"(at the time it was made mandatory the cost of installing seatbelts was over 10% of the cost of an average new car)."
That is the fucking lamest claim I have EVER heard about seatbelts.
One anchor bolt and nut, about $5 worth of reinforced cloth belt and two buckles. I doubt that is even 1/10th of ONE percent of the cost of ANY car, past or present...against the cost of losing your life.
First off, I apologize for the off-topic post in advance. I couldn't find any contact links to report this.
The Firehose has been Spam botted. Only 3 of the current 20 or so submissions are actually story submissions, the rest are spam/adverts for everything from acai berry shit to resorts in Goa. Spam posts about every 3 mins now...
And whats with all the wall-of-text repeat troll posts? They are in pretty much every story thread these days.
Could someone that knows how, or who, to contact about this (the spam) please do so?
Simply get the warning going, then follow your ears. Often, the noise is generated by a device that looks just like a flasher relay. Pull that sucker out, then make sure everything ELSE still works. If not, put it back and find a mechanic.
I once had a car come through my shop that when taken on a test drive, would make sounds just like the human-headed fly caught in the spider's web at the end of the movie "The Fly". The owner had taken a drill to the tiny little speaker buried under the dash in his fevered attempts to silence the voice that vexed him so, leaving it crippled, but still alive.
None of the systems of which I spoke are required by law, but rather sold to the customer (with a car attached) as some sort of "feature" that the customer ended up wanting to kill every time they got in the car. I was more then happy to keep my customers happy.
Think of it as a geek removing bundled software from a box-store PC after purchase. Pretty much the same thing.
As far as lawfully required systems, how many times you think a mechanic has cut the catalytic converter off a car that requires one? I never did, but there are many that do.
Unless you live in one of those fucked up states that requires "safety" inspections, nobody would ever be the wiser.
Besides, from the manufacturers perspective, this is a bad idea because chronic cell phone users would opt for older cars without the system. Less sales of new cars.
As a mechanic, I personally removed, disconnected or otherwise rendered useless dozens of "spoken word" feedback systems on cars. They have been around for many years, doing anything from reminding you that your seatbelt is unfastened, that you left your headlights on or to tell you your door is ajar (No it isn't! It's a door!).
I did so at the REQUEST OF THE VEHICLE OWNER.
Once the novelty wears off, spoken word feedback systems are annoying as a kid in the back seat repeatedly asking "Are we there yet?"
Law, or otherwise, such a system would be disabled as soon as the customers patience wore out, and there will never be a shortage of mechanics willing to do it for you if the price is right.
"...and then I'd sit through a barrage of abuse directed at the company."
Sounds like you're a glutton for punishment.
Why else would you come here to Slashdot and share your intimate moments of anguish knowing full well that you would be mocked and teased with +X Funny moderation?
Maybe if all of this was patented, the person with the patents could then sue the snot out of all the people using this malware (the distributors of it) and ask for subpoenas to get them IDed so that they could be reported to the Feds for prosecution.
Wait. Bad idea. Putting something like that in the hands of Patent Trolls would be the end of Civilization as we know it...and we all know the additional costs of Malware would simply be passed on to the customer.
When I was a mechanic we used Brake Cleaner for all sorts of things. It left no residue, removed most nasty crud that needed to be removed and worked wonders removing moisture from electrical circuits. The problem was that it was pretty nasty smelling stuff. It completely evaporates leaving most of the chemicals floating around the shop for awhile.
Then one day I open a new case of the stuff and start using it on a brake job. Whoa! New smell! Apparently, the manufacturer thought it would be a good idea to add fragrance to the cans to make it more acceptable.
The problem was that the FRAGRANCE did NOT evaporate. It hung on to whatever it was sprayed on. We actually had several customers return their cars because of the smell (especially once the brakes got hot from use).
I returned the rest of the case, and the vendor took it back without question as they had been getting numerous complaints...the fragrance ended up being worse then the original problem.
On another note, I don't even go to the local mall anymore because all the vendors pump fragrances out the front doors of the individual shops. I usually have a doozy of a headache after being in there for more then 10-15 minutes.
We just bought a house in a deep, but narrow valley that was right on the border of Verizon's coverage map. My old Samsung phone got a decent signal but my wife and daughter's newer Samsungs didn't get shit.
We tried the Verizon extender. The one VERY important thing that the reps do NOT tell you is that the device is completely dependent on a strong GPS link for 911 service calls (required by law).
For me that meant that since I live in a deep, narrow valley and had line-of-sight on only one satellite at a time, the device was completely non-functional. The other thing is the return policy. They will ONLY give you Verizon credit.
Since we only had an issue at home, we simply got a cheap landline ($20/month, limitless long distance continental US) and had our cell messages state the number in case callers couldn't get through on the cells. They simply call the other number. Works peachy.
The main requirement for entering this business--inventing things--is a complete lack of a soul (or conscience, if you'd rather).
It is pure greed and power mongering the way things stand and in the end the result is LESS innovation.
When I was 20, I used to do Q/A for a company that made lancets (a device to prick the skin to draw a drop of blood for analysis, usually blood sugar levels). One day I realized that there was a better way. The device I was inspecting daily had over 30 parts and ended up costing the retail customer around $35. They still had to purchase disposable tips that were one-use only and had to be safely discarded so as not to infect others.
In less then a week I had a flawlessly-working prototype of a disposable, single-use device that not only was sterile (didn't rely on packaging to achieve), but also cost less then $.10 to make and had ONE moving part (for a total of three parts in its entirety) and was completely safe to simply throw away (the needle that did the actual pricking was drawn back inside the case after it did it's thing), making it particularly attractive to hospitals.
I tried to shop the idea to my employer who seemed totally unimpressed and never brought it up again. I then tried to shop it to Becton-Dickenson (the worlds largest maker of syringes) and was pretty much told they didn't accept submissions from outside their own R/D dept.
A few months ago my mother hands me one. The device I designed. It turns out the doctor she saw that day had used it on her and she decided to keep it and show it to me. It was essentially my design with the sterility factor removed. They relied on the packaging to keep the device sterile until used.
After some research, it turns out that not only did my ex-employer have his name on the patent for it, but also the guy I spoke to on the phone at Becton-Dickinson. They had somehow both found out the other knew about the idea, waited 7 years to patent (since I did not patent it in that time) then simply co-submitted the patent, then went into production. They sell it to this day.
In short, they could have written me a check for $5k (I was hurting for tuition back then and could REALLY have used it), had full rights to the idea and not had to wait 7 years. Instead, they CHOSE to simply fuck me over. Nice guys.
Now, I ask you slash-dotters, what fucking incentive do I have to EVER bother trying my hand at inventing again? The knowledge that my idea at least made it to people that can use it?
Knowing that our government more then likely uses out-sourced information about targets, i.e. informants, moles, etc., one might wonder if perhaps these outside sources are supplying us with bad intelligence and simply taking advantage of our capabilities to suit their own aspirations.
The extra-judicial aspect makes this all the more plausible since safeguards have been removed from the decision-making/targeting process.
It took me awhile to figure out what the point in all this was. Well, besides someone making themselves a middleman for profit.
What it boils down to is this. Piracy, as far as computer games are concerned, is essentially the use of an executable(and it's associated files) without permission.
This whole scheme is simply testing the viability of never letting that executable out in the wild in the first place. No executable to crack, no piracy. Obviously, this will not work unless they also stop selling boxed games or downloads. Don't like paying for something and not have something to show for it? Don't buy the service. Buy the boxed version. Otherwise, if this service is successful, the next step IS the discontinuation of boxed game sales.
From my perspective, no executable, no money.
Don't let them get this one out of the barn...Put your money where it does what YOU want.
The scanning, you'll find out is going to be the easy part.
As a collector of maps, you should know that old maps use different projections to display a 3D object on a 2D surface--the Earth on paper--and that in addition they also use different scales. Sometimes convention is tossed out the window and a map uses neither standard projections nor consistent scale. The older the map, the more this is likely.
In order to apply coordinates to these maps, coordinates that are usable for anything other then simple viewing, you will have to find some way of morphing a grid with coordinates across the images you have after scanning. It might be something as simple as creating a transparent layer in Photoshop that can be stretched to align properly. My guess is that you would need some sort of custom plug-in for this to deal with the various projections used on the map images. Scaling shouldn't be an issue unless it is inconsistent and changes across the image.
Any graphics whizzes out there that can expand on this?
I agree with the posts suggesting photography as a means to capture the images. Glass over the map and careful consideration of reflections on said glass, combined with rather inexpensive camera gear will produce something on par with a desktop scanner. Even cheap cameras these days have pretty high definition. Most definitely the least destructive.
Slashdot Mirror
"(at the time it was made mandatory the cost of installing seatbelts was over 10% of the cost of an average new car)."
That is the fucking lamest claim I have EVER heard about seatbelts.
One anchor bolt and nut, about $5 worth of reinforced cloth belt and two buckles. I doubt that is even 1/10th of ONE percent of the cost of ANY car, past or present...against the cost of losing your life.
First off, I apologize for the off-topic post in advance. I couldn't find any contact links to report this.
The Firehose has been Spam botted. Only 3 of the current 20 or so submissions are actually story submissions, the rest are spam/adverts for everything from acai berry shit to resorts in Goa. Spam posts about every 3 mins now...
And whats with all the wall-of-text repeat troll posts? They are in pretty much every story thread these days.
Could someone that knows how, or who, to contact about this (the spam) please do so?
Yep!
You can actually do some of this yourself.
Simply get the warning going, then follow your ears. Often, the noise is generated by a device that looks just like a flasher relay. Pull that sucker out, then make sure everything ELSE still works. If not, put it back and find a mechanic.
I once had a car come through my shop that when taken on a test drive, would make sounds just like the human-headed fly caught in the spider's web at the end of the movie "The Fly". The owner had taken a drill to the tiny little speaker buried under the dash in his fevered attempts to silence the voice that vexed him so, leaving it crippled, but still alive.
"Help me! Heeeelp me!"
"How far have we drifted from "news for nerds, stuff that matters.""
Well, if you take a sip from the Firehose, you'll see that Slashdot is actually the new craigslist.com.
Most of the stories posted are just advertisements.
I'm not kidding. Go take a look.
None of the systems of which I spoke are required by law, but rather sold to the customer (with a car attached) as some sort of "feature" that the customer ended up wanting to kill every time they got in the car. I was more then happy to keep my customers happy.
Think of it as a geek removing bundled software from a box-store PC after purchase. Pretty much the same thing.
As far as lawfully required systems, how many times you think a mechanic has cut the catalytic converter off a car that requires one? I never did, but there are many that do.
Unless you live in one of those fucked up states that requires "safety" inspections, nobody would ever be the wiser.
Besides, from the manufacturers perspective, this is a bad idea because chronic cell phone users would opt for older cars without the system. Less sales of new cars.
What a waste of effort.
As a mechanic, I personally removed, disconnected or otherwise rendered useless dozens of "spoken word" feedback systems on cars. They have been around for many years, doing anything from reminding you that your seatbelt is unfastened, that you left your headlights on or to tell you your door is ajar (No it isn't! It's a door!).
I did so at the REQUEST OF THE VEHICLE OWNER.
Once the novelty wears off, spoken word feedback systems are annoying as a kid in the back seat repeatedly asking "Are we there yet?"
Law, or otherwise, such a system would be disabled as soon as the customers patience wore out, and there will never be a shortage of mechanics willing to do it for you if the price is right.
"...and then I'd sit through a barrage of abuse directed at the company."
Sounds like you're a glutton for punishment.
Why else would you come here to Slashdot and share your intimate moments of anguish knowing full well that you would be mocked and teased with +X Funny moderation?
"They're about as reliable as bathroom stall graffiti."
At least with the grafitti you might get a blow-job to go with that Chicken Marsala and Riesling.
Jeez.
The one time I TRY to troll a thread, I get modded interesting.
"Can I patent malware?"
Interesting question.
Maybe if all of this was patented, the person with the patents could then sue the snot out of all the people using this malware (the distributors of it) and ask for subpoenas to get them IDed so that they could be reported to the Feds for prosecution.
Wait. Bad idea. Putting something like that in the hands of Patent Trolls would be the end of Civilization as we know it...and we all know the additional costs of Malware would simply be passed on to the customer.
Car analogy? Maybe!
When I was a mechanic we used Brake Cleaner for all sorts of things. It left no residue, removed most nasty crud that needed to be removed and worked wonders removing moisture from electrical circuits. The problem was that it was pretty nasty smelling stuff. It completely evaporates leaving most of the chemicals floating around the shop for awhile.
Then one day I open a new case of the stuff and start using it on a brake job. Whoa! New smell! Apparently, the manufacturer thought it would be a good idea to add fragrance to the cans to make it more acceptable.
The problem was that the FRAGRANCE did NOT evaporate. It hung on to whatever it was sprayed on. We actually had several customers return their cars because of the smell (especially once the brakes got hot from use).
I returned the rest of the case, and the vendor took it back without question as they had been getting numerous complaints...the fragrance ended up being worse then the original problem.
On another note, I don't even go to the local mall anymore because all the vendors pump fragrances out the front doors of the individual shops. I usually have a doozy of a headache after being in there for more then 10-15 minutes.
Andrew Stack would be upset, again.
This is exactly the shit that drove the man to his wits end, leaving the IRS with an airplane in their offices.
Time to write my representative, AGAIN. (Crazy week in WA., what with our rogue AG and all...)
We just bought a house in a deep, but narrow valley that was right on the border of Verizon's coverage map. My old Samsung phone got a decent signal but my wife and daughter's newer Samsungs didn't get shit.
We tried the Verizon extender. The one VERY important thing that the reps do NOT tell you is that the device is completely dependent on a strong GPS link for 911 service calls (required by law).
For me that meant that since I live in a deep, narrow valley and had line-of-sight on only one satellite at a time, the device was completely non-functional. The other thing is the return policy. They will ONLY give you Verizon credit.
Since we only had an issue at home, we simply got a cheap landline ($20/month, limitless long distance continental US) and had our cell messages state the number in case callers couldn't get through on the cells. They simply call the other number. Works peachy.
That's nice.
Anyone seen my glasses?...
It appears that this article has been debunked.
Why no main-page correction to the article, or are we simply going for sensationalism now?
Editors?
The main requirement for entering this business--inventing things--is a complete lack of a soul (or conscience, if you'd rather).
It is pure greed and power mongering the way things stand and in the end the result is LESS innovation.
When I was 20, I used to do Q/A for a company that made lancets (a device to prick the skin to draw a drop of blood for analysis, usually blood sugar levels). One day I realized that there was a better way. The device I was inspecting daily had over 30 parts and ended up costing the retail customer around $35. They still had to purchase disposable tips that were one-use only and had to be safely discarded so as not to infect others.
In less then a week I had a flawlessly-working prototype of a disposable, single-use device that not only was sterile (didn't rely on packaging to achieve), but also cost less then $.10 to make and had ONE moving part (for a total of three parts in its entirety) and was completely safe to simply throw away (the needle that did the actual pricking was drawn back inside the case after it did it's thing), making it particularly attractive to hospitals.
I tried to shop the idea to my employer who seemed totally unimpressed and never brought it up again. I then tried to shop it to Becton-Dickenson (the worlds largest maker of syringes) and was pretty much told they didn't accept submissions from outside their own R/D dept.
A few months ago my mother hands me one. The device I designed. It turns out the doctor she saw that day had used it on her and she decided to keep it and show it to me. It was essentially my design with the sterility factor removed. They relied on the packaging to keep the device sterile until used.
After some research, it turns out that not only did my ex-employer have his name on the patent for it, but also the guy I spoke to on the phone at Becton-Dickinson. They had somehow both found out the other knew about the idea, waited 7 years to patent (since I did not patent it in that time) then simply co-submitted the patent, then went into production. They sell it to this day.
In short, they could have written me a check for $5k (I was hurting for tuition back then and could REALLY have used it), had full rights to the idea and not had to wait 7 years. Instead, they CHOSE to simply fuck me over. Nice guys.
Now, I ask you slash-dotters, what fucking incentive do I have to EVER bother trying my hand at inventing again? The knowledge that my idea at least made it to people that can use it?
C'mon, folks.
Can we PLEASE start spending all this cash on things that don't blow up?
Seems burning paper currency wasn't fast enough, now we have refined methods of destroying funds.
Sheesh.
He owns a vehicle on the moon, yet STILL hasn't put out a decent successor to Ultima Online!
Talk about fucked up priorities.
"It's a police action."
Knowing that our government more then likely uses out-sourced information about targets, i.e. informants, moles, etc., one might wonder if perhaps these outside sources are supplying us with bad intelligence and simply taking advantage of our capabilities to suit their own aspirations.
The extra-judicial aspect makes this all the more plausible since safeguards have been removed from the decision-making/targeting process.
So, why don't they give them books and pencils instead?
Some people.
Greed is probably the greatest foe of common-sense.
I say "probably" only because I think religion is neck-and-neck.
Combine the two, and, well...you end up with the likes of the Trinity Broadcast Network and Joel Osteen.
"Hint: Don't friend random strangers on Facebook et al."
While that is good advice, it can be refined some...
Hint: Don't use Facebook at all.
It took me awhile to figure out what the point in all this was. Well, besides someone making themselves a middleman for profit.
What it boils down to is this. Piracy, as far as computer games are concerned, is essentially the use of an executable(and it's associated files) without permission.
This whole scheme is simply testing the viability of never letting that executable out in the wild in the first place. No executable to crack, no piracy. Obviously, this will not work unless they also stop selling boxed games or downloads. Don't like paying for something and not have something to show for it? Don't buy the service. Buy the boxed version. Otherwise, if this service is successful, the next step IS the discontinuation of boxed game sales.
From my perspective, no executable, no money.
Don't let them get this one out of the barn...Put your money where it does what YOU want.
"...and it was something like $40, including a free copy of Fightclub."
I think I had that copy of Fightclub as well.
It got rather annoying for my wife though, what with my yelling "Down in front!" at our TV every time we watched it.
The geocoding is going to be a BITCH.
The scanning, you'll find out is going to be the easy part.
As a collector of maps, you should know that old maps use different projections to display a 3D object on a 2D surface--the Earth on paper--and that in addition they also use different scales. Sometimes convention is tossed out the window and a map uses neither standard projections nor consistent scale. The older the map, the more this is likely.
In order to apply coordinates to these maps, coordinates that are usable for anything other then simple viewing, you will have to find some way of morphing a grid with coordinates across the images you have after scanning. It might be something as simple as creating a transparent layer in Photoshop that can be stretched to align properly. My guess is that you would need some sort of custom plug-in for this to deal with the various projections used on the map images. Scaling shouldn't be an issue unless it is inconsistent and changes across the image.
Any graphics whizzes out there that can expand on this?
I agree with the posts suggesting photography as a means to capture the images. Glass over the map and careful consideration of reflections on said glass, combined with rather inexpensive camera gear will produce something on par with a desktop scanner. Even cheap cameras these days have pretty high definition. Most definitely the least destructive.