Re: Any of you ACTUALLY gone back and watched any of the old Doctor Who stories?

Yes I have. Two nights ago as a matter of fact: The Three Doctors downloaded from Netflix.

I'd buy DVDs of the old shows if the Beeb would just have the decency to repackage them in season sets and sell them at the same price as they sell the current ones. Right now I only have them on aging VHS tapes from when they use to run on PBS.

@Fogcat

I won't go as far as the best of the new series, but yes, by the end of her run I was sad to see her go. She actually made a good foil for him.

Re: Your all wrong

McCoy and Ace were great, but I'll still give the edge to Baker and either Ramana v1 or Leela.

It still pisses me off the Beeb were clearly intent on killing the show when McCoy had the role. I've heard better soundtracks on Hanna Barbara cartoons.

And okay, maybe I am just a crazy 'Merkin, but I really liked the shows better when they had the feel of the monarchy back on Galifrey. It made them different, and therefore that much more enjoyable.

I'd agree that all of Bakers companions

until Cedric were good ones. But let's face it, if you're really looking for the one companion who could always keep up, it wasn't a he or a she, it was K9 in any incarnation.

@VinceH

Nope, while it is true that Baker actually married V2, her portrayal was greatly inferior to V1. V1 actually exceeded the doctor in knowledge and skill, at least in the first episodes before the writers started dumbing her down. By V2 the transformation was complete except for an occasional throw-away. And I think V1 was the prettier of the two too.

@Chad H.

Yes and no. I believe that in any contract where you can show that all parties to the contract actively engaged in negotiating the contract, you should be able to have such a clause. It can benefit all parties by reducing costs, but it DOES require that 1) the arbitrator be truly neutral and 2) agreed to by all the parties prior to the actual dispute occurring.

However, "contracts" that are handed to you and you can sign it or walk are a whole other story. I think those should be summarily tossed and petitioner should have his day in court. And if it turns out that the petitioner is a troll, the court should treat him accordingly.

Re: @Tim Parker : "Chrome catching IE slowly"?

You can whine about stat all you want to, but according to the security folks at my not so small government agency, Chrome is technically malware because it bypasses administrative installation restrictions. Those of us working the help desk aren't authorized to install it, but we can't stop users from installing it either, even when they don't have the proper privileges.

@mcstorm2011: Let me fix that for you.

"I use IE as my main browser as I work with a lot of MS products like remote web work place & SharePoint and MS won't release versions that properly support web standards, so none of the other browsers work."

While realizing the net effect is the same for you and your customer, assigning fault properly is critical to getting it fixed.

Re: Cost Analysis

Speaking as someone who isn't an academic and did some of that work for a publisher once upon a time in my life, your description does not accurately describe the process. There's no way they are requiring you to submit it in "publication ready format" because that would require everyone in academia to own a copy of PageMaker, Ventura, Quark, and maybe one or two other programs. What they are requiring is something formatted to look like what will eventually be published so when they're done reworking it, they have something to match it against.

Next, some journals may only do cursory editing others do extensive, particularly for non-native speakers. In our case in addition to the reviewers we usually had 3 or 4 editor/proofreaders (hourly part time) who were assigned articles, they came back to us were reviewed either by the senior or assistant editor (both full time employees at the publisher), and finally went to either me or my assistant for correction and formatting in the publication program. While my salary didn't make me rich, I wasn't exactly cheap either. I expect most of the rest of the staff made more than me.

Finally, we need to deal with your throw-away greed line: they bundle it with less popular journals to hide the price. No, they've adapted to the socialist model academics prefer: they subsidize the cost of equally critical journals that don't have sufficient circulation to break even, or support other work the organization was doing [in my case we were a 501(c)3 corporation supporting scientific research in testing methodology assurance].

Now maybe Elsevier deserve a boycott because they are making obscene amounts of money, I haven't looked at their last quarterly report. But I given my experience, I doubt it. Probably just keeping their heads above water wondering how they are going to still be a going concern 3 years from now, and that was before the boycott. Chances are you'll only find out how truly critical they were after they go bankrupt and things that use to be easily available to you cease to be.

@John Naismith: Ah, finally the light goes on.

You're just being European bigots instead of American bigots. Our pols have passed a law and it must be moral.

Price fixing is not the same as anti-competitive. You can fix to a low price, but it tends to be consumers who want that, not producers. Apple just approved an agreement that said

1. We need to make a fair margin, we think it's 30%

2. We don't care what the actual price is, so we'll sell at whatever you say MSRP is.

3. To protect ourselves and because you are setting the MSRP, you can't set the MSRP lower for anybody else than you do for us*

With that agreement in hand the publishers went to everyone else and offered them the Apple deal. Everybody else agreed the Apple deal was better than what they were getting.

Now, maybe you can argue the PUBLISHERS collaborated to create an anti-competitive environment, but Apple as first movers certainly aren't the guilty party.

* which is not to say they can't lower the MSRP, just that if they lower it for someone else, Apple gets it too. Seems fair to me.

There are multiple avenues for anti-trust.

The one you are outlining is NOT the one which was filed against Apple. What has been contended is that Apple effectively colluded with publishers and distributors to set prices in an existing market. The mechanisms described are faulty and therefore that case is faulty.

The one you describe might be feasible, but even at that I think it has a steep climb to make. In order to get there, you have to give Apple monopoly control of the e-reader market. Given Kindle's dominance, and Android's growing market share in the phone market (which I expect will soon extend to fondleslabs as well) I think Apple wins that with a "we aren;t the dominant market size player, just the dominant high quality segment" argument.

Re: Except Amazon...

In the US, selling at a loss to drive out the competition is expressly defined actionable anti-trust behavior. It's what the whole "rail ticket across the country at less cost that a trip across Chicago" trust-busting movement back in the dark ages was all about.

@The Man Who Fell To Earth

That guaranteed lowest price clause everybody is complaining about is actually standard contractual language for many commercial operations in the US, including discount distribution centers and manufacturers.

For example, lets say I run a small manufacturing plant that specializes in precision machining. And one day I come up with an idea for a new heating mechanism for experimental equipment. But I need some cash to be able to spin up the new manufacturing line. And the best way for me to get that cash is to get a loan from the bank. But the bank wants some proof that I'll be able to pay it back, so I go sign a contract with a well known big industry player, like HP back when H and P were still running it. Now, HP actually like my new design and want to buy enough units so 75% of my new manufacturing line is running full tilt. But they don't want to get screwed by either a competitor or even me offering it at a substantial discount from what they can sell it at given the price I gave them on the initial contract. So they include a clause that says if I sell it to someone else cheaper, I have to give the same price to them. Apple did the same thing.*

In point of fact, what actually is illegal in the US would have been for Apple to engage in the sort of coordinated discussions that would have enabled them to follow the "accepted norm" for the suit.

*a lot of actual events in there, with a few outright fabrications (although possible) and misdirects so it doesn't match up to reality, and hopefully enough obfuscation to protect the OEM, who was and probably still is a small but important player in the market.

Re: To the haters

You forgot the /sarc tag, so you've confused people.

...

...

It this part that gives it away:

...soon Windows Phone 7 (sorry 7.5 actually no I mean Windows Phone 8) will emerge...

@Nigel

I'm not a big mobi user, but the way I read the tea leaves, it's really got nothing to do with how dreadful it is for users. It's how dreadful it has been for the company to support development of the OS. I read it as mostly self-inflicted wounds, but fatal never the less. So their choice is whether to go Android or WinPho, because iOS is out.

Re: catholic.xxx

While it is true that the word "catholic" technically means "universal" it is hardly ever used in that context any more. When it is used, it is Catholic, as in Catholic Church over which The Pope presides here on Earth.

The meaning of words changes over time, and it is probably time to update the definition to note that "universal" is an archaic definition.

Note: I'm not Catholic myself, I'm more from the Protestant realm although of no official affiliation.

@Steven Roper

No, that would be Agnosticism, makes the claim it doesn't know whether or not there is a God. Atheism is the belief there is NO God.

And no, worldwide absence of religious belief doesn't bring substantial improvement. Most often it has brought death by the millions. cf Nazi Germany, Communist China, Pol Pot, etc. Oddly enough, it has usually been the Christians who were the first to come to the aid of the persecuted in these countries.

Re: @Scott

In other words, you're just as much of a bigot as any mask wearing member of the KKK who burned a cross in a front yard or murdered a man because of the color of his skin, or his support for people who thought the color of skin shouldn't matter.

Re: Bama is a dummy

There are many such conversations, but none of them involve the sorts of racists and fascists who reflexively scream "RACIST!" when The Big 0's Communist/Marxist/Racist policies are pointed out.

*Accusing a white police officer who teaches the race awareness course of racism for following proper police procedure when a break-in is reported at a black man's house.

*Overturning long standing creditor and bond holder priority in favor of paying off union goons in bankruptcy court.

*Facilitating gun running to Mexican drug cartels and the murder of a US law officer under three separate ATF operations before trying to cover it up in a sham even Nixon wouldn't have tried.

*Dismissing an already successful prosecution for voter intimidation for a black man in a 90% black majority district because he was attacking white people and they deserve it.

*Re-writing, in contradiction of existing law, the loan terms for a politically connected solar energy company so that American taxpayers would be liable for all of the loan.

*Against the will of the American people implementing a Socialist healthcare system, including offering blatant bribes such as The New Louisiana Purchase and the Corn Husker Kickback.

Oh, and let's not forget my personal favorite:

*Voting with Barney "The Congressional Page Scandal" Frank to block Bush's attempts (which probably would have been too late anyway, but at least were an attempt) to head off the 2007 banking collapse, then blaming it on greedy corporations and Republicans.

As near as I can tell in my 36 years of political observation, the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats is that no matter how bought they are, Republicans can occasionally be embarrassed about the corruption and forced to do the proper thing. No chance of that with a Dem.

If it is okay to seize crack cocaine and/or automatic weapons,

it is also ok to seize assets that can aid the accused in unlawfully escaping prosecution. Which Kim showed every intention of doing, passport or no.

Not a chance. US Congresscritters are too accustomed

to being above the law to notice a little thing like that.

Re: I genuinely don't understand.

The university's position is that you are there to learn not to have sex.

The students typically come to an arrangement for alone time in the room. You'll have other friends on campus and you might crash with them when your roomie has a "friend" over.

What you'll probably find even more amazing is that even outside of uni housing, students still group up with other people they might not know to share rooms and still have the same issues.

And as long as you are both reasonably normal, there is a good chance you'll become decent friends in fairly short order. My first two years were spent with a pre-med student. We didn't have any issues, but then neither of us ever brought "friends" back to the room either. We actually were there to study.

@Citizen Kaned

I think if the roommate had been straight but of a strict fundamentalist sect and it had gotten out, and the roommate had committed suicide he'd been in similar trouble, we just wouldn't know about it. Probably not 10 years for murder trouble, more like 5 years for manslaughter, but also without an option for a community service plea deal.

Re: Plea deal...

When someone winds up dead, it's not just a harassment/privacy invasion case.

I can disagree with hate crimes aspect, but this is a carrot and stick case. The carrot was an especially lenient plea bargain. The stick might be bigger than I'd like, but when you tempt the fates with a trial when the prosecution has you cold, you're a fool.

One other thing, I'd wager the sonic boom off a Concord

was probably a good bit less disruptive than the noise I endured living under a common BWI flight path. At the time I lived there it the planes had to effectively execute a hard banking turn as soon as they lifted off the runway because it pointed the wrong way. It seems they didn't want the jets flying over the ocean on take off. So you constantly heard screaming jet engines laboring under that load.

That'll be one up vote from a 'Merkin

Of course, I consider the Concord hysteria the precursor to the current carbon hysteria. I seem to recall some ozone hysteria too, just to mix things up a bit.

Re: The problem is the flux capacitor...

The problem was NEVER the flux capacitor, it was how to get the 1.21 Gigawatts of power to feed the damn thing! Or getting the train up to 88 mph.

@Norfolk 'n' Goode: You'll find I'm as quick to bash Apple as I am MS,

but only when there is cause. Given that Apple are currently being shaken down by a Chinese company with political connections, I'm rather suspicious this case is also the result of political connections.

@MonkeyBot

I would say that given Apples most recent woes, the problem is quite the reverse: it has shutdown (or at least been significantly diminished) allowing more outsiders to see the Emperor's clothes.

@Steve Crook: Warmmongers, not physics.

No physicist worth his salary would make projections with as many unknowns as the Warmmongers do.

@Ken Hagan: Agreed, but

it didn't help the politics any that the Fukishima management misled the Japanese public about the actual risks during the accident because they were concerned the Japanese would react like Americans.

Yes, I'm saying that from the 'Merkin side of the pond.

Re: @ Hud Dunlap

It's California. They just swing that way. The rest of us on this side of the pond don't understand it either, but there's not much we can do about it.

Addendum: This is part of why we Tea Partiers get labeled neanderthals in your press. We want laws like this changed, while our opponents play it up as increasing sentences for drug use/distribution. Or worse, they play it off as us being unnecessarily inhibited about sex, which is a private matter.

Re: A wll placed SAM?

No, actually you want to use conventional explosives to change the orbit. We know from past experiences that detonating a nuke in orbit is bad for current civilization. What is needed is reconfiguring the ICBMs to carry conventional payloads and launch them in a well calibrated series designed to keep nudging the orbit while keeping it whole. If it break up, you have more pieces to track. Yes they'll all do less damage, but you need to be sure the most damage any of them will do is still on par with taking out a house, not a large city. Tracking one is hard enough, the chaos from a break-up makes the fragments impossible.

Yes, this solution ignores the political problems of nation states peacefully launching a series of ICBMs into space, but it's the only physics solution available.

Re: In what country...

Any country with an automated internet system for reporting lost/stolen property because having police to actually verify things costs too much and is very inefficient. It's the "other personal information" on which they are primarily depending, and which was probably also compromised by the malware on the system.

Possible but doubtful.

You get lots of high-g affects far more frequently for fighter pilots, especially of the naval variety. And they specified that it results from the build-up of fluid around the eye itself.

Of course you'll need a full bore longitudinal study and a cross comparison with the fighter jocks, so...

Medic! We need a loan grant application STAT!

Re: Next 30 DAYS?

MS isn't saying it will take 30 days before there is an exploit. They aren't saying exactly when the exploit will come out. If it came out 30 minutes after they released the patch that would be "within 30 days." What they are saying is that BY 30 days, the probability of a widely distributed exploit approaches unity.

Re: @AC 12:19 GMT

Most folks using DRM encumbered satelilite and cable services don't expect that they OWN a copy of the movie. They only expect it to work for a single instance. Big difference.

@TeeCee

Except of course that isn't what Google is doing and so far shows no indications of doing. In fact, as the article clearly notes, they are continuing to support JS. Maybe on this point they are willing to let the best technology win, because er, well, it is best for Google to support the best technology regardless of from where it originates?

Re: I can't always unedstand "Noo Yawkers"

That only hurts Apple's ads. They advertise it as working for EVERYBODY.

Yeah, I know most voice stuff is a load of crock until trained. One of my early experiences with it was trying to install it for an Israeli who had an accent so thick you needed a chain saw to cut it. Poor sod bought himself a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking (way back around maybe 4.0) for WordPerfect so he wouldn't have to dictate everything to his secretary. I did my best to tweak the software for him. Of course there was no way I could tell him the problem was his accent, that would have gotten me and my company sued.

Re: I don't own an iPhone..

It sounds like he was talked into the upgrade. If that was the case, I'd want to sue too. And this case has all the necessary ingredients for a high grade Class Action Lawsuit (Big company ignoring customers, little guy getting screwed; cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching for the lawyers) so it's no surprise he found someone to take his case.