Maybe it really is too early to focus on standardization. It often freezes the standard quo and makes it harder to implement new stuff, c. f. the x86 and Windows requirements for backwards compatibility. I also don't really see where the problems are (others might have more experience there): EC2 uses standard Xen instances that should be somewhat portable. The only non-portable part is the meta-level configuration.
That wouldn't make much sense. To land on the asteroid, you need to be about as fast as it is, or your lander will just be hit by a very fast moving rock. When you have invested all the energy to get up to that speed, you could equally well just turn of the engines and be subject to gravity, just like the asteroid, which will give you that tour around the solar system without any further energy.
Not very smart. The success of a nation is a function of the intelligence and education of its people. Giving visas to people with above-average intelligence and education will therefore always be to a nation's benefit.
These H1B holders are well-educated. They'd be able to take of themselves. They'll return home and be a huge benefit to their home country. The US, meanwhile, will lose these talents after probably having spent lots of money in educating them.
Remember: the number of jobs is not fixed. A million unemployed but well-educated nerds will probably lead to the next google, Apple or whatever. If you throw these people out of the country, those companies and their jobs are just created elsewhere.
I can understand that the well-being of american workers is more important than that of visa-holders to an elected politician. However, the impact of losing the job is much higher for H1Bs, as they usually have to leave the country (within 1 week I think). Considering the fact that these are humans, too, maybe it would be acceptable to lessen these restrictions somewhat, i. e. allow these people to stay in the country for a year if they have the financial means.
They made 151 Million last quarter, and 375 Million a year earlier in their Entertainment and Devices Division (which also includes the zune I guess), so while they're not turning huge profits, they are profitable.
The test itself isn't new, it's just online now. I've been filling out those forms for years, and might actually welcome the new procedure. I've frequently been told by flight attendants that the slightest mistake requires to fill out a new form. That includes the different ways some digits are written (1 and 7), writing in the wrong line etc. I've gotten used to it, but for some people it takes five or more tries to get it right which is highly annoying when they're seated next to you.
BTW: the questions are obviously ridiculous ("Are you traveling to the US to commit a crime?", "Have you been involved in a genocide?"). I guess the goal is to have more legal ammunition if you want to deport someone later.
Why shouldn't they ask for ideas from users? It's part of any business relationship that both sides profit. Since I rarely click on ads, I've probably gotten more use out of google products than they got in return. If I had a good idea, I'd have no problem to let them know. At the least, their products get better and I get to use the cool new feature. Most of the ideas are probably worthless to individuals anyway, since they might only be a feature, not a product.
Plus, all the ideas are out in the open for everyone to see, so any competitor is free to implement them as well.
I'm not sure what your point is. I agree with you that communism is a bad form of government, since it places too much emphasis on the "common good" and not enough on individual freedoms. I was, however, trying to prevent the reverse, namely that every dictatorship has to be communistic. In fact even the self-described socialist countries like China and Vietnam now are much closer to fascism.
In fact, you even show that Vietnam cannot be called communistic as you quote one of Marx's criteria, namely collective ownership. Since Vietnam has recognized private property since the 80ies, it's not communistic. QED
It should be noted, though, that many countries in Asia are doing spectacularly well compared to other parts of the world, esp. Africa. While the development is mostly economic, there has been a lot of political progress since WWII, too. Take the current "revolution" in Thailand as an example. While it'd be a disaster by western standards, it is remarkable that is has remained entirely peaceful so far.
Then there is Korea, one of the largest-scale social experiments of all times. I'm not sure if the north and south were equally developed before the war, but the contrast between the two must be the best example of how the seed of economic and political help can transform a society (that is willing and able to make the most of it).
Vietnam is communism in name only (not even that since it calls itself socialist). Since 1986 Vietnam is, like China today, just yet-another undemocratic country. Communism is mostly an economic concept, and the Vietnamese economy has largely shifted to a free market system.
...when they usually pay through the nose or get jailtime for counterfeiting an official document (which a license plate is).
It's interesting though that penalties are apparently tied to the car in the us, not the driver. I still remember the police showing up regularly at the door showing me a (usually bad) picture of my father and asking if I knew the person. Thank god^M^M^M the constitution for family privilege.
The difference is that price fixing involves multiple (competing) sources agreeing on a minimum price. This minimum pricing scheme just concerns one manufacturer's product. You're free to buy from a competitor. Now, even if these contract terms are voided by law, a manufacturer can still easily charge a minimum price - their own price charged to retailers. Minimum pricing is more about protecting certain retail outlets than about gauging the consumer.
If you, when buying the apple, agree not to sell it for less than $x, and agree to only sell it under the same requirement for subsequent owners, you entered a valid contract. I can see the argument that Minimum Prices are a bad idea and should be abolished, but it's dishonest to deny the possibility of such contracts, and the freedom to enter into contracts also deserves some consideration.
Unlikely... Given the hoops the cell jumps through to keep DNA somewhat stable, it would have to be quite a few orders of magnitude more stable to be below the current rate of mutations that survive the different repair mechanisms.
There is a disclaimer to that effect. Add a better (correct) description, but leave the original unchanged for documentary purposes.
It's quite a task to translate these descriptions. Those that I looked at all contained words or even concepts that people don't even know anymore ("Institute for Race Hygiene and Crime", wtf?)
This somewhat contradicts the observation that most Nobel prize winners do so for research they did in their early thirties. Of course having new ideas isn't exactly the same as thinking fast. But maybe we'd get better scientists when we don't expose them to science until a later date, so that this maximum speed, some theoretical background and fresh ideas all intersect?
While there is truth in your argument, I'd say it's important to remember the amounts we are talking about. Spending on basic, IMHO useful research such as Drosophila (which is one of the best model organisms, especially in genetics and neurosciences) makes up a minuscule percentage of government spending. Defense, on the other hand, is still (again) at cold war levels.
Even if someone has the opinion that spending on the sciences should be cut, it's not an excuse to be a redneck-pandering idiot and mock the science. It's perfectly possible to say "I wish we could spend more on C. elegans, but I believe the joint strike fighter is more important". It'd be wrong, but at least it wouldn't be idiotic.
Same here, which is why there are services where you can send prepaid SIM cards and get back a different one, registered to someone else. Some risks might be involved, though.
With those loads, Al Gore would like to talk to you. But seriously, I was just trying to make the point that the hardware is able to handle standby well, so why don't they work on improving that? Or is standby working perfectly on windows, but it's the users that feel they have to turn the machine off for every coffee break (I've seen that quite a few times with Mac users, where I KNOW it's ridiculous).
... that bacteria don't have neurons. But I guess the principle works for any kind of information processing. Though you might need evolution to produce the results in single-celled organisms.
Slashdot Mirror
1 ton = 1000kg, welcome to the metric system.
Maybe it really is too early to focus on standardization. It often freezes the standard quo and makes it harder to implement new stuff, c. f. the x86 and Windows requirements for backwards compatibility. I also don't really see where the problems are (others might have more experience there): EC2 uses standard Xen instances that should be somewhat portable. The only non-portable part is the meta-level configuration.
That wouldn't make much sense. To land on the asteroid, you need to be about as fast as it is, or your lander will just be hit by a very fast moving rock. When you have invested all the energy to get up to that speed, you could equally well just turn of the engines and be subject to gravity, just like the asteroid, which will give you that tour around the solar system without any further energy.
Not very smart. The success of a nation is a function of the intelligence and education of its people. Giving visas to people with above-average intelligence and education will therefore always be to a nation's benefit.
These H1B holders are well-educated. They'd be able to take of themselves. They'll return home and be a huge benefit to their home country. The US, meanwhile, will lose these talents after probably having spent lots of money in educating them.
Remember: the number of jobs is not fixed. A million unemployed but well-educated nerds will probably lead to the next google, Apple or whatever. If you throw these people out of the country, those companies and their jobs are just created elsewhere.
I can understand that the well-being of american workers is more important than that of visa-holders to an elected politician. However, the impact of losing the job is much higher for H1Bs, as they usually have to leave the country (within 1 week I think). Considering the fact that these are humans, too, maybe it would be acceptable to lessen these restrictions somewhat, i. e. allow these people to stay in the country for a year if they have the financial means.
They made 151 Million last quarter, and 375 Million a year earlier in their Entertainment and Devices Division (which also includes the zune I guess), so while they're not turning huge profits, they are profitable.
The test itself isn't new, it's just online now. I've been filling out those forms for years, and might actually welcome the new procedure. I've frequently been told by flight attendants that the slightest mistake requires to fill out a new form. That includes the different ways some digits are written (1 and 7), writing in the wrong line etc. I've gotten used to it, but for some people it takes five or more tries to get it right which is highly annoying when they're seated next to you.
BTW: the questions are obviously ridiculous ("Are you traveling to the US to commit a crime?", "Have you been involved in a genocide?"). I guess the goal is to have more legal ammunition if you want to deport someone later.
Your opposition only makes me stronger.
Why shouldn't they ask for ideas from users? It's part of any business relationship that both sides profit. Since I rarely click on ads, I've probably gotten more use out of google products than they got in return. If I had a good idea, I'd have no problem to let them know. At the least, their products get better and I get to use the cool new feature. Most of the ideas are probably worthless to individuals anyway, since they might only be a feature, not a product.
Plus, all the ideas are out in the open for everyone to see, so any competitor is free to implement them as well.
I'm not sure what your point is. I agree with you that communism is a bad form of government, since it places too much emphasis on the "common good" and not enough on individual freedoms. I was, however, trying to prevent the reverse, namely that every dictatorship has to be communistic. In fact even the self-described socialist countries like China and Vietnam now are much closer to fascism.
In fact, you even show that Vietnam cannot be called communistic as you quote one of Marx's criteria, namely collective ownership. Since Vietnam has recognized private property since the 80ies, it's not communistic. QED
It should be noted, though, that many countries in Asia are doing spectacularly well compared to other parts of the world, esp. Africa. While the development is mostly economic, there has been a lot of political progress since WWII, too. Take the current "revolution" in Thailand as an example. While it'd be a disaster by western standards, it is remarkable that is has remained entirely peaceful so far.
Then there is Korea, one of the largest-scale social experiments of all times. I'm not sure if the north and south were equally developed before the war, but the contrast between the two must be the best example of how the seed of economic and political help can transform a society (that is willing and able to make the most of it).
Vietnam is communism in name only (not even that since it calls itself socialist). Since 1986 Vietnam is, like China today, just yet-another undemocratic country. Communism is mostly an economic concept, and the Vietnamese economy has largely shifted to a free market system.
...when they usually pay through the nose or get jailtime for counterfeiting an official document (which a license plate is).
It's interesting though that penalties are apparently tied to the car in the us, not the driver. I still remember the police showing up regularly at the door showing me a (usually bad) picture of my father and asking if I knew the person. Thank god^M^M^M the constitution for family privilege.
The difference is that price fixing involves multiple (competing) sources agreeing on a minimum price. This minimum pricing scheme just concerns one manufacturer's product. You're free to buy from a competitor. Now, even if these contract terms are voided by law, a manufacturer can still easily charge a minimum price - their own price charged to retailers. Minimum pricing is more about protecting certain retail outlets than about gauging the consumer.
If you, when buying the apple, agree not to sell it for less than $x, and agree to only sell it under the same requirement for subsequent owners, you entered a valid contract. I can see the argument that Minimum Prices are a bad idea and should be abolished, but it's dishonest to deny the possibility of such contracts, and the freedom to enter into contracts also deserves some consideration.
Unlikely... Given the hoops the cell jumps through to keep DNA somewhat stable, it would have to be quite a few orders of magnitude more stable to be below the current rate of mutations that survive the different repair mechanisms.
There is a disclaimer to that effect. Add a better (correct) description, but leave the original unchanged for documentary purposes.
It's quite a task to translate these descriptions. Those that I looked at all contained words or even concepts that people don't even know anymore ("Institute for Race Hygiene and Crime", wtf?)
This somewhat contradicts the observation that most Nobel prize winners do so for research they did in their early thirties. Of course having new ideas isn't exactly the same as thinking fast. But maybe we'd get better scientists when we don't expose them to science until a later date, so that this maximum speed, some theoretical background and fresh ideas all intersect?
While there is truth in your argument, I'd say it's important to remember the amounts we are talking about. Spending on basic, IMHO useful research such as Drosophila (which is one of the best model organisms, especially in genetics and neurosciences) makes up a minuscule percentage of government spending. Defense, on the other hand, is still (again) at cold war levels.
Even if someone has the opinion that spending on the sciences should be cut, it's not an excuse to be a redneck-pandering idiot and mock the science. It's perfectly possible to say "I wish we could spend more on C. elegans, but I believe the joint strike fighter is more important". It'd be wrong, but at least it wouldn't be idiotic.
Same here, which is why there are services where you can send prepaid SIM cards and get back a different one, registered to someone else. Some risks might be involved, though.
With those loads, Al Gore would like to talk to you. But seriously, I was just trying to make the point that the hardware is able to handle standby well, so why don't they work on improving that? Or is standby working perfectly on windows, but it's the users that feel they have to turn the machine off for every coffee break (I've seen that quite a few times with Mac users, where I KNOW it's ridiculous).
...19:21 up 30 days, 20 hrs, 3 users, load averages: 0.52 0.32 0.32
That's a Macbook Air. Why does anybody turn their notebooks off?
I can confirm that the data was or was not encrypted.
... that bacteria don't have neurons. But I guess the principle works for any kind of information processing. Though you might need evolution to produce the results in single-celled organisms.