Well, I've voted for GWB twice, holding my nose somewhat both times. I don't really think we're badly off today, so perhaps that's just something you and I will have to agree to disagree on. To elaborate a bit: I think that being in Iraq is a strategic move against Iran, and therefore think it's probably a good place to be. Whatever justification (or lack thereof) the Bush adminstration provides is irrelevant to me. I don't care if GWB had good reasons to invade Iraq; I thought there were good reasons, so I did (and do) support it.
As regarding McCain-Feingold, I must strongly disagree: (advertisement) money IS free speech - remember, freedom of the press belongs to he who owns the press. Fundamentally, the idea that no candidate shall be mentioned by name in any advertisement within two months of an election is bullshit - the news media are free to continue to do so in whatever fashion they wish, so why shouldn't everyone else? It's an artificial limitation that believes in the myth that the press consists of people who have no political views. Members of the press do have political views. And that's OK by me - I just don't think we ought to grant them the sole authority to express political views in the two months before an election.
Oh, much truth in here. I'm not a DJ, I just like to listen to good ones.
I was really just answering my post's parent, and probably doing a poor job at that. My only point that I think matters is that analog interfaces are better for manipulation; you store in digital, but you manipulate in analog. (I am 31, just old enough to remember how crappy vinyl really is. I'd never go back.)
Because the difference between a good DJ and a bad one is far more about beat matching and good transitions than absolute sound quality (after all, this is music to be reproduced on a monstrous club sound system). Vinyl allows easy seeking to any point in the song by moving the needle. Experienced DJs can tell transitions in the song by looking at the shape of the grooves. Vinyl can easily be slowed (or sped up) by a few percent in order to match beats.
Digital is superior for storage. Analog is superior for interface. DJing is about interface.
You're confusing actual America with media America. They are two different things. If you were to travel here - and stay out of the hysterical political salons of the coasts - you'd find the country not much changed in essential character.
Re:more proof the RIAA/MPAA are insane
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Quality TV on a subscription certainly used to happen.
Still does. I don't know about the situation across the pond, but here HBO offers fairly new movies, superb original programming, and no commercials, for $10-15/mo (which usually covers 4 or 5 different HBO feeds).
Re:Alternative Business Model
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but it's still a tax
No, there's the small difference that Coke and Pepsi can't put me in jail if I opt not to pay the "tax" by buying generic soft drinks instead.
And if you think the US has a contentious political climate now, just wait until you put politicians in charge of all the funding for popular entertainment.
Your parent actually said "communication", of which cell phones are but a small bit. Ever looked at a long-distance bill from the 80s?
We are a lot more in touch, a lot more often. By your admission, you make about 3 calls a day, and are a very light user of the phone. I don't even own a cell phone - but that would be a very difficult thing to manage if it weren't for my pager (paid for by my employer), which lets others (e.g., my wife) get in touch with me quickly.
Contrast this to perhaps thirty years ago. In those times, this kind of accessibility was simply not available to people outside of a tiny cadre (high-ranking government types, major corp tycoons), and it was certainly not as simple as a small blob of plastic and metal in your pocket. Answering machines were extremely rare (the first practical models appeared in the 1970s but were quite expensive). I'd say all this communication tech has definitely made a big difference.
Do we consider a person dead if the human aspect (the conscious mind) is gone?
A private service by me to all of Slashdot who doesn't understand:
Brain death is defined legally as cessation of all brain activity, with the caveat that it is not due to a reversible cause. Brain dead people are, simply, legally dead. While we generally leave someone on ventilators and the like for a short period of time after brain death, because families often feel like death is when the heart stops (and they want to be there), there is no legal requirement to do so. Once a diagnosis of brain death is made, I can fill out a death certificate and turn off all the machines.
PVS is not the same; PVS patients have some brainstem activity but no evident higher function.
So, to answer your question, no, we don't. But you probably wouldn't want to live like that.
Next on Slashdot - research indicates that as of today, Bush's remaining time in the Oval Office "decreasing steadily every minute"!
Slashdot posters: *500 post clusterfuck of a thread analyzing just why this is the case and what might be done to "recover" or "hasten the process", discussing everything from society's shifting views on war and abortion to the proportion of blue ties to black ties at GOP conventions to whether tin foil hats really work and whether they cause cell phone interference or not, and of course Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Apple vs. Linux*
Thanks, I needed that. Proof that the original/. still lives.
Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) -- the crap we only know because it was pushed on us in the 70s by paid-off disk jockeys
If this could only be so. Unfortunately, my local moldy-oldies station continues to play this abortion. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard. (If they would play it just before or after Afternoon Delight, I think the world would end.)
They exist, but I've never heard of them doing what you describe. The parent's major issue is that there is no less expensive plan if you choose not to have a subsidized handset; the only difference is that there is no contract required.
Numerous states have passed lotteries on the grounds that the funds would be used for public education. It's not a good idea - that's the whole point of my post. Monies from the lottery may indeed be used for education, but in a budget crunch the other monies normally allocated for education will be cut - so that the schools are no better off financially than before, even though the lottery money continues to be used solely for public schools.
Much is made here of how "green" they are to use wind power. Unfortunately energy, like money and oil, is fungible.
It is quite easy to say that you only use type X of a commodity - whether it's wind power for your electricity, non-(country of choice) oil for your gasoline, or lottery money for your state's education budget. It doesn't change the fact that everyone ELSE out there doesn't care what your source is - in the aggregate, the total amount of stuff is essentially not affected by you.
Short version: just because Bklyn Brewery uses "only wind power" doesn't mean they've affected total fossil fuel consumption a whit, because any deficit between (total wind power produced) and (total power needed) will be made up by fossil or nuclear, whether the BB chooses to pay extra or not. IOW, Con Ed has chosen to use wind for a certain amount of generating capacity. Since it's very cheap energy when it's flowing, they'd be foolish not to use it anyway to lower the amount of fossil or nuclear they need to use. All this amounts to is having consumers subsidize Con Ed's bottom line. Fine if you want to do it, but don't think it's doing the world some great favor. (The wastewater item is completely different. That is a meaningful Green idea, because it uses locally made, locally available resources to extract something valuable and reduce pollution at the same time.)
That'll teach me to hit "post" instead of "preview".
I'm aware Cingular uses GSM. But it doesn't use it on the same frequency as everyone else, and it appeared a lot later in the US than everywhere else.
Either way, you usually can't (excluding world-band) use the phones elsewhere in the world. My comment was directed at the Standard Critiques of American Cellular Service, which I have listened to one too many times.
The 10-cent-per-msg rate is pretty common amongst US providers.
Standard US-vs-everyone-else cell phone rant: While the US doesn't have nifty handsets, or GSM (that literally everyone else uses), and traditional plans force you to pay for incoming calls, the US plans are ridiculously cheap. For $35 a month (after tax), my wife has a plan with Sprint that offers 300 anytime minutes, unlimited 9pm-7am, free weekends, free long distance to anywhere in the country, and no roaming anywhere on their nationwide network (and, incidentally, no roaming in Puerto Rico or the USVI). While their coverage is spotty outside major roads and cities, it's nice to know that when I travel 2000 miles from home (>3000km), I can still use the same phone and call home for free.
But SMS will cost, not just to send but to receive. Thus, Americans spend all their time talking, and rarely SMS.
Slashdot Mirror
As regarding McCain-Feingold, I must strongly disagree: (advertisement) money IS free speech - remember, freedom of the press belongs to he who owns the press. Fundamentally, the idea that no candidate shall be mentioned by name in any advertisement within two months of an election is bullshit - the news media are free to continue to do so in whatever fashion they wish, so why shouldn't everyone else? It's an artificial limitation that believes in the myth that the press consists of people who have no political views. Members of the press do have political views. And that's OK by me - I just don't think we ought to grant them the sole authority to express political views in the two months before an election.
I was really just answering my post's parent, and probably doing a poor job at that. My only point that I think matters is that analog interfaces are better for manipulation; you store in digital, but you manipulate in analog. (I am 31, just old enough to remember how crappy vinyl really is. I'd never go back.)
McCain-Feingold is a travesty against free speech, and it makes me think very very ill of two otherwise intelligent, honorable men.
Digital is superior for storage. Analog is superior for interface. DJing is about interface.
... and for those seeking a definition of res ipsa loquitur ...
You're confusing actual America with media America. They are two different things. If you were to travel here - and stay out of the hysterical political salons of the coasts - you'd find the country not much changed in essential character.
Still does. I don't know about the situation across the pond, but here HBO offers fairly new movies, superb original programming, and no commercials, for $10-15/mo (which usually covers 4 or 5 different HBO feeds).
No, there's the small difference that Coke and Pepsi can't put me in jail if I opt not to pay the "tax" by buying generic soft drinks instead.
And if you think the US has a contentious political climate now, just wait until you put politicians in charge of all the funding for popular entertainment.
We are a lot more in touch, a lot more often. By your admission, you make about 3 calls a day, and are a very light user of the phone. I don't even own a cell phone - but that would be a very difficult thing to manage if it weren't for my pager (paid for by my employer), which lets others (e.g., my wife) get in touch with me quickly.
Contrast this to perhaps thirty years ago. In those times, this kind of accessibility was simply not available to people outside of a tiny cadre (high-ranking government types, major corp tycoons), and it was certainly not as simple as a small blob of plastic and metal in your pocket. Answering machines were extremely rare (the first practical models appeared in the 1970s but were quite expensive). I'd say all this communication tech has definitely made a big difference.
A private service by me to all of Slashdot who doesn't understand:
Brain death is defined legally as cessation of all brain activity, with the caveat that it is not due to a reversible cause. Brain dead people are, simply, legally dead. While we generally leave someone on ventilators and the like for a short period of time after brain death, because families often feel like death is when the heart stops (and they want to be there), there is no legal requirement to do so. Once a diagnosis of brain death is made, I can fill out a death certificate and turn off all the machines.
PVS is not the same; PVS patients have some brainstem activity but no evident higher function.
So, to answer your question, no, we don't. But you probably wouldn't want to live like that.
Seriously, without some major HDD space you're reduced to using it as a thin client. Put in a big HDD and it's a media center.
XBMC is absolutely the killer app of Xbox modding, with emulation close on its heels.
Because it was probably WinME, and would no longer run new software coming out?
Thanks, I needed that. Proof that the original /. still lives.
Seriously, though, try Lost. You'll like it.
If this could only be so. Unfortunately, my local moldy-oldies station continues to play this abortion. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard. (If they would play it just before or after Afternoon Delight, I think the world would end.)
They exist, but I've never heard of them doing what you describe. The parent's major issue is that there is no less expensive plan if you choose not to have a subsidized handset; the only difference is that there is no contract required.
And here I am without mod points. Please, somebody, mod this up.
Numerous states have passed lotteries on the grounds that the funds would be used for public education. It's not a good idea - that's the whole point of my post. Monies from the lottery may indeed be used for education, but in a budget crunch the other monies normally allocated for education will be cut - so that the schools are no better off financially than before, even though the lottery money continues to be used solely for public schools.
It is quite easy to say that you only use type X of a commodity - whether it's wind power for your electricity, non-(country of choice) oil for your gasoline, or lottery money for your state's education budget. It doesn't change the fact that everyone ELSE out there doesn't care what your source is - in the aggregate, the total amount of stuff is essentially not affected by you.
Short version: just because Bklyn Brewery uses "only wind power" doesn't mean they've affected total fossil fuel consumption a whit, because any deficit between (total wind power produced) and (total power needed) will be made up by fossil or nuclear, whether the BB chooses to pay extra or not. IOW, Con Ed has chosen to use wind for a certain amount of generating capacity. Since it's very cheap energy when it's flowing, they'd be foolish not to use it anyway to lower the amount of fossil or nuclear they need to use. All this amounts to is having consumers subsidize Con Ed's bottom line. Fine if you want to do it, but don't think it's doing the world some great favor. (The wastewater item is completely different. That is a meaningful Green idea, because it uses locally made, locally available resources to extract something valuable and reduce pollution at the same time.)
I didn't say it made sense. But it's what happens here, and it's a major part of why Americans Don't Text.
I'm aware Cingular uses GSM. But it doesn't use it on the same frequency as everyone else, and it appeared a lot later in the US than everywhere else.
Either way, you usually can't (excluding world-band) use the phones elsewhere in the world. My comment was directed at the Standard Critiques of American Cellular Service, which I have listened to one too many times.
Still can't use your phone over there, which was more my point.
The US stat is per year, the UK stat is per day.
Standard US-vs-everyone-else cell phone rant: While the US doesn't have nifty handsets, or GSM (that literally everyone else uses), and traditional plans force you to pay for incoming calls, the US plans are ridiculously cheap. For $35 a month (after tax), my wife has a plan with Sprint that offers 300 anytime minutes, unlimited 9pm-7am, free weekends, free long distance to anywhere in the country, and no roaming anywhere on their nationwide network (and, incidentally, no roaming in Puerto Rico or the USVI). While their coverage is spotty outside major roads and cities, it's nice to know that when I travel 2000 miles from home (>3000km), I can still use the same phone and call home for free.
But SMS will cost, not just to send but to receive. Thus, Americans spend all their time talking, and rarely SMS.