i personally like the idea of electronic voting, for above mentioned reasons.
however, i do not like the idea of electronic vote counting. make the machine simply print out a standard human-readable ballot and have actual people count the damn things, just like we do now, which makes a electrion difficult to rig, and still allows for the benefits of the electronic voting machines.
it's not the planet we need to be really concerned about. it'll still be here, spinning merrily, with other creatures on it.
what we're concerned about is ourselves. rising water levels would be a rather nasty problem (think how many people live rather close to the coast), along with a rather unpleasant shift in the weather patterns, would foul things up rather severely.
well, one of the breaking points leading to the revolution was taxes on stamps and tea. it's often a matter of a single straw that seems utterly trivial, but ends up actually setting things off.
i agree that modern Linux distros (Ubuntu in particular) are very easy to use for day-to-day use, but it can get ugly in a big hurry when things go wrong.
granted, same thing happens with Windows, but it seems to happen more severely with Linux in my experience. i seemingly need to make use of the command line much more often in Linux problem solving than i do in windows, and while that is no problem for me, it's extremely intimidating to most users.
just because they're a pain to deal with from the outside doesn't mean it isn't fun from the inside (can't you imagine how entertaining it is to be able to be an asshole to people 8 hours a day?)
noisy? i do not know where this "noisy" idea of these cars is coming from. the local courier service has 4 of these cars (the diesel ones) and i cannot hear them when they drive past. you'd swear the things were electric.
my friend who is working with them for the summer loves them. awesome milage (mid-60 MPG in the city) and they can be parked practically anywhere.
though what i would love is to be able to get a japanese-style kei car, like the Subaru R1 or the Mitsubishi i. Why in fuck can't we make these kind of cars here?
i had one of those that i tried to take apart (the thing was clogged with cat hair of all things), but i could never get it back together right.
a bunch of the the plastic molded things that held the screws down broke off when i attempted to remove the screws (they twisted free of the casing rather than the screws twisting free of them) and there wasn't any way i would get it to hold together properly.
Also, note that if the goal is to get somebody *down* from orbit, it isn't too hard. A heat-shield, a space-suit, a nitrogen-gas thruster, and a parachute. Maybe a cheezy visual alignment aid to get the thruster in the right point and a map to make sure you land on land. A few hundered pounds of hardware, per person. The problem has always been feature-creep more than anything else.
they're actually working on that. there was an interesting article in popsci in the latest issue. they're planning to have the first actual jump-from-orbit test by 2009.
because they haven't been classified as a common-carrier for several years now. they're an "information service" or something to that effect that has less stringent requirements.
Call center productivity is *NEVER* measured by customer satisfaction
only if the call center sucks (and most do).
i know. my day job is ISP tech support (Sasktel). average call times are tracked, though pretty much for trivia purposes.
our main stat is the resolve rate. basically, when you solve a problem and close the case, does the customer call back about the same problem within 3 days? if they do, it evidently wasn't fixed and you missed something or made a faulty assumption or something else. we shoot for 80%+ on this.
another is our wrap time. basically, once you finish a call, how long until you're back in the queue and ready for another?
another of the guys around here worked at other places before. once place mandated a call time of 10 minutes and they did PC support, meaning calls ranging from 2 minute "where is the internet" calls to 4-hour "format, reinstall, reconfigure" calls, so they were firing people left, right, and center for violating that policy (dunno if they got a clue yet, as he left that job 4 years ago)
it should be under a more general descriptor like "addictive personality disorder" or something rather than coming up with 2^n differant description for what is the same thing at the core.
unlikely, as net neutrality (depending on who you ask) focuses on either discrimination by source/destination or discrimination by protocol. this is discrimination by content, which is utter lunacy, as it will NEVER work and they're opening a legal hole wide enough to march 10,000 lawyers abreast through, as there will always be false positives, and the more they try to make it perfect, the greater the false positive rate.
i agree algae bio-diesel seems like a good idea, but it is still pretty experimental, as there is quite a lot we still need to figure out to really make it feasable. it's several years, at the minimum, from being at the local gas station.
I think the point is that the oil companies have such a stranglehold on the political scene because of the money they inject, that they use a few cases like this against small fry to try to discourage anyone from thinking about alternate fuels that don't come from said companies
most of the oil companies (not all, but a good majority of them i believe) are investing rather heavily in alternative energy research, including ethanol, bio-diesel, et all, as they know they're lamp oil salesmen (no pun intended) and the light bulb is coming, so they want to get in on the ground floor rather than get left in the dust.
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i personally like the idea of electronic voting, for above mentioned reasons.
however, i do not like the idea of electronic vote counting. make the machine simply print out a standard human-readable ballot and have actual people count the damn things, just like we do now, which makes a electrion difficult to rig, and still allows for the benefits of the electronic voting machines.
we get the best of both worlds that way.
depends on what the legal age is.
in some places, a nude picture of someone who is 17 would be legal, in others it wouldn't be.
i assume they'd go by the appropriate laws in Sweden, though i have no idea what the legal ages are there.
it's not the planet we need to be really concerned about. it'll still be here, spinning merrily, with other creatures on it.
what we're concerned about is ourselves. rising water levels would be a rather nasty problem (think how many people live rather close to the coast), along with a rather unpleasant shift in the weather patterns, would foul things up rather severely.
not "full person" cloning. more like "clone a new kidney that is an exact genetic match for me so i don't need anti-rejection drugs".
yes, and the DEA can just march in a bust you for it, irregardless of state law.
well, one of the breaking points leading to the revolution was taxes on stamps and tea. it's often a matter of a single straw that seems utterly trivial, but ends up actually setting things off.
They do, however still have third-party immunity from copyright violations, due to the DMCA.
which, as far as i understand it, they will (or should anyway) lose if they try this.
i agree that modern Linux distros (Ubuntu in particular) are very easy to use for day-to-day use, but it can get ugly in a big hurry when things go wrong.
granted, same thing happens with Windows, but it seems to happen more severely with Linux in my experience. i seemingly need to make use of the command line much more often in Linux problem solving than i do in windows, and while that is no problem for me, it's extremely intimidating to most users.
just because they're a pain to deal with from the outside doesn't mean it isn't fun from the inside (can't you imagine how entertaining it is to be able to be an asshole to people 8 hours a day?)
So does the doctrine still hold for, say, iTunes purchased tracks?
AFAICT, it should, so long as the file is treated as a physical object and you don't keep a copy of the track you sold.
noisy? i do not know where this "noisy" idea of these cars is coming from. the local courier service has 4 of these cars (the diesel ones) and i cannot hear them when they drive past. you'd swear the things were electric.
my friend who is working with them for the summer loves them. awesome milage (mid-60 MPG in the city) and they can be parked practically anywhere.
though what i would love is to be able to get a japanese-style kei car, like the Subaru R1 or the Mitsubishi i. Why in fuck can't we make these kind of cars here?
done the same thing with both my thumbdrives and my flash-based MP3 player.
the player actually worked better after the wash, as some of the buttons were becoming occasionally unresponsive (gunked up or something).
all 3 items are still working fine.
which version of the natural?
i had one of those that i tried to take apart (the thing was clogged with cat hair of all things), but i could never get it back together right.
a bunch of the the plastic molded things that held the screws down broke off when i attempted to remove the screws (they twisted free of the casing rather than the screws twisting free of them) and there wasn't any way i would get it to hold together properly.
and since there is a non-zero change you might kill someone, we should kill you pre-emptively.
how is this suggestion differant from what you are suggesting?
more like being forced to pay for a meal you don't want and won't eat, while still paying for the meal you do want.
of course they can do it.
the REAL question is, can they do it without getting smacked around by the courts?
Also, note that if the goal is to get somebody *down* from orbit, it isn't too hard. A heat-shield, a space-suit, a nitrogen-gas thruster, and a parachute. Maybe a cheezy visual alignment aid to get the thruster in the right point and a map to make sure you land on land. A few hundered pounds of hardware, per person. The problem has always been feature-creep more than anything else.
they're actually working on that. there was an interesting article in popsci in the latest issue. they're planning to have the first actual jump-from-orbit test by 2009.
Think of it this way, if you where in the hospital on life support would you want the latest tech or something that powers a cell phone now adays?
the cell phone thanks. new things always have bugs.
also, for in-space use, they need to modify the chip to be radiation hardened, which takes awhile, along with further testing, etc. etc.
because they haven't been classified as a common-carrier for several years now. they're an "information service" or something to that effect that has less stringent requirements.
Call center productivity is *NEVER* measured by customer satisfaction
only if the call center sucks (and most do).
i know. my day job is ISP tech support (Sasktel). average call times are tracked, though pretty much for trivia purposes.
our main stat is the resolve rate. basically, when you solve a problem and close the case, does the customer call back about the same problem within 3 days? if they do, it evidently wasn't fixed and you missed something or made a faulty assumption or something else. we shoot for 80%+ on this.
another is our wrap time. basically, once you finish a call, how long until you're back in the queue and ready for another?
another of the guys around here worked at other places before. once place mandated a call time of 10 minutes and they did PC support, meaning calls ranging from 2 minute "where is the internet" calls to 4-hour "format, reinstall, reconfigure" calls, so they were firing people left, right, and center for violating that policy (dunno if they got a clue yet, as he left that job 4 years ago)
agreed.
it should be under a more general descriptor like "addictive personality disorder" or something rather than coming up with 2^n differant description for what is the same thing at the core.
unlikely, as net neutrality (depending on who you ask) focuses on either discrimination by source/destination or discrimination by protocol. this is discrimination by content, which is utter lunacy, as it will NEVER work and they're opening a legal hole wide enough to march 10,000 lawyers abreast through, as there will always be false positives, and the more they try to make it perfect, the greater the false positive rate.
nope. $19.08/hr.
i agree algae bio-diesel seems like a good idea, but it is still pretty experimental, as there is quite a lot we still need to figure out to really make it feasable. it's several years, at the minimum, from being at the local gas station.
I think the point is that the oil companies have such a stranglehold on the political scene because of the money they inject, that they use a few cases like this against small fry to try to discourage anyone from thinking about alternate fuels that don't come from said companies
most of the oil companies (not all, but a good majority of them i believe) are investing rather heavily in alternative energy research, including ethanol, bio-diesel, et all, as they know they're lamp oil salesmen (no pun intended) and the light bulb is coming, so they want to get in on the ground floor rather than get left in the dust.