News Stories

[TooPurePureBoy]

He's just a sports player. Why do people make it more complicated than that. I mean isn't this just a "bread and circus" distraction from real issues (in Cleveland especially)?

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by TooPurePureBoy

He's just a sports player. Why do people make it more complicated than that. I mean isn't this just a "bread and circus" distraction from real issues (in Cleveland especially)?

From the day that he was drafted till the day that he left, Lebron James grew the value of the Cleveland Cavaliers by 100 million just by playing in that franchise, not winning a championship, but just by playing there. Even though it's somewhat mundane to non sports fans, which is very understandable, many businesses that surrounded the stadium that the Cavaliers play will lose money because of this, and of course the franchise will lose money with out their franchise player. So not only is this a monetary blow but it's also a complete lack of respect for the town/city that loved this person not just because he was the cash cow, but also because he was one of them. The son that would bring redemption to the city and in some sense to the state. In Cleveland, people were in the business of Lebron, and now that he's gone without even a kind word to the people that made him the sports icon he is, it does seem depressing for a fading city. I mean Joakim Noah said, "who goes to Cleveland on vacation" after bowing out of the playoffs.

[Xion Valkyrie]

New BP cap is on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

[Who]

Originally Posted by Xion Valkyrie

New BP cap is on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

Let's hope that actually works. I'm not feeling too comfortable reading all these doomsday scenarios resembling the Permian mass extinction (theory) brought on by BP's spill (even if it was debunked as a myth).

[TinyRedLeaf]

United Nations mark World Population Day

New York (July 11): United Nation officials marked World Population Day on Sunday, highlighting the relationship between population trends and the successful implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said the Kaiser Family Foundation, citing a Xinhua report.

"We have good evidence that countries that have been able, over the last 30 years, to reduce their fertility considerably are doing much better in obtaining the MDGs than countries that still have relatively high fertility," said Ms Hania Zlotnik, director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

World Population Day was designated by the UN as a day to think about the increasingly crowded planet, which now supports an estimated 6.8 billion people, reported the EarthSky blog. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) set the theme for this year as "everyone counts", the idea that population data are more than just numbers — they represent real human lives.

Also reporting on World Population Day, Inter Press Service examines the recent efforts made by the UN to review "the state of the world's women". The piece details a UN report which highlighted the slow progress in achieving MDG targets for reducing maternal mortality, and "the unmet need for family planning remains moderate to high in most regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa".

Calling for a greater investment in reproductive health care for women and girls, Ms Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, said: "If every woman received reproductive health care, maternal death and disability would cease to be the devastatingly common tragedy it is today."

It was not so long ago, growing up in the 1980s, that I was taught that the world population stood at four billion, and that China's population made up a quarter of that total.

Today, China's population stands at 1.3 billion, only slightly increased from its 1980s total, while the world hurtles towards a population of over seven billion. Meanwhile, resources are getter scarcer, commodity trading hasn't got that much fairer, and income divides are growing ever wider.

Thomas Malthus may yet have the last laugh, it seems.

[killer3000ad]

Woman jailed for having sex with son she gave up for adoption 16 years ago

Oh. Well that's one way to show how much she missed him.

[monir]

Originally Posted by killer3000ad

Woman jailed for having sex with son she gave up for adoption 16 years ago

Oh. Well that's one way to show how much she missed him.

All kinds of follow up questions cross the mind, but I think this is one of those occasion where I need to show restraint.

[SaintessHeart]

Miyazaki: iPad Users “Nothing But Chronic Masturbators”

Hayao Miyazaki, of Studio Ghibli fame, has launched into one of his trademark rambling tirades against the ills of technology, likening “iWhatever” users to “chronic onanists.”

The remarks came in the context of an interview with Miyazaki published in “Neppu,” an in-house Ghibli rag, which had been covering the iPad.

Upon being confronted by an interviewer fiddling with his iPad, Miyazaki let loose:

That was merely his initial statement.

The interviewer went on the defensive, describing how he thought the iPad a good tool for research, and something to buy books on and look up information with.

This only aggravated Miyazaki further however:

If everyone creates, who's going to buy?

Similarly, it begs the question : why should we all go after the same product as it has been popularly marketed?

If people nowadays have any brains, they would want to buy something that they need rather than something that makes them look and feel good.

[FateAnomaly]

There is nothing wrong with buying something that makes them look and feel good if it it within their means to do so. Its not as if the ipad is something exorbitantly expensive.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

There is nothing wrong with buying something that makes them look and feel good if it it within their means to do so. Its not as if the ipad is something exorbitantly expensive.

You said it. I know of people who bought the IPad then hardly use it for anything else other than reading books.

There is one person I had to respect : he bought an IPad and used it to run iSwim, draw, read, surf the net. The IPad became not only his source of income, but also enjoyment.

I am sure the IPad has more functions available for it. I am not siding with Miyazaki for this, but I am not siding with the iProduct fans too.

[SeijiSensei]

The Chinese in Japan

Two events this month betray the double standards with which Japanese officialdom treats China’s rich and poor. On July 1st Japan relaxed visa requirements for well-off Chinese tourists. It was not stated how much anyone needed to earn to apply for one. But as long as they had at least a gold credit card and a solid professional or civil-service job to go back to, they were free to come to Japan, to shop until they dropped.

Far from the bright lights of Japan’s shopping districts, however, young Chinese working in small industrial firms get anything but red-carpet treatment. On July 5th Kyodo, a news agency, reported that 21 Chinese were among 27 foreign trainees who died last year on a government-sponsored skills-transfer scheme for developing countries that over the past four years has brought in an average of 94,000 workers a year, mostly from China.

Of the 27, nine died of heart or brain diseases, four died while working and three committed suicide. A few days earlier officials confirmed that a 31-year-old Chinese trainee who died in 2008 after clocking up about 100 hours a month of overtime was the victim not of heart failure, as originally reported, but of “karoshi”, the Japanese affliction of death from overwork.

The article attributes both these practices to the aging of the Japanese workforce which has reduced domestic demand and increased the need for (malleable) foreign workers.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Miyazaki: iPad Users “Nothing But Chronic Masturbators”



If everyone creates, who's going to buy?

Similarly, it begs the question : why should we all go after the same product as it has been popularly marketed?

If people nowadays have any brains, they would want to buy something that they need rather than something that makes them look and feel good.

Meh, Miyazaki and Prince are sitting on the prairie banging their rocks together while the rest of tribe is taking up archery. Seriously, ... *read* what Miyazaki says and it make no sense at all. This guy was annoyed when people started *reading* (manga) on trains.

I remember the first time I saw a "touch/glide" input ... and yeah, I make the same jokes about "stroking your device" (and I still think its a stupid way to input) but sheesh, I don't use whale oil lamps either and we've got indoor plumbing.

Some great works on your resume, Miyazaki, but maybe you need to stop talking while you still have some credo.

That said.... Saintess's remark is certainly true about buying something *useful* rather than just "froufrou"/colors/shiny. iPads have some useful constructive uses (e.g. field device with reconfigurable warehouse management apps) ... but many people who buy them simply want to appear "in".

So far the only use I've come up with for an iPad personally is they might be easier to use in bed at night for reading or watching anime. I could lay back, wear headphones, and there's no key clickyclack to wake my wife. Not worth the price so far when a cheap *multi-tasking* notebook runs for half the price.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Vexx

That said.... Saintess's remark is certainly true about buying something *useful* rather than just "froufrou"/colors/shiny. iPads have some useful constructive uses (e.g. field device with reconfigurable warehouse management apps) ... but many people who buy them simply want to appear "in".

So far the only use I've come up with for an iPad personally is they might be easier to use in bed at night for reading or watching anime. I could lay back, wear headphones, and there's no key clickyclack to wake my wife. Not worth the price so far when a cheap *multi-tasking* notebook runs for half the price.

As iConquer takes over the world, I wonder where the open-source community has gone. It wasn't too long ago when everyone was praising open-source software to the high heavens but, now, it seems the only thing people gawp about is how cool iStyle is, while Apple lords over all of us with iLaughToTheBank, otherwise known as the App Store or iTunes.

Come on Android, you can do it. Samsung's Galaxy S looks pretty nice. Shame it's still a bit too pricey for my taste.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

As iConquer takes over the world, I wonder where the open-source community has gone. It wasn't too long ago when everyone was praising open-source software to the high heavens but, now, it seems the only thing people gawp about is how cool iStyle is, while Apple lords over all of us with iLaughToTheBank, otherwise known as the App Store or iTunes.

Come on Android, you can do it. Samsung's Galaxy S looks pretty nice. Shame it's still a bit too pricey for my taste.

They're still out there and quite busy (*cough* Android *cough*). Symbian still holds a dominant share of the smartphone market though they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly and fast with their developer tool and protocol faux pas.

And I guess the real phrase should be "some people" rather than "people". Apple still occupies a fraction of the computing market and the iPad has serious flaws (crippled garden effect) that anyone who uses a computer for more than a status rag will notice. It did not advance the state of the art or provide new functionality like many earlier Apple products.

The people I know who are Apple product users look at the iPad and go "what for?" .... bad sign.

[SeijiSensei]

There are many answers to this question; I'll just list a few.

Spoiler for tl;dr:

First, there's inertia, especially in the business world. Large numbers of companies still use Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 because they built internal applications using Microsoft tools a decade ago. IT staff in these places have no incentive to switch to another operating system for obvious reasons. PHBs worry that open source means they have no one to blame (or sue) if something goes wrong (though a quick glance at the Microsoft license agreement makes it quite clear you exempt them of all liability when using their products).

When people live in a Windows world at work, they're not eager to use something else at home. This might be less true of the under-30 crowd who have adopted Macs in larger numbers than their parents, but in general people often want to use the same software at home as they use at the office. Most people over 30 have used Windows all their lives and don't feel the urge to try something new. Trying to explain to them that computers don't just naturally "slow down" over time, or fall over completely, but get that way because of malware that exploits holes in Windows will just result in blank stares. Instead they trot down to the local BestBuy and pay $100-200 to clean up their computers, or they just throw them out and buy new ones (with Windows). Neither of these practices give retailers or manufacturers much incentive to ship computers with an operating system like Linux or BSD that is much less vulnerable to common virus and malware infections.

Next we have the problem of anti-competitive practices. Most industry insiders believe that Microsoft requires its large OEM customers like HP or Dell to sell only computers that run Windows. Dell has made a few meager efforts at selling non-MS machines, but in general you won't find a non-Windows PC at any retail outlet, at least in this country. The OEM deals also usually require that an operating system be shipped on every PC, so people don't have the option of buying a machine without Windows installed at the factory. Also, most machines these days come with a variety of "trialware" programs pre-installed. The companies making these programs (Symantec, Nero, etc.) pay the computer manufacturers to have their programs shipped which helps defray the cost of the computer to the retail purchaser. Open-source software doesn't offer this incentive.

When netbooks first hit the market a few years back, a couple of companies like Asus tried shipping them with a Linux variant to hold down prices. Apparently these sold well in Asia, but not so well over here. US OEMs wanted to ship netbooks but were unable to do so because they had to ship Vista, which was the current version of Windows at the time. Because Vista wasn't made for smaller, slower machines with limited memory like netbooks, this posed substantial performance issues. So Microsoft created a special netbook exemption and extended the life of the less-demanding XP, but only on machines with a screen no bigger than 11 inches and with no more than one gigabyte of memory. (OEMs were afraid, rightfully so, that netbooks would drive down the price of notebook computers and threaten their margins.) Once the exemption was introduced it became nearly impossible to find a Linux-based netbook in the US.

Now let's talk a bit about "teh shiny." Apple has managed to figure out how to make Unix work for the masses and how to make "must-have" devices. These appeal to a small, but growing segment of people, especially young people. (Nevertheless, while Apple will ship about 4 million iPads, netbook sales are estimated to be over ten times that figure.) For the most part, people aren't using iPhones or iPads to engage in traditional computing activities. A quick glance at the top sellers among apps in the iPhone store shows it's all about games, games, games. Just yesterday, the NY Times reported on a Nielsen study of iPhone users which showed that most of them don't use any apps at all. The top six percent of users consume half the total data bandwidth, while a quarter of iPhone owners use no data services at all. I'm sure AT&T knew this when they recently instituted tiered data plans. Based on these figures, I'd venture to say that many iPhone owners chose the device more as a fashion accessory than as a computing device.

Linux has made enormous headway into the server room, though. Microsoft has fought hard to preserve this beachhead by creating integrated systems that use proprietary technologies on both the server and the desktop to lock companies into their products. In the online services world, though, Linux has taken over. Big sites like Google and Facebook all run Linux and other open-source applications as do many smaller web hosting shops. I started using Linux in 1994 because I needed to build Internet-facing servers. Windows had no traction in this space while Unix was the operating system of choice in networked environments. I've never looked back.

Finally there's the cultural bias against free things. "If it's free, it cannot be good." I've fought that for years while trying to introduce open-source software into commercial enterprises.

[killer3000ad]

Easy iPhone 4 reception fix-DUCT TAPE IT!

THis contradicts what Apple have said, that the problem lies in their formula for calculating signal strength which causes the phone to display a higher-than-actual reception bar count.

[solomon]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128489907

There European countries are just ASKING to have extremists target them....

[Lord of Fire]

Originally Posted by solomon

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128489907

There European countries are just ASKING to have extremists target them....

So, not doing anything would keep them away then?

I think it's a good idea. Head scarfs are one thing, but complete face-revealing headwear is quite something else.

Besides, if you move to a European country, expect different rules and laws. Don't expect people to conform to Islamic practices just because you're Muslim yourself. Maybe in Islamic countries, people don't mind this, but most European countries sure do (though they're still a bit slow to figure that out for themselves).

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by Lord of Fire

So, not doing anything would keep them away then?

I think it's a good idea. Head scarfs are one thing, but complete face-revealing headwear is quite something else.

Besides, if you move to a European country, expect different rules and laws. Don't expect people to conform to Islamic practices just because you're Muslim yourself. Maybe in Islamic countries, people don't mind this, but most European countries sure do (though they're still a bit slow to figure that out for themselves).

I'd have to agree with this post to some extent. We're already giving muslims plenty of freedom to do as they please in our own, predominantly christian countries, and sometimes resulted in unfavorable cases (honor killings and such). Yet if you go to Saudi Arabia, you get your hands cut off if you're caught practicing any other religion apart from Islam publicly, not to mention women there are obligated to wear abaias and veils. If they impose such strict regulations on us there, why not do something similar to them here? They still have the freedom to practice Islam publicly. They don't need veils to pray.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by Yoko Takeo

I'd have to agree with this post to some extent. We're already giving muslims plenty of freedom to do as they please in our own, predominantly christian countries, and sometimes resulted in unfavorable cases (honor killings and such). Yet if you go to Saudi Arabia, you get your hands cut off if you're caught practicing any other religion apart from Islam publicly, not to mention women there are obligated to wear abaias and veils. If they impose such strict regulations on us there, why not do something similar to them here? They still have the freedom to practice Islam publicly. They don't need veils to pray.

Do you really want to judge the standards of Liberté, égalité, fraternité through the baseline of an oppressive Medieval theocratic state?

That said, full body veils are public safety concerns, so I would agree with the results of the decision, though not necessarily the motives.