It's called competition - you and I both trying to do task A better than the other guy. It's the basis of capitalism, and yes, Martha, it's a very good thing.
At my company, there are three classes of engineers working on products - Developers (obviously), Test Engineers (again, obviously), and Program Managers. The PM's write the specs, driving down from customer-based scenarios to high-level requirements and high-level features. The Developers write a Development Spec based on the PM Spec to detail the implementation, and the Tester's write a Test Plan and Matrix based on the PM and Dev Spec's to figure out how to test the beast.
The three entities involved in the development process work together to set schedules, cost features, triage and fix bugs, and ship the damn product.
The main benefits of this approach are:
The PM owns the high-level stuff, and interacts with customers (directly or via Support, Marketing, Sales, etc.) as well as the schedule and shipping. The PM's spec needs to be the most complete, as it's the basis for the other specs, and the spec that gets the most external attention.
The Dev Spec and Test Plan need only be as complete as necessary for those people to do their jobs and maintain some continuity should someone move on from that role. Specifics that need to be known outside the team are listed in the PM Spec.
Only Dev's write code, only Testers sign off on features, and PM's do the rest of it. This formal separation breaks down a little in practice (I'm a PM who can and does occasionally code), but the separation means that issues that crop up will automatically have an owner to drive them to resolution.
Feature creep is kept to a minimum as well, as the owners of issues push back due to resource constraints.
Loss of productivity is kept to a minimum through an aggressive triage process that takes the schedule and costs into account.
Separation of engineering disciplines and the duties among those disciplines helps keep people happy as well. Good coders find their way into the Dev branch, detail-oriented bug hunters find their way into Test, and good communicators with more rounded skills become PM's.
This system works, and works well, but mainly because it was introduced, we lived through the chaos and FUD it introduced, tuned and retuned the system, and keep polishing it - evolutionary processes to produce good software.
the players get one pay rate if it's just a live concert, a much higher pay rate if the show is also going to be broadcast on radio or television, and a still higher rate yet if there is going to be a commercial CD or DVD made
OK, so part of the profit of the CD/MP3 being sold at the concert goes to the performer to make up for the "loss" they incurred by being paid for a live show but actually producing a CD. Cost of this would fall somewhere between broadcast and traditional CD recording, IMHO. If I were a venue owner/manager, I'd start talks with the union to make this happen.
troll mode on
Of course, this solution makes so much sense, the union won't accept it.
Legislating a need for IT translates to tech jobs that can't be cut...
And fifty years from now, when e-mail is archaic and everyone has a solution from one of several competitive vendors, do you think that legislated government job is going to go away? Look at the Prohibition agents in the early 20th century in the U.S. - the "Untouchables" that are touted and deified. When Prohibition was repealed, where did those agents go? Were they fired, as the law that created their agency and jobs was repealed? No, they were subsumed into a new agency to police guns in America. Government doesn't cut jobs, they shuffle them, and legislating a job into place means we'll have it forever, whether it's necessary or not.
Who's going to pay that guys salary? The corporate entity who was dictated to carry him? They'll turn that cost into higher prices for their products, which means you, as a consumer, will be paying higher costs for the products you buy, which means you'll have less money to buy all the things you need, which means companies will be reporting less profit, which drives down stock prices, which means they'll have to find a way to be profitable, which means cutting costs, which usually means job loss, which means you'll have less job security in the long run - unless you're the happy guy with the unnecessary government job that can't be cut.
If that is the case, who is ultimately responsible
Linspire is responsible - they "own" the content and presented it. They should have checked it for copyright/licensing infringement. Of course, should a case be brought, they can cross-indemnify the third-party that created the content, who can also cross-indemnify their subcontractor, in effect continually passing the blame to the next node in the lawsuit token ring...
Seattle (where I live) is putting in hi-tech parking meters as well, and I don't think they solve any problems from the user perspective.
1. Can you imagine being in a store in a long line to check out and getting an SMS message that you've got 10 minutes to plug more money in the machine before the tow truck gets an SMS message to pick your car up? And how did they SMS me anyway - do I now have to provide a valid SMS address to park? How about bonding my BT phone to the meter? E-mail address? Mother's maiden name, just to make sure everything's "secure"?
2. More ways to advertise? I'm all for capitalism, but I'm tired of being sold something by someone everytime I turn around.
3. Use Smart cards or CC's only? What a wonderful way to continue to devalue the fiat currency we already have, and provide centralized tracking to commercial and government interests! What if I don't have a CC/SC to use? Where do I park then?
4. Taking a picture of my car parked at a specific meter raises some big privacy concerns - does that mean the city now knows I was parked in front of meter CC11254/V, instead of CC42319/X which is two blocks over? How do I keep the city from defrauding me by sending out bogus tickets saying I was parked somewhere I wasn't? (Chicago reportedly did this in Illinois years ago) How do I know where the meter is located if I want to defend myself? Would knowing the identifying characteristics of the specific meter compromise the security of the meter network so much that I wouldn't be able to get that info, hampering my defense?
I think this is a solution in search of a problem, or at least in search of people who think it's a problem. As much as I hate to say it (especially here), there is such a thing as too much technology. Just like the Segway solved the problem of walking, this solves the problems of collecting money for parking in the street. What's next - do we solve the problem of keeping our heads dry in the rain with an Itanium-based wireless web-service tied to local weather centers and humidity detectors on light poles, for a nominal service charge?
In the States, the liability is one of the largest problems.
It's a problem with everything in the U.S. - tobacco, fast-food, popcorn ceiling tiles, you name it. If there's someone with deep pockets associated with the damage you've caused yourself, you don't have to take responsibility. Or be poor, in fact...
The REAL issue with this technology is how to use that information
My friend has a car that beeps when he backs up too close to something else. It's a good audible indicator to keep him from backing into a post. However, it doesn't apply the brakes for him to keep him from doing it. I had a car that indicated when I should shift gears for maximum fuel efficiency, but since it was a standard, it didn't shift for me. If a new car could tell me I was doing something wrong, I'd correct it. If it pulls the wheel out of my hand to stop me from doing something it thinks is wrong, I'm returning it to the dealer and buying a '78 Pinto.
Depends on the standard and where it originates from. Industry standards, brought about by market needs, competitive designs, and free association and agreement between parties - no problems there. MP3 v. WMA, DVD*, etc - all are standards based on the market and what it will bear. How long did DIVX hang around?
Building codes and other standards imposed and enforced by government I don't agree with, as they leave no room for innovation and assume that I have no say in the risks I choose to take by not following the standard.
As for standards that cross the line, look at how much more has been done with them since they were turned over to private control (like TCP/IP), or how stagnant they became when they were controlled by one and only one entity with the capability to enforce them (like AT&T before the breakup).
You think buildings would be safer if every builder was allowed to "innovate" their own designs?
Yes. Before building codes, people built buildings that stood and worked properly because if they didn't, they might die. New materials meant innovations meant new ways of building buildings - all without building codes. Building codes are ways for government and unions to assert control over individual builders.
Do you think the highways would work better if each one was a toll road, allowed to design to their own needs?
Again, yes, like the Dulles Greenway, a successfully run private toll road to Dulles Airport.
Do you think it would be better or worse for communications if ATT and Verizon each designed and developed phone technology independently of each other, meaning interoperation didn't happen?
You mean like the competition between RSS and Atom news reader formats? How long do you think the market would stand two incompatible standards before one of the two started specing in some interoperability? In any case, your point is moot - basic telephone service was set up by a monopoly (remember the break-up of AT&T, aka Ma Bell?) - wireless phone service had to interoperate with the baseline to be useful and adopted. The standard was set in place by a single company - all the others had to deal with the existing infrastructure to be picked up by the market. Look at how much fun IPv6 is having trying to be adopted and spec'd - it needs to interoperate with the existing standard or it's just another hobby platform.
the South had different guage of train tracks than the North, and it's part of what led to the cultural divide, which in turn led to the Civil War.
It was a part, but a very small part. The bigger issue was the fact that the Federal government was trying to impose its standards on the southern States, leading to the seccession of South Carolina. Train track guages was a small factor - the big problem was that Lincoln's government was trying to dictate what the States could and could not do, imposing one set of standards for radically different geographies and economies.
I disagree that one company should be in control of that standard; instead, it should be controlled by an open forum. As was the early internet...
Look it up - the early internet was controlled by the DoD under the DARPA program, one government agency dictating the standards, protocols, even the people who could connect. Even now, one corporation controls DNS, arguably the backbone of the modern internet (anyone know the IP address of slashdot.org? Thought not...)
The fact is Microsoft is involved in standards bodies and works to define and refine standards in use by everyone. Yes, MS embraces and extends, but even back in the day, compiler authors did the same to programming languages (Borland C anyone? UCSD Pascal?). Even modern BIOS manufacturers extend their products over and above the base spec. Extensions to standards lead to future extended standards - ever wonder what the world would be like with Bjarne Stroustrup's C++? How about Emacs Lisp?
Perhaps... A Tablet PC with EBook software comes close. The biggest feature I see is the hi-res reflective display (bigger than my PPC screen).
However, it will still only be useful if there are ways to take raw text data and convert it to their EBook format, or if they're going to support other readers (means a decent OS on the thing) or other formats (hefty licensing fees?).
For my part, if I'm locked into the books they're doling out, I'd take a pass - I've got too much in other formats I want to continue reading.
Of course, if what one wants is to keep the reading material one has useful no matter the technology, one would be better off to stick to dead trees...
Many of the things that are done in the name of MaxProfits look pretty unsustainable
Going for reasonable profit is like pulling your punches in a fight to conserve energy - sooner or later, your opponent is gonna hit you hard enough that you'll have plenty of energy to think about what you should have done as you're lying on the mat.
Companies that engage in unsustainable behaviors are not sustained in a free market. Look at the companies that continue to be viable pursuing unsustainable free market practices - how much government intervention is there surrounding those companies? How much cash do they have to live on while they thrash around? If there's nothing else keeping them aflot, maybe their strategy is indeed sustainable behavior and economic theory needs to be updated.
As an IE user, I've seen this happen the other way around as well - interesting web sites that block IE in the same way. It's wrong, no matter which way it happens.
Of course, if people would learn HTML rather than use FrontPage or Word or to create their web pages, then maybe they could conform to some standard and make everyone happy. I'm thinking some Utopian wet-dream I once had featured that on a traveller's ad somewhere...:-)
Nader? Not sure I would ever stoop to that - if I'm wasting my vote, I'll waste it on a Libertarian candidate before following a herd of green socialists.
we've got a "cut taxes for the rich and spend" "conservative
To be fair, the Bush tax cut was a fairly across-the-board tax cut, but he paid for it by increasing the deficit. I agree, it's not fiscally conservative (nor fiscally responsible).
we've got a "cut taxes for the rich and spend" "conservative
It's an interesting sociological phenomenon - when your guy's in power, everything he does is right, even if it's wrong. I'm not sure where that comes from - if the guy in charge is my guy and he does something stupid, I'm gonna say he did something stupid. I do that with my bosses at work, I'm certainly not pulling back because the guy's in government.
quite a bit of Central America, and Quebec
Central America has been on our list since Ronnie Raygun and his harsh anti-drug stance. As for the Quebecois, what, exactly, can they do? They haven't even successfully seceded from Canada - I'm not worried about them taking over Vermont and New Hampshire. And if you could compate the gun laws in effect in Vermont and New Hampshire against Canadian gun laws, neither would you.:-)
If people stopped listening to it, the show would be canceled, and he would be off the air.
You mean, run it like a free market? Blasphemy!:-)
I don't understand how Republicans get away with this level of hypocrisy. They are in favor of privitization and less Government regulation of businesses,
You obviously haven't been looking at the new Republican party. They've been paying lip service to those ideals while increasing the size of government and government intervention in every aspect of our lives since Ronny Ray-gun stepped into office. In fact, there is no fundamental difference anymore between Republican and Democrat - they are both aimed on micro-managing America. One of them is left-handed, the other right-handed, but both manage to be sinister.
This is also why they make CD, tape, and MP3 players.
When Stern came on to replace my morning DJ's on a local station, I stopped listening to that station. I wake up to a classical music station, and listen to my MP3 collection at work and one or more of my CD's in the car.
The fact is that you and I have choices - in fact, your decision to have kids was one of those choices, as are the things you do to raise them "right". You can choose to turn off the radio and swap in something safe for your kids. No one is forcing you to keep your radio on, listening to things you consider inappropriate, vulgar, profane, or just plain stupid. However, government efforts to make the public airwaves "safe" for your kids is a forcing function, forcing your choice on everyone else who shares those airwaves.
They're also missing the Sun, which is a lot bigger and has a lot more pull around here than Earth does.
At this stage in our technological evolution, what can we do about them anyway? Nuclear missiles strikes to deflect/break up the rock? Ask Bruce Willis and his team to attach some rocket packs to deflect it? Ask everyone on Earth to lean East at once to speed up our rotation a bit so the asteroid hits in the ocean?
When there's something that can be done, let's do it as fast and as well as we can. When there's nothing to be done, worry is wasted thought.
So let the government look out for those that can't look out for themselves. And for those of you who are capable, what are you complaining about?
What am I complaining about? Government makes no attempt to figure out who's capable and who's not - it applies the same set of standards to everyone. There's no opt-out list for government, so I don't get the choice to be treated like a responsible adult.
That's what I'm complaining about... and working to fix.
Yikes! Does this mean movies 5-10 will be the same movie, just digitally changing scenery and dress, and adding more and more black circles under the Dragon's eyes?
I saw the first Harry Potter movie, thought it was formulaic, haven't yet read the books, but do have an observation.
A few years ago when Rowling's books were the literary version of Beanie Babies, I did a lot of travelling. On every flight, in every airport waiting area, there was at least one pre-teen kid carrying this five pound hard-cover monstrosity in their hands with a bookmark half-way through the book. My observation at the time was that any author that could convince a kid to read and carry a book the size of "War and Peace" or "The Stand" through an airport with them couldn't be doing such a bad job.
So while the stories may be like Spaghetti-O's to an Italian chef, if they get kids to stop draining their minds into the boob box, how bad can it be? You can't expect every twelve-year-old in the world to pick up Tolkein and devour it - wean them on Rowlings, work them through Earthsea and Wrinkle, introduce them to the Hobbit, and Bob's yer uncle.
If someone could do the Covenant series correctly, I might actually go to a theater to see it.
I'm not above watching someone else's mental picture come to life, so long as they tell the whole story and don't take shortcuts to make the picture fit some Hollywood idea of what the story is. The imagery isn't the problem, it's the "adaptation" of the story to fit into the stereotypical American movie box.
I think the issue of using a cell phone at work is a symptom of a larger issue, and that's exactly how much of your life does your employer own. It speaks to a larger theory called work-life balance. Do you have life to supply work for your employer, or do you work to support your life? Look at what potions of your life you already give up for your employer and find the balance point. Taken in a larger context, your employer banning the use of your cell phone at work, no matter how well justified or logically supported, can be viewed as just another way for them to assert control over your life.
For the record, I do own and use my own cell phone for personal and work related purposes. But then again, I work someplace where they treat us like adults - people who voluntarily give of ourselves to the company for profit (both our own and the company, which is our own as well thanks to stock options), and how will reimburse me for work-related phone calls on my cell and wired phones.
In the end, you get to ask yourself what you want on your tombstone:
He worked hard and made a lot of money in a job he didn't like for an employer he hated.
You'd probably have to explain that the sharp edges were for cutting away buggy code, the guard was to prevent you from becoming infected with a virus, and the ball n the hilt for beating worms into submission.
And if that doesn't work, behead 'em and claim you're a freelance executioner between jobs...
The only problem with that is that European countries have already disarmed their citizenry with anti-gun legislation. The chances of finding an armed home-owner defending themselves in Germany, England, or France is much lower than in the U.S. I don't have the exact stats, but I'm sure any compentant corporate actuarial would be able to bless a company's raid, as well as give acceptable loss numbers...
Re:I still cant help but be a little disappointed.
on
Review: KDE 3.2
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· Score: 1
Why copy Redmond with UI design? I think that's a simple question to answer - if you want your mom, uncles, and non-industry friends to use Linux, you need to make it as easy to use as the Win9X/XP stuff they're exposed to. Like it or not, MS has market share and exposure. If the UI of the new Linux system you want to give them is too far removed from what they are used to using, they won't like it.
I've fought this battle with my spouse when we moved from DOS to Win9X, and from 9X to 2K and XP. Every change I introduced to keep current sent her into a tailspin, as she now had to learn a (slightly) new way of doing what she wanted to do.
If you don't like the UI shell's provided, you're always free to write your own on a new paradigm.
Slashdot Mirror
It's called competition - you and I both trying to do task A better than the other guy. It's the basis of capitalism, and yes, Martha, it's a very good thing.
The main benefits of this approach are:
- The PM owns the high-level stuff, and interacts with customers (directly or via Support, Marketing, Sales, etc.) as well as the schedule and shipping. The PM's spec needs to be the most complete, as it's the basis for the other specs, and the spec that gets the most external attention.
- The Dev Spec and Test Plan need only be as complete as necessary for those people to do their jobs and maintain some continuity should someone move on from that role. Specifics that need to be known outside the team are listed in the PM Spec.
- Only Dev's write code, only Testers sign off on features, and PM's do the rest of it. This formal separation breaks down a little in practice (I'm a PM who can and does occasionally code), but the separation means that issues that crop up will automatically have an owner to drive them to resolution.
- Feature creep is kept to a minimum as well, as the owners of issues push back due to resource constraints.
- Loss of productivity is kept to a minimum through an aggressive triage process that takes the schedule and costs into account.
- Separation of engineering disciplines and the duties among those disciplines helps keep people happy as well. Good coders find their way into the Dev branch, detail-oriented bug hunters find their way into Test, and good communicators with more rounded skills become PM's.
This system works, and works well, but mainly because it was introduced, we lived through the chaos and FUD it introduced, tuned and retuned the system, and keep polishing it - evolutionary processes to produce good software.OK, so part of the profit of the CD/MP3 being sold at the concert goes to the performer to make up for the "loss" they incurred by being paid for a live show but actually producing a CD. Cost of this would fall somewhere between broadcast and traditional CD recording, IMHO. If I were a venue owner/manager, I'd start talks with the union to make this happen.
troll mode on
Of course, this solution makes so much sense, the union won't accept it.
troll mode off
And fifty years from now, when e-mail is archaic and everyone has a solution from one of several competitive vendors, do you think that legislated government job is going to go away? Look at the Prohibition agents in the early 20th century in the U.S. - the "Untouchables" that are touted and deified. When Prohibition was repealed, where did those agents go? Were they fired, as the law that created their agency and jobs was repealed? No, they were subsumed into a new agency to police guns in America. Government doesn't cut jobs, they shuffle them, and legislating a job into place means we'll have it forever, whether it's necessary or not.
Who's going to pay that guys salary? The corporate entity who was dictated to carry him? They'll turn that cost into higher prices for their products, which means you, as a consumer, will be paying higher costs for the products you buy, which means you'll have less money to buy all the things you need, which means companies will be reporting less profit, which drives down stock prices, which means they'll have to find a way to be profitable, which means cutting costs, which usually means job loss, which means you'll have less job security in the long run - unless you're the happy guy with the unnecessary government job that can't be cut.
Linspire is responsible - they "own" the content and presented it. They should have checked it for copyright/licensing infringement. Of course, should a case be brought, they can cross-indemnify the third-party that created the content, who can also cross-indemnify their subcontractor, in effect continually passing the blame to the next node in the lawsuit token ring...
1. Can you imagine being in a store in a long line to check out and getting an SMS message that you've got 10 minutes to plug more money in the machine before the tow truck gets an SMS message to pick your car up? And how did they SMS me anyway - do I now have to provide a valid SMS address to park? How about bonding my BT phone to the meter? E-mail address? Mother's maiden name, just to make sure everything's "secure"?
2. More ways to advertise? I'm all for capitalism, but I'm tired of being sold something by someone everytime I turn around.
3. Use Smart cards or CC's only? What a wonderful way to continue to devalue the fiat currency we already have, and provide centralized tracking to commercial and government interests! What if I don't have a CC/SC to use? Where do I park then?
4. Taking a picture of my car parked at a specific meter raises some big privacy concerns - does that mean the city now knows I was parked in front of meter CC11254/V, instead of CC42319/X which is two blocks over? How do I keep the city from defrauding me by sending out bogus tickets saying I was parked somewhere I wasn't? (Chicago reportedly did this in Illinois years ago) How do I know where the meter is located if I want to defend myself? Would knowing the identifying characteristics of the specific meter compromise the security of the meter network so much that I wouldn't be able to get that info, hampering my defense?
I think this is a solution in search of a problem, or at least in search of people who think it's a problem. As much as I hate to say it (especially here), there is such a thing as too much technology. Just like the Segway solved the problem of walking, this solves the problems of collecting money for parking in the street. What's next - do we solve the problem of keeping our heads dry in the rain with an Itanium-based wireless web-service tied to local weather centers and humidity detectors on light poles, for a nominal service charge?
It's a problem with everything in the U.S. - tobacco, fast-food, popcorn ceiling tiles, you name it. If there's someone with deep pockets associated with the damage you've caused yourself, you don't have to take responsibility. Or be poor, in fact...
The REAL issue with this technology is how to use that information
My friend has a car that beeps when he backs up too close to something else. It's a good audible indicator to keep him from backing into a post. However, it doesn't apply the brakes for him to keep him from doing it. I had a car that indicated when I should shift gears for maximum fuel efficiency, but since it was a standard, it didn't shift for me. If a new car could tell me I was doing something wrong, I'd correct it. If it pulls the wheel out of my hand to stop me from doing something it thinks is wrong, I'm returning it to the dealer and buying a '78 Pinto.
Depends on the standard and where it originates from. Industry standards, brought about by market needs, competitive designs, and free association and agreement between parties - no problems there. MP3 v. WMA, DVD*, etc - all are standards based on the market and what it will bear. How long did DIVX hang around?
Building codes and other standards imposed and enforced by government I don't agree with, as they leave no room for innovation and assume that I have no say in the risks I choose to take by not following the standard.
As for standards that cross the line, look at how much more has been done with them since they were turned over to private control (like TCP/IP), or how stagnant they became when they were controlled by one and only one entity with the capability to enforce them (like AT&T before the breakup).
Yes. Before building codes, people built buildings that stood and worked properly because if they didn't, they might die. New materials meant innovations meant new ways of building buildings - all without building codes. Building codes are ways for government and unions to assert control over individual builders.
Do you think the highways would work better if each one was a toll road, allowed to design to their own needs?
Again, yes, like the Dulles Greenway, a successfully run private toll road to Dulles Airport.
Do you think it would be better or worse for communications if ATT and Verizon each designed and developed phone technology independently of each other, meaning interoperation didn't happen?
You mean like the competition between RSS and Atom news reader formats? How long do you think the market would stand two incompatible standards before one of the two started specing in some interoperability? In any case, your point is moot - basic telephone service was set up by a monopoly (remember the break-up of AT&T, aka Ma Bell?) - wireless phone service had to interoperate with the baseline to be useful and adopted. The standard was set in place by a single company - all the others had to deal with the existing infrastructure to be picked up by the market. Look at how much fun IPv6 is having trying to be adopted and spec'd - it needs to interoperate with the existing standard or it's just another hobby platform.
the South had different guage of train tracks than the North, and it's part of what led to the cultural divide, which in turn led to the Civil War.
It was a part, but a very small part. The bigger issue was the fact that the Federal government was trying to impose its standards on the southern States, leading to the seccession of South Carolina. Train track guages was a small factor - the big problem was that Lincoln's government was trying to dictate what the States could and could not do, imposing one set of standards for radically different geographies and economies.
I disagree that one company should be in control of that standard; instead, it should be controlled by an open forum. As was the early internet...
Look it up - the early internet was controlled by the DoD under the DARPA program, one government agency dictating the standards, protocols, even the people who could connect. Even now, one corporation controls DNS, arguably the backbone of the modern internet (anyone know the IP address of slashdot.org? Thought not...)
The fact is Microsoft is involved in standards bodies and works to define and refine standards in use by everyone. Yes, MS embraces and extends, but even back in the day, compiler authors did the same to programming languages (Borland C anyone? UCSD Pascal?). Even modern BIOS manufacturers extend their products over and above the base spec. Extensions to standards lead to future extended standards - ever wonder what the world would be like with Bjarne Stroustrup's C++? How about Emacs Lisp?
Perhaps... A Tablet PC with EBook software comes close. The biggest feature I see is the hi-res reflective display (bigger than my PPC screen).
However, it will still only be useful if there are ways to take raw text data and convert it to their EBook format, or if they're going to support other readers (means a decent OS on the thing) or other formats (hefty licensing fees?).
For my part, if I'm locked into the books they're doling out, I'd take a pass - I've got too much in other formats I want to continue reading.
Of course, if what one wants is to keep the reading material one has useful no matter the technology, one would be better off to stick to dead trees...
Going for reasonable profit is like pulling your punches in a fight to conserve energy - sooner or later, your opponent is gonna hit you hard enough that you'll have plenty of energy to think about what you should have done as you're lying on the mat.
Companies that engage in unsustainable behaviors are not sustained in a free market. Look at the companies that continue to be viable pursuing unsustainable free market practices - how much government intervention is there surrounding those companies? How much cash do they have to live on while they thrash around? If there's nothing else keeping them aflot, maybe their strategy is indeed sustainable behavior and economic theory needs to be updated.
As an IE user, I've seen this happen the other way around as well - interesting web sites that block IE in the same way. It's wrong, no matter which way it happens.
:-)
Of course, if people would learn HTML rather than use FrontPage or Word or to create their web pages, then maybe they could conform to some standard and make everyone happy. I'm thinking some Utopian wet-dream I once had featured that on a traveller's ad somewhere...
Nader? Not sure I would ever stoop to that - if I'm wasting my vote, I'll waste it on a Libertarian candidate before following a herd of green socialists.
we've got a "cut taxes for the rich and spend" "conservative
To be fair, the Bush tax cut was a fairly across-the-board tax cut, but he paid for it by increasing the deficit. I agree, it's not fiscally conservative (nor fiscally responsible).
we've got a "cut taxes for the rich and spend" "conservative
It's an interesting sociological phenomenon - when your guy's in power, everything he does is right, even if it's wrong. I'm not sure where that comes from - if the guy in charge is my guy and he does something stupid, I'm gonna say he did something stupid. I do that with my bosses at work, I'm certainly not pulling back because the guy's in government.
quite a bit of Central America, and Quebec
Central America has been on our list since Ronnie Raygun and his harsh anti-drug stance. As for the Quebecois, what, exactly, can they do? They haven't even successfully seceded from Canada - I'm not worried about them taking over Vermont and New Hampshire. And if you could compate the gun laws in effect in Vermont and New Hampshire against Canadian gun laws, neither would you. :-)
You mean, run it like a free market? Blasphemy! :-)
I don't understand how Republicans get away with this level of hypocrisy. They are in favor of privitization and less Government regulation of businesses,
You obviously haven't been looking at the new Republican party. They've been paying lip service to those ideals while increasing the size of government and government intervention in every aspect of our lives since Ronny Ray-gun stepped into office. In fact, there is no fundamental difference anymore between Republican and Democrat - they are both aimed on micro-managing America. One of them is left-handed, the other right-handed, but both manage to be sinister.
This is also why they make CD, tape, and MP3 players.
When Stern came on to replace my morning DJ's on a local station, I stopped listening to that station. I wake up to a classical music station, and listen to my MP3 collection at work and one or more of my CD's in the car.
The fact is that you and I have choices - in fact, your decision to have kids was one of those choices, as are the things you do to raise them "right". You can choose to turn off the radio and swap in something safe for your kids. No one is forcing you to keep your radio on, listening to things you consider inappropriate, vulgar, profane, or just plain stupid. However, government efforts to make the public airwaves "safe" for your kids is a forcing function, forcing your choice on everyone else who shares those airwaves.
I like to think of it this way...
It's a big farking universe out there.
These asteroids are missing Earth.
They're also missing the Sun, which is a lot bigger and has a lot more pull around here than Earth does.
At this stage in our technological evolution, what can we do about them anyway? Nuclear missiles strikes to deflect/break up the rock? Ask Bruce Willis and his team to attach some rocket packs to deflect it? Ask everyone on Earth to lean East at once to speed up our rotation a bit so the asteroid hits in the ocean?
When there's something that can be done, let's do it as fast and as well as we can. When there's nothing to be done, worry is wasted thought.
So let the government look out for those that can't look out for themselves. And for those of you who are capable, what are you complaining about?
What am I complaining about? Government makes no attempt to figure out who's capable and who's not - it applies the same set of standards to everyone. There's no opt-out list for government, so I don't get the choice to be treated like a responsible adult.
That's what I'm complaining about... and working to fix.
Yikes! Does this mean movies 5-10 will be the same movie, just digitally changing scenery and dress, and adding more and more black circles under the Dragon's eyes?
I saw the first Harry Potter movie, thought it was formulaic, haven't yet read the books, but do have an observation.
A few years ago when Rowling's books were the literary version of Beanie Babies, I did a lot of travelling. On every flight, in every airport waiting area, there was at least one pre-teen kid carrying this five pound hard-cover monstrosity in their hands with a bookmark half-way through the book. My observation at the time was that any author that could convince a kid to read and carry a book the size of "War and Peace" or "The Stand" through an airport with them couldn't be doing such a bad job.
So while the stories may be like Spaghetti-O's to an Italian chef, if they get kids to stop draining their minds into the boob box, how bad can it be? You can't expect every twelve-year-old in the world to pick up Tolkein and devour it - wean them on Rowlings, work them through Earthsea and Wrinkle, introduce them to the Hobbit, and Bob's yer uncle.
If someone could do the Covenant series correctly, I might actually go to a theater to see it.
I'm not above watching someone else's mental picture come to life, so long as they tell the whole story and don't take shortcuts to make the picture fit some Hollywood idea of what the story is. The imagery isn't the problem, it's the "adaptation" of the story to fit into the stereotypical American movie box.
I think the issue of using a cell phone at work is a symptom of a larger issue, and that's exactly how much of your life does your employer own. It speaks to a larger theory called work-life balance. Do you have life to supply work for your employer, or do you work to support your life? Look at what potions of your life you already give up for your employer and find the balance point. Taken in a larger context, your employer banning the use of your cell phone at work, no matter how well justified or logically supported, can be viewed as just another way for them to assert control over your life.
For the record, I do own and use my own cell phone for personal and work related purposes. But then again, I work someplace where they treat us like adults - people who voluntarily give of ourselves to the company for profit (both our own and the company, which is our own as well thanks to stock options), and how will reimburse me for work-related phone calls on my cell and wired phones.
In the end, you get to ask yourself what you want on your tombstone:
He worked hard and made a lot of money in a job he didn't like for an employer he hated.
-- or --
He loved his life.
Department of the Interior, in charge of everything outdoors in the U.S. of A. Like Gallagher said, they picked the word that didn't fit.
You'd probably have to explain that the sharp edges were for cutting away buggy code, the guard was to prevent you from becoming infected with a virus, and the ball n the hilt for beating worms into submission.
And if that doesn't work, behead 'em and claim you're a freelance executioner between jobs...
The only problem with that is that European countries have already disarmed their citizenry with anti-gun legislation. The chances of finding an armed home-owner defending themselves in Germany, England, or France is much lower than in the U.S. I don't have the exact stats, but I'm sure any compentant corporate actuarial would be able to bless a company's raid, as well as give acceptable loss numbers...
Why copy Redmond with UI design? I think that's a simple question to answer - if you want your mom, uncles, and non-industry friends to use Linux, you need to make it as easy to use as the Win9X/XP stuff they're exposed to. Like it or not, MS has market share and exposure. If the UI of the new Linux system you want to give them is too far removed from what they are used to using, they won't like it.
I've fought this battle with my spouse when we moved from DOS to Win9X, and from 9X to 2K and XP. Every change I introduced to keep current sent her into a tailspin, as she now had to learn a (slightly) new way of doing what she wanted to do.
If you don't like the UI shell's provided, you're always free to write your own on a new paradigm.