"How many books do you read per [time]?" is a poor question, because it's so dependent on the size of the books. Number of pages per time is still not perfect, because all pages are not the same, either, but they're usually pretty close. But books? I read mostly epic fantasy. 600-900 pages per book is pretty standard. Books with >1200 pages are not rare. My mother reads Harlequin romances that weigh in at 150-200 pages. I read about 2000 pages per month, or about 2-3 books. If I read my mother's books, I'd read 0 books per month.

Just finished Phillip Pullman's first volume of "The Book of Dust", which I've been looking forward to for about 20 years. "His Dark Materials" is probably my all time favorite work, and this long-awaited companion work did not dissapoint. I'm now looking forward to Brandon Sanderson's "Oathbringer", the third book of "The Stormlight Archive", which will be released on Nov. 14.

s/There/Their

Eh? Why the snark? You think they haven't had brains working on route optimization for decades? There routes were already very carefully planned and very good. And somebody came up with a simple, clever, and somewhat unintuitive idea that gave instant improvements on that. I don't care who you are or what you do; if you come to me with an idea like this, I'll be impressed. If you're not, I only wonder what has you so jaded.

Totally fucking brilliant. Well done, UPS. This is the kind of optimization that would make any computing professional proud.

Only 300 people? Come now. I've spent a lot of time in China. They fit over 300 people on a normal bus with 1/4 the space of this thing.

An "algorithm"!

For Canada, there's a simple solution: Hockey-based renewable energy. It's simple.

1) Embed neodymium magnets in hockey pucks.
2) Run coils through hockey ice.
3) Play hockey as usual.
4) Profit.

Moving puck induces current in coils, sufficient to cover Canada's energy needs and allow Canada to continue as a new energy exporter until, and maybe after, cold fusion.

400000 people? That's greater than 1/1000 Americans. And only half go to college, and about 20% are under 18 and don't count in this calculation, so we've got more than 1/400 college educated Americans disabled? How is that even possible?

(n/t)

It's pretty disingenuous to post a link to a Slashdot story which in turn links to a retracted article and using it to suggest that HP employees thought poorly of her.

Presumably you have broadband internet at home. Set it up as a gateway and encrypt all traffic through it.

Regardless, you are not likely to have fast internet access in China, or at least not *consistent*, fast internet access. In my experience, quality of internet connectivity there is very touch-and-go.