The usual comparison is "go-kart." If your car handled like a shopping cart, it would have a front wheel at 30 degrees toe-out and a broken steering linkage.
Where is the competition in the other parts of the world, particularly the US?
Americans, and American car manufacturers, don't care about fuel economy nearly as much as everyone else in the world. Even now that I'm paying about $1.90 a gallon, fuel is cheap here compared to other countries. The popularity of SUVs speaks volumes about American priorities.
Fuel economy is, of course, important to Europeans, but the European manufacturers have generally pursued efficient diesel engines rather than gasoline-electric hybrids. The VW TDI's are examples of this technology, but are somewhat hampered by the quality of US diesel, which is considerably inferior to European diesel.
How do people who are... say... interested in things like Drag Racing get access to such air strips (preferrably legally)?
First, get rid of the word "preferably." If you're going to host a race of any kind, you'll need to carry insurance to cover your ass. And nobody's going to write a policy for an illegal race.
I've never organized a race, but have participated in some, including the Lone Pine Time Trials at the mostly-abandoned Manzanar airstrip. (Warning to drag racers: Pictures include cars turning.) I assume that the organizers simply asked the owners (possibly the city of Los Angeles; they own much of the Owens Valley) and paid the required fee. I know that we were required to keep the existing paint in good condition, because it's still supposed to be a viable emergency landing site.
We also hold SCCA autocrosses at remote parts of active airports, including SBD. I'm sure it's just a matter of contacting the owners and paying them a grand or so. I know they have drags at IYK, for example, and I'm sure it's the same deal.
Is there a sanctioning body for local drag races that you can hook up with to give you advice about getting permission and insurance? Or maybe the local SCCA autocrossers can suggest sites that would be agreeable to your plans.
Remaining 0.6% probably antimatter but not 100% sure. Correct me if I'm wrong...
You're wrong. Antimatter is baryonic (well, at least to the same extent that normal matter is; some of it is leptons, but very little by mass).
I suspect that all of the percentages given have been rounded to two significant figures, and that you folks shouldn't be concluding that 0.4% has been unspecified.
There are contributions to Omega from electrons and neutrinos, for example, but this is a tiny amount compared even to the 4.4% from baryons.
Folks are not taught that sometimes 1.0 + 1.0 != 2.0 (rounding errors)
Most of us use IEEE floating point these days. If your FP implementation does not give exact results for addition of small integers, you have a serious gripe to take to the implementor.
Wait...why would I shop ONLINE for something that's down the street again?
To have it shipped to someone else as a gift. Or because the online stores have a larger inventory than the store down the street.
I once had a nice book shipped to my mom as a gift. I was surprised that Wal-Mart.com carried it, and more surprised that their price was well below the other online retailers for that book.
It arrived damaged, and my mom tried to return it to the local Wal-Mart, but they did not carry that book at the store. But Wal-Mart.com did a good job handling the return.
In any case, here in California, we already pay sales tax when we order from most online vendors, because they have a business presence in California. Now the rest of you get to join in the fun.
which makes the spam filter useless in the first place.
Well, not really, depending on your habits. Like a lot of people, some of the emails I get are about urgent work-related stuff. So if I'm working, and xbiff goes "beep!" I briefly stop what I'm doing to look at the email, and then go back to work.
Spam filters stop literally dozens of such interruptions every day, and I can review the list of blocked spam in less than a minute, once a day.
I also send copies of my email to my cell phone, so the spam filter means that I get fewer distractions while I'm away from work, and spend less time deleting mail from the phone (which is more cumbersome than on the computer).
Linus could just as easily bar kernel patch submission from some individual who he thought was causing problems.
And Matt can still submit patches to the kernel or any other part of FreeBSD; he just can't make those changes to the CVS repository himself.
In other words, he's been "demoted" to the same level that everyone but Linus is at in the Linux world. Except that he's still better off than Linux submitters, because his patches will automatically go into a public bug-reporting system and can be committed by any of hundreds of committers, not just one. But of course the Linux people will keep going on about how "open" Linux development is and how "closed" FreeBSD development is.
if its so "frustrating", then tell us what happened and that will be the end of it.
What I described as "frustrating" was the inability of Slashdot editors and posters to grasp the distinction between Core and committers, and I did explain that distinction. As have dozens of others over the years.
So read what I wrote and STFU yourself. It's not my place to spread gossip about my colleagues on Slashdot.
The committers (i.e. developers with write access to the CVS repository, who number in the hundreds).
If core developers are elected democratically, why was it necessary to throw out Matt Dillon explicitly instead of just explaining the situation to the electors? Aren't electors trusted to do the (apparently) reasonable thing and unelect him?
Contrary to the title of this Slashdot article, Matt Dillon was not a member of Core, and hence was not elected. He was a committer, one of hundreds. His commit bit was granted by Core.
It is incredibly frustrating to read Slashdot whenever something like this comes up, because so many people (Linux people, it seems) confuse Core with the body of committers, despite the fact that we go through this exercise over and over again.
However, the real reason airlines are pushing these is that they're actually a different class of ticket. The contract is different.
This is utter crap. The terms and conditions of your ticket come from the fare class. (At any time, you can reserve the same itinerary in a variety of fare classes, with different prices and different restritcions.) The fare class is completely distinct from whether the reservation is ticketed on paper or electronically. There may be a fee for paper ticketing. Paying for a paper ticket in no way changes the terms and conditions.
Paper tickets are primarily useful if you are traveling on a full-fare unrestricted ticket; if your flight is delayed you can go straight to another airline and your paper ticket is as good as gold. If you are on a restricted ticket, like most leisure travelers, the other airline will not accept your ticket unless your orignal airline endorses it over to them, so you'll have to stand in line at your original airline's ticket counter anyway.
If you want real flying information from frequnet fliers who know all the tricks and rules, go to FlyerTalk instead of slashdot.
However if they hadn't curved the grades, everyone would have failed...their standards were so high no one could pass the test. I regularly got a 40% which turned out to be the highest grade in the class and received an A after the curve.
That's how it should be. If 50% of the material on test is easy enough that everyone gets it right, then why bother putting it on the test? Spend the time testing the hardest stuff, to better discriminate which students really know their stuff. It's all about dynamic range! This 90% for an A, 80% for a B, system is arbitrary garbage, and I doubt any of my physics classes (after my freshman year) were graded that way.
And, hey, some things are just hard and 40% is a good success rate. Taking batting a baseball, for example!
I don't understand why you'd pay tax when you buy something locally, but wouldn't if you order it from a remote place.
Because the sales taxes are levied by the states, to support state programs. Living in California, if I mail-order tires from Nevada (to use a real example), the merchant does not collect the Nevada sales tax from me, because I do not live in Nevada and do not benefit from the programs the tax fund (education, roads, etc. in Nevada).
In many (all?) states, you are actually legally required to pay sales tax to your state for such purchases, so I should remit California sales tax to the California authorities for my tires. (Disclaimer: I don't know for sure that California has such a law.)
Of course, nobody does that, because the law is not enforced.
It's really the same as when I travel in Europe and can have the tax refunded when I leave; I am not liable for the tax because I don't live in the place funded by the tax.
Why do you assume that an outside, commercial entity would be more competent than somebody on their own staff? If they need a PostgreSQL expert, why would it be better to pay a "commercial entity" to provide them with an expert, rather than just hire the expert?
I'm not saying that's what they did; of course it would depend on whether they have enough work to hire the expert, for example. But I don't understand the reasoning that says "there's no way that we can hire competent staff, but surely if we pay another company enough, they'll have competent staff."
So, maybe you'd think that we'd all be more free if the government tells us what we can and can not drive, or if you think you should dictate my life based on your preferences, but personally, I don't care.
But that's what they did, indirectly. They made CAFE requirements stricter for cars than light trucks. Hence the automakers were better off selling SUVs than big-ass station wagons (for example), so they killed the big cars and made Americans think they need an SUV.
If you want the government not to influence what you drive, you should get them to drop CAFE, or make cars and light trucks fall under the same CAFE requirement.
Slashdot Mirror
Fuel economy is, of course, important to Europeans, but the European manufacturers have generally pursued efficient diesel engines rather than gasoline-electric hybrids. The VW TDI's are examples of this technology, but are somewhat hampered by the quality of US diesel, which is considerably inferior to European diesel.
Yeah, we heard you last time.
I've never organized a race, but have participated in some, including the Lone Pine Time Trials at the mostly-abandoned Manzanar airstrip. (Warning to drag racers: Pictures include cars turning.) I assume that the organizers simply asked the owners (possibly the city of Los Angeles; they own much of the Owens Valley) and paid the required fee. I know that we were required to keep the existing paint in good condition, because it's still supposed to be a viable emergency landing site.
We also hold SCCA autocrosses at remote parts of active airports, including SBD. I'm sure it's just a matter of contacting the owners and paying them a grand or so. I know they have drags at IYK, for example, and I'm sure it's the same deal.
Is there a sanctioning body for local drag races that you can hook up with to give you advice about getting permission and insurance? Or maybe the local SCCA autocrossers can suggest sites that would be agreeable to your plans.
We use Manzanar Airstrip once a year. It's an abandoned airstrip across the highway from the abandoned WWII internment camp.
I suspect that all of the percentages given have been rounded to two significant figures, and that you folks shouldn't be concluding that 0.4% has been unspecified.
There are contributions to Omega from electrons and neutrinos, for example, but this is a tiny amount compared even to the 4.4% from baryons.
Other than that, good points.
I once had a nice book shipped to my mom as a gift. I was surprised that Wal-Mart.com carried it, and more surprised that their price was well below the other online retailers for that book.
It arrived damaged, and my mom tried to return it to the local Wal-Mart, but they did not carry that book at the store. But Wal-Mart.com did a good job handling the return.
In any case, here in California, we already pay sales tax when we order from most online vendors, because they have a business presence in California. Now the rest of you get to join in the fun.
Spam filters stop literally dozens of such interruptions every day, and I can review the list of blocked spam in less than a minute, once a day.
I also send copies of my email to my cell phone, so the spam filter means that I get fewer distractions while I'm away from work, and spend less time deleting mail from the phone (which is more cumbersome than on the computer).
In other words, he's been "demoted" to the same level that everyone but Linus is at in the Linux world. Except that he's still better off than Linux submitters, because his patches will automatically go into a public bug-reporting system and can be committed by any of hundreds of committers, not just one. But of course the Linux people will keep going on about how "open" Linux development is and how "closed" FreeBSD development is.
So read what I wrote and STFU yourself. It's not my place to spread gossip about my colleagues on Slashdot.
It is incredibly frustrating to read Slashdot whenever something like this comes up, because so many people (Linux people, it seems) confuse Core with the body of committers, despite the fact that we go through this exercise over and over again.
Paper tickets are primarily useful if you are traveling on a full-fare unrestricted ticket; if your flight is delayed you can go straight to another airline and your paper ticket is as good as gold. If you are on a restricted ticket, like most leisure travelers, the other airline will not accept your ticket unless your orignal airline endorses it over to them, so you'll have to stand in line at your original airline's ticket counter anyway.
If you want real flying information from frequnet fliers who know all the tricks and rules, go to FlyerTalk instead of slashdot.
And, hey, some things are just hard and 40% is a good success rate. Taking batting a baseball, for example!
In many (all?) states, you are actually legally required to pay sales tax to your state for such purchases, so I should remit California sales tax to the California authorities for my tires. (Disclaimer: I don't know for sure that California has such a law.)
Of course, nobody does that, because the law is not enforced.
It's really the same as when I travel in Europe and can have the tax refunded when I leave; I am not liable for the tax because I don't live in the place funded by the tax.
I'm not saying that's what they did; of course it would depend on whether they have enough work to hire the expert, for example. But I don't understand the reasoning that says "there's no way that we can hire competent staff, but surely if we pay another company enough, they'll have competent staff."
If you want the government not to influence what you drive, you should get them to drop CAFE, or make cars and light trucks fall under the same CAFE requirement.
Jeez, Flamebait (-1)? You'd probably run screaming from a Jay Leno monologue. Even the guy I "flamed" knew it was a joke.