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Comment This is kind of like parenting... (Score 1) 376

I know, I know, educating people on the dangers of high fat diets hasn't worked and people still flock to greasy burgers. So we get rid of the trans-fat so that when people gorge themselves on junk food, it's maybe just a little bit healthier than it would have been. Much like parents have to keep kids from gorging on Halloween candy instead of just leaving it out and expecting the kids to keep some self control.

Now, I am not the healthiest of eaters, but I'm also not overweight. I rarely eat fast food, but when I do, I want a big, greasy meal. I used to love Micky D's fries but now that they got rid of the trans-fat oil, they just don't taste the same to me. In that regard, I wish they still had full trans-fat oil for those of us who can actually resist eating it for 98% of our meals. Oh well. I guess us good kids have to play along with the rules to keep our sloppy siblings under control.

Comment An eject button would be awesome (Score 1) 262

I do some monotonous computer work so listening to podcasts and documentaries on YouTube helps pass the time. Most of the time however, it's to drown out all of the obnoxious people around me. I work in one of those large rooms with cubicle walls that don't reach the ceiling so you can hear EVERYTHING. And there are a lot of talkers here. And they rarely have anything meaningful to say.

Comment Conditions/allergies? (Score 1) 274

Yes, lets have random candy advertisements flung at diabetics and ads for peanut butter shown to people who would die if they ate it, just because they happened to walk by the shelf (which is not hard to do in a grocery store). The people handing out free samples of crap food that I don't want are annoying enough. I don't need to have the shelves themselves haranguing me about what to buy! The entire store is one giant ad already! Why do you think things come in brightly-colored, shiny packages? They get your attention! You learn color patterns and associate foods with certain labels. And if things are on sale, it generally says on an eye-catching tag under the item. Why do I need a shelf telling me that Oreos are on sale when I can see the bright red "SALE" tag right under the bright blue Oreos package? Geez!

Comment Gifts and work (Score 1) 187

My favorite is always when I am shopping for gifts online. I look at many items (and possibly purchase a few) most of which, I have zero interest in for myself. However, because I happened to look at them, suddenly there are banner ads everywhere for items I want nothing to do with.

I also have this issue with work. I work for a biotech company and we order our products from a few usual lab supply sites. Sometimes I see banner ads for the same things. If I'm at work, ok, but I already have that information because I was just on that company's site earlier. If I'm at home and just happened to look at something (maybe from an e-mail) then biotech banner ads are plastered all over my personal computer for a week. Sorry folks, I'm not shopping for lab supplies at home.

A lot of targeted ads just don't work for the way I browse and it makes me laugh at them.

Comment Re:Legal problems are the easy ones (Score 1) 149

I would dearly love to be able to get to/from work (~30 minute each way commute) without having to waste an hour every day with the non-productive task of driving. It is a huge waste of my time. It potentially solves other problems as well like helping handicapped people, reducing drunk driving, freeing up huge amounts of non-productive time and more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the first person I've seen pick up on the points of self-driving cars that most people gloss over. I am very blind and, on a good day, might be able to qualify for a daytime-restriction licence. That means that, in the dead of winter, I might have about 6 hours where I can actually be out on the road driving. If I have an 8-hour/day job, that means I have to find other ways to get to work and I have to coordinate running errands/visiting friends with daylight hours. At that point, why would I have a car if I can't really use it for half the year. Why don't I just take a bus! (which I do). Now, while I love public transportation, commute times can be frustrating. I live about 6 miles from work, which requires a car commute of about 15 minutes. However, the bus to travel the same distance can take up to 40 minutes due to many stops (it's a very busy route).

Letting someone else drive is great. I do work on the bus or read a book or whatever. Sometimes though, I am limited in my activities due to crowds (seriously, I can't even open my laptop on my lap sometimes) or noise (try reading when there's a load of screaming kids on the bus). I would LOVE to have a vehicle that could get me to work, without me having to drive it, and would not make 27 stops along the way.

On the productivity point, imagine what this could mean for living situations. So live a 2-hour drive from where you work? So what (other than fuel costs of getting the car there and back)? Instead of spending 4 hours a day driving, think of it as spending 4 hours in a mobile living space. Watch TV! Work on a puzzle! Video chat with people! Surf the web! This technology could really go somewhere (no pun intended).

Comment Pacemakers? (Score 1) 72

I'm not well versed in EM science at all (I know if I plug electronics into the magic holes in the wall, they work, and that's about it). But I do know that some EM fields can interfere with pacemakers. And I'm assuming they don't have to be that strong as some household power tools are enough to blip the things. Are the fields discussed in the article strong enough to be a problem for people with heart-regulating implants?

Comment Re:Bad Price Point (Score 1) 212

I agree with this. The reason I've never wanted to buy an XBox or a PS3 is because I could build my own computer for the price of buying one of those. When I heard the Wii U was joining that price tier, I lost all interest. While HD graphics are impressive and the new gamepad with the screen has some potential, I would rather forgo those things for a cheaper system (ie, a regular Wii). As others have mentioned, I've also remained disinterested as there are no big title games yet (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc).

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