"John F Kennedy "made the nation smarter" by telling us that we were behind the Soviets"...um, but we weren't behind the soviets. The missile gap didn't exist, rather it went the other way. The only reason the USSR was able to launch sputnik first was because their nuclear warheads were LESS sophisticated and therefore larger, hence they needed a bigger rocket to launch. A version of this rocket put sputnik into space.
I'd say Kennedy made us dumber, or at least played us for fools.
Nazi Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering was quoted as saying something like "just tell them they're being attacked and the people will rally around you". Note that no actual attack is necessary. Think of this every time someone starts screaming that something is going to kill us or ruin us. Iraq? Global warming? Bang the drum loud enough and people start dancing.
I'm paying tmob about $60 a month for a g1 @$179 with 300 min & 400 txts compared to $55 for a free razr from at&t with no data plan at all. I looked at the data plans and tmobile was definintely cheaper for comparable voice/text/data features. This is FAR more than I use on average and the unlimited data was the kicker for me - there's no way I would want a pay per data plan. I live and work smack in the middle of a tmob 3g zone so coverage basically isn't a problem.
There was a review that pigeonholed the G1 to tech geeks since it isn't fully outlook compatible for business users and was harder to use than an Iphone. This is basically true, but feature wise the G1 is concentrated awesomeness that makes my geek soul feel all warm and tingly. Android still has quite a few rough edges so be prepared to fiddle a bit. Also with all the radios on the battery sucks more juice than a cheap hooker. Still, this is a device that replaces my cell phone, gps unit and music player and also gives unlimited web access. The individual features may not be revolutionary but having it all in one package rocks.
Watching Google maps updating live satellite images while driving is amazing and I still giggle every time I scan a barcode.
The upshot is that I can't believe how much more functionality I'm getting for about $5 more a month. At&t had great coverage but that's it.
Re:blah the emporer has his new clothes on again.
on
The Walking House
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· Score: 4, Funny
These would be great for all those poor villagers in places threatened by tsunamis. They could make them out of locally-sourced materials and run them on wave-generated energy, which they have in abundance.
God help us. Nothing of this sort ought ever be attempted. If CO2 causes global warning, then cut back CO2. There's enough argument about THAT without introducing a whole new variable the mix. Whacky untestable schemes have no place outside of science fiction. Anyone with aspirations toward geoengineering needs to be shot for the greater good of humanity.
I still have clay cuneiform pictogram tablets and it pisses me off that nobody supports the format.
Re:DRM Music where 'Managing Server' is Gone
on
DMCA Exemption Time
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· Score: 3, Insightful
This is the only comment I've read so far with a reasonable idea for submission. Anything that had DRM that depends on an outside source should automatically be fair game if they shut down the servers. Movies and video games included. What happens if Steam goes belly up?
I think you're dead right about the future for cars. What makes this whole thing so interesting is that this guy seems to have discovered a simple and cheap way to make diesels more efficient. Toyota was saying they're going 100% fleet hybrid by 2020 or something, so the economies of scale ought bring the cost of your projected hyper efficient diesel hybrid down quite a bit since everyone will be forced to follow suit.
You're right, I haven't touched an olpc. I don't need to. All the things you list are nice, but why does the developing world need a different standard than the rest of the world? One major change made from the original design exposes the basic flaw in the whole concept - they got rid of the hand crank and replaced it with an ac adapter. Why? Because the libtard-centric pipe dream that little African kids on the savanna would use them out on the open plains, miles from civilization, on break from herding water buffalo or whatever, is just plain wrong. How big of a market is that? The reality is that most users will be sitting in the classroom where electricity and networks are available. How much does a wifi router cost? A cheap laptop with built in wifi works just fine.
As far as software goes, it's not a contradiction that my kids can use anything you put in front of them. It's a statement that kids are smart and adaptable. However, if you're the Secretary of Education in a 3rd world nation with an extremely limited budget, from a practical perspective you just need to get your kids computing, period.
We take OS choice (and computing in general) for granted because we're wealthy. Who in their right mind would go with anything but the de-facto standard? I understand the intent behind Sugar, but you could run it as an application and get the same basic functionality. What exactly does it do that's so important that 3rd world kids can't learn without it?
If they want to experiment with changing the paradigm of personal computing go ahead and try, but it's incredibly arrogant of them to assume their vision is correct, better and that the 3rd world is willing to be your guinea pig.
I'm a bit surprised that as a technical guy your only criticisms appear to be nitpicks. What Temple's PR dept. writes and what Tao actually published are two different things. You say that the graphs show little difference; I see a graph that shows an approximately 10% increase in very small droplet size for diesel fuel.
I don't know the editorial policy of the journal. but it appears to be a standard professional journal. Certainly independent confirmation of Tao's results are warranted at this point, but his results appear to be valid and easily reproducible.
I'm assuming this is sarcasm, since your previous post goes on about scientific rigor and the paper published in the journal Energy & Fuels does all of this. It's a good read.
The OLPC is a nice toy and Negroponte gets credit for creating the netbook category, but that's it. Face it, the hardware is slow and not really special - oops sorry, the case has pretty kiddie colors. You could make the case that the OS is something new, but I don't see a huge clamor to bring it into every classroom everywhere. My kids use whatever OS is put in front of them. They take a while to find how to do stuff, then they do it. Where's the demand for the OLPC? They want to put nonstandard hardware and software in the hands of kid's in the 3rd world. Apparently, Secretaries of Education everywhere are scratching their heads wondering why they would put their kids on a different track than the rest of the world. And somewhere down the road the kids would have to be retrained to use standard PC's. Why?
The OLPC project should return to it's original vision of giving one laptop per child and get out of the hardware & software market. Change the mission to helping fund computer acquisitions. If they took all the money they wasted on hardware and software development they could have put more laptops out there by now.
OLPC is a classic example of why the market is better at developing and bringing products to market - better, faster, cheaper. Don't put the blame on Intel.
Agreed. The whole idea is incredibly stupid. "CrimTrak"? If they know someone is a criminal, go to his house, his parent's house or his girlfriend's house. 95% of the time he'll be there. For the other 5%, we need panopticon video surveillance of the general population! It's obvious! How ever did we make it to 2008? The criminals should have killed us all by now without this technology!
Please, somebody, somewhere cut me a f*cking break and stop this stupidity.
This is the site for the publisher. So, since it's HAS been peer reviewed and published in a respectable journal, by your standards it's not snake oil but solid science. Go ahead and try to reproduce the results - that's why he published the paper. Electrorheology is NEW. He doesn't charge the fluid, he used an electric field to reduce the viscosity.
'Hence you need to do a proper double blind test using multiple cars and multiple drivers. Where none of the drivers knows if they have the device (or in the case of an active device if it is switched on or not). It's rather worrying that Rongjia Tao managed to become a university professor without knowing this!"
It's rather worrying that you (and so many others) fail to understand why this wasn't necessary.
Basic research does not require double blind testing. Tao appropriately demonstrated that a) application of an electric field does in fact reduce fuel droplet size and b) there is significantly increased efficiency in laboratory measured horsepower. Tao provides a theoretical framework for explaining the results. The purpose of this paper was not to demonstrate that you get better driving mileage but that a reproducible effect exists at all. With results this strong, any scientist or engineer worth his salt would then slap one in a car and see what happens; he did this and reported on it. At no point does he claim that everyone using this device would see similar benefits. That is the subject of another study once the basic parameters for producing the effect (field strength and time duration) are established, which Tao points out have NOT been completely evaluated.
Saying double blind studies are necessary at this point merely reflects your lack of understanding of the scientific method, research design and reporting. You are in fact free to obtain the funding to perform the double blind study yourself if you feel it's necessary. With research results as strong as Tao is presenting, you could be confident that your study would yield positive results.
The article was the first that demonstrated that the concept can work - and it does so in spades. There is clearly an effect worthy of further testing - initial research should always establish whether or not there is an effect to test. Your suggestion would be the next step in testing. Once the lab results pan out you can go to field testing. If the results continue to be this significant you could skip field testing and go directly to marketing.
The blind testing suggested above is completely useless when you can directly measure results with lab equipment. Wrong method, wrong application.
I read both the blurb and the published journal article. One thing that impresses me is the clear language used to describe the work. Tao explains both the basic theory and testing method succinctly - even a no-math guy like me understood it clearly. He even accounts for the difference between the Iveco tests and the dynamometer results. The science is very clear. I had a lot of research methods training as an undergrad and I really can't poke any holes in the article. The best research reports are simple, short and narrow in scope; this paper is all 3.
The really exciting part is the simplicity of the method. Hell, you could probably build one of these things yourself. If it pans out, and it looks like it should, this is a big deal.
I have a sansa e 260 that I bought specifically for the micro sd slot and was very disappointed/pissed off to find that sdhc capacity had been crippled. Once I got rockbox running I could access the card. The only remaining problem with the older rockbox version was that I still couldn't get into the sdhc card from the computer. I have to take it out and use a dedicated card reader, which is a pain in the ass. Still, it works fine once it's loaded so I can't complain.
One annoying thing is that I can't seem to play with the equalizer (or any) settings without stopping the song. Anyone know if this is possible, or if this changed in the new version?
This position is consistent with actual conservative beliefs, e.g., smaller government, less government interference. At least one apparently still exists in the administration.
The dems have been in the pocket of the trial lawyers and entertainment industry for years. That's why Pelosi, Reid, etc., shill for bills like this. Scary.
Slashdot Mirror
"John F Kennedy "made the nation smarter" by telling us that we were behind the Soviets" ...um, but we weren't behind the soviets. The missile gap didn't exist, rather it went the other way. The only reason the USSR was able to launch sputnik first was because their nuclear warheads were LESS sophisticated and therefore larger, hence they needed a bigger rocket to launch. A version of this rocket put sputnik into space.
I'd say Kennedy made us dumber, or at least played us for fools.
Nazi Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering was quoted as saying something like "just tell them they're being attacked and the people will rally around you". Note that no actual attack is necessary. Think of this every time someone starts screaming that something is going to kill us or ruin us. Iraq? Global warming? Bang the drum loud enough and people start dancing.
In 1929, people lost everything because the banks went under.
Who employs people so they can take home a paycheck?
Where does the tax money come from?
What part of this don't you understand?
I'm paying tmob about $60 a month for a g1 @$179 with 300 min & 400 txts compared to $55 for a free razr from at&t with no data plan at all. I looked at the data plans and tmobile was definintely cheaper for comparable voice/text/data features. This is FAR more than I use on average and the unlimited data was the kicker for me - there's no way I would want a pay per data plan. I live and work smack in the middle of a tmob 3g zone so coverage basically isn't a problem.
There was a review that pigeonholed the G1 to tech geeks since it isn't fully outlook compatible for business users and was harder to use than an Iphone. This is basically true, but feature wise the G1 is concentrated awesomeness that makes my geek soul feel all warm and tingly. Android still has quite a few rough edges so be prepared to fiddle a bit. Also with all the radios on the battery sucks more juice than a cheap hooker. Still, this is a device that replaces my cell phone, gps unit and music player and also gives unlimited web access. The individual features may not be revolutionary but having it all in one package rocks.
Watching Google maps updating live satellite images while driving is amazing and I still giggle every time I scan a barcode.
The upshot is that I can't believe how much more functionality I'm getting for about $5 more a month. At&t had great coverage but that's it.
Sorry, I forgot to add /sarcasm. Just FYI.
These would be great for all those poor villagers in places threatened by tsunamis. They could make them out of locally-sourced materials and run them on wave-generated energy, which they have in abundance.
Scientific consensus does not automatically equal truth and politics has no place in science.
God help us. Nothing of this sort ought ever be attempted. If CO2 causes global warning, then cut back CO2. There's enough argument about THAT without introducing a whole new variable the mix. Whacky untestable schemes have no place outside of science fiction. Anyone with aspirations toward geoengineering needs to be shot for the greater good of humanity.
I still have clay cuneiform pictogram tablets and it pisses me off that nobody supports the format.
This is the only comment I've read so far with a reasonable idea for submission. Anything that had DRM that depends on an outside source should automatically be fair game if they shut down the servers. Movies and video games included. What happens if Steam goes belly up?
I think you're dead right about the future for cars. What makes this whole thing so interesting is that this guy seems to have discovered a simple and cheap way to make diesels more efficient. Toyota was saying they're going 100% fleet hybrid by 2020 or something, so the economies of scale ought bring the cost of your projected hyper efficient diesel hybrid down quite a bit since everyone will be forced to follow suit.
Heh. They ran a sting like that around here by sending them notices that they won a prize and to come pick it up. Criminals are pretty stupid.
You're right, I haven't touched an olpc. I don't need to. All the things you list are nice, but why does the developing world need a different standard than the rest of the world? One major change made from the original design exposes the basic flaw in the whole concept - they got rid of the hand crank and replaced it with an ac adapter. Why? Because the libtard-centric pipe dream that little African kids on the savanna would use them out on the open plains, miles from civilization, on break from herding water buffalo or whatever, is just plain wrong. How big of a market is that? The reality is that most users will be sitting in the classroom where electricity and networks are available. How much does a wifi router cost? A cheap laptop with built in wifi works just fine.
As far as software goes, it's not a contradiction that my kids can use anything you put in front of them. It's a statement that kids are smart and adaptable. However, if you're the Secretary of Education in a 3rd world nation with an extremely limited budget, from a practical perspective you just need to get your kids computing, period.
We take OS choice (and computing in general) for granted because we're wealthy. Who in their right mind would go with anything but the de-facto standard? I understand the intent behind Sugar, but you could run it as an application and get the same basic functionality. What exactly does it do that's so important that 3rd world kids can't learn without it?
If they want to experiment with changing the paradigm of personal computing go ahead and try, but it's incredibly arrogant of them to assume their vision is correct, better and that the 3rd world is willing to be your guinea pig.
I'm a bit surprised that as a technical guy your only criticisms appear to be nitpicks. What Temple's PR dept. writes and what Tao actually published are two different things. You say that the graphs show little difference; I see a graph that shows an approximately 10% increase in very small droplet size for diesel fuel.
http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/enfuem/asap/figures/ef-2008-004898_0006.html
I don't know the editorial policy of the journal. but it appears to be a standard professional journal. Certainly independent confirmation of Tao's results are warranted at this point, but his results appear to be valid and easily reproducible.
I'm assuming this is sarcasm, since your previous post goes on about scientific rigor and the paper published in the journal Energy & Fuels does all of this. It's a good read.
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/enfuem/asap/html/ef8004898.html
First off, did you read this? The link was in the article.
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/enfuem/asap/html/ef8004898.html
I read it carefully, and pretty much all of your questions are answered. Next time RTFA.
The OLPC is a nice toy and Negroponte gets credit for creating the netbook category, but that's it. Face it, the hardware is slow and not really special - oops sorry, the case has pretty kiddie colors. You could make the case that the OS is something new, but I don't see a huge clamor to bring it into every classroom everywhere. My kids use whatever OS is put in front of them. They take a while to find how to do stuff, then they do it. Where's the demand for the OLPC? They want to put nonstandard hardware and software in the hands of kid's in the 3rd world. Apparently, Secretaries of Education everywhere are scratching their heads wondering why they would put their kids on a different track than the rest of the world. And somewhere down the road the kids would have to be retrained to use standard PC's. Why?
The OLPC project should return to it's original vision of giving one laptop per child and get out of the hardware & software market. Change the mission to helping fund computer acquisitions. If they took all the money they wasted on hardware and software development they could have put more laptops out there by now.
OLPC is a classic example of why the market is better at developing and bringing products to market - better, faster, cheaper. Don't put the blame on Intel.
Agreed. The whole idea is incredibly stupid. "CrimTrak"? If they know someone is a criminal, go to his house, his parent's house or his girlfriend's house. 95% of the time he'll be there. For the other 5%, we need panopticon video surveillance of the general population! It's obvious! How ever did we make it to 2008? The criminals should have killed us all by now without this technology!
Please, somebody, somewhere cut me a f*cking break and stop this stupidity.
http://pubs.acs.org/about.html
This is the site for the publisher. So, since it's HAS been peer reviewed and published in a respectable journal, by your standards it's not snake oil but solid science. Go ahead and try to reproduce the results - that's why he published the paper.
Electrorheology is NEW. He doesn't charge the fluid, he used an electric field to reduce the viscosity.
Did you RTFA?
'Hence you need to do a proper double blind test using multiple cars and multiple drivers. Where none of the drivers knows if they have the device (or in the case of an active device if it is switched on or not). It's rather worrying that Rongjia Tao managed to become a university professor without knowing this!"
It's rather worrying that you (and so many others) fail to understand why this wasn't necessary.
Basic research does not require double blind testing. Tao appropriately demonstrated that a) application of an electric field does in fact reduce fuel droplet size and b) there is significantly increased efficiency in laboratory measured horsepower. Tao provides a theoretical framework for explaining the results. The purpose of this paper was not to demonstrate that you get better driving mileage but that a reproducible effect exists at all. With results this strong, any scientist or engineer worth his salt would then slap one in a car and see what happens; he did this and reported on it. At no point does he claim that everyone using this device would see similar benefits. That is the subject of another study once the basic parameters for producing the effect (field strength and time duration) are established, which Tao points out have NOT been completely evaluated.
Saying double blind studies are necessary at this point merely reflects your lack of understanding of the scientific method, research design and reporting. You are in fact free to obtain the funding to perform the double blind study yourself if you feel it's necessary. With research results as strong as Tao is presenting, you could be confident that your study would yield positive results.
The article was the first that demonstrated that the concept can work - and it does so in spades. There is clearly an effect worthy of further testing - initial research should always establish whether or not there is an effect to test. Your suggestion would be the next step in testing. Once the lab results pan out you can go to field testing. If the results continue to be this significant you could skip field testing and go directly to marketing.
The blind testing suggested above is completely useless when you can directly measure results with lab equipment. Wrong method, wrong application.
I read both the blurb and the published journal article. One thing that impresses me is the clear language used to describe the work. Tao explains both the basic theory and testing method succinctly - even a no-math guy like me understood it clearly. He even accounts for the difference between the Iveco tests and the dynamometer results. The science is very clear. I had a lot of research methods training as an undergrad and I really can't poke any holes in the article. The best research reports are simple, short and narrow in scope; this paper is all 3.
The really exciting part is the simplicity of the method. Hell, you could probably build one of these things yourself. If it pans out, and it looks like it should, this is a big deal.
Go Temple Owls!! (disclosure: I'm an alum)
I have to agree. All three sound like they're mentally ill. Posts from the merely misguided are amusing, but these aren't. They're sad.
Well, the bits I've read didn't really touch on this. Thanks for the tip - hitting the power button was a habit left over from the stock firmware.
I have a sansa e 260 that I bought specifically for the micro sd slot and was very disappointed/pissed off to find that sdhc capacity had been crippled. Once I got rockbox running I could access the card. The only remaining problem with the older rockbox version was that I still couldn't get into the sdhc card from the computer. I have to take it out and use a dedicated card reader, which is a pain in the ass. Still, it works fine once it's loaded so I can't complain.
One annoying thing is that I can't seem to play with the equalizer (or any) settings without stopping the song. Anyone know if this is possible, or if this changed in the new version?
This position is consistent with actual conservative beliefs, e.g., smaller government, less government interference. At least one apparently still exists in the administration.
The dems have been in the pocket of the trial lawyers and entertainment industry for years. That's why Pelosi, Reid, etc., shill for bills like this. Scary.