You do realize that oxygen is fairly toxic, gets absolutely everywhere and makes things rust, don't you? Perhaps we should have an environmental impact study on THAT. Please everyone, stop breathing for 2 years.
Only those who set up the hardware and laid the cable know how much there really is over there.
Yes, and those who laid the cable and "set up the hardware" are laughing when the telco's claim that they're running out of bandwidth on their networks. There is no shortage of cable. There is only greed on the part of telcos who want to bleed the public dry. Especially AT&T, who have ALWAYS favored a metered approach to "internet" since before the internet was even around, as I remember reading in Forbes articles in the early 90's.
I read your comment and agree with you. Fair enough - monarchs were cruel bloodthirsty people.
My point however was that before the monarchy you had Lord so and so constantly fighting Count so and so in the next valley/hill/castle, burning the crops, slaughtering the serfs, etc, repeated hundreds of times across the country. The taking of war, pillaging and murder out of everyone's backyard and "doing it" in a series of large battles in a limited area, at least some of the countryside managed to grow. A regular levy of men and goods for the King was easier for the population as a whole to deal with than destruction of the countryside by hundreds of quibbling counts and barons.
I agree that TRUE growth came after the monarchies - but there's a reason why there's not a great deal of technological history written between 473AD till the renaissance.
I have to get permission from a queeen before calling someone Sir?
No, you can call anyone "Sir", but only the Queen can make it mean anything.
It's tradition, you know? Although monarchies are now a thing of the past, it was still the only form of government that allowed Europe to survive the endless petty battles and feuds between regional warlords. That constant feuding would have kept us in the dark ages. The concept of the monarch as the overlord with the biggest army (and artillery!) to keep everyone in line brought peace to the lands (and at least confined war to overseas where other people's countries/crops/towns/culture got destroyed instead). That way civilization could begin to flourish.
Remember that these numbers are thrown about by people who wouldn't want to spend a SINGLE NIGHT in prison.
Yes there must be consequences for his actions. But YEARS in jail? This kid isn't really a "threat" to society or someone who needs to be, what's the word they like to use now? - rehabilitated... It's just a dumb kid who needs to be taught a lesson. 38 years, or 10, or even 1 will probably break him and ensure that society gains yet another underachieving, useless supermarket bagger (if that).
I discovered the only reason that it appears to be 54 million years old in the first place was that God had NAILED it there.
Except "He" only did it 6000 years ago but messed around with radioactive decay to make us think it was 54 million years ago, because everyone knows that "God" is the Ultimate Practical Joker.
Users of MySpace/Facebook etc. have clearly demonstrated by their actions that they don't care at all about their privacy.
Patients have clearly demonstrated by their actions that they don't care at all about their privacy. After all they keep getting sick all the time, and visiting hospitals containing busy emergency rooms full of all kinds of undesirables - and that's just the staff!....
I think the key word, as always, is CHOICE. Do you really propose that society accept your views on privacy with an argument based on what some teenagers are willing to do on "myspace"?
First of all, high achievers are just that...We don't need to give them extra attention,...Ofcourse they could go faster if the teacher concentrates on them
Politicians and lawyers getting taxed when they talk would solve so many of the worlds' problems...
Of course a distinction will have to be drawn between actual, useful and constructive talking, and just spouting bullshit. Politicians especially produce a lot more of the latter, and should be charged an extra special rate.
Carbon is the atom of choice to 90% of all electrons polled.
I'd suggest more chemistry classes. Fluorine is actually the most likely choice for all electrons - in fact, it's not even a choice if fluorine is around... you're GETTING it. Gimme my damned electron!:-)
"Honey....your 9th x 10e47 cousin from Rigel is here! He brought the wives and kids. You know they don't like my cooking, so bring home some KFC"
Blegh, can you imagine the politics?
"Remember not to get Taco Bell because Rigellians worship a taco-shaped diety and it would be highly offensive to them... and do remember they have the technology to vaporize this continent with their wristwatches "
which could be used in new types of hardware-based DRM
(cough) It STILL WON'T WORK if I have physical access to the machine... DRM is FUNDAMENTALLY flawed until the day computers start zapping people with laser beams the moment they are "tampered" with.
WHEN will these people understand that you cannot give both the lock AND the key to the "thief" and expect your "method" to be secure. The only thing this does is add yet another layer of smoke, bill corporations for even more useless "DRM" schemes - which we end up paying for - again. After the RIAA and the MPAA's of the world, copy protection pushers are the biggest free-loaders around.
I expect the crack/workaround within a couple months of this "new technology" being in the market.
solar power -> through existing electric infrastructure -> to the battery of your electric car/mower/series of tubes
The only problem is:
1) solar power - not cost efficient yet due to the cost/environmental hazard of solar panel manufacture and disposal. You also run into limits of surface area. The amount of watts/m you can "harvest" is finite.
2) through existing electric infrastructure - whaaa? The current electric infrastructure is barely able to keep up with current consumption. If you add god knows how many gigawatt-hours demand from everyone "plugging in" their electric cars, there's not enough electricity to go around. Major investments in (non fossil fuel based - otherwise you're back to square 1 only instead of burning the fuel in millions of cars you burn it in power plants) electrical generation would be required. Hydroelectric has pretty much reached maximum everywhere on the planet. This only leaves nuclear energy/wind/wave/solar energy as alternatives. Of those possibly the most "cost effective" is nuclear, however the plants need to be built.
you pay as much as you buy. thats the basis of goddamn trade.
Except we don't live in the world of 5000 years ago nowadays. When I want to buy another goat from you, you have to recover the cost of having fed that goat, raised it, cared for it, etc.
What happens when the cost of providing an additional unit to me is practically nil? Why would I be interested in paying you forever for a one time upgrade in hardware/technology that would fix your "congestion" problems (and at the same time allow you to provide even more service to more people in my neighborhood)? You know, the cable is there whether I use it or not. It has been paid for. Depreciation has been taken. In many cases it's even "off the books" by now. The telcos just don't want to re-invest in their business and deliver new technology to deal with the "overload". Much easier to "charge rent" and just do "maintenance". Much more profitable.
This is the typical argument of the "strong" vs. the weak. It's not about "the market". It's about telcos wanting to charge you for everything they can get away with simply because THEY CAN, and you not being able to do anything about it. The strong will do what they will, and the weak will suffer what they must. Government was meant to prevent this sort of abuse but nowadays it turns out that they actually enforce it, making the strong even stronger. I have no doubts you will get "pay as you go" internet.
However this will break many business models and new socializing/communication methods. That's the REAL point - controlling the flow of information, through price. The rich can have their webcams and their VoIP and download/share all the video and files that they want, and the poor can only get the most basic services. Capitalism has come to the internet at last.
"What he wants to do is gently encourage more efficient usage of his network" should be read as "he wants to maximize profits and gouge his customers as much as he can get away with without going to jail", because after all mindless and perpetual expansion of PROFIT is what communications (or any other business) is all about, isn't it?
In the beginning telcos set up "toll booths" at the content provider level, and you had to pay more depending on how much content people downloaded from your site. But now that people have found a way to efficiently break up data and move it around, you might as well tax the whole world. Data is being moved without the appropriate compensation. We can't have THAT!
(begin sarcasm mode)
I know - maybe if we suck the government's metaphorical penis hard enough by providing them any info they need (under the guise of "terrorism") they will be nice to us when we try to screw consumers out of another $100 a month for something we've currently managed to provide for "free" - in fact we built and expanded internet access to what it is today at current market prices but suddenly we can't make money anymore. Those cables and routers have gone on strike and are asking for more money! I mean $60 a month for a cell phone and $60 a month for a land-line just isn't enough! Our telephone poles keep getting ripped up by tornadoes or crashed into, and our cell phone towers are rusting! Oh and we've invested billions of dollars into technology to let us screw our customers or read/modify their data but zero dollars into making our networks more efficient/increasing our capacity. We need more money!!! (end sarcasm mode)
Because it requires a few years of study, and these machines are not designed for that.
But look at it this way - when you get an ultrasound, MRI or CT scan, try asking the radiology tech for the results of the scan. The answer will be "this is something you will have to take up with your doctor". Why? Because a diagnosis is a medical act (even if the answer is fairy simple for a technician to answer), and telling a person a diagnosis is practicing medicine, and if you don't have a license to do this, then you're in trouble.
Any "security screening expert" or whatever they call themselves who claims to diagnose a medical condition had better 1) Be damned sure of himself/the diagnosis and 2) Be damned sure he knows how to "break the news" to his "patient" without this person committing an irrational, impulsive act. The hallway of an airport after 15 hours of travel is not usually the best place to find out that you're going to die.
You can say "what if" to anything, but basically the chances of this happening are much less than a Tarot card reader detecting malignancy, because after all the Tarot card reader wants to convince you enough that you'll send him/her more clients.
What happens if the operator of this machine detects some disease of a passenger?
I doubt very much the operators of these machines are qualified to detect any sort of disease apart from the "I am carrying a bomb" disease; this makes your point rather moot. All this without getting into the fact that these machines are designed to look under clothing, not into your body.
Just because something is a long-term purchase doesn't mean you don't want to try to get a better price for it.
You don't need real time streaming data for that. This is where you sort of missed the point of the argument. If you're waiting for a second by second "price" you are now "day trading". Why? Because you'll regret it the second you buy and the price drops 5 or 10 cents, and you'll be tempted to do something silly. I know I was, at the beginning. It cost me a lot of money.
If you're "investing" then once you've decided on the company, close your eyes, buy it at whatever price and enjoy the ride. No real time streaming data needed.
Warren Buffet may be richer than me, but I consistently make around 15-25% on my money every MONTH. I sleep very well with that ROI. And you're not Mr. Buffet therefore I will argue that perhaps it's not as easy as all that. Otherwise we'd all be multi-billionaires just by imitating him, right?
Slashdot Mirror
If I own it, I'm allowed to modify it.
Not anymore, especially if the code/design of the "kill switch" is protected under copyright law. DMCA makes you a criminal if you tamper with it.
WARNING! Incoming chairs detected!
I don't plan on eating my solar panels.
You do realize that oxygen is fairly toxic, gets absolutely everywhere and makes things rust, don't you? Perhaps we should have an environmental impact study on THAT. Please everyone, stop breathing for 2 years.
Only those who set up the hardware and laid the cable know how much there really is over there .
Yes, and those who laid the cable and "set up the hardware" are laughing when the telco's claim that they're running out of bandwidth on their networks. There is no shortage of cable. There is only greed on the part of telcos who want to bleed the public dry. Especially AT&T, who have ALWAYS favored a metered approach to "internet" since before the internet was even around, as I remember reading in Forbes articles in the early 90's.
I read your comment and agree with you. Fair enough - monarchs were cruel bloodthirsty people.
My point however was that before the monarchy you had Lord so and so constantly fighting Count so and so in the next valley/hill/castle, burning the crops, slaughtering the serfs, etc, repeated hundreds of times across the country. The taking of war, pillaging and murder out of everyone's backyard and "doing it" in a series of large battles in a limited area, at least some of the countryside managed to grow. A regular levy of men and goods for the King was easier for the population as a whole to deal with than destruction of the countryside by hundreds of quibbling counts and barons.
I agree that TRUE growth came after the monarchies - but there's a reason why there's not a great deal of technological history written between 473AD till the renaissance.
I have to get permission from a queeen before calling someone Sir?
No, you can call anyone "Sir", but only the Queen can make it mean anything.
It's tradition, you know? Although monarchies are now a thing of the past, it was still the only form of government that allowed Europe to survive the endless petty battles and feuds between regional warlords. That constant feuding would have kept us in the dark ages. The concept of the monarch as the overlord with the biggest army (and artillery!) to keep everyone in line brought peace to the lands (and at least confined war to overseas where other people's countries/crops/towns/culture got destroyed instead). That way civilization could begin to flourish.
38 years? 10? What's the "correct" number?
Remember that these numbers are thrown about by people who wouldn't want to spend a SINGLE NIGHT in prison.
Yes there must be consequences for his actions. But YEARS in jail? This kid isn't really a "threat" to society or someone who needs to be, what's the word they like to use now? - rehabilitated... It's just a dumb kid who needs to be taught a lesson. 38 years, or 10, or even 1 will probably break him and ensure that society gains yet another underachieving, useless supermarket bagger (if that).
I discovered the only reason that it appears to be 54 million years old in the first place was that God had NAILED it there.
Except "He" only did it 6000 years ago but messed around with radioactive decay to make us think it was 54 million years ago, because everyone knows that "God" is the Ultimate Practical Joker.
Users of MySpace/Facebook etc. have clearly demonstrated by their actions that they don't care at all about their privacy.
Patients have clearly demonstrated by their actions that they don't care at all about their privacy. After all they keep getting sick all the time, and visiting hospitals containing busy emergency rooms full of all kinds of undesirables - and that's just the staff!....
I think the key word, as always, is CHOICE. Do you really propose that society accept your views on privacy with an argument based on what some teenagers are willing to do on "myspace"?
First of all, high achievers are just that...We don't need to give them extra attention,...Ofcourse they could go faster if the teacher concentrates on them
Make up your mind.
unregulated sales of uranium on ebay
pitchblende is not uranium
Next we'll have an "iConstitution"
For some reason I have a sneaking feeling that we will have been better off BEFORE this "iConstitution"...
Politicians and lawyers getting taxed when they talk would solve so many of the worlds' problems...
Of course a distinction will have to be drawn between actual, useful and constructive talking, and just spouting bullshit. Politicians especially produce a lot more of the latter, and should be charged an extra special rate.
Carbon is the atom of choice to 90% of all electrons polled.
:-)
I'd suggest more chemistry classes. Fluorine is actually the most likely choice for all electrons - in fact, it's not even a choice if fluorine is around... you're GETTING it. Gimme my damned electron!
"Honey....your 9th x 10e47 cousin from Rigel is here! He brought the wives and kids. You know they don't like my cooking, so bring home some KFC"
Blegh, can you imagine the politics?
"Remember not to get Taco Bell because Rigellians worship a taco-shaped diety and it would be highly offensive to them... and do remember they have the technology to vaporize this continent with their wristwatches "
which could be used in new types of hardware-based DRM
(cough) It STILL WON'T WORK if I have physical access to the machine... DRM is FUNDAMENTALLY flawed until the day computers start zapping people with laser beams the moment they are "tampered" with.
WHEN will these people understand that you cannot give both the lock AND the key to the "thief" and expect your "method" to be secure. The only thing this does is add yet another layer of smoke, bill corporations for even more useless "DRM" schemes - which we end up paying for - again. After the RIAA and the MPAA's of the world, copy protection pushers are the biggest free-loaders around.
I expect the crack/workaround within a couple months of this "new technology" being in the market.
Tim, your contributions to the linux kernel and the open source movement will never be forgotten.
Oh, wait.
Remind me again how this is "News for nerds, stuff that matters"? Call me when they launch his ashes into orbit or something.
solar power -> through existing electric infrastructure -> to the battery of your electric car/mower/series of tubes
The only problem is:
1) solar power - not cost efficient yet due to the cost/environmental hazard of solar panel manufacture and disposal. You also run into limits of surface area. The amount of watts/m you can "harvest" is finite.
2) through existing electric infrastructure - whaaa? The current electric infrastructure is barely able to keep up with current consumption. If you add god knows how many gigawatt-hours demand from everyone "plugging in" their electric cars, there's not enough electricity to go around. Major investments in (non fossil fuel based - otherwise you're back to square 1 only instead of burning the fuel in millions of cars you burn it in power plants) electrical generation would be required. Hydroelectric has pretty much reached maximum everywhere on the planet. This only leaves nuclear energy/wind/wave/solar energy as alternatives. Of those possibly the most "cost effective" is nuclear, however the plants need to be built.
Nobody makes jokes in base 13...
I know what my choice would be.
The display - amirite?
you pay as much as you buy. thats the basis of goddamn trade.
Except we don't live in the world of 5000 years ago nowadays. When I want to buy another goat from you, you have to recover the cost of having fed that goat, raised it, cared for it, etc.
What happens when the cost of providing an additional unit to me is practically nil? Why would I be interested in paying you forever for a one time upgrade in hardware/technology that would fix your "congestion" problems (and at the same time allow you to provide even more service to more people in my neighborhood)? You know, the cable is there whether I use it or not. It has been paid for. Depreciation has been taken. In many cases it's even "off the books" by now. The telcos just don't want to re-invest in their business and deliver new technology to deal with the "overload". Much easier to "charge rent" and just do "maintenance". Much more profitable.
This is the typical argument of the "strong" vs. the weak. It's not about "the market". It's about telcos wanting to charge you for everything they can get away with simply because THEY CAN, and you not being able to do anything about it. The strong will do what they will, and the weak will suffer what they must. Government was meant to prevent this sort of abuse but nowadays it turns out that they actually enforce it, making the strong even stronger. I have no doubts you will get "pay as you go" internet.
However this will break many business models and new socializing/communication methods. That's the REAL point - controlling the flow of information, through price. The rich can have their webcams and their VoIP and download/share all the video and files that they want, and the poor can only get the most basic services. Capitalism has come to the internet at last.
"What he wants to do is gently encourage more efficient usage of his network" should be read as "he wants to maximize profits and gouge his customers as much as he can get away with without going to jail", because after all mindless and perpetual expansion of PROFIT is what communications (or any other business) is all about, isn't it?
In the beginning telcos set up "toll booths" at the content provider level, and you had to pay more depending on how much content people downloaded from your site. But now that people have found a way to efficiently break up data and move it around, you might as well tax the whole world. Data is being moved without the appropriate compensation. We can't have THAT!
(begin sarcasm mode)
I know - maybe if we suck the government's metaphorical penis hard enough by providing them any info they need (under the guise of "terrorism") they will be nice to us when we try to screw consumers out of another $100 a month for something we've currently managed to provide for "free" - in fact we built and expanded internet access to what it is today at current market prices but suddenly we can't make money anymore. Those cables and routers have gone on strike and are asking for more money! I mean $60 a month for a cell phone and $60 a month for a land-line just isn't enough! Our telephone poles keep getting ripped up by tornadoes or crashed into, and our cell phone towers are rusting! Oh and we've invested billions of dollars into technology to let us screw our customers or read/modify their data but zero dollars into making our networks more efficient/increasing our capacity. We need more money!!!
(end sarcasm mode)
He/she MAY have this knowledge. Why not?
Because it requires a few years of study, and these machines are not designed for that.
But look at it this way - when you get an ultrasound, MRI or CT scan, try asking the radiology tech for the results of the scan. The answer will be "this is something you will have to take up with your doctor". Why? Because a diagnosis is a medical act (even if the answer is fairy simple for a technician to answer), and telling a person a diagnosis is practicing medicine, and if you don't have a license to do this, then you're in trouble.
Any "security screening expert" or whatever they call themselves who claims to diagnose a medical condition had better 1) Be damned sure of himself/the diagnosis and 2) Be damned sure he knows how to "break the news" to his "patient" without this person committing an irrational, impulsive act. The hallway of an airport after 15 hours of travel is not usually the best place to find out that you're going to die.
You can say "what if" to anything, but basically the chances of this happening are much less than a Tarot card reader detecting malignancy, because after all the Tarot card reader wants to convince you enough that you'll send him/her more clients.
What happens if the operator of this machine detects some disease of a passenger?
I doubt very much the operators of these machines are qualified to detect any sort of disease apart from the "I am carrying a bomb" disease; this makes your point rather moot. All this without getting into the fact that these machines are designed to look under clothing, not into your body.
Just because something is a long-term purchase doesn't mean you don't want to try to get a better price for it.
You don't need real time streaming data for that. This is where you sort of missed the point of the argument. If you're waiting for a second by second "price" you are now "day trading". Why? Because you'll regret it the second you buy and the price drops 5 or 10 cents, and you'll be tempted to do something silly. I know I was, at the beginning. It cost me a lot of money.
If you're "investing" then once you've decided on the company, close your eyes, buy it at whatever price and enjoy the ride. No real time streaming data needed.
Warren Buffet may be richer than me, but I consistently make around 15-25% on my money every MONTH. I sleep very well with that ROI. And you're not Mr. Buffet therefore I will argue that perhaps it's not as easy as all that. Otherwise we'd all be multi-billionaires just by imitating him, right?