If you get a cataract, spend the extra money on a CrystaLens. Unlike 45 year old natural lenses and implants available before 2003, they will actually focus. Of course they're under patent so they're about a thousand dollars each more expensive than other implants. I'm sure I'll have a cataract in the other eye not too long from now, the last eye doctor I saw said "a couple of years" and it's been longer than that.

I think I'll wait until 2023 when the patent runs out and everybody makes them, the ones like my mom has will be obsolete. I only use that eye to look at tiny things, anyway.

Insurance paid for all but the extra thousand, it was the best thousand dollars I ever spent. The device inside my eye is my favorite device of all.

Did you see the stats for the growth of their middle class over the past 15 years or so?

I'm not disputing that the country is ardently capitalist and has tightly guarded elite circles. But for most people in there, that's not where they are aiming for. What they want is basically just comfortable living, and their standard for it is getting pretty close to what the West enjoys. And with every new generation, there are millions more actually enjoying it - even though there's still hundreds of millions locked out. But for now, the trend is good.

"How are you UPS'ing for 6 hours?"

Sorry I missed the "How" part at first:
Deep cycle motor boat wet batteries coupled to an inverter. Not recommended anywhere for home use but sure cheaper than dry batteries which cost at least twice as much for the same efficiency. I now have two 12 volts batteries and I used to have 4. They are around 100$ a piece and I change them every 6-7 years or so since the power rarely go down around here so they last a long time. Most of the time, they cycle when I simulate a power outage to test the batteries. 1 hour power out test every 2 month and one test until the batteries are drained like once every six months or so.

Use at your own risk, I don't recommend or endorse anything here ;-)

"How are you UPS'ing for 6 hours?"

Yes, I used to use it as an Internet server with live websites and such on it but I have since moved those to a real data center because bandwidth was cheaper. I used to be able to stay up 48 hours on batteries if I shut down the desktop but I have reduced the number of batteries to half what it used to be after moving to a real data center for live sites that need to be up all the time. I also have a small generator that I can use to recharge the batteries but I usually do not bother now. I have to plug and start the generator manually. The desktop is in another room with electrical wiring running to that room. The desktop uses more power than the server because of the 4 screens and video cards. Nice video cards suck a lot of power. One of the desktop screen is a 50 inches TV not plugged into the UPS circuit. I use a USB extension cord for the wireless dongle that allows me to control the playing on the TV with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Same kind of setup in the real data center, one big server running a bunch of qemu VMs with virtual networks separated by firewall rules.

You must still have enough room to hang clothes and what not in your 42u rack then...

The whole "needles in the eyeball" are just a stepping stone to something truly amazing.

Indeed. I was severely nearsighted all my life, after the cataract surgery I no longer need corrective lenses at all, not even reading glasses and I'm 62. My vision in that eye went from 20/400 to 20/16. Truly a miracle.

BTW, my retina surgeon said that my retinal detachment was a result of being so nearsighted; a nearsighted eyeball isn't perfectly round like a normally sighted person's eyes.

Large volumes of andridian fartgas for the reward of sexy plans! Vikins are a overrated sea serpint of the great moose worem subtley hairy in my face!

Was it, though? China circa 1960s/70s was a totalitarian dictatorship where Tiananmen square was an impossibility simply because any dissent would be crushed long before it would get to mass protest stage, and the yearly number of victims was far greater, too. Compared to China after Tiananmen, the latter is far more liberal. It's even more liberal today.

I did not suggest doing such a thing. The best thing you can do is just trade (and yes, this doesn't preclude e.g. tariffs to even out the price of labor differences, environmental concerns etc).

As Chinese economy grows, so does its middle class. As its middle class grows, it demands more democratic reforms and more government responsibility - ultimately, a way to better China, for both its people and its neighbors.

So if you want a better China, you should do the exact opposite of what you're doing.

If you read the news headlines less and statistical data more, you'd know that the chances of that happening are far, far lower than your kid being hit by a school bus, or drowning in your pool. You might as well worry about him dying in the next 9/11.

Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada. That she also happens to be a Queen of some other realms is completely immaterial to her position as the monarch of Canada - her royal prerogatives in Canada are defined by the Canadian political system, not the British one, and her duties and responsibilities are also before the Canadian nation.

The Morsby Field Paradox states that scanning resolution is inversely proportional to the square of the aperture convergence, so even medium sized 3d" objects would be subject to flattening distortion, or bending distortion, by a small scanner, depending on the reference point.

I'm fine with the chip; that protects me, the bank, and the retailer. I am NOT fine with the PIN. My signature can't be stolen; if someone steals my card, the signature on the sales slip proves it's not me. But if someone steals your PIN they have your every penny.

It happened to me with a debit card. I welcome the chip, but of they add a PIN I'll cancel all my cards and go back to cash and checks, even though they're nowhere as convenient.