Trust me, banks hate dealing with all that paper. It is mind bogglingly expensive to move all that paper around, collate it, and properly track the transactions that they represent. We would far rather go electronic as soon as possible. Much, MUCH cheaper and FAR more accurate.
Much of the current legal and technological infrastructure to begin to _consider_ phasing out checks in the US was only put into place post-911. At that time, the federal government was confronted with the fact that they had been nursemaiding a check clearing system leftover from the early 20th century, and even a brief interruption of airline service significantly impeded the ability to move huge boxes of paper checks across long distances quickly.
The funny thing is, the large banks had been pushing for the elimination of checks since the late '80s/early '90s because of the transportation costs involved. Check 21 (the colloquial name for check image legislation and a necessary first step to eliminating checks altogether) had been conceived by and lobbied for by the banks for quite some time prior to 9/11. I know that my company was an active participant in a pilot project long before then. We wanted to pull the trigger as soon as we legally could. My memory is hazy on this point, but I think we did so a year or two before 9/11.
In fact, one of our biggest disappointments since has been that we haven't been able to get people to give up checks fast enough to reduce our transportation costs to meet our projected savings goals.
> There is no risk of "delayed/lost in the mail" as happens to cheques with remarkable frequency.
Not in the US, where delayed/misdirected, effectively "lost" EFTs are commonplace.
I have to disagree, here. I've banked with several different credit unions, a couple of small banks, and three or four large banks over the past several decades. I've never had an EFT go missing. Besides, if the problem was as widespread as you believe our entire e-commerce marketplace would have never taken off. Amazon seems to be doing quite well.:)
I will concede, though, that person to person EFT capabilities have been FAR too slow to emerge.
I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench
"You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant Excepting Alice":)
Linux users (hardly ever) download and install software from the internet. We download and install packages from repositories.
Of course, repositories can never be hacked, that's unpossible!
And someone else fails Reading Comprehension 101. From the very GP that you quote:
the risk of malware infection is kept remarkably low - not because linux is so secure, but because infecting the repo's will be very hard indeed and the software in those repos are checked by people who are *trained* in computers.
(emphasis added)
What part of "very hard indeed" made you think that the GP poster was saying "unpossible?"
But by far, the biggest problem with these studies is that they universally fail to take into account all the places where neither CFL nor LED bulbs can be used at all. Start with outdoor lighting. Outdoor lights, by their very nature, must be sealed. CFLs contain lots of electronic components, including electrolytic capacitors. In a sealed enclosure, these parts can heat up beyond the thermal limits of their components within minutes. Therefore, for outdoor use, you should not use CFLs, period.
As others have already pointed out, this is total nonsense. The first place that I started using CFLs was to replace the incandescent outdoor floods on my garage and house. I had grown tired of climbing a ladder to replace lightbulbs every several months. I haven't had to replace a single CFL since I installed the first one.
BTW, I live in Minnesota, a state known for its extreme temperature swings. Since I replaced those bulbs several years ago, the temps here have ranged from a lows of about 40 below to recorded highs of 95+ above zero (Fahrenheit).
Thanks for the clarification. I remember Henry's, btw. I didn't realize it was an Oregonian brew. For some reason I thought it was brewed somewhere in extreme northern California.
Strange. I would have thought that Sam Adams out of Boston and San Francisco's Anchor Brewing were both large enough to support some exporting. While I'm personally not a huge fan of Sam Adams, it's certainly far better than Anheuser-Busch's product line. I highly recommend Anchor Steam, btw. There's nothing else quite like it.
And regarding your trip. Depending on how long you stay there, if it's more than a week, try to find a neighbourhood pub (a real one preferably, not one of those modern things) and meet the locals. Pubs are an important part of the British social life. And don't ever order US beer. Try the local bitters, see if they have any local breweries, try anything you've never heard of. Beware, they are served warm by US standards (where any drink is served just above solidification temperature). Putting ice in your beer will be considered weird.
While I am personally a strong proponent of sampling the local cuisine when traveling, I do feel the need to correct a couple of misperceptions about the selection and serving conditions of beer in the U.S. Anyone who has ever visited an Old Chicago knows that there is a broad and growing selection of really good beer brewed in the U.S. I will concede, though, that getting a decent stout served close to room temperature is next to impossible. Health inspectors, doncha know.:)
In addition to the sampling at Old Chicago, every serious beer drinker in the U.S. has his or her own local favorite brewing companies. Utah has Bigamy Beer (as the label says, one is not enough). Wisconsin has Leinenkugel and James Page. Minnesota has Summit and Schell. Oregon has McMiniman's (sp?).
Those are just my personal favorites among the many that I've sampled over the years. Every state has at least a couple of microbrew companies. Some, like Oregon, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, have dozens. There's no reason to drink a Bud Lite if you really don't want to. Don't let people tell you otherwise.:)
My kids have had direct, physical access to the desktop on a shared machine since they were old enough to see the keyboard and move the mouse. My now 15 year old daughter started that way when she was 3. Do you really think it's a good idea to allow a THREE YEAR OLD GIRL the ability to INSTALL ANY SOFTWARE WHATSOEVER????
Whoever thought that setting this as the default was a good idea should be shot before they contribute to the gene pool. Anyone who thinks this is a good idea for any distribution deserves the rooting that they're about to get.
Addendum: For those in America - Australia doesn't have a "Bill of Rights". We work on the principle you have a right to everything, unless prohibited by law. There's no explicit listing of rights that you guys have... YFMV? (Your Freedom May Vary)
Which is why the 9th and 10th amendments (last two clauses in what is popularly known as the Bill of Rights) are so important:
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Many politicians and media talking heads tend to conveniently forget those two whenever they're pushing for yet another limitation of our civil rights. (sigh)
Read some of the comments to the original article. This guy has apparently been severely criticized on more than one for the quality of his research.
That's not to say that he's necessarily wrong. However, it's probably wise to take his statements with a grain of salt until other qualified people weigh in.
That's because Bradbury is a better author than Vonnegut in almost every way. Yep, you heard me right. Vonnegut, while quite good, is seriously overrated IMNSHO.
Now, if you had said Bradbury over Jules Verne, you might have had a valid point. Verne's works have stood the test of time while Bradbury's have a while to go. Murakami I've never heard of, so I can't comment on your other comparison.
And no, I don't limit my reading to just pulp. When I step away from SF, though, I tend to gravitate towards histories, biographies, and novels from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Translation for the morally and ethically impaired:
Just for the heck of it, police in the UK seized and opened 3,554 safety-deposit boxes. More than two thirds of the boxes had contents that were deemed to be legal. Less than a third had contents that were deemed to be legally questionable. The police have given no indication as to how they made that determination. It should be noted that the courts and police were able to confiscate almost 2 million pounds UK and are salivating at the thought of getting their grubby paws on another 15.5 million pounds UK.
"The operation has paid for itself already! At this rate, I'll be able to buy that new Maserati by Tuesday." Chief Inspector Herbert Winsleydale Smythe Smyth Smith was heard to exclaim.
To date, there have been no charges filed. "Why give the buggers a chance to muck things up by complaining in court?" sniffed an HM magistrate's representative who wished to remain anonymous.
The only edge PCs still have is the keyboard and mouse as a controller.
Actually, I would argue that the one edge that PCs will probably always have is player created content. The console market is aimed at a much more casual experience. Most console game companies have no desire to provide tools to allow players to create and release mods of any sort.
By contrast, some PC game companies have historically encouraged their fan base to create whatever they wanted. When those companies released tools to let players create their own material, the results were nothing short of spectacular. One of the most popular and enduring mods ever created, CounterStrike, was originally a player created mod. Heck, there's hardly a shooter released these days that doesn't include CTF (originally released as Threewave CTF for Quake). Another player created innovation is DoD's wave respawn cycle. Then there's the oddities like Quess (a chess game based on Quake) and Quake Rally (racing game), player generated characters like Homer Simpson and Barney, etc.
Game companies who want to encourage their customers to experiment with the game engines will always do well. (e.g., Bohemia Interactive, Battlefront.Com, id software, etc.) It's just that they can't expect to have the next major blockbuster any more.:)
He's probably thinking of corporate annual reports. The vast majority of the Fortune 1000 have really glitzed up their regulatory reporting over the past couple of decades. Random examples:
I'm driving a '97 F150 4x4 with more than 267,000 miles on it. I bought it used in August of that year when it had 12,000 miles. 5 speed manual transmission and the small V8. I'm on my second rebuilt transmission, but the engine and clutch are still original. (My dad taught me to drive back when Kung Fu was still on TV. "Learn to shift as if driving on rice paper, Grasshopper!":-) )
Over the years I've had to do some other maintenance work, and I'm due for another break job. I'm debating whether or not it's worth my while to go buy another used pickup or keep maintaining this one. I figure as long as the frame is sound (I live in a state that makes liberal use of road salt, so corrosion is an issue here), I might as well.
I sit next to a guy who gets restless when his car gets to be a couple of years old. I'm not sure he's ever paid off a car before trading it in. He gives me a hard time for my 14-16 MPG when his year old diesel BMW is getting 30+. He still hasn't figured out which of us is being more environmentally friendly, and why.:)
At a minimum, you need a network based system using multiple login contexts/workspaces for a single user, with metadata associated with files that is dynamically updated when a user switches contexts. Not "any operating system with a shell".
So, any OS running XWindows, then. How old is that again?
I can't speak for everyone else, but in my school district touch typing is taught in elementary school. Kids are expected to be able to type about 40 wpm before they reach fifth grade. Most of them type at rates far higher than that.
Me, I was happy to finish my high school touch typing classes (Typing 1 & 2) at 50 wpm. That was in '75 or '76. I think my current rate is about 30 or 35 (too many mistakes slow me down).
Slashdot Mirror
Well, you did say the "job", as in 'paid', right? In this economy? Seriously? I think you'd have geeks lined up around the corner for the opportunity.
Trust me, banks hate dealing with all that paper. It is mind bogglingly expensive to move all that paper around, collate it, and properly track the transactions that they represent. We would far rather go electronic as soon as possible. Much, MUCH cheaper and FAR more accurate.
The funny thing is, the large banks had been pushing for the elimination of checks since the late '80s/early '90s because of the transportation costs involved. Check 21 (the colloquial name for check image legislation and a necessary first step to eliminating checks altogether) had been conceived by and lobbied for by the banks for quite some time prior to 9/11. I know that my company was an active participant in a pilot project long before then. We wanted to pull the trigger as soon as we legally could. My memory is hazy on this point, but I think we did so a year or two before 9/11.
In fact, one of our biggest disappointments since has been that we haven't been able to get people to give up checks fast enough to reduce our transportation costs to meet our projected savings goals.
I have to disagree, here. I've banked with several different credit unions, a couple of small banks, and three or four large banks over the past several decades. I've never had an EFT go missing. Besides, if the problem was as widespread as you believe our entire e-commerce marketplace would have never taken off. Amazon seems to be doing quite well. :)
I will concede, though, that person to person EFT capabilities have been FAR too slow to emerge.
"You can get anything you want, :)
at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice"
Shanghai, Manila, Peking, Hong Kong...
And someone else fails Reading Comprehension 101. From the very GP that you quote:
(emphasis added)
What part of "very hard indeed" made you think that the GP poster was saying "unpossible?"
Git.
As others have already pointed out, this is total nonsense. The first place that I started using CFLs was to replace the incandescent outdoor floods on my garage and house. I had grown tired of climbing a ladder to replace lightbulbs every several months. I haven't had to replace a single CFL since I installed the first one.
BTW, I live in Minnesota, a state known for its extreme temperature swings. Since I replaced those bulbs several years ago, the temps here have ranged from a lows of about 40 below to recorded highs of 95+ above zero (Fahrenheit).
Thanks for the clarification. I remember Henry's, btw. I didn't realize it was an Oregonian brew. For some reason I thought it was brewed somewhere in extreme northern California.
Strange. I would have thought that Sam Adams out of Boston and San Francisco's Anchor Brewing were both large enough to support some exporting. While I'm personally not a huge fan of Sam Adams, it's certainly far better than Anheuser-Busch's product line. I highly recommend Anchor Steam, btw. There's nothing else quite like it.
While I am personally a strong proponent of sampling the local cuisine when traveling, I do feel the need to correct a couple of misperceptions about the selection and serving conditions of beer in the U.S. Anyone who has ever visited an Old Chicago knows that there is a broad and growing selection of really good beer brewed in the U.S. I will concede, though, that getting a decent stout served close to room temperature is next to impossible. Health inspectors, doncha know. :)
In addition to the sampling at Old Chicago, every serious beer drinker in the U.S. has his or her own local favorite brewing companies. Utah has Bigamy Beer (as the label says, one is not enough). Wisconsin has Leinenkugel and James Page. Minnesota has Summit and Schell. Oregon has McMiniman's (sp?).
Those are just my personal favorites among the many that I've sampled over the years. Every state has at least a couple of microbrew companies. Some, like Oregon, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, have dozens. There's no reason to drink a Bud Lite if you really don't want to. Don't let people tell you otherwise. :)
My kids have had direct, physical access to the desktop on a shared machine since they were old enough to see the keyboard and move the mouse. My now 15 year old daughter started that way when she was 3. Do you really think it's a good idea to allow a THREE YEAR OLD GIRL the ability to INSTALL ANY SOFTWARE WHATSOEVER????
Whoever thought that setting this as the default was a good idea should be shot before they contribute to the gene pool. Anyone who thinks this is a good idea for any distribution deserves the rooting that they're about to get.
Which is why the 9th and 10th amendments (last two clauses in what is popularly known as the Bill of Rights) are so important:
Many politicians and media talking heads tend to conveniently forget those two whenever they're pushing for yet another limitation of our civil rights. (sigh)
Read some of the comments to the original article. This guy has apparently been severely criticized on more than one for the quality of his research.
That's not to say that he's necessarily wrong. However, it's probably wise to take his statements with a grain of salt until other qualified people weigh in.
Read KSR vs Teleflex. This patent should not have been granted because it's an obvious extension to anyone skilled in the art.
That's because Bradbury is a better author than Vonnegut in almost every way. Yep, you heard me right. Vonnegut, while quite good, is seriously overrated IMNSHO.
Now, if you had said Bradbury over Jules Verne, you might have had a valid point. Verne's works have stood the test of time while Bradbury's have a while to go. Murakami I've never heard of, so I can't comment on your other comparison.
And no, I don't limit my reading to just pulp. When I step away from SF, though, I tend to gravitate towards histories, biographies, and novels from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Translation for the morally and ethically impaired:
Actually, I would argue that the one edge that PCs will probably always have is player created content. The console market is aimed at a much more casual experience. Most console game companies have no desire to provide tools to allow players to create and release mods of any sort.
By contrast, some PC game companies have historically encouraged their fan base to create whatever they wanted. When those companies released tools to let players create their own material, the results were nothing short of spectacular. One of the most popular and enduring mods ever created, CounterStrike, was originally a player created mod. Heck, there's hardly a shooter released these days that doesn't include CTF (originally released as Threewave CTF for Quake). Another player created innovation is DoD's wave respawn cycle. Then there's the oddities like Quess (a chess game based on Quake) and Quake Rally (racing game), player generated characters like Homer Simpson and Barney, etc.
Game companies who want to encourage their customers to experiment with the game engines will always do well. (e.g., Bohemia Interactive, Battlefront.Com, id software, etc.) It's just that they can't expect to have the next major blockbuster any more. :)
Cite?
He's probably thinking of corporate annual reports. The vast majority of the Fortune 1000 have really glitzed up their regulatory reporting over the past couple of decades. Random examples:
Ford Motor Company
Bank of America
Pepsi Corporation
I'm driving a '97 F150 4x4 with more than 267,000 miles on it. I bought it used in August of that year when it had 12,000 miles. 5 speed manual transmission and the small V8. I'm on my second rebuilt transmission, but the engine and clutch are still original. (My dad taught me to drive back when Kung Fu was still on TV. "Learn to shift as if driving on rice paper, Grasshopper!" :-) )
Over the years I've had to do some other maintenance work, and I'm due for another break job. I'm debating whether or not it's worth my while to go buy another used pickup or keep maintaining this one. I figure as long as the frame is sound (I live in a state that makes liberal use of road salt, so corrosion is an issue here), I might as well.
I sit next to a guy who gets restless when his car gets to be a couple of years old. I'm not sure he's ever paid off a car before trading it in. He gives me a hard time for my 14-16 MPG when his year old diesel BMW is getting 30+. He still hasn't figured out which of us is being more environmentally friendly, and why. :)
So, any OS running XWindows, then. How old is that again?
I can't speak for everyone else, but in my school district touch typing is taught in elementary school. Kids are expected to be able to type about 40 wpm before they reach fifth grade. Most of them type at rates far higher than that.
Me, I was happy to finish my high school touch typing classes (Typing 1 & 2) at 50 wpm. That was in '75 or '76. I think my current rate is about 30 or 35 (too many mistakes slow me down).
Wow. I never thought I'd get modded Troll for referring to the Argument Sketch. Doesn't anyone remember their Python anymore?
Going from research done in the US, the person most likely to be shot with *your* gun is ... you, or a member of your household
Someone who owns a gun is more likely to be involved in violent crime .. not less likely
Yeah, right. Tell that to Switzerland. Or any of the Scandinavian countries, for that matter.
Wrong Python. Graham Chapman provided abuse. :)