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Comment Re:They should have said guessed 45000 years. (Score 2) 138

Considering carbon dating has been shown to be about as accurate as a politicians promises, they should have just said they were guessing at how long it had been there.

(sniff) (sniff) .. I smell a creationist...

Or possibly a scientist, since a scientists point out that Radioactive Carbon Dating is only reasonably accurate for up to about 40,000 years.

Comment Re:I've got good news! (Score 1) 146

Insurance guys are already just fine with putting a black box in your car that records all your movements and adjusting your premium according to how risky your driving profile is.

Any insurer that doesn't get on board with charging less for auto-cars that have a lower risk of crash is going to be undercut by someone else.

I guess there are always enough idiots out there that still drive like an idiot even while they have the device installed. I know I was even more careful while I had the device in my car. It pissed me off several times to see "hard braking" show up on my profile just because some idiot cut in front of me without adequate room to squeeze in.
But I guess part of the driving profile is checking for the behaviors of the other idiots that you end up sharing the road with. It all needs to be taken into consideration.

Comment They want their car to become like appliances? (Score 1) 146

So, they want their car to be like home appliances, which used to last 30 to 40 years, but now last only a year or two. Not because tha machinery breaks down. No, that is still good for at least 10 years. But the electronics which controls the machinery can't seem to survive in the harsh environment created by the machinery it operates, and gives up after a year or two. It can be fixed for only 99.8% of the price of a new unit.
So now we want cars that will brick themselves after a year or two, not because the engine went bad, or the transmission threw a gear, but because the mp3 player used all available memory and now there is not enough memory for the computer to check the systems to allow the starter to engage. Yes, that is exactly what consumers want. Well, not really, but that is exactly what consumers will be given, and there won't be any choice for a non-Smart car for those of us who recognize that we already have a device in our pocket that performs thousands of functions substandardly, but borderline adequately, and we would rather pay $400 for a phone to do the poor job than to pay $10k more for a vehicle to do a poor job of performing the same function.

Comment Re:It's a great move forward. (Score 1) 202

Sign a release? Not if you're in public, where you have no expectation of privacy.

It depends on local regulations. You can't film a post office and some other government buildings. You can't film on private property (including malls, parking lots, hospitals, sports arenas) without permission.
The safest response to "when do I need a release" is "Always".

Comment Re:It's a great move forward. (Score 1) 202

Whether police are involved or not, I am highly suspicious of most any video posted these days because it seems that they somehow manage to always miss the initial incident and only catch the "overreactive" response.
I also am skeptical of all of these videos of street interactions. It's not like the camera is rolling continuously and of course they can pick and choose the interactions they show depending on what agenda they want to put forth. Also, shouldn't they be getting all of these people they are filming to sign a release?

Comment How does it move all the bulky items? (Score 1) 216

How does the camera move all the bulky items so that you can see what is behind them? How does it open the drawers so you can see what is in them? The drawers on my fridge can't be opened with the door shut, partly because you can't have your hand in there with the door shut, but even if you could disembody your hand, operating the drawer would not work because the door is inches away.
Another solution in search of a problem.

Comment Re:Why all the hate? (Score 1) 216

If the cameras + screen keep you from opening the refrigerator as often and as long, what's wrong with that?

Besides, the front of the fridge is a natural place to have an entertainment device is many homes.

Because opening and closing the door dozens of times a day is still more energy efficient than having an LCD monitor, and LCD monitors put off a tremendous amount of heat which you probably don't want in the vicinity of your refrigerator.

Comment Re:Prior art? (Score 1) 129

The difference is Uber provides the service of locating small business X providing ridesharing; TaxiCo provides the service of taxi, and hires employees as operators.

If anything, Uber connects you to thousands of independently-operated taxi businesses.

No, they are locating small business X which provides taxi/livery services. Ridesharing is something entirely different. You are going to the airport. Somebody else is going to the airport. You agree to both go the airport in the same vehicle and split the costs. In Ride sharing, the maximum amount any one person can pay is 50% of the cost. In a taxi or livery service, the Customer pays 100% of the cost plus some profit, That is what Uber advertises to their drivers. They advertise ridesharing to the government.
Taxis also sometimes hire independent operators as another poster pointed out.
Uber is really pretty smart in this deal. In theory they are held blameless, because it REALLY should be their $3 - $4 an hour drivers that should be buying the multimillion dollar medallions, not Uber. Uber doesn't own any cars. But in reality, they are passing the costs of doing business down to the lowest people on the totem poll and increasing the division of wealth.

Comment Re:Prior art? (Score 1) 129

See, due to the magical thinking of Uber, a car for hire through an app isn't anything like a taxi and isn't subject to regulations because they say so.

Unless, of course, a Taxi company with an app does it, in which case it IS a Taxi. So, according to Uber, if you use Uber's app you are not required to follow the regulations, but anybody else that does the same service, even with an app, is still required to follow the regulations. Well, maybe not Lyft, but everybody else.

Comment Re:Forbes blocks browsers... and... this is absurd (Score 1) 330

Humans evolved to live here, on earth, sure. So what? Evolution is a constant process, by which an organism adapts itself to a particular enviroment. Sure, you don't see your average tree hopping monkeys make machines that let them live underwater, but do you think humans could've survived in arctic, or central european climate without clothes? By your logic humans should've stayed in Africa hunting whatever runs around there. Of course, space is an example of a far more harsh enviroment, but that's what evolution is for. If it requires humans to create complicated machines, humans will create complicated machines. It might not be reasonable to even colonize the solar system right now, but 500 years into the future? How about 5000 years into the future, humans won't be building and launching generation ships towards earth-like planets, just because it's ok to live here on earth? Earth has limited resources, and the sun has a limited lifespan. If you want us to survive for more than a billion years, you'll have to colonize other star systems.

Adaption from oceans to dry land is possible over millions of years and is possible because there exist places where the ocean and the dry land are right next to each other. Adaption from an Earthlike atmosphere to a planet X atmosphere would not be possible by natural evolution because the two ecosystems are separated by many lightyears of empty space.

Comment Re:Oh no! (Score 1) 149

Exactly. I didn't know who Linode was, but I knew that the article was there to spark controversy over whether they "deserved" it or not. I am here to say that, no, they don't. DDoS is vandalism, as the parent said. Anonymous is a terrorist organization. Anonymous went after ISIS only because they don't like competition. DDoS hurts everybody and costs everybody money. The costs of fixing the issues is passed on to the customers, ultimately, you and me. There is no way anybody with any sense would support DDoS terrorists.

Comment Re:Required for flight training (Score 1) 132

As an instrument rated private pilot, I do not ever recall using one, although I certainly know what one is.

You didn't use one in flight school? There is not one in some deep dark recess of your flight bag just in case?

I did not use one. But I think I actually do have one and yes it is probably in my flight bag if I do have one. It has been awhile since I dug around in there.

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