The problem with privatizing something like fire departments. Let's sat you don't pay for private fire department service and your house is burning down. Do you negotiate the price as your house is burning? If you don't, they might charge more than the house is worth to put out the fire. The catch is, who could bargain for a better deal under these circumstances. This is true for all emergency services.
They might not get into accidents but their driving might cause other drivers to get into them by trying to avoid these idiots. On a related issue, a friend was always getting hit from behind. When someone was tailgating him, he would hit the brakes, HARD! After several tail end accidents, his insurance company came down on him for causing the accident even though legally he wasn't liable. Needless to say, he stopped that nonsense.
"If it works out it really holds promise for people with color blindness and other vision problems."
It's unlikely that it will fix color blindness because that problem is in the retina itself. In fact, it probably won't fix most eye problems with the possible exception of near/far-sightedness and astigmatism, which are due to the shape of the cornea.
I live in an upscale condominium development. The major ISP's all want a piece of the pie but will not allow competitors to use their "last mile" of cable. As a result, we have three ISP's (maybe more) running their cable everywhere in the development. It's a terrible waste of resources. I recently moved into my condo and the previous owner used Comcast. I wouldn't use Comcast if it was the last ISP on earth and fortunately didn't have to. The new ISP had to rewire my condo and the old Comcast wiring is still in so I have wires from two competing ISP's in my condo. I don't use Comcast, but their cable is still there.
If companies that put in the physical "last mile" had to allow their competitors to use it, it would be a better use of resources.
Yes but there is a BIG difference between 8 bit vs. 32 bit and 64 bit vs. 128 bit address space! We can visualize numbers that are 8 bit (approx. 1,000,000) and 32 bit (approx. 4,000,000,000) numbers. We need analogies like the number or grains of sand on earth or the number of subatomic particles in the universe to visualize how large a 64 bit or 128 bit number is. 128 bit addressing is just wasteful. Don't even get started on estimating the size of a 256 bit number!
Although I didn't read the article (This is Slashdot after all!) I would bet that they are not referring to addressing lines but to data lines. It would allow data to be taken in at larger gulps. I seriously doubt that computers in the foreseeable future would need 128 bit addressing. Hell even 64 bit addressing is unlikely to be exhausted!
The Silmarillion is a book with many stories loosely joined by a single theme. The individual stories are disjointed enough that making a single movie would be terrible. Most of the stories are fleshed out enough that you could make a single movie about them. The question is, "will the movie going public go to see them?" I think that the Silmarillion is a niche subject that many LOTR fans haven't read. How do you expect the general population th get interested.
Tell that to the British pilots that shot down many Argentinian Mirage fighters in the Falklands war. One of the major determining factors in the outcome of a dogfight is the training and experience of the pilot. There are also examples of Me-262 (jet) fighters being shot down by much slower propeller driven fighters.
"then why not just leave it to vigilante committees?"
Are you crazy or just haven't taken your medications today?
There are several reasons why civilized society abandoned long ago.
1. If the vigilante mob gets it wrong, there would be hell to pay from their victims family and supporters. Would they then be justified in going after members of the original mob?
2. Mobs have a nasty habit of not dispersing when their business is over.
3. The justice meted out by a vigilante mob is very highly variable and often is far in excess of what the punishment should be.
There are too many objections to list them all. Perhaps others could come up with a more complete list.
Fine print is only part of the problem. I once read through a contract (it almost sounds un-American to do so) and came upon a large paragraph. It was in a normal font of about 12 pts. It was so intentionally obfuscated and filled with legalese that it was almost impossible to understand. It was about 10 lines long and it consisted of a SINGLE sentence! This sort of nonsense has got to stop. There was a movement to ban legalese and maybe that movement has to be revived. At the very least it has to be scaled back.
I am not a nuclear physicist so maybe my question is understandable...
I thought that when you get to the molecular level The uncertainty principle would start to take effect. Very large molecules like DNA might be observable but what about smaller molecules? At what size scale would the uncertainty principle make observation impossible?
Note: on further investigation, it seems that we are talking about 12 or 24 blimps. Taking 24 that puts the cost at 58.3 million. Given much of the costs are in ground facilities and development, but the total cost is just too high for something that can easily be shot down. The entire program sounds like the infamous $800 toilet seat the military paid for.
You are forgetting something... The estimated cost of 1.4 billion! How many blimps are we talking about? Knowing the military, not very many. Even if 1,000 blimps are built we are talking about 1.4 million.
I hate to pop your balloon (pun intended) but 10,000 feet is not that high. In World War 2 the Germans had anti-aircraft guns that could easily get to much over 20,000 feet. Many cheap modern shoulder held anti-aircraft missiles can easily shoot this high and a blimp would be easy to hit. It might be safe from small arms fire but a few small holes wouldn't hurt it much. An anti-aircraft missile is another matter.
Yes, but they also eliminated the costs to them of that 30% of CPU time. It actually might have boosted their bottom line. I do not have the means to do a cost analysis but loosing 2% of their users might be outweigh the costs of keeping those 2%.
Easy! If they did start with messing with the page ranking they would be perceived (correctly) as not being impartial. If they loose their aura of impartiality they loose everything. People will start to look for a better search engine.
For those of you that can't spell too well and depend on a spell checker to help out...
It won't always get you out of trouble. My brother asked me to proof read his resume. He used a spell checker and thought that there were not going to be any problems there. Yes, the spelling in the resume was correct but among glaring errors he wrote that he "attended three years at a local collage."
If you don't see what is wrong with that statement, you have been relying too heavily on spell checkers. They do help but they are no substitute for knowing how to spell.
The full story might still be written on this one. According to CORPORATE studies (or studies funded by corporations) they are safe. Government studies are almost as questionable because the corporations and the government are so closely aligned. It's only when something catastrophic happens that the full truth comes out. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of the tinfoil hat crowd but one doesn't know the long term results until some time has past.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with privatizing something like fire departments. Let's sat you don't pay for private fire department service and your house is burning down. Do you negotiate the price as your house is burning? If you don't, they might charge more than the house is worth to put out the fire. The catch is, who could bargain for a better deal under these circumstances. This is true for all emergency services.
They might not get into accidents but their driving might cause other drivers to get into them by trying to avoid these idiots. On a related issue, a friend was always getting hit from behind. When someone was tailgating him, he would hit the brakes, HARD! After several tail end accidents, his insurance company came down on him for causing the accident even though legally he wasn't liable. Needless to say, he stopped that nonsense.
"If it works out it really holds promise for people with color blindness and other vision problems."
It's unlikely that it will fix color blindness because that problem is in the retina itself. In fact, it probably won't fix most eye problems with the possible exception of near/far-sightedness and astigmatism, which are due to the shape of the cornea.
I live in an upscale condominium development. The major ISP's all want a piece of the pie but will not allow competitors to use their "last mile" of cable. As a result, we have three ISP's (maybe more) running their cable everywhere in the development. It's a terrible waste of resources. I recently moved into my condo and the previous owner used Comcast. I wouldn't use Comcast if it was the last ISP on earth and fortunately didn't have to. The new ISP had to rewire my condo and the old Comcast wiring is still in so I have wires from two competing ISP's in my condo. I don't use Comcast, but their cable is still there.
If companies that put in the physical "last mile" had to allow their competitors to use it, it would be a better use of resources.
Yes but there is a BIG difference between 8 bit vs. 32 bit and 64 bit vs. 128 bit address space! We can visualize numbers that are 8 bit (approx. 1,000,000) and 32 bit (approx. 4,000,000,000) numbers. We need analogies like the number or grains of sand on earth or the number of subatomic particles in the universe to visualize how large a 64 bit or 128 bit number is. 128 bit addressing is just wasteful. Don't even get started on estimating the size of a 256 bit number!
Although I didn't read the article (This is Slashdot after all!) I would bet that they are not referring to addressing lines but to data lines. It would allow data to be taken in at larger gulps. I seriously doubt that computers in the foreseeable future would need 128 bit addressing. Hell even 64 bit addressing is unlikely to be exhausted!
The Silmarillion is a book with many stories loosely joined by a single theme. The individual stories are disjointed enough that making a single movie would be terrible. Most of the stories are fleshed out enough that you could make a single movie about them. The question is, "will the movie going public go to see them?" I think that the Silmarillion is a niche subject that many LOTR fans haven't read. How do you expect the general population th get interested.
He was also trying to make a point but, yes, everything was taken into account.
The answer to this was "an average speed of 50 mph" (in the exam question) which takes into account the road conditions.
I believe the copyright law provides for even greater penalties when the intent is to make copies with the intent to distribute FOR PROFIT!
This sort of thing reminds me of an exam question ohe of my CS professors once asked on an exam.
"Which is more efficient? (or has more bandwidth)
1. An 18-wheeler truck hauling a full load of hard drives (filled to capacity) traveling from New York to San Francisco at an average speed of 50 mph.
or
2. A T1 line transmitting the same data data.
(The necessary data was given as part of the exam question.)
I agree but we want that to be a supplement to regular schooling. Outside the school learning is valuable but I don't think it should replace it.
Yes, probably a lot of slashdotters did just that. What we are talking about is a career of dishwashing.
"As the fighter types say - speed is life -"
Tell that to the British pilots that shot down many Argentinian Mirage fighters in the Falklands war. One of the major determining factors in the outcome of a dogfight is the training and experience of the pilot. There are also examples of Me-262 (jet) fighters being shot down by much slower propeller driven fighters.
"then why not just leave it to vigilante committees?"
Are you crazy or just haven't taken your medications today?
There are several reasons why civilized society abandoned long ago.
1. If the vigilante mob gets it wrong, there would be hell to pay from their victims family and supporters. Would they then be justified in going after members of the original mob?
2. Mobs have a nasty habit of not dispersing when their business is over.
3. The justice meted out by a vigilante mob is very highly variable and often is far in excess of what the punishment should be.
There are too many objections to list them all. Perhaps others could come up with a more complete list.
Fine print is only part of the problem. I once read through a contract (it almost sounds un-American to do so) and came upon a large paragraph. It was in a normal font of about 12 pts. It was so intentionally obfuscated and filled with legalese that it was almost impossible to understand. It was about 10 lines long and it consisted of a SINGLE sentence! This sort of nonsense has got to stop. There was a movement to ban legalese and maybe that movement has to be revived. At the very least it has to be scaled back.
I am not a nuclear physicist so maybe my question is understandable...
I thought that when you get to the molecular level The uncertainty principle would start to take effect. Very large molecules like DNA might be observable but what about smaller molecules? At what size scale would the uncertainty principle make observation impossible?
Note: on further investigation, it seems that we are talking about 12 or 24 blimps. Taking 24 that puts the cost at 58.3 million. Given much of the costs are in ground facilities and development, but the total cost is just too high for something that can easily be shot down. The entire program sounds like the infamous $800 toilet seat the military paid for.
"even the B2 Stealth Bomber are less than a billion per copy."
When you add in the entire costs of the B2 system it costs about 2 billion each.
You are forgetting something... The estimated cost of 1.4 billion! How many blimps are we talking about? Knowing the military, not very many. Even if 1,000 blimps are built we are talking about 1.4 million.
I hate to pop your balloon (pun intended) but 10,000 feet is not that high. In World War 2 the Germans had anti-aircraft guns that could easily get to much over 20,000 feet. Many cheap modern shoulder held anti-aircraft missiles can easily shoot this high and a blimp would be easy to hit. It might be safe from small arms fire but a few small holes wouldn't hurt it much. An anti-aircraft missile is another matter.
Yes, but they also eliminated the costs to them of that 30% of CPU time. It actually might have boosted their bottom line. I do not have the means to do a cost analysis but loosing 2% of their users might be outweigh the costs of keeping those 2%.
Why won't they mess with your page rank?
Easy! If they did start with messing with the page ranking they would be perceived (correctly) as not being impartial. If they loose their aura of impartiality they loose everything. People will start to look for a better search engine.
For those of you that can't spell too well and depend on a spell checker to help out...
It won't always get you out of trouble. My brother asked me to proof read his resume. He used a spell checker and thought that there were not going to be any problems there. Yes, the spelling in the resume was correct but among glaring errors he wrote that he "attended three years at a local collage."
If you don't see what is wrong with that statement, you have been relying too heavily on spell checkers. They do help but they are no substitute for knowing how to spell.
The full story might still be written on this one. According to CORPORATE studies (or studies funded by corporations) they are safe. Government studies are almost as questionable because the corporations and the government are so closely aligned. It's only when something catastrophic happens that the full truth comes out. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of the tinfoil hat crowd but one doesn't know the long term results until some time has past.