First off I didn't say "1/100" as in 1 out of 100. I said 1/100th. That's 0.01% of the total number of valid malpractice claims in the United States annually. And note that its VALID claims, not someone making up an injury to rip off a doctor for insurance money. Someone was ACTUALLY WRONGED by the Doctor when the case was reviewed.
As for the rest, RTFA. The vast majority of those wins aren't multi-million dollar lawsuits. The huge penalties you hear about are the VAST minority of cases, and usually invovle some gross negligence. In fact, most of teh jury awards you ehar about aren't medical at all, they relate to normal civil suits or class-action lawsuits for envoronmental stuff, product defects, etc.
You want to know what most civil cases are? Most cases are like what happened to my sister. She went to a reputable film studio in DC to have a sample tape made. It cost her a couple grand and she headed down for an end of week trip to do it. The guy making it was an idiot, hired some moron to mange the lighting, and this guy (who was an illegal immigrant, I kid you not) put a high power UV light feet from her faces. Thinking they knew what they were doing my sister just suffered through the episode, which went on for like an hour.
Fast forward a couple hours and my sisters entire face, cornea, etc. suffered second degree burns. She was, in essence, totally blind in a strange city where she had NO idea what to do. The studio did NOTHING but send her on her way after giving her a couple of phone calls; no offer of help, no offer to take care of her etc. After a long ordeal that involved my cousins driving an hour to get her and my mother flying in to GUIDE her out she filed a lawsuit against the incompetant bastards. Know what she got for near permanent damage to her sight? $8k.
Don't talk to me about giant settlements man, it just doesn't happen. The media has dont the US public a huge disservice by propogatingt the facade that juries are handing out massive awards to any schmo that comes into court with a cut on his finger.
Just realized I was mistakenly given the AMA credit where it didn't deserve it. I got the AMA mized up with the New England Journal of Medicine. Sorry NEJN, wouldn't want to confuse you with the group pushing for $250k liability caps across the board.
As for evidence, try the articles below for starters:
study I: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/324/6/37 0 study II: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/324 /6/37 7 study III: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/32 5/4/24 5
http://md-jd.info/abstract/iom-00.htm
Here's WP article discussing the fact that rising insurance costs are nto the cause of the "myth" of missing doctors:
well hell, here's a page that just links to lots of articles on the subject:
http://www.makethemaccountable.com/myth/RisingCo st OfMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.htm
An article on the topic from Roll Call, 1995, by Rep. Conyers:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/malprac ti cearticle.htm
Here's a blog entry I found taht discusses a variety of studies and sources.
http://malpractice.blogspot.com/2003_12_28_malpr ac tice_archive.html
(the NJ Bar study, found at the link below, requires an account to view) http://store.law.com/nj_search.asp?lState=N J&pracC enter=All&lqry=malpractice&pubWithin=0&pDis1=after &pDis2=12&pDis3=1&pDis4=2003&lpubTime=2&pF1=12&pF2 =10&pF3=2003&pF4=12&pF5=20&pF6=2003&lRes=10&lmode= 0&feweroptions=0&titlesum=ts&lsrchmode=advance&sub mit.x=28&submit.y=18
There's lots more information on the gross inaccuracies of the medical industries arguments, just use google if you care to uncover arguments by people far more informed than myself.
I've had arguments with doctors I know who take a highly visceral reaction to malpractice suits and jury awards. Nearly every one of them rails against what they perceive as a litigious US culture, and speaks with unquestioned confidence about how lawsuits are:
- driving up insurance costs - unfairly assuming medical perfection - making it unattractive or impossible to practice medicing in the US
What I find amazing is the fact that NONE of the statistics support any of these positions. According to two recent studies - one by the AMA and the other by the Harvard Public Policy school (?, I believe the Harvard Medical Practice Study) - both found that:
- malpractice, at least as defined by negligence, is fairly common - of those with valid claims, only about 1% actually bring suit against a doctor - of those who bring suit, only 1% are successful
This means that 1/100 of a percent of incidents of malpractice actually result in an award. Then you have the fact that the review committees in every case are made up of doctors and professionals, the act that an attorney who doesn't think a case is worth his effort or will reach an award won't even bother PURSUING the case, etc.
I'm also reminded of another study conducted in NY a few years back. If I remember correctly the study found that of all malpractice claims in the state less that 10 doctors were responsible for nearly 50% of the cases. Why were they practicing? Because the medical review boards hed declined to suspend their licenses for the incidents. These are people like the guy who operated on the wrong side of his patients skull, the guy who carved his initials into his patients abdomens etc.
You would think that after 30 years of schooling doctors - SCIENCISTS - would be intelligent enough to seek actual EVIDENCE to support their absurd claims; even the AMA disagrees with them! You'd think that GOOD doctors (and there are many) would be tired of paying exorbitant fees to subsidize the negligence of their incapable colleagues. You'd also think they'd be intelligent enough to bother examining the various mergers in the insurance industry and price increases in the face of decreased competition before leaping to absurd claims regarding jury awards and civil suits.
Bottom line: I'd like to see a comparable database of every doctor in the United States with every incident of potential malpractice, lawsuits, complaints, or peer review comprehensivlely outlined and available to the public. I'd like to see doctors held to a national standard of quality, put on suspension when there actions merit it, and suspended when they cross a threshold like ANY OTHER PROFESSION (say hello to the Bar). Will we see these things in the near future? No, because doctors have no interest in policing themselves and facing up to the truth of the situation.
I can tell you must have spend a great deal of time studying the specifications of both products. However, let me see if I can find some information you may have missed.
1. Gapless playback - Nitrus has it, iPod doesn't - What is it? The ability to play ALBUMS without a pause, like a Floyd album with no break between songs the way it was intended to be heard.
2. 5 Band Parametric Equalizer - Nitrus has it, iPod doesn't - What is it? The ability to actually fully manipulate and manage the player's audio signal beyond stupid cheapo options like "Jazz" and "Hall"
3. Longer Battery Life - 16 hours battery life (continuous playback) - the iPod, ALL iPods (at least the ones that don't die) have 8 hours.
4. Weight - The Nitrus comes in at 2.75oz vs. the iPod mini's 3.6oz. - True, there both still pretty light, but note that the difference is about 25% of the weight.
5. SD or MMC Expansion Slot - I've seen no mention of support for memory on the iPod mini.
6. Open Source Codec Support - Ogg, Flac, etc. on the Nitrus - iPod: closed codecs ONLY. - Welcome to Slashdot, home of the OS movement!
-rt
Re:Demo Nitrus2 at CES, pics and article
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iPod Mini Sells Out
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· Score: -1, Troll
I fmy post was self-congratulatory bullshit why bother posting? You like the mini you don't neeed to post in reply to a guy talking up a Nitrus.
The mini-iPod IS a rip-off of the nitrus, PERIOD. There isn't any arguing that point. Does that piss you off or something? I'll happily make any argument for anyone who gets ripped off, including Apple's original GUI (though they stole that as well, so...)
I accept the fact that Apple users like to pay more for a product and then preach to other people about how their selection of a fucking computer make's them some kind of artist individual. I accept the fact that Apple users, like you, are passive aggressive twits who make comments like:
"They want a product that is guaranteed to be easy to use, easy to purchase"
Underhandedly slamming other products by implying they DON'T do any of that.
The iPod UI is a combination of the physical interface and the software. I find teh software awkward and annoying. I find the hardware interesting but, in the end, less effective than the one used on teh Nitrus and the Karma. Note that in this post AND in my first post I constantly use the word "I". Not like your posts which make broad claims about "They," as though you know exactly what everyone else thinks.
I have a Karma, so WTF would I need with a player that has 1/5th the space.
I stated that if you MUST get a miniature player then I'd go with the Nitrus 2 before the mini-iPod. Hell, I'd go with the Nitrus 2 just to avoid being another lamea55 dip5hit carrying a lilly white toaster around with me.
However, I wouldn't BUY a mini player ot begin with anyway. I just don't see the sense in it. If I want all my music I want all my music, and I'll tow a big player with me. If I want just some of my music to work out I'll get a solid state player with no drive to be shocked and damaged when I drop it while running stairs.
Go to the trouble of actually READING my post before you post a reply so obviously in error, I don't enjoy making you look stupid.
-rt
Re:The real problem is simple...
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iPod Mini Sells Out
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· Score: -1, Troll
Firewire support? Yeah, that's useful seeing how most laptops and machine today that aren't top of the line come with USB 2.0 ONLY, not Firewire. But I forgot, your on a macintosh with the other 4% on non-wintel machines.
AAC support isn't something I would get all pumped over dude. AAC is a crappy, lossy, DRM (at least iTunes) codec that has NO reason to exist. WMA? Are you KIDDING ME? If you want to talk codecs try to know something about the topic. Ogg blows the snot out of ANY other lossy codec in terms of performance at size or comparable bit rate. Its also gapless, a feature notably lacking in either AAC or MP3, but whatever. Point is that Rio supports open standards, Apple doesn't AT ALL. And this site is... oh yeah, SLASHDOT, home of the OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY.
No standout? Did you even READ the specs on either product? Zealot in aisle 12, zealot in aisle 12, please clean up the mess made from his uninformed corpse.
-rt
Re:Demo Nitrus2 at CES, pics and article
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iPod Mini Sells Out
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· Score: 0
1) They don't have identical audio quality. The SNR of the Nitrus is -4db higher than the mini iPod.
2) Aesthetic appearance is a personal call. I think the white ipod looks like a toaster and the mini ipod looks like a cosmetics compact. I'm a man, I'd like a device that doesn't look like it belongs in a purse.
3) The iPod UI is, IMPO, overrated. Not only does it lack the ability to create customized playlists on the fly or NAMED playlists, but it also lacks a bunch of other features found on the Rio system. I also find the stick more dependable than the touch sensitive pad of the iPod which is FAR too sensitive to movement.
4) Argument already invalidated. The nitrus 1.5gb is $164 at computers4sure, I have no doubt the 4gb will be similarly priced given Rios pricing history with other products.
5) Nothing. If I remember correctly your the dude who posted this flamebait. My initial post was just a comment on where all the Slashdot people are... from experience I know that a vast majority of Karma and Nitrus owners happen to be slashdot people. The attraction has a lot to do wih the support for open source codecs like Flac and Ogg.
Thanks for playing, please come back and try your luck again someday.
-rt
Re:Demo Nitrus2 at CES, pics and article
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iPod Mini Sells Out
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· Score: 1, Troll
It may be the same price as the miniu, But it is a SUPERIOR product. Note that I said "I will never understand how people can be talked into spending enormous sums on an inferior product". I'm more than willing to pay more for a quality product that DELIVERS on the cost.
Besides, unlike Apple's pricing scheme the MSRP on most consumer electronics (like Rios line) is never the same as the price retailers end up charging for them. Take the Rio Karma: it has an MSRP of about $350, and it retails at CC and other stores for as low as $240 before tax.
The real problem is simple...
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iPod Mini Sells Out
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· Score: -1, Flamebait
the mini iPod is just a rip-off of the Rio Nitrus, and slashdotters are all hanging out on the Rio Karma and Nitrus boards laughing at the herd of iPod "individuals" buying minis with sub-par audio quality.
http://forums-riovolution.com/
Apple switched to Hitachi (from Toshiba, those slackers) to use the 4gb 1" drive whose predecessor, the 1.5gb 1" drive, Rio was already using in the Nitrus. They did this because Rio was making a killing with the 1.5gb drive, was already planning on going to the 4gb drive, and they new if they waited for Toshiba's answer they'd miss capitalizing on their marketing juggernaut in this new form factor.
If it was me I'd just wsay screw the mini and get a Nitrus2 if you REALLy need one of these mini players. It demoed at CES with the same drive iPod's got in the iPod mini, and it began shipping in the beginning of February.
I will never understand how people can be talked into spending enormous sums on an inferior product through a snazzy marketing campaign. The species is doomed.
But doesn't Outlook 2003 have MS' nasty DRM technology built into it?
I've stuck with Office XP for this very reason, and I'm not sure I plan to upgrade to the next version, leapfrog to 2004, or ever use Office again past 2002 (XP). Basically the inclusion of DRM just puts a freeze on the program for me since I don't like being told what to do with my $400 program.
Also, that might serve as a valid caveat to the reviewers use of Office XP. If he was interested in comparing only non-DRM email clients then he would have had to use 2002 to get a valid comparison.
"Solar flares can produce and eject large numbers of charge particles, and usually the Earth's magnetic field deflects them before they enter the atmosphere,"
In other news, the Sun reached out and incinerated a home in Dayton, Ohio, late last week. The front yard was also slightly scorched, but neighbors reported absolutely no damage from the 50,000 Kelvin temperatures.
However, Tom Glavine, a next door neighbor did report breaking a sweat.
They've since released STEF2, so you can find STEF for cheap in the discount bin at any store. Often its in a package with like four other games for $20, a great deal if you like the games.
Anyway, their are still a HUGE number of servers and clans associated with it, its got tons of maps/models/cool mods since its been out so long, and cheating is a non-issue since you really can't cheat in any serious capacity.
I also like Battlezone and Battlezone 2, both of which still have moderately good followings though cheating is more prevalent in the first. In the case of BZ and BZ2 there are even whole mods and expansions created for free by the user community! Driving a hover tank on Europa while blowing the crap out of the Red Army is sooooo much fun.;)
I mean seriously, first we get taken for a ride by some female reviewer who turns out to be a ZDNet/PCMag employee looking to drive traffic to her review. Then I go to the trouble of actually RTFA only to find NONE of the reviews have pictures of the devices being reviewed?
What a load of garbage. I mean the reviews themselves are bad enough (I need more than "dood its so sw33t!"), but the lack of pictures just makes it eyeball rape.
I've spent years watching TV, my imagination is a shriveled peanut, help me help you exploit me and give me some damned pictures.;)
I have acute ADHD. When I was last tested (in college) I came out with like 17 of 18 characterics or something. I have been off and on various medications over the course of my life, including ritalin and dexadrine.
The problem with your argument is that it mistakenly assumes that treating the symptoms of a way of thinking and brain activity (loss of attention) inherantly involves the loss of any creativity n the same person. Essentially you draw an conclusive connection between two characteristics with NO evidence to support that conclusion.
According to your logic a "life of the party" guy who gets treatment for alcoholism will no longer be fun or interesting, because it is the alcoholic "party guy" component of his personality that makes him interesting. Isn't it possible he is an outgoing and interesting person who happens to be an alcoholic? And that he will STILL be so, sober or not?
What if many insightful and inventive people happen to have ADHD, but not all ADHD people are insightful and inventive? Isn't it actually both possible and likely that treating the lack of attentiveness will allow a truly creative person to concentrate on and further develop the creative ideas he comes up with?
In my experience I have found that this is the case. I am, like you state, a fairly creative and insightful person. I'm the kid who disassembled teh family television to figure out how it worked, who learns a new technology in ten minutes to help someone else, etc. When I take a methamphetamine like ritalin or dexadrine it just allows me to focus VERY deeply into whatever i am doing. Instead of doing something else every 30 minutes I can sit and churn out the same thing for like 3 hours at a go.
Yes, there are side effects, and I SPECIFICALLY don't like ritalin very much (it makes me feel like I'm tripping and makes me very socially uncomfortable). However, for someone whose productivity is that of a gnat without it the treatment offered by Meths is a god-send.
I'm sorry if you have an addictive personality and you fell into a hole as a result of a meth prescription. However, I see that more as a personal problem you had and not an indication of the merits or general problems associated with methamphetamines. Ironically the only people I've seen who get addicted to meth drugs are people who AREN'T ADHD positive (like some of my friends in college). ADHD folks usually couldn't care less.
None of these companies actually manufacture their own parts. What happens is that they outsource all manufacturing to a US management company or importer, who then contracts it out to a manufacturer, etc. Its complex and I'm not fully informed, but it goes on like that to some factory in China.
Anyway, as you've found getting repairs done is stupidly expensive; we are a consumer culture and are quietly losing any ability to produce or maintain durable products. I had a simlar problem with my mother's digital camera this Christmas; the battery door got broken off and Panasonic wanted $150 to fix it (Camera is like $300).
Anyway, digging around I found out that there are a bunch of parts suppliers across the country, and that some of them even sell the replacements directly either by phone or, in best cases, online!
So call the company that made your product and see if you can't dig up some more informaion on where they get their parts, etc. Tell them your situation, what you want, and push until you talk with a manager or senior agent who can give you the info you need. You can then either do the repair work yourself (anything non-electrical is usually easy, just puzzlish) or find a smart friend to do it.
I was consulting for a GE product factory in 1999 while working for one of the now mutated interactice consulting companies. The engagement lasted three months on site, and while there I PERSONALLY watched this process take place.
The first step was to bring in H1-B mainframe workers from India, estensibly for training purposes. These people were flown in from overseas, lodged by the product factory in question, and shuttled back and forth from their hotel.
Shortly after they had been "trained" enough to suit managements needs the existing American mainframe workers were laid off in progressive batches. I sat next to one of them who told me personally what was happening and how he didn't know how he was going pay the bills after his job was terminated later that week.
In the end I left with the Indian mainframe team in full control. They had been there longer than me (3+ months) and were slated to stay the full period of the visas before taking the work they had back overseas with them. I later learned that many of these companies actually shuffle foreign workers who are ALREADY TRAINED in and out of country to get skilled labor cheap locally.
And your telling me that foreign nationals with training and ZERO overhead or living expenses aren't stealing US jobs?!? I mean really, you ARE saying that in the face of OVERWHELMING DIRECT EVIDENCE to the contrary?
Dude you need to wake up and smell the home brewed coffee you'll be drinking after your job goes bye bye. But of course all the management types say "that'll never happen to me," right? Sadly none of them stop to think what will happen when these subcontractors and contractors in poor nations decide to forego the US middle-man and take their products and companies direct to the first world market (read a recent story in the times about the company that makes Ryobi's tools in China buying the name and business rights everywhere outside of Japan).
I am constantly amazed at both the naivete and idiocy of my fellow men. You cannot have fully open markets in a world with disparate income levels, costs, and social development. Even Keynes would have recognized this if he could see the world we live in now.
This seems like a product that utterly failed to go through any strategic analysis. Some pertinent questions might be:
1) Why would I want my DVD player somewhere other than by the Television that it plays on?
2) Why would I want to pay more for a streaming device like this when I can buy a DVD player for like $50?
3) Why would I want to play my music (MP3, WMA, etc.) through the speakers on my television, or route said signal through my television?
It seems to me the segment for this kind of home media player is already well served by more targeted products. Specifically I would point to the rise of Digital Media Receivers that stream audio and video from NAS or a PC. They come (generally) with LCDs for management, are network and even wireless ready, and are fully adaptable.
In the case of people who want the NAS and digital receiver together you have things like the Tivo, Digital Media Players, etc.
Just seems to me like someone at Linksys/Cisco decided to merge a buinch of products with little thought (read: frontal lobotomy victim) to how such a device would be used and whether there is even a market for this (read: alternate reality).
Let me get this right. You guys at Real read Slashdot and are hipster geeks down on the latest flame rumoring in the tech world. You decided to set your player apart by going for ease of use and ubiquitous support for media types and technologies. You support... AAC, AIFF, WAV, and MP3?!?
Ummm... helllooooo? AAC sucks, and it was just recently cracked anyway by the Serial Defendant. How about supporting all the media formats out there now, like MP4, OGG, FLAC, etc.? I mean hell, what really is the difference between iTunes and Real with those four codecs? iTMS? Keep it, I'll rip my own music in a lossless format I can convert from down the road.
The iPod is, at least technically, inferior to other products on the market (iRiver, Karma, etc.).
iTunes is, at least technically, inferior to other products on the market.
The two products together are, at least technically, inferior to other options on the market in that they are exclusive to one another (dual package, proprietary crap, etc.).
The two are, as of right now, far more popular than any other combinations on the market. Why? Because Apple's marketing team has made the iPod the must have product on the market, given it a unique identity that is pushed EXTREMELY well, and bundled in iTunes as a "revolutionary" break through against the RIAA.
A tribute to the sheer success of the iPod is its popularity here on Slashdot. Slashdotters are open source DIY fiddlers enamored with all things freee and hackable. The iPod is, fcrom both a hardware and software perspective, TOTALLY closed. iTunes is essentially the music version of Microsoft's use of IE, employing a proprietary format created SOLELY to lock in users on their device.
And yet the Slashdot community has, despite all this, professed its love for the iPod in the face of all other more "Slashdot" friendly products (open source codec supporters, etc.).
Here's to you for manipulating even the technologically advanced Apple!
Slashdot Mirror
First off I didn't say "1/100" as in 1 out of 100. I said 1/100th. That's 0.01% of the total number of valid malpractice claims in the United States annually. And note that its VALID claims, not someone making up an injury to rip off a doctor for insurance money. Someone was ACTUALLY WRONGED by the Doctor when the case was reviewed.
As for the rest, RTFA. The vast majority of those wins aren't multi-million dollar lawsuits. The huge penalties you hear about are the VAST minority of cases, and usually invovle some gross negligence. In fact, most of teh jury awards you ehar about aren't medical at all, they relate to normal civil suits or class-action lawsuits for envoronmental stuff, product defects, etc.
You want to know what most civil cases are? Most cases are like what happened to my sister. She went to a reputable film studio in DC to have a sample tape made. It cost her a couple grand and she headed down for an end of week trip to do it. The guy making it was an idiot, hired some moron to mange the lighting, and this guy (who was an illegal immigrant, I kid you not) put a high power UV light feet from her faces. Thinking they knew what they were doing my sister just suffered through the episode, which went on for like an hour.
Fast forward a couple hours and my sisters entire face, cornea, etc. suffered second degree burns. She was, in essence, totally blind in a strange city where she had NO idea what to do. The studio did NOTHING but send her on her way after giving her a couple of phone calls; no offer of help, no offer to take care of her etc. After a long ordeal that involved my cousins driving an hour to get her and my mother flying in to GUIDE her out she filed a lawsuit against the incompetant bastards. Know what she got for near permanent damage to her sight? $8k.
Don't talk to me about giant settlements man, it just doesn't happen. The media has dont the US public a huge disservice by propogatingt the facade that juries are handing out massive awards to any schmo that comes into court with a cut on his finger.
-rt
Just realized I was mistakenly given the AMA credit where it didn't deserve it. I got the AMA mized up with the New England Journal of Medicine. Sorry NEJN, wouldn't want to confuse you with the group pushing for $250k liability caps across the board.
As for evidence, try the articles below for starters:
http://upalumni.org/medschool/appendices/append
And here is a link to the actual study on NEJM:
study I: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/324/6/3
study II:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/32
study III:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/3
http://md-jd.info/abstract/iom-00.htm
Here's WP article discussing the fact that rising insurance costs are nto the cause of the "myth" of missing doctors:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagena
well hell, here's a page that just links to lots of articles on the subject:
http://www.makethemaccountable.com/myth/RisingC
An article on the topic from Roll Call, 1995, by Rep. Conyers:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/malpra
Here's a blog entry I found taht discusses a variety of studies and sources.
http://malpractice.blogspot.com/2003_12_28_malp
(the NJ Bar study, found at the link below, requires an account to view)
http://store.law.com/nj_search.asp?lState=
There's lots more information on the gross inaccuracies of the medical industries arguments, just use google if you care to uncover arguments by people far more informed than myself.
-rt
I've had arguments with doctors I know who take a highly visceral reaction to malpractice suits and jury awards. Nearly every one of them rails against what they perceive as a litigious US culture, and speaks with unquestioned confidence about how lawsuits are:
- driving up insurance costs
- unfairly assuming medical perfection
- making it unattractive or impossible to practice medicing in the US
What I find amazing is the fact that NONE of the statistics support any of these positions. According to two recent studies - one by the AMA and the other by the Harvard Public Policy school (?, I believe the Harvard Medical Practice Study) - both found that:
- malpractice, at least as defined by negligence, is fairly common
- of those with valid claims, only about 1% actually bring suit against a doctor
- of those who bring suit, only 1% are successful
This means that 1/100 of a percent of incidents of malpractice actually result in an award. Then you have the fact that the review committees in every case are made up of doctors and professionals, the act that an attorney who doesn't think a case is worth his effort or will reach an award won't even bother PURSUING the case, etc.
I'm also reminded of another study conducted in NY a few years back. If I remember correctly the study found that of all malpractice claims in the state less that 10 doctors were responsible for nearly 50% of the cases. Why were they practicing? Because the medical review boards hed declined to suspend their licenses for the incidents. These are people like the guy who operated on the wrong side of his patients skull, the guy who carved his initials into his patients abdomens etc.
You would think that after 30 years of schooling doctors - SCIENCISTS - would be intelligent enough to seek actual EVIDENCE to support their absurd claims; even the AMA disagrees with them! You'd think that GOOD doctors (and there are many) would be tired of paying exorbitant fees to subsidize the negligence of their incapable colleagues. You'd also think they'd be intelligent enough to bother examining the various mergers in the insurance industry and price increases in the face of decreased competition before leaping to absurd claims regarding jury awards and civil suits.
Bottom line: I'd like to see a comparable database of every doctor in the United States with every incident of potential malpractice, lawsuits, complaints, or peer review comprehensivlely outlined and available to the public. I'd like to see doctors held to a national standard of quality, put on suspension when there actions merit it, and suspended when they cross a threshold like ANY OTHER PROFESSION (say hello to the Bar). Will we see these things in the near future? No, because doctors have no interest in policing themselves and facing up to the truth of the situation.
The whole thing just makes me ill.
-rt
I can tell you must have spend a great deal of time studying the specifications of both products. However, let me see if I can find some information you may have missed.
1. Gapless playback
- Nitrus has it, iPod doesn't
- What is it? The ability to play ALBUMS without a pause, like a Floyd album with no break between songs the way it was intended to be heard.
2. 5 Band Parametric Equalizer
- Nitrus has it, iPod doesn't
- What is it? The ability to actually fully manipulate and manage the player's audio signal beyond stupid cheapo options like "Jazz" and "Hall"
3. Longer Battery Life
- 16 hours battery life (continuous playback)
- the iPod, ALL iPods (at least the ones that don't die) have 8 hours.
4. Weight
- The Nitrus comes in at 2.75oz vs. the iPod mini's 3.6oz.
- True, there both still pretty light, but note that the difference is about 25% of the weight.
5. SD or MMC Expansion Slot
- I've seen no mention of support for memory on the iPod mini.
6. Open Source Codec Support
- Ogg, Flac, etc. on the Nitrus
- iPod: closed codecs ONLY.
- Welcome to Slashdot, home of the OS movement!
-rt
I fmy post was self-congratulatory bullshit why bother posting? You like the mini you don't neeed to post in reply to a guy talking up a Nitrus.
The mini-iPod IS a rip-off of the nitrus, PERIOD. There isn't any arguing that point. Does that piss you off or something? I'll happily make any argument for anyone who gets ripped off, including Apple's original GUI (though they stole that as well, so...)
I accept the fact that Apple users like to pay more for a product and then preach to other people about how their selection of a fucking computer make's them some kind of artist individual. I accept the fact that Apple users, like you, are passive aggressive twits who make comments like:
"They want a product that is guaranteed to be easy to use, easy to purchase"
Underhandedly slamming other products by implying they DON'T do any of that.
The iPod UI is a combination of the physical interface and the software. I find teh software awkward and annoying. I find the hardware interesting but, in the end, less effective than the one used on teh Nitrus and the Karma. Note that in this post AND in my first post I constantly use the word "I". Not like your posts which make broad claims about "They," as though you know exactly what everyone else thinks.
-rt
I have a Karma, so WTF would I need with a player that has 1/5th the space.
I stated that if you MUST get a miniature player then I'd go with the Nitrus 2 before the mini-iPod. Hell, I'd go with the Nitrus 2 just to avoid being another lamea55 dip5hit carrying a lilly white toaster around with me.
However, I wouldn't BUY a mini player ot begin with anyway. I just don't see the sense in it. If I want all my music I want all my music, and I'll tow a big player with me. If I want just some of my music to work out I'll get a solid state player with no drive to be shocked and damaged when I drop it while running stairs.
Go to the trouble of actually READING my post before you post a reply so obviously in error, I don't enjoy making you look stupid.
-rt
Firewire support? Yeah, that's useful seeing how most laptops and machine today that aren't top of the line come with USB 2.0 ONLY, not Firewire. But I forgot, your on a macintosh with the other 4% on non-wintel machines.
AAC support isn't something I would get all pumped over dude. AAC is a crappy, lossy, DRM (at least iTunes) codec that has NO reason to exist. WMA? Are you KIDDING ME? If you want to talk codecs try to know something about the topic. Ogg blows the snot out of ANY other lossy codec in terms of performance at size or comparable bit rate. Its also gapless, a feature notably lacking in either AAC or MP3, but whatever. Point is that Rio supports open standards, Apple doesn't AT ALL. And this site is... oh yeah, SLASHDOT, home of the OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY.
No standout? Did you even READ the specs on either product? Zealot in aisle 12, zealot in aisle 12, please clean up the mess made from his uninformed corpse.
-rt
1) They don't have identical audio quality. The SNR of the Nitrus is -4db higher than the mini iPod.
2) Aesthetic appearance is a personal call. I think the white ipod looks like a toaster and the mini ipod looks like a cosmetics compact. I'm a man, I'd like a device that doesn't look like it belongs in a purse.
3) The iPod UI is, IMPO, overrated. Not only does it lack the ability to create customized playlists on the fly or NAMED playlists, but it also lacks a bunch of other features found on the Rio system. I also find the stick more dependable than the touch sensitive pad of the iPod which is FAR too sensitive to movement.
4) Argument already invalidated. The nitrus 1.5gb is $164 at computers4sure, I have no doubt the 4gb will be similarly priced given Rios pricing history with other products.
5) Nothing. If I remember correctly your the dude who posted this flamebait. My initial post was just a comment on where all the Slashdot people are... from experience I know that a vast majority of Karma and Nitrus owners happen to be slashdot people. The attraction has a lot to do wih the support for open source codecs like Flac and Ogg.
Thanks for playing, please come back and try your luck again someday.
-rt
It may be the same price as the miniu, But it is a SUPERIOR product. Note that I said "I will never understand how people can be talked into spending enormous sums on an inferior product". I'm more than willing to pay more for a quality product that DELIVERS on the cost.
Besides, unlike Apple's pricing scheme the MSRP on most consumer electronics (like Rios line) is never the same as the price retailers end up charging for them. Take the Rio Karma: it has an MSRP of about $350, and it retails at CC and other stores for as low as $240 before tax.
-rt
Forgot to post a link to the CES coverage of the demo:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/461/461850p1.html?
-rt
the mini iPod is just a rip-off of the Rio Nitrus, and slashdotters are all hanging out on the Rio Karma and Nitrus boards laughing at the herd of iPod "individuals" buying minis with sub-par audio quality.
http://forums-riovolution.com/
Apple switched to Hitachi (from Toshiba, those slackers) to use the 4gb 1" drive whose predecessor, the 1.5gb 1" drive, Rio was already using in the Nitrus. They did this because Rio was making a killing with the 1.5gb drive, was already planning on going to the 4gb drive, and they new if they waited for Toshiba's answer they'd miss capitalizing on their marketing juggernaut in this new form factor.
If it was me I'd just wsay screw the mini and get a Nitrus2 if you REALLy need one of these mini players. It demoed at CES with the same drive iPod's got in the iPod mini, and it began shipping in the beginning of February.
I will never understand how people can be talked into spending enormous sums on an inferior product through a snazzy marketing campaign. The species is doomed.
-rt
But doesn't Outlook 2003 have MS' nasty DRM technology built into it?
I've stuck with Office XP for this very reason, and I'm not sure I plan to upgrade to the next version, leapfrog to 2004, or ever use Office again past 2002 (XP). Basically the inclusion of DRM just puts a freeze on the program for me since I don't like being told what to do with my $400 program.
Also, that might serve as a valid caveat to the reviewers use of Office XP. If he was interested in comparing only non-DRM email clients then he would have had to use 2002 to get a valid comparison.
Just a thought.
-rt
Another hobbyist's site decimated by an irresponsible unwarned link from Slashdot.
Its good to know we have teh power to single-handedly drive independant servers off the net by eating their bandwidth and overloading their systems.
Hazah for pro only hosting!
-rt
"Solar flares can produce and eject large numbers of charge particles, and usually the Earth's magnetic field deflects them before they enter the atmosphere,"
In other news, the Sun reached out and incinerated a home in Dayton, Ohio, late last week. The front yard was also slightly scorched, but neighbors reported absolutely no damage from the 50,000 Kelvin temperatures.
However, Tom Glavine, a next door neighbor did report breaking a sweat.
Can you spell EMP?
-rt
'Need know star RM Pic, Bstar'
Now, back to alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.
-rt
Hey, pretend like it's 1995 and create your own mall!
-rt
They've since released STEF2, so you can find STEF for cheap in the discount bin at any store. Often its in a package with like four other games for $20, a great deal if you like the games.
Anyway, their are still a HUGE number of servers and clans associated with it, its got tons of maps/models/cool mods since its been out so long, and cheating is a non-issue since you really can't cheat in any serious capacity.
I also like Battlezone and Battlezone 2, both of which still have moderately good followings though cheating is more prevalent in the first. In the case of BZ and BZ2 there are even whole mods and expansions created for free by the user community! Driving a hover tank on Europa while blowing the crap out of the Red Army is sooooo much fun.
-rt
Give him the old reach around. I'm sure he will be abolutely stunned.
-rt
I mean seriously, first we get taken for a ride by some female reviewer who turns out to be a ZDNet/PCMag employee looking to drive traffic to her review. Then I go to the trouble of actually RTFA only to find NONE of the reviews have pictures of the devices being reviewed?
What a load of garbage. I mean the reviews themselves are bad enough (I need more than "dood its so sw33t!"), but the lack of pictures just makes it eyeball rape.
I've spent years watching TV, my imagination is a shriveled peanut, help me help you exploit me and give me some damned pictures.
-rt
I have acute ADHD. When I was last tested (in college) I came out with like 17 of 18 characterics or something. I have been off and on various medications over the course of my life, including ritalin and dexadrine.
The problem with your argument is that it mistakenly assumes that treating the symptoms of a way of thinking and brain activity (loss of attention) inherantly involves the loss of any creativity n the same person. Essentially you draw an conclusive connection between two characteristics with NO evidence to support that conclusion.
According to your logic a "life of the party" guy who gets treatment for alcoholism will no longer be fun or interesting, because it is the alcoholic "party guy" component of his personality that makes him interesting. Isn't it possible he is an outgoing and interesting person who happens to be an alcoholic? And that he will STILL be so, sober or not?
What if many insightful and inventive people happen to have ADHD, but not all ADHD people are insightful and inventive? Isn't it actually both possible and likely that treating the lack of attentiveness will allow a truly creative person to concentrate on and further develop the creative ideas he comes up with?
In my experience I have found that this is the case. I am, like you state, a fairly creative and insightful person. I'm the kid who disassembled teh family television to figure out how it worked, who learns a new technology in ten minutes to help someone else, etc. When I take a methamphetamine like ritalin or dexadrine it just allows me to focus VERY deeply into whatever i am doing. Instead of doing something else every 30 minutes I can sit and churn out the same thing for like 3 hours at a go.
Yes, there are side effects, and I SPECIFICALLY don't like ritalin very much (it makes me feel like I'm tripping and makes me very socially uncomfortable). However, for someone whose productivity is that of a gnat without it the treatment offered by Meths is a god-send.
I'm sorry if you have an addictive personality and you fell into a hole as a result of a meth prescription. However, I see that more as a personal problem you had and not an indication of the merits or general problems associated with methamphetamines. Ironically the only people I've seen who get addicted to meth drugs are people who AREN'T ADHD positive (like some of my friends in college). ADHD folks usually couldn't care less.
-Rick
None of these companies actually manufacture their own parts. What happens is that they outsource all manufacturing to a US management company or importer, who then contracts it out to a manufacturer, etc. Its complex and I'm not fully informed, but it goes on like that to some factory in China.
Anyway, as you've found getting repairs done is stupidly expensive; we are a consumer culture and are quietly losing any ability to produce or maintain durable products. I had a simlar problem with my mother's digital camera this Christmas; the battery door got broken off and Panasonic wanted $150 to fix it (Camera is like $300).
Anyway, digging around I found out that there are a bunch of parts suppliers across the country, and that some of them even sell the replacements directly either by phone or, in best cases, online!
So call the company that made your product and see if you can't dig up some more informaion on where they get their parts, etc. Tell them your situation, what you want, and push until you talk with a manager or senior agent who can give you the info you need. You can then either do the repair work yourself (anything non-electrical is usually easy, just puzzlish) or find a smart friend to do it.
Rick
I was consulting for a GE product factory in 1999 while working for one of the now mutated interactice consulting companies. The engagement lasted three months on site, and while there I PERSONALLY watched this process take place.
The first step was to bring in H1-B mainframe workers from India, estensibly for training purposes. These people were flown in from overseas, lodged by the product factory in question, and shuttled back and forth from their hotel.
Shortly after they had been "trained" enough to suit managements needs the existing American mainframe workers were laid off in progressive batches. I sat next to one of them who told me personally what was happening and how he didn't know how he was going pay the bills after his job was terminated later that week.
In the end I left with the Indian mainframe team in full control. They had been there longer than me (3+ months) and were slated to stay the full period of the visas before taking the work they had back overseas with them. I later learned that many of these companies actually shuffle foreign workers who are ALREADY TRAINED in and out of country to get skilled labor cheap locally.
And your telling me that foreign nationals with training and ZERO overhead or living expenses aren't stealing US jobs?!? I mean really, you ARE saying that in the face of OVERWHELMING DIRECT EVIDENCE to the contrary?
Dude you need to wake up and smell the home brewed coffee you'll be drinking after your job goes bye bye. But of course all the management types say "that'll never happen to me," right? Sadly none of them stop to think what will happen when these subcontractors and contractors in poor nations decide to forego the US middle-man and take their products and companies direct to the first world market (read a recent story in the times about the company that makes Ryobi's tools in China buying the name and business rights everywhere outside of Japan).
I am constantly amazed at both the naivete and idiocy of my fellow men. You cannot have fully open markets in a world with disparate income levels, costs, and social development. Even Keynes would have recognized this if he could see the world we live in now.
-rt
This seems like a product that utterly failed to go through any strategic analysis. Some pertinent questions might be:
1) Why would I want my DVD player somewhere other than by the Television that it plays on?
2) Why would I want to pay more for a streaming device like this when I can buy a DVD player for like $50?
3) Why would I want to play my music (MP3, WMA, etc.) through the speakers on my television, or route said signal through my television?
It seems to me the segment for this kind of home media player is already well served by more targeted products. Specifically I would point to the rise of Digital Media Receivers that stream audio and video from NAS or a PC. They come (generally) with LCDs for management, are network and even wireless ready, and are fully adaptable.
In the case of people who want the NAS and digital receiver together you have things like the Tivo, Digital Media Players, etc.
Just seems to me like someone at Linksys/Cisco decided to merge a buinch of products with little thought (read: frontal lobotomy victim) to how such a device would be used and whether there is even a market for this (read: alternate reality).
-Rick
Let me get this right. You guys at Real read Slashdot and are hipster geeks down on the latest flame rumoring in the tech world. You decided to set your player apart by going for ease of use and ubiquitous support for media types and technologies. You support... AAC, AIFF, WAV, and MP3?!?
Ummm... helllooooo? AAC sucks, and it was just recently cracked anyway by the Serial Defendant. How about supporting all the media formats out there now, like MP4, OGG, FLAC, etc.? I mean hell, what really is the difference between iTunes and Real with those four codecs? iTMS? Keep it, I'll rip my own music in a lossless format I can convert from down the road.
What a waste of a company.
-rt
The iPod is, at least technically, inferior to other products on the market (iRiver, Karma, etc.).
iTunes is, at least technically, inferior to other products on the market.
The two products together are, at least technically, inferior to other options on the market in that they are exclusive to one another (dual package, proprietary crap, etc.).
The two are, as of right now, far more popular than any other combinations on the market. Why? Because Apple's marketing team has made the iPod the must have product on the market, given it a unique identity that is pushed EXTREMELY well, and bundled in iTunes as a "revolutionary" break through against the RIAA.
A tribute to the sheer success of the iPod is its popularity here on Slashdot. Slashdotters are open source DIY fiddlers enamored with all things freee and hackable. The iPod is, fcrom both a hardware and software perspective, TOTALLY closed. iTunes is essentially the music version of Microsoft's use of IE, employing a proprietary format created SOLELY to lock in users on their device.
And yet the Slashdot community has, despite all this, professed its love for the iPod in the face of all other more "Slashdot" friendly products (open source codec supporters, etc.).
Here's to you for manipulating even the technologically advanced Apple!
-rt