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Yup. Conveniently, an article in today's USA Today discusses the wireless industry and their abysmal record of customer satisfaction.

"In nearly every gauge of customer satisfaction, the wireless industry scores at or near the bottom. Worse than insurance companies. Worse than credit card outfits. Worse than car dealers."

You'll forgive me if I don't want these people to have anything to do with how I obtain and listen to music. The wireless providers want to maintain of lot of control over these heavily subsidized handsets and what we can do with 'em.

No, man, he looks just like Peter Boyle as the monster in "Young Frankenstein".

Here he is on stage with Scott McNealy.

I knew we shouldn't have hired Boies Schiller.

Here's Ballmer's secret meeting with Richard Stallman.

The Longhorn Beta doesn't go so well.

I gotta do something about Google!

I'm glad that the dead are still a minority in Chicago. Given the city's reputation, one would presume that they were in the majority.

From USA Today, of all places.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2005-0 5-17-revolution_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

...here's Nintendo's second flop.

Battlestar Galactica has had substantial, positive, coverage in the mainstream media. a strong lead-in and perfect placement on Sci-Fi Channel's Friday night schedule. The top rated non sports cable program in prime time among men age 25-54, Galactica is well written, well cast, and takes a minimalist approach to the use of special effects. I very much doubt that bit torrent has been the slightest factor in its success.

I'm surprised that movie industry is not following up how pr0n industry can be so successful and profitable.

Being sophisticated and innovative in member management is one thing, but more importantly is the undeniable fact that pr0n industry actually produces something that viewers want to watch, maybe that is why people are paying to watch it. Pr0n is probably one of the most pirated product known to mankind, yet it's still a feasible business living through printed to digital materials.

There's a story about movie slump, the article mentioned that the industry needs something that can get people excited about going to the movies.

In case there was any doubt...

Hello, handsome!

Now, seeing him as a Pocket PC desktop picture was enlightening.

There were multiple methods that the Florida newspaper coalition used to measure the final vote counts, and Bush won most of them, including the recount methods that were requested by the Gore campaign.

Bush won fair and square twice. Even the BBC says so. Only empty-headed Chomskyite conspiracy mongers think otherwise.

-ccm

Um... Do a google search. Name a newspaper or a news site - from drudge and slashdot to msnbc and indymedia and usatoday, they've all reported it this year. Not sure how you could have possibly missed that?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30- students-press_x.htm


One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

The survey of First Amendment rights was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.

Who are you quoting? And if you can name a source for your "statistic" who funded the poll and for what purpose? I am skeptical of most polls because their objective isn't always stated up front, their samples of the population are too small, and the questions can sometimes be misleading.

If the vote was over whether or not rapists should get funding so that they could quit their jobs and concentrate more effectively on their hobby, would you consider yourself unrepresented if someone didn't back the measure?

You never know, because most of the republicans in power are perverts themselves.

I'm more interested in whether I can get BALCO to cook up a Midichlorian injection so I can be a stronger Jedi.

"The astronauts have many backgrounds, and these days very few of them ever worked as test pilots"

I was getting the shuttle confused with Apollo, I think.

That doesnt't change the fact that they were aware of the risk going in and chose to accept it.

"and flying on the space shuttle is the most dangerous thing they have ever done in their lives."

Actually that would probably be driving while talking on a cell phone, which is statistically indistinguishable from driving drunk. I have a hard time accepting that somebody who's qualified to decide for themselves that they'd like to, say, go to McMurdo for a year or two, a situation which involves a considerable amount of risk everytime they go outside, isn't qualified to decide to be a shuttle astronaut.

"and I think it's basically impossible to set any concrete criteria of "mission viability"

Well, NASA seems to disagree with you. I suggest you take it up with them.

"It doesn't matter what goes wrong--we can just try again."

And pay for the robot again, which is exactly what the anti-science neocons will bitch about.

"fundamentally flawed because of the support overhead."

Funny you should mention support overhead. 7.4 million dollars per hour. That's some support overhead. Not a one-time expenditure of one billion to fix something that would otherwise continue functioning for another 15 years. Not to mention that in the mission of preserving humanity's existence against the threat of asteroid or comet collision, superatmospheric astronomy is a mission-critical tool.

I support the use of unmanned spaceflight whenever it would meet the exact same set of goals as manned. But if the mission requires flexibility, quick response time, or creative problem solving, then that mission is a bad one to be completely automated. I think machines could be very very useful in space, just not in all place or for all purposes. Man is still the best machine there is.

"In terms of acquiring scientific data, you simply don't need tons of food and oxygen."

Right, which is why Hubble doesn't have any, nor did Voyager, nor any other strictly information gathering tool. But there are some things you need humans for, and there are humans ready, able, and willing to fill these roles, and to balk at a task because it is difficult is not only counter-productive to the point of obstructionism, it's simply un-American.

We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

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

If they succeed in prosecuting her for the crimes they are charging her, she would become a sex offender. Would she have to wear a GPS tracker too?

I am stumping for a time and place in school for a reasonable discussion of what non-scientists believe. (Emphasis added)

About the "walking around" thing and being stuck in a small area, couldn't the player be on some sort of bi-dimensional treadmill? Then their walking and/or running would cause it to move under their feet somehow.

Or instead, why not have something like this: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/20 04-10-10-braingate-cover_x.htm?csp=1 (once the surgery requirement is eliminated..)

The author ignores a number of inconvenient facts.

First, and foremost, SCO's bluster about Linux and copyright infringement predates their lawsuit against IBM. Whether or not IBM violated its contract with SCO is not the community's beef with SCO; the community is up in arms because SCO had the gall to suggest that Linux was a big ripoff of SCO's proprietary unix code and began to do things like sell linux licenses, as if it had some right to collect that money. So this is not merely a "simple contract dispute".

Moreover, he is skewing the origin of Linux. Regardless of the author's qualifications, the two people most able to state whether or not Linux was or was not dervied from Minix or contained Minix code would certainly be Linus Torvalds and Andrew Tannenbaum. Tannenbaum said, "I told [Ken Brown, President of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution] that MINIX had clearly had a huge influence on Linux in many ways, from the layout of the file system to the names in the source tree, but I didn't think Linus had used any of my code." Eric Raymond may have been citing this to make a point, but when Linus and Andrew both are clear on the point that Linux did not use Minix code, then I believe take their assertions on that point.

The assertions about due diligence are equally off-base, as the Open Source Risk Management company is offering insurance against claims of copyright infringement. It is basically absurd to suggest they could get millions and millions of dollars of insurance underwritten without due diligence against the product they were insuring - which, in this case, is the code that comprises Linux.

Finally, the author completely ignores how unclean SCO is with its own source management. They distributed a version of Linux for quite some time, and continued to distribute it even after they had made public claims. If they had discovered claims but continued to distribute the code, one could quite easily argue (and surely IBM will) that they have themselves have placed whatever code is in question under the GPL.

This only touches on the number of issues he manages to gloss over in a few brief pages. By no means do I think that David Boies would have been involved on contingency unless he felt he had some chance of winning, but the fact is, SCO is bleeding money like tomorrow's bacon, and it is hard to imagine how anyone would care to purchase a real product from SCO in the future, given their propensity to do things like, say, sue their customers.

Certainly, at this point, Canopy can only be hoping that the payoff from the lawsuit against IBM and other actions will be sufficient to justify flushing the company. But even *if* SCO managed to prove IBM contributed tainted code, there's a mountain of counterclaims to deal with and SCO has to try to establish damages, and it's hard to see how SCO can justify damages that are a significant multiple of its own market capitalization at the time the offense occurred. It would be like Harold Welte suing Asus for $2B or such. It may sound like a nice round number, and SCO can say that it wants "infinity times infinity" for damages, but that doesn't give it a snowball's chance in hell of actually seeing such damages.

Of at least, in OJ's case, no more money. here

Oh... and in Robert Blake's case also. here

The NASA announcement is one part of a larger battle over the federal government's position on the roles of public vs. private, secret vs. open, etc. This represents a rare win for the public-open axis. On the other hand, one Senator wants to restrict public access to weather service data (that the public already paid for collecting, one story here: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2005-04-27-NW S-bill_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA). The president's proposed dismantling of social security is another.

Are you also freightened that Google won't hire Republicans?

SAN FRANCISCO -- As it claws for greater power, the Democratic Party has found a newly rich ally in one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies: Google.

Google employees gave $207,650 to federal candidates for last year's elections, up from just $250 in 2000 when it was still a start-up. And 98% went to Democrats, the biggest share among top tech donors, a new USA TODAY campaign finance analysis shows.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technolog y/2005-02-13-google-give-usat_x.htm

• The second and most ambitious project will involve a live-action series. He wants it to be similar to the serialized 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles' TV series he executive-produced in 1992. Lucas plans to film the entire first season all at once, with shooting to begin in about a year. Lucas says he will set up the show, but then plans to step back and move on to other projects.

The Wal-mart opposition is quite varied. The opposition is on sexism grounds (men get paid more in every position - regional vice presidents make twice as much; also, the higher the rank, the fewer the women - regional vice presidents are only 9% female); on labor grounds (they're radically anti-union, to the point that they've closed entire stores to block unions); on pay/benefits grounds (the majority of its employees live below the poverty line); on political grounds (Wal-Mart gives heavily to Republicans, and actively supports right-wing political causes); and a host of other issues. Furthermore, not all big companies are despised; for example, CostCo is typically viewed as a socially responsible alternative - they pay their workers very generously by comparison.

• Article: When the days turn humid in this farming town, the air becomes thick with the smell of butter from the Gilster-Mary Lee plant, a microwave-popcorn factory and one of the area's largest employers. At night, when the buildings' lights are ablaze, some residents say they've seen a yellowish cloud emanate from the building and fill the dark sky. For years, no one here complained much about the odor or the fumes, figuring those were harmless prices to pay for prosperity. But a growing number of workers say the cause of that aroma is destroying their lungs. Some former workers are afflicted with a rare lung disease believed to be caused by inhaling a substance never suspected as an on-the-job hazard: the butter flavoring in microwave popcorn.

The 'butter flavoring' in microwave popcorn has been linked to health problems. Might be a good idea to stick with the air popper or use the old-fashioned oil-in-a-pan-on-the-stove method.

I wonder how much they profited. The fine for the top music industry companies was about $143 million but due to price fixing consumers were overcharged $480 million. That's a profit of about $337 million.

Auditors find IRS employees vulnerable to hackers (3/17/05)

More than one-third of Internal Revenue Service employees and managers who were contacted by Treasury Department inspectors posing as computer technicians provided their computer login and changed their password, a government report said Wednesday... That was a 50% improvement when compared with a similar test in 2001, when 71 [of 100] employees cooperated and changed their passwords.

IRS Flaws Expose Taxpayers to Snooping, Study Finds (4/18/05)

In all, 7,500 IRS employees, law enforcers and outside contractors can access and modify tax returns and financial-crime reports, the GAO found. A master list of passwords and user names is also widely available, the report said. "Increased risk exists that unauthorized users could ... claim a user identity and then use that identity to gain access to sensitive taxpayer or Bank Secrecy Act data," the report said.

--
My Aunt sells identity theft insurance. Email me and I can put you in touch with her.

The dollar has been steadily improving since mid-March, when it hit a recent low against the euro, Japanese yen and other currencies. The gains have come despite some recent economic data that normally would have sent the dollar reeling. That suggests the currency is experiencing a growing vote of confidence from investors in the USA and abroad.

Last week, the government said the U.S. trade deficit widened to another record in February. That's a development that usually would have been considered negative for the dollar because it means the USA has to attract more foreign capital to finance the economy. But the dollar rose instead.

...investors are focusing more on factors supporting the dollar, such as the outlook for higher U.S. interest rates, rather than other issues that have put pressure on the currency.

The federal budget deficit came in at $412 billion, or 3.6% of GDP, last year and could be about the same level this year. Recent budget deficits are a record in dollar terms; as a percentage of the economy, they are below the levels of the Reagan years.

Hmm...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkanto r/2004-01-22-kantor_x.htm

I started dragging the map and was amused by how the Atlantic Ocean kept going and going and going... I then went back and dragged down and noticed the conspicuous absence of South America.

Nevertheless, it was kind of fun, even if they didn't have any listing for Charlottesville, VA, even though it is the best city in the US in which to live.

Before you start spouting the latest intelligent design "evidence," know that I've already read it. The problem is that all of this evidence is not analyzed to discover the truth, it is gathered with the express purpose of supporting a conclusion that is already assumed to be correct. That's bad science, and doesn't hold water with me.

Please analyze the following evidence and tell me your conclusions. Intelligent design at work!

The protester enforcement has always been done and it is needed to keep things civil. If anything Bush has acted very well and hasn't flown off the handle. Your later example of the Japanese is a good example of how abuses happened in the past - even by a Democratic President that Dem's still think is a great guy or even a hero. But that is another discussion. I'm surprised you used McCarthyism as an example though. When the iron curtain fell a number of things were exposed. The most interesting of which was that McCarthy was doing what Roosevelt and Truman did quietly and that he (McCarthy) was right. The Communists were over here and were trying to destroy the government. This was confirmed along with the names of their agents that matched up nicely with who he was questioning. So to criticize him and not criticize Roosevelt and Truman is a travesty. Maybe he should have done it in a back room like Roosevelt and Truman did.

No argument there. Pray, tell though, what rights are being violated by protesters being present outside an event? Yes, the people talking inside have a right to free speech as well, that is not being violated.....

Lets look at your example. One of the most vocal and many consider a violent protester of the Republican's is Michael Moore. This guy is on the floor of the Republican convention - USATODAY . Moore laughs all the way to his Manhattan bank from his rich Manhattan crib with my guess is your money amoung others. Now what if a conservative did that? There was also statements that the left were going to shoot marbles at the police horses with a slingshot and so on. They wanted to shut the convention down. Much to their credit they didn't inter people, they provided a nice place for them to go and say whatever they wanted to. Go ahead, turn the air blue. There was even reporters over there with cameramen. A golden opportunity was lost by criticizing the free speech zone instead of something else.

...I have no doubt that the presendent knows exactly what those protesters wanted to say to him. What was denied them was the right to say it.....

Maybe I'm missing something. You are making a distinction without a difference. The message got through but you feel that everyone has a right to harrass others? Where would you draw the line? When you get too obnoxious bad things happen out of desperation. Sometimes very bad things. Do you want that? In the 1960's people were shot and killed at Ohio State during a protest (and a song about it - Tin Soldiers). There was also a riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Maybe you want blood to run in the streets again? Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

Sorry.

Japan is moving ahead with plans for space travel as well.

USA Today
"The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has been researching the use of alternating red and green lasers as a way to communicate with pilots flying too near the Capitol or the White House when they can't be reached by radio."

I guess you haven't heard about Tommy John surgery. Baseball pitchers have been artificially enhanced for nearly 30 years. Since there's no social stigma about surgery its legal, unlike steroids, which are "drugs".

I was wondering what the spammers at the Discount Home Shopping "The Club That Spam Built" needed with a privacy board.

When it comes to reducing taxes, nothing is a scam if it is legal. Paying the lowest tax allowable by law is every citizen's duty to their country.

Too bad the IRS doesn't see it that way. They can rule a legal practice abusive after the fact and go after you still. While the particular practice discussed in this sub thread has nil chance of that happening, there are a lot of people facing huge tax penalties and jail time right now because they took your philosophy to heart.

For example:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2005-03- 24-son-of-boss_x.htm

See this article for an explanation of the speed governor. Reasons: 1) tires not rated past 155 mph; 2) to prevent a speed war among car manufacturers.

"It has the same power as a stun gun. It knocks you down."

I saw it on Discovery channel
Well, that at least a little better than reading it in the USA Today

"There are 43 million uninsured Americans - 4 million more than when the current administration took office. George W. Bush will reverse this trend by making health insurance affordable for hard-working, low-income families." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 website

Reality?

In the first two years Bush was in office, the number of uninsured American increased by nearly four million. Since Bush took office, health insurance premiums have risen by an average rate of 12.5 percent per year. According to a major study, "widespread adoption [of Bush's major health care plan] could drive up the annual deductible paid by workers." Source:

U.S. Census Bureau, 7/8/04; Kaiser Family Foundation, 4/04; USA Today, 4/25/04

Another Healthcare promise:

"George W. Bush will establish the 'Healthy Communities Innovation Fund' to provide $500 million in grants over five years to fund innovative projects addressing targeted health risks, such as childhood diabetes." [Source: Bush-Cheney 2000 website]

Reality?

Bush never established this fund. Source:

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/20/04

Environmental promise:

George W. Bush "will also ensure that the federal government, which is the country's largest polluter, complies with all environmental laws." Source: Bush-Cheney 2000 website

Reality?

For the past three years, the Department of Defense has requested that Congress exempt it from environmental laws and regulations like the Clean Air Act of 1970. The exemptions were requested despite the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency has thus far declined to apply the policies to the military training facilities in question. Source:

Government Executive Magazine, 4/6/04

Education promise:

George W. Bush will "fully fund the Pell grant program for first-year students by increasing the maximum grant amount by more than 50 percent, to $5,100." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 - Education website

Reality?

President Bush has frozen the maximum Pell Grant at $4,050 in his FY 2005 education budget. This is the third year in a row that Bush has frozen or cut the maximum Pell Grant. Source:

House Committee on Education and the Work Force 2/2/04

Welfare promise:

"To encourage states to help families in crisis, Governor Bush will provide states an additional $1 billion over five years for preventative services to keep children in, or return them to, their homes whenever safely possible." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 - Child Welfare website

Reality?

Bush has proposed allowing states to use the federal funds currently earmarked for foster care room-and-board payments to be used for preventative services. In exchange, states must accept a spending cap on the amount of foster care funding they receive. Sour

Perhaps you'd prefer I upgrade to his latest schtick? No? Nyet? Marco PoNo? CEnO?
:-)

Maybe Microsoft could offer some kind of discount?

I mean that's never happened before...

It's probably bad form to reply twice to the same post, but I found another article. A quick internet search led to this story on the Chinese single-child issue in USA Today. The article is a couple of years old, but it is a very interesting read.

Is Monster Cable Worth it?

Now I know that USA Today is worthless, but at least they aren't trying to sell you cable.

Quote from the link (You know you're too lazy to click. Don't pretend.):

The differences were subtle. Without a back-to-back comparison, we might not have noticed.

Still, Gene DellaSala, president of Audioholics.com, says he advises stereo shoppers to "put more of the money into the loudspeaker, when it matters most."

The parent's entire belief system is based on the premise that Native Americans (Indians in less politically correct parlaince) are descendants of the original 13 tribes of Israel. This can be proven or disproven using mitochondrial DNA, which has a near-constant rate of mutation from generation to generation. Now given the timeframe of this supposed transplant, the amount of mutation within samples of mitochondrial DNA between actual Israeli Jews and Native Americans from all areas of North and Central America completely quashes the notion that they were recently (within the last 2500 years) transplanted. I hate to mess with their brainwashed state, but science doesn't lie.

Furthermore, the DOCTOR who did the research was a bishop in the LDS church himself. He was excommunicated by his church for his work. Dr. Simon Southerton was a professor at BYU, but left after he realized that the Book of Mormon was nothing more than the imaginations of Joseph Smith.

I just have one question for the hardcore Mormons who refuse to believe in scientific fact: how did the 14-year-old Smith manage to translate the gold plates from an unintelligible ancient language into english? Or where did they go for that matter? Surely the man would have not lost the gold plates, considering just their historical importance and not their theological importance.

If you have not heard about Dr. Southerton, here's USA Today's article on the subject, for starters. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-26-dna-l ds_x.htm There are other sites dedicated to this subject, but the USA Today article is as neutral as they get.

Her name is Paula Houston:

See here.

Switch to an insurance provider that doesn't. So long as the goverment doesn't get into the insurance industry (medicaid cough cough) things will work out.

Yeah, because it's not like insurance companies ever collude to keep prices high.

What happens if mass testing becomes "routine" throughout the US? The fair and proper terms for the disposal of DNA samples of vindicated people is going to become a big, big thing. And please, don't give me "if you're innocent you have nothing to fear". DNA evidence can easily be altered or corrupted within the first few hours of collection. Especially if you have a sample already in hand. A very uncommon thing today but who can say about tomorrow.

We all know the answer to these questions:

Will the DNA sample of a vindicated person be disposed of after the trial, after all appeals or never? Never

Will the refusal to voluntarily give a DNA sample subject you to further scrutiny than a similar person who willingly submits? Yes

Will employers someday within the next ten years require a DNA sample for employment, similar to how most major retail chains require a test for legel and illegal drug use (Like Wal-Mart or Home Depot)? Yes

Will the US Congress do anything to protect the rights of the individual into this intrusion into one's privacy? No

Welcome to the New Amerika. Please leave your quaint notions of personal freedom at the border.

Here and Now : Truro DNA Case - 1/12/2005
Boston.com / News / Local / DNA testing troubles some in Truro
CBS News ACLU Slams Mass DNA Collection
USATODAY.com - ACLU seeks end to Mass. DNA collections
Cape Cod Times article: "New England town abuzz over DNA dragnet"