Re:Just contributes to that mountain in China
on
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
·
· Score: 2
My God! Would you hire me?
Absolutely! Anyone who can create a sophisticated web page like yours is a shoe-in at any tech company. I mean, it not only has a link labelled "Test", but clicking on that link brings you a message of "Hello World." Wow!
What kind of care does your mechanic drive? Does he drive a 5000 HP Funny car or a 3 yr old chevy with rust on the quarters? Does that make him a good or bad mechanic? What kind of stupid method of measuring a persons skills is that?
A better question is what kind of tools your mechanic buys for himself. If you went to his house and discovered that his tools consisted of an old hammer, two cheap screwdrivers, and a rusty adjustable wrench, then you would have cause for concern.
Let's see, you need speed for Divx, MP3, altering your porn in photoshop and running FP games. Yep, you are a computer professional allright.
Who said anything about "porn"? I use Photoshop to touch-up and alter photos used on commercial web pages. Since his examples were all things like web surfing and playing MP3s, I tried to give him some examples that he could relate to.
Unless you have the "need" for raw cpu power, it's just a penis extension.
Maybe your reason for assuming that everyone is looking of a "penis extension" is because you have a 3.5" floppy.
Good idea. But how are emthusiasm and monetary expenditure linked in the computer world?
They aren't. You can get blindingly fast CPUs, fast hard drives, motherboards, etc. for under $100. So for a hundred or two hundred dollars a year, you can keep your PC up to date and able to run modern software. You don't need to buy the latest and greatest, but neither should you be using some ancient (in computer terms) system at home.
I believe your previous posts are indicative of a person with a very narrow mind and an even smaller penis.
I worry when a discussion of computers makes you think about strangers' penises.
Re:Use of old technology != lack of enthusiasm
on
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
·
· Score: 2
One quick question though, why do I need a noisy heat generating GHz machine on my desk when all I do with it is "ssh" into the server - dual 2.2 Xeon - in my storage room? I am probably missing something...????
Yes, you are. You have a real, modern, decent computer. And, like me, you have some older stuff that you use occasionally, too. No problem. The guys I worry about are the ones that have only ancient stuff and no modern machines.
The real question when it comes to the 'do-gooders' getting mad at the tobacco companies is why aren't they also going after the companies advertising alcohol in the same places, with the same target audience?
A simple explanation: Alcohol is not addictive (except to a small percentage who are alcoholic). Think how many kids you knew that took up drinking before turning 18. Do they all need to have multiple drinks per day now? Do they have to go outside their office building to drink every hour or so?
Tobacco gets heavier taxes and smoking gets banned from more and more places while alcohol kills more people
I can't believe that alcohol kills more people. There are some spectacular deaths when a drunk driver causes a major auto accident, but consider how many people die of lung cancer, emphysema, strokes, and heart disease from smoking.
Thanks for clarifying that looking out for dedicated employees and being socially responsible is "such bullshit." It's like those damned do-gooders who get mad when tobacco companies advertise to kids, isn't it? Don't they realize that getting kids hooked on cigarettes, even if many die from cancer, is a small price to pay in order to enrich investors in RJ Reynolds? Damn social responsibility.
Thank you for that sane, and well-considered reply. I'm tired of reading the rationalizations for the notion that computer professionals should use outdated, underperforming computers. You shot holes in this particular argument rather nicely. Such rationalizations are just self-serving tripe meant to justify cheapness or laziness.
Can you imagine these people as doctors? "I don't need any of those new-fangled medications or diagnostic equipment. By not keeping up on new drugs and medical equipment, I have more time to spend with my patients and that's what's really important."
Because it's more important to keep people employed than to further enrich Wall Street gamblers.
Re:Just contributes to that mountain in China
on
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
·
· Score: 2
I would not hire a doctor who is enthusiastic about his tools.
Fine. Get laser eye surgery by someone using old equipment and outdated techniques. And you don't need a doctor who's enthusiastic about new medicines (the primary tools of the medical profession). He can treat whatever ails you with aspirin and penicillan.
I would not hire an engineer who is enthustiastic about his tools. I would not hire anyone enthustiastic about his tools.
Then I hope you get a mechanic with no modern computerized diagnostic tools and he f***s your car up. Every craftsman, whether a woodworker or a computer professional, takes pride in having good tools. He takes an interest in finding the best tools for his line of work.
I want a person looking for a solution to whatever problem i have, not a nerd who seeks a way to use his newest toys.
Great. Then maybe I can develop a BASIC program for you on a Commodore 64 to meet your needs. You wouldn't want me to use anything too modern.
Re:Use of old technology != lack of enthusiasm
on
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
·
· Score: 2
I sincerely hope for everyone's sake you aren't an employer!
I have been in hiring positions throughout my career and will be hiring for a new position that's opening up in the near future. In those years of hiring, I've learned that people that don't keep their own computers reasonably up-to-date, seldom have the skills and enthusiasm to make them stand-out employees.
Note the word "reasonably." I don't care if someone is running a 1ghz Duron or a 2.8ghz P4, but something with an old Socket 7 motherboard is absurd as a computer professional's primary home system.
Let me start out by saying that you are an arrogant ass with delusions of superiority. See the quote below:
Furtunately, I am not a computer professional. I bailed out of my CS course in third year, in favour of a more challenging physics degree. The shits that were around the CS department where amazing! They knew nothing.
[...] In the average 3 hour exam, I would end up leaving after 45 minutes, along with the rest of my friends, and we find out we are in the top 10% of the class all get greater than 90 percent on the exam, and the others with their fast laptops score below 10%.
Yes, it is fortunate that you are not a computer professional. I am relieved to know that it is unlikely that I will to have to work with a self-impressed, aggrandizing buffoon such as yourself.
Personally, I don't waste my time or money on games, so my requirements are obviously differnt to yours.
Since when is Photoshop, video enocoding, or MP3 encoding a "game"? And who are you to announce that someone else's chosen form of recreation is a waste of time or money? You need a serious dose of humility. If you ever get out of academia, I am sure that you will get it.
This is offtopic but may help someone get a job/raise/girlfriend/wife/life
Try not to be so condescending. It's very unlikely that you're relationship with your spouse/girlfriend has lasted as long as my relationship has with mine. And I don't need a raise. My clients pay my billing rate or I don't work for them.
That's like saying if my mechanic didn't drive a expensive car, I wouldn't hire him.
It's more like refusing to hire an auto mechanic that relies on a moped for his transportation. Since when is a $40 Duron or Celeron CPU or a $90 motherboard expensive? Even a modest investment each year could net a performance increase that would drastically change what the original poster could do with his computer, yet he is unwilling to even make that minimal investment.
Many many many people in management see there as a lot more to life than going home to sit in the same position you sat all day, staring at another screen. They value something called balance. Breadth. Experience.
In addition to being a computer enthusiast, I am an avid fisherman, boater, motorcyclist, RC airplane hobbyist, woodworker, and scuba diver. Having a reasonably modern (Athlon XP1700+ based) computer does not preclude having a life.
Someone could be in a situation where they can't afford an new maching but still, are you ready for this, be interested in new technology.
Read the original post to which I initially replied:
Why would I want to buy one of these? I'd much rather take a trip to Hawaii with my honey then blow a couple of grand on a Pentium 4 computer....
For what I do, I simply don't need this much power. Do you?
Does that sound like someone enthused about new technology?
I don't care if someone has the latest and greatest CPU, but something that's at least within a generation or two of current isn't setting the bar too high. For f***'s sake, a 1.3ghz Duron is only about $40 and that's probably more than five times as fast as the CPU he has now. If someone spends an average of $100-$200/year, he can keep his computer reasonably modern.
i doubt you will ever be in a position to hire anyone.
I have already proved you wrong on that prediction.
they shouldn't/ wouldn't give two shits what someone runs at home, unless they are paying for that person's computer.
What an ignorant statement -- and so eloquently presented, too. I want people that know about modern software. As an employer, I don't want to hear "I've never run that. My computer at home is way too slow for that. You'll need to give me some time and/or courses so that I can come up to speed."
What an amzing leap of logic - just because someone has an old machine they can't ( or won't ) answer a technical question - is that right?
I don't look for drones who can answer technical questions. I look for enthusiastic employees that genuinely love their line of work. Some guy that views his computer as yet another appliance for which he has identified only a handful of task is unlikely to be such an employee.
So now, in addition to all the other bull**** reasons to disqualify someone from feeding themselves, we'll add the applicant's computer clock speed to the job application.
There are plenty of applicants out there that are genuinely enthused about technology and try to keep their skills and systems up-to-date. I'd hire them before hiring some guy that apparently has little to no interest in computers. I've had my fill of people who got into the computer field solely because it was a way to earn a good paycheck. Their work and productivity are seldom as good as that of someone who has a real enthusiasm for computers.
Re:Just contributes to that mountain in China
on
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
·
· Score: 1, Troll
No, I'm still using an MMX-200 with 128 megs of RAM for all of my work, and it's not a limitation.
I would not hire a doctor uses ancient tools and neither would I hire a software engineer that does. If you have so little enthusiasm for technology, then find a field that interests you more.
lack of processing power isn't stopping me from earning 15 quid/hour from writing PHP and MySQL based applications.
Since you are posting anonymousely, I'll be frank: That's not good pay. If my math is correct, it's less than $23 U.S. per hour. Maybe the amount we get paid is related to the speed of our computers...
So that you could do more with your computer than "web browsing, word processing, email, simple games like Tetris and listening to streams and MP3's." You would buy one of these so that using your computer would be a pleasure, with everything from booting up to program loads would occur in a fraction of the time. You would buy one so that you could run any program without concerns about your hardware's ability to keep up.
If I were an employer, I'd be suspicious of hiring any computer professional (and maybe you are not one, I don't know) who was using antiquated hardware and saw no reason to upgrade. I'd be looking at that and asking myself "if this guy has so little interest in computers that he's running an ancient POS like that, how much enthusiasm can I expect from him in a technical position?"
I'd much rather take a trip to Hawaii with my honey then blow a couple of grand on a Pentium 4 computer.
Most people on Slashdot have the technical savvy to upgrade their existing computers. Thus the "couple of grand" price you're talking about is grossly inflated for most people on here.
For what I do, I simply don't need this much power. Do you?
No, but I need a lot more than I could get from an AMD K6-3 running at 392mhz! I've got an Athlon XP1700+ and I'm getting ready to upgrade. I can't imagine how glacial a K6-3 would be for video encoding (e.g., Divx), MP3 encoding, hi-res Photoshop work, or running modern first-person shooters like Unreal Tournament 2003.
Yes, that's why the press release from AMD is so important in establishing fairness...
Facts are facts, no matter where they come from. If AMD had a factual press release that was independently verifiable, then what are you suggesting the site do? Publish the same information and not credit AMD? Then you'd be screaming that you found a conspiracy when it was discovered that the information was based on an AMD press release.
What's your idea of a "fair" site? One the uses the BAPCo SysMark utility and does not mention that it was written by Intel to favor their CPUs?
It's just a CPU manufacturer we're talking about here, not your wife. If you're happy with your CPU, that's great, but don't start making baseless attacks against a web site simply because they pointed out Intel's underhanded benchmark manipulation.
It didn't help, though, that their CPUs sucked massively for almost everything besides embedded apps.
Really an unfair characterization of the C3 processors. They are actually very good in any application where you want low power and reasonable performance. Sure, they suck for playing Quake III, running SETI@home, or ripping DVD to Divx, but that's not what most people do. The majority of people surf the web, do some word processing, exchange e-mail, do some instant messaging, and maybe play some simple games that shipped with Windows. You simply don't need a monstrously powerful CPU for that. Another place they rock is in web servers, FTP servers, etc. The ability to run them with a passive heatsink and no fan means one less point of failure to take down the server.
It's a handy thing having the girls at the front desk take an apointment for me and drop it straight on my calendar.
Putting aside the sexist remark, it's simply not a useful enough feature for 99% of the world to justify running Exchange over a normal, standard mail server.
I used to work for a software company of about 200 people, and the calendaring aspects were very useful, especially for booking meeting rooms and the like. If we hadn't had a system for handling that kind of thing, things could have got quite chaotic - it's vital that if you have in important customer visiting that you've got a meeting room avaliable to talk with them ready...
Any 200-person software company that has to run an Exchange server to handle scheduling of conference rooms has got some serious problems that go beyond scheduling. How hard could it be to write a little web-based app that let you reserve conference rooms? That's like saying "if Microsoft had not provided sort.exe, our 200-person software company could never have sorted the contents of files."
Ohh, as for point 2 above, the issue was not so much one of Intel patenting Slot 1. AMD's first Athlons used a "Slot A", which was actually just a Slot 1 connector flipped backwards.
When I referred to the patent of Slot 1, I was referring to the electrical interface, not the physical one.
Other than that minor misunderstanding, your post was insightful and informative. I'm sorry that I don't have moderator points today.
Slashdot Mirror
My God! Would you hire me?
Absolutely! Anyone who can create a sophisticated web page like yours is a shoe-in at any tech company. I mean, it not only has a link labelled "Test", but clicking on that link brings you a message of "Hello World." Wow!
What kind of care does your mechanic drive? Does he drive a 5000 HP Funny car or a 3 yr old chevy with rust on the quarters? Does that make him a good or bad mechanic? What kind of stupid method of measuring a persons skills is that?
A better question is what kind of tools your mechanic buys for himself. If you went to his house and discovered that his tools consisted of an old hammer, two cheap screwdrivers, and a rusty adjustable wrench, then you would have cause for concern.
Let's see, you need speed for Divx, MP3, altering your porn in photoshop and running FP games. Yep, you are a computer professional allright.
Who said anything about "porn"? I use Photoshop to touch-up and alter photos used on commercial web pages. Since his examples were all things like web surfing and playing MP3s, I tried to give him some examples that he could relate to.
Unless you have the "need" for raw cpu power, it's just a penis extension.
Maybe your reason for assuming that everyone is looking of a "penis extension" is because you have a 3.5" floppy.
Good idea. But how are emthusiasm and monetary expenditure linked in the computer world?
They aren't. You can get blindingly fast CPUs, fast hard drives, motherboards, etc. for under $100. So for a hundred or two hundred dollars a year, you can keep your PC up to date and able to run modern software. You don't need to buy the latest and greatest, but neither should you be using some ancient (in computer terms) system at home.
I believe your previous posts are indicative of a person with a very narrow mind and an even smaller penis.
I worry when a discussion of computers makes you think about strangers' penises.
One quick question though, why do I need a noisy heat generating GHz machine on my desk when all I do with it is "ssh" into the server - dual 2.2 Xeon - in my storage room? I am probably missing something ...????
Yes, you are. You have a real, modern, decent computer. And, like me, you have some older stuff that you use occasionally, too. No problem. The guys I worry about are the ones that have only ancient stuff and no modern machines.
The real question when it comes to the 'do-gooders' getting mad at the tobacco companies is why aren't they also going after the companies advertising alcohol in the same places, with the same target audience?
A simple explanation: Alcohol is not addictive (except to a small percentage who are alcoholic). Think how many kids you knew that took up drinking before turning 18. Do they all need to have multiple drinks per day now? Do they have to go outside their office building to drink every hour or so?
Tobacco gets heavier taxes and smoking gets banned from more and more places while alcohol kills more people
I can't believe that alcohol kills more people. There are some spectacular deaths when a drunk driver causes a major auto accident, but consider how many people die of lung cancer, emphysema, strokes, and heart disease from smoking.
That's fine and dandy but you still have countered the italic quote you give...
Yes, I know that I have countered it. Thanks for noticing.
social responsibility, right? such bullshit.
Thanks for clarifying that looking out for dedicated employees and being socially responsible is "such bullshit." It's like those damned do-gooders who get mad when tobacco companies advertise to kids, isn't it? Don't they realize that getting kids hooked on cigarettes, even if many die from cancer, is a small price to pay in order to enrich investors in RJ Reynolds? Damn social responsibility.
Thank you for that sane, and well-considered reply. I'm tired of reading the rationalizations for the notion that computer professionals should use outdated, underperforming computers. You shot holes in this particular argument rather nicely. Such rationalizations are just self-serving tripe meant to justify cheapness or laziness.
Can you imagine these people as doctors? "I don't need any of those new-fangled medications or diagnostic equipment. By not keeping up on new drugs and medical equipment, I have more time to spend with my patients and that's what's really important."
Why shouldn't they?
Because it's more important to keep people employed than to further enrich Wall Street gamblers.
I would not hire a doctor who is enthusiastic about his tools.
Fine. Get laser eye surgery by someone using old equipment and outdated techniques. And you don't need a doctor who's enthusiastic about new medicines (the primary tools of the medical profession). He can treat whatever ails you with aspirin and penicillan.
I would not hire an engineer who is enthustiastic about his tools. I would not hire anyone enthustiastic about his tools.
Then I hope you get a mechanic with no modern computerized diagnostic tools and he f***s your car up. Every craftsman, whether a woodworker or a computer professional, takes pride in having good tools. He takes an interest in finding the best tools for his line of work.
I want a person looking for a solution to whatever problem i have, not a nerd who seeks a way to use his newest toys.
Great. Then maybe I can develop a BASIC program for you on a Commodore 64 to meet your needs. You wouldn't want me to use anything too modern.
I sincerely hope for everyone's sake you aren't an employer!
I have been in hiring positions throughout my career and will be hiring for a new position that's opening up in the near future. In those years of hiring, I've learned that people that don't keep their own computers reasonably up-to-date, seldom have the skills and enthusiasm to make them stand-out employees.
Note the word "reasonably." I don't care if someone is running a 1ghz Duron or a 2.8ghz P4, but something with an old Socket 7 motherboard is absurd as a computer professional's primary home system.
Yes, it is fortunate that you are not a computer professional. I am relieved to know that it is unlikely that I will to have to work with a self-impressed, aggrandizing buffoon such as yourself.
Personally, I don't waste my time or money on games, so my requirements are obviously differnt to yours.
Since when is Photoshop, video enocoding, or MP3 encoding a "game"? And who are you to announce that someone else's chosen form of recreation is a waste of time or money? You need a serious dose of humility. If you ever get out of academia, I am sure that you will get it.
This is offtopic but may help someone get a job/raise/girlfriend/wife/life
Try not to be so condescending. It's very unlikely that you're relationship with your spouse/girlfriend has lasted as long as my relationship has with mine. And I don't need a raise. My clients pay my billing rate or I don't work for them.
That's like saying if my mechanic didn't drive a expensive car, I wouldn't hire him.
It's more like refusing to hire an auto mechanic that relies on a moped for his transportation. Since when is a $40 Duron or Celeron CPU or a $90 motherboard expensive? Even a modest investment each year could net a performance increase that would drastically change what the original poster could do with his computer, yet he is unwilling to even make that minimal investment.
Many many many people in management see there as a lot more to life than going home to sit in the same position you sat all day, staring at another screen. They value something called balance. Breadth. Experience.
In addition to being a computer enthusiast, I am an avid fisherman, boater, motorcyclist, RC airplane hobbyist, woodworker, and scuba diver. Having a reasonably modern (Athlon XP1700+ based) computer does not preclude having a life.
Read the original post to which I initially replied:
Does that sound like someone enthused about new technology?
I don't care if someone has the latest and greatest CPU, but something that's at least within a generation or two of current isn't setting the bar too high. For f***'s sake, a 1.3ghz Duron is only about $40 and that's probably more than five times as fast as the CPU he has now. If someone spends an average of $100-$200/year, he can keep his computer reasonably modern.
i doubt you will ever be in a position to hire anyone.
I have already proved you wrong on that prediction.
they shouldn't/ wouldn't give two shits what someone runs at home, unless they are paying for that person's computer.
What an ignorant statement -- and so eloquently presented, too. I want people that know about modern software. As an employer, I don't want to hear "I've never run that. My computer at home is way too slow for that. You'll need to give me some time and/or courses so that I can come up to speed."
Oh, and try learning about the shift key, moron.
What an amzing leap of logic - just because someone has an old machine they can't ( or won't ) answer a technical question - is that right?
I don't look for drones who can answer technical questions. I look for enthusiastic employees that genuinely love their line of work. Some guy that views his computer as yet another appliance for which he has identified only a handful of task is unlikely to be such an employee.
So now, in addition to all the other bull**** reasons to disqualify someone from feeding themselves, we'll add the applicant's computer clock speed to the job application.
There are plenty of applicants out there that are genuinely enthused about technology and try to keep their skills and systems up-to-date. I'd hire them before hiring some guy that apparently has little to no interest in computers. I've had my fill of people who got into the computer field solely because it was a way to earn a good paycheck. Their work and productivity are seldom as good as that of someone who has a real enthusiasm for computers.
No, I'm still using an MMX-200 with 128 megs of RAM for all of my work, and it's not a limitation.
I would not hire a doctor uses ancient tools and neither would I hire a software engineer that does. If you have so little enthusiasm for technology, then find a field that interests you more.
lack of processing power isn't stopping me from earning 15 quid/hour from writing PHP and MySQL based applications.
Since you are posting anonymousely, I'll be frank: That's not good pay. If my math is correct, it's less than $23 U.S. per hour. Maybe the amount we get paid is related to the speed of our computers...
"Troll" means someone who is saying something he doesn't believe, merely to cause trouble.
There is no "myopic" or "shortsighted" option for the moderator to choose, so he probably chose the next best way to mod the post down.
Why would I want to buy one of these?
So that you could do more with your computer than "web browsing, word processing, email, simple games like Tetris and listening to streams and MP3's." You would buy one of these so that using your computer would be a pleasure, with everything from booting up to program loads would occur in a fraction of the time. You would buy one so that you could run any program without concerns about your hardware's ability to keep up.
If I were an employer, I'd be suspicious of hiring any computer professional (and maybe you are not one, I don't know) who was using antiquated hardware and saw no reason to upgrade. I'd be looking at that and asking myself "if this guy has so little interest in computers that he's running an ancient POS like that, how much enthusiasm can I expect from him in a technical position?"
I'd much rather take a trip to Hawaii with my honey then blow a couple of grand on a Pentium 4 computer.
Most people on Slashdot have the technical savvy to upgrade their existing computers. Thus the "couple of grand" price you're talking about is grossly inflated for most people on here.
For what I do, I simply don't need this much power. Do you?
No, but I need a lot more than I could get from an AMD K6-3 running at 392mhz! I've got an Athlon XP1700+ and I'm getting ready to upgrade. I can't imagine how glacial a K6-3 would be for video encoding (e.g., Divx), MP3 encoding, hi-res Photoshop work, or running modern first-person shooters like Unreal Tournament 2003.
Yes, that's why the press release from AMD is so important in establishing fairness...
Facts are facts, no matter where they come from. If AMD had a factual press release that was independently verifiable, then what are you suggesting the site do? Publish the same information and not credit AMD? Then you'd be screaming that you found a conspiracy when it was discovered that the information was based on an AMD press release.
What's your idea of a "fair" site? One the uses the BAPCo SysMark utility and does not mention that it was written by Intel to favor their CPUs?
It's just a CPU manufacturer we're talking about here, not your wife. If you're happy with your CPU, that's great, but don't start making baseless attacks against a web site simply because they pointed out Intel's underhanded benchmark manipulation.
It didn't help, though, that their CPUs sucked massively for almost everything besides embedded apps.
Really an unfair characterization of the C3 processors. They are actually very good in any application where you want low power and reasonable performance. Sure, they suck for playing Quake III, running SETI@home, or ripping DVD to Divx, but that's not what most people do. The majority of people surf the web, do some word processing, exchange e-mail, do some instant messaging, and maybe play some simple games that shipped with Windows. You simply don't need a monstrously powerful CPU for that. Another place they rock is in web servers, FTP servers, etc. The ability to run them with a passive heatsink and no fan means one less point of failure to take down the server.
It's a handy thing having the girls at the front desk take an apointment for me and drop it straight on my calendar.
Putting aside the sexist remark, it's simply not a useful enough feature for 99% of the world to justify running Exchange over a normal, standard mail server.
I used to work for a software company of about 200 people, and the calendaring aspects were very useful, especially for booking meeting rooms and the like. If we hadn't had a system for handling that kind of thing, things could have got quite chaotic - it's vital that if you have in important customer visiting that you've got a meeting room avaliable to talk with them ready...
Any 200-person software company that has to run an Exchange server to handle scheduling of conference rooms has got some serious problems that go beyond scheduling. How hard could it be to write a little web-based app that let you reserve conference rooms? That's like saying "if Microsoft had not provided sort.exe, our 200-person software company could never have sorted the contents of files."
Ohh, as for point 2 above, the issue was not so much one of Intel patenting Slot 1. AMD's first Athlons used a "Slot A", which was actually just a Slot 1 connector flipped backwards.
When I referred to the patent of Slot 1, I was referring to the electrical interface, not the physical one.
Other than that minor misunderstanding, your post was insightful and informative. I'm sorry that I don't have moderator points today.