An "explosion" of FM stations will not affect the AM dial, which is the home of the majority of right-wing talk radio... it would hardly make a dent.
The biggest proponents of this bill ARE churches... religious groups have been pushing for this ability for a long time. They want to have a bully pulpit that extends beyond the four walls of their church.
The application process is pretty much open to any and all comers... stations are not allocated by political bent... it's first come first serve... it's almost like the CB radio licenses of old... anyone can get one if they apply... space permitting, of course...
There is something more insidious and pervasive afoot than just Steve Jobs' personal megalomania... it is the beginning of the end of open systems... as more and more totally closed systems are successful int he marketplace, the end result will be closed systems for everybody. there will be no choice. It will be the end of general purpose computing... the end of software development.. and the end of software developers.
What was that quote by Ben Franklin... Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither... I guess that can be modified to, "Those who sacrifice programming liberty for limited cool looking apps deserve neither."
Personally, I'd like to choose what apps I want to run on my computer.... not leave it up to Steve Jobs.
...who built Apple in the beginning? It was third party developers... Yes, it was a long time ago.. before the dark times... before the iPod..
The iPod was something that should have been programmable... it could have been made to do all sorts of cool things... but no, we can't have innovation... suers cannot be allowed to do what they wish with the product they bought...
I knew that the iPhone would be closed off to development.. after all, the iPod has been, and no one made a stink... so, why not close off everything else?
This is the beginning of the end of general purpose computing... if the iPhone is successful, more and more systems will get locked in... it's profitable! I think even the Mac will eventually be locked out to developers... with the cheapening of software development by inexpensive H1B imports, no one really cares about appeasing us... we are cheap and worthless in the eyes of the tech world... who cares what we want... users will do what they are told... they are lemmings and will be happy with what they've got...
Typical of Steve Jobs... and a very sad omen for the industry...
If the moratorium expires, one ardent tax foe is predicting taxes on e-mail. A United Nations agency proposed in 1999 the idea of a 1-cent-per-100-message tax, but retreated after criticism.
"They might say, 'We have no interest in having taxes on e-mail,' but if we allow the prohibition on Internet taxes to expire, then you open the door on cities and towns and states to tax e-mail or other aspects of Internet access," said Sen. John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican. "We need to be honest about what we're endorsing and what we're opposing."
When reality doesn't side with your politics, you just make stuff up or pull it out of your behind.... Kudos to the senator's staffer who found an 8 year old story and make it sound like an "impending threat of dire circumstance!" when it is complete fiction.
None of these proposals "tax"... The two issues are whether sites like Amazon.com should collect sales taxes for out of state sales (like any major catalog company like Sears has been doing for generations), and whether municipalities can tax internet access like they do phone and cable... The original moratorium was designed to encourage greater participation in the Internet. that goal has been accomplished, and further subsidizing it probably makes little sense.
Yes, it sucks.... no one likes paying taxes, but the roads don't get built by themselves, and the cops don't protect your house for free. The money has to come from somewhere.
Lincoln was shot at several times... One time, he was walking around in a park and his hat suddenly flew off... When he picked it up, there was a bullet hole in it.
His wife was very nervous for his safety, but he refused any bodyguards of any type. When he was inaugurated, he was sneaked into Washington, literally under a cloak. Some local papers got a hold of that story and mocked him for being cowardly. So, he instead was very open and brazen, much to the chagrin of his Mary Todd, who worried herself sick over his safety.
Her greatest fear became reality that night at the theater.
...mostly corporate developers who are very happy that there are so many easy-to-use (albeit unstable) tools to develop apps on. They don't pay the costs directly, so they think it's great. I've always been happy to develop on the MS platform, as long as someone else absorbed the financial burden.
Quite frankly, MS is very developer friendly, if you are willing to pay for the privilege.
...I have found that if you really want to get something done about a problem, you go straight to the top. It sometimes takes some time and effort to get to the CEO of a 50,000 employee company, but it's almost always worth it if all else fails. Yeah an executive assistant will intercept the complaint, but it will be forwarded to someone who can (and will) do something about it. It seems bizarre that an big shot executive would go out of the way for a single, measly customer with a tiny account, but I can't tell you the number of times that complaining to the big man at the top has netted some surprisingly positive results.
Microsoft is already talking about pulling the plug on Mac Office... they've stripped it down and weakened it so much, it wouldn't be a surprise if they did so in the near future. I would hope that Apple is preparing for this inevitability.
I realize that Apple makes its money off of hardware. Even back in the Apple II days, they were famous for charging a premium for often antiquated hardware. And yes, they're hardware costs are similar to high end PC hardware, but how many folks at home (or at work, for that matter) use the high end stuff? I know that I'm an eMachines junkie, and I suspect that there are many, many folk who are happy with a low end machine. Apple isn't helping bring these people in with a low-wnd machine. There's the Mac mini, of course, but that still is $700... Compare that to a Best Buy sunday special PC with monitor and printer for less than half that price.
I know that Apple wants to be the Cadillac of computers and feels that its brand name would be sullied if they offered a cheap machine. But, there must a be a middle point, where apple could still 'save face", yet bring in new users as well... that target might not even be price related at all... after all the overpriced iPod sells like crazy, because Apple made it the "killer app" of mp3 players. They have yet to find that magic for the macintosh... although they are getting close.
...but they won't... They aren't interested in market share, unfortunately, just profit margins. If they had any sense, they could strike now. Microsoft's only real lock-in is with Office, and that can be overcome. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter what OS you run for the vast majority of people that use a computer as merely an Internet terminal. OS-X doesn't have all the technical problems and headaches that Microsoft OS's do, and has lots of bells and whistles to boot. If the price and model availability were more competitive, Apple could make some real inroads into the PC market, especially if they could convince businesses that the total cost of ownership would be lower and worth the switch.
But they won't do either... They like high margins and don't like hiring salesmen. It's a shame... they are blowing a great chance to take down the Microsoft monopoly a peg or two.
2001 Did have a lot of groundbreaking effects... very true... but they didn't have to deal with alien dogfights, "laser" weapons, and explosions, either. 2001 was certainly one of a kind, as well. Nothing came close to it until Lucas' Star Wars came around.
And yet, they were still better than anyone had ever seen before...
The special effects in that movie were beyond groundbreaking at the time. Very few movies in the 70's even HAD special effects. 20th century fox disbanded their special effects department.
Case in point: In 1976 the special effects academy award winner was Logan's Run. That movie was absolutely pathetic in comparison, and yet was considered to be the best special effects for its day.
I ti s well known that after a stroke, blood pressures skyrocket temporarily in the brain's attempt to force as much blood and oxygen to the brain. In fact, it is recommended NOT to lower the blood pressure during this acute phase, because doing so might actually increase brain damage.
If it were so, then diuretics would not be a first line drug for hypertension, and considered to be the most effective ones at that. What you are saying is true for those who are not hypertensive, yes... but eating high amounts of salt, over time, puts serious strain on the kidneys, and can lead to future hypertension. If you are hypertensive, then sodium management plays a BIG role in your blood pressure.
Americans eat more than 8 grams of sodium per day, on average... some people more than 10 grams... That's a hell of a lot of salt... Since sodium is about half the weight of salt, you are looking at about 16 grams of salt per day.
In other words, Americans eat, on average, almost 3 tablespoons of salt a day... and the kidneys have to filter all that stuff out. It's not easy. Sodium filtration is very hard on the kidneys--it's the most challenging of all the kidney's filtration processes. One of the reasons why blood pressure increases with high sodium is that the kidneys need extra pressure to force the sodium through it's sodium "filter", especially if the kidneys have been damaged (and we all suffer some kidney damage as we get older). High salt really gives the kidneys a workout, and over time, causes them to wear out. When the kidneys get less effective in managing fluid balance, it can cause an incredibly dramatic shift in blood pressure. An increase in blood volume of only 2% can cause a 20 point increase in blood pressure. *ALL* essential hypertensives have fluid balance problems (many secondary hypertensives have other causes, like thyroid, adrenal, or neurological problems.. that is a different story). that is why hypertension docs are nephrologists... kidney specialists. The kidneys, and their regulation of blood volume, are the key to hypertension in 90% of cases.
Our bodies are not designed to handle the incredibly high loads of salt we ingest daily. We were made to eat fresh food, where sodium (except for meat) is rather low...
Low salt diets really work. I am on one... my parents are on one... If you do it right, you can avoid nasty blood pressure medicines that make you miserable.
No need to wait for that... my old Timex Sinclair 1000 is dead as a doornail... maybe I shouldn't have kept it in the attic for 20 years where the temperature can be as high as 120 in the summer and below freezing in the winter.
Of course, my Atari 1200XL seemed to survive just fine... go figure!
You are correct, in a sense, but there is more at play here. As northern states become more blue, they can gerrymander out republican districts after the next census, so the losses might be minimal. In addition, some of the most "conservative southern democrats" aren't very conservative at all. Newly elected VA senator Jim Webb ran on a populist economic platform, and is very vocal about the gap between the rich and poor in this country. Remember that the dixiecrats of old were very much the party of "share the wealth" and strong proponents of FDR's New Deal.
Well, the reality is that there are four branches of government... The Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Entertainment Industry. For all the complaining and hand-wringing about Hollywood, the Republicans have consistently rolled out the red carpet for their big corporate entertainment friends, and the Democrats are going to be no better. In fact, I'm sad to say, that the Democrats, in their zeal to "protect" artists probably will be worse in this regard. Although the entertainment industry rules both parties with an iron fist, people who work in the industry themselves tend to have more liberal sentimentalities, so they would be more likely to work for the DNC than the RNC as a personal preference. Both parties are equally awful in regards to entertainment and consumer rights.
Although I would hope that there would be more democrats than republicans who would support consumer rights over corporate profits, I don't expect to see any progressive entertainment legislation anytime soon, if ever. There is just too much influence in our fourth branch of government to enact any meaningful change. Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.
I hope I'm wrong... perhaps the people-powered, grassroots politics that is beginning to influence politics may eventually bear some fruit in that regard, but I am not getting my hopes up.
Wreck the economy? You mean being self sufficient and not dependent on middle eastern oil? Yeah, that would suck, now, wouldn't it? A booming domestic economy pumped by entrepreneurs investing in new energy methods. Yeah, all those new jobs would stink wouldn't it?
Better to rely on Saudi Arabia and Iran for our economy. After all, they certainly have the West's best interests at heart.
...Microsoft knows that the one and only thing that is preserving their monopoly is Microsoft Office as a standard. If that ever goes away, so does their monopoly. Anyone can run a Mac or Linux and have 75% of their needs happily met via these (or any other) operating system. The one piece missing is fully compatible office software. So, Microsoft needs to hold everyone hostage with proprietary Office formats.
Slashdot Mirror
Some problems with your argument...
An "explosion" of FM stations will not affect the AM dial, which is the home of the majority of right-wing talk radio... it would hardly make a dent.
The biggest proponents of this bill ARE churches... religious groups have been pushing for this ability for a long time. They want to have a bully pulpit that extends beyond the four walls of their church.
The application process is pretty much open to any and all comers... stations are not allocated by political bent... it's first come first serve... it's almost like the CB radio licenses of old... anyone can get one if they apply... space permitting, of course...
Thanks,
Mike
There is something more insidious and pervasive afoot than just Steve Jobs' personal megalomania... it is the beginning of the end of open systems... as more and more totally closed systems are successful int he marketplace, the end result will be closed systems for everybody. there will be no choice. It will be the end of general purpose computing... the end of software development.. and the end of software developers.
Thanks,
Mike
What was that quote by Ben Franklin... Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither... I guess that can be modified to, "Those who sacrifice programming liberty for limited cool looking apps deserve neither."
Personally, I'd like to choose what apps I want to run on my computer.... not leave it up to Steve Jobs.
Thanks,
Mike
...who built Apple in the beginning? It was third party developers... Yes, it was a long time ago.. before the dark times... before the iPod..
The iPod was something that should have been programmable... it could have been made to do all sorts of cool things... but no, we can't have innovation... suers cannot be allowed to do what they wish with the product they bought...
I knew that the iPhone would be closed off to development.. after all, the iPod has been, and no one made a stink... so, why not close off everything else?
This is the beginning of the end of general purpose computing... if the iPhone is successful, more and more systems will get locked in... it's profitable! I think even the Mac will eventually be locked out to developers... with the cheapening of software development by inexpensive H1B imports, no one really cares about appeasing us... we are cheap and worthless in the eyes of the tech world... who cares what we want... users will do what they are told... they are lemmings and will be happy with what they've got...
Typical of Steve Jobs... and a very sad omen for the industry...
Thanks,
Mike
None of these proposals "tax"...
should be
None of these proposals "tax" email...
Thanks,
Mike
When reality doesn't side with your politics, you just make stuff up or pull it out of your behind.... Kudos to the senator's staffer who found an 8 year old story and make it sound like an "impending threat of dire circumstance!" when it is complete fiction.
None of these proposals "tax"... The two issues are whether sites like Amazon.com should collect sales taxes for out of state sales (like any major catalog company like Sears has been doing for generations), and whether municipalities can tax internet access like they do phone and cable... The original moratorium was designed to encourage greater participation in the Internet. that goal has been accomplished, and further subsidizing it probably makes little sense.
Yes, it sucks.... no one likes paying taxes, but the roads don't get built by themselves, and the cops don't protect your house for free. The money has to come from somewhere.
Thanks,
Mike
Lincoln was shot at several times... One time, he was walking around in a park and his hat suddenly flew off... When he picked it up, there was a bullet hole in it.
His wife was very nervous for his safety, but he refused any bodyguards of any type. When he was inaugurated, he was sneaked into Washington, literally under a cloak. Some local papers got a hold of that story and mocked him for being cowardly. So, he instead was very open and brazen, much to the chagrin of his Mary Todd, who worried herself sick over his safety.
Her greatest fear became reality that night at the theater.
Thanks,
Mike
...mostly corporate developers who are very happy that there are so many easy-to-use (albeit unstable) tools to develop apps on. They don't pay the costs directly, so they think it's great. I've always been happy to develop on the MS platform, as long as someone else absorbed the financial burden.
Quite frankly, MS is very developer friendly, if you are willing to pay for the privilege.
Thanks,
Mike
...I have found that if you really want to get something done about a problem, you go straight to the top. It sometimes takes some time and effort to get to the CEO of a 50,000 employee company, but it's almost always worth it if all else fails. Yeah an executive assistant will intercept the complaint, but it will be forwarded to someone who can (and will) do something about it. It seems bizarre that an big shot executive would go out of the way for a single, measly customer with a tiny account, but I can't tell you the number of times that complaining to the big man at the top has netted some surprisingly positive results.
Thanks,
Mike
But which Steve Jobs prepares you for the Atavachron?
Thanks,
Mike
Shouldn't have it expired by now?
Thanks,
Mike
Microsoft is already talking about pulling the plug on Mac Office... they've stripped it down and weakened it so much, it wouldn't be a surprise if they did so in the near future. I would hope that Apple is preparing for this inevitability.
I realize that Apple makes its money off of hardware. Even back in the Apple II days, they were famous for charging a premium for often antiquated hardware. And yes, they're hardware costs are similar to high end PC hardware, but how many folks at home (or at work, for that matter) use the high end stuff? I know that I'm an eMachines junkie, and I suspect that there are many, many folk who are happy with a low end machine. Apple isn't helping bring these people in with a low-wnd machine. There's the Mac mini, of course, but that still is $700... Compare that to a Best Buy sunday special PC with monitor and printer for less than half that price.
I know that Apple wants to be the Cadillac of computers and feels that its brand name would be sullied if they offered a cheap machine. But, there must a be a middle point, where apple could still 'save face", yet bring in new users as well... that target might not even be price related at all... after all the overpriced iPod sells like crazy, because Apple made it the "killer app" of mp3 players. They have yet to find that magic for the macintosh... although they are getting close.
Thanks,
Mike
...but they won't... They aren't interested in market share, unfortunately, just profit margins. If they had any sense, they could strike now. Microsoft's only real lock-in is with Office, and that can be overcome. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter what OS you run for the vast majority of people that use a computer as merely an Internet terminal. OS-X doesn't have all the technical problems and headaches that Microsoft OS's do, and has lots of bells and whistles to boot. If the price and model availability were more competitive, Apple could make some real inroads into the PC market, especially if they could convince businesses that the total cost of ownership would be lower and worth the switch.
But they won't do either... They like high margins and don't like hiring salesmen. It's a shame... they are blowing a great chance to take down the Microsoft monopoly a peg or two.
Thanks,
Mike
2001 Did have a lot of groundbreaking effects... very true... but they didn't have to deal with alien dogfights, "laser" weapons, and explosions, either. 2001 was certainly one of a kind, as well. Nothing came close to it until Lucas' Star Wars came around.
Thanks,
Mike
And yet, they were still better than anyone had ever seen before...
The special effects in that movie were beyond groundbreaking at the time. Very few movies in the 70's even HAD special effects. 20th century fox disbanded their special effects department.
Case in point: In 1976 the special effects academy award winner was Logan's Run. That movie was absolutely pathetic in comparison, and yet was considered to be the best special effects for its day.
Thanks,
Mike
...Alaska is Senator Ted Stevens home state...
I guess this brings a whole new meaning to "a series of tubes"!
Thanks,
Mike
Well, they did build the Alaskan pipeline... I imagine that this project could be built as well.
Thanks,
Mike
I ti s well known that after a stroke, blood pressures skyrocket temporarily in the brain's attempt to force as much blood and oxygen to the brain. In fact, it is recommended NOT to lower the blood pressure during this acute phase, because doing so might actually increase brain damage.
So, the article makes perfect sense to me.
Thanks,
Mike
Not true...
If it were so, then diuretics would not be a first line drug for hypertension, and considered to be the most effective ones at that. What you are saying is true for those who are not hypertensive, yes... but eating high amounts of salt, over time, puts serious strain on the kidneys, and can lead to future hypertension. If you are hypertensive, then sodium management plays a BIG role in your blood pressure.
Americans eat more than 8 grams of sodium per day, on average... some people more than 10 grams... That's a hell of a lot of salt... Since sodium is about half the weight of salt, you are looking at about 16 grams of salt per day.
In other words, Americans eat, on average, almost 3 tablespoons of salt a day... and the kidneys have to filter all that stuff out. It's not easy. Sodium filtration is very hard on the kidneys--it's the most challenging of all the kidney's filtration processes. One of the reasons why blood pressure increases with high sodium is that the kidneys need extra pressure to force the sodium through it's sodium "filter", especially if the kidneys have been damaged (and we all suffer some kidney damage as we get older). High salt really gives the kidneys a workout, and over time, causes them to wear out. When the kidneys get less effective in managing fluid balance, it can cause an incredibly dramatic shift in blood pressure. An increase in blood volume of only 2% can cause a 20 point increase in blood pressure. *ALL* essential hypertensives have fluid balance problems (many secondary hypertensives have other causes, like thyroid, adrenal, or neurological problems.. that is a different story). that is why hypertension docs are nephrologists... kidney specialists. The kidneys, and their regulation of blood volume, are the key to hypertension in 90% of cases.
Our bodies are not designed to handle the incredibly high loads of salt we ingest daily. We were made to eat fresh food, where sodium (except for meat) is rather low...
Low salt diets really work. I am on one... my parents are on one... If you do it right, you can avoid nasty blood pressure medicines that make you miserable.
Thanks,
Mike
No need to wait for that... my old Timex Sinclair 1000 is dead as a doornail... maybe I shouldn't have kept it in the attic for 20 years where the temperature can be as high as 120 in the summer and below freezing in the winter.
Of course, my Atari 1200XL seemed to survive just fine... go figure!
Thanks,
Mike
You are correct, in a sense, but there is more at play here. As northern states become more blue, they can gerrymander out republican districts after the next census, so the losses might be minimal. In addition, some of the most "conservative southern democrats" aren't very conservative at all. Newly elected VA senator Jim Webb ran on a populist economic platform, and is very vocal about the gap between the rich and poor in this country. Remember that the dixiecrats of old were very much the party of "share the wealth" and strong proponents of FDR's New Deal.
Thanks,
Mike
Well, the reality is that there are four branches of government... The Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Entertainment Industry. For all the complaining and hand-wringing about Hollywood, the Republicans have consistently rolled out the red carpet for their big corporate entertainment friends, and the Democrats are going to be no better. In fact, I'm sad to say, that the Democrats, in their zeal to "protect" artists probably will be worse in this regard. Although the entertainment industry rules both parties with an iron fist, people who work in the industry themselves tend to have more liberal sentimentalities, so they would be more likely to work for the DNC than the RNC as a personal preference. Both parties are equally awful in regards to entertainment and consumer rights.
Although I would hope that there would be more democrats than republicans who would support consumer rights over corporate profits, I don't expect to see any progressive entertainment legislation anytime soon, if ever. There is just too much influence in our fourth branch of government to enact any meaningful change. Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.
I hope I'm wrong... perhaps the people-powered, grassroots politics that is beginning to influence politics may eventually bear some fruit in that regard, but I am not getting my hopes up.
Thanks,
Mike
Well, when Comedy Central is more reliable than your favorite "news" channel (**cough** FOX), what other choice do you have?
Thanks,
Mike
Wreck the economy? You mean being self sufficient and not dependent on middle eastern oil? Yeah, that would suck, now, wouldn't it? A booming domestic economy pumped by entrepreneurs investing in new energy methods. Yeah, all those new jobs would stink wouldn't it?
Better to rely on Saudi Arabia and Iran for our economy. After all, they certainly have the West's best interests at heart.
Thanks,
Mike
...Microsoft knows that the one and only thing that is preserving their monopoly is Microsoft Office as a standard. If that ever goes away, so does their monopoly. Anyone can run a Mac or Linux and have 75% of their needs happily met via these (or any other) operating system. The one piece missing is fully compatible office software. So, Microsoft needs to hold everyone hostage with proprietary Office formats.
Thanks,
Mike