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Comment Re:Trailer-generators (Score 1) 490

Another disadvantage: the time when you would most want to tow something else, like an actual trailer or a boat - on a longer trip - you can't, because you're towing part of your car instead. There's also the issue of safety: trailers are terrible for handling and make driving, dangerously lethal as it already is, even more difficult.

Comment Re:Good to keep in mind (Score 1) 421

There's no inherent reason you *have* to rebuild everything, it's just that our resuable designs are not sufficiently advanced. Early jet engines had to be rebuilt after almost every flight; but after a few decades of refinement, they can operate almost continuously for months without major maintenance.

Comment Re:Wrong question (Score 1) 186

I agree with parent completely, although the OP also has missed the boat, certificates are really quite cheap and should not be scoffed at. Generally certificate testing costs between $150-300 USD per test. Which frankly is pretty cheap considering the alternatives. That said, it is most definitely more important to build a reputation for yourself, which would render certificates not only a moot point but a waste of effort. By far the most important thing you could do would be to have example documentation (I personally blog it) this really works well as a selling tool and is far more effective than a generalized IT certificate.

Comment Re:Don't (Score 2) 454

That is totally dependent on where you are...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority

Oddly enough that Wikipedia Article shows only 6 countries that have age of adulthood at less than 18, and none of them are 16. In the US it is 18 except for Alabama (19), Nebraska (19), Mississippi (21), and Puerto Rico (21). Canada is about 50/50 between 18 and 19. The UK is 18. Most of Africa is 21. Japan 20.

So your point is flatly incorrect.

Comment Re:My prediction (Score 1) 179

You're on to something, but I think it's simply a case of chronological proximity bias. The problems we face today always *feel* like the most severe problems ever faced, but that is probably often just because they are the most prominent in our minds. I mean, look how many writers from the last century predicted widespread famine, because when you ran the numbers it just didn't seem possible. They thought it was the biggest problem humanity ever faced. Eventually we managed to overcome it and now it feels like a big nothing. Instead we have our own, new, biggest problems humanity has ever faced. Except they're not, not really. They just seem that way because we know that the other ones got solved, and we don't know yet how to solve the unsolved ones. And those writers, in turn, were probably overestimating the relative severity of that problem compared to other historical problems.

It's the same perspective problem that causes doomsdayism.

Comment Re:Thin edge of the wedge. (Score 1) 521

The point is that there is nothing that will be preventing you from doing whatever you want to the hardware you bought: hack it, wipe it, blend it, nobody will stop you. What you are actually complaining about is that the hardware you bought isn't exactly the hardware you want. But, it's a lot harder to blame other people for the poor purchasing decision you made.

Comment Re:Would not one have to spend energy... (Score 1) 222

I don't recall the specific physics principle, but it is something along the lines of 'particles below a certain size cannot be measured without affecting their behavior'.

It's the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. However, by reversing the polarity of the entangled particles and running them through the matrix field of a Heisenberg compensator, you get a controlled tachyon burst that counteracts entropy. At least, that's what I gathered from this write-up.

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