Ironically, if you do text and drive, you are likely to become disabled.
Based on US auto-accident rates, unless virtually everyone (99.99+%) of the population does NOT text while driving, it is rather UNLIKELY that you will become disabled as a result....
Who cares that the guy who doesn't like you can access it, if all he can do is make you slightly sleepy.
Depends on where you are, I guess. Being made"slightly sleepy" while driving down the Interstate would be more problematic than the same while sitting in an easy chair at home....
Right. Go to Google and search for the phrase "map of Europe". The first thing you will see is a link to the Google Maps map of Europe.
And the second thing I see is a list of images for "map of europe".
And then there's Worldatlas.com, mapsofworld.com, raileurope.com, etc.
Interestingly, of those four choices, only the googlemaps version is (debatably) current. The others don't yet show the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia, though the Googlemaps version seems to (looks like it has a border between Crimea and Ukraine). Note also that, looking at those maps of Europe and zooming in on Ukraine, the Googlemaps version shows more detail than the other maps.
Note that the raileurope.com page doesn't even show a map of Europe.
Note finally that I don't use Google to find a continental map all that often (actually, I never do - this was the first time). I'm much more likely to ask for a specific street address (or a name, like Stonehenge) than even the name of a city, much less a country, much less a continent....
All that aside, if Europe really wants Googlemaps displayed as just another search result (where it will likely be number one for the most part), I've got no problems with that. Of course, if they insist that something other than the best (read: most popular) map be shown first, I'll have issues....
John Galt is the Hero in the Libertarian novel, "Altlas Shrugged".
Actually, Dagny Taggart (sp?) is the heroine of "Atlas Shrugged", and Hank Reardon (sp?) is the hero.
Both are industrialists who are opposed to government subsidies for industries.
The "villains" of the story are (among others) Dagny's brother and assorted other clowns who are trying to compete in industry by getting the government to pass laws that favour them.
"John Galt" is a catchphrase throughout that book - "Who is John Galt?"
Yah, when I came to "it can be controlled by your cellphone", my first thought was "and it can also be controlled by the cellphone that that guy over there is holding. And he doesn't necessarily like you".
From 1950 to 2010 toil, natural gas, and coal received $600 billion in subsidies, or 10 billion annually. From the US alone.
And the USA spends, collectively, somewhere around $150B on coal and natural gas annually. Which means that the subsidies you are decrying amount to less than 7% of the annual spending.
Alas, you're not going to produce massive changes in lifestyle if you dump the subsidies and cause the price to go up by ~7% as a result.
Especially since that would be a one-time jump, as opposed to the yearly 7+% increase in medical costs that we live with....
Perhaps Google have to be unfair to themselves in order to prove that they're not being unfair to their guests -- that's the way of the world.
Alas, you're not proposing that Google be unfair to themselves, you're proposing that they be unfair to ME. And you. And all their other users.
If Google "adjusts" their algorithms to give a benefit to inferior information/products/whatever, it's the users who suffer in the end.
When I go looking online for a map, the thing I care about is that it be the best map possible, not that it is ranked higher so as to give Google's competition a bit of a boost. (Note that this is not to imply that I use Google Maps exclusively, or even mostly. Just depends on the place I'm looking at as to who has the best maps).
Okay, you've reached the point of reframing my original question.
I'm not actually trying to find out what my question is, since I already know that.
What I want is an ANSWER to my question.
So, let's ask again - is there any evidence that Google is adjusting its search results to favour Google's own services over superior competing services?
Yes, we know that they are physically capable of doing so. That's not the question, so don't bother to tell me that they're capable of doing so....
I really hope you're not a citizen of the UK, since inability to spell "its" (possessive) as opposed to "it's" (contraction of "it is") is NOT a sign that the BBC has been successful at educating or producing more smart people....
Your first example is NOT an example of Google favouring its own offering over other, better, services. You describe a case where Google makes its map service the best, and gets more hits for that reason.
Your second case is pretty much what I was asking about. Any particular examples, or is this theoretical?
And your third case is a matter of "Google is evil(tm) because they do such a good job and my third-rate service can't compete".
So, again, any actual examples of Google promoting its own, second-rate (or third- or fourth-) services above its (superior) competition?
- Google promotes their own maps to the top regardless of whether they're the best choice, ahead of company B's solution, whether that solution is better or not.
I'm curious - is there any evidence that Google does this?
Seriously, I've not been paying too much attention to the Google antitrust cases, so I've no clue whether Google is an Evil Monster (tm) or a Wronged Giant (tm)....
The developers of Minecraft are NOT using GPL code.
The Minecraft modders are using some of the Minecraft code (as a result of decompilation and related techniques).
One of the Minecraft modders wants to force the developers of Minecraft to open source their code by refusing to allow his code to link to their (deobfuscated/decompiled) code.
Since a lot of Minecrafters depend on this modders code, he's hoping he gets enough support to force the developers of Minecraft to, basically, give him their code.
State's rights is the argument that the State's have the right to nullify federal law.
No, "States' Rights" is the argument that if the Constitution doesn't say the Feds can do it, and doesn't say the States cannot do it, the States get to decide whether to do it or not.
Slashdot Mirror
Based on US auto-accident rates, unless virtually everyone (99.99+%) of the population does NOT text while driving, it is rather UNLIKELY that you will become disabled as a result....
House I'm living in now is 40 years old or a bit more.
House I lived in previously was 50 years old, or a bit more.
Only people I know personally who live in a house less than ten years old just built the house....
Depends on where you are, I guess. Being made"slightly sleepy" while driving down the Interstate would be more problematic than the same while sitting in an easy chair at home....
And the second thing I see is a list of images for "map of europe".
And then there's Worldatlas.com, mapsofworld.com, raileurope.com, etc.
Interestingly, of those four choices, only the googlemaps version is (debatably) current. The others don't yet show the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia, though the Googlemaps version seems to (looks like it has a border between Crimea and Ukraine). Note also that, looking at those maps of Europe and zooming in on Ukraine, the Googlemaps version shows more detail than the other maps.
Note that the raileurope.com page doesn't even show a map of Europe.
Note finally that I don't use Google to find a continental map all that often (actually, I never do - this was the first time). I'm much more likely to ask for a specific street address (or a name, like Stonehenge) than even the name of a city, much less a country, much less a continent....
All that aside, if Europe really wants Googlemaps displayed as just another search result (where it will likely be number one for the most part), I've got no problems with that. Of course, if they insist that something other than the best (read: most popular) map be shown first, I'll have issues....
Actually, Dagny Taggart (sp?) is the heroine of "Atlas Shrugged", and Hank Reardon (sp?) is the hero.
Both are industrialists who are opposed to government subsidies for industries.
The "villains" of the story are (among others) Dagny's brother and assorted other clowns who are trying to compete in industry by getting the government to pass laws that favour them.
"John Galt" is a catchphrase throughout that book - "Who is John Galt?"
Yah, when I came to "it can be controlled by your cellphone", my first thought was "and it can also be controlled by the cellphone that that guy over there is holding. And he doesn't necessarily like you".
And the USA spends, collectively, somewhere around $150B on coal and natural gas annually. Which means that the subsidies you are decrying amount to less than 7% of the annual spending.
Alas, you're not going to produce massive changes in lifestyle if you dump the subsidies and cause the price to go up by ~7% as a result.
Especially since that would be a one-time jump, as opposed to the yearly 7+% increase in medical costs that we live with....
Alas, you're not proposing that Google be unfair to themselves, you're proposing that they be unfair to ME. And you. And all their other users.
If Google "adjusts" their algorithms to give a benefit to inferior information/products/whatever, it's the users who suffer in the end.
When I go looking online for a map, the thing I care about is that it be the best map possible, not that it is ranked higher so as to give Google's competition a bit of a boost. (Note that this is not to imply that I use Google Maps exclusively, or even mostly. Just depends on the place I'm looking at as to who has the best maps).
Okay, you've reached the point of reframing my original question.
I'm not actually trying to find out what my question is, since I already know that.
What I want is an ANSWER to my question.
So, let's ask again - is there any evidence that Google is adjusting its search results to favour Google's own services over superior competing services?
Yes, we know that they are physically capable of doing so. That's not the question, so don't bother to tell me that they're capable of doing so....
I really hope you're not a citizen of the UK, since inability to spell "its" (possessive) as opposed to "it's" (contraction of "it is") is NOT a sign that the BBC has been successful at educating or producing more smart people....
Your first example is NOT an example of Google favouring its own offering over other, better, services. You describe a case where Google makes its map service the best, and gets more hits for that reason.
Your second case is pretty much what I was asking about. Any particular examples, or is this theoretical?
And your third case is a matter of "Google is evil(tm) because they do such a good job and my third-rate service can't compete".
So, again, any actual examples of Google promoting its own, second-rate (or third- or fourth-) services above its (superior) competition?
I'm curious - is there any evidence that Google does this?
Seriously, I've not been paying too much attention to the Google antitrust cases, so I've no clue whether Google is an Evil Monster (tm) or a Wronged Giant (tm)....
No, not really.
1 per km^2 per century is one hit every six seconds for a planet this size.
For the face of the moon we can see, it'd be about one hit every three minutes...
Of course, this is a lot like saying "I hypothesize that a kilogram masses 1000 grams."
Not much of a hypothesis if it reduces to "I suspect strongly that X is defined to be X"
Or did you think Lincoln was a Democrat?
Because they're the only ones simple enough that "fair" is clear and straight-forward?
Just like the "employer" share of Social Security....
400 HECTARES.
That's 4 square km, not ">400km"....
The developers of Minecraft are NOT using GPL code.
The Minecraft modders are using some of the Minecraft code (as a result of decompilation and related techniques).
One of the Minecraft modders wants to force the developers of Minecraft to open source their code by refusing to allow his code to link to their (deobfuscated/decompiled) code.
Since a lot of Minecrafters depend on this modders code, he's hoping he gets enough support to force the developers of Minecraft to, basically, give him their code.
"subsided" has a meaning. Look it up sometime.
It is NOT, however, the verb form of "subsidy". That would be "subsidized".
Actually, it's 7000 square METERS.
What I'm wondering is how much greenspace there's going to be. 11500 square meters? Less? More?
Depends on how he chooses to stack living space and working space.
Oh, and how many people are expected to live in this 3 hectares (7.5 acres for the Amis among us)?
No, "States' Rights" is the argument that if the Constitution doesn't say the Feds can do it, and doesn't say the States cannot do it, the States get to decide whether to do it or not.
Yeah, and soon as the bag guys find out about that, they can start blowing up the stuff while "our side" was still using it.
For what it's worth, the X-15 had a range of 450 km.
Which is more than adequate for an over-the-horizon shot at a carrier....
No, this is health INSURANCE we're talking about.
They're related, but not identical.