When was the last time you changed the oil in your ceiling fan? Your blender? CD player?
Hell, when was the last time you "changed the oil" in the wheel bearings of your car?
Yes, all these things require lubricant, but they are not things we associate with having substantial oil reservoirs.
As for the the Tesla, yes it'll have wheel bearings and axels, so it'll probably have a bit of grease somewhere... but I don't believe it has a transmission. So there probably isn't anything that's we'd recognize as "oil" in the car.
cloud was inevitable; every network diagram I've ever seen always represented the internet as a "cloud".
I've always thought it was perfectly approrpriate too. Its a relatively opaque morphous network outside of your direct control, there's "stuff" in it, you can connect to but you don't really know what or where it is.
And cloud storage and cloud compute etc is literally moving those servers on those diagrams INTO the cloud.:)
So cloud doesn't bug me as a term at all. As a trend it offends me greatly, since in many cases it is STUPID to move your stuff into the cloud, and companies are doing it because its trendy and hip and has a low upfront cost. But that's a separate issue.
Internet of Things? Meh... I think you are reading too much into it. The internet is traditionally clients and servers that were recognizable as computers. The internet of things is just referencing the recent mass push to put a lot of things on the internet that aren't really recognizable as computers... from your cofeemaker to your thermostat.
I've never really gotten a sense that it was "new" or "hip" or that it even required a "vendor".
I get the sense that the FSF, though having some very good ideals, has no understanding of the importances of "just works" and "value added"
The FSF is like extreme overclockers. They are concerned with software freedom the way overclockers are concerned with cpu performance maximums, or drag racers are concerned with 1/4 mile times.
Criticising the FSF for pushing software freedom as far as they can is like criticising extreme overclockers for using bulky custom expensive cooling solutions, or drag racers for lousy cornering, and needing a parachute to stop.
Sure I'll probably never buy one of those devices, but I like that they are out there, and I support them, pushing the envelope. And even if I don't live right on the edge with them, preferring 'just works' to 'ideals' for a lot of day to day stuff, my 'just works' is a lot closer to 'ideals' than it would be without the FSF as a lot of that does trickle into what I use daily, even if I don't use it all, all the time.
I like the FSF pushing that envelope as far as they possibly can.
I have yet to meet the synthesizer that can even remotely duplicate the dulcet noises of the old-fashioned dead trees and metal strings of my grand piano. Or the delightfully analog feel. Or dynamic range. Or imposing presence in the living room
A lot of the people who had very cheap insurance which was cancelled had "hospital gown" policies (which means that their ass wasn't covered). Others could prove that they were "healthy" and could show that they didn't need insurance.
Bingo.
The main 'losers' under the ACA are: a) people who didn't actually have coverage; are being forced into plans that actually cover things.
b) lowest risk, healthiest people -- they got better rates before because the insurance industry figured they wouldn't have to pay out on them. Now with more (and less healthy) people being added to the system, the rates are rising slightly to accomodate the overall higher insurance costs to the industry.
But insuring all those extra people is a net gain. At least in my books. And I'm speaking as someone still comfortably in the first half of my life, with no significant health concerns, who makes a decent living -- aka someone the insurers love to insure.
The big win is for people who couldn't get insurance or who had very expensive policies. They will be able to get affordable insurance under ACA since the scumbag insurance companies can't refuse to insure them.
Exactly. But its inevitable that there will be some "losers" at the other end of the spectrum whose rates are going up to offset this. But as I said before... its net gain for society.
The danger is that this result can cause people who are not well-nourished to stop taking supplements that may be keeping them outside of harm.
Since this is/. here's a car analogy:
My car is pulling to the left, because the wheels aren't balanced, what do I do?
a) Add a spring to your steering column to push right by about the same amount the car is pulling to the left, to balance it out. (take pill supplements)
b) BALANCE YOUR FUCKING WHEELS YOU FUCKWIT (ie correct your diet)
If you have some genuine condition that prevents you from synthesizing or absorbing sufficient vitamin D then sure you might need pills and other solutions. But if you feel like shit and its because you aren't eating right, that's not a medical condition that needs "supplements". That's a wake up call to take better care of yourself.
Sitting in the basement all day eating Doritos isn't a healthy lifestyle, and taking vitamins to stave off the worst effects of it isn't "fixing the problem".
Everyone here chides Apple for putting a deep fryer plug on a laptop and get a patent for it. Truth is, if they don't, someone else will and sue the heck out of them for it.
As I recall, Apple is also unwilling to license that patent at all.
If it was so obvious, why haven't anyone thought about it before Apple?
Someone had to do it first. Unfortunately for us, it was apple.
Not that I think RLCs make any sense at all (the one nearby me just moved all the accidents out of the intersection into the street, and generated more of them),
Meh, if your going to have a collision anyway I'll take a rear ender over a t-bone. As for the "generated more of them"; I guess its possible, but I'd need more than your anecdote to support it.
Otherwise though you are spot on. RLCs require a photo of you outside the intersection with a red light, and then inside the intersection with a red light. Proving you entered on a red light.
Entering on a yellow, and still being there when it turns red isn't illegal in any jurisdiction I'm aware of. Although entering an intersection you are *unable* to exit is illegal. I.e. 'getting stuck behind traffic in an intersection and having the light change so you end up blocking traffic is illegal but its not something RLC enforces.
That and RLCs are like trying to solve your pet's toilet habits by waiting a couple of weeks and then rubbing their nose in it.
I'm not a fan of RLCs, but I dont' object to them. Its not like speeding where speed is a continuum, and there is a flow of traffic, etc. Running red lights is just dangerous and stupid, and no competent driver driving safely should ever get caught in the first place. But a properly implemented RLC doesn't offend me at all.
But I can't abide radar speed traps.
* I cover my ass here a bit by noting that city tampering with yellow light lengths is the exception to that rule. Clearly if the city goes out of its way to deliberately engineer violations that's a separate issue. Yellow light timing should be available to the public and there should be clear guidelines establishing what they should be to eliminate any possibility of tweaking the light timing to increase revenue (and car accidents).
THAT being said, a few grand to start an apparently complicated business is NOT a large barrier to entry.
Pretty much this.
Not being able to risk leaving your job (with a health plan) to start a business because you can't get affordable healthcare for a child born with even some relatively nominal condition is a barrier.
Not being able to start a business because you don't have a defensive patent portfolio is a barrier to entry.
Not being able to start an enterprise that requires 10s of millions in capital is a barrier to entry.
$1500 to navigate some regulatory red tape is not a barrier to starting a business. Hell, 10x that, or $15000 to navigate red tape is not a barrier to starting a business. If your business plan flounders over $1500 in red tape that's not a business that's going to feed anyone or create jobs. Its a hobby enterprise that will maybe supplement your income if you are lucky.
Are you referring to steamos / intel drivers, or indie games? Because I can agree that intel graphics and steamos itself will likely get reasonably optimized, but indie games are well... indie games... they simply don't have the internal manpower or the connections to heavily optimize their games for any graphics card.
A PC that can play skyrim perfectly fine might well chug on a "gratuitous space battles" type of game simply due to the fact that the indie devs just don't have the resources to do testing and optimization accross as many cards, and its more practical for them to just have the users throw a better video card at it.
I didn't mean to imply 5 year old games were at all expired. I was merely pointing out that a brand new entry level computer with intel graphics being able to play 5 year old games is not exactly a testament to how good intel graphics are now.
As for my view on 5 year old games, my/. user name makes a reference to StarControl2. I'm very much a fan of the classics.:)
Any game made before ~2009 will run just fine on an ivy bridge laptop.
Saying that just days before 2014. Rather like saying pretty much anything made in 2000 will run a game from 1995.;)
Granted the advancement of tech hasn't been quite that dramatic lately, but 5 years is multiple generations on the desktop.
Most any game under $25 on steam will run on an ivy bridge laptop without a fancy/expensive/hot graphics card.
meh... I agree they don't need one that's fancy or expensive, but "Intel integrated" is often still pretty awful. Even indie games suffer, due to being poorly optimized, and a number of indie games I've played have had much higher specs reqs than they really "should".
As for the $25 price point... on steam.. that's pretty much anything if you watch the sales.
He knows that you and everybody else knows the charges were false
I'm with you on everything in your post but this. Were they false?
I don't pretend to be up on North Korean politics, but I recall reading when Kim Jong Un came to power that some of his family members, Aunts and Uncles wielded a lot of power, and that Dear Leader himself had to tread pretty lightly to maintain the balance of power.
It could well be that his Uncle was making a play for power. Or it could be that Kim Jong Un has consolidated enough support for himself that he can openly move against his opponents. Just saying,... not that I think Kim Jong Un is some 'force for good' in North Korea, but I'm pretty skeptical that his Uncle was innocent of anything.
I thought it was evident, but apparently you wish me to spell it out for you:
The cost is the goodwill you are losing as your audience perceives you to be arrogantly using/. as your personal blog.
The cost is the audience itself protesting you and your special treatment articles, distracting the conversation away from the article to a conversation about you and your 'special status' with the/. editors. You were worried about bifurcation, and you traded it for negative distraction.
The cost is your credibility; since the articles don't have even the appearance of making it to the/. news page on merit, but rather simply by virtue of the fact that/. editors will just publish whatever you write.
There is a short summary that appears on the front page (or wherever the article is linked from) before the link to the article.
True. So I guess its not the lack of summary that's the biggest issue, just the apparent arrogance inherent in the appearance of using/. as your personal blog.
Ok, I certainly won't argue that some companies are better than others... but xplornet in particular at least its a 1 year contract, $99 setup fee.
As for throttling, that I don't know first hand; as i only know a few people that have it, and don't have it myself. The official policy apparently is here:
And it appears to state that the top users will be throttled in 15 minute intervals to 50% of the maximum speed. And they are also disclosing that they throttle p2p traffic, online storage etc to 300kbps.
This certainly validates your claim to a point; and it certainly is something that one should be well aware of going into a product like this.
The service would be alright for those who live rurally and understand the limits of satellite, but the throttling and filtering of services makes it a viable option only for the most remote and desperate.
That's fair. I agree completely that even most light broadband packages are worlds better than anything you can get with satellite, because - physics.
However, I'm still skeptical that something like this would be anything but categorically better than a sub 1Mbps dsl line for most users.
Seriously though, this is just an improvement on the thermos. A fancy improvement, and it might even be more effective... but it's not breaking new ground.
Nothing that hits the shelves as a consumer product is ever 'breaking new ground'. Its always standing on the shoulders of what came before; and has already cut its teeth in niche markets that needed and could afford the high early adopter price for research and development for the incremental improvement over what was already out there.
fwiw, i think the biggest issue is virtually every other article on slashdot is a summary with a link to the article(s)...(well on a good day in an idealized imagining of how Slashdot works - we're lucky if the summary makes sense, summarizes the acutal article, and provides links to anything remotely agreeing with the summary... but I digress), except your submissions. Which seem to always be a full mufti-page article in place of the usual "summary".
Its off putting; both because it deviates from the norm, and also because it smacks of special treatment -- so we go into your articles already predisposed to want to cause you physical pain... because "oh its a Haselton using slashdot as his personal blog article again"...
Write a 2 paragraph summary and post the full article... "elsewhere".:p
Slashdot Mirror
When was the last time you changed the oil in your ceiling fan? Your blender? CD player?
Hell, when was the last time you "changed the oil" in the wheel bearings of your car?
Yes, all these things require lubricant, but they are not things we associate with having substantial oil reservoirs.
As for the the Tesla, yes it'll have wheel bearings and axels, so it'll probably have a bit of grease somewhere... but I don't believe it has a transmission. So there probably isn't anything that's we'd recognize as "oil" in the car.
Sure there is. Your declaration doesn't match your definition. Bad. Fix it.
I think you missed something there. The declaration and definition would match, but he doesn't use one of the parameters.
While there are quite a few ways to "fix" this; I'm honestly not sure what the best is.
cloud was inevitable; every network diagram I've ever seen always represented the internet as a "cloud".
I've always thought it was perfectly approrpriate too. Its a relatively opaque morphous network outside of your direct control, there's "stuff" in it, you can connect to but you don't really know what or where it is.
And cloud storage and cloud compute etc is literally moving those servers on those diagrams INTO the cloud. :)
So cloud doesn't bug me as a term at all. As a trend it offends me greatly, since in many cases it is STUPID to move your stuff into the cloud, and companies are doing it because its trendy and hip and has a low upfront cost. But that's a separate issue.
Internet of Things? Meh... I think you are reading too much into it. The internet is traditionally clients and servers that were recognizable as computers. The internet of things is just referencing the recent mass push to put a lot of things on the internet that aren't really recognizable as computers... from your cofeemaker to your thermostat.
I've never really gotten a sense that it was "new" or "hip" or that it even required a "vendor".
I get the sense that the FSF, though having some very good ideals, has no understanding of the importances of "just works" and "value added"
The FSF is like extreme overclockers. They are concerned with software freedom the way overclockers are concerned with cpu performance maximums, or drag racers are concerned with 1/4 mile times.
Criticising the FSF for pushing software freedom as far as they can is like criticising extreme overclockers for using bulky custom expensive cooling solutions, or drag racers for lousy cornering, and needing a parachute to stop.
Sure I'll probably never buy one of those devices, but I like that they are out there, and I support them, pushing the envelope. And even if I don't live right on the edge with them, preferring 'just works' to 'ideals' for a lot of day to day stuff, my 'just works' is a lot closer to 'ideals' than it would be without the FSF as a lot of that does trickle into what I use daily, even if I don't use it all, all the time.
I like the FSF pushing that envelope as far as they possibly can.
I have yet to meet the synthesizer that can even remotely duplicate the dulcet noises of the old-fashioned dead trees and metal strings of my grand piano. Or the delightfully analog feel. Or dynamic range. Or imposing presence in the living room
Have you met one of these guys?
http://www.roland.com/products/en/V-Piano_Grand/
A lot of the people who had very cheap insurance which was cancelled had "hospital gown" policies (which means that their ass wasn't covered). Others could prove that they were "healthy" and could show that they didn't need insurance.
Bingo.
The main 'losers' under the ACA are:
a) people who didn't actually have coverage; are being forced into plans that actually cover things.
b) lowest risk, healthiest people -- they got better rates before because the insurance industry figured they wouldn't have to pay out on them. Now with more (and less healthy) people being added to the system, the rates are rising slightly to accomodate the overall higher insurance costs to the industry.
But insuring all those extra people is a net gain. At least in my books. And I'm speaking as someone still comfortably in the first half of my life, with no significant health concerns, who makes a decent living -- aka someone the insurers love to insure.
The big win is for people who couldn't get insurance or who had very expensive policies. They will be able to get affordable insurance under ACA since the scumbag insurance companies can't refuse to insure them.
Exactly. But its inevitable that there will be some "losers" at the other end of the spectrum whose rates are going up to offset this. But as I said before... its net gain for society.
The danger is that this result can cause people who are not well-nourished to stop taking supplements that may be keeping them outside of harm.
Since this is /. here's a car analogy:
My car is pulling to the left, because the wheels aren't balanced, what do I do?
a) Add a spring to your steering column to push right by about the same amount the car is pulling to the left, to balance it out. (take pill supplements)
b) BALANCE YOUR FUCKING WHEELS YOU FUCKWIT (ie correct your diet)
If you have some genuine condition that prevents you from synthesizing or absorbing sufficient vitamin D then sure you might need pills and other solutions. But if you feel like shit and its because you aren't eating right, that's not a medical condition that needs "supplements". That's a wake up call to take better care of yourself.
Sitting in the basement all day eating Doritos isn't a healthy lifestyle, and taking vitamins to stave off the worst effects of it isn't "fixing the problem".
You have the right to refuse to rent out your home. You have the right to deny a hitchhiker a ride. Their property, their choice to license it or not.
The limited monopoly society grants patent holders to reward them for innovating is allegedly for the benefit of society.
Fortunately for us, they are the one who dared
In so far as we can get them for all of 3 different laptops.
The others are too cost-conscious, too cheap to look at the lowly power adapter.
Most high tech ends up in Apple after the other guys did it first. The mag adapter is one of the few 'innovations' from Apple.
Everyone here chides Apple for putting a deep fryer plug on a laptop and get a patent for it. Truth is, if they don't, someone else will and sue the heck out of them for it.
As I recall, Apple is also unwilling to license that patent at all.
If it was so obvious, why haven't anyone thought about it before Apple?
Someone had to do it first. Unfortunately for us, it was apple.
Not that I think RLCs make any sense at all (the one nearby me just moved all the accidents out of the intersection into the street, and generated more of them),
Meh, if your going to have a collision anyway I'll take a rear ender over a t-bone. As for the "generated more of them"; I guess its possible, but I'd need more than your anecdote to support it.
Otherwise though you are spot on. RLCs require a photo of you outside the intersection with a red light, and then inside the intersection with a red light. Proving you entered on a red light.
Entering on a yellow, and still being there when it turns red isn't illegal in any jurisdiction I'm aware of. Although entering an intersection you are *unable* to exit is illegal. I.e. 'getting stuck behind traffic in an intersection and having the light change so you end up blocking traffic is illegal but its not something RLC enforces.
That and RLCs are like trying to solve your pet's toilet habits by waiting a couple of weeks and then rubbing their nose in it.
I'm not a fan of RLCs, but I dont' object to them. Its not like speeding where speed is a continuum, and there is a flow of traffic, etc. Running red lights is just dangerous and stupid, and no competent driver driving safely should ever get caught in the first place. But a properly implemented RLC doesn't offend me at all.
But I can't abide radar speed traps.
* I cover my ass here a bit by noting that city tampering with yellow light lengths is the exception to that rule. Clearly if the city goes out of its way to deliberately engineer violations that's a separate issue. Yellow light timing should be available to the public and there should be clear guidelines establishing what they should be to eliminate any possibility of tweaking the light timing to increase revenue (and car accidents).
THAT being said, a few grand to start an apparently complicated business is NOT a large barrier to entry.
Pretty much this.
Not being able to risk leaving your job (with a health plan) to start a business because you can't get affordable healthcare for a child born with even some relatively nominal condition is a barrier.
Not being able to start a business because you don't have a defensive patent portfolio is a barrier to entry.
Not being able to start an enterprise that requires 10s of millions in capital is a barrier to entry.
$1500 to navigate some regulatory red tape is not a barrier to starting a business. Hell, 10x that, or $15000 to navigate red tape is not a barrier to starting a business. If your business plan flounders over $1500 in red tape that's not a business that's going to feed anyone or create jobs. Its a hobby enterprise that will maybe supplement your income if you are lucky.
Are you referring to steamos / intel drivers, or indie games? Because I can agree that intel graphics and steamos itself will likely get reasonably optimized, but indie games are well... indie games... they simply don't have the internal manpower or the connections to heavily optimize their games for any graphics card.
A PC that can play skyrim perfectly fine might well chug on a "gratuitous space battles" type of game simply due to the fact that the indie devs just don't have the resources to do testing and optimization accross as many cards, and its more practical for them to just have the users throw a better video card at it.
I didn't mean to imply 5 year old games were at all expired. I was merely pointing out that a brand new entry level computer with intel graphics being able to play 5 year old games is not exactly a testament to how good intel graphics are now.
As for my view on 5 year old games, my /. user name makes a reference to StarControl2. I'm very much a fan of the classics. :)
Any game made before ~2009 will run just fine on an ivy bridge laptop.
Saying that just days before 2014. Rather like saying pretty much anything made in 2000 will run a game from 1995. ;)
Granted the advancement of tech hasn't been quite that dramatic lately, but 5 years is multiple generations on the desktop.
Most any game under $25 on steam will run on an ivy bridge laptop without a fancy/expensive/hot graphics card.
meh... I agree they don't need one that's fancy or expensive, but "Intel integrated" is often still pretty awful. Even indie games suffer, due to being poorly optimized, and a number of indie games I've played have had much higher specs reqs than they really "should".
As for the $25 price point... on steam.. that's pretty much anything if you watch the sales.
And that kids is how the great banana boycott of 2014 started.
And because indie PC games tend to be lower budget, they also tend to be lower detail, which means they just might work on Intel.
Unfortunately they also tend to be MUCH less optimized.
He knows that you and everybody else knows the charges were false
I'm with you on everything in your post but this. Were they false?
I don't pretend to be up on North Korean politics, but I recall reading when Kim Jong Un came to power that some of his family members, Aunts and Uncles wielded a lot of power, and that Dear Leader himself had to tread pretty lightly to maintain the balance of power.
It could well be that his Uncle was making a play for power. Or it could be that Kim Jong Un has consolidated enough support for himself that he can openly move against his opponents. Just saying, ... not that I think Kim Jong Un is some 'force for good' in North Korea, but I'm pretty skeptical that his Uncle was innocent of anything.
It's called an "African-American Market" these days.
Wow... I'm pretty sure that's 100x worse.
reasons should be in terms of costs and benefits.
I thought it was evident, but apparently you wish me to spell it out for you:
The cost is the goodwill you are losing as your audience perceives you to be arrogantly using /. as your personal blog.
The cost is the audience itself protesting you and your special treatment articles, distracting the conversation away from the article to a conversation about you and your 'special status' with the /. editors. You were worried about bifurcation, and you traded it for negative distraction.
The cost is your credibility; since the articles don't have even the appearance of making it to the /. news page on merit, but rather simply by virtue of the fact that /. editors will just publish whatever you write.
There is a short summary that appears on the front page (or wherever the article is linked from) before the link to the article.
True. So I guess its not the lack of summary that's the biggest issue, just the apparent arrogance inherent in the appearance of using /. as your personal blog.
? your point ?
He cares enough to catch the name of the winner in a 5 line summary, but not enough to read a 1500 word article.
Seems pretty reasonable to me.
I thought there were other original content pieces being run, although I never see them.
So that makes two of who have never seen them.
The only other long form articles I can actually recall seeing are celeb Q&A answers, and book reviews.
But surely it's more convenient for the readers to click through to an article on Slashdot t
Not having a concise 2 paragraph summary makes them unequivocally less convenient for us to decide whether we WANT to read it.
And it also avoids bifurcating the discussion
I'm not convinced this is actually a problem; nor one that can't be solved using a journal page.
if readers have a problem
Then the readers should change?
maybe the problem is with people's expectations? :)
Yeah, you could argue that. You'd be wrong though.
Ok, I certainly won't argue that some companies are better than others... but xplornet in particular at least its a 1 year contract, $99 setup fee.
As for throttling, that I don't know first hand; as i only know a few people that have it, and don't have it myself. The official policy apparently is here:
http://www.xplornet.com/traffic-management/htv-itmp/
And it appears to state that the top users will be throttled in 15 minute intervals to 50% of the maximum speed. And they are also disclosing that they throttle p2p traffic, online storage etc to 300kbps.
This certainly validates your claim to a point; and it certainly is something that one should be well aware of going into a product like this.
The service would be alright for those who live rurally and understand the limits of satellite, but the throttling and filtering of services makes it a viable option only for the most remote and desperate.
That's fair. I agree completely that even most light broadband packages are worlds better than anything you can get with satellite, because - physics.
However, I'm still skeptical that something like this would be anything but categorically better than a sub 1Mbps dsl line for most users.
Seriously though, this is just an improvement on the thermos. A fancy improvement, and it might even be more effective ... but it's not breaking new ground.
Nothing that hits the shelves as a consumer product is ever 'breaking new ground'. Its always standing on the shoulders of what came before; and has already cut its teeth in niche markets that needed and could afford the high early adopter price for research and development for the incremental improvement over what was already out there.
fwiw, i think the biggest issue is virtually every other article on slashdot is a summary with a link to the article(s) ...(well on a good day in an idealized imagining of how Slashdot works - we're lucky if the summary makes sense, summarizes the acutal article, and provides links to anything remotely agreeing with the summary... but I digress), except your submissions. Which seem to always be a full mufti-page article in place of the usual "summary".
Its off putting; both because it deviates from the norm, and also because it smacks of special treatment -- so we go into your articles already predisposed to want to cause you physical pain... because "oh its a Haselton using slashdot as his personal blog article again"...
Write a 2 paragraph summary and post the full article ... "elsewhere". :p