That reminds me of something I witnessed when I was in college. I was sitting at a stoplight one night on a stretch of road with a few stoplights right after the other (and they weren't timed). Anyway, I this guy in a beater pulls up next to me, and acts like he wants to race (not that I'm in anything nice - it was just a Grand Am). So, he floors it out of the first light, only to stop at the next. Same thing out of the 2nd light.
Out of the 3rd light, steam starts pouring out of his hood and he pulls over. I just wave, and laugh, as I cruise by.
While I'm at it....a few years later, I was sitting at another stoplight. A crotch-rocket was across the intersection. His light turns green, and he takes off. Just as he made it through the intersection, his drive chain laid out on the ground in a nice, neat line. I LMAO at that one!
A few others seem to have already pointed towards Mario Kart, and I think I would kinda agree with this line of thinking. I've never played Mario Kart (other than maybe 10 minutes or so in Target at the demo stands), but a racing sim seems to me to be a good place to start.
On the learning curve side, there are a very limited number of controls to learn (forward, brake/reverse, left, right, maybe a turbo).
Plus, if you get a decent game, you can have fun with it while she's learning how to drive (I'll let you decide if there's a double entendre in there or not). Maybe you can taunt her on the track (find places to hide, and come out as she passes), or run in the opposite direction and try head-on collisions for fun. Or, as far as handicaps go, you pick a slower car and give her a faster, better handling car. Then, as she gets better and faster, you can actually start racing against each other.
One thing to keep in mind is that you may want to stick with one franchise of racing sims for the time being. Usually, the physics within one franchise (say Need For Speed), at least in games released no more than a year or two apart, stays somewhat close. Whereas, if you swapped between 2+ different franchises (say from NFS to Project Gotham), she might get frustrated that the physics and car handling are vastly different.
Why do so many people watch the Super Bowl for the ads rather than the game? Because the ads are enjoyable/entertaining in some way. Make them funny, and people will watch.
While I don't disagree with you...I fast-forward through the Super Bowl so I can watch the commercials...I think you (along with most people, including advertisers) miss one really big point. People want to skip commercials because we're sick of seeing them over and over and over and over.
Heck, take one TV show's worth of commercial breaks as an example. In a 30 minute show, that's usually 3 breaks. Your bigger advertisers will have the same commercial in ALL 3 BREAKS! Why do I need to see the same Pantene commercial 3 times in 1/2 hour. And more if I watch TV for more than 30 minutes!
I think the bigger reason people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials is not just for the good ones, but because they are new. Think about it, would you watch the commercials during the Super Bowl if you knew that you had already seen all of them multiple times? Probably not.
Personally, I would rather miss the occassional good commercial or hot promotional contest that I won't win anyway to be able to skip the same boring Chevy commercial that's aired for the 45th time tonight.
It seems fairly clear that taking an increasing percentage as your earnings go up is fairer (the more benefit you get from the system, the more you pay to support the system).
This seems to me to be contradictory....First, you say taxing more as you make more is "fairer". However, then you parenthetically say that you should be taxed more the more you benefit from the system....which would imply that those getting their food/gas/electricity/cable TV/water bills paid for by Uncle Sam (thereby getting benefit from the system) should pay more taxes.
Also, if you look at most flat tax proposals, they aren't truly flat taxes at all! Sure, there is a base-line percentage that everyone pays (say 10% as from your example), but there is also almost always a standard COL deduction or credit (say, $4500). So, using salaries from your example....
Person A makes $100k / year. With a $4,500 deduction, that's $9,500 paid in taxes with an Effective Tax Rate of $9.5%. With a $4,500 credit, that's $5,500 paid in taxes with an ETR of 5.5%.
Person B makes $10k. With a $4,500 deduction, that's $550 paid in taxes with an ETR of 5.5%. With a $4,500 credit, that's (at BEST) 0$ paid in taxes and an ETR of 0%. Some plans may even reward the low-earners with a "refund".
As you can see, a flat tax is usually not flat at all. Its benefit is that it makes calculating your baseline taxes MUCH easier. Then
I'm sure you'd still get to have fun figuring out which other deductions and credits you qualify for!
As for your notion on taxing wealth, HORRIBLE idea, although I won't go into that since someone else covered why that's a bad idea.
IMO, MS should have designed the XB360 in a larger case with more cooling. Instead of consumers having to drill holes in the back of their cabinets and putting in fans, maybe they should have just added a fan or two to the original design.
OK, you're not making any sense. You lock up a heat-generating device in a cabinet with no ventilation, heating the air inside the cabinet. How would adding more fans to the Xbox360 help? You'd just be moving the same hot air through the Xbox, still heating the air inside your AV cabinet. Hot air won't cool your Xbox very quickly!
So, how can you justly say a cooling issue is Microsoft's fault, when you decided to negate the ventilation already in place. Your argument is like saying the Xbox is flawed because it overheats after I disconnect the fans.
First off, my other consumer electronic devices (including my 600W receiver) have absolutely no problems with over-heating. As do, I'm assuming, most electronic devices made today.
First, just because you don't see any symptoms, does not mean your equipment is not suffering from the excess heat. You could just be shortening the lifespan of your components without any current noticable clues.
Second, the problem with most consumer AV cabinets is that they are designed for form, not function. IOW, they are made to look pretty in your living room, not safely house your equipment. Sure, a DVD Player, cable box (non-DVR), cd player, and basic receiver will live just fine in one of these cabinets, but you start putting things that generate real heat in there, and you're asking for trouble!
To fix the heat issue in an AV cabinet, just cut a hole in the back of the cabinet, and stick a 30-40mm CPU fan over the hole. Did that in mine, and everything stays comfortably cool and stable!
But that would be a step backwards for polite society. Didn't you get the political-correctness memo?
The years before and after Christ are no longer B.C. and A.D.! A.D. is now considered C.E., or the Common Era. B.C. is now B.C.E., or Before the Common Era.
I mean, sheesh, we can't go around offending anyone that isn't Christian by forcing Christian ideals and philosphies and laws on them! Oh wait....
Ugh! I can empathize. Last movie I paid to see in the theater was Rules of Engagement. To set things up, for people that haven't seen it, there is a LOT of violence (it's a war movie!) and more than its fair share of language.
Anyway, sitting right behind us was a family....mom&dad, and 3 kids. Roughly 9, 6, and infant. As for the kids being there, that's the parents' perogative (as long as they are behaved). But the little one would not quit screaming. The mom's response every time I turned around was "she's just a baby!" And management was no help, either.
Since then, the only movies I've seen in theaters were with work outings, and most of the people there at least knew how to behave.
Yeah, I agree with you on TNT-HD. Everything there pretty much sucks. I almost think it's even worse than watching an analog station and using the TV's "Wide Mode" to stretch the picture to full-screen.
What's your problem with CBS? I've got no problems getting CBS in HD here in Raleigh, NC. The only network (out of the 5 standard broadcast networks) that my cable provider doesn't provide is TheWB, and I'm too cheap to buy a decent antenna.;-)
Actually, the site says:
"Normal tapeless camcorders feature MPEG4 movie quality of QVGA size at 15fps, but Samsung's Miniket boast of the best MPEG4 movie quality (720x480) at 30fps."
QVGA is not a codec. It is an abreviation for "Quarter VGA", or essentially 1/4 of the resolution of VGA. IOW, 320x240.
I did too, but mine wasn't a laptop. And even though I thought it was the coolest thing, if it were a laptop that I kept in my backpack, it would NOT have survived.
Think about it, how many times did you throw your backpack on the floor, into the chair, or on the table/desk? I don't think too many laptops would survive that for a few years, much less a few days.
I am not saying that using computers as part of education is bad....I am all for it, as long as it's more than just using Word to type your reports. I'm just saying that giving kids a laptop paid for by the taxpayers is not the best idea.
Hah! I can almost relate. I was in a class a few weeks ago, and needed to borrow someone's calc. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with RPN beyond high school math and CompSci projects. (High school required TI-calcs, too).
Anyway, was just trying to do a basic division, and couldn't get anything to work!!!! Just as I was about to make a fool of myself and ask how to use a calculator, I remembered that HP's were RPN.
And yes, I agree, once you get used to RPN, it is definitely superior.
- ssh, samba, and nfs allow me to get to all of my files anytime I want from anywhere I want.
(and for those quick to assume, no nfs and samba are not available outside of my home network, with the exception of ssh tunnelling). - a simple cron job with tar does all of my backups for me, to a separate HDD
(took me all of 30 seconds; plus, if I wanted to store multiple versions, wouldn't take but a few minutes to write a script for that)
The pro's of my "crappy home built server": - much more flexible. If I want more space, add a HDD. According to the article, Mirra will be releasing add-on HDDs for the appliance "soon". How much will these cost over the standard cost of a HDD, assuming you have to have one from them?
- Also, if I want a file immediately, from anywhere I have access, I can get it. With the Mirra appliance, I would have to request the file from Ispiri, wait for the box to connect and upload the file, then get the file from Ispiri.
- It's a fileserver. Not a backup appliance, which is what the Mirra sounds like. Even if the Mirra is a true fileserver, it sounds like CIFS is the only method of access; so if you want NFS, AFS, etc., you're SOL.
Slashdot Mirror
Haha...
That reminds me of something I witnessed when I was in college. I was sitting at a stoplight one night on a stretch of road with a few stoplights right after the other (and they weren't timed). Anyway, I this guy in a beater pulls up next to me, and acts like he wants to race (not that I'm in anything nice - it was just a Grand Am). So, he floors it out of the first light, only to stop at the next. Same thing out of the 2nd light.
Out of the 3rd light, steam starts pouring out of his hood and he pulls over. I just wave, and laugh, as I cruise by.
While I'm at it....a few years later, I was sitting at another stoplight. A crotch-rocket was across the intersection. His light turns green, and he takes off. Just as he made it through the intersection, his drive chain laid out on the ground in a nice, neat line. I LMAO at that one!
On the learning curve side, there are a very limited number of controls to learn (forward, brake/reverse, left, right, maybe a turbo).
Plus, if you get a decent game, you can have fun with it while she's learning how to drive (I'll let you decide if there's a double entendre in there or not). Maybe you can taunt her on the track (find places to hide, and come out as she passes), or run in the opposite direction and try head-on collisions for fun. Or, as far as handicaps go, you pick a slower car and give her a faster, better handling car. Then, as she gets better and faster, you can actually start racing against each other.
One thing to keep in mind is that you may want to stick with one franchise of racing sims for the time being. Usually, the physics within one franchise (say Need For Speed), at least in games released no more than a year or two apart, stays somewhat close. Whereas, if you swapped between 2+ different franchises (say from NFS to Project Gotham), she might get frustrated that the physics and car handling are vastly different.
Heck, take one TV show's worth of commercial breaks as an example. In a 30 minute show, that's usually 3 breaks. Your bigger advertisers will have the same commercial in ALL 3 BREAKS! Why do I need to see the same Pantene commercial 3 times in 1/2 hour. And more if I watch TV for more than 30 minutes!
I think the bigger reason people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials is not just for the good ones, but because they are new. Think about it, would you watch the commercials during the Super Bowl if you knew that you had already seen all of them multiple times? Probably not.
Personally, I would rather miss the occassional good commercial or hot promotional contest that I won't win anyway to be able to skip the same boring Chevy commercial that's aired for the 45th time tonight.
This seems to me to be contradictory....First, you say taxing more as you make more is "fairer". However, then you parenthetically say that you should be taxed more the more you benefit from the system....which would imply that those getting their food/gas/electricity/cable TV/water bills paid for by Uncle Sam (thereby getting benefit from the system) should pay more taxes.
Also, if you look at most flat tax proposals, they aren't truly flat taxes at all! Sure, there is a base-line percentage that everyone pays (say 10% as from your example), but there is also almost always a standard COL deduction or credit (say, $4500). So, using salaries from your example....
Person A makes $100k / year. With a $4,500 deduction, that's $9,500 paid in taxes with an Effective Tax Rate of $9.5%. With a $4,500 credit, that's $5,500 paid in taxes with an ETR of 5.5%.
Person B makes $10k. With a $4,500 deduction, that's $550 paid in taxes with an ETR of 5.5%. With a $4,500 credit, that's (at BEST) 0$ paid in taxes and an ETR of 0%. Some plans may even reward the low-earners with a "refund".
As you can see, a flat tax is usually not flat at all. Its benefit is that it makes calculating your baseline taxes MUCH easier. Then I'm sure you'd still get to have fun figuring out which other deductions and credits you qualify for!
As for your notion on taxing wealth, HORRIBLE idea, although I won't go into that since someone else covered why that's a bad idea.
OK, you're not making any sense. You lock up a heat-generating device in a cabinet with no ventilation, heating the air inside the cabinet. How would adding more fans to the Xbox360 help? You'd just be moving the same hot air through the Xbox, still heating the air inside your AV cabinet. Hot air won't cool your Xbox very quickly!
So, how can you justly say a cooling issue is Microsoft's fault, when you decided to negate the ventilation already in place. Your argument is like saying the Xbox is flawed because it overheats after I disconnect the fans.
First, just because you don't see any symptoms, does not mean your equipment is not suffering from the excess heat. You could just be shortening the lifespan of your components without any current noticable clues.
Second, the problem with most consumer AV cabinets is that they are designed for form, not function. IOW, they are made to look pretty in your living room, not safely house your equipment. Sure, a DVD Player, cable box (non-DVR), cd player, and basic receiver will live just fine in one of these cabinets, but you start putting things that generate real heat in there, and you're asking for trouble!
To fix the heat issue in an AV cabinet, just cut a hole in the back of the cabinet, and stick a 30-40mm CPU fan over the hole. Did that in mine, and everything stays comfortably cool and stable!
The years before and after Christ are no longer B.C. and A.D.! A.D. is now considered C.E., or the Common Era. B.C. is now B.C.E., or Before the Common Era.
I mean, sheesh, we can't go around offending anyone that isn't Christian by forcing Christian ideals and philosphies and laws on them! Oh wait....
Anyway, sitting right behind us was a family....mom&dad, and 3 kids. Roughly 9, 6, and infant. As for the kids being there, that's the parents' perogative (as long as they are behaved). But the little one would not quit screaming. The mom's response every time I turned around was "she's just a baby!" And management was no help, either.
Since then, the only movies I've seen in theaters were with work outings, and most of the people there at least knew how to behave.
Yeah, I agree with you on TNT-HD. Everything there pretty much sucks. I almost think it's even worse than watching an analog station and using the TV's "Wide Mode" to stretch the picture to full-screen.
;-)
What's your problem with CBS? I've got no problems getting CBS in HD here in Raleigh, NC. The only network (out of the 5 standard broadcast networks) that my cable provider doesn't provide is TheWB, and I'm too cheap to buy a decent antenna.
Actually, the site says: "Normal tapeless camcorders feature MPEG4 movie quality of QVGA size at 15fps, but Samsung's Miniket boast of the best MPEG4 movie quality (720x480) at 30fps." QVGA is not a codec. It is an abreviation for "Quarter VGA", or essentially 1/4 of the resolution of VGA. IOW, 320x240.
I did too, but mine wasn't a laptop. And even though I thought it was the coolest thing, if it were a laptop that I kept in my backpack, it would NOT have survived.
Think about it, how many times did you throw your backpack on the floor, into the chair, or on the table/desk? I don't think too many laptops would survive that for a few years, much less a few days.
I am not saying that using computers as part of education is bad....I am all for it, as long as it's more than just using Word to type your reports. I'm just saying that giving kids a laptop paid for by the taxpayers is not the best idea.
Hah! I can almost relate. I was in a class a few weeks ago, and needed to borrow someone's calc. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with RPN beyond high school math and CompSci projects. (High school required TI-calcs, too).
Anyway, was just trying to do a basic division, and couldn't get anything to work!!!! Just as I was about to make a fool of myself and ask how to use a calculator, I remembered that HP's were RPN.
And yes, I agree, once you get used to RPN, it is definitely superior.
Easily.
- ssh, samba, and nfs allow me to get to all of my files anytime I want from anywhere I want.
(and for those quick to assume, no nfs and samba are not available outside of my home network, with the exception of ssh tunnelling).
- a simple cron job with tar does all of my backups for me, to a separate HDD
(took me all of 30 seconds; plus, if I wanted to store multiple versions, wouldn't take but a few minutes to write a script for that)
The pro's of my "crappy home built server":
- much more flexible. If I want more space, add a HDD. According to the article, Mirra will be releasing add-on HDDs for the appliance "soon". How much will these cost over the standard cost of a HDD, assuming you have to have one from them?
- Also, if I want a file immediately, from anywhere I have access, I can get it. With the Mirra appliance, I would have to request the file from Ispiri, wait for the box to connect and upload the file, then get the file from Ispiri.
- It's a fileserver. Not a backup appliance, which is what the Mirra sounds like. Even if the Mirra is a true fileserver, it sounds like CIFS is the only method of access; so if you want NFS, AFS, etc., you're SOL.