Homer: Eh, what do you mean by `suggested donation'?
Clerk: Pay any amount you wish, sir.
Homer: And uh, what if I wish to pay... zero?
Clerk: That is up to you.
Homer: Ooh, so it's up to me, is it?
Clerk: Yes.
Homer: I see. And you think that people are going to pay you $4.50 even though they don't have to?Just out of the goodness of their... [laughs]
I grew up in a country with national healthcare system and I can tell you "why the hell not": people actually realize that taking their kid to the ER for such a reason would be colossal waste of the common resources. Call it social awareness/conscience.
people have to resort to the private sector to get needed care that the government refuses to them.
So now it's a bad thing if, in addition to the national healthcare, we also have private sector health care? And how is "the government refusing treatment"?
I'm pretty well-off and usually have my minor ailments/annual checkups taken care at a private clinic. I wouldn't have to do it that way, it costs me more, but now I don't burden the national system unnecessarily. Larger operations (my eye has been operated twice) have been swiftly taken care of by the national system. Diagnosed on Monday, elective surgery on thursday. Total cost: $40.
I had a discussion with my dad who's now in his 70s about whether the crime is out of control today.
I backed up my claim that crime has not increased significantly (when related to the size of the population) by digging up official charts such as yours.
He dismissed my argument simply by 1) citing anecdotal evidence given by a retired policeman he knew (statistics don't mean anything; a cop on the street knows better) and 2) how it's obvious to anyone watching the news that crime is spiraling out of control.
This is what I meant when I said that you can't make them change their minds.
Certainly it's a political decision. This decision has been made because the money for the now (fortunately) revived manned space exploration must come from somewhere.
No point in maintaining an old telescope up there especially since its successor is going to be in the orbit soon.
It examines both scientific evidence, different theories and the facts in order to conclude
Scientific theories and evidence have never been any good in convincing the hysterical please-think-of-the-children crowd. These people have already made their minds and nothing will change their position.
1) There are cameras that deter crime and help in solving crimes.
2) There are cameras that do not appear to deter crime but help in solving crimes.
3) There are no cameras neither to deter crime or help in solving crimes.
Now to me it seems obvious that the third option is the worst one. Even if the cameras did not deter crime per se, one can't infer that they are useless or not worth the "trouble" (what trouble?) since video footage most certainly helps to solve crimes.
Actually, I do that as well and I don't see any problem with it.
In fact, I am rather surprised to see how far some people are willing to go in order to produce a manuscript in the publisher's format.
Isn't that supposed to be one of the few remaining publisher's duties? After all, most publishers require that you sign your copyright over to them and, for certain prestigious journals like Phys.Rev.Lett., you even have to pay to get your study published.
Indeed. No question about that. If you're not into heavy floating point computing AMD's the way to go.
I wonder if AMD has any plans to rectify this problem. Multi-CPU Opterons combined with a native compiler support would just kick ass when it comes to crunching numbers.
Where is the AMD's answer to Intel's compiler? Intel's Fortran and C/C++ compilers optimize floating point code so that it performs 20-30% better on your Intel CPU than the GCC produced code?
Personally the way global politics is shaping up and American corporate greed is growing I doubt that we will have the money or the time to go to Mars
I was thinking about exactly the same thing a few days ago.
I'm 34 and I have practically given up any hope of seeing humans colonize another planet or even the moon in my lifetime. Ever worse, it's looking more and more like I'll never be able to get to see the Earth from space. When I was a kid and the mythical year 2000 seemed far, far away I considered myself lucky for having born to a generation that will routinely travel to moon and back and even further. Yeah, right.
(BEGIN RANT)
I lay the blame squarely on the weak-willed politicos who cater to the tastes of the least-common denominator in their constituency. The ignorant lot who couldn't care less about the unavoidable logical necessity of us having to get off this planet sooner or later. The unimaginative lot whose lives consist of dull, planned movements as consistent and boring as a bran-concious geriatrics bowel movement - the ones who have never felt the thrill of discovery. The hysterical save-the-children crowd who believe that diverting funds from science and exploration will make the world a better place for their kids. And finally, the envious/greedy bastards who believe that everybody else is way too successful with their lives and dedicate their lives to torpedoing any and all innovative ideas from the development of their local community to the (inter)national endeavors like space exploration.
The space exploration will never progress beyond its present pitiful state while these people are around.
If I remember correctly, it was released in 1997. It cost me an arm and a leg (my first cell phone ever) but it's still working. Somehow it reminds me of my HP 48SX calculator.
My only gripe with it is that when it's cold (-10 C) outside, the display doesn't refresh properly. Other than that, it's in a perfect working condition.
my OEM did NOT want to sign such a contract and comply, but was cornered into doing so.
No, your OEM did not want to sign the contract but good business sense made him do it. It was not someone from Microsoft holding gun to his head or eastern-european thugs (if you'll excuse the stereotype) threatening to break his bones if he didn't comply.
Complaining about how OEMs are forced to sell Windows is just like complaining about how you're forced to hike your prices when the memory prices worldwide go up. It's the market, stupid.
Obviously you simply just do not "get it" and am willing to bet that you're sitting there on a Windows box and not Linux or OS X. Pussy.
Hehe... I "got it" already in the early 1990s. I just grew out of the OSS bigot phase in the mid 1990s.
Right now I run Linux on my file server and Windows XP for all-things-desktop side by side. I hope you'll get over it too soon and see that Windows is a perfectly good desktop OS.
required them to pay it for a copy of Windows for each PC sold, even for PCs that were sold with other operating systems
Which, of course, is an exaggeration. Any such requirements come from the deal your shop has signed with Microsoft. If the contract stipulates that in order to get OEM discounts you must sell MS Windows with every piece of complete hardware you sell, that's a perfectly reasonable clause.
why would it be non-secret? Your name doesn't need to be on the printed paper.
"Ok, sucker. Show me that receipt we told you to bring us. Let's see, did you vote for the candidate we told you to vote for... no? What the hell is wrong with you? Now we'll have to rape your wife and kill your kids!"
Slashdot Mirror
That reminds me of a Simpsons episode Lisa's Substitute:
I grew up in a country with national healthcare system and I can tell you "why the hell not": people actually realize that taking their kid to the ER for such a reason would be colossal waste of the common resources. Call it social awareness/conscience.
people have to resort to the private sector to get needed care that the government refuses to them.
So now it's a bad thing if, in addition to the national healthcare, we also have private sector health care? And how is "the government refusing treatment"?
I'm pretty well-off and usually have my minor ailments/annual checkups taken care at a private clinic. I wouldn't have to do it that way, it costs me more, but now I don't burden the national system unnecessarily. Larger operations (my eye has been operated twice) have been swiftly taken care of by the national system. Diagnosed on Monday, elective surgery on thursday. Total cost: $40.
I had a discussion with my dad who's now in his 70s about whether the crime is out of control today.
I backed up my claim that crime has not increased significantly (when related to the size of the population) by digging up official charts such as yours.
He dismissed my argument simply by 1) citing anecdotal evidence given by a retired policeman he knew (statistics don't mean anything; a cop on the street knows better) and 2) how it's obvious to anyone watching the news that crime is spiraling out of control.
This is what I meant when I said that you can't make them change their minds.
No point in maintaining an old telescope up there especially since its successor is going to be in the orbit soon.
Scientific theories and evidence have never been any good in convincing the hysterical please-think-of-the-children crowd. These people have already made their minds and nothing will change their position.
1) There are cameras that deter crime and help in solving crimes.
2) There are cameras that do not appear to deter crime but help in solving crimes.
3) There are no cameras neither to deter crime or help in solving crimes.
Now to me it seems obvious that the third option is the worst one. Even if the cameras did not deter crime per se, one can't infer that they are useless or not worth the "trouble" (what trouble?) since video footage most certainly helps to solve crimes.
And how exactly is that a bad thing?
Surveillance cameras are essential in solving crimes.
"Intel Prescott - the level of performance that will punch you in the face!"
You can't make a profit selling computers unless you can run Windows on the hardware.
Isn't it just standard practise that you can't play old games with the new game console?
So?
Actually, I do that as well and I don't see any problem with it.
In fact, I am rather surprised to see how far some people are willing to go in order to produce a manuscript in the publisher's format.
Isn't that supposed to be one of the few remaining publisher's duties? After all, most publishers require that you sign your copyright over to them and, for certain prestigious journals like Phys.Rev.Lett., you even have to pay to get your study published.
Got any benchmarks?
Simple reason: MS Windows does not run on a PPC.
I wonder if AMD has any plans to rectify this problem. Multi-CPU Opterons combined with a native compiler support would just kick ass when it comes to crunching numbers.
That's why I still buy Intel.
Personally the way global politics is shaping up and American corporate greed is growing I doubt that we will have the money or the time to go to Mars
I was thinking about exactly the same thing a few days ago.
I'm 34 and I have practically given up any hope of seeing humans colonize another planet or even the moon in my lifetime. Ever worse, it's looking more and more like I'll never be able to get to see the Earth from space. When I was a kid and the mythical year 2000 seemed far, far away I considered myself lucky for having born to a generation that will routinely travel to moon and back and even further. Yeah, right.
(BEGIN RANT)
I lay the blame squarely on the weak-willed politicos who cater to the tastes of the least-common denominator in their constituency. The ignorant lot who couldn't care less about the unavoidable logical necessity of us having to get off this planet sooner or later. The unimaginative lot whose lives consist of dull, planned movements as consistent and boring as a bran-concious geriatrics bowel movement - the ones who have never felt the thrill of discovery. The hysterical save-the-children crowd who believe that diverting funds from science and exploration will make the world a better place for their kids. And finally, the envious/greedy bastards who believe that everybody else is way too successful with their lives and dedicate their lives to torpedoing any and all innovative ideas from the development of their local community to the (inter)national endeavors like space exploration.
The space exploration will never progress beyond its present pitiful state while these people are around.
(END RANT)
If I remember correctly, it was released in 1997. It cost me an arm and a leg (my first cell phone ever) but it's still working. Somehow it reminds me of my HP 48SX calculator.
My only gripe with it is that when it's cold (-10 C) outside, the display doesn't refresh properly. Other than that, it's in a perfect working condition.
Who the hell comes up with these names?
Excellent. You're the first one to get the subtext (or at least to say it aloud).
Everyone's free to make a complaint against Microsoft.
What's your point? Are you proposing that Microsoft should be subject to another set of rules than the other companies?
PS. It's "Mussolini".
Uh, no. It was an exaggeration in the article.
my OEM did NOT want to sign such a contract and comply, but was cornered into doing so.
No, your OEM did not want to sign the contract but good business sense made him do it. It was not someone from Microsoft holding gun to his head or eastern-european thugs (if you'll excuse the stereotype) threatening to break his bones if he didn't comply.
Complaining about how OEMs are forced to sell Windows is just like complaining about how you're forced to hike your prices when the memory prices worldwide go up. It's the market, stupid.
Obviously you simply just do not "get it" and am willing to bet that you're sitting there on a Windows box and not Linux or OS X. Pussy.
Hehe... I "got it" already in the early 1990s. I just grew out of the OSS bigot phase in the mid 1990s.
Right now I run Linux on my file server and Windows XP for all-things-desktop side by side. I hope you'll get over it too soon and see that Windows is a perfectly good desktop OS.
Which, of course, is an exaggeration. Any such requirements come from the deal your shop has signed with Microsoft. If the contract stipulates that in order to get OEM discounts you must sell MS Windows with every piece of complete hardware you sell, that's a perfectly reasonable clause.
"Ok, sucker. Show me that receipt we told you to bring us. Let's see, did you vote for the candidate we told you to vote for... no? What the hell is wrong with you? Now we'll have to rape your wife and kill your kids!"
You get the point?