This 'controversy' has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it is likely that NASA will likely cancel the Space Launch System if BFR or Blue Origin 'New Glen' are able to launch. Nothing at all. Nothing to see here. Move along.
I commute by bike as well. It takes about 25-30 minutes to ride one way, while in the car it takes about 20 minutes. The ride is uphill one way though. I ride in almost any weather except for snow/ice, which doesn't happen too often in Vancouver. I have excellent lighting and reflection as well. Vancouver is excellent for bikes, as we have a good bike lane system. I think we have gotten to the point in Vancouver where 10% of residents (pdf warning) cycled to work. That is in spite of Vancouver's legendary rain. One of the best things about this is that I get an hour per day of good exercise for free.
As for the proverbial asshole cyclists, yes I've seen some. Often they aren't wearing helmets or actual bike gear. They flout the traffic laws and ride in a way that risks both their own lives and the lives of those around them. I find them as irritating as anyone. But to tell the truth they aren't that common. We tend to remember the unusual incidents rather than the more common ones. Over the last twenty years of driving I've observed two incidents of road rage by guys driving white panel vans. That doesn't mean that drivers of white panel vans are inherently angry. I've probably seen thousands of white panel vans in my years of driving, but I don't remember them because they were just driving normally.
I'm sensing quite a bit of angst amongst the short troll crowd here. Good. Really the $420 price is a little bit of a gift. If Musk hadn't set a price, the stock could have gone up to $500 to $600 based on price speculation. That would have hurt! As it is, if you are leveraged, well then OUCH! Serves you right for peddling disinformation in a effort to destroy an innovative American company. Really I think trolls have a touch of psychopathy...you know, the same condition that in extreme cases afflicts serial killers. Well, if Tesla goes private, at least the trolls will mostly go away, as there won't be any profit in what they do.
WTF is with people dumping on Firefox? It used to be slow and bloated, until the release of Quantum. With Quantum, Firefox is at least as fast as Chrome. Pre-quantum, having many tabs open was guaranteed to bring my computer to its knees. Post quantum, opening many tabs is no problem.
For reasons like those cited in the parent article, I pretty much exclusively use LaTeX for my typesetting needs. LaTeX just looks better. Its a subconscious thing. Looking at a proper typesetting, you don't know exactly why it looks good. It just looks 'professional'. Like a good textbook. And it isn't just the font. It is related to the subtle spacing between lines and letters. Typography is actually an ancient art. It goes right back the the Roman Empire. The inscriptions carved on Roman buildings and statues are precursors to modern movable type and computer based typesetting.
The family admits that the driver had had issues at that exact location. Why on earth would he use it there then? Why wasn't he paying attention near that spot? Why did he ignore the warnings? He was a programmer. He should have known.
The title of the article implies that SpaceX "can't" broadcast from their second stages. A more accurate statement is that they "couldn't" broadcast on their one particular launch. They could in fact broadcast for their previous launch due to the fact that it was a NASA launch. And they have applied for a NOAA license for their future launches, meaning they WILL be able to broadcast from stage 2 for future launches.
Any PI would be substantially limited (by cost, power and size) to be a reasonable CAD workstation.
I don't think you understand what OnShape is. It is web based CAD created by some of the original developers of SolidWorks. It runs almost entirely in the cloud. It can be run on phones, iPad's or old crappy computers. And it is arguably better than SolidWorks. Some universities are literally considering dropping SolidWorks for OnShape because it is so easy to support. All it needs is a browser that can run WebGL. I've been running it with old Core 2 Duo's with crap low end video cards, and it runs perfectly well. There are no typical CAD workstation requirements because most of the computation is being done off site. So, if the new raspberry Pi 3b+ is capable of running WebGL, then then it most definitely COULD be a CAD workstation.
I'm setting up a small computer classroom for robotics and programming. The only thing the current Pi-3 doesn't do that I really need is to run the OnShape online CAD program (since it doesn't seem to have enough power to run WebGL properly). I'm hoping that the new version will have enough resources to run OnShape. It would mean that students could design, slice, and 3D print objects for robots, and to program those robots, all with just a Raspberry Pi. The cool thing is that the current version of the Pi-3 is powerful enough to run TensorFlow, so our robots (which use Pi-3's) can actually do camera based machine learning (we do the training on regular PC's, though it can be done rather slowly on the Pi-3).
They are streaming a live view of the star man here It is rolling a bit...I believe this called a BBQ roll, to prevent the car from getting too hot in the sun.
Here is a tweet with a view of monitors showing smoke clearing from the drone ship deck with no rocket aboard. It seems it missed the ship. Not too surprising as the centre core is a new machine that has never flown before. Also, the re-entry profile was likely one of the hottest ones they have tried.
I've used Chrome for quite a few years. I had Firefox installed, but it was pathetically slow, and used an unreasonable amount of memory with even a few tabs only. I heard good things about Firefox 57, so I updated and gave it a try. It seems that almost every complaint I had against Firefox was fixed in that upgrade. It is fast, and I can open a lot of tabs without my system grinding to a halt. The other thing that keeps bouncing me away from Chrome is that it doesn't work for my main news homepage, ustart.org (it makes all the headlines disappear if I scroll down). I changed to ustart.org when google got rid of their homepage function. I like having a large page with headlines from a wide variety of sources...I don't like newsfeeds because I don't like an algorithm deciding what I will read. When I use Firefox, I feel better about it than with Chrome, since Firefox is more closely allied with my vision of a free and open internet.
So, if you don't like the google browser monopoly, jump over to Firefox. It is arguably a better browser anyways.
Rogers once tried to charge us nearly $2000 for roaming data in Ft. Lauderdale. We had purchased a very expensive roaming data plan, but it didn't go through, so the cost was nearly $2000. The amount of data was primarily due to having the maps function turned on during three moderately short taxi rides. It was likely on the order of $5 to $10 per megabyte.
They have also muddied the competitive waters by creating a large number of fake shell cell phone providers to give the illusion of competition. Fido and Chatr = Rogers. Virgin, Lucky Mobile = Bell. Koodo, Public Mobile = Telus. In our area, the only actual competitor outside the big three is Freedom Mobile, owned by our cable monopoly Shaw. They remind me of organized crime.
Who cares if the person uses a fake prescription. If they want to do this, then they take their chances. This article sounds like propaganda for the Luxottica monopoly, the one that owns 90% or more of the optics industry, including the optics clinics. These guys are so evil, that when Oakley tried to protest/fight them, the Luxottica monopoly removed Oakley sunglasses from all their stores (which means basically ALL of the glasses stores). Oakley's stock tanked, and Luxottica swooped in and bought Oakley at a bargain basement price. The reason why glasses are so expensive is entirely the fault of Luxottica.
Seriously, this should not be on Slashdot. It is entirely corporate propaganda.
Also, let me tell you their automation is nothing compared the typical Japanese plant. Tesla has some of the lowest levels of automation compared to the typical auto factory. They just discovered how to run a moving assembly line and they struggle with it. They are still learning how to build cars.
Your comment is totally uninformed. When was the last time you visited an auto plant?
Almost every car manufacturer uses automation for frame welding. No one, I repeat, no one, not the Japanese, not the Germans has fully automated the assembly of the interior of the car. For example, inside the dashboard of most cars, wiring is snaked around many different places, and it is typically connected using wiring harnesses. You cannot get a robot to reliably pick the correct wiring harnesses and plug them into one another. There are simply too many variables. Take a look under your Japanese car dashboard, and you will see many wiring harnesses. They cannot be assembled by robots.
As an example of Tesla's innovation, their new car (the Model 3) has a glass roof. If you don't choose that option, a steel cover will be put in place of the glass. The reason they do this is to keep the roof of the car open for clear robotic access during interior assembly. Their next generation of car will be built for full robotic manufacturing. Things like wiring harnesses will be replaced by parts with interior wiring and plugs, so that robots can easily snap parts together.
It is not surprising that in 2015 with a new production line (the Model X) that injury rates were high. However my understanding is that due to the addition of a third shift amongst other things, that the injury rate has dropped to half industry average. In all honesty, this sounds like a professional media push, even your comment. That's the problem with comment boards...no accountability. We subconsciously treat all comments as if they are expressions of honest opinion, but the reality is that many comments on hot button issues where PR companies are involved, are likely expressions of the interests of one organization or another (in this case, the UAW).
My honest opinion, as a person who believes that electrification of the transport system is the only way to begin to get a handle on reducing our dangerous carbon emissions, is that the UAW quite literally wants to bring Tesla's growth to a grinding halt. My argument for this is that they have an institutional self-interest to do so, in large part because Tesla wants to create an unprecedented fully automated manufacturing line, which will reduce membership in the union. In my experience, institutional self-interest is the best predictor of the actions of organizations.
The UAW is basically acting like a mafia organization now. They do not want Tesla to succeed, because Elon Musk's eventual vision is to drastically reduce human presence on the manufacturing floor through unprecedented production automation. Right now, GM uses robots for frame assembly, but the assembly of the rest of the car is primarily done by humans. Tesla currently occupies the NUMMI plant, formerly a venture of GM and Toyota opened in 1984. It was shut down, in large part because it was unprofitable due the presence of the UAW. The United Autoworkers union is a rent seeking parasitic organization that neither acts in the interests of its workers, nor largely for the companies its workers are employed in (except in this case indirectly in that getting rid of Tesla would be in the interests of GM and Ford).
And if you want to know where my animus against MBA's comes from, it is this: In my long time and well considered opinion, MBA ideology is one of the primary causes of the de-industrialization of the United States of America. All that downsizing, exporting of jobs, industrial stagnation, and the lack of stewardship of the conditions necessary for the flourishing of domestic industry...I believe that the MBA mindset is in large part responsible for these things.
"I wouldn't recommend an MBA. I'd say no MBA needed. An MBA is a bad idea. [...] It teaches people all sorts of wrong things. [...] They don't teach people to think in MBA schools. And the top MBA schools are the worst. Because they actually teach people that you must be special, and it causes people to close down their feedback loop and not rigorously examine when they are wrong. [...] I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one. If you look at the senior managers of my companies, you'll see very few MBAs there."
"As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don't teach people how to create companies."
And Steve Jobs regularly violated MBA ideology. He was a notorious micromanager, which is exactly what MBA's aren't supposed to do. He personally led a small team of engineers in designing the original iPhone. And we all know how much of a flop the iPhone was.
As for my degree, my field is physics and mathematics. I wouldn't join the MBA cult for anything. LOL GMAT.
"Extinction-level threat" how, exactly? Is someone insane enough to build a self-sustaining robot soldier factory and then give an AI system complete control of it? Or just give an AI complete launch control of our nuclear arsenal? I can't see humanity ever being quite that trusting.
Musk may be a visionary, but he's also a bit loony on some topics. Don't forget he believes it's a near certainty that we're all living inside a massive computer simulation.
Even if an AI wasn't fully conscious, it could still be dangerous. Imagine if the objective function for an AI was to maximise the stock value of a weapons manufacturer. The AI has the ability to hack and realises that a particular war could increase the stock value. Action to maximise the objective function: hack air traffic control systems to divert a passenger jet into a war zone, and hack military communications to warn ground forces of an approaching military jet. Passenger jet gets shot down. War started. Profit.
And that is not even taking into account the very real and immediate threat of fully autonomous drones exerting lethal force in war situations. If cars can already drive themselves (or will be able to soon), including recognising traffic lights, cyclists, and pedestrians, imagine what such simple AI could do on the battlefield. Autonomous weapons are terrifying.
Companies that have largely avoided MBA ideology and become wildly successful: Google, Apple (under Steve Jobs, Tesla, Space X, Paypal, Amazon, Netflix...
Slashdot Mirror
It's Christmas Eve. Just finished watching Die Hard. Now I'm watching Die Hard 2. We do this every year.
This 'controversy' has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it is likely that NASA will likely cancel the Space Launch System if BFR or Blue Origin 'New Glen' are able to launch. Nothing at all. Nothing to see here. Move along.
I commute by bike as well. It takes about 25-30 minutes to ride one way, while in the car it takes about 20 minutes. The ride is uphill one way though. I ride in almost any weather except for snow/ice, which doesn't happen too often in Vancouver. I have excellent lighting and reflection as well. Vancouver is excellent for bikes, as we have a good bike lane system. I think we have gotten to the point in Vancouver where 10% of residents (pdf warning) cycled to work. That is in spite of Vancouver's legendary rain. One of the best things about this is that I get an hour per day of good exercise for free.
As for the proverbial asshole cyclists, yes I've seen some. Often they aren't wearing helmets or actual bike gear. They flout the traffic laws and ride in a way that risks both their own lives and the lives of those around them. I find them as irritating as anyone. But to tell the truth they aren't that common. We tend to remember the unusual incidents rather than the more common ones. Over the last twenty years of driving I've observed two incidents of road rage by guys driving white panel vans. That doesn't mean that drivers of white panel vans are inherently angry. I've probably seen thousands of white panel vans in my years of driving, but I don't remember them because they were just driving normally.
...I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of bots suddenly cried out...
I'm sensing quite a bit of angst amongst the short troll crowd here. Good. Really the $420 price is a little bit of a gift. If Musk hadn't set a price, the stock could have gone up to $500 to $600 based on price speculation. That would have hurt! As it is, if you are leveraged, well then OUCH! Serves you right for peddling disinformation in a effort to destroy an innovative American company. Really I think trolls have a touch of psychopathy...you know, the same condition that in extreme cases afflicts serial killers. Well, if Tesla goes private, at least the trolls will mostly go away, as there won't be any profit in what they do.
WTF is with people dumping on Firefox? It used to be slow and bloated, until the release of Quantum. With Quantum, Firefox is at least as fast as Chrome. Pre-quantum, having many tabs open was guaranteed to bring my computer to its knees. Post quantum, opening many tabs is no problem.
For reasons like those cited in the parent article, I pretty much exclusively use LaTeX for my typesetting needs. LaTeX just looks better. Its a subconscious thing. Looking at a proper typesetting, you don't know exactly why it looks good. It just looks 'professional'. Like a good textbook. And it isn't just the font. It is related to the subtle spacing between lines and letters. Typography is actually an ancient art. It goes right back the the Roman Empire. The inscriptions carved on Roman buildings and statues are precursors to modern movable type and computer based typesetting.
The family admits that the driver had had issues at that exact location. Why on earth would he use it there then? Why wasn't he paying attention near that spot? Why did he ignore the warnings? He was a programmer. He should have known.
The title of the article implies that SpaceX "can't" broadcast from their second stages. A more accurate statement is that they "couldn't" broadcast on their one particular launch. They could in fact broadcast for their previous launch due to the fact that it was a NASA launch. And they have applied for a NOAA license for their future launches, meaning they WILL be able to broadcast from stage 2 for future launches.
Any PI would be substantially limited (by cost, power and size) to be a reasonable CAD workstation.
I don't think you understand what OnShape is. It is web based CAD created by some of the original developers of SolidWorks. It runs almost entirely in the cloud. It can be run on phones, iPad's or old crappy computers. And it is arguably better than SolidWorks. Some universities are literally considering dropping SolidWorks for OnShape because it is so easy to support. All it needs is a browser that can run WebGL. I've been running it with old Core 2 Duo's with crap low end video cards, and it runs perfectly well. There are no typical CAD workstation requirements because most of the computation is being done off site. So, if the new raspberry Pi 3b+ is capable of running WebGL, then then it most definitely COULD be a CAD workstation.
I'm setting up a small computer classroom for robotics and programming. The only thing the current Pi-3 doesn't do that I really need is to run the OnShape online CAD program (since it doesn't seem to have enough power to run WebGL properly). I'm hoping that the new version will have enough resources to run OnShape. It would mean that students could design, slice, and 3D print objects for robots, and to program those robots, all with just a Raspberry Pi. The cool thing is that the current version of the Pi-3 is powerful enough to run TensorFlow, so our robots (which use Pi-3's) can actually do camera based machine learning (we do the training on regular PC's, though it can be done rather slowly on the Pi-3).
They are streaming a live view of the star man here It is rolling a bit...I believe this called a BBQ roll, to prevent the car from getting too hot in the sun.
Here is a tweet with a view of monitors showing smoke clearing from the drone ship deck with no rocket aboard. It seems it missed the ship. Not too surprising as the centre core is a new machine that has never flown before. Also, the re-entry profile was likely one of the hottest ones they have tried.
How about this for Zuma: The Marine's Hymn
From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.
I've used Chrome for quite a few years. I had Firefox installed, but it was pathetically slow, and used an unreasonable amount of memory with even a few tabs only. I heard good things about Firefox 57, so I updated and gave it a try. It seems that almost every complaint I had against Firefox was fixed in that upgrade. It is fast, and I can open a lot of tabs without my system grinding to a halt. The other thing that keeps bouncing me away from Chrome is that it doesn't work for my main news homepage, ustart.org (it makes all the headlines disappear if I scroll down). I changed to ustart.org when google got rid of their homepage function. I like having a large page with headlines from a wide variety of sources...I don't like newsfeeds because I don't like an algorithm deciding what I will read. When I use Firefox, I feel better about it than with Chrome, since Firefox is more closely allied with my vision of a free and open internet.
So, if you don't like the google browser monopoly, jump over to Firefox. It is arguably a better browser anyways.
Rogers once tried to charge us nearly $2000 for roaming data in Ft. Lauderdale. We had purchased a very expensive roaming data plan, but it didn't go through, so the cost was nearly $2000. The amount of data was primarily due to having the maps function turned on during three moderately short taxi rides. It was likely on the order of $5 to $10 per megabyte.
They have also muddied the competitive waters by creating a large number of fake shell cell phone providers to give the illusion of competition. Fido and Chatr = Rogers. Virgin, Lucky Mobile = Bell. Koodo, Public Mobile = Telus. In our area, the only actual competitor outside the big three is Freedom Mobile, owned by our cable monopoly Shaw. They remind me of organized crime.
Who cares if the person uses a fake prescription. If they want to do this, then they take their chances. This article sounds like propaganda for the Luxottica monopoly, the one that owns 90% or more of the optics industry, including the optics clinics. These guys are so evil, that when Oakley tried to protest/fight them, the Luxottica monopoly removed Oakley sunglasses from all their stores (which means basically ALL of the glasses stores). Oakley's stock tanked, and Luxottica swooped in and bought Oakley at a bargain basement price. The reason why glasses are so expensive is entirely the fault of Luxottica.
Seriously, this should not be on Slashdot. It is entirely corporate propaganda.
Also, let me tell you their automation is nothing compared the typical Japanese plant. Tesla has some of the lowest levels of automation compared to the typical auto factory. They just discovered how to run a moving assembly line and they struggle with it. They are still learning how to build cars.
Your comment is totally uninformed. When was the last time you visited an auto plant?
Almost every car manufacturer uses automation for frame welding. No one, I repeat, no one, not the Japanese, not the Germans has fully automated the assembly of the interior of the car. For example, inside the dashboard of most cars, wiring is snaked around many different places, and it is typically connected using wiring harnesses. You cannot get a robot to reliably pick the correct wiring harnesses and plug them into one another. There are simply too many variables. Take a look under your Japanese car dashboard, and you will see many wiring harnesses. They cannot be assembled by robots.
As an example of Tesla's innovation, their new car (the Model 3) has a glass roof. If you don't choose that option, a steel cover will be put in place of the glass. The reason they do this is to keep the roof of the car open for clear robotic access during interior assembly. Their next generation of car will be built for full robotic manufacturing. Things like wiring harnesses will be replaced by parts with interior wiring and plugs, so that robots can easily snap parts together.
You are a 2+2=5 troll.
It is not surprising that in 2015 with a new production line (the Model X) that injury rates were high. However my understanding is that due to the addition of a third shift amongst other things, that the injury rate has dropped to half industry average. In all honesty, this sounds like a professional media push, even your comment. That's the problem with comment boards...no accountability. We subconsciously treat all comments as if they are expressions of honest opinion, but the reality is that many comments on hot button issues where PR companies are involved, are likely expressions of the interests of one organization or another (in this case, the UAW).
My honest opinion, as a person who believes that electrification of the transport system is the only way to begin to get a handle on reducing our dangerous carbon emissions, is that the UAW quite literally wants to bring Tesla's growth to a grinding halt. My argument for this is that they have an institutional self-interest to do so, in large part because Tesla wants to create an unprecedented fully automated manufacturing line, which will reduce membership in the union. In my experience, institutional self-interest is the best predictor of the actions of organizations.
The UAW is basically acting like a mafia organization now. They do not want Tesla to succeed, because Elon Musk's eventual vision is to drastically reduce human presence on the manufacturing floor through unprecedented production automation. Right now, GM uses robots for frame assembly, but the assembly of the rest of the car is primarily done by humans. Tesla currently occupies the NUMMI plant, formerly a venture of GM and Toyota opened in 1984. It was shut down, in large part because it was unprofitable due the presence of the UAW. The United Autoworkers union is a rent seeking parasitic organization that neither acts in the interests of its workers, nor largely for the companies its workers are employed in (except in this case indirectly in that getting rid of Tesla would be in the interests of GM and Ford).
And if you want to know where my animus against MBA's comes from, it is this: In my long time and well considered opinion, MBA ideology is one of the primary causes of the de-industrialization of the United States of America. All that downsizing, exporting of jobs, industrial stagnation, and the lack of stewardship of the conditions necessary for the flourishing of domestic industry...I believe that the MBA mindset is in large part responsible for these things.
Here is a quote from Elon Musk on MBA's:
"I wouldn't recommend an MBA. I'd say no MBA needed. An MBA is a bad idea. [...] It teaches people all sorts of wrong things. [...] They don't teach people to think in MBA schools. And the top MBA schools are the worst. Because they actually teach people that you must be special, and it causes people to close down their feedback loop and not rigorously examine when they are wrong. [...] I hire people in spite of an MBA, not because of one. If you look at the senior managers of my companies, you'll see very few MBAs there."
Source.
"As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don't teach people how to create companies."
And Steve Jobs regularly violated MBA ideology. He was a notorious micromanager, which is exactly what MBA's aren't supposed to do. He personally led a small team of engineers in designing the original iPhone. And we all know how much of a flop the iPhone was.
As for my degree, my field is physics and mathematics. I wouldn't join the MBA cult for anything. LOL GMAT.
"Extinction-level threat" how, exactly? Is someone insane enough to build a self-sustaining robot soldier factory and then give an AI system complete control of it? Or just give an AI complete launch control of our nuclear arsenal? I can't see humanity ever being quite that trusting.
Musk may be a visionary, but he's also a bit loony on some topics. Don't forget he believes it's a near certainty that we're all living inside a massive computer simulation.
Even if an AI wasn't fully conscious, it could still be dangerous. Imagine if the objective function for an AI was to maximise the stock value of a weapons manufacturer. The AI has the ability to hack and realises that a particular war could increase the stock value. Action to maximise the objective function: hack air traffic control systems to divert a passenger jet into a war zone, and hack military communications to warn ground forces of an approaching military jet. Passenger jet gets shot down. War started. Profit.
And that is not even taking into account the very real and immediate threat of fully autonomous drones exerting lethal force in war situations. If cars can already drive themselves (or will be able to soon), including recognising traffic lights, cyclists, and pedestrians, imagine what such simple AI could do on the battlefield. Autonomous weapons are terrifying.
+1 for "...fucking MBA culture..."
Companies that have largely avoided MBA ideology and become wildly successful: Google, Apple (under Steve Jobs, Tesla, Space X, Paypal, Amazon, Netflix...
Arduino è italiano
(thanks Google translate)