Right now, people who are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year in total compensation are going to Washington with tin cups in their hands begging for money from people who make merely thousands of dollars a year. Why? Because their business is based on scams and accounting fraud rather than true value added innovation. Unlike the 90's, when we also when through billions of dollars, much of it wasted, this wave of excess does not have an Amazon or iPod to show for all the investment. Only the same worthless pieces of paper.
Microsoft is still trying to sell MS Office for $500 even though Open Office does the same thing from nothing. Is this a case of Open Source killing a close source product. No, it is a case of closed source company not innovating. There is nothing innovative about a 20 year old product. Is anyone going to pay top dollar for a computer that is still largely based on 20 year old technology? I think not. Though we use hard drives, we don't use the same old IDE connectors. Why does not MS give away a significant portion of MS Office and sell some other product. Because MS does not innovate.
The majority of OSS are so because they are well known technologies that are easy to recreate. We do not have well worked collaboration software because that is harder. We do not have advanced design software because that is harder. Do we think anyone would buy Multisim if it still was basically a SPICE? I just bought a some design software and it did not even have a proper installer. Is this innovation?
IMHO, we are at a point where people take profit as a right, and not a privilege. Just because a product is created, does not mean that consumer have to but it, or be forced to fund it though taxes. Now, I don't know the specific case of this product. It might be something like the Limewire client for the Gnutella network, which is a relatively innovative product, but likely has relatively few paying customers, given what is does. Sometimes it is hard to make money even with a good product. But this has little to do with the OSS nature of the product. Look at the money invested in DRM for games just so they can make a buck.
Which was really not the issue. Many people, including, me, were more or less happy with the path from Mosaic to Netscape to, in my case, opera, then back to the browsers that evolved from the netscape browsers. There was only one reason to use IE, and it had little to do with being pre-installed. It had to do with IE providing certain level of formating controls beyond HTML. Some people, who did not understand HTML, expected such level of control and so developed web content directed to HTML. It is like the people who just started using the web in the past couple years. They are mostly interested in video games and the like, so the browser that works is the browser that allows them to do this.
It is expensive but I hardly think it is failing. Education is an expensive, risky, long term, and iterative effort. It is hard to tech more than the previous generation was taught. There is little reason to learn more than is necessary to get by using the technology you are given.
The key factor to the wasted money is teachers who are afraid to let the computer use the the technology. Teachers who, for instance, only let the kids use the computer for typing. While the content must be taught, the technology always moves beyond the content into success in life.
So if one demands the teachers first, and demand that the computers are used in an aseptic environment, then yes the money will be wasted. But if a school has the best available teachers, meaning they are reasonable at teaching, and they are trained on broad computer use, then there will be success over time. Of course this is expensive, and requires a dedication to the long term investment, which is scarce.
The reason I buy an Apple is because they just work. The OS will no randomly ask for verification, or threaten my livelyhood because it has decided that there is a slim chance I might have not paid full price for the OS. When I put in a DVD it plays. When I play a movie, in any format, it works on either VLC, QT, or Realmedia. I have not seen a song that has not played. It will read the vast majority of USB devices without driver, the same with firewire.
So if this is just an issue with the ITMS, then it will probably not affect my choice to buy an Apple. It will just mean that Amazon gets my music and movie business. If there actually comes a time where I try to play some media, and I get an error, then yes, I will look for other option.
Of course, since MS has created a market where most OEM created cheap, ugly, non functional, and generally useless machines, there options are few and far between. Apple took a *nix and built an OS out of it. As reported here, HP was very unhappy about some Vista decisions. HP also has experience with *nix. HP also has experience with building extremely reliable, functional, and exquisite machines. It is a pity that they no longer have the spirit of innovation to build the ultimate HP-UX laptop, instead of just being the lapdog for MS.
In this case, the reason most anti-virus software will leave is that anti-virus software seems to be very difficult to write and maintain. Most of the software cause unwanted side effects, various interruptions to productivity, and other negative factors. Since anti-virus software uniformly sucks, one might as well use the free sucky software from MS.
That is if it works. Windows defender, in my experience, does not work nearly well enough. I have it on my MS Windows computers because it is installed by default by MS. I still run spybot to actually protect the machine. My fear is that MS is not going to that good of a job, but people are going to feel that the MS protection is enough, and not lay in that second line of defense. Maybe the company that built all the security holes is the best to build the defense against them. Maybe not.
Mindless summer flick aside, at least they made it educational. Astronauts drive corvettes. I know that the ST:TNG want to make up believe they drive Camaros, but they don't. Just look what cars are parked outside of mission control. They are not camaros. At least if they get that right, there is some hope.
In any case none of this matters. It is JJ Abrams. Expert at the poor mans process, expert at plots that make no sense. Expert at plots that are discontinuous and random, but not in the good way. It will be a lot of semi-nude people. A lot of random action. But anything that is going to impact the overall existing star trek strata, unlikely. We are starting a new strata of star trek, one where Kirk made it not because he is cleaver, but because he is an ass.
This is clearly a formula movie meant to attract teen boys who will then force their dates to see the movie. If it was real ST, then it would be too geeky. So all you young boy geeks out there, this is your chance to get a date. They probably remember Pine from when they were 12, and will be willing to go out with someone who will pay for the movie.
Re:How we respond to technology
on
Ender in Exile
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· Score: 1
This was why ender's game was such a pivotal book. It takes the plot device of the video game, something that was just coming into it's own in the mid 80's, with the introduction of the nintendo, and rather nice atari and sega systems, and turned it on it's head. It was believable, relevant, and immediate. It was like an update and improvement on starship troopers.
The way the characters interacted with the technology, the way that ender felt when he realized that there is no free lunch, that technologies come at a cost, and sometimes the costs are very real. These things made the book. It was good.
However, pretty quickly I stopped reading his books, not becasue of any philosophical issues, but because I rather I rather like science fiction, i.e. how humans are affected and might act differently as their climate is changed in some significant and plausible manner, rather than what might happen if innocent dragons were continuously attacked by humans. Unless it is, of course, camp, like Piers Anthony. And Card only does serious, not funny, not subtle, not layered.
I hear this a lot in the US. Why buy computers when we can use paper and pencil cheaper. Why use calculators when pencil and paper calculation are superior.
The issue is access
How many of us would have jobs if we were not computer literate, and how many of us started our computer literacy before we reached out teens years? Be it a teletype, a dumb terminal, or a microcomputer, how many of us were able to do significant things with computer because we had years to play with them? How would our lives be different if people had thought 'they are just playing with computers' and 'it isn't worth paying for such technology.' For myself, I grew up with seven segments displays, so I know how they work.
Like a tuppence for paper and string, a small amount for a computer and an occasional internet access can open up a world. Sure some will sell the machine. Most will just play games. But many will use it to learn. Download GIMP and draw. Download Maxima and calculate. Download qucs and build circuits. Download eclipse and program. Download novels and read. Download LaTex and write. Sure most of this can be done with paper and pencil, but where are the transferrable skills?
I am clearly talking about the above average student, but, talking to people from developing countries, these are the students that attend and succeed in many of the village schools. I can't imagine these students not using the tools to help them succeed. From the stories I hear they do not destroy books as first world students do. They do not throw away food knowing the government will supply them with more. And overall, they are not forced to waste their time at school sleeping when a field needs plowing.
As stated before, color and size can be the issue. While the kindle is probably wonderful for many mass market books, the text book market is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and not all would be right for the kindle. For humanities the kindle could be an excellent buy. Instead of buying anthologies of out of copyright works, just download the text for free. However for technical books that are laid out in full size pages with tiny print, or full sized pages with tiny equations, or even small format pages with color coded figures, the kindle is obviously not in the running.
For people who want to read from an electronic device, the kindle is a very good option. It is a good machine. You have to see one to see how good a machine it is. For most people, as the post suggested, there is no overwhelming justification is buying one, and any such justification is silly. How does an analysis on the ROI of a HD TV?
I know this a joke, but the 60's are typically considered the time when the current style of let's say impure humor began. Though I have never heard any of the albums, I hear Redd Foxx was quite the controversial figure. I often look back to the style of the time and think how could people tolerate that bubble gum pop, or was everyone on psychedelic drugs back them, but then I think of miles davis or Duke Ellington and realize that there were some people who wanted to push the envelope, not just make the money. And, of course, Richard Pryor started in the 60's.
That is disappointing. It means the sketch where Eric brings Kenny back to the friend store to complain that he is dead is not even a original tribute. It is just a more direct rip off of the original work that the Pythons inadvertently ripped off from. Will the inhumanity never end!
Which is exactly why, for many individuals, a MS based machine is not the best choice. Indviduals customers are almost always a means to an end for MS. That is why Vista comes in so many editions and is not sold as a single edition for $100. There is no upside for MS in selling a single copy of Vista, other than the profit earned, so it must maximize the profit. OTOH, a machine sold with Vista does have an additional upsides, so MS can sell the OS cheap. However, the OEM selling the machine does not make a great deal of money, so they must come up with other ways to make money,and, again the end user is not the customer, so the end use does not get needs met. Most individuals buy a PC because it is what they use at work. How many individuals buy a SUN or SG machine because it is what they used at work. I know I did not. I bought a Mac.
One customer that is not listed is enterprise. It is possible to make money out of enterprise, But even here the vendors suppling the hardware have squeezed profits because MS won't let them sell, in most cases, as far as I know, naked machines. So while MS might have a customer in enterprise, I wonder if the OEM are still in the mindset that they are building machines to run MS Windows, or building machines to run the end users software?
Although it is unlikely to destroy the universe, it might come close to destroying the world. Children raised on process food so they have an allergic real any real foods(I am amazed to see mac and fake cheese replace peanut butter). Children so used to conditioned air and antiseptic living that any hint of the outside causing immediate near fatal conditions. We are mere years away from becoming unable to survive in our own world.
Which is what I was thinking. Comparing the two is of no use, because the markets are largely separate. OO.org is for the person who has a computer, but, for whatever reason, does not want to use MS Office or some other suite. Google is mainly for the person who does not have constant access to a single computer(for instance traveling but no laptop), or, for whatever reason does not want to maintain software on the computer. The fact that google is not a local app imposes some limitations. I have suggested that some people use Google apps for non critical information, and otherwise that having problems with converting images in word, I find it very functional for a web based free app.
It kind of reminds me of the people that insist everyone should use PostgreSQL as it is the 'best', when all the user wants to do is maintain a grocery list.
And here is the hypocrisy. Texas is a right to work state, which means that it is illegal to set up impediments that prevent a person from working. While this is narrowly interpreted, and largely intended, to prevent the workers in a free market from engaging in the same type of activities that employers do to keep profits at a reasonable level, there is no reasonable cause for such interpretation. Right to work should be right to work. No one, not the union, not the corporation, not the government, should be allowed to set up impediment for a person to seek and achieve gainful employment of their choice.
And why shouldn't Obama be given better treatment than McCain? In the 2000 race, the sitting president clearly proved that McCain was not suitable to be President. Why waste time with a has bin? Did the democrats but Gore or Kerry back on the ticket? And Gore had a Majority of the votes. No, because these had already fallen victim to the Bush lie machine. So when maybe 50% of Americans still believe that Iraq had some practical WMD capability at the time on the US Invasion under Bush II, who in the right mind would think that these same people would not believe what Bush said about McCain.
In fact, McCain was his own worst enemy here. First, McCain is geerally honorable so would not go the lengths that Bush did to attack or defend, even when the opponent was the clearly the dishonorable Bush. Second, at some point, McCain started to attack the media, killing a reportadly happy relationship. These brutal attacks only escalated with Palin, whose veneer could not withstand the free press. it is very difficult for the free press to be objective when the free press is being viciously attacked. As has been said by many the pundit, if McCain had remained McCain, and had selected a running mate of his caliber and honorability, McCain might have had a chance, and more importantly not have damaged so many positive relationships, such as the press. Now no one knows which McCain is headed back to washington, and if he will be able to mend the damage he has done.
I wonder how many Circuit Cities are not basically next door to Best Buy. This seems to be the strategy of expansion Circuit City used. Best Buy has a store, circuit city builds across the street. I guess this is good if one can compete on this basis, but really. How many appliances and stereos does a city really need? And might a better strategy for Circuit City be services a part of the City not served by Best Buy?
This a situation where a peer reviewed methodology would be of much more interest than a finding. Even if the finding is accurate, I cannot see how it is valid. First, a one percent increase may or may not be significant.
Second, what is the one percent based on? Previous months use? Historical and adjusted values for same month use?
Third, do the increases adjust for changes in fall activities. For instance, were the kids all going to school at the same time? Does the start of school effect the figures?Do the number of holidays effect the figures?
All I really know at this point is that some people stuck some number in spreadsheet and saw a spike. Next thing you will telling me is that the only reason the days start getting longer is that, fortunately, some traditionalist still hold a ceremony on the 21st to make it do so, rather than the much too late 25th.
I really don't know if DST helps, or if this paper is valid. However, it appears that the only variable this paper controls for is weather, and rather For instance, their data shows an increase over the month of September, exactly when parents are getting up earlier to get the kids ready for school, while July through september, months when parents do not get get kids ready for school, is not increased, even though children may be home during the day using electricity. I do see how any question is answered. Some nice data analysis, so nice inferences, but who knows if anything else.
The updated UN Law of the Sea is supposed to prevent random claims and standoffs. Under the treaty very little of the artic is unassigned and there is a protocol for dealing with over lapping claims. About the only major country that has not signed(as far as I know) is the us. The complaint was basically that it gave too much land to the russians, which is hard to avoid as they have a great deal of land in the Arctic, and that the dispute resolution protocol. If we do not sign it, we end up losing a lot of potential territory though, and potential energy deposits. Fortunately after years of obstruction, Bush caved in last summer and the new democratic congress ratified it.
As far as building oil rigs, I doubt any one is going to make any money off it while oil is under $100 a barrel, unless, of course, governments pays for the projects outright with little hope of return. About the only country with that kind of cash and that kind of political system is Russia. The US, or course, is broke, and the US oil companies are clearly not interested in difficult projects, as they hardly explore the oil fields they have. In any case the future is renewable energy, and investing in oil is throwing good money after bad, as is shown with multitrillions of dollars thrown away in Iraq while Afghanistan is left to harbor enemies.
I am not sure what the motivation here. When I go to a store, I see MS Windows programs everywhere. When I go to sourceforge, I see plenty of free MS Windows programs. If people want to pay a small fee for a program, I see that too. I just paid a small free for an utility the other day. I do not see a dearth of opportunities to purchase a MS Windows program.
So what is the motivation here. Apple has it's store to control content. I don't think MS wants to do that. Google has it's store to insure that content is available, provide more pages to host ads, and eventually make a little money on the side, when they begin charging, something I thought they were already doing, but I forgot about their always freaky business model. MS business models are always very straight forward.
So as best I can figure this is a case where someone else it making a bit of money in the computer business, MS is not getting it's cut, which is driving MS crazy. So they open a store, even though they have no experience in it and will not pay anyone who has experience, and then use their partnership arrangements to make others use it, maybe even building it into the next version os IE. Probably have to have to have and MSN account to use it as well.
Right, but computers are getting cheap enough that the cell phone subscription model might work. Buy a computer, sign up for $50 a month internet access over the cable or phone lines, applications, email, etc. The problem with this used to be that the computers were not good computers and the amount of control the service vendor wanted was excessive.
Now it would not be unreasonable for a person to choose a computer they wanted, get a discount, up to 100%, pay an activation fee, and walk out with a complete solution. Of course, MS does not tend to provide complete solution, relying on third parties to do that bit, so MS is going to have to write some mighty good software and give some mighty good incentives if they wish to survive in this way.
Ultimately it would provide the kind of regular income that MS is currently missing in the consumer sector. Enterprise has to pay MS money every year, but most others only buy stuff 2-3 years. It is unfortunate, but expected, that they wasted all their time writing Vista instead of preparing for this new market.
Unless the G1 is a hackers toy, the fact that software is OSS and the bug is fixed in the source makes no difference. The code should have been written well in the first place. Google cannot apply it's philosophy of infinite Beta programs, bad code hotfixed on the fly, and minimal emphasis of data retention because the G1 is a consumer device, not a server on the google network. These phones are not on the google networks, and not low risk items like Google Earth. In many cases phones are not toys and cosumers expect them to be safe and secure.
The real question is how quickly can Google or T-Mobile get the fixed code into a patch, and how easy is for the user to install. Currently it appears to be mutlistep process that is not accesable to the average user. Ideally, since the phone is not locked into any service other than T-Mobile, it would seem reasonable that T-Mobile would have the responsibility to send the update over the cell network to all users. Until this happens, the phone is not fixed. It appears that they intend to do this, but not until the middle of next week. Therefore, that is when the bug will be fixed. Whether the open source nature of the bug made this update quicker, is a question open for debate.
The term you are searching for Buzzword Compliant, which is a major feature of many unusable gadgets. While I think that there are likely many wonderful music players out there, the features may Apple users need is integration with the iPhone/iPod and the ITMS. I realize that not every Apple user has this need, and for those an Alternative player would work fine. In most cases, much so-called alternative software, for instance firefox, is a victim of buzz word compliance at the expense of usability. I am not sure what features I want on iTunes,since most of the recent ones has made it nearly non functional on older machines.
But I feel for those who want themes. I am just over them. I still miss my Bloom County themes for my Macintosh 512K. I wish the Talking Moose was a dashboard item. But neither of these affected ongoing performance. It seems that the new fangled philosophy of teaching, that everything has to be a contrived game, is affected business, that no time can be spent in a serious endevours. Even the computer has to be a toy. Which is why the Mac may not in business.
Pretty much to prove that god exists, we would need a recurring phenomenon that violates all our existing physical models, and is not explained after long effort with new models. For instance, if there compelling evidence that parts of the universe genuinely violated the laws of thermodynamics, then we might be miracle territory. Proving a particle predicted by the standard model simply indicates that if god exists, the laws originally created are not changing at human time scale, so are no different than no god at all. Maybe.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft is still trying to sell MS Office for $500 even though Open Office does the same thing from nothing. Is this a case of Open Source killing a close source product. No, it is a case of closed source company not innovating. There is nothing innovative about a 20 year old product. Is anyone going to pay top dollar for a computer that is still largely based on 20 year old technology? I think not. Though we use hard drives, we don't use the same old IDE connectors. Why does not MS give away a significant portion of MS Office and sell some other product. Because MS does not innovate.
The majority of OSS are so because they are well known technologies that are easy to recreate. We do not have well worked collaboration software because that is harder. We do not have advanced design software because that is harder. Do we think anyone would buy Multisim if it still was basically a SPICE? I just bought a some design software and it did not even have a proper installer. Is this innovation?
IMHO, we are at a point where people take profit as a right, and not a privilege. Just because a product is created, does not mean that consumer have to but it, or be forced to fund it though taxes. Now, I don't know the specific case of this product. It might be something like the Limewire client for the Gnutella network, which is a relatively innovative product, but likely has relatively few paying customers, given what is does. Sometimes it is hard to make money even with a good product. But this has little to do with the OSS nature of the product. Look at the money invested in DRM for games just so they can make a buck.
Which was really not the issue. Many people, including, me, were more or less happy with the path from Mosaic to Netscape to, in my case, opera, then back to the browsers that evolved from the netscape browsers. There was only one reason to use IE, and it had little to do with being pre-installed. It had to do with IE providing certain level of formating controls beyond HTML. Some people, who did not understand HTML, expected such level of control and so developed web content directed to HTML. It is like the people who just started using the web in the past couple years. They are mostly interested in video games and the like, so the browser that works is the browser that allows them to do this.
The key factor to the wasted money is teachers who are afraid to let the computer use the the technology. Teachers who, for instance, only let the kids use the computer for typing. While the content must be taught, the technology always moves beyond the content into success in life.
So if one demands the teachers first, and demand that the computers are used in an aseptic environment, then yes the money will be wasted. But if a school has the best available teachers, meaning they are reasonable at teaching, and they are trained on broad computer use, then there will be success over time. Of course this is expensive, and requires a dedication to the long term investment, which is scarce.
So if this is just an issue with the ITMS, then it will probably not affect my choice to buy an Apple. It will just mean that Amazon gets my music and movie business. If there actually comes a time where I try to play some media, and I get an error, then yes, I will look for other option.
Of course, since MS has created a market where most OEM created cheap, ugly, non functional, and generally useless machines, there options are few and far between. Apple took a *nix and built an OS out of it. As reported here, HP was very unhappy about some Vista decisions. HP also has experience with *nix. HP also has experience with building extremely reliable, functional, and exquisite machines. It is a pity that they no longer have the spirit of innovation to build the ultimate HP-UX laptop, instead of just being the lapdog for MS.
That is if it works. Windows defender, in my experience, does not work nearly well enough. I have it on my MS Windows computers because it is installed by default by MS. I still run spybot to actually protect the machine. My fear is that MS is not going to that good of a job, but people are going to feel that the MS protection is enough, and not lay in that second line of defense. Maybe the company that built all the security holes is the best to build the defense against them. Maybe not.
In any case none of this matters. It is JJ Abrams. Expert at the poor mans process, expert at plots that make no sense. Expert at plots that are discontinuous and random, but not in the good way. It will be a lot of semi-nude people. A lot of random action. But anything that is going to impact the overall existing star trek strata, unlikely. We are starting a new strata of star trek, one where Kirk made it not because he is cleaver, but because he is an ass.
This is clearly a formula movie meant to attract teen boys who will then force their dates to see the movie. If it was real ST, then it would be too geeky. So all you young boy geeks out there, this is your chance to get a date. They probably remember Pine from when they were 12, and will be willing to go out with someone who will pay for the movie.
The way the characters interacted with the technology, the way that ender felt when he realized that there is no free lunch, that technologies come at a cost, and sometimes the costs are very real. These things made the book. It was good.
However, pretty quickly I stopped reading his books, not becasue of any philosophical issues, but because I rather I rather like science fiction, i.e. how humans are affected and might act differently as their climate is changed in some significant and plausible manner, rather than what might happen if innocent dragons were continuously attacked by humans. Unless it is, of course, camp, like Piers Anthony. And Card only does serious, not funny, not subtle, not layered.
The issue is access
How many of us would have jobs if we were not computer literate, and how many of us started our computer literacy before we reached out teens years? Be it a teletype, a dumb terminal, or a microcomputer, how many of us were able to do significant things with computer because we had years to play with them? How would our lives be different if people had thought 'they are just playing with computers' and 'it isn't worth paying for such technology.' For myself, I grew up with seven segments displays, so I know how they work.
Like a tuppence for paper and string, a small amount for a computer and an occasional internet access can open up a world. Sure some will sell the machine. Most will just play games. But many will use it to learn. Download GIMP and draw. Download Maxima and calculate. Download qucs and build circuits. Download eclipse and program. Download novels and read. Download LaTex and write. Sure most of this can be done with paper and pencil, but where are the transferrable skills?
I am clearly talking about the above average student, but, talking to people from developing countries, these are the students that attend and succeed in many of the village schools. I can't imagine these students not using the tools to help them succeed. From the stories I hear they do not destroy books as first world students do. They do not throw away food knowing the government will supply them with more. And overall, they are not forced to waste their time at school sleeping when a field needs plowing.
For people who want to read from an electronic device, the kindle is a very good option. It is a good machine. You have to see one to see how good a machine it is. For most people, as the post suggested, there is no overwhelming justification is buying one, and any such justification is silly. How does an analysis on the ROI of a HD TV?
I know this a joke, but the 60's are typically considered the time when the current style of let's say impure humor began. Though I have never heard any of the albums, I hear Redd Foxx was quite the controversial figure. I often look back to the style of the time and think how could people tolerate that bubble gum pop, or was everyone on psychedelic drugs back them, but then I think of miles davis or Duke Ellington and realize that there were some people who wanted to push the envelope, not just make the money. And, of course, Richard Pryor started in the 60's.
That is disappointing. It means the sketch where Eric brings Kenny back to the friend store to complain that he is dead is not even a original tribute. It is just a more direct rip off of the original work that the Pythons inadvertently ripped off from. Will the inhumanity never end!
One customer that is not listed is enterprise. It is possible to make money out of enterprise, But even here the vendors suppling the hardware have squeezed profits because MS won't let them sell, in most cases, as far as I know, naked machines. So while MS might have a customer in enterprise, I wonder if the OEM are still in the mindset that they are building machines to run MS Windows, or building machines to run the end users software?
Although it is unlikely to destroy the universe, it might come close to destroying the world. Children raised on process food so they have an allergic real any real foods(I am amazed to see mac and fake cheese replace peanut butter). Children so used to conditioned air and antiseptic living that any hint of the outside causing immediate near fatal conditions. We are mere years away from becoming unable to survive in our own world.
It kind of reminds me of the people that insist everyone should use PostgreSQL as it is the 'best', when all the user wants to do is maintain a grocery list.
And here is the hypocrisy. Texas is a right to work state, which means that it is illegal to set up impediments that prevent a person from working. While this is narrowly interpreted, and largely intended, to prevent the workers in a free market from engaging in the same type of activities that employers do to keep profits at a reasonable level, there is no reasonable cause for such interpretation. Right to work should be right to work. No one, not the union, not the corporation, not the government, should be allowed to set up impediment for a person to seek and achieve gainful employment of their choice.
In fact, McCain was his own worst enemy here. First, McCain is geerally honorable so would not go the lengths that Bush did to attack or defend, even when the opponent was the clearly the dishonorable Bush. Second, at some point, McCain started to attack the media, killing a reportadly happy relationship. These brutal attacks only escalated with Palin, whose veneer could not withstand the free press. it is very difficult for the free press to be objective when the free press is being viciously attacked. As has been said by many the pundit, if McCain had remained McCain, and had selected a running mate of his caliber and honorability, McCain might have had a chance, and more importantly not have damaged so many positive relationships, such as the press. Now no one knows which McCain is headed back to washington, and if he will be able to mend the damage he has done.
I wonder how many Circuit Cities are not basically next door to Best Buy. This seems to be the strategy of expansion Circuit City used. Best Buy has a store, circuit city builds across the street. I guess this is good if one can compete on this basis, but really. How many appliances and stereos does a city really need? And might a better strategy for Circuit City be services a part of the City not served by Best Buy?
Second, what is the one percent based on? Previous months use? Historical and adjusted values for same month use?
Third, do the increases adjust for changes in fall activities. For instance, were the kids all going to school at the same time? Does the start of school effect the figures?Do the number of holidays effect the figures?
All I really know at this point is that some people stuck some number in spreadsheet and saw a spike. Next thing you will telling me is that the only reason the days start getting longer is that, fortunately, some traditionalist still hold a ceremony on the 21st to make it do so, rather than the much too late 25th.
I really don't know if DST helps, or if this paper is valid. However, it appears that the only variable this paper controls for is weather, and rather For instance, their data shows an increase over the month of September, exactly when parents are getting up earlier to get the kids ready for school, while July through september, months when parents do not get get kids ready for school, is not increased, even though children may be home during the day using electricity. I do see how any question is answered. Some nice data analysis, so nice inferences, but who knows if anything else.
As far as building oil rigs, I doubt any one is going to make any money off it while oil is under $100 a barrel, unless, of course, governments pays for the projects outright with little hope of return. About the only country with that kind of cash and that kind of political system is Russia. The US, or course, is broke, and the US oil companies are clearly not interested in difficult projects, as they hardly explore the oil fields they have. In any case the future is renewable energy, and investing in oil is throwing good money after bad, as is shown with multitrillions of dollars thrown away in Iraq while Afghanistan is left to harbor enemies.
So what is the motivation here. Apple has it's store to control content. I don't think MS wants to do that. Google has it's store to insure that content is available, provide more pages to host ads, and eventually make a little money on the side, when they begin charging, something I thought they were already doing, but I forgot about their always freaky business model. MS business models are always very straight forward.
So as best I can figure this is a case where someone else it making a bit of money in the computer business, MS is not getting it's cut, which is driving MS crazy. So they open a store, even though they have no experience in it and will not pay anyone who has experience, and then use their partnership arrangements to make others use it, maybe even building it into the next version os IE. Probably have to have to have and MSN account to use it as well.
Now it would not be unreasonable for a person to choose a computer they wanted, get a discount, up to 100%, pay an activation fee, and walk out with a complete solution. Of course, MS does not tend to provide complete solution, relying on third parties to do that bit, so MS is going to have to write some mighty good software and give some mighty good incentives if they wish to survive in this way.
Ultimately it would provide the kind of regular income that MS is currently missing in the consumer sector. Enterprise has to pay MS money every year, but most others only buy stuff 2-3 years. It is unfortunate, but expected, that they wasted all their time writing Vista instead of preparing for this new market.
The real question is how quickly can Google or T-Mobile get the fixed code into a patch, and how easy is for the user to install. Currently it appears to be mutlistep process that is not accesable to the average user. Ideally, since the phone is not locked into any service other than T-Mobile, it would seem reasonable that T-Mobile would have the responsibility to send the update over the cell network to all users. Until this happens, the phone is not fixed. It appears that they intend to do this, but not until the middle of next week. Therefore, that is when the bug will be fixed. Whether the open source nature of the bug made this update quicker, is a question open for debate.
But I feel for those who want themes. I am just over them. I still miss my Bloom County themes for my Macintosh 512K. I wish the Talking Moose was a dashboard item. But neither of these affected ongoing performance. It seems that the new fangled philosophy of teaching, that everything has to be a contrived game, is affected business, that no time can be spent in a serious endevours. Even the computer has to be a toy. Which is why the Mac may not in business.
Or you can lie in bed and point the thing straight up. In a dark room, you'll have yourself a huge, bright movie playing on the ceiling.
Pretty much to prove that god exists, we would need a recurring phenomenon that violates all our existing physical models, and is not explained after long effort with new models. For instance, if there compelling evidence that parts of the universe genuinely violated the laws of thermodynamics, then we might be miracle territory. Proving a particle predicted by the standard model simply indicates that if god exists, the laws originally created are not changing at human time scale, so are no different than no god at all. Maybe.