Millions: Pixels and Jobs

Millions of pixels -- Why the Megapixel Race Needs to End

Thanks to Charlie Sorrel at Wired for sounding off on the megapixel arms race:

"Megapixels, like megahertz before them, are the big consumer swindle of the camera world. The first thing anyone asks me when they see my Canon G9 is “How many megapixels does it have?” My answer, 12, causes a swoon. The trouble is, I neither want nor need that many. My Nikon D60, with just 10 megapixels, takes better pictures, especially in low light. In fact, when Nikon announced its new P6000 two weeks ago, I groaned when I read the sensor size: 13.5 megapixels. All those extra dots add up to one thing: noise. Here we take a look at the advantages of smaller pixel-counts, and what they mean for the future of photography."

Also in the article is the prediction that GPS will be in every camera. Again, I hope so, but it's taking too long ("I hope GPS in cameras becomes ubiquitous in the future." October 2004.)

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Millions of Jobs -- Seeing Red: Buffett, Others Clash On Danger Posed by U.S. Debt

An article in WaPo about the economy and the severity of U.S. debt quotes Warren Buffett saying:

"Since 1982, we have added 25 million-plus jobs in this country; we will have a larger pie. People will be fighting over the pie, but that's a wonderful thing. Even if we grow at 1 percent per year, we double the GDP per capita in 75 years. The pie will grow enough that everyone will get more of the pie."

I've often seen economic vitality and growth buttressed by figures indicating how many jobs we've added in recent decades, but what never seems to be noted is we've also added around 75 million people since 1982. Not all of those 75 million people are old enough to have a job now, but in consideration of the number of workers added, whatever that might be, how good is 25 million?