Wow really. So do you don't mind if I publish your phone call records, credit card purchases, SSN, credit card numbers, bank account informations, home address, phone number, and voting history?
Wow. Just Wow. You just can not make President Obama take responsibility for his own actions! Faceless and nameless people in power... WOW
How about this. President Obama found out all the same information that President Bush did. All of a sudden a lot of the polices started to make sense so he kept following what makes sense.
As to JFK? I wish people would really read history. JFK ran on a platform that the US wasn't building enough nuclear warheads and missiles. Under his administration the US nuclear forces saw a HUGE increase in weapons. Kennedy also sent more troops to Vietnam. As to civil rights he was more of a follower in that category. It was President Eisenhower that singed the first civil rights acts since reconstruction and sent in federal troops to enforce desegregation laws in the south.
President Obama had a super majority. The Republican party could do nothing to stop any bill from passing. And still you want to blame somebody else. WOW. Just WOW. This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetically sad.
Not really fair. For me I use Gnome but I do not hate KDE. I have not used KDE 4 much. For me it adds a lot of features I do not really feel the need for. In someways I feel it is getting too complex. However when it comes to customizing my desktop I go to the EAA website once a month and grab the new wall paper. That is about it. I move between Linux Gnome, OS/X, XP, and Windows 7 every day. None of them feel that much better than the other to me. Linux is probably my favorite because it works well and I do not have to worry about cruft creeping in. OS/X I am still new too but I like it. It could be that since I have used so many OSs and desktop environment over the years that I can adapt to most anything.
I will say I have no use for flame wars between Gnome and KDE users. They are just desktop environments. Guess what folks they don't care if you insult them. Frankly I do not care to hear the noise. If KDE does something great then share it. If Gnome does something great then share it. Otherwise get a life folks.
Really? Our support department has had a number of issues with Windows audio over the years. We have 10,000 plus users and there is not a day that goes by without at least one audio issue and a lot of them have to do with drivers.
"Wikileaks publishes the raw material. They don't report on it or editorialize." Really? So you do not feel that calling the apache video "Collateral Murder" as editorializing? Or the editing in of the text and video of one of the reporters children is not editorializing? Really? Hummm...... You use that word but I don't think you know what it means. That is the big danger. It is very hard to see bias that you share. Oh and the main stream press. Really also pretty bad on both sides. NPR is one of the few that I do not feel is too bad. Yes they have a bias but for the most part it is some what controlled and what I would say is at the normal human level that is probably unavoidable. To think that Wikileaks doesn't editorialize is just outside of my understanding. Yea "Collateral Murder" is unbiased and none inflammatory.
And if they offered to let the Pentagon redact the document that would be easy. They would redact it all. Yea I doubt that would happen.
And you think it isn't in China? In the US if a company decided that shut down a factory because it wasn't efficient enough and cost effective it would have to deal with the Unions.
Let me translate this story into western for you. Large corporation shuts down profitable factories / steel mill / cement plant throwing thousands out of work. Mega corp today announced that it would be closing the Anytown steel mill next week. A company spokesperson today stated, "because of the high cost of energy we are shutting the Anytown steel mill down". "More energy efficient mills like our new mill in Otherplace are far cleaner and more profitable." Cut to picture stores about how this will destroy the town and interview soon to be unemployed persons.
Yeah you really don't think that it might just be that other factories are cheaper to run and more profitable? Just maybe...
So just say it. You feel that the end justifies the means. So what if you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
Yea right... How can Wikileaks estimate the number of deaths? Well my estimate is that is will increase the number of deaths massively. Do you have any idea what life was like in Afghanistan under the Taliban? For women? For anyone that the Taliban didn't like?
Your statement would be cute in it's level in innocence if results where not so terrible and real.
I have to say that one thing to you. Sir or Madam. I like you. These same people would are all upset if Facebook decides to publish that they are a fan of "Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls" see no problem with Wikileaks publishing the name of someone that prevented a roadside bomb killing NATO troops! Hey the fact that the person and their family will be killed in some terrible manner is just the price we pay for freedom of the press! BULL! Wikileaks has shown zero journalistic ethics for a long time. In this case they are going to get people killed.
I wonder if they would be so willing to defend Wikileaks if they published the home addresses and names of every person that worked in clinics that provide abortions? Or if they published the names and home address of every G8 protester?
Really this is the Ultimate privacy issue. These people where promised that their data would be kept private and it was stolen by someone and now Wikileaks is publishing it. That is what it all comes down to.
That is a bad reason. My opinion is that Amnesty International is mostly good but not prefect. I wouldn't take just their word for it. The fact that a number of these groups is speaking out should raise some red flags and make you do your own looking.
Frankly I have an extremely low opinion of Wikileaks. There "journalistic integrity" is right up there with the best of yellow journalism of the late 1800s yearly 1900s. Those that get offended by that statement and defend them don't realize that it is simply because they agree with the agenda of Wikileaks and that they are convinced that what they are trying to deal with a "bigger problem" aka that the ends justify the means.
Never let anybody or any group do your thinking for you. Never hold any group or organization in such high regard that if they say this is bad you instantly agree. The greatest sign of respect that anyone could show me would be that if I say, "This is wrong or worries me" that they ask why and then listen and even ask questions. To me that is the way world should work.
Actually your sort of right. Most modern petrol engines use a low pressure fuel injection system which is less complex and expensive than the high pressure injection system used in most diesels. Now ever lots of the most modern petrol engines are now using direct injection which is almost identical to the a diesel system. But most petrol engines still use the lower pressure and cheaper sequential and even a few still use throttle body injectors. But then you have new added complexity of the latest diesel emissions controls things like particle traps, urea injection, NOX control through exhaust gas recirculation and so on. So the diesel is still a bit more complex and expensive than a petrol motor. As too being less sensitive to water? Not on your life. All good diesel makers go though extreme measures to not allow water into the system. Almost every diesel engine I have seen has a water separator in the fuel like. Water will destroy the very expensive and complex injector pump which is the heart of a diesel motor. Older petrol motors are very forgiving of water. usually if you just drain the fuel and flush the lines and replace the oil you are good to go. Finally all modern diesels have a turbo. That is another expensive and complex part.
But that being said I wish more small diesels where available in the US. You see I live in south Florida. When I look for a vehicle one of things I look hard at is range. Mileage is nice but range is important. When a hurricane hits it is a long drive out of danger and I want at least a 300 mile on a tank range. 600 would be ideal. Something like a Ford Transit with a diesel would be ideal for me. Honda was going to bring one to the US but last I heard they decided not to. Of course I think they where being dumb. I heard they where going to put it in the an Acura and a Civic. They should put it into the Element IMHO.
As to the weight issue. That is a cost issue. Like most things in life it is one of cost. You can build a light strong engine but it will cost a bunch of money. Lots of expensive Aluminum, steel, and titanium alloys but no nice, cheap, strong, but heavy iron.
Modern diesels are great and I am a big fan how ever they always seem to be just a big more complex and expensive than petrol motors. Add to the problem that in the US diesel fuel tends to cost as much or more than the highest grade of petrol and they have yet gain a strong following in the US car market.
The higher compression means that the they must be built stronger. AKA more expensive. Also they use a high pressure fuel injection system which is also more expensive and complex than a simple spark plug and carb. So yes they tend to be more expensive to build and more complex. But they do not need to have their spark plugs replaced or have your typical tune up. Thing is that modern electronic ignition and spark plugs have made gas engines also about as user low maintenance as a diesel.
There are pictures but not compromising ones unless by compromising you mean tied to my name. You see I am old and boring now. I don't drink at all. I am married and faithful to my wife. In other words I am now as dull as dirt. In my college days cameras used this stuff called film. People didn't carry them with them at all times and never to bars or parties. So their are no pictures of my none boring miss spent youth. That is why we call them the good old days.
You used the term one of most unfair and it is not even close. Not even in the top one hundred or probably top one thousand. And the FSF doesn't have a problem with copyrights in general. They may think they are too long and maybe a little too broad but they do not think they should be banished. They just do not believe that they should apply to software. Data yes but software no. The reason I picked the abuse of women under Muslim law is simple. The I just read an article about it on Time so it is fresh in my mind. The rest of your arguments show just how clueless and out of touch you are. Copyright does not imped freedom of speech. There are fair use exemptions for criticism and satire.
And you are somewhat correct as to the definition of civil disobedience. But I said civil disobedience as a form of protest. Please read up on Gandhi and King a bit.
But in the end everything you are saying is and doing is. 1. Anti FOSS as set out by RMS and the FSF. 2. Justification of taking what you want and not paying for it. As I said RMS would tell you that game engine should be FOSS but it is perfectly fine to charge and copyright the graphics and maps of any game. So the data even in RMS's perfect dream world could be copyrighted. So no still clueless and trying justify getting what you want for free. AKA being a jerk and actually hurting the cause of FOSS. It is simple and anyone with a brain and that understands what FOSS is all about can see right through your "arguments". Anyone acting the way you endorse is nothing more than a fraud. Simply put again they are simply using the FOSS movement as justification to get a game for free. And they are even violating what FSF considers a legitimate copyright by distributing the artwork which the FSF considers to be be legitimate to copyright. So keep pretending because at this point you are rebel without a cause or a clue.
"My dream computer has always been a completely modular system, with every component accessible and hot-swappable." it is called a mainframe. Actually some of IBMs none mainframe big iron can do the same thing. Some of their machines can even call for support on their own. They will contact IBM and a tech will show up and inform you that the RAM or drive is failing and swap the part. Mainframes even have hot swappable CPUs.
From my personal experience I know three people that had to replace phones because the screen broke. People buy a new TV when the old one breaks. This cycle of TV upgrades is a new thing and will pass once everyone has made the jump to HD.
I really should have let this one just die but it has been eating at me for days. " And the copyright act happens to be one of the most unfair laws ever passed." You are out of your freaking tiny mind. Really the copyright act is one of the most unfair laws ever passed? What about the apartheid laws in South Africa? What about the laws that prevent women from voting in Muslim countries? What about the Jim Crow segregation laws in the US? What about the laws that put Japanese American camps during WWII? Most unfair laws ever passed? That is one of the all time STUPIDEST things I have ever heard of. First of all some protection of copyrights is a good thing. And since we are talking about games even RMS feels that the while the logic code of a game should be FOSS he has no problem with the artwork and the graphics being copyrighted! AKA the engine should be free but the data is not! And NO it freaking isn't civil disobedience! Civil disobedience as a protest is public. Here is a big pile of truth. What you are doing is called justification. You want free stuff. You feel entitled to free stuff. So you are going to take it. And while you take it you justify it by abusing the term Free Software and then wrap yourself in the flag of Civil Disobedience. So you hurt both of those idea by abusing them just to be a cheap jerk that wants a game for free. This is just disgusting in the extreme. Just vile.
If they break they do. And it is more likley that one of the new flat screens will break than an older tube tv. Plus you get to save money on shipping costs if you can make the glass thinner. And people do break the screens on their phones and have to get new ones.
So the answer everybody is over looking is don't buy it if it doesn't come with an install CD.... Seriously if you shop for the cheapest you will get the cheapest. The companies really are giving you what you want and are willing to pay for. Think of it this way. The average person when looking for a PC if they see two identical machines but one is $10 then the other because it includes a recovery CD will buy the $10 cheaper machine. I am adding $10 because it takes time to burn, test, pack, and replace bad CDs under warranty so you need to charge more then $1 or so that a black CD will cost. frankly if you buy a machine and it lets you burn a recovery CD that should be the first thing you do. Other options for the slashdot crowd are. http://www.clonezilla.org/ and http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page Hey make your own back ups folks and you will not have this problem.
"Or because the technology ages, the batteries stop holding a charge, scratches and finger prints show up, all of which, while not preventing the actual chips and hardware from working as designed, nonetheless cause a perception of the device as having worn out?" True but people tend to keep TVs for a good long while. Notebooks get slow but TVs can be good for decades.
IMHO there is a simple solution. Make net neutrality a requirement of manipulable cable franchise agreements. Most city and or county governments control the cable franchise rights. In this case start mandating these requirements.
"The government made the convoluted tax system - they should make the web-based application to navigate it." Except that the "government" aka you the tax payer will be the one to pay for that system. Do you think that the government can pay the development cheaper than just letting you choose to buy Turbo Tax? In this case it is already written so the money has been spent.
And not everybody needs to buy or really use tax prep software. If you need help with a 1040EZ you just need help with everything. I am sure that states that have income tax have the equivalent to the 1040 EZ.
I can see your point but I can also see the flip side of it. Long before their was an internet Intuit/TurboTax was automating doing your taxes. They where a lot cheaper than going to H&R Block or the multitude of tax prep places we had back in the day. They have built a huge business out of producing what is to be honest pretty cheap and easy to use software. Intuit probably has a lot of employees in California that make good money so yes they do have some clout. They just do not want the state doing the job they have been doing for years and getting paid for. I wouldn't call it a scam since the idea that doing your income tax is a painful complex experience has been around since long before their was TurboTax. I remember both an Odd Couple episode and a Bob Newhart episode from the 70s based on the idea that doing your income tax was a terrible task. A complex tax code is nothing new.
Which makes locking the frame rate seem all the more logical. You would then have easy predictable physics. That seems to make frame locking an even better idea.
Slashdot Mirror
Because let's face it. If the French didn't like it they wouldn't ask. They would just blow him and the servers up.
Wow really. So do you don't mind if I publish your phone call records, credit card purchases, SSN, credit card numbers, bank account informations, home address, phone number, and voting history?
There is your answer.
Wow.
Just Wow.
You just can not make President Obama take responsibility for his own actions!
Faceless and nameless people in power... WOW
How about this. President Obama found out all the same information that President Bush did. All of a sudden a lot of the polices started to make sense so he kept following what makes sense.
As to JFK? I wish people would really read history. JFK ran on a platform that the US wasn't building enough nuclear warheads and missiles. Under his administration the US nuclear forces saw a HUGE increase in weapons. Kennedy also sent more troops to Vietnam.
As to civil rights he was more of a follower in that category. It was President Eisenhower that singed the first civil rights acts since reconstruction and sent in federal troops to enforce desegregation laws in the south.
President Obama had a super majority. The Republican party could do nothing to stop any bill from passing. And still you want to blame somebody else.
WOW. Just WOW.
This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetically sad.
Not really fair.
For me I use Gnome but I do not hate KDE. I have not used KDE 4 much.
For me it adds a lot of features I do not really feel the need for. In someways I feel it is getting too complex.
However when it comes to customizing my desktop I go to the EAA website once a month and grab the new wall paper.
That is about it.
I move between Linux Gnome, OS/X, XP, and Windows 7 every day.
None of them feel that much better than the other to me.
Linux is probably my favorite because it works well and I do not have to worry about cruft creeping in.
OS/X I am still new too but I like it. It could be that since I have used so many OSs and desktop environment over the years that I can adapt to most anything.
I will say I have no use for flame wars between Gnome and KDE users.
They are just desktop environments. Guess what folks they don't care if you insult them. Frankly I do not care to hear the noise.
If KDE does something great then share it.
If Gnome does something great then share it.
Otherwise get a life folks.
Really?
Our support department has had a number of issues with Windows audio over the years. We have 10,000 plus users and there is not a day that goes by without at least one audio issue and a lot of them have to do with drivers.
And in China the kick out the workers end of story.
And your point is?
"Wikileaks publishes the raw material. They don't report on it or editorialize."
Really?
So you do not feel that calling the apache video "Collateral Murder" as editorializing?
Or the editing in of the text and video of one of the reporters children is not editorializing?
Really?
Hummm......
You use that word but I don't think you know what it means.
That is the big danger. It is very hard to see bias that you share.
Oh and the main stream press. Really also pretty bad on both sides. NPR is one of the few that I do not feel is too bad. Yes they have a bias but for the most part it is some what controlled and what I would say is at the normal human level that is probably unavoidable.
To think that Wikileaks doesn't editorialize is just outside of my understanding.
Yea "Collateral Murder" is unbiased and none inflammatory.
And if they offered to let the Pentagon redact the document that would be easy. They would redact it all.
Yea I doubt that would happen.
And you think it isn't in China?
In the US if a company decided that shut down a factory because it wasn't efficient enough and cost effective it would have to deal with the Unions.
Let me translate this story into western for you.
Large corporation shuts down profitable factories / steel mill / cement plant throwing thousands out of work.
Mega corp today announced that it would be closing the Anytown steel mill next week. A company spokesperson today stated, "because of the high cost of energy we are shutting the Anytown steel mill down". "More energy efficient mills like our new mill in Otherplace are far cleaner and more profitable." Cut to picture stores about how this will destroy the town and interview soon to be unemployed persons.
Yeah you really don't think that it might just be that other factories are cheaper to run and more profitable?
Just maybe...
So just say it. You feel that the end justifies the means. So what if you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
Yea right...
How can Wikileaks estimate the number of deaths? Well my estimate is that is will increase the number of deaths massively. Do you have any idea what life was like in Afghanistan under the Taliban? For women? For anyone that the Taliban didn't like?
Your statement would be cute in it's level in innocence if results where not so terrible and real.
I have to say that one thing to you.
Sir or Madam. I like you.
These same people would are all upset if Facebook decides to publish that they are a fan of "Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls" see no problem with Wikileaks publishing the name of someone that prevented a roadside bomb killing NATO troops!
Hey the fact that the person and their family will be killed in some terrible manner is just the price we pay for freedom of the press!
BULL!
Wikileaks has shown zero journalistic ethics for a long time. In this case they are going to get people killed.
I wonder if they would be so willing to defend Wikileaks if they published the home addresses and names of every person that worked in clinics that provide abortions?
Or if they published the names and home address of every G8 protester?
Really this is the Ultimate privacy issue. These people where promised that their data would be kept private and it was stolen by someone and now Wikileaks is publishing it.
That is what it all comes down to.
That is a bad reason. My opinion is that Amnesty International is mostly good but not prefect. I wouldn't take just their word for it.
The fact that a number of these groups is speaking out should raise some red flags and make you do your own looking.
Frankly I have an extremely low opinion of Wikileaks.
There "journalistic integrity" is right up there with the best of yellow journalism of the late 1800s yearly 1900s. Those that get offended by that statement and defend them don't realize that it is simply because they agree with the agenda of Wikileaks and that they are convinced that what they are trying to deal with a "bigger problem" aka that the ends justify the means.
Never let anybody or any group do your thinking for you. Never hold any group or organization in such high regard that if they say this is bad you instantly agree.
The greatest sign of respect that anyone could show me would be that if I say, "This is wrong or worries me" that they ask why and then listen and even ask questions. To me that is the way world should work.
Actually your sort of right.
Most modern petrol engines use a low pressure fuel injection system which is less complex and expensive than the high pressure injection system used in most diesels.
Now ever lots of the most modern petrol engines are now using direct injection which is almost identical to the a diesel system.
But most petrol engines still use the lower pressure and cheaper sequential and even a few still use throttle body injectors.
But then you have new added complexity of the latest diesel emissions controls things like particle traps, urea injection, NOX control through exhaust gas recirculation and so on.
So the diesel is still a bit more complex and expensive than a petrol motor.
As too being less sensitive to water? Not on your life. All good diesel makers go though extreme measures to not allow water into the system. Almost every diesel engine I have seen has a water separator in the fuel like.
Water will destroy the very expensive and complex injector pump which is the heart of a diesel motor. Older petrol motors are very forgiving of water. usually if you just drain the fuel and flush the lines and replace the oil you are good to go.
Finally all modern diesels have a turbo. That is another expensive and complex part.
But that being said I wish more small diesels where available in the US.
You see I live in south Florida. When I look for a vehicle one of things I look hard at is range. Mileage is nice but range is important. When a hurricane hits it is a long drive out of danger and I want at least a 300 mile on a tank range. 600 would be ideal. Something like a Ford Transit with a diesel would be ideal for me. Honda was going to bring one to the US but last I heard they decided not to. Of course I think they where being dumb. I heard they where going to put it in the an Acura and a Civic. They should put it into the Element IMHO.
As to the weight issue. That is a cost issue. Like most things in life it is one of cost. You can build a light strong engine but it will cost a bunch of money. Lots of expensive Aluminum, steel, and titanium alloys but no nice, cheap, strong, but heavy iron.
Modern diesels are great and I am a big fan how ever they always seem to be just a big more complex and expensive than petrol motors.
Add to the problem that in the US diesel fuel tends to cost as much or more than the highest grade of petrol and they have yet gain a strong following in the US car market.
The higher compression means that the they must be built stronger. AKA more expensive.
Also they use a high pressure fuel injection system which is also more expensive and complex than a simple spark plug and carb.
So yes they tend to be more expensive to build and more complex.
But they do not need to have their spark plugs replaced or have your typical tune up.
Thing is that modern electronic ignition and spark plugs have made gas engines also about as user low maintenance as a diesel.
There are pictures but not compromising ones unless by compromising you mean tied to my name.
You see I am old and boring now. I don't drink at all. I am married and faithful to my wife. In other words I am now as dull as dirt.
In my college days cameras used this stuff called film. People didn't carry them with them at all times and never to bars or parties.
So their are no pictures of my none boring miss spent youth.
That is why we call them the good old days.
You used the term one of most unfair and it is not even close. Not even in the top one hundred or probably top one thousand. And the FSF doesn't have a problem with copyrights in general. They may think they are too long and maybe a little too broad but they do not think they should be banished. They just do not believe that they should apply to software. Data yes but software no.
The reason I picked the abuse of women under Muslim law is simple. The I just read an article about it on Time so it is fresh in my mind.
The rest of your arguments show just how clueless and out of touch you are.
Copyright does not imped freedom of speech. There are fair use exemptions for criticism and satire.
And you are somewhat correct as to the definition of civil disobedience. But I said civil disobedience as a form of protest.
Please read up on Gandhi and King a bit.
But in the end everything you are saying is and doing is.
1. Anti FOSS as set out by RMS and the FSF.
2. Justification of taking what you want and not paying for it.
As I said RMS would tell you that game engine should be FOSS but it is perfectly fine to charge and copyright the graphics and maps of any game. So the data even in RMS's perfect dream world could be copyrighted.
So no still clueless and trying justify getting what you want for free. AKA being a jerk and actually hurting the cause of FOSS.
It is simple and anyone with a brain and that understands what FOSS is all about can see right through your "arguments". Anyone acting the way you endorse is nothing more than a fraud. Simply put again they are simply using the FOSS movement as justification to get a game for free.
And they are even violating what FSF considers a legitimate copyright by distributing the artwork which the FSF considers to be be legitimate to copyright.
So keep pretending because at this point you are rebel without a cause or a clue.
Well I would think that depends on the caching. If you have a good enough cache then it may not bet that big of an issue.
"My dream computer has always been a completely modular system, with every component accessible and hot-swappable." it is called a mainframe.
Actually some of IBMs none mainframe big iron can do the same thing.
Some of their machines can even call for support on their own. They will contact IBM and a tech will show up and inform you that the RAM or drive is failing and swap the part. Mainframes even have hot swappable CPUs.
From my personal experience I know three people that had to replace phones because the screen broke.
People buy a new TV when the old one breaks. This cycle of TV upgrades is a new thing and will pass once everyone has made the jump to HD.
I really should have let this one just die but it has been eating at me for days.
" And the copyright act happens to be one of the most unfair laws ever passed."
You are out of your freaking tiny mind.
Really the copyright act is one of the most unfair laws ever passed?
What about the apartheid laws in South Africa?
What about the laws that prevent women from voting in Muslim countries?
What about the Jim Crow segregation laws in the US?
What about the laws that put Japanese American camps during WWII?
Most unfair laws ever passed? That is one of the all time STUPIDEST things I have ever heard of.
First of all some protection of copyrights is a good thing. And since we are talking about games even RMS feels that the while the logic code of a game should be FOSS he has no problem with the artwork and the graphics being copyrighted!
AKA the engine should be free but the data is not!
And NO it freaking isn't civil disobedience! Civil disobedience as a protest is public.
Here is a big pile of truth.
What you are doing is called justification.
You want free stuff. You feel entitled to free stuff. So you are going to take it.
And while you take it you justify it by abusing the term Free Software and then wrap yourself in the flag of Civil Disobedience. So you hurt both of those idea by abusing them just to be a cheap jerk that wants a game for free.
This is just disgusting in the extreme. Just vile.
If they break they do. And it is more likley that one of the new flat screens will break than an older tube tv. Plus you get to save money on shipping costs if you can make the glass thinner. And people do break the screens on their phones and have to get new ones.
So the answer everybody is over looking is don't buy it if it doesn't come with an install CD. ...
Seriously if you shop for the cheapest you will get the cheapest. The companies really are giving you what you want and are willing to pay for.
Think of it this way. The average person when looking for a PC if they see two identical machines but one is $10 then the other because it includes a recovery CD will buy the $10 cheaper machine.
I am adding $10 because it takes time to burn, test, pack, and replace bad CDs under warranty so you need to charge more then $1 or so that a black CD will cost.
frankly if you buy a machine and it lets you burn a recovery CD that should be the first thing you do.
Other options for the slashdot crowd are.
http://www.clonezilla.org/
and
http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
Hey make your own back ups folks and you will not have this problem.
"Or because the technology ages, the batteries stop holding a charge, scratches and finger prints show up, all of which, while not preventing the actual chips and hardware from working as designed, nonetheless cause a perception of the device as having worn out?"
True but people tend to keep TVs for a good long while.
Notebooks get slow but TVs can be good for decades.
IMHO there is a simple solution. Make net neutrality a requirement of manipulable cable franchise agreements. Most city and or county governments control the cable franchise rights. In this case start mandating these requirements.
"The government made the convoluted tax system - they should make the web-based application to navigate it."
Except that the "government" aka you the tax payer will be the one to pay for that system.
Do you think that the government can pay the development cheaper than just letting you choose to buy Turbo Tax?
In this case it is already written so the money has been spent.
And not everybody needs to buy or really use tax prep software. If you need help with a 1040EZ you just need help with everything.
I am sure that states that have income tax have the equivalent to the 1040 EZ.
I can see your point but I can also see the flip side of it. Long before their was an internet Intuit/TurboTax was automating doing your taxes. They where a lot cheaper than going to H&R Block or the multitude of tax prep places we had back in the day.
They have built a huge business out of producing what is to be honest pretty cheap and easy to use software. Intuit probably has a lot of employees in California that make good money so yes they do have some clout. They just do not want the state doing the job they have been doing for years and getting paid for.
I wouldn't call it a scam since the idea that doing your income tax is a painful complex experience has been around since long before their was TurboTax. I remember both an Odd Couple episode and a Bob Newhart episode from the 70s based on the idea that doing your income tax was a terrible task. A complex tax code is nothing new.
Which makes locking the frame rate seem all the more logical.
You would then have easy predictable physics.
That seems to make frame locking an even better idea.