"...and raise new concerns about whether our cellphones and other electronic gizmos are affecting brain activity and memory."
Bullshit. What concerns where? That conclusion was not in the article. They didn't even talk about region-specific areas like memory.
I swear, people are so dedicated to perpetuating this stupid myth that consumer electronic devices interfere with our brains. Its been so thoroughly debunked that it's almost in the same realm as anti-vaccination/autism beliefs (except it doesn't get people killed.)
You do realize that older iPhones (and pretty much the rest of the Apple line of products.) don't even HAVE screws. Requiring the use of special tools. Apple just doesn't want wanna-be DIYers wrecking their phones and then coming back to them for a warranty replacement.
I always thought the one line/multiple cashiers was the most efficient, that way you don't have a single point of failure.
Before this became popular, every time I went to the Best Buy checkout was the exact time somebody wanted to argue over the fucking extended warranty on their $50 DVD player.
iOS (iPod/iPhone) got Netflix only a couple months ago, and it is only now working right. It is apparently really, really hard to get this albatross of a program shoe-horned onto a mobile device.
Very true. Nevada roads are pretty much straight as an arrow with no vegetation. You could go 200MPH without any problem. This is just a clever way of getting you to pre-pay for your speeding ticket.
Though to be honest, I'd totally pay for this in a heatbeat. $25 to get out of Nevada faster? What a deal!
Speaking as a video editor and one who routinely makes videos for the web, this move by Microsoft is a huge relief. H.264 has been the standard for low filesize, high quality videos for many years now. It's so ingrained into video editing programs like Final Cut, Avid and Premier that using something else is a huge pain in the ass.
At the end of the day, making an H.264 video is very simple and doesn't have all the fiddly bits that other codecs have. It just works. On everything.
It's like the battle between MP3 and OGG. It's no contest. There's a far larger ecosystem out there for one over the other. Even Microsoft recognizes that Apple has set the standard with the iPhone.
If this were true then more electronics would go haywire at higher altitudes. They do not. I used to live in Leadville, CO and our computers (and cars) worked just fine. In fact, I'd say that a car receives more radiation from the trace amounts of Uranium in the asphalt than from the cosmos.
As long as I can remember people have been blaming cosmic rays for all sorts of unexplained problems. It's just a convenient scapegoat for shoddy workmanship because few people understand comic rays or even what radiation is for that matter.
Speciation is a natural, inevitable process. It's going to happen whether we want it to or not. It's arrogant to think that the way we are now is the greatest and purist state of being.
This is what the singularity is all about. We can pretend to think that controlling our own evolution is a great moral choice... but the choice is an illusion. It's an offer we can't refuse. The reality is those who are augmented (or have their children augmented) will have a massive advantage over everybody else. Over time (perhaps several generations) those who have chosen to be pure human will find themselves increasingly pushed to the margins. Perhaps not from any direct conflict or extermination... but, you know... cancer, viruses, hovercar accidents... if those things are more likely to kill humans than the augments then raw statistics are going to take over.
Even if we universally banned genetic engineering, there will be a black market. It's just too tantalizing an idea to bury.
3D isn't inherently bad, but it's still in the gimmick phase. The simple fact is it's a new technology (anaglyphic doesn't count) and filmmakers aren't that familiar with it (or hate it just as much as you do.) So you're going to see several movies crash head-first into that learning curve.
And, hey, if 3D makes you sick or hurts, watch the 2D version. It's cheaper.
"The company also treats the gasoline with a catalyst that 'activates' it, partially oxidizing it to enhance combustion."
That's how you can tell this is BS. Technobabble coupled with taking advantage of public scientific illiteracy. Oxidizing gasoline is what the combustion chamber does. If you oxidize gas outside of the combustion chamber, you get a big fiery explosion.
It is possible to "Oxygenate" gasoline, which is just essentially dissolving Oxygen into gas like Carbon Dioxide into soda. But we already do this at all gas stations to cut down on emissions.
Here's a concept. If a drive-by-wire system must be installed, find an analog solution instead of having it controlled by software. Computers are great and all but they shouldn't have this level of control on something that can so easily cause mayhem. The technology might be there, but the quality control isn't.
Ultimately this problem isn't that mysterious. Toyota made a mistake and tried to cover it up instead of admitting they had a serious flaw and taking the appropriate steps. It's all greed and individual ass-covering within the company. Defective throttle controls are only a symptom.
Furthermore, I'd guess that probably nobody here except me has ever experienced an "uncontrolled acceleration" scenario, let me tell you that it is on of the most terrifying thing you can imagine, and it's impossible to react flawlessly. Everybody considers themselves a good driver (feh) but quick thinking under a life or death situation is completely different. The fight or flight reflex doesn't cover "shift into neutral and turn off ignition." You are not a professional driver, you are not the Knight Rider, you will probably crash before you get around to turning off the engine. It not stupidity, it's just the way our brains are built.
So where's the story? Water is water. It doesn't matter if it's condensation or spilled coffee, the result is damage to the electronics that is no fault of Apple's. They can't protect their devices against every retard who doesn't have enough common sense to not expose their iPhones to environmental extremes.
Also, the tech specs only say that the iPhone will WORK at -20 C, it makes no mention of suddenly exposing it to warm, moist air.
I'm sorry, but when I think of a "I'm a Linux" commercial I imagine some 600lb man in a scooter making some incoherent gurgling about something as he drifts in and out of consciousness.
Cellphones and routers do not emit microwave radiation. They broadcast in UHF.
Even if they did, life on earth has been dealing with microwave radiation for billions of years. It occurs naturally just like actually harmful ionizing radiation,
...or maybe it's because the LHC is a extremely complex machine that is unprecedented in human history with millions of parts that must work together within very narrow parameters.
Just because a few experimental rockets blew up doesn't mean the universe didn't want us to go into space. Just because a few experimental planes crashed doesn't mean the universe didn't want us to break the sound barrier. These physicists should get off the ganga and give each other 14TeV dope slaps for coming up with such a retarded idea.
Plus maybe a slightly smaller dope slap to/. for putting crazy in quotation.
There will ALWAYS be skepticism on a scientific theory as controversial as this. At some point we have to take action. And maybe this paper was given the bum's rush, but I think it was less "conspiracy to silence critics of the almighty environmentalists" and more "oh, God, let's just get on with this already."
The EPA is a federal organization that, at the end of the day, must side on the consensus of the scientific community. Not be paralyzed by every single dissenting opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, no. You referenced a wikipedia article. My argument is ruined.
"...and raise new concerns about whether our cellphones and other electronic gizmos are affecting brain activity and memory."
Bullshit. What concerns where? That conclusion was not in the article. They didn't even talk about region-specific areas like memory.
I swear, people are so dedicated to perpetuating this stupid myth that consumer electronic devices interfere with our brains. Its been so thoroughly debunked that it's almost in the same realm as anti-vaccination/autism beliefs (except it doesn't get people killed.)
I realize that this is bleeding-edge technology, but I think they need to do a bit better than an amorphous red blob.
You don't even need to do THAT. The right-sized slot screwdriver will work just fine.
You do realize that older iPhones (and pretty much the rest of the Apple line of products.) don't even HAVE screws. Requiring the use of special tools. Apple just doesn't want wanna-be DIYers wrecking their phones and then coming back to them for a warranty replacement.
After reading this article, one word comes to mind. I think it sums up all 10 pages, and especially the slashdot summery quite well.
BULLSHIT.
We should give Dolphins rights only if they ask for them.
I don't know what's sadder. Your lame The Todd-esque sexual joke, or the fact that it was labeled "insightful."
One of two things I see could happen.
1) Apple uses its sway (and breaks a few thumbs) in the EU so that they are exempt because they already use USB in a way.
2) They actually include the USB port (integrated into the dock connector slot somehow) and market it as a revolutionary feature that they thought of.
I always thought the one line/multiple cashiers was the most efficient, that way you don't have a single point of failure.
Before this became popular, every time I went to the Best Buy checkout was the exact time somebody wanted to argue over the fucking extended warranty on their $50 DVD player.
iOS (iPod/iPhone) got Netflix only a couple months ago, and it is only now working right. It is apparently really, really hard to get this albatross of a program shoe-horned onto a mobile device.
Very true. Nevada roads are pretty much straight as an arrow with no vegetation. You could go 200MPH without any problem. This is just a clever way of getting you to pre-pay for your speeding ticket.
Though to be honest, I'd totally pay for this in a heatbeat. $25 to get out of Nevada faster? What a deal!
Speaking as a video editor and one who routinely makes videos for the web, this move by Microsoft is a huge relief. H.264 has been the standard for low filesize, high quality videos for many years now. It's so ingrained into video editing programs like Final Cut, Avid and Premier that using something else is a huge pain in the ass.
At the end of the day, making an H.264 video is very simple and doesn't have all the fiddly bits that other codecs have. It just works. On everything.
It's like the battle between MP3 and OGG. It's no contest. There's a far larger ecosystem out there for one over the other. Even Microsoft recognizes that Apple has set the standard with the iPhone.
If this were true then more electronics would go haywire at higher altitudes. They do not. I used to live in Leadville, CO and our computers (and cars) worked just fine. In fact, I'd say that a car receives more radiation from the trace amounts of Uranium in the asphalt than from the cosmos.
As long as I can remember people have been blaming cosmic rays for all sorts of unexplained problems. It's just a convenient scapegoat for shoddy workmanship because few people understand comic rays or even what radiation is for that matter.
Speciation is a natural, inevitable process. It's going to happen whether we want it to or not. It's arrogant to think that the way we are now is the greatest and purist state of being.
This is what the singularity is all about. We can pretend to think that controlling our own evolution is a great moral choice... but the choice is an illusion. It's an offer we can't refuse. The reality is those who are augmented (or have their children augmented) will have a massive advantage over everybody else. Over time (perhaps several generations) those who have chosen to be pure human will find themselves increasingly pushed to the margins. Perhaps not from any direct conflict or extermination... but, you know... cancer, viruses, hovercar accidents... if those things are more likely to kill humans than the augments then raw statistics are going to take over.
Even if we universally banned genetic engineering, there will be a black market. It's just too tantalizing an idea to bury.
No. No it isn't. You'd have to be a fucking idiot not to want to be cured of colorblindness.
Ask this question again when a cure for homosexuality is found.
3D isn't inherently bad, but it's still in the gimmick phase. The simple fact is it's a new technology (anaglyphic doesn't count) and filmmakers aren't that familiar with it (or hate it just as much as you do.) So you're going to see several movies crash head-first into that learning curve.
And, hey, if 3D makes you sick or hurts, watch the 2D version. It's cheaper.
"The company also treats the gasoline with a catalyst that 'activates' it, partially oxidizing it to enhance combustion."
That's how you can tell this is BS. Technobabble coupled with taking advantage of public scientific illiteracy. Oxidizing gasoline is what the combustion chamber does. If you oxidize gas outside of the combustion chamber, you get a big fiery explosion.
It is possible to "Oxygenate" gasoline, which is just essentially dissolving Oxygen into gas like Carbon Dioxide into soda. But we already do this at all gas stations to cut down on emissions.
Here's a concept. If a drive-by-wire system must be installed, find an analog solution instead of having it controlled by software. Computers are great and all but they shouldn't have this level of control on something that can so easily cause mayhem. The technology might be there, but the quality control isn't.
Ultimately this problem isn't that mysterious. Toyota made a mistake and tried to cover it up instead of admitting they had a serious flaw and taking the appropriate steps. It's all greed and individual ass-covering within the company. Defective throttle controls are only a symptom.
Furthermore, I'd guess that probably nobody here except me has ever experienced an "uncontrolled acceleration" scenario, let me tell you that it is on of the most terrifying thing you can imagine, and it's impossible to react flawlessly. Everybody considers themselves a good driver (feh) but quick thinking under a life or death situation is completely different. The fight or flight reflex doesn't cover "shift into neutral and turn off ignition." You are not a professional driver, you are not the Knight Rider, you will probably crash before you get around to turning off the engine. It not stupidity, it's just the way our brains are built.
So where's the story? Water is water. It doesn't matter if it's condensation or spilled coffee, the result is damage to the electronics that is no fault of Apple's. They can't protect their devices against every retard who doesn't have enough common sense to not expose their iPhones to environmental extremes.
Also, the tech specs only say that the iPhone will WORK at -20 C, it makes no mention of suddenly exposing it to warm, moist air.
I'm sorry, but when I think of a "I'm a Linux" commercial I imagine some 600lb man in a scooter making some incoherent gurgling about something as he drifts in and out of consciousness.
Cellphones and routers do not emit microwave radiation. They broadcast in UHF.
Even if they did, life on earth has been dealing with microwave radiation for billions of years. It occurs naturally just like actually harmful ionizing radiation,
Step 1) Take a large, sharp knife.
Step 2) Insert forcefully into sternum
Step 3) ?
Step 4) Profit.
...or maybe it's because the LHC is a extremely complex machine that is unprecedented in human history with millions of parts that must work together within very narrow parameters.
Just because a few experimental rockets blew up doesn't mean the universe didn't want us to go into space. Just because a few experimental planes crashed doesn't mean the universe didn't want us to break the sound barrier. These physicists should get off the ganga and give each other 14TeV dope slaps for coming up with such a retarded idea.
Plus maybe a slightly smaller dope slap to /. for putting crazy in quotation.
There will ALWAYS be skepticism on a scientific theory as controversial as this. At some point we have to take action. And maybe this paper was given the bum's rush, but I think it was less "conspiracy to silence critics of the almighty environmentalists" and more "oh, God, let's just get on with this already."
The EPA is a federal organization that, at the end of the day, must side on the consensus of the scientific community. Not be paralyzed by every single dissenting opinion.