Over here in Ontario...several days before the election, all candidate signage comes down, all of the related commercials stop airing, and the candidates' phone drones stop calling.
I wouldn't mind if we adopted that part of your laws myself; here the signage stays up (sometimes) for months after an election (there's one doofus where I work who's STILL driving around with a kerry/edwards bumper sticker on his car!)
Argh! Finally I have some mod points and a comment I feel deserves modding-up, and it's a comment responding to something I posted so I can't mod it... grrr!!
Kudos! That's a zinger on at least three different fronts!!
You would think that in a ten year stretch engines and cars would have become significantly more efficient - even the non-hybrid models.
Only if a significant improvement in fuel efficiency was directly profitable to the automobile manufacturer. I say this not as a slap at the "greedy car companies" but simply to point out the obvious: the car companies are in business to make money, and as long as lower fuel efficiency and larger body/frame is "profitable" (as long as it sells) they're not going to "waste" the resources necessary to engineer something else. (I also don't point that out as an endorsement of the "let's all drive micro cars or even bicycles" movement; I own a "large" vehicle and a "small" vehicle -- both of which are on the road every day...)
All that said, I'll add this: It's my personal opinion (backed up by no more than just a gut feeling, which has been right more often than not over the years) that "the car companies" probably already have some such designs tucked-away in anticipation of the day when the tide will turn (no sense waiting 'til the last minute, eh?) -- speculation has percolated for years that the auto companies are "sitting on" designs for a 200-mpg engine; I'd wager there's about equal amounts of urban legend and solid fact mixed in there...
If word 2003 docs opened perfectly in word 2000, how would microsoft ever get you to upgrade?
Actually, I started to craft a clever but sarcastic response to this statement (in keeping with my clever but sarcastic personality) and I realized there's really quite a bit of difference between the two versions of Word (not actually being a Word user myself -- I just don't have much use for a word processor most of the time -- I consider Excel to be the single most powerful application Microsoft sells; I'm firmly convinced it would be possible to drive an entire "moon mission" on an old P2 with Microsoft Excel, though you'd have to have just the right Excel spreadsheet, but I digress...); more than I can list here. Fortunately, these fine folks have already done it for me.
Bottom line: the actual package itself does have quite a few quite useful features the older version doesn't have (at least not in the same format, etc.)
*sigh* score one for seriousness. Oh, well, maybe next post...
"The software maker is working on a security update, but apparently needs more time..."
So be nice and give 'em a few extra days to come up with some patches (it's the sporting thing to do!!) After all, all that innovation makes it tough to respond quickly to threats to their legacy apps!!
Other than the (dubious) 'reason' "because I hate Microsoft!" why should anyone complain that the United States government was lifting a finger to possibly help one of its interests? When we see/hear things like this it's easy to understand why the State Dept. might take a "damned-if-we-do-and-damned-if-we-don't" attitude. In wonder, though, if when Apple starts suing EU companies for using the letters "pod" in their products' names people will expect (demand) the U.S. government to rattle some sabers on their behalf...
Besides all that, I know we're supposed to hate Microsoft but, hey now, we're talking about the EU! Am I the only one who remembers all the red coats and that "rather unpleasant matter concerning tea" up in Boston? Sure, we're shoulder-to-shoulder against the world, but when it comes right down to it it's us-against-them in the oldest rivalry our nation knows ('cause it hails from our very beginnings!)
It seems very unfair that a patent holder can quietly wait years for a violating product to become incredibly popular before he pops in and says "Hey! That's all mine!"
The entire point of patents is to protect an innovator from losses if/when some entity tries to profit from the innovator's hard work (without licensing it from the innovator.) If nobody's profiting (actually, if the innovator isn't losing anything -- an "entity" similarly can't start making widgets they don't own or license the patent for and give them away, no matter how altruistic their motives might be, because the patent holder is presumably losing money every time someone accepts the "free" widget instead of purchasing one from a licensee -- then there are no damages and there's no reason to file suit. It's entirely possible that Microsoft legitimately owes these folks a trunk of money, and it's just as likely that Microsoft will just cut 'em a check for whatever the market value is for the technology to just buy the patent and continue on their merry little juggernaut-jaunt -- one thing we can count on, though, is that Microsoft's more than willing to pay a few lawyers to push paperwork through the mill to see if they're legally obligated to write the patent holders a check (that much they've proven time and again)
Slashdot may be approaching the "breakover" point towards A.I.; the captcha on this post was "quagmire"... spooky!
You don't really want to get me started on Andromeda, do you? Andromeda was FREAKIN' GREAT until somebody started screwing around with the premise (and turned Dylan Hunt into some kind of Messiah/Pariah figure...) They even had a decent grasp of socio-political "drift" across 10,000 years... Too bad they had to get all metaphysical with that multiverse crap and... aw, see, now I've gone and started in on Andromeda already. Such a shame *sigh* Now the cast has dispersed into other work (which is good; they're not starving!), and the worst thing of all is that now we don't even get to see Lexa Doig on Stargate; they just talk about her but never seem to bring her character on screen.
Didn't his father mention being from Calcutta? I'm not the geography whiz my wife is, but even I know Calcutta's in India (especially after checking just before sending this message...)
About a year ago I tried to generate interest in having them fired -- out of a cannon -- but it didn't seem to go anywhere (at least not anywhere that no one has gone before...)
Agreed on most points, but to completely ban expulsions would send the message "no matter what you do, it's not going to get you kicked out (so take off the gloves and have at it!)" -- after all, the kids are there to learn, and there's a certain segment of the population who'll "learn" that lesson before the "educators" learn it. Bottom line: there has to be a reintroduction of strict discipline in the schools before they'll rise out of the pits they've slipped into. Any educator who's really interested in teaching will agree that as long as their hands are so tied they can't point to the answers, and to arbitrarily eliminate a disciplinary tool from their kits will only result in the troublemakers gaining strength and the dedicated students suffering.
Yeah, by all means, let's make sure the rabble and deadwood are kept right in place so they can continue to undermine the efforts of the few willing and able... Lack of effective discipline is the VERY reason our schools are the holes they are today!
I thought the same thing; if it's "Legos and Erector Sets on crack", then do they lay around the house all day in a state of induced ehphoria (until they need their next "fix", at which time they rampage around looking for it)? Personally, I'd rather my Legos and Erector Sets look unnaturally "pumped" and be a little too "agressive" for most people's taste (though I can do without them having that "forehead bulge" and I'll pass on the liver damage...) *sigh* I guess everything has its tradeoffs...
Moe : [reading from the bar's copy of Nature] "...it says here, that humans wouldn't be human without something called 'DUF'. Huh!" Barney [raising mug] : "I'll vouch for that! {BBBbBbbbbllllaaaabbllbbllbbllbb!!}"
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I wouldn't mind if we adopted that part of your laws myself; here the signage stays up (sometimes) for months after an election (there's one doofus where I work who's STILL driving around with a kerry/edwards bumper sticker on his car!)
5. " New and Improved Unlimited Storage"
4. " Unlimited Storage ( With Free Pie! )"
3. " Unlimited Storage Plus "
2. " Unlimited Storage Plus Plus "
And the number 1 way to beat "Unlimited" storage:
1. " DOUBLE Unlimited Storage!"
I think we've found his egg!
Argh! Finally I have some mod points and a comment I feel deserves modding-up, and it's a comment responding to something I posted so I can't mod it... grrr!! Kudos! That's a zinger on at least three different fronts!!
Or, more interestingly, "Where do you sleep at night, and are you a sound sleeper?"
If you think cow farts are bad, wait until we start seeing the effects of the algae farts!!
...nothing would EVER get done.
Only if a significant improvement in fuel efficiency was directly profitable to the automobile manufacturer. I say this not as a slap at the "greedy car companies" but simply to point out the obvious: the car companies are in business to make money, and as long as lower fuel efficiency and larger body/frame is "profitable" (as long as it sells) they're not going to "waste" the resources necessary to engineer something else. (I also don't point that out as an endorsement of the "let's all drive micro cars or even bicycles" movement; I own a "large" vehicle and a "small" vehicle -- both of which are on the road every day...)
All that said, I'll add this: It's my personal opinion (backed up by no more than just a gut feeling, which has been right more often than not over the years) that "the car companies" probably already have some such designs tucked-away in anticipation of the day when the tide will turn (no sense waiting 'til the last minute, eh?) -- speculation has percolated for years that the auto companies are "sitting on" designs for a 200-mpg engine; I'd wager there's about equal amounts of urban legend and solid fact mixed in there...
Actually, I started to craft a clever but sarcastic response to this statement (in keeping with my clever but sarcastic personality) and I realized there's really quite a bit of difference between the two versions of Word (not actually being a Word user myself -- I just don't have much use for a word processor most of the time -- I consider Excel to be the single most powerful application Microsoft sells; I'm firmly convinced it would be possible to drive an entire "moon mission" on an old P2 with Microsoft Excel, though you'd have to have just the right Excel spreadsheet, but I digress...); more than I can list here. Fortunately, these fine folks have already done it for me.
Bottom line: the actual package itself does have quite a few quite useful features the older version doesn't have (at least not in the same format, etc.)
*sigh* score one for seriousness. Oh, well, maybe next post...
So be nice and give 'em a few extra days to come up with some patches (it's the sporting thing to do!!) After all, all that innovation makes it tough to respond quickly to threats to their legacy apps!!
Other than the (dubious) 'reason' "because I hate Microsoft!" why should anyone complain that the United States government was lifting a finger to possibly help one of its interests? When we see/hear things like this it's easy to understand why the State Dept. might take a "damned-if-we-do-and-damned-if-we-don't" attitude. In wonder, though, if when Apple starts suing EU companies for using the letters "pod" in their products' names people will expect (demand) the U.S. government to rattle some sabers on their behalf...
Besides all that, I know we're supposed to hate Microsoft but, hey now, we're talking about the EU! Am I the only one who remembers all the red coats and that "rather unpleasant matter concerning tea" up in Boston? Sure, we're shoulder-to-shoulder against the world, but when it comes right down to it it's us-against-them in the oldest rivalry our nation knows ('cause it hails from our very beginnings!)
Of course, I may just be needing a snack...
The entire point of patents is to protect an innovator from losses if/when some entity tries to profit from the innovator's hard work (without licensing it from the innovator.) If nobody's profiting (actually, if the innovator isn't losing anything -- an "entity" similarly can't start making widgets they don't own or license the patent for and give them away, no matter how altruistic their motives might be, because the patent holder is presumably losing money every time someone accepts the "free" widget instead of purchasing one from a licensee -- then there are no damages and there's no reason to file suit. It's entirely possible that Microsoft legitimately owes these folks a trunk of money, and it's just as likely that Microsoft will just cut 'em a check for whatever the market value is for the technology to just buy the patent and continue on their merry little juggernaut-jaunt -- one thing we can count on, though, is that Microsoft's more than willing to pay a few lawyers to push paperwork through the mill to see if they're legally obligated to write the patent holders a check (that much they've proven time and again)
Slashdot may be approaching the "breakover" point towards A.I.; the captcha on this post was "quagmire"... spooky!
To paraphrase Bill Gates: "'Beep!' should be enough sound for anybody!"
You don't really want to get me started on Andromeda, do you? Andromeda was FREAKIN' GREAT until somebody started screwing around with the premise (and turned Dylan Hunt into some kind of Messiah/Pariah figure...) They even had a decent grasp of socio-political "drift" across 10,000 years... Too bad they had to get all metaphysical with that multiverse crap and... aw, see, now I've gone and started in on Andromeda already. Such a shame *sigh* Now the cast has dispersed into other work (which is good; they're not starving!), and the worst thing of all is that now we don't even get to see Lexa Doig on Stargate; they just talk about her but never seem to bring her character on screen.
Didn't his father mention being from Calcutta? I'm not the geography whiz my wife is, but even I know Calcutta's in India (especially after checking just before sending this message...)
Three words: Needs more rasslin'.
About a year ago I tried to generate interest in having them fired -- out of a cannon -- but it didn't seem to go anywhere (at least not anywhere that no one has gone before...)
...and it has prospered. Who could ask for more (besides the fans...)?
Agreed on most points, but to completely ban expulsions would send the message "no matter what you do, it's not going to get you kicked out (so take off the gloves and have at it!)" -- after all, the kids are there to learn, and there's a certain segment of the population who'll "learn" that lesson before the "educators" learn it. Bottom line: there has to be a reintroduction of strict discipline in the schools before they'll rise out of the pits they've slipped into. Any educator who's really interested in teaching will agree that as long as their hands are so tied they can't point to the answers, and to arbitrarily eliminate a disciplinary tool from their kits will only result in the troublemakers gaining strength and the dedicated students suffering.
Yeah, by all means, let's make sure the rabble and deadwood are kept right in place so they can continue to undermine the efforts of the few willing and able... Lack of effective discipline is the VERY reason our schools are the holes they are today!
...we're planning on sending it to Mars .
I thought the same thing; if it's "Legos and Erector Sets on crack", then do they lay around the house all day in a state of induced ehphoria (until they need their next "fix", at which time they rampage around looking for it)? Personally, I'd rather my Legos and Erector Sets look unnaturally "pumped" and be a little too "agressive" for most people's taste (though I can do without them having that "forehead bulge" and I'll pass on the liver damage...) *sigh* I guess everything has its tradeoffs...
Moe : [reading from the bar's copy of Nature] "...it says here, that humans wouldn't be human without something called 'DUF'. Huh!"
Barney [raising mug] : "I'll vouch for that! {BBBbBbbbbllllaaaabbllbbllbbllbb!!}"
because once their customers get the idea the companies are actually listening to them there's going to start hearing a lot of complaining.