You know, if this whole thing was about oil, it would have been a hell of a lot easier and cheaper for Bush to agree to end the sanctions on Hussein's Iraq.
Of course it is about oil. I own some energy stocks. Everytime gas prices go up, I rejoice (my car is efficient and I don't drive much - 1 tank per month = $22ish). The monthly dividends and stock price increases vastly outweigh the extra $10 it takes to fill my tank now.
Where do these investment profits come from? Uncertainty over supply increases price. It increases price everywhere. Oil and gas from TX is worth a hell of a lot more now than it was before the war.... Get it?... The point is, Bush does not want low oil prices, and opening the Iraqi fields to the market would dampen prices by increasing supply - Bush wants to destabalize supply thus generating higher profits for his oil buddies.
PS: I can't wait for gas to get $3. Please please please keep buying gas guzzlers. I'll putter along laughing all the way to the bank.
On the contrary, it would make a fascinating scientific study. I mean how can someone stop a woman from aborting a fetus with a genetic defect and then let the child die drowning in her own saliva because they also banned stem cell research? Such a profound personality disorder got to show on MRI.
Whoa! Now this should qualify for a high rank in the top ten pithy comments of all time. That's just great! Wish I could mod you up!
I'm not prejudiced against Christians. I was merely stating a fact. Christians proselytize. It is their duty. I do have a bias against proselytizers -a universal distaste which would in no way be lessened if the message was of Budhist, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever character. Uninvited sermons are the equivalent of religious spam. It just so happens that you Christians are loud and pushy about your beliefs. For example, only Christians have told me I was going to hell.
Proselytizers with a persecution complex. Annoying as hell. Pun intended.
Get off your high horse buddy. There is no prejudice against Christians, at least here in America (and I imagine Canada, Australia, or Western Europe). You guys are the ones in power. It's the non-christians who, upon disclosing their audicity to believe differently from the VAST majority of people, get the raised eyebrows or the "really??" comments. Christians complaining about persecution are like a movie stars complaining about how bad the fringe benefits of their job has become (e.g., "can you imagine... domestic caviar... the horror!! | can you imagine... 5% of the population doesn't agree with me... they're all against me").
Personally, I think Christians are the one with the prejudice. By it's very nature, Christianity encourages prejudice because all of you know us heathens will burn in hell and it is your duty to save us. Hence, the lack of respect for our beliefs.
As I understand it, the Napster music player has to be connected to your computer periodically to check whether you still have an account. Has there been any work on figuring what magic bit of information it is seeking? It seems that one could devise a system in which the Napster device connects to your computer, is fooled into thinking it got approval for the next time period, and all the music stored on it would continue to play. Or is this thought just a bit of naive thinking on my part?
I tend to agree that "ownership" is nice. But a quick bit of math shows that it might not be that bad of deal, depending on one's age. Taking the $10,000 to fill an ipod at face value, let's say I belonged to this service for the rest of my life. I'm 36, let's assume I'll die at 76. 40*12*$15=$7200.
Let's go ahead and assume that inflationary increases for itunes will match the future rising price of Napster (impossible to tell really). With this set of assumptions, it looks like I'd save $2800.
However, this also assumes I'd buy 10,000 songs at current prices. That is something I'd doubt. At the most, I'd probably buy 10 songs per month. At 1.07 (with tax) each, that is $128.40 per year, or $5136 over the next 40 years. Under this scenario, itunes is a better deal.
So, to summarize, Napster is best for middle-aged folks who will buy AT LEAST 15 songs per month for 40 years. Itunes is better if you don't meet that purchasing level.
I checked to see if my SAT would qualify for membership -- after recalling my math and verbal scores, I fired up kcalc, punched in the numbers, and pressed [enter]. Yep - qualified. The irony? I scored higher in math!;-)
There's a business idea -- I can't be the only one who'd like a nice light around town machine. Import, get them licensable (probably only a spedo changeout) and sell them.
"not all" is generally 5%, especially for the last 2
I think it's just motorcycle companies trying to maximize profit. I was talking a guy at the local Triumph dealer who explained that it doesn't take much more money to build a 750cc bike than it does to build one that is a liter or more. But the liter bike will sell for more and generate more profit. Forget about finding a 400cc bike for learners who want something a bit beefier than a Rebel.
Then there is the whole marketing drive -- selling an image etc. A friend of mine bought for his first bike a Triumph TT600 some years back. Mind you, this thing is probably between 3-400lbs and has over 100hp. Insanity. Problem was, we'd go riding and after two hours I'm ready to go out to the ocean and his neck is hurting so bad he's ready to go home. He sold it last summer for a standard seating position BMW (R1150) and actually likes riding now. He just got sucked into the marketing (sportbike is great because it'll do 150mph -- whatever, as if you'll get a chance to do that on the street). Of course when he sold his, a kid bought it. I saw the kid a few weeks later matching the sterotype exactly: fluttering tank top, shorts, and sneakers. Guess who wins the slide test between flesh and pavement.
As for standard bikes, if I was to get a new one, I'd have to go for a Moto Guzi 750 Breva; a Suzuki SV650; or a Triumph Bonneville. Comfort, carrying capacity, rational displacement and weight for around town or cross country -- these bikes offer a lot. They don't have guady flash or bad boy imagery - they do have the potential to provide real motorcycling joy at a reasonable cost. That's what I like - the rest of them can polish their bikes and talk about how fast they'll go or how much chrome they have. I'll just go.
Unfair flamebait mod alert Parent is merely stating a fact without making a value judgement. This is not flamebait. Someone with mod points please correct this. If anything, my post here (which has been modded up) had flamebait elements in it (but please don't mod me down!;-)
Yeah! You speak the truth my friend. If I had mod points, you'd get them. I'm partial to older bikes, especially 80's standard Japanese bikes, and older BMWs. The bearded tatooed Harley thugs/wannabethugs and the tshirt/shorts/flipflops crotch-rocket-cool-dudes all look down on these, but I love them. Power aplenty, nice handling, and comfortable riding positions. I once took an early 80s Nighthawk 650 on a 1500 mile trip. It was a blast.
As an aside, I learned how to adjust my valves this weekend (1978 BMW R80/7), and after a spline lube this coming weekend, I'll know most of the basic maintenance for this machine. I'm a wannabe motorcycle geek right now - hope to be halfway competent in a couple years - but looking forward to some extended motorcycle camping this summer.
What plot holes? I have the boxed set, watched it through start to finish 4 or 5 times, so yeah, I'm a fanatic, but still, what plot holes???
That aside, I also like Buffy and Angel, but I went to those only after seeing Firefly (I do all my watching on DVD so it's easy to do this). If I had never seen FF, I would never have watched Buffy (just the name would be enough to keep me away). But I figured if JW made FF, I should look at his other stuff too. Now, I like Buffy and Angel, but not as much as FF.
PS -- what ruttin' plot holes??? (Jayne - get Vera)
So the break in goes back to October, yet nothing has been taken in the last five months?
It sounds to me like they discovered the break-in in October. Knowing you have an unsavory element aboard however, is not the same as knowing WHO that person is. Likely, they had to wait for the bad guys to expose themselves. Complex puzzles require time and effort to solve. This is real life, not a cop show.
I'm sorry - are you saying that a business that provides crappy service should continue to get my patronage? There's a restaruant near my office I frequent regularly. I get exactly what I want whenever I go there, even if it means substituting X side dish for Y side dish. Why do I keep going back to the tune of $50/wk? Because I get what I want, the owners are nice and friendly to me, and the food is good. Why do I refuse to go to the BK I mentioned? Because somehow, when I go there I get EXACTLY the opposite of what I want.
Now, a savy business owner will realize that happy customers keep coming back, and customers who get what they want are going to be happy. If a robotic assembly process would provide customers with what they want, spending the money on the machinery is a hell of a lot better than going out of business because you have no customers. In that case, as long as the return excedes the investment, it doesn't matter how much it costs.
Besides, robotic burger assembly will be the least of their uses. It might just be a happy side effect.
Because 16yo kids are inherently unreliable. For example, I quit going to my local BK because 3 out of my last 4 times there, I ordered a burger with "no mayo". The first 2 time I was a couple miles away when I discovered the burger absolutely slathered in that vile substance. The last time I went in and complained to the manager. Since then, I haven't had the willingness to bother going back.
K3B may not be the first burning GUI, but it is the best of them. I personally had an easier time using mkisofs and cdrecord than xcdroast or some other one I think I tried. I didn't give up the CLI till k3b and in fact, the whole burning GUI thing had burned me enough in the past, that I came late to using k3b and only after overcoming much sceptism that it would actually be good. I was so wrong - k3b is a snap.
(I've heard of posting without RTFA'ing, but to spend 10 minutes on google without checking TFA? That sure is something! heh)
I habitually RTFA -- the main link didn't answer it for me. Nor did the wiki in question (obviously). I don't remember how I finally understood what was going on, probably an offhand comment in one of the posts. I do know it wasn't google. What I said was: "As it is, I had to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out why bloggers were googlebombing the wiki." I'm sure I spent that in the linked articles and the posts here. I even ended up on a page with a condom picture to represent some HTML tag which is supposed to stop spamming. But google itself was not in my sources this time.
I don't believe the summary was poorly written because it used the word googlebomb etc. It was poorly written because it failed to explain WHY the bloggers were googlebombing. Perhaps I need to work on my own clarity issues. My beef with the summary is that it says "bloggers did X" without explaining "why bloggers did X". The fact that they did it is less interesting than why they did it. And the only way to figure out why was to invest 10 minutes in searching. The "why" should have been evident from the summary.
I would suggest as an outline for tech-news topics such as this, that the summary 1) identify the current issue, 2) describe the community reaction, and 3) briefly explain why the reaction is bad, good, or both. The summary here skipped part 1, although arguably, it does explain the reasons near the end of the summary, but in a manner clear only to those who are already familiar with the problem. After I finally understood what was going on, I can see how it would make sense to an isider. For those unfamiliar however, it's difficult to comprehend.
Anyway, that's my issue here -- not the vocab, the missing content, poor organization, and lousy explanation.
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Of course it is about oil. I own some energy stocks. Everytime gas prices go up, I rejoice (my car is efficient and I don't drive much - 1 tank per month = $22ish). The monthly dividends and stock price increases vastly outweigh the extra $10 it takes to fill my tank now.
Where do these investment profits come from? Uncertainty over supply increases price. It increases price everywhere. Oil and gas from TX is worth a hell of a lot more now than it was before the war.
PS: I can't wait for gas to get $3. Please please please keep buying gas guzzlers. I'll putter along laughing all the way to the bank.
Whoa! Now this should qualify for a high rank in the top ten pithy comments of all time. That's just great! Wish I could mod you up!
I'm not prejudiced against Christians. I was merely stating a fact. Christians proselytize. It is their duty. I do have a bias against proselytizers -a universal distaste which would in no way be lessened if the message was of Budhist, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever character. Uninvited sermons are the equivalent of religious spam. It just so happens that you Christians are loud and pushy about your beliefs. For example, only Christians have told me I was going to hell.
Proselytizers with a persecution complex. Annoying as hell. Pun intended.
Get off your high horse buddy. There is no prejudice against Christians, at least here in America (and I imagine Canada, Australia, or Western Europe). You guys are the ones in power. It's the non-christians who, upon disclosing their audicity to believe differently from the VAST majority of people, get the raised eyebrows or the "really??" comments. Christians complaining about persecution are like a movie stars complaining about how bad the fringe benefits of their job has become (e.g., "can you imagine
Personally, I think Christians are the one with the prejudice. By it's very nature, Christianity encourages prejudice because all of you know us heathens will burn in hell and it is your duty to save us. Hence, the lack of respect for our beliefs.
As I understand it, the Napster music player has to be connected to your computer periodically to check whether you still have an account. Has there been any work on figuring what magic bit of information it is seeking? It seems that one could devise a system in which the Napster device connects to your computer, is fooled into thinking it got approval for the next time period, and all the music stored on it would continue to play. Or is this thought just a bit of naive thinking on my part?
I tend to agree that "ownership" is nice. But a quick bit of math shows that it might not be that bad of deal, depending on one's age. Taking the $10,000 to fill an ipod at face value, let's say I belonged to this service for the rest of my life. I'm 36, let's assume I'll die at 76. 40*12*$15=$7200.
Let's go ahead and assume that inflationary increases for itunes will match the future rising price of Napster (impossible to tell really). With this set of assumptions, it looks like I'd save $2800.
However, this also assumes I'd buy 10,000 songs at current prices. That is something I'd doubt. At the most, I'd probably buy 10 songs per month. At 1.07 (with tax) each, that is $128.40 per year, or $5136 over the next 40 years. Under this scenario, itunes is a better deal.
So, to summarize, Napster is best for middle-aged folks who will buy AT LEAST 15 songs per month for 40 years. Itunes is better if you don't meet that purchasing level.
I checked to see if my SAT would qualify for membership -- after recalling my math and verbal scores, I fired up kcalc, punched in the numbers, and pressed [enter]. Yep - qualified. The irony? I scored higher in math!
Wow. That's crazy! Pure insanity.
That's a great shot! Where was it taken?
There's a business idea -- I can't be the only one who'd like a nice light around town machine. Import, get them licensable (probably only a spedo changeout) and sell them.
I think it's just motorcycle companies trying to maximize profit. I was talking a guy at the local Triumph dealer who explained that it doesn't take much more money to build a 750cc bike than it does to build one that is a liter or more. But the liter bike will sell for more and generate more profit. Forget about finding a 400cc bike for learners who want something a bit beefier than a Rebel.
Then there is the whole marketing drive -- selling an image etc. A friend of mine bought for his first bike a Triumph TT600 some years back. Mind you, this thing is probably between 3-400lbs and has over 100hp. Insanity. Problem was, we'd go riding and after two hours I'm ready to go out to the ocean and his neck is hurting so bad he's ready to go home. He sold it last summer for a standard seating position BMW (R1150) and actually likes riding now. He just got sucked into the marketing (sportbike is great because it'll do 150mph -- whatever, as if you'll get a chance to do that on the street). Of course when he sold his, a kid bought it. I saw the kid a few weeks later matching the sterotype exactly: fluttering tank top, shorts, and sneakers. Guess who wins the slide test between flesh and pavement.
As for standard bikes, if I was to get a new one, I'd have to go for a Moto Guzi 750 Breva; a Suzuki SV650; or a Triumph Bonneville. Comfort, carrying capacity, rational displacement and weight for around town or cross country -- these bikes offer a lot. They don't have guady flash or bad boy imagery - they do have the potential to provide real motorcycling joy at a reasonable cost. That's what I like - the rest of them can polish their bikes and talk about how fast they'll go or how much chrome they have. I'll just go.
Unfair flamebait mod alert
Parent is merely stating a fact without making a value judgement. This is not flamebait. Someone with mod points please correct this. If anything, my post here (which has been modded up) had flamebait elements in it (but please don't mod me down!
Yeah! You speak the truth my friend. If I had mod points, you'd get them. I'm partial to older bikes, especially 80's standard Japanese bikes, and older BMWs. The bearded tatooed Harley thugs/wannabethugs and the tshirt/shorts/flipflops crotch-rocket-cool-dudes all look down on these, but I love them. Power aplenty, nice handling, and comfortable riding positions. I once took an early 80s Nighthawk 650 on a 1500 mile trip. It was a blast.
As an aside, I learned how to adjust my valves this weekend (1978 BMW R80/7), and after a spline lube this coming weekend, I'll know most of the basic maintenance for this machine. I'm a wannabe motorcycle geek right now - hope to be halfway competent in a couple years - but looking forward to some extended motorcycle camping this summer.
What plot holes? I have the boxed set, watched it through start to finish 4 or 5 times, so yeah, I'm a fanatic, but still, what plot holes???
That aside, I also like Buffy and Angel, but I went to those only after seeing Firefly (I do all my watching on DVD so it's easy to do this). If I had never seen FF, I would never have watched Buffy (just the name would be enough to keep me away). But I figured if JW made FF, I should look at his other stuff too. Now, I like Buffy and Angel, but not as much as FF.
PS -- what ruttin' plot holes??? (Jayne - get Vera)
Whoops - my mistake in not reading parent closely. I read it as nothing was done about the breaking [by the bank]. My bad.
It sounds to me like they discovered the break-in in October. Knowing you have an unsavory element aboard however, is not the same as knowing WHO that person is. Likely, they had to wait for the bad guys to expose themselves. Complex puzzles require time and effort to solve. This is real life, not a cop show.
Maybe I'm slow to get it -- I'm thinking now you are making a joke. If so, it is rather amusing.
I'm sorry - are you saying that a business that provides crappy service should continue to get my patronage? There's a restaruant near my office I frequent regularly. I get exactly what I want whenever I go there, even if it means substituting X side dish for Y side dish. Why do I keep going back to the tune of $50/wk? Because I get what I want, the owners are nice and friendly to me, and the food is good. Why do I refuse to go to the BK I mentioned? Because somehow, when I go there I get EXACTLY the opposite of what I want.
Now, a savy business owner will realize that happy customers keep coming back, and customers who get what they want are going to be happy. If a robotic assembly process would provide customers with what they want, spending the money on the machinery is a hell of a lot better than going out of business because you have no customers. In that case, as long as the return excedes the investment, it doesn't matter how much it costs.
Besides, robotic burger assembly will be the least of their uses. It might just be a happy side effect.
As long as you control the power switch, it will be a huge upgrade from Wife 1.0.
Because 16yo kids are inherently unreliable. For example, I quit going to my local BK because 3 out of my last 4 times there, I ordered a burger with "no mayo". The first 2 time I was a couple miles away when I discovered the burger absolutely slathered in that vile substance. The last time I went in and complained to the manager. Since then, I haven't had the willingness to bother going back.
K3B may not be the first burning GUI, but it is the best of them. I personally had an easier time using mkisofs and cdrecord than xcdroast or some other one I think I tried. I didn't give up the CLI till k3b and in fact, the whole burning GUI thing had burned me enough in the past, that I came late to using k3b and only after overcoming much sceptism that it would actually be good. I was so wrong - k3b is a snap.
When I was a kid, we played pencil+paper too (early 80s). And as a destitute 6th grader, the price of p+p was perfect! ;-)
I habitually RTFA -- the main link didn't answer it for me. Nor did the wiki in question (obviously). I don't remember how I finally understood what was going on, probably an offhand comment in one of the posts. I do know it wasn't google. What I said was: "As it is, I had to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out why bloggers were googlebombing the wiki." I'm sure I spent that in the linked articles and the posts here. I even ended up on a page with a condom picture to represent some HTML tag which is supposed to stop spamming. But google itself was not in my sources this time.
I don't believe the summary was poorly written because it used the word googlebomb etc. It was poorly written because it failed to explain WHY the bloggers were googlebombing. Perhaps I need to work on my own clarity issues. My beef with the summary is that it says "bloggers did X" without explaining "why bloggers did X". The fact that they did it is less interesting than why they did it. And the only way to figure out why was to invest 10 minutes in searching. The "why" should have been evident from the summary.
I would suggest as an outline for tech-news topics such as this, that the summary 1) identify the current issue, 2) describe the community reaction, and 3) briefly explain why the reaction is bad, good, or both. The summary here skipped part 1, although arguably, it does explain the reasons near the end of the summary, but in a manner clear only to those who are already familiar with the problem. After I finally understood what was going on, I can see how it would make sense to an isider. For those unfamiliar however, it's difficult to comprehend.
Anyway, that's my issue here -- not the vocab, the missing content, poor organization, and lousy explanation.