I guess you didn't watch the video then. You should, it's for people who think like you.
I'll give you a quick recap, a 15 year old Volvo 940 is crashed into 3 year old Renault Modus. The host had to leverage himself against the Volvo to get the car door open after the crash and once you saw the inside, it was pretty clear that if you had been driving, you wouldn't be walking anywhere. The dummy probably would have to be cut out of the car, and the lower leg damage might have been serious enough to warrant amputation. The steering wheel ended up somewhere in the driver's face.
On the other hand, the Renault Modus door was opened with only slight effort with one hand. There was no interior deformation, so the driver would been able to walk away. The air bags protected both the driver and passenger.
The cars deform for a reason - they are built to dissipate the kinetic energy of a car crash. All of the energy that goes into deforming metal is not being directed into the passengers.
Your comment about rural America is a specific case. Even if it was true what you said about deformation (and it isn't), you are saying that you think it is better to be a little more safe in one specific set of circumstances, as opposed to safer on the whole (and I'd argue that you'd be safer one the whole with a newer-built for safety car). Perhaps you do 99.99% of your driving on rural roads, but don't think serious/fatal car accidents only happen to lone drivers in the middle of nowhere when there is no one around to help.
You remind me of some people I knew a few years ago. The argued that they were safer not wearing seatbelts, because if you were wearing a seatbelt and hit in the door, you were more likely to die. They didn't stop and consider that the type of side impact that they were trying to protect themselves against only happens a small percentage of the time, and in all other types of crashes, you are much safer wearing safety belts.
There seem to be a lot of xkcd readers here which makes it all the more surprising that someone has not pointed out that if you replace "blog" with "blag" (as xkcd is often inclined to do - "News/Blag") in the search "Died in a blogging accident", you get exactly two results. Just like the comic depicts.
Of course, now that I've posted this, people will probably go crazy running up its ranking too.
Firstly, I believe that when it is referring to hurricane forecasts, it is actually referring to hurricane tracking, not predicting the number of hurricanes in the upcoming season. A 16% decrease in the accuracy of hurricane forecasting therefore would result in meteorologists being less sure of the path that a hurricane would take. It's possible it's also referring to the prediction of a storm system being elevated to 'hurricane' status after forming a tropical storm/depression.
Even assuming I am completely wrong (that wouldn't be surprising) and the satellite will be use to help predict hurricane seasons, hopefully the replacement satellite will offer forecasters some new information to help in the future (Not every year's predictions are as off as the 2006 predictions, but if they were, I'd agree with you, a accurcy decreasing by 16% really won't make much of a difference.)
Secondly, while the 2006 hurricane season was grossly overstated and scientists really were predicting a record number of hurricanes, you can blame the media for creating a frenzy regarding the results. In any other year, the prediction might have gotten a mention on page 20 of a newspaper, or the science section of CNN.com, but after hurricane Katrina, media outlets jumped at the opportunity for more scaremongering. So I'd say, both are to blame.
One of the important things to realize is that he's not saying the acgency is necessarily underfunded, but that it has the money to easily replace the satellite but it is being used for PR instead.
It looks like they're predicting a record number of storms this year too..
Yet another site goes down within minutes of being mentioned on/. -- gotta love it!
Well, I RTFA before the server crumbled (yes I'm new here), and I have to laugh that their server couldn't handle it, because at the bottom of the article are links to submit the story to Digg, Del.icio.us, Simpy,/., Technorati, and Reddit. They HAD to know this was coming.
Some of the systems where I work had this problem a few weeks ago. I found this thread on google groups and everything worked fine after that. Aside from that, our only luck was disabling audtomatic updates entirely (don't try going to windows update manually because it'll still cause the problem). As another poster mentioned, some people have problems with the windows update checking for office upgrades too, and if you disable that and only check for OS updates, it 'solves' the problem.
Best of luck to you, this bad patch is especially annoying.
There really needs to be a "-1 Disgusting" mod for posts like yours. It made me laugh initially, but then I shuddered when the mental image hit. I'm going to try not to think about that for the rest of the day. Or any other day for that matter.
I'm not surprised since I accidentally told you the wrong function. You should probably try
=GAME("StarWars")
I thought it was GAMES, but I was mistaken. Does it work properly in FC or Ubuntu with the correct function? If it doesn't, I'm going to look like a troll, but I swear it works for me. =)
In OpenOffice Calc, type
=GAMES("StarWars")
in a cell to play a little space invaders-like game. It works in in the windows version of Open Office, I haven't tried it in the Linux version.
Of course I was also making a 'clever' Halo reference. =) Renaming the systems after one of the console's most successful games plus a literary reference that described said consoles... I thought it was pretty funny. =)
Rigorously self-disciplined or self-restrained.
a. Simple, frugal, or austere: a Spartan diet; a spartan lifestyle.
b. Marked by brevity of speech; laconic.
c. Courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity.
Think about this... They implanted 222 people with chips. 222 is three twos, which would could write as 32. Thirty-two, as everyone one knows, is twenty-three backwards. The number 23 is everywhere!
The website seemed pretty clear to me.
Right under the login section is a line that says
"Where do I enter my passcode?"
Clicking on it reveals the text:
We are changing the way you sign in to Online Banking to better safeguard the privacy and security of your personal information. Previously, you signed in to Online Banking using your Online ID and Passcode. From now on, you'll also use your SiteKey. Here's how this new service will work:
You'll enter your Online ID and click the Sign In button.
On the next page, your SiteKey will then be displayed. If you recognize your SiteKey, you'll know you can safely enter your Passcode. If you don't recognize your SiteKey when you sign in, don't enter your Passcode.
Your personalized SiteKey helps you know for sure that you are at the valid Bank of America site.
NOTE: If you have not yet created your personalized SiteKey, you will be prompted to do so before you can sign in to Online Banking.
I guess it is too long of an explaination. It probably needs to be prefaced with something eyecatching, like big bold text that reads "If you don't read this and fall for a phishing scheme, then you're too stupid to use a computer"
Enhanced security measures thwarted by stupid users. More at 11!
It seems like most security systems based on users not being idiots are doomed to fail. Phishing attacks work because people don't follow normal security procedures, making the authentication process longer/more involved for the user seems to be an inherently flawed idea because it trusts the user to know what is best for him/her.
If the GP was talking about Powerball, he was correct. From the page:
IS THE CASH AMOUNT THE JACKPOT AMOUNT AFTER TAXES?
No. When we advertise a prize of $100 million paid over 29 years (30 payments), we actually have less than $50 million in cash. When someone wins the jackpot and wants cash, we give them all of the cash in the jackpot prize pool. If the winner wants the annuity, we invest the $50 million in cash to fund the annuity payments. [snip]
Federal and State Income tax apply to whatever income you actually receive in a given tax year, whether it is wages or lottery prizes. If you take the cash amount (say $50 million), then you pay income tax on $50 million). If you take the annuity (say $100 million), then you pay income tax on the money you actually receive each year. Just like your wages, a withholding amount is required to be taken out immediately. The lottery will send you a W2-G form and you figure your actual tax at tax time.
In case anyone is on the fence about GoDaddy (or planning on picking up a new registrar, or registering a new domain), they should probably read a recent post about GoDaddy. It makes for an interesting read.
You were (mostly) modded funny, but you make a very good point. Many times when I hear "think of the children!!" arguments, I conclude that the situation wouldn't be a problem if the parents were ACTUALLY PARENTING. I know that parents can't watch their children 24/7, but this just seems like it is making it easier for parents to sit their children in front of some box (computer instead of TV this time) and take a minimalistic approach to parenting.
Can you really call something a nanobot if it is 250 microns wide? Seems like this 'nanobot' is a few orders of magnitude too large(Wikipedia says nanobots are typically devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometres).
I read your comment as "I think implicit in the system is causality" which seemed like an amusing response to the GP's post. I'm pretty sure the detection system doesn't resolve around paradoxes in causality, but if it does, then this robot is even more impressive than I had originally thought.
While they were talking about Descent ('both' of them?? I seem to remember at least 3 (unless they meant 2 sequels?)), I couldn't help thinking about (Descent) Freespace and Freespace 2. I wouldn't mind having a Freespace 3, the first two were awesome.
Slashdot Mirror
I guess you didn't watch the video then. You should, it's for people who think like you.
I'll give you a quick recap, a 15 year old Volvo 940 is crashed into 3 year old Renault Modus. The host had to leverage himself against the Volvo to get the car door open after the crash and once you saw the inside, it was pretty clear that if you had been driving, you wouldn't be walking anywhere. The dummy probably would have to be cut out of the car, and the lower leg damage might have been serious enough to warrant amputation. The steering wheel ended up somewhere in the driver's face.
On the other hand, the Renault Modus door was opened with only slight effort with one hand. There was no interior deformation, so the driver would been able to walk away. The air bags protected both the driver and passenger.
The cars deform for a reason - they are built to dissipate the kinetic energy of a car crash. All of the energy that goes into deforming metal is not being directed into the passengers.
Your comment about rural America is a specific case. Even if it was true what you said about deformation (and it isn't), you are saying that you think it is better to be a little more safe in one specific set of circumstances, as opposed to safer on the whole (and I'd argue that you'd be safer one the whole with a newer-built for safety car). Perhaps you do 99.99% of your driving on rural roads, but don't think serious/fatal car accidents only happen to lone drivers in the middle of nowhere when there is no one around to help.
You remind me of some people I knew a few years ago. The argued that they were safer not wearing seatbelts, because if you were wearing a seatbelt and hit in the door, you were more likely to die. They didn't stop and consider that the type of side impact that they were trying to protect themselves against only happens a small percentage of the time, and in all other types of crashes, you are much safer wearing safety belts.
I suggest also checking out the FARS Encyclopedia
Do yourself a favor and watch that video. It will take 9 minutes of your time and it could save your life.
There seem to be a lot of xkcd readers here which makes it all the more surprising that someone has not pointed out that if you replace "blog" with "blag" (as xkcd is often inclined to do - "News/Blag") in the search "Died in a blogging accident", you get exactly two results. Just like the comic depicts.
Of course, now that I've posted this, people will probably go crazy running up its ranking too.
A few things here:
Firstly, I believe that when it is referring to hurricane forecasts, it is actually referring to hurricane tracking, not predicting the number of hurricanes in the upcoming season. A 16% decrease in the accuracy of hurricane forecasting therefore would result in meteorologists being less sure of the path that a hurricane would take. It's possible it's also referring to the prediction of a storm system being elevated to 'hurricane' status after forming a tropical storm/depression.
Even assuming I am completely wrong (that wouldn't be surprising) and the satellite will be use to help predict hurricane seasons, hopefully the replacement satellite will offer forecasters some new information to help in the future (Not every year's predictions are as off as the 2006 predictions, but if they were, I'd agree with you, a accurcy decreasing by 16% really won't make much of a difference.)
Secondly, while the 2006 hurricane season was grossly overstated and scientists really were predicting a record number of hurricanes, you can blame the media for creating a frenzy regarding the results. In any other year, the prediction might have gotten a mention on page 20 of a newspaper, or the science section of CNN.com, but after hurricane Katrina, media outlets jumped at the opportunity for more scaremongering. So I'd say, both are to blame.
One of the important things to realize is that he's not saying the acgency is necessarily underfunded, but that it has the money to easily replace the satellite but it is being used for PR instead.
It looks like they're predicting a record number of storms this year too..
Some of the systems where I work had this problem a few weeks ago. I found this thread on google groups and everything worked fine after that. Aside from that, our only luck was disabling audtomatic updates entirely (don't try going to windows update manually because it'll still cause the problem). As another poster mentioned, some people have problems with the windows update checking for office upgrades too, and if you disable that and only check for OS updates, it 'solves' the problem.
Best of luck to you, this bad patch is especially annoying.
There really needs to be a "-1 Disgusting" mod for posts like yours. It made me laugh initially, but then I shuddered when the mental image hit. I'm going to try not to think about that for the rest of the day. Or any other day for that matter.
I'm not surprised since I accidentally told you the wrong function. You should probably try
=GAME("StarWars")
I thought it was GAMES, but I was mistaken. Does it work properly in FC or Ubuntu with the correct function? If it doesn't, I'm going to look like a troll, but I swear it works for me. =)
In OpenOffice Calc, type
=GAMES("StarWars")
in a cell to play a little space invaders-like game. It works in in the windows version of Open Office, I haven't tried it in the Linux version.
Of course I was also making a 'clever' Halo reference. =) Renaming the systems after one of the console's most successful games plus a literary reference that described said consoles... I thought it was pretty funny. =)
Spartan
adj.
a. Simple, frugal, or austere: a Spartan diet; a spartan lifestyle.
b. Marked by brevity of speech; laconic.
c. Courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity.
If they name the Premium system the "Elite", it only makes sense that they rename the Core system as "Spartan".
MySpace and GoDaddy Shut Down Security Site
GoDaddy Caves To Irish Legal Threat
GoDaddy Holds Domains Hostage
Some slashdotters talk about the Godaddy registering domains that were being browsed here
I'm sure I read on Wikipedia the other day that server power consumption has tripled in the last six months.
Think about this... They implanted 222 people with chips. 222 is three twos, which would could write as 32. Thirty-two, as everyone one knows, is twenty-three backwards. The number 23 is everywhere!
Enhanced security measures thwarted by stupid users. More at 11!
It seems like most security systems based on users not being idiots are doomed to fail. Phishing attacks work because people don't follow normal security procedures, making the authentication process longer/more involved for the user seems to be an inherently flawed idea because it trusts the user to know what is best for him/her.
No. When we advertise a prize of $100 million paid over 29 years (30 payments), we actually have less than $50 million in cash. When someone wins the jackpot and wants cash, we give them all of the cash in the jackpot prize pool. If the winner wants the annuity, we invest the $50 million in cash to fund the annuity payments. [snip]
Federal and State Income tax apply to whatever income you actually receive in a given tax year, whether it is wages or lottery prizes. If you take the cash amount (say $50 million), then you pay income tax on $50 million). If you take the annuity (say $100 million), then you pay income tax on the money you actually receive each year. Just like your wages, a withholding amount is required to be taken out immediately. The lottery will send you a W2-G form and you figure your actual tax at tax time.
In case anyone is on the fence about GoDaddy (or planning on picking up a new registrar, or registering a new domain), they should probably read a recent post about GoDaddy. It makes for an interesting read.
Now please excuse me, g00gle.com tells me I need to enter my gmail login, password, and a valid credit card number to unlock my gmail account.
You were (mostly) modded funny, but you make a very good point. Many times when I hear "think of the children!!" arguments, I conclude that the situation wouldn't be a problem if the parents were ACTUALLY PARENTING. I know that parents can't watch their children 24/7, but this just seems like it is making it easier for parents to sit their children in front of some box (computer instead of TV this time) and take a minimalistic approach to parenting.
Actually, I think it's the vodka + Activia for breakfast that is keeping me from seeing any real benefits.
Can you really call something a nanobot if it is 250 microns wide? Seems like this 'nanobot' is a few orders of magnitude too large(Wikipedia says nanobots are typically devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometres).
I read your comment as "I think implicit in the system is causality" which seemed like an amusing response to the GP's post. I'm pretty sure the detection system doesn't resolve around paradoxes in causality, but if it does, then this robot is even more impressive than I had originally thought.
While they were talking about Descent ('both' of them?? I seem to remember at least 3 (unless they meant 2 sequels?)), I couldn't help thinking about (Descent) Freespace and Freespace 2. I wouldn't mind having a Freespace 3, the first two were awesome.
..but I was busy playing WoW