Damages are always excessive because they're applied after the fact, as a punitive measure, and because they're also intended act as a deterent. If all you paid was the actual cost of goods your tried to steal, then you might as well go into Best Buy and try to walk out with that disc under your coat. Best case, you get a free disc. Worse case, you pay no more than you would have paid at the checkout counter.
It's why most littering fines are in the "outrageous" category. Does it cost $1,000 to pick up an empty coke can? No. But the fact that you "might" have to pay $1,000 may prevent you from tossing it in the first place. The benefit doesn't outweigh the potential consequences.
"It's not like people in the US are jumping to replace their SUVs and trucks..."
Tell that to GM, Ford, and Chevy, 'cause Toyota is currently eating their lunch, breakfast, AND dinner.
Then look out the window, and start counting the number of VW's, Prius's, Yaris's, Matrix's, FITS, and Focus's running around. Then check out sales of smaller "cross-over" SUVs. Then get back to me.
I don't recall the guy at CompUSA telling me that my Windows box would crash and burn a half dozen times either. Or the guy at the Jeep store telling me that maybe, just maybe, in the future I might need a second mortgage to feed my car. " Personally, I'm kind of sick and tired of all the hand holding certain people seem to demand. "Well, they should be REQUIRED... blah...blah...blah... "
Listen. If you're going to spend $500-$600 for ANYTHING I'd hope that you do just a smidgen of research first. People need to take some responsibility for their OWN actions and to at least TRY to act like a functional adult member of society.
"PG&E plans to buy thousands of plug-in hybrid and electric car batteries that have outlived their usefulness for transportation but still retain capacity. The utility will install them in the basements of office towers and at electrical substations to store green energy produced by wind farms and solar arrays.
"It will make vehicle batteries cheaper," says Sven Thesen, PG&E's supervisor for clean-air transportation, who recently visited Willums in Norway to discuss collaborating with Think."
"But so is Apple for putting the same stupid design in to the iPhone."
You can, by design, have the phone as it is in the current form factor. Or you can have a phone that's significantly larger. Or you can have a phone with significantly less battery life (w/o carrying an extra battery, as most people don't).
"Some people [sic] want a phone where it's easy to dial. People want different sets of capabilities, and a bunch of people [sic] want a full QWERTY keyboard."
"Some" and "a bunch". Good quantitative analysis there. Nice how you can make up nearly any statement you want using those words and have it be darn near irrefutable.
Although apparently a bunch of people (e.g. over a quarter of a million) seem to like the iPhone's virtual keypad, as Apple sold 1/6th as many iPhones in two days as Microsoft sold in an entire quarter.
Odd how real numbers are so much more satisfying...
You guys need to get serious. It's not just Carbon and Cocoa, but Quartz and Quicktime and Core Audio and Bonjour and all of the other technologies OS X applications are based on.
You're better off running Parallels and virtualizing Linux. Performance is actually quite good and besides, how much of a hit are you going to take going the other way around, "virtualizing" OS X applications to run under Linux?
You have to be kidding, right? An Audi A3 is $47,000 plus. A Prius is $22,000. People complain about the extra $2,000 a hybrid costs over a conventional engine, but how much fuel do you have to save to make a difference of more than $25,000 economical? And how much extra equipment, electronics, etc., is that extra $25K adding?
Enough to make up for one extra 99 lb battery? (Hint: a Prius weighs 2,921 lbs, an A3 weighs in 3,329 lbs. That's an extra 500 lbs of metals, alloys, circuits, and plastics over a Prius minus the battery.) But hey, I bet none of that material had to go through refining and a dirty, nasty manufacturing process. And all of it was done with renewable sources too, no doubt.
"When Ultra-caps are practical..."
So now we have to wait for blue-sky technologies? And what exotic materials and processes are going to be need to make ultra-caps "practical"? Or that different from a battery? What about simply cutting the battery weight (and associated materials needed) in half by using Li-ion or Lipo? (in the works) How about pairing a biodiesel with a HEV drive and better batteries and getting the best of both worlds? (also in the works).
"I just don't think that anything that relies on the electric grid and stores the power in a battery is a practical, mass-market, full lifecycle environmentally friendly, way to do that."
You'd better look into that position. And while you're at it, look into energy-balance analysis for hydrogen. And above all, check out the processes and costs with creating a hydrogen infrastructure... (that's also primarily powered off the grid).
"... most of the arguments in this area are based on articles of faith..."
"That's exactly what the Gaiainists that have taken over the environmental movement are doing."
Believe Crichton or not (in yet another work of fiction), but there are extremely practical reasons for: a) reducing pollution; and b) dramatically cutting our need for oil in general, and foreign oil in particular.
If everyone's vehicle got twice the mileage that it did currently, with the corresponding reduction in imports, would we be as likely to be embroiled in the Middle East? Would we be as worried that a single hurricane or refinery accident will cause gas prices to double? Would as many families worry about finding the money to feed their car vs. feeding their kids? Would you rather have an extra hundred or so a month to spend as you wish, or would you prefer to just hand it over to Exxon-Mobil and Conoco-Phillips for the privilege of filling up your tank?
And I liked the way you tried to change the subject. Shall we get back to renewable-powered P-HEVs? Or continue discussing battery weight?
It could be presumed that you chose that software specifically for the well-known "hidden partition" option (police departments hire geeks too, you know). As such, prove that the incriminating evidence ISN'T locked away in the hidden partition and that you're not refusing to comply with the warrent.
"So, what is the real benefit of the hybrid/electric car?"
Gas is (currently) $3 a gallon. The equivalent amount of electricity to go the same distance on battery power alone costs $1. Plus, that power could come from solar, wind, hydro, tidal, or some other renewable source, and during off-peak hours from a nuclear, coal or gas-fired plant. As could the power needed to manufacture said car and battery (don't assume worse case on that side).
Not to mention that every gallon of gasoline not burned in some car's engine is oil that didn't have to be pumped up out of the ground in an unstable country thousands of miles away, shipped halfway across the globe, refined, and re-transported to our local gas station. Kind of makes "line losses" seem insignificant, doesn't it?
Finally, if enough people use 'em and in the process cut our petroleum needs significantly, it could mean that in the future your son or your daughter may not have to die for an oil well.
Are you done being smug?
"battery, is a highly toxic item that adds so much weight to the vehicle"
Couldn't let this one go. The current battery weight in a Prius is 45kg or... 100 lbs. Vehicle weight is 2,921 lbs. And BTW, a 16 gallon gas tank in a conventional vehicle adds 100 lbs of weight when full as well, so a Prius 12 gallon tank effectively drops 24 lbs out of the battery weight, while giving the Prius a range of about 600 miles vs. a more conventional vehicle's 300 mile range.
"There's a great "South Park" episode about this."
Which undoubtedly explains where your facts came from...
"I know, however I don't want any multiplication factor and have the photos cropped, I want to capture all of what I see through the lens."
Non sequitur. You will capture all of what you "see" through the lens, as the viewfinder only shows what's actually going to be recorded. It's not going to arbitrarily whack off the edges of your frame.
Secondarily, there is an advantage to the multiplication factor, as if you use, say, the 70-200/f2.8 IS on a APS-framed camera you're now shooting with a 320mm f2.8 STABILIZED zoom lens that's, what, five pounds lighter and eight inches shorter than the 300mm f2.8 IS FF version. Not to mention about $2,000 cheaper.
You might need to get a 12-24mm or 16-35mm for wide angles, but you might consider ALL of the advantages and disadvantages before assuming that only a FF camera will give you what you need.
"Likewise, if you lose your phone-wallet, how the hell are you going to buy a new one? "
If you get mugged TODAY and they steal your wallet and phone... how the hell are you going to buy a new one? How will you call the police? Oh. Wait. I guess you ask someone to call the police and then you find a phone and call your credit card company and the phone company and... painful as it may be, put your life back together.
Well, strictly speaking if you're into convergence (of which the iPhone is a clear example), and if enough people got on board, you could replace two devices (wallet, phone) with one phone. Or at least carry a much skinnier wallet.
The OCR/bar code stuff could be useful too, just look at delicious library on a Mac. Then again, technically nothing precludes using the iPhone's camera the way delicious currently uses my MacBook's iSight.
Slashdot Mirror
No, what's telling is that people make assumptions and use "common knowledge" instead of thinking and determining the facts for themselves.
Damages are always excessive because they're applied after the fact, as a punitive measure, and because they're also intended act as a deterent. If all you paid was the actual cost of goods your tried to steal, then you might as well go into Best Buy and try to walk out with that disc under your coat. Best case, you get a free disc. Worse case, you pay no more than you would have paid at the checkout counter.
It's why most littering fines are in the "outrageous" category. Does it cost $1,000 to pick up an empty coke can? No. But the fact that you "might" have to pay $1,000 may prevent you from tossing it in the first place. The benefit doesn't outweigh the potential consequences.
"It's not like people in the US are jumping to replace their SUVs and trucks..."
Tell that to GM, Ford, and Chevy, 'cause Toyota is currently eating their lunch, breakfast, AND dinner.
Then look out the window, and start counting the number of VW's, Prius's, Yaris's, Matrix's, FITS, and Focus's running around. Then check out sales of smaller "cross-over" SUVs. Then get back to me.
I don't recall the guy at CompUSA telling me that my Windows box would crash and burn a half dozen times either. Or the guy at the Jeep store telling me that maybe, just maybe, in the future I might need a second mortgage to feed my car.
"
Personally, I'm kind of sick and tired of all the hand holding certain people seem to demand. "Well, they should be REQUIRED... blah...blah...blah... "
Listen. If you're going to spend $500-$600 for ANYTHING I'd hope that you do just a smidgen of research first. People need to take some responsibility for their OWN actions and to at least TRY to act like a functional adult member of society.
You might find this interesting:
2 _archive/2007/08/01/100138830/index.htm
"PG&E plans to buy thousands of plug-in hybrid and electric car batteries that have outlived their usefulness for transportation but still retain capacity. The utility will install them in the basements of office towers and at electrical substations to store green energy produced by wind farms and solar arrays.
"It will make vehicle batteries cheaper," says Sven Thesen, PG&E's supervisor for clean-air transportation, who recently visited Willums in Norway to discuss collaborating with Think."
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business
I guess THIS is one of the things you do with a battery when it can no longer be used in a car...
"But so is Apple for putting the same stupid design in to the iPhone."
You can, by design, have the phone as it is in the current form factor. Or you can have a phone that's significantly larger. Or you can have a phone with significantly less battery life (w/o carrying an extra battery, as most people don't).
Now chose.
"We get so worked up over a cell phone with a slightly different design..."
I don't consider the software on the Motorola phone I had previously to have been "designed". Same for the Nokia it replaced.
"Some people [sic] want a phone where it's easy to dial. People want different sets of capabilities, and a bunch of people [sic] want a full QWERTY keyboard."
"Some" and "a bunch". Good quantitative analysis there. Nice how you can make up nearly any statement you want using those words and have it be darn near irrefutable.
Although apparently a bunch of people (e.g. over a quarter of a million) seem to like the iPhone's virtual keypad, as Apple sold 1/6th as many iPhones in two days as Microsoft sold in an entire quarter.
Odd how real numbers are so much more satisfying...
You guys need to get serious. It's not just Carbon and Cocoa, but Quartz and Quicktime and Core Audio and Bonjour and all of the other technologies OS X applications are based on.
You're better off running Parallels and virtualizing Linux. Performance is actually quite good and besides, how much of a hit are you going to take going the other way around, "virtualizing" OS X applications to run under Linux?
"... an Audi A3 diesel that gets better mileage."
You have to be kidding, right? An Audi A3 is $47,000 plus. A Prius is $22,000. People complain about the extra $2,000 a hybrid costs over a conventional engine, but how much fuel do you have to save to make a difference of more than $25,000 economical? And how much extra equipment, electronics, etc., is that extra $25K adding?
Enough to make up for one extra 99 lb battery? (Hint: a Prius weighs 2,921 lbs, an A3 weighs in 3,329 lbs. That's an extra 500 lbs of metals, alloys, circuits, and plastics over a Prius minus the battery.) But hey, I bet none of that material had to go through refining and a dirty, nasty manufacturing process. And all of it was done with renewable sources too, no doubt.
"When Ultra-caps are practical..."
So now we have to wait for blue-sky technologies? And what exotic materials and processes are going to be need to make ultra-caps "practical"? Or that different from a battery? What about simply cutting the battery weight (and associated materials needed) in half by using Li-ion or Lipo? (in the works) How about pairing a biodiesel with a HEV drive and better batteries and getting the best of both worlds? (also in the works).
"I just don't think that anything that relies on the electric grid and stores the power in a battery is a practical, mass-market, full lifecycle environmentally friendly, way to do that."
You'd better look into that position. And while you're at it, look into energy-balance analysis for hydrogen. And above all, check out the processes and costs with creating a hydrogen infrastructure... (that's also primarily powered off the grid).
"... most of the arguments in this area are based on articles of faith..."
Yours too, apparently.
Actually, a long slow break is better than a fast, hard one, regeneration-wise.
"That's exactly what the Gaiainists that have taken over the environmental movement are doing."
Believe Crichton or not (in yet another work of fiction), but there are extremely practical reasons for: a) reducing pollution; and b) dramatically cutting our need for oil in general, and foreign oil in particular.
If everyone's vehicle got twice the mileage that it did currently, with the corresponding reduction in imports, would we be as likely to be embroiled in the Middle East? Would we be as worried that a single hurricane or refinery accident will cause gas prices to double? Would as many families worry about finding the money to feed their car vs. feeding their kids? Would you rather have an extra hundred or so a month to spend as you wish, or would you prefer to just hand it over to Exxon-Mobil and Conoco-Phillips for the privilege of filling up your tank?
And I liked the way you tried to change the subject. Shall we get back to renewable-powered P-HEVs? Or continue discussing battery weight?
"... unless the traffic is moving forward at a crawl, then your foot's on the brake the entire time."
Isn't that what regenerative breaking is all about? (grin)
It could be presumed that you chose that software specifically for the well-known "hidden partition" option (police departments hire geeks too, you know). As such, prove that the incriminating evidence ISN'T locked away in the hidden partition and that you're not refusing to comply with the warrent.
"if you're stopped behind a pileup, chances are your foot's on the brake, so the brake lights are using energy as well."
Ever heard of park? Besides, the low-on-gas auto is idling and burning fuel to do the same (lights, heater, A/C).
Again, your special case applies both ways.
"So, what is the real benefit of the hybrid/electric car?"
Gas is (currently) $3 a gallon. The equivalent amount of electricity to go the same distance on battery power alone costs $1. Plus, that power could come from solar, wind, hydro, tidal, or some other renewable source, and during off-peak hours from a nuclear, coal or gas-fired plant. As could the power needed to manufacture said car and battery (don't assume worse case on that side).
Not to mention that every gallon of gasoline not burned in some car's engine is oil that didn't have to be pumped up out of the ground in an unstable country thousands of miles away, shipped halfway across the globe, refined, and re-transported to our local gas station. Kind of makes "line losses" seem insignificant, doesn't it?
Finally, if enough people use 'em and in the process cut our petroleum needs significantly, it could mean that in the future your son or your daughter may not have to die for an oil well.
Are you done being smug?
"battery, is a highly toxic item that adds so much weight to the vehicle"
Couldn't let this one go. The current battery weight in a Prius is 45kg or... 100 lbs. Vehicle weight is 2,921 lbs. And BTW, a 16 gallon gas tank in a conventional vehicle adds 100 lbs of weight when full as well, so a Prius 12 gallon tank effectively drops 24 lbs out of the battery weight, while giving the Prius a range of about 600 miles vs. a more conventional vehicle's 300 mile range.
"There's a great "South Park" episode about this."
Which undoubtedly explains where your facts came from...
"Not to mention when you are stuck behind a pileup with no way to get off that current road."
If you're stopped behind a pileup an electric motor needs how much power when it's not running? Ummm... none?
Besides, your special case applies equally to a conventional gas engine. If I'm low on gas and stuck in traffic, am I not equally hosed?
"I know, however I don't want any multiplication factor and have the photos cropped, I want to capture all of what I see through the lens."
Non sequitur. You will capture all of what you "see" through the lens, as the viewfinder only shows what's actually going to be recorded. It's not going to arbitrarily whack off the edges of your frame.
Secondarily, there is an advantage to the multiplication factor, as if you use, say, the 70-200/f2.8 IS on a APS-framed camera you're now shooting with a 320mm f2.8 STABILIZED zoom lens that's, what, five pounds lighter and eight inches shorter than the 300mm f2.8 IS FF version. Not to mention about $2,000 cheaper.
You might need to get a 12-24mm or 16-35mm for wide angles, but you might consider ALL of the advantages and disadvantages before assuming that only a FF camera will give you what you need.
"Likewise, if you lose your phone-wallet, how the hell are you going to buy a new one? "
If you get mugged TODAY and they steal your wallet and phone... how the hell are you going to buy a new one? How will you call the police? Oh. Wait. I guess you ask someone to call the police and then you find a phone and call your credit card company and the phone company and... painful as it may be, put your life back together.
Next stupid question.
Slashdot just wants to boost its page views.
Compared on a checklist the "features" look the same. It's how the features are implemented, however, that make the difference.
No, we would attach a spork to a blender if we thought we could make an infomercial and sell a couple million of them...
Well, strictly speaking if you're into convergence (of which the iPhone is a clear example), and if enough people got on board, you could replace two devices (wallet, phone) with one phone. Or at least carry a much skinnier wallet.
The OCR/bar code stuff could be useful too, just look at delicious library on a Mac. Then again, technically nothing precludes using the iPhone's camera the way delicious currently uses my MacBook's iSight.
"'If we do help out, we are being nosey and putting ourselves where "we don't belong". If we DON'T help, we are being "stupid selfish Americans"."
Only a Sith sees things in terms of black and white. And we've certainly "helped out" in Iraq.
"No one makes us give away billions upon billions of dollars a year."
Too bad that the vast majority of the billions we give away are to Boeing and McDonald-Douglas and Northrop Grumman and Haliburton.
"However, I want a few dedicated buttons for important functions like volume, power, and send/hang up."
You're in luck. There's a sleep/wake button, a home button, volume up/down buttons, and (in the headset) an answer/hangup switch.