Yeah, the smell. We had an old one that got put back into service for a while when we got our first dot matrix printer, worked a charm on the stencil paper. 1988 or thereabouts.
So playing poker is no longer gambling. Scientifically proven.
So statistics is no longer a scientific discipline? I still remember all the die rolls and the calculations using p = 1/6 we did when we started the stats course. Way back....
If by "furnaces" you mean oil/gas-burners to heat a home, South Africa obviously doesn't have that. Some closed wood stoves are available, imported from anywhere from Chile to China, that can be installed DIY or by a technician that does this sort of thing regularly (may have completed a course from the company that supplies the ovens). South Africa also doesn't have building codes that require air-tight doors and windows, so CO poisoning is perhaps less of a risk. Car mechanic's workshops can range from anything from dealer licensed (if it's still under warranty) to franchised chain to independent back-yard. Paperwork? Of course the buyer needs to ensure that they can do what they claim; reputation goes a long way regarding that.
But South Africa does have something called a Public Driver's Permit, needed when one wants to convey anyone for remuneration, be it a bunch of kids from the creche or your boss' wife to her nail appointment - if your employment includes chauffeur duties. Bumming a ride with a friend (social media acquaintance) and "helping with the petrol money" is probably tolerated as the money is (technically) a voluntary donation.
What were they thinking, trading slightly more fragile bones for longer life spans, less dangerous lifestyles, philosophy, sanitation, modern medicine, equal rights, going to the moon, labor saving devices, the internet, quantum physics, cell phones, the internal combustion engine, and digital watches?
You forgot to mention laying the groundwork which would enable facebook. What were they thinking, indeed...
I sometimes work into the night ("flow"). Other times I read a while in bed on my (big-screen) phone. I use f.lux on the computer, Bluelight Filter on android - other apps have been mentioned.
The fun question is how the mechanisms that've evolved to make this happen actually work. Figuring that out's going to keep researchers occupied for the next century or two.
This is just me speculating, but you may have answered the question already:
... the least resilient male offspring...
Obviously is offspring is less resilient, no special mechanism is necessarily needed. Just the mother being under stress herself (nutrition) may cause the less resilient to "not pull through" in the womb. It is my opinion that the male is the less resilient of the two sexes in any case, illustrated by their lower life expectancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#Gender_differences).
Some of the genes we have in our bodies have copies living in other species, other genera. Some of them are 100 million years old. The genes as a whole are the selfish ones vis a vis the organisms as a whole. They survive. We don't.
Getting back to chickens and eggs, part of the chicken I ate last night is now living on inside me, where I am a different species. So I'd say it was the chicken's animal body that was the selfish one, I bet the genes are digested by now.
For us southern hemispherians, facing panels south won't do us much good....
On a more serious note: It looks like motorized sun-tracking mounts for panels can be quite expensive, while a fixed mount can be sub-optimal.
So how about a hybrid mount? I'm thinking of a fixed mount with a number of predetermined positions that need to be adjusted manually (e.g. fixed with a bolt/split pin/similar). Coupled with this is an algorithm that calculates the optimal position for the day (or more realistically, for the week) and sends the homeowner to the roof to make the adjustment if necessary. Factors that such an algorithm would need to take into account would differ from home to home and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so it should be customizable to each individual case - e.g.:
usage pattern over the day and week
cost pattern (if electricity prices vary over time)
storage cost patter (if electricity buy-back prices vary over time)
cost of storage/storage losses (for local storage e.g. batteries, as not all jurisdictions allow supply back to the network)
I think this thread is a good demonstration why I do not like the English language's deviation from how other Germanic languages write a single word for a single idea. Hint: the "science" part in "science fiction" is simply an adjective that describes the noun "fiction". It is the noun that is the important part.
OK, I won't make the mistake again of asking which part of "science fiction" don't you understand....
Many others have already mentioned that for a 1-(+-)4 person "company" admin, payrol, HR, legal etc. can take up a lot of those resources' time (or money, if you get in an employee to do those), which could rather be spent on doing your core (technical) work. I have seen it time and again.
I want to chip in about the general topic of standards and methodologies. Please remember that one isn't (necessarily) better than the other - they are all simply tools working towards a goal and you use whatever tool works best in your circumstances. Now, your GOAL is the important thing: communicating between different members of the company (communication over space) and remembering (communication over time) - which sometimes is important even if you are one person. Using a formal standard to do this should accomplish several things:
All members speaking the same "language" or format (know what to expect);
Things should be stored in a physical or electronic medium (well-indexed), not in brains, so that interrogating that source takes only one person out of his task and not two (or more);
Should enable the organisation to function as an organism distinct from the people that make it up - so that people joining, leaving, or just turnover influences as little as possible;
Should be adaptable, because the organisation (from the previous point) should be a learning and developing organism.
Personally, I do favour a more hands-off approach. Let people figure out their own future, as (IMHO) it seems that western aid often brings with it a perpetual dependence on that aid.
On the other hand, from some of your previous posts I gather that you personally are an emigrant from China to a large western state. A lot of emigration from "poor countries" to western countries happens because people are not happy with the way those countries (the people in it) survive, they want to "survive" somewhat "better". "Better" being in part defined by the standard of living such aid seems to suggest. (Because there are also some "worse" aspects to western culture in comparison to what is left behind.) I guess your opinion would carry more weight if you were still living and working in China. Just saying.
Big data knows who you voted for.
Big data knows what kind of hamburger you get from McDonalds.
Big data knows what fragrance your girlfriend/wife wears.
THAT IS THE POINT OF BIG DATA.
Big data takes shit loads of seemingly unrelated bits of information that people foolishly air in public, cross-references it, then uses it to make correlation based predictions.
I haven't voted in quite a number of years.
I don't eat fast food.
I don't have a girlfriend/wife.
The best that Big Data (Facebook) was able to do with that last bit of information (which I explicitly filled in) was to serve up ads for 2 or 3 recurring online dating sites. I don't do online dating (any more), because big data seems to be quite inept at matching me up with someone with the same views on politics and health as me. Let's not even get started on religion, education, sense of humour.....
I want ads that I actually want to click on!
I want that perfect match as promised!
And where's my flying car?
An acquaintance who lives in Germany once showed me an experimental setup he had: replaced his house's heating with a small generator (sealed unit) that generated electricity as well as heating the house from the waste heat. Apparently it was still allowed to run on the "heating oil" (diesel fuel), while natural "heating" gas-burning versions were available too. So you still get the heat for which the fuel originally was intended, but some electricity as a bonus. You'd still be dependent on a stockpile of fuel though...
This may not be practical in a densely populated first-world city (with more regulations than sane) but I still like wood as a renewable fuel source for space heating (and emergency cooking). While there are a lot of wood (and coal and even gas) burning stoves being manufactured in various North-European countries (and South American, South Africa, China etc.) Rocket Stove Mass Heaters (which may be googled) seem to be cheaper to construct and cleaner burning - IF you can get the building plans approved.... Retrofitting an existing building can however be a pain.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, the smell. We had an old one that got put back into service for a while when we got our first dot matrix printer, worked a charm on the stencil paper. 1988 or thereabouts.
So playing poker is no longer gambling. Scientifically proven.
So statistics is no longer a scientific discipline? I still remember all the die rolls and the calculations using p = 1/6 we did when we started the stats course. Way back....
If by "furnaces" you mean oil/gas-burners to heat a home, South Africa obviously doesn't have that. Some closed wood stoves are available, imported from anywhere from Chile to China, that can be installed DIY or by a technician that does this sort of thing regularly (may have completed a course from the company that supplies the ovens). South Africa also doesn't have building codes that require air-tight doors and windows, so CO poisoning is perhaps less of a risk. Car mechanic's workshops can range from anything from dealer licensed (if it's still under warranty) to franchised chain to independent back-yard. Paperwork? Of course the buyer needs to ensure that they can do what they claim; reputation goes a long way regarding that.
But South Africa does have something called a Public Driver's Permit, needed when one wants to convey anyone for remuneration, be it a bunch of kids from the creche or your boss' wife to her nail appointment - if your employment includes chauffeur duties. Bumming a ride with a friend (social media acquaintance) and "helping with the petrol money" is probably tolerated as the money is (technically) a voluntary donation.
... if we don't have a system that rewards creators, art gets worse. Good artists choose to do something else with their time.
Now I see what has happened to American music....
What were they thinking, trading slightly more fragile bones for longer life spans, less dangerous lifestyles, philosophy, sanitation, modern medicine, equal rights, going to the moon, labor saving devices, the internet, quantum physics, cell phones, the internal combustion engine, and digital watches?
You forgot to mention laying the groundwork which would enable facebook. What were they thinking, indeed...
I sometimes work into the night ("flow"). Other times I read a while in bed on my (big-screen) phone. I use f.lux on the computer, Bluelight Filter on android - other apps have been mentioned.
The science seems to be fairly well understood for a number of years, long enough to develop these apps. See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... for pointers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... may also be of interest (other effects than light on sleep).
If you build radio signal blocking into all of your pockets, doesn't that also screw up your cell phone from getting a call?
And the downside is?
There is 40 percent chance that once you die after this product gives you cancer, you will turn into a zombie. So please weigh the risks.
A zombie with beautiful skin... what's not to like?
The fun question is how the mechanisms that've evolved to make this happen actually work. Figuring that out's going to keep researchers occupied for the next century or two.
This is just me speculating, but you may have answered the question already:
... the least resilient male offspring ...
Obviously is offspring is less resilient, no special mechanism is necessarily needed. Just the mother being under stress herself (nutrition) may cause the less resilient to "not pull through" in the womb. It is my opinion that the male is the less resilient of the two sexes in any case, illustrated by their lower life expectancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#Gender_differences).
Some of the genes we have in our bodies have copies living in other species, other genera. Some of them are 100 million years old. The genes as a whole are the selfish ones vis a vis the organisms as a whole. They survive. We don't.
Getting back to chickens and eggs, part of the chicken I ate last night is now living on inside me, where I am a different species. So I'd say it was the chicken's animal body that was the selfish one, I bet the genes are digested by now.
I noticed that the title of the summary only had two of the three names. What, Kim Jong Fun not sounding female enough for the New Improved Slashdot?
France did not give the US the Statue of Liberty just because they thought the US was a bunch of really nice guys.
As observed by someone else, hollowness of said statue says a lot about the French sense of irony.
Why doesn't Auerbach buy her the Barbie book "I Can Be a Computer Engineer"?
Quip at bottom of page:
Logic is the chastity belt of the mind!
For us southern hemispherians, facing panels south won't do us much good....
On a more serious note: It looks like motorized sun-tracking mounts for panels can be quite expensive, while a fixed mount can be sub-optimal.
So how about a hybrid mount? I'm thinking of a fixed mount with a number of predetermined positions that need to be adjusted manually (e.g. fixed with a bolt/split pin/similar). Coupled with this is an algorithm that calculates the optimal position for the day (or more realistically, for the week) and sends the homeowner to the roof to make the adjustment if necessary. Factors that such an algorithm would need to take into account would differ from home to home and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so it should be customizable to each individual case - e.g.:
I think this thread is a good demonstration why I do not like the English language's deviation from how other Germanic languages write a single word for a single idea. Hint: the "science" part in "science fiction" is simply an adjective that describes the noun "fiction". It is the noun that is the important part.
OK, I won't make the mistake again of asking which part of "science fiction" don't you understand....
I want to chip in about the general topic of standards and methodologies. Please remember that one isn't (necessarily) better than the other - they are all simply tools working towards a goal and you use whatever tool works best in your circumstances. Now, your GOAL is the important thing: communicating between different members of the company (communication over space) and remembering (communication over time) - which sometimes is important even if you are one person. Using a formal standard to do this should accomplish several things:
Personally, I do favour a more hands-off approach. Let people figure out their own future, as (IMHO) it seems that western aid often brings with it a perpetual dependence on that aid.
On the other hand, from some of your previous posts I gather that you personally are an emigrant from China to a large western state. A lot of emigration from "poor countries" to western countries happens because people are not happy with the way those countries (the people in it) survive, they want to "survive" somewhat "better". "Better" being in part defined by the standard of living such aid seems to suggest. (Because there are also some "worse" aspects to western culture in comparison to what is left behind.) I guess your opinion would carry more weight if you were still living and working in China. Just saying.
Were the government a force for good, I'd be pacified, but since they have proven to be in the service of big syndicate, I'm worried.
That's the problem of this post-modernist world. Your definition of "good" does not coincide with the next guy's definition of "good".
A man has to get there and do all the hardwork himself.
Pity they didn't send Bruce Willis with. What with all his previous experience. Would have been a win-win.
Or they could give it the Edmond Blackadder treatment....
Big data knows who you voted for. Big data knows what kind of hamburger you get from McDonalds. Big data knows what fragrance your girlfriend/wife wears.
THAT IS THE POINT OF BIG DATA.
Big data takes shit loads of seemingly unrelated bits of information that people foolishly air in public, cross-references it, then uses it to make correlation based predictions.
I haven't voted in quite a number of years.
I don't eat fast food.
I don't have a girlfriend/wife.
The best that Big Data (Facebook) was able to do with that last bit of information (which I explicitly filled in) was to serve up ads for 2 or 3 recurring online dating sites. I don't do online dating (any more), because big data seems to be quite inept at matching me up with someone with the same views on politics and health as me. Let's not even get started on religion, education, sense of humour.....
I want ads that I actually want to click on!
I want that perfect match as promised!
And where's my flying car?
An acquaintance who lives in Germany once showed me an experimental setup he had: replaced his house's heating with a small generator (sealed unit) that generated electricity as well as heating the house from the waste heat. Apparently it was still allowed to run on the "heating oil" (diesel fuel), while natural "heating" gas-burning versions were available too. So you still get the heat for which the fuel originally was intended, but some electricity as a bonus. You'd still be dependent on a stockpile of fuel though...
This may not be practical in a densely populated first-world city (with more regulations than sane) but I still like wood as a renewable fuel source for space heating (and emergency cooking). While there are a lot of wood (and coal and even gas) burning stoves being manufactured in various North-European countries (and South American, South Africa, China etc.) Rocket Stove Mass Heaters (which may be googled) seem to be cheaper to construct and cleaner burning - IF you can get the building plans approved.... Retrofitting an existing building can however be a pain.
Good on you for having a larger.... errrr.... more severe winter than Europe. But getting back on topic: do you cycle in those -25C for 20 or 30 km?
It's still a death ray, just a 2km + 1 foot long death ray
Oh the mix of imperial + metric - now my head hurts :-)