IIRC, de Toqueville was the Frenchman who traipsed around some of early America's landmarks and acted snooty. He wrote a book about how stupid the USians were (while not actually using that word)
He did travel around the US in 1831-1832, but he definitely didn't write that Americans were stupid. He admired America and was trying to figure out why democracy worked here. De Tocqueville believed the countries in Europe would become democracies soon, and wanted to learn from America's successes and failures.
Unfortunately, his countrymen didn't learn very well from his writings, as France has been through at least 7 forms of government since their revolution.
Amazon is scorned by some/. readers because of their ridiculous patent on "one-click shopping." I haven't heard of eBay appplying for any ludicrous patents yet. Amazon, Yahoo, & others have auction sites too, but nowhere near the volume of eBay.
Besides, the editors of/. all have their own opinions & don't need to agree on much.
It should already run on this. Montavista had Linux running on the XScale architecture in February (story here). Also, the XScale CPU can run code written for the StrongArm SA-1110, which powers the HP iPaq, Sharp Zaurus, & other PDAs (specs here).
Sounds like this improvement isn't much use outside the US.
His current implementation wouldn't be of much use outside the US, but the code could be used with non-US data elsewhere. The TIGER & FIPS data is just geographical & address information commonly used in GIS. I know the UK has similar data available, other countries probably do too.
Google chose his project because his code was clean and robust. It shouldn't be to difficult to get it to work with other data.
If that is the case then why does Gale Norton keep insisting that it's possible to drill in ANWR and not cause any harm.
There is a huge difference between exploratory drilling and drilling to erect permanent wells to extract oil. The previous poster implied the latter.
Why do they keep talking about how much there is under ANWR if they have no intention of drilling.
I never said they had no intention, just not immediately.
Why are you talking as if there is not only oil there but that we should be drilling it right away. Nobody is fooled by this "we are only exploring" bullshit. Even you don't believe it as evidenced by the rest of your post.
There is some oil under ANWR, but I never insinuated we should start extracting it now.
Our dependency on foreign oil is a choice not a matter of supply and demand.
It would only be a choice if we had an alternative. To stop importing oil would destroy the US economy. However, more proven oil reserves would give us added leverage when negotiating with the OPEC states.
It's not that we should never drill in ANWR it's that we should not do it until we have to.
I agree.
Why ruin a pristine landscape when you don't have to especially when the alternatives are cheaper and easier to achieve.
Why call a bunch of rocks & tundra a pristine landscape? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's not like we have a world shortage of tundra or anything. Also, making cars more efficient would mean more expensive, smaller, lighter, & therefore less safe cars.
Even if you started drilling now you would not be able to pull out significant amount of oil for antoher 10 years.
If we started extracting oil right now, we might get lucky and put the well in the right spot, but probably not. If we start exploring now, we'll know where to extract the oil in the future when needed. We're much better at modeling oil fields in computers now, but only exploratory drilling can test & either verify or correct the models.
We can make more efficient cars NOW, we can conserve NOW, we can stop exporting oil NOW. We can save that oil in Alaska for our grandchildren to use if they need it. When the oil wells elsewhere dry up that oil will be worth thousand times more. It's money in the bank and spending it now would be "gross negligence" and "backwards".
I agree mostly.
Iceland is doing the right thing. Stating as a matter of national priority to be free from their oil addiction. Something no president of the US or a congressman would be brave enough to say out loud. More power to them I congratulate them on having enlightened politicians who look out for the welfare of their citizens.
It's an easy decision for Iceland. They're a tiny nation with abundant geothermal resources. Probably one of the only developed country that could make this decision. Enlightened politicians don't exist. That's about the biggest oxymoron I've heard.
This is the main reason I am against things like drilling for oil in Alaska. Shouldn't we be saving some of our finite resources for our grandchildren? Drilling in Alaska shows a complete lack of planning for the future generations at best, a complete disregard for them at worst.
Bush's plan doesn't include drilling in ANWR. It's strictly exploration at this point. Oil has been found elsewhere in Alaska and the geologic conditions are similar in ANWR. But nobody knows how much oil is under there.
We'll still need oil for the foreseeable future, probably well past our grandkids lives. Finding oil in ANWR will increase the amount of oil available. Now somehow according to your logic, you conclude we shouldn't drill there?
Lots of uninformed, misled, greenpeace wackos are against exploration in ANWR supposedly for environmental reasons. (I could argue against that too if you're so inclined.) Your argument is original, but your argument makes no sense to begin with & your logical reasoning is backwards.
Failing to explore and find new sources of oil (until we eliminate the demand for it) would be gross negligence. This has the potential to help supply our needs and reduce our dependence on imported oil.
As time and pressure decay organisms buried under the ocean, raw petroleum is produced. Since it's less dense than the water saturating the surrounding crust, it slowly rises. About 1% gets trapped in the right conditions, i.e. under an impervious layer, where it can be drilled for. The other 99% seeps up into the ocean.
One reply here points out that Ayn Rand wanted copyrights of only 7 years, so that people would not 'rest on their laurels.' It's funny to contrast that with Sonny Bono, who wanted copyrights to last forever, at the same time that 'I Got You Babe' was undergoing its obligatory retro-revival in movies and TV.
Although he was a co-sponsor, they didn't change the name of the act until Sonny Bono skied into a tree and died. Then they could manipulate him for all he's worth.
The place I work has full motion F/A-18 flight simulators. Our cockpits use the EPIC card to control ~200 switches & buttons. Also, they have 5 ft dome screens from Elumens that use a special lens on a standard LCD projector, and a 15" LCD panel as the front instrument panel.
Re:Of course there's the most obvious way to benef
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Sharing Doesn't Hurt
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· Score: 2
I guess the RIAA would rather trance artists die of obscurity than admit they're wrong?
You've hit the nail on the head! RIAA wants us to only listen to the music the big 5 recording companies will make ridiculous profits from. Music from boy bands, Britney clones, and other acts that signed draconian contracts giving up any possible rights (and probably their souls and firstborn too).
Modern technology makes it possible for independent artists to create, record, and distribute new music without record contracts. RIAA and friends realize this and it scares them. Their business model is obsolete and dying.
That's an interesting thought - where do they send the royalty cheques for the Bible?
I know the "King James Version" (aka "Authorised Version") is considered Crown Copyright in the UK, but it isn't recognized as such in the US. Although the copyright period keeps getting extended at Disney's request every few years, a translation from 1611 is considered public domain here.
Here are several language translations of the Authorised Version free for the download.
What, I should just submit to violent criminals? I don't think so. The right to self defense is a fundamental human right.
The real reason guns are sold, are to give law enforcements a job.
No, guns are sold because the 2nd Amendment protects our right to own them.
If there were no guns, there would be alot less crime
You are deluding yourself. Nowhere that guns have been outlawed has enjoyed a decrease in crime. When people have no guns to protect themselves or deter crime, criminals feel safer.
But there aren't any Native Americans around any more to shoot (so what was the reason for the second amendment again?).
To protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.
The founding fathers also proposed the votes of 5 slaves should count as the vote of 3 whites, for crying out loud.
First, it wasn't votes, because blacks couldn't vote in most parts of the US until the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1870. It was about population, since the states were represented in the US House based on their population.
Second, the 3/5ths rule was a compromise between the slave states of the south & the free states of the north. The slaveowners wanted to count every slave in their population, so they'd be better represented in Congress and admit new states to the union as slave states. Al Gore obviously didn't understand this when he brought it up during the 2000 presidential debates.
Try out the Book of Infinity. It's a CGI that generates an infinite trail of gibberish links. It could easily be modified to add gibberish e-mail addresses to each page.
Re:500Mbits/s for a spyplane...
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Space Wars
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They must have some major processing power on board - I should imagine that trying to fly something over a relatively high latency satellite link would be hard otherwise/ But they still have a lot of human intervention - it's probably more guidance than actual flying.
Actually, the Global Hawk flies itself. Its operators give it a target and it determines its own route based on real-time weather and atmospheric data. About a year ago, it successfully took off from the US, flew to Australia, and landed without human intervention (here's the story).
There's actually proposed legislation in Toronto to ban postering on utility poles. I think this legislation, along with the sentiment in the parent post, is misplaced
Here in Minneapolis, it's already illegal to post signs on utility poles. Unfortunately it's not enforced very much. It's for a good reason though: I've seen a utility pole burning because sparks started some paper signs on fire.
Re:Silly people *tsk,tsk,tsk*
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Unix Isn't Dead
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· Score: 2
Windows on the other hand has been reliable for 2 years (Win 2k in my opinion is the only MS OS i'd trust for critical stuff, XP is too bloated and buggy, and we won't even get into the 9x line or older NT's).
Personally, I wouldn't run something critical on any version of Windows. Win2K does OK as a desktop OS though.
As far as the older versions being less reliable, NT 4 was definitely the least stable of the bunch, but NT 3.5 was much more stable than 2000. It was basically VMS with a Win 3.1 front-end. Then they moved the graphics subsystem into kernel space in NT 4, which is the culprit behind most crashes.
Here's a Link to the Actual Story
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Unix Isn't Dead
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· Score: 4, Informative
Here's a link to the actual story. It'd be nice if the/. editors could include it.
Those developments, and video on demand in particular, had the potential of endangering the lucrative retail home video market in much the same way that the free downloading of songs eventually hurt the music business.
Somehow, the recording industry has tricked the media into believing the bygone conclusion that "downloading hurt the music business." Will they realize that it's just the dying gasp of a dinosaur business model before it's actually extinct? The record companies think they're entitled to stay in business with the same ridiculous profits, and they're trying hard to convince the media and legislators to help them.
"There is a risk of completely demystifying the [filmmaking] process," producer Bouzereau says, "which is why it [DVD production] needs to be controlled by the filmmaker."
What's risky? Why is the filmmaking process "mystical" and what's the big deal if it's demystified? I must be missing something since I didn't realize it was "mystical" in the first place.
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Unfortunately, his countrymen didn't learn very well from his writings, as France has been through at least 7 forms of government since their revolution.
For more info, see his book: Democracy in America
Amazon is scorned by some /. readers because of their ridiculous patent on "one-click shopping." I haven't heard of eBay appplying for any ludicrous patents yet. Amazon, Yahoo, & others have auction sites too, but nowhere near the volume of eBay.
/. all have their own opinions & don't need to agree on much.
Besides, the editors of
Pure geek value. Also, he could control them from anywhere with internet access, and prove it with a webcam.
There was a scene like that in Home Alone. No computers required.
I'd vote for Minneapolis though, I could stay at at home!
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but you could get one of these.
It should already run on this. Montavista had Linux running on the XScale architecture in February (story here). Also, the XScale CPU can run code written for the StrongArm SA-1110, which powers the HP iPaq, Sharp Zaurus, & other PDAs (specs here).
Google chose his project because his code was clean and robust. It shouldn't be to difficult to get it to work with other data.
I never said they had no intention, just not immediately.
There is some oil under ANWR, but I never insinuated we should start extracting it now.
It would only be a choice if we had an alternative. To stop importing oil would destroy the US economy. However, more proven oil reserves would give us added leverage when negotiating with the OPEC states.
I agree.
Why call a bunch of rocks & tundra a pristine landscape? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's not like we have a world shortage of tundra or anything. Also, making cars more efficient would mean more expensive, smaller, lighter, & therefore less safe cars.
If we started extracting oil right now, we might get lucky and put the well in the right spot, but probably not. If we start exploring now, we'll know where to extract the oil in the future when needed. We're much better at modeling oil fields in computers now, but only exploratory drilling can test & either verify or correct the models.
I agree mostly.
It's an easy decision for Iceland. They're a tiny nation with abundant geothermal resources. Probably one of the only developed country that could make this decision. Enlightened politicians don't exist. That's about the biggest oxymoron I've heard.
We'll still need oil for the foreseeable future, probably well past our grandkids lives. Finding oil in ANWR will increase the amount of oil available. Now somehow according to your logic, you conclude we shouldn't drill there?
Lots of uninformed, misled, greenpeace wackos are against exploration in ANWR supposedly for environmental reasons. (I could argue against that too if you're so inclined.) Your argument is original, but your argument makes no sense to begin with & your logical reasoning is backwards.
Failing to explore and find new sources of oil (until we eliminate the demand for it) would be gross negligence. This has the potential to help supply our needs and reduce our dependence on imported oil.
As time and pressure decay organisms buried under the ocean, raw petroleum is produced. Since it's less dense than the water saturating the surrounding crust, it slowly rises. About 1% gets trapped in the right conditions, i.e. under an impervious layer, where it can be drilled for. The other 99% seeps up into the ocean.
The place I work has full motion F/A-18 flight simulators. Our cockpits use the EPIC card to control ~200 switches & buttons. Also, they have 5 ft dome screens from Elumens that use a special lens on a standard LCD projector, and a 15" LCD panel as the front instrument panel.
Modern technology makes it possible for independent artists to create, record, and distribute new music without record contracts. RIAA and friends realize this and it scares them. Their business model is obsolete and dying.
Here are several language translations of the Authorised Version free for the download.
No, guns are sold because the 2nd Amendment protects our right to own them.
You are deluding yourself. Nowhere that guns have been outlawed has enjoyed a decrease in crime. When people have no guns to protect themselves or deter crime, criminals feel safer.
First, it wasn't votes, because blacks couldn't vote in most parts of the US until the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1870. It was about population, since the states were represented in the US House based on their population.
Second, the 3/5ths rule was a compromise between the slave states of the south & the free states of the north. The slaveowners wanted to count every slave in their population, so they'd be better represented in Congress and admit new states to the union as slave states. Al Gore obviously didn't understand this when he brought it up during the 2000 presidential debates.
Try out the Book of Infinity. It's a CGI that generates an infinite trail of gibberish links. It could easily be modified to add gibberish e-mail addresses to each page.
Someone here in Minneapolis made stickers that say "SCAM," and posts them over the last 4 digits of the phone number.
Posting the signs on utility poles is illegal in the first place, but rarely enforced.
As far as the older versions being less reliable, NT 4 was definitely the least stable of the bunch, but NT 3.5 was much more stable than 2000. It was basically VMS with a Win 3.1 front-end. Then they moved the graphics subsystem into kernel space in NT 4, which is the culprit behind most crashes.
Here's a link to the actual story. It'd be nice if the /. editors could include it.
What's risky? Why is the filmmaking process "mystical" and what's the big deal if it's demystified? I must be missing something since I didn't realize it was "mystical" in the first place.