Wasn't the lack of documentation for some APIs part of the U.S. antitrust trial?
IIRC, there were some APIs that weren't even documented INTERNAL TO MICROSOFT. Something about not having to document APIs for third party developers if the API wasn't documented for Microsoft use...
This is exactly the sort of thing that one has homeowner's insurance for, isn't it? Natural disasters (i.e. acts of God") would also include trees falling down on a house, damage from windstorms (flying debris), tornadoes, etc.
The paper ballot that is generated with your vote is not taken from the polling place; it is deposited in a ballot box to be used in case of audit/recount. It is not a receipt in the sense that you can take it home and keep it in your bill drawer with your grocery and utility bills.
What it DOES provide is that voter-verified, tangible proof of your vote, that can be counted in the event that the voting machines crash, there is a recount, evidence of tampering, etc.
My God...that has to be one of the best pieces written on eVoting I have seen.
This past Tuesday, Virginia held a primary election, and the city of Alexandria used the eSlate voting system. When I inquired to the election board as to why a voting system was in place without a VVPT, even though the eSlate was technically capable of such a provision, here is part of the response I got from the Alexandria election board (HAVA=Help America Vote Act):
In addition, no electronic system that meets the requirements for HAVA
and that provides a voter verified paper trail is certified by the State Board of Elections for use in Virginia. Hypothetically, if the Board were inclined to implement such a feature it would be powerless to do so.
This is in clear conflict with the alexandriavoter.org website:
Considering all these factors, the electoral board has faith in the integrity of electronic voting in Alexandria. Ultimately though, the faith of voters in the system is far more important than the viewpoints of elected officials or election officials. If the United States Congress or Virginia General Assembly determine that a voter verified paper trail is essential to maintain faith in the electoral system, eSlate can be retrofitted to provide it.
In other words, the eSlate may be technically capable of providing a paper trail, but current state and federal law does not allow the paper trail to be created as it does not meet HAVA standards.
The statement made by the website is therefore false and misleading--the eSlate can NOT be retrofitted to provide a paper audit trail. Whether the inability to create a paper audit trail is caused by technical or (in this case) administrative restrictions, the end result is the same: the eSlate CANNOT be reliably audited.
I have a letter here, containing this plus a few other paragraphs, that I'm sending to the board, plus the state and federal representatives and senators.
Overall, though, I wish that the law required companies to provide sans-hardware contract-free service at comparable rates, and let the market fight it out. Because at that point, the competition would be almost all about service, and the companies that would survive would be the ones with the best service.
Funny you mention that...
That is exactly how Sprint PCS started out in the business. When Sprint PCS first started in the Milwaukee area, there was one plan: $50/month, 500 minutes (no peak/off-peak differentiation, minutes were minutes), and a dime per minute after that. No contract, no start-up fee, but you did have to buy the phone outright.
They had the market licked. No contract? A simple rate plan? Holy crap! These guys rocked!
Until they slowly morphed into the rest of the then-analog carriers...first it was a $30 start-up fee, credited back over the first three months of the service...then it was phone deals with "PCS Advantage Plans" i.e. yearly contracts...then peak/off-peak minutes...soon they had given up nearly every competitive advantage they had over the competition, save one: they were all-digital.
Too bad too. When they decided that I couldn't keep my plan when I moved from Milwaukee to the east coast and wanted to charge me more for less, I canceled the service, cancellation fee be damned, and went to T-Mobile.
Besides driving habits, a big factor is tire pressure.
Toyota quotes 35/33psi front/rear on the label to give that soft, cushy ride, but the OEM Bridgestone tires have been reported to wear out well before the 30,000 mile warranty. From the Yahoo message boards, bump those numbers up about 10psi and you get:
-better mileage
-better handling
-better tire wear
I've been running around on 45/43psi front/back, and have nice, even wear and great mileage. One tank a few weeks back got me 570 miles (400 on the highway I estimate), but I couldn't get more than nine gallons into the tank.
Another important aspect of hybrids that the Wired article ignores is emissions. Vehicles like the Prius are ultra-low emissions vehicles (ULEV), which to my mind, we need more of.
Please note that the first car used a half-mile to brake, where they hybrid only used a querter-mile.
IN ADDITION...during that braking, the first car is STILL burning gasoline, even while braking. Thus, energy is being lost to heat by braking, plus being lost to the idling engine. A Prius, for example, would have shut off the engine for that last half-mile, regenerated some energy back to the battery, therefore burning less gas and recovering some energy for the subsequent pull-away from the stop sign.
Note the "full service" in that quote. Most places I've seen charge a hefty premium for full service (except NJ where full-service seems to be mandated by law).
Not that I wouldn't be surprised by CA gas prices getting that high, and like you said, it's not entirely an apples to apples comparison.
No, seriously. If you read the Toyota Prius owner's group on Yahoo, you find that Toyota set tire pressures too low (at least for the 01-03 MY) to provide a softer ride. I think 35/33 is what the factory recommends for me, but I run 45/43 (tires rated at 50 max) and get better tire wear and better mileage.
Investigating this further may be of benefit. I get over 50MPG in my 03, and the 04 is supposed to be more efficient.
Disclaimer: I own a 2003 Prius and do not consider myself any sort of environmentalist.
The point I was trying to make is that all the energy is still comming from the gasoline engine. Yes, you can reuse a little more from braking on these cars, but that is really small compared to what you're wasting in heat from the gasoline engine and the electric motor. I understand that this design can be more efficient in say city driving because the engine doesn't have to idle when stopped in traffic. However, all these do not really add up to much, definatly not 40, 50, 60+ mpg.
You are correct that the prime source of energy is gasoline. However, in the Prius, the engine also doesn't have to run when:
(1) Cruising through a neighborhood at 25MPH for up to a mile or so (haven't had the opportunity to measure how far yet)
(2) Crawling through the drive-thru lane at McD's...
(3) Looking for a parking space at the mall...
(4) Coasting downhill through the mountains at 65MPH (engine may be turning over, but not burning gas; it turns over to protect the electric motor from overspeeding)...
(5) Dropping from 45 to 35 to 25 when coming into the city from the countryside...
etc.
I can get up to 40MPH without burning any gas if I don't have a lead foot, and that is from a standing stop--NOT downhill either. I have also done a lot of city driving where the gas engine does help come up to speed (starting when the car is already at 10MPH from the electric motors) but then shuts down as I cruise with traffic until pulling away from the next stop sign. Thanks to the regenerative braking, I can go pretty far before the engine has to start again for any reason if I drive with half an ounce of sanity.
Are hybrids the silver bullet to energy efficiency and environmental friendliness? Absolutely not. They are certainly a step in the right direction though, and every little bit helps.
TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you burn something up, don't blame me.:)
I bought a 700W inverter and wired it (via a fuse) right to the 12V battery and mounted it in my trunk. You have to be careful not to overtax the 12V system, as I'm sure Toyota never designed it to act as a emergency source of electricity.
From what I've been able to find, the 12V system can support a charging rate of about 70A which translates to a power load of 840W. Now, my inverter is 700W so I can conceivably run it at full load and my car can handle it (2003 Prius) without sweating too hard. I put in a 60A fuse because I do NOT want to risk burning out the 12V system. Can you imagine the conversation that goes with that one, especially under warranty?
I've never run at full load; the most I did was about 200W once with a single halogen light. Without knowing what the capacity of the charging system is, I don't want to push it too hard.
(OK I may be redundant, but after 900+ commments, I'm bound to miss a few)
The focus of hybrids is not necessarily efficiency; it's EMISSIONS that, IMHO opinion, are the focus. Are there cars that get better mileage? Sure. A Geo can get better mileage than my car, but does it have the ride and comfort level? My 2003 Prius gets around 45-50 MPG in mixed driving (at a curb weight of about 2700 pounds mind you), with a recent tank pulling about 60MPG (570 miles and no matter what I did, I could only squeeze 9 gallons into the tank. Even tried a different pump).
The window sticker states 38-52 highway, and 44-60 city MPG. Driving conditions and habits are a MAJOR influence on driving habits. No technology can compensate for jackrabbit starting, long idling, speeding, or poor maintenance.
From the window sticker: "Actual mileage will vary with options, driving conditions, driving habits, and vehicle's condition. Results reported to EPA indicate that the majority of vehicles with these estimates will achieve between 44 and 60 mpg in the city, and between 38 and 52 mpg on the highway."
Even hybrids idle the engine periodically, especially in winter. This is to keep the engine and catalytic converter warm, minimizing emissions. Yes, they will sacrifice a little gas to keep the components warm and operating at maximum emissions efficiency. The net emissions output is lower since all is kept warm vice allowing to cool an re-warming.
My Prius is rated at 45MPG highway, and I sure get that and then some. BUT...I shouldn't expect to get the same economy if I zip around at 75MPH as I do at 60 or 65MPH. I'm no EPA mileage expert, but I suspect that the test loop only has cars runnign at most 60MPH, windows closed, no A/C running, in other words, near optimal economy conditions. Anybody have better info?
Also, it needs to be known that short trips hurt the economy of ANY car, hybrid or not. Hybrids still take time to warm up, and during my car's 5-10 minute warm-up period the engine is always running, hurting efficiency.
In short: the EPA estimates are not gospel; hybrids do deliver efficiency, but focus on emissions at the first priority of the technology.
"Today, Mitsubishi companies are Japan's industry leaders in several sectors, including marine transport, aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, nuclear power engineering, waste treatment plants, satellites, defense contracting, glass, petrochemicals, oil products, beer, property and casualty insurance, and warehousing, among others." (from the Mitsubishi website)
What may have been the point is that while a ray of light at the top of the lens may be focused on the focal plane, it doesn't land on the sensor.
The sensor only receives the light that passes through the center of the lens, while the light on the outer region simply falls to the side of the sensor.
This is actually true, due to the nature of focusing a round image from a round lens onto a rectangular sensor (the round plug into the square hole, if you will). Either outer parts of the circle will fall on the focal plane that is not convered by the sensor or the sensor will have areas not exposed to the image (circle fitting entirely inside the rectangle).
so, by that logic, all P2P is legal. I'm not getting any commercial by sharing files out, nor are the people that I download from. What's the diff in having 3 friends that swap movies off HBO or 3 Billion friends swapping some AC/DC albums?
To take a stab at answering the question, the difference is:
(a1) what you tape off of HBO it is something that is already tapped out as far as video sales go; and
(b1) any copies made will be slightly degraded in quality from the original; the original itself also degrades with each copy made.
The copyrighted music found on P2P networks is generally:
(a2) something that is currently for sale at your area music store as a current product; and
(b2) any copies made are not degraded in quality; the first copy is the same quality as the 1000th copy, and the quality of the original is unchanged. The offspring of the original are effectively identical to the "for sale" product, minus inserts and pretty cover art.
You asked the question, I attempted an answer as Devil's Advocate.
NF: Would a free software program that stores images in JPG format, like the GIMP, be violating your IP rights by using JPG?
Noonan: That's a difficult question, I don't have the answer to that. I have to defer that to our legal team. Of course, just to be safe, it might be wise for the GIMP developers (as well as all other open source image processing projects which use JPG) to volunteer to donate a percentage of their revenues to Forgent Networks.
Interpretation: "Of course, if you were to give us some of your revenues, we'd be more inclined to leave you alone." Sounds like an implied threat to me for protection money.
Due to the location (Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah), we even got occasional bomb-threats and protestors (we were ruining some really good climbing spots, but hey the property was privately held and the owner wanted lots of granite of a very particular variety).
That's when you point to the next day's blasting operations location and say "Please, don't blow anything up, especially over there..."
Even if your car remains accident-free, some of today's high-tech parts can leave you with big repair bills. The celebrated find for car thieves these days is xenon high-intensity-discharge headlights. They can cost up to $3,000 each. That's just for the part, not labor.
If a car costs $30k, a pair of headlights is 20% of the cars value. WTF?!?!? There has to be some serious (and I mean SERIOUS) retail markup on those things, or else the cost reflects not just the bulb but the entire headlight assembly as well.
"Activating" a headlight assembly from the manufacturer after a repair? What, are these things made by Microsoft? (had to say it, sorry)
I used to think it might be neat to get a set of these...not anymore.
I have lived here near DC and have used both public transit and driven to work. About an equal amount of each.
I wish I could say the same...
My daily commute from Virginia to DC is about 9 miles one-way across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Anybody who has lived in the DC/VA/MD area knows what a PITA that route can be. I also drive a hybrid, so I get great gas mileage and super-ultra-low emissions. I'm not just saying that; the car is rated as a SULEV. So when I sit in rush-hour traffic, I'm generally not burning any gas.
One day I rode the bus/train to work because (a) My car was somewhere else and (b) I wanted to know how long it would take in case I had to do it repeatedly.
My findings?
When I leave the house at 6:30am, I get to work around 6:50. At 45 MPG and 90 miles/week, that's two gallons of gas. At $1.75/gallon, that's $3.50 work of fuel I burn in my commute every week. Per mile, my commute costs me 3.8 cents per mile in fuel.
If, OTOH, I take the metro, I have to leave the house at 6:30 via the free shuttle from my place to the closest metro station, take the train into DC, transfer to another train, ride to another station, transfer to a bus, and ride the bus to the stop outside the office. That trip runs me about $2.75 ONE WAY and takes two hours. Total cost: $22.50 per week in metro fares. Now, taking into account that the run also covers roughly 3x the distance, that comes to about 8.3 cents per mile.
So, riding mass transit costs me about twice what it costs me to drive myself on a per-mile basis, or over SIX TIMES what in costs me in absolute terms; but that's of course made up for by the fact that the commute takes six times as long.
Fortunately I don't pay for parking, so I do have a big advantage there. If I paid for parking, then the story changes dramatically.
In short--I'll continue to drive myself to work in the morning.
Not to say that there aren't other times I'll take the metro to other places because of the convenience of not having to pay for parking or even finding a spot; I don't drive into downtown DC unless I have to, because traffic is a g-- d--- nightmare.
I have to agree with you. I just came back from a visit to Japan, and going through security was smooth and painless. No long lines (even in Tokyo) and no hassles. Quick and painless, yet complete...they way it should be done.
In the US? HA! Long lines, excessively thorough screenings (although they seem to have lightened up a LOT in the last two years) and just a pain in the tuckus in general.
I agree also with your thought in security...remove the fuel from the fire as opposed to pouring water and fuel on it at the same time.
Actually, Macwrite II was a very lightweight program, Microsoft Word for Macintosh had more features. Here is a list of improvement I have seen in Word since version 4.
I'm not sure how to respond to this...you've mixed clearly good things with the hideous, with a mixed blessing (the fact that simple files are large or the ability to handle large files?)
(1) As was said in The Hunt for Red October,"I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar...when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops." I don't support any organized political party because politicans are representing their represented citizens less and the ideals of the party more.
(2) If a contribution is going to reveal my HOME ADDRESS then you can fuggeddaboutit!
Slashdot Mirror
Qualifier: I'm not a programmer by trade
Wasn't the lack of documentation for some APIs part of the U.S. antitrust trial?
IIRC, there were some APIs that weren't even documented INTERNAL TO MICROSOFT. Something about not having to document APIs for third party developers if the API wasn't documented for Microsoft use...
This is exactly the sort of thing that one has homeowner's insurance for, isn't it? Natural disasters (i.e. acts of God") would also include trees falling down on a house, damage from windstorms (flying debris), tornadoes, etc.
The paper ballot that is generated with your vote is not taken from the polling place; it is deposited in a ballot box to be used in case of audit/recount. It is not a receipt in the sense that you can take it home and keep it in your bill drawer with your grocery and utility bills.
What it DOES provide is that voter-verified, tangible proof of your vote, that can be counted in the event that the voting machines crash, there is a recount, evidence of tampering, etc.
This past Tuesday, Virginia held a primary election, and the city of Alexandria used the eSlate voting system. When I inquired to the election board as to why a voting system was in place without a VVPT, even though the eSlate was technically capable of such a provision, here is part of the response I got from the Alexandria election board (HAVA=Help America Vote Act):
This is in clear conflict with the alexandriavoter.org website:
In other words, the eSlate may be technically capable of providing a paper trail, but current state and federal law does not allow the paper trail to be created as it does not meet HAVA standards.
The statement made by the website is therefore false and misleading--the eSlate can NOT be retrofitted to provide a paper audit trail. Whether the inability to create a paper audit trail is caused by technical or (in this case) administrative restrictions, the end result is the same: the eSlate CANNOT be reliably audited.
I have a letter here, containing this plus a few other paragraphs, that I'm sending to the board, plus the state and federal representatives and senators.
Overall, though, I wish that the law required companies to provide sans-hardware contract-free service at comparable rates, and let the market fight it out. Because at that point, the competition would be almost all about service, and the companies that would survive would be the ones with the best service.
Funny you mention that...
That is exactly how Sprint PCS started out in the business. When Sprint PCS first started in the Milwaukee area, there was one plan: $50/month, 500 minutes (no peak/off-peak differentiation, minutes were minutes), and a dime per minute after that. No contract, no start-up fee, but you did have to buy the phone outright.
They had the market licked. No contract? A simple rate plan? Holy crap! These guys rocked!
Until they slowly morphed into the rest of the then-analog carriers...first it was a $30 start-up fee, credited back over the first three months of the service...then it was phone deals with "PCS Advantage Plans" i.e. yearly contracts...then peak/off-peak minutes...soon they had given up nearly every competitive advantage they had over the competition, save one: they were all-digital.
Too bad too. When they decided that I couldn't keep my plan when I moved from Milwaukee to the east coast and wanted to charge me more for less, I canceled the service, cancellation fee be damned, and went to T-Mobile.
Besides driving habits, a big factor is tire pressure.
Toyota quotes 35/33psi front/rear on the label to give that soft, cushy ride, but the OEM Bridgestone tires have been reported to wear out well before the 30,000 mile warranty. From the Yahoo message boards, bump those numbers up about 10psi and you get:
-better mileage
-better handling
-better tire wear
I've been running around on 45/43psi front/back, and have nice, even wear and great mileage. One tank a few weeks back got me 570 miles (400 on the highway I estimate), but I couldn't get more than nine gallons into the tank.
Another important aspect of hybrids that the Wired article ignores is emissions. Vehicles like the Prius are ultra-low emissions vehicles (ULEV), which to my mind, we need more of.
:)
No they're not...
They're SULEVs (super-ultra-low emissions vehicles)
The new Prius is even better...AT-PZEV or something, with "partial zero emissions"
Disclaimer: I have an 2003 Prius
Please note that the first car used a half-mile to brake, where they hybrid only used a querter-mile.
IN ADDITION...during that braking, the first car is STILL burning gasoline, even while braking. Thus, energy is being lost to heat by braking, plus being lost to the idling engine. A Prius, for example, would have shut off the engine for that last half-mile, regenerated some energy back to the battery, therefore burning less gas and recovering some energy for the subsequent pull-away from the stop sign.
Too bad he/she was an AC...
Note the "full service" in that quote. Most places I've seen charge a hefty premium for full service (except NJ where full-service seems to be mandated by law).
Not that I wouldn't be surprised by CA gas prices getting that high, and like you said, it's not entirely an apples to apples comparison.
Try adding air to the tires.
No, seriously. If you read the Toyota Prius owner's group on Yahoo, you find that Toyota set tire pressures too low (at least for the 01-03 MY) to provide a softer ride. I think 35/33 is what the factory recommends for me, but I run 45/43 (tires rated at 50 max) and get better tire wear and better mileage.
Investigating this further may be of benefit. I get over 50MPG in my 03, and the 04 is supposed to be more efficient.
Disclaimer: I own a 2003 Prius and do not consider myself any sort of environmentalist.
The point I was trying to make is that all the energy is still comming from the gasoline engine. Yes, you can reuse a little more from braking on these cars, but that is really small compared to what you're wasting in heat from the gasoline engine and the electric motor. I understand that this design can be more efficient in say city driving because the engine doesn't have to idle when stopped in traffic. However, all these do not really add up to much, definatly not 40, 50, 60+ mpg.
You are correct that the prime source of energy is gasoline. However, in the Prius, the engine also doesn't have to run when:
(1) Cruising through a neighborhood at 25MPH for up to a mile or so (haven't had the opportunity to measure how far yet)
(2) Crawling through the drive-thru lane at McD's...
(3) Looking for a parking space at the mall...
(4) Coasting downhill through the mountains at 65MPH (engine may be turning over, but not burning gas; it turns over to protect the electric motor from overspeeding)...
(5) Dropping from 45 to 35 to 25 when coming into the city from the countryside...
etc.
I can get up to 40MPH without burning any gas if I don't have a lead foot, and that is from a standing stop--NOT downhill either. I have also done a lot of city driving where the gas engine does help come up to speed (starting when the car is already at 10MPH from the electric motors) but then shuts down as I cruise with traffic until pulling away from the next stop sign. Thanks to the regenerative braking, I can go pretty far before the engine has to start again for any reason if I drive with half an ounce of sanity.
Are hybrids the silver bullet to energy efficiency and environmental friendliness? Absolutely not. They are certainly a step in the right direction though, and every little bit helps.
TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you burn something up, don't blame me. :)
I bought a 700W inverter and wired it (via a fuse) right to the 12V battery and mounted it in my trunk. You have to be careful not to overtax the 12V system, as I'm sure Toyota never designed it to act as a emergency source of electricity.
From what I've been able to find, the 12V system can support a charging rate of about 70A which translates to a power load of 840W. Now, my inverter is 700W so I can conceivably run it at full load and my car can handle it (2003 Prius) without sweating too hard. I put in a 60A fuse because I do NOT want to risk burning out the 12V system. Can you imagine the conversation that goes with that one, especially under warranty?
I've never run at full load; the most I did was about 200W once with a single halogen light. Without knowing what the capacity of the charging system is, I don't want to push it too hard.
(OK I may be redundant, but after 900+ commments, I'm bound to miss a few)
The focus of hybrids is not necessarily efficiency; it's EMISSIONS that, IMHO opinion, are the focus. Are there cars that get better mileage? Sure. A Geo can get better mileage than my car, but does it have the ride and comfort level? My 2003 Prius gets around 45-50 MPG in mixed driving (at a curb weight of about 2700 pounds mind you), with a recent tank pulling about 60MPG (570 miles and no matter what I did, I could only squeeze 9 gallons into the tank. Even tried a different pump).
The window sticker states 38-52 highway, and 44-60 city MPG. Driving conditions and habits are a MAJOR influence on driving habits. No technology can compensate for jackrabbit starting, long idling, speeding, or poor maintenance.
From the window sticker:
"Actual mileage will vary with options, driving conditions, driving habits, and vehicle's condition. Results reported to EPA indicate that the majority of vehicles with these estimates will achieve between 44 and 60 mpg in the city, and between 38 and 52 mpg on the highway."
Even hybrids idle the engine periodically, especially in winter. This is to keep the engine and catalytic converter warm, minimizing emissions. Yes, they will sacrifice a little gas to keep the components warm and operating at maximum emissions efficiency. The net emissions output is lower since all is kept warm vice allowing to cool an re-warming.
My Prius is rated at 45MPG highway, and I sure get that and then some. BUT...I shouldn't expect to get the same economy if I zip around at 75MPH as I do at 60 or 65MPH. I'm no EPA mileage expert, but I suspect that the test loop only has cars runnign at most 60MPH, windows closed, no A/C running, in other words, near optimal economy conditions. Anybody have better info?
Also, it needs to be known that short trips hurt the economy of ANY car, hybrid or not. Hybrids still take time to warm up, and during my car's 5-10 minute warm-up period the engine is always running, hurting efficiency.
In short: the EPA estimates are not gospel; hybrids do deliver efficiency, but focus on emissions at the first priority of the technology.
For what it's worth...
"Today, Mitsubishi companies are Japan's industry leaders in several sectors, including marine transport, aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, nuclear power engineering, waste treatment plants, satellites, defense contracting, glass, petrochemicals, oil products, beer, property and casualty insurance, and warehousing, among others." (from the Mitsubishi website)
So yeah, they do a lot.
What may have been the point is that while a ray of light at the top of the lens may be focused on the focal plane, it doesn't land on the sensor.
The sensor only receives the light that passes through the center of the lens, while the light on the outer region simply falls to the side of the sensor.
This is actually true, due to the nature of focusing a round image from a round lens onto a rectangular sensor (the round plug into the square hole, if you will). Either outer parts of the circle will fall on the focal plane that is not convered by the sensor or the sensor will have areas not exposed to the image (circle fitting entirely inside the rectangle).
According to Richter, Spamcop's initiatives have damaged the reputation of his company.
No, you damaged the reputation of your company by going into business in the first place.
so, by that logic, all P2P is legal. I'm not getting any commercial by sharing files out, nor are the people that I download from. What's the diff in having 3 friends that swap movies off HBO or 3 Billion friends swapping some AC/DC albums?
To take a stab at answering the question, the difference is:
(a1) what you tape off of HBO it is something that is already tapped out as far as video sales go; and
(b1) any copies made will be slightly degraded in quality from the original; the original itself also degrades with each copy made.
The copyrighted music found on P2P networks is generally:
(a2) something that is currently for sale at your area music store as a current product; and
(b2) any copies made are not degraded in quality; the first copy is the same quality as the 1000th copy, and the quality of the original is unchanged. The offspring of the original are effectively identical to the "for sale" product, minus inserts and pretty cover art.
You asked the question, I attempted an answer as Devil's Advocate.
NF: Would a free software program that stores images in JPG format, like the GIMP, be violating your IP rights by using JPG?
Noonan: That's a difficult question, I don't have the answer to that. I have to defer that to our legal team.
Of course, just to be safe, it might be wise for the GIMP developers (as well as all other open source image processing projects which use JPG) to volunteer to donate a percentage of their revenues to Forgent Networks.
Interpretation: "Of course, if you were to give us some of your revenues, we'd be more inclined to leave you alone." Sounds like an implied threat to me for protection money.
Due to the location (Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah), we even got occasional bomb-threats and protestors (we were ruining some really good climbing spots, but hey the property was privately held and the owner wanted lots of granite of a very particular variety).
That's when you point to the next day's blasting operations location and say "Please, don't blow anything up, especially over there..."
Even if your car remains accident-free, some of today's high-tech parts can leave you with big repair bills. The celebrated find for car thieves these days is xenon high-intensity-discharge headlights. They can cost up to $3,000 each. That's just for the part, not labor.
If a car costs $30k, a pair of headlights is 20% of the cars value. WTF?!?!? There has to be some serious (and I mean SERIOUS) retail markup on those things, or else the cost reflects not just the bulb but the entire headlight assembly as well.
"Activating" a headlight assembly from the manufacturer after a repair? What, are these things made by Microsoft? (had to say it, sorry)
I used to think it might be neat to get a set of these...not anymore.
It's Florida, what did you expect?
I have lived here near DC and have used both public transit and driven to work. About an equal amount of each.
I wish I could say the same...
My daily commute from Virginia to DC is about 9 miles one-way across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Anybody who has lived in the DC/VA/MD area knows what a PITA that route can be. I also drive a hybrid, so I get great gas mileage and super-ultra-low emissions. I'm not just saying that; the car is rated as a SULEV. So when I sit in rush-hour traffic, I'm generally not burning any gas.
One day I rode the bus/train to work because (a) My car was somewhere else and (b) I wanted to know how long it would take in case I had to do it repeatedly.
My findings?
When I leave the house at 6:30am, I get to work around 6:50. At 45 MPG and 90 miles/week, that's two gallons of gas. At $1.75/gallon, that's $3.50 work of fuel I burn in my commute every week. Per mile, my commute costs me 3.8 cents per mile in fuel.
If, OTOH, I take the metro, I have to leave the house at 6:30 via the free shuttle from my place to the closest metro station, take the train into DC, transfer to another train, ride to another station, transfer to a bus, and ride the bus to the stop outside the office. That trip runs me about $2.75 ONE WAY and takes two hours. Total cost: $22.50 per week in metro fares. Now, taking into account that the run also covers roughly 3x the distance, that comes to about 8.3 cents per mile.
So, riding mass transit costs me about twice what it costs me to drive myself on a per-mile basis, or over SIX TIMES what in costs me in absolute terms; but that's of course made up for by the fact that the commute takes six times as long.
Fortunately I don't pay for parking, so I do have a big advantage there. If I paid for parking, then the story changes dramatically.
In short--I'll continue to drive myself to work in the morning.
Not to say that there aren't other times I'll take the metro to other places because of the convenience of not having to pay for parking or even finding a spot; I don't drive into downtown DC unless I have to, because traffic is a g-- d--- nightmare.
I have to agree with you. I just came back from a visit to Japan, and going through security was smooth and painless. No long lines (even in Tokyo) and no hassles. Quick and painless, yet complete...they way it should be done.
In the US? HA! Long lines, excessively thorough screenings (although they seem to have lightened up a LOT in the last two years) and just a pain in the tuckus in general.
I agree also with your thought in security...remove the fuel from the fire as opposed to pouring water and fuel on it at the same time.
Actually, Macwrite II was a very lightweight program, Microsoft Word for Macintosh had more features. Here is a list of improvement I have seen in Word since version 4.
* Drag-drop
* Contextual menus
* Clippy
* Macro-viruses
* Large files
I'm not sure how to respond to this...you've mixed clearly good things with the hideous, with a mixed blessing (the fact that simple files are large or the ability to handle large files?)
(1) As was said in The Hunt for Red October,"I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar...when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops." I don't support any organized political party because politicans are representing their represented citizens less and the ideals of the party more.
(2) If a contribution is going to reveal my HOME ADDRESS then you can fuggeddaboutit!