Back in the stone ages when I was in school we used to do this with our HP RPN calculators. Some nob head would forget their calculator and ask to borrow it. "You can try" was always a prelude to a funny few moments as they tried to do a simple calculation.
It reminds me of the word "ubiquitous". Prior to 1997 or so no one had ever heard of this word, much less used it in a computer/business setting. Now I see even my boss, someone who does not come from an IT background, using it.
So Nano this and nano that is the new buzzword. All we need to say is that we get billions and billions of years of storage through this magical carbon nanotubes, instant VC funding! Just like all you needed to do was throw around a few ubuquitous statements in the late 90s and VCs and business people would beat a path to your door.
"This stuff is going to be everywhere... it is so good it will be ubiquitous!"
Sorry but this is bullshit. You can learn to fly on a simulator in a few weeks, and you can learn well enough on the freeware versions that are out there.
I learned 5 or 6 years ago by running MS Flight Simulator on Tower mode with the Extra SS plane (very twitchy, like a real RC plane). That helped me get my lefts and rights sorted for when the plane was coming toward me (reversed) versus going away as well as learned elevator control.
My first plane was a foam glider called a Highlander. It was not multi-thousands, but instead was $500 including radios, servos and everything. I hooked a thermal on my first flight and with the assistance of a buddy talking me through it, managed a 5 minute flight with any engine. That experience set the stage for more investment, for sure. But I think with a GWS Slowstick or any of the other foamy electric planes, you can get started for a loooooong time at less than $1000. Adding cameras, GPS and whatnot adds expense, complexity, weight and flight duration but otherwise is very beginner friendly. And no, you don't need a $10k investment.
The trouble is the trained racing driver or police pursuit driver cannot disobey the laws of physics. If a pedestrian steps off the sidewalk, unable to see them because of their speed, that pedestrian is likely to be killed despite all the training the driver has.
Your post is definitely the truth. I am a trained driver from many seasons competing in various motorsports and driver schools. I thought I was pretty hot stuff and used to drive my Miata and now my Mini Cooper (S) around the streets quite quickly. I like fast handling cars so prefer cornering to outright straight line speed. Two incidents caused me to change my ways. The first instance I decided to take my "skills" to a local indoor karting facility. I was promptly handed my ego when the 20somethings were lapping a ~39 second course 3 *seconds* faster than I could manage. Gulp, maybe I am not so skilled after all. The second instance I was driving home on my usual route where there is a blind corner that I can comfortably take over 50mph, leaving any trailing vehicles navigating the turn at 25mph. I came around the corner and found someone was changing a tire where I couldn't see them. I was really lucky that I saw them, just past the blind apex, and that there was room in the other lane to widen the corner. Since then I have been much more careful and have confined my spirited driving to a) daylight b) low traffic or c) closed-course.
Has he ever tried it? Think about the physics for a second... if you are standing still you have to try awfully hard to crack a windshield throwing a penny at it from 20 or 30 feet away. Given that he is riding forwards I suspect it is more of dropping the penny/bolt into the airstream rather than throwing it. If you throw the penny into the airstream it will take some time to slow down from the 70mph it is going when released. I doubt very much that a penny dropped from a motorcycle onto a tailgating vehicle will do anything to a windshield, even if it slows down enough to make a 30mph difference in velocity.
On the other hand, a bolt dropping on the roadway that then bounces into the car will surely do some damage. My car has received plenty of nicks from decent sized rocks bumping off of truck. They make quite a racket when they hit the windshield.
Believe it or not, my Mini Cooper has more room than any of my Volkswagens sedans ever had, and has more room in the front seat than my parent's minivan. At 6'0" my head is far away from the roof, perhaps 3 or 4 inches with the seat in an upright position *and* still quite a way from the seat being at the lowest height setting. I'd say someone 6'5" would fit in this car quite easily.
Now the girth thing could be a problem. Anyone over 250 lbs probably would not fit, particulary if it is not just girth but also really big legs since the foot well is narrow. (fits me just fine though). Sounds like a good excuse to layoff the cheetos so you can fit into a wider selection of vehicles!
So how much wattage do these blockheaters, that need to be plugged in anytime the vehicle is not in motion, actually use? I know vehicle emissions is not an issue, but does some of the increase in mileage from a diesel get offset by the increase in carbon emissions from this heater?
We have a station wagon, a Volvo XC70 Cross Country, and we love it. Yes, it doesn't have bench seats so you can't put a third person in the front, but it does have a foldup seat in the trunk area. I won't say it entirely replaces the capacity concerns for fitting 6+ people, but it solves a lot of the issues of needing to haul stuff. Plus the kids absolutely love riding in the trunk facing backwards on the once or twice per year occasions when we need to move 7 people in one vehicle.
To be honest, though, the backwards facing seat scares me from a safety point of view, and so I have been thinking it would be easier to rent a van on those occasions. Given that, when it is time to replace the vehicle in a few years I will downgrade to a smaller car for the 99% of trips when it is just the four of us and take that rental otherwise - the money I save in fuel will more than offset the rental cost.
I don't know why I bother upgrading. They say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and in the case of Ubuntu that has proven to be the case every single time because something always breaks upon upgrade. This most recent upgrade to Jaunty completely disabled my ability to put my laptop to sleep because the screen now goes dark and I can't see what is happening and what is stopping it from sleeping. No matter what I do I can't get the screen to come back on, so the only recovery is a forced shutdown via the power button. Now I can only shut it down and reboot it - so much for uptime statistics!
Anyway, something always breaks. This is, however, not so different than any other operating system upgrade. Unless you have well tested hardware, that is nothing too bleeding edge new and nothing too old (e.g. my IBM T-30 laptop) then it is likely you will have some problems each time you upgrade. I know I have had my share of problems when going from Win98 to XP that a few internet searches easily resolved. I guess it also helps when you don't upgrade that often - it has been years since I have touched my Windows installation and yet every 6 months I am upgrading my Linux and bitching every time when something breaks. I should just leave the freakin' thing alone!!!
I thought the same way about NoScript until I read here on Slashdot about changing the settings to "allow for top level domains". Now 90% of the web works the way that it should and I am still somewhat protected against cross-linked scripts.
I must say I keep skipping the updates to NoScript since the dust-up with AdBlockPlus began. I'll stay on the old version that doesn't attempt to hijack my ABP settings, thankyouverymuch!
My son, age 13, heard about this "new" browser at school (7th grade). He came to me excitedly Sunday evening saying how cool this new browser was and how fast it worked with his favorite websites. He said "it is called Chrome by Google". I think he and his friends are perhaps a little more advanced than I have given them credit for. Just to prime the pump a little bit, I ask him if he and his friends have heard of Linux or Ubuntu. Sadly, they have not.
I share this story because it wasn't that long ago that people didn't know or care that browsers were a separate program. They thought if you had Windows then you had to run Internet Explorer. I believe we have passed the tipping point already and we are well on our way to lots of possible browsers when the 7th graders start talking about how cool "this browser" or "that browser" is. Hopefully the same will happen with my son... I may need to set up a LiveCD so he can give Ubuntu a whirl (no space left on his harddrive due to too many games!)
The IMDB already has it listed as #62 of the top 250 movies of all time.
This statement says to me that you cannot rely on IMDB's top listing as an indication of quality at all. Of all the movies ever made, this new one comes in a #62? It proves to me that the top 250 is just a popularity contest rather than an indication of "quality".
I don't know if it exists, but it would be cool to have a combination of both. That is, the email comes through with the attempted transcription *and* the original audio as an attachment. I can then read the email and if it makes sense, that is it isn't too terribly mangled, then I can then decide whether to skip, archive or delete. But if it just doesn't look right or I do want to listen to it either right now or later I can still do so.
No, because perhaps the people that think "hey, I know, let's start a torrent tracker so we can easily find torrents of X, Y and Z content" will reconsider because of what has happened to *all* of the largest services so far. That is, unless someone makes a conscious effort to a) only allow torrents that are fully legal (*nudge nudge, wink wink) or b) stay small enough to be smaller than the largest X # of sites.
This is all anti-tourism and anti-immigration talk. It gets those of us even thinking about coming for a visit, or relocating to immediately reconsider. It is no wonder my parent's moved us kids to the States back in the '70s... I don't think my Mum could cope with the spiders everywhere! As kids we didn't seem to care.
Obligatory - 160 characters ought to be enough for anybody!
It seems like engineers are always making assessments about what might be the possible usage of a technology, which then creates design considerations/limitations that affect decisions far into the future. If only we had a crystal ball and could see how a technology might be preferred 2 - 10 years from now!
I don't know about everyone else, but holding my hands anywhere in free space takes quite a bit of energy unless they are hanging at my sides. The reason the keyboard and mouse or other touch surfaces work well is because they allow a person to rest their limbs in an unnatural position.
So I am not sure about anything that doesn't allow a person to rest... it'd be like using a whiteboard all day long, and that is quite tiring!
Well who the heck can keep up with your addresses anyway? All my relatives are in the U.K. and you have to write a freakin thesis to get the thing to its correct destination...
Joan Smith Yardley House, Heath on Rye 411 Heath Widgetsnit Roadway, 44H Alton, Hants, UK, 44HH11KK
Sheesh! And they wonder why us lazy 'mericans don't write very often. Thank heavens for Facebook and email!
I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning. Apparently the Chinese auto market is the world's largest auto market now. The Chinese government is offering huge incentives to its domestic manufacturers to develop electric cars and renewable powered vehicles. Given the size of the market and the type of incentives offered, I would say to look to China for future enhancements to battery and car technology. In the U.S. we'll likely be licensing the technology instead of developing our own.
Uh, no. The alternator and all other things strapped onto the engine add friction, thereby reducing the power output of the engine significantly. By reducing the size of the alternator (and water pump, power steering pump), or eliminating it you not only reduce the friction but potentially reduce the weight of the vehicle also. This is one of the reasons that some car makers are using electric water and power steering pumps instead of hanging one other friction producing unit onto the engine.
Or was that the sound of a *whoosh* going over my head?
Some of the more interesting points: the more expensive the running shoes, the greater the probability of getting an injury
Isn't it possible that the more you run, or the more you get into running, that it is more likely you are going to purchase the more expensive running shoes? So that would seem to correlate mileage and expensive shoes, and it is possible there is a relationship between increased mileage and increase injuries.
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the stone ages when I was in school we used to do this with our HP RPN calculators. Some nob head would forget their calculator and ask to borrow it. "You can try" was always a prelude to a funny few moments as they tried to do a simple calculation.
I loved Cats. I would see it again, and again!
p.s. For the humor impaired mods, check out the old Saturday Night live clips.
It reminds me of the word "ubiquitous". Prior to 1997 or so no one had ever heard of this word, much less used it in a computer/business setting. Now I see even my boss, someone who does not come from an IT background, using it.
So Nano this and nano that is the new buzzword. All we need to say is that we get billions and billions of years of storage through this magical carbon nanotubes, instant VC funding! Just like all you needed to do was throw around a few ubuquitous statements in the late 90s and VCs and business people would beat a path to your door.
"This stuff is going to be everywhere... it is so good it will be ubiquitous!"
Sorry but this is bullshit. You can learn to fly on a simulator in a few weeks, and you can learn well enough on the freeware versions that are out there.
I learned 5 or 6 years ago by running MS Flight Simulator on Tower mode with the Extra SS plane (very twitchy, like a real RC plane). That helped me get my lefts and rights sorted for when the plane was coming toward me (reversed) versus going away as well as learned elevator control.
My first plane was a foam glider called a Highlander. It was not multi-thousands, but instead was $500 including radios, servos and everything. I hooked a thermal on my first flight and with the assistance of a buddy talking me through it, managed a 5 minute flight with any engine. That experience set the stage for more investment, for sure. But I think with a GWS Slowstick or any of the other foamy electric planes, you can get started for a loooooong time at less than $1000. Adding cameras, GPS and whatnot adds expense, complexity, weight and flight duration but otherwise is very beginner friendly. And no, you don't need a $10k investment.
The trouble is the trained racing driver or police pursuit driver cannot disobey the laws of physics. If a pedestrian steps off the sidewalk, unable to see them because of their speed, that pedestrian is likely to be killed despite all the training the driver has.
Your post is definitely the truth. I am a trained driver from many seasons competing in various motorsports and driver schools. I thought I was pretty hot stuff and used to drive my Miata and now my Mini Cooper (S) around the streets quite quickly. I like fast handling cars so prefer cornering to outright straight line speed. Two incidents caused me to change my ways. The first instance I decided to take my "skills" to a local indoor karting facility. I was promptly handed my ego when the 20somethings were lapping a ~39 second course 3 *seconds* faster than I could manage. Gulp, maybe I am not so skilled after all. The second instance I was driving home on my usual route where there is a blind corner that I can comfortably take over 50mph, leaving any trailing vehicles navigating the turn at 25mph. I came around the corner and found someone was changing a tire where I couldn't see them. I was really lucky that I saw them, just past the blind apex, and that there was room in the other lane to widen the corner. Since then I have been much more careful and have confined my spirited driving to a) daylight b) low traffic or c) closed-course.
Has he ever tried it? Think about the physics for a second... if you are standing still you have to try awfully hard to crack a windshield throwing a penny at it from 20 or 30 feet away. Given that he is riding forwards I suspect it is more of dropping the penny/bolt into the airstream rather than throwing it. If you throw the penny into the airstream it will take some time to slow down from the 70mph it is going when released. I doubt very much that a penny dropped from a motorcycle onto a tailgating vehicle will do anything to a windshield, even if it slows down enough to make a 30mph difference in velocity.
On the other hand, a bolt dropping on the roadway that then bounces into the car will surely do some damage. My car has received plenty of nicks from decent sized rocks bumping off of truck. They make quite a racket when they hit the windshield.
Here is the coverage from CNN yesterday including an image of a body scan.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/18/airport.security.body.scans/index.html
You can clearly see this guy's underwear lines!
Believe it or not, my Mini Cooper has more room than any of my Volkswagens sedans ever had, and has more room in the front seat than my parent's minivan. At 6'0" my head is far away from the roof, perhaps 3 or 4 inches with the seat in an upright position *and* still quite a way from the seat being at the lowest height setting. I'd say someone 6'5" would fit in this car quite easily.
Now the girth thing could be a problem. Anyone over 250 lbs probably would not fit, particulary if it is not just girth but also really big legs since the foot well is narrow. (fits me just fine though). Sounds like a good excuse to layoff the cheetos so you can fit into a wider selection of vehicles!
So how much wattage do these blockheaters, that need to be plugged in anytime the vehicle is not in motion, actually use? I know vehicle emissions is not an issue, but does some of the increase in mileage from a diesel get offset by the increase in carbon emissions from this heater?
We have a station wagon, a Volvo XC70 Cross Country, and we love it. Yes, it doesn't have bench seats so you can't put a third person in the front, but it does have a foldup seat in the trunk area. I won't say it entirely replaces the capacity concerns for fitting 6+ people, but it solves a lot of the issues of needing to haul stuff. Plus the kids absolutely love riding in the trunk facing backwards on the once or twice per year occasions when we need to move 7 people in one vehicle.
To be honest, though, the backwards facing seat scares me from a safety point of view, and so I have been thinking it would be easier to rent a van on those occasions. Given that, when it is time to replace the vehicle in a few years I will downgrade to a smaller car for the 99% of trips when it is just the four of us and take that rental otherwise - the money I save in fuel will more than offset the rental cost.
IE8 seems to load pretty quickly. However, just try firing up In-Private browsing. It takes many seconds to bring up a session - up to 20 seconds.
I don't know why I bother upgrading. They say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and in the case of Ubuntu that has proven to be the case every single time because something always breaks upon upgrade. This most recent upgrade to Jaunty completely disabled my ability to put my laptop to sleep because the screen now goes dark and I can't see what is happening and what is stopping it from sleeping. No matter what I do I can't get the screen to come back on, so the only recovery is a forced shutdown via the power button. Now I can only shut it down and reboot it - so much for uptime statistics!
Anyway, something always breaks. This is, however, not so different than any other operating system upgrade. Unless you have well tested hardware, that is nothing too bleeding edge new and nothing too old (e.g. my IBM T-30 laptop) then it is likely you will have some problems each time you upgrade. I know I have had my share of problems when going from Win98 to XP that a few internet searches easily resolved. I guess it also helps when you don't upgrade that often - it has been years since I have touched my Windows installation and yet every 6 months I am upgrading my Linux and bitching every time when something breaks. I should just leave the freakin' thing alone!!!
I thought the same way about NoScript until I read here on Slashdot about changing the settings to "allow for top level domains". Now 90% of the web works the way that it should and I am still somewhat protected against cross-linked scripts.
I must say I keep skipping the updates to NoScript since the dust-up with AdBlockPlus began. I'll stay on the old version that doesn't attempt to hijack my ABP settings, thankyouverymuch!
My son, age 13, heard about this "new" browser at school (7th grade). He came to me excitedly Sunday evening saying how cool this new browser was and how fast it worked with his favorite websites. He said "it is called Chrome by Google". I think he and his friends are perhaps a little more advanced than I have given them credit for. Just to prime the pump a little bit, I ask him if he and his friends have heard of Linux or Ubuntu. Sadly, they have not.
I share this story because it wasn't that long ago that people didn't know or care that browsers were a separate program. They thought if you had Windows then you had to run Internet Explorer. I believe we have passed the tipping point already and we are well on our way to lots of possible browsers when the 7th graders start talking about how cool "this browser" or "that browser" is. Hopefully the same will happen with my son... I may need to set up a LiveCD so he can give Ubuntu a whirl (no space left on his harddrive due to too many games!)
This statement says to me that you cannot rely on IMDB's top listing as an indication of quality at all. Of all the movies ever made, this new one comes in a #62? It proves to me that the top 250 is just a popularity contest rather than an indication of "quality".
I don't know if it exists, but it would be cool to have a combination of both. That is, the email comes through with the attempted transcription *and* the original audio as an attachment. I can then read the email and if it makes sense, that is it isn't too terribly mangled, then I can then decide whether to skip, archive or delete. But if it just doesn't look right or I do want to listen to it either right now or later I can still do so.
No, because perhaps the people that think "hey, I know, let's start a torrent tracker so we can easily find torrents of X, Y and Z content" will reconsider because of what has happened to *all* of the largest services so far. That is, unless someone makes a conscious effort to a) only allow torrents that are fully legal (*nudge nudge, wink wink) or b) stay small enough to be smaller than the largest X # of sites.
This is all anti-tourism and anti-immigration talk. It gets those of us even thinking about coming for a visit, or relocating to immediately reconsider. It is no wonder my parent's moved us kids to the States back in the '70s... I don't think my Mum could cope with the spiders everywhere! As kids we didn't seem to care.
Andrew Tannenbaum, is that you?
Obligatory - 160 characters ought to be enough for anybody!
It seems like engineers are always making assessments about what might be the possible usage of a technology, which then creates design considerations/limitations that affect decisions far into the future. If only we had a crystal ball and could see how a technology might be preferred 2 - 10 years from now!
I don't know about everyone else, but holding my hands anywhere in free space takes quite a bit of energy unless they are hanging at my sides. The reason the keyboard and mouse or other touch surfaces work well is because they allow a person to rest their limbs in an unnatural position.
So I am not sure about anything that doesn't allow a person to rest... it'd be like using a whiteboard all day long, and that is quite tiring!
Well who the heck can keep up with your addresses anyway? All my relatives are in the U.K. and you have to write a freakin thesis to get the thing to its correct destination...
Joan Smith
Yardley House, Heath on Rye
411 Heath Widgetsnit Roadway, 44H
Alton, Hants, UK, 44HH11KK
Sheesh! And they wonder why us lazy 'mericans don't write very often. Thank heavens for Facebook and email!
I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning. Apparently the Chinese auto market is the world's largest auto market now. The Chinese government is offering huge incentives to its domestic manufacturers to develop electric cars and renewable powered vehicles. Given the size of the market and the type of incentives offered, I would say to look to China for future enhancements to battery and car technology. In the U.S. we'll likely be licensing the technology instead of developing our own.
Uh, no. The alternator and all other things strapped onto the engine add friction, thereby reducing the power output of the engine significantly. By reducing the size of the alternator (and water pump, power steering pump), or eliminating it you not only reduce the friction but potentially reduce the weight of the vehicle also. This is one of the reasons that some car makers are using electric water and power steering pumps instead of hanging one other friction producing unit onto the engine.
Or was that the sound of a *whoosh* going over my head?
From the summary:
Isn't it possible that the more you run, or the more you get into running, that it is more likely you are going to purchase the more expensive running shoes? So that would seem to correlate mileage and expensive shoes, and it is possible there is a relationship between increased mileage and increase injuries.