When the RIM Blackberry tablet first came out up here in Canada, I distinctly remember the first reviews on the news and in print. One of the big "complaints" about the RIM tablet was that it was smaller - only 7.6 inches wide. Strangely enough, the article here states the new mini iPad is 7.85 inches wide.

      I remember too it wasn't so much what the reviewers on TV said, it was how they said it, their "tone of voice", the inflection in the words, not the words themselves. Now that Apple is doing a small tablet, it's the next "exciting product". *sigh*

      Anyhow, the basic 8 gig RIM tablet occasionally goes on sale here in Canada for around the $100 mark and they are usually sold out instantly long before you can drive to the store or even think of ordering one online. Leads me to think the number one use of tablets is e-mail, surf the web, read books and/or business documents. I don't use my iPad for music or movies or TV shows, etc, just business. Over the past year I've taken most the apps off that I had on my "old" original iPad one, because I simply don't use it for very much more than those items above.

    True you can do a million and one things with an iPad - or most tablets nowadays, but in real world use I find I still need a full featured laptop. I love my iPad for what it is, I make great use of it, but I see zero need for me to upgrade to an iPad 3 or a mini-iPad or any other new tablet. Somedays i think the real reason for the latest and greatest iPad is so you can look cool at Starbucks. for me, I will wait until my current iPad dies out or becomes hopelessly obsolete, and then, with all the choices out there, my next tablet will be whatever gets the job done.

We have five different genetic conditions in our family, some are considered diseases, others are considered disabilities. I am quite sure under these new "ethics", myself and my whole family would be on the top of the list for instant abortion. Yet despite all medical conditions, many of my family have lived very long and productive lives. In same cases, I consider my relatives and ancestors choice and will to fight and overcome the odds stacked against them something to inspire me to never feel sorry for myself. Would we ever see such a thing in a future where all babies were born "perfect"? I think the sense of entitlement we see in our society is already overwhelming as it is, and i find it's people who overcome their disabilites that throw cold water, figuratively speaking, in the fact of self indulgence and entitlement. Would we see that this 'ethical" future?

      My other point, this whole issue reminds of of that famous line from near the end of the movie "The Third Man", where the character Harry Lime says:

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

    In a world full of "perfect babies", well, just saying.

A few years ago a man I was talking to a man who's house along with the rest of his town was flooded. He said in his case he thought got off lucky because the water only came 2 to 2.5 feet above floor level

  But it turned out to be a huge issue because while the water wasn't high enough to destroy his small TV, his router, his printer, etc, etc, the water did destroy all the small adapters, transformers, etc, etc, he had plugged in. He told me it was a nightmare to try and replace individual transformer, usb connectors, etc, etc, because everybody was not only a bit different, but because inside the same company if your device was over 2 years old, standards had change or maybe they didn't even make or have for sale an older transformer with the old voltage & amperage specs.

      Or sometimes he would run into the "problem" of where "sure we can get it, but it will take two months, and you can just buy a whole new thing-ama-jig for just $10 more." This in turn led to arguements with the insurance company, and so forth. He told me a new charger for his cell phone was the worst "offender" He just ended up with a new cell phone.

      I remember him very clearing saying "why not just a universal standard for everything? One cable from your computer for everything and one transformer for everything?" He figured if there was ever a floor like that again, "everything is going to fall into the water by accident".

      This whole idea of so many different proprietary connectors strikes me as nothing more than a fancy, expanded take on those old Depression era make work projects where men would dig ditches one day and then fill them in the next day. In the short term it makes some people money, but in a long term, on a planet with limited resources, overall a terrible waste.

I found out some time ago that all conversations at my local bank (and therefore all banks, eh?) are recorded when you are banking at/with a human teller. The public is not made aware of this, but I can confirm it. My understanding is due to bank robberies, this system along with video recording was put into place, but how much more can it be used or is it used for?

        This makes me wonder then if the same thing is not happening at all other "public" spot where you interact with a human being behind a desk. For example, we know that all 911 calls are recorded, and all calls to "customer service" of large corporations are recorded "to ensure quality" (yeah, right). So why not every information desk in a mall or a hotel, every cash register at every major department store, and more?

        Another thing I noticed is if you look real close at video cameras in some retail stores, gas stations and restaurants you will see that the camera is not always pointed at the customer, but at the cash register. I first noticed this after a story about "inside" or employee theft at a local fast food restaurant made the newspaper, and the new cameras at the time were pointed at the cash station. I imagine in all these cases, there must be audio in addition to video recording.

          I think the only reasonable assumption, if there is such a thing, is to treat every public encounter you have - be it ordering coffee, paying a utility bill or paying for gas, to be recorded when you are dealing with a human face to face. Don't worry if you pay all your bills online, I am sure your IP address is locked and loaded into some database somewhere too every time you pay a bill too. I guess 1984 really did come and go quite some time ago. :(

Mod me double plus idiot if you will, but in our small company, our "critical computer" - the one hat has files I don't want to loose (yes, i do back ups), and the one I don't ever want hacked, it is NEVER connected to the internet. No wifi, no bluetooth, no cable, nada, zilcho. I even have independent power supply aside from plugging it into the wall.

  Anything I need to introduce into the computer id done by a freshly formatted USB, and double checked and scanned first on a different machine running linux. When not in use, I physically turn it off and disconnect the power supply, and if the hackers can get into a machine with no power, well, I;ll just go back to pen and ink at that point. :)

        Now seriously, I know you cannot turn off a computer that is running a nuke plant or a NORAD radar system, but why are so many critical systems connected to the internet? Or have online access of any kind? Back in the good old days of BBSes when I was a sysop and upgrading form a 9600 baud modem to a 28,800 like like a miracle (you know, this was back way when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, or so my kids see it as such :) ), the quickest way sometimes to block a hacker attack as to physically disconnect the phone line from the modem.

        Again, mod me super simplistic idiot, but if I were operations manager for a nuke plant, and a major cyber attack was underway, to prevent a meltdown, wouldn't you be tempted to just take a pair of wire cutters and snip the physical connection to the internet?

As somebody who is colour blind and undergone some extensive testing for it, I've been told by several people that the "normal" range of human vision between 400nm to 700nm is more or less an average. Everyone is different, and just as some people can naturally run a mile in 6-7 minutes with little training while others would have trouble walking a mile in 20 minutes, it is the same with our vision. IMO, a more true statement would be that the "weighted average" of human vision is 400 to 700nm, but the extreme ranges *might* go anywhere from say 350, 360nm to perhaps 720 or 730 nm.

      For example, even without a yellowed cornea, some people may not see into the UV at all. There are also suggestions - would not go so far as to say a sound theory - that some well known artists from days past had, perhaps without ever knowing it, natural extended vision into either the UV or IR, or perhaps even both. Just as it is claimed that some famous musicians from the past had a naturally extended range of hearing.

      Another thing to be aware of is that, at least IMO, the medical profession as a whole really seems to have little interest in this area. Specific example, I am colour blind, but it is very poorly understood. Also, since childhood, I have been extremely sensitive to bright light, but my night vision is superb, and apparently above that of the average person. I cannot tell you how many specialists I have either called or visited over the years, but the response is generally "I don't know" or "well, just live it it". It almost seems to me that if you cannot treat it or fix it right away, and you aren't going to die from it, why bother with it. so I have a small fortune invested in prescription eyeglasses, and I wear them even on cloudy days. You get some weird looks, but you get used to it.

      As for "proof", I can understand dealing with skeptical people. In terms of my own night vision, I had trouble even convincing my wife when we were first married. I solved that one real quick one night camping. Walking from our campsite to the washrooms, I left the flashlight behind. I was able to find my way no problem, but my wife keep tripping over rocks or branches in the dark. Even holding her hand she keep tripping or bumping into things. She sure wasn't impressed, but she has never doubted me since. :)

Canada had TWO major nuclear incidents at Chalk River with the NRX reactors, in 1952 and 58. Most the the information has been removed off the web over the past few years, but you can still read about the 1952 partial meltdown here at:
http://media.cns-snc.ca/history/nrx.html

    My son had to do a high school project a few years about about the 1952 incident, and modern history books have virtually nothing on the accident. An old early 1960's history book from the stacks at the public library and that report on the web were about the only sources of information he could find.

      As a fellow Canadian, I am not so sure we can be that arrogant in our attitudes. Also, if Canada, supposedly one of the more open and free democracies in the world (whatever that is supposed to mean anymore) can downplay and/or suppress information about it's major nuclear accidents, how many other "incidents" do you think might have happened around the world and we've never heard about?

      Sad thing is, compared to fossil fuels, what real choice do we have? Realistically, conservation, wind and solar (green power) sources just aren't cutting it. I'm not talking about home use, trying running a major manufacturing plant or oil refinery on wind or solar power.
   

A member of my family has and needs a pacemaker to stay alive. I have read several articles on the topic, and so far, there is no definitive answer on the possible effects, if any, on a person with a pacemaker. Let's say for sake of arguement there is a 1 in a 100 or a 1 in 10,000 chance of adversely affecting a pacemaker when walking through one of these scanners - would you take that chance?

For business purposes I use cheques all the time. I don't know if any of you have ever had a tax audit, but when dealing with governments, papers ALWAYS wins over any "e-statment" or any other electronic form of information keeping, or at least, that has been my direct, first hand experience. Last time the government looked me over for anything, they never took a penny form me for two reasons : 1) I knew the law like the back of my hand; 2) I had PAPER to back up every single statement I made, including canceled cheques.

      You see, at least what I was told, when you have a cheque in your hand, you have physical evidence, fingerprints, personal handwriting, etc. Heck, maybe even some left over DNA somewhere. You cannot fake that, but some people can very easily fake electronic financial statements.

        I also find that at least once a year, somebody, somewhere, individual, business or even a government agency claims I didn't pay a bill, and then I go pull out my canceled cheque, wave it in front of them, and watch the dumbfounded look on their faces. Now here's the thing that scares me. If I find an error at least once a year, how many errors are there out there every year, how may people are NOT looking closely at their accounts and keeping close track of them? In find electronic statements are often wrought with error, and most people trust a computer before they trust themselves.

      Another thing about cheques is that you - believe it or not - have very few bad payments or even fraud or ripoffs. Seriously. My business take no credit card or debit card, and my bad debts/losses are almost non existent. I am not saying you can do this with every business, not by any means, but it is easier for people to commit fraud with electronic means and credit cards than with cheques.

      Something else many of you seem unaware of, but credit cards and debit cards are very expensive for any business or merchant to use. Easily 5% of any purchase you make at most small and medium sized businesses with a credit card goes not to the store or business, but to the credit card company. Don't ever shurg it off and say "oh, that's the cost of doing business", because IMO, that phrase is one of the most foolish things you can ever say. People who says things like that are the ones who in the past created the Enrons of this world, or who created some of the major financial messes we are in today. so if you think the ease and use of a credit card is worth an unofficial 5% "bank tax" on every purchase you make, go ahead, knock yourself out.

      One last thing - book keeping and accounting of any kind is a major PITA, no two ways about it, but grow up and get a life before you start tossing 'attitude" at people like me who use cheques. If I can financaily keep my head above water by using cheques, and that helps me keep my finances on an even keel, what's wrong with with that? For what it is worth, I have zero personal debt. I may not own much, but everything I own is paid for 100%. So maybe some of us cheque writers aren't that stupid after all.

      All I am saying is, if some of use stone age idiots like myself want to use cheques, and you don't, fine. I'm not saying all of you should, and I don't think I have the right to tell any of you what to do, but I am asking for the same right & respect back.

Cell phone jammers have made me a second class citizen today. I too am one of those people who carry a cell phone for the specific reason of being on call for emergencies.

    I seldom go to theaters or restaurants unless I know my cell phone works. I am amazed at how many places the cell phone does not work. I suspect three are more (possibly illegal) jammers out there in use that people admit too. That means I cannot go many places the rest of you take for granted.

    You would be amazed at how many of us are on emergency call. Car break down in the middle of nowhere and you need a tow truck at 3:00 a.m? Did a thunder storm take down a tree on your house, and you need an emergency patch on your roof on a Sunday? These are just a few small examples. Point is, not everyone on "emergency call" is a police officer, doctor or fire fighter.

    I can think of at least 8 different occasions I have used my cell phone to call 911, everything from car accidents with injuries, fires, a lost child, car breakdown, and more. Not having a cell phone useable at these times might of created a lot more harm for either myself & my family or for another person.

      Even witnessing a heart attack in a restaurant is not as clear cut and dry as it seems. An allergic reaction can mimic the conditions of a heart attack if you don't know any better, so if somebody keels over at a table in a restaurant you do NOT wait for the restaurant staff to call 911, you do it yourself, and while on the phone you fill in the people at 911 with background detials such as food allergies or other medical conditions that the staff at the restaurant cannot possibly know about.

    Or you do like I do, you just don't go to these places anymore.