XP will be around for a very long time, just as NT 4.x was. Hell I still have a client running DOS apps. Oh he has a Windows replacement but he much prefers the older apps. XP hasn't been phased out in a lot of small business environments because because the perceived cost/benefit isn't advantageous enough, even though the reality is a bit different (how much does DDR and DDR2 RAM cost now? Hard drive failures require format/install/hours of installing updates/reinstall apps all to end up with the same slow system). NT4 still exists in some embedded systems (heidelberg printing presses for example; why replace a $2.5million printing press that still works, except for the embedded PC that died? One of my friends stockpiled DEC alpha motherboards (AT form factor!) for his ripping workstation and the embedded controller because Heidelberg's fix is either a new-old-stock motherboard for $15K or a whole new press for $2.5m to $2.8m). Same for OS/2 - OS/2 Warp was what, a 1995 release, and it was dominant in banking workstations, ATM and other kiosk solutions until very recently.
The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem. - Douglas Adams
The Internet "evolved" from ARPANET, which was funded and built by the US - primarily the DoD in partnership with some universities. It forked into separate military and civilian networks, and the remains of ARPANET eventually became transformed into the Internet and become more widely available. The birth of the Internet is really the introduction of TCP/IP into ARPANET, which was in 1982-1983.
So the original infrastructure and development did originate in the US but the private sector expanded it substantially as early as the mid-80s so what was ARPANET is only a very tiny portion of the Internet - if those original backbones even exist any more (I'd be very surprised if any of the original lines and routers are still functional let alone in production).
Drunks tend to yell, don't they? That sounds like a disruption which the flight attendants ought to have put a stop to, again, on a case by case basis. Some people can hold their liquor and not be a nuisance, or are at least are quiet drunks and not yell "SSHSSAY, HAVE *hiccup* I TOLDTH YOU *hiccup* HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU *hiccup*" and other typical drunk shit at a companion sitting or standing just 18" away
According to flight attendants on overseas flights, you can't hear others on their phones from a row away. I think it should be allowed with obnoxious folk who scream on their phones to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis - unless they are going to outlaw truly obnoxious noise such as screaming brats you can hear from 15 rows away, and larger annoying brats who kick your seat.
Phone calls have already been allowed for years - Skyphone anyone - and it hasn't been a problem. Just because it will now be $ConversationOnACellphone doesn't mean that it should now be banned. Don't punish everyone for the deeds of an obnoxious few, just prohibit the obnoxious few if they refuse to use their indoor voices.
Plutonium is naturally occurring. The problem is we find only trace amounts because its half life is relatively short.
"Plutonium is the heaviest primordial element by virtue of its most stable isotope, plutonium-244, whose half-life of about 80 million years is just long enough for the element to be found in trace quantities in nature.[3]"
It is a primordial element - meaning it was extant since before the Earth condensed and solidified.
Change logs and proper release notes are very appreciated by administrators and end users. Disclosure of known issues is particularly valued, and it also benefits the vendor because it reduces nuisance calls to technical support. Fixed, pending and wontfix lists are especially appreciated by sysadmins, since they are the ones most immediately impacted by the change - do they install the patch and deploy it immediately, or do they live with the current build until pending issues are fixed, etc.
Plus, it instills trust. A veil of secrecy does not earn trust from your customers, nor does a vague "fixed misc. bugs and implemented misc. performance enhancements" because one is more inclined to not upgrade rather than proceed with it and possibly risk downtime.
Of course I am saying this blindly, since the submitter did not specify what sort of software this is. Is it a server app? A commercial desktop app? Or is it a game or other entertainment software which is not mission-critical, where downtime can cost thousands to tends of thousands per hour?
Unless your cat is a Savannah cat (the largest, most wild cat legal to keep as a pet in most states) eagles have nothing to worry about. Your cat is food to an eagle.
Wikipedia is a good starting point. I credited you with intelligence to know that, and with the ability to follow links to cited articles and also query a bit on google.
Hermaphroditism is but a subset of intersex, fyi. All hermaphrodites and pseudo-hermaphrodites are intersexed, but not vice versa. It is possible to have ovaries and be XY, or to have testes and be XX, and likewise any combination with XXY, XXXY, XX/XY, and so on.
> As to the consumption itself, as far as I can see, everything is clunkier on touch device. Everything.
Agreed. I know I'd rather hold a laptop up to my ear to make phone calls, or whip out a laptop on the subway or an airplane - and texting? Who wants to text on a device where they don't have to sit down at a table? Stupid touch devices - totally useless and far more clunky than a nice convenient, bulky laptop.;)
No. "low light" for photography is in a wedding where the human eye can see perfectly fine but even with an f/1.8 lens you are shooting at ISO 800 or higher if you want a reasonably fast shutter speed. "extremely low light" where photography is in a bar or a club and are shooting at ISO 3200 or better in effort to get reasonable shutter speeds. "Dark" starts when reading is uncomfortable but not impossible. The kind of photography discussed in the article is an amazing feat.
So this is pretty much the same as the saccharine studies which resulted in the "ZOMG saccharine causes cancer!!" scare long ago, and poor saccharine never shed the bad rep even though the conclusions of the faulty study have been disproven time and again.
Given unlimited access to fat on any one thing, an organism is bound to have bad things happen.
How can the act of simply installing software void a warranty?
When you come down to it, today's smartphone is just a compact, pocket-size general purpose computer with a radio transceiver in it. I fail to see how anyone can legitimately claim that installing software on it (even changing an OS) can void the warranty - particularly such a computer that comes with GPL software which is designed by the very license for user customization. If there is a chance it will be bricked, then that's a manufacturing defect on part of the manufacturer since the bootloader ought to be bulletproof and have multiple failsafes built into it, much like many of today's motherboards have two or more BIOS/UEFI systems allowing for recovery even if the board would be otherwise "bricked" from a faulty firmware upgrade.
I mean really - why the fuck should they care what software you install? I care about a warranty on the hardware - when it comes to software I couldn't give a fuck, since historically no software ever comes with a warranty in the first place.
I have a Dell Precision M6400 (Quad Core Extreme) Mobile Workstation and it is built like a tank - it has fallen from 4' while open running and hasn't suffered for it. The hinges are still tight, it has two internal HDD bays and has a desktop chipset (Q43) and so is really fast for a laptop - plus all the ports except power on the sides. The notebook is very serviceable - I have opened it up to upgrade the processor (originally had a Core 2 Duo) and have had it open several times since to fully clean the heat sinks. It also has a Quadro video card which was quite fast for the time.
When I do upgrade I will probably go with an M6700 or whatever its replacement is at the time of upgrade. Battery life isn't as long as the mobile chipsets offer, but even with the 4 year old battery I still get 90 minutes out of it (with power management enabled).
I have worked with quite a few M6700s and they are similarly built but have the drawback of 1080p screens instead of WUXGA and some of the ports have moved to the back. I am not sure who the original manufacturer is but I think it's actually built by Clevo (there are no indications internally). I like the M6700 but I am going to keep the M6400 as long as it makes sense because I like having more vertical screen estate.
> Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low?
Why? Because they are impractical for a lot of people. It would turn a lot of my driving into day tips, and day trips into multiple-day trips. Until we have ultracapacitors that fully charge as fast as filling a gas tank and "portable" reserve capacitors that we can trade in to services like AAA or walk to a "gas" station to exchange one and carry back to your car to get you to the station when you've run one flat two miles away, they simply won't work for people who live in outlying suburb or rural areas. For me, a drive to work is just under 100 miles, and driving between clients and meetings can cost 200 additional miles during a day. I often drive to western PA - that takes me six to eight hours sometimes not even having to stop to fill (if I don't need AC or the windows open), but with current battery tech it would turn into a multi-day trip. Even if I had a tesla and could use the rapid-charge stations, it would be a multi-day trip because in the Boston-DC corridor there are several public rapid-charge stations (which still takes a couple hours for a full charge), it would work if I stick to I-95, but anywhere else for long drives I'd be screwed. Also, using heat and AC, lights, wipers, etc. totally kills electric vehicle range to the point that you cannot rely on the trip computer for range. Finally, if you park the car and go on an extended vacation, the car can be bricked when the battery goes flat.
I like ICE - they give me freedom, and besides, driving conservatively my Saab gets >40mpg on long highway drives if I don't hit traffic, 35-36mpg if I hit traffic, and 29 mpg combined when I drive through Boston or NYC and catch rush hour. Likewise, even my ZR1 gets > 30mpg on the highway driven conservatively (it hits peak mpg at 93mph - about 30-31mpg at 66mph) and 27mpg combined driven conservatively. Of course that car is a pig in city driving - 18-19mpg on a good day. I love it when self-righteous people criticize me for driving a "gas guzzler" when I ask them what they get for MPG in their family sedan on the highway and I tell them what I get. I get the weirdest looks. And, I verify mpg by math when I fill up, and the trip computer is nearly always within a few tenths, and the Saab's computer within 1 mpg (but my scangage on the saab is nearly always within a tenth or two, and when I fill, it's within.1 gallon of what I actually put in).
I wish more cars came out in hybrid form; I would absolutely spring for another 'Vette if it had electric-powered front wheels, then I could get AWD and great efficiency when just commuting, but unfortunately vocal "purists" fear changing the car's layout. As it is there is an outcry against the rumored new LT5 V6 for the upcoming ZR1 Stingray ("ZOMG it's not a V8"), let alone a hybrid. Hell, even mid-engine rumors gets them whining but what most Corvette fans don't realize is that the Corvette is already mid-engine - it's a front-mid-engine layout. Putting the engine in the back would only further improve handling dynamics and would likely improve maneuverability. I don't get why so many fans are so resistant to changes in that car.
IMHO all vehicles should come with a hybrid option, preferably AWD. I like hybrid tech because it is practical and efficient, and doesn't leave you stranded when the battery goes flat.
Another tech I'd love to see is gas turbine generators in cars. Turbines are extremely lightweight for a given power output, waste heat is easily scavenged and can be used for peltier junction generators, heat, and even AC, and at highway speeds the exhaust could even add a little thrust so that power doesn't go to waste.
I saw it from NH. I thought it was an airliner at first until the trajectory made it obvious then it flamed out. Considering I'm over 400 miles away the view wasn't bad. I was down there today and had I remembered the launch I'd have stayed one more day.
Who the fuck expects a EULA for a fucking appliance?
Imagine if food came with a fine print notice saying "BY EATING THIS CANNED SOUP YOU AGREE TO INGEST ANY AND ALL STRYCHNINE $COMPANY MAY CHOOSE AT WILL TO INCLUDE, AND HOLD $COMPANY HARMLESS FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES." Said notice, of course, is embossed in 2pt around the bottom of the inside of the can. It's your own fucking fault you didn't read it!
> The merging driver should be going the full speed of the roadway. But he isn't. Because he's not actually a good driver. Instead, he's still travelling at on-ramp speed -- 20% below the highway limit, not at merging speed.
The whole point of "advisory speeds" being legally unenforceable, and in many states explicitly NO speed limit on on and off ramps is to enable seamless merging of traffic. The law expressly allows for exceeding of speed limits in order to facilitate merging and keep traffic moving. Of course because our driving test in the US consists of driving around the block (literally!) and no requirement of comprehensive drivers' training (but in MA, I see many driving school instructors driving solo and they drive like total shit!) and no one requires a performance driving course, people don't know this.
Just the other day pulling onto the freeway I was behind some Masshole who came to a DEAD STOP at the end of an on ramp even though there was plenty of room for even an old 25hp VW bug to merge safely, then they proceeded to pull right in front of a "wolf pack" causing me to have to come to a stop and wait for traffic to pass. This of course caused a snowball effect causing everyone behind them to have to slow down. I wonder if that one Masshole's action caused the daily traffic tie up on I-95 that day.
" Keep in mind we have states legislating smartphone use task by task, which clearly doesn't help."
Um, the problem doesn't involve passing more laws and punishing those of us who just use GPS navigation on the things. It involves, you know, actual police work. Here's a novel idea: instead of setting up speed traps outside of rush hour because it's easy revenue, how about enforcing actual safety-related laws including yield signs and other rights of way, traffic lights, speeding IN URBAN RESIDENTIAL ZONES (rarely enforced and sorely needed!!!), proper turns and lane changes, etc. -- you know, going after reckless driving.,
You see, laws already cover this bullshit "distracted driving" nonsense; reckless driving, failure to maintain control of the vehicle, improper lane changes, failure to yield the right of way, hindering the flow of traffic, driving left of center, and many, many unenforced laws already cover it.
I don't want to be disallowed from using GPS because lazy revenue-raisers won't enforce existing laws.
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XP will be around for a very long time, just as NT 4.x was. Hell I still have a client running DOS apps. Oh he has a Windows replacement but he much prefers the older apps. XP hasn't been phased out in a lot of small business environments because because the perceived cost/benefit isn't advantageous enough, even though the reality is a bit different (how much does DDR and DDR2 RAM cost now? Hard drive failures require format/install/hours of installing updates/reinstall apps all to end up with the same slow system). NT4 still exists in some embedded systems (heidelberg printing presses for example; why replace a $2.5million printing press that still works, except for the embedded PC that died? One of my friends stockpiled DEC alpha motherboards (AT form factor!) for his ripping workstation and the embedded controller because Heidelberg's fix is either a new-old-stock motherboard for $15K or a whole new press for $2.5m to $2.8m). Same for OS/2 - OS/2 Warp was what, a 1995 release, and it was dominant in banking workstations, ATM and other kiosk solutions until very recently.
I do not see XP dying for a long time to come.
The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem. - Douglas Adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
The Internet "evolved" from ARPANET, which was funded and built by the US - primarily the DoD in partnership with some universities. It forked into separate military and civilian networks, and the remains of ARPANET eventually became transformed into the Internet and become more widely available. The birth of the Internet is really the introduction of TCP/IP into ARPANET, which was in 1982-1983.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
So the original infrastructure and development did originate in the US but the private sector expanded it substantially as early as the mid-80s so what was ARPANET is only a very tiny portion of the Internet - if those original backbones even exist any more (I'd be very surprised if any of the original lines and routers are still functional let alone in production).
Drunks tend to yell, don't they? That sounds like a disruption which the flight attendants ought to have put a stop to, again, on a case by case basis. Some people can hold their liquor and not be a nuisance, or are at least are quiet drunks and not yell "SSHSSAY, HAVE *hiccup* I TOLDTH YOU *hiccup* HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU *hiccup*" and other typical drunk shit at a companion sitting or standing just 18" away
According to flight attendants on overseas flights, you can't hear others on their phones from a row away. I think it should be allowed with obnoxious folk who scream on their phones to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis - unless they are going to outlaw truly obnoxious noise such as screaming brats you can hear from 15 rows away, and larger annoying brats who kick your seat.
Phone calls have already been allowed for years - Skyphone anyone - and it hasn't been a problem. Just because it will now be $ConversationOnACellphone doesn't mean that it should now be banned. Don't punish everyone for the deeds of an obnoxious few, just prohibit the obnoxious few if they refuse to use their indoor voices.
Plutonium is naturally occurring. The problem is we find only trace amounts because its half life is relatively short.
"Plutonium is the heaviest primordial element by virtue of its most stable isotope, plutonium-244, whose half-life of about 80 million years is just long enough for the element to be found in trace quantities in nature.[3]"
It is a primordial element - meaning it was extant since before the Earth condensed and solidified.
Oh, you're THAT GUY!!
Change logs and proper release notes are very appreciated by administrators and end users. Disclosure of known issues is particularly valued, and it also benefits the vendor because it reduces nuisance calls to technical support. Fixed, pending and wontfix lists are especially appreciated by sysadmins, since they are the ones most immediately impacted by the change - do they install the patch and deploy it immediately, or do they live with the current build until pending issues are fixed, etc.
Plus, it instills trust. A veil of secrecy does not earn trust from your customers, nor does a vague "fixed misc. bugs and implemented misc. performance enhancements" because one is more inclined to not upgrade rather than proceed with it and possibly risk downtime.
Of course I am saying this blindly, since the submitter did not specify what sort of software this is. Is it a server app? A commercial desktop app? Or is it a game or other entertainment software which is not mission-critical, where downtime can cost thousands to tends of thousands per hour?
Unless your cat is a Savannah cat (the largest, most wild cat legal to keep as a pet in most states) eagles have nothing to worry about. Your cat is food to an eagle.
Hmm, an IS person doesn't know anything about IS conditions, and someone who isn't denies the conditions exist, and won't do the most basic research?
Wow. Just, wow.
As I said, so some research. One would be surprised that someone with the username "can has do it yourself" wants to be spoon fed, but then, this is /.
Wikipedia is a good starting point. I credited you with intelligence to know that, and with the ability to follow links to cited articles and also query a bit on google.
Hermaphroditism is but a subset of intersex, fyi. All hermaphrodites and pseudo-hermaphrodites are intersexed, but not vice versa. It is possible to have ovaries and be XY, or to have testes and be XX, and likewise any combination with XXY, XXXY, XX/XY, and so on.
> As to the consumption itself, as far as I can see, everything is clunkier on touch device. Everything.
Agreed. I know I'd rather hold a laptop up to my ear to make phone calls, or whip out a laptop on the subway or an airplane - and texting? Who wants to text on a device where they don't have to sit down at a table? Stupid touch devices - totally useless and far more clunky than a nice convenient, bulky laptop. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
No. "low light" for photography is in a wedding where the human eye can see perfectly fine but even with an f/1.8 lens you are shooting at ISO 800 or higher if you want a reasonably fast shutter speed. "extremely low light" where photography is in a bar or a club and are shooting at ISO 3200 or better in effort to get reasonable shutter speeds. "Dark" starts when reading is uncomfortable but not impossible. The kind of photography discussed in the article is an amazing feat.
So this is pretty much the same as the saccharine studies which resulted in the "ZOMG saccharine causes cancer!!" scare long ago, and poor saccharine never shed the bad rep even though the conclusions of the faulty study have been disproven time and again.
Given unlimited access to fat on any one thing, an organism is bound to have bad things happen.
How can the act of simply installing software void a warranty?
When you come down to it, today's smartphone is just a compact, pocket-size general purpose computer with a radio transceiver in it. I fail to see how anyone can legitimately claim that installing software on it (even changing an OS) can void the warranty - particularly such a computer that comes with GPL software which is designed by the very license for user customization. If there is a chance it will be bricked, then that's a manufacturing defect on part of the manufacturer since the bootloader ought to be bulletproof and have multiple failsafes built into it, much like many of today's motherboards have two or more BIOS/UEFI systems allowing for recovery even if the board would be otherwise "bricked" from a faulty firmware upgrade.
I mean really - why the fuck should they care what software you install? I care about a warranty on the hardware - when it comes to software I couldn't give a fuck, since historically no software ever comes with a warranty in the first place.
I have a Dell Precision M6400 (Quad Core Extreme) Mobile Workstation and it is built like a tank - it has fallen from 4' while open running and hasn't suffered for it. The hinges are still tight, it has two internal HDD bays and has a desktop chipset (Q43) and so is really fast for a laptop - plus all the ports except power on the sides. The notebook is very serviceable - I have opened it up to upgrade the processor (originally had a Core 2 Duo) and have had it open several times since to fully clean the heat sinks. It also has a Quadro video card which was quite fast for the time.
When I do upgrade I will probably go with an M6700 or whatever its replacement is at the time of upgrade. Battery life isn't as long as the mobile chipsets offer, but even with the 4 year old battery I still get 90 minutes out of it (with power management enabled).
I have worked with quite a few M6700s and they are similarly built but have the drawback of 1080p screens instead of WUXGA and some of the ports have moved to the back. I am not sure who the original manufacturer is but I think it's actually built by Clevo (there are no indications internally). I like the M6700 but I am going to keep the M6400 as long as it makes sense because I like having more vertical screen estate.
> Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low?
Why? Because they are impractical for a lot of people. It would turn a lot of my driving into day tips, and day trips into multiple-day trips. Until we have ultracapacitors that fully charge as fast as filling a gas tank and "portable" reserve capacitors that we can trade in to services like AAA or walk to a "gas" station to exchange one and carry back to your car to get you to the station when you've run one flat two miles away, they simply won't work for people who live in outlying suburb or rural areas. For me, a drive to work is just under 100 miles, and driving between clients and meetings can cost 200 additional miles during a day. I often drive to western PA - that takes me six to eight hours sometimes not even having to stop to fill (if I don't need AC or the windows open), but with current battery tech it would turn into a multi-day trip. Even if I had a tesla and could use the rapid-charge stations, it would be a multi-day trip because in the Boston-DC corridor there are several public rapid-charge stations (which still takes a couple hours for a full charge), it would work if I stick to I-95, but anywhere else for long drives I'd be screwed. Also, using heat and AC, lights, wipers, etc. totally kills electric vehicle range to the point that you cannot rely on the trip computer for range. Finally, if you park the car and go on an extended vacation, the car can be bricked when the battery goes flat.
I like ICE - they give me freedom, and besides, driving conservatively my Saab gets >40mpg on long highway drives if I don't hit traffic, 35-36mpg if I hit traffic, and 29 mpg combined when I drive through Boston or NYC and catch rush hour. Likewise, even my ZR1 gets > 30mpg on the highway driven conservatively (it hits peak mpg at 93mph - about 30-31mpg at 66mph) and 27mpg combined driven conservatively. Of course that car is a pig in city driving - 18-19mpg on a good day. I love it when self-righteous people criticize me for driving a "gas guzzler" when I ask them what they get for MPG in their family sedan on the highway and I tell them what I get. I get the weirdest looks. And, I verify mpg by math when I fill up, and the trip computer is nearly always within a few tenths, and the Saab's computer within 1 mpg (but my scangage on the saab is nearly always within a tenth or two, and when I fill, it's within .1 gallon of what I actually put in).
I wish more cars came out in hybrid form; I would absolutely spring for another 'Vette if it had electric-powered front wheels, then I could get AWD and great efficiency when just commuting, but unfortunately vocal "purists" fear changing the car's layout. As it is there is an outcry against the rumored new LT5 V6 for the upcoming ZR1 Stingray ("ZOMG it's not a V8"), let alone a hybrid. Hell, even mid-engine rumors gets them whining but what most Corvette fans don't realize is that the Corvette is already mid-engine - it's a front-mid-engine layout. Putting the engine in the back would only further improve handling dynamics and would likely improve maneuverability. I don't get why so many fans are so resistant to changes in that car.
IMHO all vehicles should come with a hybrid option, preferably AWD. I like hybrid tech because it is practical and efficient, and doesn't leave you stranded when the battery goes flat.
Another tech I'd love to see is gas turbine generators in cars. Turbines are extremely lightweight for a given power output, waste heat is easily scavenged and can be used for peltier junction generators, heat, and even AC, and at highway speeds the exhaust could even add a little thrust so that power doesn't go to waste.
Again, try a distro newer than 2001 and you'll see how full of shit you are.
I saw it from NH. I thought it was an airliner at first until the trajectory made it obvious then it flamed out. Considering I'm over 400 miles away the view wasn't bad. I was down there today and had I remembered the launch I'd have stayed one more day.
Who the fuck expects a EULA for a fucking appliance?
Imagine if food came with a fine print notice saying "BY EATING THIS CANNED SOUP YOU AGREE TO INGEST ANY AND ALL STRYCHNINE $COMPANY MAY CHOOSE AT WILL TO INCLUDE, AND HOLD $COMPANY HARMLESS FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES." Said notice, of course, is embossed in 2pt around the bottom of the inside of the can. It's your own fucking fault you didn't read it!
> The merging driver should be going the full speed of the roadway. But he isn't. Because he's not actually a good driver. Instead, he's still travelling at on-ramp speed -- 20% below the highway limit, not at merging speed.
The whole point of "advisory speeds" being legally unenforceable, and in many states explicitly NO speed limit on on and off ramps is to enable seamless merging of traffic. The law expressly allows for exceeding of speed limits in order to facilitate merging and keep traffic moving. Of course because our driving test in the US consists of driving around the block (literally!) and no requirement of comprehensive drivers' training (but in MA, I see many driving school instructors driving solo and they drive like total shit!) and no one requires a performance driving course, people don't know this.
Just the other day pulling onto the freeway I was behind some Masshole who came to a DEAD STOP at the end of an on ramp even though there was plenty of room for even an old 25hp VW bug to merge safely, then they proceeded to pull right in front of a "wolf pack" causing me to have to come to a stop and wait for traffic to pass. This of course caused a snowball effect causing everyone behind them to have to slow down. I wonder if that one Masshole's action caused the daily traffic tie up on I-95 that day.
Um, the problem doesn't involve passing more laws and punishing those of us who just use GPS navigation on the things. It involves, you know, actual police work. Here's a novel idea: instead of setting up speed traps outside of rush hour because it's easy revenue, how about enforcing actual safety-related laws including yield signs and other rights of way, traffic lights, speeding IN URBAN RESIDENTIAL ZONES (rarely enforced and sorely needed!!!), proper turns and lane changes, etc. -- you know, going after reckless driving.,
You see, laws already cover this bullshit "distracted driving" nonsense; reckless driving, failure to maintain control of the vehicle, improper lane changes, failure to yield the right of way, hindering the flow of traffic, driving left of center, and many, many unenforced laws already cover it.
I don't want to be disallowed from using GPS because lazy revenue-raisers won't enforce existing laws.
So you're saying that chip design could be done by minecraft players?
I ought to get to work mining redstone - I could make a fortune! ;)