Who said anything about a deficit? If we cut the US military in half, we still have the largest military in the world over the next two largest countries COMBINED. Put that money towards 0% college loans, or grants, or gasp, free state-run universities like the rest of Western Civilization. Who knows? Maybe a well educated society will lead to more income tax revenue through higher paying careers?
Maybe everyone starts out roughly the same, maybe they develop at a similar rate, and enjoy similar learning capacities. However, civilization has changed more in the last 100 years than it has in the last 3,000. I'm not even sure how you could quantify that statement.
Easy. Humans of all civilizations at all points in history (say several hundred years) have had fairly similar cognitive capabilities. Sure, we KNOW more now, but that doesn't mean our brains have evolved as such to be better processors of what we've taken in or improved on how to bring those senses in.
>Right now, we can measure reaction times, structural changes and activity in the brain. Until we have a much, much better idea of how the brain processes and stores information, I think this question is approximately unanswerable.
A basic psychology class shows the basics of how the brain processes and stores information. Cognitive science takes it even further. The immediate processing, and short term storage is very well understood. It's the long term storage and recall strategies we are still struggling with, as well as the deeper context of processing beyond moving from sensory input to short term memory and how we process information at higher levels. The great mystery is how the hell our brains actually use the stuff in our heads. How we acquire (sensory input) and how we stick it in there (short term) is well understood.
So you never change the station on the radio?? Or glance down to see what your fuel level is?? Or how fast you were going?? Or read billboards or road signs?? Or even glance in your mirrors to check traffic behind you??? Or look beside you to see if you can change lanes? Or glance in your rear view mirror to see what your kids are doing??
These are all single sensory inputs. Nothing about these examples causes sensory overload. There's no listening, processing, responding involved, like when on a phone, or worse, when texting. This is why listening to the radio is not that distracting. This is why listening to talk shows is slightly more distracting than listening to muzak...you start concentrating on the context of the radio and less on the road.
It's not taking your eyes off the road that is dangerous. It is disconnecting your brain from controlling your vehicle to free it up for other cognitive processes like holding a conversation with somebody you can't see, or reading, thinking of a response, then fumbling around with your virtual keyboard at 50mph.
Sure that car ahead may be 100 feet and I can glance at my mirrors. Sure when I look down at that text message and then don't look up again for 5 seconds because I am (happy/terrified/confused/surprised/interested/responding) to said text and the car 100 feet ahead has stopped, I've just plowed into the back of the car.
Let me guess. You text and drive. A lot. Yes, that's me behind you laying on my horn. Public shame is the only solution to this epidemic.
The human brain can only process so much information at once.
I agree, and I imagine it's a highly individual trait, to boot.
Actually, it's not highly individualized. Cognitive sciences show that most humans can process roughly the same amount of sensory input. The human brain develops at roughly the same rate across every civilization ever. There's a reason schools are organized by roughly the same age groups in every society. As adults, what sets us apart is the quality of the processing of information, not the amount.
My unscientific method is I can spot a cell phone user from 30 car lengths away. I can tell the jackass is on the phone long before I can see the phone merely by the way they are driving. This method has a 0% false positive rate. Nobody drives as badly as a somebody yakking on their phone, except for, of course, the person texting with the phone in their lap. But even then, the bad driver indicators are distinctly different between yakkers and texters. The former just cause unnecessary traffic delays and aggravation to those of us wanting to be close to the speed limit, not 20 mph under, and the later being the ones who actually crash into things due to inattentiveness and not looking where they are going for long stretches.
ESPN comes with most base package prices. You aren't paying extra for ESPN, you are paying the entry fee into cable. Yes, it sucks, but no, that's not HBO's fault nor does it excuse pirating Game of Thrones because you don't want to pay the imaginary premium for ESPN.
If I pay $600 for an unlocked phone, then pay for 24 months of service, that's more money than spending $199 then paying for 24 months of service. It's not like they give you a cheaper monthly rate if you bring your own phone. Maybe I'm missing something.
See that's the problem. You like your phone, I like my iPhone (I would probably also like the Nexus 4). In no way do I care if you like your phone, and you won't hear me criticizing you for liking it. Too bad that rule doesn't got the other way for people who feel so insecure they have to go out complaining about all of us unhappy iPhone users and how we shouldn't like our sad little phones and how we are making the world a worse place to live.
Good for you and your phone. Hopefully you couldn't care less about my iPhone too.
Walled gardens, DRM, Flash exploits...don't you know the world is going to end if you don't switch to open source everything RIGHT THIS MINUTE!? You must be new here.
My iPhone 5 was $199, just as was every other top of the line smart phone. Speaking of only 1 or 2% of people doing something as nerdy as rooting their device, I bet that percentage is even smaller for people who buy unlocked phones when a cheap, subsidized option is available.
While I'm sure you'll get flamed for your marketing comment, it is true. How many Samsung phone commercials do they actually show using the phone? That's right, not many. Samsung have "screen images simulated" on pretty much every commercial they make. Instead of showing us how well the device works, instead they make fun of hipsters, turn their users into robots who shoot lasers to break out of their cinderblock houses, or send send sexy videos to their spouses. And they invest in mind-numblingly stupid marketing tricks like bumping two phones together to transfer a file...you know, those two wireless devices that I can transfer files with half-way across the globe, but instead I'm supposed to thing having to be physically present with the user of the other phone to 'bump' them a file is somehow a good feature?
Also, phones nearly as large as 7" tablets and phones with a stylus are not "features", they are marketing gimmicks.
That's bunk. When the iPhone came out, just what other phone features exactly were Apple behind on? You probably have forgotten that many (most?) of the copy cats that followed also took a year or two before implementing copy/paste, many after iOS had already implemented it.
And if the iPhone is only about style (who cares) and ease of use (most important feature), then I'm fine with it being one of the best phones for the most important feature.
Nearly every rapid e-learning authoring tool creates Flash output. It's easy for people who develop training but have no experience in developing multimedia. It can be created by a novice with PowerPoint skills then tweaked by someone skilled in javascript or actionscript.
Mind you, the entire industry is not "in bed" with Flash...they are using the tool that works for them and are mostly oblivious to the technology in the background. All they know is they can make their training in Captivate, Articulate, whatever by scripting a scenario then recording their mouse movements, then they can add a few user-interactions (requiring the user to click in the right spot or whatever) and then they have an interaction that is assured to work on more configurations of PCs than not. Of course, mobile is taking over, computers are using Flash less-and-less, but I don't expect people in my industry to be techy enough to stay ahead of the curve, which is why I have a staff of javascript and design professionals and make everything from scratch and leave those rapid e-learning suites for the amateurs.
Good interface and nerd status should not be mutually exclusive, but since I've been computing and working with nerds for 30 years now, I should know better.
Slashdot Mirror
Who said anything about a deficit? If we cut the US military in half, we still have the largest military in the world over the next two largest countries COMBINED. Put that money towards 0% college loans, or grants, or gasp, free state-run universities like the rest of Western Civilization. Who knows? Maybe a well educated society will lead to more income tax revenue through higher paying careers?
This is the greatest, most succinct political analysis I've seen in 25 years. I might just paraphrase you on my Facebook page now...
I'd gladly put the worst Alabama trailer park up against the best Brazilian Favela.
Maybe everyone starts out roughly the same, maybe they develop at a similar rate, and enjoy similar learning capacities. However, civilization has changed more in the last 100 years than it has in the last 3,000. I'm not even sure how you could quantify that statement.
Easy. Humans of all civilizations at all points in history (say several hundred years) have had fairly similar cognitive capabilities. Sure, we KNOW more now, but that doesn't mean our brains have evolved as such to be better processors of what we've taken in or improved on how to bring those senses in.
>Right now, we can measure reaction times, structural changes and activity in the brain. Until we have a much, much better idea of how the brain processes and stores information, I think this question is approximately unanswerable.
A basic psychology class shows the basics of how the brain processes and stores information. Cognitive science takes it even further. The immediate processing, and short term storage is very well understood. It's the long term storage and recall strategies we are still struggling with, as well as the deeper context of processing beyond moving from sensory input to short term memory and how we process information at higher levels. The great mystery is how the hell our brains actually use the stuff in our heads. How we acquire (sensory input) and how we stick it in there (short term) is well understood.
I just took a screen shot of your comment, as I've never seen one like it before, and it's likely I never will again.
Microsoft Store calls their Geniuses....not making this up...Gurus. No shame, 25+ years on.
So you never change the station on the radio?? Or glance down to see what your fuel level is?? Or how fast you were going?? Or read billboards or road signs?? Or even glance in your mirrors to check traffic behind you??? Or look beside you to see if you can change lanes? Or glance in your rear view mirror to see what your kids are doing??
These are all single sensory inputs. Nothing about these examples causes sensory overload. There's no listening, processing, responding involved, like when on a phone, or worse, when texting. This is why listening to the radio is not that distracting. This is why listening to talk shows is slightly more distracting than listening to muzak...you start concentrating on the context of the radio and less on the road.
It's not taking your eyes off the road that is dangerous. It is disconnecting your brain from controlling your vehicle to free it up for other cognitive processes like holding a conversation with somebody you can't see, or reading, thinking of a response, then fumbling around with your virtual keyboard at 50mph.
Sure that car ahead may be 100 feet and I can glance at my mirrors. Sure when I look down at that text message and then don't look up again for 5 seconds because I am (happy/terrified/confused/surprised/interested/responding) to said text and the car 100 feet ahead has stopped, I've just plowed into the back of the car.
Let me guess. You text and drive. A lot. Yes, that's me behind you laying on my horn. Public shame is the only solution to this epidemic.
The human brain can only process so much information at once.
I agree, and I imagine it's a highly individual trait, to boot.
Actually, it's not highly individualized. Cognitive sciences show that most humans can process roughly the same amount of sensory input. The human brain develops at roughly the same rate across every civilization ever. There's a reason schools are organized by roughly the same age groups in every society. As adults, what sets us apart is the quality of the processing of information, not the amount.
My unscientific method is I can spot a cell phone user from 30 car lengths away. I can tell the jackass is on the phone long before I can see the phone merely by the way they are driving. This method has a 0% false positive rate. Nobody drives as badly as a somebody yakking on their phone, except for, of course, the person texting with the phone in their lap. But even then, the bad driver indicators are distinctly different between yakkers and texters. The former just cause unnecessary traffic delays and aggravation to those of us wanting to be close to the speed limit, not 20 mph under, and the later being the ones who actually crash into things due to inattentiveness and not looking where they are going for long stretches.
I too have asked people to shut up or told the person on the phone "Let me call you back, I need to drive" when a situation got precarious
Fixed.
ESPN comes with most base package prices. You aren't paying extra for ESPN, you are paying the entry fee into cable. Yes, it sucks, but no, that's not HBO's fault nor does it excuse pirating Game of Thrones because you don't want to pay the imaginary premium for ESPN.
Your point was well received by me. All these other morons around me..meh, I can't vouch for them.
No I think he was using a stupid analogy to point out the stupidity of the point he was commenting about.
An HBO subscription isn't the only legal way to watch it. It's on iTunes and Amazon instant video, and probably others.
If I pay $600 for an unlocked phone, then pay for 24 months of service, that's more money than spending $199 then paying for 24 months of service. It's not like they give you a cheaper monthly rate if you bring your own phone. Maybe I'm missing something.
Stop using FUD incorrectly.
See that's the problem. You like your phone, I like my iPhone (I would probably also like the Nexus 4). In no way do I care if you like your phone, and you won't hear me criticizing you for liking it. Too bad that rule doesn't got the other way for people who feel so insecure they have to go out complaining about all of us unhappy iPhone users and how we shouldn't like our sad little phones and how we are making the world a worse place to live.
Good for you and your phone. Hopefully you couldn't care less about my iPhone too.
Walled gardens, DRM, Flash exploits...don't you know the world is going to end if you don't switch to open source everything RIGHT THIS MINUTE!? You must be new here.
Um, you do know Uncle Steve is dead, right? Of course you do, but why let a logical fallacy get in the way of a lazy argument?
My iPhone 5 was $199, just as was every other top of the line smart phone. Speaking of only 1 or 2% of people doing something as nerdy as rooting their device, I bet that percentage is even smaller for people who buy unlocked phones when a cheap, subsidized option is available.
While I'm sure you'll get flamed for your marketing comment, it is true. How many Samsung phone commercials do they actually show using the phone? That's right, not many. Samsung have "screen images simulated" on pretty much every commercial they make. Instead of showing us how well the device works, instead they make fun of hipsters, turn their users into robots who shoot lasers to break out of their cinderblock houses, or send send sexy videos to their spouses. And they invest in mind-numblingly stupid marketing tricks like bumping two phones together to transfer a file...you know, those two wireless devices that I can transfer files with half-way across the globe, but instead I'm supposed to thing having to be physically present with the user of the other phone to 'bump' them a file is somehow a good feature?
Also, phones nearly as large as 7" tablets and phones with a stylus are not "features", they are marketing gimmicks.
That's bunk. When the iPhone came out, just what other phone features exactly were Apple behind on? You probably have forgotten that many (most?) of the copy cats that followed also took a year or two before implementing copy/paste, many after iOS had already implemented it.
And if the iPhone is only about style (who cares) and ease of use (most important feature), then I'm fine with it being one of the best phones for the most important feature.
Nearly every rapid e-learning authoring tool creates Flash output. It's easy for people who develop training but have no experience in developing multimedia. It can be created by a novice with PowerPoint skills then tweaked by someone skilled in javascript or actionscript.
Mind you, the entire industry is not "in bed" with Flash...they are using the tool that works for them and are mostly oblivious to the technology in the background. All they know is they can make their training in Captivate, Articulate, whatever by scripting a scenario then recording their mouse movements, then they can add a few user-interactions (requiring the user to click in the right spot or whatever) and then they have an interaction that is assured to work on more configurations of PCs than not. Of course, mobile is taking over, computers are using Flash less-and-less, but I don't expect people in my industry to be techy enough to stay ahead of the curve, which is why I have a staff of javascript and design professionals and make everything from scratch and leave those rapid e-learning suites for the amateurs.
I'm sure in the very few times I haven't been able to get Netflix I was able to find other activities to occupy my time.
Good interface and nerd status should not be mutually exclusive, but since I've been computing and working with nerds for 30 years now, I should know better.