It depends. If the device uses bluetooth, then the proprietary commands could be reversed engineered and an app be put together. Imagine sitting next to someone while changing settings on their pacemaker. You get up and leave, and five minutes later the person dies. The chances of someone putting 2 and 2 together are slim, and even if they remembered you, you're just another guy on his smartphone. If the device uses a proprietary communications protocol on another part of the radio spectrum, then a transciever box would be needed to access the medical device. Such a box can be built, but it would be more noticable and would require someone with specialized knowledge. Then, common methods would be cheaper and easier to use.
The Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem) had one of the first Cable Companies -- Service Electric, founded around 1948 if I remember correctly. The Lehigh Valley had a hard time receiving signals from Philly, New York City, or Scranton/Wilkes Barre because of the mountains, so antennas were put on top of the mountain(s) and the signals from NYC, Philly, and Scranton/Wilkes Barre were re-transmitted. When we first got cable (around 1970) that is all it was. Then around late 1972 or early 1973 Service Electric started offering a new pay service - Home Box Office. A special box was required to receive it because it was placed on a cable channel between channels 6 and 7 (some TVs could had tuners that could receive HBO). A few years later, they began scrambling HBO, and added Cinemax, PRISM, and The Disney Channel (the original version) -- all scrambled. By the late 70's news channels (the forerunners to CNN) began appearing, and by the 80's Nickelodeon, MTV, and other channels began appearing, all on the new cable channels. The pay channels (HBO, Skinamax, PRISM, etc.) were commercial free, but the other "premium" channels always had commercials, but not in the quantities that we have them today.
Deflation happens when there is not enough disposable income to support prices. This happened during the early 1930's during the great depression when unemployment was rampant and there were no "safety net" programs. FDR was able to stimulate the economy with programs such as the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and the NRA (National Recovery Act) which put men to work doing public works projects. The economy didn't truly rebound until WW2 when idle factories were put to work producing materials for the war.
We are in a similar situation today, except that we have social programs and instead of no jobs, many good paying jobs are being replaced by low-paying part time work. Easy credit has allowed certain sectors of the economy to jump up in price (Student Loans, Housing, etc.), but eventually the loans will come due and the piper must be paid. So far the piper has been paid by expanding the national debt (4 Trillion in 2000, almost 19 Trillion now), but eventually that train will be derailed. A boat load of cash may have been created in these last 10 years, but it has not gone to the middle class to stimulate the overall economy.
Electric motors are efficient as far as speed, but IMHO the Achilles's heel of electric cars is the range on a charge along with the ease and speed of charging the vehicle. I'd hate to be motoring down the Autobahn at 130-140 mph and run out of battery. A gasoline or diesel powered car has a range of 300-500 miles (depending on speed, engine efficiency, and size of tank), so assuming a 1/2 full or better tank, running out of fuel after 80-100 miles is not an issue. Even if the tank is low, it is easy to find a station and fill up in a few minutes, then get back on the road.
When I was in High School (graduated 1981) in Pennsylvania, we (the High School) had access at school to the Lehigh University using an old paper tape reading terminal at 300 baud. We were able to write and run BASIC programs using this set up. We also had a TRS-80 (the original model) in the "computer" room. Granted, this was a fairly limited setup, but I'm sure if our High School was able to get access to a University system, then so could other High Schools.
We were lucky to have a computer savvy math teacher and a High School that was willing to purchase computer time from Lehigh.
I was able to afford a Radio Shack EC-4000 (rebranded TI-57 calculator) - did lots of "programming" on it. I always wanted a TI-59, but was unable to afford it. A classmate of mine had a TI-58.
WWII brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression not only because jobs were created making bombs, guns, planes, tanks, etc., but because by the end of 1945, most of Europe's and Japan's factories were destroyed or in bad shape due to bombing, while factories in the U.S. were untouched. This lead to the economic boom in here in the States during the 1950's and 60's. We rebuilt the destroyed factories in Europe and Japan with the Marshall plan, so by the 1970's Europe and Japan had new factories, while the U.S. was still using the same factories built in the late 19th and early 20th century. This was one (of many) reasons why so many factories and mills closed in the 1970's and beyond.
When I was growing up, a guy from my parent's generation could graduate High School and get a job with Bethlehem Steel, G.E., or any number of companies, and have a "job for life." Those jobs payed well enough to raise a family, buy a house, a car, and maybe a toy (like a boat or R.V.) on one salary. Now those jobs (and many of those companies) are gone, and everything is made in China.
Not everyone is College material, but College is required for almost any job. I'll get off my soapbox now.
I'll second you on that. Every one of my Daughter's friends has Limewire installed on their computers, and I'm sure their parents use it too. When I clean up their computers, the culprit is usually something that was downloaded from there. I see the usual songs that I would expect teenagers (and younger) to download, but I also see a lot of stuff from the '70s and '80s. Those are most likely downloaded by (or for) Mom and Dad, but on the other hand, I see kids wearing copies of tee-shirts and listening to music that were popular back when I was in High School and College (Pink Floyd, Rush, etc.), so those songs might not all be from/for the parents.
Personally, I use uTorrent (micro torrent) or Frostwire once in a great while, but that is just me.
I'm not sure how it works everywhere, when my Daughter went to High School here in Louisville, KY., the band had to pay for the music they used on the field and in competition. The band director went through an organization that supplied the sheet music, made sure that the show purchased was not being used by any other band in any of the shows we were going to compete in, and made sure we had the right music for the instruments we were using. For our size band (50 to 75) students, the cost of the show we used in the 2008-09 school year was somewhere between $2500 and $3500. The cost of the show varies by popularity and band size. Our band organization foots the bill (read band fees and fund raisers) since the schools do not provide any funds to speak of. The cost of the show includes any and all performance fees, so in the end, yes, we are paying performance fees. A High School Band, costs a lot of money, especially if the band is big, and the suppliers of the music make sure that they get their cut.
If we allow Star Trek type replicators to copy cars, then before you know it GM and Chrysler will go bankrupt, then before you know it Billy Mays will die. We can't allow that to happen. Wait, what's that....
Never mind. Instead of changing with the times, our pals at the MAFIAA (BSA has honorary membership) has to create another joke video instead. Oh, well...
Actually, I can understand someone referring to it as "the CPU." In the old mainframe world, you actually have a box which contains the CPU(s) and core memory (RAM). Peripherals such as disk drives (DASD anyone?) and tape drives all were in separate cabinets. I remember 256M platters the size of a cake container, complete with a clear plastic cover. Systems are smaller now, any many minicomputers have multiple components in one box, but you haven't lived until you have had an old mainframe programmer request more core or DASD for his PC.
But for the wisdom of a few Supremes back in the 1980's, the VCR could have been made illegal. Fortunately, fair use prevailed that time.
This is so stupid, it is time for the Entertainment Industry to grow up and accept that people want equipment like this. Make Real's implementation illegal, and the "illegal" versions will get that much more popular. They already are easier to use and have more (and better) functionality. The MPAA (and RIAA) want total control, but end up losing more control every time they win one of these cases.
I think that the RIAA made a BIG mistake when it shut down Napster. That was the beginning of the whole mess that we have today. Now imagine an alternate future, where the industry actually used the brains that God gave them. Instead of shutting down Napster, they buy out Shawn Fanning, take over the web site, improve it, and charge $5/month to use it. I think that most people would have ponied up $5 per month for all of the MP3s that they could want. There would most likely still be piracy, but it would be a small subset of users that the industry could either fight or even just ignore. Remember, at this time, the RIAA didn't have the stigma it does now, so it would have been a lot easier to marginalize a small pirate community when you have a large legal Napster community to support you.
Fast forward to today, In the 8 years since Napster was shutdown, we have added movies and TV shows to the mix, and now have had 40 Gig+ MP3 players for years. In a sane world, the industry could have responded by upgrading and changing the Napster platform to accommodate those changes. New pricing structures could have been developed to match. They could have rolled out various packages -- anything from a basic MP3 only package to a deluxe "get it all, fast" package. Bit torrent could have been added to the infrastructure to make things more efficient. You still would have DVDs, Blue Ray, and CDs for those who want physical media (don't underestimate the bandwidth of a Netflix subscription). The industry could have also licensed other stores such as iTunes or Amazon store if they wanted.
It would have been a win-win situation. Customers would be able to legally fill up the 40 Gig iPods for a reasonable price ($10,000 to fill an iPod at $0.99 per song, assuming the average song is 4 MB, is NOT reasonable). CD sales would have still dropped, but with a steady, predictable monthly cash flow, the industry would have had money and time to lessen or eliminate the impact. They movie industry would also have that predictable cash flow (remember, our mythical Napster was updated over the years as technology grew), plus they would still have income from Movie theatres and DVD sales, just as they do now. I'm sure there would still be piracy, but it would be a small fringe group that wouldn't seriously impact the way that the RIAA and the MPAA do business.
Unfortunately for everyone, the RIAA and the MPAA decided to go the route they did, and now they (and we) are paying for their stupidity. The industry has spent the last 8 to 10 years paddling upstream and wondering why they aren't getting anywhere, and it looks like they aren't going to stop any time soon.
I'd expect it's like how bongs and other drug paraphernalia is legal in most areas while any logical use for the items is not. Running a business centered around providing your customers with all the tools necessary to break the law (even when it's obvious that this is your intention) isn't illegal so long as you yourself are not breaking any law.
Tell that to Tommy Chong. He may disagree with you on that one...
Not that I agree with what happened to him (I think it is despicable), but that's the U.S. Government for you.
Hopefully TPB will be okay because the VPN can be used to bypass censorship on the net (or least can be advertised as being as such) -- if you happen to have your Torrents running through it, oh well, shit happens...also they are not in the USA...
Some of it may be "magical accounting", but not all. The TV ad itself doesn't cost you anything at the time you see it, but most every item you buy is more expensive (some more expensive than others) because the TV ad along with any other advertising and promotions must be paid for.
That means every bottle of beer, every Coke (and even "house brand" colas -- those Supermarket ads have to be paid somehow), every new car, costs more because of advertising. Commercial TV costs money, and in the end we end up paying for it. We can attempt to minimize the amount we pay as much as possible, but everyone pays for advertising.
It's not so much that we are addicted to cars, its just (at least in the U.S.) we have built an infrastructure that depends on cars, trucks, and cheap(er) gasoline and diesel. In Europe, one can travel most anywhere without needing a car. I have a former coworker who likes to travel to Germany, and he goes most anywhere he wants to go by bus or train -- no car needed.
Unless you live in a major city here in the U.S., you almost always need a car to get around. Louisville, KY, where I live now, has a decent bus system, but if you live outside Jefferson County, you need to drive in to town. When I lived in near Cleveland, Ohio, back in the '90s, we could drive up to Warrensville, park for free, and take the Rapid (light rail) all the way downtown, then walk over to Jacob's Field from Tower City to see the Tribe play.
The only way to reduce our dependence on petrol driven cars is to either redesign the transportation system to make public transportation more accessible to those outside the cities, or design vehicles that use alternate energy sources. We have spent the last century developing our current system here in the U.S., so it will take time (or a massive project) to replace it.
There are differences between a 2-way radio and a cell phone. First of all, the radio is set to a single frequency or channel, so the operator doesn't have to take his/her eyes off of the road while talking. Secondly, the conversion on a radio is one way at a time, meaning you have to talk, then listen. Also, most conversations for cops, taxis, and other professional services are quick and to the point. Granted, Hams and CBers may like to rag-chew on the radio, but again the mike can be used without taking ones eyes off of the road, and no dialing is involved (assuming the operator is staying on the same frequency).
Options: -a abort launch sequence -c how about a nice game of chess -t test fire -m use MIRV warhead -? phones a nuclear scientist to explain how to operate the damn thing
You forgot Palin. I knew McCain had lost it when he nominated Sarah Palin to be his running mate. If McCain were to have a stroke or worse and no longer able to be President, we would be stuck with HER as President. I'll never understand why McCain picked Palin -- if he wanted a Woman running mate, there are many other better qualified Women in the Republican Party. If he needed the support of the 700 Club Right, there are "better" choices.
Oh well, I lost faith in the Republican Party when Pat Robertson ran in the Primaries back in the '80s. The Republicans were supposed to be the party of business, not the political arm of the 700 Club.
There are COBOL compilers for the PC, some are even free (even if they are a few years old). Google COBOL compiler or take a look at this site: Thefreecountry.
Included at this site are links to old favorites such as COBOL650 and Fujitsu COBOL compiler (student version).
Encrypting laptops won't stop an employee from selling the laptop and data if that is what they want to do. All they have to do is give the purchaser the password when they sell the machine. All the purchaser needs to do is fire up the laptop and enter the password to get the data. Our work laptops are encrypted, and all i have to do at home to use the machine is enter my logon password twice -- once for access to the encrypted partition of the hard drive, and once to log on to Windows XP. I don't even have to be online to use the machine (unless I need to access systems at work, then I have to connect via VPN).
What laptop encryption WILL do is protect any sensitive information if the laptop is stolen. Without the password, the hard drive can still be formatted and the machine used and/or sold, but the data will not be accessed or sold. Of course, all bets are off if the password is on a sticky, written on the laptop, or kept on a business card in the bag. Too many times strong passwords are required without teaching users how to create one that can be remembered. A strong password written on a post-it note and stuck to the lappy is worse than useless.
Let me second this. I have a teenage Daughter (Senior in High School), and she and her peer group listens to quite a bit of the stuff we grew up with in the '70s and '80s. I'm not saying that they don't listen to new stuff, but that music doesn't define their generation like it did ours. What is really interesting is to see kids in her school wear copies of the Same t-shirts we wore back in the '70s and '80s. I'm referring to Pink Floyd, the Stones, Aerosmith, and other groups that were from our day.
Music doesn't define them as much as it defined us -- it seems that Movies and games are the big thing now. I can't remember the last time my Daughter bugged me for a CD, but she always wants a movie(s), TV series DVDs, PS/2 games, or clothes for birthdays or Christmas. P2P is also big in their peer group (Limewire seems to be the popular application).
The RIAA and the "big four" better realize that they are becoming less relevant to the current generation, and better stop the sue-happy bullcrap and start competing in today's marketplace or they will become extinct. They may want total control, but what good is it sitting at home with all of the baseballs when everyone is out their playing soccer (football for y'all on the other side of the pond).
This is not so much as a step towards a Police State as it is the results of using standards created by a private entity or corporation as law. There is no problem as such using these standards (the regulations and standards have been developed by Engineers and experts that know what they are doing) -- the problem is adapting them as law, then requiring payment to be able to follow the law.
This is wrong -- any and all laws need to be freely available online to those who are bound by them, so any privately developed codes need to be freely available once they are passed as law. Any right to copyright should be dropped at this point. I can understand charging a reasonable fee ($2315 for the printed version of California code is NOT reasonable) for a printed version or a CD/DVD, but online access should be free.
If the standards bodies didn't want to lose their copyright, then they should not have allowed their work to become law. The states would then have to come up with their own experts and create a freely available code. This is a problem that needs to be addressed, but it is not intentional evil by the State or Feds.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget the older generation AI's -- P-1, Colossus, and Guardian.
It depends. If the device uses bluetooth, then the proprietary commands could be reversed engineered and an app be put together. Imagine sitting next to someone while changing settings on their pacemaker. You get up and leave, and five minutes later the person dies. The chances of someone putting 2 and 2 together are slim, and even if they remembered you, you're just another guy on his smartphone. If the device uses a proprietary communications protocol on another part of the radio spectrum, then a transciever box would be needed to access the medical device. Such a box can be built, but it would be more noticable and would require someone with specialized knowledge. Then, common methods would be cheaper and easier to use.
The Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem) had one of the first Cable Companies -- Service Electric, founded around 1948 if I remember correctly. The Lehigh Valley had a hard time receiving signals from Philly, New York City, or Scranton/Wilkes Barre because of the mountains, so antennas were put on top of the mountain(s) and the signals from NYC, Philly, and Scranton/Wilkes Barre were re-transmitted. When we first got cable (around 1970) that is all it was. Then around late 1972 or early 1973 Service Electric started offering a new pay service - Home Box Office. A special box was required to receive it because it was placed on a cable channel between channels 6 and 7 (some TVs could had tuners that could receive HBO). A few years later, they began scrambling HBO, and added Cinemax, PRISM, and The Disney Channel (the original version) -- all scrambled. By the late 70's news channels (the forerunners to CNN) began appearing, and by the 80's Nickelodeon, MTV, and other channels began appearing, all on the new cable channels. The pay channels (HBO, Skinamax, PRISM, etc.) were commercial free, but the other "premium" channels always had commercials, but not in the quantities that we have them today.
Deflation happens when there is not enough disposable income to support prices. This happened during the early 1930's during the great depression when unemployment was rampant and there were no "safety net" programs. FDR was able to stimulate the economy with programs such as the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and the NRA (National Recovery Act) which put men to work doing public works projects. The economy didn't truly rebound until WW2 when idle factories were put to work producing materials for the war.
We are in a similar situation today, except that we have social programs and instead of no jobs, many good paying jobs are being replaced by low-paying part time work. Easy credit has allowed certain sectors of the economy to jump up in price (Student Loans, Housing, etc.), but eventually the loans will come due and the piper must be paid. So far the piper has been paid by expanding the national debt (4 Trillion in 2000, almost 19 Trillion now), but eventually that train will be derailed. A boat load of cash may have been created in these last 10 years, but it has not gone to the middle class to stimulate the overall economy.
Naaah, paper tape is more secure.
Electric motors are efficient as far as speed, but IMHO the Achilles's heel of electric cars is the range on a charge along with the ease and speed of charging the vehicle. I'd hate to be motoring down the Autobahn at 130-140 mph and run out of battery. A gasoline or diesel powered car has a range of 300-500 miles (depending on speed, engine efficiency, and size of tank), so assuming a 1/2 full or better tank, running out of fuel after 80-100 miles is not an issue. Even if the tank is low, it is easy to find a station and fill up in a few minutes, then get back on the road.
When I was in High School (graduated 1981) in Pennsylvania, we (the High School) had access at school to the Lehigh University using an old paper tape reading terminal at 300 baud. We were able to write and run BASIC programs using this set up. We also had a TRS-80 (the original model) in the "computer" room. Granted, this was a fairly limited setup, but I'm sure if our High School was able to get access to a University system, then so could other High Schools.
We were lucky to have a computer savvy math teacher and a High School that was willing to purchase computer time from Lehigh.
I was able to afford a Radio Shack EC-4000 (rebranded TI-57 calculator) - did lots of "programming" on it. I always wanted a TI-59, but was unable to afford it. A classmate of mine had a TI-58.
WWII brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression not only because jobs were created making bombs, guns, planes, tanks, etc., but because by the end of 1945, most of Europe's and Japan's factories were destroyed or in bad shape due to bombing, while factories in the U.S. were untouched. This lead to the economic boom in here in the States during the 1950's and 60's. We rebuilt the destroyed factories in Europe and Japan with the Marshall plan, so by the 1970's Europe and Japan had new factories, while the U.S. was still using the same factories built in the late 19th and early 20th century. This was one (of many) reasons why so many factories and mills closed in the 1970's and beyond.
When I was growing up, a guy from my parent's generation could graduate High School and get a job with Bethlehem Steel, G.E., or any number of companies, and have a "job for life." Those jobs payed well enough to raise a family, buy a house, a car, and maybe a toy (like a boat or R.V.) on one salary. Now those jobs (and many of those companies) are gone, and everything is made in China.
Not everyone is College material, but College is required for almost any job. I'll get off my soapbox now.
I'll second you on that. Every one of my Daughter's friends has Limewire installed on their computers, and I'm sure their parents use it too. When I clean up their computers, the culprit is usually something that was downloaded from there. I see the usual songs that I would expect teenagers (and younger) to download, but I also see a lot of stuff from the '70s and '80s. Those are most likely downloaded by (or for) Mom and Dad, but on the other hand, I see kids wearing copies of tee-shirts and listening to music that were popular back when I was in High School and College (Pink Floyd, Rush, etc.), so those songs might not all be from/for the parents.
Personally, I use uTorrent (micro torrent) or Frostwire once in a great while, but that is just me.
I'm not sure how it works everywhere, when my Daughter went to High School here in Louisville, KY., the band had to pay for the music they used on the field and in competition. The band director went through an organization that supplied the sheet music, made sure that the show purchased was not being used by any other band in any of the shows we were going to compete in, and made sure we had the right music for the instruments we were using. For our size band (50 to 75) students, the cost of the show we used in the 2008-09 school year was somewhere between $2500 and $3500. The cost of the show varies by popularity and band size. Our band organization foots the bill (read band fees and fund raisers) since the schools do not provide any funds to speak of. The cost of the show includes any and all performance fees, so in the end, yes, we are paying performance fees. A High School Band, costs a lot of money, especially if the band is big, and the suppliers of the music make sure that they get their cut.
If we allow Star Trek type replicators to copy cars, then before you know it GM and Chrysler will go bankrupt, then before you know it Billy Mays will die. We can't allow that to happen. Wait, what's that....
Never mind. Instead of changing with the times, our pals at the MAFIAA (BSA has honorary membership) has to create another joke video instead. Oh, well...
Actually, I can understand someone referring to it as "the CPU." In the old mainframe world, you actually have a box which contains the CPU(s) and core memory (RAM). Peripherals such as disk drives (DASD anyone?) and tape drives all were in separate cabinets. I remember 256M platters the size of a cake container, complete with a clear plastic cover. Systems are smaller now, any many minicomputers have multiple components in one box, but you haven't lived until you have had an old mainframe programmer request more core or DASD for his PC.
But for the wisdom of a few Supremes back in the 1980's, the VCR could have been made illegal. Fortunately, fair use prevailed that time.
This is so stupid, it is time for the Entertainment Industry to grow up and accept that people want equipment like this. Make Real's implementation illegal, and the "illegal" versions will get that much more popular. They already are easier to use and have more (and better) functionality. The MPAA (and RIAA) want total control, but end up losing more control every time they win one of these cases.
I think that the RIAA made a BIG mistake when it shut down Napster. That was the beginning of the whole mess that we have today. Now imagine an alternate future, where the industry actually used the brains that God gave them. Instead of shutting down Napster, they buy out Shawn Fanning, take over the web site, improve it, and charge $5/month to use it. I think that most people would have ponied up $5 per month for all of the MP3s that they could want. There would most likely still be piracy, but it would be a small subset of users that the industry could either fight or even just ignore. Remember, at this time, the RIAA didn't have the stigma it does now, so it would have been a lot easier to marginalize a small pirate community when you have a large legal Napster community to support you.
Fast forward to today, In the 8 years since Napster was shutdown, we have added movies and TV shows to the mix, and now have had 40 Gig+ MP3 players for years. In a sane world, the industry could have responded by upgrading and changing the Napster platform to accommodate those changes. New pricing structures could have been developed to match. They could have rolled out various packages -- anything from a basic MP3 only package to a deluxe "get it all, fast" package. Bit torrent could have been added to the infrastructure to make things more efficient. You still would have DVDs, Blue Ray, and CDs for those who want physical media (don't underestimate the bandwidth of a Netflix subscription). The industry could have also licensed other stores such as iTunes or Amazon store if they wanted.
It would have been a win-win situation. Customers would be able to legally fill up the 40 Gig iPods for a reasonable price ($10,000 to fill an iPod at $0.99 per song, assuming the average song is 4 MB, is NOT reasonable). CD sales would have still dropped, but with a steady, predictable monthly cash flow, the industry would have had money and time to lessen or eliminate the impact. They movie industry would also have that predictable cash flow (remember, our mythical Napster was updated over the years as technology grew), plus they would still have income from Movie theatres and DVD sales, just as they do now. I'm sure there would still be piracy, but it would be a small fringe group that wouldn't seriously impact the way that the RIAA and the MPAA do business.
Unfortunately for everyone, the RIAA and the MPAA decided to go the route they did, and now they (and we) are paying for their stupidity. The industry has spent the last 8 to 10 years paddling upstream and wondering why they aren't getting anywhere, and it looks like they aren't going to stop any time soon.
I'd expect it's like how bongs and other drug paraphernalia is legal in most areas while any logical use for the items is not. Running a business centered around providing your customers with all the tools necessary to break the law (even when it's obvious that this is your intention) isn't illegal so long as you yourself are not breaking any law.
Tell that to Tommy Chong. He may disagree with you on that one...
Not that I agree with what happened to him (I think it is despicable), but that's the U.S. Government for you.
Hopefully TPB will be okay because the VPN can be used to bypass censorship on the net (or least can be advertised as being as such) -- if you happen to have your Torrents running through it, oh well, shit happens...also they are not in the USA...
Some of it may be "magical accounting", but not all. The TV ad itself doesn't cost you anything at the time you see it, but most every item you buy is more expensive (some more expensive than others) because the TV ad along with any other advertising and promotions must be paid for.
That means every bottle of beer, every Coke (and even "house brand" colas -- those Supermarket ads have to be paid somehow), every new car, costs more because of advertising. Commercial TV costs money, and in the end we end up paying for it. We can attempt to minimize the amount we pay as much as possible, but everyone pays for advertising.
It's not so much that we are addicted to cars, its just (at least in the U.S.) we have built an infrastructure that depends on cars, trucks, and cheap(er) gasoline and diesel. In Europe, one can travel most anywhere without needing a car. I have a former coworker who likes to travel to Germany, and he goes most anywhere he wants to go by bus or train -- no car needed.
Unless you live in a major city here in the U.S., you almost always need a car to get around. Louisville, KY, where I live now, has a decent bus system, but if you live outside Jefferson County, you need to drive in to town. When I lived in near Cleveland, Ohio, back in the '90s, we could drive up to Warrensville, park for free, and take the Rapid (light rail) all the way downtown, then walk over to Jacob's Field from Tower City to see the Tribe play.
The only way to reduce our dependence on petrol driven cars is to either redesign the transportation system to make public transportation more accessible to those outside the cities, or design vehicles that use alternate energy sources. We have spent the last century developing our current system here in the U.S., so it will take time (or a massive project) to replace it.
There are differences between a 2-way radio and a cell phone. First of all, the radio is set to a single frequency or channel, so the operator doesn't have to take his/her eyes off of the road while talking. Secondly, the conversion on a radio is one way at a time, meaning you have to talk, then listen. Also, most conversations for cops, taxis, and other professional services are quick and to the point. Granted, Hams and CBers may like to rag-chew on the radio, but again the mike can be used without taking ones eyes off of the road, and no dialing is involved (assuming the operator is staying on the same frequency).
You forgot about the all important -c option:
$man gnuke
Name:
GNUke - Nuclear Weapons Manager
Usage:
gnuke [options] target authcode
Options:
-a abort launch sequence
-c how about a nice game of chess
-t test fire
-m use MIRV warhead
-? phones a nuclear scientist to explain how to operate the damn thing
You forgot Palin. I knew McCain had lost it when he nominated Sarah Palin to be his running mate. If McCain were to have a stroke or worse and no longer able to be President, we would be stuck with HER as President. I'll never understand why McCain picked Palin -- if he wanted a Woman running mate, there are many other better qualified Women in the Republican Party. If he needed the support of the 700 Club Right, there are "better" choices.
Oh well, I lost faith in the Republican Party when Pat Robertson ran in the Primaries back in the '80s. The Republicans were supposed to be the party of business, not the political arm of the 700 Club.
There are COBOL compilers for the PC, some are even free (even if they are a few years old). Google COBOL compiler or take a look at this site: Thefreecountry.
Included at this site are links to old favorites such as COBOL650 and Fujitsu COBOL compiler (student version).
Things tend to go to pot around that time.
Encrypting laptops won't stop an employee from selling the laptop and data if that is what they want to do. All they have to do is give the purchaser the password when they sell the machine. All the purchaser needs to do is fire up the laptop and enter the password to get the data. Our work laptops are encrypted, and all i have to do at home to use the machine is enter my logon password twice -- once for access to the encrypted partition of the hard drive, and once to log on to Windows XP. I don't even have to be online to use the machine (unless I need to access systems at work, then I have to connect via VPN).
What laptop encryption WILL do is protect any sensitive information if the laptop is stolen. Without the password, the hard drive can still be formatted and the machine used and/or sold, but the data will not be accessed or sold. Of course, all bets are off if the password is on a sticky, written on the laptop, or kept on a business card in the bag. Too many times strong passwords are required without teaching users how to create one that can be remembered. A strong password written on a post-it note and stuck to the lappy is worse than useless.
Let me second this. I have a teenage Daughter (Senior in High School), and she and her peer group listens to quite a bit of the stuff we grew up with in the '70s and '80s. I'm not saying that they don't listen to new stuff, but that music doesn't define their generation like it did ours. What is really interesting is to see kids in her school wear copies of the Same t-shirts we wore back in the '70s and '80s. I'm referring to Pink Floyd, the Stones, Aerosmith, and other groups that were from our day.
Music doesn't define them as much as it defined us -- it seems that Movies and games are the big thing now. I can't remember the last time my Daughter bugged me for a CD, but she always wants a movie(s), TV series DVDs, PS/2 games, or clothes for birthdays or Christmas. P2P is also big in their peer group (Limewire seems to be the popular application).
The RIAA and the "big four" better realize that they are becoming less relevant to the current generation, and better stop the sue-happy bullcrap and start competing in today's marketplace or they will become extinct. They may want total control, but what good is it sitting at home with all of the baseballs when everyone is out their playing soccer (football for y'all on the other side of the pond).
This is not so much as a step towards a Police State as it is the results of using standards created by a private entity or corporation as law. There is no problem as such using these standards (the regulations and standards have been developed by Engineers and experts that know what they are doing) -- the problem is adapting them as law, then requiring payment to be able to follow the law.
This is wrong -- any and all laws need to be freely available online to those who are bound by them, so any privately developed codes need to be freely available once they are passed as law. Any right to copyright should be dropped at this point. I can understand charging a reasonable fee ($2315 for the printed version of California code is NOT reasonable) for a printed version or a CD/DVD, but online access should be free.
If the standards bodies didn't want to lose their copyright, then they should not have allowed their work to become law. The states would then have to come up with their own experts and create a freely available code. This is a problem that needs to be addressed, but it is not intentional evil by the State or Feds.