Distracted drivers - you've seen them. Possibly you've been hit by them. They look away from the road, even for a couple seconds and BAM!
Perhaps. However, I suspect more crashes are caused by bored drivers who are not paying attention to what they are doing. That is probably why the number of car accidents has gone down even while cell phone ownership has gone from 0% of the population to 91%. I think it also explains why studies of cellphone use while driving predict dire consequences, and those consequences fail to materialize in the real world. You have to pay attention if you're trying to use a cellphone at the same time you are driving.
I bought a yubikey. It's a great concept. The problem is, almost no one really uses it. I bought it to use on gmail - well, guess what? Gmail didn't officially support it - you had to install a software hack to get it to work. I can get this software to work on windows, but not on Ubuntu (I probably could if I hadn't given up after an hour). Yubikey has a special key that supports lastpass and paypal. So then I bought that one, but haven't had time to try it out. I did all of this several months ago, so my info may be outdated...
Civil disobedience is about making a statement that a law is unjust. Therefore, it has to be done in the open, and you have to take responsibility for your actions. If you are hiding what you are doing, then you're just breaking the law.
This is slightly offtopic, but I want to promote the use of two-factor authentication. I just ordered a Yubikey for $25. It reportedly is supported by gmail, fastmail, lastpass among others:
http://www.yubico.com/
Why not ban all mind-altering substances except for a whitelist? Say alcohol, caffeine, nicotene are legal. Everthing else illegal. IANAL but that would seem to solve the legal problem.
What we really need is for someone (Bill Gates - you listening?) to set up two identical schools close to one another. Students then get randomized to one school or the other. You could then use this as an experimental system to test which educational programs actually enhance learning. (Note that these are not medical experiments - no need to start getting upset about "experimenting with kids.") I don't think there is any other way we will be able to obtain real data with which improve our education system. If you made sure that these schools had plenty of resources (ie more so than the average surrounding school), then I am sure plenty of parents would agree to allow their kids to participate.
I would let the user grab tabs and drag them to where s/he wants them on the tab bar. Hmm, maybe even stacking tabs - when you drop one tab directly on another one they are stacked and you see all the tabs underneath the top tab only when you mouse over it.
The hospital I worked at was already using such robots back in 1994. Interesting to see, but sometimes there were annoying. The thing wouldn't let you share an elevator with it. Also, if you happened to need an x-ray quickly (say at 2 am when you wanted to go to bed) and it was stuck inside a robot somewhere, then you were screwed. (this was before the x-rays went digital)
Also, if you intentionally blocked its path long enough, the security guards would come yell at you.:-)
"Ya know. I'm sick and tired of the "leaving information out" argument against Michael Moore. When is the last time *you* made an argument and you brought mentioned every last possible fact that could harm your argument? When a person makes anargument, it *is not their responsibility to make the counter argument*. It is the responsibility of the opposing party in the argument."
Whether you're writing an assay or creating a movie, you can do whichever you want: present one side of the story or both. However, when I see a movie that is clearly presenting only one side of an issue, the alarm bells go off: Clearly the writer/director is not interested in giving me the whole story. Therefore I disregard that source of information. As should you. Convincing arguments need to present both sides of an issue (or appear to do so) while still making their point. The biggest problem with this movie is that many people WANT to believe what it says and therefore do not analyze it closely.
I love my TiVo, but is they haven't really dropped the price (or expanded the storage/dollar) as hard drive prices have fallen. I have to say that some competition is welcome.
For every company that makes the news for eroding our privacy, I am sure that there are dozens if not hundreds of examples that fly under the radar. The economic incentive for companies to gather more information about us is unrelenting while the public's interest will wax and wane. Companies know this - if they are willing to be patient and quietly sit out the initial media storm, then they can eventually do what they want (ie Microsoft and Palladium). Unfortunately, there are too many companies to use media attention to rescue us and I therefore predict that the loss of our privacy will continue unabated unless some tough legislation is passed.
Complain about the power and cooling requirements all you want, but I don't think there is any other way to deliver this kind of performance. (At least not until another die-shrink comes along)
At the price they are charging for this card, it will primarily be used by game designers (and a few wealthy enthusiasts). Game developers will probably want the extra power so badly that they power/cooling reqs will be a minor issue. It will probably be about 2 years until the price approaches $100:
http://www.pricescan.com/graphs/graph148022.asp
Because the developers will buy this hardware about 2 years before the general public, games that take advantage of this power should be nearing store shelves by the time the price has dropped;-). Also, by that point, heat and power requirements should be a non-issue.
Moore's Third Law: The employee density, cost, and time it takes to develop a game will double every 18 months.
Now, running these robots - that would be an excellent thing to outsource! Each person in India controlling say five of these things... (each robot probably wouldn't be busy all the time). I suspect that would solve most of the problems that the researchers are having.
Yes it has already been done, but that does not matter. With the NIF, the press always about the fusion research for energy purposes. However, in reality, no one even has a clue how to turn a tiny hydrogen pellet bombarded by 192 laser beams into a functional reactor capable of generating useful amounts of electricity. The primary purpose of the NIF is to study nuclear reactions so that the US nuclear weapon stockpile can be maintained without ongoing nuclear weapon tests.
With a tokamak, there at least is a plan for turning it into a reactor (if they can ever sustain fusion).
"Schuerger says that of all the space probes sent to Mars, only the two Viking craft in 1976 were adequately heat sterilized. The procedures used for all missions since then, including NASA's two rovers and Europe's Beagele 2, would have left some microbes aboard. After studying whether terrestrial organisms can survive the procedures used to sterilize a spacecraft, he reckons there is a good chance some made it to Mars and might still be living there."
Here are some malpractice insurance statistics & statements that I have copied from an excellent article by David Stuart et al published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 350(3),15 January 2004 pp 283-292):
- 4.6 percent of hospitalizations involved an injury to the patient
- 0.8 percent (1 in 126 admissions) involved injuries that medicolegal experts thought would probably give rise to a finding of negligence in court
- only 2 percent of negligent injuries result in claims
- only 17 percent of claims appeared to involve a negligent injury
- a 10-year follow-up of the Harvard data from New York,... showed that the key predictor of payment was the plaintiff's degree of disability, not the presence of negligence
"The overall picture that emerges from these studies is disheartening. When all patients with negligent injuries are considered, not just those who manage to seek compensation as plaintiffs, the findings from the studies in California, in New York, and in Utah and Colorado are a searing indictment of the performance of the malpractice system. The data reveal a profoundly inaccurate mechanism for distributing compensation. It is also tremendously inefficient. Approximately 60 cents of every dollar expended on the system is absorbed by administrative costs (predominantly legal fees), an amount that is twice the overhead rate for an average workers' compensation scheme."
If by 'deal with' you mean dump in a hole in the ground and hope no one goes near it for a few millenia, then yes.
And we have said hole in the ground selected, and already have the security tech and plans to make sure nobody goes near it for a few millenia.
Do we? I used to think so. But how do we get the nuclear fuel safely to Yukka Mountain? Obviously we have have to transport it by train or truck. But how do you create a transport device that cannot be punctured by a terrorist with an anti-tank missile? Suddenly you will have tens of thousands of high-value terrorist targets moving through America's cities and towns. Chicago is supposed to be one of the hubs for transporting this nuclear waste (according to 60 Minutes). Is it practical to transport this waste while avoiding all large and small urban areas? I doubt it. Keeping the nuclear waste in place creates countless stationary targets for terrorists. And what happens if a terrorist organisation one day obtains a nuclear missile and threatens to target Yukka Mountain?
Slashdot Mirror
Distracted drivers - you've seen them. Possibly you've been hit by them. They look away from the road, even for a couple seconds and BAM!
Perhaps. However, I suspect more crashes are caused by bored drivers who are not paying attention to what they are doing. That is probably why the number of car accidents has gone down even while cell phone ownership has gone from 0% of the population to 91%. I think it also explains why studies of cellphone use while driving predict dire consequences, and those consequences fail to materialize in the real world. You have to pay attention if you're trying to use a cellphone at the same time you are driving.
I bought a yubikey. It's a great concept. The problem is, almost no one really uses it. I bought it to use on gmail - well, guess what? Gmail didn't officially support it - you had to install a software hack to get it to work. I can get this software to work on windows, but not on Ubuntu (I probably could if I hadn't given up after an hour). Yubikey has a special key that supports lastpass and paypal. So then I bought that one, but haven't had time to try it out. I did all of this several months ago, so my info may be outdated...
Civil disobedience is about making a statement that a law is unjust. Therefore, it has to be done in the open, and you have to take responsibility for your actions. If you are hiding what you are doing, then you're just breaking the law.
I have an old trucrypt container that I forgot the password to. Does this mean I can now recover it? (it was fairly short, perhaps 8 characters)
This is slightly offtopic, but I want to promote the use of two-factor authentication. I just ordered a Yubikey for $25. It reportedly is supported by gmail, fastmail, lastpass among others: http://www.yubico.com/
Why not ban all mind-altering substances except for a whitelist? Say alcohol, caffeine, nicotene are legal. Everthing else illegal. IANAL but that would seem to solve the legal problem.
Amazing that the addition of only three full-time employees is expected to create a product that might challenge the largest company on the planet.
Hmm, I think I will file this story under:
"Sounds Cool"
subfolder "Probably Useless"
subfolder "What Moron Thought We Needed This?"
Thanks!
What we really need is for someone (Bill Gates - you listening?) to set up two identical schools close to one another. Students then get randomized to one school or the other. You could then use this as an experimental system to test which educational programs actually enhance learning. (Note that these are not medical experiments - no need to start getting upset about "experimenting with kids.") I don't think there is any other way we will be able to obtain real data with which improve our education system. If you made sure that these schools had plenty of resources (ie more so than the average surrounding school), then I am sure plenty of parents would agree to allow their kids to participate.
Isn't WPA2 supposed to start becoming commonplace by now?
Except that biometrics can be defeated: http://www.computercops.biz/article2754.html
I would let the user grab tabs and drag them to where s/he wants them on the tab bar. Hmm, maybe even stacking tabs - when you drop one tab directly on another one they are stacked and you see all the tabs underneath the top tab only when you mouse over it.
The hospital I worked at was already using such robots back in 1994. Interesting to see, but sometimes there were annoying. The thing wouldn't let you share an elevator with it. Also, if you happened to need an x-ray quickly (say at 2 am when you wanted to go to bed) and it was stuck inside a robot somewhere, then you were screwed. (this was before the x-rays went digital) :-)
Also, if you intentionally blocked its path long enough, the security guards would come yell at you.
"Ya know. I'm sick and tired of the "leaving information out" argument against Michael Moore. When is the last time *you* made an argument and you brought mentioned every last possible fact that could harm your argument? When a person makes anargument, it *is not their responsibility to make the counter argument*. It is the responsibility of the opposing party in the argument."
Whether you're writing an assay or creating a movie, you can do whichever you want: present one side of the story or both. However, when I see a movie that is clearly presenting only one side of an issue, the alarm bells go off: Clearly the writer/director is not interested in giving me the whole story. Therefore I disregard that source of information. As should you. Convincing arguments need to present both sides of an issue (or appear to do so) while still making their point. The biggest problem with this movie is that many people WANT to believe what it says and therefore do not analyze it closely.
They just need to install these things in movie theaters. Then I will be happy.
This space for rent.
I love my TiVo, but is they haven't really dropped the price (or expanded the storage/dollar) as hard drive prices have fallen. I have to say that some competition is welcome.
For once I would like to read a nanotechnology article that doesn't talk about the width of a human hair.
For every company that makes the news for eroding our privacy, I am sure that there are dozens if not hundreds of examples that fly under the radar. The economic incentive for companies to gather more information about us is unrelenting while the public's interest will wax and wane. Companies know this - if they are willing to be patient and quietly sit out the initial media storm, then they can eventually do what they want (ie Microsoft and Palladium). Unfortunately, there are too many companies to use media attention to rescue us and I therefore predict that the loss of our privacy will continue unabated unless some tough legislation is passed.
I wonder if this means that SCO will now sue Baystar?
Complain about the power and cooling requirements all you want, but I don't think there is any other way to deliver this kind of performance. (At least not until another die-shrink comes along)
;-). Also, by that point, heat and power requirements should be a non-issue.
At the price they are charging for this card, it will primarily be used by game designers (and a few wealthy enthusiasts). Game developers will probably want the extra power so badly that they power/cooling reqs will be a minor issue. It will probably be about 2 years until the price approaches $100:
http://www.pricescan.com/graphs/graph148022.asp
Because the developers will buy this hardware about 2 years before the general public, games that take advantage of this power should be nearing store shelves by the time the price has dropped
Moore's Third Law: The employee density, cost, and time it takes to develop a game will double every 18 months.
Now, running these robots - that would be an excellent thing to outsource! Each person in India controlling say five of these things... (each robot probably wouldn't be busy all the time). I suspect that would solve most of the problems that the researchers are having.
Sig under construction.
Yes it has already been done, but that does not matter. With the NIF, the press always about the fusion research for energy purposes. However, in reality, no one even has a clue how to turn a tiny hydrogen pellet bombarded by 192 laser beams into a functional reactor capable of generating useful amounts of electricity. The primary purpose of the NIF is to study nuclear reactions so that the US nuclear weapon stockpile can be maintained without ongoing nuclear weapon tests.
With a tokamak, there at least is a plan for turning it into a reactor (if they can ever sustain fusion).
In the latest issue of New Scientist:
"Schuerger says that of all the space probes sent to Mars, only the two Viking craft in 1976 were adequately heat sterilized. The procedures used for all missions since then, including NASA's two rovers and Europe's Beagele 2, would have left some microbes aboard. After studying whether terrestrial organisms can survive the procedures used to sterilize a spacecraft, he reckons there is a good chance some made it to Mars and might still be living there."
Life will find a way
Here are some malpractice insurance statistics & statements that I have copied from an excellent article by David Stuart et al published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 350(3),15 January 2004 pp 283-292):
... showed that the key predictor of payment was the plaintiff's degree of disability, not the presence of negligence
- 4.6 percent of hospitalizations involved an injury to the patient
- 0.8 percent (1 in 126 admissions) involved injuries that medicolegal experts thought would probably give rise to a finding of negligence in court
- only 2 percent of negligent injuries result in claims
- only 17 percent of claims appeared to involve a negligent injury
- a 10-year follow-up of the Harvard data from New York,
"The overall picture that emerges from these studies is disheartening. When all patients with negligent injuries are considered, not just those who manage to seek compensation as plaintiffs, the findings from the studies in California, in New York, and in Utah and Colorado are a searing indictment of the performance of the malpractice system. The data reveal a profoundly inaccurate mechanism for distributing compensation. It is also tremendously inefficient. Approximately 60 cents of every dollar expended on the system is absorbed by administrative costs (predominantly legal fees), an amount that is twice the overhead rate for an average workers' compensation scheme."