A digital driver's license on your phone? What could possibly go wrong?*
Thank goodness phones are never hacked, infected, spoofed, or fall prey to malware.
I predict we'll see another story about this within the next year or two about how some poor schmuck had his 'secure' digital driver's license hacked or deleted or altered or revoked, and got arrested and taken to jail or whatever because of it.
---- * I feel like I'm saying "What could possibly go wrong" a lot these days, but damn if I'm not proved right nearly every time I do.
Shouldn't this be, like, illegal? Nobody should be piloting that much metal around the planet without knowing what they are doing with it.
Interesting point.
I don't know if it's illegal or not, but honestly, it's mind-boggling to me that a ship of any size would head out to sea without paper backup charts. The captain must be a genuine dumbfuck not to think ahead about the possibility of some sort of computer failure occurring, whatever the cause.
I mean, who the hell is that confident in their computer systems? A briefcase of "emergency" charts would have made this a non-story that we probably never would have even have heard of.
If you're dumb enough to fall for that shit you probably deserve to be taken for a ride. It's like the scammers aren't even trying any more.
(Yes, I know they deliberately write these pathetic letters to screen out all but the dumbest marks, but still...shouldn't it be just a little bit believable?)
Blockchain is fundamentally changing the way industries do business, from traditional banking to supply chain management
it IS? I've been paying some attention, and have yet to see a single interesting use case where -- aside from crypto-currency for which it's well suited -- blockchain does anything better than the centralized, backed up data repo of whatever corporation or conglomerate is working with data. If someone can point me to something interesting being done, please do tell.
My company uses it to track medical payments over our pharmacy network, and it seems to be working well for that.
It doesn't take much of nonsense for people to realize that cryptocurrencies are nothing more than electronic monopoly money. How can something have any real value when more of it keeps appearing every day, backed by yet another group of people who want to become rich?
Bingo. By design or not, in their current incarnation cryptocurrencies are a scammer's paradise and a risky proposition at best.
Maybe I'll create and offer "JustAnotherOldGuy-Coin". Buy it now while the price is still low!
After it goes up, the exchange (which I run) will mysteriously get hacked. But not to worry- I'll send each buyer an email with my sincere condolences. I'll be sending it from my new private estate, located on "Hookers and Blow Island".
Then feel free to invest in bitcoin to your heart's content.
I do wonder though- if it's so great why haven't most bitcoin enthusiasts converted all of their wealth into bitcoin?
I suspect it's because everyone involved realizes that this shit is at its heart fundamentally unstable and unpredictable, and no one is foolish enough to basically risk everything on the fickleness of the cryptocurrency carnival ride.
The fact that it's not tethered in any way to anything of tangible value is concerning, but go ahead and pour your life savings into it if your confidence level is high enough. Maybe it'll skyrocket and tomorrow you can buy yourself a yacht or whatever, or maybe it'll plunge and you won't be able to afford a Happy Meal.
For now I'll stick with my old-fashioned dollars, which typically don't display such wild changes in value over the course of an hour or two. Or a day or a week.
And as I mentioned previously, if my bank is robbed or blown to bits or falls into a sinkhole, so what? My money is still there, up to the limits of the FDIC.
If, on the other hand, your bitcoin exchange gets robbed or hacked or whatever....your money is gone, period. Really gone, like "OMG oh shit" gone.
Like I've said, I think the idea of cryptocurrencies are fascinating and they hold some serious promise, but there are too many fundamental problems with the current state of affairs.
Second, that all of those currencies failed during periods of massive economic unrest... While bitcoin is failing for no apparent reason at all.
Exactly. What drives the price of bitcoin up and down? No one has a clue, and if they say they do they're either lying or mistaken.
People say the stock market is irrational (and it certainly is) but bitcoin is far and away more unpredictable than any stock.
Oh sure, there are tons of "after action" reports that claim to explain why bitcoin did this or that, but you'll notice there are never any reliable reports that predict where bitcoin will be in a week, or a day, or even an hour from now.
Bitcoin (and blockchain and all the other related stuff) is interesting, maybe even fascinating, but it's far too immature and fickle to bet any significant amount of my money on.
And if the dollar tanks, what do you think Bitcoin will do? It'll take a nosedive too.
I like the idea of cryptocurrencies in general, but I don't think they're mature enough to trust with anything other than "fun money", that is, money you can afford to lose. And the exchanges? They seem to be little more than a place to stash your coins so they can all be stolen at once.
If your exchange gets robbed or hacked or whatever, your money is gone gone gone....but if they rob my local Bank of America or Chase, my money is still there (up to the FDIC limit, anyway).
When a cryptocurrency offers that level of protection, then I'll take it more seriously.
Adblock and NoScript take care of virtually all this kind of crap. Adblock stops ads from displaying (and infecting) and NoScript stops the rest of the malicious junk.
They call me, and I ruin their day. I keep 'em on the line for as long as I can, asking them kooky shit, having to put the phone down "so I can go get my card" over and over, asking them what they're wearing (works for both men and women!), asking them detailed questions about their sex life, etc etc.
I'm usually "Bob", but "Bill" is who they really need to talk to, so hold on a minute while I get him. Oh, it turns out that he got "Will" instead of "Bill", so hold on again while I get him. Whaddya know, "Bill" says they need to talk to "Bob" again or maybe "Frank", so let me transfer you...and so on and so on. Sometimes I give them part of a credit card number and then we get "disconnected". So close, but no cigar. Very sad.
No. Wind blowing across the turbine on the outside of the roof moves the turbine blades and by design draws air out of an attic. There is no way thermal heat in an attic would move anything reliably.
This is correct, it's not the heat or hot air coming out that causes the blades to turn, it's the wind passing by. The turbine rotates and draws air up and out.
Slashdot Mirror
Wouldn't it be easier to have DMV print it on plastic for you?
It's a crazy idea but it just might work!
A digital driver's license on your phone? What could possibly go wrong?*
Thank goodness phones are never hacked, infected, spoofed, or fall prey to malware.
I predict we'll see another story about this within the next year or two about how some poor schmuck had his 'secure' digital driver's license hacked or deleted or altered or revoked, and got arrested and taken to jail or whatever because of it.
----
* I feel like I'm saying "What could possibly go wrong" a lot these days, but damn if I'm not proved right nearly every time I do.
Real people do not care about computers but about what can be done with computers.
Your statement is moronic at best and poor trolling at worst. Only a simpleton would make a statement like you did.
I'm a real person and I care about my computer(s). I don't want then to get infected or fail, so I do my best to take care of them.
It's no different than changing the oil in your car or making sure your dog/cat/horse/whatever is healthy and properly cared for.
Shouldn't this be, like, illegal? Nobody should be piloting that much metal around the planet without knowing what they are doing with it.
Interesting point.
I don't know if it's illegal or not, but honestly, it's mind-boggling to me that a ship of any size would head out to sea without paper backup charts. The captain must be a genuine dumbfuck not to think ahead about the possibility of some sort of computer failure occurring, whatever the cause.
I mean, who the hell is that confident in their computer systems? A briefcase of "emergency" charts would have made this a non-story that we probably never would have even have heard of.
Don't run ships on Windows, for obvious reasons.
Also, not carrying ANY paper charts as a backup? Dumb, dumb, DUMB.
"President Trump To Use Huawei CFO As a Bargaining Chip"
What could possibly go wrong?
Yeah, I get those too. I always ask 'em what it's like to see a dick much larger than the one they have. :)
if you are single, we can also discuss the important thing in life.
Maryann versus Ginger?
(BTW- Maryann beats Ginger by a light year, hands down.)
If you're dumb enough to fall for that shit you probably deserve to be taken for a ride. It's like the scammers aren't even trying any more.
(Yes, I know they deliberately write these pathetic letters to screen out all but the dumbest marks, but still...shouldn't it be just a little bit believable?)
Blockchain is fundamentally changing the way industries do business, from traditional banking to supply chain management
it IS? I've been paying some attention, and have yet to see a single interesting use case where -- aside from crypto-currency for which it's well suited -- blockchain does anything better than the centralized, backed up data repo of whatever corporation or conglomerate is working with data. If someone can point me to something interesting being done, please do tell.
My company uses it to track medical payments over our pharmacy network, and it seems to be working well for that.
It doesn't take much of nonsense for people to realize that cryptocurrencies are nothing more than electronic monopoly money.
How can something have any real value when more of it keeps appearing every day, backed by yet another group of people who want to become rich?
Bingo. By design or not, in their current incarnation cryptocurrencies are a scammer's paradise and a risky proposition at best.
Maybe I'll create and offer "JustAnotherOldGuy-Coin". Buy it now while the price is still low!
After it goes up, the exchange (which I run) will mysteriously get hacked. But not to worry- I'll send each buyer an email with my sincere condolences. I'll be sending it from my new private estate, located on "Hookers and Blow Island".
Money is just an idea backed by confidence.
Then feel free to invest in bitcoin to your heart's content.
I do wonder though- if it's so great why haven't most bitcoin enthusiasts converted all of their wealth into bitcoin?
I suspect it's because everyone involved realizes that this shit is at its heart fundamentally unstable and unpredictable, and no one is foolish enough to basically risk everything on the fickleness of the cryptocurrency carnival ride.
The fact that it's not tethered in any way to anything of tangible value is concerning, but go ahead and pour your life savings into it if your confidence level is high enough. Maybe it'll skyrocket and tomorrow you can buy yourself a yacht or whatever, or maybe it'll plunge and you won't be able to afford a Happy Meal.
For now I'll stick with my old-fashioned dollars, which typically don't display such wild changes in value over the course of an hour or two. Or a day or a week.
And as I mentioned previously, if my bank is robbed or blown to bits or falls into a sinkhole, so what? My money is still there, up to the limits of the FDIC.
If, on the other hand, your bitcoin exchange gets robbed or hacked or whatever....your money is gone, period. Really gone, like "OMG oh shit" gone.
Like I've said, I think the idea of cryptocurrencies are fascinating and they hold some serious promise, but there are too many fundamental problems with the current state of affairs.
No surprise here- currency not tied to anything but mindset is going to be destructively fickle and unstable.
Youtube has a "music product"? I use Youtube all the time and can't recall ever seeing anything about it.
Tell me again, why would I want to get my music from Youtube?
Second, that all of those currencies failed during periods of massive economic unrest... While bitcoin is failing for no apparent reason at all.
Exactly. What drives the price of bitcoin up and down? No one has a clue, and if they say they do they're either lying or mistaken.
People say the stock market is irrational (and it certainly is) but bitcoin is far and away more unpredictable than any stock.
Oh sure, there are tons of "after action" reports that claim to explain why bitcoin did this or that, but you'll notice there are never any reliable reports that predict where bitcoin will be in a week, or a day, or even an hour from now.
Bitcoin (and blockchain and all the other related stuff) is interesting, maybe even fascinating, but it's far too immature and fickle to bet any significant amount of my money on.
And if the dollar tanks, what do you think Bitcoin will do? It'll take a nosedive too.
I like the idea of cryptocurrencies in general, but I don't think they're mature enough to trust with anything other than "fun money", that is, money you can afford to lose. And the exchanges? They seem to be little more than a place to stash your coins so they can all be stolen at once.
If your exchange gets robbed or hacked or whatever, your money is gone gone gone....but if they rob my local Bank of America or Chase, my money is still there (up to the FDIC limit, anyway).
When a cryptocurrency offers that level of protection, then I'll take it more seriously.
I remember using Flooz to buy buggy whips and a new tin of Uncle Earl's Mustache Wax.
Meanwhile, the money I have in Bank Of America and Chase are still worth pretty much exactly what they were worth yesterday.
Don't worry- Donald's new Space Force will use rocket ships powered exclusively by clean coal.
Adblock and NoScript take care of virtually all this kind of crap. Adblock stops ads from displaying (and infecting) and NoScript stops the rest of the malicious junk.
The best thing Ajit Pai could do is fall down a long flight of concrete steps.
They call me, and I ruin their day. I keep 'em on the line for as long as I can, asking them kooky shit, having to put the phone down "so I can go get my card" over and over, asking them what they're wearing (works for both men and women!), asking them detailed questions about their sex life, etc etc.
I'm usually "Bob", but "Bill" is who they really need to talk to, so hold on a minute while I get him. Oh, it turns out that he got "Will" instead of "Bill", so hold on again while I get him. Whaddya know, "Bill" says they need to talk to "Bob" again or maybe "Frank", so let me transfer you...and so on and so on. Sometimes I give them part of a credit card number and then we get "disconnected". So close, but no cigar. Very sad.
You mean Microsoft is implementing pay-as-you go for their OS and support apps?
My goodness, who could have seen that coming?
Seriously, though- this is the holy grail of their whole future as a corporation- renting Windows as a monthly pay-as-you-go service.
No. Wind blowing across the turbine on the outside of the roof moves the turbine blades and by design draws air out of an attic. There is no way thermal heat in an attic would move anything reliably.
This is correct, it's not the heat or hot air coming out that causes the blades to turn, it's the wind passing by. The turbine rotates and draws air up and out.
Nifty idea and I can see a lot of potential applications, especially when these are used in groups of small or medium size turbines.
Props to these guys for working this out.