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Comment Where were the earthquake worriers with fracking? (Score 1) 193

FTA: Some worry about water use or earthquakes from drilling.

Uh huh. And where were all of these people who worry about earthquakes when the fracking boom was gearing up?

Also, fracking creates tons and tons of contaminated wastewater – which is injected into the ground.

Comment The Easiest-problem First Rule (Score 1) 57

FTA: "With our decision to focus on ride-hailing, we'll push back the timeline on our commercial and operational efforts on trucking, as well as most of our technical development on that business unit," the company said in a statement.

Any engineer worth their salt knows that you don't go trying to solve the hardest problem first, if you want your company to survive. You start with he easier steps first.

Both a truck and a car have nominally the same sub-sytems for detecting surrounding obstacles, just with different coverage. They have nominally identical collision-avoidance needs, except that a truck wouldn't have to be tuned to keep anyone on-board alive. This increases a truck's control parameter envelope in which to operate, lessening its requirements, making the problem one of only avoiding collisions without upsetting the vehicle or losing control.

A car, on the other hand, would still have a control parameter envelope of operation, but one that is severely limited in options because it cannot take more aggressive maneuvers that a passenger-less vehicle would be 'allowed' to take.

Do the passenger-less trucks first. (There is more money there anyway.) After thatm, maybe move on up to cars carrying passengers, taking all of your control parameter envelope lessons from the trucks with you, and adding-in the additional set of constraints (live people).

United States

NYC's Anti-Bias Law For Hiring Algorithms Goes Into Effect (techcrunch.com) 84

After months of delays, New York City today began enforcing a law that requires employers using algorithms to recruit, hire or promote employees to submit those algorithms for an independent audit -- and make the results public. From a report: The first of its kind in the country, the legislation -- New York City Local Law 144 -- also mandates that companies using these types of algorithms make disclosures to employees or job candidates. At a minimum, the reports companies must make public have to list the algorithms they're using as well an an "average score" candidates of different races, ethnicities and genders are likely to receive from the said algorithms -- in the form of a score, classification or recommendation. It must also list the algorithms' "impact ratios," which the law defines as the average algorithm-given score of all people in a specific category (e.g., Black male candidates) divided by the average score of people in the highest-scoring category.

Companies found not to be in compliance will face penalties of $375 for a first violation, $1,350 for a second violation and $1,500 for a third and any subsequent violations. Each day a company uses an algorithm in noncompliance with the law, it'll constitute a separate violation -- as will failure to provide sufficient disclosure. Importantly, the scope of Local Law 144, which was approved by the City Council and will be enforced by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, extends beyond NYC-based workers. As long as a person's performing or applying for a job in the city, they're eligible for protections under the new law.

Comment F**k HP and their Vending Machines (Score 1) 112

The blight of HP and their "Vending machines for Ink" should end.

As a consumer, you are putting a noose around your neck (read: wallet) if you purchase one of their "vending machines of ink," as their CEO called them.

Buy Canon instead. If you want to print,, at least, they are the least worst of the lot.

Comment Re:I don't blame them... but I have no pity. (Score 1) 57

I hate seeing posts like this (mine), but:

True. So true. Pearson is a dinosaur protecting one of its last threads convincing people to 'buy the course textbook.'

Didn't Pythagoras (or many others of his ilk) just use a stick to draw in the sand to teach the material? Thank goodness he didn't manage to copyright those things in perpetuity, or humankind would have never advanced beyond, well, writing lessons with sticks in the sand.

Comment Re:Is it specifically against a term of purchase? (Score 1) 57

Really? I'm being serious here:

First sale doctrine only applies to PAPER. Not digital. You don't actually ever own the digital one. You just have the rights to use.

But what about copies of digital on physical media? Let's say I have Adobe Master Collection CS6 (cost about $2500). I upgraded my OS and can no longer use it.

By your interpretation, I cannot sell-on these Adobe-original CDs to a third party legally. Even if I no longer do or even CAN use the software contained on those CDs? (Adobe CS6 for Mac still fetches several hundred dollars on ebay.)

Can you cite a precedent, or even an article addressing this issue? I'm seriously curious here.

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