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A TV that's just a TV:
http://www.seiki.com/
buy 'em here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb...
Robert Heron reviews:
http://www.heronfidelity.com/b...

No smart anything. Just 1080p or 2196p, various sizes. Good prices. Good picture. No camera. No mic. No spyware. No need to hook it to the internet. A TV, not a computer, at least not the kind of computer the others want you to have. A 4K 30fps 39 inch display/TV for $499? Bit more for more screen space. Why not? Good enough for movies.

There has NEVER been a similar situation that when unregulated goes well for the consumer.

Basic economics
Regulation is like salt in the food. Maybe a little, if the ingredients aren't bringing enough on their own.

Stale thread is stale. But I bought a bluetooth keyboard for my phone and love it!

If I want to type srs bsns then I unfold the keyboard, which casually fits in my shirt pocket. Unfortunately, this model of keyboard is no longer manufactured and the price appears to have ballooned as a result. (When I bought mine a year or two ago, it was $40)

Why the over-reaction? Ooh, we have a treaty that has been negotiated in secret for a year. Of course, it tends to ignore that 1.) ALL treaties are negotiated in secret, and 2.) treaties do not take force in the United States unless voted on and ratified by the US Senate, which will certainly take every opportunity to publicly expose and fight over every last detail. Never mind, that's enough reason to have a revolution!

Read up sometime on the spirit of 1789 and how it resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents, shattered the lives of millions and embroiled Europe in a series of wars that would last for 20 years. I'd recommend Citizens by Simon Schama.

They feed you bullshit about "reign of terror"...

WTF are you talking about? Are you seriously denying the existence of the Reign of Terror from the Storming of the Bastille through the Thermidorean Reaction and even after? Why is that bullshit? It was a very, very shameful and terrible time in human history, and is extremely well documented. The same thing tends to happen in many revolutions by the way, where the revolutionaries "eat their own" and make life difficult for everyone in the process - see the USSR after Lenin's death while Stalin consolidated power. Again, try some serious historical reading.

It is very fair to say that it is good that France got rid of its monarchy. It is not a fair or smart thing at all to say that the revolution of 1789 with all its terrible aspects and consequences was a good thing to be emulated or reprised.

Because the junkie never plans to overdose, right?
It's not that I think you shouldn't have the liberty to keep on plucking that chicken; my quibble is that those denying Basic Economics, like yourself, have decreed that the rest of us will go with you.
I promise I'll share some gruel with you while we're huddled for warmth below the overpass, and we review your "pretend fantasyland Austrian economics are valid" notion.

http://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Vale...

Android 4.1.1 (yea! heartbleed vulnerable!). $50. Verizon network.

With Tracfone offering Android phones you know the time of cheap smartphones has come. They also have BYOP now.

Alas, ignoring them doesn't actually get you in trouble.

Yeah, right.

Joseph Nacchio.

Three Felonies a Day.

Underwater robotics is all about advancing the state of the art.

That may be true but the primary aim here is marine research, better robotics is a secondary consideration and besides we already know a 10 km high water column can turn a sub into a cigarette box in the blink of an eye, and it only takes a microscopic imperfection in the hull to trigger such an event.

When we are talking about very expensive research tools "Obsolete" does not mean useless, we are talking about a sub that can (almost) reach 10km down. I can only think of two other subs that have reached that depth and resurfaced in one piece on their maiden voyage. For example, the Woods hole institute has another sub called Alvin that can reach 4.5 km and has been in use since 1965, to date it has transported over 8000 researchers into the abyss, it has told us more about "what's down there" than all the others combined. If anyone wants to know what it found and what it's like diving to that extreme depth, there's an interesting book written by Alvin's only female pilot, well worth a read. I highly recommend all slashdotter's buy a copy for their (12 and up) grand_daughter(s), daughter(s), niece(s), ect.

I'm sitting in front of my $2500 laptop while a $50 TV stick smoothly plays Netflix on my bedroom TV. This "TV stick" is a fully functioning Android computer with all that implies. This is the "desktop equivalent" to the laptop, which in this case is a mobile phone device.

My point is that what "is a computer" is so cheap that the market is about to be tripped, completely. My phone now represents the majority of my interaction with the Internet in a personal context, and I do Internet development professionally.

Self-replicating space habitats that could duplicate themselves from sunlight and asteroidal ore were a long favorite "ark" idea of mine to deal with the risk of global nuclear war (although JD Bernal proposed them first in the 1920s it turns out). Anyway, arks are just another option to umbrellas -- given umbrellas may not work depending in the size of the storm. For me, the idea of a basic income is also a sort of an "ark". But I've tried others -- like helping people be more self-reliant with growing stuff via the garden simulator or helping people with making stuff with OSCOMAK (not to say how successful I've been, which is not much, especially for OSCOMAK, pretty much a big nothing except others are doing related ideas now in a smaller way like Thingiverse or Appropedia).

I agree there is a tension of where to invest your time and other resources. You have to find something that works for you and your unique interests and abilities. It;s true though that when you invest in yourself, or your family, or even your local neighborhood, you have a much better sense of whether the investment is paying off than doing general advocacy for something to contribute to global change. As I say on my site when I talk about five interwoven economies (subsistence, gift, exchange, planned and theft): "The particular balance a society adopts is going to reflect the unique blend of history, culture, infrastructure, environment, relationships, mythologies, religions, and politics of that society." I guess the same goes for individuals and families, too?

Anyway, I had my kid around age 40. I've come to learn that being an older parent has its pros and cons. My dad had me around age 50 though. So, good luck if you want kids!!!

And don't let worries about the future stop you, or no one would have kids, since even for billionaires, money can come and go. Example (and kind of makes your point about techies vs. legal sharks, plus mine about a basic income to support inventors):
"Goldman Sachs Not Liable for Failed $580 Million Deal"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/...
"Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) defeated a $580 million negligence suit over its role as adviser to speech- recognition pioneer Dragon Systems Inc. in a doomed merger, one of its biggest victories in a string of claims by dissatisfied clients since the financial crisis.A federal jury in Boston yesterday rejected the claims of Dragonâ(TM)s founders Jim and Janet Baker and two other shareholders that Goldman Sachs failed to properly vet Belgium-based Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV. The all-stock deal in June 2000 was rendered worthless months later when the fraud at Lernout & Hauspie was exposed and the company filed for bankruptcy. The verdict relieves Goldman Sachs of responsibility for a sale that left its clients with worthless shares in a failed company. The four Dragon founders sold some Lernout & Hauspie shares for $11 million before the stock collapsed and the Bakers lost the technology they spent decades developing."

I met Janet once at a trade show and she and her husband were also students of my college adviser They lost about most of their wealth, but worse, they lost access to all the Dragon speech recognition source code that was in some sense their "baby".

We all have our personal choices to make. And they are often hard ones. A book I just ordered:
"In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...
"From the Wharton Business School and a secure place in corporate America to a $35-a-month allowance and the insecurity of a life of faith. This may seem a precautionary tale of downward secular mobility, but as we follow James Martin through his life and Jesuit training, we find it is all about ascent -- to God and to true happiness. (Paul Wilkes, Author

Nevermind the Doug, beware of owner! http://www.amazon.com/NEVER-MI...

There's a pretty good book I own in paperback (electronic versions available) for high performance stuff from PostgreSQL. It's called PostgreSQL 9.0 High Performance. It's probably beyond what you want, but if you're interested in looking at it, let me know and I'll bring it next time we get together.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C.

If it's carrier locked, then US$29.64 is not the real price, but just the first payment.

The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come?

Indeed, you can't expect the first batch to compete in producution costs with those other phones who're way ahead in terms of logistics, markets, etc.

It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

Again, the very first device can't be expected to compete in price like that, given that their competition already has a strong market foothold. I expect (hope) that this will change as the scenario evolves.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C.

If it's carrier locked, then US$29.64 is not the real price, but just the first payment.

The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come?

Indeed, you can't expect the first batch to compete in producution costs with those other phones who're way ahead in terms of logistics, markets, etc.

It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

Again, the very first device can't be expected to compete in price like that, given that their competition already has a strong market foothold. I expect (hope) that this will change as the scenario evolves.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C.

If it's carrier locked, then US$29.64 is not the real price, but just the first payment.

The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come?

Indeed, you can't expect the first batch to compete in producution costs with those other phones who're way ahead in terms of logistics, markets, etc.

It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

Again, the very first device can't be expected to compete in price like that, given that their competition already has a strong market foothold. I expect (hope) that this will change as the scenario evolves.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C. The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come? It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C. The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come? It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

And similar specs. The waterproof Kyocera Hydro is US$29.64 right now with free Prime shipping on Amazon for the Kyocera (carrier locked though, but WiFi works fine; unfortunately not sunlight readable though) versus US$99.00 (and free shipping) for the ZTE Open C. The Hydro is three times cheaper than the Firefox OS device. The ZTE Open C has slightly better hardware specs though and is not locked to a carrier given the SIM card slots.
http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-...
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/...

So I guess I don't see where there are any cost of hardware advantages to this first offering with Firefox OS. Maybe there will be more to come? It's true you can only run that Kyocera on Boost Mobile, but WiFi works fine even without a plan. I don't know if that phone is carrier subsidized to any degree. I bought three Hydros (one a bit better) for developer testing for writing networked Android apps. I've paid for a few days of phone service for one of them mostly as a test; I have no plans on activating the other two as phones. I doubt those are subsidized much if at all, but I have no proof of that other than the fact than anyone can buy them and just use them as WiFi only devices.

I see multiple unlocked Android phones on Amazon for about US$100:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sel...

Anyway, just thought more about your point on cost... Firefox OS is currently more expensive than low-end Android. So the (one billion Mozilla/Google US dollars later) question is, how fast will that change?

Even if Firefox OS was better than Android (still to be seen other than for privacy), it would still face the same uphill adoption of, say, FireWire/Thunderbolt vs. USB1/2/3.

Also for development/testing/networking purposes I bought a ~$120 Android OLPC XO tablet that comes pre-loaded with educational software:
http://www.amazon.com/XO-7-inc...

In a few years, those prices will continue to fall. It's much more pleasant to browse the web on that Android tablet than on an Android phone. I'm not convinced a Firefox OS tablet is going to beat that price anytime soon -- even if it might have privacy benefits.

The degree of molecular similarity in the DNA changes to achieve a particular result will depend strongly on the type of change one is looking at.

For the case of toxin-resistance, which is much closer to the molecular level, the odds of similar changes to the DNA are much higher than for complex morphological changes.

Molecular changes like toxin-resistance are more likely to involve a single gene that codes for a single enzyme, changing the enzyme so that the toxin is no longer metabolized in a harmful way. There are going to be a very limited number of ways to do this because it's pretty close to a one-gene/one-enzyme mapping in many cases.

Morphological changes, on the other hand, involve a whole network of genes that are turned on over the course of development, and the network can be altered in many different ways to get to the same result. Think about it like a road network where you're used to taking a particular route to get from A to B. If a bridge goes out on your your usual route, you may choose different alternatives depending on time of day, the kind of vehicle you drive, etc. Networks create choices.

Even then it will depend on the kind of morphological change we are talking about.

For example, there is a lizard in Mexico, which was studied in the '80's or '90s. There were several related species living inland, and a couple of isolated species on the coast near the Yucatan peninsula. Both the coastal species had an extra cervical (neck) vertebra, and it had been assumed on the basis of this similar morphology that their evolutionary history had been a general migration to the coast, an adaptation to coastal environments that involved having a longer neck, followed by a general die-back that resulted in the two existing but separate populations.

It turns out based on their genes the two coastal species hadn't had a common ancestor for millions or tens of millions of years, and the adaptation to coastal living had happened independently but fairly recently. In this case, because certain aspects of body plan are controlled by a highly conserved and relatively simple set of genes, the additional vertebra were the result of similar sets of genetic changes.

Things like body width, which is what TFA is talking about, are a lot more complicated in their regulation, so more likely to be achieved via different genetic changes that have the same morphological outcome.

I'm going to throw in a shameless plug here because it seems relevant to the topic at hand. I've just published a hard SF novel that's premised on a what-if about the role of mathematics and law-like descriptions in evolution. If you're interested in that sort of thing you should check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-...

Read "American Drive", by someone who did a startup in Detroit. His approach was to buy a failing GM axle plant cheap using money from a private equity firm, kick out the union, cut wages over 50%, put in some decent machinery, and make big bucks. That's a Detroit startup for you.

The most amusing part is how they dealt with the crack house across the street from their parking lot. They weren't getting much help from the Detroit cops. So they put stadium-sized lights on the light poles in their parking lot and aimed them all directly at the crack house. When those were switched on for the first time, it was like spraying an ant nest. People ran from the house. The crack house went out of business after a few weeks under the lights.

It is 2014. It is not 1974. The whole tabula rasa myth is a proven lie. The whole "politically correct protected class is a social construct and is oppressed due to evil white men" is a lie. We have vast genetic studies across the world that disprove all of this.

Women are not interested in technology, period. As with any natural law, there are exceptions. In this case, they are very few. The reason is simple: the intelligence and creative drive that lends itself to technology and art evolved in humans as male display of genetic fitness. Just as the peacock has feathers, and songbirds sing their songs, it is our raw intelligence that is the best predictor of deleterious genetic load. Yes, the evil geneticists can predict the deleterious genetic load of animals based upon their mating displays. Human females, like virtually all female animals, have evolved to judge genetic fitness based upon whatever is the characteristic of a particular species or subspecies. Technology is such a display that simply does not interest the vast majority of females.

This is old news now. The first book to delve into it, before the human genome was decoded, came out in 2001. Behavioral genetics and evolutionary pscyhology have become such important fields, the former editor of the Science section of the New York Times just released a whole book on the subject last week.

Strangely, slashdot type geeks appear to be the least amenable to evolutionary theory. Sure, they like Dawkins. They think people who believe in God are stupid. They believe apes evolved into humans, but THEN. evolution stopped. And, all people became equal. Especially nerdy white guys with aspergers.

In my experience, this is due to the very naive hope that belief in this strange geek religion of human equality will get said geeks laid. It doesn't. It never has. It never will.

It is 2014. It is not 1974. The whole tabula rasa myth is a proven lie. The whole "politically correct protected class is a social construct and is oppressed due to evil white men" is a lie. We have vast genetic studies across the world that disprove all of this.

Women are not interested in technology, period. As with any natural law, there are exceptions. In this case, they are very few. The reason is simple: the intelligence and creative drive that lends itself to technology and art evolved in humans as male display of genetic fitness. Just as the peacock has feathers, and songbirds sing their songs, it is our raw intelligence that is the best predictor of deleterious genetic load. Yes, the evil geneticists can predict the deleterious genetic load of animals based upon their mating displays. Human females, like virtually all female animals, have evolved to judge genetic fitness based upon whatever is the characteristic of a particular species or subspecies. Technology is such a display that simply does not interest the vast majority of females.

This is old news now. The first book to delve into it, before the human genome was decoded, came out in 2001. Behavioral genetics and evolutionary pscyhology have become such important fields, the former editor of the Science section of the New York Times just released a whole book on the subject last week.

Strangely, slashdot type geeks appear to be the least amenable to evolutionary theory. Sure, they like Dawkins. They think people who believe in God are stupid. They believe apes evolved into humans, but THEN. evolution stopped. And, all people became equal. Especially nerdy white guys with aspergers.

In my experience, this is due to the very naive hope that belief in this strange geek religion of human equality will get said geeks laid. It doesn't. It never has. It never will.

Error-Free Software: Know-how and Know-why of Program Correctness by Robert L Baber, published by Wiley, ISBN 0 471 93016 4

http://www.amazon.com/Error-Fr...

This slim volume is by far the most readable and practical introduction to formal verification that I have seen.

Don't be put off by its somewhat overstated title.

I believe it is important for every professional programmer to have some understanding of how to construct a proof of correctness of code, even if they never use it professionally, as it will expand their understanding of programming. In my case, knowing what it would take to prove a program correct has changed the way I program, in ways that I hope improves the reliability of what I write.

See for alternatives,with a section on fever: http://www.amazon.com/Raise-He...
"Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, renowned pediatrician and author advises parents on home treatment and diagnosis of colds and flus, childhood illnesses, vision and hearing problems, allergies, and more. PLUS, a complete section on picking the right doctor for your child, step-by-step instructions for knowing when to call a doctor, and much more."

Dr. Sears on fevers:
http://www.askdrsears.com/topi...
"If your child of any age has one or more of the following symptoms, you should probably call your doctor right away: High fevers of 104 (40 Celcius) or higher that don't come down to 101 or 102 (38.3 to 38.9 Celcius) with the treatment measures below. ...."

Fevers are part of how the body activates parts of the immune response and also makes an environment less hospitable for disease.

I've also found this advice helpful:
https://www.drfuhrman.com/chil...
"Scientific research has demonstrated that humans have a powerful immune system, even stronger than other animals. Our bodies are self-repairing, self-defending organisms, which have the innate ability to defend themselves against microbes and prevent chronic illnesses. This can only happen if we give our bodies the correct raw materials."

Vitamin D deficiency and iodine deficiency are things to look into too. We take that regularly as pills and also dulse seaweed on popcorn -- I've read that iodine forms a protective layer at the edge of cells against some viruses. Elderberry and zinc may also help with a cold or flu; I just stocked upon some of those two as lozenges and other forms for the next time someone in my family gets a cold. See also:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/libra...
"Don't be alarmed if your cold symptoms last longer than you expect. On average, patients report that their common cold symptoms last one and a half to two weeks. In children, earaches tend to last anywhere from less than one day to 9 days, sore throat 2 to 7 days, cough up to 25 days, and the common cold 7 to 15 days.32 In time, the body will clear the virus on its own. Remember, over-the-counter medications merely mask symptoms, and may even impair healing. However, if you experience a sudden worsening of symptoms, especially including labored breathing, or a fever above 103 degrees for three days, then it is time to call the doctor."

Extended breastfeeding also helps reduce illness in young children if the mother is getting adequate nutrition and is in the same environment with the kid, since her immune system will scan the environment for threats and produce antibodies for the nursing child. WHO recommend nursing for up to two years or beyond, even if that is not the norm in the USA:
http://www.who.int/topics/brea...
"Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond."

When I was last in an urgent care facility for a physical injury, the guy ahead of me was there for the flu (he had diabetes and was worried about complications). I remember thinking of that when being asked to sit in the same chair he had sat in for paperwork, and probably handed the same pen he used, and of course breathing the same air in a confined space, etc.. I ended up with the flu, which made the recovery process longer and harder (although I might have gotten the flu elsewhere too, perhaps from my own family). Hospitals are full of a lot of worse stuff than the flu, too, so I guess I got lucky in that sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.

Everything Men Know About Women. They say Knott Mutch is the nom-de-plume for a Slashdot editor, but I'm not sure which one.

The STALKER PC game series is my favorite single-player first person shooter type series of all time. The spooky atmosphere created in the game is just fantastic when you play the game in a darkened room at night. I would highly recommend the games to everyone.

The book A Roadside Picnic is also pretty good giving you a nice emotional ride of what it's like be a Stalker and to go into the zone. The old black and white movie Stalker is somewhat good in giving you some background about the Zone but it's nothing to the atmosphere that you feel in the games when you play.

STALKER Game Website

Stalker Wiki

Also be sure to check out these mods:
STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl
Oblivion Lost 2.2.1 for 1.0005 - Forum Thread
Supermod Pack v2.4 and Patches

STALKER - Clear Sky
The Faction War v3.7

The little schemer series, (The Little Schemer, The Seasoned Schemer and The Reasoned Schemer) Daniel Friedman

Even if you never intent to use a lisp, it's worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Litt...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Seas...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Reas...

The little schemer series, (The Little Schemer, The Seasoned Schemer and The Reasoned Schemer) Daniel Friedman

Even if you never intent to use a lisp, it's worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Litt...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Seas...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Reas...

The little schemer series, (The Little Schemer, The Seasoned Schemer and The Reasoned Schemer) Daniel Friedman

Even if you never intent to use a lisp, it's worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Litt...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Seas...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Reas...

There is a disk that writes permanently. They claim it will last a thousand years:

"The unique materials used in the M-DISC requires a new disc drive technology to engrave data permanently. The M-DISC Duplicator have been designed and optimized to work with M-DISC as one to etch data into the permanent synthetic stone layers within the M-DISC. Archival-quality DVDs are known to randomly fail leading to permanent data loss."

If you still have the necessary hardware and software to read it you should be okay.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Elect...

http://www.amazon.com/M-DISC-4...

Looks interesting for time capsules.

There is a disk that writes permanently. They claim it will last a thousand years:

"The unique materials used in the M-DISC requires a new disc drive technology to engrave data permanently. The M-DISC Duplicator have been designed and optimized to work with M-DISC as one to etch data into the permanent synthetic stone layers within the M-DISC. Archival-quality DVDs are known to randomly fail leading to permanent data loss."

If you still have the necessary hardware and software to read it you should be okay.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Elect...

http://www.amazon.com/M-DISC-4...

Looks interesting for time capsules.

When I learn of an older recording I might like, I tend to torrent a FLAC of it right away, and then go off in search of a physical copy because I like having the physical artifact. I would love to buy more vinyl, because there is so much artistic cover art out there that looks great at full size. However, labels are doing such limited pressings that by the time I discover a recording, the vinyl has all sold out.

For example, I've been trying to purchase Belle and Sebastian's discography, and I was able to get some albums in vinyl because they had been reissued by another label, but the vinyl of their 2005 The Life Pursuit is only available used (so I cannot even support the artist by buying it) and for almost a hundred bucks. Fuck that. So, I have to settle for the CD.

There's definitely a niche market out there hungry for physical artifacts, whether young hipsters or an older nostalgic crowd, who would be willing to buy vinyl, but labels aren't letting us buy what we want.

Well Chris Okasaki's book is the first place. His thesis is still online: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rwh/the... . The book which expands the thesis: http://www.amazon.com/Purely-F... . It has been 15 years since his book his blog has some new stuff: http://okasaki.blogspot.com/

Here is a terrific blog post of what came next:
http://cstheory.stackexchange....

What PCIe cards are you plugging in again? Graphics cards? You still have yet to demonstrate that it is not a novelty. I have never seen a CAD setup like that. Nor have I heard of a gaming rig that uses a laptop CPU but has an external graphics box. Maybe you're right and it will be all the rage in CAD houses.

What devices are these? Still graphics cards?

http://www.red.com/store/produ...
http://www.blackmagicdesign.co...
http://www.nvidia.com/object/q...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item...
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Du...

I could go on but really the answer is "Every single PCI-E card that exists." Or "Every single PCI-E card that is important to professional users that just because you don't know about doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

BTW what's the typical amount of code that one writes in a quarter in a programming job? I just want to know some stats.

A general rule of thumb, is that on large projects, programmers will produce an average of about ten lines of tested and debugged code per day. I first saw this estimate in The Mythical Man Month. In the 40 years since that book was published, the lines-of-code per day metric hasn't improved much.

I first really encountered Giger's art when I was collecting the Taschen "Basic Art" series of short full-colour introductions to various artists. There's a Giger one. Frankly, I think him fairly mediocre as an artist for traditional gallery exhibition. Limited range and repetitive concerns. However, he definitely made an incredible contribution to film (and LP cover art)

I do wonder how long his popularity will last after his death. He started making an institution of himself early, and there is a Giger museum in Switzerland. However, Vasarely for example did the same four decades ago and interest in him has collapsed greatly.

Sure. Because that always always works so well.

Your reading comprehension failures are back again, did you even read the links you've posted? In the link you posted as "good luck with that", the line in the chat explicitly states that Amazon users have gotten refunds:

you: Why can Amazon users get refunds but i can't?

So that disproves your claim about Amazon and shows that it may be in their policy there but that does not override the law and clearly does not apply in the case where a product isn't fit for purpose but just exists to prevent returns if people simply change their mind. If this law of merchantability exists then that policy has no weight, as is demonstrated in that chat log.

As for the EA situation in that chat that was in relation to them having trouble coping with load, not with removing mandatory servers entirely so it is a different situation.

I explicitly stated that you should take action against the merchant

Uh-huh. good luck with that.

so I even restated it for you that you take action against the merchant

Sure. Because that always always works so well.

Should I write to my congressman about this? Oh, wait, Amazon is helping them promote national sales tax, and I didn't contribute to his campaign last year. I guess I'll have to "take action" using my own policy.

For the last generation, "Serve and Protect" has become "Cover your ass" and "Everyone is a perp."

But that's exactly the problem - everybody *is* a perp. We have so many laws and every goddamn things has been criminalized, either by statute or regulation, that we'll all felons now - it's just a matter of who is having the laws enforced against them.

Disabled man shot up for having a seizure? That's OK, he was a perp anyway.

I'm not the OP, but I use this booster in the car. I use the larger antenna and get a huge signal boost. I get 3G where I'd normally only have edge, and a signal in areas where my phone normally reports no signal at all. The booster uses a USB connector to charge, so I have a $10 two port USB charger in the car that supplies power to both the booster and my phone.

The booster only works while the phone is in the cradle, so calls need to be by speaker or bluetooth.

Also, Robbert Waggoner's book 'Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self' is great. One of the few books that goes beyond the introductory stuff and basic methods, to explore the philosophical implications and also different ways to experiment with the nature of the dream environment.

Or one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Fa...

Read this book (Planet of Slums) on how this is a world wide phenomena that is becoming increasingly intractable.

We're doomed.

Yeah! Fuck all that Representative Government shit!

Let the science people decide!

Tell ya what, there is a new book out that shows race has a genetic factor. Now, in most polite company, people hearing that suggested would shit their pants. How about we include that in the curriculum? No? You don't agree? It's based on science. Some people dispute the science, but they are just Deniers.

So fuck off you stupid cunt. The people in Wyoming pay for the teachers and the schools and elect their Representatives. It's for them to decide if they want to include chicken little, unfalisfiable and failed model based science.

"This new America that was invented by Bush and refined by Obama is nothing short of terrifying."

They fear political awakening, while you may be reasonably comfortable. Many in the bottom billions of poor on planet earth are in abject poverty and oppression. Capitalism wants to keep those people in their place, hence the elites desire to control the internet.

People are waking up to the fact that the governments are all power hungry and corrupt and are not there to serve the interests of the people, but that of the global elite and the multi-billion dollar corporations.

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com...

This is just more part and parcel of state surpression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-I...

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

"My understanding of your underlying premise, that cultures where people are happy and some aren't downtrodden must be exterminated, rings true."

I'm not sure I'd go that far. :-) It is more like Western capitalist-oriented culture over the past several hundred years has a history of not valuing cultural diversity in favor of taking the physical stuff other people have or exploiting their physical labor. Yet something like the US Constitution being inspired in part by the Iroquois Confederacy (see Benjamin Franklin) is really a much bigger transfer of wealth, and in a way that does not deplete the giver... Too bad we did not also back then embrace the Iroquois idea that women essentially should be the only ones who can vote -- although generally only for men they knew from birth. :-)

However that valuing of diversity in the USA is changing. See for example:
"The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Diff...

And even though I can say so many comments about SETI are ironic and so on, if I look back on my youth and watching Star Trek or Space 1999 and such, or reading lots of sci-fi books with aliens including about "Darkover" or set where "The Word for World is Forest", I can see how it may be easier at first to get some people in Western culture to accept the idea of space aliens than to accept people from other countries (like from the USSR for a US American of those times). So, in that sense, discussions about SETI may be a step towards more acceptance of other cultures on Earth. And that is a good thing. Maybe if we can have a child-like compassion for "E.T.", there is still still hope.

Thanks for the other examples though. I'm thinking there are three kinds of madness/insanity:
* a private madness that messes up our lives and those around us locally (and we all have this to some degree with out foibles and addictions and ignorances and imbalances so on)
* a public madness where people make a big deal out of the way they are (some talk show hosts) and that way might hurt many others via promoting selfishness or war
* an expansive cultural madness where the Borg-like culture seeks to overwrite everything around it with its own way (although in the Borg's defense, at least they claimed to add a culture's distinctiveness to the Borg collective as a form of growth, which can not be said the same of so many mainstream economists...)

It't that third type of widespread madness that is the biggest problem (e.g. WWII Germany and Japan, but there are many other examples closer to home). The villain in Aliens vs. Monsters is a good example.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt08...
"Gallaxhar: Humans of Earth, I come in peace. You need not fear me, I mean you no harm. However, it is important to note that most of you will not survive the next 24 hours. The few of you that do survive will be enslaved and experimented upon. You should, in no way, take any of this personally. It's just business. So to recap, I come in peace, I mean you no harm, and you all will die. Gallaxhar out."

Or also:
"Gallaxhar: Now I can finally rebuild my civilization. Any thought on where I can set up shop? Your planet, perhaps?
Susan Murphy: You keep your slimy tentacles off my planet...
Gallaxhar: [Grabs Susan with one of his tentacles] Or what? If you wanted to stop me, you should have done it when you possessed the quantonium. Now you're nothing.
Susan Murphy: There are innocent people down there who didn't do anything!
Gallaxhar: [Throws Susan down to the ground] Bah! There were innocent people in my home planet when it was destroyed.
Susan Murphy: Look, I'm sorry your planet was destroyed.
Gallaxhar: Oh, don't be. I was the one who destroyed it."

The other reply (by AC) suggesting enlightened cultures may be protecting the Earth from less enlightened individuals in their own cultures may well be true...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/brows...

Personally, I feel you should just give up on headphones. You're never going to get good bass response

I agree with everything you've said, but it's worth noting that if you need to use headphones, better is still better than not better. I recently picked up a Motorola S11 Flex HD bluetooth headset, to listen to podcasts while exercising and doing yardwork, and I found that it takes far less mental concentration to listen to voices when the bass is better (the last headset I had had awful bass). I don't know if the additional frequencies are activating more neurons or what, but listening feels very natural, vs. strained on my old headset.

I'm also very impressed by the amount of bass that they can squeeze of of the little buggers, especially given its very modest power budget. I own a 15" subwoofer too, so I'm not pretending here, but that's harder to carry on the bike.

like the venerable Sony MDR-7509s

Looks like the '09's aren't in production now. The 7506 appears to be the most popular, accurately reproduces 20-20, can fold, and has decent sound isolation. From what I'm reading on a bunch of reviews, if you need a half dozen studio headsets, you go buy a box of these and scatter them around and everybody is happy. I put a 7510 on my wishlist, though - better sound isolation, more comfort, 5-40 response, and - and this is something you learn over time - the word "Professional" is much smaller on the 7510 than on the 7506 - the bigger such labels, the less true it tends to be. It should be noted that I'm just looking for good sound, either for sound editing at home or to drown out the noise while traveling. 7510 fits my needs, but the 7506 is probably better for a kid who wants to have good headphones (now that Beats has made that popular again apparently) without spending a fortune. Speaking of fortunes, everybody thinks that the 7520 is better than the 7510 if you have $379 to drop on headphones, but from the specs, that makes the 7510 a fantastic deal as they're nearly as good for a third of the price.

Beats are a fashion accessory, not a critical listening device.

Which is why iPods became so popular. The trouble here is that Apple is spending $3 biiilion dollars chasing somebody else's fashion, trying to relive their past, rather than spending $3B inventing the future. The iPod's stature stemmed from its merit (and certainly a lot of advertising). The phrase "out of ideas" comes to mind.

like the venerable Sony MDR-7509s

Looks like the '09's aren't in production now. The 7506 appears to be the most popular, accurately reproduces 20-20, can fold, and has decent sound isolation. From what I'm reading on a bunch of reviews, if you need a half dozen studio headsets, you go buy a box of these and scatter them around and everybody is happy. I put a 7510 on my wishlist, though - better sound isolation, more comfort, 5-40 response, and - and this is something you learn over time - the word "Professional" is much smaller on the 7510 than on the 7506 - the bigger such labels, the less true it tends to be. It should be noted that I'm just looking for good sound, either for sound editing at home or to drown out the noise while traveling. 7510 fits my needs, but the 7506 is probably better for a kid who wants to have good headphones (now that Beats has made that popular again apparently) without spending a fortune. Speaking of fortunes, everybody thinks that the 7520 is better than the 7510 if you have $379 to drop on headphones, but from the specs, that makes the 7510 a fantastic deal as they're nearly as good for a third of the price.

Beats are a fashion accessory, not a critical listening device.

Which is why iPods became so popular. The trouble here is that Apple is spending $3 biiilion dollars chasing somebody else's fashion, trying to relive their past, rather than spending $3B inventing the future. The iPod's stature stemmed from its merit (and certainly a lot of advertising). The phrase "out of ideas" comes to mind.