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User: blitz487

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  1. Electronic reproduction is nothing like reality on Vinyl Gets Its Groove Back · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I once, on successive nights, heard a violin solo at the opera house, with no electronic assistance. The next night, I went to a Yanni concert which had a violin solo that had a mike attached to the violin, and was blasted over the speakers. There was a world of difference in the sound. Yanni had the best equipment, but speakers simply cannot duplicate the sound of a real instrument. It's a far larger gulf than 16 to 24 bits, or vinyl to CD. Try listening to a piano live sometime, or harp, or violin, or trumpet, or guitar, etc. It's not even close to the best stereo equipment.

  2. Re:Anything to aviod solar electricity I guess. on California Utilities to Control Thermostats? · · Score: 1

    California has an electricity shortage

    Shortages are the usual result when the government fixes the prices of things at artificially low levels. Allow the price to rise so that demand falls until it meets the supply. End of shortage.

  3. It's been happening for at least 40 years now on Anti-Terrorism and the Death of the Chemistry Set · · Score: 1

    This dumbing down of chemistry sets has been happening for about 40 years. I received one of the last decent ones when I was a kid back in 1970, and it was a German one because the American ones had already dumbed them down.

    The dumbing down happened because of our sue-happy society, and it continues as now schools have removed swing sets, etc.

  4. Isn't it time for something new? on Paramount Casts New James T. Kirk · · Score: 1

    C'mon, Star Trek was new and fresh 40 years ago. It isn't anymore. It's tired and played out. But the sci fi section in the bookstore is full of great material if you're looking to film a new series. How about "The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven and Pournelle? Why watch S.T. recycle old plots yet again? I won't be bothered to watch any new S.T., I'm bored to death of it.

  5. Force never works on SAS CEO Blasts Old-School Schooling · · Score: 1

    Those are all good suggestions, but they are doomed to failure. Why? Because a system cannot work that:

    1. one group of people is forced to pay for
    2. another group of people is forced to attend
    3. is run by people who are not accountable

    Those three characteristics will inevitably produce a system that few care about, and the ones that do care will find impossible to fix.

  6. big slice of small pie, or small slice of big pie on Radiohead Says Name Your Own Price for New Album · · Score: 1

    It's the standard conundrum - which one will make you more money, having 100% of a smaller pie (do it yourself), or a small percentage of a larger pie (having another company do it for you)? I've tried it both ways, and make more money doing it myself with the smaller pie.

  7. Re:I feel it all the time on Berners-Lee Challenges 'Stupid' Male Geek Culture · · Score: 1

    And whenever I come to work dressed somewhat fashionably I get weird comments, not compliments, they are actually making fun of me I think. What the heck is that about. When a guy wears a suit to work in IT, he'll get all kinds of weird comments, and titters of laughter, too. Every group has its implicit dress code, and if you step out of that, you'll invite derision. Lighten up.
  8. Carbon fiber has been flying already on Boeing Dreamliner Safety Concerns Are Specious · · Score: 1

    as parts of airliners for decades. Each new airliner has more carbon fiber parts. Boeing has accumulated a lot of experience with them. It's not like carbon fiber has never been tried before.

  9. Re:The only thing lost is the internet bubble ... on Believe the Occupational Outlook Handbook? · · Score: 1

    I was dumbfounded many years ago when a coworker (fortunately on a different team) was hoping to be assigned to a particular project because he wanted to learn C++, the language that was to be used. He thought I was crazy when I suggested he get a compiler and learn the language on his own rather than wait for such an event. Yes, I've known many programmers who refused to learn new things unless the employer paid for them to be "trained" in it. They were also the programmers that the real programmers learned to avoid being on the same team with.
  10. Liberals need new ideas on Brain Differences In Liberals and Conservatives · · Score: 1

    A researcher not affiliated with the study stated, liberals 'could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.' Liberals need to keep accepting new ideas, because none of their old ideas ever work.
  11. Re:No flight plan? No beacon? on Steve Fossett Missing · · Score: 1

    Please explain to me why a pilot as experienced as Fossett does not file a flight plan - does not carry a beacon. Experienced pilots can easily get into trouble because they're so experienced they tend to overlook or dismiss the routine boring safety stuff. It's overconfidence.
  12. Blackboard is best on Effective Use of Technology In the Classroom? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Use of blackboards/whiteboards works very well. The prof writes the equations down as he explains them, and the students handwrite them into their notes. The prof writing them down keeps the focus on the relevant part, and the student handwriting a copy helps fix it in their brains.

    It ain't broke, and doesn't need fixing.

  13. Re:The virtues of regulated monopolies on The US Rural Broadband Crisis · · Score: 1

    Universal service is only possible if the service provider is allowed to cross-subsidize the areas that are expensive to service with revenues from the areas that are cheap to service. I think you mean universal service *for the same price*. Your use of "only" is also incorrect, because many businesses find it cheaper to offer everyone the same price, even if they lose money on a few of those transactions. Tiered pricing can be very expensive to administer.

    Competition and the free market will always produce wildly varying prices A statement that sounds good but has no foundation. Do hard disk drives have wildly varying prices?

    and cream-skimming (in which the most profitable markets get service from multiple suppliers and the least profitable get no service at all). Again with the "always". Last I checked, Fedex and UPS will deliver *anywhere* in the US. They do have tiered pricing, but it isn't wildly varying, and the government does not regulate the prices they charge nor the service they provide (with one exception, Fedex is required *by law* to charge way more than the Post Office for letter service).

    Furthermore, the Post Office has tiered pricing for everything other than letters.

    And lastly, the patchy, rotten, and inadequate service provided by cable companies is under a system of government enforced monopolies and government set prices - not a free market.
  14. Re:Then Blame the SA Government on How SBC (AT&T) Pillaged South Africa's Economy · · Score: 1

    You're also a fool if you believe that government employees intrinsically care about you and your interests. Give them any power, and they'll inevitably abuse that power for their own personal interests. That's why government power needs to be extremely limited, with plenty of checks and balances.

  15. government monopolies != market libertarianism on How SBC (AT&T) Pillaged South Africa's Economy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The headline seems quite valid unless you're a fundamentalist market libertarian that can never find fault with a corporation since it's always the government's fault. Government granted and enforced monopolies are the opposite of free market libertarianism.

    What do you expect would happen when the government jails anyone who tries to compete? Yes, it is the government's fault.
  16. high taxes != freedom on Going to Yosemite? Get Your Passport Ready! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    5) Taxation is only low for corporate and the most wealthy, while at the same time we have suppressed labor power and limited funding for intellectual and artistic pursuits. 1) high taxes is not a characteristic of freedom.
    2) the tax on the wealthy is still higher than the tax on the poor.
    3) government funding of intellectual and artistic pursuits is not a characteristic of freedom.
  17. Re:This is stupid. on High School Students Forced To Declare A Major · · Score: 1

    I agree. I took metal, wood, and auto shop in high school, in spite of the auto shop teacher telling me I didn't belong there 'cuz I was a nerd.

    The auto shop class was worthless, but what I learned in wood and metal shop has served me well over the years (and I'm an engineer).

  18. Re:more evidence on The $200 Billion Broadband Rip-Off · · Score: 1

    The lack of competition would still exist without the regulation, because once one participant has built infrastructure, other participants will usually not find their return on building duplicate infrastructure to be worth the very intensive investment it would take. That certainly is a seductive theory, but history shows us that before the US government granted a telephone monopoly to AT&T, competing telcos had no problems stringing up multiple sets of wire.

    The reason is because the capital markets are quite capable of investing large quantities of cash for a potential future return.
  19. The underlying cause is liberty on New Explanation For the Industrial Revolution · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There isn't any mystery about why some countries prosper and others stagnate. It's all about whether the economy is based on individual rights and property rights, or not. Those economies that respect and enforce rights, thrive. Those that do not, stagnate. It happens over and over, with country after country. Even China has started to prosper rapidly in the last few years. What changed? The country started respecting property rights.

    I find it pretty hard to believe that there was some sudden evolutionary change in the Chinese brain that affected a billion people overnight.

  20. Re:So it looks like were all in agreement... on The Science of Bridge Collapse Prevention · · Score: 1

    I look forward to our health care being managed by this same process!

  21. Re:Who's doing what's right? Anyone? on Our ATM Is Broken, Go To Jail · · Score: 1

    I once went into a car parts store to buy a battery. I picked up the battery, and absent-mindedly walked out of the store with it. When I got to my car, I was horrified to realize I hadn't paid for it. I went back into the store to the counter and said I'm sorry, I'd forgotten to pay for it. The cashier looked shocked, then rang me up, and I paid and left with it. I'm always glad I wasn't caught, because no cop or judge would ever have believed my excuse that I just forgot to pay for it.

  22. Re:Do I get any rewards for my honesty? on Our ATM Is Broken, Go To Jail · · Score: 1

    I've twice been overpaid $20 by an ATM. Both times, I went inside the bank to a teller and returned the money. Both times I received a "thank-you" from the teller. That's all I need. I've also been shorted $20 by an ATM, went inside, and got the missing $20. I said "thank you". Works for me.

  23. Re:What if a cashier messes up? on Our ATM Is Broken, Go To Jail · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd reconsider why I considered this person my friend. Give him a chance, and he'll take advantage of you, too.

  24. Re:How much of an error before we must report it? on Our ATM Is Broken, Go To Jail · · Score: 1

    A more interesting question is what's your integrity and honor worth to you? If it is only what you can get away with, then you have no integrity nor honor.

  25. Re:The decline of ethics????? on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    "When the companies we work for dont act ethical, and are kept from acting ethical due to shareholder constraint, why should we care if we're not ethical?"

    Having integrity and ethics separates men from animals. It's your choice what you want to be.

    "If you want your job, you do what your manager says."

    Saying you were just following orders is not an excuse.