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This is what happens when you let individuals accumulate too much money. What could possibly go wrong? I want to see what insurance company steps up to cover this thing. The funniest part is that I remember these things from planet patrol back in the early 60s. This is an old sci-fi idea being turned into a dangerous reality by an eccentric billionaire.

Also this..
https://www.amazon.com/Transat...

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Brother HL-3170CDW printer I bought allows me to install SSL certs to secure access to its administrative service. It can generate a self-signed cert, or it can import a private key and certificate, or it can even generate a CSR which you can sign with your own CA or an external CA.

An iPhone actually IS jewelry.

If you don't believe me, look no further than most cases for iPhones (example Amazon link to Otterbox case below). Wow, the case manufacturers make sure to put a cut-out in the case for the logo on the phone, just so that everybody around you knows that you are using a Apple product. It would be HORRIBLE for the people around you to not realize how trendy, cool, and awesome you are by the phone brand that you choose. If you have it, you have to flaunt it.

https://www.amazon.com/OtterBo...

Android users, on the other hand, just want something that gets the job done without costing too much, and don't really care if the person next to them knows what kind of phone they use. I can't seem to recall a case for an Android device that leave a cut-out for the logo.

For the record doesn't look like EC2 has memory deduplication turned on: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/...

I read an interesting rocket story in "Computing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983" by Severo Ornstein. The author had to jiggle a tracking antenna connected to a computer during a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. When the rocket launched, the top and middle stages went in opposite directions while the bottom stage sat unlit on the launch pad. When the self destruct signal got sent out, the bottom stage blew up because the explosives were located only in that stage, and the launch pad got destroyed. The other two stages crash landed downrange.

https://www.amazon.com/Computing-Middle-Ages-Trenches-1955-1983/dp/1403315175/

Amazon will have them in 5 days:

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-...

So if the Singularity never happens and human beings can never transition to machine bodies from biological ones, we're not going anywhere.

RAID is not a backup, unless it has a snapshot feature. 2 TB is a pittance. I've got 7 TB on a 4x4 TB ZFS raid-z volume (12 TB usable), and my setup is not really that big. It's set up with FreeNAS, which supports ZFS (redundancy like RAID, plus file integrity checks, plus snapshots). The snapshots allow you to roll back to previous version of files, thus covering the weakness of RAID which makes it not-a-backup.

If most of the 2 TB is photos, you've got two cheap cloud storage options as a second backup (in case your house burns down taking your NAS with it). Google Photos is free and allows unlimited storage of photos up to 2048x2048 resolution (and 1080p videos up to 15 min, might have been reduced to 5 min). Amazon Prime comes with unlimited cloud storage of photos of any resolution.

If your liferaft didn't come with one, you could always buy one on amazon

Steven Callahan, adrift for 76 days in a liftraft, had three solar stills he used to make drinking water. He had to modify them to get them to actual be useful in the ocean.

Hey, check this thing out. You plug a USB storage device into it, and it blocks write attempts.

You can find them on Amazon. I've never heard of any of the manufacturers though.

The big change here is that they are releasing marked-up data sets. That makes all the difference. A good chunk of the progress in computer vision (along with better algorithms and processing power / gpus) has been the availability of good data sets, such as ImageNet.

Machine learning algorithms, and deep learning algorithms in particular, require a lot of labeled training data. That has been largely missing from satellite imagery, for two reasons. First, nobody wanted to give up the data itself. Second, nobody wanted to go through the pain of marking up the data (by hand). This means that people that went through the bother of getting the data and labeling it (meaning large defense contractors primarily) have had a lock on wide area search, finding ships at sea, etc.

Since I don't see it, here is the link to the data on AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/public-...

Cool, go check out Apple Accessory Interface Specification revs 20-24 (that I know of, I think that includes the latest one but a new one is out pretty soon) and you'll see that it explicitly prohibits 3rd parties from doing USB-C to Lightning connectors. Apple will not allow a Lightning connector to anything other than a Micro USB Type B or full size Type A connector. Oh, and you have to follow that spec if you want to pass through Apple Certification Testing to get your Lightning chips. Doesn't surprise me that Apple bans others from doing it (via their specs and tests) and they do it themselves...

Oh, and BT certification testing is typically a 45-60 day effort. I've only done it a dozen times or so...

No, of course Apple would never allow 3rd party USB-C to Lightning cables. Afterall, it's well known that Apple made its vast fortunes selling $25 cables, while simultaneouslt denying others from doing so.

And I wasn't talking about the BT certification process, I was referring to Apple's OWN Certification and Qualification process for a new chip, regardless of what it is used for.

I mean I'm just assuming that's Sony's thought process. I don't actually know. If the my LAN streaming of Steam games is any indicator it won't be quite the Netflix-for-games experience the summary implies. I do have a jumbo wrap-around bluetooth gamepad and a couple different Windows tablets (HP Stream 7, for instance) but I'm just assuming the 802.11g and/or my router wouldn't be able deliver a satisfying experience to it. Again based on LAN Steam streaming experience and nothing else which is presumably completely different technology.

I got Slackware 0.9 running from a CD in the back of a book

I addressed bidets specifically as not being a point of successful automation because you still have to wipe afterward.

Have you not tried the Toto Washlet with built-in blow dryer? Truly a superior post-pooping experience. (There may be other models/brands that are even better, this is just a well-known example.)

Are you referring to his autobiography, Adventures in the Atomic Age: From Watts to Washington ? https://www.amazon.com/Adventu...

Not interesting on price you say? Well I'd really like to you show me an Intel at $135 that gets these kinds of numbers because the last time I checked all you can get from Intel for $135 is a crappy Pentium dual or an even crappier Atom. When you look at the bang for the buck it really isn't even close, I mean you can get an octocore from AMD for around $135 that has a 4Ghz turbo clock OOTB and which can easily hit 4.4Ghz-4.6Ghz on air, you aren't gonna find anything from Intel that competes until you at least double the price. Then when you look at motherboards and see how you can get a much nicer motherboard for less when you go AMD? Its really a no brainer, you can get a hell of a lot nicer system for a lot less money by going AMD.

This isn't even bringing up the elephant in the room which is that software hasn't kept up with hardware in quite a few years so even for gaming you can pair that chip with a $200 GPU and enjoy your games at 1080P with maxxed out graphics and high FPS, and for those that don't game one of the AMD APUs will give them all the power they need while having excellent picture quality and hardware accelerated video and both will spend a lot less.

government sanctioned segregation and racism as recent as 50 years ago, and slavery just over 100

There's a very good argument that slavery didn't actually end until the 1940s, and it was even *more* government-sanctioned from the 1880's to 1940's than it was before the Civil War, since local government actually played a pivotal, essential role in post-emancipation enslavement. The antebellum form was government-approved but almost entirely private. Technically, the post-emancipation slaves were convicts working off court fees which had been paid on their behalf by a white farmer, mine owner, etc. who then got to use them as indentured servants for a period of time. Except that in many cases the indenture only ended in death and the initial "crime" was trumped up specifically to fill the need for manpower, or as a way to deal with uppity blacks. The court fees were set deliberately to ensure that poor blacks couldn't pay them and would have to provide years (at least) of labor. Oh, and there was no state oversight of living conditions, etc., meaning they were often far worse than had been experienced by antebellum slaves. Actual slaves were expensive capital assets, while convict labor was cheap enough it wasn't cost-effective to feed, house and clothe them adequately.

See: https://www.amazon.com/Slavery...

So, less than 100 years.

Here is the smallest violin I could find on short notice. Hopefully if enough of us play, it will drown out Oracle's wailing.

That's for display purposes you can't play it. Here's the smallest functioning one I could find https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

This one is smaller, and a few bucks cheaper:

Odoria 1:12 Violin

Approx.Size: 0.78"(L) x0.5"(W) x2.7"(H)

Here is the smallest violin I could find on short notice. Hopefully if enough of us play, it will drown out Oracle's wailing.

Your Political Facebook Posts Aren't Changing How Your Friends Think

This study is just a rip-off of earlier research into human psychology--specifically, of all previous research into human psychology--which has proven pretty conclusively that nothing anyone says has ever changed anyone's mind about anything ever.

That's certainly true in the studies, and of course the scientists couldn't think of any other avenue to research so it must be true.

OTOH, listening to Brian Tracy's "The Psychology of Selling" gave me the chills because, listening to him explain the methods, I got the distinct feeling that these methods would work on me *and* I can recall many times when they were used on me.

The audio is downright scary at times, but I highly recommend it simply because it'll help you put your guard up against some of the techniques.

He points out, quite correctly, that you can't get someone to change their mind without first pulling them out of heuristic mode and into systemic mode. The easiest way to do this is to ask a question, but there are other methods.

Then you need to phrase the concept in a way that's important to the listener. You don't come in to an office and say "our copiers make xxx copies per minute, and are very reliable", you say "our copiers can save you $2000 per month in expenses, would you like to know how?". The $2000 is something the listener is interested in, and the question pops them into systemic mode. It's how you start a successful sales call.

Most political screeds don't do this - they just state the position, and mostly it's not very convincing to begin with. Donald Trump has been called every bad name in the book, but I don't see how any of that would be persuasive or even make him a bad president. Donald Trump is behind in the polls *if the election were held today*, that's not persuasive *and* I don't even see the point of posting something like that.

So if I wanted to convince people to vote for Trump, I might point out that amnesty for 14 million illegals will bring unemployment to 20% and decrease job security, then ask if there's any other issue that's more important to them than their own job security.

(Is there? I'd be interested to know.)

So if I wanted people to vote for Hillary, I might suggest that Trumps policies will cause economic decline in the US, and companies will flee to other countries or go out of business, then ask if there's any other issue that's more important to them than the economy.

(Is there? I'd be interested to know.)

And then there's people like Scott Adams, who has put a completely original spin on everything about the election, and predicted everything that actually happened from the viewpoint of hypnosis. (Even Nate Silver mis-interpreted Trump's popularity, which is what you get when you look solely at the numbers and not at the situation.)

So no, I don't think it's quite correct to say "nobody has ever changed anyone's mind about anything ever". It happens all the time... in sales.

(Here's Scott Adams talking about trying to purchase a vehicle. It's quite an interesting story, and shows a first-person view of one of the techniques of sales.)

I just upgraded my mobile computer Galaxy Note 4 (From a Note 3) buying used on Amazon. While it looks shiny I see no reason for a Note7 (or what ever they're up to now).

My phone is a Kyocera DuraPlus and have no reason to replace it.

"Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views." - William F Buckley jr

or, as Nat Hentoff famously put it: "free speech for me but not for thee"

I use Chromium as basically my HTPC with a simple custom web app (runs locally on the machine) to tie a bunch of services together in Fullscreen Kiosk Mode.

I use a Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse/keyboard, purchased on Amazon for $30US. You can bind certain keys to certain devices (it has both RF and IR transmitters). I only use IR to turn m TV on and Off, but you can program it to control volume as well.

In Chromium I use the following extensions to make the experience a little cleaner:
- No Scroll Bars Please!
- Smooth Key Scroll
- uBlock Origin (necessary for Youtube and Spotify)

And when the battery from my Samsung Galaxy Note II from the same era (five days more modern) stops working, I can buy a new battery.

Because all average users do exactly that. Back in the days of feature phones I got new batteries and was laughed at by the same folks that continuously get new Androids. Just like their smartphones, they replaced their feature phones quite often.

For me, a phone is a device that needs to work, for texts and actually speaking to people. As computing devices they suck big time. They even suck at email. So I save my computing for actual computers. So as I say, I'll keep using mine until the battery goes dead. Considering they way it's holding a charge, I'm expecting to keep it maybe 7 years overall - about 3 years more. side point. Why do you think you cannot replace the battery in an iPhone? Perhaps we hipsters need to file a class action suit against Amazon for selling batteries and kits for an impossible task that cannot be done? https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UT...

Here you go. $7.99: https://www.amazon.com/Bluetoo...

Same with jump starting the economy by giving tech entrepreneurs cash too. They don't need much to survive, and it is better incentive than making them a slave to some VC fund or fat rich bastard. Communism died because workers hated giving the bulk of their labor to the party. Same with today's workers having to give the bulk of their labor to fat rich bastards who have amassed undeserved wealth (old money, payback for giving a politician a blowjob, and personal connections). Great book: https://www.amazon.com/Meritoc... https://www.psychologytoday.co... http://www.truth-out.org/opini... https://www.washingtonpost.com... http://www.newstatesman.com/po...

Yeah, power windows and locks are great, until you drive into water, short out the electrical system, and are trapped inside the car.

That's why you have combination hammer/seatbelt cutter readily available.

Monster? Please. . . use a Diamond HDMI cable! Not only will you have the fastest in home wifi, your wifi will be ultra HD 4K 3D at 240Hz with the more Gee-Bees! Also available in white and gold.

4 the niggers and jews.

it's frighteningly easy to imagine how cameras with a slightly improved zoom resolution and face recognition technology could be used to identify protesters in the future. That people who are destroying other people's property or stabbing someone or randomly shooting could be identified so they could face justice?

You seem to have confused the definitions of riots and protests. However, for those concerned about their identities being revealed during protests, there are some high tech devices available that can help.

All of them? Or has Apple reached the point yet where their phones have no ports left at all?

It's all bullshit pseudo science. That's what I concluded from years of following discussions, and I never even tried to start any fad diet.

This stuff isn't magic or unknown. Long established science.

Hormones, hormones, hormones. "Nutritionists" claim all sorts of crap but endocrinologists, at least the good ones, know that there is a vast amount of actual science on mammalian metabolism. A good book

To say "Calories = calories" is flat wrong. Attention! Automobile analogy coming: Your car will run differently on gasoline vs diesel vs nitro-methane. No one with an I.Q. in the upper two digits or better would claim that they all have the same effect on a car engine for a given number of calories. Our bodies are the same.

The hormonal effect of the *type* of calories makes a huge difference.

Developing markets protect their infant industries. They have to in order to advance. See here for plenty of detail.

Chang blasts holes in the "World Is Flat" orthodoxy of Thomas Friedman and others who argue that only unfettered capitalism and wide-open international trade can lift struggling nations out of poverty. On the contrary, Chang shows, today's economic superpowers-from the U.S. to Britain to his native Korea-all attained prosperity by shameless protectionism and government intervention in industry, a fact conveniently forgotten now that they want to compete in foreign markets.

I just use something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...

It just turns the power on and off to different drives and installs in a drive bay.

I'd prefer a switch for the SATA data lines though, then I wouldn't need an overabundance of SATA ports on my motherboard. But I couldn't find a product like that and the power line switch is probably a more reliable method.

This is straight out of Bug Jack Barron, by Norman Spinrad, published in 1969.

I have one of these

I keep my passport card in the RFID Safe transparent sleeve and my credit card is in the RFID blocking paper sleeve that the passport card came in, which in turn is in one of the card slots.

Yup, I know most people go "What? Amazon makes game??"

Yes, for a few years actually.

They have a game studio:
* https://games.amazon.com/

And they recently (back in Feb, 2016) open sourced their AAA engine, Lumberyard, which is based on CryEngine. (See the FAQ)
* https://aws.amazon.com/lumbery...

Their AWS (Amazon Web Services) is used by game devs:
* https://aws.amazon.com/gaming/

My friend was actually in a non-gaming section, but they hire game devs due to their experience and mind set of solving technical problems.

Yup, I know most people go "What? Amazon makes game??"

Yes, for a few years actually.

They have a game studio:
* https://games.amazon.com/

And they recently (back in Feb, 2016) open sourced their AAA engine, Lumberyard, which is based on CryEngine. (See the FAQ)
* https://aws.amazon.com/lumbery...

Their AWS (Amazon Web Services) is used by game devs:
* https://aws.amazon.com/gaming/

My friend was actually in a non-gaming section, but they hire game devs due to their experience and mind set of solving technical problems.

Yup, I know most people go "What? Amazon makes game??"

Yes, for a few years actually.

They have a game studio:
* https://games.amazon.com/

And they recently (back in Feb, 2016) open sourced their AAA engine, Lumberyard, which is based on CryEngine. (See the FAQ)
* https://aws.amazon.com/lumbery...

Their AWS (Amazon Web Services) is used by game devs:
* https://aws.amazon.com/gaming/

My friend was actually in a non-gaming section, but they hire game devs due to their experience and mind set of solving technical problems.

Yup, I know most people go "What? Amazon makes game??"

Yes, for a few years actually.

They have a game studio:
* https://games.amazon.com/

And they recently (back in Feb, 2016) open sourced their AAA engine, Lumberyard, which is based on CryEngine. (See the FAQ)
* https://aws.amazon.com/lumbery...

Their AWS (Amazon Web Services) is used by game devs:
* https://aws.amazon.com/gaming/

My friend was actually in a non-gaming section, but they hire game devs due to their experience and mind set of solving technical problems.

1956 Sturgeon story about mobile/wearable computing's potential that inspired Ted Nelson and others leading to the web and so the iPhone: https://archive.org/stream/gal...
https://archive.org/details/pr...

Let's hope the upside is realized -- not a surveillance/control downside.
http://pcast.ideascale.com/a/d...

Still trying to help when I can -- just so little time:
https://github.com/pdfernhout/...

Hope others can carry things forward in their won way -- and many are! :-)

Half-way through reading the "The Jennifer Project" new sci-fi novel by Larry Enright, which almost seems like a Skills of Xanadu remake in some ways. Nor sure how it ends. :-)
https://www.amazon.com/Jennife...

Hopefully not the same as "With Folded Hands". :-(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

As for your second question I guess that developers who developed for Nintendo platforms do not have rights to release these games elsewhere.

I don't see how that's anywhere near the case. Konami released Castlevania and Contra for PC, for example.

...use a laptop; it comes with a keyboard at no extra cost.

... except for the thousands of dollars in medical expenses and lost wages when you develop carpal tunnel syndrome. I use a keyboard about 10 hours per day. There is no way I am going to do that with the crappy chiclet keyboard that came with the laptop. Also, using a built in keyboard is awkward with my 43" 4k external display.

I bet you will get Windows 10 updates on this for a lot longer than 219 days (Not an affiliate link)....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A...

$119

VENSMILE iPC002+ Plus Windows 10 Mini Desktop PC Intel Compute Stick Cherry Trail Z8300 Quad Core 1.8Ghz Pocket Computer with 2GB Ram 32GB EMMC 2.4 5G Wi-Fi HDMI 1080P H.265 BT4.0 USB3.0

In the story about making out with your girlfriend, getting a call from her parent to check on her, and discovering that her dad is dead?

Simple. Mom was phone.

Your belief that "people" (plural of "person") is an uncountable noun is wrong:
There are two people at the door.
There are three people at the door.
There are many people at the door.
*There is much people at the door.

In its singular form, it is still a group noun, like "money" or "slime".

Not sure what exactly you mean by "group noun", but singular "people" is also countable:
A land of two peoples

Correction to the wrong Amazon link provided:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/custo...