While it's a shame that all the money put in so far hasn't quite led to the promised results, it doesn't matter. It's sciency, and it's worth it at any price.
Check out the big "smart gun" effort in NJ (see the entry for "smart gun" on Wikipedia, for one), and you'll notice an interesting thing:
For the animals more equal than others (police), such guns are intended to fail smart (that is, operable); for jes'
plain folks (unblessed citizens), to fail broke (that is, inoperable).
So the only guns that *would* work if taken in that scenario are the cops' -- which neatly removes one of the most common arguments that handwringing hoplophobes bring to the table on this.
a) EconStories is supposed to have more stuff later, and
b) EconTalk.org has good weekly podcasts -- interviews (accurately) styled as "conversations" by Russ Roberts (one of the creators of the above-linked rap) with various interesting people
c) CafeHayek.com, too, for quick bursts of economic/political common sense.
Haiti doesn't have the sort of resources that Northern California does or then did -- and I suspect that there was plenty of looting / similar in the wake of the 1906 quake, too. Just saying, it doesn't take Pollyanna to believe that people sometimes treat others like they'd prefer to be treated.
Even for motorized vehicles, that sort of route calculation would be really useful! (I've been daydreaming of it for years.) I'm glad to have driven a moving truck only a few miles total in my life, but boy was that an experience on hills! (And that was in Seattle, where the city is much, much flatter than it used to be.) Also, driving through mountains with an overloaded / underpowered car has made me long for a nice flat stretch of desert, an 18-wheeler in front of me, and a magnetic harpoon...
Perhaps some GPS units allow users to request "flattest route" or "avoid grades over X deg," but mine doesn't.
Sorry to hear that about your experience w/ US entry, but not terribly surprised. Amazing how much eye contact, body language, tone of voice, etc. go toward making an experience seem bearable or not; TSA's staff often (not always) seems peevish, distracted, uninterested, etc; they don't want to make eye contact, they want to argue with supervisors about their break time, or joke with each other about nonsense; at Ben Gurion, alertness was the rule, and constant assessing looks. No nonsense spotted:)
The U.S. has a lot of great things going for it, including (generally but with pessimism-creating exceptions) a tradition / convention of kindness, assisting strangers, etc -- but the surliness of certain low-level functionaries puts a damper on this.
I've been to Israel only once -- earlier this year; beautiful and interesting place to visit! -- and while I agree with you that their procedures seemed more humane, I wouldn't say that they (speaking only of the visible parts) were any less visible / overt than in the U.S., but rather the opposite.
My demographic (perhaps the same as yours, I don't know) I'm sure contributed to the scrutiny I received on both sides of my 3-week trip -- I didn't *notice* any extra attention paid to me during my actual time in the country, which doesn't prove there wasn't any. (That is, as male under 40, traveling alone with no checked baggage, and no strong connections to Israel in the form of family, culture, previous visits, etc.)
I was approached and questioned (not unpleasant -- agent was cute) even on arrival, right on the stairs leading from the plane to the hallway to the main terminal, who called me out by name. Was it partly because I was taking the stairs (two at a time) instead of the escalator, or blind chance? I dunno. All visitors (there are separate lines for Israeli passport holders, and I'm not sure how they're treated) on arrival must clear passport control with a small interview about the purpose of the visit, schedule, etc. I have visited a handful of countries overall (8, I think), but it was by far the most thoroughly and frankly I ever remember being examined. Very different from most of my experiences with TSA in the US, and seemed to be more thoughtful / alert even than what I found in German and American airports when I flew to Berlin from the U.S. in October, 2001 -- a pretty tense time to fly.
On departure from Israel, was engaged in pointed conversation by three different security people in the initial line at the airport, too, before even checking in for my flight, and that's before I reached the two X-ray stations, pat-down station, and chemical sniffer. Asked to spell the names, and give the address, of the friends with whom I had stayed in Jerusalem, to name and describe the place I'd stayed in Haifa, to describe in detail (more than once) the purpose of my trip, my itinerary, etc, and prompted to agree -- again, more than once -- that perhaps someone had supplied me with a package to carry on my flight, etc. "No, this is all my own luggage, and I have had control of it the whole time. Yes, I packed it. Correct, this is my luggage for the entire trip. Yes, I visited Jordan for one day, to visit Petra. No, I don't know anyone in Jordan. Yes, I met some interesting people while I've been in Israel, but No, none of them asked me to carry anything in my luggage. I was in Haifa to give a small talk and to see the city." (etc.) Thought it was a bit much even given my expectations of hard-nosed vigilance, it was all fairly polite and respectful* -- just insistent. It also buoyed my confidence that people who seemed competent and thoughtful were visibly involved, and actually enjoyed it as an interesting cultural experience. If I flew there every month, I might feel a lot differently about it.
This is not to say that I am aware of all the security stuff going on in the background, there or in the U.S. -- I figure (and hope) that there's more to it than what I see;)
Cheers,
timothy
* This is certainly not my experience with TSA, though I'm sure some of their agents are competent, polite, and alert. I've just seen, or at least taken note of, more of the other kind. My horror stories aren't even campfire ghost stories compared to the people who've really gotten screwed over by TSA, and so aren't worth recounting at this time of night, so I'll just leave it at that.
There are times I want dead simple: a straight line showing "forward," a blinking arrow for "turn right!" and another line showing the turn to be made.
But it all depends -- sometimes, my GPS is really an information *underload* -- I know I'm to turn, but the exit signs are ambiguous. I know that some GPS units are getting better about showing detailed views, nearly video-game style, at at least some complex intersections.
And really, I'd like the GPS screen to be closer to the stuff available to airline pilots: I'd like to see the weather overlaid over my large-scale map, if I'm driving from Seattle to El Paso (Yes, it's a long drive, but it's got many things to recommend along the way.) Should I avoid the mountains, because I'll be at great risk of avalanche?
I'd also like a "chatter" mode (defeatable, of course) that would tell me interesting things about the geology, geography, history of where I am -- even if it was just synthesized speech nabbed from Wikipedia from an entry for whatever town I'm passing through...
a) Slashdot has occupied many of my hours for the last decade-plus, and I get to read it at work, which is nicely circular. I've poked at the firehose (formerly "the bin") from more than half of the states of the union (often from within my car, though not while driving), as well as from at least three other countries, and gotten to meet a lot of very interesting people thereby, many of whom remind me of how smart I'm not.
b) Thanks to Dug Song for getting me interested, roundabout fashion, in computer software and licensing, and Alvin Richardson and Dan Jones (two of my housemates in Austin, long ago); one of them -- I think Alvin, but could have been either -- first pointed out Slashdot to me, probably because I was running Linux and burbling about computers, something they both knew and know far more about.
c) Thanks also to the readers who (somtimes even politely!) have pointed out my many shortcomings, suggested better links, added supplemental information, or just plain added comments to stories. Slashdot is about the conversation, and trying to coax the signal usefully above the noise.
Or even shun non-strange children, is the sad upshot sometimes.
Data point:
There's a friend of my dad's / friend of the family, an ultra-smart guy (some of the software on every single Shuttle mission started out as his) who loves kids, is an upstanding, outstanding, thoroughly trustworthy person who loves kids (and young people generally) with whom I had a talk about this stuff not too long ago. He's in his 70s now, but some of my earliest memories of him are from 30 or more years ago; he and his wife would visit my parents, and one of the funniest things that he would do is draw cartoon figures (good artist) as "tattoos" on my brother and me, on our arms or bellies, with permanent marker. This was a highlight when we were small -- we would plead for tattoos. Our parents were fine with it, and there was nothing hinky, odd, suspicious, weird, or crazy about it. (Eventually, even permanent marker does scrub off.)
Now, he says, he would never do such a thing, even because of the paranoid feeling there is in the world, that someone might accuse him of "inappropriate contact" or something. Sad, but rational, and sad that it *is* rational.
Different strokes / different folks, I realize, but by way of contrast: I have some other objections to most eBook readers (which I feel getting worn away by interest / curiosity / gadget lust), but I really like that the trend so far is for *single*-screen devices. I like to read books, but I also like to eat or drink while I'm reading. There are all sorts of contrivances for keeping books open and angled at a table, and there are some chairs where it's not too hard, but I've spilled a lot of drinks / dropped a lot of crumbs because I was using one hand to hold the book open and one hand for the food -- I think this would be a lot simpler to avoid with a one-screen device, esp. with a simple angled stand.
Christmas has social significance to me, just not spiritual / religious. My answer to this is New Year's Day. For several years now, I've given (to the people who I'd have given "Christmas" presents before) New Year's Presents instead. It's arbitrary (not like we get a special celestial signal at midnight, Dec 31), and it's already a holiday for random celebration, and (but?) that's part of why I like it.
My goal is not to be a jerk about it, though -- for some kids who expect Christmas presents per se, that's just what they'll get;) But that's because I see it like this: their holiday is Christmas, and I'd like to make them smile.
Preface: I don't have any such device (yet), but I'm becoming slightly tempted.
I was quite *uninterested* in these things, for three basic reasons:
1) the one you name; it's a computer, underneath, but can't be used for most of the things I use a computer for (can't reply to comments on Slashdot, for instance;))
2) Turned off by all devices with proprietary or expensive batteries (this does include laptops, but since I've already committed to a small stable of laptops despite this, I can overlook it as needed for laptops, and gripe about it as appropriate). If the Kindle took AA batteries, I'd probably already have one.
3) Don't like being tied to a single source for downloads (BN.com, or Amazon, or whatever's next).
There are some responses for each of these, though:
2) The batteries last a long time, what with the e-Ink display and all. Well, grudgingly, I accept that battery life isn't bad under most circumstances.
3) Yes, there are quite a few books that are available for free or quite cheap, and ways to get other docs on there, too. Good. If I do get such a thing, I am unlikely to buy all that many books for it, at least at full price. I'd rather have a paper copy of most books.
I recently spent most of a day in a bookstore (Barnes & Noble, as it happens, and boy were they pushing the Nook), and watching people w/ their Kindles and Nooks, as well as conventional books, and becoming slightly warmer to the idea. I read a book that day (sipping a drink), and realized that an e-reader would be handier for just that sort of situation, because I don't need to hold it open with my thumb.
A laptop, though, would be a pretty awkward way to read, for shape / weight / power-draw needs. My opinion, anyhow.
Also, a server connected to the internet ala recent bad THE INTERNET horror movies, where every hit makes the hammer (shown on web cam) whack on the chassis of the server, or (distressingly!) shave off part of its brain.
Slashdot Mirror
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1545194&cid=31096500 has an explan. of what happened to the IBTimes page.
Some people just can't get over their bad childhoods, so they inflict their damage on everyone else :(
timothy
While it's a shame that all the money put in so far hasn't quite led to the promised results, it doesn't matter. It's sciency, and it's worth it at any price.
timothy
"The burglary was over and the burglars had gone. No one was in any further danger from them."
Until the next day, say.
Check out the big "smart gun" effort in NJ (see the entry for "smart gun" on Wikipedia, for one), and you'll notice an interesting thing:
For the animals more equal than others (police), such guns are intended to fail smart (that is, operable); for jes'
plain folks (unblessed citizens), to fail broke (that is, inoperable).
So the only guns that *would* work if taken in that scenario are the cops' -- which neatly removes one of the most common arguments that handwringing hoplophobes bring to the table on this.
timothy
Here's one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/8469850.stm
Crazy!
timothy
a) EconStories is supposed to have more stuff later, and
b) EconTalk.org has good weekly podcasts -- interviews (accurately) styled as "conversations" by Russ Roberts (one of the creators of the above-linked rap) with various interesting people
c) CafeHayek.com, too, for quick bursts of economic/political common sense.
timothy
A few days ago I read this interesting account of another way that people can and do sometimes react:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/man-at-his-best/#
Haiti doesn't have the sort of resources that Northern California does or then did -- and I suspect that there was plenty of looting / similar in the wake of the 1906 quake, too. Just saying, it doesn't take Pollyanna to believe that people sometimes treat others like they'd prefer to be treated.
timothy
... if it happens in a foreign country."
And that goes double for Antarctica!
OTOH, shouldn't we use the special status of the Ant. zone to experiment with new (or revived) forms of currency? How about gold, or uranium?
What happens if you can't pay your rent in the Arctic -- are you left out to dry? (Now that would be jerky ... and so too would you.)
I wonder if there are ruble dispensers in the Soviet bases, too ...
timothy
Well, there are the "related stories" that are linked from the bottom of the story ;)
timothy
Well, RealDoll has a number of male (and sorta-male) options, so they've (ahem) gotcha covered, if that's your thing.
timothy
Even for motorized vehicles, that sort of route calculation would be really useful! (I've been daydreaming of it for years.) I'm glad to have driven a moving truck only a few miles total in my life, but boy was that an experience on hills! (And that was in Seattle, where the city is much, much flatter than it used to be.) Also, driving through mountains with an overloaded / underpowered car has made me long for a nice flat stretch of desert, an 18-wheeler in front of me, and a magnetic harpoon ...
Perhaps some GPS units allow users to request "flattest route" or "avoid grades over X deg," but mine doesn't.
timothy
Brain must have been set to "stun."
http://www.mongrelclothing.co.uk/womens-organic-t-shirt-paris-in-the-the-spring.html
timothy
Sorry to hear that about your experience w/ US entry, but not terribly surprised. Amazing how much eye contact, body language, tone of voice, etc. go toward making an experience seem bearable or not; TSA's staff often (not always) seems peevish, distracted, uninterested, etc; they don't want to make eye contact, they want to argue with supervisors about their break time, or joke with each other about nonsense; at Ben Gurion, alertness was the rule, and constant assessing looks. No nonsense spotted :)
The U.S. has a lot of great things going for it, including (generally but with pessimism-creating exceptions) a tradition / convention of kindness, assisting strangers, etc -- but the surliness of certain low-level functionaries puts a damper on this.
timothy
Once in a while they let me into the "yard," which is still just a patch of concrete painted green. But it's the little things that keep you going ...
timothy
I've been to Israel only once -- earlier this year; beautiful and interesting place to visit! -- and while I agree with you that their procedures seemed more humane, I wouldn't say that they (speaking only of the visible parts) were any less visible / overt than in the U.S., but rather the opposite.
My demographic (perhaps the same as yours, I don't know) I'm sure contributed to the scrutiny I received on both sides of my 3-week trip -- I didn't *notice* any extra attention paid to me during my actual time in the country, which doesn't prove there wasn't any. (That is, as male under 40, traveling alone with no checked baggage, and no strong connections to Israel in the form of family, culture, previous visits, etc.)
I was approached and questioned (not unpleasant -- agent was cute) even on arrival, right on the stairs leading from the plane to the hallway to the main terminal, who called me out by name. Was it partly because I was taking the stairs (two at a time) instead of the escalator, or blind chance? I dunno. All visitors (there are separate lines for Israeli passport holders, and I'm not sure how they're treated) on arrival must clear passport control with a small interview about the purpose of the visit, schedule, etc. I have visited a handful of countries overall (8, I think), but it was by far the most thoroughly and frankly I ever remember being examined. Very different from most of my experiences with TSA in the US, and seemed to be more thoughtful / alert even than what I found in German and American airports when I flew to Berlin from the U.S. in October, 2001 -- a pretty tense time to fly.
On departure from Israel, was engaged in pointed conversation by three different security people in the initial line at the airport, too, before even checking in for my flight, and that's before I reached the two X-ray stations, pat-down station, and chemical sniffer. Asked to spell the names, and give the address, of the friends with whom I had stayed in Jerusalem, to name and describe the place I'd stayed in Haifa, to describe in detail (more than once) the purpose of my trip, my itinerary, etc, and prompted to agree -- again, more than once -- that perhaps someone had supplied me with a package to carry on my flight, etc. "No, this is all my own luggage, and I have had control of it the whole time. Yes, I packed it. Correct, this is my luggage for the entire trip. Yes, I visited Jordan for one day, to visit Petra. No, I don't know anyone in Jordan. Yes, I met some interesting people while I've been in Israel, but No, none of them asked me to carry anything in my luggage. I was in Haifa to give a small talk and to see the city." (etc.) Thought it was a bit much even given my expectations of hard-nosed vigilance, it was all fairly polite and respectful* -- just insistent. It also buoyed my confidence that people who seemed competent and thoughtful were visibly involved, and actually enjoyed it as an interesting cultural experience. If I flew there every month, I might feel a lot differently about it.
This is not to say that I am aware of all the security stuff going on in the background, there or in the U.S. -- I figure (and hope) that there's more to it than what I see ;)
Cheers,
timothy
* This is certainly not my experience with TSA, though I'm sure some of their agents are competent, polite, and alert. I've just seen, or at least taken note of, more of the other kind. My horror stories aren't even campfire ghost stories compared to the people who've really gotten screwed over by TSA, and so aren't worth recounting at this time of night, so I'll just leave it at that.
Some are, some aren't; I'm in the 2d camp, and insomniac, and stupidly single, hence this reply.
timothy
There are times I want dead simple: a straight line showing "forward," a blinking arrow for "turn right!" and another line showing the turn to be made.
But it all depends -- sometimes, my GPS is really an information *underload* -- I know I'm to turn, but the exit signs are ambiguous. I know that some GPS units are getting better about showing detailed views, nearly video-game style, at at least some complex intersections.
And really, I'd like the GPS screen to be closer to the stuff available to airline pilots: I'd like to see the weather overlaid over my large-scale map, if I'm driving from Seattle to El Paso (Yes, it's a long drive, but it's got many things to recommend along the way.) Should I avoid the mountains, because I'll be at great risk of avalanche?
I'd also like a "chatter" mode (defeatable, of course) that would tell me interesting things about the geology, geography, history of where I am -- even if it was just synthesized speech nabbed from Wikipedia from an entry for whatever town I'm passing through ...
timothy
a) Slashdot has occupied many of my hours for the last decade-plus, and I get to read it at work, which is nicely circular. I've poked at the firehose (formerly "the bin") from more than half of the states of the union (often from within my car, though not while driving), as well as from at least three other countries, and gotten to meet a lot of very interesting people thereby, many of whom remind me of how smart I'm not.
b) Thanks to Dug Song for getting me interested, roundabout fashion, in computer software and licensing, and Alvin Richardson and Dan Jones (two of my housemates in Austin, long ago); one of them -- I think Alvin, but could have been either -- first pointed out Slashdot to me, probably because I was running Linux and burbling about computers, something they both knew and know far more about.
c) Thanks also to the readers who (somtimes even politely!) have pointed out my many shortcomings, suggested better links, added supplemental information, or just plain added comments to stories. Slashdot is about the conversation, and trying to coax the signal usefully above the noise.
timothy
Sorry for whatever it is that makes you say that. You can, though, change your prefs to block me (or any of the editors).
Cheers,
timothy
Or even shun non-strange children, is the sad upshot sometimes.
Data point:
There's a friend of my dad's / friend of the family, an ultra-smart guy (some of the software on every single Shuttle mission started out as his) who loves kids, is an upstanding, outstanding, thoroughly trustworthy person who loves kids (and young people generally) with whom I had a talk about this stuff not too long ago. He's in his 70s now, but some of my earliest memories of him are from 30 or more years ago; he and his wife would visit my parents, and one of the funniest things that he would do is draw cartoon figures (good artist) as "tattoos" on my brother and me, on our arms or bellies, with permanent marker. This was a highlight when we were small -- we would plead for tattoos. Our parents were fine with it, and there was nothing hinky, odd, suspicious, weird, or crazy about it. (Eventually, even permanent marker does scrub off.)
Now, he says, he would never do such a thing, even because of the paranoid feeling there is in the world, that someone might accuse him of "inappropriate contact" or something. Sad, but rational, and sad that it *is* rational.
timothy
Different strokes / different folks, I realize, but by way of contrast: I have some other objections to most eBook readers (which I feel getting worn away by interest / curiosity / gadget lust), but I really like that the trend so far is for *single*-screen devices. I like to read books, but I also like to eat or drink while I'm reading. There are all sorts of contrivances for keeping books open and angled at a table, and there are some chairs where it's not too hard, but I've spilled a lot of drinks / dropped a lot of crumbs because I was using one hand to hold the book open and one hand for the food -- I think this would be a lot simpler to avoid with a one-screen device, esp. with a simple angled stand.
Christmas has social significance to me, just not spiritual / religious. My answer to this is New Year's Day. For several years now, I've given (to the people who I'd have given "Christmas" presents before) New Year's Presents instead. It's arbitrary (not like we get a special celestial signal at midnight, Dec 31), and it's already a holiday for random celebration, and (but?) that's part of why I like it.
My goal is not to be a jerk about it, though -- for some kids who expect Christmas presents per se, that's just what they'll get ;) But that's because I see it like this: their holiday is Christmas, and I'd like to make them smile.
timothy
Preface: I don't have any such device (yet), but I'm becoming slightly tempted.
I was quite *uninterested* in these things, for three basic reasons:
1) the one you name; it's a computer, underneath, but can't be used for most of the things I use a computer for (can't reply to comments on Slashdot, for instance ;))
2) Turned off by all devices with proprietary or expensive batteries (this does include laptops, but since I've already committed to a small stable of laptops despite this, I can overlook it as needed for laptops, and gripe about it as appropriate). If the Kindle took AA batteries, I'd probably already have one.
3) Don't like being tied to a single source for downloads (BN.com, or Amazon, or whatever's next).
There are some responses for each of these, though:
1) Ubuntu on the Kindle -- even if it's sorta silly, it proves the thing isn't 100 locked into being only the tablet that Amazon wants it to be http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/09/03/2010208/Ubuntu-904-On-Kindle-2?from=rss
2) The batteries last a long time, what with the e-Ink display and all. Well, grudgingly, I accept that battery life isn't bad under most circumstances.
3) Yes, there are quite a few books that are available for free or quite cheap, and ways to get other docs on there, too. Good. If I do get such a thing, I am unlikely to buy all that many books for it, at least at full price. I'd rather have a paper copy of most books.
I recently spent most of a day in a bookstore (Barnes & Noble, as it happens, and boy were they pushing the Nook), and watching people w/ their Kindles and Nooks, as well as conventional books, and becoming slightly warmer to the idea. I read a book that day (sipping a drink), and realized that an e-reader would be handier for just that sort of situation, because I don't need to hold it open with my thumb.
A laptop, though, would be a pretty awkward way to read, for shape / weight / power-draw needs. My opinion, anyhow.
timothy
http://balloon.media.mit.edu/timothylord/
timothy
Shave ice!
Also, a server connected to the internet ala recent bad THE INTERNET horror movies, where every hit makes the hammer (shown on web cam) whack on the chassis of the server, or (distressingly!) shave off part of its brain.
timothy