The stuff he scoffs at, exercise, mental puzzles, weird cocktails, have little to do with prolonging life and everything with improving the quality of life, or at least trying to. I wouldn't mind living to 90 in relatively good health, and if there's something I can do when I'm 70 to improve my chances, I'll be doing it.
How does this work in Kickstarter? You'd think the campaigners should receive only the amount they initially sought, with maybe up to 10% extra if the pledged amount exceeds that. Once the first backers receive the product, the rest of the funds can be released to fulfill those orders. And if there's a cost overrun, the 2nd tier backers can be given the opportunity to pull out or let their money ride, after which the project can receive additional funding from the remaining backers. That way, the projects are encouraged to spend sensibly, and are required to provide a solid explanation in case they go over budget.
You pay for a product that might otherwise not see the light of day. In some cases it's worth the gamble, and I've gotten a few useful products through crowd-funding.
For some projects, I'd be interested in getting a slice of the company (i.e. a chance at financial reward) instead of the finished product in exchange for my contribution. But I suppose there might be a lot of extra legal requirements for such a scheme.
If IBE requires a trusted third party, it seems to me that its only advantage over having a public key repository is that it can work offline, i.e. you do not need access to the trusted 3rd party to generate someone's public key from an email address, you only need to get and remember the master public key (once). In that case, a public key repository (a service that spits out someone's public key when given their email address) seems to have a lot of advantages, especially in the sense that this repository does not need to be trusted. And it'll handle revocations as well.
Any encryption scheme that requires a trusted third party is not sufficiently private in this day and age.
Context, exactly. This makes sense in certain environments only. Take meetings and context switching. In my own environment the problem is not too many meetings, but not enough of them (or not the right kind of meetings). Good meetings are where new ideas get brainstormed, differences worked out, and hasty assumptions get identified and resolved. Just the kind of stuff that often is allowed to linger to detrimental effect in async environments. Context switching? In my environment this happens a lot, but it's not the result of meetings (where you'll still be dealing with the usual projects), but with being assigned to too many projects at once.
I wish they'd do that, especially on iPads. I have a 64GB iPhone that has less than 20GB in use, mostly music and navigation software for Europe and the US. But I usually stick a bunch of movies on my iPad when I travel, for personal in flight entertainment, and they fill up the available space quite fast. Having an SD card for that would be great.
It's true that customers enjoy a lot less protection on Alibaba. In the end, you'll have to weigh risk against savings and convenience. In some cases, the warranty does not matter that much if you can get the item a lot cheaper.
Some sellers on Alibaba offer some sort of warranty. I ordered 8 motorized ball valves from a factory through Alibaba (these things are hard to get here as they are not aimed at consumers, and priced at €250 a pop. Same item from China: $40). One of them appeared to be leaking after a few weeks; I returned it and promptly got a replacement. Well "promptly"... the one disadvantage of getting stuff from China is that shipping is cheap but takes ages.
Also, US vendors lie on the customs sticker as well
I am glad they do. Many US shippers (as well as shippers from other countries) are happy enough to fiddle the declared value or shipping charges a little. Which helps: import duty is paid over the full amount (value + postage), and declaring either a little lower may bring you under the threshold above which tax is due.
By the way, I am ok with paying import duties. I am not ok with the processing of said duties taking upwards of 2 weeks suring which the shipment is held, and the post charging me an additional €10 in administrative fees to handle the tax.
That depends. Belgium did benefit from having the euro, according to the Economist at least. Their franc would have been utterly destroyed by speculators otherwise by now. The problem with the southern European countries is that they got into dire economic straights, but were not given the chance to apply the tried and true remedy: a controlled devaluation of the national currency. The rest of Europe was overextended as well, otherwise the Spanish banks or Greek debt shenanigans would not have threatened the rest of Europe so badly. This would also have happened without the euro; the problem for the rest of Europe wasn't the single currency, but the large interest of their own banks in Greek debt. If anything, having the euro means it was much easier for all nations to form a front against speculators.
Most middle class people are able to cough up the entry fee and yearly dues, but my guess is that very few of them would be willing to drop that much of their disposable income on something that probably has zero value to them. Except for royalty watchers who enjoy a more intimate peek at what goes on between movie stars and other rich folk, this fee will do a good job of keeping out the little people. It might also keep out the rich though; the well-to-do will pay extra to be shielded from the common folk, but they do expect value for money other than just privacy. The site had better be good, and offer a sterling experience and nice perks.
If I were rich and considering joining this site, I'd be less concerned about ads and more about the site selling off my data to others. It'll be a goldmine for certairn businesses, and I can already see how that plays out: site becomes popular, site gets sold to investors at an overinflated price, new owners change the rules and start milking more and more data to recoup their investment.
What you describe is remote control, the first step in home automation. Indeed, small difference in pressing a button while sat on the couch vs. getting up and flipping a switch. But a lot of what's going on is truly automatic, i.e. scripted. That's where the fun begins. And that's why I have small interest in Apple's HomeKit, or the API-less Nest, or similar devices that are indeed remote control only, or will not work with the hub of MY choice.
Sigh. Convenience, saving energy, security. None of this is going to change your life. But if you sit down and think for a moment you can come up with a hundred use cases that would make it worthwhile for someone to consider such a system. It's not really gotten out of the hobby stage yet, and security of the system itself needs to be addressed (it's piss poor in most systems), but even so, I'm happy with the level of automation I have. Lights, heating, cameras, irrigation, alarms, some locks (not on the house itself!), awnings, all of these are integrated, controllable and to some degree automated. A huge convenience and a money saver.
Not so interested in remotely controlling my oven, sure...
You can probably figure out why the "screw you and your orders" players are even less popular than the abusive guy shouting orders in groups or raids. The phrase "Lead, follow or get out of the way" applies remarkably well to groups in online games. Follow orders or give them (and if you think that's easy, do give it a go), or don't bother joining the group at all; you'll be doing everyone a big favour.
Personally, I found that succeeding at a hard challenge in a good team, with a good leader and everyone else doing their part, is one of the most rewarding experiences of online gaming.
You can control the timing of your downloads. Turn off data roaming, which is a good idea on any smartphone if roaming charges are excessive. You can disable automatic downloads of music and other content. But most importantly: you can choose whether or not automatic downloads occur over the cellular network (roaming or not); the default setting is to disallow this.
Apple was a bit naughty by pushing an album we didn't ask for, but that's all it is: well-intended spam. No need to be overly dramatic about Apple owning our devices, and no worrying about racking up insane roaming charges.
It's not a liability no matter what, it's just that I don't believe this technology is durable and reliable enough for mounting in a gun just yet. In a safe, you can have the scanner mains powered with a battery back up; a gun kept in the nightstand for home defense might well turn out to be out of batteries just when you need it most. And a gun safe is not subject to the not insignificant recoil of a gun, not to mention grease, dirt and other wear & tear. Lastly, it's good practice to keep the gun in a safe anyway, especially with kids around the house.
Maybe at some point, the scanner will be reliable enough to be put on guns. Even then, the question remains: what number of firearm accidents are due to an unauthorized person handling the weapon, instead of the rightful owner accidentally discharging it or misidentifying his target? And to what extent would unauthorized use have occurred anyway, i.e. a thief finding the firearm he just stole useless, then picking up a cheap saturday night special from his friendly illegal arms dealer?
This is certainly not the first time someone came up with this idea, nor the first time an actual implementation was made. This article and the award sounds like a publicity stunt, and it has all the usual elements: young wunderkind, technical gadgetry to solve some social or politically charged issue.
And other posters here are right: the last thing you need is a weapon that fails when you need it most. If you want a weapon that's safe at rest, get a gun safe with a fingerprint scanner so you can get at it quickly when needed. And if you really want a gun that is disabled when it's taken away from you, I'd go with a simple mechanical solution like a pin on a lanyard that will lock the gun when removed. But in reality, if you've pulled out your weapon with intent to use it, you want nothing to stand in the way of a shot being fired when you pull that trigger.
The classroom is a bit like democracy: the worst system we have, except for all of the other systems we have tried. At any learning conference, or talking to any learning professional, you'll hear the words "the classroom sucks" at some point. Hated because of its assembly-line heritage, and "captive audiences". However those properties may be its strong point: it still seems the best way to educate large groups of people, and in some cases, capturing an audience is the one way to make sure they pay attention. Not every kid is going to be interested in mandatory material.
It only applies if the OS and device are really two separate entities. For Macs you could argue that you should be able to buy the device without the OS. For phones, it seems that the OS is part of the device, especially in case of iPhones (what else are you going to run on them). Keep in mind that iOS isn't sold separately either, nor are there any charges for upgrades.
Not really. While it is true that in a lot of countries like these, low level bribery is almost a requirement to doing business. Want your goods to clear customs sometime this century? Pay up. Want your work visas processed in a timely manner? Some civil servant will need a filled envelope. Don't want you plant shut down? Make the inspector happy. This sort of thing goes on all the time, and is often handled through local intermediaries.
What HP did was bribing high level government and corporate officials to win business.
A tomb is a "structurally enclosed burial chamber". Underground burial vaults or crypts are included in that category, as well as tombs cut out in rock. Merriam-Webster even lists it as "an excavation in which a corpse is buried".
Not sure if you understand what "more or less" means. There are degrees of drunkenness, and many drunk drivers knew full well that they were breaking the law by getting behind the wheel, meaning they were informed. And many of them paused at least once to think about whether they should get behind the wheel or not, meaning it was a conscious decision to do so. What they are is judgment-impaired, underestimating the risks and possible consequences of their actions.
I kind of agree on your stance on drunk driving. There are a few countries that treat it as such: DUI is not rigorously prosecuted and the punishment for being over the limit is small, but if you cause an accident while under the influence, you'll be in serious trouble. It means making the driver responsible for judging whether or not they are still able to drive, and making them responsible for the consequences as well. A good idea in principle, however as stated before, a drunk person is impaired and not capable of making that decision just by weighing the risks. A hard limit enforced by law makes that decision a lot easier even when drunk, and it seems that in practice that limit works well to deter people from driving drunk. Our current laws are quite decent in that regard: most people are still under the limit after 2 drinks, and being slightly over the limit carries a reasonably small punishment for first offenders, usually a small fine and a driving ban of a few hours so you can sober up. Only when you go way over the limit do longer driving bans and judges kick in.
That's just semantics. Our laws distinguish between murder (premeditated), "manslaughter" (not premeditated but with intent to at least cause grievous harm), and "culpable death" (no intent to cause harm). The latter category basically involves someone dying as a direct result of you taking excessive risk or being exceptionally careless, and it covers deaths in traffic accidents. GP's point of calling DUI a murder attempt implies intent, which is missing here.
Slashdot Mirror
The stuff he scoffs at, exercise, mental puzzles, weird cocktails, have little to do with prolonging life and everything with improving the quality of life, or at least trying to. I wouldn't mind living to 90 in relatively good health, and if there's something I can do when I'm 70 to improve my chances, I'll be doing it.
Very good point, thanks.
How does this work in Kickstarter? You'd think the campaigners should receive only the amount they initially sought, with maybe up to 10% extra if the pledged amount exceeds that. Once the first backers receive the product, the rest of the funds can be released to fulfill those orders. And if there's a cost overrun, the 2nd tier backers can be given the opportunity to pull out or let their money ride, after which the project can receive additional funding from the remaining backers. That way, the projects are encouraged to spend sensibly, and are required to provide a solid explanation in case they go over budget.
You pay for a product that might otherwise not see the light of day. In some cases it's worth the gamble, and I've gotten a few useful products through crowd-funding.
For some projects, I'd be interested in getting a slice of the company (i.e. a chance at financial reward) instead of the finished product in exchange for my contribution. But I suppose there might be a lot of extra legal requirements for such a scheme.
If IBE requires a trusted third party, it seems to me that its only advantage over having a public key repository is that it can work offline, i.e. you do not need access to the trusted 3rd party to generate someone's public key from an email address, you only need to get and remember the master public key (once). In that case, a public key repository (a service that spits out someone's public key when given their email address) seems to have a lot of advantages, especially in the sense that this repository does not need to be trusted. And it'll handle revocations as well.
Any encryption scheme that requires a trusted third party is not sufficiently private in this day and age.
Context, exactly. This makes sense in certain environments only. Take meetings and context switching. In my own environment the problem is not too many meetings, but not enough of them (or not the right kind of meetings). Good meetings are where new ideas get brainstormed, differences worked out, and hasty assumptions get identified and resolved. Just the kind of stuff that often is allowed to linger to detrimental effect in async environments. Context switching? In my environment this happens a lot, but it's not the result of meetings (where you'll still be dealing with the usual projects), but with being assigned to too many projects at once.
Will the tourists stay on the ISS, or just ride the taxi to it, and come back down on the same flight?
I wish they'd do that, especially on iPads. I have a 64GB iPhone that has less than 20GB in use, mostly music and navigation software for Europe and the US. But I usually stick a bunch of movies on my iPad when I travel, for personal in flight entertainment, and they fill up the available space quite fast. Having an SD card for that would be great.
It's true that customers enjoy a lot less protection on Alibaba. In the end, you'll have to weigh risk against savings and convenience. In some cases, the warranty does not matter that much if you can get the item a lot cheaper.
Some sellers on Alibaba offer some sort of warranty. I ordered 8 motorized ball valves from a factory through Alibaba (these things are hard to get here as they are not aimed at consumers, and priced at €250 a pop. Same item from China: $40). One of them appeared to be leaking after a few weeks; I returned it and promptly got a replacement. Well "promptly"... the one disadvantage of getting stuff from China is that shipping is cheap but takes ages.
Also, US vendors lie on the customs sticker as well
I am glad they do. Many US shippers (as well as shippers from other countries) are happy enough to fiddle the declared value or shipping charges a little. Which helps: import duty is paid over the full amount (value + postage), and declaring either a little lower may bring you under the threshold above which tax is due.
By the way, I am ok with paying import duties. I am not ok with the processing of said duties taking upwards of 2 weeks suring which the shipment is held, and the post charging me an additional €10 in administrative fees to handle the tax.
That depends. Belgium did benefit from having the euro, according to the Economist at least. Their franc would have been utterly destroyed by speculators otherwise by now. The problem with the southern European countries is that they got into dire economic straights, but were not given the chance to apply the tried and true remedy: a controlled devaluation of the national currency. The rest of Europe was overextended as well, otherwise the Spanish banks or Greek debt shenanigans would not have threatened the rest of Europe so badly. This would also have happened without the euro; the problem for the rest of Europe wasn't the single currency, but the large interest of their own banks in Greek debt. If anything, having the euro means it was much easier for all nations to form a front against speculators.
Most middle class people are able to cough up the entry fee and yearly dues, but my guess is that very few of them would be willing to drop that much of their disposable income on something that probably has zero value to them. Except for royalty watchers who enjoy a more intimate peek at what goes on between movie stars and other rich folk, this fee will do a good job of keeping out the little people. It might also keep out the rich though; the well-to-do will pay extra to be shielded from the common folk, but they do expect value for money other than just privacy. The site had better be good, and offer a sterling experience and nice perks.
If I were rich and considering joining this site, I'd be less concerned about ads and more about the site selling off my data to others. It'll be a goldmine for certairn businesses, and I can already see how that plays out: site becomes popular, site gets sold to investors at an overinflated price, new owners change the rules and start milking more and more data to recoup their investment.
In fact forget the club...
What you describe is remote control, the first step in home automation. Indeed, small difference in pressing a button while sat on the couch vs. getting up and flipping a switch. But a lot of what's going on is truly automatic, i.e. scripted. That's where the fun begins. And that's why I have small interest in Apple's HomeKit, or the API-less Nest, or similar devices that are indeed remote control only, or will not work with the hub of MY choice.
Sigh. Convenience, saving energy, security. None of this is going to change your life. But if you sit down and think for a moment you can come up with a hundred use cases that would make it worthwhile for someone to consider such a system. It's not really gotten out of the hobby stage yet, and security of the system itself needs to be addressed (it's piss poor in most systems), but even so, I'm happy with the level of automation I have. Lights, heating, cameras, irrigation, alarms, some locks (not on the house itself!), awnings, all of these are integrated, controllable and to some degree automated. A huge convenience and a money saver.
Not so interested in remotely controlling my oven, sure...
You can probably figure out why the "screw you and your orders" players are even less popular than the abusive guy shouting orders in groups or raids. The phrase "Lead, follow or get out of the way" applies remarkably well to groups in online games. Follow orders or give them (and if you think that's easy, do give it a go), or don't bother joining the group at all; you'll be doing everyone a big favour.
Personally, I found that succeeding at a hard challenge in a good team, with a good leader and everyone else doing their part, is one of the most rewarding experiences of online gaming.
You can control the timing of your downloads. Turn off data roaming, which is a good idea on any smartphone if roaming charges are excessive. You can disable automatic downloads of music and other content. But most importantly: you can choose whether or not automatic downloads occur over the cellular network (roaming or not); the default setting is to disallow this.
Apple was a bit naughty by pushing an album we didn't ask for, but that's all it is: well-intended spam. No need to be overly dramatic about Apple owning our devices, and no worrying about racking up insane roaming charges.
It's not a liability no matter what, it's just that I don't believe this technology is durable and reliable enough for mounting in a gun just yet. In a safe, you can have the scanner mains powered with a battery back up; a gun kept in the nightstand for home defense might well turn out to be out of batteries just when you need it most. And a gun safe is not subject to the not insignificant recoil of a gun, not to mention grease, dirt and other wear & tear. Lastly, it's good practice to keep the gun in a safe anyway, especially with kids around the house.
Maybe at some point, the scanner will be reliable enough to be put on guns. Even then, the question remains: what number of firearm accidents are due to an unauthorized person handling the weapon, instead of the rightful owner accidentally discharging it or misidentifying his target? And to what extent would unauthorized use have occurred anyway, i.e. a thief finding the firearm he just stole useless, then picking up a cheap saturday night special from his friendly illegal arms dealer?
This is certainly not the first time someone came up with this idea, nor the first time an actual implementation was made. This article and the award sounds like a publicity stunt, and it has all the usual elements: young wunderkind, technical gadgetry to solve some social or politically charged issue.
And other posters here are right: the last thing you need is a weapon that fails when you need it most. If you want a weapon that's safe at rest, get a gun safe with a fingerprint scanner so you can get at it quickly when needed. And if you really want a gun that is disabled when it's taken away from you, I'd go with a simple mechanical solution like a pin on a lanyard that will lock the gun when removed. But in reality, if you've pulled out your weapon with intent to use it, you want nothing to stand in the way of a shot being fired when you pull that trigger.
The classroom is a bit like democracy: the worst system we have, except for all of the other systems we have tried. At any learning conference, or talking to any learning professional, you'll hear the words "the classroom sucks" at some point. Hated because of its assembly-line heritage, and "captive audiences". However those properties may be its strong point: it still seems the best way to educate large groups of people, and in some cases, capturing an audience is the one way to make sure they pay attention. Not every kid is going to be interested in mandatory material.
It only applies if the OS and device are really two separate entities. For Macs you could argue that you should be able to buy the device without the OS. For phones, it seems that the OS is part of the device, especially in case of iPhones (what else are you going to run on them). Keep in mind that iOS isn't sold separately either, nor are there any charges for upgrades.
Not really. While it is true that in a lot of countries like these, low level bribery is almost a requirement to doing business. Want your goods to clear customs sometime this century? Pay up. Want your work visas processed in a timely manner? Some civil servant will need a filled envelope. Don't want you plant shut down? Make the inspector happy. This sort of thing goes on all the time, and is often handled through local intermediaries.
What HP did was bribing high level government and corporate officials to win business.
A tomb is a "structurally enclosed burial chamber". Underground burial vaults or crypts are included in that category, as well as tombs cut out in rock. Merriam-Webster even lists it as "an excavation in which a corpse is buried".
Not sure if you understand what "more or less" means. There are degrees of drunkenness, and many drunk drivers knew full well that they were breaking the law by getting behind the wheel, meaning they were informed. And many of them paused at least once to think about whether they should get behind the wheel or not, meaning it was a conscious decision to do so. What they are is judgment-impaired, underestimating the risks and possible consequences of their actions.
I kind of agree on your stance on drunk driving. There are a few countries that treat it as such: DUI is not rigorously prosecuted and the punishment for being over the limit is small, but if you cause an accident while under the influence, you'll be in serious trouble. It means making the driver responsible for judging whether or not they are still able to drive, and making them responsible for the consequences as well. A good idea in principle, however as stated before, a drunk person is impaired and not capable of making that decision just by weighing the risks. A hard limit enforced by law makes that decision a lot easier even when drunk, and it seems that in practice that limit works well to deter people from driving drunk. Our current laws are quite decent in that regard: most people are still under the limit after 2 drinks, and being slightly over the limit carries a reasonably small punishment for first offenders, usually a small fine and a driving ban of a few hours so you can sober up. Only when you go way over the limit do longer driving bans and judges kick in.
That's just semantics. Our laws distinguish between murder (premeditated), "manslaughter" (not premeditated but with intent to at least cause grievous harm), and "culpable death" (no intent to cause harm). The latter category basically involves someone dying as a direct result of you taking excessive risk or being exceptionally careless, and it covers deaths in traffic accidents. GP's point of calling DUI a murder attempt implies intent, which is missing here.