Hillary-care (or pick-your-socialist-idiot-care) is going to somehow be BETTER than my private insurance? Could every dipstick out there agitating for socialized medicine just turn on their brain for 20 seconds?
Do you REALLY want health care that offers the efficiency of the DMV, the bedside manner of the IRS, privacy managed by the NSA, and the cost overruns of the DOD? Is that REALLY what you want? Because that's what you're going to get. Everything that the government touches turns to crap, without exception. Socialize medicine and you'll have substandard care, the death of innovation, long waits for "non-emergency" procedures, and a tax burden that will make you long for the days when the government only took 1/2 your income.
Kids are amazing. I don't think I ever really thought about it much until my daughter came along, but those sayings "little eyes make big pictures" and "monkey see, monkey do" are really true
She's 18 months and will pick up a Wii remote, point it at the TV, and wave it around like she's seen daddy do. On top of that, she's seen me use my iPhone enough that she knows that to turn it on you push the button and then slide the on-screen slider. She even knows that you touch the clock icon to see the "tic tic"--though it's hard for her to touch just the one portion of the screen, since she's usually holding it in a way that her thumb or another finger is on it too.
It reminds me to model the type of behavior I want her to have when she mimics even simple things like this.
It's pretty rare to "solve" a problem in Linux or OSX with a reboot.
Of course, one of my work boxes is a windows box, and I regularly have to give it the three-fingered solute. The other four boxes under my desk, not so much.
That's not the worst of it
on
Flying Humans
·
· Score: 1
When we jumped out of Air Force planes (when I was in the 82nd Airborne) the pilots regularly did a "terrain following" flight path for the last part of the flight. So, imagine 60 guys crammed in a C-130 like sardines for three or four hours, wearing 100lbs of kit, stifled from lack of fresh air, the temperature is in to 80s, you can't see out, and the plane is maneuvering as violently as a roller coaster.
Then they open the door and let the jump-master look out for the jump point landmarks. At this point, you're so desperate to get out of the plane and into that fresh air that it wouldn't matter if you were over water and didn't have a chute. You'd jump.
In the northeastern states, roundabouts are quite common. In fact, in New Hampshire, I know of at least two places where two state routes (these two-lane roads would be considered "major" highways only in N.H.) have roundabouts as the "interchange"
If your peers are basement-dwelling 14-year-olds, political operatives, paranoics, or uninformed amateurs with an axe to grind, then I suppose that for you, the Wacki-pedia is peer reviewed.
There's a eBook reader for the touch/iPhone
on
The Cult of Kindle
·
· Score: 1
I've got it on my phone and it's pretty good. I think only does plain text, but if you get most of your books from Gutenberg or other DRM-free sources, ASCII-only is a trivial weakness.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with my iPhone as a single-gadget solution. When I had a Treo, I appreciated the ability to read eBooks on my phone, (my main non-phone use) but really wasn't too happy with the browser experience. Having the ability to use OWA to check my work email wasn't an option with the (lame) Palm browser, which was a real pain.
When the iPhones dropped in price and I was able to see the version of Safari that's on them (that's pretty much a full-fledged browser, minus Flash--and is that a defect or a benefit?) I decided to buy one. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.
GP is making an un-supported claim, which parent attempts to refute with ridiculous "data" from the study.
Exactly how much keyboard use does one month of use entail, for an average iPhone user? Surfing the Web is more a matter of clicking than typing, except for the occasional username/password or search string. Texting isn't big with 'merkins, so that's unlikely to be a high-use task. How many hours of use is in that "at least one month"?
For an average user, I'm guessing you're talking minutes a day. Times 30 days. So what TFA says, essentially, is that after an hour of use text input didn't improve significantly? Brilliant! However, we can't even know that, since we don't really know how much the phones were used. Let me know if water is still wet and whether gravity is still turned on next, OK?
Actually, I have an iPhone and I think the keyboard is lame. I turned off the auto-correction and I pay attention when I type, so it isn't a big issue for me.
The article makes it sound like M1s are Bolos, or something. But slow down there, McFly. The ability to "blind" a tank assumes a level of tech that's not currently available.
Sure the commander is getting info electronically. But it's not like the computer that stabilizes the gun and sight is connected to the network. Nor is the turret traversing mechanism. The article at best glosses over the systems that are networked, and at worse is FUD. From TFS it sounds like there's imminent danger that Al Queda is going to be hacking our tanks' mainframes and turning them against us. As cool as some super-networked, computer controlled, AI-powered, self-aware nuclear tank sounds, they're not in the inventory right now.
If you want the real chance to do physical damage by hacking, crack the control network of a Predator and shoot a Deuce-and-a-half with a Hellfire. That'd be real "win" for some 133t haxor in a burqa. And they'd get terrific PR (which is what Al Queda is really all about) from using The Great Satan's own weapons against us.
I'm not a big fan of the "oh noes! DRM is the suxors!" crowd, because I'm rational enough to see both sides of the DRM issue: producers want to get paid, consumers want full control over what they've bought. But there are a lot of reasons DRM sucks, besides the wild conspiracy theories and the "porn just wants to be free" arguments that you regularly see on/. This article is an example.
Letting some (lame) third-party, like Macrovision, put hooks into the OS, and then have no clear or timely answer on how this is going to get fixed is a perfect example of why I'm opposed to this type of restriction. On top of that, every expensive new DRM trick that gets tried is broken almost immediately by hackers and companies that see profit in selling the work-arounds. So what's the point?
I think Apple's solution with iTunes was a reasonable compromise (though I know not everyone agrees). You prevent casual copying to reassure the artists/labels, but let users access the music on a large number of computers/devices and close your eyes to the loopholes that essentially allow unlimited copying into other formats. I never found Apple's DRM onerous, obtrusive, or objectionable (nice alliteration, eh?)
In any event, I think that it's likely that this argument (for music) is likely to be mooted in the next year or two as the industry embraces the MP3 format. Whether the movie industry sees the light and follows their lead is another question.
with less integrated stuff, fix-it-yourself was more of an option. I don't know how I'd go about trying to "fix" something where some resistor or cap on the board had gone bad.
but let's face it, this is almost certainly the result of economics, rather than some magical new sensitivity for the environment.
Call me when people start putting effort into recycling or repairing their $25 gizmo, instead of when they decide to shell out $100 for the repair of a $300 item.
The title of this article should probably be something like "expensive gadgets not such a commodity item for middle class Americans, after all"
My wife's PT Cruiser will go about 285 miles between fill ups. So the monthly trip from here to LA to see the parents/grandparents(320 miles) requires a single stop to fill up, each way. The key factor though is that it takes me about 5 minutes to fill the tank and then we're back on the road.
Call me when they have an electric car that will recharge in 5 minutes (heck, I'd settle for a 30 minute charge) so that I can make that same trip without adding an overnight hotel stay/recharge stop to the cost of it.
I'm not opposed to electrics, but the conspiracy theorists/head-in-the-sand crowd that thinks that the only reason EVs aren't a hit is some plot by big oil/unreasonable requirements by consumers... those folks drive me nuts. In my opinion, the markets in the U.S. are free enough that if/when someone comes up with a good electric solution, it will sell and sell and sell. Until then, it's all talk.
I mean, Apple has this tiny, thin, sexy iPhone. Microsoft has a coffee table. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.
Anyway, MS doesn't build phone or PC hardware. So any implementation of their "surface" work would have to come from them passing the tech on to their manufacturing partners.
If you're in the Bay Area (or ever come for a visit) you should definitely visit the Computer History Museum. I lived about four blocks from there in Mountain View for a number of years, but never went because it didn't sound too interesting. Then my new company held a function there.
It is a really great place to see the history of computers come to life. They have a number of retirees from IBM and other computer companies as docents who lead tours and know a lot about the old machines they have there. There's even a room where they're working to restore old punch-card reading machines to a working state.
If you're at all interested in computers (on./? who isn't!) and you get the chance, you should visit this place. Very cool
You imply that adults "weigh" the long-term consequences of smoking and then make a rational choice to continue smoking. As a former smoker, I'm not sure that's an accurate reflection of what's happening with smokers (adults or children) nor a compelling answer to why we ban underage smoking.
A clearer explanation, in my opinion, would be that we expect adults to accept the consequences of their actions as a matter of personal responsibility. In other words, adults could reasonably know that smoking is dangerous and choose to smoke anyway, but they have to live with the consequences; lung cancer, emphysema, etc. We don't necessarily hold "minors" to the same standard. If a child gets their father's gun, takes it to school, and shoots another child, the consequences (should) fall mainly on the parent.
Of course, in our modern society, there are some really wacky things going on. People can sue corporations for the result of bad choices they've made, because we've pretty much abdicated on the idea of personal responsibility in non-criminal cases, while at the same time a five-year-old can be tried as an adult and sent up to the Big House if they use crayons to draw a gun in kindergarten.
But my take on this is more that (historically) we've decided that kids aren't held to the same standard of personal responsibility that we've (historically) assigned to adults.
Who would believe that Microsoft is denigrating a competing standard? What's next? Toyota comparing their trucks to others? Household cleansers claiming to work better than the leading brand?
This could lead to a calamity of Biblical proportions: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!
Slashdot Mirror
Hillary-care (or pick-your-socialist-idiot-care) is going to somehow be BETTER than my private insurance? Could every dipstick out there agitating for socialized medicine just turn on their brain for 20 seconds?
Do you REALLY want health care that offers the efficiency of the DMV, the bedside manner of the IRS, privacy managed by the NSA, and the cost overruns of the DOD? Is that REALLY what you want? Because that's what you're going to get. Everything that the government touches turns to crap, without exception. Socialize medicine and you'll have substandard care, the death of innovation, long waits for "non-emergency" procedures, and a tax burden that will make you long for the days when the government only took 1/2 your income.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I guess that those Honor Guard chrome helmets are going to be on every domestic terrorist's Christmas list this year
Kids are amazing. I don't think I ever really thought about it much until my daughter came along, but those sayings "little eyes make big pictures" and "monkey see, monkey do" are really true
She's 18 months and will pick up a Wii remote, point it at the TV, and wave it around like she's seen daddy do. On top of that, she's seen me use my iPhone enough that she knows that to turn it on you push the button and then slide the on-screen slider. She even knows that you touch the clock icon to see the "tic tic"--though it's hard for her to touch just the one portion of the screen, since she's usually holding it in a way that her thumb or another finger is on it too.
It reminds me to model the type of behavior I want her to have when she mimics even simple things like this.
It's pretty rare to "solve" a problem in Linux or OSX with a reboot.
Of course, one of my work boxes is a windows box, and I regularly have to give it the three-fingered solute. The other four boxes under my desk, not so much.
When we jumped out of Air Force planes (when I was in the 82nd Airborne) the pilots regularly did a "terrain following" flight path for the last part of the flight. So, imagine 60 guys crammed in a C-130 like sardines for three or four hours, wearing 100lbs of kit, stifled from lack of fresh air, the temperature is in to 80s, you can't see out, and the plane is maneuvering as violently as a roller coaster.
Then they open the door and let the jump-master look out for the jump point landmarks. At this point, you're so desperate to get out of the plane and into that fresh air that it wouldn't matter if you were over water and didn't have a chute. You'd jump.
In the northeastern states, roundabouts are quite common. In fact, in New Hampshire, I know of at least two places where two state routes (these two-lane roads would be considered "major" highways only in N.H.) have roundabouts as the "interchange"
If your peers are basement-dwelling 14-year-olds, political operatives, paranoics, or uninformed amateurs with an axe to grind, then I suppose that for you, the Wacki-pedia is peer reviewed.
I've got it on my phone and it's pretty good. I think only does plain text, but if you get most of your books from Gutenberg or other DRM-free sources, ASCII-only is a trivial weakness.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with my iPhone as a single-gadget solution. When I had a Treo, I appreciated the ability to read eBooks on my phone, (my main non-phone use) but really wasn't too happy with the browser experience. Having the ability to use OWA to check my work email wasn't an option with the (lame) Palm browser, which was a real pain.
When the iPhones dropped in price and I was able to see the version of Safari that's on them (that's pretty much a full-fledged browser, minus Flash--and is that a defect or a benefit?) I decided to buy one. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.
GP is making an un-supported claim, which parent attempts to refute with ridiculous "data" from the study.
Exactly how much keyboard use does one month of use entail, for an average iPhone user? Surfing the Web is more a matter of clicking than typing, except for the occasional username/password or search string. Texting isn't big with 'merkins, so that's unlikely to be a high-use task. How many hours of use is in that "at least one month"?
For an average user, I'm guessing you're talking minutes a day. Times 30 days. So what TFA says, essentially, is that after an hour of use text input didn't improve significantly? Brilliant! However, we can't even know that, since we don't really know how much the phones were used. Let me know if water is still wet and whether gravity is still turned on next, OK?
Actually, I have an iPhone and I think the keyboard is lame. I turned off the auto-correction and I pay attention when I type, so it isn't a big issue for me.
But TFA is FUD.
If you're a geek who likes to read, they've got cool stuff you'd probably be interested in.
The Laplander lap desk is nice.
I've bought a good amount of stuff from Levenger over the years (fountain pens, folios, etc.) and I've never been disappointed.
They just want to access the "truthiness" of recommendations :-)
/. needs ones who can smell a geek and not run scared :-)
The article makes it sound like M1s are Bolos, or something. But slow down there, McFly. The ability to "blind" a tank assumes a level of tech that's not currently available.
Sure the commander is getting info electronically. But it's not like the computer that stabilizes the gun and sight is connected to the network. Nor is the turret traversing mechanism. The article at best glosses over the systems that are networked, and at worse is FUD. From TFS it sounds like there's imminent danger that Al Queda is going to be hacking our tanks' mainframes and turning them against us. As cool as some super-networked, computer controlled, AI-powered, self-aware nuclear tank sounds, they're not in the inventory right now.
If you want the real chance to do physical damage by hacking, crack the control network of a Predator and shoot a Deuce-and-a-half with a Hellfire. That'd be real "win" for some 133t haxor in a burqa. And they'd get terrific PR (which is what Al Queda is really all about) from using The Great Satan's own weapons against us.
As far as tanks? Nothing to see here. Move along.
It's wrong in so many ways.
/. This article is an example.
I'm not a big fan of the "oh noes! DRM is the suxors!" crowd, because I'm rational enough to see both sides of the DRM issue: producers want to get paid, consumers want full control over what they've bought. But there are a lot of reasons DRM sucks, besides the wild conspiracy theories and the "porn just wants to be free" arguments that you regularly see on
Letting some (lame) third-party, like Macrovision, put hooks into the OS, and then have no clear or timely answer on how this is going to get fixed is a perfect example of why I'm opposed to this type of restriction. On top of that, every expensive new DRM trick that gets tried is broken almost immediately by hackers and companies that see profit in selling the work-arounds. So what's the point?
I think Apple's solution with iTunes was a reasonable compromise (though I know not everyone agrees). You prevent casual copying to reassure the artists/labels, but let users access the music on a large number of computers/devices and close your eyes to the loopholes that essentially allow unlimited copying into other formats. I never found Apple's DRM onerous, obtrusive, or objectionable (nice alliteration, eh?)
In any event, I think that it's likely that this argument (for music) is likely to be mooted in the next year or two as the industry embraces the MP3 format. Whether the movie industry sees the light and follows their lead is another question.
Higi demand doesn't drive prices down. Competition might be a factor, as might economies of scale. Demand, not so much
with less integrated stuff, fix-it-yourself was more of an option. I don't know how I'd go about trying to "fix" something where some resistor or cap on the board had gone bad.
but let's face it, this is almost certainly the result of economics, rather than some magical new sensitivity for the environment.
Call me when people start putting effort into recycling or repairing their $25 gizmo, instead of when they decide to shell out $100 for the repair of a $300 item.
The title of this article should probably be something like "expensive gadgets not such a commodity item for middle class Americans, after all"
Thanks, dude! No I have to go rinse my brain out with soap.
but not in the point being made.
My wife's PT Cruiser will go about 285 miles between fill ups. So the monthly trip from here to LA to see the parents/grandparents(320 miles) requires a single stop to fill up, each way. The key factor though is that it takes me about 5 minutes to fill the tank and then we're back on the road.
Call me when they have an electric car that will recharge in 5 minutes (heck, I'd settle for a 30 minute charge) so that I can make that same trip without adding an overnight hotel stay/recharge stop to the cost of it.
I'm not opposed to electrics, but the conspiracy theorists/head-in-the-sand crowd that thinks that the only reason EVs aren't a hit is some plot by big oil/unreasonable requirements by consumers... those folks drive me nuts. In my opinion, the markets in the U.S. are free enough that if/when someone comes up with a good electric solution, it will sell and sell and sell. Until then, it's all talk.
If you had a TVs that switched themselves off if nothing is on that's worth watching, you'd never be able to turn them on!
I mean, Apple has this tiny, thin, sexy iPhone. Microsoft has a coffee table. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.
Anyway, MS doesn't build phone or PC hardware. So any implementation of their "surface" work would have to come from them passing the tech on to their manufacturing partners.
If you're in the Bay Area (or ever come for a visit) you should definitely visit the Computer History Museum. I lived about four blocks from there in Mountain View for a number of years, but never went because it didn't sound too interesting. Then my new company held a function there.
./? who isn't!) and you get the chance, you should visit this place. Very cool
It is a really great place to see the history of computers come to life. They have a number of retirees from IBM and other computer companies as docents who lead tours and know a lot about the old machines they have there. There's even a room where they're working to restore old punch-card reading machines to a working state.
If you're at all interested in computers (on
than the old world?
You imply that adults "weigh" the long-term consequences of smoking and then make a rational choice to continue smoking. As a former smoker, I'm not sure that's an accurate reflection of what's happening with smokers (adults or children) nor a compelling answer to why we ban underage smoking.
A clearer explanation, in my opinion, would be that we expect adults to accept the consequences of their actions as a matter of personal responsibility. In other words, adults could reasonably know that smoking is dangerous and choose to smoke anyway, but they have to live with the consequences; lung cancer, emphysema, etc. We don't necessarily hold "minors" to the same standard. If a child gets their father's gun, takes it to school, and shoots another child, the consequences (should) fall mainly on the parent.
Of course, in our modern society, there are some really wacky things going on. People can sue corporations for the result of bad choices they've made, because we've pretty much abdicated on the idea of personal responsibility in non-criminal cases, while at the same time a five-year-old can be tried as an adult and sent up to the Big House if they use crayons to draw a gun in kindergarten.
But my take on this is more that (historically) we've decided that kids aren't held to the same standard of personal responsibility that we've (historically) assigned to adults.
Who would believe that Microsoft is denigrating a competing standard? What's next? Toyota comparing their trucks to others? Household cleansers claiming to work better than the leading brand?
This could lead to a calamity of Biblical proportions: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!