I am imaging that he thinks of himself as one of those planners, and how DARE us unwashed heathens not just follow the routes our betters decide for us.
Um huh. Someone who is demanding to have some mythical fastest possible route, and diverts to my 25 mph street is not likely to be going 25 miles per hour. We've had a few of your entitled types who have tried to zip down our street at 90 (your 70 mph freeway speed plus the 20 for principle and getting away from those other drivers you consider assholes.
Its quite enjoyable as we watch our local boys busting them. The less insane ones, well let's just say our neighborhood understands parallel construction. Someone wants t drive 40 on our 25's, they just get a photo of their car and license given to our township police, and soon they help support the budget.
Don't like it? then don't drive any faster than 30 in our 25 mile zone. But that doesn't get you where you are going real quickly, eh?
The fact is that if the secondary/tertiary roads get blocked up due to google maps routing, then google maps will KEEP PEOPLE AWAY FROM THEM. THATS HOW IT WORKS!
Let's take your hypothetical yelling "that's how it works" statement. If everyone was using this, it would setup up an oscillation as people were constantly diverted from one road to another.
It is a bit less convenient for people who live in those areas? Sure. In which case lean on your town planners to avoid narrowing main roads for more bus/special/cycleway lanes, and make the primary roads larger..
Aside from your self entitled rant, and your concept that my inconvenience is some sort of right of yours, I am all for the local law enforcement lightening your wallet, and would rather agitate for tripling speeding and reckless driving fines on residential streets.
There is a reason we don't let people walk around on the interstates. There's a reason we don't want our residential streets to be interstate highways.
Long story short - you are quite welcome on our residential street. But if you can't follow the rules, we enjoy the hell out of making you a bit poorer. We might even chat with the township cop ticketing you a bit just to hold you up even morel And since the express purpose of these apps are to get people some place sooner, speeding is what the users are going to do when they are here.
It isn't illegal to use surveillance on your employees. However, it is highly unethical! I am not surprised that Google and Facebook engage in this behavior because they almost do it to their customers.
You can never even consciously use Facebook or Google, and they will still have quite an impressive dossier on you, without you knowing about it.
I've preached that for years. The closest a person can get to avoiding them is to block their scripts. But they are like the old Usenet trolls, they just keep adding more. This fact is not hard to show to folks.
But understanding that the toobz is not private place - never was, never will be - a person should conduct themselves knowing that is the case.
Unplugging totally is a pretty drastic step. Better to understand that the watchers are watching you, and if you need computer privacy, the internet is simply not the place to get it.
"Hybrids for years have been mostly niche products but are now on the cusp of a mainstream breakout," said Jim Farley, Ford president of global markets.
Toyota would like to have a word with you, Jim. So unsuccessful with the Prius that tools in their diesel trucks like to roll coal when they see them. A lot of them.
But seriously, statements like that show why Ford is far behind in the field.
The part I never understood about the Flint water crisis is why the State did not supply countertop filters and a few replacement cartridges to each household. It would have offered immediate protection until the protective coating had a chance to rebuild, at maybe 20% of the price of the first emergency aid payment.
It was probably the timing is my guess. I recall the very first reaction was denial that there was a problem, Where it gets really whacked is when the governor's representatives suggested, switching back t Detroit's water system, but the emergency manager refused. It isn't that the Governor and some others are without blame, but it is amazing that the emergency manager is not incarcerated. Relating to my beancounters not existing in reality, there are some calculations that can be done with the long term costs of this - lead poisoning is a horrorshow of reduced impulse control and IQ. So for whatever savings there may have been by doing the switch then doing nothing at first, there will be an ongoing cost of incarceration and medical treatment. for years. The for profit prison people should be orgasmic.
Good point about the bean counters.
In too many scenarios it's the money people who make the final decisions but not knowledgeable experts in the relevant field.
And you just have to love that beady-eyed beancounter look they have while determining others' fates.
Or in this particular case, Flint's fate.
Accountants have destroyed businesses as well with their precision and numbers, while forgetting that there are people in the mix. But yeah, the engineer doesn't have a chance against an emergency manager.
Flint's problem was self-inflicted, they quit buying water from Detroit and started sourcing from the Flint river, which is basically a cesspool and they didn't add the federally required phosphates to it.
Not certain of your point. But you are completely incorrect here. The "They" is not Flint The city of Flint Michigan was on the Detriot water system. The State appointed Emergency managers - not the local managers - made the determination to switch from the Detroit water system to the Flint River water system based on only financial considerations. According to the task force findings : "F-18. Emergency managers, not locally elected officials, made the decision to switch to the Flint River as Flint’s primary water supply source.
The problem as much as it can be boiled down is that under the emergency management, costs were considered, but not the quality of the water. Then when even the Governor's office suggested that the problem could be solved by switching back to Detroit water, the suggesstion was refused, again because of costs. This is probably bacause or incredible incompetence by appointing people who knew money, but absolutely nothing about health and welfare and environmental resources. Water supplies and quality is based upon engineering and chemistry, not bean counting.
Anyhow, here are the findings of the task force investigating the Flint Water problem - I'll warn you that it disagrees with your story.
How much of the water is actually filtered? I know where I live, most all tap water isn't filtered (well, large filters at the intake to stop fish and such), and the bottled water from springs, aquifers and glaciers, I'd assume aren't filtered.
I think most muni water systems are filtered. The amount of filtratration probably depends on teh source. The town where I grew up has a spring that pushes out a lot of already pretty pure water. But surface waters usually require some hefty filtration.
I built a swimming pool a few years ago, filled it with municipal water (ie - water tested/treated to applicable standards). Before turning on the pool filter and chemical treatment, it was DISGUSTING to the naked eye - green/muddy, tons of particulate. This was in Maine, where good quality water (ie, you would drink it upon inspection if you needed it) is easily found. A glassful dipped out of the pool looked ok, nothing you wouldn't drink. Only the depth of water I was looking at allowed me (unaided) to see what the water was really like.
Lessons learned:
A) You drink a lot of crap you (normally) cannot see.
B) Municipal water (tested, good-to-go) is absolutely not sparkling 'pure', hopefully just devoid of really bad pathogens.
Some places don't do a good job, it would appear. I do know that filling my spa is really nice and clear from our supply. You should probably get your tap water tested.
We've had our tap water tested against bottled, and it's better in all respects. A tad hard, good Magnesium content, and the taste is right up there with pure spring water from the local mountains.
But did you have it tested against Fiji water?
Just remember folks, that Bottled water you just paid 3 bucks for 12 ounces was bottled by a company that can make more money the cheaper they produce the stuff. Since most people are convinced it is better for us, they'll keep buying it no matter what.
How much of the water is actually filtered? I know where I live, most all tap water isn't filtered (well, large filters at the intake to stop fish and such), and the bottled water from springs, aquifers and glaciers, I'd assume aren't filtered.
I think most muni water systems are filtered. The amount of filtratration probably depends on teh source. The town where I grew up has a spring that pushes out a lot of already pretty pure water. But surface waters usually require some hefty filtration.
Some of them actually use reverse osmosis. All are filtered afaik. For example, Aquafina says it goes through reveres osmosis.
This would lead me to believe that the contamination is happening after the filtering.
That is my suspicion as well. 100 Microns is about.004 inch, which is visible to the naked eye. It would be a poor filter that can't handle 100 microns.
Demand has been flattening off, despite what many tell me. In my area, wind turbines are handling it, and you can now even see them starting and stopping as they adjust the peak load.
So at some point, will they even slow the rate of new installs? I suspect that will be exactly the case.
So the wild card here is indeed electric transportation. Will it save the utilities? I dunno. I've thought about an EV with a home solar charging station, and I bet a lot of others have as well. Then again, I'm still toying with the idea of going total solar and disconnecting from the grid altogether.
Most of us around the world pay taxes on every liter or gallon of petroleum our cars consume. In some countries it's a pretty high tax. If electric vehicles start making up a larger and larger % of vehicles on the road will there come an end where to be fair you need to drop the tax on fuel and instead tax electricity
It is an interesting situation. You have home electricity, vehicular electricity, and there is always the wild card - self produced electricity. My guess is that there will eventually be a fee in their somewhere for car owners. And that's okay, we do need the road upkeep, and toll roads aren't the answer.
"Microsoft is willing to reward anyone who reports bugs that could cause problems like earlier in the year"
Like, earlier in the year, like, January? February? How early in the year are we talking?
I'm in a cynical mood today, but given the forces involved, Microsoft and Intel, and the money involved, some little guy researching and reporting is as likely to be thrown in jail as catch the bounty.
I woudn't touch this unless there was a contract indemnifying me from any and all prosecution during the length of my research. Otherwise TCGFT's.
Honest question: is the 100 micron size for microplastics significant for some reason?
I think that the reason they used 100 micron is that it shows that the water contamination is coming after the water is filtered. 100 microns is pretty big.
Then again - and it is just my cynicism showing - I suspect that a lot of bottled water isn't filtered at all.
So, lemme get this straight. The water that comes shipped in plastic, also contains plastic?! Mind. Blown.
Next you're going to tell me that piping the universal solvent through lead pipes causes it to pick up lead.
The plastic almost certainly isn't coming from the water dissolving the plastic. Then there is always the issue of the tap water being tested being superior in this regard. You would think it would have a lot in it from the PVC pipes using that metric.
What I find amusing about this is that people have been sold the idea that bottled water is somehow healthier. for us. Excluding places like Flint, Michigan, it isn't.
We've had our tap water tested against bottled, and it's better in all respects. A tad hard, good Magnesium content, and the taste is right up there with pure spring water from the local mountains.
Just remember folks, that Bottled water you just paid 3 bucks for 12 ounces was bottled by a company that can make more money the cheaper they produce the stuff. Since most people are convinced it is better for us, they'll keep buying it no matter what.
Wat? They could easily use that same excuse for investing in Stock or Futures Markets, or precious metals.
Except financial markets are regulated, requiring disclosure laws and other things you need to be doing (like monitoring suspicious transactions).
Most Bolshy whooshes to you, citizen. For all of your rather long winded reply, it wasn't related to what I wrote. My response was to Google's screed about people losing money. Specifically
"... but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,"
Which applies to both bitcoin, stock market, precious metals, and futures. People can and do lose money in each - every day. regulations or no regulations. Its pretty lame when Google is sooooooo concerned about people losing money on bitcoin, while apparently it is no issue at all in any other investment.
"... but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,
I would like Google to tell us whether they have seen any customer benefit at all.
Or Slashdotters can tell us: Anyone know of any benefit related to cryptocurrencies?
Wat? They could easily use that same excuse for investing in Stock or Futures Markets, or precious metals. Bitcoin and others are fools games and a bubble waiting to burst, but risk equals potential for harm.
It would be smarter to simply claim Bitcoin et al are dumb.
Mcdonalds workers are underpaid.
No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country
Well, they certainly don't have a right to expect top notch people. Before I retired, I could do every job in our department. I could do it as well as the people who did it for their regular job. I'd put the time in and do the hard and odd jobs too. Some of the men were "job description" only, and almost none of the women would work overtime or travel. And they were all afraid to deal with the suits. So I'd pick up the slack.
Which is exactly why I was paid 3 times as much. If a person is competent enough and has the drive, they will do well.
People my age who thought I was some sort of suck-up or company man will have put in an extra twenty-four thousand hours by the time they retire - if they get to retire at the normal retirement age. That's 67 in my case - I retired at 55.
Do good work, and be rewarded.
Because they don't have current skills. I work with these 60 yo programmers and can't get rid of them soon enough. They learned one niche skillset in the 80s and never learned anything again.
They're plumbers that insist on only using lead pipe instead of PVC, Copper or PEX or electricians that insist on using knob and tube.
Their skillsets were top notch when what they knew was relevant. They played the waiting game of thinking they would make it to retirement before having to learn something new.
Look at how much whining occurs when Rust, Go or Python shows up on Slashdot.
Sure they are. That's why we keep getting called back to work after we retire. There wasn't one millenial hired at my work that knew more than me about anything we did. They thought they did, but us olde fartes put that notion to rest pretty quickly.
They were hella good at social media though.
There are some oldsters who don't keep up. Just the same as there are noobs who want a promotion to management based on their coming in on time for a week. But that olde farce who's been there over 30 years doesn't keep his or her job by being obsolete.
"The study, however, only shows there might be a correlation -- not a direct causal link -- between the warming Arctic and severe winters in the U.S. And it doesn't show how exactly the two are connected."
Hard to say if this is the usual tree hugger bias here or just sloppy reporting (or likely both...it is slashdot after all).
The story itself is just one of those noncommittal fluff pieces, I'm surprised they didn't get a flat earther to chime in, since all ideas have equal weight in such fluff.
But assuming a rotating globular landmass with a tilted axis wobbling it's way around it's energy source, there will be a variance in the amount of energy received and during the the times when the polar region is most opposed to the energy source, the less energy received and the colder the region.
Then coupled with the Coriolis effect and the natural energy shedding/absorbing effects, winter happens.
So what we have is some localized areas that are experiencing abnormal weather. The weather in the far Northeast of the US is anomalous. I live her too, but being outside the hard hit area, It has just been a fairly normal winter with a warm excursion in January.
But what it is, is an unstable situation. The polar North does not receive enough energy to sustain the temperatures it is experiencing now. Even way back in December, we could see this anomaly brewing.
So if warm air masses are being transported to the polar regions, guess what - we have cold masses somewhere. So welcome Far Northeastern US and parts ofEurope - it is your day in the barrel.
Now the main question at hand - is this attributable to the energy retention effects of an atmosphere based upon the composition of that atmosphere?
As a firm believer in that energy retention characteristic, my money is on "No", at least directly.
My money is on it being an anomaly, with the understanding that there is a non-zero chance I could be wrong, because one of the effects of a rapidlly changing atmosphere with regards to energy retention is it becomes unstable. And the present situation is unstable.
But just as a denier can look out the window and see snow, and say "So much for Global Warming!", a believer can look out the Window and say " Proof of global warming!". Problem is, they are both wrong, and confusing weather for climate.
Slashdot Mirror
I am imaging that he thinks of himself as one of those planners, and how DARE us unwashed heathens not just follow the routes our betters decide for us.
Um huh. Someone who is demanding to have some mythical fastest possible route, and diverts to my 25 mph street is not likely to be going 25 miles per hour. We've had a few of your entitled types who have tried to zip down our street at 90 (your 70 mph freeway speed plus the 20 for principle and getting away from those other drivers you consider assholes.
Its quite enjoyable as we watch our local boys busting them. The less insane ones, well let's just say our neighborhood understands parallel construction. Someone wants t drive 40 on our 25's, they just get a photo of their car and license given to our township police, and soon they help support the budget.
Don't like it? then don't drive any faster than 30 in our 25 mile zone. But that doesn't get you where you are going real quickly, eh?
The fact is that if the secondary/tertiary roads get blocked up due to google maps routing, then google maps will KEEP PEOPLE AWAY FROM THEM. THATS HOW IT WORKS!
Let's take your hypothetical yelling "that's how it works" statement. If everyone was using this, it would setup up an oscillation as people were constantly diverted from one road to another.
It is a bit less convenient for people who live in those areas? Sure. In which case lean on your town planners to avoid narrowing main roads for more bus/special/cycleway lanes, and make the primary roads larger..
Aside from your self entitled rant, and your concept that my inconvenience is some sort of right of yours, I am all for the local law enforcement lightening your wallet, and would rather agitate for tripling speeding and reckless driving fines on residential streets.
There is a reason we don't let people walk around on the interstates. There's a reason we don't want our residential streets to be interstate highways.
Long story short - you are quite welcome on our residential street. But if you can't follow the rules, we enjoy the hell out of making you a bit poorer. We might even chat with the township cop ticketing you a bit just to hold you up even morel And since the express purpose of these apps are to get people some place sooner, speeding is what the users are going to do when they are here.
It isn't illegal to use surveillance on your employees. However, it is highly unethical! I am not surprised that Google and Facebook engage in this behavior because they almost do it to their customers.
Almost?
You can never even consciously use Facebook or Google, and they will still have quite an impressive dossier on you, without you knowing about it.
I've preached that for years. The closest a person can get to avoiding them is to block their scripts. But they are like the old Usenet trolls, they just keep adding more. This fact is not hard to show to folks.
But understanding that the toobz is not private place - never was, never will be - a person should conduct themselves knowing that is the case.
Unplugging totally is a pretty drastic step. Better to understand that the watchers are watching you, and if you need computer privacy, the internet is simply not the place to get it.
Unplug. Disconnect -- have you tried it?
Bingo! And if one doesn't want to do that, caution is the watchword.
These people with their amusing concept of anonymity and privacy on the internet.. So cute and quaint.
It is as private as a Shopping Mall. It was never designed to be private, and in it's present form is hardly possible to make private.
And the more steps one takes to obfuscate who they are merely serves as a virtual neon sign that reads "look at ME - I'm interesting!"
So people need to understand that. If you are doing something illegal or that would embarrass you, teh intertoobz is hardly the place to be doing it.
Toyota would like to have a word with you, Jim. So unsuccessful with the Prius that tools in their diesel trucks like to roll coal when they see them. A lot of them.
But seriously, statements like that show why Ford is far behind in the field.
The part I never understood about the Flint water crisis is why the State did not supply countertop filters and a few replacement cartridges to each household. It would have offered immediate protection until the protective coating had a chance to rebuild, at maybe 20% of the price of the first emergency aid payment.
It was probably the timing is my guess. I recall the very first reaction was denial that there was a problem, Where it gets really whacked is when the governor's representatives suggested, switching back t Detroit's water system, but the emergency manager refused. It isn't that the Governor and some others are without blame, but it is amazing that the emergency manager is not incarcerated. Relating to my beancounters not existing in reality, there are some calculations that can be done with the long term costs of this - lead poisoning is a horrorshow of reduced impulse control and IQ. So for whatever savings there may have been by doing the switch then doing nothing at first, there will be an ongoing cost of incarceration and medical treatment. for years. The for profit prison people should be orgasmic.
Good point about the bean counters. In too many scenarios it's the money people who make the final decisions but not knowledgeable experts in the relevant field. And you just have to love that beady-eyed beancounter look they have while determining others' fates. Or in this particular case, Flint's fate.
Accountants have destroyed businesses as well with their precision and numbers, while forgetting that there are people in the mix. But yeah, the engineer doesn't have a chance against an emergency manager.
Flint's problem was self-inflicted, they quit buying water from Detroit and started sourcing from the Flint river, which is basically a cesspool and they didn't add the federally required phosphates to it.
Not certain of your point. But you are completely incorrect here. The "They" is not Flint The city of Flint Michigan was on the Detriot water system. The State appointed Emergency managers - not the local managers - made the determination to switch from the Detroit water system to the Flint River water system based on only financial considerations. According to the task force findings : "F-18. Emergency managers, not locally elected officials, made the decision to switch to the Flint River as Flint’s primary water supply source.
The problem as much as it can be boiled down is that under the emergency management, costs were considered, but not the quality of the water. Then when even the Governor's office suggested that the problem could be solved by switching back to Detroit water, the suggesstion was refused, again because of costs. This is probably bacause or incredible incompetence by appointing people who knew money, but absolutely nothing about health and welfare and environmental resources. Water supplies and quality is based upon engineering and chemistry, not bean counting.
Anyhow, here are the findings of the task force investigating the Flint Water problem - I'll warn you that it disagrees with your story.
http://www.michigan.gov/docume...
How much of the water is actually filtered? I know where I live, most all tap water isn't filtered (well, large filters at the intake to stop fish and such), and the bottled water from springs, aquifers and glaciers, I'd assume aren't filtered.
I think most muni water systems are filtered. The amount of filtratration probably depends on teh source. The town where I grew up has a spring that pushes out a lot of already pretty pure water. But surface waters usually require some hefty filtration.
I built a swimming pool a few years ago, filled it with municipal water (ie - water tested/treated to applicable standards). Before turning on the pool filter and chemical treatment, it was DISGUSTING to the naked eye - green/muddy, tons of particulate. This was in Maine, where good quality water (ie, you would drink it upon inspection if you needed it) is easily found. A glassful dipped out of the pool looked ok, nothing you wouldn't drink. Only the depth of water I was looking at allowed me (unaided) to see what the water was really like. Lessons learned: A) You drink a lot of crap you (normally) cannot see. B) Municipal water (tested, good-to-go) is absolutely not sparkling 'pure', hopefully just devoid of really bad pathogens.
Some places don't do a good job, it would appear. I do know that filling my spa is really nice and clear from our supply. You should probably get your tap water tested.
I had that happen just this morning on a less well protected computer. Fun stuff.
We've had our tap water tested against bottled, and it's better in all respects. A tad hard, good Magnesium content, and the taste is right up there with pure spring water from the local mountains.
But did you have it tested against Fiji water?
Just remember folks, that Bottled water you just paid 3 bucks for 12 ounces was bottled by a company that can make more money the cheaper they produce the stuff. Since most people are convinced it is better for us, they'll keep buying it no matter what.
Fiji water is magical. I'm convinced of it.
Tastes okay - a little alkaline.
How much of the water is actually filtered? I know where I live, most all tap water isn't filtered (well, large filters at the intake to stop fish and such), and the bottled water from springs, aquifers and glaciers, I'd assume aren't filtered.
I think most muni water systems are filtered. The amount of filtratration probably depends on teh source. The town where I grew up has a spring that pushes out a lot of already pretty pure water. But surface waters usually require some hefty filtration.
Some of them actually use reverse osmosis. All are filtered afaik. For example, Aquafina says it goes through reveres osmosis.
This would lead me to believe that the contamination is happening after the filtering.
That is my suspicion as well. 100 Microns is about .004 inch, which is visible to the naked eye. It would be a poor filter that can't handle 100 microns.
So at some point, will they even slow the rate of new installs? I suspect that will be exactly the case.
So the wild card here is indeed electric transportation. Will it save the utilities? I dunno. I've thought about an EV with a home solar charging station, and I bet a lot of others have as well. Then again, I'm still toying with the idea of going total solar and disconnecting from the grid altogether.
Most of us around the world pay taxes on every liter or gallon of petroleum our cars consume. In some countries it's a pretty high tax. If electric vehicles start making up a larger and larger % of vehicles on the road will there come an end where to be fair you need to drop the tax on fuel and instead tax electricity
It is an interesting situation. You have home electricity, vehicular electricity, and there is always the wild card - self produced electricity. My guess is that there will eventually be a fee in their somewhere for car owners. And that's okay, we do need the road upkeep, and toll roads aren't the answer.
"Microsoft is willing to reward anyone who reports bugs that could cause problems like earlier in the year"
Like, earlier in the year, like, January? February? How early in the year are we talking?
I'm in a cynical mood today, but given the forces involved, Microsoft and Intel, and the money involved, some little guy researching and reporting is as likely to be thrown in jail as catch the bounty.
I woudn't touch this unless there was a contract indemnifying me from any and all prosecution during the length of my research. Otherwise TCGFT's.
Honest question: is the 100 micron size for microplastics significant for some reason?
I think that the reason they used 100 micron is that it shows that the water contamination is coming after the water is filtered. 100 microns is pretty big.
Then again - and it is just my cynicism showing - I suspect that a lot of bottled water isn't filtered at all.
So, lemme get this straight. The water that comes shipped in plastic, also contains plastic?! Mind. Blown. Next you're going to tell me that piping the universal solvent through lead pipes causes it to pick up lead.
The plastic almost certainly isn't coming from the water dissolving the plastic. Then there is always the issue of the tap water being tested being superior in this regard. You would think it would have a lot in it from the PVC pipes using that metric.
What I find amusing about this is that people have been sold the idea that bottled water is somehow healthier. for us. Excluding places like Flint, Michigan, it isn't.
We've had our tap water tested against bottled, and it's better in all respects. A tad hard, good Magnesium content, and the taste is right up there with pure spring water from the local mountains.
Just remember folks, that Bottled water you just paid 3 bucks for 12 ounces was bottled by a company that can make more money the cheaper they produce the stuff. Since most people are convinced it is better for us, they'll keep buying it no matter what.
Except financial markets are regulated, requiring disclosure laws and other things you need to be doing (like monitoring suspicious transactions).
Most Bolshy whooshes to you, citizen. For all of your rather long winded reply, it wasn't related to what I wrote. My response was to Google's screed about people losing money. Specifically
"... but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,"
Which applies to both bitcoin, stock market, precious metals, and futures. People can and do lose money in each - every day. regulations or no regulations. Its pretty lame when Google is sooooooo concerned about people losing money on bitcoin, while apparently it is no issue at all in any other investment.
Thank you for the know-nothing know-it-all summary.
Yeah - your post was so much better. You sound pretty bitter.
"... but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,
I would like Google to tell us whether they have seen any customer benefit at all.
Or Slashdotters can tell us: Anyone know of any benefit related to cryptocurrencies?
Wat? They could easily use that same excuse for investing in Stock or Futures Markets, or precious metals. Bitcoin and others are fools games and a bubble waiting to burst, but risk equals potential for harm.
It would be smarter to simply claim Bitcoin et al are dumb.
Mcdonalds workers are underpaid. No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country
Well, they certainly don't have a right to expect top notch people. Before I retired, I could do every job in our department. I could do it as well as the people who did it for their regular job. I'd put the time in and do the hard and odd jobs too. Some of the men were "job description" only, and almost none of the women would work overtime or travel. And they were all afraid to deal with the suits. So I'd pick up the slack.
Which is exactly why I was paid 3 times as much. If a person is competent enough and has the drive, they will do well.
People my age who thought I was some sort of suck-up or company man will have put in an extra twenty-four thousand hours by the time they retire - if they get to retire at the normal retirement age. That's 67 in my case - I retired at 55. Do good work, and be rewarded.
Because they don't have current skills. I work with these 60 yo programmers and can't get rid of them soon enough. They learned one niche skillset in the 80s and never learned anything again.
They're plumbers that insist on only using lead pipe instead of PVC, Copper or PEX or electricians that insist on using knob and tube.
Their skillsets were top notch when what they knew was relevant. They played the waiting game of thinking they would make it to retirement before having to learn something new.
Look at how much whining occurs when Rust, Go or Python shows up on Slashdot.
Sure they are. That's why we keep getting called back to work after we retire. There wasn't one millenial hired at my work that knew more than me about anything we did. They thought they did, but us olde fartes put that notion to rest pretty quickly.
They were hella good at social media though.
There are some oldsters who don't keep up. Just the same as there are noobs who want a promotion to management based on their coming in on time for a week. But that olde farce who's been there over 30 years doesn't keep his or her job by being obsolete.
"The study, however, only shows there might be a correlation -- not a direct causal link -- between the warming Arctic and severe winters in the U.S. And it doesn't show how exactly the two are connected."
Hard to say if this is the usual tree hugger bias here or just sloppy reporting (or likely both...it is slashdot after all).
The story itself is just one of those noncommittal fluff pieces, I'm surprised they didn't get a flat earther to chime in, since all ideas have equal weight in such fluff.
But assuming a rotating globular landmass with a tilted axis wobbling it's way around it's energy source, there will be a variance in the amount of energy received and during the the times when the polar region is most opposed to the energy source, the less energy received and the colder the region.
Then coupled with the Coriolis effect and the natural energy shedding/absorbing effects, winter happens.
So what we have is some localized areas that are experiencing abnormal weather. The weather in the far Northeast of the US is anomalous. I live her too, but being outside the hard hit area, It has just been a fairly normal winter with a warm excursion in January.
But what it is, is an unstable situation. The polar North does not receive enough energy to sustain the temperatures it is experiencing now. Even way back in December, we could see this anomaly brewing.
So if warm air masses are being transported to the polar regions, guess what - we have cold masses somewhere. So welcome Far Northeastern US and parts ofEurope - it is your day in the barrel.
Now the main question at hand - is this attributable to the energy retention effects of an atmosphere based upon the composition of that atmosphere?
As a firm believer in that energy retention characteristic, my money is on "No", at least directly.
My money is on it being an anomaly, with the understanding that there is a non-zero chance I could be wrong, because one of the effects of a rapidlly changing atmosphere with regards to energy retention is it becomes unstable. And the present situation is unstable.
But just as a denier can look out the window and see snow, and say "So much for Global Warming!", a believer can look out the Window and say " Proof of global warming!". Problem is, they are both wrong, and confusing weather for climate.
Yes ISIS and the Taliban are shaking in their boots. Let us know if you ever win Korea too.
You do realize the difference between total war and the Republican economy stimulous version of war don't you?