"Given that calculators were probably most commonly used in finance initially, I would guess that the most common number used (possibly even now) would be 0. Placing that most common number at the thumb position has clear utility, similar to that of the spacebar."

To expound on this a bit, the design is not arbitrary. In finance digits don't actually occur with equal frequency. 1s are far more common than 9s for example. See Benford's Law for more info. Its used in forensic accounting to help detect cooked books.

I use a '10 key' for a couple hours doing books most workdays and it would definitely be less convient if the numbers were flipped. Having said that I don't have a problem with phone keypads. I think this might be because phone dialing is almost exclusively done with thumbs on modern phones so you don't use the same muscle memory you do when using a '10 key.'

Sonic also has great customer support. You can call them and talk to an actual person without going through some convoluted phone tree. The ones I have spoken with knew their stuff, too. Just a happy customer here.

I use Sonic.net and have nothing but good things to say about them. When you call customer support you get actual people who live nearby and speak your language fluently. Reasonable prices and decent speeds. Maybe slightly more expensive than ATT, if you don't value your sanity, but not by much.

Cheers,
Greg

I think its sad that society has come down to this. So full of fear.

I let strangers make calls on my phone sometimes, and I've asked strangers to make calls on theirs when mine wasn't working. I'd rather live in a society where people aren't afraid to help each other out.

Also, from what I've heard from several people who have been mugged for electronics there hasn't been any asking to use the device in question. One person grabs it and runs or punches the victim in the face, grabs it, and runs. I live in SF so I have heard a number of these unfortunate stories. They mostly seem to target women, especially when its a lone mugger.

Cheers,
Greg

The problem isn't that some people have more than others, thats always been the case in the US, especially for the last 30 years and we haven't had protests in the streets over that. The problem is that the people at the top cheated to get there at the expense of the rest of us. Here is an article that sums it up pretty well. I'm not generally a huge fan of Matt Taibbi's writing but this article hits the nail on the head.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/owss-beef-wall-street-isnt-winning-its-cheating-20111025

Awesome launch. That was also one of the best question and answer sessions on Slashdot in a long time. Thanks for taking the time.

-Greg

Does anyone know of any fairly inexpensive way to test for lead in something like apple juice? Something that can be done at home without sending something out to a lab? Just curious. Some posters have stated that a lot of juice sold in the US has apples from China and instead of just fear mongering it would be interesting to test and see if there are actually unsafe levels of heavy metals in the juice. -Greg

Pico and Pine are from some Washington University if I recall correctly. And the Sphinx voice recognition software is from CMU.

"I heard they mail you DVDs if you want."

I seem to recall that the main way to watch DVDs on Linux uses a package that is illegal to distribute in many countries (DeCSS). Sure, it is more readily available than other options but it is still considered illegal.

Cheers,
Greg

Having seen the second video I don't think the officer meant to break the window. It really looked like he was just trying to put the guy up against the wall to handcuff him. It was surprising to see that glass break like that. When you see it at the station in looks much stronger. It also looks like the breaking window cut the officer more badly than it did the suspect.

The other situation though, the one with the man being shot in the back....That officer deserves a nice long stay in jail.

Cheers,
Greg

The system uses GPS systems that use report in their location every minute. Even if they predictions that nextbus publishes aren't open the raw gps feed could be very useful. The nextbus prediction system leaves a lot to be desired; With the raw data I'm sure someone could do significantly better.

Cheers,
Greg

I read that same quote elsewhere and its really surprising to me. As far as I'm aware Muni is super stingy with all of their data. Even their route data isn't freely available for reuse. For instance, I'm trying to put all the Muni lines into openstreetmaps.org but I can't just go on to Muni's website and copy the data from their. If you want to use that data you have to enter into a licensing agreement with Muni where you have to do things like give them quarterly reports on how many users access that data. I've been manually going around and regathering it myself just to avoid having to deal with them.

According to some Google people I spoke with at WhereCamp a bit back even they had to sign that agreement in order to put the Muni info into Google maps. I find it hard to believe that with those kinds of policies in place Muni is going to let people freely view their realtime info, especially if it might make them look bad by showing exactly how often they're late.

However, if I'm wrong and there is someplace where Muni makes this data available I'd love to here it. Otherwise I'm just going to assume the Muni spokesperson is fibbing and hopeing the whole situation blows over quickly.

Cheers,
Greg

I guess it depends on where you live but where I live there are bloggers who cover city council meetings along with all sorts of other small government meetings. They analyze budgets, they make easy to use crime maps out of inaccessible government records, they fight for government accountability.

The sorts of things that perhaps newspapers once did but no longer do because they cut all their reporting staff and now just have a few editors who put a local slant on news from AP and Reuters. because the readership gained by printing that sort of in depth political news doesn't offset the amount of money it costs to print it. When the newspapers do print articles about these sorts of things its only because they found something they could sensationalize.

I suppose I'd agree with you more if I thought newspapers were actually doing in depth reporting but I really don't feel that they are.

Cheers,
Greg

"Funny thing is I have a company car that is only a year old, I doubt the warranty is running out, especially since my company BUILT the car."

You must not work for GM.

Cheers, Greg

"Can you really blame them for not believing that "normal" Britons go around looking at planes on military bases and keeping track of the call letters in their little books? While on vacation to Greece?"

Yes, I can. A little googling will show plenty of evidence to support plane-spotting being a hobby. Also, spies don't usually travel in groups of 12, with their wives, and openly go about collecting data.

I have to admit though, if I'm going to have a criminal record, espionage would be the one to have. Hell, if I had that on my record I might just change my last name to Bond and have fun with it.

Cheers,
Greg