Manufacturers like to hype up, or pretend to have shortages but it is very bad to actually have one because you lose sales. It's worse for them to have a surplus, though, because it costs them money. That's why manufacturers tend to be conservative then they are doing their initial production runs. The goal is to get as close as possible to the actual demand, without exceeding it. This is especially true with microelectronics where waiting a year to move a product could render it obsolete and therefore worthless.
The CN tower was the world's tallest structure, but it's not a building in the conventional sense since it is not filled with floors for people to live/work on. Yes, it is still the tallest structure in the Americas.
For one thing, they've never built a thorium MSR. If you want to burn thorium in a conventional reactor, you'd need to reprocess your fuel. Of course, they could get a dramatically increased amount of energy out of Uranium if they used fast reactors and fuel reprocessing. The problem is that reprocessing is expensive. That's why there's the interest in molten salt reactors, they think the reprocessing can be done less expensively. But the breeding ratio for thorium is very low, much lower than uranium in a fast reactor (which we know is high enough to be sustainable). It may be too low for the thorium fuel cycle to be sustainable. Someone needs to actually build one to see if it can work. So the problem is that they are not even experimental at this point, they are hypothetical.
The guidelines are really not like that at all. They point out that most molesters/abusers are people children know well. They list the signs a child is being abused, and what to do should you suspect it.
That's no joke. My church was having a father's weekend camp-out, and they asked me if I could attend to help take care of some of the children of single moms. I like to work with children so of course I went. While we were there someone told my pastor that they were concerned that I might be a pedophile for no other reason than the simple fact that I was there. And I was there with dozens of other fathers. Seriously? Unbelievable.
People really need to read up on sexual abuse, (and other forms of child abuse) because it really is a serious problem. But unfounded paranoia about men is not the solution to the problem. If you are are curious about what can be done to prevent abuse, the BSA has some good guidelines (http://olc.scouting.org/info/ypt.html). The only thing I have a problem with is their instructions to contact responsible individuals at the BSA before contacting child protective services. That is obviously intended primarily to maintain a clean image for the BSA, and it's disgraceful that they've suggested/recommended it.
I've never heard of any sync issues, mine seems to work fine. Likewise, I was not aware of any random shutdowns/diminished battery life. It doesn't seem fair to hold software issues that have been fixed against the current version of the phone, however. Likewise, since MMS is now supported, it's not fair to call that a glaring issue. I don't think there is a significant problem with iPhones overheating, I heard a couple stories about it when the 3GS came out, but I haven't heard of it since then (mine certainly doesn't have that problem).
The app store approval process needs improvement. I wouldn't say that is has impaired my use of the phone in any way, but I can see that it would be an issue for other people (my coworker has an jail broken and unlocked iPhone, and she gets more functionality out of it because of it). I wouldn't call it a glaring issue, but the phones will be more useful if apple ever works it out.
It's pretty hard to use any phone while you are wearing gloves, most people take them off once it starts ringing (I haven't worn gloves since I moved to Southern California, but before I came here, that's what I would do). I can't say I've ever missed a call due to the "swipe to unlock". Could you use the headphones and just click the controller to answer? That way you're hands free too.
"the iPhone's issues are glaringly bad. It's a decent device that does its job well"
First of all, these two statements are completely incompatible. Second, what are the iPhone's glaringly bad issues? I've had an iPhone for over a year. I haven't had any issues with it, not to mention any "glaringly bad" ones.
That isn't likely, because there is nothing that can compare to actual face to face interaction. Maybe we should just move closer to where we work and walk. That way we could get some exercise too (I've lost about 30 lbs since I stopped driving).
I don't think so, he was always a little paranoid. After he quit his job he went off the deep end because it was the only thing keeping him grounded. After he said that to me, I decided I wasn't willing to continue living with him. I gave him 30 days to get his stuff in order and leave, but he asked for an additional week, and after that wad up he asked for another one. I told him he had to leave right away, and he threatened to sue. After that things got really ugly.
We can't imagine how much better off the world would be if even 10% of the population did this. It's all a question of perception. Do you believe that you are lost in the world tossed about by forces beyond your control, or do you believe that you have the power and authority to be responsible for yourself. This is the point of that story at the beginning of the Bible where God asks Adam "why did you do this thing I warned you not to do" and he is like "well she told me to do it" and then he asks Eve and she's like "well the serpent tricked me into it".
Real men take ownership of their lives. What we live in right now is a world filled with whimpering spineless children. We need to man up and take responsibility for ourselves.
I had an experience like this, though with an ex-roommate. A lady called me ans asked me for a reference, she asked me if he paid his rent on time. I was like "yes. . " and she was like "but what?" so I told her that I'd kicked him out because he accused me of trying to poison him (he also threatened to sue me for kicking him out). I think it's always best to error on the side of full disclosure. If someone wants to be charitable and give someone with a checkered past a second chance, that's up to them. There's nothing kind about withholding truthful, and important information from someone.
I was talking to my fiend the other day about ATT's outrageous prices for iPhone customers. You know it's bad when even a Verizon user thinks your service is expensive. ATT says that the problem is iPhone users require 5 - 10 times more bandwidth than other users. As of today, they can charge what they want because no one else has the iPhone on their network. There has been a lot of speculation that the exclusive contract is about to end, if that's true this news makes sense, as ATT will be looking for ways to increase their perceived value in order to stay competitive in a market where they no longer have an exclusive contract.
"their method of doing that is even more invasive than Microsoft's"
Yes, but it's much more honest. MSFT was always happy to cram an inferior product down the throats of their customers by any means necessary. They worked to shut down competition by use of anti-competitive business practices (and they have been convicted of doing it, so this is not simply my opinion). At least when Google is shutting down a competitor, they do it by releasing a superior product.
They aren't a friendly garage company, and really they never were. But that's not the point, they have the best search engine, so we use it. They offer a number of other services (maps, mail) that are better than competing services. You can argue about this, but you would only be arguing personal preference. Very few people use Google because they like their business practices, rather they like the product.
Everyone treats the argument that "the innocent have nothing to hide" as though it's untrue. But we as a society are in a place where many activities that most people routinely engage in are socially unacceptable. That's the problem. The solution is more openness and transparency, not less.
This is a good philosophy to have. We ought to apply it to the way we distribute money and other resources as well. We tend to enjoy consolidating things, but in truth that is a very inefficient way to run things.
If you put a bunch of brilliant engineers on one project they will just spend all their time second-guessing each other. Better to let them work on separate projects or competitive projects so that you can come out with what works best in the end, rather than waste all your time making one solution that you think may be the best. If you don't believe me, look at Microsoft, they've been hiring all the best programmers for years, and it's all come to (almost) nothing.
Likewise look at the federal government. They can spend nearly 4 trillion dollars in a single year and not have a whole lot to show for it. It just doesn't make sense to consolidate resources like that.
"do you really suppose, even in theory, that you could pump electricity into a datacenter, put pretty pictures on people's screens all over the world, and then pick up 100% of that electricity back for use in heating your hot water?"
Yes. Where do you think the energy goes? The first law of thermodynamics requires that you get it all back.
There's the legally enacted IP, which is pretty bogus, but there is real IP. That is held by scientists, engineers, designers etc. . . who have real working experience, skills, and knowledge that it not easily transferred to others, and comes only from doing the design work. This kind of IP is hard earned and extremely valuable. For the time being it remains here. But americans are becoming more detached from reality every day. Soon we won't live in a country that encourages innovation and knowledge and entrepreneurship at all (if we even still do). Then the people in the world with real IP will look elsewhere for opportunities to make their dreams a reality.
I recently gave up driving my car (even though I live in Southern California) because I realized I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to meet everyone's expectations. Now, if it's under 3 miles, or if I have extra time, I walk, otherwise I ride the bus. Not only is it much cheaper than driving, but I have a lot more free time. The reason is simple, I plan my day so that I only have one or two events to attend to during the day. If someone wants me to do something else, sorry I don't have time because every additional event costs me 2 hours in travel time. That gives me time to really focus on the task at hand and I'm a lot better off for it. Come to think of it, I really shouldn't be reading Slashdot right now.
I can touch type very well, but I don't see how a mobile device could ever compare to an actual, full-sized keyboard whether there is tactile feedback or not.
The key to typing is knowing where your fingers are on the keyboard, so that your memory of the locations of the keys is accurate. When I type on my iPhone, I use the edges of the phone to know here the keys are. The difficulty is that you can't feel the edges of the keys, but I find that the auto-correct fixes errors from missing the keys quite well (and since I have lots of practice, I don't miss much, maybe 1 in 20 words).
You should use an actual, full-sized keyboard for any serious typing (I always laugh when people brag to me that their mobile device has a "full keyboard"), since you can use all you fingers. You could never type as fast on a mobile device, due this limitation. Since that is the case, I am happy to use the iPhone's (slightly inferior) on-screen keyboard so that I can have a smaller device that is less-likely to break.
Slashdot Mirror
"there should be a point when a person or group of people should drop their self-interest and think about everyone"
LOL
Is this the first news article you've read about congress, or the US government?
Now, imagine a world where we burn 90% less oil. That is the remedy that is being suggested.
Manufacturers like to hype up, or pretend to have shortages but it is very bad to actually have one because you lose sales. It's worse for them to have a surplus, though, because it costs them money. That's why manufacturers tend to be conservative then they are doing their initial production runs. The goal is to get as close as possible to the actual demand, without exceeding it. This is especially true with microelectronics where waiting a year to move a product could render it obsolete and therefore worthless.
The CN tower was the world's tallest structure, but it's not a building in the conventional sense since it is not filled with floors for people to live/work on. Yes, it is still the tallest structure in the Americas.
For one thing, they've never built a thorium MSR. If you want to burn thorium in a conventional reactor, you'd need to reprocess your fuel. Of course, they could get a dramatically increased amount of energy out of Uranium if they used fast reactors and fuel reprocessing. The problem is that reprocessing is expensive. That's why there's the interest in molten salt reactors, they think the reprocessing can be done less expensively. But the breeding ratio for thorium is very low, much lower than uranium in a fast reactor (which we know is high enough to be sustainable). It may be too low for the thorium fuel cycle to be sustainable. Someone needs to actually build one to see if it can work. So the problem is that they are not even experimental at this point, they are hypothetical.
The guidelines are really not like that at all. They point out that most molesters/abusers are people children know well. They list the signs a child is being abused, and what to do should you suspect it.
That's no joke. My church was having a father's weekend camp-out, and they asked me if I could attend to help take care of some of the children of single moms. I like to work with children so of course I went. While we were there someone told my pastor that they were concerned that I might be a pedophile for no other reason than the simple fact that I was there. And I was there with dozens of other fathers. Seriously? Unbelievable.
People really need to read up on sexual abuse, (and other forms of child abuse) because it really is a serious problem. But unfounded paranoia about men is not the solution to the problem. If you are are curious about what can be done to prevent abuse, the BSA has some good guidelines (http://olc.scouting.org/info/ypt.html). The only thing I have a problem with is their instructions to contact responsible individuals at the BSA before contacting child protective services. That is obviously intended primarily to maintain a clean image for the BSA, and it's disgraceful that they've suggested/recommended it.
I've never heard of any sync issues, mine seems to work fine. Likewise, I was not aware of any random shutdowns/diminished battery life. It doesn't seem fair to hold software issues that have been fixed against the current version of the phone, however. Likewise, since MMS is now supported, it's not fair to call that a glaring issue. I don't think there is a significant problem with iPhones overheating, I heard a couple stories about it when the 3GS came out, but I haven't heard of it since then (mine certainly doesn't have that problem).
The app store approval process needs improvement. I wouldn't say that is has impaired my use of the phone in any way, but I can see that it would be an issue for other people (my coworker has an jail broken and unlocked iPhone, and she gets more functionality out of it because of it). I wouldn't call it a glaring issue, but the phones will be more useful if apple ever works it out.
It's pretty hard to use any phone while you are wearing gloves, most people take them off once it starts ringing (I haven't worn gloves since I moved to Southern California, but before I came here, that's what I would do). I can't say I've ever missed a call due to the "swipe to unlock". Could you use the headphones and just click the controller to answer? That way you're hands free too.
"the iPhone's issues are glaringly bad. It's a decent device that does its job well"
First of all, these two statements are completely incompatible. Second, what are the iPhone's glaringly bad issues? I've had an iPhone for over a year. I haven't had any issues with it, not to mention any "glaringly bad" ones.
That isn't likely, because there is nothing that can compare to actual face to face interaction. Maybe we should just move closer to where we work and walk. That way we could get some exercise too (I've lost about 30 lbs since I stopped driving).
Why do you think mere existence of these government programs is proof of their necessity? There is more than one way to skin a cat, you know?
I don't think so, he was always a little paranoid. After he quit his job he went off the deep end because it was the only thing keeping him grounded. After he said that to me, I decided I wasn't willing to continue living with him. I gave him 30 days to get his stuff in order and leave, but he asked for an additional week, and after that wad up he asked for another one. I told him he had to leave right away, and he threatened to sue. After that things got really ugly.
We can't imagine how much better off the world would be if even 10% of the population did this. It's all a question of perception. Do you believe that you are lost in the world tossed about by forces beyond your control, or do you believe that you have the power and authority to be responsible for yourself. This is the point of that story at the beginning of the Bible where God asks Adam "why did you do this thing I warned you not to do" and he is like "well she told me to do it" and then he asks Eve and she's like "well the serpent tricked me into it".
Real men take ownership of their lives. What we live in right now is a world filled with whimpering spineless children. We need to man up and take responsibility for ourselves.
I had an experience like this, though with an ex-roommate. A lady called me ans asked me for a reference, she asked me if he paid his rent on time. I was like "yes. . " and she was like "but what?" so I told her that I'd kicked him out because he accused me of trying to poison him (he also threatened to sue me for kicking him out). I think it's always best to error on the side of full disclosure. If someone wants to be charitable and give someone with a checkered past a second chance, that's up to them. There's nothing kind about withholding truthful, and important information from someone.
no.
I was talking to my fiend the other day about ATT's outrageous prices for iPhone customers. You know it's bad when even a Verizon user thinks your service is expensive. ATT says that the problem is iPhone users require 5 - 10 times more bandwidth than other users. As of today, they can charge what they want because no one else has the iPhone on their network. There has been a lot of speculation that the exclusive contract is about to end, if that's true this news makes sense, as ATT will be looking for ways to increase their perceived value in order to stay competitive in a market where they no longer have an exclusive contract.
"their method of doing that is even more invasive than Microsoft's"
Yes, but it's much more honest. MSFT was always happy to cram an inferior product down the throats of their customers by any means necessary. They worked to shut down competition by use of anti-competitive business practices (and they have been convicted of doing it, so this is not simply my opinion). At least when Google is shutting down a competitor, they do it by releasing a superior product.
They aren't a friendly garage company, and really they never were. But that's not the point, they have the best search engine, so we use it. They offer a number of other services (maps, mail) that are better than competing services. You can argue about this, but you would only be arguing personal preference. Very few people use Google because they like their business practices, rather they like the product.
Everyone treats the argument that "the innocent have nothing to hide" as though it's untrue. But we as a society are in a place where many activities that most people routinely engage in are socially unacceptable. That's the problem. The solution is more openness and transparency, not less.
More likely he asked them to stop because they were annoying the other customers, and they were un-compliant and un-apologetic, so he called the cops.
This is a good philosophy to have. We ought to apply it to the way we distribute money and other resources as well. We tend to enjoy consolidating things, but in truth that is a very inefficient way to run things.
If you put a bunch of brilliant engineers on one project they will just spend all their time second-guessing each other. Better to let them work on separate projects or competitive projects so that you can come out with what works best in the end, rather than waste all your time making one solution that you think may be the best. If you don't believe me, look at Microsoft, they've been hiring all the best programmers for years, and it's all come to (almost) nothing.
Likewise look at the federal government. They can spend nearly 4 trillion dollars in a single year and not have a whole lot to show for it. It just doesn't make sense to consolidate resources like that.
"do you really suppose, even in theory, that you could pump electricity into a datacenter, put pretty pictures on people's screens all over the world, and then pick up 100% of that electricity back for use in heating your hot water?"
Yes. Where do you think the energy goes? The first law of thermodynamics requires that you get it all back.
There's the legally enacted IP, which is pretty bogus, but there is real IP. That is held by scientists, engineers, designers etc. . . who have real working experience, skills, and knowledge that it not easily transferred to others, and comes only from doing the design work. This kind of IP is hard earned and extremely valuable. For the time being it remains here. But americans are becoming more detached from reality every day. Soon we won't live in a country that encourages innovation and knowledge and entrepreneurship at all (if we even still do). Then the people in the world with real IP will look elsewhere for opportunities to make their dreams a reality.
The ozone hole is a separate problem from global warming (as far as we know).
I recently gave up driving my car (even though I live in Southern California) because I realized I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to meet everyone's expectations. Now, if it's under 3 miles, or if I have extra time, I walk, otherwise I ride the bus. Not only is it much cheaper than driving, but I have a lot more free time. The reason is simple, I plan my day so that I only have one or two events to attend to during the day. If someone wants me to do something else, sorry I don't have time because every additional event costs me 2 hours in travel time. That gives me time to really focus on the task at hand and I'm a lot better off for it. Come to think of it, I really shouldn't be reading Slashdot right now.
I can touch type very well, but I don't see how a mobile device could ever compare to an actual, full-sized keyboard whether there is tactile feedback or not.
The key to typing is knowing where your fingers are on the keyboard, so that your memory of the locations of the keys is accurate. When I type on my iPhone, I use the edges of the phone to know here the keys are. The difficulty is that you can't feel the edges of the keys, but I find that the auto-correct fixes errors from missing the keys quite well (and since I have lots of practice, I don't miss much, maybe 1 in 20 words).
You should use an actual, full-sized keyboard for any serious typing (I always laugh when people brag to me that their mobile device has a "full keyboard"), since you can use all you fingers. You could never type as fast on a mobile device, due this limitation. Since that is the case, I am happy to use the iPhone's (slightly inferior) on-screen keyboard so that I can have a smaller device that is less-likely to break.