I know a few hearing aid users. I have been told by at least one that hearing aids tend to become loose over time as the ear stretches. I don't know how it would affect the acoustical properties of the ear.
But there's still room for tampering the votes. There's always the question about public trust to the system also. Let me clear this up a bit. Oh, and I'm a Finn...
Traditional pen & paper method is almost 100% fool proof system. It is almost impossible to tamper the votes and here's why: Every party sets their own observer to overlook the counting. Any foul play is quickly discovered by observers. In order to fool the system you would need to bribe a whole lot of people.
Another Finn here, and I agree with parent.
Electronic voting has been marketed as ultimately enabling voting by web, SMS, and whatever channels. The reasoning is to increase voting activity. The reason why it doesn't work is that it's not the process of voting that keeps activity down - voting cannot get much simpler and still stay reliable - but the substance of politics. They're seemingly after the votes of those who don't care who gets elected, or feel that there is any difference between candidates... wait, what?
I'm sorry if I'm being cynical, but I think the problem that this system really solves is a cashflow problem for the developer company. After all, their main product is billable hours, and their main customer is the public sector.
(...) There are even more ergonomic layouts than Dvorak, as you'll find if you study that 2nd website I linked. They find a full optimisation to be a kind of XBUL layout. Colemak is another very ergonomic layout. And they even test what the worst layout for English could be. (...) It's silly to get emotional over a keyboard layout. But it's interesting to think about optimisation.
I agree with the last bit. However, I've been wondering about one thing for a long time. These optimized layouts seem to be designed for a specific language. What happens when you regularly type multiple languages: Finnish, English, Perl, Swedish? If the keyboard layout has been heavily optimized for a single language, others will suffer. I imagine typing Finnish on an English Dvorak keyboard would be nightmarish.
Funny thing is, if one uses the styles in Word correctly, you get a WYSIWYM editor, just never, EVER touch the bold, italic, underscore button.
Right. And I've never, ever seen anybody use the styles in Word correctly. I don't know why, but a great majority of people seem to use Word even worse than if it were a typewriter and a sheet of paper. The logic seems to be something like this:
For vertical space, press Enter. For page break, press Enter many times. For horizontal space, press space bar. For lots of horizontal space, press Tab. To make a heading, press the B button and find the right spot with the space bar. To make a table of contents, type each heading here, then a long string of points, then the page number. Remember to update each page number if you add or delete stuff in between. That box says something about styles, it's complicated, just leave it as it is.
The digit in question seems to be the left ring finger. Depends on one's typing style which particular keys would fall under that finger, but I find I use it mostly on the 1qwa<zx keys. See Finnish keyboard layout for reference, and while you're at it, take a moment to appreciate the pure genius that is the placement of all the characters essential in programming, particularly the Perl language, such as @$\|{[]}. My right wrist hurts even as I think about this.
There used to be an optional answering service - i.e. an answering machine at the exchange. When you lifted the receiver, you would hear new messages, if any; otherwise dialtone. You would only have to "select from the following options" to change the settings of the answering service. I think this still exists, only landlines are nearly extinct nowadays.
If a doctor kept medical records on paper in a filing cabinet at home, would they let anybody else touch that cabinet?
The real problem here is that doctors take patient information home on a laptop, then allow somebody else to access that laptop. It's easiest to just get another laptop for the kids and not let them near your work computer.
If you're sailing in the areas where the above maps have red markers, you may want to read this.
Excerpt:
Gulf of Aden: Somali pirates are attacking vessels in the northern Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden. These pirates are firing automatic weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) in an attempt to board and hijack vessels. Once the attack is successful and the vessel hijacked, the pirates sail the vessel to the Somali coast and thereafter demand a ransom for the safe release of the vessel and crew.
-15 ÂC is nothing if you're dressed properly. If you're in the position of an 18th century peasant in having no properly heated place to stay and no way to dress properly for the weather, things can get ugly really fast.
Considering the region's usual climate, the buildings most likely didn't much of a thermal insulation to speak of, so when it was -15 ÂC outside, it wasn't very warm inside either. (Somebody probably will correct me if I'm wrong.) Animal shelters probably had no heating at all. Making fires in the shelters was probably not an option, if it meant choosing between equal risks of freezing and burning the animals. Some animals could perhaps have been temporarily kept inside the house, but that wouldn't have solved the whole problem.
As to trees "exploding", it's not unusual for trees to split with a loud bang when it's cold enough. All it takes is a tree with a high water content and a long and deep enough frost period for the water in the tree to freeze. The water expands as it freezes, and when it expands enough, something has to give. If this is a new thing to an observer, together with a record cold spell, it probably is very impressive. I don't know if some more fragile woods might actually explode; we do have ash trees and even oaks in southern Finland, and they do survive the occasional cold spell. The 1709 frost must have caught plants "off guard"...
Where I live cash transactions are rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. As someone mentioned, Finland didn't even bother with the 1 and 2 cent coins. Before the Euro conversion we had long ago withdrawn our 0.01 and 0.05 coins, and the 0.10 was rapidly becoming a nuisance. One could game the system by selecting payment methods between card and cash (the price is the same) according to the final digit. Then again, the maximum gain is 2 cents per transaction. At 500 potential transactions per year, with an average gain of one cent, one could expect to be a whopping 5 euros richer at the end of the year.
A better get-rich-quick scheme is to keep one's eyes open and pick up any recyclable bottles and cans that people may have thrown away, worth 15 to 20 cents each.
Discussion with Ukrainian hitman: "Look, there's this guy Viktor I want killed..." "Viktor who?" "I don't know actually..." "Well how am I going to find him?" "All I know is he's a spammer..." "And you think Viktor is his real name?" "...oh..." "So all you know is that you want one spammer killed?" "It depends... can I have a quantity discount?"
I also see a market for digital cameras that look like cell phones. Hold it up to your as if talking, snap a silent pic, and no one knows because cell phones all click now when picture taking, right?
Suddenly I see a completely new market for a compact digital camera with a built-in cell phone...
In Perl it only produces a syntax error. However, it happens to be the secret Easter egg key combination that causes Emacs to take over and finish the current buffer the way you intended (without bugs), make you a nice cup of your favorite hot beverage, send email to your boss arranging for you to get a hefty raise, and give you a shoulder massage.
They seem to claim savings from two things:
- Raising distribution voltage to 575 V from 48, 110, or 220 V, minimizing distribution losses.
- Consolidating conversion apparatus into one place, minimizing conversion losses.
The first point is valid, although it doesn't mandate DC per se.
The second point, however, needs a closer look. AC step-up and step-down are reasonably efficient, as well as rectification and filtering of AC. However, there are still DC/DC conversions from 575 to 48 V at the rack and from 48 V to the final operating voltage(s) at the equipment. The 575 to 48 V conversion is said to be 95% efficient. (In other words, it wastes 1 watt for every 20 watts converted. Worse than a good AC distribution transformer.)
At 95% for the DC/DC conversions and 97% for the AC/DC conversion, we get 13 kV -> 575 V -> 48 V -> device internal = 0.97*0.95*0.95 = 87%. With 99% efficient transformers and 90% efficient device power supply, going from 13 kV -> 440 V -> 220 V -> device internal = 0.99 * 0.99 * 0.90 = 89%.
Even if all the DC/DC conversion in the proposed scheme were 99% efficient, the maximum savings in power consumption would be in the order of 9 %, not 50 %.
Note that I've used the American two-phase system as an example here, which means there's no conversion from 220 to 110, just using one of two phases. Here I think the article makes an error, since it mentions 220 to 110 as a conversion. In most of Europe the incoming (or possibly UPS-generated) supply would be three-phase, 400 V between phases, 230 V phase to neutral. This would be brought to the rack and distributed as three single-phase supplies to individual devices, or possibly as one three-phase supply to a single device with great power demand. Up to 86 kW can be supplied with a single plug-in cable.
Slashdot Mirror
I know a few hearing aid users. I have been told by at least one that hearing aids tend to become loose over time as the ear stretches. I don't know how it would affect the acoustical properties of the ear.
weicco wrote:
But there's still room for tampering the votes. There's always the question about public trust to the system also. Let me clear this up a bit. Oh, and I'm a Finn...
Traditional pen & paper method is almost 100% fool proof system. It is almost impossible to tamper the votes and here's why: Every party sets their own observer to overlook the counting. Any foul play is quickly discovered by observers. In order to fool the system you would need to bribe a whole lot of people.
Another Finn here, and I agree with parent.
Electronic voting has been marketed as ultimately enabling voting by web, SMS, and whatever channels. The reasoning is to increase voting activity. The reason why it doesn't work is that it's not the process of voting that keeps activity down - voting cannot get much simpler and still stay reliable - but the substance of politics. They're seemingly after the votes of those who don't care who gets elected, or feel that there is any difference between candidates... wait, what?
I'm sorry if I'm being cynical, but I think the problem that this system really solves is a cashflow problem for the developer company. After all, their main product is billable hours, and their main customer is the public sector.
(...)
There are even more ergonomic layouts than Dvorak, as you'll find if you study that 2nd website I linked. They find a full optimisation to be a kind of XBUL layout. Colemak is another very ergonomic layout. And they even test what the worst layout for English could be.
(...)
It's silly to get emotional over a keyboard layout. But it's interesting to think about optimisation.
I agree with the last bit. However, I've been wondering about one thing for a long time. These optimized layouts seem to be designed for a specific language. What happens when you regularly type multiple languages: Finnish, English, Perl, Swedish? If the keyboard layout has been heavily optimized for a single language, others will suffer. I imagine typing Finnish on an English Dvorak keyboard would be nightmarish.
Try spelling é é, as in touché.
Not whining about mods, but just pointing out that everything I said comes from experience in user support.
Funny thing is, if one uses the styles in Word correctly, you get a WYSIWYM editor, just never, EVER touch the bold, italic, underscore button.
Right. And I've never, ever seen anybody use the styles in Word correctly. I don't know why, but a great majority of people seem to use Word even worse than if it were a typewriter and a sheet of paper. The logic seems to be something like this:
For vertical space, press Enter. For page break, press Enter many times. For horizontal space, press space bar. For lots of horizontal space, press Tab. To make a heading, press the B button and find the right spot with the space bar. To make a table of contents, type each heading here, then a long string of points, then the page number. Remember to update each page number if you add or delete stuff in between. That box says something about styles, it's complicated, just leave it as it is.
The digit in question seems to be the left ring finger. Depends on one's typing style which particular keys would fall under that finger, but I find I use it mostly on the 1qwa<zx keys. See Finnish keyboard layout for reference, and while you're at it, take a moment to appreciate the pure genius that is the placement of all the characters essential in programming, particularly the Perl language, such as @$\|{[]}. My right wrist hurts even as I think about this.
There used to be an optional answering service - i.e. an answering machine at the exchange. When you lifted the receiver, you would hear new messages, if any; otherwise dialtone. You would only have to "select from the following options" to change the settings of the answering service. I think this still exists, only landlines are nearly extinct nowadays.
So what's the politically correct term for a 'hyper' link?
'Special' link?
Have a credibility check page - like checking if someone knows about a local detail that's known by the locals.
"What was the color of the church at Elm Street before 2004?"
...and the answer is: "Having moved here in 2005, how the fsck would I know?"
iptables -A INPUT -s ! 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
That should keep those pesky non-locals out. ;)
There, fixed that for you.
EGACS: Eight Gigabytes And Constantly Swapping.
Maybe. I know I can barely keep my pets out of places I don't want them to go. I can imagine children and guests could be worse.
Perhaps it's not such a bright idea to bring home any patient info at all, then?
If a doctor kept medical records on paper in a filing cabinet at home, would they let anybody else touch that cabinet?
The real problem here is that doctors take patient information home on a laptop, then allow somebody else to access that laptop. It's easiest to just get another laptop for the kids and not let them near your work computer.
And how do I twist and shake it to take a photo in a portrait format?
I tagged this "rubegoldberg".
Care to give an example? From what I've read, pirates are alive and well.
Live piracy map.
Piracy map for 2008.
If you're sailing in the areas where the above maps have red markers, you may want to read this.
Excerpt:
Gulf of Aden:
Somali pirates are attacking vessels in the northern Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden. These pirates are firing automatic weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) in an attempt to board and hijack vessels. Once the attack is successful and the vessel hijacked, the pirates sail the vessel to the Somali coast and thereafter demand a ransom for the safe release of the vessel and crew.
Under a tombstone that says [citation needed]?
-15 ÂC is nothing if you're dressed properly. If you're in the position of an 18th century peasant in having no properly heated place to stay and no way to dress properly for the weather, things can get ugly really fast.
Considering the region's usual climate, the buildings most likely didn't much of a thermal insulation to speak of, so when it was -15 ÂC outside, it wasn't very warm inside either. (Somebody probably will correct me if I'm wrong.) Animal shelters probably had no heating at all. Making fires in the shelters was probably not an option, if it meant choosing between equal risks of freezing and burning the animals. Some animals could perhaps have been temporarily kept inside the house, but that wouldn't have solved the whole problem.
As to trees "exploding", it's not unusual for trees to split with a loud bang when it's cold enough. All it takes is a tree with a high water content and a long and deep enough frost period for the water in the tree to freeze. The water expands as it freezes, and when it expands enough, something has to give. If this is a new thing to an observer, together with a record cold spell, it probably is very impressive. I don't know if some more fragile woods might actually explode; we do have ash trees and even oaks in southern Finland, and they do survive the occasional cold spell. The 1709 frost must have caught plants "off guard"...
Where I live cash transactions are rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. As someone mentioned, Finland didn't even bother with the 1 and 2 cent coins. Before the Euro conversion we had long ago withdrawn our 0.01 and 0.05 coins, and the 0.10 was rapidly becoming a nuisance. One could game the system by selecting payment methods between card and cash (the price is the same) according to the final digit. Then again, the maximum gain is 2 cents per transaction. At 500 potential transactions per year, with an average gain of one cent, one could expect to be a whopping 5 euros richer at the end of the year.
A better get-rich-quick scheme is to keep one's eyes open and pick up any recyclable bottles and cans that people may have thrown away, worth 15 to 20 cents each.
If you think people get crazy about pi day wait till you mix pi and unix.
Mmmm... pi...
Discussion with Ukrainian hitman:
"Look, there's this guy Viktor I want killed..."
"Viktor who?"
"I don't know actually..."
"Well how am I going to find him?"
"All I know is he's a spammer..."
"And you think Viktor is his real name?"
"...oh..."
"So all you know is that you want one spammer killed?"
"It depends... can I have a quantity discount?"
Another thing to consider is that the term "sustainable" may be used of things that are actually unsustainable.
I also see a market for digital cameras that look like cell phones. Hold it up to your as if talking, snap a silent pic, and no one knows because cell phones all click now when picture taking, right?
Suddenly I see a completely new market for a compact digital camera with a built-in cell phone...
In Perl it only produces a syntax error. However, it happens to be the secret Easter egg key combination that causes Emacs to take over and finish the current buffer the way you intended (without bugs), make you a nice cup of your favorite hot beverage, send email to your boss arranging for you to get a hefty raise, and give you a shoulder massage.
They seem to claim savings from two things:
- Raising distribution voltage to 575 V from 48, 110, or 220 V, minimizing distribution losses.
- Consolidating conversion apparatus into one place, minimizing conversion losses.
The first point is valid, although it doesn't mandate DC per se.
The second point, however, needs a closer look. AC step-up and step-down are reasonably efficient, as well as rectification and filtering of AC. However, there are still DC/DC conversions from 575 to 48 V at the rack and from 48 V to the final operating voltage(s) at the equipment. The 575 to 48 V conversion is said to be 95% efficient. (In other words, it wastes 1 watt for every 20 watts converted. Worse than a good AC distribution transformer.)
At 95% for the DC/DC conversions and 97% for the AC/DC conversion, we get 13 kV -> 575 V -> 48 V -> device internal = 0.97*0.95*0.95 = 87%. With 99% efficient transformers and 90% efficient device power supply, going from 13 kV -> 440 V -> 220 V -> device internal = 0.99 * 0.99 * 0.90 = 89%.
Even if all the DC/DC conversion in the proposed scheme were 99% efficient, the maximum savings in power consumption would be in the order of 9 %, not 50 %.
Note that I've used the American two-phase system as an example here, which means there's no conversion from 220 to 110, just using one of two phases. Here I think the article makes an error, since it mentions 220 to 110 as a conversion. In most of Europe the incoming (or possibly UPS-generated) supply would be three-phase, 400 V between phases, 230 V phase to neutral. This would be brought to the rack and distributed as three single-phase supplies to individual devices, or possibly as one three-phase supply to a single device with great power demand. Up to 86 kW can be supplied with a single plug-in cable.