...the land speed record for a wheeled vehicle is 10,400 km/h (6,462 mph)..... on rails, unmanned
Railed vehicles can go much faster than free wheeled vehicles and the manned speed record was for a railed vehicle... the only reason they stopped the manned tests was that they did not have a reason for them to be manned...
Like the steam car record and the diesel car record the "land speed record" is very artificial, many vehicles have gone faster on land, many have gone much faster manned above it...
This is a Myth: TV is not censored in the USA, but the networks will not show anything that offends since they believe it will lose them audience share if they do
Self censorship is far more effective than government imposed censorship....
What most people don't realise it the the great firewall of China does not work either... it is only mostly effective because of the consequences of trying to get around it...
If it was implemented anywhere in "the west" then most citizens would find ways around it, or bypass it completely....
Some people think they will be happy if they are famous - he doesn't Some people think they will be happy if they are rich - he doesn't Some people think they will be happy if they have a prestigious job - he doesn't
He was quite content working on a problem, and happy to solve it....
The communist system - It's free for all but you get paid almost nothing The French/German system - It's free but your taxes are very high The UK system - it's free but poor , your taxes are moderate, but you might want to pay to jump the queue The (old) USA system - It's expensive, but taxes are low
In the Socialist systems you end up with a healthier population where more can work... the US system was that you had a lot of people who were ill so could not work, but given the correct treatment could work...
In the US the people complaining are those who already pay for their healthcare, so will gain no apparent benefit (the real benefit is the more people who work the less their taxes should be)
If you want an international perspective try watching the UK news on events in the USA.... we don't see many good news stories from the US either
You do have a School shooting most weeks, can't walk the streets in safety and are likely to get caught in the crossfire of an armed robbery most days.... or is this just (as I suspect) media hype and most Americans would not recognise their own country as portrayed in the UK Media
I suspect that the US Media do the same, and show the UK as nothing but doom and gloom and more restrictions and scandal, but the reality is very different
Beagle 2 was a UK only project, launched on an ESA rocket, although largely unsuccessful it means that three countries have landed anything on Mars and the UK is one of them...the other two countries don't have a very good success rate of landings.....
Trying to rationalise multiple systems doing the same thing in different often poorly documented ways - would be a problem no matter what system they were upgrading to, even Windows
Trying to change to a non-windows system - would be a problem no matter which system they chose (other than Windows)
What is surprising is how few problems they seem to have had....
As you say DRM has always been on Games (since they were always easy to copy)
It was made simpler and less invasive every time people got burnt by games that would not play or got too complicated to be bothered playing... a bad review or word of mouth is bad for a game..
If DRM stops some people buying their game then they will balance this against the reduced piracy, if the cost of people not buying outweighs the perceived cost of piracy then they will stop using DRM
This is why the music download industry no longer uses DRM... too many people where not downloading from sites with DRM, or downloading less because of DRM, so they dropped it and sales went up....
An EB employee that does not toe the company line, does not write to please their editor, and has no opinion of their own which will inevitably creep into their work.... strange people EB employ, they appear not to be human?
The power of Wikipedia is that it averages opinion/bias out of articles (mostly)
In almost all encyclopedias, and other information sources each article is written by one person, and edited by one person.... is this not *more* likely to be biased ?
In wikipedia an article may be biased but is less likely to be so (unless it is a one person article), and is more likely to be only moderately biased
Wikipedia like most sources of information are accused of bias, and like many information sources it is accused of bias in opposite directions at the same time, sometimes for the same article.... this is actually a good indication that on average it is not unduly biased
But like *all* information sources you should assume it is possibly inaccurate, possible biased, and check with other independent sources....
This is being blown out of all proportion to the actual problem?
The news stories that worry me are where people have sat in their Toyota while it accelerates out of control and have not thought to turn the engine off....!
Your car may be faulty but it is still your responsibility to drive it..in all cases without exception simply turning off the engine will stop the car...in all reported cases safely
There are no verified cases of this problem killing anyone... and the number of cases of the accelerator sticking is very small, the number of people killed due to badly maintained cars last week is much higher, and the number of people killed due to poor driving is much much higher
There are cults that freely publish their literature... are they religions then?
Please be aware Cult and Religion are just labels, all religions have been *called* cults at one time (The Catholic church was a cult to the Romans until they adopted it), but most of what are called cults will never be considered religions (CoS I consider one of these)
Communism : rule by the people for the common benefit Dictatorship : rule by one person/group over the rest
They really are not that compatible, communism as it is/was practiced in these countries has very little to do with the pro-atheist, communal living of communism and a lot do to with an all controlling dictatorship, all dictatorships have always hunted and persecuted anyone who has any power over the people, and labelled them subversives
The problem is that (Stalin/Mao)ist communism is just a totalitarian dictatorship with a veneer of communism, the (very) few communist governments who were/are not totalitarian dictatorships did not do this and generally were relatively tolerant
Atheists are not all communists, Communists are not all atheists.....
Slashdot Mirror
...this will be a very large edition of the paper, how do you name and shame a few million people
...the land speed record for a wheeled vehicle is 10,400 km/h (6,462 mph) ..... on rails, unmanned
Railed vehicles can go much faster than free wheeled vehicles and the manned speed record was for a railed vehicle ... the only reason they stopped the manned tests was that they did not have a reason for them to be manned ...
Like the steam car record and the diesel car record the "land speed record" is very artificial, many vehicles have gone faster on land, many have gone much faster manned above it ...
This is a Myth: TV is not censored in the USA, but the networks will not show anything that offends since they believe it will lose them audience share if they do
Self censorship is far more effective than government imposed censorship ....
That's obviously because USA and Australia are repressive capitalists, whereas the China simply want to protect their citizens from harmful material.
What most people don't realise it the the great firewall of China does not work either ... it is only mostly effective because of the consequences of trying to get around it ...
If it was implemented anywhere in "the west" then most citizens would find ways around it, or bypass it completely ....
....and what if your phone does not *have* bluetooth?
Most people who use their phone in the car are well aware they shouldn't, and still do it, this will not stop them
Some people think they will be happy if they are famous - he doesn't
Some people think they will be happy if they are rich - he doesn't
Some people think they will be happy if they have a prestigious job - he doesn't
He was quite content working on a problem, and happy to solve it ....
Is he doing what he enjoys - Yes (By his own admission) ...
Is he happy - Well until the press started bugging him yes
Sounds like he is someone who is happy, employed and has enough money.... ....unlike many people he seems to value the right things
Healthcare is simple you can have
The communist system - It's free for all but you get paid almost nothing
The French/German system - It's free but your taxes are very high
The UK system - it's free but poor , your taxes are moderate, but you might want to pay to jump the queue
The (old) USA system - It's expensive, but taxes are low
In the Socialist systems you end up with a healthier population where more can work ... the US system was that you had a lot of people who were ill so could not work, but given the correct treatment could work ...
In the US the people complaining are those who already pay for their healthcare, so will gain no apparent benefit (the real benefit is the more people who work the less their taxes should be)
Whereas the US reported it as "we've had a problem" .... a masterful piece of US understatement ....
If you want an international perspective try watching the UK news on events in the USA .... we don't see many good news stories from the US either
You do have a School shooting most weeks, can't walk the streets in safety and are likely to get caught in the crossfire of an armed robbery most days .... or is this just (as I suspect) media hype and most Americans would not recognise their own country as portrayed in the UK Media
I suspect that the US Media do the same, and show the UK as nothing but doom and gloom and more restrictions and scandal, but the reality is very different
The reason is we do have our own projects ....
Beagle 2 was a UK only project, launched on an ESA rocket, although largely unsuccessful it means that three countries have landed anything on Mars and the UK is one of them ...the other two countries don't have a very good success rate of landings .....
The problems they have had seem to be twofold ...
Trying to rationalise multiple systems doing the same thing in different often poorly documented ways - would be a problem no matter what system they were upgrading to, even Windows
Trying to change to a non-windows system - would be a problem no matter which system they chose (other than Windows)
What is surprising is how few problems they seem to have had ....
As you say DRM has always been on Games (since they were always easy to copy)
It was made simpler and less invasive every time people got burnt by games that would not play or got too complicated to be bothered playing ... a bad review or word of mouth is bad for a game ..
..Roads are cheap in contrast to lives
But the people who maintain the road do not pay anything when you die ... so roads look expensive to them
...and as installed in cars for at least 10 years .....
Really you can already buy or build a HUD for your car now ...
this is just :
a) built in
b) using the whole windscreen rather than a small part of it
..they care about people buying their product
If DRM stops some people buying their game then they will balance this against the reduced piracy, if the cost of people not buying outweighs the perceived cost of piracy then they will stop using DRM
This is why the music download industry no longer uses DRM ... too many people where not downloading from sites with DRM, or downloading less because of DRM, so they dropped it and sales went up....
Breaking News: ...
P2P file sharing is also legal everywhere else as well
Using it to upload copyrighted material however .....
An EB employee that does not toe the company line, does not write to please their editor, and has no opinion of their own which will inevitably creep into their work.... strange people EB employ, they appear not to be human?
The power of Wikipedia is that it averages opinion/bias out of articles (mostly)
In almost all encyclopedias, and other information sources each article is written by one person, and edited by one person.... is this not *more* likely to be biased ?
In wikipedia an article may be biased but is less likely to be so (unless it is a one person article), and is more likely to be only moderately biased
Wikipedia like most sources of information are accused of bias, and like many information sources it is accused of bias in opposite directions at the same time, sometimes for the same article .... this is actually a good indication that on average it is not unduly biased
But like *all* information sources you should assume it is possibly inaccurate, possible biased, and check with other independent sources ....
This is being blown out of all proportion to the actual problem?
The news stories that worry me are where people have sat in their Toyota while it accelerates out of control and have not thought to turn the engine off ....!
Your car may be faulty but it is still your responsibility to drive it ..in all cases without exception simply turning off the engine will stop the car ...in all reported cases safely
There are no verified cases of this problem killing anyone ... and the number of cases of the accelerator sticking is very small, the number of people killed due to badly maintained cars last week is much higher, and the number of people killed due to poor driving is much much higher
The professional only needs to ask two questions ....
1st question: why have you got sensitive data on your laptop ?
2nd question: if you have (or might have) sensitive data on your laptop, why is not encrypted?
In my experience the people who "have to" have sensitive data on their laptops generally don't have to ...
and the people who have sensitive data on their laptops always come up with poor reasons why they don't want encryption ...
Security : Pick any two
Something you know
Something you have
Something you are
Unfortunately these are :
something you forget
something you lose
something you cease to be
There are cults that freely publish their literature ... are they religions then?
Please be aware Cult and Religion are just labels, all religions have been *called* cults at one time (The Catholic church was a cult to the Romans until they adopted it), but most of what are called cults will never be considered religions (CoS I consider one of these)
All of these are Communist dictatorships ....
Communism : rule by the people for the common benefit
Dictatorship : rule by one person/group over the rest
They really are not that compatible, communism as it is/was practiced in these countries has very little to do with the pro-atheist, communal living of communism and a lot do to with an all controlling dictatorship, all dictatorships have always hunted and persecuted anyone who has any power over the people, and labelled them subversives
The problem is that (Stalin/Mao)ist communism is just a totalitarian dictatorship with a veneer of communism, the (very) few communist governments who were/are not totalitarian dictatorships did not do this and generally were relatively tolerant
Atheists are not all communists, Communists are not all atheists .....