I've heard this from people before. Maybe it's just me, but I don't beleive them when they say this. Could Slashdot readers reply to this and tell me if they can tell the difference between MP3s and CDs?
Yes, there is a difference between Coke (tm) and Pepsi (tm). Just like there's a difference between S-video and Composite, as between DVD and VHS. Similarly, any serious audiophile (and probably anyone else who listens for music quality) will be able to tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD. I can certainly tell the difference, even on my not-so-great PC speakers.
Others have commented on the difference between MP3, OGG, and CD. I don't know yet, because until Icecast streams Ogg Vorbis format, I won't bother re-ripping my CDs.
One of the things that made NeXT work so well was their "developers" app (whose name I can't remember). It made creating custom apps extremely easy.
Interface Builder!:)
Dude, you guys are making me wanna get my Cube running again! It has been sitting in the closet since the (original?) 660MB hd died. Finally I have a hub with coax on it so I can plug it into my DSL, but where can I get apps for it???
There is an excellent article here that describes the issues leading up to California's power problems. I don't know the guy who wrote the article, but he's dead-on. What we have here is an amazingly simple lesson in supply-and-demand economics. Nothing more, nothing less.
Go read this guy's write-up and you'll know what is causing California's power woes.
I don't agree with you for the most part, but I thank you for your well-thought-out post. However, I do agree that the current implementation of winner-take-all in the EC sucks. I wrote about that here.
Lastly, the "winner take all" manner in which EC votes are dispersed is the strongest deterrant to the victory of an independent or third party candidate, as it stands. It has no basis in logic and is simply unfair.
I agree with you. Remember, it wasn't always that way - used to be that the EC votes were cast proportional to the number of votes for each candidate. In fact, some states (two, I think, and IIRC New Hampshire is one of them) still do that today. I agree with you and think it was much fairer when we didn't have winner-take-all EC vote casting.
If all that matters is the opinion of the majority, what happens to minority rights, which is a cause the liberals are always championing? What would happen if the highest populated areas were mostly settled by old-boys'-network, racist, sexist, white males who also discriminated unilaterally against homosexuals? Would you have a problem with that?
I'm sure you see the problem here, regardless of your stand on each of these issues. This is why the founding fathers wanted the winning candidate to please enough people in enough states to become the president. Having the Electoral College means that the smaller states also have a say in our government and aren't completely controlled by only the largest cities in the nation.
you're saying that the voters in the northeast and on the west coast should have less say in the government because the "rest of the nation" takes up "the vast majority of the land mass?" This is utter bullshit.
You're right. That is bullshit. It's also not what I said. See my other comment here.
I want my vote to matter just as much as someone else's. If we didn't have the Electoral College, my lightly populated state would receive little, if any, attention from the candidates. As it was, we received very little attention in 2000 anyway.
Why, pray tell us, is it meaningful, or important for electoral purposes to win over a large mass of unpopulated land?
Don't put words into my mouth. What I said was, If we indeed had mob rule ("true democracy"), all a candidate would have to do to win would be to court voters in the top 5 or 8 states.
The only part land mass has to do with it relates to, as another commenter pointed out, population density. I was simply trying to point out that if we indeed had a directly elected president, the president could win the popular vote by courting a handful of states -- ignoring the vast majority of the country.
The point is that if we directly elected our presidents, only those voters in very densly populated areas would matter to the candidates. The Electoral College spreads that out somewhat. Not much obviously (and Mr. Gore should have taken this lesson from history) because it has only happened a few times (4 now I believe) that the candidate who lost the popular vote won the Electoral College. The lesson Mr. Gore should have learned was that in every previous time this has happened, the winner of the popular vote was the president four years later. I doubt Mr. Gore has that chance now.
Money, money, money. Is that the limit of your vision? Is that the only thing you care about, the only thing that matters in life?
Why is sharing such a difficult concept for some people to understand?
For me, money has very little to do with it, fellow Slashdotter. It's about control - the ability to decide for myself how, where, and if I will spend my money.
See, there is a basic decision one must make. That decision entails who (or what) will control one's destiny. There are only two choices. Either a person will control her own destiny, or she will rely on the government. I choose self. I think I can do a better job of deciding my future than any government will ever be able to do.
As for sharing and helping others in need, I'm all for that. Just don't use my tax dollars to do it! Let me go and give of my own generosity. Don't force me to do it through taxation!
As for your lower-class background, I can relate. While in college, I used to skip meals because I had no money for food. As I said, I worked very hard to get where I am today. I never asked the government for one damn handout. I never wanted a handout. While my parents were gracious enough to give me some money for college, it was far from enough. I had to work my entire way through school to afford my education.
I wanted to -- and did -- do it on my own. OK, with some parental assistance, but sans governmental help (excepting college loans, that is).
One last comment. If the school systems up there in Canada are good, consider yourself blest in that respect. The primary school system (i.e. high school and below) really sucked when I was in school, and is even worse today. I'll be doing my best to be able to afford a private school for my kids, Lord willing I should have any.
More precisely, you're saying that the American system is a "perfect" democracy. Well, I'm not really sure that's true in any sense of the word, but let's just assume that it is.
This country is run by mob rule.
Actually neither of these statements is true. We are not a perfect democracy. If we were a true democracy, Al Gore would have won the presidential election two months ago. After all, he did get the "mob rule" popular vote.
Instead, what we have is the Electoral College. This important distinction means that we are not run by mob rule. Instead of merely winning the popular vote nationwide, the winning candidate must hold the popular vote in enough states to take the Electoral College.
I, for one, am very glad that we do not have a true democracy. Take a look at the map published in USA Today showing how counties voted. By far, the vast majority of land mass obviously went for Mr. Bush (like him or not). Mr. Gore won the popular vote by getting a few key areas: New England, New York, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and a few other places. The rest of the nation went to Mr. Bush. If we indeed had mob rule ("true democracy"), all a candidate would have to do to win would be to court voters in the top 5 or 8 states - is that something you really want?
Now, if by "mob rule" you mean that corporations rule our country, I'm with ya on that one!
Actually I think the author has a very good point. Personally I'm sick of the entitlements. If you don't work to better yourself, don't depend on me to support you!
Personally I hate taxes. I'm a middle class white male who has worked hard to get to where I am. With my good job, I end up sending a solid third of my income to the government. It makes me sick. My wife has to work just because of our tax bill, and her income doesn't even cover what *I* pay in taxes! And no, I don't make a load of money, it's just that my wife makes very little.
There are other things that I don't mind taxes for. For example, although I would be willing to pay for roads with user fees (AKA tolls) I really do enjoy it that I could get in a car and drive from Florida to, say, Arizona without directly paying for the use of the roads. Also, having a strong military is nice.
Beyond that, there isn't much the government should do. What government should do is create an atmosphere where you or I or anyone else with the desire can go make money for him- or herself. Those not desiring to make money should live with the consequences of their decision.
... the media overexposes the people that want to run for office. Clinton is a good example - he did stuff that politicians have done since the dawn of time. I think it's fairly widely known that JFK slept around a bit, but the media didn't hitch onto that. I don't know why, but things may have been different back then.
Back then, people respected one another. In our 'me, me, me' culture, we have degraded to the point of not respecting our fellow man. I'm not talking about liking people - just respecting them.
Indeed, if we still respected our fellow man, we'd be in a very different (and, I think, much better) situation.
Anybody else remeber Islandia? That was one of my first experiences online. To think that you could connect to a virtual world and 'talk' with other people - live. It was way kewl. It was when Islandia went offline that I quit MUDding. Nothing against MUDs - I always wanted to write my own - they just took up too much of my time.
Hmmm...I really wonder what my username was for Islandia - wish I could recall. Pehaps I could look through old email and find it? I remember the house I had built - it had a Star Trek-like peoplemover, a swimming pool in the basement, and a Van Halen shrine on the second floor (complete with signed guitars and a few picks).:)
Yes, that is the Sample Ballot that was mailed out before the election. The actual ballot used in the voting machines were supposedly not lined up as well as this sample ballot, which led to much confusion.
A little more searching on CNN and I found this: http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/09/ election.president/large.ballot.ap.jpg. (I would link to it, but Slash is mangling the URL.) It is linked from th is story and is supposedly the actual ballot. This does look more confusing than the original one I posted, but again, I would honestly expect that anyone paying close attention would be able to select the correct circle.
Just so you guys have a better idea of where I'm coming from, I do certainly think it is a problem if people checked the wrong circle and were unable or unallowed to get a new ballot. That's just wrong.
why the hell are we using punch cards still for something as important as an election? Shouldn't we be using technology that isn't 50 years old?
We used a "complete the arrow" thing here in NC. Personally, just once I'd like to pull the levers in one of those old stand-up-behind-the-curtain things. I think THAT would be cool. I remember those machines from when I was in elementary school, but I never got to officially vote in one.
Did anybody actually see the ballot? While I agree that it could have been better designed (our NC ballot was pretty good, FWIW) anybody who was paying attention would not have voted for the wrong party.
What a tiny little world you live in.
You need to get out more.
The entire nation isn't made up of self-absorbed high-tech dot-com millionaire...
I am not a "self-absorbed high-tech dot-com millionaires...." I just think that I should provide for myself, not that you or anybody else should have to through your tax dollars! Similarly, you should provide for yourself and not depend on my tax dollars.
Personal charitable contributions are another matter entirely. The main difference is that charitable contributions are made of one's own will. Tax dollars are "given" because the government demands them.
Anybody who knows me would tell you that I am not rich. And I don't work for a dot-com.
I'm really surprised the vote is so close. It really perplexes me that HALF of yesterday's voters wanted Gore. In this great economy I'm truly amazed that so many people want to depend on the government to provide for them and make decisions for them. It just doesn't make sense, what with all the $$$ being made out there. I really do not understand, and am saddened and disappointed.
When it boils down to it, you either believe that something is the resposibility of the individual or it is the responsibility of government.
Take preparation for retirement. Either it is the responsibility of the individual to provide for his retirement, or it's the government's responsiblity to take money from others and give it to him.
Either it's your responsibility to care for yourself, or it's the government's responsibility to care for you. When you are responsible, you get to do as you please. But when the government is responsible, they tell you what to do and how to do it.
I know many of you here on Slashdot are tired of corporations squashing your rights - I am too. Before you retaliate, think back to what I said a moment ago. Either it's your responsibility to ensure your happiness, or it's the government's. If you choose "it's the government's," you will have to take whatever Ralph Nader or Al Gore gives you, which won't be much. If you choose "it's my responsibility," you can work to eliminate the power the government has today, which gives corporations the power they have today. The way to do it isn't to give the government more power but to give it less. To minimize government - both their control over your pocketbook and over your actions.
Vote for Ralph Nader or Al Gore if you want, but know that when you do you are voting for someone who wants government to control every aspect of your life. If you would rather have that power yourself - the power to live as you please - vote for Harry Browne or GW Bush. I don't have any idea who would vote for Pat Buchanan or John "all we need is meditation" Hagelin.
These are in no particular order, and many are repeats from earlier in the discussion. I went through much of Palmgear when I first got my Visor Deluxe and thought the enclosed list of companies made some pretty cool products.
I'm glad someone else mentioned vindigo. This is so cool, I can only use it when I'm out of town in a supported city, but I love it!
My wife & I used it to find a place to eat last time we were in DC. That night out is now one of the most memorable of our trip. Very kewl.
I have a Visor and I still use DateBk3 instead of Datebook+ because it has support for combined ToDos and Schedule.
My default view in DB+ is the list view, where it shows ToDos and Schedule in the same list. Then I hit the Date button again and get the day view. At the top are my ToDos, then it lists the regular hourly day view. Same as DB3. Are you talking about something different?
Oh, where to start? The Visor is so useful, I've got it loaded with stuff. Some of these (AvantGo and RPN) were already mentioned but I'll list them anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, there is a difference between Coke (tm) and Pepsi (tm). Just like there's a difference between S-video and Composite, as between DVD and VHS. Similarly, any serious audiophile (and probably anyone else who listens for music quality) will be able to tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD. I can certainly tell the difference, even on my not-so-great PC speakers.
Others have commented on the difference between MP3, OGG, and CD. I don't know yet, because until Icecast streams Ogg Vorbis format, I won't bother re-ripping my CDs.
Interface Builder! :)
Dude, you guys are making me wanna get my Cube running again! It has been sitting in the closet since the (original?) 660MB hd died. Finally I have a hub with coax on it so I can plug it into my DSL, but where can I get apps for it???
Go read this guy's write-up and you'll know what is causing California's power woes.
I don't agree with you for the most part, but I thank you for your well-thought-out post. However, I do agree that the current implementation of winner-take-all in the EC sucks. I wrote about that here.
I agree with you. Remember, it wasn't always that way - used to be that the EC votes were cast proportional to the number of votes for each candidate. In fact, some states (two, I think, and IIRC New Hampshire is one of them) still do that today. I agree with you and think it was much fairer when we didn't have winner-take-all EC vote casting.
Thanks for that. I listed the grades because I wanted to make sure my meaning was clear. :)
I'm sure you see the problem here, regardless of your stand on each of these issues. This is why the founding fathers wanted the winning candidate to please enough people in enough states to become the president. Having the Electoral College means that the smaller states also have a say in our government and aren't completely controlled by only the largest cities in the nation.
You're right. That is bullshit. It's also not what I said. See my other comment here.
I want my vote to matter just as much as someone else's. If we didn't have the Electoral College, my lightly populated state would receive little, if any, attention from the candidates. As it was, we received very little attention in 2000 anyway.
Don't put words into my mouth. What I said was, If we indeed had mob rule ("true democracy"), all a candidate would have to do to win would be to court voters in the top 5 or 8 states.
The only part land mass has to do with it relates to, as another commenter pointed out, population density. I was simply trying to point out that if we indeed had a directly elected president, the president could win the popular vote by courting a handful of states -- ignoring the vast majority of the country.
The point is that if we directly elected our presidents, only those voters in very densly populated areas would matter to the candidates. The Electoral College spreads that out somewhat. Not much obviously (and Mr. Gore should have taken this lesson from history) because it has only happened a few times (4 now I believe) that the candidate who lost the popular vote won the Electoral College. The lesson Mr. Gore should have learned was that in every previous time this has happened, the winner of the popular vote was the president four years later. I doubt Mr. Gore has that chance now.
I apologise for not being clearer on my point.
Why is sharing such a difficult concept for some people to understand?
For me, money has very little to do with it, fellow Slashdotter. It's about control - the ability to decide for myself how, where, and if I will spend my money.
See, there is a basic decision one must make. That decision entails who (or what) will control one's destiny. There are only two choices. Either a person will control her own destiny, or she will rely on the government. I choose self. I think I can do a better job of deciding my future than any government will ever be able to do.
As for sharing and helping others in need, I'm all for that. Just don't use my tax dollars to do it! Let me go and give of my own generosity. Don't force me to do it through taxation!
As for your lower-class background, I can relate. While in college, I used to skip meals because I had no money for food. As I said, I worked very hard to get where I am today. I never asked the government for one damn handout. I never wanted a handout. While my parents were gracious enough to give me some money for college, it was far from enough. I had to work my entire way through school to afford my education.
I wanted to -- and did -- do it on my own. OK, with some parental assistance, but sans governmental help (excepting college loans, that is).
One last comment. If the school systems up there in Canada are good, consider yourself blest in that respect. The primary school system (i.e. high school and below) really sucked when I was in school, and is even worse today. I'll be doing my best to be able to afford a private school for my kids, Lord willing I should have any.
This country is run by mob rule.
Actually neither of these statements is true. We are not a perfect democracy. If we were a true democracy, Al Gore would have won the presidential election two months ago. After all, he did get the "mob rule" popular vote.
Instead, what we have is the Electoral College. This important distinction means that we are not run by mob rule. Instead of merely winning the popular vote nationwide, the winning candidate must hold the popular vote in enough states to take the Electoral College.
I, for one, am very glad that we do not have a true democracy. Take a look at the map published in USA Today showing how counties voted. By far, the vast majority of land mass obviously went for Mr. Bush (like him or not). Mr. Gore won the popular vote by getting a few key areas: New England, New York, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and a few other places. The rest of the nation went to Mr. Bush. If we indeed had mob rule ("true democracy"), all a candidate would have to do to win would be to court voters in the top 5 or 8 states - is that something you really want?
Now, if by "mob rule" you mean that corporations rule our country, I'm with ya on that one!
You're correct that there are certain things a government should do. In fact, we have a document listing those. It's called the Constitution of the United States of America.
Personally I hate taxes. I'm a middle class white male who has worked hard to get to where I am. With my good job, I end up sending a solid third of my income to the government. It makes me sick. My wife has to work just because of our tax bill, and her income doesn't even cover what *I* pay in taxes! And no, I don't make a load of money, it's just that my wife makes very little.
There are other things that I don't mind taxes for. For example, although I would be willing to pay for roads with user fees (AKA tolls) I really do enjoy it that I could get in a car and drive from Florida to, say, Arizona without directly paying for the use of the roads. Also, having a strong military is nice.
Beyond that, there isn't much the government should do. What government should do is create an atmosphere where you or I or anyone else with the desire can go make money for him- or herself. Those not desiring to make money should live with the consequences of their decision.
Back then, people respected one another. In our 'me, me, me' culture, we have degraded to the point of not respecting our fellow man. I'm not talking about liking people - just respecting them.
Indeed, if we still respected our fellow man, we'd be in a very different (and, I think, much better) situation.
Hmmm...I really wonder what my username was for Islandia - wish I could recall. Pehaps I could look through old email and find it? I remember the house I had built - it had a Star Trek-like peoplemover, a swimming pool in the basement, and a Van Halen shrine on the second floor (complete with signed guitars and a few picks). :)
Those were the days.
A little more searching on CNN and I found this: http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/09/ election.president/large.ballot.ap.jpg. (I would link to it, but Slash is mangling the URL.) It is linked from th is story and is supposedly the actual ballot. This does look more confusing than the original one I posted, but again, I would honestly expect that anyone paying close attention would be able to select the correct circle.
Just so you guys have a better idea of where I'm coming from, I do certainly think it is a problem if people checked the wrong circle and were unable or unallowed to get a new ballot. That's just wrong.
We used a "complete the arrow" thing here in NC. Personally, just once I'd like to pull the levers in one of those old stand-up-behind-the-curtain things. I think THAT would be cool. I remember those machines from when I was in elementary school, but I never got to officially vote in one.
See the ballot for yourself here.
You need to get out more.
The entire nation isn't made up of self-absorbed high-tech dot-com millionaire...
I am not a "self-absorbed high-tech dot-com millionaires... ." I just think that I should provide for myself, not that you or anybody else should have to through your tax dollars! Similarly, you should provide for yourself and not depend on my tax dollars.
Personal charitable contributions are another matter entirely. The main difference is that charitable contributions are made of one's own will. Tax dollars are "given" because the government demands them.
Anybody who knows me would tell you that I am not rich. And I don't work for a dot-com.
I'm really surprised the vote is so close. It really perplexes me that HALF of yesterday's voters wanted Gore. In this great economy I'm truly amazed that so many people want to depend on the government to provide for them and make decisions for them. It just doesn't make sense, what with all the $$$ being made out there. I really do not understand, and am saddened and disappointed.
On that note, anyone who thinks that government has any place in education is an idiot.
Take preparation for retirement. Either it is the responsibility of the individual to provide for his retirement, or it's the government's responsiblity to take money from others and give it to him.
Either it's your responsibility to care for yourself, or it's the government's responsibility to care for you. When you are responsible, you get to do as you please. But when the government is responsible, they tell you what to do and how to do it.
I know many of you here on Slashdot are tired of corporations squashing your rights - I am too. Before you retaliate, think back to what I said a moment ago. Either it's your responsibility to ensure your happiness, or it's the government's. If you choose "it's the government's," you will have to take whatever Ralph Nader or Al Gore gives you, which won't be much. If you choose "it's my responsibility," you can work to eliminate the power the government has today, which gives corporations the power they have today. The way to do it isn't to give the government more power but to give it less. To minimize government - both their control over your pocketbook and over your actions.
Vote for Ralph Nader or Al Gore if you want, but know that when you do you are voting for someone who wants government to control every aspect of your life. If you would rather have that power yourself - the power to live as you please - vote for Harry Browne or GW Bush. I don't have any idea who would vote for Pat Buchanan or John "all we need is meditation" Hagelin.
My wife & I used it to find a place to eat last time we were in DC. That night out is now one of the most memorable of our trip. Very kewl.
I have a Visor and I still use DateBk3 instead of Datebook+ because it has support for combined ToDos and Schedule.
My default view in DB+ is the list view, where it shows ToDos and Schedule in the same list. Then I hit the Date button again and get the day view. At the top are my ToDos, then it lists the regular hourly day view. Same as DB3. Are you talking about something different?
I have never used it, but a friend of mine is trying out the Geode at http://www.geodiscovery.com.
Someone mentioned DateBk3/DateBk4, and I agree, but know that the Visor includes this software as Date Book+ (thanks, Handspring!).
I've got a list of about 50 places that I think make cool software and will post them if desired.
Tell that to Jon Johansen.