>Because the labels are irrelevant except to advise you of the unit's maximum power consumption. >Most consumer electronics, appliances, etc use a different amount of power depending on what >they are doing at the time
Ok, great answer. Maybe the original poster has a much larger electric bill than I. Seems like a lot of trouble for a small gain, otherwise.
> increasing productivity, is decried as socialist, while letting people be crippled by the >financial burden of a major illness is true-blue American
Or dying because they can't afford "health care".
The problem is that health care does not conform to the usual supply/demand model and is not effected by market forces - in fact, it's already rather socialist. Everybody buys "coverage" for thousands per year, while many fortunate people have minimal needs (but buy coverage "just in case", and wisely so) and thus support the cost to treat those who have chronic/costly problems.
In my neck of the woods, it'll cost you in excess of $100 to see a doctor for a "brief visit" if you're paying out of pocket ($115.00 to be exact). I don't care what kind of justification is offered, there is no way it's "worth" $500/hr to have your blood pressure checked and have them listen to your lungs.
The biggest problem in health care today is that providers think the insurance companies are their customers and the patients are just a means to get another check from the insurance company. The opposite is true - the insurance co is simply a conduit to transfer wealth from the patient to the doctors office.
An outgrowth of all this is the snotty, imperious attitude prevalent among the staff at most doctors offices.
>Consuption of power wouldn't be an issue, since the question was not about *tracking* usage, but >rather *measuring* usage. Any difference caused by the measurement device could easily be >calculated by running it on a known power consumer (light bulb, etc).
I don't understand - why not just look at the label on the back of the teevee, read the power consumption info and do the math? It's just Ohms Law, Power Formulas or what ever. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to find the power hogs.
> Customers need to stand up and show media organizations that ther are limits to what we are > willing to deal with.
They won't - most people don't care and won't educate themselves because it's not important to them. The average person buying music, either CD or download, is not a Slashdot-type. You can beat your chest and scream all day - we'll all feel bad for you, but other than that you're a fart in a whirlwind.
Me? Nothing new, actually, since the RIAA vendetta started. Not out of any great sense of morality. Mostly because I have hundreds of pre-vendetta CDs to tide me over and I've been able to buy "used" CDs at Sound Exchange. I know this is kind of indirect support, but I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.
Someone recently http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ here. You can check artists RIAA affiliation there, so maybe I can buy a few again - there are a bunch I'd like to have. All that said, I don't want to hose my favorite artists out of their "due", so I'll gladly support them with my dollars as long as I'm not lining the pockets of the RIAA.
When I do get a "new" CD, I rip it to my hard drive and put the original away. Then I burn whatever I want for the car. You shouldn't use your CDs in most car CD players anyway - they get scratched to hell and then you have to re-buy them.
>(Score:0, Offtopic)... >bash MS or praise OSS/Linux/Mac. Do any of that and you'll be insightful, informative, funny, >you name it. This will probably get modded -2, offtopic, meanspirited, spiteful and ugly.
See? Told you so... I suspect they'll be creating the "meanspirited, spiteful and ugly" modifiers just for this post.
> Some of the most brilliant stuff I've ever read on the internet had a -1 Overrated on it. I > think that's the god-modding by the editors--who seem to have a huge conservative streak.
Say what??? The fastest way to get modded up on/. is by bashing anything conservative - republican - Bush - "war on terror" or practically anything "mainstream". Alternatively, you can bash MS or praise OSS/Linux/Mac. Do any of that and you'll be insightful, informative, funny, you name it. This will probably get modded -2, offtopic, meanspirited, spiteful and ugly.
> My new policy on voting is to always vote out an incumbent, unless I've been especially happy > with his performance. If the whole country did that (especially on the national level, but also > on the local level), I believe we'd have a lot fewer issues with corrupt politicians.
Be strong - un-elect *all* incumbents for at least 10 years. No matter how happy you are with them. I'm sure Mr. Stevens constituents are most happy with him. (actually, some of them aren't happy - seems the bridge may despoil some whale habitat)
> the turning point was Stranger in a Strange Land, which was an excellent book. Some of the > later ones seem to be more dominated by the sex themes, and very light on substance. In other > words he slowly transitioned from young serious author to mature exploratory author to dirty > old man.
I have and have read every one of Heinleins novels and your analysis is exactly correct - Stranger marked a turning point in his style of writing.
Bear in mind that much of his early work was for the youth market so it would of necessity be more conservative.
> Iran: And we still have that oil, we'll stop selling! > US: Yeah... Ever heard of Alaska? > Iran: Touche.
Please inform the US Congress of this "Alaska" thing. Apparently they're in the dark. Might also mention the "Gulf of Mexico", too. Maybe send them a map.
Actually, you're born with the inherent right to fight for survival, however you define "survival". Anything else (even those rights we enjoy under the US Constitution) are only because most of us agree on them.
> 5 years of collecting any kind of data we want, without telling anyone!
Cars have had black boxes since the mid 90's or so. They've already had 10+ years.
They also can use it to validate warranty claims (over-revving the engine, etc)
Al
Re:Unfounded Criticism
on
iPods at War
·
· Score: 1
> soldier for playing their IPOD over the loudspeaker for the enjoyment of their fellow soldiers > as an illegal peformance under US copyright law is a traitor to this country and > the men and women defending it.
If a soldier is playing an IPOD over a loudspeaker in Iraq, how does US copyright law apply?
> Desalination can ramp-up to whatever volume you want,
Actually, it can't ramp up whatever you want. Having lived near the new desal plant near Tampa for it's entire life until a few months ago, I can tell you desal in volume is not smooth sailing.
And a few words from the article: > According to a 2004 San Diego-Union Tribune story, Tampa Bay Water bought out Poseidon's > interest in the project and took over plant operations in 2001 following the bankruptcy > of two of Poseidon's subcontractors. The plant was finished behind schedule > and had further problems during operation.
>Every time you don't buy RIAA-backed music, or every time you buy non-RIAA music, email them >telling them why. If they don't get the point fast, something is seriously wrong with them
Good luck finding an e-mail address. I've looked. Furthermore, it'd just end up in the bit bucket anyway.
> Self built beige boxes must be the greatest PC's of all time because I've not owned anything > else in over a decade.
But then, homebrew PCs don't buy ads in major magazines. I homebrewed for a long time until a year ago when I went laptop and haven't looked back. From what I've read, we may be on the cusp of being able to homebrew our laptops before too long.
Gee, thanks. I'd have never found either of those without your help (as I sit here with both firefox and konqueror running in my linux desktop).
> I have absolutely no pity for idiots who complain about how this site and that site don't > look right on their browser and how they'll browse somewhere else.
Nobody wants your pity. But if you were running an e-commerce site, I bet you'd want to drive traffic *to* your site, instead of *away*, which was the whole point of my initial respose.
> Tell you what, if you're too lazy to upgrade to a real browser, I don't *want* you to view my > website. GTF on.
Honestly, that's not a problem for me. For *your* sake, however, I hope you're not the guy selling the next thing I'm shopping for online while I'm in my XP desktop. Because if you've barred the door to me (as the parent suggested), I will GTF on and line someone else's pocket.
I'll bet if you were one of the websites I spend money on, you'd want me to be able to view your site.
> Karma be damned, people like you who can't spend 30 seconds to make sure their computer is > actually running properly shouldn't be able to use them.
Honestly, you really should get off the "anti-anything-MS" bandwagon and think for yourself. I can spend all the time I want installing software. In fact, I spent plenty of time re-partitioning my laptop to dual boot XP and Linux and then installing and configuring Linux.
The point was - "why drive traffic AWAY from your site, when the whole point of HAVING a site is to drive traffic TO the damn thing". I'll repeat, if you have a hobby site of some kind and you want to close the door to everyone who doesn't agree with your software choices, then the world is no worse off. If you have a business site and you close the door to anyone who doesn't have your favorite brand installed, then the world is *still* no worse off - but your business is certainly suffering for your personal prejusice.
However, if you're a business, or a businessman, then you understand that money doesn't know what browser you're using, it doesn't know if you're MS-aphobic, MS-aholic or somewhere in between. What you *do* know is that your goal is to get Mr. Customer's money from his pocket and into yours. You will not accomplish that goal if you bar them from the store.
I mean, really... all I said was, rather than bar the door, put a note at the top, bottom, or somewhere "optimized for brand X browser" and provide a link - why all the venom?
> You have to say something at some time and if you have enough people doing it...
I guess it depends on why you run a website. For a commercial site to turn traffic away is self defeating and silly. If hobby webmasters want to be pigheaded about their choice of browser, I suppose the world is no worse off.
At the very most, if you feel you "have to say something", put a note at the top of your index page "Optimized for Firefox, The Standards Compliant Browser - users of other browsers may experience difficulties", provide a link to firefox and let it go at that. I guarantee, if I'm looking for a piece of information, I don't want to stop, download a whole new piece of software, install, configure and figure it out before I can get what I need and get back to what was important to ME, the user.
Slashdot Mirror
>Because the labels are irrelevant except to advise you of the unit's maximum power consumption. >Most consumer electronics, appliances, etc use a different amount of power depending on what >they are doing at the time
Ok, great answer. Maybe the original poster has a much larger electric bill than I. Seems like a lot of trouble for a small gain, otherwise.
Al
> increasing productivity, is decried as socialist, while letting people be crippled by the >financial burden of a major illness is true-blue American
Or dying because they can't afford "health care".
The problem is that health care does not conform to the usual supply/demand model and is not effected by market forces - in fact, it's already rather socialist. Everybody buys "coverage" for thousands per year, while many fortunate people have minimal needs (but buy coverage "just in case", and wisely so) and thus support the cost to treat those who have chronic/costly problems.
In my neck of the woods, it'll cost you in excess of $100 to see a doctor for a "brief visit" if you're paying out of pocket ($115.00 to be exact). I don't care what kind of justification is offered, there is no way it's "worth" $500/hr to have your blood pressure checked and have them listen to your lungs.
The biggest problem in health care today is that providers think the insurance companies are their customers and the patients are just a means to get another check from the insurance company. The opposite is true - the insurance co is simply a conduit to transfer wealth from the patient to the doctors office.
An outgrowth of all this is the snotty, imperious attitude prevalent among the staff at most doctors offices.
Al
>Consuption of power wouldn't be an issue, since the question was not about *tracking* usage, but >rather *measuring* usage. Any difference caused by the measurement device could easily be >calculated by running it on a known power consumer (light bulb, etc).
I don't understand - why not just look at the label on the back of the teevee, read the power consumption info and do the math? It's just Ohms Law, Power Formulas or what ever. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to find the power hogs.
Al
> Customers need to stand up and show media organizations that ther are limits to what we are
> willing to deal with.
They won't - most people don't care and won't educate themselves because it's not important to them. The average person buying music, either CD or download, is not a Slashdot-type. You can beat your chest and scream all day - we'll all feel bad for you, but other than that you're a fart in a whirlwind.
Al
>Does that make me a 'privacy advocate'? Because in my eyes, I'm just an American citizen who's
... s'okay though. We were able to identify you by the sounds we picked up from your microphone.
> sick of technology raping my goddamn privacy.
You forgot to log in before your rant
Al
>How many of you 'acquired'?
...
Me? Nothing new, actually, since the RIAA vendetta started. Not out of any great sense of morality. Mostly because I have hundreds of pre-vendetta CDs to tide me over and I've been able to buy "used" CDs at Sound Exchange. I know this is kind of indirect support, but I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.
Someone recently http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ here. You can check artists RIAA affiliation there, so maybe I can buy a few again - there are a bunch I'd like to have. All that said, I don't want to hose my favorite artists out of their "due", so I'll gladly support them with my dollars as long as I'm not lining the pockets of the RIAA.
When I do get a "new" CD, I rip it to my hard drive and put the original away. Then I burn whatever I want for the car. You shouldn't use your CDs in most car CD players anyway - they get scratched to hell and then you have to re-buy them.
Just the view from here
>(Score:0, Offtopic) ...
... I suspect they'll be creating the "meanspirited, spiteful and ugly" modifiers just for this post.
>bash MS or praise OSS/Linux/Mac. Do any of that and you'll be insightful, informative, funny, >you name it. This will probably get modded -2, offtopic, meanspirited, spiteful and ugly.
See? Told you so
> nothing to do with the quality of the actual music but have more to do with a certain image or > subculture
... I dunno. Looking back from almost 50, I don't recall ever buying music for "image". If I didn't like it, I didn't buy it.
Hmph
Since RIAA started their vendetta against customers I've bought 2 albums.
Al
(apparently an old fart)
> Some of the most brilliant stuff I've ever read on the internet had a -1 Overrated on it. I
/. is by bashing anything conservative - republican - Bush - "war on terror" or practically anything "mainstream". Alternatively, you can bash MS or praise OSS/Linux/Mac. Do any of that and you'll be insightful, informative, funny, you name it. This will probably get modded -2, offtopic, meanspirited, spiteful and ugly.
> think that's the god-modding by the editors--who seem to have a huge conservative streak.
Say what??? The fastest way to get modded up on
Al
What happens when the cable snaps and 22,000 miles of cable come crashing back to earth?
I don't want to be standing under it
Mondo Rescue might suit your needs. Linux based, it will make a rescue disk, if you like, and will backup your NTFS partition.
Al
> My new policy on voting is to always vote out an incumbent, unless I've been especially happy
> with his performance. If the whole country did that (especially on the national level, but also > on the local level), I believe we'd have a lot fewer issues with corrupt politicians.
Be strong - un-elect *all* incumbents for at least 10 years. No matter how happy you are with them. I'm sure Mr. Stevens constituents are most happy with him. (actually, some of them aren't happy - seems the bridge may despoil some whale habitat)
> the turning point was Stranger in a Strange Land, which was an excellent book. Some of the
> later ones seem to be more dominated by the sex themes, and very light on substance. In other
> words he slowly transitioned from young serious author to mature exploratory author to dirty
> old man.
I have and have read every one of Heinleins novels and your analysis is exactly correct - Stranger marked a turning point in his style of writing.
Bear in mind that much of his early work was for the youth market so it would of necessity be more conservative.
> Iran: And we still have that oil, we'll stop selling!
> US: Yeah... Ever heard of Alaska?
> Iran: Touche.
Please inform the US Congress of this "Alaska" thing. Apparently they're in the dark. Might also mention the "Gulf of Mexico", too. Maybe send them a map.
Al
> you are born with none.
...
Actually, you're born with the inherent right to fight for survival, however you define "survival". Anything else (even those rights we enjoy under the US Constitution) are only because most of us agree on them.
Just the view from here
> In fact Porsche does this. I have a few buddys that over reved on the track and blew the engine
BMW, too:
Autoblog
> 5 years of collecting any kind of data we want, without telling anyone!
Cars have had black boxes since the mid 90's or so. They've already had 10+ years.
They also can use it to validate warranty claims (over-revving the engine, etc)
Al
> soldier for playing their IPOD over the loudspeaker for the enjoyment of their fellow soldiers
> as an illegal peformance under US copyright law is a traitor to this country and
> the men and women defending it.
If a soldier is playing an IPOD over a loudspeaker in Iraq, how does US copyright law apply?
Al
> Where do you put the salt extracted from the Water? On your french fries ...
> Desalination can ramp-up to whatever volume you want,
Actually, it can't ramp up whatever you want. Having lived near the new desal plant near Tampa for it's entire life until a few months ago, I can tell you desal in volume is not smooth sailing.
Here's a recent article on the pros and cons of desal:
San Diego City Beat Article
And a few words from the article:
> According to a 2004 San Diego-Union Tribune story, Tampa Bay Water bought out Poseidon's
> interest in the project and took over plant operations in 2001 following the bankruptcy
> of two of Poseidon's subcontractors. The plant was finished behind schedule
> and had further problems during operation.
>Every time you don't buy RIAA-backed music, or every time you buy non-RIAA music, email them >telling them why. If they don't get the point fast, something is seriously wrong with them
Good luck finding an e-mail address. I've looked. Furthermore, it'd just end up in the bit bucket anyway.
Al
> Self built beige boxes must be the greatest PC's of all time because I've not owned anything
> else in over a decade.
But then, homebrew PCs don't buy ads in major magazines. I homebrewed for a long time until a year ago when I went laptop and haven't looked back. From what I've read, we may be on the cusp of being able to homebrew our laptops before too long.
> If they want to use a broken browser, have a popup window say 'your browser is broken, use firefox', and
> that's it, end of story.
> Your end users DO NOT CARE about your personal crusade to rid the Internet of poorly designed browsers.
> Really, they don't.
Well said. I'm just going to go stand over there in the Amen Corner now.
Al
> PS - Spend the five minutes and get a *REAL* browser! http://www.opera.com/ or
... all I said was, rather than bar the door, put a note at the top, bottom, or somewhere "optimized for brand X browser" and provide a link - why all the venom?
> http://www.mozilla.com./
Gee, thanks. I'd have never found either of those without your help (as I sit here with both firefox and konqueror running in my linux desktop).
> I have absolutely no pity for idiots who complain about how this site and that site don't
> look right on their browser and how they'll browse somewhere else.
Nobody wants your pity. But if you were running an e-commerce site, I bet you'd want to drive traffic *to* your site, instead of *away*, which was the whole point of my initial respose.
> Tell you what, if you're too lazy to upgrade to a real browser, I don't *want* you to view my
> website. GTF on.
Honestly, that's not a problem for me. For *your* sake, however, I hope you're not the guy selling the next thing I'm shopping for online while I'm in my XP desktop. Because if you've barred the door to me (as the parent suggested), I will GTF on and line someone else's pocket.
I'll bet if you were one of the websites I spend money on, you'd want me to be able to view your site.
> Karma be damned, people like you who can't spend 30 seconds to make sure their computer is
> actually running properly shouldn't be able to use them.
Honestly, you really should get off the "anti-anything-MS" bandwagon and think for yourself. I can spend all the time I want installing software. In fact, I spent plenty of time re-partitioning my laptop to dual boot XP and Linux and then installing and configuring Linux.
The point was - "why drive traffic AWAY from your site, when the whole point of HAVING a site is to drive traffic TO the damn thing". I'll repeat, if you have a hobby site of some kind and you want to close the door to everyone who doesn't agree with your software choices, then the world is no worse off. If you have a business site and you close the door to anyone who doesn't have your favorite brand installed, then the world is *still* no worse off - but your business is certainly suffering for your personal prejusice.
However, if you're a business, or a businessman, then you understand that money doesn't know what browser you're using, it doesn't know if you're MS-aphobic, MS-aholic or somewhere in between. What you *do* know is that your goal is to get Mr. Customer's money from his pocket and into yours. You will not accomplish that goal if you bar them from the store.
I mean, really
Al
> You have to say something at some time and if you have enough people doing it...
I guess it depends on why you run a website. For a commercial site to turn traffic away is self defeating and silly. If hobby webmasters want to be pigheaded about their choice of browser, I suppose the world is no worse off.
At the very most, if you feel you "have to say something", put a note at the top of your index page "Optimized for Firefox, The Standards Compliant Browser - users of other browsers may experience difficulties", provide a link to firefox and let it go at that. I guarantee, if I'm looking for a piece of information, I don't want to stop, download a whole new piece of software, install, configure and figure it out before I can get what I need and get back to what was important to ME, the user.
Al Hunt