It's almost like you can't get your information from random strangers based totally on your friends/family saying "Hey did you hear about this" anymore.
Next, you're going to tell me that Bill Gates really doesn't enter me in the International Lottery every time I forward cat videos to Nigerian Princes. (Hey, those guys keep dying. If anyone needs mindless entertainment, it's them!)
True, but if your hands are in plain sight and not on the wheel (e.g. folded behind your head as you relax), you're likely to be pulled over. I can see self-driving car users being pulled over initially for not paying attention to the road when their car was doing the driving. Not that I blame the officers (or envy the judgement call they'll need to make). The introduction of self-driving cars will mean police officers will need additional training to tell when to pull someone over for not paying attention (non-self-driving car owner) and when not to (self-driving car owner with self-driving activated).
My guess is that self-driving car systems will be introduced gradually. You'll have "highway mode" self-driving cars where the self-driving system would be an enhanced cruise control. You go on the highway, hit the "self drive" button, and then sit back and relax until your exit nears. The next step would be to take over some stop-and-go city driving (likely used in good weather just like you wouldn't hit "cruise control" now if it was snowing out). Finally, computers would control all car movements after you input your destination and there will be no need for you to take control.
This will let manufactuers perfect their self-driving car systems and get the public* used to seeing people sitting back with their hands off the wheels.
* Public and police officers. Imagine if a highway officer saw a car go by today without a person's hands on the wheels. Even if the car was going the speed limit, it would likely be pulled over until the officer knew that this car was self-driving.
will have to mimic the act of driving, to avoid confusing other drivers
Got it.
*starts self-driving car* *begins texting friends using both hands while not even looking at the road*
(Yes, I saw someone driving like this once. No, I don't know how they steered their car if no hands were on the wheel. I got away from them as quickly as I could.)
How about the bees dying off? There was a recent study that showed that while the climate amenable to bees is moving north, the bees aren't. So the bees in southern regions are dying off (too hot) and the entire population of bees is suffering. If the bees die off, many plants (including crops) will suffer.
Didn't they have record breaking heat waves during their summer while those of us in the Northeastern US were buried in snow? I seem to recall people in the US declaring "It's cold here right now so Global Warming can't be real" only to have some Australians reply about their record breaking heat waves.
At times, I want to get a diagnosis not so much for myself but for others. My parents, for example, reacted to my "I have autism" declaration as if I insulted their parenting skills. I know that this comes out of ignorance and that a diagnosis won't stop this. My father still tries to claim that my diagnosed son will "grow out of it" or that an accomplishment of his is "proof he doesn't have autism." Still, it would be nice sometimes to say definitively "Yes, I have autism as diagnosed by this medical doctor."
As someone who is kosher/vegetarian, this would ruin the dish for me. Don't worry, though, I'll just have them serve my bacon on a different plate and pass it to you. Sometimes there are benefits to dining with people who don't eat bacon!
First of all, thanks for all your work for people on the spectrum.
I'm the parent of a child on the autism spectrum (High Functioning/Asperger's). When we got our son's diagnosis and I was reading up on Autism, I began to realize that these books were describing me also. Suddenly, all the things in my life that seems to set me apart from everyone else made sense. Now, I identify myself as undiagnosed Asperger's. I've considered getting a diagnosis but held back for various reasons (financial constraints, thinking my diagnosis wouldn't help my son, thinking that my diagnosis wouldn't help me). Sometimes, though, it feel like not getting the diagnosis sets me apart and casts doubt on whether I really have autism or not.
Would you recommend that adults who think they are on the spectrum get a diagnosis? If so, do you have any recommendations for how to proceed with this?
I know, technically speaking, we're not supposed to answer the questions raised, but as a parent of a child on the Autism spectrum as well as someone who considers himself undiagnosed as well, I think I have some personal experience to share.
Don't worry if you don't match all the stories of autism. Every person with autism is different. My son has sensitivities to some noises (running the vacuum in my house leads to him screaming if he hasn't been properly prepared - and even if he has been), but I don't. I tend to be withdrawn socially and riddled with doubt about how to proceed. My son just leaps into social situations and doesn't seem to care if people think he's odd. (Granted, this could just be his lack of awareness of the situation - something that can be good or bad.)
I'll doubt myself also at times. Sometimes I'll think that maybe I'm not on the spectrum because I've had a good run. Then, something happens and I find myself barely holding myself together and nearly unable to cope with it.
As this is just a plant (seaweed), it would be automatically Kosher. I'm assuming that there's no "we inserted X genes from pigs into the seaweed" trickery involved to make Orthodox Jews think twice. From what I've read, this is something that's been in use for awhile outside of America and might be introduced here because they realized that it tastes like bacon when fried.
I'd definitely try this. The first application should be bacon sushi. Wrap some of the bacon-seaweed around some sticky rice and tempura-bacon-seaweed and serve with wasabi and ginger.
Unfortunately, on most roads I've driven on, people take "you've left appropriate distance between you and the car in front of you" to mean "this is a good spot to change lanes." So then you drop back a bit (hoping the cars doing the same behind you don't slam into you) to leave appropriate space again and the process repeats.
What it all comes down to is human drivers stink at driving. Yes, some of us are decent at it, but all too many humans are willing to take extremely dangerous maneuvers just to shave 30 seconds off of their journey while raising the risk of collision dramatically. Then, when they get in an accident, they'll blame the other guy for "stopping unexpectedly" or "coming out of nowhere" or some other excuse to defer blame. I don't think driverless cars are ready just yet, but I can't wait for cars to be smart enough to take humans out of the equation.
I was talking to my son about the New Horizons mission today and explained to him that scientists LOVE it when they look at something and think "I have no clue why this is the way it is." That's one of the best moments in science. That means you have a mystery to solve. The worst thing any scientist can think is "We know everything there is to know about this thing." Science thrives on unraveling the unknown. The day when we know everything there is to know about everything is the day science dies. (Granted, I doubt that day would ever come as there's always more to learn.)
Just to tap into another great scientific discovery, the New Horizons mission is a great example of this also. Nine years ago, scientists had to plan a route and engineers had to design systems. All of this had to be extremely precise. New Horizons had a 100 km by 150 km window of space that it had to be in within 100 seconds. If it was out of this area, the photos would return blank space. While we won't know if it hit the target until the photos come back late tonight/early tomorrow, it looks like they hit the mark. That's planning a route 9 years out and 5 billion km away. That took some serious understanding of orbital velocity to accomplish. One tiny mistake and New Horizons would have wound up far away from Pluto.
To be fair, the Republicans and Democrats BOTH want to turn over our schools to private corporations whether via charter schools or by giving tons of public school money to companies like Pearson. - The parent of two boys one of whose school might be turned over to a private corporation thanks to a Democratic governor (Andrew Cuomo).
Apparently, he was arrested for stealing electricity, then "de-arrested." It sounds like cooler heads were going to prevail and just let the guy off with a warning. However, then he became aggressive and he was arrested again. You can't act belligerent towards police officers and then complain that they arrested you.
And the Happy Birthday song's copyright is being asserted based on the fact that the piano arrangement was published in 1935 (IIRC) while the song itself is much older. So it still wouldn't surprise me if someone claimed copyright on a song because a TV show used it in 1952 despite the song being really old. Especially if that someone were a big company with enough legal resources to scare off any lawsuits challenging their claim.
I wish Jennifer Nelson luck in fighting this battle. If she wins, I propose that every year, on her birthday, we all sing her Happy Birthday to commemorate the victory.
There are things in this world that we want to hide even if we've done nothing wrong. I like responding to the "If you've got nothing to hide..." folks like this:
If you've got nothing to fear then you've got nothing to hide? Great. What's your bank account number, balance, and PIN? What's your real name, social security number, date of birth, and home address? Why won't you tell me this information? Do you have something to hide?!!!
If there's one thing the government fears most of all (and no, it's not a group of citizens upset with their actions) it's a riot from companies that lobby them. Block all encrypted traffic and every online retailer (including lots of big name, big lobbying companies) would find themselves unable to conduct business online. Block encryption and banks wouldn't be able to fulfill transactions online. Block encryption and health care companies couldn't show you medical information online. All of these sectors would send lobbyists on a "Seek and Destroy" mission should any such bill ever be seriously considered.
In those days, weight was a status symbol. If you were heavy it meant you could a) afford tons of food and b) hire people to do various chores for you. Meanwhile, those starving peasants were thin because they had to work hard to be able to afford small amounts of food. A heavy woman meant that she came from a rich family and thus was considered very attractive. Imagine what a nobleman time travelling from that time period to today would think. "Everyone in America is obscenely wealthy!!!!"
Even better, use something like The Birthday Party Polka, which isn't copyrighted at all, and has been use since at least 1952, making it hard for anybody to claim the rights at this late date.
Considering that "Happy Birthday To You" (the song and lyrics) date back to 1912, if not earlier, don't assume it would be hard for someone to claim copyright on it.
As hawguy mentioned above, it can be profitable to executives and early investors. It's essentially a pyramid scheme. Say your product costs $1.10 to make and you sell it for $1. You get a big round of funding and put some of that towards "executive salaries." Then you build hype about your product/company increasing the "value" of your company and getting more and more people to invest in it. As more money pours in from investors, you squirrel more money away as "executive compensation."
Just before the whole thing collapses, you bail out taking as much money with you as possible. The company folds and creditors are paid off, possibly including those earliest investors. The people who came in at the bottom of the pyramid get nothing, some investors walk away with their money back, and you walk away rich.
Of course, if the authorities realize it's all a scam you might go to jail, but most of the people who did this played it straight enough to get away with it. Sometimes multiple times in a row. Sometimes fooling the same investors who kept hoping that this time they could jump off the pyramid before it collapsed.
Slashdot Mirror
It's almost like you can't get your information from random strangers based totally on your friends/family saying "Hey did you hear about this" anymore.
Next, you're going to tell me that Bill Gates really doesn't enter me in the International Lottery every time I forward cat videos to Nigerian Princes. (Hey, those guys keep dying. If anyone needs mindless entertainment, it's them!)
True, but if your hands are in plain sight and not on the wheel (e.g. folded behind your head as you relax), you're likely to be pulled over. I can see self-driving car users being pulled over initially for not paying attention to the road when their car was doing the driving. Not that I blame the officers (or envy the judgement call they'll need to make). The introduction of self-driving cars will mean police officers will need additional training to tell when to pull someone over for not paying attention (non-self-driving car owner) and when not to (self-driving car owner with self-driving activated).
My guess is that self-driving car systems will be introduced gradually. You'll have "highway mode" self-driving cars where the self-driving system would be an enhanced cruise control. You go on the highway, hit the "self drive" button, and then sit back and relax until your exit nears. The next step would be to take over some stop-and-go city driving (likely used in good weather just like you wouldn't hit "cruise control" now if it was snowing out). Finally, computers would control all car movements after you input your destination and there will be no need for you to take control.
This will let manufactuers perfect their self-driving car systems and get the public* used to seeing people sitting back with their hands off the wheels.
* Public and police officers. Imagine if a highway officer saw a car go by today without a person's hands on the wheels. Even if the car was going the speed limit, it would likely be pulled over until the officer knew that this car was self-driving.
Got it.
*starts self-driving car*
*begins texting friends using both hands while not even looking at the road*
(Yes, I saw someone driving like this once. No, I don't know how they steered their car if no hands were on the wheel. I got away from them as quickly as I could.)
How about the bees dying off? There was a recent study that showed that while the climate amenable to bees is moving north, the bees aren't. So the bees in southern regions are dying off (too hot) and the entire population of bees is suffering. If the bees die off, many plants (including crops) will suffer.
Didn't they have record breaking heat waves during their summer while those of us in the Northeastern US were buried in snow? I seem to recall people in the US declaring "It's cold here right now so Global Warming can't be real" only to have some Australians reply about their record breaking heat waves.
At times, I want to get a diagnosis not so much for myself but for others. My parents, for example, reacted to my "I have autism" declaration as if I insulted their parenting skills. I know that this comes out of ignorance and that a diagnosis won't stop this. My father still tries to claim that my diagnosed son will "grow out of it" or that an accomplishment of his is "proof he doesn't have autism." Still, it would be nice sometimes to say definitively "Yes, I have autism as diagnosed by this medical doctor."
As someone who is kosher/vegetarian, this would ruin the dish for me. Don't worry, though, I'll just have them serve my bacon on a different plate and pass it to you. Sometimes there are benefits to dining with people who don't eat bacon!
First of all, thanks for all your work for people on the spectrum.
I'm the parent of a child on the autism spectrum (High Functioning/Asperger's). When we got our son's diagnosis and I was reading up on Autism, I began to realize that these books were describing me also. Suddenly, all the things in my life that seems to set me apart from everyone else made sense. Now, I identify myself as undiagnosed Asperger's. I've considered getting a diagnosis but held back for various reasons (financial constraints, thinking my diagnosis wouldn't help my son, thinking that my diagnosis wouldn't help me). Sometimes, though, it feel like not getting the diagnosis sets me apart and casts doubt on whether I really have autism or not.
Would you recommend that adults who think they are on the spectrum get a diagnosis? If so, do you have any recommendations for how to proceed with this?
I know, technically speaking, we're not supposed to answer the questions raised, but as a parent of a child on the Autism spectrum as well as someone who considers himself undiagnosed as well, I think I have some personal experience to share.
Don't worry if you don't match all the stories of autism. Every person with autism is different. My son has sensitivities to some noises (running the vacuum in my house leads to him screaming if he hasn't been properly prepared - and even if he has been), but I don't. I tend to be withdrawn socially and riddled with doubt about how to proceed. My son just leaps into social situations and doesn't seem to care if people think he's odd. (Granted, this could just be his lack of awareness of the situation - something that can be good or bad.)
I'll doubt myself also at times. Sometimes I'll think that maybe I'm not on the spectrum because I've had a good run. Then, something happens and I find myself barely holding myself together and nearly unable to cope with it.
As this is just a plant (seaweed), it would be automatically Kosher. I'm assuming that there's no "we inserted X genes from pigs into the seaweed" trickery involved to make Orthodox Jews think twice. From what I've read, this is something that's been in use for awhile outside of America and might be introduced here because they realized that it tastes like bacon when fried.
I'd definitely try this. The first application should be bacon sushi. Wrap some of the bacon-seaweed around some sticky rice and tempura-bacon-seaweed and serve with wasabi and ginger.
Unfortunately, on most roads I've driven on, people take "you've left appropriate distance between you and the car in front of you" to mean "this is a good spot to change lanes." So then you drop back a bit (hoping the cars doing the same behind you don't slam into you) to leave appropriate space again and the process repeats.
What it all comes down to is human drivers stink at driving. Yes, some of us are decent at it, but all too many humans are willing to take extremely dangerous maneuvers just to shave 30 seconds off of their journey while raising the risk of collision dramatically. Then, when they get in an accident, they'll blame the other guy for "stopping unexpectedly" or "coming out of nowhere" or some other excuse to defer blame. I don't think driverless cars are ready just yet, but I can't wait for cars to be smart enough to take humans out of the equation.
Disneyland apparently noticed this as well: https://twitter.com/Disneyland/status/621062834743607296
I was talking to my son about the New Horizons mission today and explained to him that scientists LOVE it when they look at something and think "I have no clue why this is the way it is." That's one of the best moments in science. That means you have a mystery to solve. The worst thing any scientist can think is "We know everything there is to know about this thing." Science thrives on unraveling the unknown. The day when we know everything there is to know about everything is the day science dies. (Granted, I doubt that day would ever come as there's always more to learn.)
Just to tap into another great scientific discovery, the New Horizons mission is a great example of this also. Nine years ago, scientists had to plan a route and engineers had to design systems. All of this had to be extremely precise. New Horizons had a 100 km by 150 km window of space that it had to be in within 100 seconds. If it was out of this area, the photos would return blank space. While we won't know if it hit the target until the photos come back late tonight/early tomorrow, it looks like they hit the mark. That's planning a route 9 years out and 5 billion km away. That took some serious understanding of orbital velocity to accomplish. One tiny mistake and New Horizons would have wound up far away from Pluto.
To be fair, the Republicans and Democrats BOTH want to turn over our schools to private corporations whether via charter schools or by giving tons of public school money to companies like Pearson. - The parent of two boys one of whose school might be turned over to a private corporation thanks to a Democratic governor (Andrew Cuomo).
Apparently, he was arrested for stealing electricity, then "de-arrested." It sounds like cooler heads were going to prevail and just let the guy off with a warning. However, then he became aggressive and he was arrested again. You can't act belligerent towards police officers and then complain that they arrested you.
And the Happy Birthday song's copyright is being asserted based on the fact that the piano arrangement was published in 1935 (IIRC) while the song itself is much older. So it still wouldn't surprise me if someone claimed copyright on a song because a TV show used it in 1952 despite the song being really old. Especially if that someone were a big company with enough legal resources to scare off any lawsuits challenging their claim.
I wish Jennifer Nelson luck in fighting this battle. If she wins, I propose that every year, on her birthday, we all sing her Happy Birthday to commemorate the victory.
There are things in this world that we want to hide even if we've done nothing wrong. I like responding to the "If you've got nothing to hide..." folks like this:
If you've got nothing to fear then you've got nothing to hide? Great. What's your bank account number, balance, and PIN? What's your real name, social security number, date of birth, and home address? Why won't you tell me this information? Do you have something to hide?!!!
If there's one thing the government fears most of all (and no, it's not a group of citizens upset with their actions) it's a riot from companies that lobby them. Block all encrypted traffic and every online retailer (including lots of big name, big lobbying companies) would find themselves unable to conduct business online. Block encryption and banks wouldn't be able to fulfill transactions online. Block encryption and health care companies couldn't show you medical information online. All of these sectors would send lobbyists on a "Seek and Destroy" mission should any such bill ever be seriously considered.
In those days, weight was a status symbol. If you were heavy it meant you could a) afford tons of food and b) hire people to do various chores for you. Meanwhile, those starving peasants were thin because they had to work hard to be able to afford small amounts of food. A heavy woman meant that she came from a rich family and thus was considered very attractive. Imagine what a nobleman time travelling from that time period to today would think. "Everyone in America is obscenely wealthy!!!!"
Zombie Elvis writes the best songs:
"Falling In Love With BRAAAINNNS"
"...Don't shuffle on my blue suede shoes..."
"I'm a zombie in disguise. Oh yes I am. Zombie in disguise."
"Well, since I didn't eat brains,
My hunger started to swell.
With luck I'll find some brains to eat,
at Heartbreak Hotel."
Ah, the classics!
Considering that "Happy Birthday To You" (the song and lyrics) date back to 1912, if not earlier, don't assume it would be hard for someone to claim copyright on it.
As hawguy mentioned above, it can be profitable to executives and early investors. It's essentially a pyramid scheme. Say your product costs $1.10 to make and you sell it for $1. You get a big round of funding and put some of that towards "executive salaries." Then you build hype about your product/company increasing the "value" of your company and getting more and more people to invest in it. As more money pours in from investors, you squirrel more money away as "executive compensation."
Just before the whole thing collapses, you bail out taking as much money with you as possible. The company folds and creditors are paid off, possibly including those earliest investors. The people who came in at the bottom of the pyramid get nothing, some investors walk away with their money back, and you walk away rich.
Of course, if the authorities realize it's all a scam you might go to jail, but most of the people who did this played it straight enough to get away with it. Sometimes multiple times in a row. Sometimes fooling the same investors who kept hoping that this time they could jump off the pyramid before it collapsed.