This really begins at the elementary school level: getting children into the habit of using their brain, promoting questioning and independent thought, would be a good start. It should continue throughout the education system.
Contests and things like that are nice incentives, but everything rests on the fundamentals.
Were I to build a CF-based Linux system (I've been thinking of doing just that), I'd do it much like SLAX, i.e. treating the flash almost as a read-only device. The operating system and preinstalled software would be on a separate flash device, user data on another (to avoid OS being blown away if user data device dies, plus the OS flash could be read-only). Also, all changes would be made to memory and only committed at specific times (at a set interval, on user request, or on shutdown).
As the saying goes in these parts, "some people go ahead and do things, others follow behind and criticize."
Fusion, while obviously doable, is not something an average teenager would try. It's a commendable thing that this kid has the curiosity to experiment. Let's just hope he(?)'s taken the necessary precautions to avoid needlessly endangering his or other people's health and safety - and that goes with anything, even riding a bicycle.
Besides, you have to start somewhere - the "hello world" program or any of its variants has been done millions of times, but it's nevertheless a good starting point to learning a new programming language. Maybe a variant of a known fusor is a good starting point to further exploration in fusion, and it's newsworthy simply because it's unusual for people to experiment with fusion at home?
As to repeating tried-and-true research, there's the point that Richard Feynman made about not blindly trusting others' results...
CAUTION
Personal opinions ahead
Danger of collision with popular beliefs
A strange notion seems to have gained popularity about a human being that is always completely self-sufficient, rational, and objective - or at least most of the time. I've yet to meet such a person. I certainly know myself well enough to tell you I'm not one. This notion is bubbling under theories of alternative economic theories that are based on individuals buying everything they need on a perfectly-functioning private market, with money they somehow always have available, and theories about large portions of the population being able to function without their spiritual side. (I remember reading that there's a specific area in the brain for spiritual experiences. Make of it what you wish, but try disabling one function of your brain - not fun.)
We have this thing called science specifically because people are frequently not objective and rational, and we need a process to ensure that research, which is done by people, is. Science is a good thing; so is religion, and I don't see any need for them to collide, since they answer two different problems.
It's a function of the human mind to find excuses (sometimes very convoluted ones) for anything it wants to do, i.e. rationalize. I've done this myself (and hated myself for it), and seen others do it (and hated them for it). It has nothing to do with religion; atheists are fully capable of it, just as are religious people. Both can be open about it, or try to hide it. Rationalization is very often just a way to do what one wants and get away with it; it can be almost or completely unconscious and mostly harmless, or carefully planned to maximize advantage and profit at others' expense. It takes a considerable amount of self-discipline to look at one's actions from an outsider's point-of-view instead of just rationalizing from a selfish perspective. (The name Kant springs into mind. See also Categorical Imperative.) This, in turn, is one way to get along with other people, which is one of the problems most major religions are trying to solve (with varying defitions of "other people"). (Another problem is keeping a community together.)
Yep, it's largely a matter of preference. In a faucet you have two variables: temperature and pressure. I've seen three basic types of mixer taps:
Separate controls for the components' (i.e. hot and cold water) pressure. The sum of the pressures determines pressure, the difference determines temperature. This is the simplest type. Both controls must be set separately every time you want any water, unless one can be left at zero.
Separate controls for the variables, i.e. one knob for pressure (sum) and one for temperature (difference). This is convenient for a shower faucet, where the temperature control can be left in a suitable position and the pressure control adjusted as necessary. (Some people save water by not running the shower while shampooing, for example.)
One control (lever) for both variables, the horizontal axis providing temperature adjustment and the vertical axis pressure control. This can be controlled with one hand and adjusted with a single motion. These are sometimes used in showers, but there I find them a nuisance since it's too easy to brush on the lever and get boiled or frozen... Lever-style faucets are common in hospitals (at least in this corner of the globe) because they can be operated by pressing the handle with the wrist or elbow, not with the hand that's just been washed, risking recontamination from the handle.
What is not a mixer tap is the English-style two-tap arrangement, where you have two streams of water, one boiling hot, one freezing cold, and they only get mixed into a nice warm stream once they reach the drain...
Yes, the batteries would probably be charged by the motor when braking, and discharged to aid in acceleration, reducing the need for hydrogen or whatever the primary power is. Then again, this could be achieved just as well, or better with capacitor banks.
I think the battery is being used because they haven't gotten around ordering a hydrogen fuel cell from Hydrocell yet:)
"we'll build a steel buidling, because steel is good - and we'll fasten the steel beams together with nails, because our carpenters know how to use nails."
This is a very good analogy. Where this steel project fails worst is not the decision to use steel, nor the decision to assemble with nails, although these two are in direct and obvious conflict, which could have been avoided.
The failure of this kind of a project is ignoring the expertise within the company (the carpenters, who could have told the system architect that nails are for wood); they know how to use wood at the company, without additional training, which is an advantage over steel.
For the fictional construction company, the transition to steel - i.e. the first steel building project - would have incurred significant overhead because of the need to gain expertise by means of training and recruitment, which would only be worthwhile if the costs could be reasonably expected to be recovered in a reasonable time, so that future steel buildings could be made at a profit. In other words, it's as much an investment as any other.
The IT business is as much a business as construction. The "silver bullet" promises to be a once-and-for-all solution to some particular problem, which may not be very well defined: "install this and never worry about single sign on!" Silver turns into lead when the problem turns out to be something completely different from what the vendor promised to solve: this single-sign-on software doesn't solve the problem of integrating several legacy user databases with incompatible data; this virus scanner and that firewall won't solve the problem of Joe Friendly User responding to a "security advisory" from his bank, requesting that he verify some personal information...
To find the solution, you must first define the problem. I think the silver bullet ends up many times creating a ragged, bleeding exit wound in its user's foot because the target hasn't been well defined. Just like any bullet, it must be aimed very carefully, or it will do more harm than good.
--js/fi--
Hydrogen fuel cell is no problem
on
The Hybrid Scooter
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Over here (.fi) there's already a commercially available hydrogen powered scooter, made by this company (whose English pages are quite poor). They also make fuel cells with integrated hydrogen storage, and separate hydrogen storage tanks. There's also political talk about finally taxing biodiesel and ethanol fuels like petroleum-based fuels, instead of slapping users with a penalty tax. In effect, this would be a big step toward making the biofuels viable alternatives.
Yes, over here gas does cost $5/gallon. Well, used to. When it was cheap. Now it's more like $6.5/gal (1.3-1.4 EUR/l). (DISCLAIMER: if my math is correct.)
I'd say DRM and compensating the artist are two different issues. You can pay to download a song in any format, not just DRM protected ones. Then again, DRM or not, once you have paid for the song, you usually have no way of knowing whether the artist actually receives any of your money. (It's up to you if you care or not.)
DRM only attempts to limit what you can do with the song you just bought. (Again, it's up to you if you care.) Personally, I don't mind if it prohibits things which are illegal anyway, but I do object if it limits my ability to do the things I am legally allowed to do with the song, or if it's being used to gather information about me or my listening habits, or if it constitutes a risk to the security or integrity of my computer (such as the recent Sony rootkit). --js--
Build or buy a few DC power supplies delivering about 12 V and a sufficient number of amps, with a number of Powerpole outputs. Then build a connection cable for each device, containing the following, from end to end:
a pair of Powerpoles
a DC/DC converter, converting the about 12 V to whatever the device wants; may be omitted if the device is willing to make do with about 12 V
the proper plug for the device.
The proper plug can be obtained from the original power supply. For travel, get a 12 volt wall wart or two, install Powerpoles, and you can use any device you have cables for.
(If you still do want to use the original supply for its intended purpose, just add a few connectors (preferably non-Powerpoles to avoid costly mistakes): female on the originall power supply, and on the output side of the DC/DC converter; male on the cable leading to the device plug. Mind the polarity. This does add one possible failure point, though.)
Place the power supplies strategically to balance convenience and transfer and core losses.
An enterprising soul may build* several connection panels with individually and/or collectively switchable outputs.
*) A body may be required to assist in the assembly process. Should the enterprising soul not have one of its own, it is generally considered good manners to ask for permission to possess someone's body, even if it's for a good purpose.
Remember also that nuclear and other electric power can be used to power rail transportation.
If the price of oil keeps rising, two things may become viable in North America: 1) a major electrification of the railroads; 2) moving a major portion of medium to long distance ground transportation from oil-burning road vehicles to electric rail. [1]
To imagine that high-speed electric rail would be replacing short-haul flight[2] in the U.S. at some point might be too far fetched...
[1] This is not very far fetched: even today, trucks and trailers are being hauled on trains to save time and operating costs.
The way to get people out of their cars: Have public transport that goes where people want to go, when they want to go. It must be convenient, comfortable, and cheap to use. This usually implies a rail service.
Have comfortable, easily accessible stops/stations in good locations.
Have a service so frequent that people won't have to think about timetables; have direct connections for the majority of customers, and make connections easy to figure, intuitive as it were: well marked on route maps and timetables, connections should happen on the same platform if at all feasible (i.e. the connecting unit should arrive on the same track or the one across the platform).
Create a simple ticketing scheme that awards frequent travel in the form of seasonal passes or equivalent. If the system is light rail, make use of the fact that it can be routed through a car free zone. If heavy rail, use the speed advantage. In either case, run lines to where people are and where they work, shop, have fun, travel (airports, bus and train terminals...)
Have good connections to existing systems and coordinate schedules, so that people know to take this one to catch that flight.
Ask people what they need. Respond to feedback. Keep developing the system, let it grow with the city; but do take care of stability, so that people know that the train will take the same route tomorrow as it did yesterday.
Why isn't this done? An urban rail system requires a major initial investment, and takes superb management skill to turn a direct profit, and public subsidy is often accepted as a fact of life. (Being located near a good rail service does, however, drive land prices up. This effect can be utilized as a funding tool for the initial investment.) Building a rail service requires either public investment, which communities are reluctant to do, or a public/private partnership, which is still expensive for the public. Parts of the public are against funding any public transport projects, while other parts are strongly in favor. This, along with the question of exactly where the service should go, can fuel decade-long debates before a single rail gets laid. Meanwhile, highways get built and expanded, since people, after all, need to move from A to B.
No matter which store I'm in, I ask myself whether the sofa is worth $1000 to me. I really don't care what its historic price was. I don't care if they did or didn't charge $2000 for it in the past. Or $5000. It costs $1000 now. Do I want it or not? It's as simple as that.
That's a decision to be made whenever purchasing something, whether or not you have discounts, coupons, rebates, negotiable prices, a friendly, smiling salesperson, who will offer a "special price just for you", or an infomercial host(ess) flirting at you. (Not with you, (s)he's on TV.)
The particular piece of Finnish law is one of a number of laws whose goal is to promote transparent and understandable retail pricing, and make it feasible for the consumer to make the previously mentioned decision (is this item worth this much to me?) It exists to prohibit e.g. things like taking a gizmo usually sold for 20 e and claiming "it's a high-end premium hundred-euro gizmo, but you can have it for ONLY 50 e!", which is the effect of a permanent "discount", or a case when the "discount" price is calculated from some imaginary "list" price that has no bearing on reality.
Of course, nothing prevents a store from selling a 20 euro gizmo with the claim "it's a high-end premium gizmo, and you can have it for ONLY 100 e!" as long as they don't claim it's discounted from 200 e when it's not...
At 70% off,
--js--
BTW, to the grandparent post: Should we, in a moment of clarity, happen to be sane and civilized, let us display it, not declare it.
--ibid., from Turku--
ECT seems to me a really extreme form of therapy. I certainly hope it has really extreme benefits to justify.
I have epilepsy, most probably of the juvenile myoclonic type, with generalised tonic-clonic seizures (fortunately suppressed by medication for more than a year now). After each seizure, I've felt headache, tiredness, severe disorientation, and a short-term memory loss, plus various physical injuries caused by the convulsions.
Immediately after waking up from a seizure, being questioned by an ambulance crew, I've been able to recall my name and social security # (correctly), as well as the name of the current president. However, I've had no idea about what day, month or year it is, or what time of day it could possibly be, or where I was located, or what I was doing. I either checked these things or recalled them later (within the next few hours). OTOH, I've permanently lost memory of a few minutes around each seizure.
My neurologist said the effect of a seizure to the brain is like getting knocked out in boxing. It says in the Wikipedia article that the ECT seizures are stronger than naturally occurring ones and last around 60 seconds, which is pretty long time with a strong seizure. I don't wonder if ECT produces even larger blackouts. Of course, if administered properly, the convulsion-related damage will be minimized, but I do remain suspicious about the side effects.
Were this an actual ecosystem, the Jobsians would quickly outnumber the Gatesians, unless the Gatesians could reproduce despite being sick all the time...
I'm sorry, the explanation was inadequate. You're right in that stuffing is possible without the stamp.
The paper is folded in two, the markings inside, and the back is stamped. Only the voter sees the inside when marking the ballot. The election officer doing the stamping is not allowed to see the inside.
A similar effect can be achieved in a cheap and easy manner.
Supplies: 1 plentiful meal of beans (for longer distances, dietary changes may be needed) 1 lighter (one that produces an open flame) 1 bicycle with functional brakes
It's not always that simple... Some manufacturers clearly state the major chip on their product: "Lens&Mirror 802.11G card with Amazon 9000 chip."
Then there may be an Amazon 9000 version 1 and an Amazon 9000 version 2, which are pin-for-pin compatible and functionally equivalent - but while switching to version 2, the card manufacturer has also rewritten the firmware to take advantage of the additional features or improved performance of the v2 chip, or just to fix the more serious bugs, so the card is actually no longer the same.
This doesn't matter for Windows users, because the Windows driver is supplied with the card, and they make sure the old Windows driver works adequately. So they don't bother to change the card ID, to make sure it gets autodetected. And changing the packaging would be significant cost, so they just slap a small "v2" text somewhere in the artwork and raise the price by 30 %.
Then some manufacturers advertise the card as "Billy Joe Bob's Newfangled Wireless Thingy", never mentioning what it's built around, and when asked, just tell the user to install the drivers that come with the card, or failing that, reinstall Windows. The card ID is what it is. A product like this may eventually be reverse-engineered to reveal its identity and to produce a driver Billy Joe Bob didn't see fit to produce.
Then there's those companies who advertise six different chipsets as one product, or one chipset as six different products.
Then there's all kind of built-in and embedded things that may tie into the internals of a motherboard in all kinds of sick and twisted ways (read: manufacturers going for the record on making the largest feature with the fewest components. The winner is the one who makes the entire CPU in software...)
And in the middle of this mess is the poor open-source programmer spending nights in an excercise of frustration trying to write a driver for his laptop's WLAN card...
A very easy and reliable way to arrange the vote: At each voting station there's an empty, sealed, (transparent if desired) box (or a sufficient number for the expected amount of votes), one or more voting booths, and a list of voters registered for that station.
Each voter has their identity checked against the register, gets a blank ballot, goes to a booth, fills the ballot, comes back, has the ballot stamped, drops it into the box, walks out.
After closing, the boxes are opened, and the ballots are counted by the station staff. This can be done manually, or the ballots can be designed to be read optically. The total(s) are reported to the election board(s).
There can be an arbitrary number of stations. Since the counting happens in parallel, the whole process is finished as soon as the last station (usually the largest) has reported their count. This system works best with a simple, one-question ballot, but can be adapted to multiple questions (the count only takes slightly longer). With careful counting, there's little margin for error.
In Finland it's also possible to vote in advance - I don't know about the US. We don't register to vote, we get a piece of paper in the mail indicating the voting station to use and the time and places available for advance vote. On election day one has to vote at one's "own" voting station, which is usually a nearby school or other public building, but an advance vote can be cast at any station. The voting process is the usual: you walk in, show an ID, get a ballot, walk into the booth, write a number, walk out, have the ballot stamped - and here's the difference: the ballot gets sealed into an envelope (you seal it yourself) which gets stamped as well, and this gets sealed into a larger envelope with your info on it. These are sent to the central election board and counted on election day. (I guess if they find two envelopes belonging to the same person, neither one will get counted, but that person will find themself in court...) On election day, those who have voted in advance are no longer on the list of voters, thus not allowed to vote twice. (That's why advance voting ends a few days before election day.) There are particular voting procedures for some groups who are unable to leave their premises (prisoners, hospital patients, disabled people with mobility problems...)
Not all of Europe is in the EU: depending on the definition of Europe (which is vague at best), there are about 20 countries that do not belong to the European Union. If Russia and Turkey, both reaching into both Europe and Asia, are counted as European countries, EU citizens probably are a minority in European countries.
Then the article talks about something called EMEA, or "Europe, Middle East, and Africa". What's that got to do with EU? EMEA could include, without much exaggeration, everything west of Oman, east of the Azores, north of the Cape of Good Hope, and south of Svalbard. Yes, EU fits in there. No, EU isn't all of it. This is like talking about "North America" while meaning only Canada. Or "Asia" while meaning only India. --js--
Slashdot Mirror
Contests and things like that are nice incentives, but everything rests on the fundamentals.
I hope these experiences will turn into more visits to little Johnny's house, whether or not his grandparents buy a Wii...
Were I to build a CF-based Linux system (I've been thinking of doing just that), I'd do it much like SLAX, i.e. treating the flash almost as a read-only device. The operating system and preinstalled software would be on a separate flash device, user data on another (to avoid OS being blown away if user data device dies, plus the OS flash could be read-only). Also, all changes would be made to memory and only committed at specific times (at a set interval, on user request, or on shutdown).
The same query on the published application database returns 8093 hits from 2001 to today.
Searching AN/ibm OR AN/"international business machines" returns 45414 patents and 18454 published applications.
Fusion, while obviously doable, is not something an average teenager would try. It's a commendable thing that this kid has the curiosity to experiment. Let's just hope he(?)'s taken the necessary precautions to avoid needlessly endangering his or other people's health and safety - and that goes with anything, even riding a bicycle.
Besides, you have to start somewhere - the "hello world" program or any of its variants has been done millions of times, but it's nevertheless a good starting point to learning a new programming language. Maybe a variant of a known fusor is a good starting point to further exploration in fusion, and it's newsworthy simply because it's unusual for people to experiment with fusion at home?
As to repeating tried-and-true research, there's the point that Richard Feynman made about not blindly trusting others' results...
Personal opinions ahead
Danger of collision with popular beliefs
A strange notion seems to have gained popularity about a human being that is always completely self-sufficient, rational, and objective - or at least most of the time. I've yet to meet such a person. I certainly know myself well enough to tell you I'm not one. This notion is bubbling under theories of alternative economic theories that are based on individuals buying everything they need on a perfectly-functioning private market, with money they somehow always have available, and theories about large portions of the population being able to function without their spiritual side. (I remember reading that there's a specific area in the brain for spiritual experiences. Make of it what you wish, but try disabling one function of your brain - not fun.)
We have this thing called science specifically because people are frequently not objective and rational, and we need a process to ensure that research, which is done by people, is. Science is a good thing; so is religion, and I don't see any need for them to collide, since they answer two different problems.
It's a function of the human mind to find excuses (sometimes very convoluted ones) for anything it wants to do, i.e. rationalize. I've done this myself (and hated myself for it), and seen others do it (and hated them for it). It has nothing to do with religion; atheists are fully capable of it, just as are religious people. Both can be open about it, or try to hide it. Rationalization is very often just a way to do what one wants and get away with it; it can be almost or completely unconscious and mostly harmless, or carefully planned to maximize advantage and profit at others' expense. It takes a considerable amount of self-discipline to look at one's actions from an outsider's point-of-view instead of just rationalizing from a selfish perspective. (The name Kant springs into mind. See also Categorical Imperative.) This, in turn, is one way to get along with other people, which is one of the problems most major religions are trying to solve (with varying defitions of "other people"). (Another problem is keeping a community together.)
What is not a mixer tap is the English-style two-tap arrangement, where you have two streams of water, one boiling hot, one freezing cold, and they only get mixed into a nice warm stream once they reach the drain...
from the Department of Useless Information
PLUTON~1
PLUTON~2
[...]
--js/fi--
I think the battery is being used because they haven't gotten around ordering a hydrogen fuel cell from Hydrocell yet :)
--js/fi--
This is a very good analogy. Where this steel project fails worst is not the decision to use steel, nor the decision to assemble with nails, although these two are in direct and obvious conflict, which could have been avoided.
The failure of this kind of a project is ignoring the expertise within the company (the carpenters, who could have told the system architect that nails are for wood); they know how to use wood at the company, without additional training, which is an advantage over steel.
For the fictional construction company, the transition to steel - i.e. the first steel building project - would have incurred significant overhead because of the need to gain expertise by means of training and recruitment, which would only be worthwhile if the costs could be reasonably expected to be recovered in a reasonable time, so that future steel buildings could be made at a profit. In other words, it's as much an investment as any other.
The IT business is as much a business as construction. The "silver bullet" promises to be a once-and-for-all solution to some particular problem, which may not be very well defined: "install this and never worry about single sign on!" Silver turns into lead when the problem turns out to be something completely different from what the vendor promised to solve: this single-sign-on software doesn't solve the problem of integrating several legacy user databases with incompatible data; this virus scanner and that firewall won't solve the problem of Joe Friendly User responding to a "security advisory" from his bank, requesting that he verify some personal information...
To find the solution, you must first define the problem. I think the silver bullet ends up many times creating a ragged, bleeding exit wound in its user's foot because the target hasn't been well defined. Just like any bullet, it must be aimed very carefully, or it will do more harm than good.
--js/fi--
Yes, over here gas does cost $5/gallon. Well, used to. When it was cheap. Now it's more like $6.5/gal (1.3-1.4 EUR/l). (DISCLAIMER: if my math is correct.)
--js/fi--
I'd say DRM and compensating the artist are two different issues. You can pay to download a song in any format, not just DRM protected ones. Then again, DRM or not, once you have paid for the song, you usually have no way of knowing whether the artist actually receives any of your money. (It's up to you if you care or not.)
DRM only attempts to limit what you can do with the song you just bought. (Again, it's up to you if you care.) Personally, I don't mind if it prohibits things which are illegal anyway, but I do object if it limits my ability to do the things I am legally allowed to do with the song, or if it's being used to gather information about me or my listening habits, or if it constitutes a risk to the security or integrity of my computer (such as the recent Sony rootkit).
--js--
Build or buy a few DC power supplies delivering about 12 V and a sufficient number of amps, with a number of Powerpole outputs. Then build a connection cable for each device, containing the following, from end to end:
The proper plug can be obtained from the original power supply. For travel, get a 12 volt wall wart or two, install Powerpoles, and you can use any device you have cables for.
(If you still do want to use the original supply for its intended purpose, just add a few connectors (preferably non-Powerpoles to avoid costly mistakes): female on the originall power supply, and on the output side of the DC/DC converter; male on the cable leading to the device plug. Mind the polarity. This does add one possible failure point, though.)
Place the power supplies strategically to balance convenience and transfer and core losses. An enterprising soul may build* several connection panels with individually and/or collectively switchable outputs.
*) A body may be required to assist in the assembly process. Should the enterprising soul not have one of its own, it is generally considered good manners to ask for permission to possess someone's body, even if it's for a good purpose.
--js--
Remember also that nuclear and other electric power can be used to power rail transportation.
If the price of oil keeps rising, two things may become viable in North America: 1) a major electrification of the railroads; 2) moving a major portion of medium to long distance ground transportation from oil-burning road vehicles to electric rail. [1]
To imagine that high-speed electric rail would be replacing short-haul flight[2] in the U.S. at some point might be too far fetched...
[1] This is not very far fetched: even today, trucks and trailers are being hauled on trains to save time and operating costs.
[2] As has happened in France.
--js--
Have comfortable, easily accessible stops/stations in good locations.
Have a service so frequent that people won't have to think about timetables; have direct connections for the majority of customers, and make connections easy to figure, intuitive as it were: well marked on route maps and timetables, connections should happen on the same platform if at all feasible (i.e. the connecting unit should arrive on the same track or the one across the platform).
Create a simple ticketing scheme that awards frequent travel in the form of seasonal passes or equivalent. If the system is light rail, make use of the fact that it can be routed through a car free zone. If heavy rail, use the speed advantage. In either case, run lines to where people are and where they work, shop, have fun, travel (airports, bus and train terminals...)
Have good connections to existing systems and coordinate schedules, so that people know to take this one to catch that flight.
Ask people what they need. Respond to feedback. Keep developing the system, let it grow with the city; but do take care of stability, so that people know that the train will take the same route tomorrow as it did yesterday.
Why isn't this done? An urban rail system requires a major initial investment, and takes superb management skill to turn a direct profit, and public subsidy is often accepted as a fact of life. (Being located near a good rail service does, however, drive land prices up. This effect can be utilized as a funding tool for the initial investment.) Building a rail service requires either public investment, which communities are reluctant to do, or a public/private partnership, which is still expensive for the public. Parts of the public are against funding any public transport projects, while other parts are strongly in favor. This, along with the question of exactly where the service should go, can fuel decade-long debates before a single rail gets laid. Meanwhile, highways get built and expanded, since people, after all, need to move from A to B.
--js--
That's a decision to be made whenever purchasing something, whether or not you have discounts, coupons, rebates, negotiable prices, a friendly, smiling salesperson, who will offer a "special price just for you", or an infomercial host(ess) flirting at you. (Not with you, (s)he's on TV.)
The particular piece of Finnish law is one of a number of laws whose goal is to promote transparent and understandable retail pricing, and make it feasible for the consumer to make the previously mentioned decision (is this item worth this much to me?) It exists to prohibit e.g. things like taking a gizmo usually sold for 20 e and claiming "it's a high-end premium hundred-euro gizmo, but you can have it for ONLY 50 e!", which is the effect of a permanent "discount", or a case when the "discount" price is calculated from some imaginary "list" price that has no bearing on reality.
Of course, nothing prevents a store from selling a 20 euro gizmo with the claim "it's a high-end premium gizmo, and you can have it for ONLY 100 e!" as long as they don't claim it's discounted from 200 e when it's not...
At 70% off,
--js--
BTW, to the grandparent post: Should we, in a moment of clarity, happen to be sane and civilized, let us display it, not declare it.
--ibid., from Turku--
ECT seems to me a really extreme form of therapy. I certainly hope it has really extreme benefits to justify.
I have epilepsy, most probably of the juvenile myoclonic type, with generalised tonic-clonic seizures (fortunately suppressed by medication for more than a year now). After each seizure, I've felt headache, tiredness, severe disorientation, and a short-term memory loss, plus various physical injuries caused by the convulsions.
Immediately after waking up from a seizure, being questioned by an ambulance crew, I've been able to recall my name and social security # (correctly), as well as the name of the current president. However, I've had no idea about what day, month or year it is, or what time of day it could possibly be, or where I was located, or what I was doing. I either checked these things or recalled them later (within the next few hours). OTOH, I've permanently lost memory of a few minutes around each seizure.
My neurologist said the effect of a seizure to the brain is like getting knocked out in boxing. It says in the Wikipedia article that the ECT seizures are stronger than naturally occurring ones and last around 60 seconds, which is pretty long time with a strong seizure. I don't wonder if ECT produces even larger blackouts. Of course, if administered properly, the convulsion-related damage will be minimized, but I do remain suspicious about the side effects.
--js--
Of which the system, due to an obscure configuration file, reads "asldkfje", passing the rest to ed.
You should see my admin key: it is a 10^12 digit mersenne prime.
You will have an interesting time when they find the only 10^12 digit mersenne prime.
On behalf of mr. Murphy,
--js--
Were this an actual ecosystem, the Jobsians would quickly outnumber the Gatesians, unless the Gatesians could reproduce despite being sick all the time...
--js--
I'm sorry, the explanation was inadequate. You're right in that stuffing is possible without the stamp.
The paper is folded in two, the markings inside, and the back is stamped. Only the voter sees the inside when marking the ballot. The election officer doing the stamping is not allowed to see the inside.
I hope this clears things up.
--js--
A similar effect can be achieved in a cheap and easy manner.
Supplies:
1 plentiful meal of beans (for longer distances, dietary changes may be needed)
1 lighter (one that produces an open flame)
1 bicycle with functional brakes
It's not always that simple...
Some manufacturers clearly state the major chip on their product: "Lens&Mirror 802.11G card with Amazon 9000 chip."
Then there may be an Amazon 9000 version 1 and an Amazon 9000 version 2, which are pin-for-pin compatible and functionally equivalent - but while switching to version 2, the card manufacturer has also rewritten the firmware to take advantage of the additional features or improved performance of the v2 chip, or just to fix the more serious bugs, so the card is actually no longer the same.
This doesn't matter for Windows users, because the Windows driver is supplied with the card, and they make sure the old Windows driver works adequately. So they don't bother to change the card ID, to make sure it gets autodetected. And changing the packaging would be significant cost, so they just slap a small "v2" text somewhere in the artwork and raise the price by 30 %.
Then some manufacturers advertise the card as "Billy Joe Bob's Newfangled Wireless Thingy", never mentioning what it's built around, and when asked, just tell the user to install the drivers that come with the card, or failing that, reinstall Windows. The card ID is what it is. A product like this may eventually be reverse-engineered to reveal its identity and to produce a driver Billy Joe Bob didn't see fit to produce.
Then there's those companies who advertise six different chipsets as one product, or one chipset as six different products.
Then there's all kind of built-in and embedded things that may tie into the internals of a motherboard in all kinds of sick and twisted ways (read: manufacturers going for the record on making the largest feature with the fewest components. The winner is the one who makes the entire CPU in software...)
And in the middle of this mess is the poor open-source programmer spending nights in an excercise of frustration trying to write a driver for his laptop's WLAN card...
--js--
A very easy and reliable way to arrange the vote:
At each voting station there's an empty, sealed, (transparent if desired) box (or a sufficient number for the expected amount of votes), one or more voting booths, and a list of voters registered for that station.
Each voter has their identity checked against the register, gets a blank ballot, goes to a booth, fills the ballot, comes back, has the ballot stamped, drops it into the box, walks out.
After closing, the boxes are opened, and the ballots are counted by the station staff. This can be done manually, or the ballots can be designed to be read optically. The total(s) are reported to the election board(s).
There can be an arbitrary number of stations. Since the counting happens in parallel, the whole process is finished as soon as the last station (usually the largest) has reported their count. This system works best with a simple, one-question ballot, but can be adapted to multiple questions (the count only takes slightly longer). With careful counting, there's little margin for error.
In Finland it's also possible to vote in advance - I don't know about the US. We don't register to vote, we get a piece of paper in the mail indicating the voting station to use and the time and places available for advance vote. On election day one has to vote at one's "own" voting station, which is usually a nearby school or other public building, but an advance vote can be cast at any station. The voting process is the usual: you walk in, show an ID, get a ballot, walk into the booth, write a number, walk out, have the ballot stamped - and here's the difference: the ballot gets sealed into an envelope (you seal it yourself) which gets stamped as well, and this gets sealed into a larger envelope with your info on it. These are sent to the central election board and counted on election day. (I guess if they find two envelopes belonging to the same person, neither one will get counted, but that person will find themself in court...) On election day, those who have voted in advance are no longer on the list of voters, thus not allowed to vote twice. (That's why advance voting ends a few days before election day.) There are particular voting procedures for some groups who are unable to leave their premises (prisoners, hospital patients, disabled people with mobility problems...)
--js--
Especially as EU != Europe.
Not all of Europe is in the EU: depending on the definition of Europe (which is vague at best), there are about 20 countries that do not belong to the European Union. If Russia and Turkey, both reaching into both Europe and Asia, are counted as European countries, EU citizens probably are a minority in European countries.
Then the article talks about something called EMEA, or "Europe, Middle East, and Africa". What's that got to do with EU? EMEA could include, without much exaggeration, everything west of Oman, east of the Azores, north of the Cape of Good Hope, and south of Svalbard. Yes, EU fits in there. No, EU isn't all of it. This is like talking about "North America" while meaning only Canada. Or "Asia" while meaning only India.
--js--