The last time that I (a US citizen) flew back from Canada (last December), I got directed to a kiosk that I inserted my passport into and that took a photo of my face. When I got my last passport photo, I was clean shaven, had just got my haircut and was 20 lbs heavier. When I went through Passport Control, I hadn't had an opportunity to shave for a few days, I hadn't had much sleep either and it had been a couple months since I got my haircut. The kiosk could not match my passport photo against how I looked, so I was directed to a Immigrations officer. He could instantly tell that the photo matched my face.
Most of the people going through Passport Control didn't seem to have the same problem, which was fine because there was a long line for the station after the kiosk and no line for an Immigration officer, so, in the end, I got through more quickly.
But isn't connecting a car to the internet inherently stupid (for the consumer, not the vendor)? The risk of theft and car crashes via hacking are inherent in such a design decision whereas there are few benefits, such as getting updates without visiting the dealer.
...
It's like connecting your toaster to the internet -- pointless and not very useful.
Right. There is no conceivable use case to connect a car to the internet. Current traffic conditions and best route information for current conditions? What use is there for that? Streaming music? Who would want that? Automated reporting of accidents when the occupants are non-responsive? What a dumb idea, right?
In VAG cars, and possibly many others, that honk is an option which can be changed by twiddling an option code which can be looked up in the dealer's service data (which comes on DVD.)
What's your point? Most alarms give an indication that the system is armed and most people that I know look for that indication as they walk away. If the horn doesn't sound or the lights don't flash when I arm the alarm, I check to see why not.
They are making things right tomorrow by upgrading every Dexluxe owner for free and putting back the features in next year's version. The CEO also gave a very sincere apology.
They are nowhere close to making it right.
I have been using TurboTax Deluxe for 15+ years without even thinking about it. I have a minimal amount of iOS app income (net about $100/year right now) so I need to file a minimal Schedule C. I bought TurboTax for 2014 a couple of weeks ago and installed it, but was waiting for W-2s, so hadn't entered any numbers yet.
A week and a half ago, Intuit and its CEO sent me e-mail with a "very sincere apology" that explained that I was eligible for $25 towards upgrading. As explained in the e-mail, they were improving the customer experience by removing functionality and it was really being done for customer benefit or something like that. I had no idea what the letter was referring to, so did a search and found that they had disabled Schedules C, D & E in TurboTax Deluxe and there had been a huge outcry.
I thought that they had disabled the wizards that walk you through the forms, but found out that I was wrong when I started entering numbers into TurboTax. I tried to select Schedule C and was told that I needed to upgrade TurboTax and that it would cost $40. Note that Intuit was only offering to reimburse $25 towards an upgrade. At that point, I removed TurboTax from my computer and returned it to Costco and bought competing tax software.
One interesting thing to note is that the product info on the Intuit web page still indicated that TurboTax Deluxe could be used to file Schedule C even though it actually could not.
Yesterday, Intuit and its CEO sent me another e-mail with a "very sincere apology" which explained the they would be reverting TurboTax Deluxe back to the way that has been for years (but, if you had already paid for an upgrade and already filed your taxes, they were still only reimbursing $25, even though the actual upgrade cost could be more). Since I now already have other tax software, I will not be taking them up on the offer.
As I said, I would just buy TurboTax every year without thinking about it and I know a lot of people who did the same. The idea to try and squeeze even more money out of people, resulting in people thinking about whether to buy their product and considering a competitor, has got to be among the worst 'penny-wise, pound-foolish' business decisions ever made.
In some countries bribes are just part of doing business. In others it is quite illegal.
So, corruption is okay as long as it is culturally acceptable? I see.
Greed trumps ethics and morals.
In a word, yes.
What is ethical and moral is dependent on the culture. If a culture's idea of what is ethical and moral conflicts with your own, then you are free to not do business in there. You can also sit on your high horse and complain about how unethical and immoral they are (by your standards), while they don't give a damn what you think.
Scaled Composites' role in Virgin Galactic has been winding down for a while. IIRC, the LA Times story mentions this, possibly in a quote from the Scaled Composites guy.
The Spaceship Company was formed as a joint effort between Virgin and Scaled (Branson and Rutan). Scaled built the first WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, but the plan was for TSC to build the subsequent ones. Virgin bought out Scaled's part of TSC in 2012.
Why is it surprising that Scaled's role is continuing to wind down? Isn't that the way that things work with them anyway? They work with clients to develop designs and build prototypes, not refine a product (i.e., the planned Virgin Galactic fleet).
When I worked in Germany, my car was a weekend toy and I took the U-Bahn to work. However, most of the people in my group drove to work as did my "handler" (the guy who dealt with the paperwork so I could work in Germany).
I get into the "Life in a Police State" meme as much as the next guy, but if you think that this stuff started after 9/11 or any other recent event, I suggest that you study more history of this country.
The FBI has been ignoring the 4th Amendment and using available technology to do so since the organization was created. Before that, the Feds would contract with detective agencies, like Pinkerton, that would often ignore the 4th Amendment (as well as others). Local law enforcement have been ignoring it and, when caught violating it, retroactively making up enough story (depending on how friendly the local judiciary is) to artificially demonstrate compliance for even longer.
The person who wrote "the rot started in 1787" is correct. People with authority often (usually?) lose sight of what they are defending and need to be reminded of it. This can take the form of new laws or lawsuits or civil action or something else.
But the real problem is that, on the whole, the people of this country only really care about the particular rights that they wish to exercise when they want to exercise them and otherwise don't give a damn (or, to be more polite about it, are too busy living their lives to be concerned).
No, the taxi drivers are arguing they can be the only ones to drive people to their destination and charge them for the ride.
Yeah, and it probably has nothing to do with this.
If you don't want to follow the link, it is NYC Taxi drivers selling their medallions to operate a taxi for close to a million dollars. It seems to be around 300,000 Euro for one in Paris.
I call BS. The last MAX train leaves PDX at 11:49pm. There are about three flights that get in too late to catch that train. And, depending on how much you tip, the taxi ride from the airport to downtown is about $40.
It turns out that SpaceShipTwo is the only one and now that it's gone, well, they have to rebuild it again and go through all the testing again, which means delays. At the very least, rebuilding SpaceShipTwo would take months (if not a year), which would push out the date by a year.
Do some homework before posting.
The SpaceShipTwo that crashed was VSS Enterprise. Virgin Galactic has contracted to have five SpaceShipTwo's and a similar number of WhiteKnightTwo lifting aircraft built. The second SpaceShipTwo is VSS Voyager and is, according to reports, 65% finished and is scheduled to be done in 2016. Scaled Composites built VSS Enterprise and Virgin-owned The Spaceship Company (TSC) is building the remaining ships.
How much money did NTSB spend on the investigation of the Payne Stewart's Learjet accident or Steve Fossett's accident?
As other have noted, Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites/The Spaceship Company are seeking FAA certification for SpaceShipTwo, so, of course, the NTSB would be involved in the investigation of the crash.
How is this even close to right, as least as it applies to what happened on Friday? One test pilot/engineer (not a half dozen space tourists) was killed and Virgin Galactic is continuing on.
The real cost is having to buy a new Mac every few years because the latest upgrade was an upgrade too far. Well, at least it easier to roll back, compared to an iPhone.
Why is this insightful?
According to Apple, the latest version of OS X is supported on mid-2007 hardware. I am running late 2007 Apple hardware (and 2012 hardware). I don't intend to upgrade to Yosemite, but I could. I get more life out of Apple laptops than I do out of inexpensive Windows laptops.
iOS devices are another story. Apple abandons them fairly quickly.
Projectiles are a reasonable concern, but projectiles are not limited to personal electronic devices. Books have been mentioned here and were mentioned by the FAA lawyer in court. The seat belt buckle used in the safety demonstration could become a projectile as well. There are lots of non-electronic items inside of an aircraft that could become projectiles.
One basis for the lawsuit is that the FAA did not follow the rules for changing its guidelines, because, for example, there was no public comment period before the change was made. Saying that the "new rules violate federal regulations requiring passengers to stow all items during takeoff and landing" is non-sensical because the new rules are federal regulations.
Note that this was a change in the rules for what the airlines can allow, not what the public can carry on and use on the airline. It does not give you the right to play Angry Birds during taxi; it allows the airline to verify you playing Angry Birds will not interfere with the operation of the aircraft and, if it doesn't, allow you to play Angry Birds during takeoff and landing.
What subset of flight attendants were pushing for this lawsuit? The crews on the flights that I have been on since the rule change have had no problem at all with the change. It makes their job easier.
The Finnish capital has announced plans to transform its existing public transport network into a comprehensive, point-to-point "mobility on demand" system by 2025 – one that, in theory, would be so good nobody would have any reason to own a car.
Lots of people drive their cars because it is enjoyable to drive. But I guess that isn't a reason to drive.
According to a JPL article, "During their exploration of Mars, the rovers have recorded temperatures ranging from midday highs of about 35 degrees C" (Source link). Making the range a round number like 40 C seems reasonable in this instance.
I have been hearing that fusion is about 30 years away since I first heard about fusion power 32 years ago. So, it was funny to read TFA and see the date of when it might be available as 30-odd years away.
Slashdot Mirror
The last time that I (a US citizen) flew back from Canada (last December), I got directed to a kiosk that I inserted my passport into and that took a photo of my face. When I got my last passport photo, I was clean shaven, had just got my haircut and was 20 lbs heavier. When I went through Passport Control, I hadn't had an opportunity to shave for a few days, I hadn't had much sleep either and it had been a couple months since I got my haircut. The kiosk could not match my passport photo against how I looked, so I was directed to a Immigrations officer. He could instantly tell that the photo matched my face.
Most of the people going through Passport Control didn't seem to have the same problem, which was fine because there was a long line for the station after the kiosk and no line for an Immigration officer, so, in the end, I got through more quickly.
But isn't connecting a car to the internet inherently stupid (for the consumer, not the vendor)? The risk of theft and car crashes via hacking are inherent in such a design decision whereas there are few benefits, such as getting updates without visiting the dealer.
It's like connecting your toaster to the internet -- pointless and not very useful.
Right. There is no conceivable use case to connect a car to the internet. Current traffic conditions and best route information for current conditions? What use is there for that? Streaming music? Who would want that? Automated reporting of accidents when the occupants are non-responsive? What a dumb idea, right?
In VAG cars, and possibly many others, that honk is an option which can be changed by twiddling an option code which can be looked up in the dealer's service data (which comes on DVD.)
What's your point? Most alarms give an indication that the system is armed and most people that I know look for that indication as they walk away. If the horn doesn't sound or the lights don't flash when I arm the alarm, I check to see why not.
They are making things right tomorrow by upgrading every Dexluxe owner for free and putting back the features in next year's version. The CEO also gave a very sincere apology.
They are nowhere close to making it right.
I have been using TurboTax Deluxe for 15+ years without even thinking about it. I have a minimal amount of iOS app income (net about $100/year right now) so I need to file a minimal Schedule C. I bought TurboTax for 2014 a couple of weeks ago and installed it, but was waiting for W-2s, so hadn't entered any numbers yet.
A week and a half ago, Intuit and its CEO sent me e-mail with a "very sincere apology" that explained that I was eligible for $25 towards upgrading. As explained in the e-mail, they were improving the customer experience by removing functionality and it was really being done for customer benefit or something like that. I had no idea what the letter was referring to, so did a search and found that they had disabled Schedules C, D & E in TurboTax Deluxe and there had been a huge outcry.
I thought that they had disabled the wizards that walk you through the forms, but found out that I was wrong when I started entering numbers into TurboTax. I tried to select Schedule C and was told that I needed to upgrade TurboTax and that it would cost $40. Note that Intuit was only offering to reimburse $25 towards an upgrade. At that point, I removed TurboTax from my computer and returned it to Costco and bought competing tax software.
One interesting thing to note is that the product info on the Intuit web page still indicated that TurboTax Deluxe could be used to file Schedule C even though it actually could not.
Yesterday, Intuit and its CEO sent me another e-mail with a "very sincere apology" which explained the they would be reverting TurboTax Deluxe back to the way that has been for years (but, if you had already paid for an upgrade and already filed your taxes, they were still only reimbursing $25, even though the actual upgrade cost could be more). Since I now already have other tax software, I will not be taking them up on the offer.
As I said, I would just buy TurboTax every year without thinking about it and I know a lot of people who did the same. The idea to try and squeeze even more money out of people, resulting in people thinking about whether to buy their product and considering a competitor, has got to be among the worst 'penny-wise, pound-foolish' business decisions ever made.
In some countries bribes are just part of doing business. In others it is quite illegal.
So, corruption is okay as long as it is culturally acceptable? I see.
Greed trumps ethics and morals.
In a word, yes.
What is ethical and moral is dependent on the culture. If a culture's idea of what is ethical and moral conflicts with your own, then you are free to not do business in there. You can also sit on your high horse and complain about how unethical and immoral they are (by your standards), while they don't give a damn what you think.
sorry no... even the blizzard of 78 cities didn't close down, we got started later as everyone dug out.... travel bans, city closures, nope.
My wife grew up in the Boston area and was there during the Blizzard of '78. Her school was shut down for a week.
Scaled Composites' role in Virgin Galactic has been winding down for a while. IIRC, the LA Times story mentions this, possibly in a quote from the Scaled Composites guy.
The Spaceship Company was formed as a joint effort between Virgin and Scaled (Branson and Rutan). Scaled built the first WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo, but the plan was for TSC to build the subsequent ones. Virgin bought out Scaled's part of TSC in 2012.
Why is it surprising that Scaled's role is continuing to wind down? Isn't that the way that things work with them anyway? They work with clients to develop designs and build prototypes, not refine a product (i.e., the planned Virgin Galactic fleet).
When I worked in Germany, my car was a weekend toy and I took the U-Bahn to work. However, most of the people in my group drove to work as did my "handler" (the guy who dealt with the paperwork so I could work in Germany).
Huh, actually had to google what Botts' dots are. FTL: rarely used in regions with substantial snowfall, because snow plows damage or dislodge them.
Wouldn't do much good up where I live if they can't take snow plows. Instead of dots to provide 'rumble' we put notches in the pavement.
Now something that you can sink into the pavement, sort of like a concrete screw? That might work.
Another trick that is becoming more common is notching the pavement with an inset for the Botts' dot so it doesn't stick up into the plow blade.
"How many people were killed in the name of Christianity in the past 100 years? last 50? Last 10???"
Pretty much Zero, Nil, Nilch, Nada, None.
Except for these?
I get into the "Life in a Police State" meme as much as the next guy, but if you think that this stuff started after 9/11 or any other recent event, I suggest that you study more history of this country.
The FBI has been ignoring the 4th Amendment and using available technology to do so since the organization was created. Before that, the Feds would contract with detective agencies, like Pinkerton, that would often ignore the 4th Amendment (as well as others). Local law enforcement have been ignoring it and, when caught violating it, retroactively making up enough story (depending on how friendly the local judiciary is) to artificially demonstrate compliance for even longer.
The person who wrote "the rot started in 1787" is correct. People with authority often (usually?) lose sight of what they are defending and need to be reminded of it. This can take the form of new laws or lawsuits or civil action or something else.
But the real problem is that, on the whole, the people of this country only really care about the particular rights that they wish to exercise when they want to exercise them and otherwise don't give a damn (or, to be more polite about it, are too busy living their lives to be concerned).
No, the taxi drivers are arguing they can be the only ones to drive people to their destination and charge them for the ride.
Yeah, and it probably has nothing to do with this.
If you don't want to follow the link, it is NYC Taxi drivers selling their medallions to operate a taxi for close to a million dollars. It seems to be around 300,000 Euro for one in Paris.
For the unaware, the USA has no official language.
But English is the official language of California by ballot proposition and constitutional amendment (Article 3 Section 6).
I call BS. The last MAX train leaves PDX at 11:49pm. There are about three flights that get in too late to catch that train. And, depending on how much you tip, the taxi ride from the airport to downtown is about $40.
How much money did NTSB spend on the investigation of the Payne Stewart's Learjet accident or Steve Fossett's accident?
As other have noted, Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites/The Spaceship Company are seeking FAA certification for SpaceShipTwo, so, of course, the NTSB would be involved in the investigation of the crash.
The problem is that SS2 is just a playtoy for the rich. Should we also fund investigations into deaths caused by America's Cup boats?
So, the SF Police and the Coast Guard weren't involved in the investigation of the America's Cup sailor who was killed while practicing in 2013?
Here is the link.
How is this even close to right, as least as it applies to what happened on Friday? One test pilot/engineer (not a half dozen space tourists) was killed and Virgin Galactic is continuing on.
The real cost is having to buy a new Mac every few years because the latest upgrade was an upgrade too far. Well, at least it easier to roll back, compared to an iPhone.
Why is this insightful?
According to Apple, the latest version of OS X is supported on mid-2007 hardware. I am running late 2007 Apple hardware (and 2012 hardware). I don't intend to upgrade to Yosemite, but I could. I get more life out of Apple laptops than I do out of inexpensive Windows laptops.
iOS devices are another story. Apple abandons them fairly quickly.
Projectiles are a reasonable concern, but projectiles are not limited to personal electronic devices. Books have been mentioned here and were mentioned by the FAA lawyer in court. The seat belt buckle used in the safety demonstration could become a projectile as well. There are lots of non-electronic items inside of an aircraft that could become projectiles.
One basis for the lawsuit is that the FAA did not follow the rules for changing its guidelines, because, for example, there was no public comment period before the change was made. Saying that the "new rules violate federal regulations requiring passengers to stow all items during takeoff and landing" is non-sensical because the new rules are federal regulations.
Note that this was a change in the rules for what the airlines can allow, not what the public can carry on and use on the airline. It does not give you the right to play Angry Birds during taxi; it allows the airline to verify you playing Angry Birds will not interfere with the operation of the aircraft and, if it doesn't, allow you to play Angry Birds during takeoff and landing.
Here is the FAA notice on expanded electronics use in case you want to read more about how the change was made and what the change was.
What subset of flight attendants were pushing for this lawsuit? The crews on the flights that I have been on since the rule change have had no problem at all with the change. It makes their job easier.
From the linked story:
The Finnish capital has announced plans to transform its existing public transport network into a comprehensive, point-to-point "mobility on demand" system by 2025 – one that, in theory, would be so good nobody would have any reason to own a car.
Lots of people drive their cars because it is enjoyable to drive. But I guess that isn't a reason to drive.
According to a JPL article, "During their exploration of Mars, the rovers have recorded temperatures ranging from midday highs of about 35 degrees C" (Source link). Making the range a round number like 40 C seems reasonable in this instance.
I have been hearing that fusion is about 30 years away since I first heard about fusion power 32 years ago. So, it was funny to read TFA and see the date of when it might be available as 30-odd years away.