Citizens can call their City Council representatives and voice their opinion. It is their tax money at stake. The promise is more and better services for less.
"More and better services for less" is every American voter's wet dream. Ask any decent sized group of voters if they want to pay more tax and they'll look at you like you're not wise. Ask them if they want better public services and they'll say of course they do, and ask you why you're asking such a stupid question.
Throw this idea of collaborative open source development in local government in front of the voters and they'll love it. This is a great opportunity for the open source movement to get some real popular sentiment behind it, and any politician that jumps on it will find it an even safer way to get elected than rigging, sorry, 'redistricting' his own electoral boundaries.
The cash-strapped cities will benefit. The citizens will benefit. The open-source movement will benefit. Everyone's a winner. Apart from Micro$oft.
It's such an elegant idea. Think of the amount of duplication that will be eliminated!
Gawd I'd hate to be a movie-maker with an audience as impossible to please as some people here! Okay, ep 1 was a bit lame thanks to JarJar and ep 2 had some cringeworthy dialogue (like the scene in front of the fire when Anakin pours his heart out to whatsername) but for crying out loud were the originals any better? I mean, look at the script of ep 5! "Lap it up fuzzball" "Laserbrain!" "Nerf-herder!" "Who's scruffy?"
Compare the battle-scene on Hoth with the battle scene on Geonosis. You're not telling me that the attack of three AT-ATs was better to watch than the carnage and wrecking that we saw in ep 2!
I think the scrapping of the old style Mac OS 9 and replacement with the Unix-style OS X is perhaps the best example of a case where re-writing was a better option than incremental improvements.
It could also be argued that the 'enhancement' to Windoze 95 that produced Windoze 98 was a case where an incremental update introduced bugs all of its own.
I just knew it! No sooner did I read the article than I knew that this board would be full of "Dude, where's my privacy" posts.
Here is the news. This project is about traffic monitoring, i.e. providing information on the volume of traffic on Britain's congested road network. There's nothing in the article to suggest that every single number-plate is going to be photographed and tracked along with the speed it's doing! CCTV cameras that monitor traffic are nothing new, you see them on the BBC every morning giving your ungrateful selves helpful advice on how unpleasant your commute on the M25 is going to be.
Trains are unfairly discriminated against in the US. Railway operators are expected to fund their own rolling-stock and their own infrastructure and still make a profit at the end of the day. The auto industry gets a big boost by federal funding for their infrastructure (i.e. roads) and ditto for the aviation industry (i.e. airports). Of course it's just a coincidence that the car manufacturers and airlines are big political donors whilst Amtrak can barely afford to put out decent marketing material.
I'm doubtless going to get the speech about how roads are funded by taxes on petrol and therefore they are self-funding. This is not the case. If taxes on fuel were to cover the full cost of motoring in the US, petrol would cost $6.50 per gallon.
A few billion here, a few billion there, another few billion to rebuild Iraq, another few billion on missile defence, and a few other "insignificant" billions all add up. Hence the $500bn deficit that we'll soon have.
The figures speak for themselves. Bush is the most profligate president in the history of the USA. Period.
My protest placard that highlights the budget deficit under Bush keeps going obsolete quicker than my installation of the Mac OS. I'm not kidding either.
Apple, leave the Dock as the smashing demo it is, but also supply some serious, information-dense tools.
HellooOOoo? What do you think the command-line is? And what's all this nonsense about the dock not being able to display the contents of War and Peace? Where exactly does it set out to do this? This whole rant seems to be based on the guy's personal preferences not being set by default.
9 Yes, you can set it much smaller, but then you make it progressively more difficult to identify an icon without "scrubbing" the screen with your mouse to reveal its label.
"Difficult?!" I have my dock set to minimum size with maximum magnification. It takes up negligible room on my desktop, and it's the easiest thing in the world to run your mouse over an icon to enlarge it. If you keep everything in roughly the same place, finding your icon is no big deal since A) it's easy to spot in the distance and B) it stands out like a sore thumb when you mouse over it.
8. Identical icons look identical
Well duh! And the difference between this and any other interface is what....?
We need information on data types, file sizes (as represented by the thickness of the icon), age, etc
In an application-switching interface? No way Jose, if it's detailed info on files you want, go use the command line or a window in the finder.
supplant the Dock with additional objects that are designed for representing groups of non-application objects, so that people aren't even attempting to put folders and documents in this already overloaded single object
Ah, so your own dock is overloaded, therefore everyone else's must be too. And what's that you were saying a paragraph ago about it not displaying all info and labels about every file? Is this thing too crowded or not crowded enough? Make up your mind please.
Dock objects have no labels
Er, yes they do, all you have to do is mouse over them and the label appears. Oh, I forgot, you don't want to use the mouse, do you? Too much work and all that. You'd rather overload your overloaded dock with a label on everything that shows up at all times.
The Trash Can belongs in the corner
Says who? in any case, the trash can always sits to the right of the dock. What's the problem? Anybody who can't find the trash can in the dock must be dense.
4 The Dock's locations are unpredictable [when hidden] The Dock is linear; the human hand was designed to move in an arc. We don't do well with scrubbing.
What's all this 'we' stuff? And first you were complaining about it taking up too much room, now you're complaining about the ability to hide it! Which is it?
The Dock needs to have a visible target. Hit the target and the Dock opens. Miss the target and the Dock won't open.
Excellent idea! Let's give the user an even SMALLER target to mouse over before the dock becomes visible!
A Dock-like device would be of great value in upgrading the current tab menu scheme. Unfortunately, since dropping Finder folders in the Dock results in a whole line of unlabeled folders, the Dock is useless for such a function.
Translation: "It's different from OS9, ergo it sucks." Well here is the news - the Dock does not set out to emulate the functionality of OS9's interface. The classic mistake made by critics is criticising something (book, film, play, OS interface) for failing to do something that it does not set out to do. By the way, the folders in the dock DO have labels when you mouse over them, and mousing over them is not too much like work for me personally. If you're going to make a sensible suggestion, suggest that the user be given the option of having these labels on all the time rather than just on mousover.
Drag an object off the dock and it disappears in a virtual puff of smoke.
I'm with you on this one. This is a scary feature and needs to be replaced by the object appearing on the desktop where your mouse is.
Adobe is actually exceeding the requirements of U.S. law, which allows color reproductions of U.S. bank notes so long as the reproductions are smaller than 75 percent or larger than 150 percent of actual size. The reproduction must be one-sided, and all materials, including graphic files that were used to make the reproduction, must be destroyed afterward.
That was reading like a real sensible paragraph until the bit about destroying all materials used to make the reproduction. I can see it now, an artist scanning a $100 bill for inclusion in an ad, and then having to burn it afterwards!
I've noticed that too. When I lived in the UK, everybody checked my signature. Since I moved to California two and a half years ago, nobody has ever checked my signature. And these petrol pumps that just ask for your card and give you your fuel with no questions asked are very convenient, but where's the security in that? It seems that US consumers are quite accustomed to payment methods that make no effort to verify that you are who you say you are. I don't see what the fuss is with this speedpass, it's no less secure than what consumers are already used to.
Yeah, looks like I was mistaken. That article does mention the fact that nuclear-explosion-powered launching was considered. What a frightening thought! I also read something else I remember reading about, the ambitious proposal for interstellar travel.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the Orion proposal was for travel in space. I don't remember reading anything about it being used as a launcher from the ground. Excuse me while I RTFA and see if I was mistaken....
If vendors feel so confident with the intellectual property foundation under their massive contributions into Linux, then they should put their money where their mouth is and protect end users with true vendor-based indemnification
Translation: "If vendors want to protect their users, then we can help. We'll make them an offer they cannot refuse. Capiche?"
Spending increases and simultaneous tax cuts are what cause deficits. Sure there are times, like during a depression, when you should run a bit of a deficit to stimulate growth, but the deficit that Bush has run up is just way out of hand. The mess he has made of the public accounts will have a far-reaching effect long after Howard dean's second term is up.;-) Assuming a fiscally prudent President takes over tomorrow, it'll take at least ten years to undo the damage Bush has done. That doesn't make sense in the short, long or medium term.
Mod parent up by the way, the guy argues his case well even if I disagree with it.
... Bush decides to quadruple the record budget deficit while he's at it with a mission to Jupiter.
These plans are all very exciting folks, but our grandchildren are going to be paying the bill one day. It's time for the current administration to cut up the credit cards and start taking packed lunches instead of eating out, for a day of reckoning is coming and the American taxpayer is going to suffer badly. Entry into the third world awaits....
What?! You mean all those spectacular spacescapes that they've been using in Star Trek Voyager and the TNG movies don't really exist? Damn! I was looking forward to getting a good close look at the Horsehead Nebula one day.
I'm a software engineer in Silicon Valley. I know some manual workers (and I'm not talking unskilled) back in Ireland who earn wages on a par with mine. Reason? A) They work damn hard for it, and B) The market dictates that they be paid more since their skills happen to be in demand. You know what I say? Fair play to them. They were smart enough to gain skills in a field where there was a shortage of suitable labour.
I'm not a market fundamentalist (i.e. one who believes that market forces always magically coincide with the public interest) but if someone works hard all the way through college and gets a degree in something not very useful, like thermionic valve design, that does not automatically entitle him to a higher wage than the guy who left school at 16 and invested in the qualifications necessary to drive a truck carrying hazzardous goods.
If the market dictates that workers in a call centre earn more than a software engineer with a degree, why shouldn't they earn more? Supply and demand.
Interesting point you make about steel supplies. Only recently George Bush had to back down on his illegal steel tarriffs under threat from the European Union who were preparing to retaliate with tarriffs on goods produced in politically-sensitive American states. The USA's vulnerability is already here, and it's no bad thing. Bush was forced to behave himself, which was good for Europe, and good for America. Only a few special interests (the steel producers) got hurt.
That's interesting. I'm open to correction here, but I thought that the point of MP3 was that it eliminated all the stuff that the human ear couldn't pick up. Surely it can't be an 'inferior' format just because it doesn't keep everything? Or am I missing something?
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Throw this idea of collaborative open source development in local government in front of the voters and they'll love it. This is a great opportunity for the open source movement to get some real popular sentiment behind it, and any politician that jumps on it will find it an even safer way to get elected than rigging, sorry, 'redistricting' his own electoral boundaries.
The cash-strapped cities will benefit. The citizens will benefit. The open-source movement will benefit. Everyone's a winner. Apart from Micro$oft.
It's such an elegant idea. Think of the amount of duplication that will be eliminated!
Ireland has never reached its pre-famine population.
Gawd I'd hate to be a movie-maker with an audience as impossible to please as some people here! Okay, ep 1 was a bit lame thanks to JarJar and ep 2 had some cringeworthy dialogue (like the scene in front of the fire when Anakin pours his heart out to whatsername) but for crying out loud were the originals any better? I mean, look at the script of ep 5! "Lap it up fuzzball" "Laserbrain!" "Nerf-herder!" "Who's scruffy?"
Compare the battle-scene on Hoth with the battle scene on Geonosis. You're not telling me that the attack of three AT-ATs was better to watch than the carnage and wrecking that we saw in ep 2!
It could also be argued that the 'enhancement' to Windoze 95 that produced Windoze 98 was a case where an incremental update introduced bugs all of its own.
Here is the news. This project is about traffic monitoring, i.e. providing information on the volume of traffic on Britain's congested road network. There's nothing in the article to suggest that every single number-plate is going to be photographed and tracked along with the speed it's doing! CCTV cameras that monitor traffic are nothing new, you see them on the BBC every morning giving your ungrateful selves helpful advice on how unpleasant your commute on the M25 is going to be.
Sheesh!
I'm doubtless going to get the speech about how roads are funded by taxes on petrol and therefore they are self-funding. This is not the case. If taxes on fuel were to cover the full cost of motoring in the US, petrol would cost $6.50 per gallon.
The figures speak for themselves. Bush is the most profligate president in the history of the USA. Period.
My protest placard that highlights the budget deficit under Bush keeps going obsolete quicker than my installation of the Mac OS. I'm not kidding either.
Hey it could be worse. It could tell you that you look like Abe Lincoln!
I've noticed that too. When I lived in the UK, everybody checked my signature. Since I moved to California two and a half years ago, nobody has ever checked my signature. And these petrol pumps that just ask for your card and give you your fuel with no questions asked are very convenient, but where's the security in that? It seems that US consumers are quite accustomed to payment methods that make no effort to verify that you are who you say you are. I don't see what the fuss is with this speedpass, it's no less secure than what consumers are already used to.
..read the headline quickly and saw "G-Stringer?"
It 's news to me that Kodak even made non-disposable cameras at all.
Yeah, looks like I was mistaken. That article does mention the fact that nuclear-explosion-powered launching was considered. What a frightening thought! I also read something else I remember reading about, the ambitious proposal for interstellar travel.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the Orion proposal was for travel in space. I don't remember reading anything about it being used as a launcher from the ground. Excuse me while I RTFA and see if I was mistaken....
The pdf files would be okay if they'd compressed them a bit better when saving them. There's no need for a two-page letter to take up 1Mb.
Mod parent up by the way, the guy argues his case well even if I disagree with it.
These plans are all very exciting folks, but our grandchildren are going to be paying the bill one day. It's time for the current administration to cut up the credit cards and start taking packed lunches instead of eating out, for a day of reckoning is coming and the American taxpayer is going to suffer badly. Entry into the third world awaits....
What?! You mean all those spectacular spacescapes that they've been using in Star Trek Voyager and the TNG movies don't really exist? Damn! I was looking forward to getting a good close look at the Horsehead Nebula one day.
I'm not a market fundamentalist (i.e. one who believes that market forces always magically coincide with the public interest) but if someone works hard all the way through college and gets a degree in something not very useful, like thermionic valve design, that does not automatically entitle him to a higher wage than the guy who left school at 16 and invested in the qualifications necessary to drive a truck carrying hazzardous goods.
If the market dictates that workers in a call centre earn more than a software engineer with a degree, why shouldn't they earn more? Supply and demand.
Interesting point you make about steel supplies. Only recently George Bush had to back down on his illegal steel tarriffs under threat from the European Union who were preparing to retaliate with tarriffs on goods produced in politically-sensitive American states. The USA's vulnerability is already here, and it's no bad thing. Bush was forced to behave himself, which was good for Europe, and good for America. Only a few special interests (the steel producers) got hurt.
Interesting. Thanks guys.
That's interesting. I'm open to correction here, but I thought that the point of MP3 was that it eliminated all the stuff that the human ear couldn't pick up. Surely it can't be an 'inferior' format just because it doesn't keep everything? Or am I missing something?