The problem here is that many public networks shy away from these documentaries BECAUSE of the clout of Scientology. However, ARD is supported by public euros and as such answers to nobody even the government. Many whine about having to pay a TV tax, but I gladly pay my monthly TV tax as it produces documentaries that ask hard hitting questions. Public networks would definitely not support it...
I am a supporter of free markets and capitalism, but at times we need the government.
Because of the notorious slow conference WiFi's I have learned a new trick...
I use 3G networks. Since I live in Europe it would be expensive except I get pay-per-day for the country and that averages around 4 to 5 USD per day. That is great considering I can get 3G within restaurants, in my hotel room, and where ever else... Beats having to figure things out with the Wifi...
>I'm sure the $9M in ticket sales also has nothing to do with it. Folks: it doesn't cost $9M to put up a website and hold a conference or two a year.
I am sorry, but having been in the conference business for 15 years, you would be surprised what it costs to host an event...
Let's start shall we:
1) Food: You got to feed the people, and that costs at around 100 to 300 per day per person. You think this is crazy? Absolutely it is, but if you are in any hotel or conference center they will explicitly force this on you.
2) Venue: You need a venue, and to get a venue for 1500 people is not easy. You are in what one can call middle league. It is the last step before you have to go to the really big venues, which cost even more.
3) Accessibility, Helpfulness: You need people to make the place accessible, and you need helpers saying, "oh you didn't look on the map and you are asking me where a room is because you are too lazy? Its right in front of you, and have a good day."
4) Tech and Internet crew: If you think food is expensive, wait until you need tech, and Internet. Welcome to the world, "I am going make you bend over and it will hurt!"
The problem is that if you get 3000 to 4000 people you need a much bigger venue, which is more expensive and less personal.
You call it elitist, they will call it quality. And Ted is doing the right thing, by making all of the materials available for free.
And it wont... How many times has this failed? All too often, and hence why people try to use DNA instead of facial recognition when associating a crime. If the picture is even slightly blurry it becomes useless.
A picture ID is there to cross reference the human to the card. Not cross-reference the picture to the person. Sounds like details, but a big difference.
No that is a real study of a political system. Gee I lived in the US, Canada, UK, France, and well I come to the same conclusion its all a farce... Does that mean it's true? Not really...
The direct democratic system works in Switzerland if you understand the Swiss mentality. The minaret vote while people might disagree with the result is an example of a discussion on a topic that most people ignore. Let me throw out another example, gay marriages. I don't care whether there are or are not gay marriages. It's none of my business. However, by tromping on the emotions of people gay marriages have become a stigma of liberalism gone crazy. You are tromping on the rights of conservatives who do not approve of gay marriages. So instead of a having a discussion on gay marriages we have the situation where "human rights" go against the will of the people.
That tromping of the "rights" of the people by a panel of people is what causes extremism to rise. A very good American friend of mine, who is very conservative and religious, said, "you know we could quickly solve this problem if we change how marriages are defined." By allowing gay marriage you are opening the can of worms where the catholic church would have to allow the marriage of people. Thus the solution to this problem is to remove marriages and call them unions from a legal perspective. Thus everybody must appear in front of a local magistrate for their union. However, those that want a marriage can also go to a church... Everybody gets what they want... And my religious friend said, "that would be a good solution..."
BUT NO... You are either for or against gay marriages... Yupe much better debate.
Hitler came into power through a minority. His party never had the majority. The problem was that at that time Hindenburg was vehemently against the Nazi's, but to get a "functioning" government he allowed them to be a government. Think of it as follows in a modern context. Stephen Harper who is in the minority in Canada was allowed to be a government in by the governor general. The catch, and this is where things became dangerous once Hitler's party became the government one of their first acts was to impose absolutism. In a watered down way it was Harpers peroge where he stopped allowing the government to function.
I am not saying Harper is Hitler because he is not. What I am saying is that Harper and Hitler from a political action perspective were very very similar. Once Hitler's party gained full control the propaganda started...
BTW not every German was for Hitler. Neither my mother's family nor my father's family were Hitler supporters (and we are not Jewish either). My mother's parent's were "disabled" and hence were one of the ones who were considered sub-German quality. And my father's parents thought the Nazi's were trouble, they were industrialists my grandfather hated extremists! Though they were scared enough to not say much. As much as people enjoy the rights to free speech, right to demonstrate and a right to a fair trial. In those days you "disappeared".
As a hopeful soon to be Swiss... I am actually proud of the minaret vote. Not the result because I would have probably voted no. No I am proud of the fact that the Swiss people can vote on these issues. Time and time again I see in other representative democracies votes being made that are only for a small minority of the people. Shall we call them lobbies? When lobbies take over then minorities take over, and then you get the mess called American politics.
The American political system is completely broken because of the lobbies that manage to control individual politicians. Thus those politicians are unable to make decisions since no compromise can be made unless a horse trade is made with the decision.
At least with a direct democracy like the Swiss you get a decision, you might not like it, but its a decision. California while having the direct vote is also an example of a decision. Sure the voters make silly decisions, "yes I want lots of social benefits", "no I don't want to pay for it." Those are decisions, screwed up, but eventually people will see, "oh maybe no benefits or maybe benefits..."
The problem with Bill Gates is that he holds his tablet vision to death do us part.
I have a tablet PC and have to say a stylus SUCKS! I use Windows 7 and ever since they improved the UI so that I can tap and twist my way through everywhere the pen has not left its socket.
A long time ago when I was in engineering university and the tablet idea first came (1990) out the administrative assistant to the dean of engineering said, "now that's a dumb idea." I was shocked and asked would you not want to write? She said, "no..." She said her husband is a professor in British history. Whenever he goes to the UK he has to copy books by hand (no pictures allowed, and no running the photo copier.) And when he has to write for three days solid his hands are completely cramped. Yet if he were to type there would be no such problem. 20 years later she was right and I was wrong... And Apple knows it, but Mr Gates is still clueless as ever on this topic.
I was flying from Newark to SanFran. And I was in the last row. Ahead of me were three ladies, and these ladies were HUGE! The interesting part was that these three ladies all had to sit in the same row. They complained and said that they would like new seats. The stewardesses in their nicest voice said, "sorry but this flight is full and you will have to sit in your assigned seats."
When the ladies had to sit they moved up all of the armrests and honest to goodness their butts and bodies melted into one another! Needless to say most people around those ladies were relieved that they did not have to endure one those ladies sitting beside them.
I thought it was pretty efficient for Delta to say, "hey you want to be fat, go for it, its a free country. But while we are at it we are going to put you beside each other..."
I am not the thinnest of people, but then again I am also not the fattest of people. HOWEVER, I was in this BA flight, and there was this guy who could barely buckle the belt and I felt so sorry for the people sitting beside him. If you want to be fat, go for it, it's your life! BUT you should be required to buy a second seat! The last thing that I want is to be completely uncomfortable...
Let's look at companies like Mercedes, Nintendo, Research in Motion, Volkswagen, Walmart, and 3M. These companies are in fact very large and very innovative. The list goes on... Microsoft is a dysfunctional company, point blank! What is killing Microsoft is what the guy in the article said it was.
Yes, this is why the posters in Europe say, "oh oh we do this already."
You see to get any salvation from the high taxes in Europe you just have to claim. Drive to work? Claim those kilometers. Need education for work, and clothes for work? You need to claim that.
The reality is that in Europe if you were to ok the taxes as is, you would be paying too much. Hence you fill out the tax forms and try to find every taxloophole there is.
Ah yes is Sweden also not the place with the highest amount of deductions? You get taxed out of the wahzoo, and the only real way to lower your taxes is to start claiming things. So are you saying by not claiming things you are happy to pay such high taxes?
Yesterday we have Thomas Friedman, and today we have Meridith Whitney, and tomorrow we have [fill in the blank]. The key in this business of columnist's is to be visible. If you are not then people will flock elsewhere. Since we are talking financial, blogs like Zero Hedge, and Mish are making an impact. In the future who knows what will happen.
In the past when the WSJ was free I would in passing skip over to their sites. But now I refuse to link to them in my blogs because they wall the content relatively quick. Thus I explicitly will choose some other site...
You know who has this right, Bloomberg... Most of their stuff is available for free. They even have some kick ass apps. But yet you can buy Bloomberg 1900 USD per month and you get all of the information really fast and comprehensive. And yes I have a Bloomberg. Is Bloomberg worth it for us? Absolutely we just had to do some quick number crunching and the data was available on Bloomberg and saved our butt...
The Wallstreet Journal can do what they are doing because right now those who want the Wallstreet Journal are of that mindset. Even though financial types use computers they are VERY VERY old fashioned when it comes to technology. I know I work in this industry and I am amazed at how far back some of these financial whizz's are.
When the next generation of financial types start trading eg 20 somethings they will not be buying the Wallstreet Journal and it will collapse.
The reality and this is why I moved away from general software development is that the Open Source and free model is not going away. It is here to stay and there is squat anybody can do about it. Open Source killed my software revenues (consulting), Google killed my book revenues, and am I sore? No because you can either fight it, or go with the flow. I decided to go with the flow and offer very specialized knowledge. And it has worked out quite well for me.... By specialized I mean business knowledge.
1) As much as I would like to say that documentation helps, I actually don't think it helps unless you writing an API. But even then I wonder. The real problem with documentation is that as much as we would like to keep it up to date, it does not happen. I personally would prefer modular code that works without tricks than code with comments and tricks.
2) The problem with comments is that it fails the psychological test. When I write something down it does not necessarily mean that another programmer is going to understand what I mean. The reason has to do with the words I choose and how I phrase things. Even with good wording I can't explain a complex system. For example, let's say that I had to explain some complex multi-threading code. Unless the third party had a level of knowledge as good as mine it will not matter what I write as a comment since they lack the basic threading knowledge. And this lack knowledge is a key problem in any complex system.
Thus if I had to choose between comments and simplicity I choose simplicity since one can understand simplicity.
I can understand your thoughts, and I myself remember where I was on that day. I remember the discussions I had on that day.
BUT... What about all of those people that died in Spain? Or how about the ones in London? Have the Europeans decided to lock down all of their train stations and require body cavity searches?
Those people lost lives as much as anybody else, yet all we remember is 9/11. All we talk about is 9/11. All we have to endure are the endless lines of security searches, of taking off our shoes, belts, and what have you. Of me personally being searched for 45 minutes because Jolt decided it would be cute to introduce a brand new novel can of pop.
Yes it was my mistake for taking fluids in my backpack. But was it my mistake that the TSA thought it was a brand new device? I am not blaming the TSA because they are doing their jobs. I am blaming the paranoia going through the American society...
Want to know what gets me even more, where are the twin towers V2? Want to know how inept parts of American society has become, just look at what has been built after the 9/11 attacks, NOTHING, NADA, ZIP! That is the tragedy. Think of it as follows, your enemy blows up your bridge, and yet nearly a decade later you still can't rebuild it. Who is weak I ask!!! (If it were up to me I would be forcing a mandate through to build a new set of towers to show them one is not weak...)
The reason why he waited is because he was seated beside the escape window. He wanted to blow a hole in the plane causing it to crash. Had he exploded himself in the washroom there would be panic, but no plane dropping from the sky.
The entire episode will make people avoid the US even MORE... Add on the hassle of registering electronically, and the new cost passed by the house and people will say, "naaaa I will go elsewhere..."
I grew up in North America in the days of nostalgia. My high school years were 82 to 87. And I had friends with Hurst shifters, and big blocks 440's and the likes....
BUT let me tell you about a story on the German Autobahn... My father took a Z-28 Camero big block around 86 to Europe. Everybody looked at it, and they were in awe. UNTIL they took it on the Autobahn. It ended up jamming. Why? Because the rear differential at the time was intended for 4 banger usage. The autodealer said so themselves.
Putting it simple... The nostalgia that everyone craves is all show no go! I will take a Europe sports car anyday... The only car that really showed its stuff on the German autobahn was the Dodge Viper! I know because my car was limited to 250 KPH (as most are due to insurance), but the Viper just passed me with ease. That car is a true sports car!!!
Exactly! I remember about 2 years ago I was at a conference meeting with some conference chairs, and one of them was a Google employee. We were talking about mobile phones and his words at that time was that the Google mobile operating system would crush Apple. I laughed in his face and said, "many have already said that in the past."
What Google does not understand is that the mobile networks are not like Internet networks. The only company, and I did underestimate them to my error, that managed to get control of things was Apple. And while many hate that Apple has such a draconian stance on their Apps store I am almost guessing it is a requirement by the telcos. Otherwise why would Google have such a problem with their OS's. The problem with 3G is that the telco's paid BILLIONS for the space and they want to make that money back. Apple understands this, and did the right thing. Google just DOES NOT GET it...
The problem with the IT industry is that it does not solve problems for users. Programmers for the most part have very little domain knowledge, and it shows. About 5 years ago I saw the trend of shifting from general knowledge to specific and shifted to the investment banking industry.
You might oh you f***d up big time. Ha, on the contrary. I actually got in at the right time. They are now looking for people who can write code and trade. Not an easy combination, but something I acquired and it has paid off handsomely.
Open source and closed source has plenty of examples of people who know tech, but know squat in the domain. Once at a speakers table I even had one speaker tell me, "oh you can learn a domain in about 8 weeks." Really? Yeah RIGHT!
When you say, "If you're building a house, hire an architect" I would disagree. I would argue hire a local contractor who has built a few dozen homes. For an architect will cost too much for what its worth. Of course if you are a billionaire, then by all means hire one. Or if you are building something unique, by all means. Otherwise hiring an architect will cause you to overpay and under deliver.
Odd that you think that. As much as I would love to agree with you I can't. I had a netbook given to me, and try as I might I can't get rid of it. Even my wife who rarely uses computers at home is constantly grabbing the netbook. Why? Very simple because it is convenient and ties very well into the "cloud" life style. A netbook is the ideal marriage between the notebook, and the mobile device. I have a smart phone, and small netbook and still have a netbook. And this netbook runs Linux and I am very happy.
If you had told me this before I got one I would never have believed you. But it is something that surprised the heck out of me. Would I get another netbook? Absolutely... Or I am willing to wait for the Apple tablet...
This is what I hate about "smart" programmers at Google. They come up with the cleverest algo's, and they demand from their tests the ability to develop these algo's. Then they release something and along comes this sort of bug that simply does not need to happen!
So why does it happen, because their programmers are "clever"...
And the worst part this is the sort of bug that consumers will laugh their head off about. The reason why Apple sells so well is not because they are rocket scientists, but because when people use their products people say, "hey this is pretty cool..." Whereas techie's say, "hey this is pretty cool..." WRONG FOCUS...
Slashdot Mirror
Two words....
Michael Jackson
nuff said...
The problem here is that many public networks shy away from these documentaries BECAUSE of the clout of Scientology. However, ARD is supported by public euros and as such answers to nobody even the government. Many whine about having to pay a TV tax, but I gladly pay my monthly TV tax as it produces documentaries that ask hard hitting questions. Public networks would definitely not support it...
I am a supporter of free markets and capitalism, but at times we need the government.
Because of the notorious slow conference WiFi's I have learned a new trick...
I use 3G networks. Since I live in Europe it would be expensive except I get pay-per-day for the country and that averages around 4 to 5 USD per day. That is great considering I can get 3G within restaurants, in my hotel room, and where ever else... Beats having to figure things out with the Wifi...
>I'm sure the $9M in ticket sales also has nothing to do with it. Folks: it doesn't cost $9M to put up a website and hold a conference or two a year.
I am sorry, but having been in the conference business for 15 years, you would be surprised what it costs to host an event...
Let's start shall we:
1) Food: You got to feed the people, and that costs at around 100 to 300 per day per person. You think this is crazy? Absolutely it is, but if you are in any hotel or conference center they will explicitly force this on you.
2) Venue: You need a venue, and to get a venue for 1500 people is not easy. You are in what one can call middle league. It is the last step before you have to go to the really big venues, which cost even more.
3) Accessibility, Helpfulness: You need people to make the place accessible, and you need helpers saying, "oh you didn't look on the map and you are asking me where a room is because you are too lazy? Its right in front of you, and have a good day."
4) Tech and Internet crew: If you think food is expensive, wait until you need tech, and Internet. Welcome to the world, "I am going make you bend over and it will hurt!"
The problem is that if you get 3000 to 4000 people you need a much bigger venue, which is more expensive and less personal.
You call it elitist, they will call it quality. And Ted is doing the right thing, by making all of the materials available for free.
So sorry I think you are wrong...
How about writing code????
Learning the theory is good, but writing code is very important..
And it wont... How many times has this failed? All too often, and hence why people try to use DNA instead of facial recognition when associating a crime. If the picture is even slightly blurry it becomes useless.
A picture ID is there to cross reference the human to the card. Not cross-reference the picture to the person. Sounds like details, but a big difference.
>>I've never seen anything good come from it.
No that is a real study of a political system. Gee I lived in the US, Canada, UK, France, and well I come to the same conclusion its all a farce... Does that mean it's true? Not really...
The direct democratic system works in Switzerland if you understand the Swiss mentality. The minaret vote while people might disagree with the result is an example of a discussion on a topic that most people ignore. Let me throw out another example, gay marriages. I don't care whether there are or are not gay marriages. It's none of my business. However, by tromping on the emotions of people gay marriages have become a stigma of liberalism gone crazy. You are tromping on the rights of conservatives who do not approve of gay marriages. So instead of a having a discussion on gay marriages we have the situation where "human rights" go against the will of the people.
That tromping of the "rights" of the people by a panel of people is what causes extremism to rise. A very good American friend of mine, who is very conservative and religious, said, "you know we could quickly solve this problem if we change how marriages are defined." By allowing gay marriage you are opening the can of worms where the catholic church would have to allow the marriage of people. Thus the solution to this problem is to remove marriages and call them unions from a legal perspective. Thus everybody must appear in front of a local magistrate for their union. However, those that want a marriage can also go to a church... Everybody gets what they want... And my religious friend said, "that would be a good solution..."
BUT NO... You are either for or against gay marriages... Yupe much better debate.
Wait one minute... The majority of Germans back the laws against Jews and Gypsies? Please get real references here....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party
Hitler came into power through a minority. His party never had the majority. The problem was that at that time Hindenburg was vehemently against the Nazi's, but to get a "functioning" government he allowed them to be a government. Think of it as follows in a modern context. Stephen Harper who is in the minority in Canada was allowed to be a government in by the governor general. The catch, and this is where things became dangerous once Hitler's party became the government one of their first acts was to impose absolutism. In a watered down way it was Harpers peroge where he stopped allowing the government to function.
I am not saying Harper is Hitler because he is not. What I am saying is that Harper and Hitler from a political action perspective were very very similar. Once Hitler's party gained full control the propaganda started...
BTW not every German was for Hitler. Neither my mother's family nor my father's family were Hitler supporters (and we are not Jewish either). My mother's parent's were "disabled" and hence were one of the ones who were considered sub-German quality. And my father's parents thought the Nazi's were trouble, they were industrialists my grandfather hated extremists! Though they were scared enough to not say much. As much as people enjoy the rights to free speech, right to demonstrate and a right to a fair trial. In those days you "disappeared".
As a hopeful soon to be Swiss... I am actually proud of the minaret vote. Not the result because I would have probably voted no. No I am proud of the fact that the Swiss people can vote on these issues. Time and time again I see in other representative democracies votes being made that are only for a small minority of the people. Shall we call them lobbies? When lobbies take over then minorities take over, and then you get the mess called American politics.
The American political system is completely broken because of the lobbies that manage to control individual politicians. Thus those politicians are unable to make decisions since no compromise can be made unless a horse trade is made with the decision.
At least with a direct democracy like the Swiss you get a decision, you might not like it, but its a decision. California while having the direct vote is also an example of a decision. Sure the voters make silly decisions, "yes I want lots of social benefits", "no I don't want to pay for it." Those are decisions, screwed up, but eventually people will see, "oh maybe no benefits or maybe benefits..."
The problem with Bill Gates is that he holds his tablet vision to death do us part.
I have a tablet PC and have to say a stylus SUCKS! I use Windows 7 and ever since they improved the UI so that I can tap and twist my way through everywhere the pen has not left its socket.
A long time ago when I was in engineering university and the tablet idea first came (1990) out the administrative assistant to the dean of engineering said, "now that's a dumb idea." I was shocked and asked would you not want to write? She said, "no..." She said her husband is a professor in British history. Whenever he goes to the UK he has to copy books by hand (no pictures allowed, and no running the photo copier.) And when he has to write for three days solid his hands are completely cramped. Yet if he were to type there would be no such problem. 20 years later she was right and I was wrong... And Apple knows it, but Mr Gates is still clueless as ever on this topic.
I was flying from Newark to SanFran. And I was in the last row. Ahead of me were three ladies, and these ladies were HUGE! The interesting part was that these three ladies all had to sit in the same row. They complained and said that they would like new seats. The stewardesses in their nicest voice said, "sorry but this flight is full and you will have to sit in your assigned seats."
When the ladies had to sit they moved up all of the armrests and honest to goodness their butts and bodies melted into one another! Needless to say most people around those ladies were relieved that they did not have to endure one those ladies sitting beside them.
I thought it was pretty efficient for Delta to say, "hey you want to be fat, go for it, its a free country. But while we are at it we are going to put you beside each other..."
I am not the thinnest of people, but then again I am also not the fattest of people. HOWEVER, I was in this BA flight, and there was this guy who could barely buckle the belt and I felt so sorry for the people sitting beside him. If you want to be fat, go for it, it's your life! BUT you should be required to buy a second seat! The last thing that I want is to be completely uncomfortable...
Bullcrap!
Let's look at companies like Mercedes, Nintendo, Research in Motion, Volkswagen, Walmart, and 3M. These companies are in fact very large and very innovative. The list goes on... Microsoft is a dysfunctional company, point blank! What is killing Microsoft is what the guy in the article said it was.
Yes, this is why the posters in Europe say, "oh oh we do this already."
You see to get any salvation from the high taxes in Europe you just have to claim. Drive to work? Claim those kilometers. Need education for work, and clothes for work? You need to claim that.
The reality is that in Europe if you were to ok the taxes as is, you would be paying too much. Hence you fill out the tax forms and try to find every taxloophole there is.
Ah yes is Sweden also not the place with the highest amount of deductions? You get taxed out of the wahzoo, and the only real way to lower your taxes is to start claiming things. So are you saying by not claiming things you are happy to pay such high taxes?
Bullcrap!
Yesterday we have Thomas Friedman, and today we have Meridith Whitney, and tomorrow we have [fill in the blank]. The key in this business of columnist's is to be visible. If you are not then people will flock elsewhere. Since we are talking financial, blogs like Zero Hedge, and Mish are making an impact. In the future who knows what will happen.
In the past when the WSJ was free I would in passing skip over to their sites. But now I refuse to link to them in my blogs because they wall the content relatively quick. Thus I explicitly will choose some other site...
You know who has this right, Bloomberg... Most of their stuff is available for free. They even have some kick ass apps. But yet you can buy Bloomberg 1900 USD per month and you get all of the information really fast and comprehensive. And yes I have a Bloomberg. Is Bloomberg worth it for us? Absolutely we just had to do some quick number crunching and the data was available on Bloomberg and saved our butt...
The Wallstreet Journal high quality? Bullcrap!
The Wallstreet Journal can do what they are doing because right now those who want the Wallstreet Journal are of that mindset. Even though financial types use computers they are VERY VERY old fashioned when it comes to technology. I know I work in this industry and I am amazed at how far back some of these financial whizz's are.
When the next generation of financial types start trading eg 20 somethings they will not be buying the Wallstreet Journal and it will collapse.
The reality and this is why I moved away from general software development is that the Open Source and free model is not going away. It is here to stay and there is squat anybody can do about it. Open Source killed my software revenues (consulting), Google killed my book revenues, and am I sore? No because you can either fight it, or go with the flow. I decided to go with the flow and offer very specialized knowledge. And it has worked out quite well for me.... By specialized I mean business knowledge.
And therein lies the problem.
There are two major problems:
1) As much as I would like to say that documentation helps, I actually don't think it helps unless you writing an API. But even then I wonder. The real problem with documentation is that as much as we would like to keep it up to date, it does not happen. I personally would prefer modular code that works without tricks than code with comments and tricks.
2) The problem with comments is that it fails the psychological test. When I write something down it does not necessarily mean that another programmer is going to understand what I mean. The reason has to do with the words I choose and how I phrase things. Even with good wording I can't explain a complex system. For example, let's say that I had to explain some complex multi-threading code. Unless the third party had a level of knowledge as good as mine it will not matter what I write as a comment since they lack the basic threading knowledge. And this lack knowledge is a key problem in any complex system.
Thus if I had to choose between comments and simplicity I choose simplicity since one can understand simplicity.
I can understand your thoughts, and I myself remember where I was on that day. I remember the discussions I had on that day.
BUT... What about all of those people that died in Spain? Or how about the ones in London? Have the Europeans decided to lock down all of their train stations and require body cavity searches?
Those people lost lives as much as anybody else, yet all we remember is 9/11. All we talk about is 9/11. All we have to endure are the endless lines of security searches, of taking off our shoes, belts, and what have you. Of me personally being searched for 45 minutes because Jolt decided it would be cute to introduce a brand new novel can of pop.
http://imstartintofeelit.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/jolt-blue-raspberry.jpg
Yes it was my mistake for taking fluids in my backpack. But was it my mistake that the TSA thought it was a brand new device? I am not blaming the TSA because they are doing their jobs. I am blaming the paranoia going through the American society...
Want to know what gets me even more, where are the twin towers V2? Want to know how inept parts of American society has become, just look at what has been built after the 9/11 attacks, NOTHING, NADA, ZIP! That is the tragedy. Think of it as follows, your enemy blows up your bridge, and yet nearly a decade later you still can't rebuild it. Who is weak I ask!!! (If it were up to me I would be forcing a mandate through to build a new set of towers to show them one is not weak...)
The reason why he waited is because he was seated beside the escape window. He wanted to blow a hole in the plane causing it to crash. Had he exploded himself in the washroom there would be panic, but no plane dropping from the sky.
The entire episode will make people avoid the US even MORE... Add on the hassle of registering electronically, and the new cost passed by the house and people will say, "naaaa I will go elsewhere..."
I grew up in North America in the days of nostalgia. My high school years were 82 to 87. And I had friends with Hurst shifters, and big blocks 440's and the likes....
BUT let me tell you about a story on the German Autobahn... My father took a Z-28 Camero big block around 86 to Europe. Everybody looked at it, and they were in awe. UNTIL they took it on the Autobahn. It ended up jamming. Why? Because the rear differential at the time was intended for 4 banger usage. The autodealer said so themselves.
Putting it simple... The nostalgia that everyone craves is all show no go! I will take a Europe sports car anyday... The only car that really showed its stuff on the German autobahn was the Dodge Viper! I know because my car was limited to 250 KPH (as most are due to insurance), but the Viper just passed me with ease. That car is a true sports car!!!
Exactly! I remember about 2 years ago I was at a conference meeting with some conference chairs, and one of them was a Google employee. We were talking about mobile phones and his words at that time was that the Google mobile operating system would crush Apple. I laughed in his face and said, "many have already said that in the past."
What Google does not understand is that the mobile networks are not like Internet networks. The only company, and I did underestimate them to my error, that managed to get control of things was Apple. And while many hate that Apple has such a draconian stance on their Apps store I am almost guessing it is a requirement by the telcos. Otherwise why would Google have such a problem with their OS's. The problem with 3G is that the telco's paid BILLIONS for the space and they want to make that money back. Apple understands this, and did the right thing. Google just DOES NOT GET it...
Sorry I am going to disagree here...
The problem with the IT industry is that it does not solve problems for users. Programmers for the most part have very little domain knowledge, and it shows. About 5 years ago I saw the trend of shifting from general knowledge to specific and shifted to the investment banking industry.
You might oh you f***d up big time. Ha, on the contrary. I actually got in at the right time. They are now looking for people who can write code and trade. Not an easy combination, but something I acquired and it has paid off handsomely.
Open source and closed source has plenty of examples of people who know tech, but know squat in the domain. Once at a speakers table I even had one speaker tell me, "oh you can learn a domain in about 8 weeks." Really? Yeah RIGHT!
When you say, "If you're building a house, hire an architect" I would disagree. I would argue hire a local contractor who has built a few dozen homes. For an architect will cost too much for what its worth. Of course if you are a billionaire, then by all means hire one. Or if you are building something unique, by all means. Otherwise hiring an architect will cause you to overpay and under deliver.
Netbooks a stupid idea?
Odd that you think that. As much as I would love to agree with you I can't. I had a netbook given to me, and try as I might I can't get rid of it. Even my wife who rarely uses computers at home is constantly grabbing the netbook. Why? Very simple because it is convenient and ties very well into the "cloud" life style. A netbook is the ideal marriage between the notebook, and the mobile device. I have a smart phone, and small netbook and still have a netbook. And this netbook runs Linux and I am very happy.
If you had told me this before I got one I would never have believed you. But it is something that surprised the heck out of me. Would I get another netbook? Absolutely... Or I am willing to wait for the Apple tablet...
This is what I hate about "smart" programmers at Google. They come up with the cleverest algo's, and they demand from their tests the ability to develop these algo's. Then they release something and along comes this sort of bug that simply does not need to happen!
So why does it happen, because their programmers are "clever"...
And the worst part this is the sort of bug that consumers will laugh their head off about. The reason why Apple sells so well is not because they are rocket scientists, but because when people use their products people say, "hey this is pretty cool..." Whereas techie's say, "hey this is pretty cool..." WRONG FOCUS...