I think it is less that "people" aren't interested in how things work, anymore, and more that nobody cares about amateur radio or clunky robots.
I don't know about clunky robots, but, as posted here a few months ago, there is now a record number of ham radio operator licensees in the US. The statement "nobody cares about amateur radio" is uninformed.
Look at the timeline. Announce that they were back in the kit business in August. Announce that they were making amateur radio kits in September. Lay off most of the employees in December. Sounds like something else was going on if they only had a couple months to make the "return to kits" plan work.
Several comment attribute the rise in education costs to the availability of grants and loans.
There is another reason education costs have risen at public universities. When times were good, states cut taxes and cut funding to their universities. When the economy went south, the states made even more cuts. If the state schools are not being funded by the state, the schools will get the money that they need to operate from the students.
In exchange for low taxes, we are squandering the infrastructure and institutions built by those who came before us.
As if insurance companies are going to lower your premiums. What they'll do with this data is, increase premiums on those they now know are 'unsafe'.
Progressive Insurance (optionally) collects data and uses it to lower your premium. It is a program called 'Snapshot'. If you let them put a 'black box' in your car and monitor your driving habits, you get (up to 30%) lower premiums.
They say that they look at how many miles you drive, when you drive and 'gentle braking'. They said that they do not monitor whether you are speeding or gather GPS data.
a) a physicist professor (postdoc, well-known in his field worldwide) at my university was ticketed for speeding based on a radar gun reading. In court, he presented an analysis that showed that a radar gun reading would be inaccurate under the conditions where used. The judge determined that the analysis was irrelevant and fined the prof.
b) I was involved in an automobile accident. I was cited for running into the other car. A physicist friend of mine and I put together an analysis based on physics that showed that the other car had to have run into my car. It was pretty cool because it so closely matched what happened (physics works!). However, my insurance company, the prosecutor and my attorney all dismissed the analysis as irrelevant.
I drove my car with California plates around Germany (and neighboring countries) for 9 months using 1990s technology. I could have taken a ferry to the UK.
Why does this have to be an issue for individual states? It is OUR (presuming the reader is a US citizen) federal government. Why aren't people calling out the individuals who granted the authority to the TSA and made the decisions there to ignore our rights and our dignity? It is not like it is a bunch of computers in Washington DC who are doing this; it is people that either you or friends of yours voted for. Let the people who support this be put on record as supporting it and then put pressure on the people who appointed them.
Individuals in government often made bad decisions, even when trying to do the right thing (like keep us safe). Sure, the terrorists have won when government takes away our rights to keep us safe. But the government won't realize that those rights were important enough to the people not to take away if the people just accept it.
Isn't battery management supposed to be Tesla's thing?
Because the Tesla Roadster is based on a car that I own (Lotus Elise), I have been following Tesla for a while (and then stopped following as they moved on to the Model S). There were lots of delay getting the Roadster to market because, at least in the version of the story that was making it to the public, they were working out battery management issues. They were brought in on the electric version of the smart car because of their expertise in battery management. That is why Toyota put a bunch of money into the company.
If this is a real problem, it says some pretty bad thing about Tesla's expertise in battery management. As noted, thousands of battery cells shouldn't die all at once, unless the battery management system is really not doing its job.
One more thought: At $40k each, it must be economical to repair a Tesla battery pack. Wonder if anyone is trying that.
There are a lot of car enthusiasts who don't like electric cars. The writers at Jalopnik (where the Tesla battery blog was posted) seem to be among them, as are the guys at the BBC program "Top Gear". The criticisms that I hear is based on the lower energy density of a battery compared to a consumed fuel like gasoline and the added weight of a battery negates the benefits of using a battery and batteries perform poorly in cold weather. The people who hold this view will then post links to every report of an incident or someone's blog opinion that backs up that criticism and ignore and downplay reports that don't back up their criticism.
I do not know enough about batteries or what is really possible to improve in battery technology, but, in my opinion, the arguments against electric cars have been short sighted. We're not gonna know what is possible or not possible if someone doesn't try.
They don't release that information over the air. They just don't, ever. They use KDT terminals in the car for any sensitive information like names, addresses, etc. The most they will usually EVER give over the air is a phone number or situation codes like "Signal One", "Code Black" or "10-8".
Around here, all sort of info is sent over the air. Registered owner when a plate is run. Outstanding warrant info. Phone numbers for contacting the reporting party and law enforcement officers. Both on the local law enforcement and state police frequencies.
This is about internal police comm channels. What legitimate reason is there to allow others to tap into that?
I am a communications (ham) volunteer for the county.
So, civilian oversight. It would be perfectly reasonable for City Hall to insist that you be given a receiver that decrypts the police' encrypted comms. Perhaps news outlets should lobby for the same capability.
No. We provide a back-up communications channel. We are not "civilian oversight".
The city and the county have no budget for purchasing encrypted comms gear, so unless the Feds are giving out grants for this stuff, local law enforcement here won't be switching over.
This is about internal police comm channels. What legitimate reason is there to allow others to tap into that?
I am a communications (ham) volunteer for the county. It is an ARES/RACES kind of thing that I do. I am assigned to City Hall, which has its own gear, but, until I get there and get set up, I operate using my own personal ham radio gear. Part of this work involves monitoring law enforcement frequencies.
I know that police officials in other large, southern California jurisdictions use ham volunteers in emergency situations.
I am also a communications volunteer at large, public events where we work with police and monitor their frequencies.
We have owned a smart since the current 451 model was introduced to the US (2008).
We have been getting 37-38 mpg driving in city conditions. And I am a "spirited" driver that steps on the accelerator too quickly. I haven't checked the highway fuel economy.
Why buy a smart fortwo? The city fuel economy is pretty good (it has had the best EPA fuel economy numbers for a gasoline (non-hybrid) car). It is small and easy to park. It is fun. It has a short wheelbase and RWD and is light (though its strong safety structure makes it heavier than its size might lead people to think it is). It is particularly fun in the snow (on winter tires) where you can stay just ahead of the traction control nannies.
It is not for everyone. If you have a long, daily, highway commute, you probably want something more comfortable with cruise control. I have had no problems with occasional long drives, but I also drive the car hard in the snow and on gravel roads, things that the designers of the car probably didn't intend. Then again, SUVs are not for me, but plenty of people (still) buy them.
Timothy Lord should learn something about cars before doing car videos. Yes, there were cars back in the 80s that got better fuel economy than the cars with the best fuel economy now. Back in the 90s, fuel got comparatively cheap and it was decided that safety was more important, so cars got heavier.
So, are you saying that one could not write an iOS app that does all of that? If you are saying that, then you are wrong.
Correct, I am saying this, because it's not how iOS works.
This is one of my biggest problems with iOS: to get the kind of functionality I require, I would need some giant monolitic app that does everything I need. The odds of someone out there writing an app that fits my workflow exactly is very low. For example, in this scenario I have different files open (PDF, excel, word, one note, email) all at once and I'm copying/pasting images, spreadsheets, text, between all of them. With a desktop OS I can create my own workflow because I have an app for each type of file, I can open what I need, and they all work together. In iOS, there is hardly any transport between different apps, so I would need an app that opens all these files, switches between them, saves them.... basically I'd need a miniature OS within iOS to do this!
You don't seem to understand how iOS works.
So, I guess my iPad that allows me to easily cut and paste between applications is a special one-off version, right?
So I have my PDF textbook open. How do I take an image from my PDF and put it into my notes?
Cutting and pasting images is supported by iOS. The kids have hidden the iPad somewhere, so I can't check the PDF reader apps that I have to see if they support it. If your PDF reader app vendor doesn't support it, ask them to.
Aren't most e-readers able to display PDF files? I am sure e-PUB has more features, but creating multi-page PDFs or converting docs using Calibre seems to work well.
Calibre does not work well at all with the publications that I write or reference.
I'd also argue they don't do nearly enough to compete with a book. When I used to use physical textbooks, I'd write all over them. Then I started using a tablet PC for all my note taking, and I would scan in my textbooks to use digitally. With the stylus I was still able to write in them, but I would also cut and paste images, charts, etc into my notes during class. One notable example I remember is when professor trying to draw a diagram from the book onto the chalkboard, I just copied the diagram over. Everyone else was going off his mangled reproduction while I had the real thing.
So, are you saying that one could not write an iOS app that does all of that? If you are saying that, then you are wrong.
Now we have the iPad, which doesn't have a digitizer and doesn't allow you to cut and paste much between applications.
So, I guess my iPad that allows me to easily cut and paste between applications is a special one-off version, right?
Aside from the fact that someone is suing, there is nothing new here. Mr. Peters' just uses the lawsuit as an opportunity to bring up the standard criticisms of hybrids.
I think that the lawsuit is reaching. Honda was just quoting the EPA figure and YMMV has been the running joke about the EPA fuel economy numbers for years. Still, I am pretty sure that Honda doesn't want a precedent set here and will put up a fight.
Then the camera won't be able to see the lines, now will it?
Do you spend much time driving in winter conditions? Sometimes two lanes in the direction of travel end up effectively reduced to one with the painted lane divider line clearly visible in the middle of the lane. Around curves, the position of the painted lane divider line will shift relative to the track of the lane of travel.
I can't imagine that there won't be a disable button for this feature for stuff like winter driving.
They fail to talk about the anti-chemistry/anti-rocketry views of the Democrats. Try to build a model rocket in a liberal state. Can't go to the store and get the rocket motors - they are illegal. Afraid of fireworks, etc.
What are you talking about? I have no problem buying model rocket supplies in the nanny city of Seattle.
The banning of model rockets is not something Democratic Party candidates run on.
As far as fireworks, people hurts themselves all of the time with fireworks, so it could be considered a public safety issue.
So you'll get a cert from "Internet-U" stating you watched a video.
And passed the homework and exams.
I took the AI class. The video segments and fill-in-the-box quizzes, homework and exams mostly worked OK for the topic. I don't like that the textbook cost around $150; I didn't get the textbook because of the price. I did OK without it. Because of lack of time, I only took the 'Basic' class (just watch the videos), not the 'Advanced' class (homework and exams scored, class ranked afterward). I did complete homework and exams when I had time.
The AI class got all of the press, but there was also a Machine Learning class and another class for something else (can't remember what) as well.
An example might be to create a software program that outputs every possible combination of notes permissible under the rules of standard musical notation, then file copyright on it.
In the 70s, George Harrison was successfully sued for "subconscious" plagiarism for the song "My Sweet Lord". According to the courts, Harrison stole a three-note sequence used in the title refrain from The Chiffons' "He's So Fine".
The "every possible combination of notes" approach would need to check to make sure that combinations weren't already claimed.
Tory, Kari and Grant seem to play fast and loose when it comes to safety.
Remember when they launched the car at 70 mph (I think, under a semi trailer to make the car a convertible), but neglected to set-up anything to catch the car after it went under the trailer and it ended up getting launched outside of the test area.
My eBay check was $0.79. I guess that I need to do more transactions on eBay so next time there is a class action settlement, I'll get more a bigger payout!
There shouldn't be any excuse for tuition to be skyrocketing like it has for as long as it has.
Around here, one reason tuition keeps going up at public institutions is because, even in good times, the state was cutting back on what it was spending on post-secondary education. Gotta pay for the pay for the tax cuts, y'know.
>But if there's some huge disaster, unless everybody (or at least most people) have radio setups with indepemdent power generators,
>who's going to pick up any messages?
The city and county have EOCs (Emergency Operation Centers) with generators and battery backup. Those get tested in our drills. The other stations were we could be assigned (fire stations) also have alternate power.
Since I spent a lot of time using my radios in the woods, mine are handheld and mobile. When we lost power for days last year, I could still hit the club repeater, so its alternate power sources were working. My handheld will run for a couple of days on a set of 4 AAs and I can hit the club and county repeaters most places where I would be assigned during an emergency.
>Presumably the emergency services networks will still work all right anyway.
What we do is called the "Alternate Communications System". We are part of the emergency services network. I got an emergency worker ID card and went through a background check and, as previously noted, went through FEMA training. Some of the guys have even used their radios in actual emergencies.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it is less that "people" aren't interested in how things work, anymore, and more that nobody cares about amateur radio or clunky robots.
I don't know about clunky robots, but, as posted here a few months ago, there is now a record number of ham radio operator licensees in the US. The statement "nobody cares about amateur radio" is uninformed.
Look at the timeline. Announce that they were back in the kit business in August. Announce that they were making amateur radio kits in September. Lay off most of the employees in December. Sounds like something else was going on if they only had a couple months to make the "return to kits" plan work.
Several comment attribute the rise in education costs to the availability of grants and loans.
There is another reason education costs have risen at public universities. When times were good, states cut taxes and cut funding to their universities. When the economy went south, the states made even more cuts. If the state schools are not being funded by the state, the schools will get the money that they need to operate from the students.
In exchange for low taxes, we are squandering the infrastructure and institutions built by those who came before us.
As if insurance companies are going to lower your premiums. What they'll do with this data is, increase premiums on those they now know are 'unsafe'.
Progressive Insurance (optionally) collects data and uses it to lower your premium. It is a program called 'Snapshot'. If you let them put a 'black box' in your car and monitor your driving habits, you get (up to 30%) lower premiums.
They say that they look at how many miles you drive, when you drive and 'gentle braking'. They said that they do not monitor whether you are speeding or gather GPS data.
a) a physicist professor (postdoc, well-known in his field worldwide) at my university was ticketed for speeding based on a radar gun reading. In court, he presented an analysis that showed that a radar gun reading would be inaccurate under the conditions where used. The judge determined that the analysis was irrelevant and fined the prof.
b) I was involved in an automobile accident. I was cited for running into the other car. A physicist friend of mine and I put together an analysis based on physics that showed that the other car had to have run into my car. It was pretty cool because it so closely matched what happened (physics works!). However, my insurance company, the prosecutor and my attorney all dismissed the analysis as irrelevant.
I drove my car with California plates around Germany (and neighboring countries) for 9 months using 1990s technology. I could have taken a ferry to the UK.
Why does this have to be an issue for individual states? It is OUR (presuming the reader is a US citizen) federal government. Why aren't people calling out the individuals who granted the authority to the TSA and made the decisions there to ignore our rights and our dignity? It is not like it is a bunch of computers in Washington DC who are doing this; it is people that either you or friends of yours voted for. Let the people who support this be put on record as supporting it and then put pressure on the people who appointed them.
Individuals in government often made bad decisions, even when trying to do the right thing (like keep us safe). Sure, the terrorists have won when government takes away our rights to keep us safe. But the government won't realize that those rights were important enough to the people not to take away if the people just accept it.
Isn't battery management supposed to be Tesla's thing?
Because the Tesla Roadster is based on a car that I own (Lotus Elise), I have been following Tesla for a while (and then stopped following as they moved on to the Model S). There were lots of delay getting the Roadster to market because, at least in the version of the story that was making it to the public, they were working out battery management issues. They were brought in on the electric version of the smart car because of their expertise in battery management. That is why Toyota put a bunch of money into the company.
If this is a real problem, it says some pretty bad thing about Tesla's expertise in battery management. As noted, thousands of battery cells shouldn't die all at once, unless the battery management system is really not doing its job.
One more thought: At $40k each, it must be economical to repair a Tesla battery pack. Wonder if anyone is trying that.
There are a lot of car enthusiasts who don't like electric cars. The writers at Jalopnik (where the Tesla battery blog was posted) seem to be among them, as are the guys at the BBC program "Top Gear". The criticisms that I hear is based on the lower energy density of a battery compared to a consumed fuel like gasoline and the added weight of a battery negates the benefits of using a battery and batteries perform poorly in cold weather. The people who hold this view will then post links to every report of an incident or someone's blog opinion that backs up that criticism and ignore and downplay reports that don't back up their criticism.
I do not know enough about batteries or what is really possible to improve in battery technology, but, in my opinion, the arguments against electric cars have been short sighted. We're not gonna know what is possible or not possible if someone doesn't try.
They don't release that information over the air. They just don't, ever. They use KDT terminals in the car for any sensitive information like names, addresses, etc. The most they will usually EVER give over the air is a phone number or situation codes like "Signal One", "Code Black" or "10-8".
Around here, all sort of info is sent over the air. Registered owner when a plate is run. Outstanding warrant info. Phone numbers for contacting the reporting party and law enforcement officers. Both on the local law enforcement and state police frequencies.
This is about internal police comm channels. What legitimate reason is there to allow others to tap into that?
I am a communications (ham) volunteer for the county.
So, civilian oversight. It would be perfectly reasonable for City Hall to insist that you be given a receiver that decrypts the police' encrypted comms. Perhaps news outlets should lobby for the same capability.
No. We provide a back-up communications channel. We are not "civilian oversight".
The city and the county have no budget for purchasing encrypted comms gear, so unless the Feds are giving out grants for this stuff, local law enforcement here won't be switching over.
This is about internal police comm channels. What legitimate reason is there to allow others to tap into that?
I am a communications (ham) volunteer for the county. It is an ARES/RACES kind of thing that I do. I am assigned to City Hall, which has its own gear, but, until I get there and get set up, I operate using my own personal ham radio gear. Part of this work involves monitoring law enforcement frequencies.
I know that police officials in other large, southern California jurisdictions use ham volunteers in emergency situations.
I am also a communications volunteer at large, public events where we work with police and monitor their frequencies.
We have owned a smart since the current 451 model was introduced to the US (2008).
We have been getting 37-38 mpg driving in city conditions. And I am a "spirited" driver that steps on the accelerator too quickly. I haven't checked the highway fuel economy.
Why buy a smart fortwo? The city fuel economy is pretty good (it has had the best EPA fuel economy numbers for a gasoline (non-hybrid) car). It is small and easy to park. It is fun. It has a short wheelbase and RWD and is light (though its strong safety structure makes it heavier than its size might lead people to think it is). It is particularly fun in the snow (on winter tires) where you can stay just ahead of the traction control nannies.
It is not for everyone. If you have a long, daily, highway commute, you probably want something more comfortable with cruise control. I have had no problems with occasional long drives, but I also drive the car hard in the snow and on gravel roads, things that the designers of the car probably didn't intend. Then again, SUVs are not for me, but plenty of people (still) buy them.
Timothy Lord should learn something about cars before doing car videos. Yes, there were cars back in the 80s that got better fuel economy than the cars with the best fuel economy now. Back in the 90s, fuel got comparatively cheap and it was decided that safety was more important, so cars got heavier.
So, are you saying that one could not write an iOS app that does all of that? If you are saying that, then you are wrong.
Correct, I am saying this, because it's not how iOS works.
This is one of my biggest problems with iOS: to get the kind of functionality I require, I would need some giant monolitic app that does everything I need. The odds of someone out there writing an app that fits my workflow exactly is very low. For example, in this scenario I have different files open (PDF, excel, word, one note, email) all at once and I'm copying/pasting images, spreadsheets, text, between all of them. With a desktop OS I can create my own workflow because I have an app for each type of file, I can open what I need, and they all work together. In iOS, there is hardly any transport between different apps, so I would need an app that opens all these files, switches between them, saves them.... basically I'd need a miniature OS within iOS to do this!
You don't seem to understand how iOS works.
So, I guess my iPad that allows me to easily cut and paste between applications is a special one-off version, right?
So I have my PDF textbook open. How do I take an image from my PDF and put it into my notes?
Cutting and pasting images is supported by iOS. The kids have hidden the iPad somewhere, so I can't check the PDF reader apps that I have to see if they support it. If your PDF reader app vendor doesn't support it, ask them to.
Aren't most e-readers able to display PDF files? I am sure e-PUB has more features, but creating multi-page PDFs or converting docs using Calibre seems to work well.
Calibre does not work well at all with the publications that I write or reference.
I'd also argue they don't do nearly enough to compete with a book. When I used to use physical textbooks, I'd write all over them. Then I started using a tablet PC for all my note taking, and I would scan in my textbooks to use digitally. With the stylus I was still able to write in them, but I would also cut and paste images, charts, etc into my notes during class. One notable example I remember is when professor trying to draw a diagram from the book onto the chalkboard, I just copied the diagram over. Everyone else was going off his mangled reproduction while I had the real thing.
So, are you saying that one could not write an iOS app that does all of that? If you are saying that, then you are wrong.
Now we have the iPad, which doesn't have a digitizer and doesn't allow you to cut and paste much between applications.
So, I guess my iPad that allows me to easily cut and paste between applications is a special one-off version, right?
Aside from the fact that someone is suing, there is nothing new here. Mr. Peters' just uses the lawsuit as an opportunity to bring up the standard criticisms of hybrids.
I think that the lawsuit is reaching. Honda was just quoting the EPA figure and YMMV has been the running joke about the EPA fuel economy numbers for years. Still, I am pretty sure that Honda doesn't want a precedent set here and will put up a fight.
Then the camera won't be able to see the lines, now will it?
Do you spend much time driving in winter conditions? Sometimes two lanes in the direction of travel end up effectively reduced to one with the painted lane divider line clearly visible in the middle of the lane. Around curves, the position of the painted lane divider line will shift relative to the track of the lane of travel.
I can't imagine that there won't be a disable button for this feature for stuff like winter driving.
They fail to talk about the anti-chemistry/anti-rocketry views of the Democrats. Try to build a model rocket in a liberal state. Can't go to the store and get the rocket motors - they are illegal. Afraid of fireworks, etc.
What are you talking about? I have no problem buying model rocket supplies in the nanny city of Seattle.
The banning of model rockets is not something Democratic Party candidates run on.
As far as fireworks, people hurts themselves all of the time with fireworks, so it could be considered a public safety issue.
So you'll get a cert from "Internet-U" stating you watched a video.
And passed the homework and exams.
I took the AI class. The video segments and fill-in-the-box quizzes, homework and exams mostly worked OK for the topic. I don't like that the textbook cost around $150; I didn't get the textbook because of the price. I did OK without it. Because of lack of time, I only took the 'Basic' class (just watch the videos), not the 'Advanced' class (homework and exams scored, class ranked afterward). I did complete homework and exams when I had time.
The AI class got all of the press, but there was also a Machine Learning class and another class for something else (can't remember what) as well.
An example might be to create a software program that outputs every possible combination of notes permissible under the rules of standard musical notation, then file copyright on it.
In the 70s, George Harrison was successfully sued for "subconscious" plagiarism for the song "My Sweet Lord". According to the courts, Harrison stole a three-note sequence used in the title refrain from The Chiffons' "He's So Fine".
The "every possible combination of notes" approach would need to check to make sure that combinations weren't already claimed.
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/faq/ihl-video-games-faq-2011-12-08.htm
Remember when they launched the car at 70 mph (I think, under a semi trailer to make the car a convertible), but neglected to set-up anything to catch the car after it went under the trailer and it ended up getting launched outside of the test area.
My eBay check was $0.79. I guess that I need to do more transactions on eBay so next time there is a class action settlement, I'll get more a bigger payout!
There shouldn't be any excuse for tuition to be skyrocketing like it has for as long as it has.
Around here, one reason tuition keeps going up at public institutions is because, even in good times, the state was cutting back on what it was spending on post-secondary education. Gotta pay for the pay for the tax cuts, y'know.
>who's going to pick up any messages?
The city and county have EOCs (Emergency Operation Centers) with generators and battery backup. Those get tested in our drills. The other stations were we could be assigned (fire stations) also have alternate power.
Since I spent a lot of time using my radios in the woods, mine are handheld and mobile. When we lost power for days last year, I could still hit the club repeater, so its alternate power sources were working. My handheld will run for a couple of days on a set of 4 AAs and I can hit the club and county repeaters most places where I would be assigned during an emergency.
>Presumably the emergency services networks will still work all right anyway.
What we do is called the "Alternate Communications System". We are part of the emergency services network. I got an emergency worker ID card and went through a background check and, as previously noted, went through FEMA training. Some of the guys have even used their radios in actual emergencies.