Domain: amazon.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to amazon.com.
Comments · 40,271
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Re: Just wait until they can deliver it
If I may make a suggestion...
http://www.amazon.com/Diplomac...
Henry Kissinger wrote a book called Diplomacy that has a decently large section on WWII, and you might find another point of view there.
Another book:
http://www.amazon.com/Churchil...
Buchanan argues citing F.H. Hinsley, John Lukacs, and Alan Clark, Hitler's peace offers to Britain in the summer of 1940 were real, and Churchill was wrong to refuse them.
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Re: Just wait until they can deliver it
If I may make a suggestion...
http://www.amazon.com/Diplomac...
Henry Kissinger wrote a book called Diplomacy that has a decently large section on WWII, and you might find another point of view there.
Another book:
http://www.amazon.com/Churchil...
Buchanan argues citing F.H. Hinsley, John Lukacs, and Alan Clark, Hitler's peace offers to Britain in the summer of 1940 were real, and Churchill was wrong to refuse them.
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Re:Price
i bought a couple of TV sticks at Amazon for about $40 and they work amazingly well. Netflix, Hulu, Google Play, the works! Browses smoothly as well, works as a general purpose super-tablet, works with normal KB/Mouse without issue...
Why would anyone would spend ten times the cash?
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Re:Eh, its not that much
No head tracking, but:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HMZ... -
Re:Messenger, AI and Chat Bots
I'll take the consideration even further.
1) Similar to Amazon Echo - Skills allow integration of voice commands with third party services (called Skills). This ties into the third party - off the shelf parts.
2) Facebook just acquired wit.ai (http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-buys-voice-recognition-startup-1420496634), a voice recognition company
3) Messenger already has text to speech
4) Amazon Echo is a simple command language - https://developer.amazon.com/p... Echo is (really cool) but arguably dumb - "ask..to..,” “askfor...,” “tellto...".
5) Facebook doesn't have an assistant (Apple has Siri, Google has Now, Amazon has Echo). Facebook is missing an assistant.I would see Zuckerberg being his own alpha customer. Possibly his little project that will keep him active with technical chops.
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Re:Could Amazon, Azure, others, ever be compromise
None of this is relevant. The point is that nobody has made billions secretly hacking AWS and Azure. This is just FUD with no basis in reality.
How many businesses do you think run on AWS and Azure? Considering revenue for AWS is at $2.1 billion dollars. AWS also offers a cloud computing aimed at the Feds, which certainly wouldn't be of interest to anyone else out there.
So what? That's like saying: there's billions of people driving cars out there so a brand new electric car that cost $500 and that goes 100,000 miles per charge would interest a lot of people. Doesn't mean someone has done it.
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Re:Could Amazon, Azure, others, ever be compromise
None of this is relevant. The point is that nobody has made billions secretly hacking AWS and Azure. This is just FUD with no basis in reality.
How many businesses do you think run on AWS and Azure? Considering revenue for AWS is at $2.1 billion dollars. AWS also offers a cloud computing aimed at the Feds, which certainly wouldn't be of interest to anyone else out there.
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Re:Meh.
Yeah, no.
They might have achieved a "boosted" fission device, which can be measured by looking at the overall yield of the device as well as products left behind after detonation to confirm if any fusion happened at all. The US was able to do this relatively shortly after the original Manhattan project (the USSR also did this) but there was a lot of added complexity for very little yield increase.
The real 'hydrogen bomb' came about from Stanislaus Ulam postulating that you could use the radiation from a fission explosion to compress a fusion fuel load in order to initiate fusion. This idea was quickly picked up on by Edward Teller, and a team was formed to explore it consisting of scientists at Los Alamos and Princeton University. This is how all 'hydrogen bombs' work, though modern designs are a bit more clever than the first experimental devices of the early 1950s that used cryogenic deuterium gas and liquid tritium that needs to be changed out after it half-lifes away; in favor of using lithium-6 deuteride as the fusion fuel, which breaks down into 2T + D during the explosion, which then fuses into He-4 + an extra neutron and releasing ~17MeV worth of energy at the same time.
If you'd like to read about the many challenges that the original team faced, as well as a pretty good explanation of how it works, I suggest going to one of the physicists involved in the original project: http://www.amazon.com/Building...
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Re:Stick To Cable TV
Yeah, I'm going to be looking into cases for them - preferably ones that can be replaced between patients at minimal expense but the resealable bag is a good idea. I'll have to mention that to her. At this point, I probably should own stock in the damned company. Technically, I once did. I probably should have held onto those shares but I didn't. Ah well... I did not have a lot.
I would suggest that you ask her to ask her Doctor-collegues what they do for iPad-cases. There is also a guy that sells iPad-sized bags for use in the Kitchen. I think this may be his stuff. I seem to remember that he hinted on his website that he was also investigating branching into medical applications for his iPad-sized bag.
Gallon Ziplocs work; but they are really too big, so you end up doing an annoying "gift-wrap" thing with adhesive tape to keep them from sliding around with your finger. Plus, polyethelene really isn't that clear, and it is kind of static-y. But it works, and Ziplocs are cheap! -
Re:Next Headlines...
Buzzfeed Considering Long Form Printed Publication
Cracked is way ahead of them. The De-Textbook
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Re:The two best books are A.
> What is the other top book on C++?
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Re:Left out the most obvious and best specific pow
Niven had a similar idea. Of course, the scale was a bit larger.
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Re:The two best books are A.
"Effective C++, regarded by many as one of the top two books"
Ah Slashdot. How can you write THE TWO BEST THINGS ARE 'A' and not follow that up? And not one comment mentions it either. Is this something everybody knows? Or will this start an argument?
What is the other top book on C++?
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Re:At lest thisd justfiles a new edition textbooks
That's not really a big price increase these days.
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Re:Because ceramics don't get hot?
Ceramic parts are widely used in tasks that deal with extreme temperatures, particularly in oxidizing environments. At some temperatures they're really the only things that can take the heat.
And in other areas that, at least, I hadn't considered. The shaft seal (example) in my Hayward pool pump is ceramic. Half is stationary, on the casing, the other half rotates with the shaft. The components that touch face-to-face are ceramic with rubber around the edge holding them in place.
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Re:Attack vector?
As a hack, it's nothing interesting. Anyone can build one of these, in basically any language.
The article is interesting because it shows the trends that are going on in the malware world. Used to be malware was all C or assembly.
The screenshots in the article are worth a look too. All commercialized and everything. Reminds me of the book McMafia. -
Be professional
These are my two favorite books for dealing with the problem.
Clean Coder is the latest Uncle Bob book, and IMO his best. It shows how to act in a way that managers don't make weird demands of you, and how to handle them when they do. Essentially it boils down to this: be professional.
Zero Bugs teaches how to reduce the bug count when you write it, so you don't get overwhelmed as you go along.
Generally I've found managers/customers understand that features take time, and they are happy as long as you are reasonably close in your estimates. But when your product is buggy, and you miss your delivery dates by months, that's when they start getting upset. -
Be professional
These are my two favorite books for dealing with the problem.
Clean Coder is the latest Uncle Bob book, and IMO his best. It shows how to act in a way that managers don't make weird demands of you, and how to handle them when they do. Essentially it boils down to this: be professional.
Zero Bugs teaches how to reduce the bug count when you write it, so you don't get overwhelmed as you go along.
Generally I've found managers/customers understand that features take time, and they are happy as long as you are reasonably close in your estimates. But when your product is buggy, and you miss your delivery dates by months, that's when they start getting upset. -
Re:Who would plug into a random USB port?
Yeah, exactly, except someone who is handy could just get a short USB extension cable, strip back the outer jacket, expose the data pair (white and green twisted pair, I believe) and just cut them, then put heatshrink or electrical tape over where you modded the cable and you're done. Would cost you less than a dollar and take all of 10 minutes of your time.
I've done pretty much exactly that before, although there was a couple additional steps involved.
This was way back when the iPhone 3g just came out, and I was annoyed that most (real) USB chargers would do nothing more than connect the GND and +5v pins, which by USB spec is how the charger states it only has 500ma available.
To inform a device there is more amperage available, the USB spec states you need to have voltage on the two data pins.The iPhone 3g could suck down up to 1000ma if available, which involved having +2.0v on one data pin, and a bit more on the other data pin. (+2.75v going by the link I found below. Sorry, the memory isn't too good these days)
I had a USB extension cable laying around that had a normal USB connector on one end, and a small weighted plastic base on the other end with the jack. It was intended to sit on your desk and let you plug in flash drives and be all pretty and convenient I think.
But to me the plastic base was the perfect place to solder in the two resistors between +5v and the data pins and keep all the ugliness out of sight.The cable was something like this, although not the exact same model:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-5ft-Desktop-Extension-Cable/dp/B001K9BFB8Here is a lookup table of resistances/voltages needed on the two data pins to signal various amperages:
https://www.voltaicsystems.com/blog/choosing-usb-pin-voltages-for-iphones-and-ipads/Doing the soldering free-hand instead of digging up some perfboard made it take about 15 minutes, so you are pretty spot on.
I already had the parts laying around so didn't cost me anything, but that USB cable on amazon above was just the first result I found so I'm sure isn't the cheapest available, but even that is only $7.Since then the "USB Condoms" other people have been posting about have dropped in price to about the same as building one yourself, plus they look a lot slicker and professionally made, and quite short compared to my 3 foot monstrosity, so I just purchase them now.
Not only does such a device help protect your hardware from the unknowns out there, but in the case of Apple connecting an iOS device over USB would auto-launch iTunes, an annoyingly long and most of the time unwanted process just to get a bit of recharge.
There have been other devices in the past I remember doing similar, auto running some software when the computer detects it. Totally annoying when one is capable of running programs on their own when needed :PThankfully Android never went down that path, but even there a USB condom is useful as the devices usually show up as a flash drive with your camera pictures on it which could be copied from you unwantingly, and a few models I have seen expose this as read/write!
At work I have group policies set to deny read access to any "\\\\.\\autorun.inf" file (aka that file at the root of any drive path) as well as to log to a server the fact explorer.exe tried to read one along with the exe name it tries to run.
A co-workers Android phone got infected by Windows malware we discovered this way, as some infected PC copied an autorun.inf and a [random-letters].exe to his phone, to attempt to infect other Windows PCs it got connected to.
Obviously the phone itself wasn't infected, and as he mainly only plugged the thing in at home (Linux) and at work (Windows yes but with the above GPO), and so he never noticed it was playing infectious carrier to anything he plugged into.TL;DR - Always be safe and wrap yur wire!
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Re:Who would plug into a random USB port?
You mean something like a USB Condom?
LOL. $20 for the one that doesn't look like it came from a parts-drawer. Like one of the earlier posters said, you can a specialty charging-only USB cable for less and not have to supply your own cable then.
Of course, if you're using an Apple device that wont work. But Apple users are becoming conditioned to having to carry around a bunch of dongles to do what you could accomplish with on-device ports before.
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Re: Who would plug into a random USB port?
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Re:Standing desk
Tried it for a bit only to find out that I cannot concentrate as well when I am standing. Is it just me?
It takes a while to get used to. You should get a leaning "chair", so you are not standing unsupported. There are several to chose from. I built my own with some scrap lumber and some spare cushions. Adjust your desk height so your forearms are parallel to the ground, and adjust your monitor so your eye level is about 1/3 down from the top. I stand on these wedge cushions.
Start with just an hour or two per day, then work your way up. I use my standing desk about four hours per day. Few people stand for the whole day.
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Derrick Jensen Debate
Ray, you're one of the most forward thinking people in the world right now. You've put a lot of thought, over many years into the future of civilization, the impact of technology on individual, society and world culture, from sexuality and what it means to be part of the human endeavor to the particulars of how we might best move towards a more inclusive world.
That said, your cautious, well-informed optimism is not shared by all. In particular, there is a movement of modern-day luddites who have a vastly different view of what the future should be, what the best path for humankind is, and where we should be focusing our efforts.
After reading your "Age of Spiritual Machines", and Derrick Jensen's "Endgame", I realized that the two of you write mostly about the same subject matter -- but from vastly different perspectives. After watching many of your videos, and a live talk by Jensen I have been struck by how large the gap is in The Two Cultures involved -- from reading the material put forward by MIRI to the Club of Rome I have sought at every step to reconcile how the two of you see the world. But what I've been always dreamed of, is the two of you directly responding to the criticisms and ideals of the other directly, in a public discussion -- a kind of intellectual battle for the minds of those in vastly different ingroups, on the order of the Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate if not orders of magnitude more important to the future of mankind.
In the years since I have gotten ahold of Derrick Jensen. And while he's not interested in a realtime debate in person, he has told me that he would be willing to debate you, if you're up for it.
So here's my question:
Would you be willing to debate Derrick Jensen on the future of humanity and civilization in a respectable way, in a public forum of some kind? And if so, under what condition?
Perhaps if the debate was moderated by someone like Nikola Danaylov? -
FED
"On Christmas Day (of all days); the FAA put into effect a rule..."
That is exactly how the Federal Reserve Act was passed. Most politicians were away for the holidays in 1913. Three senators - who were allegedly paid by the banksters - ensured that the fraudulent Federal Reserve Act was passed by voting unanimously in favor of it. Since everyone was gone for the holidays nobody there was able to oppose it. Even one objection would have quashed the bill.
Sadly, even today the USA is still controlled by the private, deceptively named Federal Reserve.
More info here. -
Re: Closed System... It Won't Work
So.. you, my fine parent poster are of the Mighty One Percent... or are you like the majority of the population (presumably including the
/. community) who "have no talent to speak of and are completely interchangeable and equally useless". Those WERE the two alternatives you offered...Let us say that a true basic income became universally available*. By "true basic income" I mean at least lower middle class (US standard) -food, housing, transport, medical provided whether you work or not. I also set the condition that if you chose to work^H^H^H^H generate economic value you would retain a significant part of that value for your own use.
QUESTIONS:
(1) What fraction of the population would "do something" with their lives resulting in a net-positive return.
(2) Concerning those who would not choose to or were not able to generate a net-positive return: would forcing them to do "pseudo work" have a significantly more productive result than letting them stagnate in peace?
Hypothesis:
(1) Over the course of fifty years or so the (vast?) majority -those who could become productive would do so.
(2) The worst of the present tendancy toward gross income inequity would at least moderate.**
(3) Much of todays "one percent" would themselves stagnate into irrelevanceInteresting speculative fiction relevant to the discussion: "Tegs 1994, an anticipation of the near future " http://www.amazon.com/Tegs-1994-anticipation-near-future/dp/0804005109
(initial publication 1971)
by Robert Theobald https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Theobald* "A wizard did it!" -Lucy Lawless (- The Simpsons: Desperately Xeeking Xena")
** especially if an alternative outlet could be conceived for the compulsion to pile up money beyond reasonable use (after the second or third billion, what is the point?). -
Re:Random access speed more important than through
if my suspicions are correct, this [price/capacity of HDD vs SSD] will really start to change in the next couple years (2-3)
SSD fanbois have been saying this for 10 years, and there is still not the slightest sign of it happening.
Consumer:
HD $33.33/TB
(you couldn't get a 6TB for twice that much a year or two ago)
SSD $317.80/TBAbout 10x. OK, so it was 20X or more 10 years ago. Wake me up when it gets below 2X, and I will REALLY pay attention when it gets below 1X.
Enterprise is similarly dismal. Both HD and SSD cost is through the roof for enterprise.
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Re:Random access speed more important than through
if my suspicions are correct, this [price/capacity of HDD vs SSD] will really start to change in the next couple years (2-3)
SSD fanbois have been saying this for 10 years, and there is still not the slightest sign of it happening.
Consumer:
HD $33.33/TB
(you couldn't get a 6TB for twice that much a year or two ago)
SSD $317.80/TBAbout 10x. OK, so it was 20X or more 10 years ago. Wake me up when it gets below 2X, and I will REALLY pay attention when it gets below 1X.
Enterprise is similarly dismal. Both HD and SSD cost is through the roof for enterprise.
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Re:Random access speed more important than through
I get your point but 2TB 9.5mm 2.5" drives have been around for a while
It appears that 15mm gets you 4TB these days, assuming that's not just two drives crammed in the case
Looks like you can get a 4TB SSD in that same form factor (it's also 15mm if the spec sheet is to be believed) -
Re:Random access speed more important than through
I get your point but 2TB 9.5mm 2.5" drives have been around for a while
It appears that 15mm gets you 4TB these days, assuming that's not just two drives crammed in the case
Looks like you can get a 4TB SSD in that same form factor (it's also 15mm if the spec sheet is to be believed) -
Re:Random access speed more important than through
I get your point but 2TB 9.5mm 2.5" drives have been around for a while
It appears that 15mm gets you 4TB these days, assuming that's not just two drives crammed in the case
Looks like you can get a 4TB SSD in that same form factor (it's also 15mm if the spec sheet is to be believed) -
Separate digitizing from correction
First digitize using the best solution which is easily available to you now, like a good flat bed scanner, and then look for correcting software later. So long as you have the original JPEGs/PDFs, you can continue enhancing them without putting your documents in danger.
Seems preferable to waiting for perfect hardware/software while your archive deteriorates further.
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View Master VR
I received a new View Master VR for Xmas. It's impressed the hell out of everybody I've shown it to, a number of friends plan to pick one up soon.
It uses your smart phone for the display so it's rather inexpensive - while the starter pack (viewer and a demo disk) has a list price of $29.99, Amazon has it for $20.95. It's compatible with apps written for Google Cardboard.
I've written a blog entry about it for anyone interested in more detail.
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Re:Douglas Adams had an opinion:
I travel a lot too and my power requirements are met with a single, small, plastic box containing a step up/down transformer and an assortment of plug adapters to handle the physical configuration of any power connector standard in the world.
This reminds me of one of my pet peeves: so-called travel surge protectors that are only good for 120V.
Should say: "travel in North America" surge protectors...
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Re:Douglas Adams had an opinion:
I travel a lot too and my power requirements are met with a single, small, plastic box containing a step up/down transformer and an assortment of plug adapters to handle the physical configuration of any power connector standard in the world.
This reminds me of one of my pet peeves: so-called travel surge protectors that are only good for 120V.
Should say: "travel in North America" surge protectors...
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Re:Douglas Adams had an opinion:
I travel a lot too and my power requirements are met with a single, small, plastic box containing a step up/down transformer and an assortment of plug adapters to handle the physical configuration of any power connector standard in the world.
This reminds me of one of my pet peeves: so-called travel surge protectors that are only good for 120V.
Should say: "travel in North America" surge protectors...
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Re:Douglas Adams had an opinion:
I travel a lot too and my power requirements are met with a single, small, plastic box containing a step up/down transformer and an assortment of plug adapters to handle the physical configuration of any power connector standard in the world.
This reminds me of one of my pet peeves: so-called travel surge protectors that are only good for 120V.
Should say: "travel in North America" surge protectors...
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Re:White People Problems
You definitely don't need a frigging Internet connected LIGHTBULB.
I have a few frigging Internet connected lightbulbs, and while they are not "needed", they are certainly convenient. The bulb on my porch is controlled by an IoT motion detector, which also triggers an IoT camera, and sends an alert to my cellphone. The bulb in my kitchen is integrated with both a motion detector, and my Amazon Echo, so I can control it with voice. I save electricity, have better physical security, and I no longer have to get up on cold winter nights because my wife hears a noise. If the motion detector hasn't triggered, then I ain't gettin' up.
None of that demands any of those devices have direct access to the fucking internet. Networked != IoT.
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Re:White People Problems
You definitely don't need a frigging Internet connected LIGHTBULB.
I have a few frigging Internet connected lightbulbs, and while they are not "needed", they are certainly convenient. The bulb on my porch is controlled by an IoT motion detector, which also triggers an IoT camera, and sends an alert to my cellphone. The bulb in my kitchen is integrated with both a motion detector, and my Amazon Echo, so I can control it with voice.
News flash. Motion detectors do not need the fucking internet to work. They just need motion.
I save electricity.
$20 on your electric bill? Well at least we know what it costs to buy your privacy. Good to know it's this cheap for the average citizen.
, have better physical security, and I no longer have to get up on cold winter nights because my wife hears a noise. If the motion detector hasn't triggered, then I ain't gettin' up.
So, all I have to really do is disable your motion detector. After all, you have "better" security by ignoring it if specific triggers aren't hit.
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Re:White People Problems
You definitely don't need a frigging Internet connected LIGHTBULB.
I have a few frigging Internet connected lightbulbs, and while they are not "needed", they are certainly convenient. The bulb on my porch is controlled by an IoT motion detector, which also triggers an IoT camera, and sends an alert to my cellphone. The bulb in my kitchen is integrated with both a motion detector, and my Amazon Echo, so I can control it with voice. I save electricity, have better physical security, and I no longer have to get up on cold winter nights because my wife hears a noise. If the motion detector hasn't triggered, then I ain't gettin' up.
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The U.S. government is EXTREMELY corrupt.
The U.S. government has a higher percentage of its citizens in prison than any country in the history of the world. (The rate of 707 prisoners per 100,000 population is artificially reduced because of all the exclusions.)
Part of the reason the prison rate is so high is that, in the U.S., prisons are a very profitable business, with little oversight and plenty of chances to be abusive. For some detail, see Matt Taibbi's book, The Divide.
Other issues: The financial system. Health care. Military, such as the invasion of Iraq, which destroyed Iraqi society. The U.S. government has killed an estimated 11,000,000 people since the end of World War 2. Why? Partly because military action is profitable to contractors. -
Police have grown too powerful and abusive
Great book on growth and abuse of police powers
"Are cops constitutional?
Any hypothetical world where police were ruled unconstitutional would descend into chaos, probably rather quickly.
But Legal scholar and civil liberties activist Roger Roots posed just that question. Roots, a fairly radical libertarian, believes that the US Constitution does not allow for police as they exist today. He says police departments, powers, and practices today violate the Constitution's spirit and intent because ''Under the criminal justice model known to the Framers, professional police officers were unknown,' Roots writes. The general public had broad law enforcement powers, and only the executive functions of the law (ex. the execution of writs, warrants, and orders) were performed by constables or sheriff who might call upon the community for assistance. Initiation and investigation of criminal cases was nearly the exclusive province of private persons The advent of modern policing has greatly altered the balance of power between the citizen and the state in a way that would have been seen as constitutionally invalid by the Founders.''
http://www.amazon.com/Rise-War...
LA Police get cartoon LA Times critic fired http://www.theguardian.com/boo... http://cartoonistsrights.org/d... http://www.mintpressnews.com/l... -
Re:Do they still have...
http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-5...
I think I might have to buy one.
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This is not news
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Re:Wouldn't it be more properly referred to as
There are too many floaty numbers inserted and whenever the numbers don't work more floaty numbers and dimensions are added in to make the "theory" work. Books written about this "Not even Wrong", "The Trouble with Physics". There may be others, those are just two I am familiar with.
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Even...
http://www.amazon.com/Trouble-... -
Re:Wouldn't it be more properly referred to as
There are too many floaty numbers inserted and whenever the numbers don't work more floaty numbers and dimensions are added in to make the "theory" work. Books written about this "Not even Wrong", "The Trouble with Physics". There may be others, those are just two I am familiar with.
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Even...
http://www.amazon.com/Trouble-... -
String Theory is ScienceIt's just IRONIC science, per John Horgan.
RS
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Re:Only for weirdos and 4x4s
"Big fancy magtape can kick the crap out of a CD, but it doesn't fit in your pocket."
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PCM...
Fits in my pocket and blows CD's out of the water hard. What are you one of those skinny jeans freaks that cant even put quarters in your pockets?
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Re: Totally true
That's a good link. My real complaint about AWS is what's mentioned at the end:
It also feels like a lot of services are stuck at version 1.0, lacking that polish and continual improvement
This is what annoys me. SQS is a good 1.0 version of message queues, but the features are the just above the minimum you could possibly call a message queue. DynamoDB is a good 1.0 version of a NoSQL DB, just above the minimum you could possibly call a NoSQL DB.
These services are years old, but look like what most software does at version 1.1 or so: minimal features, no glaring bugs, but nothing great either.
I can't say anything about EC2 CPU performance, as I've never benchmarked that myself, but aren't they just (mostly older) Xeons? The way the T2 instance is described makes it sound like the cores are oversubscribed, but I haven't heard that about the other instances.
In any case, unless you're CPU-bound, it doesn't matter. I'm more concerned about price for the memory I need. For compute-intensive jobs, EC2 Spot is cheap if you're really fault tolerant.
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Re:Shipping luggage ahead is hardly new ...
The other part was the airlines' growing limits on "excess" baggage, plus their tendency to fly your luggage to some place remote from where they were flying you. People reported that handing it over to the package-shipping people to deliver to your destination did an end run around the airlines' lost luggage issue and the government's incompetent security theater
You're actually more likely to have your packages lost than have the airlines lose your luggage. A loss rate of 0.5%-1.2% for package delivery vs 0.3% for the airlines. The main reason to ship your luggage is to avoid slowdowns due to airport security, and because the airlines make it a PITA to get the compensation you're entitled to if they lose a bag. Whereas when you ship a package, the compensation is pre-negotiated - you declare its value on the waybill and (presumably) insure it for that amount.
Anything with substantial monetary or sentimental value goes in my carry-on bag. The stuff that goes in my check-in bags can all be easily replaced in any developed country. -
Re: They are not history
"how is it you know they have enough to rip the world a new one"
Because they have admitted it:
Martin Van Creveld (Israeli military historian): “We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. . . Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”
And here:
Golda Meir (former Israeli prime minister): "Israel would be prepared to take the region and the whole world down with it... What would serve the jew-hating world betting in repayment for thousands of years of massacres but a nuclear winter?"
"you really need to get back on your meds and stop reading the conspiracy theory boards."
This is not conspiracy theory; it is conspiracy fact. Try doing some research for a change instead of name calling and spewing your ridiculous prattle.
Here are some good places to start:
Samson Option by Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer prize winner.
Mordechai Vanunu by Peter Hounam
The world is being blackmailed by Israel and her "Samson option". Israel poses the greatest threat to the world, bar none.
Sometimes the truth hurts.