For most of the existence of mankind and indeed all of mankind's progenitors, having too much food was a rare problem and being hungry all of the time was a fact of life. We are not necessarily well-evolved to handle it. So, no surprise that we eat to repletion and are still hungry. You don't really have any reason to look at it as an illness caused by anything other than too much food.

I don't understand why you Aussies think this even matters. Do you know how much carbon you guys produce next to China or India? A laughably small amount. You could start building factories tomorrow in the outback that did nothing but spew raw CO2 into the atmosphere and it would take you hundreds of years to catch up to China alone.

If CO2 is to really be reduced the effort falls squarely on large semi-developed countries like China or India. Even the US has already cut back as much as they can, and that without a carbon tax also... we just weren't as stupid as you to pass it to start with.

You guys are just wising up to the reality that carbon taxes are as much a ruse to make people money as anything else. Where do you think "carbon taxes" go anyway...

Martin,

The last time I had a professional video produced, I paid $5000 for a one-minute commercial, and those were rock-bottom prices from hungry people who wanted it for their own portfolio. I doubt I could get that today. $8000 for the entire conference is really volunteer work on Gary's part.

Someone's got to pay for it. One alternative would be to get a corporate sponsor and give them a keynote, which is what so many conferences do, but that would be abandoning our editorial independence. Having Gary fund his own operation through Kickstarter without burdening the conference is what we're doing. We're really lucky we could get that.

We do charge entry to the convention. We get really nice facilities for the people who actually travel there and for the speakers. Last year's location was subperb. But I don't see why they should actually subsidize the folks who do not attend.

I think TAPR's policy is that the presentations be freely redistributable, but I don't know what they and Gary have discussed. I am one of the speakers and have always made sure that my own talk would be freely redistributable. I wouldn't really want it to be modifiable except for translation and quotes, since it's a work of opinion. Nobody should get the right to modify the video in such a way as to make my opinion seem like it's anything other than what it is.

If I remember correctly, it was 4 video channels last year: tracking on presenter, proscenium, audience, projector.

Yes. I put in $100, and I am asking other people to put in money to sponsor these programs so that everyone, including people who did not put in any money at all, can see them for free. If you look at the 150+ videos, you can see that Gary's pretty good at this (and he brought a really professional-seeming cameraman to Hamvention, too) and the programs are interesting. Even if at least four of them feature yours truly :-) He filmed every one of the talks at the TAPR DCC last year (and has filmed for the past 5 years) and it costs him about $8000 to drive there from North Carolina to Austin, Texas; to bring his equipment and to keep it maintained, to stay in a motel, to run a multi-camera shoot for every talk in the conference, and to get some fair compensation for his time in editing (and he does a really good job at that).

30 years after the original 1984 commercial the rebels have been co-opted and are now partnering with big brother.

In what way is IBM Big Brother any more? They have not been for a decade or more... if anything they are the Nerdy Brother, just hanging out on the side doing technical stuff while Microsoft gives them a wedgie every time he comes back home.

But in reality this pairing is to keep both companies strong against Google, not Microsoft.

Doesn't matter, fewer people suffering is still better than nothing. The fact you don't care about the actual number of people supposedly suffering speaks volumes about what you really care about - i.e. Hating Apple, not some guy in China just happy to have a good job.

but it's not easier to bring a tablet and a laptop than to just bring a laptop, right?

No, but it is easier to bring just a laptop than a tablet. Any USB source charges it. You can carry it more easily, and use it in more places.

since a laptop does everything a tablet does

Not actually true (touch interface far better for things like drawing) but let's pretend it is.

A laptop may be able to do everything a tablet does but if the tablet is far lighter and has better batter life guess which most people would rather have on a trip?

In a foreign country would you rather wander around looking for a WiFi cafe with a tablet tucked in your purse, or a backpack with a laptop?

This is exactly why tablets have done as well as they have, because they replace laptops for some scenarios where portability is more convenient.

i'm in BT range of my phone 99% of the day, and i think that's pretty typical.

And I'm in quick viewing range of my phone 99% of my day, which is also typical. They are the same thing...

You are joking, but if you really thought that was a problem then you would be cheering for the workers to be out of jobs you consider unhealthy for them.

So the fact you are not cheering, why is that again?

the tablet allows them to ... not open their laptop?

Yes, because it's a lot easier to bring a tablet with you than a laptop. So you may well have a tablet around when there is no laptop to open.

The same is not true of any modern smart watch, which by design only really does much when a smart-phone is in your pocket.

Because you are used to the area, you do not think about driving as much near home - instead thinking about what you will do where you are going or when you get home, when you are close. It's easy to grow inattentive and miss a change that leads to an accident.

Picking someone up and dropping someone off has none of the risks of familiarity since each situation is different.

Well Done All Around.
It sickens me that we must "buy back" our democracy.