Except that now they have pumps that are smart enough to correct for the volume change on cold days... while ignoring it on warm ones.
At least they have the decency to also tell you this is what the pump is doing (albeit the notice is written on a little tiny sticker placed as inconspicuously as possible on the pump) as a CYA measure to head off the inevitable lawsuits if people realized that they are now getting sucked for a few extra cents on every tank.
Check out the last couple paragraphs of the article linked in the original post:
She recently took an economics course that required paying about $110 for a printed book and access code to a digital system... She could have purchased just the access code without the book, for about $90
So, by the publisher's own admission, the durable goods -- the printed book itself -- is only worth *at most* $20. While the remaining $90 is purely profit going back to the publisher for access to some canned system that cost significantly less per-student to develop and deploy.
Soooo glad I'm not in school anymore and having to deal with this sort of racket. But if I was, the first time I ran into a professor insisting that we pay up some arbitrary amount of money just to submit homework for grading, I'd be really tempted to go all Martin Luther on 'em and staple my dead-tree submission to their door/desk/face just to protest the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
That's what I was wondering too. Or what happens when someone has a significant weight loss or gain? Lots of geeks tend to have a good layer of natural insulation. Plenty of ways for the body's electrical signature to change.
I suppose it might be an incentive to get fit and stay fit, though. "Sorry, the fat (errr... electrical) signature of the person attempting to access this computer does not match our records. Go work out some more and try again next week."
While you are correct in asserting that Planned Parenthood is not government-forced abortions, all the stuff about women's healthcare really IS just window dressing, at least as far as the current incarnation of the organization is concerned.
What Planned Parenthood is actually about, is making obscene amounts of money. If PP truly cared about women's health, they wouldn't demand payment for the abortions up front in cash, nor would they only provide ultrasounds for the sole purpose of determining just how much the abortion is going to cost (the bigger the baby, the more expensive the operation, even if the actions used to perform the abortion are the same). If they truly cared about women's health, they would openly discuss all options for dealing with a pregnancy and disclose the significant physical and mental risks that abortions create, instead of pressuring the women into the one option that is most profitable for the company. If they truly cared about women's health, they would be much more proactive about pregnancy prevention than their current focus on pregnancy termination.
Planned Parenthood exists solely to profit by taking advantage of women who are too poor or too embarrassed to go to a real doctor for help, offering an expensive solution to an even more expensive problem, because they know that desperate people will pay through the nose to fix certain "mistakes." All the stuff about "freedom" and "healthcare" is just a smokescreen to keep from having the lucrative money cut off.
great news. was kinda bummed the last time I read an article on rising sea levels to learn that even if the entire polar caps melted, it wouldn't actually flood all that far into the east coast. But, coupled with this phenomena of uneven level rise, that stain may be washable after all!
Mod me to hell if you want, but I still say that if it takes ten dead polar bears to drown one NYC hipster, those noble bears will not have died in vain! C'mon global warming, let's get to work!
Interestingly enough, spider silk and the shrimps hammers are both resilient for the same reason: they're comprised of an oriented ceramic/amorphous composite.
Engineering these types of materials is challenging because you can't just mix together some micro-crystals and binding glop. The crystals need to line up with each other in one direction to provide the strength, while the glop stretches and squishes in another to enhance the toughness. Figuring out how to mix the materials so they properly self-assemble on the micro scale isn't easy, but when it's done right (as the shrimp and spiders have) the results are simply amazing.
I like this idea! Especially since even the 60m increase isn't enough to really cleanse the US of all the east/west coast crap. At least it would do something about Florida (aka South New York).
Of course, the problem with waiting on global warming to wash away the coastal stench is that it's still too slow of a process, and all the rats would just climb higher and infest the rest of the country. Fracking induced quakes though... gotta get working on that, pronto!
As nice as it would be to have windshields and drinking glasses made out of the "super" glass, in reality, it won't be happening, at least not for a very very long time.
The fatal flaw in this "new" technology is that it requires precise and specific nano-scale texturing of the glass, but the only texturing methods that work on that scale right now are limited to very small flat surfaces. Eyeglasses *might* be possible, but at such an exorbitant price it would be entirely unpractical compared to glass/polymer composites that provide the same effect.
And even if they did manage to develop the mythical nano-scale rollers that would allow for production of the "super" glass in bulk, it would still be limited to just flat panes. Any sort of forming process (pressing or blowing into molds for cups, sagging sheets for windshields, etc) would also quickly destroy the fine surface micro-structure.
too true. What would be really shocking news is if we found that for once greenpeace was NOT lying to get attention. And it's not just Apple. Basic M.O. for these schmucks is to simply pick whatever company is big in the news at the moment and then give that company a bad "rating" based on some imaginary numbers on some arbitrary scale.
For several years in a row when the Wii was at it's popularity peak, the greenpeace "report card" gave Nintendo a failing grade -- for the sole reason that Nintendo had the common sense to ignore them, and refused to give any detailed information about their business operations. Thus, in the mind of the eco-nuts the company *had* to be hiding something horrible, and thus was *clearly* an eco-failure.
Nice record. The kicker is when you have a streak like that going, and then some family member using your computer decides to try a game or three and loses for you.
After that happened to me a couple times, I realized how easy it was to just go into the system registry and "fix" their mistake, but at that point the game lost its challenge because I also realized that I lacked the willpower to keep from "fixing" my own errors as well.
Nice to finally see an on-topic comment in this article.
anyway, back to the paper airplanes... I've been folding the "harrier" design (linked in the original post) for years now. Only two modifications I'd suggest:
1) For more of a glider, the final fold to form the wings should bring the edge of the paper well BELOW the bottom of the fuselage, so you have nice big wings and a smaller vertical portion. Just remember that as a glider, it needs a softer launch. experiment a bit to find the right balance between wing size and launch speed for the room you're in.
2) for increased stability, put a good curve (or a light crease) in the wings, parallel to the fuselage.
Does it really hurt me? Yes, it does, because it rewards unethical and lazy employees who did nothing to deserve a cut of the purchase. Employees actually doing their jobs then have to work harder to stay ahead of the freeloaders, and eventually burn out, leaving the scum behind. Last thing I want is to see one of the few decent electronics chains out there turn into another Circuit City.
Stickers at microcenter have been an issue for years, and I've had the exact same experience there as well.
After going to the store and finding what I need without getting any help from the sales staff, they then start swarming to ask if they could put their stickers on all the items I was holding. Finally let one guy do it just so he'd go away. I then returned the items to the shelf and picked up unstickered ones. Got to the checkout counter and the cashier, seeing that it wasn't tagged, put her sticker on the package before ringing up the purchase. quite annoying.
Yeah, Nintendo doesn't jerk their customers around quite like SONY, but they're not perfect either. The problem with Nintendo is that they're instead obsessed with controlling their image.
Friend Codes, poor network support, rejected games for the download stores -- Nintendo would rather pull out system functionality than allow someone to possibly be offended by the actions of another person and somehow associate that offense with the hardware rather than the user.
I agree that Nintendo is the lesser evil when it comes to current game companies, but I'm also a little miffed that they brought back region-locking with the DSi and 3DS. Being able to play out-of-region games was a huge selling point in my initial DS lite purchase.
And as long as you're in the world of PC's (but don't have the time or money to keep your rig state-of-the-art) you'll run in to compatibility issues sooner AND later.
What is it with politicians insisting on giving their bills the most inane titles possible, just to spell out some mildly related acronym? We're electing and paying these people to write LEGISLATION, not commercial branding!
You almost had me there for a second. But two things you failed on:
1) "Posting anonymously to dodge NDA" -- If you're really in a development situation with an NDA, you would know that anything you write at work can be read by the boss and merely "posting anonymously" is still an incredibly risky move that could very easily get you fired. Any developer with even an iota of intelligence wouldn't take that risk just to troll on slashdot.
2) "two wiis" -- rehashing the old and tired insult that the next generation of Nintendo hardware is merely "Two current-generation units duct-taped together" was soooo 2005.
And what about the recent announcement by THQ that they're no longer going to develop licensed games aimed at kids because the money just isn't there?
(Although my personal opinion on that bit of news is that they're merely looking for a scapegoat to blame for bad sales when the real culprit is crappy derivative programming that parents finally caught on to)
I think the 3DS would have done better if they had also designed the demo unit stands to allow for more flexibility in holding and viewing the unit.
Just like you, I sought out a demo of the 3DS when it first came out, and from the Best Buy demo station was not impressed and generally uncomfortable with viewing the screen. However, after my wife bought me one for Christmas and I've had a chance to play it while sitting down with the unit right in the "sweet spot" instead of awkwardly crouching over a too-low off-angle rigid kiosk, I've come to LOVE the 3D graphics, and can easily play for hours (unfortunately limited by the battery) without any problem.
Now that I'm used to the small-screen glasses-free 3D tech, I can't wait for it to get adopted in more devices. It could really do wonders on the right phone/tablet.
A PC Doesn't work with a room full of people. The only time I've seen a PC work with a room full of people is when It's a LAN party, and each person in the room has their own PC.
There are a few other instances that come to mind -- "You Don't Know Jack" for one. Sure, three people on the keyboard at a time might have been a little cramped, but it made the punching/shoving to keep from getting badly "screwed" all the better. Also any hot-seat games work as a group. Or classic adventures, where others can shoulder-surf and give their (often unwanted) advice.
So let me ask you, and I'm sincerely curious, why did you or anybody else ever thought "Liking" a commercial company meant?
Lots of reasons you may end up "liking" a commercial page, even if you're not really a huge fan of the product. In my case, it's usually to get a high-value printable coupon or other free promotional item.
Unfortunately there's been a big trend lately of manufacturers running their coupon and sample giveaway campaigns through Facebook so that they can grab all your demographic data in exchange for said freebies. Recognizing this, I usually use a fictional profile to respond to those offers, but occasionally I need to use my real one as well. My biggest gripe with the scheme though isn't that I have to exchange some (imaginary) personal data to get the coupons, but that most manufacturers don't realize the technical limitations of doing a giveaway through facebook, so as soon as the promotion goes live their servers choke up and it becomes a royal PIA for anyone to get the prints.
Dang. Read the article more closely, and you're right. Looks like Facebook is giving commercial pages the ability to repost friends' activity to your feed in case you missed it the first time the friend liked (or did whatever else with) thier page.
This does not look good. While I personally keep my "liked" pages to a bare minimum, I have lots of family and friends that are overly promiscuous with their clicks. I don't want to block everything from those people, but I don't want to be constantly barraged with posts from companies they've liked either.
Suppose this would be a good time to remind all the friends and family that Google+ is still available and only half as evil...
Slashdot Mirror
Except that now they have pumps that are smart enough to correct for the volume change on cold days... while ignoring it on warm ones.
At least they have the decency to also tell you this is what the pump is doing (albeit the notice is written on a little tiny sticker placed as inconspicuously as possible on the pump) as a CYA measure to head off the inevitable lawsuits if people realized that they are now getting sucked for a few extra cents on every tank.
dirty criminals indeed.
Check out the last couple paragraphs of the article linked in the original post:
So, by the publisher's own admission, the durable goods -- the printed book itself -- is only worth *at most* $20. While the remaining $90 is purely profit going back to the publisher for access to some canned system that cost significantly less per-student to develop and deploy.
Soooo glad I'm not in school anymore and having to deal with this sort of racket. But if I was, the first time I ran into a professor insisting that we pay up some arbitrary amount of money just to submit homework for grading, I'd be really tempted to go all Martin Luther on 'em and staple my dead-tree submission to their door/desk/face just to protest the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
That's what I was wondering too. Or what happens when someone has a significant weight loss or gain? Lots of geeks tend to have a good layer of natural insulation. Plenty of ways for the body's electrical signature to change.
I suppose it might be an incentive to get fit and stay fit, though. "Sorry, the fat (errr... electrical) signature of the person attempting to access this computer does not match our records. Go work out some more and try again next week."
While you are correct in asserting that Planned Parenthood is not government-forced abortions, all the stuff about women's healthcare really IS just window dressing, at least as far as the current incarnation of the organization is concerned.
What Planned Parenthood is actually about, is making obscene amounts of money. If PP truly cared about women's health, they wouldn't demand payment for the abortions up front in cash, nor would they only provide ultrasounds for the sole purpose of determining just how much the abortion is going to cost (the bigger the baby, the more expensive the operation, even if the actions used to perform the abortion are the same). If they truly cared about women's health, they would openly discuss all options for dealing with a pregnancy and disclose the significant physical and mental risks that abortions create, instead of pressuring the women into the one option that is most profitable for the company. If they truly cared about women's health, they would be much more proactive about pregnancy prevention than their current focus on pregnancy termination.
Planned Parenthood exists solely to profit by taking advantage of women who are too poor or too embarrassed to go to a real doctor for help, offering an expensive solution to an even more expensive problem, because they know that desperate people will pay through the nose to fix certain "mistakes." All the stuff about "freedom" and "healthcare" is just a smokescreen to keep from having the lucrative money cut off.
Not sure if AC is truly dumb, or just trolling.
I AM going to say that the inventors listed didn't invent the items listed.. because they didn't invent those things.
great news. was kinda bummed the last time I read an article on rising sea levels to learn that even if the entire polar caps melted, it wouldn't actually flood all that far into the east coast. But, coupled with this phenomena of uneven level rise, that stain may be washable after all!
Mod me to hell if you want, but I still say that if it takes ten dead polar bears to drown one NYC hipster, those noble bears will not have died in vain! C'mon global warming, let's get to work!
Interestingly enough, spider silk and the shrimps hammers are both resilient for the same reason: they're comprised of an oriented ceramic/amorphous composite.
Engineering these types of materials is challenging because you can't just mix together some micro-crystals and binding glop. The crystals need to line up with each other in one direction to provide the strength, while the glop stretches and squishes in another to enhance the toughness. Figuring out how to mix the materials so they properly self-assemble on the micro scale isn't easy, but when it's done right (as the shrimp and spiders have) the results are simply amazing.
I like this idea! Especially since even the 60m increase isn't enough to really cleanse the US of all the east/west coast crap. At least it would do something about Florida (aka South New York).
Of course, the problem with waiting on global warming to wash away the coastal stench is that it's still too slow of a process, and all the rats would just climb higher and infest the rest of the country. Fracking induced quakes though... gotta get working on that, pronto!
As nice as it would be to have windshields and drinking glasses made out of the "super" glass, in reality, it won't be happening, at least not for a very very long time.
The fatal flaw in this "new" technology is that it requires precise and specific nano-scale texturing of the glass, but the only texturing methods that work on that scale right now are limited to very small flat surfaces. Eyeglasses *might* be possible, but at such an exorbitant price it would be entirely unpractical compared to glass/polymer composites that provide the same effect.
And even if they did manage to develop the mythical nano-scale rollers that would allow for production of the "super" glass in bulk, it would still be limited to just flat panes. Any sort of forming process (pressing or blowing into molds for cups, sagging sheets for windshields, etc) would also quickly destroy the fine surface micro-structure.
too true. What would be really shocking news is if we found that for once greenpeace was NOT lying to get attention. And it's not just Apple. Basic M.O. for these schmucks is to simply pick whatever company is big in the news at the moment and then give that company a bad "rating" based on some imaginary numbers on some arbitrary scale.
For several years in a row when the Wii was at it's popularity peak, the greenpeace "report card" gave Nintendo a failing grade -- for the sole reason that Nintendo had the common sense to ignore them, and refused to give any detailed information about their business operations. Thus, in the mind of the eco-nuts the company *had* to be hiding something horrible, and thus was *clearly* an eco-failure.
Nice record. The kicker is when you have a streak like that going, and then some family member using your computer decides to try a game or three and loses for you.
After that happened to me a couple times, I realized how easy it was to just go into the system registry and "fix" their mistake, but at that point the game lost its challenge because I also realized that I lacked the willpower to keep from "fixing" my own errors as well.
Nice to finally see an on-topic comment in this article.
anyway, back to the paper airplanes... I've been folding the "harrier" design (linked in the original post) for years now. Only two modifications I'd suggest:
1) For more of a glider, the final fold to form the wings should bring the edge of the paper well BELOW the bottom of the fuselage, so you have nice big wings and a smaller vertical portion. Just remember that as a glider, it needs a softer launch. experiment a bit to find the right balance between wing size and launch speed for the room you're in.
2) for increased stability, put a good curve (or a light crease) in the wings, parallel to the fuselage.
Does it really hurt me? Yes, it does, because it rewards unethical and lazy employees who did nothing to deserve a cut of the purchase. Employees actually doing their jobs then have to work harder to stay ahead of the freeloaders, and eventually burn out, leaving the scum behind. Last thing I want is to see one of the few decent electronics chains out there turn into another Circuit City.
Stickers at microcenter have been an issue for years, and I've had the exact same experience there as well.
After going to the store and finding what I need without getting any help from the sales staff, they then start swarming to ask if they could put their stickers on all the items I was holding. Finally let one guy do it just so he'd go away. I then returned the items to the shelf and picked up unstickered ones. Got to the checkout counter and the cashier, seeing that it wasn't tagged, put her sticker on the package before ringing up the purchase. quite annoying.
Yeah, Nintendo doesn't jerk their customers around quite like SONY, but they're not perfect either. The problem with Nintendo is that they're instead obsessed with controlling their image.
Friend Codes, poor network support, rejected games for the download stores -- Nintendo would rather pull out system functionality than allow someone to possibly be offended by the actions of another person and somehow associate that offense with the hardware rather than the user.
I agree that Nintendo is the lesser evil when it comes to current game companies, but I'm also a little miffed that they brought back region-locking with the DSi and 3DS. Being able to play out-of-region games was a huge selling point in my initial DS lite purchase.
And as long as you're in the world of PC's (but don't have the time or money to keep your rig state-of-the-art) you'll run in to compatibility issues sooner AND later.
"No child left behind" is a GREAT idea. After all, my momma always told me to clean my plate and not waste any food!
What is it with politicians insisting on giving their bills the most inane titles possible, just to spell out some mildly related acronym? We're electing and paying these people to write LEGISLATION, not commercial branding!
You almost had me there for a second. But two things you failed on:
1) "Posting anonymously to dodge NDA" -- If you're really in a development situation with an NDA, you would know that anything you write at work can be read by the boss and merely "posting anonymously" is still an incredibly risky move that could very easily get you fired. Any developer with even an iota of intelligence wouldn't take that risk just to troll on slashdot.
2) "two wiis" -- rehashing the old and tired insult that the next generation of Nintendo hardware is merely "Two current-generation units duct-taped together" was soooo 2005.
But good luck on your next trolling run!
And what about the recent announcement by THQ that they're no longer going to develop licensed games aimed at kids because the money just isn't there?
(Although my personal opinion on that bit of news is that they're merely looking for a scapegoat to blame for bad sales when the real culprit is crappy derivative programming that parents finally caught on to)
I think the 3DS would have done better if they had also designed the demo unit stands to allow for more flexibility in holding and viewing the unit.
Just like you, I sought out a demo of the 3DS when it first came out, and from the Best Buy demo station was not impressed and generally uncomfortable with viewing the screen. However, after my wife bought me one for Christmas and I've had a chance to play it while sitting down with the unit right in the "sweet spot" instead of awkwardly crouching over a too-low off-angle rigid kiosk, I've come to LOVE the 3D graphics, and can easily play for hours (unfortunately limited by the battery) without any problem.
Now that I'm used to the small-screen glasses-free 3D tech, I can't wait for it to get adopted in more devices. It could really do wonders on the right phone/tablet.
There are a few other instances that come to mind -- "You Don't Know Jack" for one. Sure, three people on the keyboard at a time might have been a little cramped, but it made the punching/shoving to keep from getting badly "screwed" all the better. Also any hot-seat games work as a group. Or classic adventures, where others can shoulder-surf and give their (often unwanted) advice.
Lots of reasons you may end up "liking" a commercial page, even if you're not really a huge fan of the product. In my case, it's usually to get a high-value printable coupon or other free promotional item.
Unfortunately there's been a big trend lately of manufacturers running their coupon and sample giveaway campaigns through Facebook so that they can grab all your demographic data in exchange for said freebies. Recognizing this, I usually use a fictional profile to respond to those offers, but occasionally I need to use my real one as well. My biggest gripe with the scheme though isn't that I have to exchange some (imaginary) personal data to get the coupons, but that most manufacturers don't realize the technical limitations of doing a giveaway through facebook, so as soon as the promotion goes live their servers choke up and it becomes a royal PIA for anyone to get the prints.
Dang. Read the article more closely, and you're right. Looks like Facebook is giving commercial pages the ability to repost friends' activity to your feed in case you missed it the first time the friend liked (or did whatever else with) thier page.
This does not look good. While I personally keep my "liked" pages to a bare minimum, I have lots of family and friends that are overly promiscuous with their clicks. I don't want to block everything from those people, but I don't want to be constantly barraged with posts from companies they've liked either.
Suppose this would be a good time to remind all the friends and family that Google+ is still available and only half as evil...