I think about the luxuries in my life, and I keep them to the life enhancing stuff - better coffee, better beef to cook with, a few more movies, more comfortable shirts.
Really, ask yourself if you need that 20GB iPod or that PC upgrade. If it helps you get the boring stuff done so that you can watch a few more movies, that makes sense. If it doesn't it's just something to own, not to improve your life with.
Cars are probably the best example of something that's about ownership over benefit. I'm not talking about not owning a car, but not owning a brand new car. You'll be stuck behind that car in front in a traffic jam whether you have a brand new 5-series BMW or a 10 year old Honda Civic. OK, the 5-series will be more comfortable, but how much are you paying for that comfort? And if you didn't have to pay for that comfort, how many traffic jams would you not have to sit in?
Often, I work from the starting point of "is this fact/opinion logical". Differentiating between the fact and fiction is about engaging your brain on what is presented.
At one time, I believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I'd been told by Tony Blair and others that this was absolutely the case. Then, I started reading and listening to things by Scott Ritter, ex-marine and ex-weapons inspector.
The thing with what he said was that it was detailed - things like not saying that Saddam didn't have them, but that there was no evidence of them being reconstituted.
Add to that that he started saying things that make you think - stuff like "if Saddam reconstituted, he'd be a dead man" and it makes you think.
Then, you start going back to the people saying he has weapons, and what do you get "trust me, we have evidence". Certainly the "leaving Blix in to find out" option looked best to me.
That's true, but I've seen these calculations before (on issues like computer viruses) and they fail to take into account the sales made to certain business areas. You can't say "this cost the country $n billion" if you only look at it in very simple terms (like saying "x hours lost * cost per hour"). Apart from the fact that more drugs are sold, there's also the fact that one company losing a sale may result in another company gaining said sale. If an industry is considerably oversupplied, it may make little difference. If no-one is going to call you anyway that day and your business has no work, taking the day off resulted in no sales lost.
The time when it makes a difference is when you look at the effect on foreign trade. If your workers are stressed, and don't make the sale, some Japanese or Indian firm will. If the anti-stress drugs are from the UK, what's the effect then?
The real question is better spent thinking on "is it the right thing to do?". Like funding Eurofighter or the Olympics - both are sold to the public on the "it will regenerate an area/create jobs" - but in both cases, it will distort markets in other ways, and be completely unnatural.
I had a discussion with a friend about the cost of viruses based on some figure on the radio, and pointed out that a huge amount of the cost would have been people taking their computer to a repairman to get it disinfected. That costs the country almost nothing because the repairman is part of the country.
The only real cost in the above example is that a business isn't productive which means it can't take orders etc. Which means another company gets the order. In this case, it may be that another UK company gets the trade or a foreign competitor. The likely cost is probably more like 10% of that quoted.
I hate those extra bits, and they are the reason why I'm not buying the sp. edition DVDs and sticking with my VHS copies. To me, as annoying has "Greedo Shoots First" because they affect the pacing of the film and just look stuck in like so much CGI I've seen.
Oh, and he thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea. Enough that even after everyone was saying "death to Jar Jar" after EP1, he still put him into EP2.
Eventually though, the crap that people liked and supported because album x was playing when they met their first girlfriend gets filtered out.
Sometimes, it can take decades for the filtering to even start.
Have a look at even lists of Oscar winning films. The list is littered with unsuccessful nominees that have gone on to be considered as classics whilst winners have ended up as almost forgotten (IMO since 1980, they have got 11 of 25 right - that's excluding great films that didn't even get nominated over average fare, and I've been generous to a couple of winners I've never seen). Apocalypse Now, Goodfellas, Fargo, Pulp Fiction all lost out not only to what are IMO lesser films, but films that both critics and the public now have no love for. If you've seen The English Patient, you'll know what I mean.
There used to always be the thing about "people will switch because it will be bundled with the OS". Well, last I heard something like 51% of Windows users are using XP. So, a lot of them simply aren't. PCs are basically at a plateau stage for people like home users.
Oh, and nearly everyone really wants an iPod. Most people who don't buy one that I've met want one, but have settled for something else.
If anyone from ATi is listening, I'll tell them something. Mindshare is really important.
My last 3 graphics cards are ATi. I'm not sure why I bought one last time, but I'm sure that part of the reason was that I'd had 2 before and they'd done the job very well.
Same reason why I'm buying another Palm pilot and not a Pocket PC.
Now, let's say that I want to get on Linux. I'll probably ask around for best card for compatibility. Then, I'll go with that and probably stick with it.
If ATi don't care about Linux now, they could lose mindshare/fandom on Linux in the future when ownership reaches a point where everyone has to properly support Linux.
There's also a huge question of the consuming more vs. more happiness. I'm not advocating government preventing people buying, but that people consider the shit they buy.
I know people who replace their PDA frequently - but hardly use it for anything but as a badge of honour. The people I know who are organised are still using a Palm III, an old Psion or a paper diary.
There's some figures about off-road vehicles in the UK - one in 8 has EVER been off-road. So, people are driving a hunking fuel waster to go and get their shopping.
If people focussed on the important stuff - family, friends, coffee, sunsets, music and beer, we'd probably consume half what we do.
Mars has a whole heap of problems. A program on C4 here in the UK explained some of them. Like, what happens if someone gets seriously ill?
On a lunar mission, astronauts can be checked for any disease, minimising the risk of getting ill - but then that's a few days. Even if they get seriously ill, you are back home quickly.
A mars mission is a year's undertaking. You get ill near the planet, you've got a very, very long way to go to get some help.
Trouble is, it's not even that much of an exciting dream anymore. I remember as a kid things like the Russian and US space craft docking together and the 1st shuttle going up, but really, what has been done in space travel that falls into the "wow" factor.
A lot of people have a lot of dreams, and a lot of them don't involve spending a gazillion dollars getting yet another man into space for no good reason.
As for fixing problems down here, I see your article suggesting that as we can't fix our problems down here, we may as well go elsewhere and fix some other problems.
Then again, maybe I believe that overall, you are better off trying to create a better world than waste money trying to get to habitable worlds that we certainly won't reach without completely new forms of travel (eg folding space, black holes, faster-than-light travel).
Even putting a man on mars is psychologically no big deal. The importance of man on the moon was that a man had for the first time put his feet on another celestial body.
Manned spaceflight should largely be on hold until the transportation technology issue is solved. Money spent on theoretical physicists and particle accelerators would be a better investment.
Wind power is a bit rubbish, quite frankly. You need a heck of a lot of turbines to deliver the power to even a small village.
OK, it makes a difference, though.
With current technologies, the only serious replacement is nuclear fuel, or for people to be more fuel efficient.
Re:Have it do something worthwhile
on
Palmtop Nirvana?
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· Score: 1
Actually, there's a whole bunch of times that a PDA has done more than a phone...
1. Taking down someone's contact details whilst on the phone to someone (none of my phones can do this whilst I'm on a call).
2. Being able to record some reasonable size notes without having to lug a laptop around or switch it on in a difficult place. Things like booking references to receive airline tickets.
3. Have a computer to hand for things like timesheet recording without opening a laptop in an office (can be troublesome on some client sites). I bought some timesheet software for my Palm which was just great.
4. Having a whole ton of stuff recorded about people that the phone doesn't. Like if I'm visiting somewhere, the full address and maybe some notes about how to get there.
I agree about a lot of your comments though. I've seen people with whizz bang PDAs showing off that they can surf the web or watch video, and quite frankly, they are rubbish. Even things like using pocket spreadsheets are crap.
I'd say though that they have limited uses, and that I'm fine with that. It's also why I wouldn't spend more than about $100 on one.
Re:Far off, but going to happen
on
Palmtop Nirvana?
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· Score: 1
I was discussing PDAs with someone yesterday.
A big observation is that many people with PDAs (particularly the expensive ones) are not the people who need them.
I have a Palm III sitting at the bottom of a drawer, because basically I'm not doing much work that needs me to use it. However, at one time I was working away from home a lot and had 4 different client projects going on. Having status of tasks, numbers of airline desks, train times, appointment dates and locations all in a small handheld was invaluable to me.
Some of the people I know with the most appointments/contacts are sales guys - mostly, they check their appointments for the next day off their laptop. Their address books are paper based.
There was some discussion on this yesterday on another/. post.
Maybe I should set up a homepage for a project and get some discussion going?
As an ex-Access/Dbase/Clipper developer (and someone who thinks that such products aren't spawn of the devil or kids toys) it would be a great idea, and I've got some ideas about how to make it a world beater. I don't have that much time for the coding, though.
Next time you get a minor document corruption, that whatever you do, you can't get rid of it and you can't do anything with the actual physical data (because the format is secret), you might understand.
Personally ended up having to scan and fix a 50 page client specification in Office 97 because of this. And before you ask about the backup, that had the same problem in it.
Yeah, but the officer moved him on, and the guy moved. End of story.
It's a shame he didn't get into a dialogue with the officer, really. Like "no, I think I'll stay here actually. Of course, if there's some law about me sitting here with a laptop, I'll be glad to help".
What could he have been arrested for? And would a lawyer have had a field day with it?
In many ways the fact that people have a McShit just makes so little difference that they don't care. Without wanting to get too detailed, a little more waste product is hardly going to cost much more that someone taking an extra straw with their shake. Additionally, getting too hardnosed might make customers think twice about choosing your burger chain next time they want a snack.
However, if McDonalds public conveniences were constantly jam packed with people using their facilities, inconveniencing their paying customers, they'd probably take some action.
Is that like someone using a water fountain at a railway station without buying a ticket, or having a McShit (using a toilet at a McDonalds without buying a burger)?
I can't recall a cop ever busting anyone for theft in such a situation. It's seen as the kind of issue where it's up to the store to manage themselves on the basis that "you left it open and unpriced in a public place, deal with it".
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I think about the luxuries in my life, and I keep them to the life enhancing stuff - better coffee, better beef to cook with, a few more movies, more comfortable shirts.
Really, ask yourself if you need that 20GB iPod or that PC upgrade. If it helps you get the boring stuff done so that you can watch a few more movies, that makes sense. If it doesn't it's just something to own, not to improve your life with.
Cars are probably the best example of something that's about ownership over benefit. I'm not talking about not owning a car, but not owning a brand new car. You'll be stuck behind that car in front in a traffic jam whether you have a brand new 5-series BMW or a 10 year old Honda Civic. OK, the 5-series will be more comfortable, but how much are you paying for that comfort? And if you didn't have to pay for that comfort, how many traffic jams would you not have to sit in?
The Muppets is hardly ever shown here, and doesn't have the same status as either Dr Who or Star Trek.
Someone somewhere set up a script or got the word out very well on some Muppet boards.
At one time, I believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I'd been told by Tony Blair and others that this was absolutely the case. Then, I started reading and listening to things by Scott Ritter, ex-marine and ex-weapons inspector.
The thing with what he said was that it was detailed - things like not saying that Saddam didn't have them, but that there was no evidence of them being reconstituted.
Add to that that he started saying things that make you think - stuff like "if Saddam reconstituted, he'd be a dead man" and it makes you think.
Then, you start going back to the people saying he has weapons, and what do you get "trust me, we have evidence". Certainly the "leaving Blix in to find out" option looked best to me.
The time when it makes a difference is when you look at the effect on foreign trade. If your workers are stressed, and don't make the sale, some Japanese or Indian firm will. If the anti-stress drugs are from the UK, what's the effect then?
The real question is better spent thinking on "is it the right thing to do?". Like funding Eurofighter or the Olympics - both are sold to the public on the "it will regenerate an area/create jobs" - but in both cases, it will distort markets in other ways, and be completely unnatural.
I had a discussion with a friend about the cost of viruses based on some figure on the radio, and pointed out that a huge amount of the cost would have been people taking their computer to a repairman to get it disinfected. That costs the country almost nothing because the repairman is part of the country.
The only real cost in the above example is that a business isn't productive which means it can't take orders etc. Which means another company gets the order. In this case, it may be that another UK company gets the trade or a foreign competitor. The likely cost is probably more like 10% of that quoted.
Oh, and he thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea. Enough that even after everyone was saying "death to Jar Jar" after EP1, he still put him into EP2.
Probably in the THX 6.1 Special Platinum Star Wars Trilogy + Ewok + Howard The Duck + American Graffiti 35 DVD edition.
Sometimes, it can take decades for the filtering to even start.
Have a look at even lists of Oscar winning films. The list is littered with unsuccessful nominees that have gone on to be considered as classics whilst winners have ended up as almost forgotten (IMO since 1980, they have got 11 of 25 right - that's excluding great films that didn't even get nominated over average fare, and I've been generous to a couple of winners I've never seen). Apocalypse Now, Goodfellas, Fargo, Pulp Fiction all lost out not only to what are IMO lesser films, but films that both critics and the public now have no love for. If you've seen The English Patient, you'll know what I mean.
There used to always be the thing about "people will switch because it will be bundled with the OS". Well, last I heard something like 51% of Windows users are using XP. So, a lot of them simply aren't. PCs are basically at a plateau stage for people like home users.
Oh, and nearly everyone really wants an iPod. Most people who don't buy one that I've met want one, but have settled for something else.
My last 3 graphics cards are ATi. I'm not sure why I bought one last time, but I'm sure that part of the reason was that I'd had 2 before and they'd done the job very well.
Same reason why I'm buying another Palm pilot and not a Pocket PC.
Now, let's say that I want to get on Linux. I'll probably ask around for best card for compatibility. Then, I'll go with that and probably stick with it.
If ATi don't care about Linux now, they could lose mindshare/fandom on Linux in the future when ownership reaches a point where everyone has to properly support Linux.
I know people who replace their PDA frequently - but hardly use it for anything but as a badge of honour. The people I know who are organised are still using a Palm III, an old Psion or a paper diary.
There's some figures about off-road vehicles in the UK - one in 8 has EVER been off-road. So, people are driving a hunking fuel waster to go and get their shopping.
If people focussed on the important stuff - family, friends, coffee, sunsets, music and beer, we'd probably consume half what we do.
On a lunar mission, astronauts can be checked for any disease, minimising the risk of getting ill - but then that's a few days. Even if they get seriously ill, you are back home quickly.
A mars mission is a year's undertaking. You get ill near the planet, you've got a very, very long way to go to get some help.
A lot of people have a lot of dreams, and a lot of them don't involve spending a gazillion dollars getting yet another man into space for no good reason.
As for fixing problems down here, I see your article suggesting that as we can't fix our problems down here, we may as well go elsewhere and fix some other problems.
Then again, maybe I believe that overall, you are better off trying to create a better world than waste money trying to get to habitable worlds that we certainly won't reach without completely new forms of travel (eg folding space, black holes, faster-than-light travel).
Even putting a man on mars is psychologically no big deal. The importance of man on the moon was that a man had for the first time put his feet on another celestial body.
Manned spaceflight should largely be on hold until the transportation technology issue is solved. Money spent on theoretical physicists and particle accelerators would be a better investment.
OK, it makes a difference, though.
With current technologies, the only serious replacement is nuclear fuel, or for people to be more fuel efficient.
1. Taking down someone's contact details whilst on the phone to someone (none of my phones can do this whilst I'm on a call).
2. Being able to record some reasonable size notes without having to lug a laptop around or switch it on in a difficult place. Things like booking references to receive airline tickets.
3. Have a computer to hand for things like timesheet recording without opening a laptop in an office (can be troublesome on some client sites). I bought some timesheet software for my Palm which was just great.
4. Having a whole ton of stuff recorded about people that the phone doesn't. Like if I'm visiting somewhere, the full address and maybe some notes about how to get there.
I agree about a lot of your comments though. I've seen people with whizz bang PDAs showing off that they can surf the web or watch video, and quite frankly, they are rubbish. Even things like using pocket spreadsheets are crap.
I'd say though that they have limited uses, and that I'm fine with that. It's also why I wouldn't spend more than about $100 on one.
A big observation is that many people with PDAs (particularly the expensive ones) are not the people who need them.
I have a Palm III sitting at the bottom of a drawer, because basically I'm not doing much work that needs me to use it. However, at one time I was working away from home a lot and had 4 different client projects going on. Having status of tasks, numbers of airline desks, train times, appointment dates and locations all in a small handheld was invaluable to me.
Some of the people I know with the most appointments/contacts are sales guys - mostly, they check their appointments for the next day off their laptop. Their address books are paper based.
Most people simply don't have the level of equipment to hear the difference between CD and SACD and so won't care.
Will the blu-ray discs deliver like 2000 lines, though? That might do the trick.
Of course in ten years the networks might be big enough that you'll just pipe a movie in HD down the line.
Maybe I should set up a homepage for a project and get some discussion going?
As an ex-Access/Dbase/Clipper developer (and someone who thinks that such products aren't spawn of the devil or kids toys) it would be a great idea, and I've got some ideas about how to make it a world beater. I don't have that much time for the coding, though.
Sounds like you are helping out plenty.
Next time you get a minor document corruption, that whatever you do, you can't get rid of it and you can't do anything with the actual physical data (because the format is secret), you might understand.
Personally ended up having to scan and fix a 50 page client specification in Office 97 because of this. And before you ask about the backup, that had the same problem in it.
Actually, Open Office is not only accessible through COM objects, it can also read and write zipped XML files.
You can also automate it from Python and Java using the UNO bridge.
Also, you can automate it to run on a server, something which IIRC you cannot do with Microsoft Office.
It's a shame he didn't get into a dialogue with the officer, really. Like "no, I think I'll stay here actually. Of course, if there's some law about me sitting here with a laptop, I'll be glad to help".
What could he have been arrested for? And would a lawyer have had a field day with it?
In many ways the fact that people have a McShit just makes so little difference that they don't care. Without wanting to get too detailed, a little more waste product is hardly going to cost much more that someone taking an extra straw with their shake. Additionally, getting too hardnosed might make customers think twice about choosing your burger chain next time they want a snack.
However, if McDonalds public conveniences were constantly jam packed with people using their facilities, inconveniencing their paying customers, they'd probably take some action.
Why is a police officer asking someone not to do something that doesn't count as illegal or liable to cause breach of the peace etc?
I can't recall a cop ever busting anyone for theft in such a situation. It's seen as the kind of issue where it's up to the store to manage themselves on the basis that "you left it open and unpriced in a public place, deal with it".