A corollary to the useless job appears to be the important, but extremely scarce job. The carpenter probably had to join a union, spend years in apprenticeship, and the combination of limited intake by the union and a long training pipeline creates a labor cartel that is artificially scarce. What if, instead of an overscheduled carpenter and a full-time coordinator/apologist, there were two carpenters, likely for the same or less pay? How would that be accomplished in a modern labor market?
Extension 720 was a 40-year running talk show on WGN radio in Chicago, effectively a podcast before there were podcasts, from a clear-channel AM radio station covering most of the continental U.S. at night. The host was Milt Rosenberg, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago. The show featured many interesting guests from all walks of life, ranging from Barack Obama to the Amazing Randi. The show on radio ended in 2012, but Dr. Rosenberg continued on-line. Both current and archive material in podcast format are available here and here.
When budget cuts happen at a University, usually they must eliminate entire departments, as you can't selectively fire tenured faculty within a department, outside of reasons like gross misconduct. Otherwise, you're picking some pretty serious fights with accreditors, civil courts, and faculty professional organizations (AAUP, etc.).
But why was computer science chosen? Usually, it's low-enrollment, low-income (from grants, etc.) programs like philosophy or entomology that fall under the axe, often at smaller campuses within a state system. Does the computer science department not bring in enough government grants and private development money? Enough tuition-paying students? A good enough track record with placing students in professional careers that make use of the education?
Is this part of a game of University - Legislature brinksmanship where the University is threatening to cut desirable programs in a thinly-veiled effort to shame the government into coughing up more money?
Of course, one of the other ideas House conveys is that is possible to manage the mavericks.
Also:
Medicine is a complex, experience-dependent, field where you learn how to be a good doctor by doing actual clinical medicine and collaborating with others. Even quirky experts are expected to teach, show, and actively involve the next generation of interns.
Medicine has overarching professional standards, including stringent practices for safety, hygiene, and record-keeping, that no one is above, not even the quirky experts.
Even the mavericks understand that the goal is not feeding your own ego and sense of self-importance, or just working on intellectual exercises that interest you, but looking out first for the health and welfare of the patients (i.e., the customers).
"but they are also not likely to be inclined to get into a tin can with no weed"
But if you put a green house in their ship and overlook the seeds they have in their pocket when boarding....
Stoners might be very well suited for the very long and boring space flight as long they don't do something stupid while high and kill everyone. Not sure they would be so great when they get to Mars and have to do stuff though. They probably would excel at botany.
Wasn't that the whole premise of the movie Silent Running, with Bruce Dern as the space hippie on a crew entrusted to safeguard the Earth's last reserve of plant and tree life stored in their cargo ship orbiting Jupiter?
He certainly didn't fit in with his colleagues, to their eventual peril, but he did arguably have the right idea in the end when he disobeyed Earth orders to jettison the cargo.
Much the same problem with regard to lack of access for U.S. customers can be found at the Canadian iTunes store. For example, there's more tracks available from "The Tragically Hip", a Canadian group that has a small, but strong, fan base here in the States, including me. In particular, there are several iTunes-exclusive download albums of live concert material of "The Hip" called "Live 10", which are unavailable to U.S. downloaders.
*SIGH*
"At the hundredth meridian, at the end of the mesa, where the Great Plains begin..." (Fully Completely)
If this experiment is successful, then the dreams of the members of the Ministry of Slashdot may start to synchronize. The dream will consist of the following:
A shadowy figure appears in the doorway of an nondescript corporate office building. A static-y, fading voice-over says:
"This is NOT a dream (not a dream). We are using your brain as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through your conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. We are transmitting from the year two-oh-one- (...). Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness. This is not a dream. You are seeing this picture..."
Bill Gates emerges from the building holding both an Gen-3 XBox and a Zune II, which both proceed to bring hell on earth by sucking up all of the world's intellectual property into a Microsoft-specific DRM scheme.
Turns out for some things regulation is better - look at how a poor country like Cuba has better healthcare (with lower infant mortality rates) than the wealthy US.
"Recently released statistics on the infant mortality rate in the Western hemisphere yielded an odd conclusions -- Cuba's infant mortality rate, 6.0 per 1,000, is now lower than the U.S. infant mortality rate, at 7.2 per 1,000. Given Cuba's poverty level, its 6.0 rate is very impressive, but is it accurate to say that Cuba now has an infant mortality rate lower than the United States? No."
Summary: The U.S. counts premature births as a live birth. Cuba, and most European countries, counts a premature birth and death as a fetal mortality, and doesn't add it to their statistics.
I stand by my opinion that if you pay the $99 plus $200ish labor to have the BMW/MINI adapter installed that you're getting royally ripped off. You can get a much more elegant headunit or an Icelink for that price. Installed.
I agree that both points-of-view are reasonable:
Large iPod, want to drill down to specific tracks among thousands, prefer to use existing iPod interface, have a reputable stereo installer who will pick a compatible solution and can install it without frying your car's electronics, possibly don't mind use of FM modulator and its startup/battery/non-interference requirements, consider an iTrip or Icelink.
Small iPod, used mostly in shuffle mode, small number of genre-based playlists, prefer to use radio/steering-wheel buttons and not squint at small iPod screen, want something factory-approved and warranted, as well as not worry about which option combination of vehicle you have (SIRIUS, Navigation, model-year) and which third-party cable fits it, consider the dealer-installed iPod cable. The factory iPod interface also supports random shuffle mode at the push of a button on the radio, instead of having to dig into the settings menu on the iPod. The Icelink cable probably does also, if you are using it in radio control-head mode.
I would recommend that one consider the pros and cons of each alternative and pick the one that would best fit one's comfort level and listening needs. I just don't want to leave the impression here that the current factory solution is completely unviable, an unacceptable rip-off, or that someone contemplating a Mini shouldn't consider the factory-approved and warranted solution. I, too, wait with interest to see if the better, second-generation iPod cable from BMW, which supports more playlists and options, will be available for the Mini anytime soon.
Most of the cars coming out of BMW plants over the last several years have had supposed iPod "integration" -- including my Mini.
And mine, a 2006 Cooper with a 6GB iPod ("Blue Mini" + "Blue Mini").
For a collaboration between two companies known for their design elegance, the BMW iPod dock is an abomination.
I find it serviceable, as my iPod listening in the car is mostly in "shuffle" mode, where I might want only to pick among 5 categories. Though I agree with you that the first-generation interface has some specific limitations one should be aware of to make sure that it's right for one's listening patterns/tastes. With parts and labor, its dealer installation costs about as much as another iPod. I also wouldn't mind the next-generation version, incorporating track display and additional playlists, if they ever make it available on the Mini.
Basically, it fools your car into thinking that the iPod is a 6-disc CD changer, and yes, the stereo controls on the steering wheel do control it. Sort of.
In brief, the good points:
Powers the iPod
Keeps the iPod out of sight in the glovebox
Turns on and off with the car stereo, even holds your place in the selected track after the car is parked and the ignition turned off, useful for long podcasts like White Roof Radio.
Can jump tracks and adjust volume with steering-wheel controls (assuming your Mini has the optional steering wheel controls, usually as part of the Premium Package)
Direct audio connection, avoiding use of sub-standard and interference-prone FM modulators (which run down the iPod battery, require batteries of their own, or have to be retuned to clear channels on long trips)
Better than AUX input as it uses true line-out on dock connector, bypassing the headphone amplifier (I have the AUX input also, but that's hooked up to my XM radio receiver)
The bad points:
As expensive as another iPod
No text display on stereo head unit, only the playlist and track numbers
Limited to 5 playlists (6th preset is the entire iPod) and playlists must follow specific naming convention, requiring copying your music to different playlists for car use
Needs additional accessories to stabilize/cushion iPod in the glove box (I keep mine in a leather InCase sleeve and bundle up the excess cable with a 3M velcro cable tie)
Previously, my iPod experience in a vehicle consisted of:
If the cigarette lighter power cord was pulled out to charge my cell phone instead, replace the power cord for the iPod
Turn on the stereo, select FM and tune to 88.7 MHz
Turn on the iPod, sitting in a Belkin TuneDok in one of my cupholders
Wait for the Griffin iTrip to stop blinking and lock on the frequency
If the iTrip forgot its frequency, run the track on the iTrip playlist to change it back to 88.7
If I drive out of town and 88.7 experiences interference from actual radio stations, run another track on the iTrip playlist to tune to a clear frequency
If I'm listening to classical music with soft passages, the iTrip may time out and turn off, leaving me listening to noise, requiring me to reach down to turn up the iPod's volume to turn the iTrip back on, then turn it back to an appropriate level
If I want to change playlists or select another track, look down to read a tiny iPod display (If I turn off the light, I can't read it in the dark, if I turn on the backlight, it washes out during the day) and fumble with a click-wheel clearly not designed for accurate input in a bouncing automobile
If I was listening to something longer than my drive, I have to go back to that track by selecting it from the menu and fast-forwarding to my place as the iPod turned off with the ignition and reset itself to the beginning
More precisely, a 20 MHz *bandwidth* of frequencies in the 2155-2175 MHz band. I did a double-take when first reading this article, because it almost reads as though this service will be operating on a center carrier frequency of 20 MHz. That wouldn't make sense, as that's smack in the middle of the High Frequency, or "shortwave," bands. Not only does that provide worldwide propagation at modest signal powers (as little as a few Watts), users of those frequency bands would be limited to at most a few hundred kHz of bandwidth, which would be unusuable for high-speed computer networking.
So, the M2Z service is proposing to run on a microwave band, requiring lots of infrastructure and towers, like WiFi or cellular telephone.
Google's apparent indifference to the use of Google Groups by anonymous posters to wreck Usenet with SPAM, off-topic posts, and overall abuse has led some to call for a Usenet Death Penalty (configuring news servers to drop all articles originating from a given site). See:
There are serious issues with BPL. It generates interference that compromises several amateur radio bands, and is likewise interfered with by the legal operation of numerous low-power transmitters. (This includes CB radio transmitters as well as ham radio transmitters.)
I think that the 5 people who this will negatively impact will be rendered insignificant by the thousands that it would benefit. It's the same argument that people use to negate the complaints of Mac users, except hams are a MUCH MUCH smaller percentage of the population.
(waits for inevitable ham flames)
I shouldn't feed the trolls, but I do want to rebut the assertion in the parent posting that BPL is a technology that is "inevitably going to be made available to everyone." Economic calculations show that, despite what backers assert, BPL will be subject to the same economic constraints as other broadband technology in terms of connections per mile versus costs per mile. If BPL ever gets deployed, it will get deployed in the same areas where broadband service is already provided, or will be provided, by existing technologies such as cable modem and DSL.
There's an outstanding Broadband over Power Lines FAQ that is really required reading for anyone who wants to debate knowledgeably about the issues, rather than just troll for arguments. It is, of course, written from a rebuttal perspective, but it goes to great lengths to explain the answers with objective technical and political justifications.
I asked you a simple question and you've ducked it. Surely your model for forcing apprentice programs has enough credibility that you'll answer my question: Which experienced engineer should I fire so I can hire an apprentice?
Most government-imposed employer mandates such as health insurance and unemployment benefits only apply to those that have more than a certain number of employees (usually 10-20). It would be an unfair burden on your 3-engineer business to require that you take on an apprentice without some additional subsidy or compensation. It might be a reasonable obligation for a business that employs 10-20 engineers or more, however.
Running a business at break-even is a challenge, but sometimes a line has to be drawn with regard to its obligations to its employees and to society. One that reflects reasonable public policy trade-off between not burdening businesses and undermining the economic benefits they provide, versus causing a "race to the bottom" where every employer mandate (Social Security, workplace safety, sanitation, health benefits, unemployment insurance) is argued against because it could bankrupt, or at least downsize, some hypothetical business that is operating at break-even without such mandates.
Radio 3 - great classical music and discussion about the history and styles and composers
What would you estimate is the listenership/popularity of each channel? When you mentioned Radio 3, I was reminded of an old "Yes Prime Minister" episode from 1988 entitled, "The Tangled Web." Sir Humphrey asks permission to go on BBC Radio 3 to participate in one of a series of interviews with public officials about the structure of government. Prime Minister Hacker expresses concern over this due to the potential for embarrassing gaffes, statements in contradiction of policy, etc. Hacker's private secretary, Bernard, assures him that it won't be a problem, because it will be on Radio 3, so therefore no one will be listening.
(cue laugh track)
But seriously, as some U.S. Slashdotters will point out, it's much easier to have 5 or 6 quality channels of radio programming in the greater London area, or even via several networked transmitter sites across England, than it is to cover an entire continent like would be necessary here in the States, especially if regional tastes and scattered listener population are taken into account. How does the BBC handle, for example, programming in rural England, or even Scotland and Wales? I've heard that some of the programming intended for England is pre-empted by specific Scottish and Welsh programming to appeal to listeners in those areas. Are they successful in doing so?
Our public broadcasting system (TV and Radio) is probably the closest to the BBC that we have here in the U.S. In fact, that's how I was able to watch the Yes Minister episode described above. Public radio is probably the last service available, as both commercial radio and cellular telephone service fade out as you wander into some of the more rural areas of the U.S., like northern Maine, or the panhandle of Nebraska.
As for the principal topic of this discussion, satellite radio, I've been an XM subscriber since 2003. I almost feel as if it was a service designed with a listener like me in mind. Deep Tracks reminds me of the "Seven Sides at Seven" on Sunday nights on DC 101. Some combination of Fred, Ethyl and Lucy compensates for the sad loss of WHFS. And it can all be heard in Northern Maine and the panhandle of Nebraska.
FIND ME ONE PLACE WHERE I CALLED YOU A NAME. Exactly. Now, however, I can say with certainty that you are a LIAR
"The wonderful thing about this discussion is that hams are making asses of themselves with their whining."
Since I am a ham, and have commented on this matter, you implied that I am a whining ass.
So, why is it that the moderators are starting to tag your posts in this discussion, which keep getting shorter and more capitalized, as "Flamebait?"
Why, also, have your views, as expressed in the thread of discussion for this article, evolved from skepticism towards BPL to unabashed advocacy of it? In one article you state:
"If BPL is a solution that has a market (I'm skeptical) then it should be explored."
In your latest article, you state:
"This is coming. YOU CAN'T STOP IT."
Your change-of-heart seems to be for the sole reason that you are angry at me, and other hams, who have tried to make cogent arguments about why BPL won't work, and against your arguments that appear to be disingenuous, perhaps even trolling?
"My vote counts the same as yours..."
Actually, I live in a state where my Electoral Vote and U.S. Congress seats represent comparatively fewer popular votes, and likely my vote counts greater than yours. In matters where the merits of arguments matter, such as in public comments to the FCC, and in arguments before Federal Appeals Courts, I suspect mine, and those of others that share my views, would carry more weight there, also.
Wow, what a wholesale misreading and mischaracterization of my arguments, with some namecalling thrown in. Where even to begin. Let's try...
"Well, then how about decades of established federal laws, regulations, and international treaties that establish the Amateur Radio Service as an internationally-recognized and licensed radio service, with primary access to most of their allocated radio spectrum, and secondary to the rest (after the military and some shortwave broadcasters)?"
And amazingly, NONE of that has to do with POSESSION or OWNERSHIP of the airwaves. You are LICENSED to use them, nothing more. And NO, none of your examples refute that in any way.
I don't have to argue about possession, I only have to argue about access, and to be able to appropriately use our allocations of radio frequency spectrum free from interference. This is precisely what our status as incumbent, licensed users guarantees us. Such usage not only serves us, it serves the public interest. You don't seem to understand that point. You also don't understand that freedom != anarchy.
"You could say that our national highway system is "MY highways too," but that doesn't mean that you don't have to care about other users."
Dumb example. Nothing I can do on a highway is equivalent to the damage that can be done with a car, and arguing by analogy is just stupid to begin with.
Huh? Did you mistype this? It seems that *everything* you can do on a highway is equivalent to the damage that can be done with a car. The analogy is apropos, as both deal with shared access to a public resource. As with misuse of a highway, misuse of radio spectrum can cost lives.
"There is valid concern that the BPL systems that have been deployed so far are nowhere near compliant with Part 15. And there is also a good argument that Part 15 (intended for occasional and localized radiators like, say, microwave ovens) is not appropriate for something that is going to be ubiquitous and radiating significant amounts of radio frequency energy over broad swaths of spectrum all the time."
In other words, someone else is playing in your sandbox, and despite the fact that they aren't bothering you, you think they MIGHT bother you MAYBE at some point, so you get to kick them out of the sandbox entirely. Nope, doesn't work that way.
And you completely misunderstand the concept of the very different priorities and status given to differently regulated users of radio frequency spectrum, including the difference between a licensed primary user and an incidental radiator. And it isn't a chance of MAYBE, it's a chance of WILL. There's already been ample evidence collected about BPL's very real potential to trash whole segments of radio frequency spectrum and leave it unusable for other services, including those involved in the protection of public safety.
The wonderful thing about this discussion is that hams are making asses of themselves with their whining. It's pretty clear this is coming, and instead of developing solutons that help everyone, hams keep insisting that they have a perspective that should gice them greater influence. Nope, that doesn't go either.
Hams do have a perspective that should give them greater influence. All of us had to take technical exams to obtain our licenses. Many of us are even practicing, professional engineers. Moreover, any time any unbiased technical expert has commented on BPL, it has nearly always been in the negative. The cheerleading over BPL has been almost exclusively by lawyers, politicians, and electrical utility companies.
"If we are experiencing interference, then many other radio services that use very similar technologies and frequencies are going to encounter the same kinds of interference."
And technology will adjust. It has before, so what make you think it won't this time, apart from your biases?
Go back to college and take the appropriate physics and engineering
"They will oppose anything which further clouds their airwaves."
They are MY airwaves too. The fact that hams use them doesn't entitle them to decide HOW they are used.
Well, then how about decades of established federal laws, regulations, and international treaties that establish the Amateur Radio Service as an internationally-recognized and licensed radio service, with primary access to most of their allocated radio spectrum, and secondary to the rest (after the military and some shortwave broadcasters)?
You could say that our national highway system is "MY highways too," but that doesn't mean that you don't have to care about other users.
The Amateur Radio Service was very carefully and deliberately created to allow laypeople and civilians access to radio frequency spectrum for:
- self-training - public service and emergency communications - development of the radio art
(Yes that's right. Examples of technologies that amateurs have early-adopted and refined into working systems include low-earth-orbit microsatellites and wireless data communications.)
- promotion of international goodwill
If BPL is a solution that has a market (I'm skeptical) then it should be explored. And frankly, I couldn't care less what the hams have to say about it.
Amateurs operate as a primary (or at least secondary) service under FCC Part 97 regulations. BPL operates as an "incidental radiator" under FCC Part 15. This means that it has as much legal status as a microwave oven. It is also constrained to very low radio frequency field strengths. If there is any conflict with a Part 15 radiator and other users of radio frequency spectrum, the Part 15 radiator must yield, and must accept interference before it interferes with anyone else. There is valid concern that the BPL systems that have been deployed so far are nowhere near compliant with Part 15. And there is also a good argument that Part 15 (intended for occasional and localized radiators like, say, microwave ovens) is not appropriate for something that is going to be ubiquitous and radiating significant amounts of radio frequency energy over broad swaths of spectrum all the time.
The emergency service problem however, that is a real issue that may kill BPL.
Hey, we provide emergency communications, too. In fact, we often find ourselves in an elevated status as our communications systems require little or no infrastructure. Cell phones, trunked radio systems, landline telecommunications (including BPL) rely on an infrastructure that is extremely vulnerable to overloading and failure during emergencies.
Amateur Radio is the "canary in the coal mine" on this issue. If we are experiencing interference, then many other radio services that use very similar technologies and frequencies are going to encounter the same kinds of interference.
Right from the beginning I was surprised to find the constant barrage of sports over everything else (only outdone by Terrorism and Elections) in this country.
Other countries don't go mad over soccer? I hear it's really big in South America and Europe.
Where I am from: Literacy is 100%.
No country can achieve 100% literacy. The human population will always contain a small percentage of those so mentally handicapped that literacy is impossible. Any country that claims such is engaging in some combination of:
Outright lying. If the governments of Cuba or North Korea claims a 99 or 100% literacy rate, who in those countries are going to contradict them? Independent observers can call B.S. on these statistics, of course (more easily in Cuba than in the hermit kingdom of the DPRK), but the governments are the sources of the oft-quoted U.N. statistics, credible or not.
Statistics abuse. Many countries conveniently overlook subgroups of populations, such as rural peasants and the mentally handicapped. In many countries, particularly police states with poor economies and health care, the handicapped simply do not live to the age where their literacy, or lack, would be counted.
Definitions abuse. What is literacy? Is it an 8th grade reading level? High school? Are we measuring basic literacy (ability to read and write) or functional literacy (reading comprehension, ability to be self-sufficient with contracts, financial matters, etc.)?
The United States, depending on definitions, has a literacy rate of between 80-97%, with function literacy being the lower number and basic literacy the higher one. The U.S. often gets criticized for these stats, sometimes even by countries like Cuba and North Korea that falsely claim a 99-100% literacy rate. However, the U.S.'s statistics, because they are arrived at openly by a free society, are probably some of the most honest. We rank competitively with other industrialized nations, and likely far surpass areas of the world like rural Cuba, China, and North Korea.
Academics comes first and foremost
A colleage of mine who has a PhD in physics points out that in China, most of the undergraduate physics curriculum is oriented around rote memorization of practice problems of the type that will be on the physics subject Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Sure, they will have high GRE scores, but will do very poorly, and have tremendous adjustment problems, in areas such as lab courses and pursuing independent and creative research.
Admissions committees in the U.S. know this, and as a result, will apply correction factors, even reverse quotas, to keep their departments from being filled with all foreign automatons who require significant training to be able to achieve independent, creative results.
I would think that with the recent scandals of NYT reporters bending, molding and completely making up the "truth", that people on/. would not actually use them as a source anymore. I know they are a lot less credible then CBS. At least CBS fired and reprimanded the people responsible for memogate. When's the last time the NYT fired someone for making up a story?
You can even go further back than the most recent scandals. In this Wired editorial from 1997, the magazine's editors criticized the Times's repeated attempts to demonize the Internet in its reporting.
Slashdot Mirror
A corollary to the useless job appears to be the important, but extremely scarce job. The carpenter probably had to join a union, spend years in apprenticeship, and the combination of limited intake by the union and a long training pipeline creates a labor cartel that is artificially scarce. What if, instead of an overscheduled carpenter and a full-time coordinator/apologist, there were two carpenters, likely for the same or less pay? How would that be accomplished in a modern labor market?
Extension 720 was a 40-year running talk show on WGN radio in Chicago, effectively a podcast before there were podcasts, from a clear-channel AM radio station covering most of the continental U.S. at night. The host was Milt Rosenberg, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago. The show featured many interesting guests from all walks of life, ranging from Barack Obama to the Amazing Randi. The show on radio ended in 2012, but Dr. Rosenberg continued on-line. Both current and archive material in podcast format are available here and here.
Y cuáles son estos "gatos de LOL?"
Massive newsgroup floods by obviously mentally ill individuals.
When budget cuts happen at a University, usually they must eliminate entire departments, as you can't selectively fire tenured faculty within a department, outside of reasons like gross misconduct. Otherwise, you're picking some pretty serious fights with accreditors, civil courts, and faculty professional organizations (AAUP, etc.).
But why was computer science chosen? Usually, it's low-enrollment, low-income (from grants, etc.) programs like philosophy or entomology that fall under the axe, often at smaller campuses within a state system. Does the computer science department not bring in enough government grants and private development money? Enough tuition-paying students? A good enough track record with placing students in professional careers that make use of the education?
Is this part of a game of University - Legislature brinksmanship where the University is threatening to cut desirable programs in a thinly-veiled effort to shame the government into coughing up more money?
Modernization of the Montgomery County Traffic Signal System
Also:
"but they are also not likely to be inclined to get into a tin can with no weed"
But if you put a green house in their ship and overlook the seeds they have in their pocket when boarding....
Stoners might be very well suited for the very long and boring space flight as long they don't do something stupid while high and kill everyone. Not sure they would be so great when they get to Mars and have to do stuff though. They probably would excel at botany.
Wasn't that the whole premise of the movie Silent Running, with Bruce Dern as the space hippie on a crew entrusted to safeguard the Earth's last reserve of plant and tree life stored in their cargo ship orbiting Jupiter?
He certainly didn't fit in with his colleagues, to their eventual peril, but he did arguably have the right idea in the end when he disobeyed Earth orders to jettison the cargo.
Much the same problem with regard to lack of access for U.S. customers can be found at the Canadian iTunes store. For example, there's more tracks available from "The Tragically Hip", a Canadian group that has a small, but strong, fan base here in the States, including me. In particular, there are several iTunes-exclusive download albums of live concert material of "The Hip" called "Live 10", which are unavailable to U.S. downloaders.
*SIGH*
"At the hundredth meridian, at the end of the mesa, where the Great Plains begin..." (Fully Completely)
XM is a godsend when you'd otherwise be spending hours driving through, say, Nebraska, listening to Country or Country.
Well, Country and Public Radio, anyway.
If this experiment is successful, then the dreams of the members of the Ministry of Slashdot may start to synchronize. The dream will consist of the following: A shadowy figure appears in the doorway of an nondescript corporate office building. A static-y, fading voice-over says: "This is NOT a dream (not a dream). We are using your brain as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through your conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. We are transmitting from the year two-oh-one- (...). Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness. This is not a dream. You are seeing this picture ..."
Bill Gates emerges from the building holding both an Gen-3 XBox and a Zune II, which both proceed to bring hell on earth by sucking up all of the world's intellectual property into a Microsoft-specific DRM scheme.
Turns out for some things regulation is better - look at how a poor country like Cuba has better healthcare (with lower infant mortality rates) than the wealthy US.
"Recently released statistics on the infant mortality rate in the Western hemisphere yielded an odd conclusions -- Cuba's infant mortality rate, 6.0 per 1,000, is now lower than the U.S. infant mortality rate, at 7.2 per 1,000. Given Cuba's poverty level, its 6.0 rate is very impressive, but is it accurate to say that Cuba now has an infant mortality rate lower than the United States? No."
Cuba vs. the United States on Infant Mortality
Summary: The U.S. counts premature births as a live birth. Cuba, and most European countries, counts a premature birth and death as a fetal mortality, and doesn't add it to their statistics.
See also Health Care in Cuba: Myth Versus Reality.
I stand by my opinion that if you pay the $99 plus $200ish labor to have the BMW/MINI adapter installed that you're getting royally ripped off. You can get a much more elegant headunit or an Icelink for that price. Installed.
I agree that both points-of-view are reasonable:
Large iPod, want to drill down to specific tracks among thousands, prefer to use existing iPod interface, have a reputable stereo installer who will pick a compatible solution and can install it without frying your car's electronics, possibly don't mind use of FM modulator and its startup/battery/non-interference requirements, consider an iTrip or Icelink.
Small iPod, used mostly in shuffle mode, small number of genre-based playlists, prefer to use radio/steering-wheel buttons and not squint at small iPod screen, want something factory-approved and warranted, as well as not worry about which option combination of vehicle you have (SIRIUS, Navigation, model-year) and which third-party cable fits it, consider the dealer-installed iPod cable. The factory iPod interface also supports random shuffle mode at the push of a button on the radio, instead of having to dig into the settings menu on the iPod. The Icelink cable probably does also, if you are using it in radio control-head mode.
I would recommend that one consider the pros and cons of each alternative and pick the one that would best fit one's comfort level and listening needs. I just don't want to leave the impression here that the current factory solution is completely unviable, an unacceptable rip-off, or that someone contemplating a Mini shouldn't consider the factory-approved and warranted solution. I, too, wait with interest to see if the better, second-generation iPod cable from BMW, which supports more playlists and options, will be available for the Mini anytime soon.
And mine, a 2006 Cooper with a 6GB iPod ("Blue Mini" + "Blue Mini").
For a collaboration between two companies known for their design elegance, the BMW iPod dock is an abomination.
I find it serviceable, as my iPod listening in the car is mostly in "shuffle" mode, where I might want only to pick among 5 categories. Though I agree with you that the first-generation interface has some specific limitations one should be aware of to make sure that it's right for one's listening patterns/tastes. With parts and labor, its dealer installation costs about as much as another iPod. I also wouldn't mind the next-generation version, incorporating track display and additional playlists, if they ever make it available on the Mini.
Basically, it fools your car into thinking that the iPod is a 6-disc CD changer, and yes, the stereo controls on the steering wheel do control it. Sort of.
In brief, the good points:
The bad points:
Previously, my iPod experience in a vehicle consisted of:
The
"20Mhz frequency allocation"
More precisely, a 20 MHz *bandwidth* of frequencies in the 2155-2175 MHz band. I did a double-take when first reading this article, because it almost reads as though this service will be operating on a center carrier frequency of 20 MHz. That wouldn't make sense, as that's smack in the middle of the High Frequency, or "shortwave," bands. Not only does that provide worldwide propagation at modest signal powers (as little as a few Watts), users of those frequency bands would be limited to at most a few hundred kHz of bandwidth, which would be unusuable for high-speed computer networking.
So, the M2Z service is proposing to run on a microwave band, requiring lots of infrastructure and towers, like WiFi or cellular telephone.
Google's apparent indifference to the use of Google Groups by anonymous posters to wreck Usenet with SPAM, off-topic posts, and overall abuse has led some to call for a Usenet Death Penalty (configuring news servers to drop all articles originating from a given site). See:
Call for UDP against Google Groups
There are serious issues with BPL. It generates interference that compromises several amateur radio bands, and is likewise interfered with by the legal operation of numerous low-power transmitters. (This includes CB radio transmitters as well as ham radio transmitters.)
I think that the 5 people who this will negatively impact will be rendered insignificant by the thousands that it would benefit. It's the same argument that people use to negate the complaints of Mac users, except hams are a MUCH MUCH smaller percentage of the population.
(waits for inevitable ham flames)
I shouldn't feed the trolls, but I do want to rebut the assertion in the parent posting that BPL is a technology that is "inevitably going to be made available to everyone." Economic calculations show that, despite what backers assert, BPL will be subject to the same economic constraints as other broadband technology in terms of connections per mile versus costs per mile. If BPL ever gets deployed, it will get deployed in the same areas where broadband service is already provided, or will be provided, by existing technologies such as cable modem and DSL.
There's an outstanding Broadband over Power Lines FAQ that is really required reading for anyone who wants to debate knowledgeably about the issues, rather than just troll for arguments. It is, of course, written from a rebuttal perspective, but it goes to great lengths to explain the answers with objective technical and political justifications.
In particular:
Q: Why are some Hams so emotional in their opposition to BPL?
Q: If this just affects Ham Radio, why should anyone care?
Q: Won't BPL be different than Cable and DSL and deliver broadband to those who don't have it, especially in rural areas?
Q: To date, have any US BPL systems been shut down due to interference?
Q: To date, have any BPL systems been deactivated due to business reasons?
I asked you a simple question and you've ducked it. Surely your model for forcing apprentice programs has enough credibility that you'll answer my question: Which experienced engineer should I fire so I can hire an apprentice?
Most government-imposed employer mandates such as health insurance and unemployment benefits only apply to those that have more than a certain number of employees (usually 10-20). It would be an unfair burden on your 3-engineer business to require that you take on an apprentice without some additional subsidy or compensation. It might be a reasonable obligation for a business that employs 10-20 engineers or more, however.
Running a business at break-even is a challenge, but sometimes a line has to be drawn with regard to its obligations to its employees and to society. One that reflects reasonable public policy trade-off between not burdening businesses and undermining the economic benefits they provide, versus causing a "race to the bottom" where every employer mandate (Social Security, workplace safety, sanitation, health benefits, unemployment insurance) is argued against because it could bankrupt, or at least downsize, some hypothetical business that is operating at break-even without such mandates.
Radio 3 - great classical music and discussion about the history and styles and composers
What would you estimate is the listenership/popularity of each channel? When you mentioned Radio 3, I was reminded of an old "Yes Prime Minister" episode from 1988 entitled, "The Tangled Web." Sir Humphrey asks permission to go on BBC Radio 3 to participate in one of a series of interviews with public officials about the structure of government. Prime Minister Hacker expresses concern over this due to the potential for embarrassing gaffes, statements in contradiction of policy, etc. Hacker's private secretary, Bernard, assures him that it won't be a problem, because it will be on Radio 3, so therefore no one will be listening.
(cue laugh track)
But seriously, as some U.S. Slashdotters will point out, it's much easier to have 5 or 6 quality channels of radio programming in the greater London area, or even via several networked transmitter sites across England, than it is to cover an entire continent like would be necessary here in the States, especially if regional tastes and scattered listener population are taken into account. How does the BBC handle, for example, programming in rural England, or even Scotland and Wales? I've heard that some of the programming intended for England is pre-empted by specific Scottish and Welsh programming to appeal to listeners in those areas. Are they successful in doing so?
Our public broadcasting system (TV and Radio) is probably the closest to the BBC that we have here in the U.S. In fact, that's how I was able to watch the Yes Minister episode described above. Public radio is probably the last service available, as both commercial radio and cellular telephone service fade out as you wander into some of the more rural areas of the U.S., like northern Maine, or the panhandle of Nebraska.
As for the principal topic of this discussion, satellite radio, I've been an XM subscriber since 2003. I almost feel as if it was a service designed with a listener like me in mind. Deep Tracks reminds me of the "Seven Sides at Seven" on Sunday nights on DC 101. Some combination of Fred, Ethyl and Lucy compensates for the sad loss of WHFS. And it can all be heard in Northern Maine and the panhandle of Nebraska.
FIND ME ONE PLACE WHERE I CALLED YOU A NAME. Exactly. Now, however, I can say with certainty that you are a LIAR
"The wonderful thing about this discussion is that hams are making asses of themselves with their whining."
Since I am a ham, and have commented on this matter, you implied that I am a whining ass.
So, why is it that the moderators are starting to tag your posts in this discussion, which keep getting shorter and more capitalized, as "Flamebait?"
Why, also, have your views, as expressed in the thread of discussion for this article, evolved from skepticism towards BPL to unabashed advocacy of it? In one article you state:
"If BPL is a solution that has a market (I'm skeptical) then it should be explored."
In your latest article, you state:
"This is coming. YOU CAN'T STOP IT."
Your change-of-heart seems to be for the sole reason that you are angry at me, and other hams, who have tried to make cogent arguments about why BPL won't work, and against your arguments that appear to be disingenuous, perhaps even trolling?
"My vote counts the same as yours..."
Actually, I live in a state where my Electoral Vote and U.S. Congress seats represent comparatively fewer popular votes, and likely my vote counts greater than yours. In matters where the merits of arguments matter, such as in public comments to the FCC, and in arguments before Federal Appeals Courts, I suspect mine, and those of others that share my views, would carry more weight there, also.
Wow, what a wholesale misreading and mischaracterization of my arguments, with some namecalling thrown in. Where even to begin. Let's try...
"Well, then how about decades of established federal laws, regulations, and international treaties that establish the Amateur Radio Service as an internationally-recognized and licensed radio service, with primary access to most of their allocated radio spectrum, and secondary to the rest (after the military and some shortwave broadcasters)?"
And amazingly, NONE of that has to do with POSESSION or OWNERSHIP of the airwaves. You are LICENSED to use them, nothing more. And NO, none of your examples refute that in any way.
I don't have to argue about possession, I only have to argue about access, and to be able to appropriately use our allocations of radio frequency spectrum free from interference. This is precisely what our status as incumbent, licensed users guarantees us. Such usage not only serves us, it serves the public interest. You don't seem to understand that point. You also don't understand that freedom != anarchy.
"You could say that our national highway system is "MY highways too," but that doesn't mean that you don't have to care about other users."
Dumb example. Nothing I can do on a highway is equivalent to the damage that can be done with a car, and arguing by analogy is just stupid to begin with.
Huh? Did you mistype this? It seems that *everything* you can do on a highway is equivalent to the damage that can be done with a car. The analogy is apropos, as both deal with shared access to a public resource. As with misuse of a highway, misuse of radio spectrum can cost lives.
"There is valid concern that the BPL systems that have been deployed so far are nowhere near compliant with Part 15. And there is also a good argument that Part 15 (intended for occasional and localized radiators like, say, microwave ovens) is not appropriate for something that is going to be ubiquitous and radiating significant amounts of radio frequency energy over broad swaths of spectrum all the time."
In other words, someone else is playing in your sandbox, and despite the fact that they aren't bothering you, you think they MIGHT bother you MAYBE at some point, so you get to kick them out of the sandbox entirely. Nope, doesn't work that way.
And you completely misunderstand the concept of the very different priorities and status given to differently regulated users of radio frequency spectrum, including the difference between a licensed primary user and an incidental radiator. And it isn't a chance of MAYBE, it's a chance of WILL. There's already been ample evidence collected about BPL's very real potential to trash whole segments of radio frequency spectrum and leave it unusable for other services, including those involved in the protection of public safety.
The wonderful thing about this discussion is that hams are making asses of themselves with their whining. It's pretty clear this is coming, and instead of developing solutons that help everyone, hams keep insisting that they have a perspective that should gice them greater influence. Nope, that doesn't go either.
Hams do have a perspective that should give them greater influence. All of us had to take technical exams to obtain our licenses. Many of us are even practicing, professional engineers. Moreover, any time any unbiased technical expert has commented on BPL, it has nearly always been in the negative. The cheerleading over BPL has been almost exclusively by lawyers, politicians, and electrical utility companies.
"If we are experiencing interference, then many other radio services that use very similar technologies and frequencies are going to encounter the same kinds of interference."
And technology will adjust. It has before, so what make you think it won't this time, apart from your biases?
Go back to college and take the appropriate physics and engineering
"They will oppose anything which further clouds their airwaves."
They are MY airwaves too. The fact that hams use them doesn't entitle them to decide HOW they are used.
Well, then how about decades of established federal laws, regulations, and international treaties that establish the Amateur Radio Service as an internationally-recognized and licensed radio service, with primary access to most of their allocated radio spectrum, and secondary to the rest (after the military and some shortwave broadcasters)?
You could say that our national highway system is "MY highways too," but that doesn't mean that you don't have to care about other users.
The Amateur Radio Service was very carefully and deliberately created to allow laypeople and civilians access to radio frequency spectrum for:
- self-training
- public service and emergency communications
- development of the radio art
(Yes that's right. Examples of technologies that amateurs have early-adopted and refined into working systems include low-earth-orbit microsatellites and wireless data communications.)
- promotion of international goodwill
If BPL is a solution that has a market (I'm skeptical) then it should be explored. And frankly, I couldn't care less what the hams have to say about it.
Amateurs operate as a primary (or at least secondary) service under FCC Part 97 regulations. BPL operates as an "incidental radiator" under FCC Part 15. This means that it has as much legal status as a microwave oven. It is also constrained to very low radio frequency field strengths. If there is any conflict with a Part 15 radiator and other users of radio frequency spectrum, the Part 15 radiator must yield, and must accept interference before it interferes with anyone else. There is valid concern that the BPL systems that have been deployed so far are nowhere near compliant with Part 15. And there is also a good argument that Part 15 (intended for occasional and localized radiators like, say, microwave ovens) is not appropriate for something that is going to be ubiquitous and radiating significant amounts of radio frequency energy over broad swaths of spectrum all the time.
The emergency service problem however, that is a real issue that may kill BPL.
Hey, we provide emergency communications, too. In fact, we often find ourselves in an elevated status as our communications systems require little or no infrastructure. Cell phones, trunked radio systems, landline telecommunications (including BPL) rely on an infrastructure that is extremely vulnerable to overloading and failure during emergencies.
Amateur Radio is the "canary in the coal mine" on this issue. If we are experiencing interference, then many other radio services that use very similar technologies and frequencies are going to encounter the same kinds of interference.
Other countries don't go mad over soccer? I hear it's really big in South America and Europe.
Where I am from: Literacy is 100%.
No country can achieve 100% literacy. The human population will always contain a small percentage of those so mentally handicapped that literacy is impossible. Any country that claims such is engaging in some combination of:
- Outright lying. If the governments of Cuba or North Korea claims a 99 or 100% literacy rate, who in those countries are going to contradict them? Independent observers can call B.S. on these statistics, of course (more easily in Cuba than in the hermit kingdom of the DPRK), but the governments are the sources of the oft-quoted U.N. statistics, credible or not.
- Statistics abuse. Many countries conveniently overlook subgroups of populations, such as rural peasants and the mentally handicapped. In many countries, particularly police states with poor economies and health care, the handicapped simply do not live to the age where their literacy, or lack, would be counted.
- Definitions abuse. What is literacy? Is it an 8th grade reading level? High school? Are we measuring basic literacy (ability to read and write) or functional literacy (reading comprehension, ability to be self-sufficient with contracts, financial matters, etc.)?
The United States, depending on definitions, has a literacy rate of between 80-97%, with function literacy being the lower number and basic literacy the higher one. The U.S. often gets criticized for these stats, sometimes even by countries like Cuba and North Korea that falsely claim a 99-100% literacy rate. However, the U.S.'s statistics, because they are arrived at openly by a free society, are probably some of the most honest. We rank competitively with other industrialized nations, and likely far surpass areas of the world like rural Cuba, China, and North Korea.Academics comes first and foremost
A colleage of mine who has a PhD in physics points out that in China, most of the undergraduate physics curriculum is oriented around rote memorization of practice problems of the type that will be on the physics subject Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Sure, they will have high GRE scores, but will do very poorly, and have tremendous adjustment problems, in areas such as lab courses and pursuing independent and creative research.
Admissions committees in the U.S. know this, and as a result, will apply correction factors, even reverse quotas, to keep their departments from being filled with all foreign automatons who require significant training to be able to achieve independent, creative results.
I would think that with the recent scandals of NYT reporters bending, molding and completely making up the "truth", that people on /. would not actually use them as a source anymore. I know they are a lot less credible then CBS. At least CBS fired and reprimanded the people responsible for memogate. When's the last time the NYT fired someone for making up a story?
You can even go further back than the most recent scandals. In this Wired editorial from 1997, the magazine's editors criticized the Times's repeated attempts to demonize the Internet in its reporting.