That's not really a reasonable comparison. Pretty much every time I send a letter, I have to look up the zip/postal code. I don't particularly care whether I have to write down "10011" (US) or "V3H 4Z6" (Canada) or whatever system they come up with, because I'll immediately forget it. On the other hand, your father remembers from childhood what an inch roughly is, so he's less inclined to memorize another system.
I believe many, if not all, states restrict the sales of lockpicks and key-cutting machines. So there is precedent. I don't think it's being appropriately applied here, though.
Good point. I'll check that when I get home tonight.
As for the AC asking why I have a GeForce4 in a server (I knew that was coming), it came in the $400 headless desktop system that I call my server. I have nothing else to do with the card anyway, since my main machine is an iBook.
What the hell are you talking about? I gave you two first-hand reports of gas mileage well under 20 mpg, and one anecdotal report of gas mileage under 10 mpg. I haven't fucked with anything. Note that I'm talking about gasoline engines here. I specifically mentioned that the Excursion reportedly gets 18 mpg with a diesel engine. The F250 is over a ton lighter than the Excursion, which might account for the better gas mileage you got.
As for your other statement, the Excursion has a curb weight of 7,725 lb., or almost four tons (and well over three tonnes). I submit that it therefore qualifies as one of your "two ton turds that [gets] 12 mpg."
Granted, the Ford Excursion is an extreme case, but I'm serious. I wish I were joking. Ford has stopped publishing the Excursion's estimated mpg because the EPA doesn't rate vehicles that large. That itself should tell you something.
This Ford dealer claims the 2000 model gets up to 10 mpg with a gas engine, and up to 18 mpg with a diesel engine. This review puts actual mileage at 10/14 (city/highway), but I've heard real world reports around 5/9.
As with Microsoft, you can choose to either support them because it's easy and everybody else does, or you can support their squeezed competition and help the market return to a state of fair competition where the consumers -- not the monopolists -- win.
Actually, there are technical limitations from using a P4-M vs. a G4 CPU that make it difficult for a PC laptop to just rip off the Powerbook's design.
The P4-M consumes more power than a full-speed G4, requiring a larger capacity (and thus physically larger) battery for similar battery life, which constrains weight (the 15" Powerbook weigs 5.4 lbs, the vpr's 6.4 lbs). Also, the greater amount of heat P4-M dissipates needs more ways to dissipate, generally meaning a larger heatsink and fan, which constrain the thickness (the 15" Powerbook is 1" thick, the vpr 1.2").
From all reports I've heard, 128kbps AACs are equivalent to somewhere in the range of 196kbps to 256kbps mp3 (read: effectively CD) quality. I'm a little skeptical, but I'm reasonably happy with 196kbps mp3's, so even the bottom of that range would satisfy me.
Why yes, if by "non-standard" you mean "industry standard," you're absolutely correct. AAC is an audio encoding format in MP4. How astute of you to point that out.
You can go ahead and say "Oh, but all my 128kbps MP3s sound just as good as the CDs", but chances are, you're wrong. Anybody with anything better than cheapo computer speakers or $5 headphones they got for free in a box of Cracker Jacks is able to hear an enormous difference.
And you can go ahead and RTFA. They're using 128kbps AAC encoding, which is by many accounts at least as good as 196kbps mp3, and by some accounts as good as 256kbps.
Don't take this to mean that I believe that Harvard isn't an amazing educational institution or that I'm discrediting its graduates. And don't be an elitist Harvard assholes by just assuming that I didn't go to Harvard. As it turns out, I didn't.
Oops, I was wrong. My source lists "VANDERBILT UNIV, LAW SCHL, 1976," which led me to believe that he'd graduated. He did, however, graduate cum laude from Harvard, but that's not particularly hard once you're admitted.
(Gore was the one who flunked out of college while Bush was the one with an MBA from Harvard)
If by "flunked out of college" you meant "graduated cum laude from Harvard (1969), then from Vanderbilt Divinity School (1972), then from Vanderbilt Law School (1976)," you're absolutely right.
[Al Gore] isn't particularly well educated by any standards.
Holy shit, someone mod this troll down.
After receiving his AB from Harvard University (1969), he graduated from Vanderbilt University Divinity School (1972), then received his JD from Vanderbilt University Law School (1976). And then he accepted a position as a guest lecturer at Columbia University (2001).
By many standards, Al Gore is an extremely well educated (and admittedly privileged) individual. You may not like the man or what he's done, but geez, don't just make shit up to make him look bad.
Good business models include a LARGE cross-section.
If you meant to imply that all good business models include a large cross section, you're absolutely wrong. That mentality fostered the.com business models of "building brand recognition" that ultimately went nowhere. There are many spectacularly successful business models that are very narrowly targeted, but do very well at saturating their target market (think Mercedes-Benz).
I think you'll find WiFi slowly fazed in after different proprietary technologies failed to catch on.
Consumers were appropriately unwilling to be locked into a particular vendor, and eventually these vendors decided to come up with a standard protocol that would make all of their equipment compatible.
As I recall, there were even incompatibilities among early 802.11 implementations, leading to the creation of the "WiFi" label, which guarantees interoperability with other "WiFi" products from any manufacturer.
Aside from the obvious benefit of using an order of magnitude less power, Bluetooth's adhoc p2p networking is rather good (up to 7 peers, I believe). I've heard negative things about 802.11b's adhoc protocols, but don't know enough about them myself to comment.
Additionally, the reduced range of Bluetooth is actually a feature. There'll be less interference in the same area given equal density, which is important given these devices' tendency towards dense PANs (Personal Area Networks).
It's not an inescapable fact at all. We don't yet know enough about the human genome to understand all of the effects any single one has.
The obvious example is the (I believe recessive) gene for sickle cell anemia. You might argue that by treating the proportionally large population in Africa with sickle cell anemia, we're allowing the gene to propogate to continue and thereby "weakening the gene pool." You'd be overlooking the fact, however, that this very same gene increases resistance to malaria.
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That's not really a reasonable comparison. Pretty much every time I send a letter, I have to look up the zip/postal code. I don't particularly care whether I have to write down "10011" (US) or "V3H 4Z6" (Canada) or whatever system they come up with, because I'll immediately forget it. On the other hand, your father remembers from childhood what an inch roughly is, so he's less inclined to memorize another system.
I believe many, if not all, states restrict the sales of lockpicks and key-cutting machines. So there is precedent. I don't think it's being appropriately applied here, though.
Good point. I'll check that when I get home tonight.
As for the AC asking why I have a GeForce4 in a server (I knew that was coming), it came in the $400 headless desktop system that I call my server. I have nothing else to do with the card anyway, since my main machine is an iBook.
I have Mandrake 9.1 working on my server which has a 64 MB nVidia GeForce4 MX, and it works fine with a generic 15" LCD.
What the hell are you talking about? I gave you two first-hand reports of gas mileage well under 20 mpg, and one anecdotal report of gas mileage under 10 mpg. I haven't fucked with anything. Note that I'm talking about gasoline engines here. I specifically mentioned that the Excursion reportedly gets 18 mpg with a diesel engine. The F250 is over a ton lighter than the Excursion, which might account for the better gas mileage you got.
As for your other statement, the Excursion has a curb weight of 7,725 lb., or almost four tons (and well over three tonnes). I submit that it therefore qualifies as one of your "two ton turds that [gets] 12 mpg."
Granted, the Ford Excursion is an extreme case, but I'm serious. I wish I were joking. Ford has stopped publishing the Excursion's estimated mpg because the EPA doesn't rate vehicles that large. That itself should tell you something.
This Ford dealer claims the 2000 model gets up to 10 mpg with a gas engine, and up to 18 mpg with a diesel engine. This review puts actual mileage at 10/14 (city/highway), but I've heard real world reports around 5/9.
Either you meant this ironically or you missed the SUV frenzy of the past ten years. The Ford Excursion gets between 5 and 10 mpg.
For the staff's personal mp3 collections, of course.
Visa and Mastercard are convicted monopolists (actually duopolists).
As with Microsoft, you can choose to either support them because it's easy and everybody else does, or you can support their squeezed competition and help the market return to a state of fair competition where the consumers -- not the monopolists -- win.
Actually, there are technical limitations from using a P4-M vs. a G4 CPU that make it difficult for a PC laptop to just rip off the Powerbook's design.
The P4-M consumes more power than a full-speed G4, requiring a larger capacity (and thus physically larger) battery for similar battery life, which constrains weight (the 15" Powerbook weigs 5.4 lbs, the vpr's 6.4 lbs). Also, the greater amount of heat P4-M dissipates needs more ways to dissipate, generally meaning a larger heatsink and fan, which constrain the thickness (the 15" Powerbook is 1" thick, the vpr 1.2").
From all reports I've heard, 128kbps AACs are equivalent to somewhere in the range of 196kbps to 256kbps mp3 (read: effectively CD) quality. I'm a little skeptical, but I'm reasonably happy with 196kbps mp3's, so even the bottom of that range would satisfy me.
Also, 1-Click shopping is available, did they pay Amazon for this?
Yes.
Why yes, if by "non-standard" you mean "industry standard," you're absolutely correct. AAC is an audio encoding format in MP4. How astute of you to point that out.
You can go ahead and say "Oh, but all my 128kbps MP3s sound just as good as the CDs", but chances are, you're wrong. Anybody with anything better than cheapo computer speakers or $5 headphones they got for free in a box of Cracker Jacks is able to hear an enormous difference.
And you can go ahead and RTFA. They're using 128kbps AAC encoding, which is by many accounts at least as good as 196kbps mp3, and by some accounts as good as 256kbps.
Problem solved, nothing to see here, move along. What do I win?
Okay, back to work on my MS Natural knock-off in Dvorak mode.
\w
If you'll look here, you'll see that I substantiated my claims quite well: 1482 of 1676, or 88.4%, of the class of 2000 graduated with Latin honours.
Don't take this to mean that I believe that Harvard isn't an amazing educational institution or that I'm discrediting its graduates. And don't be an elitist Harvard assholes by just assuming that I didn't go to Harvard. As it turns out, I didn't.
But that's because Yale's better. :)
I was mistaken about his time at Vanderbilt, but Gore did in fact graduate cum laude from Harvard.
Harvard does, incidentally, have a much lower standard for granting Latin honours. Of the 1676 in the class of 2000, 1482 received Latin honours. That's 88.4%.
Oops, I was wrong. My source lists "VANDERBILT UNIV, LAW SCHL, 1976," which led me to believe that he'd graduated. He did, however, graduate cum laude from Harvard, but that's not particularly hard once you're admitted.
If by "flunked out of college" you meant "graduated cum laude from Harvard (1969), then from Vanderbilt Divinity School (1972), then from Vanderbilt Law School (1976)," you're absolutely right.
Holy shit, someone mod this troll down.
After receiving his AB from Harvard University (1969), he graduated from Vanderbilt University Divinity School (1972), then received his JD from Vanderbilt University Law School (1976). And then he accepted a position as a guest lecturer at Columbia University (2001).
By many standards, Al Gore is an extremely well educated (and admittedly privileged) individual. You may not like the man or what he's done, but geez, don't just make shit up to make him look bad.
If you meant to imply that all good business models include a large cross section, you're absolutely wrong. That mentality fostered the .com business models of "building brand recognition" that ultimately went nowhere. There are many spectacularly successful business models that are very narrowly targeted, but do very well at saturating their target market (think Mercedes-Benz).
I think you'll find WiFi slowly fazed in after different proprietary technologies failed to catch on.
Consumers were appropriately unwilling to be locked into a particular vendor, and eventually these vendors decided to come up with a standard protocol that would make all of their equipment compatible.
As I recall, there were even incompatibilities among early 802.11 implementations, leading to the creation of the "WiFi" label, which guarantees interoperability with other "WiFi" products from any manufacturer.
Aside from the obvious benefit of using an order of magnitude less power, Bluetooth's adhoc p2p networking is rather good (up to 7 peers, I believe). I've heard negative things about 802.11b's adhoc protocols, but don't know enough about them myself to comment.
Additionally, the reduced range of Bluetooth is actually a feature. There'll be less interference in the same area given equal density, which is important given these devices' tendency towards dense PANs (Personal Area Networks).
It's not an inescapable fact at all. We don't yet know enough about the human genome to understand all of the effects any single one has.
The obvious example is the (I believe recessive) gene for sickle cell anemia. You might argue that by treating the proportionally large population in Africa with sickle cell anemia, we're allowing the gene to propogate to continue and thereby "weakening the gene pool." You'd be overlooking the fact, however, that this very same gene increases resistance to malaria.