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Comment Create licensed data frequencies (Score 1) 293

I'd like to see the FCC set aside a block of frequency spectrum for commercial data use, just as they already do for LMR. The frequencies should be in the GHZ range and would need a massive amount of separation from the consumer unlicensed spectrum to discourages hijacking by modifying consumer APs. Lower frequencies would be allocated to users who need to cover a larger geographic area. They would purchase an annual license from the FCC for a frequency, which would be programmed into the access point. The business would provide USB WNICs to each of its authorized users with the frequencies programmed in. Cell phone companies would protest this, as currently the only solution for wireless connectivity at the municipal level is to pay cell phone companies for service.

Comment Re: Fire all the officers? (Score 1) 515

If you have that attitude, you'll be walked over every time. Police are taught to be aggressive and assertive so that they remain firmly in control of a situation. Bad guys are professional liars and completely unreasonable. They aren't students in a college class in a polite debate; they are real humans who don't want to go to jail no matter what.

Comment Re:Consider pilots and radios (Score 1) 262

It's all about priorities: AVIATE, Navigate, Communicate.

Pilots and others with some level of emergency services / high stress career training know how to prioritize.

We need to increase standards to receive driver's licenses in America, and drill Aviate, Navigate, Communicate into their heads, and actually expose them to high-stress driving.

Speech-to-Text at its current level of development will absolutely make matters WORSE. Texting while driving makes drivers more stressed because of frustration: what's in my mind is not appearing on the screen and that means I have to try two or more times to get the message to show up correctly. This greatly increases my level of stress while driving, which is why I don't do it.

When I'm driving, if I feel like I am becoming stressed, I remove all distractions: the radio is turned off, the girlfriend has learned to be quiet, and I concentrate on the road. I wish everyone would behave this way.

Comment Use a Dock? (Score 1) 170

Couldn't I just take a desktop SSD along in a dock with USB and eSATA ports and be happier at lower costs? I guess maybe I'd pay about as much, but I probably don't need ALL of that capacity as flash. Maybe a hybrid drive would be good. Lots of data on platters, and the project I'm currently working on cached in flash.

Comment Re:narrow it down? (Score 1) 88

I agree. I think they should limit the initial database to certain time spans surrounding events of national interest and "tweets" that seem to be related. They can learn database structure and procedures from there and perhaps later add in the full archive. The most important part of anything like this is metadata. For example, a tweet that says "dudes! this concert rocks!!!" is useless unless you happen to know that the user is at a Trans-Siberian orchestra concert. And then, if you are able to attach all of the posts related to that concert together, it could be potentially useful.
Crime

America's Real Criminal Element: Lead 627

2muchcoffeeman writes "The cause of the great increase in violent crime that started in the 1960s and peaked in the 1990s may have been isolated: lead. This leads directly to the reason for the sharp decline in violent crime since then: lead abatement programs and especially the ban of tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock agent in gasoline starting in 1996. There are three reasons why this makes sense. First, the statistics correlate almost perfectly. Second, it holds true worldwide with no exceptions. Every country studied has shown this same strong correlation between leaded gasoline and violent crime rates. Third, the chemistry and neuroscience of lead gives us good reason to believe the connection. Decades of research has shown that lead poisoning causes significant and probably irreversible damage to the brain. Not only does lead degrade cognitive abilities and lower intelligence, it also degrades a person's ability to make decisions by damaging areas of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, attention, verbal reasoning, and mental flexibility. Another thing that stands out: if you overlay a map showing areas with higher incidence of violent crime with one showing lead contamination, there's a strikingly high correlation."

Comment Re:Cue the apologists (Score 1) 936

Uh, no. It's the police FORCE not the police debate club. They are hired and entrusted by society to maintain order and prevent chaos. You can ask politely, but everything an officer does has to be backed up with force. If the police officer was limited to asking politely, it wouldn't be long before no one would comply. Force is a part of their toolbox.

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