Well, I've heard Philadelphia, PA called a bunch of things...
Maybe sections of North Philly are war zones, but I assure you that in center city (where all the skyscrapers are) there are lots of a) residents and b) cultural attractions as well as c) infrastructure like sewage, water, electricity, and fiber optic cable.
Some of my friends in the Burbs don't have sewer, and until I finished high school my parents place north of town used a well. I would say that THAT would qualify as third world.
Or feet, as in around 1000-1500 feet. It's a car, not a freight train.
Actually at 140MPH, its a bit more that 1000 feet. Remember is energy =0.5 * mass * velocity ^2
Energy is the amount of momentum that the brakes have to bleed out of the vehicle. Twice the speed, 4 times the braking distance. A 500 foot stop at 50 MPH is a 2000 foot stop at 120mph, assuming that you can apply full braking without
a) locking your wheels or
b) delaminating your tires.
c) completely overtaking the object that is the reason why you are stopping.
Okay, lets compromise:
...is measured in DISTANCES APPROACHING HALF A MILE...
What is the first defense that people recommend when a cop gived you a ticket? Ask when the last time is was calibrated! When you get pulled over with VASCAR? Have them re-measure the lines, and certify when the timepiece was caliberated!
Who is to say you could not subpena the maintenance records of the device, the source code, and/or the engineers who designed it? We live in a very litigious world. Use it to the fullest.
So you are saying that you don't want robots because you can't talk them out of a ticket?
Dude, I don't care who taught you physics, but in ENGINEERING we learned that a standard automobile is not designed to run at 140MPH. Where where your roll bars? How about the 5 point belt? Your nomex suit? I'm curious as to how you managed to calibrate your tires to the road surface over a distance of 2 states?
How about the fact that your braking distance is measured in MILES at that speed, and even if you saw trouble you would be lucky to be down to a speed where your air bag might actually do you some good?
All the training in the world cannot help a ninja dodge a bullet. A little card in your wallet does not exempt you from the laws of physics.
(This coming from a wreck diver, with a little card from NAUI saying that I am qualified to do it. When I go down, I have a map of the wreck in my mind, a buddy or 10, a person trained on administering oxygen or 2 in the party, and a radio to call the coast guard in an emergency. Not to mention all of the safety/rescue gear that is strapped to me and my dive companions.)
Actually I see law enforcement as a "Shaker Stool", with 3 legs, not 2. There is the legal system, with procedure and objectivity. There is the enforcement officer, with on the spot judgement and the ability to handle extraordinary cases. The third leg is the citizens themselves!
Folks, our job is to follow the law and let the police focus on nabbing the real criminals out there.
I am one of those luddites who use those stubby things for walking. People in general drive like ass, and most are blissfully ignorant of how often they nearly kill themselves or other people. Nothing is funnier than hearing a suit or a soccer mom try to explain that the accident could not have been their fault. After all they he/she is such a good person...
Most americans do not know how to set their own boundaries. We eat whatever size steak the resteraunt serves, no matter how obsurdly huge. We pay for our Schooling, no matter how obsurdly expensive. We gun our engines at a green light, and bitch loudly about having to stop again in 40 feet, and what crappy gas mileage we get.
Face it, an automated traffic monitoring system may finally convince people that there are laws to obey beyond the laws of physics! Innocent people may occasionally get a speeding ticket, but it sure beats innocent people being taken out by some car crossing the median after losing control from driving to fast!
We are seeing the same sort of development cycle that we saw from from AM to FM, from Radio to Television, from Black and White to Color. Each step was first opposed, and then grudingly accepted, and then embraced at least by industry. Consumers never gave a shit until it got to be cheap enough to buy.
We are just getting past the "what can it do" phase of the Internet. When TV came out in 1934 it was an expensive toy, often ridiculed in movies. (Look at some of the television gags in 3 stooges movies.) It came of age in the 60's. By the 80s it was old hat, and was only saved by the introduction of the VCR. (I personally remember taping whole seasons of Star Trek because it was playing on Saturday night while I was otherwise out and having a life.)
If you look at some of the early research into Television, you can see the same sort of laughable claims that were made about the Internet. It was supposed to revolutionize education. It was supposed to streamline commerce. It was supposed to be everything and a bag of chips.
No, the real question is what is going to replace the Internet.
WHYY in Philadelphia is already broadcasting in
Digital format, too.
Actually I just toured their studio, they already do all of their mixing in Digital too. (SGI's running AVID.) It's really cool stuff. If my Science Museum gig ever gets old, I'll take a job there in a heartbeat.
I was around for the last round of major mischeif with linux. Back in '99 I had my box at work rooted using an flaw in bind. It seemed like every week there would be a new flaw and we had to patch and patch and patch and patch.
We got over it.
For the record, my logs are still being filled with attempt to grab root.exe and all sort of other nastiness from IP addresses that look like they are on the local cable modem network. I have to purge the hard drive on my email server from the 200 MB of viruses that try to leak through to my Windows based users. Every 6 weeks or so NIMBA and Klez sneak back through and infect a bunch of workstations.
We should be honored that it is newsworthy to report problems in Linux. With Windows it is just assumed!
You should know that you are in good company. Steve Jobs is a college dropout. Bill Gates is a college dropout. I am presently a college dropout with a well paying job at, of all things, a museum.
I had to drop out because a) I had no financial help from family and b) the University's accounting system was so fucked up is sent my loan checks back because I was not enrolled. Why was I not enrolled? I was in non-payment. Why was I in non-payment? Because the University kept sending my loan checks back. To get the bill collectors off my back I wound up getting a real job and taking a personal loan.
So here I am, most of the way there, and only a mountain of debt to show for it.
Do you REALLY want to run up extra bills? Do you REALLY want the equivilent of a mortgage on your brain? You had the god given sense to get out before it got too expensive.
Lets face it, a degree is no more than a sheet of paper the gets you in the door. You are the guy on the other side of the door already. Aside from pride, what are you intending to achieve?
Also note that colleges are bursting at the seams with echo boomers at the moment. Prices are sky high because there are literally boatloads of people chasing paper right now.
As for me, my present employer has tuition reimbursement. I am taking them up on it because a) my original University is 10 blocks away from my apartment (and 11 blocks away from my Office), and b) in an education setting a lack of a degree is keeping me out if certain positions, like Director. I have definite measureable goals to be reached by obtaining a degree, the means to do it, and the support of my Wife and Boss.
I guess because it is easier to lash out at a "Foriegn Power" than it is to curb the bad behavior of the people who elected you and the corporations that bought your soul.
It is rather funny. If the stuff was 850 meters underground they would have a derrick and a pipeline run to it already. Heat the water, collect the bubbles.
Unfortunately, I can't imagine the stuff is packed nearly as densely as underground supplies. It's not a matter of harvesting the stuff. It's a matter of doing it cheaply.
Now, the other real problem is transporting the stuff. You would need to pack it into tanks and the tanks would have to be unloaded in somebody's port. Does anyone want a few kilotons of pure explosive power docking downtown? At least Oil when it leaks just makes a mess. A tanker of methane case would a) asphyxiate anyone within a few thousand feet and b) explode with the slightest spark.
There was only Apple and Commodore. Then IBM hired out Microsoft to rebadge Larry Ellison's QDOS to create cheap computers to convince people to buy Mainframes.
Then Old Billy Boy took the BIOS and, behind IBM's back mind you, licensed it out to everyone who wanted it, essentially creating the DIY market. It is somewhat hilarious to see him come full circle. From one of the Pirates to one of the Ivory tower execs.
There has got to be a special rank area of the afterlife for that type, but I digress.
There are just too many people who don't give a rats ass about running windows for the market to dissappear. DIY's represent a very high margin market to component manufacturers. Ever wonder how Dell makes a PC for $800? By chinsing its suppliers into razor thin margins.
We may no longer be able to run windows in the future, but there is enough Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS software to keep us going until the next ice age.
But between the tiny seats in couch, short battery life, the 10 minutes we actually get to use them, and jealous stares by other folk, I have just about given up on using my laptop on flights.
If I plan on traveling in leasure, I have my wife drive or I'll take the train!
You just get attached to old cars no matter how many mornings the damn thing wouldn't start without popping the hood and shorting the starter motor to the battery...
That said, I wouldn't trade the 5 speed overdrive attached to a 150hp engine they turns over every time, with working air conditioning and a sound system that can make your ears bleed before it will distort for the world.
Slashdot Mirror
And all this time I had the tin foil cap to keep the aliens from reading my mind!
Arm the heat seeking missiles. Lets see if it blocks EM radiation...
Maybe sections of North Philly are war zones, but I assure you that in center city (where all the skyscrapers are) there are lots of a) residents and b) cultural attractions as well as c) infrastructure like sewage, water, electricity, and fiber optic cable.
Some of my friends in the Burbs don't have sewer, and until I finished high school my parents place north of town used a well. I would say that THAT would qualify as third world.
Come on folks, you bitch when he doesn't use tools. You bitch at the tools he selects. Bitch Bitch Bitch.
If we spent half as many people actually contributing code as we had poeple commenting on it who knows where we would be right now?
To that end, I recommend a new Mod level:
-5 Back seat driver
Actually at 140MPH, its a bit more that 1000 feet. Remember is energy =0.5 * mass * velocity ^2
Energy is the amount of momentum that the brakes have to bleed out of the vehicle. Twice the speed, 4 times the braking distance. A 500 foot stop at 50 MPH is a 2000 foot stop at 120mph, assuming that you can apply full braking without
a) locking your wheels or
b) delaminating your tires.
c) completely overtaking the object that is the reason why you are stopping.
Okay, lets compromise:
...is measured in DISTANCES APPROACHING HALF A MILE...
Well?
Everyone is so big on the fact that Americans have a choice, why don't they choose to live in places that can actually be arrived on by foot?
What is the first defense that people recommend when a cop gived you a ticket? Ask when the last time is was calibrated! When you get pulled over with VASCAR? Have them re-measure the lines, and certify when the timepiece was caliberated!
Who is to say you could not subpena the maintenance records of the device, the source code, and/or the engineers who designed it? We live in a very litigious world. Use it to the fullest.
Dude, I don't care who taught you physics, but in ENGINEERING we learned that a standard automobile is not designed to run at 140MPH. Where where your roll bars? How about the 5 point belt? Your nomex suit? I'm curious as to how you managed to calibrate your tires to the road surface over a distance of 2 states?
How about the fact that your braking distance is measured in MILES at that speed, and even if you saw trouble you would be lucky to be down to a speed where your air bag might actually do you some good?
All the training in the world cannot help a ninja dodge a bullet. A little card in your wallet does not exempt you from the laws of physics.
(This coming from a wreck diver, with a little card from NAUI saying that I am qualified to do it. When I go down, I have a map of the wreck in my mind, a buddy or 10, a person trained on administering oxygen or 2 in the party, and a radio to call the coast guard in an emergency. Not to mention all of the safety/rescue gear that is strapped to me and my dive companions.)
Business is all about providing maximum profit for minimum expenditure.
Can you say "Rent-A-Cop"?
Folks, our job is to follow the law and let the police focus on nabbing the real criminals out there.
I am one of those luddites who use those stubby things for walking. People in general drive like ass, and most are blissfully ignorant of how often they nearly kill themselves or other people. Nothing is funnier than hearing a suit or a soccer mom try to explain that the accident could not have been their fault. After all they he/she is such a good person...
Most americans do not know how to set their own boundaries. We eat whatever size steak the resteraunt serves, no matter how obsurdly huge. We pay for our Schooling, no matter how obsurdly expensive. We gun our engines at a green light, and bitch loudly about having to stop again in 40 feet, and what crappy gas mileage we get.
Face it, an automated traffic monitoring system may finally convince people that there are laws to obey beyond the laws of physics! Innocent people may occasionally get a speeding ticket, but it sure beats innocent people being taken out by some car crossing the median after losing control from driving to fast!
I haven't missed anything. In fact I have discovered there are far more rewarding things to do with my time up to and including:
Catching up on my Robotech DVD collection
Writing an online database for the local folk festival
Taking in the sights and sounds of living downtown
Finally getting my 802.11 link working between my apartment and my office
Whoring my karma up to Excellent on Slashdot
Boffing my wife
Want to improve you sex life, turn the damn TV off!
We are seeing the same sort of development cycle that we saw from from AM to FM, from Radio to Television, from Black and White to Color. Each step was first opposed, and then grudingly accepted, and then embraced at least by industry. Consumers never gave a shit until it got to be cheap enough to buy.
We are just getting past the "what can it do" phase of the Internet. When TV came out in 1934 it was an expensive toy, often ridiculed in movies. (Look at some of the television gags in 3 stooges movies.) It came of age in the 60's. By the 80s it was old hat, and was only saved by the introduction of the VCR. (I personally remember taping whole seasons of Star Trek because it was playing on Saturday night while I was otherwise out and having a life.)
If you look at some of the early research into Television, you can see the same sort of laughable claims that were made about the Internet. It was supposed to revolutionize education. It was supposed to streamline commerce. It was supposed to be everything and a bag of chips.
No, the real question is what is going to replace the Internet.
Actually I just toured their studio, they already do all of their mixing in Digital too. (SGI's running AVID.) It's really cool stuff. If my Science Museum gig ever gets old, I'll take a job there in a heartbeat.
And, pray tell, what do YOU do for a living?
We got over it.
For the record, my logs are still being filled with attempt to grab root.exe and all sort of other nastiness from IP addresses that look like they are on the local cable modem network. I have to purge the hard drive on my email server from the 200 MB of viruses that try to leak through to my Windows based users. Every 6 weeks or so NIMBA and Klez sneak back through and infect a bunch of workstations.
We should be honored that it is newsworthy to report problems in Linux. With Windows it is just assumed!
I had to drop out because a) I had no financial help from family and b) the University's accounting system was so fucked up is sent my loan checks back because I was not enrolled. Why was I not enrolled? I was in non-payment. Why was I in non-payment? Because the University kept sending my loan checks back. To get the bill collectors off my back I wound up getting a real job and taking a personal loan.
So here I am, most of the way there, and only a mountain of debt to show for it.
Do you REALLY want to run up extra bills? Do you REALLY want the equivilent of a mortgage on your brain? You had the god given sense to get out before it got too expensive.
Lets face it, a degree is no more than a sheet of paper the gets you in the door. You are the guy on the other side of the door already. Aside from pride, what are you intending to achieve?
Also note that colleges are bursting at the seams with echo boomers at the moment. Prices are sky high because there are literally boatloads of people chasing paper right now.
As for me, my present employer has tuition reimbursement. I am taking them up on it because a) my original University is 10 blocks away from my apartment (and 11 blocks away from my Office), and b) in an education setting a lack of a degree is keeping me out if certain positions, like Director. I have definite measureable goals to be reached by obtaining a degree, the means to do it, and the support of my Wife and Boss.
I guess because it is easier to lash out at a "Foriegn Power" than it is to curb the bad behavior of the people who elected you and the corporations that bought your soul.
Unfortunately, I can't imagine the stuff is packed nearly as densely as underground supplies. It's not a matter of harvesting the stuff. It's a matter of doing it cheaply.
Now, the other real problem is transporting the stuff. You would need to pack it into tanks and the tanks would have to be unloaded in somebody's port. Does anyone want a few kilotons of pure explosive power docking downtown? At least Oil when it leaks just makes a mess. A tanker of methane case would a) asphyxiate anyone within a few thousand feet and b) explode with the slightest spark.
Think Fuel-Air bomb.
Well, nobody strike a match.
There was only Apple and Commodore. Then IBM hired out Microsoft to rebadge Larry Ellison's QDOS to create cheap computers to convince people to buy Mainframes.
Then Old Billy Boy took the BIOS and, behind IBM's back mind you, licensed it out to everyone who wanted it, essentially creating the DIY market. It is somewhat hilarious to see him come full circle. From one of the Pirates to one of the Ivory tower execs.
There has got to be a special rank area of the afterlife for that type, but I digress.
There are just too many people who don't give a rats ass about running windows for the market to dissappear. DIY's represent a very high margin market to component manufacturers. Ever wonder how Dell makes a PC for $800? By chinsing its suppliers into razor thin margins.
We may no longer be able to run windows in the future, but there is enough Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS software to keep us going until the next ice age.
Come on! They idea is for them not to notice, and set up a barrier if they do. Not for you to set up a red light district.
D'ya think Am Sexy. D'ya have any baby's around. Which way to the Gent's I've got to leave some evidence...
If I plan on traveling in leasure, I have my wife drive or I'll take the train!
Man is the wife going to give me shit when my wireless connection between be office and the apartment goes out.
You just get attached to old cars no matter how many mornings the damn thing wouldn't start without popping the hood and shorting the starter motor to the battery...
That said, I wouldn't trade the 5 speed overdrive attached to a 150hp engine they turns over every time, with working air conditioning and a sound system that can make your ears bleed before it will distort for the world.