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User: DarkVader

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  1. What I'm saying is that you're asking for something that already does not exist on the vast majority of production cars. There are very few, if any, production cars where the accelerator is actually mechanically linked to the fuel system, if you switch the computer off, you've switched the car off.

    And it's even more true on any electric car, the motor control computer is absolutely critical to having a functional car.

  2. Re:self-driving or assisted driving ? on All Tesla Vehicles Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware (jalopnik.com) · · Score: 1

    There are a lot of people on Slashdot who don't believe L5 self-driving is possible, or that it's decades away.

    I've been saying "within 5 years" for a while now, looks like not only were they wrong, I was too - it's coming sooner than that.

  3. The Tesla is not fully manually controllable in the sense that most cars (but by no means all, drive by wire is becoming much more common) are now. There is no 100% manual operation possible. The accelerator pedal is just an input sensor, for example.

  4. Re:and quick to engage in personal attack on Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Endorses Gary Johnson For President (dilbert.com) · · Score: 1

    Have you listened to Trump?

    He has the potential to be the next Hitler.

  5. Re: flip flops on Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Endorses Gary Johnson For President (dilbert.com) · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, if you DO live in a swing state, vote for Clinton. Your vote matters, and as much as you don't like her, she's far better than Trump.

  6. Re:Tinfoil hat? on More Performers Are Demanding Audiences Lock Up Their Phones (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    It would be interesting to know the details. If it's as simple as a magnet, you could carry one with you to your next concert that uses these, and unlock everybody's phone around you too as a public service.

  7. Re:Finally, news for nerds... on MuckRock Identifies The Oldest US Government Computer Still in Use (muckrock.com) · · Score: 1

    Amusingly enough, I was living in Arizona in the early to mid '90s. I spent most of my time indoors. I remember thinking at the time "This web thing will never catch on, Gopher is so much better." As a grad student, I only had an old Mac SE/30 on my office desk, and I was carrying a PowerBook 140, but I managed to put enough pressure on a professor to get new PowerMacs in the lab when they came out in '94.

    Unlimited $20/month dialup was a thing here by the time I got out of school in '95, so I've now had some form of internet access continuously for nearly 30 years now. I was working for an ISP in the late '90s, so I had free ISDN by then, I think it was around '01 when I got DSL. The internet was already driving upgrades pretty hard by the late '90s here.

    I don't really remember when it became unheard of that someone didn't own a computer here, I don't think I knew anyone who didn't well enough to know they didn't have one after about the mid '90s.

    I've never even seen an Amstrad in person, only pictures. I've got a couple of fully functional Apple IIgs boxes and a //e, though. I think my C64 still works too, I'm just not sure which box it's in.

  8. Re:Finally, news for nerds... on MuckRock Identifies The Oldest US Government Computer Still in Use (muckrock.com) · · Score: 1

    Cars without air conditioning are still a thing, as it turns out. You can get the Dodge Dart, three models of Jeep, a Nissan pickup truck, a Camaro, and some models of Porsche with no AC.

    Not that I would own one. I put a pretty high priority on not being too hot. I've never owned a car without AC, even back in the '80s it was uncommon for a car to not have it, and most cars I rode in even back in the '70s had it.

    We're feeling the effects of the end of Moore's Law now. An early i7 is still moderately fast today, dropping a SSD into a computer makes far more difference in speed for most people than a faster processor.

    But in the mid '90s, an 8088 was already absolute garbage. A 10 MHz 8088 compared to a 150 MHz PowerPC 604 wasn't even close. And yeah, some people still had 8 bit machines, some of us still do today. But they were antiques then too, not the daily driver.

  9. It would be better if they didn't.

    After all, worst case failure scenario with these disks is that the missiles don't launch. Not exactly a bad outcome, is it?

  10. I throw the coins all in the coin sorter when I get home, then roll them up when a tube fills and take the tube to the bank, I keep a few of them in a coin holder in the car, which has separate spaces for each coin type. About the only thing I use them for is parking meters.

    And no, I wouldn't really get a separate wallet for each different size of paper money, but it would be very, very annoying.

  11. Right. And I'll just go get a different size wallet for each denomination.

    They've got numbers on them. Green and black works just fine for me.

    Honestly, I wish we would go back to the old standard, where the President on a given note is in an oval in the center, and the numbers are in the corners. I HATE the new notes. The new hundred is awful, get rid of the color.

    At least the one is still good.

    I do think we need to ditch Andrew Jackson on the twenty, he was a shithead, the Trail of Tears is inexcusable. And once Obama is dead we can put him on the 50 and get rid of that shithead Grant too. But we need to keep Washington on the one and Lincoln on the five, and Alexander Hamilton really does deserve his place on the ten.

  12. mmm-dd-yyyy works just fine, and is completely unambiguous. That way today is Oct-06-2016, it works with the US standard way of thinking about dates, and nobody in the world is going to be able to confuse it with Jun-10-2016.

  13. Not in the US. Debit cards were also magstripe cards until last year.

  14. There are 5 credit/debit cards in my wallet, plus the contactless card for charging my car and the various "reward" cards that I have to avoid being overcharged at grocery stores and drug stores.

    I don't even know/never set PINs for the credit cards, and I have no desire to do so.

    And the retailers typically own the terminals. They just had to buy new ones to replace perfectly good swipe terminals.

  15. Re:In the UK, we've had chip and pin for years! on Judge Allows Small Businesses To Sue Credit Card Giants For Forcing Them To Adopt Chip Readers (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    It's something you can do while you're chatting with your dining companions instead of standing in line to leave the restaurant.

    Denny's and I-SLOP do that because they're crappy restaurants. Nice places take care of all of it at the table, with very minimal intrusiveness.

  16. That's for cars, 100LL is still available for airplanes.

  17. I deal with both systems on a fairly regular basis, I'd prefer we just switch to metric so I can stop thinking in both, it's annoying.

    And at 45C, you don't dress for it, you stay inside where it's air conditioned. That's Phoenix in oven season hot. (Phoenix has four seasons; summer, oven, second summer, and slightly cooler).

  18. It's about the same for the total to appear. Then you put in the card, wait 15-30 seconds, put in the PIN for debit cards, or hit enter for credit cards, then sign screen. Wait another random amount of time for it to verify (typically 5-30 seconds), then take card and walk off.

    With swipe, it's swipe card while cashier is still scanning, put card back in wallet. When cashier finishes, put in PIN or sign screen, and walk off.

    Yes, it's the terminal manufacturers' fault it's slower. But it's still MUCH slower.

    Oddly, Apple Pay is typically far faster if it's available, it's nearly instant.

  19. Re:The only thing FAA 702 covers... on Yahoo Scan By US Fell Under Foreign Spy Law Expiring Next Year (reuters.com) · · Score: 2

    That's the section that says who is writing the constitution and why, not who rights apply to.

  20. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! on Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm running a 2011 15" non-Retina MBP as my primary laptop, it's a really good machine. The 2012s are great too. The black MB was a great machine, I had one years ago, but the pre-Retina Pros are even better.

    You can sometimes luck into one for pretty cheap.

  21. Re:Remember how Microsoft Blah? on Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com) · · Score: 1

    And don't forget that Macs are comparably priced to other major manufacturer's hardware, the MacBook Pro 15 ships with plenty (16GB) of RAM, there is more software for the Mac than for ANY other platform (Runs all Mac software, runs most UNIX software, and can run all Windoze software through a VM if you want), and much, much more good stuff.

  22. Re:Bill Yourself for that on Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com) · · Score: 1

    Security updates are enabled by a separate checkbox.

    You don't get this as a security update. You get it as an OS update.

  23. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! on Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com) · · Score: 0

    Well why did you do a damn fool thing like buy a piece of shit Windoze machine then?

    I mean, I've been an Apple guy since 1982, there was never any reason to use that garbage except to remind yourself how bad it is.

  24. Re: Please file a bug report on Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com) · · Score: 2

    Interesting that you picked VMWare Fusion, because 8.5 is a free update...

  25. Re:Marrow? on Print-On-Demand Bone Could Quickly Mend Major Injuries (sciencemag.org) · · Score: 1

    Given that marrow is rather fluid, if this is used for a hollow bone that contains marrow, the answer is going to be yes. They're showing samples of it in a hollow form, so clearly marrow containment is planned for.