I'm comparing that to my own personal experience of people who don't have 'luxury' cars, who don't care if there's a slight problem with the dashboard plastic, etc.Any idea how the alternate hypothesis works out? I'm simply curious to see if this is the reliability of the cars, or a reporting bias.
I think you're right...
...but then again, there is a certain expectation of quality generated by a price tag. If I were to pay over 100k sterling for a 911 GT3, you can guarantee it'll be back to the dealer if it so much as takes more than one turn of the starter to catch.
On the Skoda we were given for free, most of the passenger side dash disintegrated and we drove it like that for six months...
Also, different markets are sensitive to different things. As a user of rx8club.com and rx8ownersclub.co.uk it's clear that the Americans are way more sensitive to the smallest deviation from perfection, because they quite rightly expect to get what they pay for. The UK consumer seems to almost expect trouble.
There are a few basic shapes which perform useful functions.
There are a few "rules" - actually generalities in the mechanisms which have evolved so far - that govern the manner in which more complex shapes and functions emerge. (They're not rules as in "do this, don't do that.)
After 2 billion years, complexity emerges, but still governed as above.
Sorry to break this to you, boys, but Darwen and Wallace got there quite a bit sooner, and this is not a surprise to anyone excepting possibly President Bush and the Wilberforce household.
Be interesting to know what the LUCA proteins were / are though...
BG didn't have a business plan, other than shafting other people for their IP in the early days. Once you have a certain amount of money, you don't need plans.
I've had co-workers, and even people on other blogs, identify my slashdot id purely on my writing style. I, personally, don't think there's anything special about it, and I've been pretty careful about posting any personally identifying information. But people have still made the connection.
Worrying, because you write a bit like I do. I apologise in advance for anything I drop you in accidentally.:-)
This is definitely true. I've found it much easier, if instead of thinking of people as Windows techs, or Linux techs, you simply think of them as techs.
There ARE people out there that understand Windows, AND AD in some depth, AND Linux, AND TCP/IP, AND SANs, AND the implications of integrating that lot into some sort of solution, AND the applications on top, but there are not many of them (us!) (Which is why we charge what we charge:-) )
I've found that usually such people understand Unix first and then everything else later, and it's not often people go the other way, from MCSE to Linux god. This is because really you have to understand the idea of an OS, and a network, and a directory, and then just work out the foibles of a particular implementation and apply your transferable skills. MCSE just isn't taught that way, whereas implementing things on Unix tends to teach you the principles of what you're doing because you can't just click your way around at random.
Seems a a little harsh to attack the OP who made an very valid point about tailgaters and modern driving habits.
The point is, most people THINK ABS helps them stop quicker and they then unreasonably extrapolate from that (incorrect) assumption, and arrive at a formula for stopping distance of the order of one inch per mile an hour. The "new driver" posting KNOWS that's wrong and that's the point he was making, ABS or not.
In practice, ABS WILL allow "most" drivers to stop more quickly than they otherwise would - threshold braking is a fine art, especially in cars with poor nrake feel, which includes just about all the cars I can think of under 200bhp.
Mine (RX8) has excellent feel, and whilst it does have ABS, it comes in very very late and allows the driver a little bit of error in threshold braking. This makes braking drift much easier:-)
Enter the new P2P-based content rating systems, complete with web of trust to prevent astroturfing/trolling and anonymity to prevent "five stars or DDOS" type scenarios.
Yeah, great, so I get to watch stuff that everyone -else- thinks is good...!
If you sell your time as a consultant do you want to tell your customers you are someone who was duped into paying $250 to see 148 pages of bogus standards, or do you want to paint yourself as someone who has knowledge that they will have to pay to have acces to?
And of course if you're a consultant you'll charge $250 for the time it takes to have above discussion.
A flippant way of making a serious point - $250 is NOT EXPENSIVE for something that's valuable as a troubleshooting and planning aid to anyone.
Don't know what you're doing right now to reduce the spam, but maybe putting your email address on the front page of Slashdot is a step in the wrong direction.
If you RTFA you'll find he doesn't think web crawling is a big method of obtaining email addresses any more...
My solution is to delete all email as soon as I get it.
I figure if its important I'll get a phone call.
There's a small voice in my head saying "that's not funny, it's insightful!" (But then, I am one of the few people remaining in the UK who finds it psychologically possible to leave his mobile at home if I know I am too busy to answer it.)
And for more of that, see several Greg Egan novels / stories, particularly "Diaspora."
See also the Manifold novels by Stephen Baxter.
This was pretty much the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the article... is there anyone in there, wondering who this god person is anyway and why he has such a shabby lab coat on?
On a 15.4" it definately is. I don't go any higher than 1600x1200 on a 19"
Yeah. This is a problem with laptops now - the dot pitch is just TOO SMALL, and if you want to run a lower resolution (because you've misplaced your jeweller's eyeglass) that doesn't work too well on an LCD.
On my laptops I always have to get large fonts on, and it's amazing how many programs there are out there that STILL break listboxes and stuff when LFs enabled.
Not a problem for the 9 out of 10 laptops which never leave a desk of course, as other posters have pointed out...
Now, the car concept redisign is due time: the IC motor should not be optimized for torque delivery, but for generating electric power from fuel combustion with least losses. Therefore, converting linear motion of pistons into rotary one is no longer needed (current induction in solenoids placed coaxial along cylinders may take place anyway), but OTOH perhaps smooth rotation of gas turbine is best suited for electric power generation purposses.
Slashdot Mirror
Best you can do with a direct injection fully managed and mapped system? At least 60mpg.
More than a "slight" improvement, don't you think?
And in terms of gCO2/km - don't even go there.
I think you're right...
On the Skoda we were given for free, most of the passenger side dash disintegrated and we drove it like that for six months...
Also, different markets are sensitive to different things. As a user of rx8club.com and rx8ownersclub.co.uk it's clear that the Americans are way more sensitive to the smallest deviation from perfection, because they quite rightly expect to get what they pay for. The UK consumer seems to almost expect trouble.
Er, Ford also "own" Mazda...
Do you really expect anyone here to know?!
So...
There are a few basic shapes which perform useful functions.
There are a few "rules" - actually generalities in the mechanisms which have evolved so far - that govern the manner in which more complex shapes and functions emerge. (They're not rules as in "do this, don't do that.)
After 2 billion years, complexity emerges, but still governed as above.
Sorry to break this to you, boys, but Darwen and Wallace got there quite a bit sooner, and this is not a surprise to anyone excepting possibly President Bush and the Wilberforce household.
Be interesting to know what the LUCA proteins were / are though...
BG didn't have a business plan, other than shafting other people for their IP in the early days. Once you have a certain amount of money, you don't need plans.
Worrying, because you write a bit like I do. I apologise in advance for anything I drop you in accidentally. :-)
Crikey, who are you two, and what have you done with the REAL slashdotters, you swine!
I like the way you said "abstruse" and then had to explain what it meant. :-)
I assume you plan to emigrate in the near future then?
There ARE people out there that understand Windows, AND AD in some depth, AND Linux, AND TCP/IP, AND SANs, AND the implications of integrating that lot into some sort of solution, AND the applications on top, but there are not many of them (us!) (Which is why we charge what we charge :-) )
I've found that usually such people understand Unix first and then everything else later, and it's not often people go the other way, from MCSE to Linux god. This is because really you have to understand the idea of an OS, and a network, and a directory, and then just work out the foibles of a particular implementation and apply your transferable skills. MCSE just isn't taught that way, whereas implementing things on Unix tends to teach you the principles of what you're doing because you can't just click your way around at random.
...then you're probably EXACTLY the kind of luser that buys GM vehicles anyway.
The point is, most people THINK ABS helps them stop quicker and they then unreasonably extrapolate from that (incorrect) assumption, and arrive at a formula for stopping distance of the order of one inch per mile an hour. The "new driver" posting KNOWS that's wrong and that's the point he was making, ABS or not.
In practice, ABS WILL allow "most" drivers to stop more quickly than they otherwise would - threshold braking is a fine art, especially in cars with poor nrake feel, which includes just about all the cars I can think of under 200bhp.
Mine (RX8) has excellent feel, and whilst it does have ABS, it comes in very very late and allows the driver a little bit of error in threshold braking. This makes braking drift much easier :-)
Yeah, great, so I get to watch stuff that everyone -else- thinks is good...!
Just like ITV in the UK. Oh goody.
And of course if you're a consultant you'll charge $250 for the time it takes to have above discussion.
A flippant way of making a serious point - $250 is NOT EXPENSIVE for something that's valuable as a troubleshooting and planning aid to anyone.
If you RTFA you'll find he doesn't think web crawling is a big method of obtaining email addresses any more...
I figure if its important I'll get a phone call.
There's a small voice in my head saying "that's not funny, it's insightful!" (But then, I am one of the few people remaining in the UK who finds it psychologically possible to leave his mobile at home if I know I am too busy to answer it.)
Does the 'brane filing system support holes then?
See also the Manifold novels by Stephen Baxter.
This was pretty much the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the article... is there anyone in there, wondering who this god person is anyway and why he has such a shabby lab coat on?
Yeah. This is a problem with laptops now - the dot pitch is just TOO SMALL, and if you want to run a lower resolution (because you've misplaced your jeweller's eyeglass) that doesn't work too well on an LCD.
On my laptops I always have to get large fonts on, and it's amazing how many programs there are out there that STILL break listboxes and stuff when LFs enabled.
Not a problem for the 9 out of 10 laptops which never leave a desk of course, as other posters have pointed out...
A lot of corporate buyers buy laptops because they're like Macs, only compatible.
I cried havoc, and lost the dogs of war. Or something.
I've just read no less than three comments below, pointing out that this story has been on slashdot before.
Oh yes, what we need is some sort of rotary engine that runs on something other than fossil fuels... oh, hang on, look what they did! http://www.carpages.co.uk/mazda/mazda_world_premie re_of_renesis_hydrogen_rotary_engine_22_10_03.asp? switched=on&echo=543043390
There is in mine - the rotor turns at a third of the speed of the eccentric shaft...