I tried mine with a piece of packing tape, and the phone still showed a 2-3 bar drop when cradled properly (or improperly). I'm going to re-try it with some (known non-conductive) kapton tape as soon as I figure out where I left it, but I'm not confident it will work any better.
What makes you think that you should start your countdown at a positive number?
Nonetheless, this a somewhat poor device as is can easily leave permanent marks if applied to a stationary/trapped target. It's known to produce burns under improper/extended exposure.
If you're simply implying that it will be misused, that's a foregone conclusion. Every weapon - lethal or not - save nuclear armament* has been used capriciously by an attacker.
*I contend that the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare was a striking success, ending a war with significantly less total casualties than would otherwise have occurred. Your personal views on whether it was more or less humane than other bombings of civilians may cloud your perception of it's "success."
They'd have to be (a) big (b) made with a material reflective at this frequency and (c) fairly well tuned (surfaces flat and perpendicular). Even with all that, the divergence may be enough that their effect would be minimal without a whole wall of it.
I'd argue that it is partly exportable, as some people come to the US for medical procedures, but your point stands that it is primarily local.
Of particular importance, and as mentioned by some sibling posts, is that the federal government spends an inordinate amount of money on healthcare. This could have cost implications which would potentially lower (albeit a small amount) the cost per procedure in overhead and administrative expenses. Will that be reflected in the bills we pay or in the size of the house the head of Radiology can build on Water Island?
The other factor here is that the world is a closed system which is getting more efficient over time, so there is a limit to exports to bail us out.
The problem is mostly for rightys (isn't that nice for a change?). The antenna is only bridged when the pad of your left thumb contacts the two segments of antenna. If I make a call and hold mine in my left hand, I don't hold it that way normally - I hold it with the tip/ball of my thumb on one side and the tips of my fingers on the other. When I hold the phone in my left hand to work an app, enter text, or read - that's when the corner rests on the pad of my thumb.
I thought mine didn't have the problem, but ran into it one evening while surfing in a marginal service area (aka my house). It's not a huge deal, though it can be annoying. I'll probably bond a light layer of clear epoxy to that spot when I get around to it. I've got a (free) case on order, but I didn't really like the cases for the 3Gs I had. I agree that the iPhone (both versions) get better reception than my HTC Touch Pro.
There are enough things that are right about the iPhone, and the things that are wrong are things I can live with. All phones are a trade off.
I'm only in my 40s, but I remember the tube testing stations at hardware and electronic stores when I was a kid for repairing radios and TVs. I have a shop full of pulleys, relays, belts, and other "old" items in my grandfather's shed that was used to fix just about anything. Parts were not as specialized, which made them less efficient in operation, but easier to replace.
And what about all those guys who fixed things? We still have some local shops who will fix small engines, but they can't do as much as they used to. Unless you buy high-end/commercial gear, there simply aren't many spare parts made for inexpensive blowers, mower, trimmers, etc. Nowadays, you have contractors working for warranty firms and all they do is wholesale replacement of parts based on the electronic tester (computer) readout.
It certainly isn't the whole problem, but as a culture we have definitely moved to a replace instead of fix mentality, and that requires very little thinking.
On the contrary, I'd wager more than half the people with children do it because it just "what you do." I actually know lots of people for whom their children regularly take second place to their own pursuits outside of work. Many people just aren't equipped financially or developmentally to handle children. Hell, I've got an employee who has two kids under the age of 2. His wife is mostly gone on rotations or studying in her third year of medical school (note the time frame in which they had kids?). He probably plays golf three-four times a week. There was no planning whatsoever in their having children (other than they're Catholic).
Many families are two earners, now. Not because of when you need to live, but because of what you want. My wife and I waited almost ten years to have a child. We wanted to be financially stable first. We agreed to downsize our house and "stuff" so that we could live under one income, and one of us could be home for her. There are weeks that I'll work 60-70 hours, especially in the summer (my busy season), but during those times I make the most of the time I do have with her, rather than playing golf or some other activity which excludes her.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
Re:Thank God for standardized testing
on
The Creativity Crisis
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
It's that way almost everywhere now. No Child Left Behind (and other, similar programs) has driven school systems to need these benchmarks to survive. I happen to live in one of the best places in the country, imho. Heck, I learned a new trade just so I could move here and make a living. I don't fear for my child's future, but there are lots of parents who just don't care - and that's a universal truth. As for moving to another country - everybody has their own problems. At least here I know what they are.
You may be partially on to something. Many items are "too cheap to fix" now. If your TV breaks, you don't see which tube blew. If the lawnmower stops running, there's not much that's replaceable (save the entire engine). If your car or washing machine stops running, there's a good chance that fixing it would require diagnostic equipment exceeding the value of the item - you take it to get repaired or you replace it.
The commiditization of consumer items and the need to drive down prices has led to items which are not intended to be serviced by the end user (hey, Steve Jobs, I'm lookin' at you). There is little need for problem solving on a day to day basis.
The TV is just pandering to base human nature. Most people seem to like to see others fail, and to laugh at them. It's where reality TV got it's hold, but no more differently than the sit coms or soaps. Just as everyone slows down at a traffic accident - not to see if they can help, but to see the carnage - humans seem to revel in the failures of others.
The controls were put in place mainly to shield the schools from litigation. Schools don't have BP-style resources, so every dollar counts. Let's face it, the average family can't afford to send their kids to school (it's about $10k/student for public, somewhete between $17k-20k for private), so there's not going to be any new influx of cash in schools.
Some of the controls (I got out of HS in 87) were to prevent vandalism/waste - like making the copier off limits to students, though my best friend in HS and I were the only two, save the principal, who could fix minor problems with it. Much of it stems from very rare, isolated cases of injury/loss/death during school hours while the students were not accounted for. There is no wrath like a parent who has lost a child. When you have to have a perfect safety record with several thousand unpredictable teens 180 days out of the year, things get a little crazy.
We're not afraid of them, per se, but afraid something will happen to them. A college student gets drunk and falls out of a 4th story window to her death, so the college welds all of the windows shut. An appropriate response? To the parents who no longer have a daughter it would have prevented her death. Won't you think of the children?
Re:Thank God for standardized testing
on
The Creativity Crisis
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Let me clarify: in my house, creativity is highly encouraged. We work with my daughter every night (though not in a "structured" way that feels like work). She's a wonderful child who loves music and theater, is reading about 4 grades above her "level", and is on par in math.
The problem is that the regimented way in which some things are taught can lead to problems in learning. After a very poorly presented math year in first grade, we spent most of last year trying to "undo" the damage. She's terrified of subtraction (first grade), and yet multiplication and fractions (second grade) are "fun." It took us most of first grade to figure out that the teacher didn't like math, so she tried not to teach it - just timed workbooks and tests.
I do think that more than half of the problems in school stem from problems at home. It seems that very few (one in ten, one in eight?) families actually work with their children in a meaningful way. The rest are left to drift, or are actively discouraged from academic pursuits. After long days at work, the parents are tired and don't really want the burden of teaching anything. Sad, really.
Without conformity, there is no order Without creativity, there is no enjoyment
We need both, but "success" in society requires a minimum level of bookish competence. I think our definition of success (middle class lifestyle, as practiced in the US) has outstripped the intellectual ability of the average human. Nonetheless, we keep focusing on drilling them with facts that we think will get people into jobs which will provide them with food, shelter, healthcare, and recreation they expect. The constant race to be at the top of the list of countries who rank high in student achievement - as measured by standardized fact testing - also drives this.
Sadly, there is no way to mimic the "best" school districts for well rounded children who also perform well on tests. No matter what they do, those districts have parents who are active in their childrens' schooling. No federal or state mandate can make that happen in a district with parents who just don't care. So we put on the screws to make the kids test scores hit a specific number, regardless of the consequences. The result is what we see today.
Exactly the point. This gets more "free" apps on the store while getting the developers (and apple, of course) some cash. Personally, I'm fine with it. I already pay for the best apps I use, but always look for free "utility" apps to use once or twice a year. As I understand it, the ad will be a small click-though type, where the banner is a low bandwidth type which will load some more advanced (and b/w intensive) ad on clicking.
If the App is *FREE* then I can tolerate some bullshit ads
I'm pretty sure that's the whole idea. Rather than dig you for $1 or 2 at the store, they'll put in iAds.
Thank God for standardized testing
on
The Creativity Crisis
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I have a rising third grader. I've been informed that the next year will be all about memorization of the necessary facts which will get her to pass the Virginia "Standards Of Learning" (yes, they really call them the SOLs) exam at year end. Everything in the school system, from her promotion to the evaluations of the teachers, administrators, and facility are tied to these scores. There is no creativity required or recommended on these exams.
No, it's appropriate. It illustrates the point between a speculative work and a work for hire. Work for hire is how you guarantee yourself money, whether it's a new door for a carpenter or an afternoon bar mitzva gig for the band.
On the contrary - if you buy a set of custom Architectural Plans you can expect to pay several thousand dollars or more. Many "books" (often known as "reports") cost tens of thousands or millions to create. The difference is a work for hire vs a speculative work. Musicians somehow think that they are entitled to compensation for their speculative works.
Interestingly, you can easily get musicians to play for you for a couple hundred dollars. Of course, you can't take them with you, but then again if the musicians are good the live show is far better than a recording.
We already feel gravity disturbances as humans, via our inner ear - we naturally sense when the gravity field is not oreinted normally to our body axis, and with training can use that sense to correct (though correction is often guided by vision). When that sense get's screwed up, it results in a very useless being.
The best suggestion for your wife is to see if her office will set up a call relay. I can do it with my $1000 TalkSwitch pbx I use for my 4 person engineering firm - I'm sure it's possible on just about any modern pbx. She calls in, gives a security code, and then enters the number to dial. The pbx dials out and bridges the two lines. It might cost several hundred dollars to have set up, but that's a small business expense. The down side is that it takes two lines at the office to operate; the up side is that it requires no technical expertise on the side of the original caller (geeks might suggest asterisk, or one of the custom apps which uses an android phone to spoof CID).
Reduction in consumption creates no trash and no need to expend energy to refresh/recycle
Reuse eliminates the energy required to collect, sort, reform, and resell
Recycling is only a step better than trash, since the cost of creating the raw materials is not borne, but is offset somewhat by the need for all the reprocessing. It still uses a lot of energy. The biggest advantage is that the materials don't have to be mined.
Slashdot Mirror
Never underestimate technology that works when completely unpowered and soaked with saltwater.
So, you see, that "in ten to twenty years" prediction may actually be pretty close!
I tried mine with a piece of packing tape, and the phone still showed a 2-3 bar drop when cradled properly (or improperly). I'm going to re-try it with some (known non-conductive) kapton tape as soon as I figure out where I left it, but I'm not confident it will work any better.
What makes you think that you should start your countdown at a positive number?
Nonetheless, this a somewhat poor device as is can easily leave permanent marks if applied to a stationary/trapped target. It's known to produce burns under improper/extended exposure.
If you're simply implying that it will be misused, that's a foregone conclusion. Every weapon - lethal or not - save nuclear armament* has been used capriciously by an attacker.
*I contend that the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare was a striking success, ending a war with significantly less total casualties than would otherwise have occurred. Your personal views on whether it was more or less humane than other bombings of civilians may cloud your perception of it's "success."
They'd have to be (a) big (b) made with a material reflective at this frequency and (c) fairly well tuned (surfaces flat and perpendicular). Even with all that, the divergence may be enough that their effect would be minimal without a whole wall of it.
I'd argue that it is partly exportable, as some people come to the US for medical procedures, but your point stands that it is primarily local.
Of particular importance, and as mentioned by some sibling posts, is that the federal government spends an inordinate amount of money on healthcare. This could have cost implications which would potentially lower (albeit a small amount) the cost per procedure in overhead and administrative expenses. Will that be reflected in the bills we pay or in the size of the house the head of Radiology can build on Water Island?
The other factor here is that the world is a closed system which is getting more efficient over time, so there is a limit to exports to bail us out.
IMO, you shouldn't have to do this to get a usable device. I fought Windows Mobile for years, and was hoping Android would be different.
The problem is mostly for rightys (isn't that nice for a change?). The antenna is only bridged when the pad of your left thumb contacts the two segments of antenna. If I make a call and hold mine in my left hand, I don't hold it that way normally - I hold it with the tip/ball of my thumb on one side and the tips of my fingers on the other. When I hold the phone in my left hand to work an app, enter text, or read - that's when the corner rests on the pad of my thumb.
I thought mine didn't have the problem, but ran into it one evening while surfing in a marginal service area (aka my house). It's not a huge deal, though it can be annoying. I'll probably bond a light layer of clear epoxy to that spot when I get around to it. I've got a (free) case on order, but I didn't really like the cases for the 3Gs I had. I agree that the iPhone (both versions) get better reception than my HTC Touch Pro.
There are enough things that are right about the iPhone, and the things that are wrong are things I can live with. All phones are a trade off.
How old are you?
I'm only in my 40s, but I remember the tube testing stations at hardware and electronic stores when I was a kid for repairing radios and TVs. I have a shop full of pulleys, relays, belts, and other "old" items in my grandfather's shed that was used to fix just about anything. Parts were not as specialized, which made them less efficient in operation, but easier to replace.
And what about all those guys who fixed things? We still have some local shops who will fix small engines, but they can't do as much as they used to. Unless you buy high-end/commercial gear, there simply aren't many spare parts made for inexpensive blowers, mower, trimmers, etc. Nowadays, you have contractors working for warranty firms and all they do is wholesale replacement of parts based on the electronic tester (computer) readout.
It certainly isn't the whole problem, but as a culture we have definitely moved to a replace instead of fix mentality, and that requires very little thinking.
On the contrary, I'd wager more than half the people with children do it because it just "what you do." I actually know lots of people for whom their children regularly take second place to their own pursuits outside of work. Many people just aren't equipped financially or developmentally to handle children. Hell, I've got an employee who has two kids under the age of 2. His wife is mostly gone on rotations or studying in her third year of medical school (note the time frame in which they had kids?). He probably plays golf three-four times a week. There was no planning whatsoever in their having children (other than they're Catholic).
Many families are two earners, now. Not because of when you need to live, but because of what you want. My wife and I waited almost ten years to have a child. We wanted to be financially stable first. We agreed to downsize our house and "stuff" so that we could live under one income, and one of us could be home for her. There are weeks that I'll work 60-70 hours, especially in the summer (my busy season), but during those times I make the most of the time I do have with her, rather than playing golf or some other activity which excludes her.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
It's that way almost everywhere now. No Child Left Behind (and other, similar programs) has driven school systems to need these benchmarks to survive. I happen to live in one of the best places in the country, imho. Heck, I learned a new trade just so I could move here and make a living. I don't fear for my child's future, but there are lots of parents who just don't care - and that's a universal truth. As for moving to another country - everybody has their own problems. At least here I know what they are.
You may be partially on to something. Many items are "too cheap to fix" now. If your TV breaks, you don't see which tube blew. If the lawnmower stops running, there's not much that's replaceable (save the entire engine). If your car or washing machine stops running, there's a good chance that fixing it would require diagnostic equipment exceeding the value of the item - you take it to get repaired or you replace it.
The commiditization of consumer items and the need to drive down prices has led to items which are not intended to be serviced by the end user (hey, Steve Jobs, I'm lookin' at you). There is little need for problem solving on a day to day basis.
The TV is just pandering to base human nature. Most people seem to like to see others fail, and to laugh at them. It's where reality TV got it's hold, but no more differently than the sit coms or soaps. Just as everyone slows down at a traffic accident - not to see if they can help, but to see the carnage - humans seem to revel in the failures of others.
The controls were put in place mainly to shield the schools from litigation. Schools don't have BP-style resources, so every dollar counts. Let's face it, the average family can't afford to send their kids to school (it's about $10k/student for public, somewhete between $17k-20k for private), so there's not going to be any new influx of cash in schools.
Some of the controls (I got out of HS in 87) were to prevent vandalism/waste - like making the copier off limits to students, though my best friend in HS and I were the only two, save the principal, who could fix minor problems with it. Much of it stems from very rare, isolated cases of injury/loss/death during school hours while the students were not accounted for. There is no wrath like a parent who has lost a child. When you have to have a perfect safety record with several thousand unpredictable teens 180 days out of the year, things get a little crazy.
We're not afraid of them, per se, but afraid something will happen to them. A college student gets drunk and falls out of a 4th story window to her death, so the college welds all of the windows shut. An appropriate response? To the parents who no longer have a daughter it would have prevented her death. Won't you think of the children?
Let me clarify: in my house, creativity is highly encouraged. We work with my daughter every night (though not in a "structured" way that feels like work). She's a wonderful child who loves music and theater, is reading about 4 grades above her "level", and is on par in math.
The problem is that the regimented way in which some things are taught can lead to problems in learning. After a very poorly presented math year in first grade, we spent most of last year trying to "undo" the damage. She's terrified of subtraction (first grade), and yet multiplication and fractions (second grade) are "fun." It took us most of first grade to figure out that the teacher didn't like math, so she tried not to teach it - just timed workbooks and tests.
I do think that more than half of the problems in school stem from problems at home. It seems that very few (one in ten, one in eight?) families actually work with their children in a meaningful way. The rest are left to drift, or are actively discouraged from academic pursuits. After long days at work, the parents are tired and don't really want the burden of teaching anything. Sad, really.
Without conformity, there is no order
Without creativity, there is no enjoyment
We need both, but "success" in society requires a minimum level of bookish competence. I think our definition of success (middle class lifestyle, as practiced in the US) has outstripped the intellectual ability of the average human. Nonetheless, we keep focusing on drilling them with facts that we think will get people into jobs which will provide them with food, shelter, healthcare, and recreation they expect. The constant race to be at the top of the list of countries who rank high in student achievement - as measured by standardized fact testing - also drives this.
Sadly, there is no way to mimic the "best" school districts for well rounded children who also perform well on tests. No matter what they do, those districts have parents who are active in their childrens' schooling. No federal or state mandate can make that happen in a district with parents who just don't care. So we put on the screws to make the kids test scores hit a specific number, regardless of the consequences. The result is what we see today.
Exactly the point. This gets more "free" apps on the store while getting the developers (and apple, of course) some cash. Personally, I'm fine with it. I already pay for the best apps I use, but always look for free "utility" apps to use once or twice a year. As I understand it, the ad will be a small click-though type, where the banner is a low bandwidth type which will load some more advanced (and b/w intensive) ad on clicking.
If the App is *FREE* then I can tolerate some bullshit ads
I'm pretty sure that's the whole idea. Rather than dig you for $1 or 2 at the store, they'll put in iAds.
I have a rising third grader. I've been informed that the next year will be all about memorization of the necessary facts which will get her to pass the Virginia "Standards Of Learning" (yes, they really call them the SOLs) exam at year end. Everything in the school system, from her promotion to the evaluations of the teachers, administrators, and facility are tied to these scores. There is no creativity required or recommended on these exams.
No, it's appropriate. It illustrates the point between a speculative work and a work for hire. Work for hire is how you guarantee yourself money, whether it's a new door for a carpenter or an afternoon bar mitzva gig for the band.
On the contrary - if you buy a set of custom Architectural Plans you can expect to pay several thousand dollars or more. Many "books" (often known as "reports") cost tens of thousands or millions to create. The difference is a work for hire vs a speculative work. Musicians somehow think that they are entitled to compensation for their speculative works.
Interestingly, you can easily get musicians to play for you for a couple hundred dollars. Of course, you can't take them with you, but then again if the musicians are good the live show is far better than a recording.
We already feel gravity disturbances as humans, via our inner ear - we naturally sense when the gravity field is not oreinted normally to our body axis, and with training can use that sense to correct (though correction is often guided by vision). When that sense get's screwed up, it results in a very useless being.
The best suggestion for your wife is to see if her office will set up a call relay. I can do it with my $1000 TalkSwitch pbx I use for my 4 person engineering firm - I'm sure it's possible on just about any modern pbx. She calls in, gives a security code, and then enters the number to dial. The pbx dials out and bridges the two lines. It might cost several hundred dollars to have set up, but that's a small business expense. The down side is that it takes two lines at the office to operate; the up side is that it requires no technical expertise on the side of the original caller (geeks might suggest asterisk, or one of the custom apps which uses an android phone to spoof CID).
Reduction in consumption creates no trash and no need to expend energy to refresh/recycle
Reuse eliminates the energy required to collect, sort, reform, and resell
Recycling is only a step better than trash, since the cost of creating the raw materials is not borne, but is offset somewhat by the need for all the reprocessing. It still uses a lot of energy. The biggest advantage is that the materials don't have to be mined.