Now see, I find that fascinating! The question is why? Do they really think they can now be "scientists" (method be damned) by attempting to be a pioneer without fear of ridicule and reprisal? Or, has the fame of the elite Nobel prize got them so drunk with fame and fortune that they will now say and do anything among the ignorant?
Basically, the world's Internet has largely been boot-strapped by the USA and supplemented further by other western nations (EU for example). But the history of nations and their government span much much longer in time. As such, expect the rest of the world to shard off and look inward to support, innovate and replace most if not all vestiges of outside influence and replaced with a government command and control form of national IT rules and regulations.
A Shadowrun dystopia? Might not be far off in the distant future.
I too prefer to order older CDs (late 80s to late 90s) and rip my own MP3
I agree, with a small and important addendum. Newer CDs are mastered with so much audio compression, I'm willing to be the digital download sounds the same if not better. I highly recommend perusing through a used CD/Vinyl shop or even a local flea market.
FYI, not that I agree to the following statement. But, and this is a huge BUT...why go through all that trouble with the dog and pony show. Why wouldn't the US army be called in to put a bullet in his head? The message would be made much more clearly in that.
1. Yes, terrorist = wanted dead or alive. 2. Your opinion doesn't matter, and you should fear that. 3. Bonus points for killing pointblank in front of civilians. Media circus spreads the message of fear even further.
This guy has a serious set of balls that I admire. But oh boy, did he piss off ALL the wrong people.
Been there, done that, STILL doing that... Where's my crate of t-shirts?
FYI, my latest IT rant involves troubleshooting isolated network connectivity issues. At first glance, it would seem like blocked ports, but then the traffic capture wasn't adding up with the real-time data being analyzed. So it's not a firewall issue, and no physical connectivity is 100% blocked from each workstation. We have packet blender in the mix someplace.
Turns out the issue was a smart switch causing all sorts of hell mapping ports to MAC addresses. Why? because some jackass decided to loop a patch cable from one port back into another ON THE SAME DAMN SWITCH!!! You would think Dell branded switches would be intelligent enough to ignore both ports in such an event. Obviously not. Grrrr
911 isn't as responsive as you think or hope it could be. Let me explain.
I can recall three times having to dial 911. The 1st one involved me being shot at while driving. The police nabbed the person only after flipping their truck over on its side. Both were on PCP and committed murder moments ago. The 2nd and 3rd time was some thug griefing the front entrance of my apartment at 3am threatening residents for money before they could enter.
In all three instances, it took the police well over 20+ minutes to respond. Think about that for a moment. A LOT of stuff can and does happen in that time frame.
As God as my witness, I don't ever want to take another mans life. It was never mine to give, nor should it be mine to take at whim. But when it comes down to a binary life or death situation, I will protect my family and myself. I'm a giving person. But I will never give up my life to someone who wishes to do me harm.
Modern car design is dictated by the new safety rules and regulations that are constantly being re-defined by the likes of the NHTSA and other global government agencies. That, and the cost of materials necessary to adhere to said safety rules.
Every time the industry meets and/or exceeds safety requirements, these agencies raise the bar even further. It's a constant game of cat n' mouse that (for the most part) tie up a huge amount of the cost in R&D.
Starting with the last generation, I agree. The new Miata interior has a cheap thin plastic feel to it. And at least half the models have the whole "Cheshire Cat" theme going for the front grill.
Ok, and? Were you trying to make a point or something? Because if you are, no way in hell should we suppress the freedom of speech just because some mentally ill wackjob decides to go to war with civilians.
After purchasing my RAV4, I would agree about the up-selling part. All I wanted was a 2wd Sport Edition with a V6. OMG what a pain in the ass that was finding one! It was just short a few grand from a fully loaded Limited edition with a four cylinder engine. It sounded nice, but half the electric luxury features are bound to fail within the first few years (or so that's been my previous experience with doodads and such). At least with the Sport Edition, it keeps it more simple.
However, the price of a vehicle from an established brand is *not* proportional to quality and life-span. Consumer Reports backs up the data. No, the mechanics and engineering is just as good in a base model as the ones in a fully loaded version up to and including the top tier level (Honda --> Accura, or Toyota --> Lexus).
When you purchase a fully loaded vehicle or a top tier version, most of your money goes into the interior of the car. The amount of markup on that shit is insane. But if you're in the market for one, you have a lot of room to negotiate on its price. Not so much for a base model however.
Ya well, that's Honda for you. All of their cars look lame now. And just when I was hoping for a re-release of the 2nd gen CRX Si(R), they provided an underpowered bastardization version of it in the form of a hybrid called the CRZ.
For budget thrills, Mazda is the only player left in town. How sad the auto industry has become.
It's not a cold war...yet anyways. China is simply matching their military spending to the growth of their GDP. It will only become a cold war when both the US and China starts playing games of "chicken" with tactical nuclear weapons deployment. But don't expect that to happen. Both nations are joined at the hip in an awkward system of co-dependency.
If anything. All other nations but America should worry. For example I'm sure Japan and India arn't all to happy about what's going on.
I don't trust any system. But I will trust a free market over a Marxist or a theocratic institution. It's one of a heterogeneous vs homogeneous system. Creating homogeneous concepts, ideas, and organizing data has many benefits to society. But, it also leaves itself wide open to abuse by the few seeking power and control.
You say money = power. But it could be argued that money is simply a tool that represent power. Like any tool, it too can be abused. You also say that without government intervention, free markets are doomed to fail via corruption. Yet in communist nations, the only solution to oppression is a free market because their government IS the problem. That, or a bloody revolution is required.
Again, perhaps it's all cyclical. Regardless of the institution at hand in any human civilization, it's doomed to become corrupt and oppressive. In any case, there's simply nothing we can do to stop it. Only slow down the inevitable to come.
Well, I'm not convinced when I see nations of plenty implode in on themselves into dictatorships and tyrannical regimes. Perhaps it's just a natural cycle of humanity. Like the wheel of life. There is cooperation that forms nations. Eventually, they are either conquered or implode in on themselves. Yet from your previous postings throughout the years, you put full faith in government institutions and the regulations they create. Why??!! Why when they're doomed to fail and oppress the very civilians they're supposed to represent.
No Sir, rarely do I ever put blind trust into any institution created by man. As such, I would rather power be put in the hands of many than the few. At least I have choice of who and when to run too. Options are nice.
While I find that very interesting, I think human behavior is more basic along with the rest of the animal kingdom. It's called sexual dimorphism. It is our evolution that paints a much larger picture as to what humans will do to compete for power and acquisition of a mate.
When you think about it, civilizations around the world are sexually driven. From religion to consumerism, sexuality is constantly thrown in our faces. In part because we seek it, and we know it's a useful form of social currency to buy and sell "power".
There's only one TDSP (Transmission and Distribution Service Provider) servicing my area called CenterPoint Energy. However, I can choose one of 47 REPs (Retail Electric Providers) that handle customer service and billing. They each offer different contracts and pricing as well. It is these REPs that are in direct competition with each other (in theory).
In Houston, TX I have (as of this moment in my ZIP code) 259 service providers to contract out my electricity. Price per kWh ranges from 6.9 cents to 15.3 cents. I seriously doubt all 259 will work together to screw customers over with shady contracts. This isn't the cell phone industry were talking about.
Here in Houston, CenterPoint Energy provides the utility. As of a few weeks ago, I've noticed that my energy provider keeps a record of how much energy I've used each day on the hour. It's pretty damned cool that I can review this data. I can even spot the areas where I've cooked (electric, no gas) at that time of day. What I'm must curious about is *how* each meter uploads the data.
I've been informed by others that maybe it uses a form of powerline broadband with the new meters. Is this true?
TWC, (at least the Austin, TX market) has an extremely good back end. I suspect you have a physical signaling issues across your coax segment. So just to be clear, I suspect its the level of customer/technical support you're not properly receiving. Because a well working TWC connection should provide exceptional bandwidth results.
There will always been corruption regardless of how well you mitigate it in society. The problem is more often than not, those doing the regulating are corrupted to begin with.
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the old days, an organization from Japan would send over Ninjas to take care of the problem. I bet Sony misses those days -sigh-
Now see, I find that fascinating! The question is why? Do they really think they can now be "scientists" (method be damned) by attempting to be a pioneer without fear of ridicule and reprisal? Or, has the fame of the elite Nobel prize got them so drunk with fame and fortune that they will now say and do anything among the ignorant?
Basically, the world's Internet has largely been boot-strapped by the USA and supplemented further by other western nations (EU for example). But the history of nations and their government span much much longer in time. As such, expect the rest of the world to shard off and look inward to support, innovate and replace most if not all vestiges of outside influence and replaced with a government command and control form of national IT rules and regulations.
A Shadowrun dystopia? Might not be far off in the distant future.
I too prefer to order older CDs (late 80s to late 90s) and rip my own MP3
I agree, with a small and important addendum. Newer CDs are mastered with so much audio compression, I'm willing to be the digital download sounds the same if not better. I highly recommend perusing through a used CD/Vinyl shop or even a local flea market.
FYI, not that I agree to the following statement. But, and this is a huge BUT...why go through all that trouble with the dog and pony show. Why wouldn't the US army be called in to put a bullet in his head? The message would be made much more clearly in that.
1. Yes, terrorist = wanted dead or alive.
2. Your opinion doesn't matter, and you should fear that.
3. Bonus points for killing pointblank in front of civilians. Media circus spreads the message of fear even further.
This guy has a serious set of balls that I admire. But oh boy, did he piss off ALL the wrong people.
Been there, done that, STILL doing that... Where's my crate of t-shirts?
FYI, my latest IT rant involves troubleshooting isolated network connectivity issues. At first glance, it would seem like blocked ports, but then the traffic capture wasn't adding up with the real-time data being analyzed. So it's not a firewall issue, and no physical connectivity is 100% blocked from each workstation. We have packet blender in the mix someplace.
Turns out the issue was a smart switch causing all sorts of hell mapping ports to MAC addresses. Why? because some jackass decided to loop a patch cable from one port back into another ON THE SAME DAMN SWITCH!!! You would think Dell branded switches would be intelligent enough to ignore both ports in such an event. Obviously not. Grrrr
911 isn't as responsive as you think or hope it could be. Let me explain.
I can recall three times having to dial 911. The 1st one involved me being shot at while driving. The police nabbed the person only after flipping their truck over on its side. Both were on PCP and committed murder moments ago. The 2nd and 3rd time was some thug griefing the front entrance of my apartment at 3am threatening residents for money before they could enter.
In all three instances, it took the police well over 20+ minutes to respond. Think about that for a moment. A LOT of stuff can and does happen in that time frame.
As God as my witness, I don't ever want to take another mans life. It was never mine to give, nor should it be mine to take at whim. But when it comes down to a binary life or death situation, I will protect my family and myself. I'm a giving person. But I will never give up my life to someone who wishes to do me harm.
Modern car design is dictated by the new safety rules and regulations that are constantly being re-defined by the likes of the NHTSA and other global government agencies. That, and the cost of materials necessary to adhere to said safety rules.
Every time the industry meets and/or exceeds safety requirements, these agencies raise the bar even further. It's a constant game of cat n' mouse that (for the most part) tie up a huge amount of the cost in R&D.
Starting with the last generation, I agree. The new Miata interior has a cheap thin plastic feel to it. And at least half the models have the whole "Cheshire Cat" theme going for the front grill.
Isn't it amazing that whenever there is an alien invasion, they seem to invade the US first (or some times ONLY in the US). Bleh.
OT. But regardless, your example doesn't carry much weight in that Hollywood is
1). American
2). Entertainment for an American audience.
Ok, and? Were you trying to make a point or something? Because if you are, no way in hell should we suppress the freedom of speech just because some mentally ill wackjob decides to go to war with civilians.
After purchasing my RAV4, I would agree about the up-selling part. All I wanted was a 2wd Sport Edition with a V6. OMG what a pain in the ass that was finding one! It was just short a few grand from a fully loaded Limited edition with a four cylinder engine. It sounded nice, but half the electric luxury features are bound to fail within the first few years (or so that's been my previous experience with doodads and such). At least with the Sport Edition, it keeps it more simple.
However, the price of a vehicle from an established brand is *not* proportional to quality and life-span. Consumer Reports backs up the data. No, the mechanics and engineering is just as good in a base model as the ones in a fully loaded version up to and including the top tier level (Honda --> Accura, or Toyota --> Lexus).
When you purchase a fully loaded vehicle or a top tier version, most of your money goes into the interior of the car. The amount of markup on that shit is insane. But if you're in the market for one, you have a lot of room to negotiate on its price. Not so much for a base model however.
Ya well, that's Honda for you. All of their cars look lame now. And just when I was hoping for a re-release of the 2nd gen CRX Si(R), they provided an underpowered bastardization version of it in the form of a hybrid called the CRZ.
For budget thrills, Mazda is the only player left in town. How sad the auto industry has become.
I'm going to play dumb for a moment. What you just described IS "The Cloud". Or were you just being facetious?
It's not a cold war...yet anyways. China is simply matching their military spending to the growth of their GDP. It will only become a cold war when both the US and China starts playing games of "chicken" with tactical nuclear weapons deployment. But don't expect that to happen. Both nations are joined at the hip in an awkward system of co-dependency.
If anything. All other nations but America should worry. For example I'm sure Japan and India arn't all to happy about what's going on.
I don't trust any system. But I will trust a free market over a Marxist or a theocratic institution. It's one of a heterogeneous vs homogeneous system. Creating homogeneous concepts, ideas, and organizing data has many benefits to society. But, it also leaves itself wide open to abuse by the few seeking power and control.
You say money = power. But it could be argued that money is simply a tool that represent power. Like any tool, it too can be abused. You also say that without government intervention, free markets are doomed to fail via corruption. Yet in communist nations, the only solution to oppression is a free market because their government IS the problem. That, or a bloody revolution is required.
Again, perhaps it's all cyclical. Regardless of the institution at hand in any human civilization, it's doomed to become corrupt and oppressive. In any case, there's simply nothing we can do to stop it. Only slow down the inevitable to come.
Well, I'm not convinced when I see nations of plenty implode in on themselves into dictatorships and tyrannical regimes. Perhaps it's just a natural cycle of humanity. Like the wheel of life. There is cooperation that forms nations. Eventually, they are either conquered or implode in on themselves. Yet from your previous postings throughout the years, you put full faith in government institutions and the regulations they create. Why??!! Why when they're doomed to fail and oppress the very civilians they're supposed to represent.
No Sir, rarely do I ever put blind trust into any institution created by man. As such, I would rather power be put in the hands of many than the few. At least I have choice of who and when to run too. Options are nice.
While I find that very interesting, I think human behavior is more basic along with the rest of the animal kingdom. It's called sexual dimorphism. It is our evolution that paints a much larger picture as to what humans will do to compete for power and acquisition of a mate.
When you think about it, civilizations around the world are sexually driven. From religion to consumerism, sexuality is constantly thrown in our faces. In part because we seek it, and we know it's a useful form of social currency to buy and sell "power".
Correct.
There's only one TDSP (Transmission and Distribution Service Provider) servicing my area called CenterPoint Energy. However, I can choose one of 47 REPs (Retail Electric Providers) that handle customer service and billing. They each offer different contracts and pricing as well. It is these REPs that are in direct competition with each other (in theory).
Yet, world history -for as long as it's been recorded- says otherwise.
Correction: I count 47 providers (I read the spreadsheet wrong, sorry). Still, not bad.
In Houston, TX I have (as of this moment in my ZIP code) 259 service providers to contract out my electricity. Price per kWh ranges from 6.9 cents to 15.3 cents. I seriously doubt all 259 will work together to screw customers over with shady contracts. This isn't the cell phone industry were talking about.
http://www.powertochoose.org/
Here in Houston, CenterPoint Energy provides the utility. As of a few weeks ago, I've noticed that my energy provider keeps a record of how much energy I've used each day on the hour. It's pretty damned cool that I can review this data. I can even spot the areas where I've cooked (electric, no gas) at that time of day. What I'm must curious about is *how* each meter uploads the data.
I've been informed by others that maybe it uses a form of powerline broadband with the new meters. Is this true?
TWC, (at least the Austin, TX market) has an extremely good back end. I suspect you have a physical signaling issues across your coax segment. So just to be clear, I suspect its the level of customer/technical support you're not properly receiving. Because a well working TWC connection should provide exceptional bandwidth results.
There will always been corruption regardless of how well you mitigate it in society. The problem is more often than not, those doing the regulating are corrupted to begin with.