Look at this way. My C$50 will buy me about 20 loaves of bread here in Canada. Your US$50 will buy you around 30 loaves of bread in the US
What your talking about is called 'purchasing power parity' or PPP. In actuality, you could buy 35 loaves of bread for $C50 in Canada and 40 loaves of bread for $US50. This clearly show that the C$ is very under-valued in relation to the US$.
For a better comparison, check out the 'Big Mac Index' which examines the PPP for Big Macs in different countries.
...as an active scientist who works in an atmospheric science lab, I have read at least as much about this as you have, particluarly on the technical end.
I'm sorry, but you are full of shit. If you were what you say you are, then you would never say that. The scientific community is not as divided as you claim. The research is pretty clear that some degree of global warming is happening. The thing I can't understand is what is the motivation behind your claim of such bullshit. Who is benefitting? Are you? Or are you just trying to be contrary for the sake of it?
If I gave you a glass of water that might be toxic, but without proof, would you drink it? Of course not. Get a grip on reality. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it is not happening.
This is just FUD. In reality morality has risen, not declined (as is the common misbelief), over the last 200 years. This is just the mindless religious crowd trying to justify their existence. We are far more civilized today than at any point in our collected human history. A walk through history will clearly show that people were far more morally bankrupt then, compared to today. It is not ironic, that the less religious we are, the moral and civilized we become.
This fairy tale that Napster is just a file sharing mechanism and they can't help it if people break the law is tiresome. Napster knows they are promoting theft, it says it all over their web site and their advertising.
You are right. It is theft, pure and simple. But IMO, that's completely irrelavent. The market price for a particular good is base on the percieved value by the consumer. Over the last hundred or so years, the recording companies have been selling recorded music to the public because technology has enabled them to do so. Prior to the advent of recorded music, musicians still made a living, some more than others. But it was a profession...it was hard work.
Now, due to the centralized distribution, marketing, and mordern recording technology, the record companies can make millions on one-hit-wonders who don't even write their own songs. Think of it this way: a violinist can spend a life time perfecting their skills and get compensated usually enough to live comfortably, and Brittiny Spears who dosn't write her own songs can make millions on a few pop jingles. Who is the true artist between those two? The only reason that Brittiny Spears can make money is because of technology, not copyright laws!
It is only poetic justice that it is technology that will be the death of an industry that was created because of technology in the first place. Don't feel bad, musicians will always be around...true musician cannot help but create music. However, it might stop being an industy and return to being an art form. That is a good thing(tm).
--pcb
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
-George Bernard Shaw
Sure Ottawa's got all the older Canadian software companies, but there's no venture capital to speak of...
Hmmm...
I think that Ottawa has lots of venture capital. I quote from a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen:
[http://www.ottawacitizen.com/hightech/000728/4524 738.html]Ventures West, which has about $300 million under administration in several venture funds, has made 10 investments in Ottawa area companies, including participation in some high profile deals with Nu-Wave, Sedona Networks and ATMOS Co.
"We view Ottawa as a world class centre," said Barry Gekiere, a Ventures West partner, "It is a hotbed for specific technologies especially in the telecom area, in optical networking and photonics and also semiconductor development."
Ottawa technology companies grabbed a record shattering $350 million in venture capital in just the second quarter of this year, far exceeding funding for all of 1999.
And this is for a city with a population of around 300,000. That's not too bad.
I think many of you may be ahead of yourselves. When I was at this years Networld+Interop in Las Vegas, most of the 'experts' giving talks on networking completely dismissed IPv6 as buggy and flawed. Most said that the next ugrade will be IPv7 or something. Apparently the IPv6 standard is a bad compromise between different and competing visions of what the internet should be by the major players in the industry. It was also rushed out the door without much feedback from the internet community. I am far from an expert in the matter, but perhaps somebody else could enlighten us of the technical problems with the IPv6 protocal.
I just installed Mandrake 7.1. What impressed me the most was that it detected, installed, and configured my USB zip drive automatically! Now that was a first. --pcb
In a free economy (not a mixed one like we have to day) Monopolies are impossibable. The only thing that can create a true monopoly is the government. The government can use force to create a monopoly no one else can. (by force I mean physical).
I don't think you have thought about this too clearly yourself! A system without some form of government (hopefully an elected one) ultimately ends up being a monopoly. The logical conclusion to a completely capitalist state is a complete monopoly. That is the reason anti-trust laws exist! Therefore you are wrong: capitalist systems need governments in order to remain free.
Don't bemoan the poor artist. Only the mega-bands actually make money off records sales. The only people who really lose are the record companies. IMO, the record companies are a product of technology themselves - it was only with the advent of audio recording equipment that these companies where able to become so profitable. Don't you think it is poetic justice that it is technology itself that also destroys them.
...The Quebec goverment is now investing 3-5 billions over the next few years in our e-commerce facilities to accomodate the new arrival of Nasdaq and hope to attract major players such as Microsoft, Dell and Compaq to name only a few. This was a big blow to Toronto and Vancouver...
Ha Ha...Most of the ROC (rest of canada) is quite amused at the amount of progaganda that Quebeckers actually believe from their own gov't. Have you actually been to Vancouver/Toronto/Ottawa/Calgary lately? Montreal is being left in the dust! And the fact that the PQ (the ruling political party) sill believes in corporate welfare just shows how totally incompetent they are. And having to pay companies to locate in Montreal just shows how deperate Quebec really is.
I just wanted to point out that the major difference between programming and most other technical fields is that in software most you your knowledge is completely replaced every few years or so. There is very little chance to build up your experience over the long term because most of the knowledge you had 5 years ago is mostly obsolete today. Although you could argue that becoming a great programmer takes time, very few people have the chance because they are constantly forced to learn new tools, languages, whatever. By the time most programmers reach the middle of their career, they have had to re-learn the same thing over and over again just to do the same job. Most older programmers that I've talked to are simple sick of learning new things over and over again. Don't get me wronge, most of these people don't mind learning things if the things they learned would just stay relevant. This is why most companies prefer younger programmer because they don't initial mind this constant up hill battle. And the fact that they are willing to work an 80 hour week also helps.
Compare this to other technical field like chemistry or electrical/civil/etc engineering. The physical laws of nature never change (well, almost never). What a chemist learned in school 50 years ago is, for the most part, still relevant today. Sure these fields progress, but the basic knowledge is never replaced. More and more knowledge is just constantly added. That is why a 65 year old consultant in these fields is actually worth something.
Anyway, I not hacking programming as a trade. I just think we all need to be realistic about our future prospects. Think of it as a temporary licence to print money.
Slashdot Mirror
Look at this way. My C$50 will buy me about 20 loaves of bread here in Canada. Your US$50 will buy you around 30 loaves of bread in the US
What your talking about is called 'purchasing power parity' or PPP. In actuality, you could buy 35 loaves of bread for $C50 in Canada and 40 loaves of bread for $US50. This clearly show that the C$ is very under-valued in relation to the US$.
For a better comparison, check out the 'Big Mac Index' which examines the PPP for Big Macs in different countries.
--PCB
...as an active scientist who works in an atmospheric science lab, I have read at least as much about this as you have, particluarly on the technical end.
I'm sorry, but you are full of shit. If you were what you say you are, then you would never say that. The scientific community is not as divided as you claim. The research is pretty clear that some degree of global warming is happening. The thing I can't understand is what is the motivation behind your claim of such bullshit. Who is benefitting? Are you? Or are you just trying to be contrary for the sake of it?
If I gave you a glass of water that might be toxic, but without proof, would you drink it? Of course not. Get a grip on reality. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it is not happening.
--pcb
This is just FUD. In reality morality has risen, not declined (as is the common misbelief), over the last 200 years. This is just the mindless religious crowd trying to justify their existence. We are far more civilized today than at any point in our collected human history. A walk through history will clearly show that people were far more morally bankrupt then, compared to today. It is not ironic, that the less religious we are, the moral and civilized we become.
... at UVic? Weird!
This fairy tale that Napster is just a file sharing mechanism and they can't help it if people break the law is tiresome. Napster knows they are promoting theft, it says it all over their web site and their advertising.
You are right. It is theft, pure and simple. But IMO, that's completely irrelavent. The market price for a particular good is base on the percieved value by the consumer. Over the last hundred or so years, the recording companies have been selling recorded music to the public because technology has enabled them to do so. Prior to the advent of recorded music, musicians still made a living, some more than others. But it was a profession...it was hard work.
Now, due to the centralized distribution, marketing, and mordern recording technology, the record companies can make millions on one-hit-wonders who don't even write their own songs. Think of it this way: a violinist can spend a life time perfecting their skills and get compensated usually enough to live comfortably, and Brittiny Spears who dosn't write her own songs can make millions on a few pop jingles. Who is the true artist between those two? The only reason that Brittiny Spears can make money is because of technology, not copyright laws!
It is only poetic justice that it is technology that will be the death of an industry that was created because of technology in the first place. Don't feel bad, musicians will always be around...true musician cannot help but create music. However, it might stop being an industy and return to being an art form. That is a good thing(tm).
--pcb
All great truths begin as blasphemies. -George Bernard Shaw
Sure Ottawa's got all the older Canadian software companies, but there's no venture capital to speak of...
4 738.html] Ventures West, which has about $300 million under administration in several venture funds, has made 10 investments in Ottawa area companies, including participation in some high profile deals with Nu-Wave, Sedona Networks and ATMOS Co.
Hmmm...
I think that Ottawa has lots of venture capital. I quote from a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen:
[http://www.ottawacitizen.com/hightech/000728/452
"We view Ottawa as a world class centre," said Barry Gekiere, a Ventures West partner, "It is a hotbed for specific technologies especially in the telecom area, in optical networking and photonics and also semiconductor development."
Ottawa technology companies grabbed a record shattering $350 million in venture capital in just the second quarter of this year, far exceeding funding for all of 1999.
And this is for a city with a population of around 300,000. That's not too bad.
--pcb
I think many of you may be ahead of yourselves. When I was at this years Networld+Interop in Las Vegas, most of the 'experts' giving talks on networking completely dismissed IPv6 as buggy and flawed. Most said that the next ugrade will be IPv7 or something. Apparently the IPv6 standard is a bad compromise between different and competing visions of what the internet should be by the major players in the industry. It was also rushed out the door without much feedback from the internet community. I am far from an expert in the matter, but perhaps somebody else could enlighten us of the technical problems with the IPv6 protocal.
--pcb
Wow, an 8 millibit (0.008 bit) connection! Now that's smokin'...
--pcb
I just installed Mandrake 7.1. What impressed me the most was that it detected, installed, and configured my USB zip drive automatically! Now that was a first. --pcb
In a free economy (not a mixed one like we have to day) Monopolies are impossibable. The only thing that can create a true monopoly is the government. The government can use force to create a monopoly no one else can. (by force I mean physical).
I don't think you have thought about this too clearly yourself! A system without some form of government (hopefully an elected one) ultimately ends up being a monopoly. The logical conclusion to a completely capitalist state is a complete monopoly. That is the reason anti-trust laws exist! Therefore you are wrong: capitalist systems need governments in order to remain free.
Don't bemoan the poor artist. Only the mega-bands actually make money off records sales. The only people who really lose are the record companies. IMO, the record companies are a product of technology themselves - it was only with the advent of audio recording equipment that these companies where able to become so profitable. Don't you think it is poetic justice that it is technology itself that also destroys them.
--pcb
...The Quebec goverment is now investing 3-5 billions over the next few years in our e-commerce facilities to accomodate the new arrival of Nasdaq and hope to attract major players such as Microsoft, Dell and Compaq to name only a few. This was a big blow to Toronto and Vancouver...
Ha Ha...Most of the ROC (rest of canada) is quite amused at the amount of progaganda that Quebeckers actually believe from their own gov't. Have you actually been to Vancouver/Toronto/Ottawa/Calgary lately? Montreal is being left in the dust! And the fact that the PQ (the ruling political party) sill believes in corporate welfare just shows how totally incompetent they are. And having to pay companies to locate in Montreal just shows how deperate Quebec really is.
--pcb
I just wanted to point out that the major difference between programming and most other technical fields is that in software most you your knowledge is completely replaced every few years or so. There is very little chance to build up your experience over the long term because most of the knowledge you had 5 years ago is mostly obsolete today. Although you could argue that becoming a great programmer takes time, very few people have the chance because they are constantly forced to learn new tools, languages, whatever. By the time most programmers reach the middle of their career, they have had to re-learn the same thing over and over again just to do the same job. Most older programmers that I've talked to are simple sick of learning new things over and over again. Don't get me wronge, most of these people don't mind learning things if the things they learned would just stay relevant. This is why most companies prefer younger programmer because they don't initial mind this constant up hill battle. And the fact that they are willing to work an 80 hour week also helps.
Compare this to other technical field like chemistry or electrical/civil/etc engineering. The physical laws of nature never change (well, almost never). What a chemist learned in school 50 years ago is, for the most part, still relevant today. Sure these fields progress, but the basic knowledge is never replaced. More and more knowledge is just constantly added. That is why a 65 year old consultant in these fields is actually worth something.
Anyway, I not hacking programming as a trade. I just think we all need to be realistic about our future prospects. Think of it as a temporary licence to print money.
-pcb
Calgary...Silicon Valley North????
Check your facts.I think that title has been given to Ottawa.
Wine is not a Windows emulator! See www.winehq.com