I've explained, in general terms, our family's non-religious views on the subject of creation and the Big Bang.
From what I understand, to explain things to her in terms of how things were created is still based on Judeo-Christian religion (in a sociological or historical sense). I've been listening to these lectures by Alan Watts on iTunes, and according to him, the West's view of the universe as an artifact (something that was created) is rooted in Judeo-Christian religion (the creator who created the creation). There's a long and involved explanation for that, but I don't recall it (nor do I wish to type it). The Hindus view it as a drama that is acted out, and Asian cultures (at least some of them) view it as an organism. So, to give an example that Watts uses, while it's very natural for your daughter to ask "How was everything created?" (given the culture she is growing up in), that would be a very strange question coming from a Chinese child. It would be much more normal for the Chinese child to ask "How did everything grow?"
Just food for thought. I think it's very interesting.
I don't think so. This is based on my experience from now back to 2002, mainly in NYC and California (but lots of other places too), using several phones from multiple manufacturers. My complaint is also based on the experience of a few of my friends who also have Verizon and their complaints about voice quality.
Don't get me wrong - when my phone has 4 bars, it's definitely tolerable, but it's nowhere near as good as a landline. Voices on a landline have a fuller, richer tonal quality and a wider volume range (not to mention that they don't cut out, but that's another topic). I don't listen to loud music or work in construction, so it's not my ears. I can hear the compression in the audio.
One of the easiest ways to hear it is to call up some company that has classical music playing softly in the background while you're on hold. Listen to it on a landline. Notice how, despite the fact that the song is playing softly, you can hear it perfectly and completely. Now call back on a cellphone. Notice how you can sort of make out the song - it's all glitchy. What affects how that song sounds on a cellphone also affects the sound of a person's voice on a cellphone. It's more subtle than the example I just gave, but it's definitely there.
One of the most obnoxious things to me about my cellphone service (Verizon) is how crappy voice calls sound compared to a regular telephone. It's nice to be able to use the internet on one's phone, but it would be nice if the feature of the phone that I'm using 90% of the time were to sound at least as clear as a landline. And with the signal transmitted digitally, I can't imagine that it would use up that much of the new available bandwidth...
Seems like a pretty fair price to me. Maybe you should vote for politicians who support lower taxes if you don't like it? Ah, the wonders of the Value-Added Tax. I would also suggest that the grandparent poster support unobscured tax systems - that'd probably get quite a few people on board for lower taxes.
That's interesting. I always wondered why Macworld didn't seem to be fretting the whole online thing.
My problem is that since I've stopped paying any serious attention to Macworld, I've found that I have to check in on various different sites to get the same sort of info. Macsurfer for news & rumors, Macosxhints for little OS tricks, whatever I can get my hands on for in-depth technical stuff, etc. I am just curious as to whether you or anyone else has found a one-stop site or magazine that covers all those bases, like Macworld used to.
One of the things that I really appreciated the most from the old Macworld was the extremely in-depth reviews. It used to be that you could read a Macworld review of a new Apple machine, and you basically knew the computer inside-out: its strengths, its weak points, what to expect in terms of performance on various tasks (and not just Photoshop filters or Quake-like framerate tests), etc. I've found it difficult to find anything in recent years that is as thorough or as well-written. : (
I feel pretty much the same way - I used to learn tons from Macworld, and now it's all just old news and extremely basic tips that I already know. It's rare that I find anything worth reading, although I occasionally discover some piece of software that I didn't know about.
More importantly: have you replaced Macworld with anything? Is there any Mac-specific magazine out there that's worth spending the money on? If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, because I have no idea as to what might be a single-source replacement. (Comments on multiple-source replacements are welcome, too.)
OS X has some really dumb design flaws To me, this brings to mind the Dock (in general) and making the window-closing button red (as Apple's own human interface research, from what I've heard, suggests that people zero in on that color, making it a bad choice for such a potentially destructive action). Among other things.
However, I'm guessing that your thoughts are more geared toward the technical end as opposed to the UI end. Care to share?
I only found mention of this on one of the iPhone pages; I can't seem to find it anywhere else:
iPhone uses quad-band GSM, the global standard for wireless communications. It also supports Cingular's EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, which links to Apple's new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.
If anyone can find a picture of this thing, please post.
I really think the System 7 through OS 9 zoom button worked the best. If you clicked it, it fit the size of the window to its contents. If you option-clicked it, it ballooned the window out to fit the entire screen (minus the menubar). Best of both worlds, in my opinion. I really wish it still worked that way in OS X...I basically don't ever use the zoom button anymore - not only because it is inconsistent and buggy, but because it feels useless to me.
installing anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-adware, browser toolbar, and a personal firewall
The first 5 of those 6 are solved by simply getting a Mac. The firewall question is solved by turning on the firewall in OS X.
There are also several things you can do in OS X to make the experience safer for her, such as restricting her account to a whitelist of URLs (including the URLs of all of her financial websites and anything else she's interested in). I don't know if that would be too restrictive for her, but maybe it would provide a good sandbox to start out in, and as her comfort level and understanding of the internet increases, she (or you) could loosen the restrictions.
Interesting that some people comprehend and embrace this seeming contradiction when it applies to roads, but not when it applies to weapons (i.e., the public is safer when the public is armed).
Free? No no no. Governments provide services to their citizens by levying taxes on those citizens. Let's not get caught in the misconception that the government is capable of providing anything for "free" - one way or another, the citizens pay for every last bit of the services provided by the government.
Apple doesn't make this easy to find, of course, and in fact tries to make it look impossible -- if you set your preferred import format to MP3, then right-click on a song in your iTunes "Purchased songs" list and click "Convert selection to MP3", you get the error: "[song name] could not be converted
because protected files cannot be converted to other formats". But you can easily burn a series of songs to a CD, then select the songs on the CD and import them into MP3 format. (Of course, if you don't like wasting a writable CD each time you convert your songs, then wait until you've purchased a few more songs and convert them all at once.) All of this is based on core iTunes functionality, which won't go away unless Apple decides to stop letting users (a) burn CDs or (b) import CD songs as MP3 files, neither of which is likely
As I recall, Apple acknowledged this way back when iTunes first came out. They said this was an acceptable solution because burning a CD and re-importing as an MP3 would result in a degraded-quality file. For those of us that can't hear the difference, this wouldn't seem to pose much of a restriction...
the state isn't meting out any punishment to those who are listed (i.e. there's no state-led deprivation of life, liberty, or property)
From the article:
The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law.
The person's name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live.
Is there anyone reading this who does not believe that these actions will effectively result in punishment - if not carried out by the state, then by the community in the form of complete rejection? There are all sorts of other problems with this idea, but this is just an obvious one...
I, for one, would certainly call restrictions on where I can live a state-sanctioned restriction of my liberty.
If you want to get these guys for having abused kids 35 years ago, how about a trial? And if they're convicted, then they go on the actual sex offender list. I understand that there are problems with statutes of limitations, but can't we obtain justice in this situation without developing different sets of rules for different citizens?
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -Plato
I'm just curious if you know which of Plato's works that quote comes from. (When I find interesting quotes in sigs, I like to look them up and get a feel for their surrounding context.) Thanks!
QuickTime currently supports closed captioning by including a text track alongside audio and video content. But improved QuickTime support will automatically display the CEA-608 closed captioning text standard in analog broadcasts in the U.S.
In analog broadcasts? Wouldn't that suggest some sort of interoperability with TV equipment? Which would require hardware...hmm...perhaps a hint at things to come?
A friend of a friend of mine (yeah, I know...I've actually met the guy, though) loves math, and he managed to get a job doing high-level calculus and such for some company in New York City that deals with the stock market. He makes very good money, but has apparently grown somewhat disillusioned and is considering getting out. I'm sorry that I can't give you more details - I just don't know much about it. But it's something you could look into...
I don't know how accurate this is, but I've heard stories about what went on during WWII that would knock your socks off. Stories about things like the government screening all foreign-bound letters, etc. The Civil War also saw significant curtailing of some rights, if I recall correctly. It makes you wonder...
However, I'm a certified peach hound from California - I buy 16-20 peaches at a time. I've never even heard of this before. No one's ever stopped me and said, "Sir, we're going to need to see some ID before you can have those peaches."
I think your thought is a pretty decent explanation, but that's still weird as hell.
Interesting, but I don't know if we're asking the same question.
I'm interested in the idea that the controls put in place to affect "illegitimate users" (people who want to steal from or murder others, or people who wish to distribute copyrighted content, for profit or otherwise, to people who have not already purchased a legitimate copy of said content) do not affect them. The criminal who wants to harm people still finds a way to get a gun, and the pirate who is determined enough finds a way to distribute the content to others.
The controls instead end up controlling the "legitimate users" - the ordinary citizen who just wants to be able to protect himself, or the person who just wants to put a copy of the movie he just bought onto his hard drive, or his iPod (or even his non-iPod!), or sell it to a friend, or put it on whatever next-generation storage system comes out because he doesn't feel like paying for the same movie over and over in different formats.
It seems to me that to support this idea for digital content but not for weapons is a bit incongruous, so I wonder how many people actually think that way.
Such technologies end up controlling only the behavior of legitimate users; those who want free copies of Dude, Where's My Car? from BitTorrent won't be deterred.
I wonder how many people who agree with this statement also support gun control.
Regarding the concern about drugged students having an edge over other students during tests: I would think that this would be at least somewhat less of a concern if you don't grade on a curve. That dampens the effect of "extra leverage".
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From what I understand, to explain things to her in terms of how things were created is still based on Judeo-Christian religion (in a sociological or historical sense). I've been listening to these lectures by Alan Watts on iTunes, and according to him, the West's view of the universe as an artifact (something that was created) is rooted in Judeo-Christian religion (the creator who created the creation). There's a long and involved explanation for that, but I don't recall it (nor do I wish to type it). The Hindus view it as a drama that is acted out, and Asian cultures (at least some of them) view it as an organism. So, to give an example that Watts uses, while it's very natural for your daughter to ask "How was everything created?" (given the culture she is growing up in), that would be a very strange question coming from a Chinese child. It would be much more normal for the Chinese child to ask "How did everything grow?"
Just food for thought. I think it's very interesting.
I don't think so. This is based on my experience from now back to 2002, mainly in NYC and California (but lots of other places too), using several phones from multiple manufacturers. My complaint is also based on the experience of a few of my friends who also have Verizon and their complaints about voice quality.
Don't get me wrong - when my phone has 4 bars, it's definitely tolerable, but it's nowhere near as good as a landline. Voices on a landline have a fuller, richer tonal quality and a wider volume range (not to mention that they don't cut out, but that's another topic). I don't listen to loud music or work in construction, so it's not my ears. I can hear the compression in the audio.
One of the easiest ways to hear it is to call up some company that has classical music playing softly in the background while you're on hold. Listen to it on a landline. Notice how, despite the fact that the song is playing softly, you can hear it perfectly and completely. Now call back on a cellphone. Notice how you can sort of make out the song - it's all glitchy. What affects how that song sounds on a cellphone also affects the sound of a person's voice on a cellphone. It's more subtle than the example I just gave, but it's definitely there.
One of the most obnoxious things to me about my cellphone service (Verizon) is how crappy voice calls sound compared to a regular telephone. It's nice to be able to use the internet on one's phone, but it would be nice if the feature of the phone that I'm using 90% of the time were to sound at least as clear as a landline. And with the signal transmitted digitally, I can't imagine that it would use up that much of the new available bandwidth...
That's interesting. I always wondered why Macworld didn't seem to be fretting the whole online thing.
My problem is that since I've stopped paying any serious attention to Macworld, I've found that I have to check in on various different sites to get the same sort of info. Macsurfer for news & rumors, Macosxhints for little OS tricks, whatever I can get my hands on for in-depth technical stuff, etc. I am just curious as to whether you or anyone else has found a one-stop site or magazine that covers all those bases, like Macworld used to.
One of the things that I really appreciated the most from the old Macworld was the extremely in-depth reviews. It used to be that you could read a Macworld review of a new Apple machine, and you basically knew the computer inside-out: its strengths, its weak points, what to expect in terms of performance on various tasks (and not just Photoshop filters or Quake-like framerate tests), etc. I've found it difficult to find anything in recent years that is as thorough or as well-written. : (
I feel pretty much the same way - I used to learn tons from Macworld, and now it's all just old news and extremely basic tips that I already know. It's rare that I find anything worth reading, although I occasionally discover some piece of software that I didn't know about.
More importantly: have you replaced Macworld with anything? Is there any Mac-specific magazine out there that's worth spending the money on? If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, because I have no idea as to what might be a single-source replacement. (Comments on multiple-source replacements are welcome, too.)
However, I'm guessing that your thoughts are more geared toward the technical end as opposed to the UI end. Care to share?
I really think the System 7 through OS 9 zoom button worked the best. If you clicked it, it fit the size of the window to its contents. If you option-clicked it, it ballooned the window out to fit the entire screen (minus the menubar). Best of both worlds, in my opinion. I really wish it still worked that way in OS X...I basically don't ever use the zoom button anymore - not only because it is inconsistent and buggy, but because it feels useless to me.
There are also several things you can do in OS X to make the experience safer for her, such as restricting her account to a whitelist of URLs (including the URLs of all of her financial websites and anything else she's interested in). I don't know if that would be too restrictive for her, but maybe it would provide a good sandbox to start out in, and as her comfort level and understanding of the internet increases, she (or you) could loosen the restrictions.
Interesting that some people comprehend and embrace this seeming contradiction when it applies to roads, but not when it applies to weapons (i.e., the public is safer when the public is armed).
Free? No no no. Governments provide services to their citizens by levying taxes on those citizens. Let's not get caught in the misconception that the government is capable of providing anything for "free" - one way or another, the citizens pay for every last bit of the services provided by the government.
Wow - short film!
As I recall, Apple acknowledged this way back when iTunes first came out. They said this was an acceptable solution because burning a CD and re-importing as an MP3 would result in a degraded-quality file. For those of us that can't hear the difference, this wouldn't seem to pose much of a restriction...
If you want to get these guys for having abused kids 35 years ago, how about a trial? And if they're convicted, then they go on the actual sex offender list. I understand that there are problems with statutes of limitations, but can't we obtain justice in this situation without developing different sets of rules for different citizens?
Hey, I don't know what their logic is. But that's the only idea I can come up with to account for the new feature in QuickTime. : )
From the Leopard Accessibility page:
QuickTime currently supports closed captioning by including a text track alongside audio and video content. But improved QuickTime support will automatically display the CEA-608 closed captioning text standard in analog broadcasts in the U.S.
In analog broadcasts? Wouldn't that suggest some sort of interoperability with TV equipment? Which would require hardware...hmm...perhaps a hint at things to come?
Yeah, except that medicine is good for you. ; )
A friend of a friend of mine (yeah, I know...I've actually met the guy, though) loves math, and he managed to get a job doing high-level calculus and such for some company in New York City that deals with the stock market. He makes very good money, but has apparently grown somewhat disillusioned and is considering getting out. I'm sorry that I can't give you more details - I just don't know much about it. But it's something you could look into...
I don't know how accurate this is, but I've heard stories about what went on during WWII that would knock your socks off. Stories about things like the government screening all foreign-bound letters, etc. The Civil War also saw significant curtailing of some rights, if I recall correctly. It makes you wonder...
However, I'm a certified peach hound from California - I buy 16-20 peaches at a time. I've never even heard of this before. No one's ever stopped me and said, "Sir, we're going to need to see some ID before you can have those peaches."
I think your thought is a pretty decent explanation, but that's still weird as hell.
Interesting, but I don't know if we're asking the same question.
I'm interested in the idea that the controls put in place to affect "illegitimate users" (people who want to steal from or murder others, or people who wish to distribute copyrighted content, for profit or otherwise, to people who have not already purchased a legitimate copy of said content) do not affect them. The criminal who wants to harm people still finds a way to get a gun, and the pirate who is determined enough finds a way to distribute the content to others.
The controls instead end up controlling the "legitimate users" - the ordinary citizen who just wants to be able to protect himself, or the person who just wants to put a copy of the movie he just bought onto his hard drive, or his iPod (or even his non-iPod!), or sell it to a friend, or put it on whatever next-generation storage system comes out because he doesn't feel like paying for the same movie over and over in different formats.
It seems to me that to support this idea for digital content but not for weapons is a bit incongruous, so I wonder how many people actually think that way.
I wonder how many people who agree with this statement also support gun control.
Regarding the concern about drugged students having an edge over other students during tests: I would think that this would be at least somewhat less of a concern if you don't grade on a curve. That dampens the effect of "extra leverage".