>"Not so sure if I would want the light outside my house turning on and off all night."
Me neither. So, imagine what driving would be with lights that turn on only when you are close enough THEY could see you. It would be a mess. And how would they "see" pedestrians and bikes at night, accurately?
I think just having them be a lot more efficient and aimed properly (designed for proper light dispersion only where it is needed) would do what we need to save tons of energy while generating less glare and light pollution. Also, I don't think they really need to be anywhere near as bright as they typically are... and if they were a proper color, that might help things too (that horrible, sick, orange color of sodium lights and anemic green/blue of mercury vapor lights really doesn't help).
>"Yes, because China and Russia are great examples of free countries where people have the constitutional freedoms of the US."
There is a certain amount of irony in that statement, considering the paths the USA has been taking so often.... the "unpatriot act", the trend to electronic censorships, attacks on gun rights, the endless spying on citizens, the use of searching without probable cause, the misuse of "interstate commerce" to justify just about any law, the tons and tons of Federal programs and laws that are rights reserved to only the States, misuse of the Executive order to make law that is clearly the realm of the Legislative branch, secret lists that deprive citizens of their rights without due process, seizure of property without oversight, trials that take years to start which are certainly not "speedy", cruel and unusual punishments while incarcerated, I could go on, but you get the idea.
The Constitutional freedoms of the US have never been under more attack. Given time, how much like China and Russia will things turn out? So many people act like the Constitution is an outdated list of guidelines or suggestions, and not the rule book... just something that can just be ignored when not convenient or when people scream for more "safety" or just twisted to mean whatever is fashionable at the moment.
Oh great, just what we need- turning all the hundreds of thousands of streetlamps into spy cameras. Monitor all vehicles, read and store all plates, monitor all pedestrians, monitor all houses and driveways, add facial recognition. Oh, but it is in "public spaces" and so it would never be abused... everything will be transparent, it would never be hacked either..... right.
>"...that black hosts were also less likely to accept requests from guests with African American-sounding names than with white-sounding ones."
[European-American sounding ones, but yep, probably so.] It is also likely that there is discrimination against Muslim sounding names, and many other types of names, it is certainly not just one category. And if people had access to know what kind of money a prospect has, what type of employment, their credit score, their age, sexual orientation, how they speak, what clothes they typically wear, how fat they are, if they drink, if they smoke, political leanings, legal history, how much schooling was completed, if married, what music they listen to, how many kids, the renters will likely discriminate based on all that, too (and much more).
Welcome to basic human nature. It might suck, but ALL people judge each other all the time, automatically, and most of the time without even knowing. And the scary part is that companies are constantly collecting, aggregating, selling, and using all that kind of information I listed above (and much, much more).... they think they know you.
So what? You will never have it when you need it unexpectedly. The thing is going to stick out, interfering with carrying the phone, making it bulky and unruly. It is likely to break or get lost. It is just plain irritating.
It is a good thing I have no interest in "iphones", I just hope the other phone makers reject this stupid idea.
1) 35 incidents over 2.5 million devices (thus far). So what are the odds of something happening ever to any one person, much less on a plane (how many have the phones that are NOT recalled, then see #3 below)?
2) How are they supposed to know which GN7's have been swapped with new models or not? (Hint: They can't.) So they will ban anything that looks like a GN7 forever?
3) Can't find proof, but I bet most of the incidents were during high-power charging. How many are going to be charged while on a plane, much less in high-power mode?
4) How many OTHER devices have similar problems, just not well publicized?
No, I wasn't saying that at all. A 1.5+ million person area is not a "nowhere place". I generally have coverage most everywhere here. But not good coverage TYPE. Coverage at 3G or 2G is not what customers want in a metro area. Sure, I expect it when I *AM* in a nowhere area.
I am talking about wanting LTE everywhere in the metro area, including inside all buildings.
I am a post-paid customer and get paper bills (which is what I want). So I don't need reminders about paying a bill, or confirmation it is paid. Sprint never did that to me, and as a customer, there should be an opt out for such annoyances.
And yes, they are WORTHLESS noise. If they only sent a notice if the bill was NOT paid, then it would be something useful that I could address.
>"T-Mobile plans to boost its LTE speeds to up to 400 Mbps in the very near future."
I don't care. Probably like most people, I would much rather have more coverage/range than crazy speed. Their precious 700Mhz didn't come to my 1.5+ million person area, and my area is certainly not alone. That means mediocre building penetration with existing service and spotty coverage in other areas.
I like T-Mobile, but I wish they would focus on:
* Maintaining low prices, and without catches. * Coverage/penetration/range. * Not penalizing people for not handing over direct access to their banking accounts, so-called "auto-pay". * Stopping with the gimmiky stuff like video transcoding, and the misuse of the word "unlimited". * Allow us to stop the incessant nagging text messages about "your bill is due" and "your bill is paid" and such.
>"If scientists could send Zika-carrying mosquitoes into extinction, should they do it?"
Yes. In fact, any human biting mosquitoes, not just Zika ones. I personally would prefer the "eradicate to NEAR extinction" option and not complete eradication, however... just to be on the super-safe side. And, of course, we would retain frozen/live samples indefinitely. Perhaps eventually we could find a way to change them such that the females do NOT require blood to procreate.
The studies I have read seem to indicate that human-biting mosquitoes do not represent a critical or even major link in the food chain for other creatures. They are also very minor pollinators. Many believe their loss will not collapse or even stress any ecosystem.
I have no problems with the same treatment for fleas, ticks, chiggers, and bedbugs, either.... insects that cause nothing but misery and add little to nothing to the food chain.
>"the U.S. "is the only developed nation on Earth which allows pharmaceutical companies to set their own prices."
There is nothing inherently wrong with a free market..... as long as the market really is free and isn't being controlled by unregulated monopolies. That is what we are seeing happen with things like the Epi-Pen. And in cases where patents are creating artificial monopolies, we have to examine if there should be regulation (as we rightfully regulate all other monopolies).
As for the backlog at the FDA for generics- that is just inexcusable.
Oh, and yes, I am one of the people that must have an Epi-Pen or risk losing my life if I accidentally eat a nut (which happened once and nearly did so). So yes, I have a horse in this race...
>"will walk you through the process of using a text message to confirm your mobile device as a secondary layer of security for your PSN account"
Please realize that all this is, is a way for businesses to capture your mobile phone number and then abuse it with marketing. Almost GUARANTEED. Any "security" that requires you to disclose your phone number is a HORRIBLE idea.
>"Your philosophy is basically, "Even though the system sucks, I don't have the sack to try and change stuff. Voting for a winner is much more important." "
Actually, my philosophy is that the system does suck, very badly, and we need to focus our efforts on trying to fix the system because the spoiler effect is very real and won't go away.
When faced with the "lesser of two evils", voters can't vote for third parties because they rightfully know their vote will likely work AGAINST what they want. Voting for a third party will almost always mean a vote taken away from a major candidate that is closer to what you want, thus supporting someone you less want to win.
>"Facebook knows a lot more about its users than they think. For instance, the New York Times reports, the company is categorizing its users as liberal, conservative, or moderate. "
First, it doesn't know more than I think... but, then, I am not a user.
In any case, the political spectrum is not a single scale of left and right. Never has been. That is a gross over-simplification of how things actually are. "Conservative" and "Liberal" mean absolutely nothing out of context. You can be conservative economically and liberal socially, for example.
>"The P100D Ludicrous upgrade costs $10,000 for customers who have ordered a P90D Ludicrous but haven't taken delivery, or $20,000 for owners who already have that vehicle type."
What is ludicrous is not just the speed, but the price!:)
Oh, and do note, in that mode your range will be ludicrously low...
>"- We'res the Firefox Ad or the Moz equivalent?... Mozilla needs a presentation video of its own. Hero size, professionally done. People want Moooovieezzz! nowadays."
Um, please NO. Or if you absolutely MUST, then make DAMN sure it is separate, small (with ability to optionally make it larger), and doesn't autoplay.
>"Maybe what we need is Javascript sandboxing that can pause scripts in tabs without focus, limit CPU usage, autokill pages, and so on."
BINGO..... +100
And while we are at it, how about something, ANYTHING, in the browser that will help us STOP sites from endless animation and tight loops when we are just trying to read a screen. And before someone mentions "Noscript" yet AGAIN, that is NOT a workable solution for "normal" users. It either totally breaks sites, or is a nightmare to config and deal with, or both.
>"Vote for the Libertarian and the Greens and get a proper debate going for once"
If only that would work..... But it won't. We can't ever elect a third party in a major race because of our broken system. To fix it would would at least need some type of instant runoff voting system http://fairvote.org/
Even getting third parties into a debate is extremely difficult.
>"Ask Slashdot: How Will You Handle Microsoft's New 'Cumulative' Windows Updates?"
I run Linux and have for decades. That is how I handle dealing with Microsoft. Of course, that doesn't do most people much good...but people allow themselves to be slaves to Microsoft. The stunts Microsoft has pulled over the last several years shows they are just as controlling, unreasonable, and manipulative as ever.
There is never a better time to move away from MS-Windows.... Linux is just as robust as ever, it has a lot of great applications, lots of support structure, and more and more business software is finally moving to be cloud based and/or web-front ended so the clients can run whatever they like.
>"Comcast Rolls Out $70-Per-Month Gigabit Internet Service In Chicago "
>"Initial users have the choice of a promotional contract price of $70 per month for 36 months, or $139.95 per month (plus tax and fees) with no contract."
So it is *NOT* $70/mo, which is only for new customers, only for a short time, and only with a contract. It is probably more like $150 to $160 per month after additional money for hidden fees and then more for taxes.
I am extremely sick and tired of these misleading and dishonest pricing structures of cable companies.
Auto-pay penalty? No thanks. I detest the idea of any company taking a non-fixed amount of money from one of my accounts without my approval. I think this is a big mistake on their part- they are going to piss off a lot of people.
Slashdot Mirror
>"Not so sure if I would want the light outside my house turning on and off all night."
Me neither. So, imagine what driving would be with lights that turn on only when you are close enough THEY could see you. It would be a mess. And how would they "see" pedestrians and bikes at night, accurately?
I think just having them be a lot more efficient and aimed properly (designed for proper light dispersion only where it is needed) would do what we need to save tons of energy while generating less glare and light pollution. Also, I don't think they really need to be anywhere near as bright as they typically are... and if they were a proper color, that might help things too (that horrible, sick, orange color of sodium lights and anemic green/blue of mercury vapor lights really doesn't help).
>"Yes, because China and Russia are great examples of free countries where people have the constitutional freedoms of the US."
There is a certain amount of irony in that statement, considering the paths the USA has been taking so often.... the "unpatriot act", the trend to electronic censorships, attacks on gun rights, the endless spying on citizens, the use of searching without probable cause, the misuse of "interstate commerce" to justify just about any law, the tons and tons of Federal programs and laws that are rights reserved to only the States, misuse of the Executive order to make law that is clearly the realm of the Legislative branch, secret lists that deprive citizens of their rights without due process, seizure of property without oversight, trials that take years to start which are certainly not "speedy", cruel and unusual punishments while incarcerated, I could go on, but you get the idea.
The Constitutional freedoms of the US have never been under more attack. Given time, how much like China and Russia will things turn out? So many people act like the Constitution is an outdated list of guidelines or suggestions, and not the rule book... just something that can just be ignored when not convenient or when people scream for more "safety" or just twisted to mean whatever is fashionable at the moment.
http://www.sensity.com/compute...
http://www.sensity.com/for-sec...
Oh great, just what we need- turning all the hundreds of thousands of streetlamps into spy cameras. Monitor all vehicles, read and store all plates, monitor all pedestrians, monitor all houses and driveways, add facial recognition. Oh, but it is in "public spaces" and so it would never be abused... everything will be transparent, it would never be hacked either..... right.
>"...that black hosts were also less likely to accept requests from guests with African American-sounding names than with white-sounding ones."
[European-American sounding ones, but yep, probably so.] It is also likely that there is discrimination against Muslim sounding names, and many other types of names, it is certainly not just one category. And if people had access to know what kind of money a prospect has, what type of employment, their credit score, their age, sexual orientation, how they speak, what clothes they typically wear, how fat they are, if they drink, if they smoke, political leanings, legal history, how much schooling was completed, if married, what music they listen to, how many kids, the renters will likely discriminate based on all that, too (and much more).
Welcome to basic human nature. It might suck, but ALL people judge each other all the time, automatically, and most of the time without even knowing. And the scary part is that companies are constantly collecting, aggregating, selling, and using all that kind of information I listed above (and much, much more).... they think they know you.
>The dongle comes with the phone.
So what?
You will never have it when you need it unexpectedly.
The thing is going to stick out, interfering with carrying the phone, making it bulky and unruly.
It is likely to break or get lost.
It is just plain irritating.
It is a good thing I have no interest in "iphones", I just hope the other phone makers reject this stupid idea.
1) 35 incidents over 2.5 million devices (thus far). So what are the odds of something happening ever to any one person, much less on a plane (how many have the phones that are NOT recalled, then see #3 below)?
2) How are they supposed to know which GN7's have been swapped with new models or not? (Hint: They can't.) So they will ban anything that looks like a GN7 forever?
3) Can't find proof, but I bet most of the incidents were during high-power charging. How many are going to be charged while on a plane, much less in high-power mode?
4) How many OTHER devices have similar problems, just not well publicized?
No, I wasn't saying that at all. A 1.5+ million person area is not a "nowhere place". I generally have coverage most everywhere here. But not good coverage TYPE. Coverage at 3G or 2G is not what customers want in a metro area. Sure, I expect it when I *AM* in a nowhere area.
I am talking about wanting LTE everywhere in the metro area, including inside all buildings.
I am a post-paid customer and get paper bills (which is what I want). So I don't need reminders about paying a bill, or confirmation it is paid. Sprint never did that to me, and as a customer, there should be an opt out for such annoyances.
And yes, they are WORTHLESS noise. If they only sent a notice if the bill was NOT paid, then it would be something useful that I could address.
>"T-Mobile plans to boost its LTE speeds to up to 400 Mbps in the very near future."
I don't care. Probably like most people, I would much rather have more coverage/range than crazy speed. Their precious 700Mhz didn't come to my 1.5+ million person area, and my area is certainly not alone. That means mediocre building penetration with existing service and spotty coverage in other areas.
I like T-Mobile, but I wish they would focus on:
* Maintaining low prices, and without catches.
* Coverage/penetration/range.
* Not penalizing people for not handing over direct access to their banking accounts, so-called "auto-pay".
* Stopping with the gimmiky stuff like video transcoding, and the misuse of the word "unlimited".
* Allow us to stop the incessant nagging text messages about "your bill is due" and "your bill is paid" and such.
>"If scientists could send Zika-carrying mosquitoes into extinction, should they do it?"
Yes. In fact, any human biting mosquitoes, not just Zika ones. I personally would prefer the "eradicate to NEAR extinction" option and not complete eradication, however... just to be on the super-safe side. And, of course, we would retain frozen/live samples indefinitely. Perhaps eventually we could find a way to change them such that the females do NOT require blood to procreate.
The studies I have read seem to indicate that human-biting mosquitoes do not represent a critical or even major link in the food chain for other creatures. They are also very minor pollinators. Many believe their loss will not collapse or even stress any ecosystem.
I have no problems with the same treatment for fleas, ticks, chiggers, and bedbugs, either.... insects that cause nothing but misery and add little to nothing to the food chain.
>"the U.S. "is the only developed nation on Earth which allows pharmaceutical companies to set their own prices."
There is nothing inherently wrong with a free market..... as long as the market really is free and isn't being controlled by unregulated monopolies. That is what we are seeing happen with things like the Epi-Pen. And in cases where patents are creating artificial monopolies, we have to examine if there should be regulation (as we rightfully regulate all other monopolies).
As for the backlog at the FDA for generics- that is just inexcusable.
Oh, and yes, I am one of the people that must have an Epi-Pen or risk losing my life if I accidentally eat a nut (which happened once and nearly did so). So yes, I have a horse in this race...
>"It looks like Windows (a 10-year-old version, anyway), so you already know how to use it."
Really? What if you have been using Linux pretty much exclusively for a few decades? :)
I am glad there are still a few reputable companies still out there. But I believe them to be the minority.
>"will walk you through the process of using a text message to confirm your mobile device as a secondary layer of security for your PSN account"
Please realize that all this is, is a way for businesses to capture your mobile phone number and then abuse it with marketing. Almost GUARANTEED. Any "security" that requires you to disclose your phone number is a HORRIBLE idea.
>And my first thought was, "I think you meant 'OR'."
+1 Bingo :)
>"Your philosophy is basically, "Even though the system sucks, I don't have the sack to try and change stuff. Voting for a winner is much more important." "
Actually, my philosophy is that the system does suck, very badly, and we need to focus our efforts on trying to fix the system because the spoiler effect is very real and won't go away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
When faced with the "lesser of two evils", voters can't vote for third parties because they rightfully know their vote will likely work AGAINST what they want. Voting for a third party will almost always mean a vote taken away from a major candidate that is closer to what you want, thus supporting someone you less want to win.
>"Facebook knows a lot more about its users than they think. For instance, the New York Times reports, the company is categorizing its users as liberal, conservative, or moderate. "
First, it doesn't know more than I think... but, then, I am not a user.
In any case, the political spectrum is not a single scale of left and right. Never has been. That is a gross over-simplification of how things actually are. "Conservative" and "Liberal" mean absolutely nothing out of context. You can be conservative economically and liberal socially, for example.
See this for interesting information and a test: https://www.politicalcompass.o...
>"The P100D Ludicrous upgrade costs $10,000 for customers who have ordered a P90D Ludicrous but haven't taken delivery, or $20,000 for owners who already have that vehicle type."
What is ludicrous is not just the speed, but the price! :)
Oh, and do note, in that mode your range will be ludicrously low...
>"- We'res the Firefox Ad or the Moz equivalent? ... Mozilla needs a presentation video of its own. Hero size, professionally done. People want Moooovieezzz! nowadays."
Um, please NO. Or if you absolutely MUST, then make DAMN sure it is separate, small (with ability to optionally make it larger), and doesn't autoplay.
>"Maybe what we need is Javascript sandboxing that can pause scripts in tabs without focus, limit CPU usage, autokill pages, and so on."
BINGO..... +100
And while we are at it, how about something, ANYTHING, in the browser that will help us STOP sites from endless animation and tight loops when we are just trying to read a screen. And before someone mentions "Noscript" yet AGAIN, that is NOT a workable solution for "normal" users. It either totally breaks sites, or is a nightmare to config and deal with, or both.
>"Vote for the Libertarian and the Greens and get a proper debate going for once"
If only that would work..... But it won't. We can't ever elect a third party in a major race because of our broken system. To fix it would would at least need some type of instant runoff voting system http://fairvote.org/
Even getting third parties into a debate is extremely difficult.
>Go fuck yourself, Mark Davis.
Brilliant, informative, and insightful reply, Anonymous Coward. I wonder how much you are being paid to be a troll.
>"Ask Slashdot: How Will You Handle Microsoft's New 'Cumulative' Windows Updates?"
I run Linux and have for decades. That is how I handle dealing with Microsoft. Of course, that doesn't do most people much good...but people allow themselves to be slaves to Microsoft. The stunts Microsoft has pulled over the last several years shows they are just as controlling, unreasonable, and manipulative as ever.
There is never a better time to move away from MS-Windows.... Linux is just as robust as ever, it has a lot of great applications, lots of support structure, and more and more business software is finally moving to be cloud based and/or web-front ended so the clients can run whatever they like.
Change is never easy, though.
>"Comcast Rolls Out $70-Per-Month Gigabit Internet Service In Chicago "
>"Initial users have the choice of a promotional contract price of $70 per month for 36 months, or $139.95 per month (plus tax and fees) with no contract."
So it is *NOT* $70/mo, which is only for new customers, only for a short time, and only with a contract. It is probably more like $150 to $160 per month after additional money for hidden fees and then more for taxes.
I am extremely sick and tired of these misleading and dishonest pricing structures of cable companies.
Auto-pay penalty? No thanks. I detest the idea of any company taking a non-fixed amount of money from one of my accounts without my approval. I think this is a big mistake on their part- they are going to piss off a lot of people.