Actually, I do like strongly-flavoured beers, but I also like Pilsners, Bitters, IPAs, and Lagers. John Courage, for example, is very refreshing, and that and Coniston's can be consumed all night without making your tongue tired. They are true session beers. Fuller's has a nice IPA if you like IPAs (some don't). I can't claim to know anything about Green King or Deuchars.
Also, I wouldn't say that Anchor's products are lightly flavoured. More like poorly flavoured. And flavour is not what I like in a beer. Good flavour is what I like. If you want flavor, try the very accurately named "Stovepipe Porter" by Otter Creek. Yes, it tastes like licking the inside of a stovepipe. No, I don't like it. Yes, I have a friend who drank 5 imperial pints in succession, and says he loves it. No, he doesn't smoke.:)
I once had a beer called Sierra Monster Brew. Very flavourful. One of the only beers I did not finish. Anyway, I'm not down on all American Breweries. We have a small cache of decent ones. We just don't have enough really spectacular ones. Speaking of great breweries and lighter beers, Shiner Brewery of Texas has an excellent product called Shiner Bock (which a lot of people hate) and they used to make a fantastic Lager, called "Kosmo's Reserve Lager". Sadly, crazy alcohol laws in the various States prevent me from readily acquiring it.
Ummm... you did not just say Anchor Steam. If I were trying to convince someone that American Breweries can compete with Europe, Anchor Steam and Anchor Liberty would be my last choices. As in I wouldn't bother. Sierra Nevada, while not nearly as bad, is another "micro-brew" that is all rep and no delivery. Unfortunately, most American breweries try to solve the "lack of flavor" problem by saying, "Hey, lets just throw a bunch more hops in it!". Which makes everything taste like a poorly brewed IPA. Now, if you want to buy American, there are choices. Ommegang makes a nice Belgian style "Abbey-Ale". Speaking of chocolate, Brooklyn makes a "Black Chocolate Stout" which is rich and tasty. Those are truly good beers.
Reading over what I just wrote I realize that I come off a bit harsh. But Anchor Steam Ale. Argh. Still gets me.
It can't be compared to such heavy hitters from across the sea as Aventinus Weizenbock, Thames Welsh Bitter, Coniston's Bluebird Bitter, Fuller's Porter, Paulaner Salvator Dopplebock, Spaten Optimator, Affligem Tripel, Caffrey's (sadly gone?), Tetley's, Duvel, Corsendonk, Franziskaner Hefe Weiss, Beamish, etc., etc..
We're getting better, though. I hear Saranac now has a Double Bock.
I can't claim to know the exact story, and Wikipedia is not always accurate, but from the A3D article, we find:
"Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement in March of 1998[1], and Aureal countersued for patent infringement and deceptive trade practices. Aureal won the lawsuit brought by Creative in December of 1999. However, the cost of the legal battle caused Aureal's investors to cease funding operations, forcing Aureal into bankruptcy. Creative then acquired Aureal's assets in September of 2000 through the bankruptcy court with the specific provision that Creative Labs would be released from all claims of past infringement by Creative Labs upon Aureal's A3D technology. While Creative Labs has not chosen to support the A3D API, the underlying advanced features of A3D technology is making its way into Creative Labs' newer EAX incarnations."
I remember when the "Vortex Superquad" came out. It trounced anything that Creative had to offer, and was $50 (at least $20 less than the Creative that was less capable). The 3D was way beyond anything EAX had to offer. Maybe, being a former employee, you took the press releases of your company to heart. It's funny that Creative has the name it does, since it actually creates very little, and has bought most of its junk over the years. Aureal cards (and Turtle Beach cards with the Aureal chipset) threatened Creative's very existence, as all good game audio development was focusing on A3D. Considering the technical advantages Aureal had, the "only option" for Creative was to sue. And they *lost*. The very fact that they bankrupted Aureal with the lawsuit and then bought the assets should qualify the perpetrators for defrauding the shareholders/investors who put good money into a really neat company.
The worst part is that with the exception of possible cannibalization, A3D was dropped, and while I don't use creative cards anymore (just not cost-effective compared with onboard/inexpensive alternatives), Creative kept shipping their inferior product for quite some time afterwards (pride, I guess). It may still be inferior, but I claim ignorance, since I have not used it, and it may have finally caught up. Even if the onboard sound solutions on motherboards weren't good enough, unless Creative has removed their crapware driver installs (hundreds of megs to install soundcard drivers?) it would still be worth it to buy from a competitor.
And yes, I am bitter. I would love to be able to throw that Aureal into my system, as my speaker out has a missing plastic rim now (argh), but Aureal stopped providing driver updates late during the lawsuit (lack of funds?) and Creative doesn't even provide the old ones if I wanted to use the card with an older OS (though I think I have the drivers lying around somewhere). That brings another gripe. When reinstalling an OS on someone's computer with an older Creative card, it's like an easter egg hunt trying to find drivers, since Creative can't be bothered with supplying their own drivers for products that haven't been sold in a while.
You ask him to cite a reference, but then make a statement that shows you don't read references. Mercury is still present in most vaccines. It is listed under the name Thiomersal/Thimerosal. Some will tell you that it has been phased out. That is also incorrect. The FDA has recommended *phasing* it out, and most vaccines have far reduced levels of mercury. But, and get this - you have to read the labels, they still contain "trace amounts of Thiomersal". And the arguments against mercury in vaccines don't take into account the amount administered. They are concerned with how particular people can or cannot properly process it. Even trace amounts, according to the line of reasoning, can be harmful.
Now, that may end up being a red herring. I don't think that any of us know enough yet to know for sure. At the same time, forcing the vaccination millions of people against a few strains of HPV is ridiculous when the effect on public health is minimal. And despite the propaganda you have been hearing, the actual amount of cases that are tied to cervical cancer are very low, and the amount of HPV strains causing said cancer are underreported.
Couple this with the fact that AFAIK you may not sue a company for a vaccine which did you or your family harm (not in the U.S. at least). So, where is your recourse when in the course of a state-mandated vaccination for HPV, your daughter is rendered an injury from which she may not recover?
Vaccination having been around "for over a century" has nothing to do with safety. One of our most successful vaccinations was for Smallpox, and many people died as a result of the administration of the vaccine. However, the risk to people not receiving the vaccine was so great that it could be argued that it was justified. One cannot make the same argument for HPV. We would be better served against HPV by increasing cleanliness in restrooms, not screwing anyone who will agree to it (a difficult concept for those less selective, I know), and making sure everyone, including M.D.s, who still don't seem to get it, washes their hands. That last part comes from personal knowledge, having witnessed many Doctors not washing their hands in between patients. It is proven by real numbers, far greater than HPV numbers, of deaths related to unsanitary behavior in hospitals, caused by Super-Staph and other infections.
That is indeed what lots of doctors think. Until you have them bring in the label, and it will say on there "Contains trace amounts of Thiomersal/Thimerosal. If you are ever in the market for a vaccine, take a look at the container.
I say this as someone who got all the shots available myself, and am still around to talk about it. As for cases of Autism increasing since the lessening dosages of mercury in vaccines, correlation does not equal causation:). Especially since it seems that mercury levels in the fish we are eating are increasing. Then again, mercury may have nothing to do with it.
In any case, no one should be forced to medicate without evidence of a serious epidemic, which HPV-related cervical cancer is not. I'd be a lot more worried about the return of smallpox, myself. Unfortunately, forced medication is becoming a more common theme, after a brief hiatus. For example, temporary loss of custody to administer eye-drops to babies and forcing Ritalin/Adderal prescriptions on hyperactive (or not so hyperactive) kids. Remember, it was not so long ago that women were forced into anesthesia during childbirth, not permitted to breastfeed, and psych patients were treated to torturous inhumanities such as EST, lobotomy, and not very effective psychoactive drugs. Returning to that society, even if it is to "think of the children!", would be a travesty.
Before you dismiss his argument based on your personal belief in the "System", you should take the opportunity to see if his claim is valid. For example, you might read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controvers y
Mercury is present in most vaccine formulations, in at least "trace amounts". It seems that some people are able to process this without an issue, but there is suspicion that many of the vaccine-related issues that have been correlated to vaccinations may be a result of a lesser ability, or worse luck, in processing the mercury content. While this may end up being a red herring, considering that the FDA has recommended removing all but trace amounts of Thiomersal, I don't think we should ignore it.
It is certainly admirable to want to reduce the suffering of people through vaccination. At the same time, vaccinations should never be considered "safe". Just as with Tylenol, or Sudafed, the risks should always be conveyed to the potential recipient. They should be allowed, without fear of repercussion (some rumors floating about that public education will be denied for those who refuse it) to evaluate the risks and benefits and decide for themselves. Despite all of the drug company propaganda, you will be hard pressed to find someone who won't take a vaccine for a serious issue that they are at risk of injury from.
While you are at it, think about the fact that despite "8 1/2 years of research", no long term studies have been performed to rate the efficacy of this vaccine over time for the strains it is supposed to prevent. Most of the people arguing that the vaccine should be mandatory are also using straw-man arguments against "religious, anti-sex freaks". For them, it is a crusade against what they perceive to be ignorance. Maybe some people who object to the vaccine are ignorant. But blindly supporting it is just as ignorant, even if you can quote the drug company's research. Meanwhile, those of us who take a cautious route to medicating ourselves and our children will be railroaded for the sake of community immunity of a few strains of HPV, infection by which a very small percentage of people will develop cervical cancer. Very, very small.
Speaking of cautious, this is just another reason to look at increasing cleanliness in public restrooms. Not that any amount of cleanliness would convince me to sit down in one. Even if it is just a Gary Larson-esque "Didn't wash hands!" flashing light outside of the bathrooms (classic!).
I'm not shooting this stuff. My customers are. When you become a successful photographer, $5000 for a one day shoot is not that much. After all, you are not on a shoot every day, and you have to keep your portfolio up-to-date, pay your agent (which many high-level photographers have), not to mention keeping your family in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to:).
If you think of the cost of running an ad campaign, you don't want to mess with a novice photographer, so hiring a pro is really a small portion of your overall expense. And it pays dividends. Of course, because some of these photographers are my customers, I am not completely without bias:).
I would agree with most of what you are saying. However, I am seeing more and more pro-photographers doing the post processing themselves. Several that I work with have bought Aperture, a newer high-end Mac (MacBook Pros, mostly) and easily paid for it by not having to hire a tech to do the grunt work (grunt work which costs a lot of money). Those who do fashion/"on location" stuff have really shaved a lot off of their budget. Hiring a good tech was costing them thousands per day on the shoot. Now, they do a lot of the post processing themselves, and they are very happy with *both* Aperture *and* Lightroom.
Now that Lightroom is a fully-fledged commercial product (as opposed to a Beta downloadable for free) I have a feeling they will drop the ducats to get it. $200 is nothing when you are billing $5000-$7000/day. Even if you are just shooting sports, the time savings and saving the use of a tech or lab makes it almost instantly pay for itself.
I've seen this in action, when FP decided to change some accounts (not all) to a different form of PPP (I think PPPOA VCMUX), and "forgot" to change some of the modems. It was like a giant guessing game for who had what.
If you were the guys handling this area 1 year ago, then I don't think this tech works for you, unless he is an anomaly. He really lacked basic knowledge.
Star Command was a great SSI game, CGA/EGA, loads of fun. They should bring it back. You have to use moslo (a slow down utility) or similar to run it now. Has a great storyline that can easily be expanded. Speaking of, there is also the Starflight 3 project, which has been in development for years, and really needs to be finished. Those two games were excellent.
Ah! I think I know some of you guys. I had to call at times on behalf of my customers in the Taconic area. You guys were pretty competent. Recently, after Fairpoint installed a "Barracuda" in the area, all of my customers who had ISP mail accounts stopped receiving most mail. They were told repeatedly by support that their clients were set up incorrectly, that their firewalls were blocking it, etc. I stopped at the first customers place, ran some tests, everything looked ok. I called support and asked for the webmail address, which I wanted to confirm was ispcontrolpanel.com. He told me that was not the place to go. He started looking up the correct webmail address, and starts to read to me "Go to www.isp... oh yeah! ispcontrolpanel.com!". I was like, "Holy crap! This guy is dumber than a box of rocks". So I go there, no mail there, and no spam control settings. I say to him, "Is there some other site to go to for spam filter management". He didn't know. I start poking around, and find that on the local isp's home page there is a new login section for spam control. I log in, and it's a Barracuda. And it has blocked everything. Doesn't matter how unspam-like.
Ended up whitelisting the customers contacts, and referring them to that section for further action. Didn't bother telling the tech support guy that he should know what equipment the customer needs to deal with, and the answer shouldn't just be "turn off your firewall." I figure Fairpoint never let the Tech support people know, so the blame is like 60/40.
In any case, I never had problems like that when I think you guys were handling the support. Except that customers couldn't get their passwords from you, and after hours customer service was closed.
At least around here, Fairpoint has incredibly slow speeds for very high prices. In those areas where they have a "natural monopoly", they offer 768/256 for $45/month, or 1.5/512 for $99/month. Right down the road, in the next town over, you have a choice between Verizon, One Communications, or the cable company. Verizon is $39 for 3.0/768, One Communications is $35 for 5.0/768 or so, and the Cable company is $50 for 3.0/256.
Fairpoint is nothing more than a conglomerate company, formerly MJD, that buys small telcos, and "consolidates" them, keeping the names as a shell to make people think they still have a local phone company. There is less service, their technical support (outsourced) doesn't even know the equipment they are using.
So before you go assuming that smaller companies=better service, you may want to consult some of Fairpoint's customers. Fairpoint has lost business in the areas where people had a choice, which is probably why they sold their long distance business customers to Choice One (now One communications) a few years ago.
Haven't researched that, but somehow I doubt we had to convince them. It was probably just the currency that had the right combination of stability and liquidity. And it can't be melted and it's origins disguised (which is useful to some).
"I do miss "pint", we have no word for half a litre. It is usually called "a large beer" (what else would you measure in pints), but in some German inspired pubs "a large beer" would one litre. It is so much simpler to just order a "pint" in an UK pub."
So true, though to be frank we have some problem with pints in America, as low-class joints give you an American Pint (16oz.) instead of the 20oz Imperial pints that higher quality vendors provide, along with more comfortable to hold glasses/steins/mugs. Speaking of mugs, Fuller's had a really great mug several years back that was close to perfection.
"Whereas the metre is defined (as I'm sure you know) as "...the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second"
I am aware that it is based upon the speed of light, which is fine as long as no one ever discovers that that measurement was incorrect:).
As far as U.S. standard measurements being based on metric, it's obviously a weakness as new advances recently made by the community of light particles is going to enable them to increase their speeds by 12% and increase fuel efficiency by 3mpg.
When you are dealing with exports, though, will it have to be labelled "500g" as well? Because then we are in the same mess of trying to make everything fit the metric system, as opposed to just using what has worked for centuries.
Thanks for the info, that is a pretty interesting of trying to solve the problem, and apparently an admission on the part of the Danes that using simpler measurements are, well, more simple.
It's not our job to calculate the expenses of foreign nations. And you don't need *expensive* studies to find out whether it will be more expensive. Our entire infrastructure is built on standard. There is no tangible benefit to switching to metric. The costs to businesses would be enormous, and there is no corresponding reward at the end of the tunnel.
We can already see that those who want metric feel the need to force it on everyone. In Britain, Grocers have been fined for trying to stick to Imperial. In America, if you want to measure something in metric, you are allowed. But the industries have found that consumers prefer standard. We like standard. Just because you don't, doesn't mean we should switch.
Again, the burden of proof needs to be on those who want everyone to change. If you were to show people that they as a nation would save many billions of dollars switching to your system, at no harm to them, they probably would do it. The reason why Metric supporters use lackluster arguments on why we should switch, based on the sheep principle, is because they have no compelling arguments. We don't need to be followers in this country. In fact, no nations goal should be that of "follow the leader".
So you are saying that 500g is easier to deal with than 1lb? It may be easier than 454 grams, but not easier than 1lb. One is a pretty nice number to deal with, and 1lb can be stated in 2 syllables, where as 500g is 4 syllables. All for no gain. 454 grams is 6 or 7 syllables, depending on how you phrase it.
Same goes for the measurements in "stones" (which I have never used, being a fat American). One syllable. Easier than saying kilograms or kilos. Besides, you act as if we should switch just to make someone else happy. Maybe we should switch to the Euro while we are at it, that way we won't have to convert currencies back and forth. That would make your life easier. Then we could make sure that everyone spells color "colour" and civilization can only be spelled "civilisation". Hell, why don't we all switch to Esperanto. Then there would be no language barrier. Don't bother continuing to try to document Indian languages. Our forefathers were right to make them all use English in school.
In fact, why don't we just form one happy little commune, where we can all live in peace. We can distribute things to each person according to their need. And they will work in the position that will best help society as a whole. Great Idea(tm). I think you should start a revolution based on these principles. Just make sure those "intellectuals" are taken care of. They tend to cause trouble.
It gets tiring when I have to hear it drummed in over and again how wonderful the metric system is, and how it will improve our lives. It's just a measurement system! It makes no sense for us to switch everything for the sake of conformity, when there is nothing to gain.
Besides which, I don't own a yardstick (and I own some old ones!) that don't also have a metric measure on one side. Old mom and pop hardware store yardsticks (one went out of business 35 years ago) are included.
I am sure that if U.S. citizens were asked which they would prefer for their system of measurement, standard would win over metric by a significant margin. Case solved, as they are the ones who are paying the tab.
I wonder how much longer we can post in this thread; I've never had one last this long.
Well, I think that the "majority" of people would put the burden of proof on the person looking to change the way things are, rather than the one who sticks to tried and true.
Majority is not how progress is made. Progress is made by those who not only have a vision, but have the desire and ability to back the vision. You can say that the nation with the most people is China, and therefore their systems should be used. Political systems, systems of funding scientific projects, systems of government, etc.
Now, certainly it would be nice to have the majority on our side. But variety is nice. Just like it is nice to have the British pound. I miss the franc, and the other currencies that have been replaced by the incredibly boring "Euro". We don't need to have the majority on our side. What NASA needs, and therefore we as a nation need, are visionaries who have the scientific, physical, engineering, and practical knowledge and the courage to strive for new discoveries.
We need more money put into the system, and better management of the money (though the second is often incompatible with the first). Technically, our conversations of the metric system in this forum are quite useless, as the decision has been made, and won't be changed based on our activities here. But trumpeting this switch is ridiculous. Switching to metric in any of our environments will cost more than it will ever net us.
Besides, it's charming when someone asks for a "nine-steenths"
"Besides, I defy to prove that your american made tractor would have been a lesser tractor if it had been made using metrics instead of "imperial" measurements. The quality of the recources, workmanship and materials involved are not derived from the measurments after all."
Your point makes no sense, as we are not asking Europeans to change their system. Unfortunately, despite all of our successes, pressures from both inside and outside our nation are wasting our time and resources switching to a system which is not superior to ours.
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Actually, I do like strongly-flavoured beers, but I also like Pilsners, Bitters, IPAs, and Lagers. John Courage, for example, is very refreshing, and that and Coniston's can be consumed all night without making your tongue tired. They are true session beers. Fuller's has a nice IPA if you like IPAs (some don't). I can't claim to know anything about Green King or Deuchars.
:)
Also, I wouldn't say that Anchor's products are lightly flavoured. More like poorly flavoured. And flavour is not what I like in a beer. Good flavour is what I like. If you want flavor, try the very accurately named "Stovepipe Porter" by Otter Creek. Yes, it tastes like licking the inside of a stovepipe. No, I don't like it. Yes, I have a friend who drank 5 imperial pints in succession, and says he loves it. No, he doesn't smoke.
I once had a beer called Sierra Monster Brew. Very flavourful. One of the only beers I did not finish. Anyway, I'm not down on all American Breweries. We have a small cache of decent ones. We just don't have enough really spectacular ones. Speaking of great breweries and lighter beers, Shiner Brewery of Texas has an excellent product called Shiner Bock (which a lot of people hate) and they used to make a fantastic Lager, called "Kosmo's Reserve Lager". Sadly, crazy alcohol laws in the various States prevent me from readily acquiring it.
Ummm... you did not just say Anchor Steam. If I were trying to convince someone that American Breweries can compete with Europe, Anchor Steam and Anchor Liberty would be my last choices. As in I wouldn't bother. Sierra Nevada, while not nearly as bad, is another "micro-brew" that is all rep and no delivery. Unfortunately, most American breweries try to solve the "lack of flavor" problem by saying, "Hey, lets just throw a bunch more hops in it!". Which makes everything taste like a poorly brewed IPA. Now, if you want to buy American, there are choices. Ommegang makes a nice Belgian style "Abbey-Ale". Speaking of chocolate, Brooklyn makes a "Black Chocolate Stout" which is rich and tasty. Those are truly good beers.
Reading over what I just wrote I realize that I come off a bit harsh. But Anchor Steam Ale. Argh. Still gets me.
It can't be compared to such heavy hitters from across the sea as Aventinus Weizenbock, Thames Welsh Bitter, Coniston's Bluebird Bitter, Fuller's Porter, Paulaner Salvator Dopplebock, Spaten Optimator, Affligem Tripel, Caffrey's (sadly gone?), Tetley's, Duvel, Corsendonk, Franziskaner Hefe Weiss, Beamish, etc., etc..
We're getting better, though. I hear Saranac now has a Double Bock.
I can't claim to know the exact story, and Wikipedia is not always accurate, but from the A3D article, we find:
"Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement in March of 1998[1], and Aureal countersued for patent infringement and deceptive trade practices. Aureal won the lawsuit brought by Creative in December of 1999. However, the cost of the legal battle caused Aureal's investors to cease funding operations, forcing Aureal into bankruptcy. Creative then acquired Aureal's assets in September of 2000 through the bankruptcy court with the specific provision that Creative Labs would be released from all claims of past infringement by Creative Labs upon Aureal's A3D technology. While Creative Labs has not chosen to support the A3D API, the underlying advanced features of A3D technology is making its way into Creative Labs' newer EAX incarnations."
I remember when the "Vortex Superquad" came out. It trounced anything that Creative had to offer, and was $50 (at least $20 less than the Creative that was less capable). The 3D was way beyond anything EAX had to offer. Maybe, being a former employee, you took the press releases of your company to heart. It's funny that Creative has the name it does, since it actually creates very little, and has bought most of its junk over the years. Aureal cards (and Turtle Beach cards with the Aureal chipset) threatened Creative's very existence, as all good game audio development was focusing on A3D. Considering the technical advantages Aureal had, the "only option" for Creative was to sue. And they *lost*. The very fact that they bankrupted Aureal with the lawsuit and then bought the assets should qualify the perpetrators for defrauding the shareholders/investors who put good money into a really neat company.
The worst part is that with the exception of possible cannibalization, A3D was dropped, and while I don't use creative cards anymore (just not cost-effective compared with onboard/inexpensive alternatives), Creative kept shipping their inferior product for quite some time afterwards (pride, I guess). It may still be inferior, but I claim ignorance, since I have not used it, and it may have finally caught up. Even if the onboard sound solutions on motherboards weren't good enough, unless Creative has removed their crapware driver installs (hundreds of megs to install soundcard drivers?) it would still be worth it to buy from a competitor.
And yes, I am bitter. I would love to be able to throw that Aureal into my system, as my speaker out has a missing plastic rim now (argh), but Aureal stopped providing driver updates late during the lawsuit (lack of funds?) and Creative doesn't even provide the old ones if I wanted to use the card with an older OS (though I think I have the drivers lying around somewhere). That brings another gripe. When reinstalling an OS on someone's computer with an older Creative card, it's like an easter egg hunt trying to find drivers, since Creative can't be bothered with supplying their own drivers for products that haven't been sold in a while.
You ask him to cite a reference, but then make a statement that shows you don't read references. Mercury is still present in most vaccines. It is listed under the name Thiomersal/Thimerosal. Some will tell you that it has been phased out. That is also incorrect. The FDA has recommended *phasing* it out, and most vaccines have far reduced levels of mercury. But, and get this - you have to read the labels, they still contain "trace amounts of Thiomersal". And the arguments against mercury in vaccines don't take into account the amount administered. They are concerned with how particular people can or cannot properly process it. Even trace amounts, according to the line of reasoning, can be harmful.
Now, that may end up being a red herring. I don't think that any of us know enough yet to know for sure. At the same time, forcing the vaccination millions of people against a few strains of HPV is ridiculous when the effect on public health is minimal. And despite the propaganda you have been hearing, the actual amount of cases that are tied to cervical cancer are very low, and the amount of HPV strains causing said cancer are underreported.
Couple this with the fact that AFAIK you may not sue a company for a vaccine which did you or your family harm (not in the U.S. at least). So, where is your recourse when in the course of a state-mandated vaccination for HPV, your daughter is rendered an injury from which she may not recover?
Vaccination having been around "for over a century" has nothing to do with safety. One of our most successful vaccinations was for Smallpox, and many people died as a result of the administration of the vaccine. However, the risk to people not receiving the vaccine was so great that it could be argued that it was justified. One cannot make the same argument for HPV. We would be better served against HPV by increasing cleanliness in restrooms, not screwing anyone who will agree to it (a difficult concept for those less selective, I know), and making sure everyone, including M.D.s, who still don't seem to get it, washes their hands. That last part comes from personal knowledge, having witnessed many Doctors not washing their hands in between patients. It is proven by real numbers, far greater than HPV numbers, of deaths related to unsanitary behavior in hospitals, caused by Super-Staph and other infections.
That is indeed what lots of doctors think. Until you have them bring in the label, and it will say on there "Contains trace amounts of Thiomersal/Thimerosal. If you are ever in the market for a vaccine, take a look at the container.
:). Especially since it seems that mercury levels in the fish we are eating are increasing. Then again, mercury may have nothing to do with it.
I say this as someone who got all the shots available myself, and am still around to talk about it. As for cases of Autism increasing since the lessening dosages of mercury in vaccines, correlation does not equal causation
In any case, no one should be forced to medicate without evidence of a serious epidemic, which HPV-related cervical cancer is not. I'd be a lot more worried about the return of smallpox, myself. Unfortunately, forced medication is becoming a more common theme, after a brief hiatus. For example, temporary loss of custody to administer eye-drops to babies and forcing Ritalin/Adderal prescriptions on hyperactive (or not so hyperactive) kids. Remember, it was not so long ago that women were forced into anesthesia during childbirth, not permitted to breastfeed, and psych patients were treated to torturous inhumanities such as EST, lobotomy, and not very effective psychoactive drugs. Returning to that society, even if it is to "think of the children!", would be a travesty.
Before you dismiss his argument based on your personal belief in the "System", you should take the opportunity to see if his claim is valid. For example, you might read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controvers y
Mercury is present in most vaccine formulations, in at least "trace amounts". It seems that some people are able to process this without an issue, but there is suspicion that many of the vaccine-related issues that have been correlated to vaccinations may be a result of a lesser ability, or worse luck, in processing the mercury content. While this may end up being a red herring, considering that the FDA has recommended removing all but trace amounts of Thiomersal, I don't think we should ignore it.
It is certainly admirable to want to reduce the suffering of people through vaccination. At the same time, vaccinations should never be considered "safe". Just as with Tylenol, or Sudafed, the risks should always be conveyed to the potential recipient. They should be allowed, without fear of repercussion (some rumors floating about that public education will be denied for those who refuse it) to evaluate the risks and benefits and decide for themselves. Despite all of the drug company propaganda, you will be hard pressed to find someone who won't take a vaccine for a serious issue that they are at risk of injury from.
While you are at it, think about the fact that despite "8 1/2 years of research", no long term studies have been performed to rate the efficacy of this vaccine over time for the strains it is supposed to prevent. Most of the people arguing that the vaccine should be mandatory are also using straw-man arguments against "religious, anti-sex freaks". For them, it is a crusade against what they perceive to be ignorance. Maybe some people who object to the vaccine are ignorant. But blindly supporting it is just as ignorant, even if you can quote the drug company's research. Meanwhile, those of us who take a cautious route to medicating ourselves and our children will be railroaded for the sake of community immunity of a few strains of HPV, infection by which a very small percentage of people will develop cervical cancer. Very, very small.
Speaking of cautious, this is just another reason to look at increasing cleanliness in public restrooms. Not that any amount of cleanliness would convince me to sit down in one. Even if it is just a Gary Larson-esque "Didn't wash hands!" flashing light outside of the bathrooms (classic!).
I'm not shooting this stuff. My customers are. When you become a successful photographer, $5000 for a one day shoot is not that much. After all, you are not on a shoot every day, and you have to keep your portfolio up-to-date, pay your agent (which many high-level photographers have), not to mention keeping your family in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to :).
:).
If you think of the cost of running an ad campaign, you don't want to mess with a novice photographer, so hiring a pro is really a small portion of your overall expense. And it pays dividends. Of course, because some of these photographers are my customers, I am not completely without bias
I would agree with most of what you are saying. However, I am seeing more and more pro-photographers doing the post processing themselves. Several that I work with have bought Aperture, a newer high-end Mac (MacBook Pros, mostly) and easily paid for it by not having to hire a tech to do the grunt work (grunt work which costs a lot of money). Those who do fashion/"on location" stuff have really shaved a lot off of their budget. Hiring a good tech was costing them thousands per day on the shoot. Now, they do a lot of the post processing themselves, and they are very happy with *both* Aperture *and* Lightroom.
Now that Lightroom is a fully-fledged commercial product (as opposed to a Beta downloadable for free) I have a feeling they will drop the ducats to get it. $200 is nothing when you are billing $5000-$7000/day. Even if you are just shooting sports, the time savings and saving the use of a tech or lab makes it almost instantly pay for itself.
Parent does not seem to be a troll, just differently opinioned.
Umm... People using Panther on their Mac do not have a "Boot Camp"-compatible Mac
I've seen this in action, when FP decided to change some accounts (not all) to a different form of PPP (I think PPPOA VCMUX), and "forgot" to change some of the modems. It was like a giant guessing game for who had what.
If you were the guys handling this area 1 year ago, then I don't think this tech works for you, unless he is an anomaly. He really lacked basic knowledge.
Star Command was a great SSI game, CGA/EGA, loads of fun. They should bring it back. You have to use moslo (a slow down utility) or similar to run it now. Has a great storyline that can easily be expanded. Speaking of, there is also the Starflight 3 project, which has been in development for years, and really needs to be finished. Those two games were excellent.
Ah! I think I know some of you guys. I had to call at times on behalf of my customers in the Taconic area. You guys were pretty competent. Recently, after Fairpoint installed a "Barracuda" in the area, all of my customers who had ISP mail accounts stopped receiving most mail. They were told repeatedly by support that their clients were set up incorrectly, that their firewalls were blocking it, etc. I stopped at the first customers place, ran some tests, everything looked ok. I called support and asked for the webmail address, which I wanted to confirm was ispcontrolpanel.com. He told me that was not the place to go. He started looking up the correct webmail address, and starts to read to me "Go to www.isp... oh yeah! ispcontrolpanel.com!". I was like, "Holy crap! This guy is dumber than a box of rocks". So I go there, no mail there, and no spam control settings. I say to him, "Is there some other site to go to for spam filter management". He didn't know. I start poking around, and find that on the local isp's home page there is a new login section for spam control. I log in, and it's a Barracuda. And it has blocked everything. Doesn't matter how unspam-like.
Ended up whitelisting the customers contacts, and referring them to that section for further action. Didn't bother telling the tech support guy that he should know what equipment the customer needs to deal with, and the answer shouldn't just be "turn off your firewall." I figure Fairpoint never let the Tech support people know, so the blame is like 60/40.
In any case, I never had problems like that when I think you guys were handling the support. Except that customers couldn't get their passwords from you, and after hours customer service was closed.
At least around here, Fairpoint has incredibly slow speeds for very high prices. In those areas where they have a "natural monopoly", they offer 768/256 for $45/month, or 1.5/512 for $99/month. Right down the road, in the next town over, you have a choice between Verizon, One Communications, or the cable company. Verizon is $39 for 3.0/768, One Communications is $35 for 5.0/768 or so, and the Cable company is $50 for 3.0/256.
Fairpoint is nothing more than a conglomerate company, formerly MJD, that buys small telcos, and "consolidates" them, keeping the names as a shell to make people think they still have a local phone company. There is less service, their technical support (outsourced) doesn't even know the equipment they are using.
So before you go assuming that smaller companies=better service, you may want to consult some of Fairpoint's customers. Fairpoint has lost business in the areas where people had a choice, which is probably why they sold their long distance business customers to Choice One (now One communications) a few years ago.
Haven't researched that, but somehow I doubt we had to convince them. It was probably just the currency that had the right combination of stability and liquidity. And it can't be melted and it's origins disguised (which is useful to some).
"I do miss "pint", we have no word for half a litre. It is usually called "a large beer" (what else would you measure in pints), but in some German inspired pubs "a large beer" would one litre. It is so much simpler to just order a "pint" in an UK pub."
So true, though to be frank we have some problem with pints in America, as low-class joints give you an American Pint (16oz.) instead of the 20oz Imperial pints that higher quality vendors provide, along with more comfortable to hold glasses/steins/mugs. Speaking of mugs, Fuller's had a really great mug several years back that was close to perfection.
"Whereas the metre is defined (as I'm sure you know) as "...the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second"
:).
I am aware that it is based upon the speed of light, which is fine as long as no one ever discovers that that measurement was incorrect
As far as U.S. standard measurements being based on metric, it's obviously a weakness as new advances recently made by the community of light particles is going to enable them to increase their speeds by 12% and increase fuel efficiency by 3mpg.
When you are dealing with exports, though, will it have to be labelled "500g" as well? Because then we are in the same mess of trying to make everything fit the metric system, as opposed to just using what has worked for centuries.
Thanks for the info, that is a pretty interesting of trying to solve the problem, and apparently an admission on the part of the Danes that using simpler measurements are, well, more simple.
It's not our job to calculate the expenses of foreign nations. And you don't need *expensive* studies to find out whether it will be more expensive. Our entire infrastructure is built on standard. There is no tangible benefit to switching to metric. The costs to businesses would be enormous, and there is no corresponding reward at the end of the tunnel.
We can already see that those who want metric feel the need to force it on everyone. In Britain, Grocers have been fined for trying to stick to Imperial. In America, if you want to measure something in metric, you are allowed. But the industries have found that consumers prefer standard. We like standard. Just because you don't, doesn't mean we should switch.
Again, the burden of proof needs to be on those who want everyone to change. If you were to show people that they as a nation would save many billions of dollars switching to your system, at no harm to them, they probably would do it. The reason why Metric supporters use lackluster arguments on why we should switch, based on the sheep principle, is because they have no compelling arguments. We don't need to be followers in this country. In fact, no nations goal should be that of "follow the leader".
So you are saying that 500g is easier to deal with than 1lb? It may be easier than 454 grams, but not easier than 1lb. One is a pretty nice number to deal with, and 1lb can be stated in 2 syllables, where as 500g is 4 syllables. All for no gain. 454 grams is 6 or 7 syllables, depending on how you phrase it.
Same goes for the measurements in "stones" (which I have never used, being a fat American). One syllable. Easier than saying kilograms or kilos. Besides, you act as if we should switch just to make someone else happy. Maybe we should switch to the Euro while we are at it, that way we won't have to convert currencies back and forth. That would make your life easier. Then we could make sure that everyone spells color "colour" and civilization can only be spelled "civilisation". Hell, why don't we all switch to Esperanto. Then there would be no language barrier. Don't bother continuing to try to document Indian languages. Our forefathers were right to make them all use English in school.
In fact, why don't we just form one happy little commune, where we can all live in peace. We can distribute things to each person according to their need. And they will work in the position that will best help society as a whole. Great Idea(tm). I think you should start a revolution based on these principles. Just make sure those "intellectuals" are taken care of. They tend to cause trouble.
It gets tiring when I have to hear it drummed in over and again how wonderful the metric system is, and how it will improve our lives. It's just a measurement system! It makes no sense for us to switch everything for the sake of conformity, when there is nothing to gain.
Besides which, I don't own a yardstick (and I own some old ones!) that don't also have a metric measure on one side. Old mom and pop hardware store yardsticks (one went out of business 35 years ago) are included.
I am sure that if U.S. citizens were asked which they would prefer for their system of measurement, standard would win over metric by a significant margin. Case solved, as they are the ones who are paying the tab.
I wonder how much longer we can post in this thread; I've never had one last this long.
Well, I think that the "majority" of people would put the burden of proof on the person looking to change the way things are, rather than the one who sticks to tried and true.
Majority is not how progress is made. Progress is made by those who not only have a vision, but have the desire and ability to back the vision. You can say that the nation with the most people is China, and therefore their systems should be used. Political systems, systems of funding scientific projects, systems of government, etc.
Now, certainly it would be nice to have the majority on our side. But variety is nice. Just like it is nice to have the British pound. I miss the franc, and the other currencies that have been replaced by the incredibly boring "Euro". We don't need to have the majority on our side. What NASA needs, and therefore we as a nation need, are visionaries who have the scientific, physical, engineering, and practical knowledge and the courage to strive for new discoveries.
We need more money put into the system, and better management of the money (though the second is often incompatible with the first). Technically, our conversations of the metric system in this forum are quite useless, as the decision has been made, and won't be changed based on our activities here. But trumpeting this switch is ridiculous. Switching to metric in any of our environments will cost more than it will ever net us.
Besides, it's charming when someone asks for a "nine-steenths"
"Besides, I defy to prove that your american made tractor would have been a lesser tractor if it had been made using metrics instead of "imperial" measurements. The quality of the recources, workmanship and materials involved are not derived from the measurments after all."
Your point makes no sense, as we are not asking Europeans to change their system. Unfortunately, despite all of our successes, pressures from both inside and outside our nation are wasting our time and resources switching to a system which is not superior to ours.