(At any given moment there's more high-speed equipment waiting to depart at Gare du Nord than exists in all of North America.)
But can you buy Freedom Fries on the train?
True story:
My whole family has a passion for food, both preparing and consuming, we live for the exotic.
I was visiting Paris with my 14 year old daughter and spent most of a day at Versailles, so we decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants in the gardens. This was our second full day in the Paris area and we're loving it, the previous night we had done up the Eiffel tower to see the city of lights spread at our feet and then walked back to our hotel both spellbound by the magical aura that the city seems to evoke.
A few minutes after we have been seated and given menus a young American couple (late 20s?) arrives at the next table and says a few pleasant and sociable things... "Where are you from? Enjoying your trip? Lovely day? "... and so forth.
We all order and are eventually served, the young lady next to us has ordered some kind of salad which looked fabulous to my eye... two minutes later she sighs and flops back in her chair and says somewhat petulantly: "Everybody talks about the how good the food is in France but honestly, the only thing that has been consistently good has been McDonalds".
We try not to choke on our appetizers... I look my daughter in the eye and begin speaking French: "I think you now see how your family is a little sophisticated."
Now there's a [citation needed] if I ever saw one, SNCF is booking half a billion per quarter.
While SNCF eventually got to the point it could generate large profits on its own, the French rail network benefitted heavily from state subsidy in the 20th century. Without the state support to expand the rail network, there would have been no present-day SNCF. Therefore, the OP's point that no country's passenger rail system has functioned purely as a private business is valid.
In that case we can argue that rail is far more successful than any road network.
Apple cares a lot about geeks, particularly geeks with fat wallets and a lust for shiny hardware.
*seductive whisper* retina display...
Exactly. Best laptop (possibly computer) I've ever bought.
Oh hell yeah... it came up this weekend while I was visiting family..."Sure I spoiled myself, but let's remember that it's about 1/30th the price of a sports-car and a lot more safe."
What security concerns? Terrorism? You mean that thing that in the USA kills less people than farm animals?
Agreed, however some people will forgot the millions of safe trips and remember the bombs in Madrid in 2004 as well as the recent derailment that demonstratred so nicely what happens when you go around a curve at twice it's rated speed.
Pipelines can also be attacked, and would actually be a better target. Look at what bursting a pipeline did just recently in the news.
Protip: If you immediately see a serious problem with something you know almost about, it is likely that the responsible professionals are already aware of the problem and have considered it in their design.
Lawyers call this first-year syndrome. You know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to know that you are dangerous.
The difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Point of view.
With all due respect, there are some differences. Of course, we are free to make our own personal definitions as we wish, but terrorists are the guys that kill civilians, with full intent of causing fear, terror, and chaos. (Not to say the Continentals or patriots didn't do this to the British. I haven't heard such, but clearly it's not something we would be proud of.)
There were atrocities on both sides, however due to the nature of the conflict it is those that were committed by "rogue" British commanders that are well documented and probably represent the greatest numbers. Some have been exaggerated in popular culture beyond all reason. (History is written by the victors... however, if you study American history from outside the US you might find a different perspective.)
I am not aware of any large scale massacres of civilians by revolutionaries but there are no shortage of reports of punitive behavior against the so called "loyalists" and their native allies, to the point where tens of thousands left the colonies. While clearly many of these were political refugees there is no shortage of stories from those that settled in Eastern Ontario of how they were forced out.
I grew up along the "Loyalist Highway" in southern Ontario, perhaps things have changed in the past 40 years, but there is still a great deal of distrust and bitterness left in the descendants of the refugees.
Also interesting is the history of Joseph Brant and the general treatment of Mohawk and Iroquois by both British and Americans before and after the war.
It's a long term strategy to extract profit from Africa. Just because people from the US wouldn't go there because 15% profit is too hard, doesn't mean China isn't there making 5% profit and positioning themselves for a bigger profit later
Bingo, and then turning around and using those profits to buy African resources.
The problem seems to be programmers who only use one language. I use C for embedded, sometimes a bit of assembler, and C# on the desktop except where it's easier to use C/C++. I also use Python for scripting and a bit of Java now and then. I also have experience of Ada, PHP, JS etc. but never seem to have any use for them these days.
Agreed, the "one true language" debates are horribly tedious and unproductive.
There are many tools, and many jobs, use the right tool for the right job. (And if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.)
While I shudder at the thought, I'm told that these days I qualify as a Java "expert". But I would not try to automate shell tasks with Java... if I had a choice I'd use Python, but I might have to bite the bullet and use bourne shell or the DOS command language. If I was building a website I may use Java on the server if I needed a DB or some kind of processing, but the UI itself would be all HTML, CSS and JavaScript. (Some would say rails on the server... whatever floats your boat, if it gets the job done and scales to meet the demand.)
If I want something that runs blazingly fast and I can take the time to write the code well it's going to be C/C++, no garbage collection and excellent startup times unlike Java, C#, etc.
Then you'll find the know it all who says "how come you're spending 5 minutes doing that manually instead of spending hours finding the more efficient solution that I use?"
Guilty... However, you know you're doing it right when people thank you for pointing them at easier ways rather than glaring at you until you leave.
What people fail to realize is that the rules to Twitter should actually be MORE strict, not less.
You're not just speaking in a crowded room with your parents and children watching, the whole freaking world including your future partners and employers are watching and will be able to look up EVERYTHING you ever said.
Slashdot Mirror
*sigh*.... Freedom Fries....
They're sophisticated if you put vinegar or mayonnaise on them :) And mayonnaise is French!
Sometimes I like fancy food myself, but can you honestly tell me you don't like french fries?
Alors! Si on n'avait pas les patates frites, comment est-que on peut avoir la Poutine!
(At any given moment there's more high-speed equipment waiting to depart at Gare du Nord than exists in all of North America.)
But can you buy Freedom Fries on the train?
True story:
My whole family has a passion for food, both preparing and consuming, we live for the exotic.
I was visiting Paris with my 14 year old daughter and spent most of a day at Versailles, so we decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants in the gardens. This was our second full day in the Paris area and we're loving it, the previous night we had done up the Eiffel tower to see the city of lights spread at our feet and then walked back to our hotel both spellbound by the magical aura that the city seems to evoke.
A few minutes after we have been seated and given menus a young American couple (late 20s?) arrives at the next table and says a few pleasant and sociable things... "Where are you from? Enjoying your trip? Lovely day? "... and so forth.
We all order and are eventually served, the young lady next to us has ordered some kind of salad which looked fabulous to my eye... two minutes later she sighs and flops back in her chair and says somewhat petulantly: "Everybody talks about the how good the food is in France but honestly, the only thing that has been consistently good has been McDonalds".
We try not to choke on our appetizers... I look my daughter in the eye and begin speaking French: "I think you now see how your family is a little sophisticated."
*sigh*.... Freedom Fries....
While SNCF eventually got to the point it could generate large profits on its own, the French rail network benefitted heavily from state subsidy in the 20th century. Without the state support to expand the rail network, there would have been no present-day SNCF. Therefore, the OP's point that no country's passenger rail system has functioned purely as a private business is valid.
In that case we can argue that rail is far more successful than any road network.
Apple cares a lot about geeks, particularly geeks with fat wallets and a lust for shiny hardware.
*seductive whisper* retina display...
Exactly. Best laptop (possibly computer) I've ever bought.
Oh hell yeah... it came up this weekend while I was visiting family..."Sure I spoiled myself, but let's remember that it's about 1/30th the price of a sports-car and a lot more safe."
What security concerns? Terrorism? You mean that thing that in the USA kills less people than farm animals?
Agreed, however some people will forgot the millions of safe trips and remember the bombs in Madrid in 2004 as well as the recent derailment that demonstratred so nicely what happens when you go around a curve at twice it's rated speed.
Pipelines can also be attacked, and would actually be a better target. Look at what bursting a pipeline did just recently in the news.
On the other hand, look what a train full of oil just did in Quebec.
I believe it's called a "railroad". I wonder if it's ever been tried as a business model?
Not successfully. No where in the world do passenger trains operate profitably without subsidies.
Now there's a [citation needed] if I ever saw one, SNCF is booking half a billion per quarter. The TGV network is a goldmine.
(At any given moment there's more high-speed equipment waiting to depart at Gare du Nord than exists in all of North America.)
Protip: If you immediately see a serious problem with something you know almost about, it is likely that the responsible professionals are already aware of the problem and have considered it in their design.
Lawyers call this first-year syndrome. You know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to know that you are dangerous.
Why do you need to store ALL your Steam games? Valve makes backing up and reloading games trivial.
Not everyone can afford to download 10 to 20 GB per day. I would never have considered that approach with my previous ISP.
Seagate is just trying to be cheap and spinning this into the usual "geeks are irrelevant" kind of nonsense you usually see from Apple fanboys.
Ouch.... the cognitive dissonance there makes my head hurt.
Apple cares a lot about geeks, particularly geeks with fat wallets and a lust for shiny hardware.
*seductive whisper* retina display...
God, I am so sick of Latin. ROMANES EUNT DOMUS!
What have the Romans ever done for us?
As usual, the summary is wrong and Slashdotters can't be bothered to read the article.
The difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Point of view.
With all due respect, there are some differences. Of course, we are free to make our own personal definitions as we wish, but terrorists are the guys that kill civilians, with full intent of causing fear, terror, and chaos. (Not to say the Continentals or patriots didn't do this to the British. I haven't heard such, but clearly it's not something we would be proud of.)
There were atrocities on both sides, however due to the nature of the conflict it is those that were committed by "rogue" British commanders that are well documented and probably represent the greatest numbers. Some have been exaggerated in popular culture beyond all reason. (History is written by the victors... however, if you study American history from outside the US you might find a different perspective.)
I am not aware of any large scale massacres of civilians by revolutionaries but there are no shortage of reports of punitive behavior against the so called "loyalists" and their native allies, to the point where tens of thousands left the colonies. While clearly many of these were political refugees there is no shortage of stories from those that settled in Eastern Ontario of how they were forced out.
I grew up along the "Loyalist Highway" in southern Ontario, perhaps things have changed in the past 40 years, but there is still a great deal of distrust and bitterness left in the descendants of the refugees.
Also interesting is the history of Joseph Brant and the general treatment of Mohawk and Iroquois by both British and Americans before and after the war.
...the USA and Australia were both originally populated by criminals, slaves, and people the UK didn't want...
I was going to take exception to the "criminals" part, regarding the USA. Then I remembered that most of us were traitors.
In the 1860s you could destroy a Canadian politician's career if you could successfully label him an "American sympathizer" in the press.
The difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Point of view.
That's fine with me as there are enough puppies and kittens out there.
Heartless bastard! Won't somebody think of the puppies and kittens?
It's a long term strategy to extract profit from Africa. Just because people from the US wouldn't go there because 15% profit is too hard, doesn't mean China isn't there making 5% profit and positioning themselves for a bigger profit later
Bingo, and then turning around and using those profits to buy African resources.
Which actually makes in inferior to what Apple has got with the current iCloud beta.
Not that inferior necessarily means you lose, let's not forget VHS vs. Betamax.
No.
The Kernel is Mach with Darwin On top.
Correct, Mach kernel that also borrowed some of the BSD code with a BSD userland.
Anyone who tries to call OSX BSD is missing the point. Some of the software comes from BSD, but the kernel is not.
Sique, every time you repeat that nonsense angels weep and go on to kill puppies and kittens in their frustration.
Saddam's armies had custom Soviet T-72 Lion tanks. Last I checked, Russia was responsible for that, not the US.
That's my recollection, the US backed Iran up until the revolution.
you mean to ridicule the Christian religion
Nope, he was not going after the whole religion, just small minded people who fail at critical thinking. But thanks for self-identifiying.
I'm a Fortran programmer, you insensitive clod! ...we use do-loops.
It gets better? ... Oh wait, wrong minority, sorry man it's all downhill from here.
The problem seems to be programmers who only use one language. I use C for embedded, sometimes a bit of assembler, and C# on the desktop except where it's easier to use C/C++. I also use Python for scripting and a bit of Java now and then. I also have experience of Ada, PHP, JS etc. but never seem to have any use for them these days.
Agreed, the "one true language" debates are horribly tedious and unproductive.
There are many tools, and many jobs, use the right tool for the right job. (And if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.)
While I shudder at the thought, I'm told that these days I qualify as a Java "expert". But I would not try to automate shell tasks with Java... if I had a choice I'd use Python, but I might have to bite the bullet and use bourne shell or the DOS command language. If I was building a website I may use Java on the server if I needed a DB or some kind of processing, but the UI itself would be all HTML, CSS and JavaScript. (Some would say rails on the server... whatever floats your boat, if it gets the job done and scales to meet the demand.)
If I want something that runs blazingly fast and I can take the time to write the code well it's going to be C/C++, no garbage collection and excellent startup times unlike Java, C#, etc.
Tooked out? Is that some sort of hobbit speak for making something more adventurous?
Yo, we was like all "There and Back Again" all the way to Rivendell and then she was all Tooked out.
It could happen....
HOBBITS IN THE HOUSE!
I'll stop now.
Tooked out? Is that some sort of hobbit speak for making something more adventurous?
Yo, we was like all "There and Back Again" all the way to Rivendell and then she was all Tooked out.
It could happen....
Then you'll find the know it all who says "how come you're spending 5 minutes doing that manually instead of spending hours finding the more efficient solution that I use?"
Guilty... However, you know you're doing it right when people thank you for pointing them at easier ways rather than glaring at you until you leave.
Well said.
What people fail to realize is that the rules to Twitter should actually be MORE strict, not less.
You're not just speaking in a crowded room with your parents and children watching, the whole freaking world including your future partners and employers are watching and will be able to look up EVERYTHING you ever said.