. Failures have ranged from oxygen generators to basic handtools to attitude correction gyros. The price tag was $100BN; that money largely went to our nation's (and other nation's) defense contractors, which build the majority of the hardware NASA uses.
• The "smoke" from the solid rocket engines contains huge amounts of hydrochloric acid.
• One in five of their classmates go hungry at home or at school because their parents can't afford to give them enough food, and the government currently spends slightly more than NASA's budget to feed 7 million children a year a decent lunch. Let's not even get started about basic supply and book shortages. We're supposedly the most powerful nation in the world, but we can't but enough [food in the stomachs / textbooks in the hands] of our children so that they can recieve a sufficient education to support themselves later in life, instead of ending up working at Walmart for minimum wage.

Personally, I don't find any thrill in NASA's "exploration", which seems to consist mostly of "let's see what _______ does in space" and the nation's military and scientific elite (yes, military- many of the people you see up there are military officers) playing. There is no "daring" (save the small chance their shuttle will be destroyed) and they're not touching any stars.