Logan's Run was the movie where you had to off yourself when you turned 30, but Wild in The streets was the one where the line "Don't trust anyone over 30" was usedt. And at the end of the movie, there's a close up of a young kid saying "Don't trust anyone over 12" (or 13 - Christ, it's 40 years since that movie came out!)
Sorry, no DS, no PS2/3, no Xbox. My kids have a Wii, but they live with their mom. I prefer games that exercise my mind, not my fingers. That's what pr0n is for...
Seriously, I'm over 50, and I do a lot to try to stay sharp. Sudoku, chess problems, bridge problems, cryptic crosswords - virtually every day. I think a lot of people once they get out of school just stop exercising their brains. What you don't use, you lose.
On the other hand, when I bought my Chrysler minivan, I did purchase the extended warranty, and it paid for itself many times over when the air conditioner failed three times after the standard warranty had expired. But cars operate in much harsher environments than most electronic goods; if it works out of the box, it will probably operate just fine for years. My Dell has been on practically 24/7 for five years; I reboot it once a month. But here in Canada, I've been offered extended warranty on many household purchases, and I just say "No thanks" and it doesn't seem to be a problem. But I don't shop at Office Depot.
In general, I agree with you, but I have to dispute the notion that Keynesian policies are not workable. Look north, my friend. Our past two governments (one Liberal, one Conservative) used the boom years to pay down the national debt. Now, the Conservative government's budget is positing $64 billion in deficits over the next two years to help us adjust to the likely failure of the auto industry and the financial crisis. (BTW, the government offered $200 billion in loan guarantees to the big six Canadian banks; not one of them took a dime. Canada's banks are considered some of the strongest in the world.)
The problem with most so-called Keynesians is they don't save in the good times and run deficits in the bad times. They run deficits ALL the time. And I agree with you that the deficits will cause inflation and/or depreciation of the dollar (which are really two sides of the same coin, which is lower living standards for most Americans).
Iridium puts its satellites in low earth orbits to avoid the latency issue. It's geosynch orbits that are up high. But I do remember making telephone calls that went over geosynch satellite back in the 80's, and the latency is really annoying - you're never quite sure when the other person is finished talking, so you end up talking over each other, and having awkward pauses. When fibre became common, most telcos stopped using satellite.
"Having a look" != "buying". Ads are designed to make you buy something. I'm only in the market for a car once every ten years or so; when I am, I start paying attention to ads, looking for what I want. Last time, I had two pre-schoolers, so I started looking at minivans. I didn't even know that Mazda made a minivan, but when I saw a TV commercial for one, I ended up at the dealer. In the end, it turned out to be more expensive and smaller than the Chrysler we eventually bought (and were quite happy with). Sounds like an exercise of free will to me.
Now, it's time for another vehicle, and I'm actually looking at a gas powered scooter, but there are no TV ads for either dealers or models. This means I'm spending a lot more time searching out dealers on the Internet, finding out where they are, making the trek, checking out features and prices, etc. It's a lot more work. TV and newspaper ads help me narrow my search quickly and easily. If you're implying I'm not "immune" to this convenience, I'll concede your point. But if you think some ad is going to get me to buy a pickup truck, think again. Don't need one, don't want one, ain't never gonna get one. Most sporting events I watch on TV are full of ads for pickups and beer; not interested in either, so I think I'm totally immune to the ads.
despite the common knowledge that the ads are just ads, in the long term, we end up thinking what they want us to think.
Speak for yourself, you feeble minded clot. I watch a fair amount of TV, and would rather watch 2 episodes of "Lost" rather than any movie that's come out of Hollywood in the last year. "Simpsons" and "South Park" are easily more topical, and funnier, than most so-called comedies. But your point was ads. I watch a lot of commercials, some of which I find informative, and some of which I don't care about. Take groceries - I have the choice of six grocery stores within a 15 minute bike ride. Two of them advertise on TV a lot; the other four, not at all. Where do I go? The store that has the specials that week that I'm interested in. I see a lot of ads for national brands. Do I buy them all the time? Not at all - I buy a number of "no name" or house brand products, because I've tried them and find them satisfactory. On the other hand, I've tried some house brands that I don't like, so I buy the national brand instead (Heinz ketchup is one example). Is it because of ads? No, it's because I tried both, and my taste buds tell me what works better.
I see a lot of automobile ads. Do they influence me? Yes, to the extent that seeing the vehicle on TV might get me into a dealership to have a look at it, but is my final decision made by TV? Not a chance - I need to evaluate the test drive, the deal, the warranty, operating costs, and, these days, whether the company is likely to survive or not. Ads have zero influence there.
You might feel TV leads you around by the nose, but those of us made of sterner stuff are fairly able to resist it.
I agree. Right now, in Canada at any rate, there is an alarming number of commercials for dog food, kids' vitamins, and Pepto-Bismol that feature amplified sounds of dogs masticating, which I personally find disgusting. Since I don't have kids or a dog, I would be delighted if some technology could direct ads that I find either informative or amusing my way instead of things that I have no interest in (e.g. feminine hygiene products, pregnancy tests, Sham-Wows).
You should look up Richard Posner's "Capture Theory" of regulation. He posited that in any regulated industry, the industry has 1) most of the experts, 2) more money, and 3) a highly vested interest in having decisions go their way, whereas citizen groups are 1) disorganized, 2) cash strapped, and 3) tend to be dominated by the ideologically driven, not the scientific. Inevitably, the regulatory body becomes "captured" by the industry, and performs like a trained seal.
Ironically, Posner's initial article was published in the Bell System Journal of Economics, an interesting journal that AT&T could afford to publish because of its monopoly status.
Well, we've gone a long way to doing what you propose in Canada. Corporations are now banned from contributing money to political parties, and individuals can contribute a maximum of $1,100 per year (total, whether it's going to the central party or a local candidate). Each party gets an annual stipend (IIRC, it's about $1.30 per vote received in the last election). Ironically, this policy was introduced by a Liberal government, which had traditionally relied on corporate funding for the majority of its revenue. The Conservative party, which runs a much more efficient fund raising machine, raised over $21 million last year (with an average donation of around $100), while the Liberals didn't crack the $10 million barrier. The Liberals are technically broke, and still haven't repaid Canadians for the millions of dollars they diverted from an advertising program into their campaign funds. (Google "Adscam" for the gory details.)
And I would think your professor is an asshat. Check out http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/display.cfm?id=7933596, and scroll down to the "water chart". This shows that to make a litre of coffee, you need over 1,000 litres of water (to grow and process the beans, etc., not just what you pour into the coffee maker). Bottled water? 1-4 litres per litre of bottled water.
And, BTW, beer only requires about 250 litres per litre; it's much more environmentally friendly than coffee!
I'd like to reply to a bunch of comments above: First, I use Robbers high speed. I don't use torrents to download movies or music I should pay for (pr0n is different, but there's so much free stuff out there..); I like to think I'm honest. Once or twice a month I might find bandwidth restricted, but most of the time - and I'm online 12-16 hours a day - my response is very fast, and the downloads I request rarely take more than one minute in real time.
Do I have a problem with other people using p2p? Not at all. But, if you want to use a shared resource and expect to hog the entire bandwidth available, I have no sympathy. Either 1) get used to lower bandwidth, or 2) pay the extra to get dedicated bandwidth. TANSTAAFL.
But none of these issues are related to net neutrality. I don't think anyone should have to pay a premium to ensure that their sites are given priority - or even equal - access to bandwidth. I'm disappointed that so many Canadian ISP's are willing to throw in the towel; it makes me sad.
Hey, I used to have a 5 digit UID, but after spending some time away from the site, I forgot my password. Had to re-register. I bet there are a few of us in the same boat; UID level does not necessarily equal experience.
ZOMG! Even for/., this is self-congratulatory beyond the pale..
Also, fuck you.;}
Re:Parents choose their baby's name
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Designer Babies
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· Score: 1
Yep, name your daughter "Gladys" or "Ethel", and watch the boys flock around!
Can't remember if it was Macluhan or Joyce who asked "Who gave you that numb?", implying that our very names to some extent "numb" people out to who we are. Think of it: if you meet a coder who tells you her name is "Tiffani with an 'i'!", how much are you going to want her on your project?
Re:Parents choose their baby's name
on
Designer Babies
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· Score: 5, Informative
Not that I'm claiming you said anything to do with first name/last names, Chris, but the real idiocy is the GPP's. The reason girl babies are being aborted/drowned/abandoned across Asia is families have to give other families money to marry their daughters. So a daughter is a financial liability to 1) raise, and 2) marry, and then after that, 3) the woman is then considered part of her husband's family, not her own. It has nothing to do with carrying on the family name.
BTW, I'm married to an Asian woman, who told me precisely this, and we have two spectacular daughters that I wouldn't trade for anything. She told me she would never have married a Chinese guy because of the way she'd expect him to treat her.
Well, I don't know where you get your information, but I was working for ROLM (a PBX maker purchased by IBM at the time) as a sales engineer, and I went on dozens of sales calls with both the ROLM rep and the IBM rep. The IBM reps were interested in the joint commission they'd get if the customer installed a ROLM switch, but were completely dismissive of some of our capabilities, such as the ability to efficiently route asynchronous data through the switch, or our desktop device that combined a PC with a 3274 emulator mode connected through the switch, because either might jeopardize their chance to sell more cluster controllers or terminals. I wouldn't say the reps snarled at each other, but they came very close to it, and were definitely working at cross purposes. The IBM reps would much rather sell a PC than have us sell the customer our desktop device, but they would much rather sell more controllers and terminals.
And, of course, the Apple II/V-calc came along, and users loved it, along with Harvard Graphics. But the users didn't want to have re-type all the information; they wanted to download it, which meant connection to the network. This is why I said corporate IT managers were afraid of them; their IBM reps told them that connecting a non-IBM device to their network might cause it to crash. Most IT managers at the time were not technically savvy - their job was to manage budgets and inventory - and they swallowed that hook, line, and sinker. (Of course, there were some technical challenges too - SNA networks used synchronous EBCDIC data, while PC's were asynch ASCII. One of my colleagues, using a IIc if IRC, built a gateway that translated from one to the other; I was impressed.)
When the PC 5150 was introduced, IBM estimated sales of about 50,000 units/year. They sold nearly a quarter of a million in their first month. That got IBM reps to sit up and take notice. So, I don't know where you get your statement "didn't sell in too huge a number"; that doesn't seem to jibe with the facts.
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Logan's Run was the movie where you had to off yourself when you turned 30, but Wild in The streets was the one where the line "Don't trust anyone over 30" was usedt. And at the end of the movie, there's a close up of a young kid saying "Don't trust anyone over 12" (or 13 - Christ, it's 40 years since that movie came out!)
Sorry, no DS, no PS2/3, no Xbox. My kids have a Wii, but they live with their mom. I prefer games that exercise my mind, not my fingers. That's what pr0n is for...
Seriously, I'm over 50, and I do a lot to try to stay sharp. Sudoku, chess problems, bridge problems, cryptic crosswords - virtually every day. I think a lot of people once they get out of school just stop exercising their brains. What you don't use, you lose.
On the other hand, when I bought my Chrysler minivan, I did purchase the extended warranty, and it paid for itself many times over when the air conditioner failed three times after the standard warranty had expired. But cars operate in much harsher environments than most electronic goods; if it works out of the box, it will probably operate just fine for years. My Dell has been on practically 24/7 for five years; I reboot it once a month. But here in Canada, I've been offered extended warranty on many household purchases, and I just say "No thanks" and it doesn't seem to be a problem. But I don't shop at Office Depot.
The problem with most so-called Keynesians is they don't save in the good times and run deficits in the bad times. They run deficits ALL the time. And I agree with you that the deficits will cause inflation and/or depreciation of the dollar (which are really two sides of the same coin, which is lower living standards for most Americans).
Iridium puts its satellites in low earth orbits to avoid the latency issue. It's geosynch orbits that are up high. But I do remember making telephone calls that went over geosynch satellite back in the 80's, and the latency is really annoying - you're never quite sure when the other person is finished talking, so you end up talking over each other, and having awkward pauses. When fibre became common, most telcos stopped using satellite.
You beat me to it, but I agree that Stephenson's piece is fascinating reading. Someone with points please mod parent up.
Nope, it's sharks - sharks I tell you! With frickin' lasers on their heads.
Now, it's time for another vehicle, and I'm actually looking at a gas powered scooter, but there are no TV ads for either dealers or models. This means I'm spending a lot more time searching out dealers on the Internet, finding out where they are, making the trek, checking out features and prices, etc. It's a lot more work. TV and newspaper ads help me narrow my search quickly and easily. If you're implying I'm not "immune" to this convenience, I'll concede your point. But if you think some ad is going to get me to buy a pickup truck, think again. Don't need one, don't want one, ain't never gonna get one. Most sporting events I watch on TV are full of ads for pickups and beer; not interested in either, so I think I'm totally immune to the ads.
Speak for yourself, you feeble minded clot. I watch a fair amount of TV, and would rather watch 2 episodes of "Lost" rather than any movie that's come out of Hollywood in the last year. "Simpsons" and "South Park" are easily more topical, and funnier, than most so-called comedies. But your point was ads. I watch a lot of commercials, some of which I find informative, and some of which I don't care about. Take groceries - I have the choice of six grocery stores within a 15 minute bike ride. Two of them advertise on TV a lot; the other four, not at all. Where do I go? The store that has the specials that week that I'm interested in. I see a lot of ads for national brands. Do I buy them all the time? Not at all - I buy a number of "no name" or house brand products, because I've tried them and find them satisfactory. On the other hand, I've tried some house brands that I don't like, so I buy the national brand instead (Heinz ketchup is one example). Is it because of ads? No, it's because I tried both, and my taste buds tell me what works better.
I see a lot of automobile ads. Do they influence me? Yes, to the extent that seeing the vehicle on TV might get me into a dealership to have a look at it, but is my final decision made by TV? Not a chance - I need to evaluate the test drive, the deal, the warranty, operating costs, and, these days, whether the company is likely to survive or not. Ads have zero influence there.
You might feel TV leads you around by the nose, but those of us made of sterner stuff are fairly able to resist it.
Old grammar Nazis never die, their eyesight just fades away...
But I hope the OP remembered five simple letters - P - R - E - N - U - P.
Oh, and any commercial featuring Billy Mays.
Ironically, Posner's initial article was published in the Bell System Journal of Economics, an interesting journal that AT&T could afford to publish because of its monopoly status.
Yes, but yours does not involve duct tape, WD-40, or a hammer, so it's not a real solution, is it?
I'm not your fwiend, guy!
Well, we've gone a long way to doing what you propose in Canada. Corporations are now banned from contributing money to political parties, and individuals can contribute a maximum of $1,100 per year (total, whether it's going to the central party or a local candidate). Each party gets an annual stipend (IIRC, it's about $1.30 per vote received in the last election). Ironically, this policy was introduced by a Liberal government, which had traditionally relied on corporate funding for the majority of its revenue. The Conservative party, which runs a much more efficient fund raising machine, raised over $21 million last year (with an average donation of around $100), while the Liberals didn't crack the $10 million barrier. The Liberals are technically broke, and still haven't repaid Canadians for the millions of dollars they diverted from an advertising program into their campaign funds. (Google "Adscam" for the gory details.)
Out on left wing?
And, BTW, beer only requires about 250 litres per litre; it's much more environmentally friendly than coffee!
Do I have a problem with other people using p2p? Not at all. But, if you want to use a shared resource and expect to hog the entire bandwidth available, I have no sympathy. Either 1) get used to lower bandwidth, or 2) pay the extra to get dedicated bandwidth. TANSTAAFL.
But none of these issues are related to net neutrality. I don't think anyone should have to pay a premium to ensure that their sites are given priority - or even equal - access to bandwidth. I'm disappointed that so many Canadian ISP's are willing to throw in the towel; it makes me sad.
Hey, I used to have a 5 digit UID, but after spending some time away from the site, I forgot my password. Had to re-register. I bet there are a few of us in the same boat; UID level does not necessarily equal experience.
ZOMG! Even for /., this is self-congratulatory beyond the pale..
Also, fuck you. ;}
Can't remember if it was Macluhan or Joyce who asked "Who gave you that numb?", implying that our very names to some extent "numb" people out to who we are. Think of it: if you meet a coder who tells you her name is "Tiffani with an 'i'!", how much are you going to want her on your project?
BTW, I'm married to an Asian woman, who told me precisely this, and we have two spectacular daughters that I wouldn't trade for anything. She told me she would never have married a Chinese guy because of the way she'd expect him to treat her.
And, of course, the Apple II/V-calc came along, and users loved it, along with Harvard Graphics. But the users didn't want to have re-type all the information; they wanted to download it, which meant connection to the network. This is why I said corporate IT managers were afraid of them; their IBM reps told them that connecting a non-IBM device to their network might cause it to crash. Most IT managers at the time were not technically savvy - their job was to manage budgets and inventory - and they swallowed that hook, line, and sinker. (Of course, there were some technical challenges too - SNA networks used synchronous EBCDIC data, while PC's were asynch ASCII. One of my colleagues, using a IIc if IRC, built a gateway that translated from one to the other; I was impressed.)
When the PC 5150 was introduced, IBM estimated sales of about 50,000 units/year. They sold nearly a quarter of a million in their first month. That got IBM reps to sit up and take notice. So, I don't know where you get your statement "didn't sell in too huge a number"; that doesn't seem to jibe with the facts.