I think optimism is something different than what you're describing (at least to me). Optimism is an attitude that thinks the best of people and situations. The things that you describe are just stupidity.
I look at myself as an optimist. I truly believe that things will get better even if they've been getting worst. That doesn't mean I sit around waiting for it to get better. I work and make plans and do what I can to make it better and I have contingencies if they don't work, but I do it because I believe I can make things better and if it doesn't work, then I try something else.
I can look at any situation that I'm in and see the good in it. That doesn't mean I'm not aware of the bad, but I can be happy for the good and do things to try and change the bad.
I believe that the vast majority of people are inherently good. That doesn't mean I blindly trust. I still protect myself because not everyone is and even good people make bad choices.
In short I would best describe myself as an optimistic pragmatist and I believe it's this combination that makes me an inherently happy and laid back person.
Really there was no contest. He was up against Irena Sendler who saved 2500 Jewish children from being killed in the holocaust. What's saving 2500 children when you can Save the World!
Real quick since I don't have much time for this. Here is the alternative explanations:
One lineage is the birth lineage of Joseph.
The other lineage is the aristocratic lineage of Joseph.
Joseph and Mary were first cousins.
Joseph, by teaching Jesus a trade, in effect legally adopts Jesus and thereby giving him a legal place within his lineage.
Jesus was decended from David by blood through Mary and was decended legally through Joseph's adoption of him.
If the gospels are to be believed, out of all the arguments against Jesus not being the Christ (Messiah), his lineage was never mentioned inferring that Jesus at least had that claim going for him.
My water pump went out in my FWD 1990 Ford Escort about 100 miles from home. I was able to get it to both of the mechanics in the small town. The first was too busy to even look at it for days. The second told me I'd thrown a rod and it'd cost $1200. I left it in his impound lot and hitched a ride home. I came back with a U-haul trailer and a friend's truck and towed it back home. I took it to my preferred mechanic and he told me it was only the water pump and he could fix it for $200. So many mechanics are crooks that a good one is worth his weight in gold.
I've personally seen the *exact same* shirt on sale in the mens' department and the womens' department of a store, and the version in the mens' department was less than half the cost.
That's because it's harder to get a guy to buy a girls shirt to wear than a girl!
barber doesn't even ask me what cut I want since I've been going there for so long and always get the same thing... no need to pull out books or look at a magazine clipping to figure out how to cut it.
My wife and I have always joked that you can tell the last time a guy thought he was cool by the style of his haircut. Look around, you'll see that it's true.
That being said, I've had the same haircut for the last 14 years too.
It's the embryonic stem cell research that is forbidden in the United States
One little difference from what you said. Embryonic stem cell research is not forbidden in the United States. The federal government just won't fund it except from a couple of pre-existing stem cell lines (which I guess are corrupted and worthless now anyway). Lot's of embryonic stem cell research happens via private funds and is often even funded through states like California.
I'm just as conservative as the next slashdotter (I had to say it), but there really shouldn't be any laws against this type of "payola". Who cares if someone gets paid for their opinions or not. Who cares is someone gets paid and changes their opinion because of it. If the arguments are sound, does it really matter if the person making the arguments really believes them or not?
All of this "campaign finance regulation" is a joke. Money doesn't buy campaigns. If it did, Steve Forbes would be president right now. The federal government should stop limiting free speech by removing the limit on campaign donations and giving out "media exemptions" and all the rest.
I'm not sure if that should be a metric. I installed it on XP and I could no longer browse the web ever. I had to rebuild the machine to fix it. Here where I work notbody uses Cisco VPN except in a virtual machine.
Let me know nine months from now if Vista can actually do anything for you that XP, Mac or gnu/linux could not do faster
My mother-in-law is a very unknowledgeable user. I bought her a computer a week after I bought mine and I set it up with Vista (came with XP but Vista had just been released so I got a free upgrade). My mother-in-law's biggest problem has always been her kids coming home to visit and downloading or installing crap. It's always been a challenge to lock her XP down. With Vista it's a piece of cake. She runs as a standard user and since she isn't a power user, she rarely has to be bothered by UAC. When she is, it's no big deal to enter the admin password. Now when I go to visit I don't have to spend hours cleaning off viruses and spyware. It all just works. She's never had an issue and I never have to fix something using the VNC server I installed on it like I used to with her XP.
As for faster, it really doesn't have a speed problem. I've never noticed any speed issue and that's with Aero running. It's an HP that I paid $650 for and it included a monitor. Not exactly high-end hardware.
I agree. I happened to buy a computer the first week Vista came out. I honestly didn't even realize it had come out. My old computer went bad and I needed a new one fast. I honestly can't see where all the gripes are. I leave it on all the time. It never crashes on me. It's only rebooted a couple of times because of certain updates it's gotten that required it (I know I know, why should an update require a reboot blah blah blah). It's really run like a dream. I don't have particularly fast hardware. It wasn't an expensive computer. I got it for $750 at Staples. I've never noticed a slow down because of aero. I run as a standard user and not as admin and the only time I get prompted for UAC is when I install something or I make system changes which is as it should be. (I had an issue with an HP program that assumed running as admin to check for updated drivers every day. Luckily that program was finally updated and so is no longer an issue.)
I mean honestly, what is the big problem? I keep reading articles and comments talking about how crappy Vista is and I just shake my head and say I don't get it. I don't know. I guess prejudices are hard to give up.
Of course everyone realizes that there are legal uses of wiretapping, right? This just makes it quick and convenient when they get the court authorization.
My livelihood is based off of making it easier for the government (specifically the military) to get information. There should be no doubt that the government could develop such a system because the govenment doesn't really develop it. They contract it out to companies that have the expertise, in this case Sprint.
You mention "competitive advantage" (well, technically you mention "competative advantage", but I quibble). Who are they competing against? It's a rare city where there is more than one cable company. Satellite TV? DVD rental?
The competitive advantage I was speaking of was in bandwidth. It behooves any company to utilize its resources to the best of its abilities. There's no point in waisting the bandwidth to carry a station that is only being watched by a few when it could use that bandwidth to provide to internet customers for a premium fee. You're right that this doesn't solve all bandwidth problems but replacing infrastructure isn't fast or cheap so they need to stay competitive in the mean time. If they don't use the mean time to increase their bandwidth as well, then they're shooting themselves in the foot. They may not be competing directly with other cable companies in most markets (though in some markets they are: see skyview cable), but they compete with the telecom companies providing telephone and internet and maybe TV (ie Verizon FiOS) and they compete with other WISPs type ISPs for internet (ie Utopia and Blue Zone) and they compete, as you said, with Satellite TV and DVD rentals. So if cable companies don't keep up, they'll be left behind.
I'm not saying I love cable companies. I actually don't. That's why I don't purchase services for cable companies. I think they provide crummy services for high prices. Nevertheless, there are real legitimate reasons behind their actions that don't necessarily involve, "Let's screw the consumer!"
The problem is standards always have trouble keeping up with the latest and greatest. Whenever you have something new and improved that gives competative advantage, the standard won't cover it. CableLabs don't control SDV. They control the guide and tuning. That's covered under CableCard 1. Third-party companies provided software for the set-top boxes for advanced features like VOD. Now because of CableCard 2, CableLabs is requiring the third-party software to conform to the standard. Now SDV is out and third-party companies are providing that. After a while CableLabs will come out with CableCard 3 which will cover that, I would imagine. Standards always trail the bleading edge.
This actually isn't due to the cable companies' greed. There are several layers of software on a cable box. There's the firmware, Guide programming (ie TV Guide), and any additional software features like VOD software on top of that. The cable company doesn't write any of it. It's the incompatibility of the software that's the issue. For things like VOD and PPV and now SDV, third party companies provide video servers, the servers that interact directly with the set-top boxes and software that is on each set-top box that does all of the communication back and forth. CableCard 2 is a mandated standard on how this communication must take place so that other cable boxes with the cards can be used in lieu of the cable companies boxes. CableCard 2 covers VOD and PPV but SDV is new and so it doesn't cover it.
Cable companies aren't implementing SDV just to make it difficult for companies like TIVO. SDV is a tremendous way to better utilize the available bandwidth. SDV allows a cable channel in a network segment that isn't getting watched to not be broadcast until someone tunes into the channel. This makes channels completely dynamic instead of being associated with a specific frequency. This will allow cable companies to use a fraction of the bandwidth to provide channels than they use now. They can then use that extra bandwidth for additional channels or broadband.
I was a set-top box developer for one of these third party VOD companies and I was associated with the SDV demo we put together to pitch to some cable companies. Since there is no standard, we do it the best way we know how that works with our system. So there really isn't a conspiracy here. Just companies trying to do business as cost-effective as possible with standards and governmental organizations just trying to keep up.
Not only do they overstate the buying potential of the music file sharers, but they also make the assumption that people who illegally download then take the money they would have used to purchase the music and then put it into a mattress. In reality, if they don't spend money on music, they're probably going to spend it on something else or it'll be invested (ie savings in the bank) which adds to thd GDP.
If the IPI is going to make statements like this, they should at least take into account what a first semester economics class could teach.
I don't understand how this is considered censorship. Censorship is when the government tries and silence speech. Walmart, as large as it is, isn't the government. Walmart has made a financial (and perhaps a moral?) decision to only sell parental advisory albums that are edited. This is all part of creating goodwill with customers. Some customers are probably grateful for the option to be able to buy these albums at Walmart which is good business. Some won't and they'll buy the albums somewhere else. Apparently Walmart believes there are more that want the edited albums than don't. As a private business, they should be able to sell or not sell whatever music they want.
Likewise they are selling music that's DRM free. This is a business decision because they believe that's what their customers want and they'll have more sales because of it. If you like your DRM with your music, you're free to purchase your music elsewhere. I really don't see a problem with what they're doing in either case.
The author shows a photo with the laptop next to a Taiwan $10 coin, adding that it is about the same size as a US half-dollar. Since this won't help most folks in the US (for whom receiving a half-dollar coin in change is a rare occurrence), it may help to know that the NT$10 coin is not quite 2mm larger than a U.S. quarter.
Most people in the US don't know what a millimeter is either;-).
Some standards are developed before the implementation like the 802.11n standard. That makes sure everyone can interopperate. You can also open a previously closed format which is what Microsoft is doing. This will allow other companies to implement Microsoft's format in their own products without having to reverse engineer it or pay for it.
I believe ODF worked the same way. They defined the format and then allowed it to be open so others can implement it. It's not exactly the same because ODF is Open Source but it's similar. I could be wrong about this one. I can't remember how it was developed very well.
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peace protestors
Why would anybody ever want to protest peace? That in and of itself should send you to jail!
I think optimism is something different than what you're describing (at least to me). Optimism is an attitude that thinks the best of people and situations. The things that you describe are just stupidity.
I look at myself as an optimist. I truly believe that things will get better even if they've been getting worst. That doesn't mean I sit around waiting for it to get better. I work and make plans and do what I can to make it better and I have contingencies if they don't work, but I do it because I believe I can make things better and if it doesn't work, then I try something else.
I can look at any situation that I'm in and see the good in it. That doesn't mean I'm not aware of the bad, but I can be happy for the good and do things to try and change the bad.
I believe that the vast majority of people are inherently good. That doesn't mean I blindly trust. I still protect myself because not everyone is and even good people make bad choices.
In short I would best describe myself as an optimistic pragmatist and I believe it's this combination that makes me an inherently happy and laid back person.
Just my point of view. YMMV.
What exactly is wrong with this decision?
Really there was no contest. He was up against Irena Sendler who saved 2500 Jewish children from being killed in the holocaust. What's saving 2500 children when you can Save the World!
My water pump went out in my FWD 1990 Ford Escort about 100 miles from home. I was able to get it to both of the mechanics in the small town. The first was too busy to even look at it for days. The second told me I'd thrown a rod and it'd cost $1200. I left it in his impound lot and hitched a ride home. I came back with a U-haul trailer and a friend's truck and towed it back home. I took it to my preferred mechanic and he told me it was only the water pump and he could fix it for $200. So many mechanics are crooks that a good one is worth his weight in gold.
I've personally seen the *exact same* shirt on sale in the mens' department and the womens' department of a store, and the version in the mens' department was less than half the cost.
That's because it's harder to get a guy to buy a girls shirt to wear than a girl!
barber doesn't even ask me what cut I want since I've been going there for so long and always get the same thing... no need to pull out books or look at a magazine clipping to figure out how to cut it.
My wife and I have always joked that you can tell the last time a guy thought he was cool by the style of his haircut. Look around, you'll see that it's true.
That being said, I've had the same haircut for the last 14 years too.
The LifeStraw filters particles from 125 micron down to minimal 15 micron
.015 microns
The Lifesaver Bottle cuts out everything larger than 15nm. 15nm =
So yes, this is new news.
You could probably pick up some good computers for free with this as people would just go out and buy new ones.
It's the embryonic stem cell research that is forbidden in the United States
One little difference from what you said. Embryonic stem cell research is not forbidden in the United States. The federal government just won't fund it except from a couple of pre-existing stem cell lines (which I guess are corrupted and worthless now anyway). Lot's of embryonic stem cell research happens via private funds and is often even funded through states like California.
Everything else you said is spot on.
I'm just as conservative as the next slashdotter (I had to say it), but there really shouldn't be any laws against this type of "payola". Who cares if someone gets paid for their opinions or not. Who cares is someone gets paid and changes their opinion because of it. If the arguments are sound, does it really matter if the person making the arguments really believes them or not?
All of this "campaign finance regulation" is a joke. Money doesn't buy campaigns. If it did, Steve Forbes would be president right now. The federal government should stop limiting free speech by removing the limit on campaign donations and giving out "media exemptions" and all the rest.
I'm not sure if that should be a metric. I installed it on XP and I could no longer browse the web ever. I had to rebuild the machine to fix it. Here where I work notbody uses Cisco VPN except in a virtual machine.
Let me know nine months from now if Vista can actually do anything for you that XP, Mac or gnu/linux could not do faster
My mother-in-law is a very unknowledgeable user. I bought her a computer a week after I bought mine and I set it up with Vista (came with XP but Vista had just been released so I got a free upgrade). My mother-in-law's biggest problem has always been her kids coming home to visit and downloading or installing crap. It's always been a challenge to lock her XP down. With Vista it's a piece of cake. She runs as a standard user and since she isn't a power user, she rarely has to be bothered by UAC. When she is, it's no big deal to enter the admin password. Now when I go to visit I don't have to spend hours cleaning off viruses and spyware. It all just works. She's never had an issue and I never have to fix something using the VNC server I installed on it like I used to with her XP.
As for faster, it really doesn't have a speed problem. I've never noticed any speed issue and that's with Aero running. It's an HP that I paid $650 for and it included a monitor. Not exactly high-end hardware.
I agree. I happened to buy a computer the first week Vista came out. I honestly didn't even realize it had come out. My old computer went bad and I needed a new one fast. I honestly can't see where all the gripes are. I leave it on all the time. It never crashes on me. It's only rebooted a couple of times because of certain updates it's gotten that required it (I know I know, why should an update require a reboot blah blah blah). It's really run like a dream. I don't have particularly fast hardware. It wasn't an expensive computer. I got it for $750 at Staples. I've never noticed a slow down because of aero. I run as a standard user and not as admin and the only time I get prompted for UAC is when I install something or I make system changes which is as it should be. (I had an issue with an HP program that assumed running as admin to check for updated drivers every day. Luckily that program was finally updated and so is no longer an issue.)
I mean honestly, what is the big problem? I keep reading articles and comments talking about how crappy Vista is and I just shake my head and say I don't get it. I don't know. I guess prejudices are hard to give up.
Of course everyone realizes that there are legal uses of wiretapping, right? This just makes it quick and convenient when they get the court authorization.
My livelihood is based off of making it easier for the government (specifically the military) to get information. There should be no doubt that the government could develop such a system because the govenment doesn't really develop it. They contract it out to companies that have the expertise, in this case Sprint.
You mention "competitive advantage" (well, technically you mention "competative advantage", but I quibble). Who are they competing against? It's a rare city where there is more than one cable company. Satellite TV? DVD rental?
The competitive advantage I was speaking of was in bandwidth. It behooves any company to utilize its resources to the best of its abilities. There's no point in waisting the bandwidth to carry a station that is only being watched by a few when it could use that bandwidth to provide to internet customers for a premium fee. You're right that this doesn't solve all bandwidth problems but replacing infrastructure isn't fast or cheap so they need to stay competitive in the mean time. If they don't use the mean time to increase their bandwidth as well, then they're shooting themselves in the foot. They may not be competing directly with other cable companies in most markets (though in some markets they are: see skyview cable), but they compete with the telecom companies providing telephone and internet and maybe TV (ie Verizon FiOS) and they compete with other WISPs type ISPs for internet (ie Utopia and Blue Zone) and they compete, as you said, with Satellite TV and DVD rentals. So if cable companies don't keep up, they'll be left behind.
I'm not saying I love cable companies. I actually don't. That's why I don't purchase services for cable companies. I think they provide crummy services for high prices. Nevertheless, there are real legitimate reasons behind their actions that don't necessarily involve, "Let's screw the consumer!"
Skyview Cable
There are alternatives to cable.
The problem is standards always have trouble keeping up with the latest and greatest. Whenever you have something new and improved that gives competative advantage, the standard won't cover it. CableLabs don't control SDV. They control the guide and tuning. That's covered under CableCard 1. Third-party companies provided software for the set-top boxes for advanced features like VOD. Now because of CableCard 2, CableLabs is requiring the third-party software to conform to the standard. Now SDV is out and third-party companies are providing that. After a while CableLabs will come out with CableCard 3 which will cover that, I would imagine. Standards always trail the bleading edge.
This actually isn't due to the cable companies' greed. There are several layers of software on a cable box. There's the firmware, Guide programming (ie TV Guide), and any additional software features like VOD software on top of that. The cable company doesn't write any of it. It's the incompatibility of the software that's the issue. For things like VOD and PPV and now SDV, third party companies provide video servers, the servers that interact directly with the set-top boxes and software that is on each set-top box that does all of the communication back and forth. CableCard 2 is a mandated standard on how this communication must take place so that other cable boxes with the cards can be used in lieu of the cable companies boxes. CableCard 2 covers VOD and PPV but SDV is new and so it doesn't cover it.
Cable companies aren't implementing SDV just to make it difficult for companies like TIVO. SDV is a tremendous way to better utilize the available bandwidth. SDV allows a cable channel in a network segment that isn't getting watched to not be broadcast until someone tunes into the channel. This makes channels completely dynamic instead of being associated with a specific frequency. This will allow cable companies to use a fraction of the bandwidth to provide channels than they use now. They can then use that extra bandwidth for additional channels or broadband.
I was a set-top box developer for one of these third party VOD companies and I was associated with the SDV demo we put together to pitch to some cable companies. Since there is no standard, we do it the best way we know how that works with our system. So there really isn't a conspiracy here. Just companies trying to do business as cost-effective as possible with standards and governmental organizations just trying to keep up.
If the IPI is going to make statements like this, they should at least take into account what a first semester economics class could teach.
Actually they're going to change the name of the planet to Urectum.
I don't understand how this is considered censorship. Censorship is when the government tries and silence speech. Walmart, as large as it is, isn't the government. Walmart has made a financial (and perhaps a moral?) decision to only sell parental advisory albums that are edited. This is all part of creating goodwill with customers. Some customers are probably grateful for the option to be able to buy these albums at Walmart which is good business. Some won't and they'll buy the albums somewhere else. Apparently Walmart believes there are more that want the edited albums than don't. As a private business, they should be able to sell or not sell whatever music they want.
Likewise they are selling music that's DRM free. This is a business decision because they believe that's what their customers want and they'll have more sales because of it. If you like your DRM with your music, you're free to purchase your music elsewhere. I really don't see a problem with what they're doing in either case.
Most people in the US don't know what a millimeter is either
Some standards are developed before the implementation like the 802.11n standard. That makes sure everyone can interopperate. You can also open a previously closed format which is what Microsoft is doing. This will allow other companies to implement Microsoft's format in their own products without having to reverse engineer it or pay for it.
I believe ODF worked the same way. They defined the format and then allowed it to be open so others can implement it. It's not exactly the same because ODF is Open Source but it's similar. I could be wrong about this one. I can't remember how it was developed very well.
People don't buy OS X. They go out and buy a mac.