I have lived in Australia and Germany and have traveled in other western countries, and the difference in food selection between other those countries and the United States is astounding. From granola to yogurt, breads to meat - it is difficult to find good foods in the US that are not overly processed. I'm 34, and it has changed quite a bit in my lifetime. Take yogurt for example, when I was a kid, yogurt tasted like yogurt - now the only national brand that even resembles yogurt is Activia. It's like food producers were forced to reintroduce real yogurt with active cultures because probiotics became popular. Everything else was milk with gelatin added to make it "yogurt".
And I live southern California, where there is a decent market for quality food. I have recently been traveling to rural Maryland and Virginia for work - I doubt 5% of the food in those grocery stores needed to be chilled or frozen - it is almost all over-processed crap.
I agree. When I saw "strands itself to kill pigeons", I was picturing more of a suicide-bomber catfish, out to avenge the death of its catfish kin by the infidel pigeons.
My homeowners insurance charges something like $10 per YEAR for computer insurance that also includes... smartphones. With a $50 deductible and $1000 per incident. My some dropped my wife's Samsung Somethingorother in the pool and the insurance paid out ~$500 for a new phone. Way cheaper than any other plan I have ever seen for phones. It also covers laptops, and all devices in the house are covered under the single $10 payment.
Which company? State Farm stopped taking new Personal Article policies on smartphones last year, which means I won't be able to cover my new iPhone 5. I'm looking to shop around on insurance soon anyways...
Thanks for the info - didn't know about wikileaks requesting cooperation in "redacting" the leaks protect sources. Assuming Wikileaks really did give the pentagon enough time to respond and was just blown off, then the pentagon shares blame there.
If intelligence is classified because of their source, it matters even more if they are released. The Wikileaks release is a perfect example. The sources of the intelligence (people) are now at risk because of the release.
Am I the only one who is actually excited about this? My wife and I both own iPhones, purchased used to avoid having to sign up for an extra $30/month/line contract. We are both within range of WiFi, 22 hours a day, so I just don't have a need for a $30/month unlimited data plan. What I'd really like is to be able to purchase a new iPhone without a data plan, but at least now there is an option at a monthly price I can maybe handle. With more and more wireless data being used and limited spectrum to carry that data, it seems to me the elimination of "unlimited" plans is inevitable.
What I still find ridiculous is text messaging. How carriers have managed to increase text messaging prices by 400% or more over the last several years, in almost perfect sync with each other, and not receive any regulatory scrutiny for it, is beyond me.
Mod parent up. The claimed salaries are not salaries, but what SAIC is billing for the employee's time.
And before people start throwing stones at the contractors, I'm willing to bet this project is like so many other government contracts - 7 years later and I bet the project still lacks clearly defined requirements to build to. I've been part of several government contracts and it seems like it takes 3-5 years before the government customers realize they have a responsibility to define what they want.
SAIC will keep taking money from the city of New York as long as the city is willing to dole it out - that's capitalism.
So, let's get this right... If you contract me to do some work on your roof and it leaks -- it's your own damn fault for choosing to live in an area where it rains?
No, it's more like you contracted me to install your roof 50 years ago, you don't pay me to do any maintenance on that roof for the last 50 years even though I told you it was necessary, and now it is my fault that your roof leaked during a storm that it was never designed to withstand anyways?
Marketplace did a report on them last week, discussing how RadioShack has been reporting good numbers in an environment where electronics retails are biting it. Marketplace suggested it was RadioShack's brand recognition, consistent nation-wide presence, and the company being pro-active to dump locations that are not remaining profitable that has led to good results.
Even with those pros, I was still rather surprised to hear that RadioShack was doing well. Personally, I would chalk their current success up to selling off inventory like crazy and not replacing it - and that can't last forever. Have you been in a one recently? There's nothing in there except a few shelves with nothing on them.
As for rebranding, I think switching to the "The Shack" is ridiculously stupid. Do they really think they'll be able to sell more product at higher prices under a new, less-recognized name?
Re:Kids and Real Science don't mix
on
The Geek Atlas
·
· Score: 1
Yep, being a scientist sucks. It's engineering where all the fun is. And these days, chicks love engineers.:)
I dunno, the NTSB usually drags their feet before stating anything. They usually don't make statements about suspicion of what may have happened without specific evidence. This seems like an unusual announcement from them, not their usual style. I wonder if they are compelled to state a truth that they fell won't be properly addressed otherwise. After all, Airbus is built in Europe not the US.
Um, isn't the NTSB an American agency? Why would they have anything to say about a flight from Brazil to France on a French carrier?
We're just talking about units of measure. If it is easier to use imperial units because previous design and drawings were done in imperial, then that's the smart choice. I would be upset if NASA was wasting taxpayer money just so that the design could be done in metric. I actually applaud NASA for making a smart, cost/benefit engineering decision.
Abundant amounts of energy/electricity without pollution (it doesn't even have to be cheap), would solve tons of problems. Use the electricity to make hydrogen to run in cars. Most cars can burn hydrogen without much modification. Or just charge cars using electricity.
I live in San Diego and water is becoming a rather scarce resource. We could use electricity to desalinate water.
I don't know why we as a nation don't take the trillion dollar challenge and try to switch off of an oil/coal/natural gas in 20 years. It can't hurt us too badly. We've pissed away a trillion dollars in Iraq over the last 5 years and we're still kicking (I guess my dollars can't buy shit anymore, though). Plus, we're still going to need oil to make plastics and vasoline. Let's save the oil for the important stuff!
Am I the only one who thinks a paper signature as "authentication" is ridiculous? We need a better system. I would love our IDs to act as a digital certificate that requires biometrics AND a password to be used. That way, you want to sign a contract - insert your ID, scan your fingerprint, and type in your password. We should be signing things electronically rather than faxing in a signed sheet (cut and paste, anyone?). I don't care if it is the Government, Visa, American Express, or Network Solutions providing this service. I just think in an electronic age, it should be easier to authenticate things remotely and more securely than a scribble on some paper.
Another thing is when companies, like credit card and cell phone companies, say they have your authentication for a 2 year contract or a a new line of credit that you didn't really agree to. I think agreements like this should require your IDs digital certificate. That way both parties end up with a digitally watermarked document showing that you both agree to it and it can't be modified without destroying the watermark. All this should be technically feasible now and is very necessary. This could potentially stop identity theft immediately.
Can anyone suggest good alternatives to Audible for purchasing digital audiobooks? I do hope that with Amazon's purchase of Audible that they will change their stance on DRM. Amazon was a key player in getting the music industry to drop DRM.
I don't know how they got a patent for this; the center lanes of Interstate 15 in San Diego, CA have had pricing adjusted based on traffic congestion for at least 5 years. Is there something special and new to this patent that I am missing?
I completely agreed with you until your last line. I fail to understand why Apple screwing up their latest OS release makes apple fans cocky. They may or may not be, but your line of reasoning in no ways supports that as a conclusion.
Shouldn't it be easy for the phone to tell you that you are roaming and that data functionality will be disabled until you are no longer roaming? I drive to Canada on occasion and still make and receive calls. I wouldn't want to have to worry about my phone racking up roaming charges just because I want to leave it on to potentially receive calls.
Well, me thinks you're a friggin idiot since fry's has a 30 day return policy. If I could make $400 by packing up the HP LaserJet 4 and returning it and then buying it again, I would. Maybe I'm cheap - I dunno.
Give me a break; the US has already spent $300 billion on a war in Iraq, and nobody seems to be fretting about that money as much as they should. That $300 billion could have paid for the NASA moon program 3 times over. Hell, it could have funded the research and partial infrastructure to switch to a solar-produced, hydrogen economy so that we could leave the middle east well enough alone.
Now I know I'm being overtly liberal in my statement, but how can you keep a straight face while you say that liberals won't let us go back to the moon because they'll rather spend the money protecting poor people, when a conservative administration has already spend three times the cost of the NASA moon program fighting a war in Iraq. I'd be okay with you saying congress will never fund the NASA moon program because there is no political incentive to do so, but your statement is politically polarizing just for the sake of being politically polarizing.
Light dimmer switches don't work with CFL bulbs. People will have to remove the dimmer circuits or watch their CFL bulbs fry in a couple hours or not work at all. I think this will be a big issue because it is not well known. People will just go WTF and be pissed off that the only bulbs they can purchase don't even work in their home.
Re:the article may have some good points, but...
on
Windows vs Mac Security
·
· Score: 2, Informative
And you forget one of the author's more significant points, which is SYSTEM has no password, no login script, no shell and no environment, an therefore offers an untrackable security risk.
That being said, I don't know what the OP was planning to do with a compass for mapping villages anyway: a compass doesn't tell you where you are, it only tells you what direction you're facing.
A compass is going to be MUCH more useful to map a village than a GPS will be. Consumer GPS units are only as accurate as they are here in the USA because they use additional ground based signals to improve accuracy. In Africa, the accuracy will be more like 30-40 meters. It will be tough to map out a 500m wide village if your references are that "loose".
Use a compass to take bearings on your surroundings. Trianglate the position of a site by taking two or more bearing on obvious features; hills, trees, etc. How do you think all those maps were made before we had GPS - or even airplanes!
Slashdot Mirror
This.
I have lived in Australia and Germany and have traveled in other western countries, and the difference in food selection between other those countries and the United States is astounding. From granola to yogurt, breads to meat - it is difficult to find good foods in the US that are not overly processed. I'm 34, and it has changed quite a bit in my lifetime. Take yogurt for example, when I was a kid, yogurt tasted like yogurt - now the only national brand that even resembles yogurt is Activia. It's like food producers were forced to reintroduce real yogurt with active cultures because probiotics became popular. Everything else was milk with gelatin added to make it "yogurt".
And I live southern California, where there is a decent market for quality food. I have recently been traveling to rural Maryland and Virginia for work - I doubt 5% of the food in those grocery stores needed to be chilled or frozen - it is almost all over-processed crap.
I agree. When I saw "strands itself to kill pigeons", I was picturing more of a suicide-bomber catfish, out to avenge the death of its catfish kin by the infidel pigeons.
My homeowners insurance charges something like $10 per YEAR for computer insurance that also includes... smartphones. With a $50 deductible and $1000 per incident. My some dropped my wife's Samsung Somethingorother in the pool and the insurance paid out ~$500 for a new phone. Way cheaper than any other plan I have ever seen for phones. It also covers laptops, and all devices in the house are covered under the single $10 payment.
Which company? State Farm stopped taking new Personal Article policies on smartphones last year, which means I won't be able to cover my new iPhone 5. I'm looking to shop around on insurance soon anyways...
Thanks for the info - didn't know about wikileaks requesting cooperation in "redacting" the leaks protect sources. Assuming Wikileaks really did give the pentagon enough time to respond and was just blown off, then the pentagon shares blame there.
If intelligence is classified because of their source, it matters even more if they are released. The Wikileaks release is a perfect example. The sources of the intelligence (people) are now at risk because of the release.
I'll let an expert answer your criticism...
"Reports are more often classified because of their source, not their content" - General Michael Hayden
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/30/hayden.wikileaks.secrets/index.html
Am I the only one who is actually excited about this? My wife and I both own iPhones, purchased used to avoid having to sign up for an extra $30/month/line contract. We are both within range of WiFi, 22 hours a day, so I just don't have a need for a $30/month unlimited data plan. What I'd really like is to be able to purchase a new iPhone without a data plan, but at least now there is an option at a monthly price I can maybe handle. With more and more wireless data being used and limited spectrum to carry that data, it seems to me the elimination of "unlimited" plans is inevitable.
What I still find ridiculous is text messaging. How carriers have managed to increase text messaging prices by 400% or more over the last several years, in almost perfect sync with each other, and not receive any regulatory scrutiny for it, is beyond me.
Mod parent up. The claimed salaries are not salaries, but what SAIC is billing for the employee's time.
And before people start throwing stones at the contractors, I'm willing to bet this project is like so many other government contracts - 7 years later and I bet the project still lacks clearly defined requirements to build to. I've been part of several government contracts and it seems like it takes 3-5 years before the government customers realize they have a responsibility to define what they want.
SAIC will keep taking money from the city of New York as long as the city is willing to dole it out - that's capitalism.
It's in the dictionary. It may be a pointless word, but it is a word.
So, let's get this right... If you contract me to do some work on your roof and it leaks -- it's your own damn fault for choosing to live in an area where it rains?
No, it's more like you contracted me to install your roof 50 years ago, you don't pay me to do any maintenance on that roof for the last 50 years even though I told you it was necessary, and now it is my fault that your roof leaked during a storm that it was never designed to withstand anyways?
Marketplace did a report on them last week, discussing how RadioShack has been reporting good numbers in an environment where electronics retails are biting it. Marketplace suggested it was RadioShack's brand recognition, consistent nation-wide presence, and the company being pro-active to dump locations that are not remaining profitable that has led to good results. Even with those pros, I was still rather surprised to hear that RadioShack was doing well. Personally, I would chalk their current success up to selling off inventory like crazy and not replacing it - and that can't last forever. Have you been in a one recently? There's nothing in there except a few shelves with nothing on them. As for rebranding, I think switching to the "The Shack" is ridiculously stupid. Do they really think they'll be able to sell more product at higher prices under a new, less-recognized name?
Yep, being a scientist sucks. It's engineering where all the fun is. And these days, chicks love engineers. :)
I dunno, the NTSB usually drags their feet before stating anything. They usually don't make statements about suspicion of what may have happened without specific evidence. This seems like an unusual announcement from them, not their usual style. I wonder if they are compelled to state a truth that they fell won't be properly addressed otherwise. After all, Airbus is built in Europe not the US.
Um, isn't the NTSB an American agency? Why would they have anything to say about a flight from Brazil to France on a French carrier?
We're just talking about units of measure. If it is easier to use imperial units because previous design and drawings were done in imperial, then that's the smart choice. I would be upset if NASA was wasting taxpayer money just so that the design could be done in metric. I actually applaud NASA for making a smart, cost/benefit engineering decision.
Abundant amounts of energy/electricity without pollution (it doesn't even have to be cheap), would solve tons of problems. Use the electricity to make hydrogen to run in cars. Most cars can burn hydrogen without much modification. Or just charge cars using electricity.
I live in San Diego and water is becoming a rather scarce resource. We could use electricity to desalinate water.
I don't know why we as a nation don't take the trillion dollar challenge and try to switch off of an oil/coal/natural gas in 20 years. It can't hurt us too badly. We've pissed away a trillion dollars in Iraq over the last 5 years and we're still kicking (I guess my dollars can't buy shit anymore, though). Plus, we're still going to need oil to make plastics and vasoline. Let's save the oil for the important stuff!
Am I the only one who thinks a paper signature as "authentication" is ridiculous? We need a better system. I would love our IDs to act as a digital certificate that requires biometrics AND a password to be used. That way, you want to sign a contract - insert your ID, scan your fingerprint, and type in your password. We should be signing things electronically rather than faxing in a signed sheet (cut and paste, anyone?). I don't care if it is the Government, Visa, American Express, or Network Solutions providing this service. I just think in an electronic age, it should be easier to authenticate things remotely and more securely than a scribble on some paper.
Another thing is when companies, like credit card and cell phone companies, say they have your authentication for a 2 year contract or a a new line of credit that you didn't really agree to. I think agreements like this should require your IDs digital certificate. That way both parties end up with a digitally watermarked document showing that you both agree to it and it can't be modified without destroying the watermark. All this should be technically feasible now and is very necessary. This could potentially stop identity theft immediately.
Can anyone suggest good alternatives to Audible for purchasing digital audiobooks? I do hope that with Amazon's purchase of Audible that they will change their stance on DRM. Amazon was a key player in getting the music industry to drop DRM.
I don't know how they got a patent for this; the center lanes of Interstate 15 in San Diego, CA have had pricing adjusted based on traffic congestion for at least 5 years. Is there something special and new to this patent that I am missing?
I completely agreed with you until your last line. I fail to understand why Apple screwing up their latest OS release makes apple fans cocky. They may or may not be, but your line of reasoning in no ways supports that as a conclusion.
Shouldn't it be easy for the phone to tell you that you are roaming and that data functionality will be disabled until you are no longer roaming? I drive to Canada on occasion and still make and receive calls. I wouldn't want to have to worry about my phone racking up roaming charges just because I want to leave it on to potentially receive calls.
Well, me thinks you're a friggin idiot since fry's has a 30 day return policy. If I could make $400 by packing up the HP LaserJet 4 and returning it and then buying it again, I would. Maybe I'm cheap - I dunno.
Give me a break; the US has already spent $300 billion on a war in Iraq, and nobody seems to be fretting about that money as much as they should. That $300 billion could have paid for the NASA moon program 3 times over. Hell, it could have funded the research and partial infrastructure to switch to a solar-produced, hydrogen economy so that we could leave the middle east well enough alone. Now I know I'm being overtly liberal in my statement, but how can you keep a straight face while you say that liberals won't let us go back to the moon because they'll rather spend the money protecting poor people, when a conservative administration has already spend three times the cost of the NASA moon program fighting a war in Iraq. I'd be okay with you saying congress will never fund the NASA moon program because there is no political incentive to do so, but your statement is politically polarizing just for the sake of being politically polarizing.
Light dimmer switches don't work with CFL bulbs. People will have to remove the dimmer circuits or watch their CFL bulbs fry in a couple hours or not work at all. I think this will be a big issue because it is not well known. People will just go WTF and be pissed off that the only bulbs they can purchase don't even work in their home.
And you forget one of the author's more significant points, which is SYSTEM has no password, no login script, no shell and no environment, an therefore offers an untrackable security risk.
That being said, I don't know what the OP was planning to do with a compass for mapping villages anyway: a compass doesn't tell you where you are, it only tells you what direction you're facing.
A compass is going to be MUCH more useful to map a village than a GPS will be. Consumer GPS units are only as accurate as they are here in the USA because they use additional ground based signals to improve accuracy. In Africa, the accuracy will be more like 30-40 meters. It will be tough to map out a 500m wide village if your references are that "loose".
Use a compass to take bearings on your surroundings. Trianglate the position of a site by taking two or more bearing on obvious features; hills, trees, etc. How do you think all those maps were made before we had GPS - or even airplanes!