I am here to 1) throw insults around (this is slashdot, after all), and 2) stop wasting tax dollars and incurring debt to subsidize corrupt defense contractors. Since you have taken the time to look at my previous posts (thank you, BTW, you have all my respect for it), you also know that I am a staunch advocate of unmanned space exploration. This particular debate is implicitly about manned space exploration, which to my mind is worthless and unjustifiable.
Here on slashdot I am in a small minority that typically gets modded down into oblivion very quickly. I am surprised my post lasted long enough to receive your attention.
Har. That's because there isn't one. All those dweeby weenies who think the contrary are little more than sci fi space-adventure magical-religious cultists. In more than a few ways not unlike Scientologists or Jehovah's Witnesses, I might add.
If you run Ubuntu and are a tad masochistic, open a few tabs in Firefox to this site (open at least 3 or 4 tabs). Try to do things in other tabs, or even in other windows. Sooner or later the video in those tabs will try to strangle your system.
I'll try not to be an Apple basher
on
iPad Review
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Look, I know we all like cool new gadgets, and certainly the iPad is the latest and greatest. As the review points out, it still isn't clear what it is for. My personal main gripe would be that you can't write on it as if it were paper, more specifically a pad of paper. What characterizes flat things about the size of the iPad that have the word "pad" in their names? You write on them with some kind of stylus, be it a pen, a pencil, a piece of plastic, a crayon, whatever. This, of course, implies robust handwriting recognition, which would be truly revolutionary in the form factor and price point of the iPad.
Watching video and listening to music are both well-covered by other cheaper (and arguably better and more convenient) devices. The author above wishes the iPad were better for email, but that will probably take a few years to get right on the iPad, if they get it right at all. I get the impression that somebody pushed the iPad through the pipeline because they thought it would be a damn cool device, not because it would be ideal for any specific, well thought out use cases. They made it because they could. That seems more like dumb and wasteful consumerism rather than intelligent revolutionary innovation.
Who funds those ragtag bands of deranged fanatical nitwits? Those little groups would be nowhere without outside funding and logistical assistance of various kinds. While some money comes from opium and a few other illegal activities, the major sponsors of Islamic extremist terrorism are wealthy Arabs on the western side of the Persian Gulf. We do not pursue them because they are business partners of the US ruling class, and I am not referring only to the petroleum industry. Who funds the madrassas, the extremist parties in Pakistan and elsewhere? Who owns two thirds or more of the mosques in the world and supports deranged preachers?
You are committing the obvious mistakes of 1) being rational and fact-based, and 2) assuming that the purpose is in fact catching "terrorists." In practice, it is indeed security theater for the political arena and the driving forces are a) channeling huge amounts of public funds to the well-connected firms providing the goods and services for TSA, and b) the TSA's first priorities as a bureaucracy: survive and grow.
As evidence of the machines' capabilities, the security agency released five photos of drugs or suspected drugs that airport screeners found after scans revealed anomalies on the ghost-like images of people's bodies. The agency said metal detectors would not have revealed the items.
Screeners using the technology also found a knife hidden in the small of a person's back at the Richmond, Virginia, airport, a concealed razor blade on a passenger in Phoenix, Arizona, and other concealed items such as large bottles of lotion, which are prohibited as carry-on items.
In addition, the machines have revealed numerous prohibited items that passengers evidently inadvertently left in pockets. Those items are confiscated but are not counted in the tally, a TSA spokesman said.
Oh yes, I feel much more protected now. I'm glad we are spending trillions on the War on Terror and the War on Drugs, and the War on Whatever in Iraq, and on and on. It doesn't bother me at all that they cannot point to any significant result that even remotely justifies the huge debt burden being created to pay for it all. I don't care that they can examine my body in great detail against my will. I don't care about the Bill of Rights. I don't care that I am losing the ability to sneak even minor things on my body, or that civil disobedience against drug laws or "contraband" laws can now be ruthlessly repressed. No siree Bob, I drank all the Kool-Aid, thank you very much. Every last drop.
Welcome, Comrades! Welcome to the Glorious Union of Soviet Corporatist Republics!
Great. Now every dipshit who thinks he is one of the 1 in 40 supposed "supertaskers" will feel he is entitled to fully express his inner idiot. Great. I'll bet that a few months or years from now this will be shown to actually be the crock of shit it sounds like.
That is a political non-starter. Cap and trade will come because it creates a vast new speculative market. Look forward to iterative securitization, credit default swaps and other wacky derivatives, market cornering, toxic assets, etc. etc. etc.
The people who will make the money in that market will be both the driving force and the authors of the legislation.
The problem isn't online banking per se, it is the ease with which even savvy users can be duped into fraudulent online transactions. The solution must be much more general. Also, if every place we need to do a secure online transaction requires the booting up of a LiveCD or similar, gods help us. To say the least, that is not a scalable or generalizable solution.
I know you're being funny and ironic, but that wouldn't be too bad an idea. In any case, if this is supposed to be a cheap, sustainable vehicle for the masses, then parts count and other manufacturing criteria are important. If it is supposed to be an idiotic toy that rich yuppies can waste their excessive income on (as, quite frankly, it appears), then your comment is on the mark. The more money you can extract from a yuppie, the better.
Lower parts count? That may be a bogus issue because a passive third wheel would involve far cheaper parts, e.g. no gyros, compute power or software, etc. Fewer things to go wrong, easier to repair with simpler equipment.
Why does it have "dynamic stabilization technology" instead of a possibly passive third wheel? Wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper to manufacture and maintain, and much thriftier in its energy use? How much additional energy is used in maintaining balance?
The Chinese government censors the Internet, thus screwing Chinese internet users. Google and GoDaddy find this offensive, so they cease serving Chinese internet users, thus screwing them again. Remind me how this makes sense?
Still, people will want to express their pretentious piousness and show how sacred it all is for them, blah blah blah. Those that live in the US will be quick to point out the heinousness of Chinese policy, but very slow to recognize anything untoward in their own country's policies, foreign or domestic. Way too much Kool-Aid.
Prices that companies charge individuals are generally cheap. Prices they charge companies are high
Does somebody else pay for your medical insurance? You've got it exactly backwards. In the U.S. it is far cheaper if you get in on a plan through your employer than if you buy the same plan on your own.
Slashdot Mirror
I am here to 1) throw insults around (this is slashdot, after all), and 2) stop wasting tax dollars and incurring debt to subsidize corrupt defense contractors. Since you have taken the time to look at my previous posts (thank you, BTW, you have all my respect for it), you also know that I am a staunch advocate of unmanned space exploration. This particular debate is implicitly about manned space exploration, which to my mind is worthless and unjustifiable.
Here on slashdot I am in a small minority that typically gets modded down into oblivion very quickly. I am surprised my post lasted long enough to receive your attention.
Skeptical of Commercial Space Market
Har. That's because there isn't one . All those dweeby weenies who think the contrary are little more than sci fi space-adventure magical-religious cultists. In more than a few ways not unlike Scientologists or Jehovah's Witnesses, I might add.
A significant fraction of page rendering time is due to Google AdSense pulling in its data. Will we be penalized by Google for that?
Don't underestimate other parents' enforcement requirements. Some kids are wilder or at least more headstrong than others.
If you run Ubuntu and are a tad masochistic, open a few tabs in Firefox to this site (open at least 3 or 4 tabs). Try to do things in other tabs, or even in other windows. Sooner or later the video in those tabs will try to strangle your system.
Look, I know we all like cool new gadgets, and certainly the iPad is the latest and greatest. As the review points out, it still isn't clear what it is for. My personal main gripe would be that you can't write on it as if it were paper, more specifically a pad of paper. What characterizes flat things about the size of the iPad that have the word "pad" in their names? You write on them with some kind of stylus, be it a pen, a pencil, a piece of plastic, a crayon, whatever. This, of course, implies robust handwriting recognition, which would be truly revolutionary in the form factor and price point of the iPad.
Watching video and listening to music are both well-covered by other cheaper (and arguably better and more convenient) devices. The author above wishes the iPad were better for email, but that will probably take a few years to get right on the iPad, if they get it right at all. I get the impression that somebody pushed the iPad through the pipeline because they thought it would be a damn cool device, not because it would be ideal for any specific, well thought out use cases. They made it because they could. That seems more like dumb and wasteful consumerism rather than intelligent revolutionary innovation.
Who funds those ragtag bands of deranged fanatical nitwits? Those little groups would be nowhere without outside funding and logistical assistance of various kinds. While some money comes from opium and a few other illegal activities, the major sponsors of Islamic extremist terrorism are wealthy Arabs on the western side of the Persian Gulf. We do not pursue them because they are business partners of the US ruling class, and I am not referring only to the petroleum industry. Who funds the madrassas, the extremist parties in Pakistan and elsewhere? Who owns two thirds or more of the mosques in the world and supports deranged preachers?
You are committing the obvious mistakes of 1) being rational and fact-based, and 2) assuming that the purpose is in fact catching "terrorists." In practice, it is indeed security theater for the political arena and the driving forces are a) channeling huge amounts of public funds to the well-connected firms providing the goods and services for TSA, and b) the TSA's first priorities as a bureaucracy: survive and grow.
As evidence of the machines' capabilities, the security agency released five photos of drugs or suspected drugs that airport screeners found after scans revealed anomalies on the ghost-like images of people's bodies. The agency said metal detectors would not have revealed the items.
Screeners using the technology also found a knife hidden in the small of a person's back at the Richmond, Virginia, airport, a concealed razor blade on a passenger in Phoenix, Arizona, and other concealed items such as large bottles of lotion, which are prohibited as carry-on items.
In addition, the machines have revealed numerous prohibited items that passengers evidently inadvertently left in pockets. Those items are confiscated but are not counted in the tally, a TSA spokesman said.
Oh yes, I feel much more protected now. I'm glad we are spending trillions on the War on Terror and the War on Drugs, and the War on Whatever in Iraq, and on and on. It doesn't bother me at all that they cannot point to any significant result that even remotely justifies the huge debt burden being created to pay for it all. I don't care that they can examine my body in great detail against my will. I don't care about the Bill of Rights. I don't care that I am losing the ability to sneak even minor things on my body, or that civil disobedience against drug laws or "contraband" laws can now be ruthlessly repressed. No siree Bob, I drank all the Kool-Aid, thank you very much. Every last drop.
Welcome, Comrades! Welcome to the Glorious Union of Soviet Corporatist Republics!
...it's April Fool's day.
I don't think it is untrue because it has a potentially unpleasant outcome. I think it is BS on its own merits.
Great. Now every dipshit who thinks he is one of the 1 in 40 supposed "supertaskers" will feel he is entitled to fully express his inner idiot. Great. I'll bet that a few months or years from now this will be shown to actually be the crock of shit it sounds like.
That is a political non-starter. Cap and trade will come because it creates a vast new speculative market. Look forward to iterative securitization, credit default swaps and other wacky derivatives, market cornering, toxic assets, etc. etc. etc.
The people who will make the money in that market will be both the driving force and the authors of the legislation.
Now I can get an Energy Star rating for my line of fusion energy powered penis implants and Clean Coal powered lawn mowers.
The problem isn't online banking per se, it is the ease with which even savvy users can be duped into fraudulent online transactions. The solution must be much more general. Also, if every place we need to do a secure online transaction requires the booting up of a LiveCD or similar, gods help us. To say the least, that is not a scalable or generalizable solution.
And we did it really really fast.
It is apparently not true, however.
If this is true, it is a decison vastly more consequential than anything Google has done.
I know you're being funny and ironic, but that wouldn't be too bad an idea. In any case, if this is supposed to be a cheap, sustainable vehicle for the masses, then parts count and other manufacturing criteria are important. If it is supposed to be an idiotic toy that rich yuppies can waste their excessive income on (as, quite frankly, it appears), then your comment is on the mark. The more money you can extract from a yuppie, the better.
It all depends on where the center of gravity ends up. Seems like a very expensive solution to that problem.
Lower parts count? That may be a bogus issue because a passive third wheel would involve far cheaper parts, e.g. no gyros, compute power or software, etc. Fewer things to go wrong, easier to repair with simpler equipment.
Why does it have "dynamic stabilization technology" instead of a possibly passive third wheel? Wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper to manufacture and maintain, and much thriftier in its energy use? How much additional energy is used in maintaining balance?
The Chinese government censors the Internet, thus screwing Chinese internet users. Google and GoDaddy find this offensive, so they cease serving Chinese internet users, thus screwing them again. Remind me how this makes sense?
Still, people will want to express their pretentious piousness and show how sacred it all is for them, blah blah blah. Those that live in the US will be quick to point out the heinousness of Chinese policy, but very slow to recognize anything untoward in their own country's policies, foreign or domestic. Way too much Kool-Aid.
Prices that companies charge individuals are generally cheap. Prices they charge companies are high
Does somebody else pay for your medical insurance? You've got it exactly backwards. In the U.S. it is far cheaper if you get in on a plan through your employer than if you buy the same plan on your own.