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Comment Re:Why not... (Score 1) 202

In the passenger seat my wife ceases being a friend and a lover and a wife and is magically transformed into a driver ed instructor. After many, shall we say, disagreements, we found a solution. Unless she's tired enough to take a nap, she drives whenever we go anywhere.

Comment Re:Sounds like a business opportunity to me (Score 5, Funny) 378

What kind of electricity was he using?

It's a known fact* that electricity from hydro has a smoother, more natural sound than electricity from nuke plants. Coal is somewhere in the middle of the two.

I've heard people claim "Most people can't tell the difference between .01 and .05 THD, but I can." Which is like saying "Most people can't read the surgeon general's warning on a pack of cigarettes from a half mile away, but I can."

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*among wacky "audiophiles".

Comment Re:It's the freeloaders time (Score 1, Insightful) 1051

Since most sites feature those annoying ads, it's easier to just block them all. Advertisers don't seem to realize that one flashing ad on one site will result in us turning off all ads, everywhere.

If there was no animation in ads I'd leave them on - sometimes they're useful, sometimes they're entertaining, and at the very least they may help the site make a buck. But that's not going to happen. We're constantly subjected to ads that get more and more annoying, so we just turn them all off. And when a site takes the time to carefully screen their ads it doesn't make much difference - we've already blocked them everywhere.

Comment Re:Simple reason (Score 1) 490

I've had Tivo almost since it's been out. I tried the Time Warner DVR and it was, hands down, the worst piece of consumer electronics I've ever used. (That includes the PC Jr. and top loading VCRs with mechanical tuners.) Even though it was much cheaper, and the whole package gave me more channels, after three weeks of frustration I had TW yank it out and went back to my Tivo.

That was back in 2003. I wrote about it, (http://www.davehitt.com/march03/twdvr.html) and I still get e-mail on that article, informing me that every complaint I had back then is still valid.

Tivo just works, and the UI is incredibly simple and intuitive. That's worth enough for some of us to pay the higher price.

Comment Re:Oh really? (Score 1) 211

It happens from time to time, which is why you have to check your spam folder from time to time. Usually simply marking it as "not spam" solves the problem. Even with a few pages of spam that shouldn't take you more than a minute or so.

Perfection doesn't exist in this area, but Google comes pretty close.

Comment Re:So Iran's standards then? (Score 5, Informative) 697

http://zoklet.net/totse//en/law/high_profile_legal_cases/aabust.html

In 1994 the Amateur Action BBS in California annoyed a prude postal inspector in Tennessee who signed on, paid a fee and downloaded porn. In order to get the extradition orders he mailed the owners real kidde porn. They were arrested, extradited, the kiddie porn indictment was thrown out, and they were then tried based on Tennessee's community standards. They lost and were sent to prison.

I was running a 21 line subscription BBS at the time (Electric Avenue). It was primarily for chat, games and forums, but I had a half dozen CDs of dirty GIFs people could download. When this case hit the news I removed the pictures immediately. I had no desire to spend everything I owned defending myself against a jury of toothless "peers" in some backwater state.

Comment Re:If you drunk e-mail... (Score 1) 427

As a result Wikipedia is great for finding simple facts like who were George Washington's Parents or the origin of Rickrolling, but useless if the subject is controversial. Squatters on controversial pages will remove anything you post on "their" turf within hours, and sometimes minutes, of your changes or additions. They simply won't tolerate facts that contradict their POV.

Comment Re:Well duh! (Score 2, Insightful) 396

On the flip side, if all you read is news sources that think socialized medicine is a wonderful panacea you're going to be just as ignorant.

People pick news sources whose bias matches theirs. Unless you get out of your comfort zone on a regular basis your knowledge will be limited and your opinions stilted. If you read lefty news (i.e. most news) you need to check out the conservative viewpoint at least once a week. If you read conservative news, you need to read the lefty media at least once a week.

People who get all their news from The New York Times and NPR as every bit as ignorant as those who get all their news from Fox and The Wall Street Journal.

And vice versa.

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