Errrm, about Sweden: no mate, we're not very safe on this -or at least we won't be for long.
I tried to post a story here about this last week. The EU is passing a law that pretty much gives the US the same jurisdiction in Europe. Well, at least they allow the US to demand extradition of any EU citizen that they even *suspect* has done something.
Quite handily, they mention "terrorism" as the main reason. Thing is, I wonder what their (US govt/RIAA) definition of terrorism is. Given recent examples, I think it differs from most people's views...
I hate to be a party pooper, but having a 29" monitor that can only do a native 1024x768 is like a nasty and very expensive joke to me. OK, it's a TV as well, but still I'm far from impressed.
Maybe I'm a troll, but when I buy a 29" real estate with some USD3200 or whatever (I skimmed through the article for the specs mainly), I expect to be able to enjoy huge resolutions. Take a standard 17" and it'll do you native 1280x1024.
Other than that, it *might* be useful... if you're really short-sighted.
[flamebait] You may mark me as flamebait or redundant, depending on your point of view, but most of the countries you mentioned are in deep poverty or have just come out of very conservative governments (or at least their new government wants to look more "modern") and their topmost priority is to feel that they're important in this new playground they just joined, so they'll just play sweet to the school-bully and hope for some candy. [/flamebait]
Then don't forget the big protests all over England, Italy and Spain.
Living in England, I have to note that the first protest in London was (apparently) the biggest protest *ever* in that city.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely (Julius Caesar).
One totalitarian gov't will have its favoured corporations and select elite, which will run things. And seeing how things are at the moment, I can bet you that this will mean fewer corps will have the power, and the circle of the select elite that will run the world behind the government will be very small.
This means a hell of a lot more money to a hell of a lot less people. And all the rest of us either working for them or trying to be them.
"the major cause of misery and conflict in the world"
And who said that the US isn't the biggest cause of misery and conflict in the world?
If the US didn't do their shitty deals behind everyone's back, fucked up the countries internally, yes, this would be a much better place, thank you.
If you kept your noses out of [Iraq | Kosovo | god knows where else], yes, we'd be a lot happier now. We don't need any wars that are meant to clean up whatever trouble you've stirred up with these back deals.
(And don't get me started on Kosovo... the Kosovars weren't any better than the Serbians. The US was just itching to barge in as it saw profit -some say uranium deposits, some say oil???)
I can't say much about which has more features, but I'll say that xine's interface is, lets say, not particularly well designed. (Read: it's bl**dy awkward to use sometimes).
I had to use xine for quite a while to play any mp3/mpg/mpeg files, when I'd screwed up my first RH8 install, and... I've seen better UIs.
Overall a great program, though. But I like mplayer better. A lot easier to use, imho:-)
Quote from the article: "The Bush administration and scientists alike are struggling with how to balance openness against the fear that all sorts of research could help terrorists..."
I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick and tired of hearing "...(not) doing this and that because it may help terrorists". How about closing the libraries down too? Terrorists might find information there too.
This is the lamest excuse I've heard in many years (and I bet you anything we're be hearing this all over from now on). The US govt plainly wants control over information and touts terrorism as an excuse. I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that since the 9/11 the US govt is using terrorism as an excuse to do things that it otherwise would not be allowed to do in the face of the public
Mod me down as Troll or whatever you want. But isn't this true?
I agree. Were this phone not running windoze, I'd be quite tempted to go for it, instead of the P800 (size!).
It has everything I would expect for my next upgrade: small, colour screen, camera, memory expansion slot (nice 512 meg), and (some) pda functionality.
Needless to say that windoze will be a show-stopper for many computer-literate people. People will be 20x more cautious about bugs than on any other phone.
(Then again judging by their site, they aim this more to 16-to-21 year olds who have nothing better to do than waste dad's money anyway, so if this is too buggy, daddy will get them the next version:-\ )
Trian
(PS: yes, maybe I'm a bit too harsh and maybe they've done a hell of a job to make a good solid product, but we all know what windoze is)
How about listening to your country's music? (for non-US people)
I listen to and buy 99.9% local music (Greek) and I am perfectly happy with it. It's a matter of choice AND I don't give the RIAA a single penny. I give the MPAA money occasionally, but that's in the range of 1-2 dvds a year.
While on the topic, let me be the man in the middle for a bit.
Before I continue, let me get something clear: I do NOT endorse terrorism (Jesus, what kind of statements we have to make before we have to say something good about the arabs in a mainly-american lot these days!).
Being Greek, I find arabic music quite appealing as well. Searching the net for such music one day, I discovered one thing:
The arabs have no riaa/mpaa equivalents and as such all their music is freely available on the net.
If your industries *are* sluggish performers, they *should* suffer the consequences. But nooooo, *American* companies should no-matter-what end up above the rest of the world.
US moderators: Feel free to mod me down as troll:-) I know it hurts to hear such things.
(first of all, as others pointed out, that's way too much depleted uranium for your average kidney).
(now watch me get modded down by US citizens)
Secondly, that's a big relief to find out!:-) I live in a neighbouring country (to Kosovo) and I would like to thank the US govt so very much for making these kind donations to our environment while restoring "order" to the planet. (hint of sarcasm in case you missed it -- I hate wars)
OK, they didn't/nuke/ the place, but still, and even though I'm a thousand kilometers or so away (Greece in case you wondered), it's not particularly reassuring to find these things out officially (not that I/we wasn't suspecting them).
If you think I'm being paranoid/anti-american/whatever, come to my position: how would/you/ feel if somebody came and did all that to/your/ neighbourhood?
Arggghh! Why wasn't I born a few centuries later, when I could travel there...?
Imagine all the alcohol.... 8-)
I guess this deep-freeze-yourself business is gonna become more popular now. Not to mention that scientists now have good reason to work on speeding up space travel...
I live in Greece and in England and I can tell you that in both countries (esp. Greece) I've seen the climate change considerably over the last few years. The scientists may still argue over 0.1 degree Celsius temperature changes, but hell, I sure feel and see their effects on our climate. And I can tell you, I'm not happy at all when I think of what it's gonna be like in 20 years.
If it causes power prices to skyrocket, say, 1000% (if not more) and singlehandedly destroys the American economy...
Did the word FUD spring to anybody else's mind? Why would the prices skyrocket? In the long run these investments will pay off in many more ways. We'll have a planet to live on, to begin with. Oh, sorry, I forgot; it's not that important compared to the American economy... And how 'bout not having to pay for that oil conventional power facilities burn every day?
Before you touch that keyboard again, go do your math and get real, mate.
If you placed a big enough array of solar panels in a desert, that could very easily cater for all the electricity needs of the planet. And I'm not talking about arrays the size of a small country.
Of course, you're gonna say there's loads of politics in the middle and the fact that whoever controls these arrays controls the power supplies to everybody else. True enough. But for a country like the States, where you've got enough deserts to waste, this should not be a problem.
Now (everybody) go figure why this hasn't happened so far...
Maybe the comment I'm making is a bit off-topic (styling-wise), but I'd sure spend $$$s on a case or whatever that would keep the whole damn thing *quiet* though.
I don't have the latest of machines (PII-300, 128MB RAM, 2HDDs, 3CDs). For what I do (programming mainly) it's fast enough (OK, I know it's a bit/slow/, but still...). Lately I find myself willing to spend more money to keep it quiet rather than upgrade stuff inside. I'm sure you know what noise 2HDDs + 3CD drives can make, not to mention the power supply that drives them.
Think how quieter your room is when (if) you switch your machine off...
I don't think I'm the only one to say that I'd like my PC quiet too (apart from powerful)... Good-looking comes after that.
Come to think of it, what happens when you wet your pants (God forbid!). Does it all stay inside and give you that warm comfortable feeling ("Gee, my nuts feel kinda swimmy...") or is it regarded as sweat (eventually) and spreads around the usual way...?
Alternatively, I have a Harman Kardon AVR85 amp (now discontinued, the closest is the AVR200 AFAIK) driving a pair of Canton Ergo 91DC speakers and I have been very satisfied with them.
If you do come across a used AVR85, I recommend it! OK, it doesn't have DTS decoding and 5.1 inputs, but the sound is very good, you get more analog inputs than you're likely to ever need (and 3 digital ones) and generally an amp with a quite rich set of features and good looks.
Having heard H/K stuff, they are very good quality (gimme a Signature 2.0 amp ANYTIME), especially for the money you pay and I chose my Cantons only after I'd shopped round some 15+/audio/ shops and listened to all their models in the price range I was interested in (FYI, all that cost me DEM 2400.00 / USD ~1150 about a year and a half ago, after I'd searched for some good bargains on them).
Sites you might wanna check:
www.harmankardon.com
www.cantonusa.com
Trian
PS. I'll agree with some other people about the BOSEs' more-marketing-than-quality and the very good sound of B&Ws (but at a bit too high a price for what you get, I think)
While we are at it, do you have any subs in particular you would like to recommend? I've heard pretty good things about some Energy models and I've heard some Magnats (IIRC) that sounded the part. But I want something that will really make my furniture shake!
Slashdot Mirror
OK, there is support for Xf 4.2.0, but they haven't released anything serious for 4.3.0 yet. I can use my firegl with 4.3.0, but only basic stuff.
:-(
No opengl and most annoyingly, no XVideo
Trian
Errrm, about Sweden: no mate, we're not very safe on this -or at least we won't be for long.
y pe=topN ews&storyID=2874333
I tried to post a story here about this last week. The EU is passing a law that pretty much gives the US the same jurisdiction in Europe. Well, at least they allow the US to demand extradition of any EU citizen that they even *suspect* has done something.
Quite handily, they mention "terrorism" as the main reason. Thing is, I wonder what their (US govt/RIAA) definition of terrorism is. Given recent examples, I think it differs from most people's views...
Relevant link:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t
Trian
Hold your horses mate.
I hate to be a party pooper, but having a 29" monitor that can only do a native 1024x768 is like a nasty and very expensive joke to me. OK, it's a TV as well, but still I'm far from impressed.
Maybe I'm a troll, but when I buy a 29" real estate with some USD3200 or whatever (I skimmed through the article for the specs mainly), I expect to be able to enjoy huge resolutions. Take a standard 17" and it'll do you native 1280x1024.
Other than that, it *might* be useful... if you're really short-sighted.
Trian
[flamebait]
You may mark me as flamebait or redundant, depending on your point of view, but most of the countries you mentioned are in deep poverty or have just come out of very conservative governments (or at least their new government wants to look more "modern") and their topmost priority is to feel that they're important in this new playground they just joined, so they'll just play sweet to the school-bully and hope for some candy.
[/flamebait]
Then don't forget the big protests all over England, Italy and Spain.
Living in England, I have to note that the first protest in London was (apparently) the biggest protest *ever* in that city.
T.
Agreed, except for a slight problem:
:-/
Absolute power corrupts absolutely (Julius Caesar).
One totalitarian gov't will have its favoured corporations and select elite, which will run things. And seeing how things are at the moment, I can bet you that this will mean fewer corps will have the power, and the circle of the select elite that will run the world behind the government will be very small.
This means a hell of a lot more money to a hell of a lot less people. And all the rest of us either working for them or trying to be them.
It's human nature
ITU defines broadband as 1.5Mbps to 2Mbps and above. So even today's 512Kbps ADSL is not broadband, strictly speaking.
(Luck that I was actually revising this last night, for my uni. exams).
Trian
"the major cause of misery and conflict in the world"
And who said that the US isn't the biggest cause of misery and conflict in the world?
If the US didn't do their shitty deals behind everyone's back, fucked up the countries internally, yes, this would be a much better place, thank you.
If you kept your noses out of [Iraq | Kosovo | god knows where else], yes, we'd be a lot happier now. We don't need any wars that are meant to clean up whatever trouble you've stirred up with these back deals.
(And don't get me started on Kosovo... the Kosovars weren't any better than the Serbians. The US was just itching to barge in as it saw profit -some say uranium deposits, some say oil???)
Trian
I can't say much about which has more features, but I'll say that xine's interface is, lets say, not particularly well designed. (Read: it's bl**dy awkward to use sometimes).
:-)
I had to use xine for quite a while to play any mp3/mpg/mpeg files, when I'd screwed up my first RH8 install, and... I've seen better UIs.
Overall a great program, though. But I like mplayer better. A lot easier to use, imho
Trian
Quote from the article:
"The Bush administration and scientists alike are struggling with how to balance openness against the fear that all sorts of research could help terrorists..."
I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick and tired of hearing "...(not) doing this and that because it may help terrorists". How about closing the libraries down too? Terrorists might find information there too.
This is the lamest excuse I've heard in many years (and I bet you anything we're be hearing this all over from now on). The US govt plainly wants control over information and touts terrorism as an excuse. I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that since the 9/11 the US govt is using terrorism as an excuse to do things that it otherwise would not be allowed to do in the face of the public
Mod me down as Troll or whatever you want. But isn't this true?
'Nuff said.
Trian
I agree. Were this phone not running windoze, I'd be quite tempted to go for it, instead of the P800 (size!).
:-\ )
It has everything I would expect for my next upgrade: small, colour screen, camera, memory expansion slot (nice 512 meg), and (some) pda functionality.
Needless to say that windoze will be a show-stopper for many computer-literate people. People will be 20x more cautious about bugs than on any other phone.
(Then again judging by their site, they aim this more to 16-to-21 year olds who have nothing better to do than waste dad's money anyway, so if this is too buggy, daddy will get them the next version
Trian
(PS: yes, maybe I'm a bit too harsh and maybe they've done a hell of a job to make a good solid product, but we all know what windoze is)
How about listening to your country's music? (for non-US people)
I listen to and buy 99.9% local music (Greek) and I am perfectly happy with it. It's a matter of choice AND I don't give the RIAA a single penny. I give the MPAA money occasionally, but that's in the range of 1-2 dvds a year.
While on the topic, let me be the man in the middle for a bit.
Before I continue, let me get something clear: I do NOT endorse terrorism (Jesus, what kind of statements we have to make before we have to say something good about the arabs in a mainly-american lot these days!).
Being Greek, I find arabic music quite appealing as well. Searching the net for such music one day, I discovered one thing:
The arabs have no riaa/mpaa equivalents and as such all their music is freely available on the net.
You doubt? Go to www.mazika.com or www.oghnia.com or www.6arab.com.
I present this information only as food for thought. I'm just being a man-in-the-middle, if you like, between the two cultures.
Trian
Where are my moderation points when I need them???
Well stated!
In English, maybe. In Latin it's "virii".
:-)
Anybody who's more fluent at latin is welcome to correct me.
Trian
Errrm,
:-) I know it hurts to hear such things.
If your industries *are* sluggish performers, they *should* suffer the consequences. But nooooo, *American* companies should no-matter-what end up above the rest of the world.
US moderators: Feel free to mod me down as troll
(first of all, as others pointed out, that's way too much depleted uranium for your average kidney).
:-) I live in a neighbouring country (to Kosovo) and I would like to thank the US govt so very much for making these kind donations to our environment while restoring "order" to the planet. (hint of sarcasm in case you missed it -- I hate wars)
/nuke/ the place, but still, and even though I'm a thousand kilometers or so away (Greece in case you wondered), it's not particularly reassuring to find these things out officially (not that I/we wasn't suspecting them).
/you/ feel if somebody came and did all that to /your/ neighbourhood?
(now watch me get modded down by US citizens)
Secondly, that's a big relief to find out!
OK, they didn't
If you think I'm being paranoid/anti-american/whatever, come to my position: how would
Trian
Arggghh! Why wasn't I born a few centuries later, when I could travel there...?
Imagine all the alcohol.... 8-)
I guess this deep-freeze-yourself business is gonna become more popular now. Not to mention that scientists now have good reason to work on speeding up space travel...
T.
I'll second to that.
I live in Greece and in England and I can tell you that in both countries (esp. Greece) I've seen the climate change considerably over the last few years. The scientists may still argue over 0.1 degree Celsius temperature changes, but hell, I sure feel and see their effects on our climate. And I can tell you, I'm not happy at all when I think of what it's gonna be like in 20 years.
Trian
If it causes power prices to skyrocket, say, 1000% (if not more) and singlehandedly destroys the American economy...
Did the word FUD spring to anybody else's mind? Why would the prices skyrocket? In the long run these investments will pay off in many more ways. We'll have a planet to live on, to begin with. Oh, sorry, I forgot; it's not that important compared to the American economy... And how 'bout not having to pay for that oil conventional power facilities burn every day?
Before you touch that keyboard again, go do your math and get real, mate.
Trian
I've long known one thing:
If you placed a big enough array of solar panels in a desert, that could very easily cater for all the electricity needs of the planet. And I'm not talking about arrays the size of a small country.
Of course, you're gonna say there's loads of politics in the middle and the fact that whoever controls these arrays controls the power supplies to everybody else. True enough. But for a country like the States, where you've got enough deserts to waste, this should not be a problem.
Now (everybody) go figure why this hasn't happened so far...
Trian
And it took all that research to find that out?
Major difference is that the male one works!
(hence the oxymoron "female logic")
(And now watch the female moderators / members flame me to death. *grin*)
Trian
GREED!
Next thing is what? Pay the companies royalties for every time we hum / whistle a song?
Trian
I agree with you. The inside definitely counts.
/slow/, but still...). Lately I find myself willing to spend more money to keep it quiet rather than upgrade stuff inside. I'm sure you know what noise 2HDDs + 3CD drives can make, not to mention the power supply that drives them.
Maybe the comment I'm making is a bit off-topic (styling-wise), but I'd sure spend $$$s on a case or whatever that would keep the whole damn thing *quiet* though.
I don't have the latest of machines (PII-300, 128MB RAM, 2HDDs, 3CDs). For what I do (programming mainly) it's fast enough (OK, I know it's a bit
Think how quieter your room is when (if) you switch your machine off...
I don't think I'm the only one to say that I'd like my PC quiet too (apart from powerful)... Good-looking comes after that.
Trian
Come to think of it, what happens when you wet your pants (God forbid!). Does it all stay inside and give you that warm comfortable feeling ("Gee, my nuts feel kinda swimmy...") or is it regarded as sweat (eventually) and spreads around the usual way...?
Alternatively, I have a Harman Kardon AVR85 amp (now discontinued, the closest is the AVR200 AFAIK) driving a pair of Canton Ergo 91DC speakers and I have been very satisfied with them.
/audio/ shops and listened to all their models in the price range I was interested in (FYI, all that cost me DEM 2400.00 / USD ~1150 about a year and a half ago, after I'd searched for some good bargains on them).
If you do come across a used AVR85, I recommend it! OK, it doesn't have DTS decoding and 5.1 inputs, but the sound is very good, you get more analog inputs than you're likely to ever need (and 3 digital ones) and generally an amp with a quite rich set of features and good looks.
Having heard H/K stuff, they are very good quality (gimme a Signature 2.0 amp ANYTIME), especially for the money you pay and I chose my Cantons only after I'd shopped round some 15+
Sites you might wanna check:
www.harmankardon.com
www.cantonusa.com
Trian
PS. I'll agree with some other people about the BOSEs' more-marketing-than-quality and the very good sound of B&Ws (but at a bit too high a price for what you get, I think)
While we are at it, do you have any subs in particular you would like to recommend? I've heard pretty good things about some Energy models and I've heard some Magnats (IIRC) that sounded the part. But I want something that will really make my furniture shake!
Trian