What I observe is that you people in the US seem to follow along with your President no matter what, it's like a fashion trend that good or bad people will follow just because it's the in thing to do.
I've even noticed people acting like the President, I remember when Bill Clinton became President he had this odd habit of pointing with his thumb and pretty soon everyone seemed to do it. People picked up on his mannerisms, maybe since he was popular that is why people did it, unconsciously. I wonder if stammering will become a new unconscious habit since Obama seems to do that a lot, maybe just the stress of the election but it'll be interesting to see.
Maybe with Obama people will be more open to new ideas, such as Government Healthcare, just because he is President. It's like the three minute mile race, once someone actually does it people will wonder why no one has ever done it before since it was as hard as we thought it would be.
I think a good Open Source project would be to make a simple in-car camera system with the option of incremental uploads to store the video, you know, in case something happens to you.
I believe what's called Direct Democracy is like Open Source, citizens can pretty much vote on every issue.
In this day and age it should be easy, if not cheap, to allow every citizen to vote on everything. I know electronic voting has a bad reputation but if the bugs could be worked out (quantum cryptography) this could allow countries with large populations the ability to hear from all citizens.
On the dark side though a true Democracy is probably not a good idea since the majority rules unlike current Western style governments where the majority doesn't, large populations in rich sections of a country could have all the power.
...I am represented as 1 out of about 18 million. How much representation do you expect a single citizen to get?
I'm from the smallest Canadian province, here we have four Members of Parliament (similar to a US Senator) for a population of approximately 135,000 people.
> are there any practical hypermiling techniques that you've found for people not ready to purchase a new car, nor give up driving generally?
Synthetic oil, 0W20 or 0W30, and change it at 3000km
Change the PCV valve once per year
Clean the battery terminal posts to make sure it's charging well
Check the belt on the alternator or the serpentine belt for wear
Change the thermostat every year to make sure the engine is operating at its correct temperature and you may as well change the rad fluid too
Narrower tires to reduce rolling resistance, maybe Run Flat tires and then get rid of the spare to reduce weight
Nitrogen filled tires to reduce leakage and corrosion of the wheel
Wash and wax the car, use a clay bar
Change the air filter, in the snow belt the salt dust that gets sucked in will absorb moisture and fluff up the filter, restricting air flow
Clean and regap spark plugs regularly, use dielectric grease to prevent corrosion
If your car has a distributor, open it and check the points and rotor for corrosion. Clean it or replace it, they're not very expensive.
Use the lowest grade of gas possible, Premium won't help in fact you'll get less mileage. The reason for grade of fuel is because of an engine's compression ratio, you dont' want the fuel-air charge to spontaneously combust you want it to slowly burn by the ignition of the sparkplug.
Clean the edge of the throttle body valve with a toothbrush and carb cleaner to prevent rough idle or hesitation when starting from a stop
If you need to run into the house, ATM, store for 2 or 3 minutes I've heard an automotive professor say leave the car on, the computer adjusts all the fuel-air mixture. Turning the engine off and on again will make it have to readjust, in that couple of minutes it's spitting out higher levels of CO2 than it would have if you just left the engine on.
Buy a diesel engine car for their lack of sparkplugs, plug wires and distributor. No gradual loss of efficiency due to fouled plugs.
I'm sure there are many more small things to do, pretty much basic maintenance with some common sense thrown in plus a few you may not have though about.
It's like Homeopathy, they are using something that's bad to cure something else that's bad, in this case a corrupt group will fix the corrupt organization.
I use Ubuntu and while reading this post I thought to myself maybe it's time to start using Opera, so I installed it and the very first thing that appeared was their EULA! Doh!
I was kicked from an IRC room many years ago when I tried to ask for help, I said my Matsushita CD-ROM wasn't working. When I joined again people were trying to tell me (while not being able to say what it was: shit) it's the word in the middle. I thought they were trying to be philosophical and didn't know what they were talking about at first.
I used to have a Telus phone, the battery died one year to the day after getting it and it was on a Sunday. No Telus stores were open on Sunday so I went in on Monday and was told since it was 1 day over the year warranty I couldn't get a new battery, so there I am with a contract and a dead phone. No grace period, nothing.
I found the president's e-mail address, I forget how, and e-mailed him asking if he thought it was fair to refuse to give me a battery because I couldn't get to their store on a Sunday. It worked, I got a call from the President's secretary and my battery was waiting for me at the Telus store.
I still left them, I wanted to adjust my plan but they said they could do it but I would be starting all over again on a 3 year plan!
The best way to describe Telus is they seem like a bunch of con men out to get every cent out of you. Fast talking Best Buy sales reps are the closest comparison.
Don't forget the System Access Fee which is pretty much giving them $6.95 for no reason. Can I own a phone and not pay the System Access Fee? That would be pointless so either add it to the base price or get rid of this stupid money grab.
The province I live in is currently going nuts over nitrate levels in the groundwater, high levels are a possible cause of cancer and can damage a person's health in other ways too.
The population of Canada is pretty low (about 35 million), spread out across the second largest country in the world and frozen solid for at least two or three months in the warmest areas, it's a big deal if this was offered.
Some places near me have just got cable access last year because they were so isolated the cable company wasn't going to put up miles of cable for one house.
I would pay up front for fiber if that meant I would get it sooner...it'll probably still end up being throttled to death somehow!
Slashdot Mirror
I bet a person in the movie theater could have some fun with a 9V battery, a resistor and a red LED.
What I observe is that you people in the US seem to follow along with your President no matter what, it's like a fashion trend that good or bad people will follow just because it's the in thing to do.
I've even noticed people acting like the President, I remember when Bill Clinton became President he had this odd habit of pointing with his thumb and pretty soon everyone seemed to do it. People picked up on his mannerisms, maybe since he was popular that is why people did it, unconsciously. I wonder if stammering will become a new unconscious habit since Obama seems to do that a lot, maybe just the stress of the election but it'll be interesting to see.
Maybe with Obama people will be more open to new ideas, such as Government Healthcare, just because he is President. It's like the three minute mile race, once someone actually does it people will wonder why no one has ever done it before since it was as hard as we thought it would be.
I think a good Open Source project would be to make a simple in-car camera system with the option of incremental uploads to store the video, you know, in case something happens to you.
I think you (and the link) mean GNU/Linux.
I believe what's called Direct Democracy is like Open Source, citizens can pretty much vote on every issue.
In this day and age it should be easy, if not cheap, to allow every citizen to vote on everything. I know electronic voting has a bad reputation but if the bugs could be worked out (quantum cryptography) this could allow countries with large populations the ability to hear from all citizens.
On the dark side though a true Democracy is probably not a good idea since the majority rules unlike current Western style governments where the majority doesn't, large populations in rich sections of a country could have all the power.
...I am represented as 1 out of about 18 million. How much representation do you expect a single citizen to get?
I'm from the smallest Canadian province, here we have four Members of Parliament (similar to a US Senator) for a population of approximately 135,000 people.
Kidnapped and in the trunk of a car...oops.
Thin Clients Are Making a Comeback...
Thin clients? Just how bad is the economy down there in the USA, can't you afford food?
> are there any practical hypermiling techniques that you've found for people not ready to purchase a new car, nor give up driving generally?
Synthetic oil, 0W20 or 0W30, and change it at 3000km
Change the PCV valve once per year
Clean the battery terminal posts to make sure it's charging well
Check the belt on the alternator or the serpentine belt for wear
Change the thermostat every year to make sure the engine is operating at its correct temperature and you may as well change the rad fluid too
Narrower tires to reduce rolling resistance, maybe Run Flat tires and then get rid of the spare to reduce weight
Nitrogen filled tires to reduce leakage and corrosion of the wheel
Wash and wax the car, use a clay bar
Change the air filter, in the snow belt the salt dust that gets sucked in will absorb moisture and fluff up the filter, restricting air flow
Clean and regap spark plugs regularly, use dielectric grease to prevent corrosion
If your car has a distributor, open it and check the points and rotor for corrosion. Clean it or replace it, they're not very expensive.
Use the lowest grade of gas possible, Premium won't help in fact you'll get less mileage. The reason for grade of fuel is because of an engine's compression ratio, you dont' want the fuel-air charge to spontaneously combust you want it to slowly burn by the ignition of the sparkplug.
Clean the edge of the throttle body valve with a toothbrush and carb cleaner to prevent rough idle or hesitation when starting from a stop
If you need to run into the house, ATM, store for 2 or 3 minutes I've heard an automotive professor say leave the car on, the computer adjusts all the fuel-air mixture. Turning the engine off and on again will make it have to readjust, in that couple of minutes it's spitting out higher levels of CO2 than it would have if you just left the engine on.
Buy a diesel engine car for their lack of sparkplugs, plug wires and distributor. No gradual loss of efficiency due to fouled plugs.
I'm sure there are many more small things to do, pretty much basic maintenance with some common sense thrown in plus a few you may not have though about.
It's like Homeopathy, they are using something that's bad to cure something else that's bad, in this case a corrupt group will fix the corrupt organization.
Kind of like running a LiveCD all the time.
I use Ubuntu and while reading this post I thought to myself maybe it's time to start using Opera, so I installed it and the very first thing that appeared was their EULA! Doh!
How different is NAND flash memory compared to Memristor technology and would Memristors make a better SSD?
Food, with some you get a cracker, but with others you become crackers.
I was kicked from an IRC room many years ago when I tried to ask for help, I said my Matsushita CD-ROM wasn't working. When I joined again people were trying to tell me (while not being able to say what it was: shit) it's the word in the middle. I thought they were trying to be philosophical and didn't know what they were talking about at first.
A friend of mine tried that with a Nausican and was stabbed through the heart.
I second that...but I'm not sure either how long they are supposed to last. If the medium is something like diamond it'll probably last forever.
I used to have a Telus phone, the battery died one year to the day after getting it and it was on a Sunday. No Telus stores were open on Sunday so I went in on Monday and was told since it was 1 day over the year warranty I couldn't get a new battery, so there I am with a contract and a dead phone. No grace period, nothing.
I found the president's e-mail address, I forget how, and e-mailed him asking if he thought it was fair to refuse to give me a battery because I couldn't get to their store on a Sunday. It worked, I got a call from the President's secretary and my battery was waiting for me at the Telus store.
I still left them, I wanted to adjust my plan but they said they could do it but I would be starting all over again on a 3 year plan!
The best way to describe Telus is they seem like a bunch of con men out to get every cent out of you. Fast talking Best Buy sales reps are the closest comparison.
Don't forget the System Access Fee which is pretty much giving them $6.95 for no reason. Can I own a phone and not pay the System Access Fee? That would be pointless so either add it to the base price or get rid of this stupid money grab.
Fools! Now I can build my own.
I've got a foxhole dug in my living room.
I'm running out of Red Bull and Cheetos.
My Xbox subscription runs out in a month.
Can't...go on much longer...
The province I live in is currently going nuts over nitrate levels in the groundwater, high levels are a possible cause of cancer and can damage a person's health in other ways too.
I was going to mention that, it's great for shoes too!
BC? I figured it was just the extreme south west area that was relatively snow free, doesn't it snow pretty much in all the other 99% of the province?
The population of Canada is pretty low (about 35 million), spread out across the second largest country in the world and frozen solid for at least two or three months in the warmest areas, it's a big deal if this was offered.
Some places near me have just got cable access last year because they were so isolated the cable company wasn't going to put up miles of cable for one house.
I would pay up front for fiber if that meant I would get it sooner...it'll probably still end up being throttled to death somehow!