I agree, but mostly because I'm sort of an "in between" geek. Personality wise, I'm definitely there, but I'm a MechE, and not someone who codes beyond some VB problem-solving. I wouldn't know what to do with source code, so as far as I'm concerned, I don't directly care that FireFox is open source. What Open Source does for me, though, is that it allows other people (like a lot of the Slashdot crowd) to write nifty add-ons and accessories and plugins that I can download and enjoy. I don't have to wait for a software company to release an expansion pack, or add-on... much less actually come up with something creative.
compared to my 89 year old secretary. I work at Electric Boat, where we design and build nuclear submarines. She's been here for every nuclear submarine built, not to mention bearing witness to all the other technological advancements. I doubt she'll live to see space habitation... but that's a pretty impressive run.
And no, I'm not kidding. I'll post the desk phone number, if I have to.
Nah, they just license the Invisible Fence collars that give you a nice high voltage jolt when youy cross the boundary line. The real game is whether or not it gives a warning buzz like it does for the dogs...
And where's that "old vegetable oil" going to come from when everyone needs it? Making use of waste products is great... but that can only sustain a few people.
Again, it's cheap, because there aren't that many people doing it. If everyone used it, and depended on it, and it was distributed, regulated and taxed... it'd be a lot more expensive than a garage concoction.
Once again, it's because there's really very little demand compared to supply. It's currently easy to go to your local vendor, but not everyone can do that.
If you were to have a population that depended on a biodiesel infrastructure... a farming community that had to meet exacting production demands on a widespread scale, a distribution infrastructure, legal restrictions, engineering quality regulations, environmental regulations, and finally federal and state taxes... it's going to be more expensive. And consider how much farm land that would take up. 25% is a LOT of land, and I don't think it's just sitting there not being used for something else.
Not to mention that you'd have an energy source that's seasonal, and susceptible to weather fluctuations. Not to mention crop diseases, infestation, etc. Your local vendor can cope with significant variable fluctuations and unknowns, without a significant problem. What's a few extra barrels lying around. Someone will buy it in a few weeks. And if they run out, nobody's severely put out.
I'm not discouraging biodiesel. But the fact that few people use it, and that farmers don't rely solely on biodiesel sales, makes it cheap. Couple that with the fact that biodiesel is a competing fuel. People chose it as an alternative to regular diesel. If it was the only fuel readily available, the vendors would set the price, and I doubt they're going to be nice and cut everyone a break.
It's like road side corn. I can get better stuff for less money form the local farm stand. But the only reason it's cheap is because there is no infrastructure, and he's not under pressure to provide for the population. Or conform to regulations/taxes. And he doesn't care about selling it off season.
Think about it. I don't know how the price will compare to petroleum diesel if it happens, but it sure won't be dirt cheap.
CARB-compliant states have recently banned the registration of diesel passenger vehicles. (CA, MA, NY, VT, ME) Diesel is a good technology, but the complaint is that it produces more smog and particulate emissions. Even if you go low-sulfur or biodiesel, you still have to convince the industry to accept the tradeoffs.
That's not to mention that biodiesel is cheap right now, because it's not popular. If it was a standard, and in demand, and an infrastructure was set up for it, the pridce would increase considerably.
Oil doesn't just "come from the Middle East." Some of what we use comes from there, but it's certainly not the only source, or even the main source. I agree there's a demand for better, cleaner energies, and a reduction of reliance on foreign energy sources. It's just better to be more self reliant.
But currently, the US produces 40% of the petroleum it uses (according to the API.) The remaining 60% of imported petroleum comes from these countries.
I've been waiting for something like this for a while now. A virus that either is triggered by antivirus software, or a virus that attacks and alters antivirus software. I'm surprised that it's taken this long. If the antivirus software is corrupt, the average home user is in a heap of trouble.
Granted, I don't know that it hasn't been done yet, but I don't recall hearing about it.
I still miss the aerial photos that Mapquest had..
on
Mapping Google Maps
·
· Score: 1
but now those are gone, too. I have to use Whirlwind, which doesn't do directions.
It was nice to map a location, and then check the aerial photo so you had an idea what the location looked like other than just the street.
Despite not having top notch resolution, it made finding parking lots, street entrances, and buildings quite a bit easier. Not to mention, things like public access boat launches for my kayak.
It's the icing on the cake, really. I hope the Google Maps folks realize that, and consider a future feature implementation.
It makes you good at getting a higher score on the SATs, not actually improving your abilities.
Similarly, if your web site is aimed at getting a better page ranking, you'll get more attention even though you're not actually better.
It's a way to defeat - or at least get a leg up in the system. Unfortunately it means that everyone will have to do it in order to keep up, and eventually search engines will yeild the results of a popularity contest, not which web pages are most relevant. Especially when they're trying to sell something.
Come to think of it, this sounds just like politics as well...
While there may have been 0% fraudulent transactions, how many people were inconvenienced when the scanner didn't read properly?
I know someone like my mother would be the lucky one person who's standing there trying while the system refuses to let her use the credit card / account.
Actually I'm serious... the driving might not be the most complicated thing out there, but I'd like to see some people here build a race car that can compete with a Nextel Cup race car.
It's very much the sport of engineering. It's just that a lot of people don't bother to look beyond the driving, and they think a car is just an engine, wheels, and some metal.
Plenty of people could accuse a sysadmin or software engineer of "sitting at a computer and clicking keys all day. How hard could that be."
I'm not saying they're rocket scientists. I'm saying that these people get paid a good sum of money to design, test, tune, and build cars, transmissions, engines, suspensions, brakes, ignition computers and all sorts of other things.
Many guys behind the walls at the races have PhDs. They play with cars and make millions. They're not as dumb as you think.
I'm surprised you have enough friends to mod you "insightful" for that wonderful comment. (It was +4 when I started typing this.) NASCAR is a lot more complicated than you seem to think it is, and WalMart is kicking everyone's ass at capitalism. Whether or not you like it, there seem to be plenty of others who love it.
Thanks for continuing to prove that the USA is going down the drain simply because your ignorance is always someone else's fault.
Oh, I know. But the issue is that it's accepted... and it was brought up at the last minute, on my starting day, not when they made the job offer. And well, when you're a few months past graduation, just move out and get an apartment, and student loans are coming due, it's pretty tough to walk away based on moral principle.
I actually had this discussion with a non-lawyer friend of mine not too long ago. I realize that something along the lines of a Chia pet would probably be win-able if my company tried to claim the rights to it, but the problem is that the company makes the first oppressive move in an effort to protect it's own best interests and then some. I can see a company staking a claim to inventions developed on company time and using company resources. I think that's fair. But it seems like my company went the extra mile, and decided that it would be best to lay claim to everything invented by the employee, and then negotiate from there if something arises.
This is the kind of situation I see Japan headed for. Companies don't want to get hurt like this one did... they'll take their new employees on their starting day, and give them a form... "sign over all of your future inventions, private or not, or you don't get this job."
Like my current employer. I had to sign over my rights to *ANY* invention, not just one that was invented on company time, or related to the business. I'm a mechanical engineer, and I work for a company that makes nuclear submarines for the Navy. Sometimes, stuff is patented, but it's gov't technology anyways. Point is, they're so anal about protecting themselves that they want to own everything.
If I invent the next Chia pet in my basement, they'll own it. And I know a lot of companies are like this, presumably because they can get away with it.
They've been around for years, but to my awareness, I've only heard people argue that cell phones will fry your brain. I have a difficult time seeing how someone can really do a scientific study when societies as a whole adopt wireless electronics across the board, not just cell phones.
Lady: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
Meyer: Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"? Aren't these just
buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important?
[backpedaling] Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that.
[pause] I'm fired, aren't I?
One of the byproducts of burning fossil fuels *is* water. Combining a hydrocarbon with oxygen creates H2O. When you see a car that's recently been started, the water vapor from combustion will condense on the cold exhaust pipe, and drip out the tail. While I don't know what the environmental impact of fuel cell cars will be, consider that hydrocarbon vehicles (and all other things that burn fossil fuels) have been creating water all along. After the hundred years or so that we've been burning them, I've yet to see anything overflow.
Try being an engineer in the submarine business. The only thing that sells nowadays is the longer, girthier, black cylinders. Not only are they full of seamen, but they launch a variety of other phallic objects. Good thing the Navy likes to keep things under wraps.
I grew up in Wilton, CT where a rather eccentric architect decided to build his dream house. It's a single floor circular house, built on a pedestal about 15' off the ground. It was built on a German battleship gun turret, and has adjustable speed and direction rotation. Max speed is about 1 rev/hour. My father was lucky enough to know him, and arranged for a tour of it the place. I asked all those questions above. Electrical is via brushes, phone as well. Sewer and water each are handled by trough-style rings, where the top rotating ring fits inside the bottom, fixed ring, and can slide freely. Bearings have to be greased every 10 years or so, but surprisingly the sewer and water seals have held up.
Unfortunately, the architect has passed on a few years ago. The house is for sale... last time I checked it was $2.5M and no takers. (Most people with that kind of money don't have a desire for that kind of place)
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, but mostly because I'm sort of an "in between" geek. Personality wise, I'm definitely there, but I'm a MechE, and not someone who codes beyond some VB problem-solving. I wouldn't know what to do with source code, so as far as I'm concerned, I don't directly care that FireFox is open source.
What Open Source does for me, though, is that it allows other people (like a lot of the Slashdot crowd) to write nifty add-ons and accessories and plugins that I can download and enjoy.
I don't have to wait for a software company to release an expansion pack, or add-on... much less actually come up with something creative.
compared to my 89 year old secretary. I work at Electric Boat, where we design and build nuclear submarines. She's been here for every nuclear submarine built, not to mention bearing witness to all the other technological advancements.
I doubt she'll live to see space habitation... but that's a pretty impressive run.
And no, I'm not kidding. I'll post the desk phone number, if I have to.
Nah, they just license the Invisible Fence collars that give you a nice high voltage jolt when youy cross the boundary line.
The real game is whether or not it gives a warning buzz like it does for the dogs...
And where's that "old vegetable oil" going to come from when everyone needs it? Making use of waste products is great... but that can only sustain a few people.
Again, it's cheap, because there aren't that many people doing it. If everyone used it, and depended on it, and it was distributed, regulated and taxed... it'd be a lot more expensive than a garage concoction.
Once again, it's because there's really very little demand compared to supply. It's currently easy to go to your local vendor, but not everyone can do that.
If you were to have a population that depended on a biodiesel infrastructure... a farming community that had to meet exacting production demands on a widespread scale, a distribution infrastructure, legal restrictions, engineering quality regulations, environmental regulations, and finally federal and state taxes... it's going to be more expensive. And consider how much farm land that would take up. 25% is a LOT of land, and I don't think it's just sitting there not being used for something else.
Not to mention that you'd have an energy source that's seasonal, and susceptible to weather fluctuations. Not to mention crop diseases, infestation, etc. Your local vendor can cope with significant variable fluctuations and unknowns, without a significant problem. What's a few extra barrels lying around. Someone will buy it in a few weeks. And if they run out, nobody's severely put out.
I'm not discouraging biodiesel. But the fact that few people use it, and that farmers don't rely solely on biodiesel sales, makes it cheap. Couple that with the fact that biodiesel is a competing fuel. People chose it as an alternative to regular diesel. If it was the only fuel readily available, the vendors would set the price, and I doubt they're going to be nice and cut everyone a break.
It's like road side corn. I can get better stuff for less money form the local farm stand. But the only reason it's cheap is because there is no infrastructure, and he's not under pressure to provide for the population. Or conform to regulations/taxes. And he doesn't care about selling it off season.
Think about it. I don't know how the price will compare to petroleum diesel if it happens, but it sure won't be dirt cheap.
CARB-compliant states have recently banned the registration of diesel passenger vehicles. (CA, MA, NY, VT, ME)
Diesel is a good technology, but the complaint is that it produces more smog and particulate emissions. Even if you go low-sulfur or biodiesel, you still have to convince the industry to accept the tradeoffs.
That's not to mention that biodiesel is cheap right now, because it's not popular. If it was a standard, and in demand, and an infrastructure was set up for it, the pridce would increase considerably.
Oil doesn't just "come from the Middle East." Some of what we use comes from there, but it's certainly not the only source, or even the main source.
I agree there's a demand for better, cleaner energies, and a reduction of reliance on foreign energy sources. It's just better to be more self reliant.
But currently, the US produces 40% of the petroleum it uses (according to the API.) The remaining 60% of imported petroleum comes from these countries.
Oh, sure, blame the minorities...
I've been waiting for something like this for a while now. A virus that either is triggered by antivirus software, or a virus that attacks and alters antivirus software. I'm surprised that it's taken this long. If the antivirus software is corrupt, the average home user is in a heap of trouble.
Granted, I don't know that it hasn't been done yet, but I don't recall hearing about it.
but now those are gone, too. I have to use Whirlwind, which doesn't do directions.
It was nice to map a location, and then check the aerial photo so you had an idea what the location looked like other than just the street.
Despite not having top notch resolution, it made finding parking lots, street entrances, and buildings quite a bit easier. Not to mention, things like public access boat launches for my kayak.
It's the icing on the cake, really. I hope the Google Maps folks realize that, and consider a future feature implementation.
It makes you good at getting a higher score on the SATs, not actually improving your abilities.
Similarly, if your web site is aimed at getting a better page ranking, you'll get more attention even though you're not actually better.
It's a way to defeat - or at least get a leg up in the system. Unfortunately it means that everyone will have to do it in order to keep up, and eventually search engines will yeild the results of a popularity contest, not which web pages are most relevant. Especially when they're trying to sell something.
Come to think of it, this sounds just like politics as well...
While there may have been 0% fraudulent transactions, how many people were inconvenienced when the scanner didn't read properly?
I know someone like my mother would be the lucky one person who's standing there trying while the system refuses to let her use the credit card / account.
Actually I'm serious... the driving might not be the most complicated thing out there, but I'd like to see some people here build a race car that can compete with a Nextel Cup race car.
It's very much the sport of engineering. It's just that a lot of people don't bother to look beyond the driving, and they think a car is just an engine, wheels, and some metal.
Plenty of people could accuse a sysadmin or software engineer of "sitting at a computer and clicking keys all day. How hard could that be."
I'm not saying they're rocket scientists. I'm saying that these people get paid a good sum of money to design, test, tune, and build cars, transmissions, engines, suspensions, brakes, ignition computers and all sorts of other things.
Many guys behind the walls at the races have PhDs. They play with cars and make millions. They're not as dumb as you think.
I'm surprised you have enough friends to mod you "insightful" for that wonderful comment. (It was +4 when I started typing this.) NASCAR is a lot more complicated than you seem to think it is, and WalMart is kicking everyone's ass at capitalism. Whether or not you like it, there seem to be plenty of others who love it.
Thanks for continuing to prove that the USA is going down the drain simply because your ignorance is always someone else's fault.
by the makers of Play Doh for copyright infringement.
Personally, I thought the apostrophe was for a brief pause, so there's more emphasis on the D phoneme.
Oh, I know. But the issue is that it's accepted... and it was brought up at the last minute, on my starting day, not when they made the job offer.
And well, when you're a few months past graduation, just move out and get an apartment, and student loans are coming due, it's pretty tough to walk away based on moral principle.
I actually had this discussion with a non-lawyer friend of mine not too long ago. I realize that something along the lines of a Chia pet would probably be win-able if my company tried to claim the rights to it, but the problem is that the company makes the first oppressive move in an effort to protect it's own best interests and then some.
I can see a company staking a claim to inventions developed on company time and using company resources. I think that's fair. But it seems like my company went the extra mile, and decided that it would be best to lay claim to everything invented by the employee, and then negotiate from there if something arises.
This is the kind of situation I see Japan headed for. Companies don't want to get hurt like this one did... they'll take their new employees on their starting day, and give them a form... "sign over all of your future inventions, private or not, or you don't get this job."
I really don't want to see that happen.
Like my current employer. I had to sign over my rights to *ANY* invention, not just one that was invented on company time, or related to the business.
I'm a mechanical engineer, and I work for a company that makes nuclear submarines for the Navy. Sometimes, stuff is patented, but it's gov't technology anyways.
Point is, they're so anal about protecting themselves that they want to own everything.
If I invent the next Chia pet in my basement, they'll own it. And I know a lot of companies are like this, presumably because they can get away with it.
They've been around for years, but to my awareness, I've only heard people argue that cell phones will fry your brain.
I have a difficult time seeing how someone can really do a scientific study when societies as a whole adopt wireless electronics across the board, not just cell phones.
Krusty: So he's proactive, huh?
Lady: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
Meyer: Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"? Aren't these just
buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important?
[backpedaling] Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that.
[pause] I'm fired, aren't I?
Myers: Oh, yes.
What, your wife doesn't come out with a new toddler for every new home video format?
And I finally spring for one... a Samsung 910T And it's got one dead pixel. And I just got it last week.
One of the byproducts of burning fossil fuels *is* water. Combining a hydrocarbon with oxygen creates H2O. When you see a car that's recently been started, the water vapor from combustion will condense on the cold exhaust pipe, and drip out the tail.
While I don't know what the environmental impact of fuel cell cars will be, consider that hydrocarbon vehicles (and all other things that burn fossil fuels) have been creating water all along. After the hundred years or so that we've been burning them, I've yet to see anything overflow.
Try being an engineer in the submarine business. The only thing that sells nowadays is the longer, girthier, black cylinders. Not only are they full of seamen, but they launch a variety of other phallic objects. Good thing the Navy likes to keep things under wraps.
I grew up in Wilton, CT where a rather eccentric architect decided to build his dream house. It's a single floor circular house, built on a pedestal about 15' off the ground. It was built on a German battleship gun turret, and has adjustable speed and direction rotation. Max speed is about 1 rev/hour. My father was lucky enough to know him, and arranged for a tour of it the place.
I asked all those questions above. Electrical is via brushes, phone as well. Sewer and water each are handled by trough-style rings, where the top rotating ring fits inside the bottom, fixed ring, and can slide freely.
Bearings have to be greased every 10 years or so, but surprisingly the sewer and water seals have held up.
Unfortunately, the architect has passed on a few years ago. The house is for sale... last time I checked it was $2.5M and no takers. (Most people with that kind of money don't have a desire for that kind of place)