I wouldn't confuse "what might be enabled by this new technology" with what is actually going to happen.
The vast majority of computers (even if known by other names such as "smartphone") will only become more and more integrated. I doubt we'll be buying standalone graphics cards for PC's in 10 years, and not even standalone RAM modules in many cases.
Maybe for high performance computing there will be a big shared memory hooked up to tens of thousands of cores by optical interconnects, but not for 99% of the market.
The article says the home had been "in the family" since the 1950's. In other words, the equity they took out wasn't anything they put in the first place.
Their parents probably bought the home for a few $K, leaving a windfall for their kids due to housing inflation and inheritance, which they lost - but fortunately they received another windfall from not having thrown away a 5 cent comic book that now happens to be worth a quarter million.
We talk about people "earning" money, but really, they system is so arbitrary.
Some people gravitate to reading (like my daughter), other people don't (like my son - even though we read to both every night). I have unfortunately never managed to devote a lot of my time to sitting and reading books. What has redeemed me is audiobooks. This works because I can do it while I drive, run, or hike. In my opinion, listening to Frank McCourt read 'tis or Sissy Spacek read To Kill a Mockingbird is even better than reading it to myself. Granted, the majority of all books are not available in audio versions - but on the other hand there are audio versions of more great books than I could ever consume, and more every year.
I agree, except the missing data is right there - $41K vs $9K. (Though it would be nice to have the breakdown of those benefits by industry, like the salaries). That $32K discrepancy is striking to say the least. Also, amending when I previously said state/local employees make less than private industry, I noticed "State and local workers have higher total compensation than private workers when the value of benefits is included."
I don't know, but would imagine pensions make up the bulk of the difference in benefits. It seems to me govt. pensions need to be slimmed down to follow industry. But maybe I'm just saying that because my company discontinued pensions a few years ago (only for new hires of course!)
Still, IMHO it would be a mistake to make all govt. pay like teacher pay - where the pool of potential candidates is sharply curtailed based on pay alone.
"Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers." - I would like to see them correct for that in a subsequent analysis; the stability of govt. jobs means people stick around, and some would argue more experienced workers draw higher salaries for a reason:)
Also, it's bizarre to be comparing an OS to one device. It's more accurate to compare Android to iOS, which would then include the iPad.
Does the iPad run the same apps as iPhone, or is it preferred to have separate apps for both?
As a developer, the pertinent question here is: which platform should I target to give my application the largest market. If Apple's platform loses because they restricted it to their hardware, well, that's their problem.
But similarly, if Android becomes so fragmented that I have to target each variant individually, it loses a lot of its appeal.
Here is a better documented and very recent analysis. They found that Federal employees tended to earn more than private industry (though not in some areas, including one pertinent to slashdot - Computer Support Specialist); however state and local employees (which is who is looking for swimming pools) are paid less than private industry on average.
I agree the semantics are unimportant. But look at the numbers. There is an undeniable trend over the last few years (starting, it should be noted, in the last year of the Bush administration, and then accelerating). Now the number at the end of this month is down to 50,000 which is only half of what this graph says it was at the start of this year, and less than 1/3 of where it peaked several times during the war. That really does mean fewer deployments to Iraq for the troops, and a lot of money saved.
Hear hear. I watched the Bush administration grapple unsuccessful to justify starting that war for over 6 years and I sincerely doubt some comment on slashdot will solve the riddle now.
Electric cars will begin to dominate the market when they make economic sense for the majority of the market. Obviously, that time isn't here yet
Oddly enough, the article itself admits fuel savings on the Volt does pay off - after a period of 10 years. He says that as if it's forever, yet the average age of a car now on the road is about 10 years. (The article didn't bother citing any figures in its 10 year payoff estimate - I sure hope he wasn't assuming $2.50 gas for the next decade! I think not!)
Why don't we stop having the government subsidize both big oil and electric cars and then let the free market determine which is the most cost effective technology?
Because the costs of burning oil are externalized - one person burns it, the rest of the world gets to breathe it, and cope with global warming.
I disagree; autofocus is usually better than manual even if you have both - especially if your only image preview is on a relatively low-res LCD, but also if the subject is moving (in macro shots a little subject movement can *completely* de-focus the shot). And face recognition is one of those "blingy"-seeming features that actually makes sense, since in an image with with objects at various focal depths, usually you want the face. In cases where that's wrong, a focus lock button allows you to autofocus at whatever depth you want and then re-frame the shot. The remaining need for manual focus is very small IME. But I am curious why you find it necessary?
Are you inherently against automation, or is the limitations of currently technology you don't like? I see those as two separate issues.
Ayways, I would support a truth-in-advertising requirement, but otherwise let people vote with their pocketbooks. If I'm watching a movie, I'd rather watch it with a highly produced soundtrack playing over loudspeakers (i.e. what is actually done now) rather than piano accompaniment (like the old days), yet nobody would buy orchestra tickets just to watch a "conductor" push the Play button.
Upgrading may or may not prevent problems. Many times it's a huge hassle with little or negative improvement. I don't upgrade software OR hardware any more just because I can; it's too much trouble, so I wait until I have a specific reason.
Do I think that private companies should be able to take advantage of anyone who is stupid enough not to do their homework? Yup. That's how businesses make money...
Let's stop this happy fucking horseshit world we have suddenly found ourselves in where it's someone else's fault that the government got overcharged.
So your argument is the seller should be allowed to defraud the buyer by violating the contract unless the buyer is canny enough to... what... notice they're being defrauded and sue? That's exactly what is happening.
When you eat dinner at a restaurant and they run your card for $10 more than what the receipt says do you applaud that too?
That's what Apple did with the iPod and the iPhone: they were far from first-to-market with either an mp3 player or a smartphone, they waited until those segments were getting ripe, then swooped in with the right product at the right time and capitalized bigtime.
Sure, and my plug in golf car gets mpg on any test thrown at it. Really that's poor and deceitful advertising.
It is accurate if you remember that the "G" in "MPG" stands for "Gallon", as in, gasoline. Yes, additional energy is required, but energy isn't the main problem - gasoline is. If you live in France, for example, most of that extra energy comes from a nuclear power plant, doesn't contribute to global warming, and doesn't sponsor terrorism.
All the people who really needed translucent bouncing icons already migrated to OSX. But I won't complain too much so long as distros still include fvwm.
Perhaps it is not legal to assist suicide, but it is legal to buy a one-way ticket to a country where assisted suicide is legal. (Or put it on your credit card:) There was a frontline on this. As it so happens the person in question also had ALS.
Did that save Usenet from being marginalized by proprietary web boards? Look at the iPhone, with a centralized "app store" and a separate app for everything, displacing the idea of interoperable web services accessible from any Internet device. Do we see a network of bazaars where we can put items for sale on web pages using a markup so they are searchable, or one big monolithinc website, ebay? Even email is being marginalized by texting and twitter (which are essentially services, not standards) and gmail (which is still email but centralized on a massive scale and with no need for pop and smtp in many cases, when two users on the same webservice email each other). The vast majority of IP addresses aren't even permitted to originate email any more, being in black holes and/or blocked by the ISP.
Sadly, ALL the momentum is AWAY from shared protocols and interoperation, and towards centralized, smoothly integrated services.
The Prius does not quality for the same rebate as the Leaf because it's not a zero-emissions vehicle. It qualifies for a lesser rebate because it is partial zero-emissions. The Volt qualifies as neither because the requirements are pass-or-fail, and the Volt fails.
The real problem with the current system (IMO) is that--as always--regulation and government-created scarcity has lead to efforts to game the system and unintended consequences out the wazoo.... Unintended consequences, my friends: it's the gift of government that keeps on giving and giving and giving.
Unintended consequences have nothing in particular to do with government or regulation. All human decision making at all levels is riddled with error. That's why medicine has side effects, investments lose money, people get divorced, and businesses go under.
Slashdot Mirror
That, my friends, is vision.
Not, "one day mankind must blah blah blah..." but: 'I'm planning to retire to Mars.'
The vast majority of computers (even if known by other names such as "smartphone") will only become more and more integrated. I doubt we'll be buying standalone graphics cards for PC's in 10 years, and not even standalone RAM modules in many cases.
Maybe for high performance computing there will be a big shared memory hooked up to tens of thousands of cores by optical interconnects, but not for 99% of the market.
Their parents probably bought the home for a few $K, leaving a windfall for their kids due to housing inflation and inheritance, which they lost - but fortunately they received another windfall from not having thrown away a 5 cent comic book that now happens to be worth a quarter million.
We talk about people "earning" money, but really, they system is so arbitrary.
Some people gravitate to reading (like my daughter), other people don't (like my son - even though we read to both every night). I have unfortunately never managed to devote a lot of my time to sitting and reading books. What has redeemed me is audiobooks. This works because I can do it while I drive, run, or hike. In my opinion, listening to Frank McCourt read 'tis or Sissy Spacek read To Kill a Mockingbird is even better than reading it to myself. Granted, the majority of all books are not available in audio versions - but on the other hand there are audio versions of more great books than I could ever consume, and more every year.
I don't know, but would imagine pensions make up the bulk of the difference in benefits. It seems to me govt. pensions need to be slimmed down to follow industry. But maybe I'm just saying that because my company discontinued pensions a few years ago (only for new hires of course!)
Still, IMHO it would be a mistake to make all govt. pay like teacher pay - where the pool of potential candidates is sharply curtailed based on pay alone.
"Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers." - I would like to see them correct for that in a subsequent analysis; the stability of govt. jobs means people stick around, and some would argue more experienced workers draw higher salaries for a reason :)
Does the iPad run the same apps as iPhone, or is it preferred to have separate apps for both?
As a developer, the pertinent question here is: which platform should I target to give my application the largest market. If Apple's platform loses because they restricted it to their hardware, well, that's their problem.
But similarly, if Android becomes so fragmented that I have to target each variant individually, it loses a lot of its appeal.
Here is a better documented and very recent analysis. They found that Federal employees tended to earn more than private industry (though not in some areas, including one pertinent to slashdot - Computer Support Specialist); however state and local employees (which is who is looking for swimming pools) are paid less than private industry on average.
The time period of the documents released doesn't even overlap with the Obama Presidency.
I agree the semantics are unimportant. But look at the numbers. There is an undeniable trend over the last few years (starting, it should be noted, in the last year of the Bush administration, and then accelerating). Now the number at the end of this month is down to 50,000 which is only half of what this graph says it was at the start of this year, and less than 1/3 of where it peaked several times during the war. That really does mean fewer deployments to Iraq for the troops, and a lot of money saved.
Hear hear. I watched the Bush administration grapple unsuccessful to justify starting that war for over 6 years and I sincerely doubt some comment on slashdot will solve the riddle now.
Oddly enough, the article itself admits fuel savings on the Volt does pay off - after a period of 10 years. He says that as if it's forever, yet the average age of a car now on the road is about 10 years. (The article didn't bother citing any figures in its 10 year payoff estimate - I sure hope he wasn't assuming $2.50 gas for the next decade! I think not!)
Because the costs of burning oil are externalized - one person burns it, the rest of the world gets to breathe it, and cope with global warming.
I disagree; autofocus is usually better than manual even if you have both - especially if your only image preview is on a relatively low-res LCD, but also if the subject is moving (in macro shots a little subject movement can *completely* de-focus the shot). And face recognition is one of those "blingy"-seeming features that actually makes sense, since in an image with with objects at various focal depths, usually you want the face. In cases where that's wrong, a focus lock button allows you to autofocus at whatever depth you want and then re-frame the shot. The remaining need for manual focus is very small IME. But I am curious why you find it necessary?
Ayways, I would support a truth-in-advertising requirement, but otherwise let people vote with their pocketbooks. If I'm watching a movie, I'd rather watch it with a highly produced soundtrack playing over loudspeakers (i.e. what is actually done now) rather than piano accompaniment (like the old days), yet nobody would buy orchestra tickets just to watch a "conductor" push the Play button.
Upgrading may or may not prevent problems. Many times it's a huge hassle with little or negative improvement. I don't upgrade software OR hardware any more just because I can; it's too much trouble, so I wait until I have a specific reason.
Explain how a govt. purchaser's job or accountability is any different than one at a private company.
So your argument is the seller should be allowed to defraud the buyer by violating the contract unless the buyer is canny enough to... what... notice they're being defrauded and sue? That's exactly what is happening.
When you eat dinner at a restaurant and they run your card for $10 more than what the receipt says do you applaud that too?
That's what Apple did with the iPod and the iPhone: they were far from first-to-market with either an mp3 player or a smartphone, they waited until those segments were getting ripe, then swooped in with the right product at the right time and capitalized bigtime.
So, let's hear the libertarian solution:
It is accurate if you remember that the "G" in "MPG" stands for "Gallon", as in, gasoline. Yes, additional energy is required, but energy isn't the main problem - gasoline is. If you live in France, for example, most of that extra energy comes from a nuclear power plant, doesn't contribute to global warming, and doesn't sponsor terrorism.
All the people who really needed translucent bouncing icons already migrated to OSX. But I won't complain too much so long as distros still include fvwm.
Perhaps it is not legal to assist suicide, but it is legal to buy a one-way ticket to a country where assisted suicide is legal. (Or put it on your credit card :) There was a frontline on this. As it so happens the person in question also had ALS.
Sadly, ALL the momentum is AWAY from shared protocols and interoperation, and towards centralized, smoothly integrated services.
The Prius does not quality for the same rebate as the Leaf because it's not a zero-emissions vehicle. It qualifies for a lesser rebate because it is partial zero-emissions. The Volt qualifies as neither because the requirements are pass-or-fail, and the Volt fails.
Unintended consequences have nothing in particular to do with government or regulation. All human decision making at all levels is riddled with error. That's why medicine has side effects, investments lose money, people get divorced, and businesses go under.