ME: Shit, Karl, what do we do now? Abortion is a dead horse, and now we've lost yet another wedge issue to drive 'moral' Christians into the Party who would otherwise realize that we're bending them over at every possible moment.
KARL: Look, over there! A terrorist plot! Here's a chip for your More Secure[1] passport! And here's some FAA guidelines to prevent people from bringing liquids onto planes, which will prevent[2] terrorists from hijacking or destroying a plane in flight! And here's some legislation that will stop[3] terrorists from eating our babies by allowing us to monitor their email and telephone calls without a warrant! And here's some statements by the Prez that say he can legally[4] ignore any law he wants in the name of NatSec.
[1] Not really. [2] Not really. [3] Not really. [4] Not really.
Ok, I'm done ranting for the day. But seriously, the Fundies are going to have to find a different wedge issue now, especially as we gear up for the Nov elections.
On the down side, what I see coming from this promising research is a "See, if we forbid it, they'll find another, permissible, way to do it" reaction which may or may not be true with the next contentious research issue we face.
Good point about being applicable to any power structure.
Money, at least, brings with it an incentive to greater productivity. Contrast that to a quota-based economy -- assuming there are any around that have not yet collapsed. Or for some real fun, contrast that to the coming influence-based society.
Well, it boils down to the fact that human nature demands most people to act selfishly -- quota-based systems don't work because there is still some way individuals can game the system for selfish reasons. This leads to major inequities in wealth distribution, which ultimately causes the system to fail.
As to an influence-based society, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Do you mean a patronage system? I'm interested in what you have to say.
The researchers suggest that the "popcorn effect" of multiple ants jumping at once may also serve to help them escape by confusing potential predators.
Sounds to me like they'll ever make it in the US anyway -- disguising yourself as a tast salty morsel is pretty poor mimicry from an evolutionary standpoint.
The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.
Notice that at no time do my jaws leave my head...
Well, I don't know about you, but I noticed that at no time when I blink do my eyes, or eyelids, leave my head.
Project Orion is already well known as the name of a hypothetical propulsion method...
Defunct (for decades) and superseded by Project Daedalus (UK) and Project Longshot (USN). Plus, since 'Orion' is the name of a constellation (and a mythical figure!) should the people involved with Project Orion have used a different name? Is it unacceptable to re-use names at all?
For that matter, Master of Orion is already well known as a game, having existed for thirteen years as a Microprose publication in the 4X tradition.
I hardly think it is appropriate for NASA to have a Captain of Orion when "Master of Orion" obviously outranks him/her.
Money, at least, has the virtue of flowing automatically to those who labor and innovate and create pleasure for others.
Hahaha, that's a good one. Money has the virtue of flowing to those who labor to accumulate it. It has the virtue of flowing fastest to those who innovate ways to take advantage of political systems.
So, you subscribe to the Pie Theory of Economics, i.e., the Pie is fixed and after eaten, gone. Well, I guess we can all relax and wait for the end.
'Gone' is used metaphorically. To continue the comparison to post-Colonial Africa, when the bottom fell out of most of these nations, what happened? Cancellation of debt... there's a reason investors (including the World Bank and IMF) are hesitant to loan funds to central African nations. War. Famine. Economic collapse. It's hubris to believe the US can't fall into the same trap, though we have the political infrastructure to weather it better.
Believe me, Kolitkoff is not alone in his predictions, though of course the US could take action to forestall the bankruptcy and reneging on its debts.
Look to Anjan Thakor (Olin School of Business) to discuss Kotlikoff's paper in the next Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review.
I'm sure with for a few extra bucks MS can buy whatever legal resources (including judges, prosecutors, congressmen, lobbyists) it needs to make it all better. Ain't it great living in a society where money rules all....
Funny how this system is so similar to the political/economic situations of nations of post-Colonial Africa, down to the massive trade imbalances, dependence on foreign loans, and abuse of power to make more money. The monied interests in the US are taking the money while they can, because there will be nothing left to take in 10-20 years... hell, even mainstream economists are estimating that US Treasury Securities will be considered junk bonds in the next 20-30 years.
We see that MS (and they are not alone in this) regard the law as something to be circumvented, something to play games with. Law is not absolute to them -- any risk of punishment is exactly that -- a possible risk to be weighed against the potential returns of a strategy or action.
Props to the judge for calling MS on its shenanigans; jeers for the penalty being insignificant to them.
These actions by MS are indicative of the collapse of the rule of law in the US. Without meaningful punishments for attempting to circumvent the laws and/or undermine the legal process, it will not change. $25MM is hardly a disincentive for MS.
IMO, the lawyers who used the obfuscatory tactic should be disbarred... and personally fined for contempt of court. And the executive(s) who authorized the tactic (or were responsible for the law team) should also be personally fined. And production of MS products should be halted until they can prove they are not still abusing the patent (by providing their code, in entirety, for review by the justice system, with any relevant sections clearly denoted).
Frank Arrigo said it wasn't only about using the net at work: employees are also becoming increasingly frustrated with companies that don't make it easy to access complete company network resources from home.
This is another face of the same coin. Today's younger workers expect to be able to work from home in the evenings, just as they expect to be able to goof off during the workday. A lot of the younger salaried workers I deal with beleieve that they are paid to complete their work, period, and that it's up to them when/how it gets completed. I.e., it's quite alright to goof off all day if you dial in from home to get the work done in the evenings.
I see this all the time at my company, and in the long run, it leads to burnt-out employees. We've had much more success with staff retention and productivity my asking that employees do not work from home (to the point of canceling almost all of our GotoMyPC accounts), do not stay late (with exceptions, of course). If employees want to get their work done, they've got to do it during the work day. If they don't, well, they face the same situations that most employees who fail to meet their objectives face...
Work is work. As an employee (and this is the part of the legal definition according to the IRS, btw), your employer has the right to tell you how and when you do your job. If you want to work on your own schedule, you should be freelancing or consulting.
Yes, yes it is. It runs on smoke, which is good, because it uses the waste smoke to signal back to HQ the location of the vehicle. If you let all the smoke out, it will stop working.
Because I don't see how it can only monitor the speed of the car only when the car is speeding.
Well, maybe you need to better assess the meaning of the word 'monitor' in the context. 'To monitor' properly includes the action of recording -- which makes the usage perfectly correct.
So I'd just like to say, that before you get your panties all in a bunch, that you make sure you're not the one who's off base before you make a stink about improper usage.
Anyone got any idea what the UKPO means by asserting this thing's "biometric"?
Technically height and weight are biometric, as are hair and eye colors. That's probably what's on the chip... the same info that's on your passport, sans photo.
This allows them to verify that what is on your passport is less likely to be altered, if it matches what's on the chip.
Re:Cell Phones the new pocket watch.
on
Tomorrow's Cell Phones
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Usually it's the battery that gives out, and it's cheaper to buy a new phone (what with the promos, etc) than to replace the battery. What I look for in terms of durability is: Are the hinges going to snap? Is the external screen going to get scratched up? Did the phone rank abysmally when compared to others? Is it big enough that I'm not going to forget it's in my pocket and somehow mangle it by accident?
I've got a Samsung that does that as well. And besides draining the battery, I've also got about 10 useful pics interspersed with 100 pictures of the inside of my pocket... in my Samsung, the mode key on the side can also be used to takea damn picture. There's a reason it went on sale for a third of the price of phones with similar features.
Never mind the fact that when navigating through the menus, there is no way to go back up one level... you must cancel out and start over.
If I get hold of a once-marketable name, slap some "Web 2.0" style buzzwords on it, and do some patent-trolling, can I have $10 million in venture capital too?
Yes. Yes you can. In the last version it was all ".com" and "web" and "online." Now it's Web 2.0. There's a sucker born every minute, and apparently some of those suckers are too young to remember the 90s.
"I realized, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I actually looked really stupid." Molyneux continued, concerned with the controls causing fatigue, "Even with nothing in my hand, I get tired very, very quickly."
I'm not gonna touch the obvious joke about pr0n here.
But if I've learned anything while playing videogames with friends over the decades, it's that people often look like idiots while playing, and it doesn't lessen their enjoyment.
And if I've learned anything about repetitive physical exercise, it's that the more often you do it, the less tiring it becomes... you know, cardiovascular and muscular conditioning?
Molyneaux works for MS. And while some of his past work has been great, I think he's a bit ff-key and I of course, as others have pointed out, have to question his motives.
Why do we always have to get everything from the Germans? (beer & cars for example)
Gee, that's funny -- GM (American) is the largest automaker in the world, and the largest supplier of autos domestically. InBev is the world's largest brewer, it's headquarters are in Belgium but it is a truly global company.
Why can't the government contract this out to good ol' American workers?
Because gool ol' American workers don't exist anymore. Actually, that's not quite right -- good ol' American manufacturing plants don't exist anymore. Haven't you noticed that parts manufacturing has practically disappeared from these shores? Assembly is one of the few manufacturing jobs still done here.
Especially since it deals with National Security?
Well, shoot, if you put it that way, I'm more likely to want production done elsewhere.
Also, one more note -- very few workers are involved in making these chips, mostly just the ones required to maintain the robots.
A 'chipped' passport would be susceptible to drive-by scanning, adds nothing a mag-stripe couldn't, and will likely be more expensive to implement. What's the point?
The same reason we can't take bottled water on an airplane -- pandering to gullible voters.
Slashdot Mirror
ME: Shit, Karl, what do we do now? Abortion is a dead horse, and now we've lost yet another wedge issue to drive 'moral' Christians into the Party who would otherwise realize that we're bending them over at every possible moment.
KARL: Look, over there! A terrorist plot! Here's a chip for your More Secure[1] passport!
And here's some FAA guidelines to prevent people from bringing liquids onto planes, which will prevent[2] terrorists from hijacking or destroying a plane in flight!
And here's some legislation that will stop[3] terrorists from eating our babies by allowing us to monitor their email and telephone calls without a warrant!
And here's some statements by the Prez that say he can legally[4] ignore any law he wants in the name of NatSec.
[1] Not really.
[2] Not really.
[3] Not really.
[4] Not really.
Ok, I'm done ranting for the day. But seriously, the Fundies are going to have to find a different wedge issue now, especially as we gear up for the Nov elections.
On the down side, what I see coming from this promising research is a "See, if we forbid it, they'll find another, permissible, way to do it" reaction which may or may not be true with the next contentious research issue we face.
Well, it boils down to the fact that human nature demands most people to act selfishly -- quota-based systems don't work because there is still some way individuals can game the system for selfish reasons. This leads to major inequities in wealth distribution, which ultimately causes the system to fail.
As to an influence-based society, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Do you mean a patronage system? I'm interested in what you have to say.
Sounds to me like they'll ever make it in the US anyway -- disguising yourself as a tast salty morsel is pretty poor mimicry from an evolutionary standpoint.
Do they come in butter flavor?
Well, I don't know about you, but I noticed that at no time when I blink do my eyes, or eyelids, leave my head.
Captains outrank Master Chief Petty Officers, yes.
Pastor of Muppets!?!?
I'd think this was more like 'The Thing That Should Not Be' considering other projects NASA could be spending this money on...
I'd think this was more like 'The Thing That Should Not Be' considering other projects NASA could be spending this money on...
Defunct (for decades) and superseded by Project Daedalus (UK) and Project Longshot (USN). Plus, since 'Orion' is the name of a constellation (and a mythical figure!) should the people involved with Project Orion have used a different name? Is it unacceptable to re-use names at all?
For that matter, Master of Orion is already well known as a game, having existed for thirteen years as a Microprose publication in the 4X tradition.
I hardly think it is appropriate for NASA to have a Captain of Orion when "Master of Orion" obviously outranks him/her.
Here's (pdf) a tidbit. HTML version
Believe me, Kolitkoff is not alone in his predictions, though of course the US could take action to forestall the bankruptcy and reneging on its debts.
Look to Anjan Thakor (Olin School of Business) to discuss Kotlikoff's paper in the next Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review.
We see that MS (and they are not alone in this) regard the law as something to be circumvented, something to play games with. Law is not absolute to them -- any risk of punishment is exactly that -- a possible risk to be weighed against the potential returns of a strategy or action.
Props to the judge for calling MS on its shenanigans; jeers for the penalty being insignificant to them.
These actions by MS are indicative of the collapse of the rule of law in the US. Without meaningful punishments for attempting to circumvent the laws and/or undermine the legal process, it will not change. $25MM is hardly a disincentive for MS.
IMO, the lawyers who used the obfuscatory tactic should be disbarred... and personally fined for contempt of court. And the executive(s) who authorized the tactic (or were responsible for the law team) should also be personally fined. And production of MS products should be halted until they can prove they are not still abusing the patent (by providing their code, in entirety, for review by the justice system, with any relevant sections clearly denoted).
I see this all the time at my company, and in the long run, it leads to burnt-out employees. We've had much more success with staff retention and productivity my asking that employees do not work from home (to the point of canceling almost all of our GotoMyPC accounts), do not stay late (with exceptions, of course). If employees want to get their work done, they've got to do it during the work day. If they don't, well, they face the same situations that most employees who fail to meet their objectives face...
Work is work. As an employee (and this is the part of the legal definition according to the IRS, btw), your employer has the right to tell you how and when you do your job. If you want to work on your own schedule, you should be freelancing or consulting.
Well, maybe you need to better assess the meaning of the word 'monitor' in the context. 'To monitor' properly includes the action of recording -- which makes the usage perfectly correct.
So I'd just like to say, that before you get your panties all in a bunch, that you make sure you're not the one who's off base before you make a stink about improper usage.
This allows them to verify that what is on your passport is less likely to be altered, if it matches what's on the chip.
Usually it's the battery that gives out, and it's cheaper to buy a new phone (what with the promos, etc) than to replace the battery. What I look for in terms of durability is: Are the hinges going to snap? Is the external screen going to get scratched up? Did the phone rank abysmally when compared to others? Is it big enough that I'm not going to forget it's in my pocket and somehow mangle it by accident?
I've got a Samsung that does that as well. And besides draining the battery, I've also got about 10 useful pics interspersed with 100 pictures of the inside of my pocket... in my Samsung, the mode key on the side can also be used to takea damn picture. There's a reason it went on sale for a third of the price of phones with similar features.
Never mind the fact that when navigating through the menus, there is no way to go back up one level... you must cancel out and start over.
Huh? I get a new cell phone every 2-3 years because my old one no longer works well. I choose my new one based on features, durability, and price.
I'm not gonna touch the obvious joke about pr0n here.
But if I've learned anything while playing videogames with friends over the decades, it's that people often look like idiots while playing, and it doesn't lessen their enjoyment.
And if I've learned anything about repetitive physical exercise, it's that the more often you do it, the less tiring it becomes... you know, cardiovascular and muscular conditioning?
Molyneaux works for MS. And while some of his past work has been great, I think he's a bit ff-key and I of course, as others have pointed out, have to question his motives.
Because gool ol' American workers don't exist anymore. Actually, that's not quite right -- good ol' American manufacturing plants don't exist anymore. Haven't you noticed that parts manufacturing has practically disappeared from these shores? Assembly is one of the few manufacturing jobs still done here.
Well, shoot, if you put it that way, I'm more likely to want production done elsewhere.
Also, one more note -- very few workers are involved in making these chips, mostly just the ones required to maintain the robots.
I did, I read it, and I referenced it in my response.