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Comment Re:Fantasists (Score 1) 224

Exactly. In addition to lacking personality, memories and learned talents, he's also going to be under tremendous pressure to live up to an impossible standard. Very few musicians stay as relevant as they used to be. A clone now could make Lennon-like music almost perfectly, and wouldn't be the pop culture phenomenon Lennon was because the music industry has changed. I cannot imagine circumstances in which a clone can have a healthy upbringing with no abnormal expectations.

Comment Re:It was me. (Score 4, Interesting) 126

I'm a teacher who was about to say what s/he said. Our students already use Google Docs for their work, so these make a great, cost-effective fit that eliminates a lot of the educational environment security headaches.

FYI, we circumvent the printing issues by having students share documents with staff accounts when they are ready to submit. The staff can either print or mark and comment online through the existing format, depending on whether a printout is really needed. Doesn't scale well for large student loads, but it's enough for us.

Comment Re:College isn't for education. (Score 3, Interesting) 147

WTF?!?! Are we here to get an education or be weeded out?

Weeded out.

Only in most institutions, not all. Look at the way marks are determined to find out. Marking on the curve is good for weeding students out, homogenizing professor performance, and not much else. If you find an institution that marks with criterion-referenced grading, then it's far more likely to be about education. Granted, this is a rule of thumb that only works for the top level of the food chain, and you can find exceptions to this idea very easily, but it's a start.

Comment Open forum (Score 1) 215

You've written a lot for new writers, including a book dedicated to writing scripts and numerous additional materials in things like the Babylon 5 script books. That said, it's unlikely you have said everything you think new writers need to hear, as those are usually context or lesson specific. Here's an open forum: if there is one thing that writers trying to launch careers should no, either about the writing process, the pitching process, the production process, or any other aspect of the writing industry that hasn't come out in your previous publications, what would it be?

Comment Re:HUD (Score 1) 375

GPS uses less paper, and is easier to manage when I'm making multiple stops in multiple cities for work trips, sometimes through cities and provinces I've never been to before. Maps and/or printable directions are far less practical. Bottom line: why should anybody be forced to use the solutions either you or I prefer? Any solution is valid if it can be applied safely.

Comment Re:HUD (Score 1) 375

What about passengers? Why would you want to disable their Glass?

The second sentence in my original post reads "Users could enable or disable this mode, as I can with my normal GPS unit, for the cases where the device is being used by the passenger instead of the driver."

Comment Re:HUD (Score 3, Interesting) 375

And if I want to use the GPS feature only while driving? I think the best solution would be for Google to add a "lockout" feature, where GPS is the only feature accessible when the speed of the glasses is in excess of some reasonable number. Users could enable or disable this mode, as I can with my normal GPS unit, for the cases where the device is being used by the passenger instead of the driver. Then it falls under a blanket "distracted driving" laws when used inappropriately but is still allowable when used appropriately.

Comment Re:Not true. (Score 1) 984

Those points weren't in the article that I saw, and they do make a difference. I have no problem with our local speed cameras, but they've decided here (Alberta, Canada) that demerits cannot be awarded for photographically documented offenses, and instead must be caught in person with the driver behind the wheel. They also give about 10% grace on the speed (up to 110 in a 100km/h zone, etc.) and we were informed through the local news media six months before they went live.

Comment Re:Not true. (Score 5, Informative) 984

I thought they were speed cameras, not red light cameras. The question is not about lines, it's if they are set to go off when you are going 56 in a 55 zone, and so forth. If they do not allow for imperfections in speedometer readings, they will overticket the population. There is also a question of how many are mounted and where; if you drive down a main thoroughfare going 60 in a 55 zone and get three tickets for it in one day, that's an issue.

Reading the first linked article, it sounds like they one had two cameras total, one where you enter the city and the limit drops from 35 to 25, and the other in a school zone. The town is a small town on an interstate that has a lot of through traffic to get from larger towns to major centres of employment. The city officials are confident this will hold up in appeals court, and I suspect they may be correct.

Comment Re:Pauli Exclusion violation (Score 5, Informative) 205

Someone else has already said that, no, the Pauli Exclusion Principle does not apply. To expand further, "boson" is a term that specifically means "particle that is not subject to the Pauli Exclusion Principle." The term "fermion" is used for particles that are. Protons, neutrons, quarks and electrons are fermions, while the Higgs and all force-mediating particles (gluons, photons, W, Z, gravitons) are bosons.

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