If Comcast is your only broadband choice (which, BTW, it almost certainly isn't, since there are usually DSL, satellite, and cell options) it is due to them having enjoyed a government-created monopoly.
If college is free and you don't have to pay back much if you don't make much, what prevents us from wasting our resources on degrees that aren't economically useful? Sure, it is great to pay for an engineering degree and most likely that will be repaid, but if somebody wants to spend 4 years (or maybe even a PhD) on 18th Century French Art, then work at McDonalds the rest of their lives, we don't want to pay for that, do we?
When do we cut people off? Do we only pay for undergrad? When do they need to start providing value to society based on their education?
Finally, if you don't have to pay for school, wouldn't it likely encourage some people to pursue high-paying jobs they might not be really that good at? I would love to make the salary of a heart surgeon, and perhaps I could have become one, but it would have cost a lot of money and I know I never would be a great one. But if college was free, why not try?
I don't believe post-scarcity will ever happen
on
Star Trek Economics
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· Score: 1
No matter how much we have, I believe at least some people will always want more. Yes, we will have enough for survival (we have that much today), in other words we can support everybody's *needs*, but not their *wants*.
On Star Trek, what prevents everybody from spending their whole lives on Reisa (a resort planet)? The planet wouldn't have enough room. And part of the attraction of Reisa is being waited after, but who would do the waiting if nobody had to work?
People will always want huge houses, their own islands, huge boats, huge starships, their own planets, etc. How do you allocate those limited resources without money?
I'm not sure what path I would have taken on my own, but I was an engineer who ran into some major hand problems and couldn't code all day any longer, forcing me into a management direction. I'd like to think I'm a decent one, and according to the article that might still be possible;)
I don't think this is the government's place... nonetheless, people can just fast-forward through commercials on their PVRs or download the content via bittorrent instead. Seems like the problem would quickly work itself out.
At least for Web-based applications, simply invest in the WebAccelerator from F5 Networks. It literally provides almost LAN-like performance for web applications over the WAN.
At least in the US, we have a history of capitalism... i.e. supply/demand. If more schools are demanded, they will be created by private parties. In China my understanding is that most, if not all, education is done by the government, which is not traditionally as reactive to supply as the free market can be.
I'm sorry, but mainframes typically have somewhere between 4 to maybe 32 CPUs, which are no better than any other CPU really. Sure you can run thousands of Linux machines, and it does have some great features, especially regarding virtualization, but they can't do the work of thousands of Linux machines... sorry, but 32 CPUs is no match to thousands.
How about this -- what is the longest period of time in Earth's history where the climate did NOT change? I don't think we know, but I believe the answer is 0 days. The Earth is always changing, and has always been changing, and will always change.
I think in order to stop global warming the most important thing to know is precisely what is causing it. If a server is locking up every day, do you just schedule a daily reboot or do you figure out what is wrong with it?
If you don't know the cause, then your "solutions" may have little, no, or even negative affects.
At 7PM tomorrow I am getting on my first flight that starts a 24-hour period of traveling to Malaysia. I will have my laptop, some books, and my iPod. There is no way in hell that I would get on a plane flight of any length without at least two of those three things.
Then, of course, I have to bring some CDs to play games on my laptop as most games do a CD check because I was an idiot and bought them instead of downloading cracked versions for free... but I digress.
"xt" ("qy" in dvorak) is the same hand. Compare this to "ks" ("to" in dvorak) -- even though the latter is two hands it is much quicker. This is because the x and t keys are awkwardly accessed with one hand.
Now take two common character sequences. "to/te/tu" (2 hands in dvorak) versus "th" (one hand, directly next to eachother). I can not tell a difference in speed between the two. They can both be typed by me as fast as one character.
In fact, I'd say that you are right -- two letters directly next to eachother, especially when both are on the home keys, are very fast. But, two letters on the same hand not next to eachother seem slower than two letters on alternating hands.
A lot of it is learning these combos so that they can be typed very quickly.
I touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years and was pretty fast -- 80 to 85wpm. I switched to Dvorak and within 4 months I was above 120wpm. I did this with numerous speed tests using a typing tutor program. I don't think there is any other way to explain my speed increases.
I don't see that the two hemispheres make that much of a difference. Although, when I learned I did notice much more that I had to learn key combos than I remember when I learned qwerty. Basically, until I started automatically typing two letters at a time I never got very fast with dvorak. Maybe I was able to memorize these alternating pairs and avoid this problem.
I touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years and was pretty fast -- 80 to 85wpm. I switched to Dvorak and within 4 months I was above 120wpm. I did this with numerous speed tests using a typing tutor program. I don't think there is any other way to explain my speed increases.
I think that is why you have qwerty troubles -- if you never use it you will start to suck after learning dvorak. For me, I had to regularly use computers on which I could not change the layout, so that kept my qwerty skills current.
I agree with the comments about switching back and forth. But for VI, it drove me crazy at first, but eventually I came to prefer the dvorak layout. This is because up/down ends up on the left hand and left/right ends up on the right hand. This allows you to use both hands to move more efficiently. And it is still semi-logical.
up/down ends up on the c/v keys, right next to eachother. left (h) ends up on the j key. right (l) ends up on the p key. So when I navigate in vi I just leave my right pinkie on the l/p key and it isn't a hassle.
Wow -- you have to email me and let me know where you heard that from. This is exactly how I switch my layouts and have done so since 1997 and did not get the idea from somebody else. I wonder if this is my method or another person came up with it on their own...
I had touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years before switching to Dvorak. My speed was 80-85wpm. Within 4 months of switching, I could type at 120wpm. It certainly made a difference.
Whether it is better on your hands or not is harder to tell. It helped me for a long time, but now I still get some hand problems. Probably typing at 80wpm in Dvorak is better than 80wpm in qwerty, but 120wpm in Dvorak is still pretty rough.
I switched to Dvorak in 1997 and have never looked back. I do mostly programming and sysadmin tasks. It is true that some things become tedious such as the 'ls' command, but I just aliased that to 'no' which let me use the original keys for that command. As long as you use the modified Dvorak that puts [ and { together on the - key and ] and } together on the = key, programming is not a problem.
I switched cold-turkey. I printed out a reference sheet and just switched. I used some typing tutor programs to help. First I got the keys down, then I started getting two-key combos down, and more, and more. It took me about 1-2 months to get back to my qwerty speed of 85wpm. By about 3 months I was up to my new max speed of over 120wpm. Certainly much more comfortable, but it does not eliminate the problem, especially if you type at 120wpm a lot!:)
Now to your question -- until about 4-5 months in I could not touch-type qwerty any longer. At about 6 months I was about back to my original qwerty speed as well. It takes me about 10-15 seconds to switch in my head, until then I keep making typos.
I find that the ease of switching is related to how often I do it. I was able to switch easily, until I worked from home for 2 years and never used qwerty. During that time switching to qwerty took minutes of mistakes. But now I'm back to normal, I'd say.
All in all, I'm happy I made the switch. Good luck!
You have mentioned a good amount of the medium-length games out there. You can go up from there to full wargames (I love the Second World War at Sea series from Avalanche Press which takes about 1 day for a game).
For shorter games I like Acquire and many German-style games. Some of my favorites are Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Goa, Alhambra, Bohnanza, Citadels, Samurai, Java, Liar's Dice, and Bang!.
I buy most of my games from GamesInABox.com. They have almost as good of prices as FunAgain Games but they have much more reasonable shipping costs and they have always shipped same or next day.
Some of my favorites are Goa, Puerto Rico, Bang!, Bohnanza, Acquire, and so many more.
Check out www.gamesinabox.com as that is where I buy most of mine -- usually each game is about $1 more, but they usually ship same-day and shipping costs are very reasonable.
Well, it depends on how you look at it. In 1986 the manufacture of automatic weapons was prohibited. But before that the ownership was regulated as you stated. This first link on Google confirms this. Interestingly enough if a corporation buys the gun no fingerprints nor a CLEO signature is required (last I knew).
And please back yourself up with some proof about the AK-47 being banned... I'm pretty sure it wasn't, unless it had two or more banned features. Here is a pretty good explanation of the law with the specific weapons listed which does not include the AK-47.
Also, here is a good page about the now-expired ban and assault weapons and automatic weapons and many people here on Slashdot apparently need to be educated on the subject.
I have both handguns and a 8-shot 12-gauge shotgun. There is a lot of debate over which is better for home defense. The handgun is small. The shotgun is easy to hit something with, but is more awkward... however it does have the unique sound associated with it.
Almost NOBODY recommends assault weapons for home defense, or rifles of any sort for that matter. The recently banned "assault weapons" are basically "scary looking rifles" with too many "options" on them such as pistol grips, collapsing stock, flash suppressor, etc. None of these accessories are particularly helpful in home defense as well.
Basically, any rifle is going to be just as awkward as a shotgun but harder to hit something with. Probably most important is the fact that the rounds will go through more walls than a shotgun or handgun round, which is a bad thing if you don't know who is in the next room or the next house.
You are definitely incorrect -- the National Firearms Act (NFA) passed in the 1930s outlawed automatic weapons and silencers and some things like pen guns and the like.
I believe that some states also outlaw them? I'm not clear on that part.
The NFA was passed in response to mobster activity which of course was fueled by prohibition. The funny thing is that if you own a coporation and have $300 you can get an automatic weapon. Back in the 1930s that was a lot of money, but it seems the mobsters would have had it. The $300 amount has not changed since, so today it is much more reasonable but there is still a lot of paperwork involved...
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Agreed. Also it is too easy for businesses to avoid taxation, even after this change.
If Comcast is your only broadband choice (which, BTW, it almost certainly isn't, since there are usually DSL, satellite, and cell options) it is due to them having enjoyed a government-created monopoly.
If college is free and you don't have to pay back much if you don't make much, what prevents us from wasting our resources on degrees that aren't economically useful? Sure, it is great to pay for an engineering degree and most likely that will be repaid, but if somebody wants to spend 4 years (or maybe even a PhD) on 18th Century French Art, then work at McDonalds the rest of their lives, we don't want to pay for that, do we?
When do we cut people off? Do we only pay for undergrad? When do they need to start providing value to society based on their education?
Finally, if you don't have to pay for school, wouldn't it likely encourage some people to pursue high-paying jobs they might not be really that good at? I would love to make the salary of a heart surgeon, and perhaps I could have become one, but it would have cost a lot of money and I know I never would be a great one. But if college was free, why not try?
No matter how much we have, I believe at least some people will always want more. Yes, we will have enough for survival (we have that much today), in other words we can support everybody's *needs*, but not their *wants*.
On Star Trek, what prevents everybody from spending their whole lives on Reisa (a resort planet)? The planet wouldn't have enough room. And part of the attraction of Reisa is being waited after, but who would do the waiting if nobody had to work?
People will always want huge houses, their own islands, huge boats, huge starships, their own planets, etc. How do you allocate those limited resources without money?
I'm not sure what path I would have taken on my own, but I was an engineer who ran into some major hand problems and couldn't code all day any longer, forcing me into a management direction. I'd like to think I'm a decent one, and according to the article that might still be possible ;)
I don't think this is the government's place... nonetheless, people can just fast-forward through commercials on their PVRs or download the content via bittorrent instead. Seems like the problem would quickly work itself out.
At least for Web-based applications, simply invest in the WebAccelerator from F5 Networks. It literally provides almost LAN-like performance for web applications over the WAN.
At least in the US, we have a history of capitalism... i.e. supply/demand. If more schools are demanded, they will be created by private parties. In China my understanding is that most, if not all, education is done by the government, which is not traditionally as reactive to supply as the free market can be.
I'm sorry, but mainframes typically have somewhere between 4 to maybe 32 CPUs, which are no better than any other CPU really. Sure you can run thousands of Linux machines, and it does have some great features, especially regarding virtualization, but they can't do the work of thousands of Linux machines... sorry, but 32 CPUs is no match to thousands.
How about this -- what is the longest period of time in Earth's history where the climate did NOT change? I don't think we know, but I believe the answer is 0 days. The Earth is always changing, and has always been changing, and will always change.
I think in order to stop global warming the most important thing to know is precisely what is causing it. If a server is locking up every day, do you just schedule a daily reboot or do you figure out what is wrong with it?
If you don't know the cause, then your "solutions" may have little, no, or even negative affects.
At 7PM tomorrow I am getting on my first flight that starts a 24-hour period of traveling to Malaysia. I will have my laptop, some books, and my iPod. There is no way in hell that I would get on a plane flight of any length without at least two of those three things.
Then, of course, I have to bring some CDs to play games on my laptop as most games do a CD check because I was an idiot and bought them instead of downloading cracked versions for free... but I digress.
I beg to differ. For example:
"xt" ("qy" in dvorak) is the same hand. Compare this to "ks" ("to" in dvorak) -- even though the latter is two hands it is much quicker. This is because the x and t keys are awkwardly accessed with one hand.
Now take two common character sequences. "to/te/tu" (2 hands in dvorak) versus "th" (one hand, directly next to eachother). I can not tell a difference in speed between the two. They can both be typed by me as fast as one character.
In fact, I'd say that you are right -- two letters directly next to eachother, especially when both are on the home keys, are very fast. But, two letters on the same hand not next to eachother seem slower than two letters on alternating hands.
A lot of it is learning these combos so that they can be typed very quickly.
I touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years and was pretty fast -- 80 to 85wpm. I switched to Dvorak and within 4 months I was above 120wpm. I did this with numerous speed tests using a typing tutor program. I don't think there is any other way to explain my speed increases.
I don't see that the two hemispheres make that much of a difference. Although, when I learned I did notice much more that I had to learn key combos than I remember when I learned qwerty. Basically, until I started automatically typing two letters at a time I never got very fast with dvorak. Maybe I was able to memorize these alternating pairs and avoid this problem.
I touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years and was pretty fast -- 80 to 85wpm. I switched to Dvorak and within 4 months I was above 120wpm. I did this with numerous speed tests using a typing tutor program. I don't think there is any other way to explain my speed increases.
I think that is why you have qwerty troubles -- if you never use it you will start to suck after learning dvorak. For me, I had to regularly use computers on which I could not change the layout, so that kept my qwerty skills current.
I agree with the comments about switching back and forth. But for VI, it drove me crazy at first, but eventually I came to prefer the dvorak layout. This is because up/down ends up on the left hand and left/right ends up on the right hand. This allows you to use both hands to move more efficiently. And it is still semi-logical.
up/down ends up on the c/v keys, right next to eachother. left (h) ends up on the j key. right (l) ends up on the p key. So when I navigate in vi I just leave my right pinkie on the l/p key and it isn't a hassle.
Wow -- you have to email me and let me know where you heard that from. This is exactly how I switch my layouts and have done so since 1997 and did not get the idea from somebody else. I wonder if this is my method or another person came up with it on their own...
I had touch-typed qwerty for about 6 years before switching to Dvorak. My speed was 80-85wpm. Within 4 months of switching, I could type at 120wpm. It certainly made a difference.
Whether it is better on your hands or not is harder to tell. It helped me for a long time, but now I still get some hand problems. Probably typing at 80wpm in Dvorak is better than 80wpm in qwerty, but 120wpm in Dvorak is still pretty rough.
I switched to Dvorak in 1997 and have never looked back. I do mostly programming and sysadmin tasks. It is true that some things become tedious such as the 'ls' command, but I just aliased that to 'no' which let me use the original keys for that command. As long as you use the modified Dvorak that puts [ and { together on the - key and ] and } together on the = key, programming is not a problem.
:)
I switched cold-turkey. I printed out a reference sheet and just switched. I used some typing tutor programs to help. First I got the keys down, then I started getting two-key combos down, and more, and more. It took me about 1-2 months to get back to my qwerty speed of 85wpm. By about 3 months I was up to my new max speed of over 120wpm. Certainly much more comfortable, but it does not eliminate the problem, especially if you type at 120wpm a lot!
Now to your question -- until about 4-5 months in I could not touch-type qwerty any longer. At about 6 months I was about back to my original qwerty speed as well. It takes me about 10-15 seconds to switch in my head, until then I keep making typos.
I find that the ease of switching is related to how often I do it. I was able to switch easily, until I worked from home for 2 years and never used qwerty. During that time switching to qwerty took minutes of mistakes. But now I'm back to normal, I'd say.
All in all, I'm happy I made the switch. Good luck!
You have mentioned a good amount of the medium-length games out there. You can go up from there to full wargames (I love the Second World War at Sea series from Avalanche Press which takes about 1 day for a game).
For shorter games I like Acquire and many German-style games. Some of my favorites are Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Goa, Alhambra, Bohnanza, Citadels, Samurai, Java, Liar's Dice, and Bang!.
I buy most of my games from GamesInABox.com. They have almost as good of prices as FunAgain Games but they have much more reasonable shipping costs and they have always shipped same or next day.
Some of my favorites are Goa, Puerto Rico, Bang!, Bohnanza, Acquire, and so many more.
Check out www.gamesinabox.com as that is where I buy most of mine -- usually each game is about $1 more, but they usually ship same-day and shipping costs are very reasonable.
And please back yourself up with some proof about the AK-47 being banned... I'm pretty sure it wasn't, unless it had two or more banned features. Here is a pretty good explanation of the law with the specific weapons listed which does not include the AK-47.
Also, here is a good page about the now-expired ban and assault weapons and automatic weapons and many people here on Slashdot apparently need to be educated on the subject.
I have both handguns and a 8-shot 12-gauge shotgun. There is a lot of debate over which is better for home defense. The handgun is small. The shotgun is easy to hit something with, but is more awkward... however it does have the unique sound associated with it.
Almost NOBODY recommends assault weapons for home defense, or rifles of any sort for that matter. The recently banned "assault weapons" are basically "scary looking rifles" with too many "options" on them such as pistol grips, collapsing stock, flash suppressor, etc. None of these accessories are particularly helpful in home defense as well.
Basically, any rifle is going to be just as awkward as a shotgun but harder to hit something with. Probably most important is the fact that the rounds will go through more walls than a shotgun or handgun round, which is a bad thing if you don't know who is in the next room or the next house.
I believe that some states also outlaw them? I'm not clear on that part.
The NFA was passed in response to mobster activity which of course was fueled by prohibition. The funny thing is that if you own a coporation and have $300 you can get an automatic weapon. Back in the 1930s that was a lot of money, but it seems the mobsters would have had it. The $300 amount has not changed since, so today it is much more reasonable but there is still a lot of paperwork involved...
Here is the first link on Google.