Yeah, the problem is that I got it from snpp.com and they've got it spelled wrong. (At least twice, actually.) You'll see that I posted a correction myself. I'm going to contact them and get that changed. 'Spacious' reasoning makes no sense.:P
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm. Lisa: That's spacious reasoning, Dad. Homer: Thank you, dear. Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away. Homer: Oh, how does it work? Lisa: It doesn't work. Homer: Uh-huh. Lisa: It's just a stupid rock. Homer: Uh-huh. Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
[Homer thinks of this, then pulls out some money] Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
[Lisa refuses at first, then takes the exchange]
Just because you haven't suffered another attack doesn't mean that your country is safer, or Bush has done his job. I'm not saying he hasn't, but you're attributing to causality what you can only attribute to correlation. It's like me BLAMING Bush for the attacks because there weren't any attacks on the U.S. before he came along.
If you're legally blind, I believe that you just alert the people at the polling station, and they send someone behind the cardboard thing with you so that they can read out the choices and mark down the vote. You can probably also go into an electoral office beforehand and cast your ballot early in a similar manner.
If you're used to emacs-like movement, certain simple keystrokes are available by default.
Ctrl-a - beginning of line Ctrl-e - end of line Ctrl-n - next line Ctrl-p - previous line Ctrl-f - forward one character Ctrl-b - back one character Ctrl-k - kill line Ctrl-y - yank line (ie. paste previously killed) Ctrl-d - delete forward character (delete) Ctrl-h - delete previous character (backspace)
There's probably more, but those are the ones that I use at least semi-regularily. (Well, not the last two, but I figured I'd throw them in anyway.)
Even if they are looking for an engineer with wireless and video experience, it doesn't necessarily mean that the iPod is going to change a lot, or become significantly more complex. The iPod DOES have a display; maybe it needs optimizing. The iPod connects to various devices, so maybe cordless updating of your music is an option. (Cordless updating whenever you got near to your computer would be a simplification in some ways.)
I wouldn't worry about Apple putting out a video iPod or a wireless super-iPod all-in-one doohickey. Sometimes experience in diverse areas gives you an advantage even if you aren't directly working on those things in your current position.
Optical disks have been through this before, actually. The R/W optical drive on my NeXTCube used discs that were in a permanent caddy. Minidiscs use the same thing. It's no big deal.
You're talking to one. I abandoned Linux last year in favour of OS X. Linux was a great stopgap, so that I didn't have to use windows, but now that I can have a desktop UNIX machine that has a usable GUI that I don't have to spend time administering, I'm all over that business.
There are lots more like me, but I don't think that we're statistically significant. I agree that most people are going to be migrating away from Windows to Linux or OS X, as opposed to Linux and Apple folk migrating to the other non-Windows OS.
Despite that, GMail correctly identifies that I'm NOT using IE, and that Opera isn't supported yet. I'm not sure how accurate that sort of thing is, but if anyone is going to get it right, Google probably will.
Because one of the places in the world that they were talking about was China, where software piracy is rampant. The Chinese SEEM to be accepting Linux quite readily, but it may be that they just want the cheap machine so they can install a pirate copy of Windows on it.
Re:Apple is still ahead
on
Linux vs. Windows
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Well, this also lends credence to the argument that Macs are still ahead on the desktop. What they're trying to drive at is that Linux is being used as a desktop operating system more than OS 9/X is, which seems untrue, based on things like the Google numbers. Because people are buying desktop machines and using them as servers, they don't really count towards the " on the desktop" numbers.
That's a pretty empty statement. All systems started as open systems, way back in the day. From where I'm standing, the closed systems have taken over. Maybe there'll come a day when the open systems take back their share, but to assert it like that makes no sense.
1) Closed systems command market share vs. open systems. 2) A miracle occurs, or a wizard casts a spell, or something... 3) Open systems dominate.
The fact that it happened with one closed system vs. one open system proves nothing other than it's POSSIBLE for an open system to overtake a closed one.
Once again, rumours of Apple's demise are greatly exaggerated.
This story from Wired basically claims that the PCs that are sold with Linux that are driving up the percentage are immediately being wiped and reinstalled with a pirated version of Windows. According to Google's stats, only about 1% of searches are done from Linux machines, compared with about 3% for Macs.
You know what I did to get Visual Studio to behave?
I ditched it, and went back to emacs. I only use Visual Studio for debugging (because the debugger is quite nice, actually. Plus, what choice did I have?:D)
I found the command line switches I needed for compiling, and I can do everything except debugging and source control through emacs, and I'm sure I could do the source control if I cared that much. It's easier to use the SC app on its own, anyway.
I think the most important part of the story is that people are trying to play both ends against the middle. On one hand, they're buying vehicles over 6000lbs ON PURPOSE for the tax break. When they're told that they can't drive a vehicle that large on the road, they claim that the gross weight may vary by a bit, and their vehicle is just slightly UNDER 6000lbs. So, the people that do the MOST damage to the roads are getting a tax break for it!
That's just wrong. If I lived in the states I'd be furious. As it is, I'm pretty aghast at it.
Because of the way that people name their methods and variables now (int IHaveToDoABunchOfNiftyStuffHere( INT nThisIsAReallyImportantInt ) ) 80 columns isn't particularily feasible. That said, I don't understand why people don't just standardize on a column width and stick with it. When I first started working here, I tried to work within 80 columns, but my coworkers hated it when I reformatted their code, and I hated it when they touched mine. Now I format to 132 columns, and nobody really notices when I reformat their code to fit.
All the important stuff happens at the END of the line. It's where the actual methods get called and the work gets done. Seeing the beginning the line is usually entirely meaningless, and I hate scrolling to have to see the end of the line at 160 characters. I've already got my hands on the keyboard, and the mouse isn't a tool that I can use to input code, so it's just a waste of my time to put my hand on it. Most editors even indent and format the code pretty nicely if you manually break the line in a language like C or C++ which don't care about whitespace.
It doesn't really matter what the column width is as long as 1) Everyone sticks to it 2) You don't have to scroll to see the end of the line.
Anybody can make political speeches. He's not running for office, and his position isn't being 'bought' by Apple, which is the normal implication that people make when saying that someone belongs to the board of directors for some corporation or another. Anyone, even a former politician, is allowed to make political statements. Just because people listen to him but don't look twice at you when you're making a political statement doesn't mean he's still in politics.
By your definition, none of us can ever exit from politics, and if we ever sat on a board of directors, we'd be on the take.
Al Gore joined Apple's board of directors long after he exited from politics. There's nothing wrong with serving on the board of directors of a company, as long as you believe that there's nothing wrong with big multinationals in the first place.
I didn't forget about income tax. Not only do I mention that Newfoundland\Labrador has the highest maximum tax rate in the country, but I work out how much tax you would pay if you lived in Alberta, the province with the lowest total tax rate in the country.
You pay 7% GST on all goods and services no matter where you are, and there's a provincial tax of varying rates everywhere except Alberta. I acknowledged later that people do have to pay these things, except that I feel that they're 'opt in' taxes, since you don't have to pay them if you don't partake in those goods or services. Groceries aren't subject to GST.
So, given that I drive very little, don't spend a lot on random items, and don't drink, I don't pay a lot of these taxes. I may be somewhat anomalous, but I'm not a penny-pincher by any means. I DO own a car, I own several bicycles, and I do have computers and a house.
UI isn't a 'service fee'. If you're unemployed, it pays out. It's part of our social safety net, but it's not a tax so much as a forced savings plan. The same goes for CPP.
The 911 tax on your phone bill is so negligible, I bet you find enough tax-free money on the ground during a year to pay for it.
The AVERAGE Canadian citizen certainly doesn't pay 50% tax, even under these circumstances. You'd have to be making over $113,000 a year and buying a lot of booze to be taxed at 50%.
Keep track of your taxes for a year. I'm sure you don't pay more than 40% in taxes, total, even with this kind of spending. The progressive tax system doesn't allow for paying as much taxes as you think. Even at the highest tax bracket, you have to keep in mind that only money OVER $113,000 is taxed at 47%. Everything else is taxed at a much lower rate.
I got a 10GB 3G iPod for Christmas last year. So, less than 12 months ago, for $299, you got a 10GB iPod, no dock, no accessories.
You can now get TWICE as much space for the same price in less than a year.
You say that you'd be willing to pay $200 for an iPod. I assume that means you could easily set that money aside and just go out and buy one if it took your fancy. Here's a suggestion: take that $200 and put it aside right now. For the next four months, put aside one dollar. You'll have the money you need in no time! You may even have a few dollars left over to buy some tunes at the music store.
Stop being so very whiny. They're giving a lot more to the buyer for the same amount of money. The value increases with each generation, even if the cost is the same.
There's an adage that I've heard: An American is distrustful of someone that's poor, while a Canadian is distrustful of someone that's rich.
As for your question, yes, rich people DO use more infrastructure. They tend to have bigger houses, further away from their place of work, more vehicles, bigger vehicles, require more bureaucracy to support them (because they have more governmental needs in the way of businesses owned, etc., etc.), etc.
Despite the fact that the percentages are the same, that $2500 is actually more meaningful to the poorer person than that $25000 is to the more wealthy person. The wealthy person won't have trouble making ends meet, looking after their kids or paying their mortgage. That $2500 may mean that the poorer guy is always scraping by. That $25000 may mean that the wealthier person can't invest as much in the stock market this year, or pay for a car outright.
What a progressive tax system tries to do (in my mind) is distribute equal BURDEN across all people, so that they can equally contribute to the functioning of society. It's a social responsibility to maintain infrastructure that you may never use, and to pay for services that you may never see, because it means that society as a whole is more productive. If society is generally more productive and safer, your life is better, even if your taxes are higher.
I don't think everyone should be 'equally destitute' as you say, but as I make more money, I'm happy to pay my taxes as I move through the tax brackets. Paying my taxes means that everyone gets to use good roads, enjoy a health care system that takes care of them regardless of income, and partake in the arts and culture of this country. At this point, it may well have become something of a cultural thing in Canada to not mind 'higher' taxes, since we all feel that we get something from them.
Personally, I've never heard a good argument for flat taxes. The people that make them are ALWAYS more wealthy, because they seek to widen the respective social burden that is laid on them.
I already addressed this. The 29% tax bracket only applies to your income between $70,000 and $113,000. All of your other money is taxed at a lower rate. This is what's meant by a progressive tax system. A person that makes $120,000 a year doesn't have 47% of taxes shaved right off the top. That wouldn't make any sense. It would mean that at a certain point, you'd be better off making LESS money to stay in a smaller tax bracket, so that you could keep more of what you make. It's still always better to make more money, no matter what tax bracket you end up. By jumping into the next bracket, you'll never take home less than what you would have before you moved up.
That's not quite true. I don't get the GST rebate anymore, 'cause I make too much money. (I really loved getting it when I was a student, though.)
The thing about these sales taxes and things is that everyone, everywhere has to pay them. By that, I mean that Americans pay taxes on their gas, and booze, and property, and capital gains, etc. The main complaint of Canadians is that our income tax is close to 50% of our incomes, which is entirely not true. (A friend of mine, who's the son of an accountant, erroneously believed that our tax brackets applied to all your income. So if you were in the 29% tax bracket, 29% of your entire income was taken away.)
As I said in a different response, PST/GST and other such taxes rely on you being a consumer and buying things. I don't buy a lot of stuff, don't drive, smoke or drink, and I'm fairly confident that I don't pay 50% of my income out in taxes.
(Incidentally, I agree that we have too much government. Ideally, I'd like to see provincial governments removed. The logistical problems that existed when the country was founded no longer exist. Because of various means of high-speed communication and transportation, I feel that the only governments that are necessary are the Federal and Municipal. Those that don't live in cities would have elected representatives to act in lieu of a municipal government.)
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Yeah, the problem is that I got it from snpp.com and they've got it spelled wrong. (At least twice, actually.) You'll see that I posted a correction myself. I'm going to contact them and get that changed. 'Spacious' reasoning makes no sense. :P
BTW, sorry about the misspelling of 'specious'. That's what I get for copying and pasting the text without spellchecking it first.
That's a tiger rock.
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
Lisa: That's spacious reasoning, Dad.
Homer: Thank you, dear.
Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Oh, how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: It's just a stupid rock.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
[Homer thinks of this, then pulls out some money]
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
[Lisa refuses at first, then takes the exchange]
Just because you haven't suffered another attack doesn't mean that your country is safer, or Bush has done his job. I'm not saying he hasn't, but you're attributing to causality what you can only attribute to correlation. It's like me BLAMING Bush for the attacks because there weren't any attacks on the U.S. before he came along.
So when a Premium Customer buys the product, the box says right on it, "Windows is not even remotely Secure"?
That's really all the advance warning that anyone needs.
If you're legally blind, I believe that you just alert the people at the polling station, and they send someone behind the cardboard thing with you so that they can read out the choices and mark down the vote. You can probably also go into an electoral office beforehand and cast your ballot early in a similar manner.
If you're used to emacs-like movement, certain simple keystrokes are available by default.
Ctrl-a - beginning of line
Ctrl-e - end of line
Ctrl-n - next line
Ctrl-p - previous line
Ctrl-f - forward one character
Ctrl-b - back one character
Ctrl-k - kill line
Ctrl-y - yank line (ie. paste previously killed)
Ctrl-d - delete forward character (delete)
Ctrl-h - delete previous character (backspace)
There's probably more, but those are the ones that I use at least semi-regularily. (Well, not the last two, but I figured I'd throw them in anyway.)
Even if they are looking for an engineer with wireless and video experience, it doesn't necessarily mean that the iPod is going to change a lot, or become significantly more complex. The iPod DOES have a display; maybe it needs optimizing. The iPod connects to various devices, so maybe cordless updating of your music is an option. (Cordless updating whenever you got near to your computer would be a simplification in some ways.)
I wouldn't worry about Apple putting out a video iPod or a wireless super-iPod all-in-one doohickey. Sometimes experience in diverse areas gives you an advantage even if you aren't directly working on those things in your current position.
Optical disks have been through this before, actually. The R/W optical drive on my NeXTCube used discs that were in a permanent caddy. Minidiscs use the same thing. It's no big deal.
You're talking to one. I abandoned Linux last year in favour of OS X. Linux was a great stopgap, so that I didn't have to use windows, but now that I can have a desktop UNIX machine that has a usable GUI that I don't have to spend time administering, I'm all over that business.
There are lots more like me, but I don't think that we're statistically significant. I agree that most people are going to be migrating away from Windows to Linux or OS X, as opposed to Linux and Apple folk migrating to the other non-Windows OS.
Despite that, GMail correctly identifies that I'm NOT using IE, and that Opera isn't supported yet. I'm not sure how accurate that sort of thing is, but if anyone is going to get it right, Google probably will.
Because one of the places in the world that they were talking about was China, where software piracy is rampant. The Chinese SEEM to be accepting Linux quite readily, but it may be that they just want the cheap machine so they can install a pirate copy of Windows on it.
Well, this also lends credence to the argument that Macs are still ahead on the desktop. What they're trying to drive at is that Linux is being used as a desktop operating system more than OS 9/X is, which seems untrue, based on things like the Google numbers. Because people are buying desktop machines and using them as servers, they don't really count towards the " on the desktop" numbers.
That's a pretty empty statement. All systems started as open systems, way back in the day. From where I'm standing, the closed systems have taken over. Maybe there'll come a day when the open systems take back their share, but to assert it like that makes no sense.
1) Closed systems command market share vs. open systems.
2) A miracle occurs, or a wizard casts a spell, or something...
3) Open systems dominate.
The fact that it happened with one closed system vs. one open system proves nothing other than it's POSSIBLE for an open system to overtake a closed one.
Once again, rumours of Apple's demise are greatly exaggerated.
This story from Wired basically claims that the PCs that are sold with Linux that are driving up the percentage are immediately being wiped and reinstalled with a pirated version of Windows. According to Google's stats, only about 1% of searches are done from Linux machines, compared with about 3% for Macs.
You know what I did to get Visual Studio to behave?
:D)
I ditched it, and went back to emacs. I only use Visual Studio for debugging (because the debugger is quite nice, actually. Plus, what choice did I have?
I found the command line switches I needed for compiling, and I can do everything except debugging and source control through emacs, and I'm sure I could do the source control if I cared that much. It's easier to use the SC app on its own, anyway.
I think the most important part of the story is that people are trying to play both ends against the middle. On one hand, they're buying vehicles over 6000lbs ON PURPOSE for the tax break. When they're told that they can't drive a vehicle that large on the road, they claim that the gross weight may vary by a bit, and their vehicle is just slightly UNDER 6000lbs. So, the people that do the MOST damage to the roads are getting a tax break for it!
That's just wrong. If I lived in the states I'd be furious. As it is, I'm pretty aghast at it.
Because of the way that people name their methods and variables now (int IHaveToDoABunchOfNiftyStuffHere( INT nThisIsAReallyImportantInt ) ) 80 columns isn't particularily feasible. That said, I don't understand why people don't just standardize on a column width and stick with it. When I first started working here, I tried to work within 80 columns, but my coworkers hated it when I reformatted their code, and I hated it when they touched mine. Now I format to 132 columns, and nobody really notices when I reformat their code to fit.
All the important stuff happens at the END of the line. It's where the actual methods get called and the work gets done. Seeing the beginning the line is usually entirely meaningless, and I hate scrolling to have to see the end of the line at 160 characters. I've already got my hands on the keyboard, and the mouse isn't a tool that I can use to input code, so it's just a waste of my time to put my hand on it. Most editors even indent and format the code pretty nicely if you manually break the line in a language like C or C++ which don't care about whitespace.
It doesn't really matter what the column width is as long as
1) Everyone sticks to it
2) You don't have to scroll to see the end of the line.
Anybody can make political speeches. He's not running for office, and his position isn't being 'bought' by Apple, which is the normal implication that people make when saying that someone belongs to the board of directors for some corporation or another. Anyone, even a former politician, is allowed to make political statements. Just because people listen to him but don't look twice at you when you're making a political statement doesn't mean he's still in politics.
By your definition, none of us can ever exit from politics, and if we ever sat on a board of directors, we'd be on the take.
Al Gore joined Apple's board of directors long after he exited from politics. There's nothing wrong with serving on the board of directors of a company, as long as you believe that there's nothing wrong with big multinationals in the first place.
Go to the top of the thread, and read it again. At least one person challenged the validity of the Fraser Institute's tax freedom day calculation.
I didn't forget about income tax. Not only do I mention that Newfoundland\Labrador has the highest maximum tax rate in the country, but I work out how much tax you would pay if you lived in Alberta, the province with the lowest total tax rate in the country.
You pay 7% GST on all goods and services no matter where you are, and there's a provincial tax of varying rates everywhere except Alberta. I acknowledged later that people do have to pay these things, except that I feel that they're 'opt in' taxes, since you don't have to pay them if you don't partake in those goods or services. Groceries aren't subject to GST.
So, given that I drive very little, don't spend a lot on random items, and don't drink, I don't pay a lot of these taxes. I may be somewhat anomalous, but I'm not a penny-pincher by any means. I DO own a car, I own several bicycles, and I do have computers and a house.
UI isn't a 'service fee'. If you're unemployed, it pays out. It's part of our social safety net, but it's not a tax so much as a forced savings plan. The same goes for CPP.
The 911 tax on your phone bill is so negligible, I bet you find enough tax-free money on the ground during a year to pay for it.
The AVERAGE Canadian citizen certainly doesn't pay 50% tax, even under these circumstances. You'd have to be making over $113,000 a year and buying a lot of booze to be taxed at 50%.
Keep track of your taxes for a year. I'm sure you don't pay more than 40% in taxes, total, even with this kind of spending. The progressive tax system doesn't allow for paying as much taxes as you think. Even at the highest tax bracket, you have to keep in mind that only money OVER $113,000 is taxed at 47%. Everything else is taxed at a much lower rate.
I got a 10GB 3G iPod for Christmas last year. So, less than 12 months ago, for $299, you got a 10GB iPod, no dock, no accessories.
You can now get TWICE as much space for the same price in less than a year.
You say that you'd be willing to pay $200 for an iPod. I assume that means you could easily set that money aside and just go out and buy one if it took your fancy. Here's a suggestion: take that $200 and put it aside right now. For the next four months, put aside one dollar. You'll have the money you need in no time! You may even have a few dollars left over to buy some tunes at the music store.
Stop being so very whiny. They're giving a lot more to the buyer for the same amount of money. The value increases with each generation, even if the cost is the same.
There's an adage that I've heard: An American is distrustful of someone that's poor, while a Canadian is distrustful of someone that's rich.
As for your question, yes, rich people DO use more infrastructure. They tend to have bigger houses, further away from their place of work, more vehicles, bigger vehicles, require more bureaucracy to support them (because they have more governmental needs in the way of businesses owned, etc., etc.), etc.
Despite the fact that the percentages are the same, that $2500 is actually more meaningful to the poorer person than that $25000 is to the more wealthy person. The wealthy person won't have trouble making ends meet, looking after their kids or paying their mortgage. That $2500 may mean that the poorer guy is always scraping by. That $25000 may mean that the wealthier person can't invest as much in the stock market this year, or pay for a car outright.
What a progressive tax system tries to do (in my mind) is distribute equal BURDEN across all people, so that they can equally contribute to the functioning of society. It's a social responsibility to maintain infrastructure that you may never use, and to pay for services that you may never see, because it means that society as a whole is more productive. If society is generally more productive and safer, your life is better, even if your taxes are higher.
I don't think everyone should be 'equally destitute' as you say, but as I make more money, I'm happy to pay my taxes as I move through the tax brackets. Paying my taxes means that everyone gets to use good roads, enjoy a health care system that takes care of them regardless of income, and partake in the arts and culture of this country. At this point, it may well have become something of a cultural thing in Canada to not mind 'higher' taxes, since we all feel that we get something from them.
Personally, I've never heard a good argument for flat taxes. The people that make them are ALWAYS more wealthy, because they seek to widen the respective social burden that is laid on them.
But hey, I'm no economist.
I already addressed this. The 29% tax bracket only applies to your income between $70,000 and $113,000. All of your other money is taxed at a lower rate. This is what's meant by a progressive tax system. A person that makes $120,000 a year doesn't have 47% of taxes shaved right off the top. That wouldn't make any sense. It would mean that at a certain point, you'd be better off making LESS money to stay in a smaller tax bracket, so that you could keep more of what you make. It's still always better to make more money, no matter what tax bracket you end up. By jumping into the next bracket, you'll never take home less than what you would have before you moved up.
:)
Just re-read my comment from the top.
That's not quite true. I don't get the GST rebate anymore, 'cause I make too much money. (I really loved getting it when I was a student, though.)
The thing about these sales taxes and things is that everyone, everywhere has to pay them. By that, I mean that Americans pay taxes on their gas, and booze, and property, and capital gains, etc. The main complaint of Canadians is that our income tax is close to 50% of our incomes, which is entirely not true. (A friend of mine, who's the son of an accountant, erroneously believed that our tax brackets applied to all your income. So if you were in the 29% tax bracket, 29% of your entire income was taken away.)
As I said in a different response, PST/GST and other such taxes rely on you being a consumer and buying things. I don't buy a lot of stuff, don't drive, smoke or drink, and I'm fairly confident that I don't pay 50% of my income out in taxes.
(Incidentally, I agree that we have too much government. Ideally, I'd like to see provincial governments removed. The logistical problems that existed when the country was founded no longer exist. Because of various means of high-speed communication and transportation, I feel that the only governments that are necessary are the Federal and Municipal. Those that don't live in cities would have elected representatives to act in lieu of a municipal government.)