You are exactly right. We moved a couple of years ago and the quality of the local school was the biggest single factor in deciding where we would live. We bought a low end home in a high end neighborhood and the public school is absolutely fantastic. New building, all new equipment, an abundance of parent volunteers, and fund raisers that raise crazy amounts of money for the schools. The maximum class size is 21 kids. The school has fully funded art, theater arts and music programs.
The downside is high property taxes. More than $600 / month on a $250k house. I think it's worth it though. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I've found I really enjoy living in the suburbs.
Pay per play doesn't sound too bad to me. I would love to disintermediate the cable companies and tv networks and simply subscribe to the few shows I watch. I'm happy to pay a small monthly fee for something like NetFlix where I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want on any device that I want. I think if I could do this, what I pay for tv and movies would drop drastically.
I've had a 1080p HDTV for a couple of years and a BluRay player for about a year. Initially, I loved the combo. Now, I'm really meh about it. For me, convenience trumps quality. NetFlix may not be the best quality, but it's good enough (like MP3 vs CD).
I do agree with you though about not wanting to pay $3 every time I want to watch a movie. That's why I depend on NetFlix. If you are a real movie buff, this won't suffice, but for me, the NetFlix catalog is more than enough titles to keep me going for years and years. Plus, I don't have to accumulate little plastic disks.
The one thing I really mis from NetFlix is captions. I like to watch tv with the volume quite low. It's hard to do this without captions.
Is it a bloated runaway budget? Is there an objective way to measure the effectiveness of government dollars spent? This is what I want to hear from the likes of Ballmer and Bezos - some data driven arguments.
I'm certain cuts could be made (and your seatbelt campaign is a great example), but is that much more than a drop in the proverbial bucket?
Sales taxes are generally considered regressive. Relatively speaking, poor people purchase a lot (that is, they spend 100% of their income) while rich people spend relatively little.
So, assume this is the primary way for the state to collect significantly more money (not sure if this is true). If they don't start collecting income taxes, then the alternative is for the state to provide fewer and fewer services. Again, this doesn't really affect people making $200,000 every year, but it is a significant burden for the least powerful and most needy people of the state.
The opponents of this measure are some very smart and creative people. What are they proposing as an alternative to income taxes?
It was an attempt to close the analog hole. It doesn't really matter how air tight BluRay encryption is if you can just capture an unencrypted digital stream on the way to the monitor.
Apple's app store has changed what I consider budget games. I bought Angry Birds for a couple of dollars and I've spent an order of magnitude more time playing it than I have Modnation Racers that I bought on the PS3 for $60.
Other than Modnation Racers, I haven't bought a game that cost more than $10 in about a year (and I wish I hadn't bought MNR, it isn't very good).
I've only played Katamari on the PS3 and I freakin' love it. If there was ever a game for which there should be a level editor or downloadable content, this is it.
I'll give you an example. I flew with my kids this summer and to help pass the time, I ripped a few of their favorite dvd's onto my iPod for them to watch on the plane. Being able to have the movie on my iPod has value, and thus the movie people expect to be paid for that.
Cory Doctorow talked to an MPAA representative who allegedly said "When you buy a movie to watch in your living room, we're only selling you the right to see it in your living room. Sending the same show upstairs to watch in your bedroom has value, and if it has value, we should be able to charge money for it."
So, if you asked Mr MPAA where the harm is, their answer could very well be "everywhere all the time"
Skyhook isn't totally open and doesn't give everything away. Perhaps Google could roll their own for less money than Skyhook wanted.
Not everything has to directly generate revenue. The more you use the internet, the more money Google makes. Google does lots of things that seem to be only about making the online experience better thus having you spend more time online and seeing more of their ads.
I think Twitter is talking about inserting ads into the streams of popular users. So, you may not follow a marketer, but if somebody you follow says something about coffee, that tweet could very well be sponsored by Folgers.
Why Twitter rather than RSS? I user a news reader to follow people but I can definitely see the trend is to using Twitter rather than RSS for announcing updates. Since Twitter is closed and RSS is open, this is a little disturbing to me.
Did you know that the best quality steaks come from beef that has been hung for 28 days or so?
Are you talking about dry aged beef? My grocery store does this on occasion, but the price premium is so much that I don't bother. I bought a 4-bone dry aged rib roast a couple of Christmases ago and it was well over $100.
And who in a supermarket could you ask the question to and get an informed answer?
Are you serious? Talk to them sometime. It's a tight job market and grocery stores are able to hire some damned good people these days. Lots of foodies are working at grocery stores. Stores have real butchers who can do custom cuts and give lots of advice. In my experience, they are happy to open just about any package on the shelf to trim, recut, or grind it for you. Even the cheese monger will talk all day if you let her (and hook you up with some raw milk cheeses if you ask - they have connections).
a lot of perfectly good fruit and vegetables are rejected
Yep. To a lot of us, how food looks is as important as how it tastes. I won't buy bruised fruit or any vegetable with wilted leaves. I suspect a lot of other people are the same as me. Don't assume that everybody has the same priorities as you when they are selecting food. Just like in tech, everybody has a different spot in the form-function spectrum where they are happiest.
the trade off for the convenience is less choice and lower quality fresh foods
I disagree 100% with this. I think it depends entirely where you live. Where I am, I have 3 large supermarkets, several ethnic grocers and two specialty supermarkets (think Whole Foods) within a 20 minute drive. On top of that, I live in the burbs, so it's a short drive for me to some local farms that directly sell their wares.
OTOH, if you live in Detroit, there are NO grocery stores. It's very sad. If you don't have access to a car to get out to the surrounding suburbs, your only affordable food choices come from a dollar menu.
You know, the good old days often weren't that good.
I have a bunch of different grocery store choices around where I live. The quality and variety of stuff that I can buy is amazing. I love that I can buy ingredients for Thai, Indian, Italian, and Mexican recipes all in the same store. If that store doesn't have something, my city has many "ethnic" specialty grocery stores that I can go to.
When I want to buy a steak, I have two or three tiers to choose from: cheap, factory farm meats, more expensive "natural" cuts (grass fed, no growth hormones, etc...) all the way up to expensive organic prime (or choice) cuts.
I have an incredible array of fruits and vegetables, both local and imported to choose from. If the supermarket doesn't have something I want, I can go to the farmers market on the weekend and talk to the grower.
A member of my family is sensitive to gluten. Well, the local supermarket has a pretty big gluten free section and the food in the rest of the store is labelled well enough that we can make smart choices. How good do you think food labeling was in 1970?
I would not trade the current system for the one of 40 years ago.
I think you can get XP on any computer. Just install a pirated copy. It will fail the Windows Genuine Advantage check (or whatever it's called). You will be given a phone number to call to fix the problem (ie, pay for a license).
I don't spend much time watching TV either, but not because I think it's brainless crap. I just don't have enough time. Honestly, I think TV is fantastically good these days. There are some extremely well written and produced shows on TV and I really do wish I had more time to watch.
Like you, I very rarely watch live tv though. I use the DVR and Netflix for most of what I actually do watch.
BTW, I would put local news and weather in the pile I label crap. They are poorly produced, sensationalist, consultant driven productions (I'm assuming you are in the US). I've moved around the US a little bit and the local news is the exact same in every city. The same sets, the same talking heads, waving flag graphics, color schemes, music, and network feeds. They all call their weather segments storm-tracker-weather or something similar. Watching local news is like saying you shop at the local walmart.
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You're right, it's almost impossible to compare. I would have to add up all the explicit taxes and then also include things like health insurance.
You are exactly right. We moved a couple of years ago and the quality of the local school was the biggest single factor in deciding where we would live. We bought a low end home in a high end neighborhood and the public school is absolutely fantastic. New building, all new equipment, an abundance of parent volunteers, and fund raisers that raise crazy amounts of money for the schools. The maximum class size is 21 kids. The school has fully funded art, theater arts and music programs.
The downside is high property taxes. More than $600 / month on a $250k house. I think it's worth it though. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I've found I really enjoy living in the suburbs.
You know, there are quite a few people carrying a massive debt load who would love to see some hyperinflation.
Only if drives the stock price up. Microsoft is going to buy RIM.
Pay per play doesn't sound too bad to me. I would love to disintermediate the cable companies and tv networks and simply subscribe to the few shows I watch. I'm happy to pay a small monthly fee for something like NetFlix where I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want on any device that I want. I think if I could do this, what I pay for tv and movies would drop drastically.
I've had a 1080p HDTV for a couple of years and a BluRay player for about a year. Initially, I loved the combo. Now, I'm really meh about it. For me, convenience trumps quality. NetFlix may not be the best quality, but it's good enough (like MP3 vs CD).
I do agree with you though about not wanting to pay $3 every time I want to watch a movie. That's why I depend on NetFlix. If you are a real movie buff, this won't suffice, but for me, the NetFlix catalog is more than enough titles to keep me going for years and years. Plus, I don't have to accumulate little plastic disks.
The one thing I really mis from NetFlix is captions. I like to watch tv with the volume quite low. It's hard to do this without captions.
Is it a bloated runaway budget? Is there an objective way to measure the effectiveness of government dollars spent? This is what I want to hear from the likes of Ballmer and Bezos - some data driven arguments.
I'm certain cuts could be made (and your seatbelt campaign is a great example), but is that much more than a drop in the proverbial bucket?
Sales taxes are generally considered regressive. Relatively speaking, poor people purchase a lot (that is, they spend 100% of their income) while rich people spend relatively little.
So, assume this is the primary way for the state to collect significantly more money (not sure if this is true). If they don't start collecting income taxes, then the alternative is for the state to provide fewer and fewer services. Again, this doesn't really affect people making $200,000 every year, but it is a significant burden for the least powerful and most needy people of the state.
The opponents of this measure are some very smart and creative people. What are they proposing as an alternative to income taxes?
It was an attempt to close the analog hole. It doesn't really matter how air tight BluRay encryption is if you can just capture an unencrypted digital stream on the way to the monitor.
Apple's app store has changed what I consider budget games. I bought Angry Birds for a couple of dollars and I've spent an order of magnitude more time playing it than I have Modnation Racers that I bought on the PS3 for $60.
Other than Modnation Racers, I haven't bought a game that cost more than $10 in about a year (and I wish I hadn't bought MNR, it isn't very good).
I've only played Katamari on the PS3 and I freakin' love it. If there was ever a game for which there should be a level editor or downloadable content, this is it.
Don't forget sandbox games like Sims and Little Big Planet.
I'll give you an example. I flew with my kids this summer and to help pass the time, I ripped a few of their favorite dvd's onto my iPod for them to watch on the plane. Being able to have the movie on my iPod has value, and thus the movie people expect to be paid for that.
Cory Doctorow talked to an MPAA representative who allegedly said "When you buy a movie to watch in your living room, we're only selling you the right to see it in your living room. Sending the same show upstairs to watch in your bedroom has value, and if it has value, we should be able to charge money for it."
So, if you asked Mr MPAA where the harm is, their answer could very well be "everywhere all the time"
I don't want to sound like a dick or anything, but if you give up after 5 minutes you probably weren't going to get very far with it anyways.
Is this really Windows? From what I had read earlier, the OS seemed to have more in common with the Zune OS.
So, what is the heritage of this OS? Is it an entirely new beast, or a descendant of WinCE, Win32, or ZuneOS?
Skyhook isn't totally open and doesn't give everything away. Perhaps Google could roll their own for less money than Skyhook wanted.
Not everything has to directly generate revenue. The more you use the internet, the more money Google makes. Google does lots of things that seem to be only about making the online experience better thus having you spend more time online and seeing more of their ads.
People pay Twitter a lot of money for access to the raw firehose. So far, that's where they have been making their money.
I think Twitter is talking about inserting ads into the streams of popular users. So, you may not follow a marketer, but if somebody you follow says something about coffee, that tweet could very well be sponsored by Folgers.
Facebook used to be private by default, but I don't think that's the case any more.
Why Twitter rather than RSS? I user a news reader to follow people but I can definitely see the trend is to using Twitter rather than RSS for announcing updates. Since Twitter is closed and RSS is open, this is a little disturbing to me.
Are you talking about dry aged beef? My grocery store does this on occasion, but the price premium is so much that I don't bother. I bought a 4-bone dry aged rib roast a couple of Christmases ago and it was well over $100.
Are you serious? Talk to them sometime. It's a tight job market and grocery stores are able to hire some damned good people these days. Lots of foodies are working at grocery stores. Stores have real butchers who can do custom cuts and give lots of advice. In my experience, they are happy to open just about any package on the shelf to trim, recut, or grind it for you. Even the cheese monger will talk all day if you let her (and hook you up with some raw milk cheeses if you ask - they have connections).
Yep. To a lot of us, how food looks is as important as how it tastes. I won't buy bruised fruit or any vegetable with wilted leaves. I suspect a lot of other people are the same as me. Don't assume that everybody has the same priorities as you when they are selecting food. Just like in tech, everybody has a different spot in the form-function spectrum where they are happiest.
I disagree 100% with this. I think it depends entirely where you live. Where I am, I have 3 large supermarkets, several ethnic grocers and two specialty supermarkets (think Whole Foods) within a 20 minute drive. On top of that, I live in the burbs, so it's a short drive for me to some local farms that directly sell their wares.
OTOH, if you live in Detroit, there are NO grocery stores. It's very sad. If you don't have access to a car to get out to the surrounding suburbs, your only affordable food choices come from a dollar menu.
You know, the good old days often weren't that good.
I have a bunch of different grocery store choices around where I live. The quality and variety of stuff that I can buy is amazing. I love that I can buy ingredients for Thai, Indian, Italian, and Mexican recipes all in the same store. If that store doesn't have something, my city has many "ethnic" specialty grocery stores that I can go to.
When I want to buy a steak, I have two or three tiers to choose from: cheap, factory farm meats, more expensive "natural" cuts (grass fed, no growth hormones, etc...) all the way up to expensive organic prime (or choice) cuts.
I have an incredible array of fruits and vegetables, both local and imported to choose from. If the supermarket doesn't have something I want, I can go to the farmers market on the weekend and talk to the grower.
A member of my family is sensitive to gluten. Well, the local supermarket has a pretty big gluten free section and the food in the rest of the store is labelled well enough that we can make smart choices. How good do you think food labeling was in 1970?
I would not trade the current system for the one of 40 years ago.
I think you can get XP on any computer. Just install a pirated copy. It will fail the Windows Genuine Advantage check (or whatever it's called). You will be given a phone number to call to fix the problem (ie, pay for a license).
I don't spend much time watching TV either, but not because I think it's brainless crap. I just don't have enough time. Honestly, I think TV is fantastically good these days. There are some extremely well written and produced shows on TV and I really do wish I had more time to watch.
Like you, I very rarely watch live tv though. I use the DVR and Netflix for most of what I actually do watch.
BTW, I would put local news and weather in the pile I label crap. They are poorly produced, sensationalist, consultant driven productions (I'm assuming you are in the US). I've moved around the US a little bit and the local news is the exact same in every city. The same sets, the same talking heads, waving flag graphics, color schemes, music, and network feeds. They all call their weather segments storm-tracker-weather or something similar. Watching local news is like saying you shop at the local walmart.