I have to say I lost a lot of respect and fondness for Bradbury over the whole Fahrenheit 9/11 title kerfuffle. And I don't even like Moore and have avoided his movies since researching them a bit. My mental image of him went from a starry-eyed dreamer to a crotchety old man shouting "GET OFF MY LAWN!" It made him seem to have more in common with Harlan Ellison than I ever guessed. I don't believe you should hold the character of a man against his works of fiction, but I can't pick up a book by either of them without that image constantly interfering with the story.
everything you know comes from suspect media sources
And this is the crux of why it's labeled a "conspiracy theory." Because the people who are clinging to it so desperately so frequently dismiss evidence that disagrees by claiming it's part of a cover-up. You can come up with an explanation for just about everything that involves a conspiracy followed by a coverup.
Every single person who has ever been murdered at random (whether by someone mentally ill or as part of a robbery) could really have been murdered as part of a planned conspiracy. That doesn't mean there has never been a conspiracy to murder any particular individual. But without solid and conclusive evidence of the conspiracy itself, it's all mental masturbation. And by solid and conclusive evidence, I don't mean evidence that can be interpreted two ways an only fits if you come to it pre-supposing a conspiracy.
I picked red snapper for my example specifically because it was one of the fish most often substituted for. It was actually reading an article many years ago that centered on red snapper that first made me aware of fish fraud. Though typically a restaurant won't be so bold and still claim it's red snapper. They call it "bay snapper", or "gulf snapper" or "pacific red snapper" or, the worst of all in my opinion, just plain "snapper."
Well, yes and no. With any dish, ingredients are going to vary in quality and the cooking/preparing will also vary. So you go into a restaurant, order Red Snapper and after eating it you thought it was just OK. Maybe the chef didn't know what they were doing. Maybe that particular fish just wasn't a good specimen. Maybe it's been frozen a bit long. Maybe it's a bit past the sell by date.
Or maybe it's not Red Snapper.
In my personal experience, I've had really good Red Snapper, and I've not so good Red Snapper. Was the difference because of the former factors, or because of the latter? Not having a raw sample and a DNA test, I couldn't tell you for sure.
Wow, you can't figure out how to filter an RSS feed? I'm not sure you should even be reading slashdot to begin with...
In case rolling your own script is to tough/inconvenient for you, there are multiple sites out there that let you sign up with them for free. Two examples are Feed Rinse and Yahoo Pipes. Check them out and end the nightmare of having to scroll past iPhone stories.
Well, as I commented previously, the US has also had laws/regulations forcing the local telco monopolies to let other ISPs on their lines. As in Sweden, they fought it tooth and nail, generally just causing trouble and uncertainty. It's hard to tell what would happen if it was something the US government really got behind.
We only have it "tough" in relationship to GDP. No one who is griping about broadband speeds really has it "tough" in a more general sense of the word.
I did touch on competition in my post. As I said, I don't think it really shows a vast difference.This report from 2003 puts Swedish broadband provider shares as:
So I don't see a huge breakdown in the overall number of companies. The problem is that these numbers don't always tell the story of LOCAL monopolies.
Another report mentions that the Swedish government create a big infrastructure rollout programs where they gave grants and tax breaks. It goes on to say
Given that TeliaSonera, the incumbent telecommunications operator, owns the majority of Sweden's telecommunications infrastructure, the company had the advantage of being able to bid low for these projects since it could simply upgrade its existing network. Not surprisingly, it won 65 percent of the projects.
But that's just who owns the wire. It also appears from this same document that the Swedish government put in a lot of regulation to allow other ISPs access to TeliaSonera's infrastructure. This is a similar situation as in the US. And just like in the US, the incumbent telco fought it tooth and nail. They eventually lost. This is still an ongoing struggle in the US. Maybe this is a big point in the differences between Sweden and the US. Maybe if the US does get some strong regulation in that opens up the infrastructure, competition will flourish and bring services up and prices down.
Hard to say how this situation in Sweden is compared to France, Finland, etc.
Whether or not the prediciton is statistically shaky, the fact remains that there is a huge gap between the US and many other, quite dissimilar countries. The big question is "Why?" Japan and Korea aren't the only ones that far outclass American broadband speed, though they do have quite a speed lead.
And sure, in the US you can get FiOS at 30Mbps, but it will cost you $200/month and you have to live in a very limited area. You can get 50Mbps from Comcast only if you live in the Twin Cities (right now), but it's still $150/month.
I could point to the geography of the US, saying how its a much bigger area than the smaller countries at the top of those charts. Sure, Japan and Korea have an incredible population density. But not Finland, Sweden, France, etc. They have population densities several orders of magnitude smaller than even cities like Houston, Miami, Phoenix, or Chicago. Why aren't these cities more like those countries?
I could also try it from the angle of regulation/free market/competition. But I'm pretty sure those countries at the top aren't all the same in that regard.
Is it because our companies tend to each have local monopolies over large areas? That seems less likely considering how just about everyone in a metro area can get cable. So they have two companies, phone and cable, to compete with each other.
Is there something unique about our infrastructure? Did we make some horrible mistake that seemed like a good idea at the time but is now haunting us?
Is the US just in a perfect storm of craptitude where all these factors come into play?
Actual, while reading up on this I learned that the hijackers got around all that by just reporting their passports stolen. The new ones handily come free of stamps to anywhere. They then faked on a few stamps and weathered the passports.
That seems unlikely. First, in that such a thing would be public and muddled in with the system to tag an article based on its content. Second, on the basis that it supposed slashdot articles are reviewed/corrected.
Slashdot Mirror
the web != the web - flash sites
Let me know when the non-Flash version of Homestar Runner is up.
Calculon: And you say you can guarantee me the Oscar?
Bender: I can "guarantee" anything you want.
I have to say I lost a lot of respect and fondness for Bradbury over the whole Fahrenheit 9/11 title kerfuffle. And I don't even like Moore and have avoided his movies since researching them a bit. My mental image of him went from a starry-eyed dreamer to a crotchety old man shouting "GET OFF MY LAWN!" It made him seem to have more in common with Harlan Ellison than I ever guessed. I don't believe you should hold the character of a man against his works of fiction, but I can't pick up a book by either of them without that image constantly interfering with the story.
everything you know comes from suspect media sources
And this is the crux of why it's labeled a "conspiracy theory." Because the people who are clinging to it so desperately so frequently dismiss evidence that disagrees by claiming it's part of a cover-up. You can come up with an explanation for just about everything that involves a conspiracy followed by a coverup.
Every single person who has ever been murdered at random (whether by someone mentally ill or as part of a robbery) could really have been murdered as part of a planned conspiracy. That doesn't mean there has never been a conspiracy to murder any particular individual. But without solid and conclusive evidence of the conspiracy itself, it's all mental masturbation. And by solid and conclusive evidence, I don't mean evidence that can be interpreted two ways an only fits if you come to it pre-supposing a conspiracy.
You fail boolean logic, sir.
You can make the same argument that PC game developers love Windows piracy, because it provides so many more targets for their products.
I picked red snapper for my example specifically because it was one of the fish most often substituted for. It was actually reading an article many years ago that centered on red snapper that first made me aware of fish fraud. Though typically a restaurant won't be so bold and still claim it's red snapper. They call it "bay snapper", or "gulf snapper" or "pacific red snapper" or, the worst of all in my opinion, just plain "snapper."
Ah, here's the article I read many years ago that opened my eyes to the whole thing:
http://www.houston-press.com/2001-11-01/news/fish-fraud/full
They say if it smells like fish, it's already gone bad...
Well, yes and no. With any dish, ingredients are going to vary in quality and the cooking/preparing will also vary. So you go into a restaurant, order Red Snapper and after eating it you thought it was just OK. Maybe the chef didn't know what they were doing. Maybe that particular fish just wasn't a good specimen. Maybe it's been frozen a bit long. Maybe it's a bit past the sell by date.
Or maybe it's not Red Snapper.
In my personal experience, I've had really good Red Snapper, and I've not so good Red Snapper. Was the difference because of the former factors, or because of the latter? Not having a raw sample and a DNA test, I couldn't tell you for sure.
I think you are somehow getting "walleye" confused with "cod."
They are both fish, so it's an easy mistake. I guess.
Wow, you can't figure out how to filter an RSS feed? I'm not sure you should even be reading slashdot to begin with...
In case rolling your own script is to tough/inconvenient for you, there are multiple sites out there that let you sign up with them for free. Two examples are Feed Rinse and Yahoo Pipes. Check them out and end the nightmare of having to scroll past iPhone stories.
I'm guessing Iraq is going to be picking up some wonderful "best democracy in the world" voting machines at low, low prices.
That really is quite bizarre. You can have the feature on the completely free gmail, but not the completely free gmail for domains...
It seems you missed that the part of the statement that needed proving was that either Quicktime or iTunes was on "most" computers.
That was a giant non-sequitur.
Except that Quicktime is still on most computers, as a result of iTunes.
[Citation needed]
Well, as I commented previously, the US has also had laws/regulations forcing the local telco monopolies to let other ISPs on their lines. As in Sweden, they fought it tooth and nail, generally just causing trouble and uncertainty. It's hard to tell what would happen if it was something the US government really got behind.
We only have it "tough" in relationship to GDP. No one who is griping about broadband speeds really has it "tough" in a more general sense of the word.
I did touch on competition in my post. As I said, I don't think it really shows a vast difference.This report from 2003 puts Swedish broadband provider shares as:
TeliaSonera: 37%
B2: 25%
Comhem: 11%
UPS: 8%
Others: 19%
In this report, the 2008 US broadband provider shares are broken down as such:
AT&T: 21%
Comcast: 22%
Verizon: 13%
Time Warner: 13%
Cox: 7%
Others: 24%
So I don't see a huge breakdown in the overall number of companies. The problem is that these numbers don't always tell the story of LOCAL monopolies.
Another report mentions that the Swedish government create a big infrastructure rollout programs where they gave grants and tax breaks. It goes on to say
Given that TeliaSonera, the incumbent telecommunications operator, owns the majority of Sweden's
telecommunications infrastructure, the company had the advantage of being able to bid low for these projects since
it could simply upgrade its existing network. Not surprisingly, it won 65 percent of the projects.
But that's just who owns the wire. It also appears from this same document that the Swedish government put in a lot of regulation to allow other ISPs access to TeliaSonera's infrastructure. This is a similar situation as in the US. And just like in the US, the incumbent telco fought it tooth and nail. They eventually lost. This is still an ongoing struggle in the US. Maybe this is a big point in the differences between Sweden and the US. Maybe if the US does get some strong regulation in that opens up the infrastructure, competition will flourish and bring services up and prices down.
Hard to say how this situation in Sweden is compared to France, Finland, etc.
Whether or not the prediciton is statistically shaky, the fact remains that there is a huge gap between the US and many other, quite dissimilar countries. The big question is "Why?" Japan and Korea aren't the only ones that far outclass American broadband speed, though they do have quite a speed lead.
Chart of Broadband Speeds by Country
And sure, in the US you can get FiOS at 30Mbps, but it will cost you $200/month and you have to live in a very limited area. You can get 50Mbps from Comcast only if you live in the Twin Cities (right now), but it's still $150/month.
I could point to the geography of the US, saying how its a much bigger area than the smaller countries at the top of those charts. Sure, Japan and Korea have an incredible population density. But not Finland, Sweden, France, etc. They have population densities several orders of magnitude smaller than even cities like Houston, Miami, Phoenix, or Chicago. Why aren't these cities more like those countries?
I could also try it from the angle of regulation/free market/competition. But I'm pretty sure those countries at the top aren't all the same in that regard.
Is it because our companies tend to each have local monopolies over large areas? That seems less likely considering how just about everyone in a metro area can get cable. So they have two companies, phone and cable, to compete with each other.
Is there something unique about our infrastructure? Did we make some horrible mistake that seemed like a good idea at the time but is now haunting us?
Is the US just in a perfect storm of craptitude where all these factors come into play?
Actual, while reading up on this I learned that the hijackers got around all that by just reporting their passports stolen. The new ones handily come free of stamps to anywhere. They then faked on a few stamps and weathered the passports.
They really seem to be a more morally upstanding culture...I'm going to hang lawyers and accountants in trees for fun
Wow. You moving there might actually make China worse.
That seems unlikely. First, in that such a thing would be public and muddled in with the system to tag an article based on its content. Second, on the basis that it supposed slashdot articles are reviewed/corrected.