Relevant personal experience: About a year ago I was driving on an interstate in Illinois, not too far from Chicago. For about an hour straight I was within a few football fields of a state trooper. We were both speeding at between 5-15 mph over the limit. At first I was cautious to stay a ways behind him so he wouldn't notice, but for at least half the time, I was the car immediately behind him. Suddenly he slows way down and gets behind me and pulls me over. I point out to him that he had been doing the same speed as me for about an hour, and that we were both going with the flow of traffic, and that he obviously wasn't in a hurry to get somewhere to stop a crime in progress. He said some like "it's a bad idea to follow cops", and that "just because I'm speeding doesn't make it legal for civilians to speed".
This is the problem with speed limits in most of America. They are set so low that at least 90% of traffic is always exceeding the speed limit, including the cops, and thus the cops can essentially pull over anyone they want, whenever they want.
So much for the Constitution and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure...
Power consumption increases proportionally with clock frequency and by the square of the voltage. Now, power is going through the roof as Intel achieves runaway clock rate gains.
Considering how hot my 2 gigahertz pentium gets, I am scared to think of how pretty soon, each household with a personal computer is going to need a nuclear-powerplant-style cooling tower in the backyard.
To go along with that gem of a quote, I must point out: MJ Simpson wrote a review of this movie before he saw the pre-screening, and I sh!t you not, he said:
"Folks, take it from me: this movie is going to rock."
It's the last sentence of his review on This page.
FTA, he ended up in a county jail, so at some point the county sheriffs must have played a role in this, so they are probably the ones who arrested him.
Best Buy security guards (aka "rent-a-cops") do not have the authority to make an actual arrest, but in some states can have limited authority to temporarily detain someone while waiting for the real police to arrive. (btw, IAAL)
This article focuses on all the bad side effects of switching Daylight Saving Time, but there can be some benefits too.
For example, changing Daylight Saving Time could prevent terrorist attacks:
In September 1999, the Palestinian West Bank was on daylight saving time while Israel had just switched back to standard time. West Bank Palestinians prepared time bombs and smuggled them to Arab Israelis, who misunderstood the time on the bombs. As the bombs were being planted, they exploded--one hour too early--killing three terrorists instead of two busloads of people, the intended victims. (from webexhibits.org)
"The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time."
Btw, there's lots of other cool info about DST on that page, e.g.:
In the U.S., the changeover time was chosen to be 2 am, when most people are at home and, originally, the time when the fewest trains were running. This is practical and minimizes disruption. It is late enough to minimally affect bars and restaurants, and prevent the day from switching to yesterday (which would be confusing). It is early enough that the entire continental U.S. has switched by daybreak, and the changeover occurs before most early shift workers and early churchgoers (particularly on Easter).
Also, Hawaii doesn't observe DST. I guess they get enough sunlight as it is. Either that or something to do with being so much closer to the equator.
The way this question is posed demonstrates a common misunderstanding of the costs and benefits of investing in alternative energy sources.
Obviously, the marginal price per kilowatt hour is $0. The difference between obtaining 100 kilowatt hours and 101 kilowatt hours is nothing. You would simply have to wait for enough sunlight to hit the solar panel to generate that extra 1 kilowatt hour.
The true cost of investing in solar energy is in the intial cost of manufacturing and setting up the panel.
Thus, the actual cost per kilowatt hour depends on how long you use the solar panel. The longer you use the panel, the cheaper each kilowatt hour becomes.
That lasted for about 6 months. Then December came, along with about a foot of snow. This covered up all the warchalking runes and made finding open networks a little harder.
Unfortunately, war-pissing never caught on, and war-chalking has become much less popular (see, e.g.: ) so I bought a little handheld wireless sniffer, and it's worked ok for those times I was desperate for an internet connection. But a municipal wireless network would be 100 times better. It would save a lot of time having to sniff around, and would have much more consistent and reliable coverage.
"Every word spoken in the e-Courtroom where Isaac Horowitz is on trial for his life appears immediately before the judge on a computer screen. There's a flat-screen monitor between every two seats in the jury box, a witness-box monitor with touch-screen features, and large-screen monitors for public viewing. Lawyers say e-Courtrooms help reduce trial time by making evidence display and tracking documents more efficient. 'It made the Levi Rubinowitz case three to five minutes shorter,' said an Assistant Third Reich Attorney, referring to Horowitz's co-defendant, who plead guilty and was sentenced to death."
Last month, Engadget had an interesting article about new "crazy technology being used for timing and scoring the Tour de France".
from the article: Matsport relied on some rather amazing high-tech timing and scoring technologies this year, including a FinishLynx® high-speed digital finish line and timing camera system, produced by Lynx System Developers, Inc., of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and an AMB Activ transponder timing system, produced by AMB-it, Heemstede, Netherlands
There is also a really nifty diagram about halfway through the article, showing how the AMB Activ Transponder timing system works.
Not directly Olympics-related, but since we were on the topic of new technology used to measure athletes...
"According to the Munich Times, this fall, 4th-graders will not only be treated to comic books and lesson plans from the Anti-Jew Alliance and Weekly Reader, but also invited to name the Nazi Party's mascot, a Jew-hating ferret who teaches tech-savvy kids about the importance of protecting and respecting aryan culture. More details in the press release."
Slashdot Mirror
Try bribery, exthortion, or kidnapping, in that order. If none of that works, make them an offer they can't refuse.
btw, IANAMG (I am not a Mafia goon)
About a year ago I was driving on an interstate in Illinois, not too far from Chicago. For about an hour straight I was within a few football fields of a state trooper. We were both speeding at between 5-15 mph over the limit. At first I was cautious to stay a ways behind him so he wouldn't notice, but for at least half the time, I was the car immediately behind him. Suddenly he slows way down and gets behind me and pulls me over. I point out to him that he had been doing the same speed as me for about an hour, and that we were both going with the flow of traffic, and that he obviously wasn't in a hurry to get somewhere to stop a crime in progress. He said some like "it's a bad idea to follow cops", and that "just because I'm speeding doesn't make it legal for civilians to speed".
This is the problem with speed limits in most of America. They are set so low that at least 90% of traffic is always exceeding the speed limit, including the cops, and thus the cops can essentially pull over anyone they want, whenever they want.
So much for the Constitution and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure...
Gee, that's tough to do.
I should start a website, beertracker.org, to keep track of my daily buzz.
In case you haven't heard of him, he's the great grandson of dances with wolves.
Power consumption increases proportionally with clock frequency and by the square of the voltage. Now, power is going through the roof as Intel achieves runaway clock rate gains.
Considering how hot my 2 gigahertz pentium gets, I am scared to think of how pretty soon, each household with a personal computer is going to need a nuclear-powerplant-style cooling tower in the backyard.
"Folks, take it from me: this movie is going to rock."
It's the last sentence of his review on This page.
Best Buy security guards (aka "rent-a-cops") do not have the authority to make an actual arrest, but in some states can have limited authority to temporarily detain someone while waiting for the real police to arrive. (btw, IAAL)
Also, here's a jpg of both sides of a $2 bill in case anybody on /. has never seen one.
For example, changing Daylight Saving Time could prevent terrorist attacks:
In September 1999, the Palestinian West Bank was on daylight saving time while Israel had just switched back to standard time. West Bank Palestinians prepared time bombs and smuggled them to Arab Israelis, who misunderstood the time on the bombs. As the bombs were being planted, they exploded--one hour too early--killing three terrorists instead of two busloads of people, the intended victims. (from webexhibits.org)
"The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time."
Btw, there's lots of other cool info about DST on that page, e.g.: In the U.S., the changeover time was chosen to be 2 am, when most people are at home and, originally, the time when the fewest trains were running. This is practical and minimizes disruption. It is late enough to minimally affect bars and restaurants, and prevent the day from switching to yesterday (which would be confusing). It is early enough that the entire continental U.S. has switched by daybreak, and the changeover occurs before most early shift workers and early churchgoers (particularly on Easter).
Also, Hawaii doesn't observe DST. I guess they get enough sunlight as it is. Either that or something to do with being so much closer to the equator.
Over half of all web users' cookies? That would be enough cookies to feed the populations of Africa and India for, like, decades.
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
But seriously, I think the real April Fool's Joke is on Slashdot for posting this old news. Apple has been selling these socks for a while now.
Obviously, the marginal price per kilowatt hour is $0. The difference between obtaining 100 kilowatt hours and 101 kilowatt hours is nothing. You would simply have to wait for enough sunlight to hit the solar panel to generate that extra 1 kilowatt hour.
The true cost of investing in solar energy is in the intial cost of manufacturing and setting up the panel.
Thus, the actual cost per kilowatt hour depends on how long you use the solar panel. The longer you use the panel, the cheaper each kilowatt hour becomes.
That lasted for about 6 months. Then December came, along with about a foot of snow. This covered up all the warchalking runes and made finding open networks a little harder.
Unfortunately, war-pissing never caught on, and war-chalking has become much less popular (see, e.g.: ) so I bought a little handheld wireless sniffer, and it's worked ok for those times I was desperate for an internet connection. But a municipal wireless network would be 100 times better. It would save a lot of time having to sniff around, and would have much more consistent and reliable coverage.
Randal Schwartz's Perls of Wisdom will never take the place in my heart that is forever occupied by Steve Litt's PERLS of Wisdom!
RTFA!
"Every word spoken in the e-Courtroom where Isaac Horowitz is on trial for his life appears immediately before the judge on a computer screen. There's a flat-screen monitor between every two seats in the jury box, a witness-box monitor with touch-screen features, and large-screen monitors for public viewing. Lawyers say e-Courtrooms help reduce trial time by making evidence display and tracking documents more efficient. 'It made the Levi Rubinowitz case three to five minutes shorter,' said an Assistant Third Reich Attorney, referring to Horowitz's co-defendant, who plead guilty and was sentenced to death."
Calling the study of engineering "engineer sciences" is like calling the study of politics "political science".
What? You lost me after "centre." Oh, look... shiny ad banner...
Phew! I was worried that all those hordes of current 64-bit Windows users would be at danger.
from the article: Matsport relied on some rather amazing high-tech timing and scoring technologies this year, including a FinishLynx® high-speed digital finish line and timing camera system, produced by Lynx System Developers, Inc., of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and an AMB Activ transponder timing system, produced by AMB-it, Heemstede, Netherlands
There is also a really nifty diagram about halfway through the article, showing how the AMB Activ Transponder timing system works.
Not directly Olympics-related, but since we were on the topic of new technology used to measure athletes...
Here are some tips on how to make Opera 'look like a browser again'. (btw, ironically, this page has google ads)
Anyone else notice the scary similarities?