I'm sick of hearing the "All of the Rare Earths are in China so we shouldn't invest in new technologies" line, particularly when the people spouting it have no idea what rare earths are required for what products, as well as the the actual domestic abundance of these elements.
In most cases, the American supply of rare earth minerals is untapped, because there has historically never been much of a demand for them. This problem can very easily be solved.
Similarly, I reject the notion that we can't find alternatives to materials unavailable domestically.
I thought Facebook needed 30,000 servers because it has 350 million active users, from whom a terrifying amount of data is collected and extensively cross-referenced. That's just under 12,000 users per server.
I think Facebook is a textbook example of an excellent application written on a reputedly mediocre platform. I've been using the site since early 2005, and have only seen it go down once or twice in that time. That's considerably more reliable than my GMail account (which is still pretty damn reliable).
Slightly OT, but if you're a Mac user, I highly recommend the PEMDAS Widget, which is just that tiny bit more powerful than a typical desktop calculator to make it 100x as useful.
Institutions such as the Library of Congress are well aware of this, and prefer acid-free papers for archiving anything vaguely important.
We've also digitized a large portion of our printed materials. As long as we preserve these archives (which should be easy, given that monochrome images and plain text compress extremely well), our collective knowledge will be propagated forward.
Many subway and suburban rail systems utilize Automatic Train Control, which is basically the equivalent of robocars (except that it's much simpler from a computational and logistical perspective).
There have been a few ATC-related accidents (particularly on the DC metro), and as far as I'm aware, the manufacturer of the subway cars have never been found liable. In all instances, poor maintenance, faulty signaling equipment, and/or blindingly stupid actions on the part of the operator have been found to cause the failures, with accountability/liability distributed accordingly.
Of course, if a robocar does cause an accident due to a legitimate manufacturing/software defect, the company should be 100% liable, just like Ford had to own up to the Pinto's design shortcomings. Unless the system was really poorly designed, I imagine that Robocars would be much safer than human drivers, and any accidents that do occur would be due to random mechanical failures -- not the design of the car itself.
Yup, a government-issued certificate that gives you the privilege of teaching your own kids. What’s next, an exam to certify you for the privilege of procreating?
Have you seen what it takes to adopt a kid? Although I'm not sure if there's a formal exam in most jurisdictions, your life is examined with a fine-toothed comb, and a great many applicants don't make the cut.
God help you if you have some sort of "undesirable" social status (ie. single, gay, unemployed, etc...) -- your odds of successfully adopting drop even further, even if you're perfectly qualified.
If you ended up in trades it's not the University's fault
Or it's because you wanted to be in the trades.
We seriously need to de-stigmatize these professions. The US desperately needs intelligent and well-educated workers in all roles and industries.
And, hey -- in some skilled trades, you can make a pretty nice living if you're good at what you do and/or decide to start your own business. My buddy who dropped out of college to become an electrician makes more money than I ever will with my Physics degree, and is damn good at what he does.
Good point. It shouldn't be illegal, but it should be somewhat regulated. The mixture you describe sounds like an excellent compromise that could be easily institutionalized and integrated into our current educational system. As long as the kids are held to the same standards, I could care less about the means by which they earn their education, as long as the ends are the same.
You are making snap decisions and claims about homeschoolers and you don't know anything about them
Actually, you bring up an excellent point. Many homeschooled children have virtually no exposure to the outside world, and grow up in a bubble of sorts.
Granted, this isn't always the case, although it is certainly something to consider, and seems to happen fairly often. One of my close friends growing up was homeschooled, and I was flabbergasted when he started rattling off the names of other kids my age in my (extremely small) town who were also homeschooled. Although my friend was quite sociable, the other HS kids either had no capability of interacting with people outside of their own family, or were expressly forbidden from doing so.
Additionally, there seem to be far too many people complaining about the sad state of our public schooling system, and virtually nobody trying to fix it. Private school and homeschooling are not, and never will be a viable approach for a considerable portion of the population, even though there are small successes here and there. We can do better than this.
Turned out that congestion was never a major issue in my situation, and my current laptop doesn't support 802.11a anyway. When was the last time you heard of 802.11a anyway?
Actually, today. Apple's fancy new toy supports 802.11a (as well as b, g, and n). Caught my eye, given that I'd all but forgotten about 802.11a.
Looking a bit more deeply, it seems as though Apple's been quietly supporting 802.11a on a number of its machines (and iPhones) for a while now. From what I recall, 802.11a has some traction in certain enterprise environments.
Lexus and Audi were awful in the 80s and early 90s, but cleaned up their acts to get them to where they are today.
Mercedes has always done a good job with their super-high-end models, although their entry-level luxury sedans (ie. the C-Series) have always been mediocre at best. They were also among the last to cave and admit that rear wheel drive cars don't make sense for the vast majority of the population (something that Saab were among the first to do). Front wheel drive makes far more sense if you live anywhere where it might possibly ever snow, while Audi discovered that AWD offers the best of both worlds.
If nothing else, the automotive industry needs extra competitors in the marketplace, given that the number of brands has slowly been whittled away over the years with no serious new entrants into the mainstream industry in quite some time. Saab have the manufacturing facilities, engineering talent, brand heritage, and penchant for unconventionality that could potentially make them a (minor) force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. The notable outcry that resulted when GM announced it was killing the brand is proof enough that there is still plenty of interest alive in the company.
I concur 50 times over. Twilight Princess would still easily be the best Wii title I've played to date, even if it didn't include the horseback battle (which in and of itself, would rocket any title that included it to the top of my list).
For what it's worth, it's probably also one of the most visually appealing games on the Wii. Although the Wii is definitely an underpowered system, the fantastic art direction on the game makes it outshine most PS3/360 games I've seen to date. (If you've played any of the old Square RPGs, you'll be familiar with how a well-produced title can look fantastic even on a crappy system)
Mind you, if the government actually tried to implement this, privacy advocates would be screaming in the asiles (very likely many of the same people currently complaining here)
The bastard thing is that most in the US overpay their taxes by having a portion withdrawn from each paycheck. "Paying our taxes" is just telling them that they ripped us off during the year and we'd like the money back.
Instead of joining the chorus of slashdotters claiming that the government is trying to rip them off, might I suggest asking your employer to withhold a smaller portion of your paycheck?
The nytimes article had an example of a women that was overdosed for 27 days. 27 days! There is no excuse for that.
Admittedly, I haven't read TFA, but if the doctor/staff were following the correct procedure, and there were no obvious signs of an overdose, I'd say there's a damn good excuse for it -- the people who wrote the faulty procedures and/or manufactured faulty hardware are to blame. This is exactly what happened in the Therac-25 incidents -- the machines would deliver a different dosage compared to what was entered at the console, and the operator didn't notice until it was too late.
That all said, I'm shocked that patients aren't required to wear dosimeters calibrated to just above their maximum prescribed dose. Seems like a fairly low-tech and obvious way to catch overdoses as soon as they happen.
Also consider that ATA hard drives have been electronically compatible since 1986.
Serial ATA was the first revision to the spec that broke backward compatibility, although that claim is even debatable, given that SATA->PATA adapters are available, and are generally rather simple devices.
SCSI's a bit more complicated, although you SCSI adapters should be around for a long time to come.
Google just purchased on2, who own the IP rights to a number of rather good codecs, including a few that they claim to be as good as, if not better than H.264.
Theora, on the other hand, isn't a particularly good codec.
IMO, the best thing for google to do would be to release on2's codecs under a permissive license, and make them the exclusive means by which HD content is delivered via YouTube. This should ensure a rather speedy adoption among all of the major browsers.
But, seriously. Winamp has one of the best user interfaces I know of. It's not particularly pretty, and can be a little unintuitive at first. However, in terms of making efficient and elegant use of screen-space, nothing even comes close.
I've seen a few American cars that take this to the far opposite extreme, where almost every button has a textual label. In the scope of a modern automobile, this appears quite clunky, and far too busy. (I also blame GM for frequently using different icons than their competitors)
Personally, I'm quite fond of my car's control layout (a 1999 Audi A4). Text is used sparingly, but judiciously, there are only as many controls as there needs to be, and all of the important controls (ie. everything but a few of the radio controls) can be operated with gloves on. Not much thought is given to automotive UI design, which is really a shame, especially in the context of some of the awful control schemes that are beginning to appear on new cars.
Audi also used a few clever tricks to cut down on internationalization costs -- most of the textual labels that they do use make sense in several languages (ie. 'AUTO' is a valid abbreviation for automatic in almost every western language).
Of course, the argument that car manufacturers make extensive use of icons to save money on internationalization costs doesn't hold much water. Very few cars sold in North America are identical (or even close to identical) to their Asian and European counterparts. The cost of screenprinting a few extra buttons is inconsequential compared to the costs of building different engines and emission-control devices to conform to North American standards. I know that VW/Audi in particular use slightly different body stylings and different headlights and indicators between their European and North American models -- almost nothing is identical (or even compatible).
As other have mentioned, you're missing the point of TFA. There is a proper balance of usability and aesthetics that can be achieved, although this sometimes takes a few iterations to do properly.
Computers are fast today, and easily capable of displaying gradients, colors, and antialiased text without breaking a sweat. A few studies have also shown that judiciously-placed "eye candy" can measurably improve productivity levels, while gradients and colors can provide important visual cues. If any of these things are noticeably slowing down the execution of your program, something is awry with your code -- Android and iPhone applications all make extensive use of these elements, despite their puny mobile processors.
Apple's home directory icon is a particularly good design, as it's quite attractive when blown up, and still very recognizable at an extremely small size.
Slashdot Mirror
It would also be advisable to have a crowbar on-hand. Just in case.
I'm sick of hearing the "All of the Rare Earths are in China so we shouldn't invest in new technologies" line, particularly when the people spouting it have no idea what rare earths are required for what products, as well as the the actual domestic abundance of these elements.
In most cases, the American supply of rare earth minerals is untapped, because there has historically never been much of a demand for them. This problem can very easily be solved.
Similarly, I reject the notion that we can't find alternatives to materials unavailable domestically.
I thought Facebook needed 30,000 servers because it has 350 million active users, from whom a terrifying amount of data is collected and extensively cross-referenced. That's just under 12,000 users per server.
I think Facebook is a textbook example of an excellent application written on a reputedly mediocre platform. I've been using the site since early 2005, and have only seen it go down once or twice in that time. That's considerably more reliable than my GMail account (which is still pretty damn reliable).
we consistently got 30% reduction in code size, which on a 640KB machine is not to be sneezed at.
Nah..... too easy.
Well, we didn't used to have the bandwidth to download DVD rips, did we?
I'll jump. Back in the Napster days, we didn't have the hard drive space necessary to keep more than a handful of DVD rips around.
More scarily, most of us were also still using VHS at that point.
A lot's changed in 10 years.
Slightly OT, but if you're a Mac user, I highly recommend the PEMDAS Widget, which is just that tiny bit more powerful than a typical desktop calculator to make it 100x as useful.
Institutions such as the Library of Congress are well aware of this, and prefer acid-free papers for archiving anything vaguely important.
We've also digitized a large portion of our printed materials. As long as we preserve these archives (which should be easy, given that monochrome images and plain text compress extremely well), our collective knowledge will be propagated forward.
Many subway and suburban rail systems utilize Automatic Train Control, which is basically the equivalent of robocars (except that it's much simpler from a computational and logistical perspective).
There have been a few ATC-related accidents (particularly on the DC metro), and as far as I'm aware, the manufacturer of the subway cars have never been found liable. In all instances, poor maintenance, faulty signaling equipment, and/or blindingly stupid actions on the part of the operator have been found to cause the failures, with accountability/liability distributed accordingly.
Of course, if a robocar does cause an accident due to a legitimate manufacturing/software defect, the company should be 100% liable, just like Ford had to own up to the Pinto's design shortcomings. Unless the system was really poorly designed, I imagine that Robocars would be much safer than human drivers, and any accidents that do occur would be due to random mechanical failures -- not the design of the car itself.
Yup, a government-issued certificate that gives you the privilege of teaching your own kids. What’s next, an exam to certify you for the privilege of procreating?
Have you seen what it takes to adopt a kid? Although I'm not sure if there's a formal exam in most jurisdictions, your life is examined with a fine-toothed comb, and a great many applicants don't make the cut.
God help you if you have some sort of "undesirable" social status (ie. single, gay, unemployed, etc...) -- your odds of successfully adopting drop even further, even if you're perfectly qualified.
If you ended up in trades it's not the University's fault
Or it's because you wanted to be in the trades.
We seriously need to de-stigmatize these professions. The US desperately needs intelligent and well-educated workers in all roles and industries.
And, hey -- in some skilled trades, you can make a pretty nice living if you're good at what you do and/or decide to start your own business. My buddy who dropped out of college to become an electrician makes more money than I ever will with my Physics degree, and is damn good at what he does.
Good point. It shouldn't be illegal, but it should be somewhat regulated. The mixture you describe sounds like an excellent compromise that could be easily institutionalized and integrated into our current educational system. As long as the kids are held to the same standards, I could care less about the means by which they earn their education, as long as the ends are the same.
You are making snap decisions and claims about homeschoolers and you don't know anything about them
Actually, you bring up an excellent point. Many homeschooled children have virtually no exposure to the outside world, and grow up in a bubble of sorts.
Granted, this isn't always the case, although it is certainly something to consider, and seems to happen fairly often. One of my close friends growing up was homeschooled, and I was flabbergasted when he started rattling off the names of other kids my age in my (extremely small) town who were also homeschooled. Although my friend was quite sociable, the other HS kids either had no capability of interacting with people outside of their own family, or were expressly forbidden from doing so.
Additionally, there seem to be far too many people complaining about the sad state of our public schooling system, and virtually nobody trying to fix it. Private school and homeschooling are not, and never will be a viable approach for a considerable portion of the population, even though there are small successes here and there. We can do better than this.
Turned out that congestion was never a major issue in my situation, and my current laptop doesn't support 802.11a anyway. When was the last time you heard of 802.11a anyway?
Actually, today. Apple's fancy new toy supports 802.11a (as well as b, g, and n). Caught my eye, given that I'd all but forgotten about 802.11a.
Looking a bit more deeply, it seems as though Apple's been quietly supporting 802.11a on a number of its machines (and iPhones) for a while now. From what I recall, 802.11a has some traction in certain enterprise environments.
My 73 Olds Delta 88 would crush your little Saab!
Probably true. Saab pioneered crumple zones and collapsable steering columns.
You'd be dead, and my car would be ruined. I know which side of that equation I'd prefer to be on.
To be fair, most of the players in the automotive industry haven't made any money in quite a long time.
Lexus and Audi were awful in the 80s and early 90s, but cleaned up their acts to get them to where they are today.
Mercedes has always done a good job with their super-high-end models, although their entry-level luxury sedans (ie. the C-Series) have always been mediocre at best. They were also among the last to cave and admit that rear wheel drive cars don't make sense for the vast majority of the population (something that Saab were among the first to do). Front wheel drive makes far more sense if you live anywhere where it might possibly ever snow, while Audi discovered that AWD offers the best of both worlds.
If nothing else, the automotive industry needs extra competitors in the marketplace, given that the number of brands has slowly been whittled away over the years with no serious new entrants into the mainstream industry in quite some time. Saab have the manufacturing facilities, engineering talent, brand heritage, and penchant for unconventionality that could potentially make them a (minor) force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. The notable outcry that resulted when GM announced it was killing the brand is proof enough that there is still plenty of interest alive in the company.
I concur 50 times over. Twilight Princess would still easily be the best Wii title I've played to date, even if it didn't include the horseback battle (which in and of itself, would rocket any title that included it to the top of my list).
For what it's worth, it's probably also one of the most visually appealing games on the Wii. Although the Wii is definitely an underpowered system, the fantastic art direction on the game makes it outshine most PS3/360 games I've seen to date. (If you've played any of the old Square RPGs, you'll be familiar with how a well-produced title can look fantastic even on a crappy system)
Mind you, if the government actually tried to implement this, privacy advocates would be screaming in the asiles (very likely many of the same people currently complaining here)
The bastard thing is that most in the US overpay their taxes by having a portion withdrawn from each paycheck. "Paying our taxes" is just telling them that they ripped us off during the year and we'd like the money back.
Instead of joining the chorus of slashdotters claiming that the government is trying to rip them off, might I suggest asking your employer to withhold a smaller portion of your paycheck?
The nytimes article had an example of a women that was overdosed for 27 days. 27 days! There is no excuse for that.
Admittedly, I haven't read TFA, but if the doctor/staff were following the correct procedure, and there were no obvious signs of an overdose, I'd say there's a damn good excuse for it -- the people who wrote the faulty procedures and/or manufactured faulty hardware are to blame. This is exactly what happened in the Therac-25 incidents -- the machines would deliver a different dosage compared to what was entered at the console, and the operator didn't notice until it was too late.
That all said, I'm shocked that patients aren't required to wear dosimeters calibrated to just above their maximum prescribed dose. Seems like a fairly low-tech and obvious way to catch overdoses as soon as they happen.
Also consider that ATA hard drives have been electronically compatible since 1986.
Serial ATA was the first revision to the spec that broke backward compatibility, although that claim is even debatable, given that SATA->PATA adapters are available, and are generally rather simple devices.
SCSI's a bit more complicated, although you SCSI adapters should be around for a long time to come.
Google just purchased on2, who own the IP rights to a number of rather good codecs, including a few that they claim to be as good as, if not better than H.264.
Theora, on the other hand, isn't a particularly good codec.
IMO, the best thing for google to do would be to release on2's codecs under a permissive license, and make them the exclusive means by which HD content is delivered via YouTube. This should ensure a rather speedy adoption among all of the major browsers.
Thank god that Winamp saved us all.
But, seriously. Winamp has one of the best user interfaces I know of. It's not particularly pretty, and can be a little unintuitive at first. However, in terms of making efficient and elegant use of screen-space, nothing even comes close.
I've seen a few American cars that take this to the far opposite extreme, where almost every button has a textual label. In the scope of a modern automobile, this appears quite clunky, and far too busy. (I also blame GM for frequently using different icons than their competitors)
Personally, I'm quite fond of my car's control layout (a 1999 Audi A4). Text is used sparingly, but judiciously, there are only as many controls as there needs to be, and all of the important controls (ie. everything but a few of the radio controls) can be operated with gloves on. Not much thought is given to automotive UI design, which is really a shame, especially in the context of some of the awful control schemes that are beginning to appear on new cars.
Audi also used a few clever tricks to cut down on internationalization costs -- most of the textual labels that they do use make sense in several languages (ie. 'AUTO' is a valid abbreviation for automatic in almost every western language).
Of course, the argument that car manufacturers make extensive use of icons to save money on internationalization costs doesn't hold much water. Very few cars sold in North America are identical (or even close to identical) to their Asian and European counterparts. The cost of screenprinting a few extra buttons is inconsequential compared to the costs of building different engines and emission-control devices to conform to North American standards. I know that VW/Audi in particular use slightly different body stylings and different headlights and indicators between their European and North American models -- almost nothing is identical (or even compatible).
As other have mentioned, you're missing the point of TFA. There is a proper balance of usability and aesthetics that can be achieved, although this sometimes takes a few iterations to do properly.
Computers are fast today, and easily capable of displaying gradients, colors, and antialiased text without breaking a sweat. A few studies have also shown that judiciously-placed "eye candy" can measurably improve productivity levels, while gradients and colors can provide important visual cues. If any of these things are noticeably slowing down the execution of your program, something is awry with your code -- Android and iPhone applications all make extensive use of these elements, despite their puny mobile processors.
Apple's home directory icon is a particularly good design, as it's quite attractive when blown up, and still very recognizable at an extremely small size.