It's just a computer program, isn't it? We could just NOT feed it race and gender information, have it crunch probabilities, and see what kind of determination it comes up with. It should be that easy, shouldn't it?

From the article:

MOBILE SUBCRIBERS END OF 2013
Total active mobile subscriptions or accounts -7.1B (was 6.7B in 2011, growth 6%)
Unique mobile users - 4.5 B (was 4.3B in 2011, growth 5%)
Actual mobile phones in use - 5.4 B (was 5.2B in 2011, growth 4%)

Not quite sure what that means... There are more active subscriptions than actual phones in use? Who is paying for a subscription without having a phone attached?

I've always thought it was just to punish parents with young kids....

http://www.stevewiens.com/2013/11/01/the-real-reason-we-observe-daylight-saving-time-to-kill-parents/

Wouldn't the answer to the puzzle in the link be 0 Ohms? (Because there would be an infinite number of parallel resistors.) Or can I not make that assumption... And I probably spent too much time thinking about this already...

I've seen lots of times when lots of cars are blocking intersections or ignoring traffic signals. People ignore laws when it's very busy, just as much as when it's quiet. (Or at least it seems that way to me.) People are in a rush, or being impatient, or annoyed at someone, or is tired of being stuck behind the same traffic light for the 5th cycle, etc. I'm just picturing the traffic situation with a bunch of these things in New York City. Or Boston. Or Washington DC. Or Taipei.

There seems to be a strong assumption that everyone is going to follow traffic laws... (Stay in your lane, obey traffic signals, don't block intersections, etc.) From my experience driving, that's a big assumption. It might be a good idea for them to have a traffic officer on the bus at all times, just to give out tickets to all the annoying people blocking the bus in some stupid manner.

Bah! Stupid small font... =) I see your point. I'll concede that as well.

You got me, I have not. (My company firewall blocks all video streaming.) I suppose that having these sync with traffic signals would make my point moot.

These buses will be running on regular roads (with some modification for the track of course.) The sheer number of people that will be walking alongside/across the path of these buses (I'm assuming) would be much more than alongside/across train tracks.

Ok, I've got a couple problems with this... First, if that bus wants to turn left/right, then I'd feel bad for anyone who's underneath that bus at the time. (Or likewise, if it's going straight, and you want to turn left/right while underneath.) Second, people drive like idiots. I can't imagine how much damage a car accident with this thing would do. Third, maintaining the tracks that these things run on has got to be expensive and/or difficult. I can imagine the amount of loose change, or little kid shoes being dropped in those tracks.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're thinking outside the box to deal with congestion problems, but I don't think this will work...

Are you a day trader? Or is the setup for some ridiculous gaming...? And if the latter, would you mind if I come for a visit? (please?)

I don't think anyone is saying that... Piracy will be around, it always has been, and always will. If you are a very good musical artist, you will make lots of money. (i.e. Taylor Swift.) If you produce a good movie, you will make lots of money (i.e. The Dark Knight.) And by 'good', I don't mean what you think is good, it's what most other people think is good. There are still movies nowadays that make lots of money, there are still musical artists that make lots of money today. Even with all the piracy that's going on. Consumers will pay for what they think is a good value, at whatever price they think is a good price.

If I had mod points, I'd mod you up.

I totally agree. In fact, I remember a few years back, I had bought a legitimate copy of Civ III Complete. Well, when I tried to install and run the game, it complained of a SecureROM error. I went back to Best Buy, exchanged my copy with a different copy of Civ III, and it didn't work either. Apparently, they got too enthusiastic with their anti-piracy software, and lost a sale because of it (AND I was trying to do the right thing, buying a legitimate version of the software.) I found out later that there are DRM issues with the game, so I just went without.

Now, if I had just gotten a pirated version of the game, it would've had something I could use.

I've got he same problem. I've got a Dell Inspiron 6000. It's a bit old and runs Windows XP. I could pretty much power on the PC, and by the time I log in, it'll power off due to running out of charge. From what I've been told, batteries have a certain number of 'cycles'. Use them up, and the battery doesn't hold much of a charge anymore. Unfortunately, most laptops will start recharging the battery when it depletes (on it's own) to below 95%. Then it would start recharging the battery, wasting one of your 'cycles'. I've had much more luck (with one of my older laptops) where I would never plug the battery in (unless I needed to charge it in preparation for a trip.) The battery lasted much longer when I needed it to.

The detail you are forgetting is the rest of the CVBG has phalanx and other anti-missile systems. If it's the carrier's weapons that actually knock down the missile instead of an escort's weapons, then that's a major failure.

They actually teach this in the intro engineering classes. Ironically enough with a powerpoint presentation about the subject of make pp presentations. Unfortunately very few of the professors are required to learn this skill, often with the poor practices that you mention or worse.