Apple are not competative (at least in Ireland) for anything but higher end systems. Indeed, in that area they are problematic too, as you perhaps won't find one that has beefier components in quite the right areas.
I find Dell mid-range with components beefed up to be a winning choice. I like things too such as having 4 year on-site warranty on a laptop that had better components than anything I could find at the same price range elsewhere (€1200 incl. dedicated graphics - X1400). My desktop was a great way to get a higher mid-range system suitable for gaming (GeForce 6800 in mid-2005) with 20" screen (total €1400). Dell called me after my one year collect and return ended and offered warranty of four-year on-site for 90 - which I took seeing as it covered the large LCD also. Indeed that Dimension 5000 of mine is perfectly happy in 2007 with an X1950PRO installed (I was a bit concerned about PSU capacity, but it turned out not to be an issue) - in fact not only is it great performance now but quieter than when it was new!
I'm not at all impressed by Apple systems. They would have to be cheaper than similarly specced alternatives for me to bother. They seem to be form over substance, and I don't even like the form (style is a matter of taste, so unless they have multiple styles they'll always only appeal to a certain market segment). Also I know plenty of people with such systems and the support stories are horrific. For all the odd stories I've heard from people I know of bad Dell support, it's mostly good stories (indeed I've had only helpful responses from them).
If you think the UK is bad recommend you don't visit Ireland... or at the least, make sure you've plenty of money spare.
We have the awful situation where some companies insist on lumping Ireland with the UK for distribution, despite us using Euro here. We end up paying a premium through having stuff redistributed onwards from UK, plus the retailers here have a pretty mark-up for themselves.
Some areas aren't too bad (clothes are fairly cheap here) but others are atrocious. Internet retailing is fantastic for Ireland - just a pity we've atrocious telecoms industry too so one of the lowest broadband penetration rates in the EU. As a result even those with broadband are only getting to grips with online ordering. Those with dial-up are still living under the oppressive cloud of every second costing money (indeed more than every second - as there's a minimum call charge now, and line rental is one of the highest in the EU).
I've seen Sodium Benzoate (or other things with benzoate) in ingredient lists on products here in Ireland. I don't drink soft drinks or eat much junk, so I've nothing on hand at the moment to check.
Oh come on. And magically you win the argument just because the last part of his resorted to ad-hominem? Somehow your defence does not seem particularly credible when you focus merely on the insults of the last sentence, rather than the coherent point made previous to it.
One of the ISPs here in Ireland, Digiweb (see digiweb.ie), uses DOCSIS 2.0 but over microwave links; i.e. at your house there is an aerial box, and this translates the signal to coax output to a normal DOCSIS cable modem. It would be no big deal if this required four cables instead of one (although probably you could replace it with something more sensible).
I'd really like to know if DOCSIS 3.0 could be used by Digiweb's system; that is, similarly translated to microwave frequencies for use across wireless links.
The present system is the same as a dedicated coax line from each and every subscribers house to the base station - that's pretty sweet compared to shared cable. It's also very handy for rural Ireland, although the system has of course been rolled out to cities first.
"The war in Iraq was justified by saying that we'll take down a dictator who was trying to commit genocide and presented a threat to our national interests"
"Where's the benefit of the doubt for a nation that's saved Europe a couple of times?"
And why wasn't the US administration listening when before the invasion a heck of a lot of people and govts were saying that it would destabalise the Middle East, and be worse for the Iraqi people (yes it's not much of a choice between oppression and potentially being blown up, but more people are dead than would have been under Saddam, evil as he was). The world was rightly outraged at terrorist acts on US soil. At least ten times as many have died from terrorist acts on Iraqi soil that would not have occurred but for the US invasion, yet somehow it is frowned upon in the US that anyone elsewhere in the world is a bit put out about this.
As for national interests? The US are the ones responsible for having cemented Saddam into place with aid during the Iran-Iraq war. It's this kind of single-minded action in the national interest, building up havoc for later across the world, that people take issue with about the US. It's not specifically anti-American. Many people were of a similar mindset about the British when they were the main people going about doing this.
The point is that because the EU is made up of different countries, a directly democratic process would result in many countries having their concerns trodden on by the majority.
So I do not see it as making sense for Euroskeptics concerned about the EU having too much influence to be seeking it to be arranged by a directly democratic process. It would be a disaster for many countries in the EU if the European Parliament for example was in the driving seat.
I only recently realised the juice/juice drink distinction. I usually don't drink anything other than definite real fruit juice, but I started buying some own brand stuff a while back. I stopped buying a couple of the types they had as they seemed sweeter, and sure enough had added sugar in the ingredients. But I then realised that despite same-branded packaging (differentiated only by colour and fruit picture); the ordinary ones say Juice (e.g. Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice), and the others "Juice Drink" (e.g. Apple & Raspberry Juice Drink, Cranberry Juice Drink).
Personally I hate the way milk chocolate and ice-cream here (Ireland) can have "vegetable fat" in it. It can be hard to find shops stocking chocolate (i.e. as squared bars) other than Cadburys - which I find most unpalatable; very greasy and sticky, quite revolting.
We've a bunch of spare Nedap machines here in Ireland if anyone wants them. They're costing quite a bit to store, and from time to time some silly politicians keep getting ideas about trying to use them again. Fortunately the committee set up by the govt. to approve the machines (to end all the "annoying" discontent about them from "cranks") actually came back and said the software wasn't suitable in its current form. I believe the plan was to do something crazy like store all the votes in Microsoft Access databases; not exactly renowned for being suitable for fail-safe systems!
Mind you - our govt. have managed to end up with a lack of equipment for traditional polling this time around - and have had to put in a large last-minute order for polling booths (i.e. wooden screens with shelf).
The council of ministers are representatives of the elected democratic governments of the EU.
All these Euro-skeptics complaining about the EU being undemocratic are missing the point. They don't want the EU being a super-state do they; well, guess what? It isn't, *because* the main business is set by the European Commission - also representatives of the EU member states chosen by the democratic govts. The member states choose what the EU does and is allowed to do (even if it is allowed by them to act autonomously in some respects).
And the European Parliament is the part of the puzzle that allows citizens of the EU to influence directly its operation; note that the European Parliament generally has the disadvantage (or advantage) that it doesn't usually take national interests into account.
It's all a fine balancing act, and actually, as a compromise, it is fairly good.
Just because it was extremely ill-advised and lead to thousands of Iraqi, US and other deaths, does not mean that Iraq wasn't a problem pre-invasion. I for one didn't expect the invasion to lead to anything other than chaos, most of those "anti war" protestors here in Ireland were of a similar opinion. I think that today there are few options as regards Iran, and I worry about a similarly ill-considered US reaction to the country. But it is folly to stick ones head in the ground and believe the situation is entirely OK, and that either Iran isn't trying to get nuclear weapons, or it's "no big deal" if they do get them, "sure everyone else does".
It's no good kidding yourself that the situation in Sudan is any better than it is portrayed here (in fact it's frequently brushed over and not focussed on enough by the Western media) just because you have a grudge against those speaking out about it.
That's probably one of the more interesting diagnosis and does make it seem unsurprising that it was a recipe for disaster. However you left out the brilliance of the whole UMD mess...
I buy more music on CD than ever these days (rip it then and do what I like with it). HMV, Virgin Megastores, supermarkets; constantly have a changing selection of CDs for under €10 (for comparison rather than exchange rate, iTunes is 99c a track here). If you want a new release, get it in the supermarkets (or sometimes the record stores) on marked down price of maybe €15, or else just buy for about €11 from online places like CD WOW (I don't care where they import the CDs from).
Seriously - are things so different in the USA or are people there just not prepared to even spend the equivalent of say €10 (about $12.50) on albums?
The music offered here is more varied than ever too - there's a lot of old stuff being dug up and some of that you can get for less than €5 an album!
Nowadays? The Irish Potato Famine wouldn't have been a famine but for British economic theory. It was so absurd that famine relief could only be given by the British authorities as pay for "work", hence the construction of "famine roads" and the workhouses.
Absolutely disgraceful, and it is a pity more people don't appreciate the same thing continues to happen today; local crop failure but food in the markets that locals have no money to buy it with.
My country is littered with mobile phone masts because all four mobile phone providers have their own transmitters, even if in some places they use a shared mast (even bigger eyesore though!). It is not like you get extra coverage from this - there isn't free roaming between operators (one of the smaller ones does have an agreement with a larger one, but *only* if you cannot receive a signal at all from a native network site). I live in Ireland, you know, the country that used to be unspoilt beautiful rolling countryside.
Fortunately we still have electricity infrastructure in the hands of the state.
As for fixed-line telecoms, well, new operators have dug up roads and laid extra cables.
High-speed Internet connectivity should be regarded as a public service that should be provided to all in the interests of offering equal opportunity. Whether private companies or state organisations are used to provide is not the main concern, but where everything is wholly in the hands of private companies, there should be a means of laying a Universal Service Obligation on the main players or those with regional monopolies.
This nonsense of leaving everything up to the free market will only result in an increasingly dysfunctional state, even if some people do become very wealthy as a result. It is not like you need to resort to complete socialism just because of placing restrictions on the private sector, providing some public services, and mitigating the more problematic aspects of capitalism.
In short - nothing is going to change with regard to sections of the US population being bypassed when it comes to broadband provision, unless you have a significant movement in politics to take on board some of the concepts of Christian Democracy. I find it baffling that in a country with such a large Christian community that equal opportunity and social justice are so far down the list of priorities when it comes to politics. I guess that's what comes of having a two party state; little chance of different political influences other than the status quo.
Any of your domestic air links (they are pretty pathetic and fragile for such high-volume intercity/state commerce) should be replaced by high-speed rail links. Not having to stop at intermediate population centres is a distinct advantage for such links! You have hundreds of millions of citizens, a vast amount of them living in cities at disparate locations. The map with lots of wilderness/sparsely populated areas is an irrelevance.
Besides, you have big cities that do not have sensible tram, metro and commuter rail links.
Of course, you might have to do something shocking like spend taxpayers money on your own citizens rather than on the US military. Raising taxes would a) be a rather silly idea, and b) completely unnecessary unless you intend bombing more places because they are a problem too complex to figure out how to solve sensibly.
At present you can travel without passport from UK mainland to Northern Ireland (if you don't fly Ryanair). From there you can cross the border to the Republic of Ireland without a passport. You can live and work there freely if you are a UK subject (you'll possibly need ID to prove this if your prospective employer doesn't believe you, or the immigration people get onto you - very unlikely - they are ill-equipped), and so you can stay long enough to get citizenship. UK and Ireland haven't signed the EU agreements on cross-border pursuit by police due to how shall we say, regional sensitivities.
Problem solved.
If you're from NI or your parents/grandparents are Irish, even easier, just get an Irish passport.
50fps here in Europe which is a bit handier for transferring films to TV. We just speed them up; so you don't get the nasty jaggies on TV frames containing an interlacing of two film frames. The audio pitch is different of course; this is either compensated for or not noticed.
And best of all, you can get through the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings slightly faster:)
So there you are, sounds like an urban legend, but even uncut film running times are shorter on European TV!
It's a shame you guys are stuck with the 24fps->30fps (half of 60Hz) problem even with HDTV, no wonder people aren't as hot on the idea of 1080i in the US! Fix your electricity supply!
Microsoft Office is not worth the normal retail price, but OpenOffice is just a (pretty good) imitation that isn't as convenient when dealing with documents authored in MS Office. If both were free, I see no reason other than ideology for ordinary users to choose OpenOffice.
There's a similar offer for students in Ireland. €98 for full version of MS Office Pro 2007 is worth it.
75 AUS$ is even more of a pittance - that's like what, €10?;)
P.S. WHEN WILL SLASHDOT ALLOW DIRECT INPUT OF EURO SYMBOL INTO POSTS?! This is 2007!
As far as I know, US beef is banned in Europe due to the use of growth hormones, and this has been the case for years.
In any case, being Irish, I'd seldom eat anything other than Irish beef, and restaurants etc. here now have to state the country of origin for meat on their menu. Although even places serving pretend food like McDonalds and BK used Irish beef already. Rare to see non-Irish beef sold except for processed food.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple are not competative (at least in Ireland) for anything but higher end systems. Indeed, in that area they are problematic too, as you perhaps won't find one that has beefier components in quite the right areas.
I find Dell mid-range with components beefed up to be a winning choice. I like things too such as having 4 year on-site warranty on a laptop that had better components than anything I could find at the same price range elsewhere (€1200 incl. dedicated graphics - X1400). My desktop was a great way to get a higher mid-range system suitable for gaming (GeForce 6800 in mid-2005) with 20" screen (total €1400). Dell called me after my one year collect and return ended and offered warranty of four-year on-site for 90 - which I took seeing as it covered the large LCD also. Indeed that Dimension 5000 of mine is perfectly happy in 2007 with an X1950PRO installed (I was a bit concerned about PSU capacity, but it turned out not to be an issue) - in fact not only is it great performance now but quieter than when it was new!
I'm not at all impressed by Apple systems. They would have to be cheaper than similarly specced alternatives for me to bother. They seem to be form over substance, and I don't even like the form (style is a matter of taste, so unless they have multiple styles they'll always only appeal to a certain market segment). Also I know plenty of people with such systems and the support stories are horrific. For all the odd stories I've heard from people I know of bad Dell support, it's mostly good stories (indeed I've had only helpful responses from them).
If you think the UK is bad recommend you don't visit Ireland... or at the least, make sure you've plenty of money spare.
We have the awful situation where some companies insist on lumping Ireland with the UK for distribution, despite us using Euro here. We end up paying a premium through having stuff redistributed onwards from UK, plus the retailers here have a pretty mark-up for themselves.
Some areas aren't too bad (clothes are fairly cheap here) but others are atrocious. Internet retailing is fantastic for Ireland - just a pity we've atrocious telecoms industry too so one of the lowest broadband penetration rates in the EU. As a result even those with broadband are only getting to grips with online ordering. Those with dial-up are still living under the oppressive cloud of every second costing money (indeed more than every second - as there's a minimum call charge now, and line rental is one of the highest in the EU).
I've seen Sodium Benzoate (or other things with benzoate) in ingredient lists on products here in Ireland. I don't drink soft drinks or eat much junk, so I've nothing on hand at the moment to check.
Oh come on. And magically you win the argument just because the last part of his resorted to ad-hominem? Somehow your defence does not seem particularly credible when you focus merely on the insults of the last sentence, rather than the coherent point made previous to it.
PCs are not becoming as obsolete as fast nowadays.
One of the ISPs here in Ireland, Digiweb (see digiweb.ie), uses DOCSIS 2.0 but over microwave links; i.e. at your house there is an aerial box, and this translates the signal to coax output to a normal DOCSIS cable modem. It would be no big deal if this required four cables instead of one (although probably you could replace it with something more sensible).
I'd really like to know if DOCSIS 3.0 could be used by Digiweb's system; that is, similarly translated to microwave frequencies for use across wireless links.
The present system is the same as a dedicated coax line from each and every subscribers house to the base station - that's pretty sweet compared to shared cable. It's also very handy for rural Ireland, although the system has of course been rolled out to cities first.
"The war in Iraq was justified by saying that we'll take down a dictator who was trying to commit genocide and presented a threat to our national interests"
"Where's the benefit of the doubt for a nation that's saved Europe a couple of times?"
And why wasn't the US administration listening when before the invasion a heck of a lot of people and govts were saying that it would destabalise the Middle East, and be worse for the Iraqi people (yes it's not much of a choice between oppression and potentially being blown up, but more people are dead than would have been under Saddam, evil as he was). The world was rightly outraged at terrorist acts on US soil. At least ten times as many have died from terrorist acts on Iraqi soil that would not have occurred but for the US invasion, yet somehow it is frowned upon in the US that anyone elsewhere in the world is a bit put out about this.
As for national interests? The US are the ones responsible for having cemented Saddam into place with aid during the Iran-Iraq war. It's this kind of single-minded action in the national interest, building up havoc for later across the world, that people take issue with about the US. It's not specifically anti-American. Many people were of a similar mindset about the British when they were the main people going about doing this.
The point is that because the EU is made up of different countries, a directly democratic process would result in many countries having their concerns trodden on by the majority.
So I do not see it as making sense for Euroskeptics concerned about the EU having too much influence to be seeking it to be arranged by a directly democratic process. It would be a disaster for many countries in the EU if the European Parliament for example was in the driving seat.
I only recently realised the juice/juice drink distinction. I usually don't drink anything other than definite real fruit juice, but I started buying some own brand stuff a while back. I stopped buying a couple of the types they had as they seemed sweeter, and sure enough had added sugar in the ingredients. But I then realised that despite same-branded packaging (differentiated only by colour and fruit picture); the ordinary ones say Juice (e.g. Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice), and the others "Juice Drink" (e.g. Apple & Raspberry Juice Drink, Cranberry Juice Drink).
Personally I hate the way milk chocolate and ice-cream here (Ireland) can have "vegetable fat" in it. It can be hard to find shops stocking chocolate (i.e. as squared bars) other than Cadburys - which I find most unpalatable; very greasy and sticky, quite revolting.
We've a bunch of spare Nedap machines here in Ireland if anyone wants them. They're costing quite a bit to store, and from time to time some silly politicians keep getting ideas about trying to use them again. Fortunately the committee set up by the govt. to approve the machines (to end all the "annoying" discontent about them from "cranks") actually came back and said the software wasn't suitable in its current form. I believe the plan was to do something crazy like store all the votes in Microsoft Access databases; not exactly renowned for being suitable for fail-safe systems!
Mind you - our govt. have managed to end up with a lack of equipment for traditional polling this time around - and have had to put in a large last-minute order for polling booths (i.e. wooden screens with shelf).
The council of ministers are representatives of the elected democratic governments of the EU.
All these Euro-skeptics complaining about the EU being undemocratic are missing the point. They don't want the EU being a super-state do they; well, guess what? It isn't, *because* the main business is set by the European Commission - also representatives of the EU member states chosen by the democratic govts. The member states choose what the EU does and is allowed to do (even if it is allowed by them to act autonomously in some respects).
And the European Parliament is the part of the puzzle that allows citizens of the EU to influence directly its operation; note that the European Parliament generally has the disadvantage (or advantage) that it doesn't usually take national interests into account.
It's all a fine balancing act, and actually, as a compromise, it is fairly good.
Just because it was extremely ill-advised and lead to thousands of Iraqi, US and other deaths, does not mean that Iraq wasn't a problem pre-invasion. I for one didn't expect the invasion to lead to anything other than chaos, most of those "anti war" protestors here in Ireland were of a similar opinion. I think that today there are few options as regards Iran, and I worry about a similarly ill-considered US reaction to the country. But it is folly to stick ones head in the ground and believe the situation is entirely OK, and that either Iran isn't trying to get nuclear weapons, or it's "no big deal" if they do get them, "sure everyone else does".
It's no good kidding yourself that the situation in Sudan is any better than it is portrayed here (in fact it's frequently brushed over and not focussed on enough by the Western media) just because you have a grudge against those speaking out about it.
That's probably one of the more interesting diagnosis and does make it seem unsurprising that it was a recipe for disaster. However you left out the brilliance of the whole UMD mess...
I buy more music on CD than ever these days (rip it then and do what I like with it). HMV, Virgin Megastores, supermarkets; constantly have a changing selection of CDs for under €10 (for comparison rather than exchange rate, iTunes is 99c a track here). If you want a new release, get it in the supermarkets (or sometimes the record stores) on marked down price of maybe €15, or else just buy for about €11 from online places like CD WOW (I don't care where they import the CDs from).
Seriously - are things so different in the USA or are people there just not prepared to even spend the equivalent of say €10 (about $12.50) on albums?
The music offered here is more varied than ever too - there's a lot of old stuff being dug up and some of that you can get for less than €5 an album!
Ah - I should really have read the quoted text in the parent post... oh well...
Nowadays? The Irish Potato Famine wouldn't have been a famine but for British economic theory. It was so absurd that famine relief could only be given by the British authorities as pay for "work", hence the construction of "famine roads" and the workhouses.
Absolutely disgraceful, and it is a pity more people don't appreciate the same thing continues to happen today; local crop failure but food in the markets that locals have no money to buy it with.
I'm glad that as yet, I can buy goods in my country without having any special number.
My country is littered with mobile phone masts because all four mobile phone providers have their own transmitters, even if in some places they use a shared mast (even bigger eyesore though!). It is not like you get extra coverage from this - there isn't free roaming between operators (one of the smaller ones does have an agreement with a larger one, but *only* if you cannot receive a signal at all from a native network site). I live in Ireland, you know, the country that used to be unspoilt beautiful rolling countryside.
Fortunately we still have electricity infrastructure in the hands of the state.
As for fixed-line telecoms, well, new operators have dug up roads and laid extra cables.
High-speed Internet connectivity should be regarded as a public service that should be provided to all in the interests of offering equal opportunity. Whether private companies or state organisations are used to provide is not the main concern, but where everything is wholly in the hands of private companies, there should be a means of laying a Universal Service Obligation on the main players or those with regional monopolies.
This nonsense of leaving everything up to the free market will only result in an increasingly dysfunctional state, even if some people do become very wealthy as a result. It is not like you need to resort to complete socialism just because of placing restrictions on the private sector, providing some public services, and mitigating the more problematic aspects of capitalism.
In short - nothing is going to change with regard to sections of the US population being bypassed when it comes to broadband provision, unless you have a significant movement in politics to take on board some of the concepts of Christian Democracy. I find it baffling that in a country with such a large Christian community that equal opportunity and social justice are so far down the list of priorities when it comes to politics. I guess that's what comes of having a two party state; little chance of different political influences other than the status quo.
Any of your domestic air links (they are pretty pathetic and fragile for such high-volume intercity/state commerce) should be replaced by high-speed rail links. Not having to stop at intermediate population centres is a distinct advantage for such links! You have hundreds of millions of citizens, a vast amount of them living in cities at disparate locations. The map with lots of wilderness/sparsely populated areas is an irrelevance.
Besides, you have big cities that do not have sensible tram, metro and commuter rail links.
Of course, you might have to do something shocking like spend taxpayers money on your own citizens rather than on the US military. Raising taxes would a) be a rather silly idea, and b) completely unnecessary unless you intend bombing more places because they are a problem too complex to figure out how to solve sensibly.
At present you can travel without passport from UK mainland to Northern Ireland (if you don't fly Ryanair). From there you can cross the border to the Republic of Ireland without a passport. You can live and work there freely if you are a UK subject (you'll possibly need ID to prove this if your prospective employer doesn't believe you, or the immigration people get onto you - very unlikely - they are ill-equipped), and so you can stay long enough to get citizenship. UK and Ireland haven't signed the EU agreements on cross-border pursuit by police due to how shall we say, regional sensitivities.
Problem solved.
If you're from NI or your parents/grandparents are Irish, even easier, just get an Irish passport.
50fps here in Europe which is a bit handier for transferring films to TV. We just speed them up; so you don't get the nasty jaggies on TV frames containing an interlacing of two film frames. The audio pitch is different of course; this is either compensated for or not noticed.
:)
And best of all, you can get through the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings slightly faster
So there you are, sounds like an urban legend, but even uncut film running times are shorter on European TV!
It's a shame you guys are stuck with the 24fps->30fps (half of 60Hz) problem even with HDTV, no wonder people aren't as hot on the idea of 1080i in the US! Fix your electricity supply!
That's not a good thing.
Microsoft Office is not worth the normal retail price, but OpenOffice is just a (pretty good) imitation that isn't as convenient when dealing with documents authored in MS Office. If both were free, I see no reason other than ideology for ordinary users to choose OpenOffice.
;)
There's a similar offer for students in Ireland. €98 for full version of MS Office Pro 2007 is worth it.
75 AUS$ is even more of a pittance - that's like what, €10?
P.S. WHEN WILL SLASHDOT ALLOW DIRECT INPUT OF EURO SYMBOL INTO POSTS?! This is 2007!
As far as I know, US beef is banned in Europe due to the use of growth hormones, and this has been the case for years.
In any case, being Irish, I'd seldom eat anything other than Irish beef, and restaurants etc. here now have to state the country of origin for meat on their menu. Although even places serving pretend food like McDonalds and BK used Irish beef already. Rare to see non-Irish beef sold except for processed food.