It escapes me at the moment, but there was (is?) a government mandated additive to gas that really fscks-up the ground water (maybe - my tap water tastes fine).
Oh, yeah - MTBE?
California wants to take it out, but the Feds say keep it?
I've lost track of where we are on this.
Ya, know, if they just let us use up the gas as fast as we can, without messing with the markets, we'll either run out and the pollution problem will be solved, or we won't, and they will have been wrong, again.
No more tinkering with the natural order of things. Leave alone = low state of Irony. Tinker = higher state of Unintended Consequences.
78% Percent of users who report receiving spam daily
11% Percent of users who report receiving at least 40 spam per day
14% Percent of users who report they open spam messages to see what they say [Yikes!]
4% Percent of users who report they have purchased a product or service advertised in a spam email
So maybe 4% RTFA too? That's logic for you, bad logic, but logic none-the-less.
... If you find yourself in a world without calculators, you'd better know how to kill things with a pointy stick.
Modify to suit. Think about it, it applies lighthouses too.
If you can navigate with GPS, Radar, sonar, etc. You probably don't belong on the open ocean. Certainly not in anything big enough to be dangerous to the rest of us.
I was given an iPod mini as a gift (yeah, I have some cool friends). Anyhow, I see no reason to (re)buy any DRM'd iTune songs -- all of my mp3s work just fine, thank-you-very-much.
When I want a new song, I rip it off the CD. I get to keep the full quality CD (backup) copy, AND have an-unfettered mp3 that sounds great!
How many other folks like the iPod hardware, but, like me, have no plans to use the iTunes service?
Oh, yeah, in case anyone was wondering, when the battery needs changing I will be doing that myself too - I do NOT want to pay Apple $100 to do a $39 job, and not even get my unit back!
Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University...
Interesting research will be done. Somewhere.
Who would buy a camera with this "feature"?
on
No Pictures, Thanks
·
· Score: 1, Redundant
The patent describes a system in which digital cameras would be equipped with circuits that could be remotely triggered to blur the face in any images captured by the camera
So who would buy that?
Unless... it somehow gets mandated to be in all cameras. Good luck with that.
* Software as a Component of the Computer - Transfer. THIS
LICENSE MAY NOT BE SHARED, TRANSFERRED TO OR
USED CONCURRENTLY ON DIFFERENT COMPUTERS.
The SOFTWARE is licensed with the COMPUTER as a single
integrated product and may only be used with the COMPUTER. If
the SOFTWARE is not accompanied by HARDWARE, you may not use
the SOFTWARE. You may permanently transfer all of your rights
under this EULA only as part of a permanent sale or transfer
of the COMPUTER, provided you retain no copies, if you
transfer the SOFTWARE (including all component parts, the
media, any upgrades, this EULA and the Certificate of
Authenticity), and the recipient agrees to the terms of this
EULA. If the SOFTWARE is an upgrade, any transfer must also
include all prior versions of the SOFTWARE.
Note, this copy of XP is an "OEM" version, which I bought "with hardware" for a DIY system - maybe bundled name-brand computers have a different EULA?
The way I read it - you just can't "transfer" the license for simultaneous use, but you can transfer the license "with the hardware". In my case the hardware is pretty much the computer, but some vendors will sell you as little as a floppy cable as the "hardware". So, as long as you take that floppy cable to the new system, you are legit, right?
Also, I have this list from somewhere...
10 hardware characteristics (12 points) are used to determine the
Windows XP hardware activation hash:
points item
1 Display Adapter
1 SCSI Adapter
1 IDE Adapter
3 Network Adapter MAC Address
1 RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc)
1 Processor Type
1 Processor Serial Number
1 Hard Drive Device
1 Hard Drive Volume Serial Number
1 CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM.
For activation to remain valid 7 points must remain the same.
So, the grandparent post is an interesting question - logically, moving the license from a dead HP laptop to a working Dell laptop is no different than replacing a broken motherboard in my DIY system.
So, your second copy shouldn't activate since that key is already assigned to the fingerprint of the first machine.
Here is some info I found, a while ago...
10 hardware characteristics (12 points) are used to determine the
Windows XP hardware activation hash:
points item
1 Display Adapter
1 SCSI Adapter
1 IDE Adapter
3 Network Adapter MAC Address
1 RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb,
etc)
1 Processor Type
1 Processor Serial Number
1 Hard Drive Device
1 Hard Drive Volume Serial Number
1 CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM.
For activation to remain valid 7 points must remain the same.
What really makes me sad is the knowledge that many people today have never even seen a rotary phone
That is not sad at all. Rotary phones were transitory technology, like buggy whips and button hooks. What should make you more sad is that many people today don't know basic stuff, like how to "do" food and shelter from scratch. (Well, at least in most "first world" countries.)
Beleive me, knowing how rotary phones work is waaaaaay down the list of skills I'd like folks stranded on an Island with me to have...
How about; how to make a fire, grow some food, make some soap, etc., etc., etc. Even though we use these things every day, folks don't really know how they work. (Quick, tell me how to make charcoal, and 3 reasons you might want it).
However, to commiserate with you a bit, I once had a young relative get in my car and wonder how to put down the window (it had a crank, not a power-window button). Sheesh.
So, out of all the revenue of the Health Care industry, how much goes to the guy who cleans bed pans? Betcha it's not that much. Makes me wonder why anyone in their right minds would want to go into Health Care these days.
A more interesting question might be if you restate as:
Industry I has revenue R. Select occupation O, in I, such that your individual share of R is maximized.
Now that I've written that, it simplifies again;
Which occupation pays the best? Percentage of industry revenue is meaningless, for example:
The left-handed frobwitz Industry gives 100% of its revenue to the engineers. Each engineer made $0.
In real life, things get more complicated. Nobody (as far as I know) chooses a career based on what percentage of all available revenue they might earn.
I don't care how 1337 (elite) your h4x0r (programming) skills are.
Some slick, neanderthal IQ-ed, suck-up (with good hair) is going to make more than you. Why? Because companies spend money to engineer goods, but make money selling them! What? do you want to earn a percentage of what you cost?
BTW, I am still "in engineering", but now I am self-employed, so I probably make twice as much as you. I am solely in sales since I have morals (which is ironic, since I have no religion).
Man, of all the scantily clad models, you show twins!
If I had a dollar for every time I've I have had torrid sex with sexy twins (of the opposite sex, of course)... who are you kidding. How cliche can you get?
Every time there is a Tivo or PVR discussion on slashdot, I wonder, is there something on TV that is worth watching, that I am missing.
Then I wander off and do the stuff I normally do and forget about it.
I have 70 channels of crap on my cable, which I buy only to make my 10 year old happy. He can watch Sponge Bob 5 times a day, if his homework is done.
What am I missing? Is there really anything on TV worth watching on purpose?
Maybe I am an oddball, but my time goes like this (by weight, not by volumn, some settling may have occured durring shipping) - I work, I sleep, I prepare/go get food. I eat, I read books, I shuttle my kids around, I read slashdot, I sit on the toilet and read tech journals... I occasionally watch a DVD, either one I bought on sale, or rented.
Is there anything on TV that I should be making time for? Let alone buying special hardware and paying extra monthly fees to see?
I am buying music from places like allofmp3.com (Russian site - prolly not legal) AND buying CD's from brick-and-morter local stores in greater quantity than ever before.
Why? a) because I can, and b) because the real CDs are getting cheaper.
At least they seem cheaper to me. I don't remember "$9.97 Tuesdays" a few years ago, and $9.97 doesn't mean as much to me as it used to.
So, is my "a" behaviour, helping my "b" behavior become more affordable? I dunno, but I am sure the "b" behaviour contributes to the %2.9 gain in sales.
I wouldn't have done it without the "a" behaviour, however. And I sure as hell won't buy any CD's if "they" hassle me for my "a" behavior.
[Yes, I know I randomly spell in American and English]
Off the top of my head it doesn't look like I'll be paying FICA or Medicare on top of everything else, but that adds another %12.4 on your first 87,900 (only 2.9% above that). The tax code is so bad, I don't really know what I am paying until I figure it out, in April.
So, it looks like my $3986.74 "free shopping spree" will cost me about $1474. Worst case $1570. Not too bad.
My wife actually won a plasma TV [MSRP $4499] thru some swipe-your-card at the grocery store deal.
Don't get all excited - when you are in my tax bracket, my first thought, was "great, I just won the right to buy a $4499 TV for half price (after taxes)"; And I wasn't in the market for a $2250 TV!
After a prudent amount of skepticism [checking out the company that the fullfilment guy said he was from, etc] before turning over "1099" information, it seemed like the real deal. We really had won something. I inquired whether or not we could take cash in lieu of the TV. Having had first-hand experience with plasma burn-in (on the same set we had won, for a work project), I knew I didn't really want one.
The bottom line: "no cash", however, since the actual prize delivery was via our friends at Best Buy, I was able to finagle a deal with the local manager to do a one-time, use-it-or-lose-it buying spree for the value (which turned out to be "street" not "MSRP"). They just processed the TV as an in-store, no-receipt credit.
This turned out to be a much better deal than taking a TV. My daughter got a nice stereo, my younger son got lots of video games. The big ticket items were a DV camcorder and a Toshiba laptop. Toss in some nice Boston Acoustic clock-radios that I otherwise wouldn't have purchased at $150 each, and some blank DVD media and the family was much better off than taking one expensive, short-lived Plasma TV.
I mean, how much better could Sponge Bob look on a big screen? I'll stick to my Costco (Toshiba) 32" CRT for now (landfills be damned, someday).
Now, I only hope that 1099 says "only" $3699+sales tax. I feel much better paying taxes equivalent to a bunch of useful "half-price" stuff than I ever would have paying close to $2000 for one TV with 80 channels of crap on the cable.
From 250 tape makers to zero - is the factory so complex that they couldn't just scale back?
Sounds like they are going out of business for reasons including lack of demand, but not exclusively due to that lack.
OK, I just RTFA. I see they have gone down from 1100 in their hey-day. I don't see "Quantegy" listed on the stock exchange, so I wouldn't be surprised that grand-nephew bubba or whomever the current owner is just wanted to sell the plant to build a mall or something.
I think it would be a good practice for all laws to have a Sunset clause in them.
It will clear the books of nonsense like this which serve no purpose, but could be used against someone who doesn't have the correct political affiliation du jour.
If nothing else, it would at least keep legislatures out of trouble, making up new nonsense/bad laws [*cough* DMCA *cough*] for as long as it takes them to keep renewing obviously useful laws.
Of course this would only work if they had to deal with laws one at a time - otherwise it would just evolve into the usual crap - "omnibus law renewal act of 2005" - with all the old junk still in there, plus other nasties buried in the fine print.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, yeah - MTBE?
California wants to take it out, but the Feds say keep it?
I've lost track of where we are on this.
Ya, know, if they just let us use up the gas as fast as we can, without messing with the markets, we'll either run out and the pollution problem will be solved, or we won't, and they will have been wrong, again.
No more tinkering with the natural order of things. Leave alone = low state of Irony. Tinker = higher state of Unintended Consequences.
Nobody would buy from spam either, right?
78% Percent of users who report receiving spam daily
11% Percent of users who report receiving at least 40 spam per day
14% Percent of users who report they open spam messages to see what they say [Yikes!]
4% Percent of users who report they have purchased a product or service advertised in a spam email
So maybe 4% RTFA too? That's logic for you, bad logic, but logic none-the-less.
Modify to suit. Think about it, it applies lighthouses too.
If you can navigate with GPS, Radar, sonar, etc. You probably don't belong on the open ocean. Certainly not in anything big enough to be dangerous to the rest of us.
So I went to the Apply web site and first off, you click on the $599 version, because who doesn't want a faster CPU and more hard disk.
Then I click on a few other essentials, like bluetooth, wireless lan, a keyboard and a mouse, a modest memory upgrade, then... gee this is $1000!
And it still doesn't have a monitor.
For me, that moved it from the toy-to-play-with category to the who-cares category right away.
But I am rambling.
Screw this Microsoft stuff - give me something marketable. Stock prices, sports scores, hell almost anything!
When I want a new song, I rip it off the CD. I get to keep the full quality CD (backup) copy, AND have an-unfettered mp3 that sounds great!
How many other folks like the iPod hardware, but, like me, have no plans to use the iTunes service?
Oh, yeah, in case anyone was wondering, when the battery needs changing I will be doing that myself too - I do NOT want to pay Apple $100 to do a $39 job, and not even get my unit back!
Interesting research will be done. Somewhere.
So who would buy that?
Unless... it somehow gets mandated to be in all cameras. Good luck with that.
* Software as a Component of the Computer - Transfer. THIS LICENSE MAY NOT BE SHARED, TRANSFERRED TO OR USED CONCURRENTLY ON DIFFERENT COMPUTERS. The SOFTWARE is licensed with the COMPUTER as a single integrated product and may only be used with the COMPUTER. If the SOFTWARE is not accompanied by HARDWARE, you may not use the SOFTWARE. You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this EULA only as part of a permanent sale or transfer of the COMPUTER, provided you retain no copies, if you transfer the SOFTWARE (including all component parts, the media, any upgrades, this EULA and the Certificate of Authenticity), and the recipient agrees to the terms of this EULA. If the SOFTWARE is an upgrade, any transfer must also include all prior versions of the SOFTWARE.
Note, this copy of XP is an "OEM" version, which I bought "with hardware" for a DIY system - maybe bundled name-brand computers have a different EULA?
The way I read it - you just can't "transfer" the license for simultaneous use, but you can transfer the license "with the hardware". In my case the hardware is pretty much the computer, but some vendors will sell you as little as a floppy cable as the "hardware". So, as long as you take that floppy cable to the new system, you are legit, right?
Also, I have this list from somewhere...
10 hardware characteristics (12 points) are used to determine the Windows XP hardware activation hash:
points item
1 Display Adapter
1 SCSI Adapter
1 IDE Adapter
3 Network Adapter MAC Address
1 RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc)
1 Processor Type
1 Processor Serial Number
1 Hard Drive Device
1 Hard Drive Volume Serial Number
1 CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM.
For activation to remain valid 7 points must remain the same.
So, the grandparent post is an interesting question - logically, moving the license from a dead HP laptop to a working Dell laptop is no different than replacing a broken motherboard in my DIY system.
So, your second copy shouldn't activate since that key is already assigned to the fingerprint of the first machine.
Here is some info I found, a while ago...
10 hardware characteristics (12 points) are used to determine the Windows XP hardware activation hash:
points item
1 Display Adapter
1 SCSI Adapter
1 IDE Adapter
3 Network Adapter MAC Address
1 RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc)
1 Processor Type
1 Processor Serial Number
1 Hard Drive Device
1 Hard Drive Volume Serial Number
1 CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM.
For activation to remain valid 7 points must remain the same.
That is not sad at all. Rotary phones were transitory technology, like buggy whips and button hooks. What should make you more sad is that many people today don't know basic stuff, like how to "do" food and shelter from scratch. (Well, at least in most "first world" countries.)
Beleive me, knowing how rotary phones work is waaaaaay down the list of skills I'd like folks stranded on an Island with me to have...
How about; how to make a fire, grow some food, make some soap, etc., etc., etc. Even though we use these things every day, folks don't really know how they work. (Quick, tell me how to make charcoal, and 3 reasons you might want it).
However, to commiserate with you a bit, I once had a young relative get in my car and wonder how to put down the window (it had a crank, not a power-window button). Sheesh.
I make decent money, and my biggest single annual expense is, without a doubt, TAX (yes, twice as much as my mortgage).
So, before you blithely recommend moving to a bigger city for a better salary, you need to consider lots of things that go into "quality of life".
Sheesh.
I guess not. What about litter? That couch looks kind of sketchy to me...
It's a big world... with at least 24 time-zones.
So, out of all the revenue of the Health Care industry, how much goes to the guy who cleans bed pans? Betcha it's not that much. Makes me wonder why anyone in their right minds would want to go into Health Care these days.
A more interesting question might be if you restate as:
Industry I has revenue R. Select occupation O, in I, such that your individual share of R is maximized.
Now that I've written that, it simplifies again; Which occupation pays the best? Percentage of industry revenue is meaningless, for example:
The left-handed frobwitz Industry gives 100% of its revenue to the engineers. Each engineer made $0.
In real life, things get more complicated. Nobody (as far as I know) chooses a career based on what percentage of all available revenue they might earn.
Some slick, neanderthal IQ-ed, suck-up (with good hair) is going to make more than you. Why? Because companies spend money to engineer goods, but make money selling them! What? do you want to earn a percentage of what you cost?
BTW, I am still "in engineering", but now I am self-employed, so I probably make twice as much as you. I am solely in sales since I have morals (which is ironic, since I have no religion).
If I had a dollar for every time I've I have had torrid sex with sexy twins (of the opposite sex, of course)... who are you kidding. How cliche can you get?
[Ok, I'd, be at least a dollar better off.]
Then I wander off and do the stuff I normally do and forget about it.
I have 70 channels of crap on my cable, which I buy only to make my 10 year old happy. He can watch Sponge Bob 5 times a day, if his homework is done.
What am I missing? Is there really anything on TV worth watching on purpose?
Maybe I am an oddball, but my time goes like this (by weight, not by volumn, some settling may have occured durring shipping) - I work, I sleep, I prepare/go get food. I eat, I read books, I shuttle my kids around, I read slashdot, I sit on the toilet and read tech journals... I occasionally watch a DVD, either one I bought on sale, or rented.
Is there anything on TV that I should be making time for? Let alone buying special hardware and paying extra monthly fees to see?
Why? a) because I can, and b) because the real CDs are getting cheaper.
At least they seem cheaper to me. I don't remember "$9.97 Tuesdays" a few years ago, and $9.97 doesn't mean as much to me as it used to.
So, is my "a" behaviour, helping my "b" behavior become more affordable? I dunno, but I am sure the "b" behaviour contributes to the %2.9 gain in sales.
I wouldn't have done it without the "a" behaviour, however. And I sure as hell won't buy any CD's if "they" hassle me for my "a" behavior.
[Yes, I know I randomly spell in American and English]
Off the top of my head it doesn't look like I'll be paying FICA or Medicare on top of everything else, but that adds another %12.4 on your first 87,900 (only 2.9% above that). The tax code is so bad, I don't really know what I am paying until I figure it out, in April.
So, it looks like my $3986.74 "free shopping spree" will cost me about $1474. Worst case $1570. Not too bad.
Don't get all excited - when you are in my tax bracket, my first thought, was "great, I just won the right to buy a $4499 TV for half price (after taxes)"; And I wasn't in the market for a $2250 TV!
After a prudent amount of skepticism [checking out the company that the fullfilment guy said he was from, etc] before turning over "1099" information, it seemed like the real deal. We really had won something. I inquired whether or not we could take cash in lieu of the TV. Having had first-hand experience with plasma burn-in (on the same set we had won, for a work project), I knew I didn't really want one.
The bottom line: "no cash", however, since the actual prize delivery was via our friends at Best Buy, I was able to finagle a deal with the local manager to do a one-time, use-it-or-lose-it buying spree for the value (which turned out to be "street" not "MSRP"). They just processed the TV as an in-store, no-receipt credit.
This turned out to be a much better deal than taking a TV. My daughter got a nice stereo, my younger son got lots of video games. The big ticket items were a DV camcorder and a Toshiba laptop. Toss in some nice Boston Acoustic clock-radios that I otherwise wouldn't have purchased at $150 each, and some blank DVD media and the family was much better off than taking one expensive, short-lived Plasma TV.
I mean, how much better could Sponge Bob look on a big screen? I'll stick to my Costco (Toshiba) 32" CRT for now (landfills be damned, someday).
Now, I only hope that 1099 says "only" $3699+sales tax. I feel much better paying taxes equivalent to a bunch of useful "half-price" stuff than I ever would have paying close to $2000 for one TV with 80 channels of crap on the cable.
Sounds like they are going out of business for reasons including lack of demand, but not exclusively due to that lack.
OK, I just RTFA. I see they have gone down from 1100 in their hey-day. I don't see "Quantegy" listed on the stock exchange, so I wouldn't be surprised that grand-nephew bubba or whomever the current owner is just wanted to sell the plant to build a mall or something.
It will clear the books of nonsense like this which serve no purpose, but could be used against someone who doesn't have the correct political affiliation du jour.
If nothing else, it would at least keep legislatures out of trouble, making up new nonsense/bad laws [*cough* DMCA *cough*] for as long as it takes them to keep renewing obviously useful laws.
Of course this would only work if they had to deal with laws one at a time - otherwise it would just evolve into the usual crap - "omnibus law renewal act of 2005" - with all the old junk still in there, plus other nasties buried in the fine print.
Oh well.