How does a nation's broadband adoption rate affect its economy? People who have uses for broadband will use it, and the rest don't matter. It's like saying we're in deep shit because few refrigerators contain tofu.
That one's IP will be down at the same time you need 911 or an alarm service. A standby prepaid cell phone with a couple of bucks in its account covers the 911 need, and the alarm service is superfluous. If an intruder bothers to cut one's cable TV line, he'll cut the phone line too.
Only governments can censor. The First Amendment can only be violated by governments. Freedom of speech does not include the right to use someone else's soapbox for free. Freedom of association includes the right to exclude anyone from one's company (except certain "protected classes" of persons, in certain commercial settings). Nothing in law or corporate charters requires Google or YouTube to stand up for your civil liberties. If you want them to do so, try to work out a retainer with their corporate counsels.
My son is 16 and, like every teenager who ever lived, considers himself to be an honest person of the highest integrity.
But parents don't count. It's perfectly fine to lie your ass off to them.
You bet I check his MySpace mail every damned day. Doing so has helped me keep him out of juvie, rehab, and surgery.
No, he doesn't know I have his password.
No, I'm not violating his rights any more than he's violating my trust.
Trust is the belief that one can predict another person's behavior with an acceptable degree of confidence. We trust each other.
I don't expect him to stay out of trouble. He's a teenager. I trust him to sneak around behind my back, trying things that no sane adult would attempt.
He doesn't expect me to stay out of his business. I'm his father, a. k. a. "legal guardian" and "the responsible party". He trusts me to catch him when he teeters on the edge, before it costs him or me too much.
When he's his own legal guardian and responsible party, then he will enjoy the privilege and responsibility of privacy... if there's any left by then.
Alcohol-detecting ignition interlocks are all the rage in the war on drunk driving. Toyota is preparing a triple-whammy system for deployment at the end of 2009: automated analysis of hand sweat, erratic steering and even out-of-focus pupils, although I wouldn't call it "failsafe" as many reports do.
Electronic distractions are more easily eliminated. All that's needed is elementary communication between distracting devices and cars. When the wheels are turning, only 911 calls are allowed. No Bluetooth, no WiFi, no TV signals or DVD playing, etc. Exceptions for AM/FM and satellite radio stations that pledge to play only commercial-free pre-1990 formats.;-)
Let's make Internet grandstanding a felony punishable by deletion of one's MySpace, YouTube, and similar accounts, and/or Web publication of video showing a bottle rocket being fired out of one's anus.
Strange, I've never seen a story about a survey that did not quote the survey's statistics and some of its key questions, until this one. Where's the obligatory "plus or minus five percent" disclaimer?
This is an interesting development! Back in the 1990s, you had to be reviewer with a "significant" tech publication to get this sort of booty. Now bloggers get it and PC Mag reporters don't?:-)
Especially if it can deliver an electroshock, remotely triggered or automatically activated if the transmitter is turned off. Also, a collar could be equipped with a camera that would tell me not only where the little bugger is, but what he/she is smoking and who he/she is screwing too.;-)
Looks like rockhoppers are high-maintenance, maladaptive little fussbudgets. From TFA:
Other penguins have suffered, but have bounced back, while the rockhoppers only seem to stabilise before falling again... "Zoos generally have found them quite difficult to breed. They are choosy when they go to pick their mates and they like very specific places to nest."
The explosives charge against this guy hinges on his possession of hydrogen peroxide. From the article: "Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant that can be used for bomb-making if other chemicals are added."
It's my understanding that the concentration of bomb-quality hydrogen peroxide is many times higher than anything found in drugstores.
Oil is a cheaper way to store, transport, and release energy than any manmade alternative because the energy got stored before there were any humans to bill for the job. We can't get the storage part done for free now.
But manmade fuel is still cost efficient if the productive value of the work hydrogen does is greater than the cost of producing it. It doesn't matter if a unit of energy costs $10 instead of $8 if you get $20 instead of $18 worth of goods and services out of it. (OK, it matters if you're poor and can't spend $10 instead of $8 to get your energy, but that's a separate issue of wealth distribution.) The environmental benefits of using hydrogen in lieu of oil provide the needed increase in value.
The same is true of energy efficiency, the crux of this article's criticism of hydrogen fuel. It doesn't matter if hydrogen production's energy efficiency is only 25% if we have ample inputs.
We have to get oil out of the hydrogen production process, obviously. But its current presence does not make hydrogen impractical permanently. It's just another problem that can and will be solved.
Just as the economic cost of energy's storage in oil is not borne by humans, the environmental cost of releasing oil's energy is not fully borne by those who release it. Instead, that cost is spread over all of humanity. To create an equation that will induce economically rational creatures (i. e., corporations and self-interested humans) to use hydrogen instead of oil, we must find a way to charge the full cost of oil energy's release to the individual creatures who release it.
OK, let's see how we can make currency accessible to the blind with a minimum of government involvement.
A cheap, do-it-yourself, pocket-sized Braille money marker was patented in 1997. But the vendor seems to be out of business, and I can't find a similar product for sale today. Makes me wonder just how painful the problem really is.
Today's tech would easily enable a battery-powered money reader and Braille marker about the size of an iPod and costing far less than the $30 for which this non-reading manual embosser was offered. We're talking about an extremely simple optical character recognition subsystem that can read the large unique numerals in the corners of bills, and six solenoid-driven pins to emboss the Braille marks for 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 (the only denominations currently in production). Stick any or all corner(s) of a bill in the device and it automatically reads and embosses.
I'll wager that such a thing can be built with mail-order parts and open-source software by any State's high school science fair semi-finalist. (Well, maybe not Mississippi's.;-)
The Treasury should publish standards for such a process, allowing entrepreneurs to build competing devices. Competition will keep prices down and encourage innovation.
Let the IRS give a tax credit to anyone who submits a receipt with his 1040, even if he's not blind. Anyone who chooses to help the blind (and the Treasury) by spending his spare moments embossing currency deserves a tax break, too.
This plan would get the job done faster and at less cost to taxpayers than the bureaucratic alternatives. Also, we'd learn just how badly blind people and their advocates really want Braille-encoded currency.
Slashdot Mirror
... off the streets is good.
How does a nation's broadband adoption rate affect its economy? People who have uses for broadband will use it, and the rest don't matter. It's like saying we're in deep shit because few refrigerators contain tofu.
Where can I auction off my virtual sex slave?
That one's IP will be down at the same time you need 911 or an alarm service. A standby prepaid cell phone with a couple of bucks in its account covers the 911 need, and the alarm service is superfluous. If an intruder bothers to cut one's cable TV line, he'll cut the phone line too.
... that some ISPs have deliberately fingered non-subscribers? :-)
Wal Mart's; the providers of Wal Mart's music; or mine?
I can get all the music Wal Mart has from many sources. Wal Mart can get my money only from me.
Only governments can censor. The First Amendment can only be violated by governments. Freedom of speech does not include the right to use someone else's soapbox for free. Freedom of association includes the right to exclude anyone from one's company (except certain "protected classes" of persons, in certain commercial settings). Nothing in law or corporate charters requires Google or YouTube to stand up for your civil liberties. If you want them to do so, try to work out a retainer with their corporate counsels.
He's a long-time Windows expert. This looks like a major career change. :-)
They'll be going for $20 apiece on eBay in one year.
... for "toast".
Anything that promotes rap and hip-hop MUST be eradicated!
My son is 16 and, like every teenager who ever lived, considers himself to be an honest person of the highest integrity.
But parents don't count. It's perfectly fine to lie your ass off to them.
You bet I check his MySpace mail every damned day. Doing so has helped me keep him out of juvie, rehab, and surgery.
No, he doesn't know I have his password.
No, I'm not violating his rights any more than he's violating my trust.
Trust is the belief that one can predict another person's behavior with an acceptable degree of confidence. We trust each other.
I don't expect him to stay out of trouble. He's a teenager. I trust him to sneak around behind my back, trying things that no sane adult would attempt.
He doesn't expect me to stay out of his business. I'm his father, a. k. a. "legal guardian" and "the responsible party". He trusts me to catch him when he teeters on the edge, before it costs him or me too much.
When he's his own legal guardian and responsible party, then he will enjoy the privilege and responsibility of privacy... if there's any left by then.
... as the real-life events that inspired them.
Given the FBI's inability to buy a useable computer system, I can't think of a safer custodian for everyone's fingerprints.
c le/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti
Alcohol-detecting ignition interlocks are all the rage in the war on drunk driving. Toyota is preparing a triple-whammy system for deployment at the end of 2009: automated analysis of hand sweat, erratic steering and even out-of-focus pupils, although I wouldn't call it "failsafe" as many reports do.
;-)
http://tinyurl.com/yfyldy
Electronic distractions are more easily eliminated. All that's needed is elementary communication between distracting devices and cars. When the wheels are turning, only 911 calls are allowed. No Bluetooth, no WiFi, no TV signals or DVD playing, etc. Exceptions for AM/FM and satellite radio stations that pledge to play only commercial-free pre-1990 formats.
Let's make Internet grandstanding a felony punishable by deletion of one's MySpace, YouTube, and similar accounts, and/or Web publication of video showing a bottle rocket being fired out of one's anus.
Ah, here they are!
http://www.dittmar-associates.com/Market%20Study%
This is an interesting development! Back in the 1990s, you had to be reviewer with a "significant" tech publication to get this sort of booty. Now bloggers get it and PC Mag reporters don't? :-)
Especially if it can deliver an electroshock, remotely triggered or automatically activated if the transmitter is turned off. Also, a collar could be equipped with a camera that would tell me not only where the little bugger is, but what he/she is smoking and who he/she is screwing too. ;-)
Other penguins have suffered, but have bounced back, while the rockhoppers only seem to stabilise before falling again... "Zoos generally have found them quite difficult to breed. They are choosy when they go to pick their mates and they like very specific places to nest."
It's my understanding that the concentration of bomb-quality hydrogen peroxide is many times higher than anything found in drugstores.
But manmade fuel is still cost efficient if the productive value of the work hydrogen does is greater than the cost of producing it. It doesn't matter if a unit of energy costs $10 instead of $8 if you get $20 instead of $18 worth of goods and services out of it. (OK, it matters if you're poor and can't spend $10 instead of $8 to get your energy, but that's a separate issue of wealth distribution.) The environmental benefits of using hydrogen in lieu of oil provide the needed increase in value.
The same is true of energy efficiency, the crux of this article's criticism of hydrogen fuel. It doesn't matter if hydrogen production's energy efficiency is only 25% if we have ample inputs.
We have to get oil out of the hydrogen production process, obviously. But its current presence does not make hydrogen impractical permanently. It's just another problem that can and will be solved.
Just as the economic cost of energy's storage in oil is not borne by humans, the environmental cost of releasing oil's energy is not fully borne by those who release it. Instead, that cost is spread over all of humanity. To create an equation that will induce economically rational creatures (i. e., corporations and self-interested humans) to use hydrogen instead of oil, we must find a way to charge the full cost of oil energy's release to the individual creatures who release it.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4/dhakala/beara rms.jpg
OK, let's see how we can make currency accessible to the blind with a minimum of government involvement.
;-)
A cheap, do-it-yourself, pocket-sized Braille money marker was patented in 1997. But the vendor seems to be out of business, and I can't find a similar product for sale today. Makes me wonder just how painful the problem really is.
http://tinyurl.com/ymsxdo
Today's tech would easily enable a battery-powered money reader and Braille marker about the size of an iPod and costing far less than the $30 for which this non-reading manual embosser was offered. We're talking about an extremely simple optical character recognition subsystem that can read the large unique numerals in the corners of bills, and six solenoid-driven pins to emboss the Braille marks for 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 (the only denominations currently in production). Stick any or all corner(s) of a bill in the device and it automatically reads and embosses.
I'll wager that such a thing can be built with mail-order parts and open-source software by any State's high school science fair semi-finalist. (Well, maybe not Mississippi's.
The Treasury should publish standards for such a process, allowing entrepreneurs to build competing devices. Competition will keep prices down and encourage innovation.
Let the IRS give a tax credit to anyone who submits a receipt with his 1040, even if he's not blind. Anyone who chooses to help the blind (and the Treasury) by spending his spare moments embossing currency deserves a tax break, too.
This plan would get the job done faster and at less cost to taxpayers than the bureaucratic alternatives. Also, we'd learn just how badly blind people and their advocates really want Braille-encoded currency.
... is this story doing in Network World???