Join any branch of the US military and you submit finger prints. Work for almost any organization in the US that works with children and you submit finger prints. Work for almost and US govenment agency or contractor and you submit finger prints.
Since I've done all of the above (and more), I can only assume:
1. The FBI has no trouble identifying me by my finger prints 2. The FBI is really tired of seeing my finger prints on those stupid finger print cards
I realized long ago that if the government wants to know what I ate for breakfast, and when said breakfast was eliminated from my body, they would know. Do I like it? No, but then again I really hope the government has better things to do than find out if I'm constipated.
Funding NASA for the mars mission may well achieve all of the items on your list.
NASA will need to innovate and create new technologies so people can survive the trip. The moon missions either created or facillitated the development of a lot of the current technology we take for granted.
Polution in a closed environment is death. Some advances will be needed for the Mars mission. It may be a wash on the use of nasty chemicals though.
NASA will need to develop a safe power source for the mission. I don't see anyone launching a spacecraft with huge tanks of fossil fuel. Big hydrogen tanks - not seeing that either. Granted safe for astronauts != safe for joe public, but there will be technology transfer.
Innovation may create less expensive ways to feed and house people. Teach a man to build a grass hut, and he is still living in a grass hut. Teach a man how to make bricks, and now he can make a brick hut.
I'm not saying NASA is the answer to all the world's problems, but to claim there is no application of NASA research and technology to current problems is absurd.
Two things drove technology in the 20th century: war and space exploration. Given the choice, I'd take space exploration.
As for US dominance on Earth - if the US wanted to dominate Earth (by force), I think that would have already happened. There have been a few chances for it to happen, and it hasn't.
I'm also curious - what countries in the developed world are sulf sustaining in terms of energy consumption? The US is not the only nation importing oil.....
Actually, you CAN buy a CD in Canada and bring it back without paying duty on it *if* you follow the US Customs regulations on total dollar amounts and frequency of purchase. I used to do that when I lived closer to Canada (heck, I even ordered from Canadian music store web sites - I just didn't do it frequently).
From Cox's web page (for Fairfax County Virginia - zip code 22310):
Preferred plan $ 54.95 (non-cable tv customer) or $ 39.95 (cable tv customer, basic cable is $ 14.70 for a total of $ 54.65) Modem rental is $ 15.00 additional
Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because in my neighborhood (suburban Washington, DC - less than 10 miles from the capital building) the only broadband I can get is a $55/month cable modem through Cox cable.
I'd jump all over $ 29.95/month DSL but I can't get it because Verizon has not bothered to update the equipment that services my local loop (I'm about 2 line miles from the CO).
Actually the loss in depth is from the CRT part. The electronics associated with it will determine the use of the thing (computer monitor, HDTV, regular TV, paper weight)
I just looked up HR 2391 on Thomas . I don't see anything that addresses recording broadcast programming and skipping commercials. The only thing mentioned seems to be recording movies in a movie theater.
I did note that HR 2391 got a lot bigger when the senate got the resoultion after the house passed it.
It's not the PC, it is the user and the user's choice to use X watts to play a music file and surf the 'net. There are plenty of ways to play music that use less power than the computer. Surfing the 'net requires a computer - but not much of one. If you are seriously concerned with the power used by a computer playing music and surfing, you can elect to use a more efficient system (handheld, mini-itx, slower processor, less power hungy display, etc.)
to keeping a print in your wallet or purse to show people? I'm not saying I want to carry 200 photos in my wallet, but I bet most people only want to see a few at a time anyway. I carry a few photos of my family in my wallet. I have a couple of additional snapshots at my desk. I have no need (or desire) to carry a lot of photos around and force people to sit through a 3 hour slideshow.
Now if you could dump your RAW format digital pics to the iPod Photo, that would be something. No more hauling a laptop or multiple memory cards around.
If, however, the cost of the computer came down to say $300 of which $200 was software, the picture changes completely. Now by switching to say Linux you'd be able to get your computer for a third of the cost.
In the PC Magazine that arrived in my mailbox yesterday, Dell was running an ad for a $350 pc. No monitor, but included keyboard, mouse and Windows.
I just checked the Dell web site, and you can get their low end system for $449 with a 15" flat panel display. Not quite a $300 system (they offer $50 off if you get no monitor). I find it hard to believe that the major cost in the system is software....
If M$ bought RIM, they would move them out west anyway. They have a history of doing this, despite promises to the contrary (they purchased the company that made Fox Base, promised to keep them in Ohio and promptly closed the Ohio facility and moved its operations out west).
I find it hard to get excited about this system. They are using unlicensed spectrum (at least that is there focus), so there is NO protection from interference (at least in the US). Add in the catch that the operator of an unlicensed device (in the US) must cease operations if the device interferes with a licensed device.
I can't see using this technology without a licensed spectrum allocation. Right now my 802.11 link gets trashed when someone uses my cordless phone, so I don't have much confidence in the industry's ability to coperate and not produce devices that interfere with each other. If cheap chips come out to cover the frequency band, manufacturers will use them for cordless phones, wireless intercoms, baby monitors, etc.
It used to be standard practice to print the EULA on the outside of the shrinkwrapped plastic disk package.
I remember back in 1985 (when I worked in retail computer sales), all the big software (and most of the smaller stuff) had the EULA sheet visible through the shrink wrap. Most of the print was so small you couldn't read it. There was usually a line about not breaking the shrink wrap if you didn't agree with the EULA.
They could go back to that system, but then we would complain about the gigantic packages!!
I miss my iPod already, but I'd rather have a working PMC than an iPod paperweight.
Sounds like you had a couple of bad iPods (maybe a bad lot from the factory?), and traded down to the PMC that doesn't do what it claimed, doesn't do what you really wanted/expected it to do, and is still in an alpha stage of development.
I think I'd take my chances with another iPod - at least they worked as advertised & expected for a while, and I'm reasonably sure Apple would fix a defective unit. The PMC problems you complained about are likely to be met with a, "We're working on that - it will be in the next release. You can upgrade for $$$$ if/when it becomes available."
Ok, I've read a fair number of replies claiming the USA has too much area compared to some of the more "wired" countries. That is a poor excuse. I live less than 2 wire miles (that's less than 10560 ft) from my phone companies central office. I can't get DSL. It is not available due to incompatible equipment at the CO. They don't know if/when they will upgrade the equipment. I could understand this when I lived in Toledo, Ohio - but I don't live there any more. I live in Fairfax county Virginia (just outside the Alexandria city limits, about 9 miles from the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C.).
I don't live in some far out, low population density, backwater farm land. Then again, I'd never woke up to a rooster crowing, goats in the neighbor's yard, or stories of a cow blocking a highway until I moved here from Ohio.....
Yes, I could get a cable modem through COX. They want $56 US per month for the lowest level of service. I don't want broadband bad enough to give up a weeks worth (or more) of lunches each month.
So any 802.11b channel other than channel 11 overlaps licensed spectrum. The implications are:
1. any 802.11 user who causes interference to a licensed amateur radio operator must stop causing interference even if it means turning off the device
2. Licensed amateur radio operators could build some high power wireless networks for amateur radio use as long as they only use channels 1 thru 6 and follow the FCC regulations governing amateur radio.
The primary purpose is to support both shady and explicitly illegal business activity: Regional pricing / price fixing and inhibition of international resale, regional distribution timing and availability control, and regional content censorship.
"while in Linux, I rarely listen to any of my music because I find it too difficult."
Bull. What's more difficult about listening to your music in Linux than Windows? I have not seen messed up ID3 tags in my mps or ogg files in Linux, Windows , or on my Pocket PC. Perhaps the original software that created your music files was less than compliant with the standards (or you are using old versions of XMMS/Juk/Kaffine). Did you report your problems to the developers? What makes you think the Linux version of iTunes will be any better?
From the processor requirements and load, I'm betting the mpeg decoder is in software. I bet the only thing in the box is the HDTV tuner and firewire interface.
That makes it $100 more than the pci card tuner for linux , which is about what I would expect for the external support circuits, enclosure, and Mac markup.
Not knocking the coolness and geek apeal of being able to surf the net in a remote location, but it seems if they needed to be able to communicate plain old voice radios would be cheaper (both in money and power) than computers, hubs, and wireless nodes.
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Join any branch of the US military and you submit finger prints. Work for almost any organization in the US that works with children and you submit finger prints. Work for almost and US govenment agency or contractor and you submit finger prints.
Since I've done all of the above (and more), I can only assume:
1. The FBI has no trouble identifying me by my finger prints
2. The FBI is really tired of seeing my finger prints on those stupid finger print cards
I realized long ago that if the government wants to know what I ate for breakfast, and when said breakfast was eliminated from my body, they would know. Do I like it? No, but then again I really hope the government has better things to do than find out if I'm constipated.
Funding NASA for the mars mission may well achieve all of the items on your list.
NASA will need to innovate and create new technologies so people can survive the trip. The moon missions either created or facillitated the development of a lot of the current technology we take for granted.
Polution in a closed environment is death. Some advances will be needed for the Mars mission. It may be a wash on the use of nasty chemicals though.
NASA will need to develop a safe power source for the mission. I don't see anyone launching a spacecraft with huge tanks of fossil fuel. Big hydrogen tanks - not seeing that either. Granted safe for astronauts != safe for joe public, but there will be technology transfer.
Innovation may create less expensive ways to feed and house people. Teach a man to build a grass hut, and he is still living in a grass hut. Teach a man how to make bricks, and now he can make a brick hut.
I'm not saying NASA is the answer to all the world's problems, but to claim there is no application of NASA research and technology to current problems is absurd.
Two things drove technology in the 20th century:
war and space exploration. Given the choice, I'd take space exploration.
As for US dominance on Earth - if the US wanted to dominate Earth (by force), I think that would have already happened. There have been a few chances for it to happen, and it hasn't.
I'm also curious - what countries in the developed world are sulf sustaining in terms of energy consumption? The US is not the only nation importing oil.....
If thinkpads are that good, "stocking up" for 10 years means buying one (or maybe two).
In Soviet Russia....
Music buys you!
Actually, you CAN buy a CD in Canada and bring it back without paying duty on it *if* you follow the US Customs regulations on total dollar amounts and frequency of purchase. I used to do that when I lived closer to Canada (heck, I even ordered from Canadian music store web sites - I just didn't do it frequently).
From Cox's web page (for Fairfax County Virginia - zip code 22310):
Preferred plan $ 54.95 (non-cable tv customer) or $ 39.95 (cable tv customer, basic cable is $ 14.70 for a total of $ 54.65)
Modem rental is $ 15.00 additional
Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because in my neighborhood (suburban Washington, DC - less than 10 miles from the capital building) the only broadband I can get is a $55/month cable modem through Cox cable.
I'd jump all over $ 29.95/month DSL but I can't get it because Verizon has not bothered to update the equipment that services my local loop (I'm about 2 line miles from the CO).
is does it run Linux yet?
BTW: they're televisions, not monitors people.
Actually the loss in depth is from the CRT part. The electronics associated with it will determine the use of the thing (computer monitor, HDTV, regular TV, paper weight)
OK, Section 212 deals with the topic, but creates and EXEMPTION FROM INFRINGEMENT for skipping audio or video content in motion pictures.
IANAL, but as long as the TIVO records the entire broadcast, and the viewer presses the commercial skip button, I don't see a problem.
I just looked up HR 2391 on Thomas . I don't see anything that addresses recording broadcast programming and skipping commercials. The only thing mentioned seems to be recording movies in a movie theater.
I did note that HR 2391 got a lot bigger when the senate got the resoultion after the house passed it.
It's not the PC, it is the user and the user's choice to use X watts to play a music file and surf the 'net. There are plenty of ways to play music that use less power than the computer. Surfing the 'net requires a computer - but not much of one. If you are seriously concerned with the power used by a computer playing music and surfing, you can elect to use a more efficient system (handheld, mini-itx, slower processor, less power hungy display, etc.)
Alternatives to the 450W P4 do exist.
to keeping a print in your wallet or purse to show people? I'm not saying I want to carry 200 photos in my wallet, but I bet most people only want to see a few at a time anyway. I carry a few photos of my family in my wallet. I have a couple of additional snapshots at my desk. I have no need (or desire) to carry a lot of photos around and force people to sit through a 3 hour slideshow.
Now if you could dump your RAW format digital pics to the iPod Photo, that would be something. No more hauling a laptop or multiple memory cards around.
If, however, the cost of the computer came down to say $300 of which $200 was software, the picture changes completely. Now by switching to say Linux you'd be able to get your computer for a third of the cost.
In the PC Magazine that arrived in my mailbox yesterday, Dell was running an ad for a $350 pc. No monitor, but included keyboard, mouse and Windows.
I just checked the Dell web site, and you can get their low end system for $449 with a 15" flat panel display. Not quite a $300 system (they offer $50 off if you get no monitor). I find it hard to believe that the major cost in the system is software....
If M$ bought RIM, they would move them out west anyway. They have a history of doing this, despite promises to the contrary (they purchased the company that made Fox Base, promised to keep them in Ohio and promptly closed the Ohio facility and moved its operations out west).
I find it hard to get excited about this system. They are using unlicensed spectrum (at least that is there focus), so there is NO protection from interference (at least in the US). Add in the catch that the operator of an unlicensed device (in the US) must cease operations if the device interferes with a licensed device.
I can't see using this technology without a licensed spectrum allocation. Right now my 802.11 link gets trashed when someone uses my cordless phone, so I don't have much confidence in the industry's ability to coperate and not produce devices that interfere with each other. If cheap chips come out to cover the frequency band, manufacturers will use them for cordless phones, wireless intercoms, baby monitors, etc.
It used to be standard practice to print the EULA on the outside of the shrinkwrapped plastic disk package.
I remember back in 1985 (when I worked in retail computer sales), all the big software (and most of the smaller stuff) had the EULA sheet visible through the shrink wrap. Most of the print was so small you couldn't read it. There was usually a line about not breaking the shrink wrap if you didn't agree with the EULA.
They could go back to that system, but then we would complain about the gigantic packages!!
until MS buys Kodak to put the screws to Sun?
I miss my iPod already, but I'd rather have a working PMC than an iPod paperweight.
Sounds like you had a couple of bad iPods (maybe a bad lot from the factory?), and traded down to the PMC that doesn't do what it claimed, doesn't do what you really wanted/expected it to do, and is still in an alpha stage of development.
I think I'd take my chances with another iPod - at least they worked as advertised & expected for a while, and I'm reasonably sure Apple would fix a defective unit. The PMC problems you complained about are likely to be met with a, "We're working on that - it will be in the next release. You can upgrade for $$$$ if/when it becomes available."
Ok, I've read a fair number of replies claiming the USA has too much area compared to some of the more "wired" countries. That is a poor excuse. I live less than 2 wire miles (that's less than 10560 ft) from my phone companies central office. I can't get DSL. It is not available due to incompatible equipment at the CO. They don't know if/when they will upgrade the equipment. I could understand this when I lived in Toledo, Ohio - but I don't live there any more. I live in Fairfax county Virginia (just outside the Alexandria city limits, about 9 miles from the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C.).
I don't live in some far out, low population density, backwater farm land. Then again, I'd never woke up to a rooster crowing, goats in the neighbor's yard, or stories of a cow blocking a highway until I moved here from Ohio.....
Yes, I could get a cable modem through COX. They want $56 US per month for the lowest level of service. I don't want broadband bad enough to give up a weeks worth (or more) of lunches each month.
USA amateur radio has a frequency allocation from 2390 MHz to 2450 MHz FCC Part 97.301a pdf
802.11 2.4GHz frequencies are:
Channel Frequency
1 2401-2423
2 2404-2428
3 2411-2433
4 2416-2438
5 2421-2443
6 2426-2448
7 2431-2453
8 2436-2458
9 2441-2463
10 2446-2468
11 2451-2473
So any 802.11b channel other than channel 11 overlaps licensed spectrum. The implications are:
1. any 802.11 user who causes interference to a licensed amateur radio operator must stop causing interference even if it means turning off the device
2. Licensed amateur radio operators could build some high power wireless networks for amateur radio use as long as they only use channels 1 thru 6 and follow the FCC regulations governing amateur radio.
The primary purpose is to support both shady and explicitly illegal business activity: Regional pricing / price fixing and inhibition of international resale, regional distribution timing and availability control, and regional content censorship.
Sounds like racketeering to me....
"while in Linux, I rarely listen to any of my music because I find it too difficult."
Bull. What's more difficult about listening to your music in Linux than Windows? I have not seen messed up ID3 tags in my mps or ogg files in Linux, Windows , or on my Pocket PC. Perhaps the original software that created your music files was less than compliant with the standards (or you are using old versions of XMMS/Juk/Kaffine). Did you report your problems to the developers? What makes you think the Linux version of iTunes will be any better?
From the processor requirements and load, I'm betting the mpeg decoder is in software. I bet the only thing in the box is the HDTV tuner and firewire interface.
That makes it $100 more than the pci card tuner for linux , which is about what I would expect for the external support circuits, enclosure, and Mac markup.
Not knocking the coolness and geek apeal of being able to surf the net in a remote location, but it seems if they needed to be able to communicate plain old voice radios would be cheaper (both in money and power) than computers, hubs, and wireless nodes.