Pirates do exist, and account for nearly $16b in losses annually. If you're interested in a career like Han Solo, piracy is an option.
Most pirates today work between Eritria and Mumbai. Seychelles is very casual about accepting boats without valid port histories. The pirate ships are often large yachts with fast ciggy boats for docking. Glocks and Kalishies are the norm. The dress is much like the old pirate look -- bandanas, beards, loose shirts, etc.
Pirate robbers make the news often, yet most pirates are smugglers (food, drugs, medicine and health equipment). Countries with US/UN embargoes pay well -- 400% over the white market rate.
Cuba was easy money until 9/11, now we have our Coast Guard pretending to fight terrorism but actually destroying the free market in smuggling.
Malaysia has a growing piracy need as the government gets more religious. Somalia and Sri Lanka both ignore the pirates like Seychelles.
Take a trip to Dubai or Seychelles. Hook up with the right crowd and you can make 6 figures easily.
Just like the radio-hyped "International Star Registry" I don't think this is a scam really. Maybe they're just publishing an annual book of Moon "owners"?
First, I would think these deeds are presented more as a gift gag to someone than an honest investment opportunity. The star registry is lame to us geeks, but laypeople love it.
Secondly, with government so charged to "protect" consumers from scams, you'd think scams would go away. They won't. The only way that scams will be unprofitable is when government stops "protecting" citizens and lets people learn to be aware of what they're buying.
Lastly, even if this is a scam, the potential is there for the buyer to actually own the land. I once bought a tiny parcel of land from a company with a clear title. Years later, the title came into question, yet the new other owner couldn't find any previous owner anywhere. The company I bought from went bankrupt years before, and the courts awarded me the land with maybe $500 in legal fees.
Proof of purchase helps when no title exists to the land before it. In anarchocapitalist-speak, though, you don't own land until you've mixed your labor with it and no one before you has. Seeing as the moon won't be productive for another 50+ years, that'll be hard to do, but I'm thinking we need to find options for how we'll divvy it up for future generations.
If you can, don't pay for any business tool you can't make money on. I bill for all business phone calls, SMS and e-mails. Every one. My phone bill is probably $150 monthly and my biggest customer pays ~ $250. Why not have your customers (or employer) do the same?
GPS is a must have for me. I have seen 60,000 miles-driven years. I've added a lot of travel business, so GPS enhances that. Yahoo maps looks good, though (just checked it from a PC). Looks bad on my PDA.
'Limited amount" includes me, too. I'm not wealthy! But I'll buy items that save me time, reduce stress/clutter, or pay dividends for owning.
TFA: "If we assume that all of the growth in Mac shipments during the past three quarters resulted from Windows users purchasing a Mac, Or Mac users wanted a second PC, or their kids or parents needed their first or new immigrant H1B workers bought them. How can they assume these numbers are ex-Win users?
appear to be purchasing Apple's higher-end systems They appear to be? So they might not be? Huh?
fueled by the epidemic of viruses and malware on the Windows platform. Based on what figures? Last year it was "fueled by better video editing" and before that "fueled by better graphics editing" as sales people only mimicked their pitches.
the firm on Monday downgraded shares of the company's stock to "Hold," saying it believes Apple shares are now "fully valued." Because the 1 million Windows converts are all that will convert? Not only shit can be pulled from an analyst's ass.
"During the past year, in response to the introduction of breakthrough new iPods and Macs and outstanding financial results, we've doubled our price target." And even $61 is a worthless number, offering no real income (profit dividends, interest, commitment sales, etc). Take your stock money, start your own business, and stop gambling.
Still, the analyst hedges his bets, explaining Apple's "frenetic pace of innovation" could present new opportunities,"The ship is not sinking, but it might. It could also fly possibly." These people are worthless.
I have friends who are analysts, and they're worthless, too. My Costa Rican bookie gives me good advice based on the pros. These analysts either give neutral advice, or just enough so that mom's stock will go up.
You're one who doesn't believe that time is money, right?
Valuing your work time at $150/hour isn't putting one in the higher income geek bracket. I only work 20 hours per week. That means my gross hourly value is ~ $18 / hour. ($3000/168 hours)
Why would I mow the lawn (2 hours) when the neighbor's kid does it for $15? I just bought 2 hours with my family.
As I get older, I spend much more of my time NOT working as my work value has gone up. I don't buy more or bigger toys, I work fewer hours leaving me more time to travel, be with family and friends, or just relax.
I see so many college degreed kids wasting 60 hours a week at $40k only to waste another 20 hours on some profitless project with no joy, no return. They need to step up and cut their work in half while doubling or tripling their income.
My time is valuable. If I can pay less than I'm worth to save the time, I do it.
Yes, 2 HD cable tuners works fine. I have had zero problems with it. My biggest repeated problem is with my Hauppauge MCE 150 SD capture card and losing sound about 10% of the time. Very frustrating, but I'm too lazy to fix it:)
If you have access to cable HDTV, just get a (mandated by law unfortunately) firewire-output HDTV tuner and use timmmoore's software. I hope that is the link, as TGB doesn't display well on my PDA browser so I couldn't confirm it.
At one point, I actually had 4 SDTV and 2 HDTV tuners working in MCE but my processor choked. Nowadays, we have 1 TV just for the cats (Xbox Extender) who love Queer Eye, go figure, and 1 TV in the bedroom using an Xbox Extender, 1 HDTV in the living room and I have my projector toy room that strictly plays HD WMV's off the MCE "server." The MCE box actually runs fine with a 1.8Ghz Intel processor. Most people's problems with MCE seem to deal with bad software integration, driver difficulties, or bad hardware to begin with. I have had very few problems period.
I think many more "geeks" would find $1450 inconsequential if they accepted more of the anarchocapitalist "time preference" view on life. Honestly, many of my friends should value their worth at a minimum of $150 per hour, but most don't. I can't figure it out. I never finished college, haven't the drive or responsibility that most have, but I can live a better life just because I know my value? It doesn't make sense.
Time is so very short for most, but when you understand the value of every minute of every day, time goes by at a very decent pace. I understand the joy of using free or cheaper items, and the profit you receive is added joy in exchange for more time spent (or in my case, lost). I have certain joys in life as well, and they are costly in terms of time preference but profitable in terms of joy.
I guess that's the selling point of liberty/freedom/capitalism or whatever people may label my rants -- the honest knowledge of what you are worth at any given time, and the stronger belief that you're in control of receiving that worth. Never once have I complained about crappy pay, because I knew that I was paid for what I performed. I have a few employees who I openly push to compete with me because I KNOW I am ripping them off, yet my market would not pay me enough to pay them. I hate seeing people working for less than they could be making.
Time preference. The $1500 versus $50 is inconsequential for me and my time. I am not wealthy by any means, but the $1450 difference is paid for in about 15 hours of time saved. Just the paying of the Tivo bill takes a little bit every month (and costs money). My MCE does much more than I could believe.
Then again, when I bought the first Tivo, everyone jumped on me saying I was crazy then to spend so much. My MCE encodes all my favorite shows into a PDA format and instantly syncs it with my PDA so I have my shows on the go for when I'm bored (in the car when I have a driver, etc).
As for form factor, my MCE box is tiny. It is a little taller than my old cable box, and the same width. The Wife Acceptance Factor is higher with the MCE than with Tivo. And she HATED MythTV and Meedio and all the other BYOPVR cheap or OSS software out there. The MCE box runs up to 6 tuners (I tested it but only need 2 SD and 2 HD) and it never crashes and it fills in every need at home, including groceries.
I use my PDA phone for everything (including slashdot). If I need yellow pages or weather or movie showtimes, I send an SMS message on my phone to 46645 (googl). I get back the info I need in seconds or less and its always accurate. Weather, stocks, movie listings, phone numbers, etc. Yahoo (and Google) online are too bulky.
As for maps, my PDA has a GPS with up-to-date maps and I'm very happy with it. I believe I paid $69 for the GPS and the mapping software. Prices continue to drop.
This is the reality of capitalism. Not quite. You defined mercantilism. Capitalism's only law is supply and demand. Mercantilism requires government force.
Tough -- nobody else can sell that, and IP gives the owner the right to ask whatever price he likes. I'm against copyright and IP for this reason. My rule is "don't publish what you don't want copied."
That's not a choice, and it is a good reason for governments to get involved on what are in effect unconscionable terms being foisted on the purchaser. Actually it IS a choice. Want privacy? Don't use products that ruin your privacy. Involving government is what ruins choice. Creating laws only reduces our freedom. Name ONE LAW in 50 years that has helped only the consumer.
I know a lot of people who don't exercise who can't run a marathon. In fact, all can't.
I have 3 runner friends who smoke, one does triaths.
I don't smoke anymore as the $6/pack is $4000/year. $2000 per year was worth it. But not now.
I quit without planning. I had $30 in my pocket and could only buy 1 pack and 10 gallons of gas. No major withdrawal problems, just minor crankiness. The dame hasn't been so lucky.
Re:Cause or Risk Factor? (warning pro-smoking)
on
Safe Cigarettes?
·
· Score: 1
A pub is private property. Rules on smoking in a pub are governed by the pub's owner.
Instead of rushing in and demanding a law to battle this "problem," just leave it alone. The market continues to provide exactly what people want.
Most ony customers care little for this Sony solution. My 12 year old sister doesn't seem to care one bit. Sony has the "right" to provide this feature as you're not being forced to buy it.
You're responsible for checking out a product before buying it. I won't buy any music ROM disc that doesn't have the "CD" certification logo, unless it is from an indie band. I still rip eve y CD from a CD player with an optical out into my PC. Safety first.
If Sony doesn't get a lot of backlash over this system, others will adapt it. I am not buying any more Sony CDs, but I'll buy other products from other divisions.
I see no reason to cry wolf here. You are buying their product. If you find something you don't like, someone will adapt it for your uses.
For those wanting a la , remember you likely supported the same political parties that enacted the DMCA, copyright extensions, and other tyrannical laws. Stop voting in the booth, vote in the checkout aisle.
Re:Cause or Risk Factor? (warning pro-smoking)
on
Safe Cigarettes?
·
· Score: 1
The neighborhood I grew up in had 7 neighbors of mine die from lung cancer. Not one smoked.
It was later found that all had high radon in the ground.
Smoking has dangers, so does sex, driving fast, and eating sugar. Risk factors can be balanced with those that reduce risk.
Cause or Risk Factor? (warning pro-smoking)
on
Safe Cigarettes?
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
No one in my family smoked ever, I was the first. I recently "quit" because of financial reasons, no health. In terms of health, I don't see the causation connection, especially in second hand smoke.
My physician smokes 2+ packs a day. He's 80. He runs, avoids trans fats and high glycemic foods. Many of my older customers smoke but also maintain good diets and exercise.
I started smoking at 21. I had bad bouts with kidney stones that no medications or diet helped. A San Francisco quack Chinese herbal nut told me to smoke. 5 years with zero kidney attacks. Giving it up at 26 gave me 3 years of kidney pains. Smoking again relieved it. Since I stopped a few weeks ago, the pains are back.
My TMJ was also reduced from smoking. It has affected me since the age of 11.
I'm not saying smoking is safe or healthy. I am saying it has some benefits, and the high carb high trans fat diet of most Westerners is far worse. If it wasn't for high taxes and tort suit payments, I'd continue to smoke. I know I live a healthier life because of it.
By the way, I ran a half marathon while smoking 10 cigarettes, and am in great physical shape (good blood pressure, cholesterol, etc). Don't believe the hype.
This is true, but it hasn't given me any reason to chase the new systems until they're provably more immersive (to me at least).
I'm thinking my big problem with immersion is that most game systems (and PCs) seem to give up stability in order to attempt to become more realistic. Civ4 was initially terrible on my extremely powerful system, notably because of their attempt to introduce an immersive 3D world. I've since fixed it myself and continue to enjoy it, but the graphics mean zilch to me.
My X-Box games are not immersive enough. Every game reminds me too much of Quake 2, to be honest. It isn't that "amazing" that I have to ooh and ahh. Yet I'll buy one or both if I feel the games can overcome their graphics bias and actually introduce good gameplay without a lot of bugs.
CDs and DVDs haven't given the gaming world anything but instability it seems. More space = more code = more bugs = more frustration levels for me.
This is newsworthy? This is the same President who gave George J. Tenet the Medal of Freedom.
This is generally cronyism at its worst, and media attention getting at its finest. There is no Constitutional mandate or power. President Harry Truman enacted the medal in 1945 and it was virtually ignored until JFK brought it back -- through an Executive Order in 1963.
That same Executive Order also expanded the size of unconstitutional government by extending the "Distinguished Civilian Service Awards" board -- yet another cronyist bunch given very nice salaries* by the President.
I know the political spectrum is well covered here, but does anyone honestly believe a government that is trillions in debt needs a board to give out awards? Disregard any constitutional grounds and focus on the need of the governed. Can't an independent not-for-profit group do the same? BTW, Clinton also gave the award to some ridiculous recipients, so I'm not Bush bashing. This is just a waste of your money.
*There's almost no oversight or budget restrictions on what the board can be paid: Expenses. Necessary administrative expenses of the Board incurred in connection with the recommendation of persons to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, including expenses of travel of members of the Board appointed under Section 3 (a) of this Order, during the fiscal year 1963, may be paid from the appropriation provided under the heading 'Special Projects' in the Executive Office Appropriation Act, 1963, 76 Stat. 315, and during subsequent fiscal years, to the extent permitted by law, from any corresponding or like appropriation made available for such fiscal years. Such payments shall be without regard to the provisions of section 3681 of the Revised Statutes and section 9 of the Act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 672 and 673).
Slashdot Mirror
When I can get zero "always on" channels for $0/month and get any show On-Demand for $1 I'll be ecstatic.
$1-$5 for movies, too!
A bit OT but fun to know...
Pirates do exist, and account for nearly $16b in losses annually. If you're interested in a career like Han Solo, piracy is an option.
Most pirates today work between Eritria and Mumbai. Seychelles is very casual about accepting boats without valid port histories. The pirate ships are often large yachts with fast ciggy boats for docking. Glocks and Kalishies are the norm. The dress is much like the old pirate look -- bandanas, beards, loose shirts, etc.
Pirate robbers make the news often, yet most pirates are smugglers (food, drugs, medicine and health equipment). Countries with US/UN embargoes pay well -- 400% over the white market rate.
Cuba was easy money until 9/11, now we have our Coast Guard pretending to fight terrorism but actually destroying the free market in smuggling.
Malaysia has a growing piracy need as the government gets more religious. Somalia and Sri Lanka both ignore the pirates like Seychelles.
Take a trip to Dubai or Seychelles. Hook up with the right crowd and you can make 6 figures easily.
Arrrrr!
Funny, I was picked on til age 11 when I realized I had worth. Once that happened, my self esteem jumped 5 notches and the fights went away.
At one of my skate shops, I always preach to the nerds how to fix the problem. Give yourself value and others will respect you. Try it.
What you call fraud an AnCap calls Breach of Contract. If someone breaches an agreement, a arbitrator should resolve the problem.
Take the law out of it -- we already have contract insurers (bonding) to cover these breaches.
Just like the radio-hyped "International Star Registry" I don't think this is a scam really. Maybe they're just publishing an annual book of Moon "owners"?
First, I would think these deeds are presented more as a gift gag to someone than an honest investment opportunity. The star registry is lame to us geeks, but laypeople love it.
Secondly, with government so charged to "protect" consumers from scams, you'd think scams would go away. They won't. The only way that scams will be unprofitable is when government stops "protecting" citizens and lets people learn to be aware of what they're buying.
Lastly, even if this is a scam, the potential is there for the buyer to actually own the land. I once bought a tiny parcel of land from a company with a clear title. Years later, the title came into question, yet the new other owner couldn't find any previous owner anywhere. The company I bought from went bankrupt years before, and the courts awarded me the land with maybe $500 in legal fees.
Proof of purchase helps when no title exists to the land before it. In anarchocapitalist-speak, though, you don't own land until you've mixed your labor with it and no one before you has. Seeing as the moon won't be productive for another 50+ years, that'll be hard to do, but I'm thinking we need to find options for how we'll divvy it up for future generations.
I do analyses every day. But I charge for them, and I have to make sure they come true way more often than not.
These guys give it away. Free means good here, right?
MythTV is garbage, so far. I've built 4 MythTV PCs, and they excel at not needing big processors, but everything else is subpar.
With MCE, I have 5+ MPEG2 decoders to choose from. They cost money, but they display gorgeous output that IVTV+Myth never challenges, yet.
I'm a business man. I pay for products that work. I won't donate to Myth in hopes of it working better in the future.
Do I like MS? Not really. Do MS products work for me? 90% of the time.
When MythTV matures, it will have huge potential. For now, it's too complex with subpar output.
If you can, don't pay for any business tool you can't make money on. I bill for all business phone calls, SMS and e-mails. Every one. My phone bill is probably $150 monthly and my biggest customer pays ~ $250. Why not have your customers (or employer) do the same?
GPS is a must have for me. I have seen 60,000 miles-driven years. I've added a lot of travel business, so GPS enhances that. Yahoo maps looks good, though (just checked it from a PC). Looks bad on my PDA.
'Limited amount" includes me, too. I'm not wealthy! But I'll buy items that save me time, reduce stress/clutter, or pay dividends for owning.
TFA: "If we assume that all of the growth in Mac shipments during the past three quarters resulted from Windows users purchasing a Mac, Or Mac users wanted a second PC, or their kids or parents needed their first or new immigrant H1B workers bought them. How can they assume these numbers are ex-Win users?
appear to be purchasing Apple's higher-end systems They appear to be? So they might not be? Huh?
fueled by the epidemic of viruses and malware on the Windows platform. Based on what figures? Last year it was "fueled by better video editing" and before that "fueled by better graphics editing" as sales people only mimicked their pitches.
the firm on Monday downgraded shares of the company's stock to "Hold," saying it believes Apple shares are now "fully valued." Because the 1 million Windows converts are all that will convert? Not only shit can be pulled from an analyst's ass.
"During the past year, in response to the introduction of breakthrough new iPods and Macs and outstanding financial results, we've doubled our price target." And even $61 is a worthless number, offering no real income (profit dividends, interest, commitment sales, etc). Take your stock money, start your own business, and stop gambling.
Still, the analyst hedges his bets, explaining Apple's "frenetic pace of innovation" could present new opportunities,"The ship is not sinking, but it might. It could also fly possibly." These people are worthless.
I have friends who are analysts, and they're worthless, too. My Costa Rican bookie gives me good advice based on the pros. These analysts either give neutral advice, or just enough so that mom's stock will go up.
You're one who doesn't believe that time is money, right?
Valuing your work time at $150/hour isn't putting one in the higher income geek bracket. I only work 20 hours per week. That means my gross hourly value is ~ $18 / hour. ($3000/168 hours)
Why would I mow the lawn (2 hours) when the neighbor's kid does it for $15? I just bought 2 hours with my family.
As I get older, I spend much more of my time NOT working as my work value has gone up. I don't buy more or bigger toys, I work fewer hours leaving me more time to travel, be with family and friends, or just relax.
I see so many college degreed kids wasting 60 hours a week at $40k only to waste another 20 hours on some profitless project with no joy, no return. They need to step up and cut their work in half while doubling or tripling their income.
My time is valuable. If I can pay less than I'm worth to save the time, I do it.
Yes, 2 HD cable tuners works fine. I have had zero problems with it. My biggest repeated problem is with my Hauppauge MCE 150 SD capture card and losing sound about 10% of the time. Very frustrating, but I'm too lazy to fix it :)
If you have access to cable HDTV, just get a (mandated by law unfortunately) firewire-output HDTV tuner and use timmmoore's software. I hope that is the link, as TGB doesn't display well on my PDA browser so I couldn't confirm it.
At one point, I actually had 4 SDTV and 2 HDTV tuners working in MCE but my processor choked. Nowadays, we have 1 TV just for the cats (Xbox Extender) who love Queer Eye, go figure, and 1 TV in the bedroom using an Xbox Extender, 1 HDTV in the living room and I have my projector toy room that strictly plays HD WMV's off the MCE "server." The MCE box actually runs fine with a 1.8Ghz Intel processor. Most people's problems with MCE seem to deal with bad software integration, driver difficulties, or bad hardware to begin with. I have had very few problems period.
I think many more "geeks" would find $1450 inconsequential if they accepted more of the anarchocapitalist "time preference" view on life. Honestly, many of my friends should value their worth at a minimum of $150 per hour, but most don't. I can't figure it out. I never finished college, haven't the drive or responsibility that most have, but I can live a better life just because I know my value? It doesn't make sense.
Time is so very short for most, but when you understand the value of every minute of every day, time goes by at a very decent pace. I understand the joy of using free or cheaper items, and the profit you receive is added joy in exchange for more time spent (or in my case, lost). I have certain joys in life as well, and they are costly in terms of time preference but profitable in terms of joy.
I guess that's the selling point of liberty/freedom/capitalism or whatever people may label my rants -- the honest knowledge of what you are worth at any given time, and the stronger belief that you're in control of receiving that worth. Never once have I complained about crappy pay, because I knew that I was paid for what I performed. I have a few employees who I openly push to compete with me because I KNOW I am ripping them off, yet my market would not pay me enough to pay them. I hate seeing people working for less than they could be making.
Time preference. The $1500 versus $50 is inconsequential for me and my time. I am not wealthy by any means, but the $1450 difference is paid for in about 15 hours of time saved. Just the paying of the Tivo bill takes a little bit every month (and costs money). My MCE does much more than I could believe.
Then again, when I bought the first Tivo, everyone jumped on me saying I was crazy then to spend so much. My MCE encodes all my favorite shows into a PDA format and instantly syncs it with my PDA so I have my shows on the go for when I'm bored (in the car when I have a driver, etc).
As for form factor, my MCE box is tiny. It is a little taller than my old cable box, and the same width. The Wife Acceptance Factor is higher with the MCE than with Tivo. And she HATED MythTV and Meedio and all the other BYOPVR cheap or OSS software out there. The MCE box runs up to 6 tuners (I tested it but only need 2 SD and 2 HD) and it never crashes and it fills in every need at home, including groceries.
I use my PDA phone for everything (including slashdot). If I need yellow pages or weather or movie showtimes, I send an SMS message on my phone to 46645 (googl). I get back the info I need in seconds or less and its always accurate. Weather, stocks, movie listings, phone numbers, etc. Yahoo (and Google) online are too bulky.
As for maps, my PDA has a GPS with up-to-date maps and I'm very happy with it. I believe I paid $69 for the GPS and the mapping software. Prices continue to drop.
You were right until they updated the article :)
Yet decrying the expected "sue! sue! sue!" folks is just pre-replying to the Norm. I hedged against the expected responses.
This is the reality of capitalism. Not quite. You defined mercantilism. Capitalism's only law is supply and demand. Mercantilism requires government force.
Tough -- nobody else can sell that, and IP gives the owner the right to ask whatever price he likes. I'm against copyright and IP for this reason. My rule is "don't publish what you don't want copied."
That's not a choice, and it is a good reason for governments to get involved on what are in effect unconscionable terms being foisted on the purchaser. Actually it IS a choice. Want privacy? Don't use products that ruin your privacy. Involving government is what ruins choice. Creating laws only reduces our freedom. Name ONE LAW in 50 years that has helped only the consumer.
Tivo seems dead to me. I bought the first model the day it came out. Now I have an XPMCE server that is 500 times better.
Yahoo? Do people still use Yahoo, or AOL for that matter? Google is my answer, Yahoo hasn't been used by me in 5 years.
The initial features don't seem modest, they seem lame. What would future features be? Ads?
Sure, it sounds egotistical, but I don't hear much about either. The $50 Tvios at my local Circuit City are still collecting dust.
Merger to try to save their outdated businesses? Keep beating the horse, folks, she's almost dead.
You didn't exercise when you smoked? I did.
I know a lot of people who don't exercise who can't run a marathon. In fact, all can't.
I have 3 runner friends who smoke, one does triaths.
I don't smoke anymore as the $6/pack is $4000/year. $2000 per year was worth it. But not now.
I quit without planning. I had $30 in my pocket and could only buy 1 pack and 10 gallons of gas. No major withdrawal problems, just minor crankiness. The dame hasn't been so lucky.
A pub is private property. Rules on smoking in a pub are governed by the pub's owner.
Instead of rushing in and demanding a law to battle this "problem," just leave it alone. The market continues to provide exactly what people want.
Most ony customers care little for this Sony solution. My 12 year old sister doesn't seem to care one bit. Sony has the "right" to provide this feature as you're not being forced to buy it.
You're responsible for checking out a product before buying it. I won't buy any music ROM disc that doesn't have the "CD" certification logo, unless it is from an indie band. I still rip eve y CD from a CD player with an optical out into my PC. Safety first.
If Sony doesn't get a lot of backlash over this system, others will adapt it. I am not buying any more Sony CDs, but I'll buy other products from other divisions.
I see no reason to cry wolf here. You are buying their product. If you find something you don't like, someone will adapt it for your uses.
For those wanting a la , remember you likely supported the same political parties that enacted the DMCA, copyright extensions, and other tyrannical laws. Stop voting in the booth, vote in the checkout aisle.
The neighborhood I grew up in had 7 neighbors of mine die from lung cancer. Not one smoked.
It was later found that all had high radon in the ground.
Smoking has dangers, so does sex, driving fast, and eating sugar. Risk factors can be balanced with those that reduce risk.
No one in my family smoked ever, I was the first. I recently "quit" because of financial reasons, no health. In terms of health, I don't see the causation connection, especially in second hand smoke.
My physician smokes 2+ packs a day. He's 80. He runs, avoids trans fats and high glycemic foods. Many of my older customers smoke but also maintain good diets and exercise.
I started smoking at 21. I had bad bouts with kidney stones that no medications or diet helped. A San Francisco quack Chinese herbal nut told me to smoke. 5 years with zero kidney attacks. Giving it up at 26 gave me 3 years of kidney pains. Smoking again relieved it. Since I stopped a few weeks ago, the pains are back.
My TMJ was also reduced from smoking. It has affected me since the age of 11.
I'm not saying smoking is safe or healthy. I am saying it has some benefits, and the high carb high trans fat diet of most Westerners is far worse. If it wasn't for high taxes and tort suit payments, I'd continue to smoke. I know I live a healthier life because of it.
By the way, I ran a half marathon while smoking 10 cigarettes, and am in great physical shape (good blood pressure, cholesterol, etc). Don't believe the hype.
This is true, but it hasn't given me any reason to chase the new systems until they're provably more immersive (to me at least).
I'm thinking my big problem with immersion is that most game systems (and PCs) seem to give up stability in order to attempt to become more realistic. Civ4 was initially terrible on my extremely powerful system, notably because of their attempt to introduce an immersive 3D world. I've since fixed it myself and continue to enjoy it, but the graphics mean zilch to me.
My X-Box games are not immersive enough. Every game reminds me too much of Quake 2, to be honest. It isn't that "amazing" that I have to ooh and ahh. Yet I'll buy one or both if I feel the games can overcome their graphics bias and actually introduce good gameplay without a lot of bugs.
CDs and DVDs haven't given the gaming world anything but instability it seems. More space = more code = more bugs = more frustration levels for me.
This is a very good point, why post AC? The award is generally given on the 4th of July. November is a little bit out of sync.
This is newsworthy? This is the same President who gave George J. Tenet the Medal of Freedom.
This is generally cronyism at its worst, and media attention getting at its finest. There is no Constitutional mandate or power. President Harry Truman enacted the medal in 1945 and it was virtually ignored until JFK brought it back -- through an Executive Order in 1963.
That same Executive Order also expanded the size of unconstitutional government by extending the "Distinguished Civilian Service Awards" board -- yet another cronyist bunch given very nice salaries* by the President.
I know the political spectrum is well covered here, but does anyone honestly believe a government that is trillions in debt needs a board to give out awards? Disregard any constitutional grounds and focus on the need of the governed. Can't an independent not-for-profit group do the same? BTW, Clinton also gave the award to some ridiculous recipients, so I'm not Bush bashing. This is just a waste of your money.
*There's almost no oversight or budget restrictions on what the board can be paid: Expenses. Necessary administrative expenses of the Board incurred in connection with the recommendation of persons to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, including expenses of travel of members of the Board appointed under Section 3 (a) of this Order, during the fiscal year 1963, may be paid from the appropriation provided under the heading 'Special Projects' in the Executive Office Appropriation Act, 1963, 76 Stat. 315, and during subsequent fiscal years, to the extent permitted by law, from any corresponding or like appropriation made available for such fiscal years. Such payments shall be without regard to the provisions of section 3681 of the Revised Statutes and section 9 of the Act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 672 and 673).