Switching your phone number to another network is a pain in the ass.
Since everyone else responding seems to be referencing the EU, I'll pitch in that, in the US, I've ported a number twice in the past 6 months (from T-Mobile to Cricket to Virgin Mobile). I can see that the concept might be a little intimidating to the less technically inclined, but the process was really easy & both times resulted in a few hours of the number being unreachable. I'm sure mistakes happen, but in general porting seems to be pretty smooth.
The difference is that this can actually be built for around $35, less than that in bulk. The Indian announcement is very unlikely to actually result in a $35 laptop.
I have a DC area reverse commute, which takes me 20 mins each way in the car. If I took the bus, it would be an hour & 20 minutes (plus a little walking time) in the morning. That's bad enough, but there are NO buses going towards my home between 3:30 & 8pm! Granted, I'm not in the usual pattern, but it's funny that it's not even possible for me to use public transport for my commute.
Yep, I've driven in the USA and it's awful. The one that really got me was people merging from ramps without even looking and just shoving me out of the way if I happened to be there. How does that work...?
It's funny, that's the one thing my UK in-laws liked about US drivers - they commented about how nice it was that you could just merge onto the highway & people would let you in. I think that one's more a cultural thing, you assumed that the people merging would wait for you, they assumed that you'd let them in. The lack of lane discipline is bad here, though I have to say that as traffic volumes get worse in the UK the drivers there seem to drive more like Americans.
No. Handguns are tightly regulated in Maryland. You can transport an unloaded handgun in a secure case only if you are traveling to a recognized shooting competition, bonafide gun show, hunting exercise, or some other gun-related event. You can carry rifles or shotguns for any reason, but they need to be unloaded and secured in commercial cases or gun racks.
A friend had a beater old VW Golf with a shot 1st gear - had to start off in 2nd. He'd keep the key under the mat & leave it unlocked. It actually got stolen once, but they only made it around the corner & then left it in a parking garage - literally on the next block. He was happy to get the insurance money when he got t-boned in it a year or so later...
I've been thinking about doing a security related degree, and University of MD University College (UMUC) has both a Master of Science in Information Technology: Information Assurance & a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity one, to me, looks like it's for people who already work for the government, which is not me, so I'm leaning towards the IA. (The IA has also been around for a while while Cybersecurity starts this fall.) If anyone has any thoughts on either of these I'd be interested. If not, maybe someone else will find the links useful! http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/msit/information_systems_assurance.shtml http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/csec/index.shtml
This is MD. It's practically impossible to get a concealed carry permit here, so he wouldn't have been "100% within his rights" (legally) to even have a gun unless he was on his way to a range or gun store & even then it would have to be unloaded.
I think everyone would agree that it would be best for ISPs to be able to run their networks however they want. The problem comes when the ISP is a part of a large media corporation, and is also a monopoly / duopoly. If they were standalone entities, this wouldn't be an issue.
The difference between reading an ebook and a physical book is so great as to make them different products in my mind.
Really? I have read, conservatively, 150+ books on my various Palms over the last 10+ years. Most were novels in straight text form. Only a few, which had illustrations etc which were integral to the story, did I bother to get in paper form. A great story draws me in and I quickly lose interest in the delivery medium. Paper is nicer than my Palm's screen, and I have read some books flipping back and forth between the Palm & the book left at home, but in general, for me, if the writing is good I don't care what I'm reading it on. And pretty much these days, if the writing *isn't* good, I don't bother reading it. Millennium Trilogy excepted...
$10 is too high for older books; even on Amazon itself, you can get a used copy of London Fields for $4 ($0.01 + 3.99 s/h). One of these days I'll get an ereader, but it will likely not be a Kindle. Their DRM is bad enough, but the ability to mess with stuff already bought & the refusal to support epub is the final straw. I'll stick with my trusty Palm Tungsten for now, my eyes are still ok.
Oh? Does this mean that the cars will know the traffic laws in every jurisdiction?
Most GPS units already have some knowledge of speed limits; my one, for example, knows all the major roads around me, and knew a lot of the roads in France too. It's not hard to imagine that as these vehicles become more feasible, national databases and local updating systems will be created. It would be pretty trivial for there to be updates broadcast (like traffic updates to current GPSs) in the event of weather etc, and the autonomous systems should be able to react to accidents etc that are extremely local to them. I'd expect that they'd not only react, but transmit that information to all the other autonomous vehicles around them - "a truck just jackknifed in front of me, I'm slamming on my brakes and avoiding it, you guys should start slowing now". In fact, you'd hope that they'd maintain a safe braking distance so they wouldn't have to brake too hard, but you get the idea... And it should also be trivial to add some of the functionality to devices for conventional cars like GPSs, so you would be made aware of the fact of an accident as soon as an autonomous vehicle recorded it.
Yeah, that always hits me too. If I can just get into my comfy minivan, sleep all night, and wake up in Florida or Maine, I'm going to be taking a lot more road trips. And I won't be the only one. Some of the problems of increased traffic will be offset by the self driving cars not doing stupid things to slow everyone else, but I think they'll certainly lead to more miles driven. Hopefully they'll be powered by something other than an ICE...
Have you done this program? I was thinking the other day about looking for a program like that. Do you know how it would compare to, say, UMUC's offerings?
So, is it "We don't have sufficiently bright people," or is it "our people aren't performing with sufficient brilliance"?
I heard him say this on the radio and I assumed that he meant "we don't have sufficient bright people" and simply misspoke. It doesn't really make sense the other ways, considering that he was talking about shortages in the order of thousands of people.
it's more a matter of getting hit by the "everything is free on the internet, jump in and give it away for free (destroying your own revenue) or let someone else do it for free (craigslist) and watch your revenue get destroyed." Damned if they do. Damned if they don't.
If they had jumped in and given it away for free (classifieds), Craigslist wouldn't have eaten their lunch & they'd still have all those people on their sites, just a click away from their articles and ads. They would have been better off, but didn't see it until too late.
In his own journal, Columbus wrote how docile the natives were and how with 50 men you could force them to do what you wished. So he certainly set the stage for the "native-subjugating BS" that came after him.
I know you're joking, but the public health risks of improperly composted waste mean that you're likely to be required to dispose of the compost by burying it or hauling it away. I'm not sure about the UK, but here's a list of the US regulations: http://weblife.org/humanure/appendix3.html
It's going to cost a *LOT* more then you calculated.
If the permits are available for such a project, this is going to be the next big hurdle. Land in London is expensive, there's no getting around it. A cheap shell and lots of custom work inside it will leave you with a moderately priced dwelling on very expensive land. In many areas, that's what you call a teardown.;) I've been wanting to build an LV (http://www.rocioromero.com/) modular home for a while - not relevant to you in London, but an example of a fairly moderate priced structure with the potential to be quite environmentally friendly. Finding where to build it is the big problem.
In London, there might be problems with using composted human waste in a garden. Living off the grid would seem to be unnecessary, since grid power is likely to be more efficient than the alternatives.
Slashdot Mirror
Switching your phone number to another network is a pain in the ass.
Since everyone else responding seems to be referencing the EU, I'll pitch in that, in the US, I've ported a number twice in the past 6 months (from T-Mobile to Cricket to Virgin Mobile). I can see that the concept might be a little intimidating to the less technically inclined, but the process was really easy & both times resulted in a few hours of the number being unreachable. I'm sure mistakes happen, but in general porting seems to be pretty smooth.
Mods - this is not a troll, it's a reasoned explanation of Flat vs Progressive taxes with a personal anecdote thrown in. Mod back up!
The difference is that this can actually be built for around $35, less than that in bulk. The Indian announcement is very unlikely to actually result in a $35 laptop.
I have a DC area reverse commute, which takes me 20 mins each way in the car. If I took the bus, it would be an hour & 20 minutes (plus a little walking time) in the morning. That's bad enough, but there are NO buses going towards my home between 3:30 & 8pm! Granted, I'm not in the usual pattern, but it's funny that it's not even possible for me to use public transport for my commute.
Yep, I've driven in the USA and it's awful. The one that really got me was people merging from ramps without even looking and just shoving me out of the way if I happened to be there. How does that work...?
It's funny, that's the one thing my UK in-laws liked about US drivers - they commented about how nice it was that you could just merge onto the highway & people would let you in. I think that one's more a cultural thing, you assumed that the people merging would wait for you, they assumed that you'd let them in. The lack of lane discipline is bad here, though I have to say that as traffic volumes get worse in the UK the drivers there seem to drive more like Americans.
No. Handguns are tightly regulated in Maryland. You can transport an unloaded handgun in a secure case only if you are traveling to a recognized shooting competition, bonafide gun show, hunting exercise, or some other gun-related event. You can carry rifles or shotguns for any reason, but they need to be unloaded and secured in commercial cases or gun racks.
Yeah, I wouldn't care if it was pink, purple or heliotrope.
A friend had a beater old VW Golf with a shot 1st gear - had to start off in 2nd. He'd keep the key under the mat & leave it unlocked. It actually got stolen once, but they only made it around the corner & then left it in a parking garage - literally on the next block. He was happy to get the insurance money when he got t-boned in it a year or so later...
I've been thinking about doing a security related degree, and University of MD University College (UMUC) has both a Master of Science in Information Technology: Information Assurance & a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity one, to me, looks like it's for people who already work for the government, which is not me, so I'm leaning towards the IA. (The IA has also been around for a while while Cybersecurity starts this fall.) If anyone has any thoughts on either of these I'd be interested. If not, maybe someone else will find the links useful!
http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/msit/information_systems_assurance.shtml
http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/csec/index.shtml
This is MD. It's practically impossible to get a concealed carry permit here, so he wouldn't have been "100% within his rights" (legally) to even have a gun unless he was on his way to a range or gun store & even then it would have to be unloaded.
I think everyone would agree that it would be best for ISPs to be able to run their networks however they want. The problem comes when the ISP is a part of a large media corporation, and is also a monopoly / duopoly. If they were standalone entities, this wouldn't be an issue.
The difference between reading an ebook and a physical book is so great as to make them different products in my mind.
Really? I have read, conservatively, 150+ books on my various Palms over the last 10+ years. Most were novels in straight text form. Only a few, which had illustrations etc which were integral to the story, did I bother to get in paper form. A great story draws me in and I quickly lose interest in the delivery medium. Paper is nicer than my Palm's screen, and I have read some books flipping back and forth between the Palm & the book left at home, but in general, for me, if the writing is good I don't care what I'm reading it on. And pretty much these days, if the writing *isn't* good, I don't bother reading it. Millennium Trilogy excepted...
$10 is too high for older books; even on Amazon itself, you can get a used copy of London Fields for $4 ($0.01 + 3.99 s/h). One of these days I'll get an ereader, but it will likely not be a Kindle. Their DRM is bad enough, but the ability to mess with stuff already bought & the refusal to support epub is the final straw. I'll stick with my trusty Palm Tungsten for now, my eyes are still ok.
Thanks, and good luck!
Oh? Does this mean that the cars will know the traffic laws in every jurisdiction?
Most GPS units already have some knowledge of speed limits; my one, for example, knows all the major roads around me, and knew a lot of the roads in France too. It's not hard to imagine that as these vehicles become more feasible, national databases and local updating systems will be created. It would be pretty trivial for there to be updates broadcast (like traffic updates to current GPSs) in the event of weather etc, and the autonomous systems should be able to react to accidents etc that are extremely local to them. I'd expect that they'd not only react, but transmit that information to all the other autonomous vehicles around them - "a truck just jackknifed in front of me, I'm slamming on my brakes and avoiding it, you guys should start slowing now". In fact, you'd hope that they'd maintain a safe braking distance so they wouldn't have to brake too hard, but you get the idea... And it should also be trivial to add some of the functionality to devices for conventional cars like GPSs, so you would be made aware of the fact of an accident as soon as an autonomous vehicle recorded it.
Yeah, that always hits me too. If I can just get into my comfy minivan, sleep all night, and wake up in Florida or Maine, I'm going to be taking a lot more road trips. And I won't be the only one. Some of the problems of increased traffic will be offset by the self driving cars not doing stupid things to slow everyone else, but I think they'll certainly lead to more miles driven. Hopefully they'll be powered by something other than an ICE...
Have you done this program? I was thinking the other day about looking for a program like that. Do you know how it would compare to, say, UMUC's offerings?
So, is it "We don't have sufficiently bright people," or is it "our people aren't performing with sufficient brilliance"?
I heard him say this on the radio and I assumed that he meant "we don't have sufficient bright people" and simply misspoke. It doesn't really make sense the other ways, considering that he was talking about shortages in the order of thousands of people.
it's more a matter of getting hit by the "everything is free on the internet, jump in and give it away for free (destroying your own revenue) or let someone else do it for free (craigslist) and watch your revenue get destroyed." Damned if they do. Damned if they don't.
If they had jumped in and given it away for free (classifieds), Craigslist wouldn't have eaten their lunch & they'd still have all those people on their sites, just a click away from their articles and ads. They would have been better off, but didn't see it until too late.
Thanks for that link, I hadn't seen that one & it seems like it should work great for my limited needs in the Bay.
In his own journal, Columbus wrote how docile the natives were and how with 50 men you could force them to do what you wished. So he certainly set the stage for the "native-subjugating BS" that came after him.
I know you're joking, but the public health risks of improperly composted waste mean that you're likely to be required to dispose of the compost by burying it or hauling it away. I'm not sure about the UK, but here's a list of the US regulations:
http://weblife.org/humanure/appendix3.html
It's going to cost a *LOT* more then you calculated.
If the permits are available for such a project, this is going to be the next big hurdle. Land in London is expensive, there's no getting around it. A cheap shell and lots of custom work inside it will leave you with a moderately priced dwelling on very expensive land. In many areas, that's what you call a teardown. ;) I've been wanting to build an LV (http://www.rocioromero.com/) modular home for a while - not relevant to you in London, but an example of a fairly moderate priced structure with the potential to be quite environmentally friendly. Finding where to build it is the big problem.
He's in London. There's not going to be any escape from regulations and permits.
In London, there might be problems with using composted human waste in a garden. Living off the grid would seem to be unnecessary, since grid power is likely to be more efficient than the alternatives.