Read an interesting article last year that said a lot of the 'fear' was a direct consequence of the rise of ratings-driven for-profit cable news. The news channels needed to fill their airtime with something and fear-driven programming kept eyeballs on the TV sets. Fear of terrorists, fear of child abductors - Fear, fear, fear.
The problem with bureaucracy is that in many cases they are required to award contracts to the lowest bidder - If they don't, and word gets out, the media slams them. Sometimes the lowest bidder isn't always the best option....
I don't know how much and on-demand movie costs, but if you live in the sticks I can't imagine it's more money than driving 15 miles in the pickup to Blockbuster to get a DVD, driving home, watching it and then driving back to return it...
I know this is Slashdot, so it's BitTorrent, Netflix or nothing, but there is a third option that most people here don't acknowledge: Video-on-demand. Your cable company offers it, Dish & DirectTV offer it... You just push a button on your remote, pick a movie and watch it, often in HD. For many people it's video-on-demand that killed the brick and mortar rental shops. Why drive to the video store when you can just push a button?
Its destiny was not decided by "geeky douchebag hipsters" but by Apple. Explain the value proposition in paying US$600 for a iPad tablet when there are tablets with comparable specs that can be had for almost half the price. Honestly, I'd actually consider buying an iPad, if it were priced at maybe $300. Apple priced themselves out of the market
Agreed. I have a Surface Pro. It's my primary computer for everything, whether I'm at my desk at the office, on the train, at an airport or in a hotel room.
because it's probably going to cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to punish me for not giving the government a couple of hundred dollars that I earned.
Sure, but that's the case with all non-violent crimes. Some guy steals something and you spend $250K to lock him up for five years, not to mention the cost of prosecuting him. That's just how it is.
Because it's so much worse for the bodies inside a car getting hit by another traveling 105 MPH than 55.
No, it's that when the American driving at 55 puts down his cheeseburger, big gulp & cell phone and notices something he has more time to stop than the American does who is driving 105 while eating Doritos and changing tracks on his iPod.
57 flight segments so far this year, in the US, Canada and Asia..
"That chime means we have now passed ten-thousand feet. You may now use your approved electronic devices, however they must be in 'airplane mode' - All transmitting and receiving functions must be turned off, and remain off, for the duration of the flight."
I fly a lot, and I disagree - You hear the announcement about airplane mode, you see them press a few icons in puzzlement, then shrug, put their phone in standby and then tuck it in the seat pocket.
Airfones have mostly gone away, but a dozen years ago they were pretty common.
When I notice my fellow passengers playing Candy Crush on their phones you can plainly see the NO SERVICE displayed on the top. This is because they don't know how to go into Airplane Mode so their radios are on, but the phone can't lock to a tower at 35K feet travelling at a ground speed of 500 mph.
Airfones have mostly gone away, but a dozen years ago they were pretty common.
When I notice my fellow passengers playing Candy Crush on their phones you can plainly see the NO SERVICE displayed on the top. This is because they don't know how to go into Airplane Mode so their radios are on, but the phone can't lock to a tower at 35K feet travelling at a ground speed of 500 mph.
Here in Vancouver, it's traditional to light off fireworks on Halloween. Fireworks are legal on Halloween night, firecrackers are not (Nevertheless, there are a lot of illegal firecrackers going *BANG* as well....)
Usually starts off quiet, but by the time the teenagers are out at 9pm it's a bit of a war zone, with our dog cowering in the basement.
Y'know, I'd have more faith in these 'Facebook is Omnipotent' stories if Facebook ever once actually served up something I cared about. I joined five years ago and I'm on FB several times per day. I post links, and update my status. I post a few pictures per week. I check in here and there using the mobile app. I have a couple of hundred friends and I comment on their postings. Facebook knows my location, age, gender, marital status. It knows I like James Bond and I'm an airplane geek... On and on.
Yet Facebook has never, once, posted ANYTHING that would cause me to go "Hey, that's interesting," and click. Never once. Right now it's serving me up an ad telling me to go to school to be a social worker, and another ad from my current ISP telling me to switch to them, even though I'm already using them. Yeah, great data mining FB.
OF course, it ALSO means they are prevented from developing a modern economy and advancing the their production structure to no longer BEING a poor, underdeveloped nation
No, it means they have a chance to leapfrog over polluting solutions into 'clean' solutions. They're also helped by the fact their energy needs are less, so they can roll out cleaner solutions like windmills and solar more successfully.
Slashdot Mirror
*whoosh*
Be careful. Pong can burn in the phosphors and damage the TV set.
Someone marked this comment flamebait, so they missed the obvious cynicism in this comment
Correct.
Or if this was actually meant for real
It was not.
I'm sorry, but this storm is not affecting The Gulf of Mexico, Florida, or the Jersey Shore. America is not interested. Move along.
The Olympics have been hopelessly corrupt for decades now. There'd be more history in taking my fucking toilet plunger into space
I asked for specific examples of corruption with the 2010 Olympics held in my city.
The Olympics have been hopelessly corrupt for decades now.
We hosted the Olympics Jr. in my city (Vancouver) in 2010. It was a fabulous event.
Please provide several cites explaining how our Olympics were 'hopelessly corrupt."
Thanks.
(And please don't cite the Olympic village. That wasn't 'hopeless corruption' - It was just poor business decisions.)
Read an interesting article last year that said a lot of the 'fear' was a direct consequence of the rise of ratings-driven for-profit cable news. The news channels needed to fill their airtime with something and fear-driven programming kept eyeballs on the TV sets. Fear of terrorists, fear of child abductors - Fear, fear, fear.
I'll take my socialism in the form of corporate welfare for the oil companies, than you very much.
The problem with bureaucracy is that in many cases they are required to award contracts to the lowest bidder - If they don't, and word gets out, the media slams them. Sometimes the lowest bidder isn't always the best option....
I don't know how much and on-demand movie costs, but if you live in the sticks I can't imagine it's more money than driving 15 miles in the pickup to Blockbuster to get a DVD, driving home, watching it and then driving back to return it...
I know this is Slashdot, so it's BitTorrent, Netflix or nothing, but there is a third option that most people here don't acknowledge: Video-on-demand. Your cable company offers it, Dish & DirectTV offer it... You just push a button on your remote, pick a movie and watch it, often in HD. For many people it's video-on-demand that killed the brick and mortar rental shops. Why drive to the video store when you can just push a button?
In the 'sticks' you press the 'on-demand' button on your DirectTV remote..
"Walk over a disk once in a while." Seriously, just once a week trade a drive with your neighbour. I know this is /. where complexity wins, but jebus.
Its destiny was not decided by "geeky douchebag hipsters" but by Apple. Explain the value proposition in paying US$600 for a iPad tablet when there are tablets with comparable specs that can be had for almost half the price. Honestly, I'd actually consider buying an iPad, if it were priced at maybe $300. Apple priced themselves out of the market
It's a shame. It's a nice tablet
Agreed. I have a Surface Pro. It's my primary computer for everything, whether I'm at my desk at the office, on the train, at an airport or in a hotel room.
In Soviet Russia, time save you!
because it's probably going to cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to punish me for not giving the government a couple of hundred dollars that I earned.
Sure, but that's the case with all non-violent crimes. Some guy steals something and you spend $250K to lock him up for five years, not to mention the cost of prosecuting him. That's just how it is.
Because it's so much worse for the bodies inside a car getting hit by another traveling 105 MPH than 55.
No, it's that when the American driving at 55 puts down his cheeseburger, big gulp & cell phone and notices something he has more time to stop than the American does who is driving 105 while eating Doritos and changing tracks on his iPod.
57 flight segments so far this year, in the US, Canada and Asia..
"That chime means we have now passed ten-thousand feet. You may now use your approved electronic devices, however they must be in 'airplane mode' - All transmitting and receiving functions must be turned off, and remain off, for the duration of the flight."
They know how to do it.
I fly a lot, and I disagree - You hear the announcement about airplane mode, you see them press a few icons in puzzlement, then shrug, put their phone in standby and then tuck it in the seat pocket.
And they were using cell phones.
Most of the 9/11 calls were from Airfones, not cell phones -
http://imgs.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/cmcginnis/2010/12/16/airfone250x187.jpg
Airfones have mostly gone away, but a dozen years ago they were pretty common.
When I notice my fellow passengers playing Candy Crush on their phones you can plainly see the NO SERVICE displayed on the top. This is because they don't know how to go into Airplane Mode so their radios are on, but the phone can't lock to a tower at 35K feet travelling at a ground speed of 500 mph.
If you will recall, this was proven on 9/11/2001.
Most of the 9/11 calls were from Airfones, not cell phones -
http://imgs.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/cmcginnis/2010/12/16/airfone250x187.jpg
Airfones have mostly gone away, but a dozen years ago they were pretty common.
When I notice my fellow passengers playing Candy Crush on their phones you can plainly see the NO SERVICE displayed on the top. This is because they don't know how to go into Airplane Mode so their radios are on, but the phone can't lock to a tower at 35K feet travelling at a ground speed of 500 mph.
Here in Vancouver, it's traditional to light off fireworks on Halloween. Fireworks are legal on Halloween night, firecrackers are not (Nevertheless, there are a lot of illegal firecrackers going *BANG* as well....)
Usually starts off quiet, but by the time the teenagers are out at 9pm it's a bit of a war zone, with our dog cowering in the basement.
Y'know, I'd have more faith in these 'Facebook is Omnipotent' stories if Facebook ever once actually served up something I cared about. I joined five years ago and I'm on FB several times per day. I post links, and update my status. I post a few pictures per week. I check in here and there using the mobile app. I have a couple of hundred friends and I comment on their postings. Facebook knows my location, age, gender, marital status. It knows I like James Bond and I'm an airplane geek... On and on.
Yet Facebook has never, once, posted ANYTHING that would cause me to go "Hey, that's interesting," and click. Never once. Right now it's serving me up an ad telling me to go to school to be a social worker, and another ad from my current ISP telling me to switch to them, even though I'm already using them. Yeah, great data mining FB.
OF course, it ALSO means they are prevented from developing a modern economy and advancing the their production structure to no longer BEING a poor, underdeveloped nation
No, it means they have a chance to leapfrog over polluting solutions into 'clean' solutions. They're also helped by the fact their energy needs are less, so they can roll out cleaner solutions like windmills and solar more successfully.