I started way back when with the ZX81, joined with a TS1000. We moved up to the TRS80 models 2-4, then their PC-type Tandy 1000 series. But the TRS80-100 was great. That was something I could lug to school and show off with. I even (OK, this is hard to admit) built programs to help run role-playing games- things like time to distance at various warp speeds for real stars in our galaxy, tracking various character issues, etc.
I don't use it for much any more. I'm not that kind of hobbyist, I guess. I do have it ready for use when I want to send messages over the ham frequencies. It's part of my emergency kit. I'm proud to say that it isn't some novelty item for me, but still a useful tool. I still love this thing.
And in a few years, they will require an override for the break-override just in case the break-override fails and tries to force the car to stop.
Seriously... There are any number of options for stopping a car that has had an issue supposedly addressed by this expensive, new system. Turn the car off (turn the key- not all they way as that will lock the steering or press {probably hold} the big START button); put it in neutral; pull or step on the parking break, AKA the emergency break. Plowing through a school yard or farmers' market works, too, but is ill-advised; people just don't like all the death and destruction unless it's on TV.
Maybe we'll eliminate all deaths from auto accidents by including a mic in the car so that a bunch of airbags (inside and out- gotta protect the pedestrians and pets) deploy when someone screams, "F**CK," really loud. [I use the F-word simply because of the whole 'first you say it, then you do it' issue and I'd rather f**ck than s**t, especially if I'm about to die.]
Tin-foil comes in maroon? Can I get it in purple instead?
On a side note, I agree that it's the doctors' right to see what patients they want (as long as the decision is not based on certain criteria like race/color/religion/gender/etc). Stupidity is not a protected group.
What if I already know how to do many of these things? I learned some interesting chemistry way back when, say 25-ish years ago. Does knowing this stuff, as a civilian, constitute a crime? Or do I need to write it down, by hand or digitally, first? Where do we draw the line?
If knowing this from knowledge gained back before it was illegal is a crime, how can I safely erase this information from my mind without damaging other stuff I know? What would be an 'acceptable' loss if other knowledge might be damaged by this removal?
I really empathize with your situation. I really thought I would be medicated for the rest of my life. It just turned out that, even after a decade of playing with dosing and combos, it just didn't work for me. I came to terms with needing to be medicated to function, which was hard at first. In my particular case, things went a different direction and the only medication I'm now on is androgel.
As you are an example of, and I thought I was, some people really do benefit from and even require these medications. Of that, I have no doubt.
That's what makes the debate difficult. We like to make things black-and-white, when, in truth, it isn't so simple. These medications DO help people and are necessary. It's the combo of marketing and weak wills that makes the big money for the industry.
While of course it is a strong overstatement to say all of us Americans are insane in some way, it is true that Big Pharma and our simplistic views of life are turning us into mass consumers of psychotropic medications, legally.
In some ways, I was one of those the system tried to abuse. I say that not to inflame the argument- I know the people involved did not INTEND to do me harm. Luckily for me, I have good parents who resisted the BS. Way back in early grade school, they said I was having trouble and that I should be put on Ritalin, that I had ADD or ADHD. My mother, being smart person who can think for herself, looked at the situation and removed most of the processed sugar junk from my diet. I got sufficiently better that the matter was closed.
But wait! There's more! It turns out I am one of those unlucky few who actually was born bipolar! 35 years ago, we didn't really know these things, so I went without diagnosis, let alone treatment. And the argument still rages, can a child BE bipolar? (My case is a clear argument that, yes, a child can be bipolar).
And there's still more! Once I was properly diagnosed, by two separate, unrelated psychiatrists who were unaware of each others diagnosis (I call it the 'blind taste test method of diagnosis), I began treatment. Over a decade of trying this, that, and the other medication. You know what finally worked? Testosterone replacement therapy and vitamin-B complex, along with some mental trickery I do for myself. This is MY solution and not medical advice. But the idea is, they mostly want to sell you drugs, expensive drugs. You MUST take control and find the underlying cause for yourself! And you must be intelligent about it.
Which leads me to...
RANT ON
I don't see much hope these days. I work closely with the public and it makes me want to kill. It makes me want to remove the right to vote and breed. It makes me um... depressed... again. Americans want to blame an external source for their problems and take a magic pill to make it all better. I know this. I went through that phase of trying to find something outside of me that made me screwed up and I wanted an instant fix for it. Most Americans, it seems, don't get past that phase- ever. It's the immigrant's fault. It's my spouse's fault. It's my parent's fault. As I told an ex of mine many years ago, so the fuck what! You're an adult now. Act like one and figure your shit out; take responsibility for who you are today and make yourself better. Ask for help if need be, of course. I had to and it worked. My shrink helped me figure out the testosterone issue. She's one of the good ones.
So is Big Pharma really to blame? Or are they just capitalizing on our nature? That's a trick question. We are BOTH to blame.
RANT OFF
I apologize for the rant. This is a sore subject for me and working with the public the last several years has not helped!:) But try to imagine the conversation I have to have sometimes: Me: I'm bipolar. Them: Ya, so is everyone else these days. Me: Yes, I know. It's being WAY over-diagnosed now, but I really am. Them: Yep, they all say that too now.
If they only knew the real pain. The guilt of the pain my disease has caused others. Hell, they still wouldn't give a shit. Many of is Americans are too self-absorbed to notice. I wonder if there's a pill for that...
If you follow the first link to the story (heaven forbid) you will see several pictures. One clearly shows a USB hub connected to it. Via that hub is a mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet. You could easily add external storage, too.
With just a wireless keyboard (one that has a track-pad) and network port (wireless or Ethernet) connected, I could use this on my TV as an info-panel- news, weather, quick look at the email, etc. Think Chumby or that Sony device, but small and out of the way and more functional.
I'd totally go for this for myself!
Moreover, I could use a few of these at work- I could replace some thin-clients with this and save a bundle (thin-clients are at least $300USD). They only view the web, and a short, white-listed section of it at that. Perfect! Heck, soon enough, we'll be running those and many of the full PCs through VDI, and this would work in places where we don't need people plugging junk in, possibly even in places where they do need to.
Thank you for your interesting reply. See my comments below....
What? Which e-reader did you get? I have a Kindle DX and I'm quite happy with it. The screen is the best I've seen for e-readers
It's a Sony, but that's not relevant. Did you notice how you had to qualify what you said? You're quite happy with it; the screen is the best you've seen for e-readers. It's as if you're arguing that watching a program about the Carribean in high-definition is better than watching it in low definition, when I'm arguing that neither is as good as actually going there.
Hmm.. Let me be more clear. In my use of the work "quite", I meant to convey a higher level of happiness. I am VERY happy with my Kindle DX. Is that more clear? And of course I said it's the best screen for e-readers. THAT'S WHAT THIS IS. I don't want a back-lit, high-def LCD screen. They have too much glare and put out too much light for comfortable reading. So, for e-readers, the type of display the Kindle has is best. And yes, which e-reader is relevant. Some are better than others.
And actually being there is better than reading the book, too, but can you get there? Do you have the time or money for it? That's what reading (and viewing multi-media) is about. Your argument is specious.
Basically, you're reading this with the meaning YOU want, not the meaning I implied, simply because you want to bash this genre of products. It's fine that you don't like them or find them useful, of course. But try not to twist another persons words. This isn't art class where you get to say how a painting makes you feel. This is written communication wherein we try to understand what the person actually meant.
and the battery life is phenomenal
It's pretty good on my Sony, too. How does it compare with real books? See, as long as e-readers and e-books are trying to impersonate the dead-tree equivalents they're always going to be just a copy.
Close, but not quite. You see, it IS just a copy of the book. So is any book. But it's also a copy of the other 200 books I want to carry.
When e-books actually start adding something good, then the technology might really take off. Yes, the ability to search text is something good in the case of reference material (although not as good as having the material properly hyperlinked), but I only really need to do that searching when I'm doing my assignments so I'm sitting at a computer to have the word-processor open, so even though I use the e-book then I still don't use the e-reader (the course I'm doing provides all texts in dead-tree and pdf).
Actually, e-readers already provide more than text search. They allow you to carry many books, books of large size, all in one little package. And without killing a tree. Then there is bookmarking, highlighting, word definition look-up, text-to-speech, and on-line shopping for books. There are even some games. (capabilities vary from e-reader to e-reader)
The selection of books isn't bad at all. There are plenty of free books (and occasional special free deals) and most others are LESS expensive than the dead-tree version.
Some are less expensive than the list price, but they usually seem to be the ones selling for a lot less than the list price in the local supermarket too, so the e-books are still more expensive. If you just want something in a genre to read and are not much bothered what then there is probably loads available at sensible prices. If you want a particular book, though, and it's not on the best-seller lists, my experience is that you're unlikely to find it at all, and if you do it will probably be overpriced. The only one I found that wasn't was Shaw's Pygmalion, which I needed for my studies a few years ago. At that time I couldn't find all the free
What? Which e-reader did you get? I have a Kindle DX and I'm quite happy with it. The screen is the best I've seen for e-readers and the battery life is phenomenal (I leave the wireless off most of the time). The selection of books isn't bad at all. There are plenty of free books (and occasional special free deals) and most others are LESS expensive than the dead-tree version. I have a metric ton of books on mine already. Many are PDFs and freebies provided by my girlfriend (she likes SciFi, too), Others are manuals and certification study guides, again mostly freebies I found and PDFs from the software providers. The down-side is that Amazon won't play nice with libraries, so checking out an e-book from my local library isn't going to work. However, other e-readers obviously do work for this and HarperCollins is a bunch of asses for what they're trying to do here.
Originally, I didn't want to 'waste my money on another unneeded gadget', but then came the Citrix documentation I had to study for work. Over 5000 pages of PDFs! My girlfriend made a very valid point: "If you worked for me and printed all that out, I would fire you!" And I sure as hell wasn't going to print it at home. Besides, as she also pointed out, who in their right mind would want to carry around 5000 pages? Or even a small part of that? It's inconvenient to say the least, not to mention environmentally unsound. I'm no tree-hugger (far from it) but I do my part. So an e-reader was the right way to go.
Then came an amusing, satisfying moment- I was kicking back, reading a SciFi on my reader, occasionally tapping my way to the next page, when it dawned on my I was reading a SciFi on a device that a few years ago only existed IN A SCiFI!
My Kindle DX fits the 1-gallon size bags just fine. Since I'm still waiting for my cover to arrive, I used one the other day to take the Kindle with me for lunch when I didn't want to carry the briefcase and it was raining. Perfect fit! And I could use it while still in the bag, too, though the readability suffered a bit.
So many people griping about companies (and rich people) using loopholes, blaming them for their problems. Well, CLOSE THE FAFFING LOOPHOLES. If there are no loopholes to take advantage of, then they will be forced to pat their fair share. Right now, they pay their fair share, which is lower than many would like but still fair due to the fact that these loopholes exist for them to use. Any company NOT taking advantage of them is likely to fail because it become economically disadvantaged compared to its competitors who are taking advantage.
Sure they could- Assumption: They have the ability to cloak an entire planet. *Secondary assumption: With that level of technology, they likely have FTL communications and FTL travel. Therefore: They have spies here who passed our discovery of them to their home, thus causing their leaders to hide the planet.
*It is true, of course, that the secondary assumption does not necessarily follow from the first assumption, but we're guessing here anyway and it's a pretty reasonable assumption.
Slashdot Mirror
So, this is so I can leak more of my personal info to them and they can fail more efficiently at protecting it, right?
Oh, and I still have the manual! It's all in good shape. :D
I started way back when with the ZX81, joined with a TS1000. We moved up to the TRS80 models 2-4, then their PC-type Tandy 1000 series. But the TRS80-100 was great. That was something I could lug to school and show off with. I even (OK, this is hard to admit) built programs to help run role-playing games- things like time to distance at various warp speeds for real stars in our galaxy, tracking various character issues, etc.
I don't use it for much any more. I'm not that kind of hobbyist, I guess. I do have it ready for use when I want to send messages over the ham frequencies. It's part of my emergency kit. I'm proud to say that it isn't some novelty item for me, but still a useful tool. I still love this thing.
And in a few years, they will require an override for the break-override just in case the break-override fails and tries to force the car to stop.
Seriously... There are any number of options for stopping a car that has had an issue supposedly addressed by this expensive, new system. Turn the car off (turn the key- not all they way as that will lock the steering or press {probably hold} the big START button); put it in neutral; pull or step on the parking break, AKA the emergency break. Plowing through a school yard or farmers' market works, too, but is ill-advised; people just don't like all the death and destruction unless it's on TV.
Maybe we'll eliminate all deaths from auto accidents by including a mic in the car so that a bunch of airbags (inside and out- gotta protect the pedestrians and pets) deploy when someone screams, "F**CK," really loud. [I use the F-word simply because of the whole 'first you say it, then you do it' issue and I'd rather f**ck than s**t, especially if I'm about to die.]
Those of us who use all three (IE 'cause I have to at work) are confused.
Tin-foil comes in maroon? Can I get it in purple instead?
On a side note, I agree that it's the doctors' right to see what patients they want (as long as the decision is not based on certain criteria like race/color/religion/gender/etc). Stupidity is not a protected group.
What if I already know how to do many of these things? I learned some interesting chemistry way back when, say 25-ish years ago. Does knowing this stuff, as a civilian, constitute a crime? Or do I need to write it down, by hand or digitally, first? Where do we draw the line?
If knowing this from knowledge gained back before it was illegal is a crime, how can I safely erase this information from my mind without damaging other stuff I know? What would be an 'acceptable' loss if other knowledge might be damaged by this removal?
I think this could become the most used feature since Solitaire!
Not many. When I tell people I used to live in NM, they ask where in Mexico I lived or how long I've been in the US. :/
This was, actually, my 1st thought. :)
As a big fan and visitor of the VLA, I actually approve of this.
They're getting better though. They can handle K Y easily enough now, so it's just a little farther down the alphabet.
I already have more friends there than on Facebook. Also, keep in mind that Google+ is new whereas Facebook has been around a little while longer.
Wait.... So you're saying Nancy Grace is a pedophile?
I really empathize with your situation. I really thought I would be medicated for the rest of my life. It just turned out that, even after a decade of playing with dosing and combos, it just didn't work for me. I came to terms with needing to be medicated to function, which was hard at first. In my particular case, things went a different direction and the only medication I'm now on is androgel.
As you are an example of, and I thought I was, some people really do benefit from and even require these medications. Of that, I have no doubt.
That's what makes the debate difficult. We like to make things black-and-white, when, in truth, it isn't so simple. These medications DO help people and are necessary. It's the combo of marketing and weak wills that makes the big money for the industry.
Thank you for your honest opinion. Just trying to state my experience with the system in question.
What is your experience with this system? How has it affect you, if at all, or you it?
While of course it is a strong overstatement to say all of us Americans are insane in some way, it is true that Big Pharma and our simplistic views of life are turning us into mass consumers of psychotropic medications, legally.
In some ways, I was one of those the system tried to abuse. I say that not to inflame the argument- I know the people involved did not INTEND to do me harm. Luckily for me, I have good parents who resisted the BS. Way back in early grade school, they said I was having trouble and that I should be put on Ritalin, that I had ADD or ADHD. My mother, being smart person who can think for herself, looked at the situation and removed most of the processed sugar junk from my diet. I got sufficiently better that the matter was closed.
But wait! There's more! It turns out I am one of those unlucky few who actually was born bipolar! 35 years ago, we didn't really know these things, so I went without diagnosis, let alone treatment. And the argument still rages, can a child BE bipolar? (My case is a clear argument that, yes, a child can be bipolar).
And there's still more! Once I was properly diagnosed, by two separate, unrelated psychiatrists who were unaware of each others diagnosis (I call it the 'blind taste test method of diagnosis), I began treatment. Over a decade of trying this, that, and the other medication. You know what finally worked? Testosterone replacement therapy and vitamin-B complex, along with some mental trickery I do for myself. This is MY solution and not medical advice. But the idea is, they mostly want to sell you drugs, expensive drugs. You MUST take control and find the underlying cause for yourself! And you must be intelligent about it.
Which leads me to...
RANT ON
I don't see much hope these days. I work closely with the public and it makes me want to kill. It makes me want to remove the right to vote and breed. It makes me um... depressed... again. Americans want to blame an external source for their problems and take a magic pill to make it all better. I know this. I went through that phase of trying to find something outside of me that made me screwed up and I wanted an instant fix for it. Most Americans, it seems, don't get past that phase- ever. It's the immigrant's fault. It's my spouse's fault. It's my parent's fault. As I told an ex of mine many years ago, so the fuck what! You're an adult now. Act like one and figure your shit out; take responsibility for who you are today and make yourself better. Ask for help if need be, of course. I had to and it worked. My shrink helped me figure out the testosterone issue. She's one of the good ones.
So is Big Pharma really to blame? Or are they just capitalizing on our nature? That's a trick question. We are BOTH to blame.
RANT OFF
I apologize for the rant. This is a sore subject for me and working with the public the last several years has not helped! :) But try to imagine the conversation I have to have sometimes:
Me: I'm bipolar.
Them: Ya, so is everyone else these days.
Me: Yes, I know. It's being WAY over-diagnosed now, but I really am.
Them: Yep, they all say that too now.
If they only knew the real pain. The guilt of the pain my disease has caused others. Hell, they still wouldn't give a shit. Many of is Americans are too self-absorbed to notice. I wonder if there's a pill for that...
If you follow the first link to the story (heaven forbid) you will see several pictures. One clearly shows a USB hub connected to it. Via that hub is a mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet. You could easily add external storage, too.
With just a wireless keyboard (one that has a track-pad) and network port (wireless or Ethernet) connected, I could use this on my TV as an info-panel- news, weather, quick look at the email, etc. Think Chumby or that Sony device, but small and out of the way and more functional.
I'd totally go for this for myself!
Moreover, I could use a few of these at work- I could replace some thin-clients with this and save a bundle (thin-clients are at least $300USD). They only view the web, and a short, white-listed section of it at that. Perfect! Heck, soon enough, we'll be running those and many of the full PCs through VDI, and this would work in places where we don't need people plugging junk in, possibly even in places where they do need to.
Yep, I see a need/market for this. :D
Thank you for your interesting reply. See my comments below....
What? Which e-reader did you get? I have a Kindle DX and I'm quite happy with it. The screen is the best I've seen for e-readers
It's a Sony, but that's not relevant. Did you notice how you had to qualify what you said? You're quite happy with it; the screen is the best you've seen for e-readers. It's as if you're arguing that watching a program about the Carribean in high-definition is better than watching it in low definition, when I'm arguing that neither is as good as actually going there.
Hmm.. Let me be more clear. In my use of the work "quite", I meant to convey a higher level of happiness. I am VERY happy with my Kindle DX. Is that more clear? And of course I said it's the best screen for e-readers. THAT'S WHAT THIS IS. I don't want a back-lit, high-def LCD screen. They have too much glare and put out too much light for comfortable reading. So, for e-readers, the type of display the Kindle has is best. And yes, which e-reader is relevant. Some are better than others.
And actually being there is better than reading the book, too, but can you get there? Do you have the time or money for it? That's what reading (and viewing multi-media) is about. Your argument is specious.
Basically, you're reading this with the meaning YOU want, not the meaning I implied, simply because you want to bash this genre of products. It's fine that you don't like them or find them useful, of course. But try not to twist another persons words. This isn't art class where you get to say how a painting makes you feel. This is written communication wherein we try to understand what the person actually meant.
and the battery life is phenomenal
It's pretty good on my Sony, too. How does it compare with real books? See, as long as e-readers and e-books are trying to impersonate the dead-tree equivalents they're always going to be just a copy.
Close, but not quite. You see, it IS just a copy of the book. So is any book. But it's also a copy of the other 200 books I want to carry.
When e-books actually start adding something good, then the technology might really take off. Yes, the ability to search text is something good in the case of reference material (although not as good as having the material properly hyperlinked), but I only really need to do that searching when I'm doing my assignments so I'm sitting at a computer to have the word-processor open, so even though I use the e-book then I still don't use the e-reader (the course I'm doing provides all texts in dead-tree and pdf).
Actually, e-readers already provide more than text search. They allow you to carry many books, books of large size, all in one little package. And without killing a tree. Then there is bookmarking, highlighting, word definition look-up, text-to-speech, and on-line shopping for books. There are even some games. (capabilities vary from e-reader to e-reader)
The selection of books isn't bad at all. There are plenty of free books (and occasional special free deals) and most others are LESS expensive than the dead-tree version.
Some are less expensive than the list price, but they usually seem to be the ones selling for a lot less than the list price in the local supermarket too, so the e-books are still more expensive. If you just want something in a genre to read and are not much bothered what then there is probably loads available at sensible prices. If you want a particular book, though, and it's not on the best-seller lists, my experience is that you're unlikely to find it at all, and if you do it will probably be overpriced. The only one I found that wasn't was Shaw's Pygmalion, which I needed for my studies a few years ago. At that time I couldn't find all the free
What? Which e-reader did you get? I have a Kindle DX and I'm quite happy with it. The screen is the best I've seen for e-readers and the battery life is phenomenal (I leave the wireless off most of the time). The selection of books isn't bad at all. There are plenty of free books (and occasional special free deals) and most others are LESS expensive than the dead-tree version. I have a metric ton of books on mine already. Many are PDFs and freebies provided by my girlfriend (she likes SciFi, too), Others are manuals and certification study guides, again mostly freebies I found and PDFs from the software providers. The down-side is that Amazon won't play nice with libraries, so checking out an e-book from my local library isn't going to work. However, other e-readers obviously do work for this and HarperCollins is a bunch of asses for what they're trying to do here.
Originally, I didn't want to 'waste my money on another unneeded gadget', but then came the Citrix documentation I had to study for work. Over 5000 pages of PDFs! My girlfriend made a very valid point: "If you worked for me and printed all that out, I would fire you!" And I sure as hell wasn't going to print it at home. Besides, as she also pointed out, who in their right mind would want to carry around 5000 pages? Or even a small part of that? It's inconvenient to say the least, not to mention environmentally unsound. I'm no tree-hugger (far from it) but I do my part. So an e-reader was the right way to go.
Then came an amusing, satisfying moment-
I was kicking back, reading a SciFi on my reader, occasionally tapping my way to the next page, when it dawned on my I was reading a SciFi on a device that a few years ago only existed IN A SCiFI!
AND IT WORKS!
So cool! :)
My Kindle DX fits the 1-gallon size bags just fine. Since I'm still waiting for my cover to arrive, I used one the other day to take the Kindle with me for lunch when I didn't want to carry the briefcase and it was raining. Perfect fit! And I could use it while still in the bag, too, though the readability suffered a bit.
Aren't manufacturer defects generally covered by a warranty? It should be replaced for free!
So many people griping about companies (and rich people) using loopholes, blaming them for their problems. Well, CLOSE THE FAFFING LOOPHOLES. If there are no loopholes to take advantage of, then they will be forced to pat their fair share. Right now, they pay their fair share, which is lower than many would like but still fair due to the fact that these loopholes exist for them to use. Any company NOT taking advantage of them is likely to fail because it become economically disadvantaged compared to its competitors who are taking advantage.
Simplify the tax system. Close the loopholes.
I initially thought the headline said Big Media Wants More Privacy Busting From Google
I guess that's likely true as well.
Sure they could-
Assumption: They have the ability to cloak an entire planet.
*Secondary assumption: With that level of technology, they likely have FTL communications and FTL travel.
Therefore: They have spies here who passed our discovery of them to their home, thus causing their leaders to hide the planet.
*It is true, of course, that the secondary assumption does not necessarily follow from the first assumption, but we're guessing here anyway and it's a pretty reasonable assumption.