So nobody believes in evolution because of evolution. Which to my mind pretty much proves that there's no intelligent designer involved in this process.
Unless the designer's motives are not what you think...
Until the NHS started up, and before the availability of fluoride in toothpaste (or water), our British teeth were spectacularly ugly. Look at any film footage of average Britons before about 1945, and weep. The standard of living of the contemporary American probably afforded them better dental care; and, I suspect, a certain cultural austerity would have meant that corrective procedures such as braces would be regarded by us Brits as extravagance and vanity.
- Simon Gilman, London UK
I think Simon Gilman has put it best. Having spent my first 20 years in America and 14 years since living in the UK, I find that the average Brit is satisfied with teeth that might be crooked, stained, even slightly rotten, if they aren't causing much discomfort to their owner. Average Americans have much higher standards of expectation in the state of their dental health -- regardless of whether they have to pay for dental treatment or not, they feel very strongly that good teeth are a wise investment in looks and health. Many visits to the dentist by average Brits happen only after something has gone horribly wrong with their teeth, whilst Americans take an actively preventative approach with semi-annual dental checkups and intervention before any problems become severe. As a result of the greater amount of attention that Americans pay to their teeth, they are far more likely to notice and comment on the state of other people's teeth.
- Wendy James, London UK
And this is just too funny not to include:
I don't know about the States, but here in Mexico the common phrase to describle 'wonky' teeth is 'dientes ingles' (English teeth).
- Iain Pearson, Mexico City Mexico
To be fair, while volume discounts may allow them to put their prices lower than the little guys could ever hope to match, they're not losing money or breaking even. Both are consistently showing more than half a billion in profits per quarter lately, and they still sell those sub-$500, extremely-competent-for-most-users PCs.
Most of the computer users I know aren't high-end gamers. And last time I checked (today), Dell and HP are still selling extremely competent PCs for <$500. When I say competent, I mean competent for the majority of home PC users, who want to surf the web, do email, use Office, listen to music, burn CDs, download movies, etc.
These guys made their big profits by driving the prices down, not up. They've never been worried about competition from chop shops that overclock OEM processors. Why? Because the vast majority of home computer users have been through PC troubleshooting one too many times to want to buy from anyone who doesn't have a reputation for good customer service.
Whether it's a short-sighted move by Intel or not, there is no big conspiracy going on to make it prohibitively expensive for us to play UT2k5.
"We chose 100km altitude because it is beyond the official 50-miles that the US Air Force recognizes as "worthy of astronaut wings" but not so high that the re-entry speed requires exotic heat shielding."
If you take a dump in a public bathroom you don't lose your privacy rights just because its a public place.
You do have a reasonable expectation of privacy from people looking at your 'nads, but you couldn't, say, invoke lawyer-client privilege just because you were taking a crap and your lawyer was in the stall talking with you. If a cop overheard what you were talking about, then the "no reasonable expectation of privacy" thing comes into play.
What next, speakers on the cameras so the cops can bark orders at you when you do something wrong?
Well, honestly, you shouldn't have qualms about somebody calling you on it when you break the law. Would you perhaps prefer that we lived in a nation without laws, or maybe just one where the laws weren't enforced? The laws are here to improve quality of life for the largest number of people (ideally). The cops are there to enforce the laws. Sure, sometimes a real sleaze bag gets into a position of power, but that's the neat thing about elections... Every few years you get to help pick who decides what's right or wrong. If you don't like the people currently in power, become an activist for another candidate. If you don't like either party, become an activist for reforming the voting system. Work for the Green party. Start your own party. Try to raise money. Write a book.
Do you think it's a violation of privacy to have cameras in the ATMs? They've caught criminals because they were unwittingly within viewing range of an ATM just before or after they had committed a crime... Was that an invasion of their privacy? I still don't see how putting up some cameras in the streets affects your privacy rights.
Look, I understand what you're saying, but we live in a country (more or less) guided by laws. And the way our laws are set up right now, "reasonable expectation of privacy" is a binary thing -- either you've got it or you don't. If you're out on the street, our laws say you don't. That means that undercover police, or a private investigator, or your nosy girlfriend, or some satellite in space has the legal right to record and anaylze any word you utter and to track every step you take (in public). So they've stepped it up a notch by making it easier for investigators to do that. But whether it's an in-the-flesh cop or a retired cop watching a screen, your rights have not changed because of this system. If you don't like the fact that your every move can be tracked and your every word recorded, it's not the cameras you should be pissed about. Work to get the laws changed, because that's what really matters.
Your point is well taken. I spent most of my time sitting on my bed with my laptop, waiting for a user to call/IM me with a problem/request. Got a lot of reading done during those months... What a job.
What about offshoring? It's a big concern for others in the tech fields, but doesn't seem to get mentioned that much in sysadmin discussions. Yet, I worked for five months as a sysadmin for a ~10-machine development environment in Toronto, Canada, and never left Austin, Texas. I just had a physical resource I could call there and say, "Go reset this box," or "On Saturday morning, we're going to replace so-and-so ethernet controller." So, I'm not India or Russia, but I did a pretty good job maintaining an environment from a thousand miles away...
Maybe the idea here is that by giving them a handout with potentially limitless educational value, we increase the odds that at least a few more of them will be motivated and have the resources to get out there and make it on their own.
I suppose you think fertilizer encourages laziness in plants...
Yeah, and then you can also claim innocence via ignorance when the RIAA or MPAA comes a-knockin... Unless they find the bits on your computer, they'd have no way of proving in court that you did the downloading.
Dell is the Walmart of computer hardware, it's cheap, it probably works okay for a while, but but eventually it's gonna crap the bed and you'll have to buy a new one.
What meaningless blather. I've owned several Dell computers, and they've all lasted beyond my needs (e.g., still have a 1995 200MHz P2 running at home).
And incidentally, while I know it's very fashionable to bash Wal-Mart (kinda like wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt), what everyone seems to forget is that Wal-Mart has made it possible for lower-class people to live more middle-class lives.
Since when is business streamlining seen as evil? What country do you think this is, anyway?
They're just telling you what risks are involved with using GPL'd software. And, they've got a point. The whole thing is a little socialist, and enforcement actions a little draconian.
Just out of curiosity, why don't more people release their code under the BSD license?
Of course the obivious solution for RIAA would be to use a more secure hash algorithm, with more bits. Unbroken algorithm with enough bits can't be faked, as it would take more than age of the universe to brute force it.
Everybody's getting all up in arms about the finer points of MD5 hashes, but the article doesn't actually say "MD5" anywhere. Maybe they are using a more secure hash. I know I would if I were programming for them.
Does anyone hate Arnold Schwarzenegger for using steroids and thereby acquiring what can only be described as superior (and not entirely natural) limbs? No. If he goes crazy with his overinflated biceps and starts bashing peoples' heads against a wall, the cops will still shoot him, "superior limbs" or no.
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So nobody believes in evolution because of evolution. Which to my mind pretty much proves that there's no intelligent designer involved in this process.
Unless the designer's motives are not what you think...
Korean lessons?
I'm not sure the stereotype is "from nowhere." Take a look at what some Brits have to say on the subject:
Until the NHS started up, and before the availability of fluoride in toothpaste (or water), our British teeth were spectacularly ugly. Look at any film footage of average Britons before about 1945, and weep. The standard of living of the contemporary American probably afforded them better dental care; and, I suspect, a certain cultural austerity would have meant that corrective procedures such as braces would be regarded by us Brits as extravagance and vanity.
- Simon Gilman, London UK
I think Simon Gilman has put it best. Having spent my first 20 years in America and 14 years since living in the UK, I find that the average Brit is satisfied with teeth that might be crooked, stained, even slightly rotten, if they aren't causing much discomfort to their owner. Average Americans have much higher standards of expectation in the state of their dental health -- regardless of whether they have to pay for dental treatment or not, they feel very strongly that good teeth are a wise investment in looks and health. Many visits to the dentist by average Brits happen only after something has gone horribly wrong with their teeth, whilst Americans take an actively preventative approach with semi-annual dental checkups and intervention before any problems become severe. As a result of the greater amount of attention that Americans pay to their teeth, they are far more likely to notice and comment on the state of other people's teeth.
- Wendy James, London UK
And this is just too funny not to include:
I don't know about the States, but here in Mexico the common phrase to describle 'wonky' teeth is 'dientes ingles' (English teeth).
- Iain Pearson, Mexico City Mexico
To be fair, while volume discounts may allow them to put their prices lower than the little guys could ever hope to match, they're not losing money or breaking even. Both are consistently showing more than half a billion in profits per quarter lately, and they still sell those sub-$500, extremely-competent-for-most-users PCs.
Dell
HP
Most of the computer users I know aren't high-end gamers. And last time I checked (today), Dell and HP are still selling extremely competent PCs for <$500. When I say competent, I mean competent for the majority of home PC users, who want to surf the web, do email, use Office, listen to music, burn CDs, download movies, etc.
These guys made their big profits by driving the prices down, not up. They've never been worried about competition from chop shops that overclock OEM processors. Why? Because the vast majority of home computer users have been through PC troubleshooting one too many times to want to buy from anyone who doesn't have a reputation for good customer service.
Whether it's a short-sighted move by Intel or not, there is no big conspiracy going on to make it prohibitively expensive for us to play UT2k5.
According to the X-Prize organization...
"We chose 100km altitude because it is beyond the official 50-miles that the US Air Force recognizes as "worthy of astronaut wings" but not so high that the re-entry speed requires exotic heat shielding."
Of course, there is the occasional janitor who just intuitively knows very complex math. Geez... Haven't you seen Good Will Hunting?
I've got a friend who does camera work on independent films and TV commercials... He was telling me that he's already done several projects with HD.
Also, there are apparently a few HD camcorders already on the market
If you take a dump in a public bathroom you don't lose your privacy rights just because its a public place.
You do have a reasonable expectation of privacy from people looking at your 'nads, but you couldn't, say, invoke lawyer-client privilege just because you were taking a crap and your lawyer was in the stall talking with you. If a cop overheard what you were talking about, then the "no reasonable expectation of privacy" thing comes into play.
What next, speakers on the cameras so the cops can bark orders at you when you do something wrong?
Well, honestly, you shouldn't have qualms about somebody calling you on it when you break the law. Would you perhaps prefer that we lived in a nation without laws, or maybe just one where the laws weren't enforced? The laws are here to improve quality of life for the largest number of people (ideally). The cops are there to enforce the laws. Sure, sometimes a real sleaze bag gets into a position of power, but that's the neat thing about elections... Every few years you get to help pick who decides what's right or wrong. If you don't like the people currently in power, become an activist for another candidate. If you don't like either party, become an activist for reforming the voting system. Work for the Green party. Start your own party. Try to raise money. Write a book.
Do you think it's a violation of privacy to have cameras in the ATMs? They've caught criminals because they were unwittingly within viewing range of an ATM just before or after they had committed a crime... Was that an invasion of their privacy? I still don't see how putting up some cameras in the streets affects your privacy rights.
Look, I understand what you're saying, but we live in a country (more or less) guided by laws. And the way our laws are set up right now, "reasonable expectation of privacy" is a binary thing -- either you've got it or you don't. If you're out on the street, our laws say you don't. That means that undercover police, or a private investigator, or your nosy girlfriend, or some satellite in space has the legal right to record and anaylze any word you utter and to track every step you take (in public). So they've stepped it up a notch by making it easier for investigators to do that. But whether it's an in-the-flesh cop or a retired cop watching a screen, your rights have not changed because of this system. If you don't like the fact that your every move can be tracked and your every word recorded, it's not the cameras you should be pissed about. Work to get the laws changed, because that's what really matters.
How about increasing a police force in the city so that a presence is seen?
;-)
Oh, yeah... I think we can all agree that more cops is usually the right solution...
He said cameras infringe on privacy rights and...
To be fair, you don't really have a reasonable expectation of privacy on the street in downtown Baltimore.
Ouch...
Your point is well taken. I spent most of my time sitting on my bed with my laptop, waiting for a user to call/IM me with a problem/request. Got a lot of reading done during those months... What a job.
What about offshoring? It's a big concern for others in the tech fields, but doesn't seem to get mentioned that much in sysadmin discussions. Yet, I worked for five months as a sysadmin for a ~10-machine development environment in Toronto, Canada, and never left Austin, Texas. I just had a physical resource I could call there and say, "Go reset this box," or "On Saturday morning, we're going to replace so-and-so ethernet controller." So, I'm not India or Russia, but I did a pretty good job maintaining an environment from a thousand miles away...
Maybe the idea here is that by giving them a handout with potentially limitless educational value, we increase the odds that at least a few more of them will be motivated and have the resources to get out there and make it on their own.
I suppose you think fertilizer encourages laziness in plants...
Yeah, and then they'll give you a handheld running Windows CE... Might wanna rethink this plan.
...riiiight... and that's why cell phones just don't work in NYC, right?
...how does Japan manage to stay lightyears ahead of everyone else in wireless?
It's a whole lot cheaper (especially per user) to deploy all-new equipment on a very small, very densly-populated island.
Yeah, and then you can also claim innocence via ignorance when the RIAA or MPAA comes a-knockin... Unless they find the bits on your computer, they'd have no way of proving in court that you did the downloading.
Dell is the Walmart of computer hardware, it's cheap, it probably works okay for a while, but but eventually it's gonna crap the bed and you'll have to buy a new one.
What meaningless blather. I've owned several Dell computers, and they've all lasted beyond my needs (e.g., still have a 1995 200MHz P2 running at home).
And incidentally, while I know it's very fashionable to bash Wal-Mart (kinda like wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt), what everyone seems to forget is that Wal-Mart has made it possible for lower-class people to live more middle-class lives.
Since when is business streamlining seen as evil? What country do you think this is, anyway?
Hmmm... Good point.
They're just telling you what risks are involved with using GPL'd software. And, they've got a point. The whole thing is a little socialist, and enforcement actions a little draconian.
Just out of curiosity, why don't more people release their code under the BSD license?
Of course the obivious solution for RIAA would be to use a more secure hash algorithm, with more bits. Unbroken algorithm with enough bits can't be faked, as it would take more than age of the universe to brute force it.
Everybody's getting all up in arms about the finer points of MD5 hashes, but the article doesn't actually say "MD5" anywhere. Maybe they are using a more secure hash. I know I would if I were programming for them.
Does anyone hate Arnold Schwarzenegger for using steroids and thereby acquiring what can only be described as superior (and not entirely natural) limbs? No. If he goes crazy with his overinflated biceps and starts bashing peoples' heads against a wall, the cops will still shoot him, "superior limbs" or no.
http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/i/indy4.php
lazy no-linkin bastards...