The days of independent mechanics are numbered. They have for quite some time now, since it has been apparently deemed acceptable for manufacturers to encode proprietary service codes in their systems...
It's not just service codes. I have a new Dodge and when the water pump failed (which on this car requires partially dismounting the engine) I was told by several good mechanics that I would have to take it to the dealership for repair as the engine mounts have a proprietary bolt/nut!
Being part of a captive audience has me sour, but I won't be going back to an older car, primarily because I like the advanced safety and emmisions equipment on newer cars.
I'm certain that the very bright people at MIT considered the obvious problem of an accidential discharge. In fact, from reading the article it appears that they already have a solution.
RTFA -- The user must unlock the controller with a key, then hold a button for it to charge, which takes a while. This isn't something that could happen on accident.
This could clearly result in a reduction in the number of coins needed in circulation. Does anybody have an estimate on what the cost savings to the U.S. Mint would be were this implemented?
This is somewhat misleading, as Microsoft makes most of their revenues (with Windows) with new machine purchases. Like 80%. A lack of people upgrading isn't really an issue.
For some reason the last sentence here reminds me of the part in The Big Lebowsky... "Plus, you know, having a ferret on a leash, in city limits, is you know, probably illegal."
I've heard a lot of claims like this, but haven't seen any numbers. Can anybody substantiate this?
After all, it's not really analogous to perl, where a big lag is in the interpreter, as in.NET once the JITter (or NGen) is done you're running a regular binary.
Yes, it's on a runtime layer, but what's the impact of that? Could it be that the runtime, in handling plumbing for you, and your code being optimized for it, is actually faster?
This is sort of like the argument that writing directly in assembly results in better perf than something written in C++. Sure, it's true in the very rare case where that hand wrought assembly was actually done right, but in the majority of cases the C++ compiler is able to optimize as well as or better than the human. And this is setting aside the massively reduced dev time for working in C++.
First, I've worked for Microsoft and I can tell you that some contractors (and vendors) are treated with immense respect, and some aren't. The same goes for full-time employees. The same goes for anybody, anywhere.
Further, some of this article, like "They are not allowed to have their own offices" is outright false. I didn't hear the expression "dash trash" in four years, and it's a little too catchy have been invented by a geek, if you ask me. Maybe they use it in the marketing department, I don't know, but it's all very suspicious.
Contractors also attend parties. I've been to parties thrown specifically for a contractor, because they were leaving, trying to woo the contractor into taking a full-time job.
To be honest, when I saw the cover I laughed and my wife mocked it. It looks like a "I know what you did last summer" sort, at least IMO.
Well, I got it from a good source that it was actually worth watching, and when I did I throughly enjoyed it.
Hard to categorize. Best filed under "interesting."
Re:ABC cuts gore from injured child's Iraq war pho
on
4l-j4z333ra 0wn3d
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· Score: 1
War solves nothing... unless, of course,
your company is selling to Defense...
Or owns somebody calling shots in the administration. Take a look at the administration's press transcripts from yesterday. Haliburton apparently got a slam-dunk on a contract of undisclosed value, and Ari won't even talk about it.
From the former: Many people today say that in order to enjoy the benefits of modern society, we must necessarily relinquish some degree of privacy. If we want the convenience of paying for a meal by credit card, or paying for a toll with an electronic tag mounted on our rear view mirror, then we must accept the routine collection of our purchases and driving habits in a large database over which we have no control. It's a simple bargain, albeit a Faustian one.
I think this tradeoff is both unnecessary and wrong. It reminds me of another crisis our society faced in the 1950s and 1960s -- the environmental crisis. Then, advocates of big business said that the poisoned rivers and lakes were the necessary costs of economic development, jobs, and an improved standard of living. Poison was progress: anybody who argued otherwise simply didn't understand the facts. Today we know better.
I believe it was Carl Sagan who said,"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown"
Does anybody read the articles any more? The patent pretty clearly states that it's a method for on-the-fly agent bidding for banner space. Not on banners themselves.
I think that this is actually a pretty good idea, if you accept banners at all (personally, I block them. Call me a hypocrite), and probably doesn't have prior art.
I saw a great demo of this. Take a window (any window) and add a few properties to it. Draw a circle and a line. Bring up an editor and write some code (like 20 lines) so that the line controls the speed and the wheel controls the direction of the window. Now you're driving the window around the screen like a car. I was floored.
Sort of brings a new level of meaning to "If it moves, script it."
TMS did induce several seizures in participants in the early years, but researchers have since worked out technical safety rules that prevent them and established that no significant memory loss occurs.
No, nothing significant. Just the standard 3,000 volts through the brain memory loss. Sign me up!
Is it fiction? Is it nonfiction? Is it all SWAG? You decide!
Also, I met Sterling last week and he listed Cory Doctorow as one of the two English SciFi writers he was reading right now. I haven't had the opportunity to read anything from him except 0wnz0red yet, but he certainly looks promising.
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The days of independent mechanics are numbered. They have for quite some time now, since it has been apparently deemed acceptable for manufacturers to encode proprietary service codes in their systems...
It's not just service codes. I have a new Dodge and when the water pump failed (which on this car requires partially dismounting the engine) I was told by several good mechanics that I would have to take it to the dealership for repair as the engine mounts have a proprietary bolt/nut!
Being part of a captive audience has me sour, but I won't be going back to an older car, primarily because I like the advanced safety and emmisions equipment on newer cars.
Here's Ted Turner's letter voicing opposition (!) to increased media consolidation.
I'm certain that the very bright people at MIT considered the obvious problem of an accidential discharge. In fact, from reading the article it appears that they already have a solution.
RTFA -- The user must unlock the controller with a key, then hold a button for it to charge, which takes a while. This isn't something that could happen on accident.
This could clearly result in a reduction in the number of coins needed in circulation. Does anybody have an estimate on what the cost savings to the U.S. Mint would be were this implemented?
This is somewhat misleading, as Microsoft makes most of their revenues (with Windows) with new machine purchases. Like 80%. A lack of people upgrading isn't really an issue.
For some reason the last sentence here reminds me of the part in The Big Lebowsky... "Plus, you know, having a ferret on a leash, in city limits, is you know, probably illegal."
I think that's about the last of his concerns.
I've heard a lot of claims like this, but haven't seen any numbers. Can anybody substantiate this?
.NET once the JITter (or NGen) is done you're running a regular binary.
After all, it's not really analogous to perl, where a big lag is in the interpreter, as in
Yes, it's on a runtime layer, but what's the impact of that? Could it be that the runtime, in handling plumbing for you, and your code being optimized for it, is actually faster?
This is sort of like the argument that writing directly in assembly results in better perf than something written in C++. Sure, it's true in the very rare case where that hand wrought assembly was actually done right, but in the majority of cases the C++ compiler is able to optimize as well as or better than the human. And this is setting aside the massively reduced dev time for working in C++.
I didn't "get" set theory until I played this game, so I'm a believer that this type of learning works in some circumstances.
This used to be an option, back before they started includin alcohol in the solution. Now, it dries out your skin terribly after just a few "baths."
Yes -- it closed like a year or two ago. It was a sad, sad day for many of us. None of the other stores even approximate its former coolness.
:)
There was no plaza involved btw.
First, I've worked for Microsoft and I can tell you that some contractors (and vendors) are treated with immense respect, and some aren't. The same goes for full-time employees. The same goes for anybody, anywhere.
Further, some of this article, like "They are not allowed to have their own offices" is outright false. I didn't hear the expression "dash trash" in four years, and it's a little too catchy have been invented by a geek, if you ask me. Maybe they use it in the marketing department, I don't know, but it's all very suspicious.
Contractors also attend parties. I've been to parties thrown specifically for a contractor, because they were leaving, trying to woo the contractor into taking a full-time job.
The whole thing just reeks of bias.
Then there's Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even if you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Here here. At least 4 of 5.
To be honest, when I saw the cover I laughed and my wife mocked it. It looks like a "I know what you did last summer" sort, at least IMO.
Well, I got it from a good source that it was actually worth watching, and when I did I throughly enjoyed it.
Hard to categorize. Best filed under "interesting."
War solves nothing... unless, of course, your company is selling to Defense...
Or owns somebody calling shots in the administration. Take a look at the administration's press transcripts from yesterday. Haliburton apparently got a slam-dunk on a contract of undisclosed value, and Ari won't even talk about it.
While this is in practice generally true, this is actually false. Some good reads on the subject: Simson Garfinkel's Database Nation, and The Transparent Society by David Brin.
From the former:
Many people today say that in order to enjoy the benefits of modern society, we must necessarily relinquish some degree of privacy. If we want the convenience of paying for a meal by credit card, or paying for a toll with an electronic tag mounted on our rear view mirror, then we must accept the routine collection of our purchases and driving habits in a large database over which we have no control. It's a simple bargain, albeit a Faustian one.
I think this tradeoff is both unnecessary and wrong. It reminds me of another crisis our society faced in the 1950s and 1960s -- the environmental crisis. Then, advocates of big business said that the poisoned rivers and lakes were the necessary costs of economic development, jobs, and an improved standard of living. Poison was progress: anybody who argued otherwise simply didn't understand the facts. Today we know better.
Hm, I wonder if that's why the article indentifed Experian as a major contender for first place...
I believe it was Carl Sagan who said,"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown"
Does anybody read the articles any more? The patent pretty clearly states that it's a method for on-the-fly agent bidding for banner space. Not on banners themselves.
I think that this is actually a pretty good idea, if you accept banners at all (personally, I block them. Call me a hypocrite), and probably doesn't have prior art.
I saw a great demo of this. Take a window (any window) and add a few properties to it. Draw a circle and a line. Bring up an editor and write some code (like 20 lines) so that the line controls the speed and the wheel controls the direction of the window. Now you're driving the window around the screen like a car. I was floored.
Sort of brings a new level of meaning to "If it moves, script it."
That's accurate in theory, however drug companies spend twice as much on marketing and whatnot than on research.
I hope that after I die, people will say of me: "That guy sure owed me a lot of money."
TMS did induce several seizures in participants in the early years, but researchers have since worked out technical safety rules that prevent them and established that no significant memory loss occurs.
No, nothing significant. Just the standard 3,000 volts through the brain memory loss. Sign me up!
*All* of the major consoles are sold at a loss, but from numbers I've seen for the XBox (which has highest COGS), Retail - COGS > -$150.
Yes, some mineral which some say is carcinogenic, but others say more research is needed. Didn't you read the article?
Bruce Sterling, Tomorrow Now.
Is it fiction? Is it nonfiction? Is it all SWAG? You decide!
Also, I met Sterling last week and he listed Cory Doctorow as one of the two English SciFi writers he was reading right now. I haven't had the opportunity to read anything from him except 0wnz0red yet, but he certainly looks promising.