I read the first ~100 pages -- I agree, it needs an editor to chop it down. There is a lot of information from primary sources, but the author does not "flow" through his concepts linearly -- he exhausts what person "A" had to say for 3 pages, then goes back and revisits the same initial topic with person "B" for 3 pages, than person "C"... Reading this I felt like I was watching one of those programs on the Discovery channel where there is a commercial break every 8 minutes and they spend the first 2 minutes back recapping the entire episode to that point -- lots of interesting content but too much redundancy and wandering.
(unless it's stored in XML, in which case it may just be a single phone number) ...or it's an X.12 EDI stream -- you'll be lucky if that will cover the tags identifying the segment as a phone number. It makes XML look lean by comparison.
I program in RPG-IV/ILE every day. My company develops in Java using WebObjects for our web front ends, using an i5/OS server (IBM's new name for OS/400) on the back end as the database. I wouldn't dream of doing the nuts-and-bolts database work in anything else -- RPG (and the '400 in general) are built from the ground up to manipulate databases and they do it quite well. SQL is easier for whipping up a one-off report or doing a simple update, but RPG makes it extremely easy to handle the database when you've got to do more complicated things that SQL is just plain awful at.
For those looking for a little more background, RPG stands for Report Program Generator, and from what I've been able to piece together it was developed by IBM in the early '60s as a replacement for COBOL and PL/I to create printed reports. Back then it was all cycle code (read a record from file 1, do some logic, print a line on a page, repeat), but in the latest versions (IBM updates the language every 2-3 years) you can link to C(++), COBOL, Java, PL/I, or even CL modules (the native Command Language of the OS/400 shell). Indicators are still around so old code will work, but they are heavily deprecated and for new code there is rarely any reason to use them. RPG still doesn't have real objects, but now that it has pointers, functions, dynamic memory management, and qualified data structures you can fake it well enough to interface with languages that do.
Let's also not forget that many Americans eat out many times a week, something that was unheard of in the 1950's, as well as in the most of the world today.
I am so sick of everyone who bitches about the lack of privacy whenever law enforcement agents do something to try to even the odds when they are asked to enforce a law that is practically unenforceable. Whether the cops like it or not, this is their job - They have to do what they are told. When you are told to do something at your job that you don't feel is fair, do you just not do it, or do you try to find a tool that will tip the scales in your favor?
Rather than bitch about how the police are the bad guys, the police shouldn't get to use technology to help them enforce the laws, the police shouldn't arrest people for laws I don't like -- WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSONS TO CHANGE THE LAWS. DONATE YOUR MONEY AND TIME TO THE CAUSES YOU WISH TO SUPPORT. RUN FOR OFFICE YOURSELF!
DO/*_NOT_*/ BLAME THE LAW ENFORCERS. THEY ARE JUST DOING THEIR JOB.
Someone please remind me again why we even bother with fixed TLD's and don't just break out the international domains across root servers distributed by the alphabet?
I shouldn't matter what your root is if all domains starting with 'x' go on the 'x' server, all domains starting with 'y' go on the 'y' server, and letters that are used more often just go a few characters deeper (instead of just 's', we have 'sa'-'sd' on one server, 'se-sg' on another, etc.).
We'd have to rewrite the lookup routines on everything, but it seems it wouldn't be all that hard to transition to this.
A little offtopic, but has anyone seen (or done) a formal or informal study on the reliability of floppy disks? I swear they didn't used to be nearly as bad as they are now -- It seems like 1 in 10 go bad on me within 6 months, where I used to have scores of them last me for years...
As anyone familiar with basic arithmetic will realize, the time it takes for an ambulance to cover distance 2X is going to be greater than the time for a car to cover distance X (X = distance between emergency and hospital) unless the car's speed is less than half the speed it is physically possible to drive (which will clearly not be the case in an emergency situation).
You're assuming the ambulance or cop car is coming from the hospital. Most small towns / national parks / etc. have at least some vehicle built for the purpose. In either case, I still feel a properly equipped vehicle operated by trained personnel over a distance of 1x - 2x will have a higher success rate of not losing the patient in transit or flipping the vehicle than you or I driving our cars full out. If you're genuinely in the middle of nowhere where the vehicle coming to get you would be closer to the 2x distance, you're probably not getting any help in time without a helicopter, and I think it's safe to assume you don't have one (or just lost one...:-P)
Er, is this some new definition of the word "remote" with which I have not been familiar?
Anyone I know going off-roading in what they considered a "remote" area has been stopped there at some point by a state trooper / park ranger / etc. --- In most industrialized nations, there is very little left one could consider truely "remote" anymore; and if you are in one of those genuinely remote areas, I don't care how fast you're driving, you're probably not going to make it in time without help. That gets me back to my helicopter argument.
The new problem is that a government bureaucrat can track someone by pushing a few buttons in his comfy office. This makes tracking for trivial and illegitimate causes much more likely than the old system, under which agents in the field had to go observe in person and risk getting caught. (Example: If G. Gordon Liddy had been able to listen in on Democratic Party HQ by simply flipping a switch in the White House basement, we probably wouldn't know to this day that he'd done it.)
I think you're being naive here -- Do you think the Iraqi baby-food factories are the only things "higher ups" are pointing the <1m resolution satellites at? -- Though I would have to agree this will make it easier for your local constable to notice Mayor Jones and Judge Smith meeting at the hotel that charges by the hour.
The government will know where I'm going! They'll
"The government will know I'm visiting somebody on the Enemies' List / buying anarchist literature / running antiwar protests!
(Please don't make yourself look more foolish than you already do by asserting that harassment of political dissidents Can't Happen Here[tm].)
Again, they already do, and they already know. (Please don't make yourself look more foolish than you already do by asserting that harassment of political dissidents Ain't Happening Here[tm].)
I've often wondered in those asteroid/comet/supernova/etc. earth-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time scenarios, why nobody considers just digging a deep tunnel, firing off a few hundred nuclear weapons, and squirting the molten core out like a rocket engine. Between the existant heat and pressure, and the added force of the thermonuclear devices, I'm sure it would be enough to push us out of the way. If we dig from the north or south poles, we'll even have the balancing rotation in place for no cost!
True, the damn thing will probably crack like an egg, but it sounds a lot more fun than just being incinerated by the sun, and any survivors living on other planets would get both (a) a nice fireworks show, and (b) a good laugh at the attempt.
I'd like to start by saying that the idea of a remote controlled governor on your car that you can't turn off is ridiculous. If I want to drive 100 mph (160 kph), I should be _able_ to do so, presently at the risk of getting a traffic citation for speeding and a hefty fine. But reading this article, and many of the points people are raising about this, I think this brings up an interesting point about democracy, and laws that are not currently "universally enforceable".
Let's look at many of the arguments against this though:
1) In an emergency, I won't be able to drive fast. How can I get my spouse/child/parent to the hospital in time?!
- There are white trucks with red flashing lights, a siren and trained personnel called ambulances that handle this sort of thing. They not only are allowed to drive as fast as they want, other cars are required to clear them a path, and they are a lot better equipped to begin dealing with the emergency in transit.
* But what if I'm in a remote area?
- There's almost always some sort of "official personnel" nearby, be it a police office, or a volunteer firefighter, who has at least some training and a vehicle that would be exempt from this. And if you're too far away from any of these, you're probably not going to get to help in time anyhow.
* But what if I don't have any way to call for help?
- It think it is reasonable to assume these things could also have an "emergency" button on them, and you'd have a peace officer and a medivac helicopter there faster than you could get to help yourself.
2) The government will know where I'm going! They'll know exactly what I'm doing! This invades my privacy!
- If you're so naive to believe that this is a "new" problem created by this device, go ahead. If the government is interested in where you're going and what you're doing, they probably already know. Don't break the law, and don't be obnoxiously stupid, and you'll just be a faceless number in a tax agency computer.
3) The government will know where I'm going! They'll know exactly what I'm doing! They'll know I'm speeding / visiting a prostitute / buying drugs / running guns!
- GOOD. These are ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. I firmly believe that one of the major influences vehicles have had on people is their contribution to the feeling that "if it's illegal, but nobody sees me doing it, it's okay". That sign on the side of the road with the numbers on it says SPEED LIMIT or MAXIMUM SPEED, not RECOMMENDED SPEED or even REQUIRED SPEED - Yet everyone (at least in my corner of the world) regularly tacks 5-15% on to that number, and becomes irate when another driver obeys this regulation.
* Do you really believe that the speed limits posted are the maximum safe speeds we can drive at on a three lane highway without much traffic on a Saturday afternoon in this age of traction control, ABS, air bags, and a host of other safety devices, coupled with vehicles that are designed for optimal fuel efficiency between 65 and 75 MPH?
- No, I don't. Which brings me to my point:
4) IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CHANGE OR ELIMINATE LAWS WE DON'T NEED. WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO JUST IGNORE THOSE WE DON'T LIKE.
* But the government will know that I'm speeding!
- If you're driving through a school zone, good. Pay the ticket and stop going 50 in a 20 where children are running between cars to fetch the ball they lost in the street.
- If you're on a rural highway, with no traffic, no deer jumping onto the road, no intersections, and no reason for a 55 mph speed limit, fight to have the limit raised or removed. Don't just whine that the guy ahead of you was going the same speed and didn't get a ticket.
* But the government will ticket me for holding up traffic in the fast lane!
- Good. It's about time!
* But the government will know that I'm soliciting a prostitute!
- If you think that is morally acceptable, or if you don't think the government should be policing morality and/or victimless activities, change the laws, don't just break them and hope to not get caught.
* But the government will know that I'm buying crack!
- If you're selling it to small children, enjoy your cell. If you're using it for recreational use, enjoy your cell --- Or fight to make it legal for consenting adults to use drugs.
* But the government will know that I'm building a bomb!
- And I hope they do. Violence is not an action of a civilized democratic society.
* I don't want the government to know my car was at the liquor store at the same time the alarm was pressed, and then sped away shortly thereafter?
- Don't steal things. Welcome to civilization.
* But the burglar just carjacked my car to use as a getaway vehicle!
- Yes, and then the police know where it went, so they can hunt them down much faster and recover both your car and the stolen money. They're doing you a favor.
* I don't want the government to know my car was at my ex-spouse's house at the time he/she was stabbed 17 times, shot in the face, and left for dead!
- You're not supposed to kill people. Even for money. Even for love.
My 5-disc Sony has the dual-discrete (two laser) system; it will very few brands of CD-R's, but can read most brands of CD-RW's. I think the issue is not only whether it's reflective or not, but whether it interprets the reflectivity to mean to use the "DVD Laser" or the "CD Laser". That would explain the amount of whirring I hear as it "tries" to identify the disc. With most CD-RW's, it'll happily play VCD 1.0/2.0 discs (but not SVCD), and burned CD-Audio discs.
Simple: Dell purchases LCD's in such high quantities that the manufacturers are willing to guarantee them so much production of these.
The biggest problem in the LCD industry right now is supply capacity: with current manufacturing methods, they simply cannot manufacture these things fast enough. It's the same thing as with high-end CPU's -- Dell/Gateway/Compaq/IBM always get the top-o-the-line before the smaller manufacturers, who get it before the DIY market, simply because they can lay out the cash for 500,000 units in advance.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Having read them both, I find The Discourses to be far more educational -- it is Machiavelli's longer work that the Prince was stripped from as a kiss-ass gesture to the new patriarch of the family that ruled his home province; The Discourses is actually a comparitive study of a variety of management techniques, explaining when force works and when mere backstabbing will do.
Nuclear reactors are not economically viable in the United States for political reasons.
A company trying to build a power plant today will be drug through the courts endlessly by ill-informed environmentalist groups because laws in this country make it very easy to have one small group halt the construction of a reactor while it is "investigated".
It really is a sad state of affairs -- New nuclear reactors are a lot safer and cleaner than the ones that are currently in use throughout the United States, most of which were built in the 50's and 60's, but those are too expensive to decommission and the new ones are too expensive (mainly in the time investment) to build.
The down side is this: People see this as an invitation to go the next step -- rip the TiVo code off the machine and build their own boxes(which TiVo probably won't care about, 'cause they're selling the service, not the box), the associated OEM's manufacturing the actual boxes see sales drop, get pissed off, and start suing (1) TiVo and (2) consumers, just because they have deep pockets.
Mozilla is fast. Okay.. it's not that fast, but the nightly builds have been getting better, and the HTML rendering is fast.
Whether a webpage renders in.2 seconds or.3 seconds is irrelevant to me when a Pentium 450 stalls for a full second as soon as I move the mouse from one menu to another.
This may work in Japan or France, where the majority of the power is generated by nuclear reactors, and new reactors can be constructed, but in the US, where most of the world's cars are, it is nearly impossible to construct a new reactor. It requires one protestor to write one letter to completely halt a nuclear facility from being constructed while the plan is reevaluated. That is why, even though modern breeder reactors are far safer and more efficient than the nuke plants that have been running since the '50s, less than a dozen new nuclear plants have opened in the US in the past 20 years. It is ignorance and paranoia that stop the dangerous old reactors from being replaced with new, safe, efficient ones and instead they are replaced with multiple coal/oil/trash burning plants.
The power supply problem aside, it will be another 5-10 years before we can build batteries with the right weight, safety (== aren't 50% lead and won't explode in a collision), and charge speed/capacity required for electric cars to become practical -- They are getting better though: The GM EV1 (http://www.gmev.com/), which they have been leasing in the Western US in limited markets for a while now, has a range of 75-120 miles with the new NiMH batteries. This is actually a car you can drive now if you live in one of the markets where they are available and really want an electric car.
If the US Gov't wants to listen in on everything, I say we all write to our congressmen and demand they at least have the common courtesy to filter everything for us.
Just hav'em stop all of those nasties -- Viruses, Worms, Contructive thoughts, Trojans, Spam...
Slashdot Mirror
I read the first ~100 pages -- I agree, it needs an editor to chop it down. There is a lot of information from primary sources, but the author does not "flow" through his concepts linearly -- he exhausts what person "A" had to say for 3 pages, then goes back and revisits the same initial topic with person "B" for 3 pages, than person "C"...
Reading this I felt like I was watching one of those programs on the Discovery channel where there is a commercial break every 8 minutes and they spend the first 2 minutes back recapping the entire episode to that point -- lots of interesting content but too much redundancy and wandering.
(unless it's stored in XML, in which case it may just be a single phone number)
...or it's an X.12 EDI stream -- you'll be lucky if that will cover the tags identifying the segment as a phone number. It makes XML look lean by comparison.
Some days I miss proprietary fixed formats...
I program in RPG-IV/ILE every day. My company develops in Java using WebObjects for our web front ends, using an i5/OS server (IBM's new name for OS/400) on the back end as the database. I wouldn't dream of doing the nuts-and-bolts database work in anything else -- RPG (and the '400 in general) are built from the ground up to manipulate databases and they do it quite well. SQL is easier for whipping up a one-off report or doing a simple update, but RPG makes it extremely easy to handle the database when you've got to do more complicated things that SQL is just plain awful at.
For those looking for a little more background, RPG stands for Report Program Generator, and from what I've been able to piece together it was developed by IBM in the early '60s as a replacement for COBOL and PL/I to create printed reports. Back then it was all cycle code (read a record from file 1, do some logic, print a line on a page, repeat), but in the latest versions (IBM updates the language every 2-3 years) you can link to C(++), COBOL, Java, PL/I, or even CL modules (the native Command Language of the OS/400 shell). Indicators are still around so old code will work, but they are heavily deprecated and for new code there is rarely any reason to use them. RPG still doesn't have real objects, but now that it has pointers, functions, dynamic memory management, and qualified data structures you can fake it well enough to interface with languages that do.
Let's also not forget that many Americans eat out many times a week, something that was unheard of in the 1950's, as well as in the most of the world today.
You will be waiting forever as the chip was designed with no SMP capability == multi-processor P4 is not possible.
I am so sick of everyone who bitches about the lack of privacy whenever law enforcement agents do something to try to even the odds when they are asked to enforce a law that is practically unenforceable. Whether the cops like it or not, this is their job - They have to do what they are told. When you are told to do something at your job that you don't feel is fair, do you just not do it, or do you try to find a tool that will tip the scales in your favor?
/*_NOT_*/ BLAME THE LAW ENFORCERS. THEY ARE JUST DOING THEIR JOB.
Rather than bitch about how the police are the bad guys, the police shouldn't get to use technology to help them enforce the laws, the police shouldn't arrest people for laws I don't like -- WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSONS TO CHANGE THE LAWS. DONATE YOUR MONEY AND TIME TO THE CAUSES YOU WISH TO SUPPORT. RUN FOR OFFICE YOURSELF!
DO
Hmm... I seem to have left out the important point in my post about "giving each letter (or a group of letters) to a different governing body to run".
Someone please remind me again why we even bother with fixed TLD's and don't just break out the international domains across root servers distributed by the alphabet?
I shouldn't matter what your root is if all domains starting with 'x' go on the 'x' server, all domains starting with 'y' go on the 'y' server, and letters that are used more often just go a few characters deeper (instead of just 's', we have 'sa'-'sd' on one server, 'se-sg' on another, etc.).
We'd have to rewrite the lookup routines on everything, but it seems it wouldn't be all that hard to transition to this.
I thought it was Al Gore...
A little offtopic, but has anyone seen (or done) a formal or informal study on the reliability of floppy disks? I swear they didn't used to be nearly as bad as they are now -- It seems like 1 in 10 go bad on me within 6 months, where I used to have scores of them last me for years...
Better yet -- Everyone give me US$1 now, and in 5 billion years I'll show you all what I've come up with...
Your straw men are aggrivating my hay fever, so let's blow a few of them away
By the way -- Good one! I'll have to keep that expression in mind...
As anyone familiar with basic arithmetic will realize, the time it takes for an ambulance to cover distance 2X is going to be greater than the time for a car to cover distance X (X = distance between emergency and hospital) unless the car's speed is less than half the speed it is physically possible to drive (which will clearly not be the case in an emergency situation).
You're assuming the ambulance or cop car is coming from the hospital. Most small towns / national parks / etc. have at least some vehicle built for the purpose. In either case, I still feel a properly equipped vehicle operated by trained personnel over a distance of 1x - 2x will have a higher success rate of not losing the patient in transit or flipping the vehicle than you or I driving our cars full out. If you're genuinely in the middle of nowhere where the vehicle coming to get you would be closer to the 2x distance, you're probably not getting any help in time without a helicopter, and I think it's safe to assume you don't have one (or just lost one... :-P)
Er, is this some new definition of the word "remote" with which I have not been familiar?
Anyone I know going off-roading in what they considered a "remote" area has been stopped there at some point by a state trooper / park ranger / etc. --- In most industrialized nations, there is very little left one could consider truely "remote" anymore; and if you are in one of those genuinely remote areas, I don't care how fast you're driving, you're probably not going to make it in time without help. That gets me back to my helicopter argument.
The new problem is that a government bureaucrat can track someone by pushing a few buttons in his comfy office. This makes tracking for trivial and illegitimate causes much more likely than the old system, under which agents in the field had to go observe in person and risk getting caught. (Example: If G. Gordon Liddy had been able to listen in on Democratic Party HQ by simply flipping a switch in the White House basement, we probably wouldn't know to this day that he'd done it.)
I think you're being naive here -- Do you think the Iraqi baby-food factories are the only things "higher ups" are pointing the <1m resolution satellites at? -- Though I would have to agree this will make it easier for your local constable to notice Mayor Jones and Judge Smith meeting at the hotel that charges by the hour.
The government will know where I'm going! They'll "The government will know I'm visiting somebody on the Enemies' List / buying anarchist literature / running antiwar protests! (Please don't make yourself look more foolish than you already do by asserting that harassment of political dissidents Can't Happen Here[tm].)
Again, they already do, and they already know. (Please don't make yourself look more foolish than you already do by asserting that harassment of political dissidents Ain't Happening Here[tm].)
I've often wondered in those asteroid/comet/supernova/etc. earth-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time scenarios, why nobody considers just digging a deep tunnel, firing off a few hundred nuclear weapons, and squirting the molten core out like a rocket engine. Between the existant heat and pressure, and the added force of the thermonuclear devices, I'm sure it would be enough to push us out of the way. If we dig from the north or south poles, we'll even have the balancing rotation in place for no cost!
True, the damn thing will probably crack like an egg, but it sounds a lot more fun than just being incinerated by the sun, and any survivors living on other planets would get both (a) a nice fireworks show, and (b) a good laugh at the attempt.
I'd like to start by saying that the idea of a remote controlled governor on your car that you can't turn off is ridiculous. If I want to drive 100 mph (160 kph), I should be _able_ to do so, presently at the risk of getting a traffic citation for speeding and a hefty fine. But reading this article, and many of the points people are raising about this, I think this brings up an interesting point about democracy, and laws that are not currently "universally enforceable".
Let's look at many of the arguments against this though:
1) In an emergency, I won't be able to drive fast. How can I get my spouse/child/parent to the hospital in time?!
- There are white trucks with red flashing lights, a siren and trained personnel called ambulances that handle this sort of thing. They not only are allowed to drive as fast as they want, other cars are required to clear them a path, and they are a lot better equipped to begin dealing with the emergency in transit.
* But what if I'm in a remote area?
- There's almost always some sort of "official personnel" nearby, be it a police office, or a volunteer firefighter, who has at least some training and a vehicle that would be exempt from this. And if you're too far away from any of these, you're probably not going to get to help in time anyhow.
* But what if I don't have any way to call for help?
- It think it is reasonable to assume these things could also have an "emergency" button on them, and you'd have a peace officer and a medivac helicopter there faster than you could get to help yourself.
2) The government will know where I'm going! They'll know exactly what I'm doing! This invades my privacy!
- If you're so naive to believe that this is a "new" problem created by this device, go ahead. If the government is interested in where you're going and what you're doing, they probably already know. Don't break the law, and don't be obnoxiously stupid, and you'll just be a faceless number in a tax agency computer.
3) The government will know where I'm going! They'll know exactly what I'm doing! They'll know I'm speeding / visiting a prostitute / buying drugs / running guns!
- GOOD. These are ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. I firmly believe that one of the major influences vehicles have had on people is their contribution to the feeling that "if it's illegal, but nobody sees me doing it, it's okay". That sign on the side of the road with the numbers on it says SPEED LIMIT or MAXIMUM SPEED, not RECOMMENDED SPEED or even REQUIRED SPEED - Yet everyone (at least in my corner of the world) regularly tacks 5-15% on to that number, and becomes irate when another driver obeys this regulation.
* Do you really believe that the speed limits posted are the maximum safe speeds we can drive at on a three lane highway without much traffic on a Saturday afternoon in this age of traction control, ABS, air bags, and a host of other safety devices, coupled with vehicles that are designed for optimal fuel efficiency between 65 and 75 MPH?
- No, I don't. Which brings me to my point:
4) IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CHANGE OR ELIMINATE LAWS WE DON'T NEED. WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO JUST IGNORE THOSE WE DON'T LIKE.
* But the government will know that I'm speeding!
- If you're driving through a school zone, good. Pay the ticket and stop going 50 in a 20 where children are running between cars to fetch the ball they lost in the street.
- If you're on a rural highway, with no traffic, no deer jumping onto the road, no intersections, and no reason for a 55 mph speed limit, fight to have the limit raised or removed. Don't just whine that the guy ahead of you was going the same speed and didn't get a ticket.
* But the government will ticket me for holding up traffic in the fast lane!
- Good. It's about time!
* But the government will know that I'm soliciting a prostitute!
- If you think that is morally acceptable, or if you don't think the government should be policing morality and/or victimless activities, change the laws, don't just break them and hope to not get caught.
* But the government will know that I'm buying crack!
- If you're selling it to small children, enjoy your cell. If you're using it for recreational use, enjoy your cell --- Or fight to make it legal for consenting adults to use drugs.
* But the government will know that I'm building a bomb!
- And I hope they do. Violence is not an action of a civilized democratic society.
* I don't want the government to know my car was at the liquor store at the same time the alarm was pressed, and then sped away shortly thereafter?
- Don't steal things. Welcome to civilization.
* But the burglar just carjacked my car to use as a getaway vehicle!
- Yes, and then the police know where it went, so they can hunt them down much faster and recover both your car and the stolen money. They're doing you a favor.
* I don't want the government to know my car was at my ex-spouse's house at the time he/she was stabbed 17 times, shot in the face, and left for dead!
- You're not supposed to kill people. Even for money. Even for love.
End of my rant. Flame away.
My 5-disc Sony has the dual-discrete (two laser) system; it will very few brands of CD-R's, but can read most brands of CD-RW's. I think the issue is not only whether it's reflective or not, but whether it interprets the reflectivity to mean to use the "DVD Laser" or the "CD Laser". That would explain the amount of whirring I hear as it "tries" to identify the disc. With most CD-RW's, it'll happily play VCD 1.0/2.0 discs (but not SVCD), and burned CD-Audio discs.
Steve Jobs has put faith money in gambles before, and always wants to be part of something "revolutionary".
Bezos will be his primary retail outlet; Maybe Amazon can actually turn a profit if they had a product like this.
Simple: Dell purchases LCD's in such high quantities that the manufacturers are willing to guarantee them so much production of these.
The biggest problem in the LCD industry right now is supply capacity: with current manufacturing methods, they simply cannot manufacture these things fast enough. It's the same thing as with high-end CPU's -- Dell/Gateway/Compaq/IBM always get the top-o-the-line before the smaller manufacturers, who get it before the DIY market, simply because they can lay out the cash for 500,000 units in advance.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Having read them both, I find The Discourses to be far more educational -- it is Machiavelli's longer work that the Prince was stripped from as a kiss-ass gesture to the new patriarch of the family that ruled his home province; The Discourses is actually a comparitive study of a variety of management techniques, explaining when force works and when mere backstabbing will do.
Nuclear reactors are not economically viable in the United States for political reasons.
A company trying to build a power plant today will be drug through the courts endlessly by ill-informed environmentalist groups because laws in this country make it very easy to have one small group halt the construction of a reactor while it is "investigated".
It really is a sad state of affairs -- New nuclear reactors are a lot safer and cleaner than the ones that are currently in use throughout the United States, most of which were built in the 50's and 60's, but those are too expensive to decommission and the new ones are too expensive (mainly in the time investment) to build.
The down side is this: People see this as an invitation to go the next step -- rip the TiVo code off the machine and build their own boxes(which TiVo probably won't care about, 'cause they're selling the service, not the box), the associated OEM's manufacturing the actual boxes see sales drop, get pissed off, and start suing (1) TiVo and (2) consumers, just because they have deep pockets.
Mozilla is fast. Okay.. it's not that fast, but the nightly builds have been getting better, and the HTML rendering is fast.
Whether a webpage renders in .2 seconds or .3 seconds is irrelevant to me when a Pentium 450 stalls for a full second as soon as I move the mouse from one menu to another.
This may work in Japan or France, where the majority of the power is generated by nuclear reactors, and new reactors can be constructed, but in the US, where most of the world's cars are, it is nearly impossible to construct a new reactor. It requires one protestor to write one letter to completely halt a nuclear facility from being constructed while the plan is reevaluated. That is why, even though modern breeder reactors are far safer and more efficient than the nuke plants that have been running since the '50s, less than a dozen new nuclear plants have opened in the US in the past 20 years.
It is ignorance and paranoia that stop the dangerous old reactors from being replaced with new, safe, efficient ones and instead they are replaced with multiple coal/oil/trash burning plants.
The power supply problem aside, it will be another 5-10 years before we can build batteries with the right weight, safety (== aren't 50% lead and won't explode in a collision), and charge speed/capacity required for electric cars to become practical -- They are getting better though: The GM EV1 (http://www.gmev.com/), which they have been leasing in the Western US in limited markets for a while now, has a range of 75-120 miles with the new NiMH batteries. This is actually a car you can drive now if you live in one of the markets where they are available and really want an electric car.
The amiga used to be a good place to find them, but the amiga is about as dead as Elvis
Amigas have been sighted working at a Burger King in Kalamazoo?
If the US Gov't wants to listen in on everything, I say we all write to our congressmen and demand they at least have the common courtesy to filter everything for us.
Just hav'em stop all of those nasties -- Viruses, Worms, Contructive thoughts, Trojans, Spam...
(Hmm... Did something odd get slipped in there?)