The best example of this is how people of both major parties continue to believe in government.
Witness the current crisis, whose root cause is the concentration of power in Washington, D.C. Everybody proposes all kinds of solutions, and every one of them is to increase the power of government, which caused the problem in the first place!
I'm curious to hear your theory of how big government caused the current financial crisis. Maybe I just don't get out much, but I hadn't heard that one yet.
that's actually completely wrong. I just got back from 2 weeks in Mexico and my AT&T phone worked fine with my default plan. There is now a warning on their iPhone page about data roaming fees, but there's nothing that needs to be done to enable it.
Out of curiosity, how does that statement make me a foreigner? What country do you think I am from? I'm truly interested in how writing styles or indeed simple phrasing can be used to determine where I am from. I think because it makes absolutely no sense. "50's or sooner"? Seriously, what does that mean?
The whole Web 2.0 Internet is a just a mass of circular references. Be thankful that it isn't telling you the holocaust never happened, or something else obviously untrue. Actually, it's the believable but false information that's much more insidious and dangerous.
The thing is, the whole concept of universal (or something approaching universal) insurance coverage breaks down if you don't do something like this. You'll end up with all of the highest-risk population covered without them being subsidized by the younger and healthier population (who may not join till they get sick). I know that something like this doesn't fly too well with the libertarian-leaning slashdot population, but it is perfectly logical - the projected average cost-per-patient of the Clinton plan is much lower than the Obama plan because of this.
You mention "overpaid prima donna union actors". I agree that movie stars are overpaid. But that has nothing to do with the union. Union rates are frankly not very high, either for actors or any other crew position. Granted, the unions demand that everyone get paid, but basically their just ensuring that it's possible to have a career in the industry - you certainly don't get rich being a grip or an assistant director, or whatever. But if everyone on the crew get union scale, and non-labor costs are not extravagant, you'd still have a very low budget movie -- one that only has to be somewhat successful to make money.
Oh, and El Mariachi was a very bad film, and Robert Rodriguez is a no-talent hack who now makes lousy very very expensive movies instead of lousy cheap ones.
What I know about is audio for film production, where portable DAT recorders (mostly Fostex and HHB) have to a large extent been replaced by hard disk recorders. This is definitely a step up -- more channels, higher bit depth, better workflow. Of course the machines used in this industry are pretty pricy. The machine I know best is the Aaton Cantar, but at $13,000 or so, it's a little pricey for use outside the industry. I'd definitely check out the Sound Devices recorders, though. They're much less expensive, and while they don't have the features or as many tracks as the Aaton recorder, they are well known for the quality of their Mic preamps, which is really where any consumer gear will suffer. Also, they can record on Compact Flash, which is great for reliability since you end up with no moving parts. They also make a USB-based mic pre/A-D converter, if you decided to go the Laptop route (which I wouldn't really recommend for field use).
Agreed - most things suck. But for the record, I spilled an entire pint of Guinness into my brand new (at the time) 12" Powerbook a couple of years ago (well, actually my two-year-old daughter did it. Please don't ask what she was doing with a pint of Guinness). I quickly pulled the battery, drained the computer and let it dry for a couple days, and except for some stickiness in a few keys (that went away after a couple months) and a distinct smell of burnt beer (that lasted about six) it's been fine ever since. I've also dropped it 3 times -- once hard enough to bend the case enough that I can no longer eject the DVD that's inside. I seem to have good luck with these things.
On the other hand my mom has had a succession of Macs that she's had nothing but problems with. (Though it may be related to the fact that she always goes for the cheap models - starting with the god-awful Performa 6360 and leading to a 12" iBook).
I thought that the idea of a defensive patent wasn't to protect yourself from getting sued for that invention, but to be used as a bargaining chip in case you get sued for a different patent infringement. That way a company with a huge patent portfolio (such as IBM) is able to negotiate a cross-licensing agreement with any company that may be inclined to sue them for patent infringement. Of course it doesn't protect against patent trolls who have no need to license anybody else's patents since they don't actually produce anything....
Actually no, the majority of the HD you see on DiscoveryHD is acquired on either HDCAM or DVCPROHD. A lot of it is actually acquired at 720P. Discovery mostly doesn't accept HDV origination, but HDNet certainly does (HDNet being about cheap above all else). You'll see a bit of stuff here and there acquired on HDCAM SR, mostly aerials, but keep in mind that there is no camcorder yet that acquires in that format - and it's ungodly expensive (think over $200,000 for a camera and recorder, sans lenses, or $6,000/day to rent). The one place where you probably do see full-raster hd is some of the prime-time dramas -- mostly still shot on 35mm film, and a bunch shot on Panavision Genesis cameras recorded onto HDCAM SR. Panasonic should have a full-raster codec (I frame only H.264) in some cameras later this year, but only in 720P-imager cameras for now.
Slashdot Mirror
Mean, Median and Mode. In a world of 99 uniform dumbasses and 1 genius, 99% would be below mean intelligence.
Not sure where you get the 50% from.
I don't know - I've met a lot of mean dumbasses and come to think of it, a lot of them were in uniform.
Frankly, I think that the average person is pretty mean.
OK, I'll go sit in the corner now...
The best example of this is how people of both major parties continue to believe in government.
Witness the current crisis, whose root cause is the concentration of power in Washington, D.C. Everybody proposes all kinds of solutions, and every one of them is to increase the power of government, which caused the problem in the first place!
I'm curious to hear your theory of how big government caused the current financial crisis. Maybe I just don't get out much, but I hadn't heard that one yet.
If the kid can pass the class without being in it, why are we forcing them to take it anyway?
Because there's more to a class than just what's on the test?
that's actually completely wrong. I just got back from 2 weeks in Mexico and my AT&T phone worked fine with my default plan. There is now a warning on their iPhone page about data roaming fees, but there's nothing that needs to be done to enable it.
These guys will crash and burn if they persist in this.
Kind of an unfortunate expression to use when discussing an airline...
Also, don't forget that the US had missiles in Turkey, which is what seems to have prompted the USSR to put its missiles in Cuba in the first place.
Just out of curiosity, did you quit eBay for political reasons, or because you were actually buying or selling guns (or firearm-related items)?
And here's me thinking the porn industry was going to decide this battle. What's *cough* porn? Some sort of wierd fetish I don't know about?
The thing is, the whole concept of universal (or something approaching universal) insurance coverage breaks down if you don't do something like this. You'll end up with all of the highest-risk population covered without them being subsidized by the younger and healthier population (who may not join till they get sick). I know that something like this doesn't fly too well with the libertarian-leaning slashdot population, but it is perfectly logical - the projected average cost-per-patient of the Clinton plan is much lower than the Obama plan because of this.
Well that's nothing compared to this:
http://pr0n.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/8/8a/Bscp008_-_The_Simpsons_-_Chili_Cook_Off.jpg
http://www.breatheinfo.com/images/big_bird.jpg
Thank you! For some reason I couldn't find a download link anywhere.
He actually articulated an aggressive argument against alliteration.
It's not the unions that make movies expensive.
You mention "overpaid prima donna union actors". I agree that movie stars are overpaid. But that has nothing to do with the union. Union rates are frankly not very high, either for actors or any other crew position. Granted, the unions demand that everyone get paid, but basically their just ensuring that it's possible to have a career in the industry - you certainly don't get rich being a grip or an assistant director, or whatever. But if everyone on the crew get union scale, and non-labor costs are not extravagant, you'd still have a very low budget movie -- one that only has to be somewhat successful to make money.
Oh, and El Mariachi was a very bad film, and Robert Rodriguez is a no-talent hack who now makes lousy very very expensive movies instead of lousy cheap ones.
What I know about is audio for film production, where portable DAT recorders (mostly Fostex and HHB) have to a large extent been replaced by hard disk recorders. This is definitely a step up -- more channels, higher bit depth, better workflow. Of course the machines used in this industry are pretty pricy. The machine I know best is the Aaton Cantar, but at $13,000 or so, it's a little pricey for use outside the industry. I'd definitely check out the Sound Devices recorders, though. They're much less expensive, and while they don't have the features or as many tracks as the Aaton recorder, they are well known for the quality of their Mic preamps, which is really where any consumer gear will suffer. Also, they can record on Compact Flash, which is great for reliability since you end up with no moving parts. They also make a USB-based mic pre/A-D converter, if you decided to go the Laptop route (which I wouldn't really recommend for field use).
Agreed - most things suck. But for the record, I spilled an entire pint of Guinness into my brand new (at the time) 12" Powerbook a couple of years ago (well, actually my two-year-old daughter did it. Please don't ask what she was doing with a pint of Guinness). I quickly pulled the battery, drained the computer and let it dry for a couple days, and except for some stickiness in a few keys (that went away after a couple months) and a distinct smell of burnt beer (that lasted about six) it's been fine ever since. I've also dropped it 3 times -- once hard enough to bend the case enough that I can no longer eject the DVD that's inside. I seem to have good luck with these things.
On the other hand my mom has had a succession of Macs that she's had nothing but problems with. (Though it may be related to the fact that she always goes for the cheap models - starting with the god-awful Performa 6360 and leading to a 12" iBook).
I thought that the idea of a defensive patent wasn't to protect yourself from getting sued for that invention, but to be used as a bargaining chip in case you get sued for a different patent infringement. That way a company with a huge patent portfolio (such as IBM) is able to negotiate a cross-licensing agreement with any company that may be inclined to sue them for patent infringement. Of course it doesn't protect against patent trolls who have no need to license anybody else's patents since they don't actually produce anything....
Actually no, the majority of the HD you see on DiscoveryHD is acquired on either HDCAM or DVCPROHD. A lot of it is actually acquired at 720P. Discovery mostly doesn't accept HDV origination, but HDNet certainly does (HDNet being about cheap above all else). You'll see a bit of stuff here and there acquired on HDCAM SR, mostly aerials, but keep in mind that there is no camcorder yet that acquires in that format - and it's ungodly expensive (think over $200,000 for a camera and recorder, sans lenses, or $6,000/day to rent). The one place where you probably do see full-raster hd is some of the prime-time dramas -- mostly still shot on 35mm film, and a bunch shot on Panavision Genesis cameras recorded onto HDCAM SR. Panasonic should have a full-raster codec (I frame only H.264) in some cameras later this year, but only in 720P-imager cameras for now.
I was for it before I was against it....
before I was for it again.
And yet everyone still keeps playing...