Comment Re:Aftermarket lights⦠(Score 1) 132
whoa, the reverse car analogy? You're blowing my mind, here.
Comment Re:In all actual seriousness... (Score 1) 445
Seriously, this is one of my favorite features. There is a Co-Op ATM in the 7-11 a block from my house. It's a million times more convenient for me than my old bank. Plus, there are Co-Op credit unions all over the place.
Comment Re:In all actual seriousness... (Score 3, Informative) 445
You can at least remove yourself from the whims of some of these corporations. Find yourself a local credit union, and put your money there. They're not perfect, and they don't have all the fancy 'Get an iPod when you open a credit line' deals, but a stable place to keep your money, that is more or less customer-owned, should outweigh those gimmicks. I haven't looked back since I opened an account at a CU after WaMu went down.
Comment This "Bikes vs Cars" Mentality is Damaging (Score 1) 856
This "Cars vs Bikes" argument is old and played out. I'm a cyclist who drives occasionally and I'm a driver who bikes for fun. I can understand the frustration on both sides of the issue. I don't tend to give much though to the law, but in this case having rules to follow keeps both parties safe, happy and on-time. For the most part, both the drivers and cyclists I have encountered have followed those rules, and so I don't know why these internet discussions get so heated. When I'm in a car my mild inconvenience is worth your safety as a cyclist, and if I'm on my bike, respecting traffic signals and right-of-way doesn't significantly decrease my own travel time. No one should be in such a hurry that they put their safety and the safety of others at risk. Admittedly, though I regularly participate in Seattle's Critical Mass, which damages my moral standing in the argument.
More on topic, this idea isn't really that great. It all depends on how it is implemented and marketed. Something like this might give a self-righteous rider more encouragement. It does seem like it could be useful, merely as a visibility tool, but the pattern that is projected probably has as big an effect on the inflation of the riders sense of importance as it does on the driver's visibility of the rider, and so I'm not sure the 'bike lane' metaphor is the best choice.
More on topic, this idea isn't really that great. It all depends on how it is implemented and marketed. Something like this might give a self-righteous rider more encouragement. It does seem like it could be useful, merely as a visibility tool, but the pattern that is projected probably has as big an effect on the inflation of the riders sense of importance as it does on the driver's visibility of the rider, and so I'm not sure the 'bike lane' metaphor is the best choice.
Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule? 865
tnok85 writes "I started a new job ~7 months ago at a very large company working a 12-hour night shift (7PM-7AM) in a fairly high volume NOC. Our responsibilities extend during the night to basically cover everything but the most complex situations regarding UNIX/Windows/Linux/App administration, at which point we'll reach out to the on-calls. I live 1.5 hours away as well, so it turns into 4-5 15 hour days a week of sitting still — throw in almost an hour to get ready to leave, and a bit of time after I get home to unwind and I'm out of time to work out. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure I have a very slow metabolism, ever since I was a pre-teen I would gain weight fairly quickly if I didn't actively work out, regardless of how much or what I eat. (Barring starving myself, I suppose...) So, how does somebody who works a minimum of 60 hours over 4 days, often adding another 12 another day, and sometimes working 7-10 days straight like this, stay in shape? I can't hold a workout schedule, (which every person I've talked to in my history says is necessary to stay in shape) and I can't 'wake up early' or 'work out before bed' because I need sleep. Any thoughts/opinions/suggestions?"
Comment Re:Hmmm (Score 1) 197
Too many mosquitos, and it will develop a taste for human blood.
Best Practice For Retiring RSS Feeds? 71
GBJ writes "I work for an organisation that runs seasonal online competition events. Each event has its own news feed which becomes obsolete shortly after the event finishes. We're still getting RSS requests for some events as far back as 2004. I'd like to close a few thousand old feeds and remove the resource hit they cause, but I'm not sure what is the best approach. Currently I'm considering just returning a 404, but I have no idea if there is a better way to handle this. Uncle Google hasn't turned anything up yet, but sometimes it's hard to find something when you don't know what it's called ..."
Comment Re:wow... (Score 1) 260
Tony isn't losing 10% of his business this way.
At this point in time, Tony certainly isn't losing that much business. In the future, as the current generation of technically aware grow older and begin to make up a higher percentage of the consuming population, the equation changes. Even now a good number of my non-technical friends use the UrbanSpoon iphone app to find dinner-spots and online reviews.
If we set a dumb precedent now, it will have consequences when the internet is large enough to have more of an impact on a small business.
Of course as internet usage swells, the number of reviewers will scale. Perhaps that alone will drown out planted reviews.
Comment Re:Thinkpad (Score 1) 774
Gratuitously OT, but is this the general consensus about Thinkpads? I haven't owned one in a few years, but I always appreciated their build quality. I'd hate to hear that they've lost that.
Penguins Disappearing From Southern Hemisphere 218
The Scotsman is running a piece looking at the mysterious disappearance of penguins from all around the world. A biologist who studies the rockhopper penguin characterizes the population crash as 'sinister', as scientists are still baffled as to why almost 30% of the birds have vanished. From the article: "Grant Munro, the director of Falklands Conservation, said there were fears that rockhoppers might become extinct. 'If the present situation were to carry on then it's not a particularly great forecast. It doesn't look like they are suddenly going to start increasing in numbers ... In the Falklands, they are part of everyday life. If you head down to the beach you are going to see penguins.'"
FTC To Investigate 'Viral Marketing' Practices 299
mcflaherty writes "The Federal Trade Commission has stated that it is going to investigate the use of 'Viral Marketing' by corporations. This is the type of advertising that seeks to start a word of mouth campaign for the product via consumers themselves. Previously, consumers themselves set the buzz. But lately advertisement firms are stepping up to the plate themselves, seeding the market with buzz that looks independent of the company, but is in fact funded by them. The crew at Penny Arcade contend that corporate generated buzz is not Viral Marketing, and perhaps Guerrilla Marketing would be a more apt term. Either way, it appears to be a profitable advertising model."
Taking a Crack At Recycling E-Waste 183
An anonymous reader wrote to mention a New York Times article being hosted at News.com. It touches on a new initiative in upstate New York to deal with the problem of e-waste. The Town of North Hempstead has positioned helpers at the dump the last four weekends, assisting people with a flood of old monitors, keyboards, laptops, word processors, and even a Pong game or two. Besides the obvious benefit of getting this junk out of our homes, the article highlights why this should be a growing concern around the country. From the article: "While federal law regulates the disposal of electronics by businesses and government agencies, it does not affect individual consumers, who account for more than half the e-waste produced annually, according to the federal agency. Every old computer monitor contains about four pounds of lead, and other parts are filled with heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, cadmium and chromium. They have toxins that hover in the air after incineration or leach into the water supply when buried in landfills. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh say that dumps around the nation's major cities, including New York, hold more than 60 million computers."
Who Cares If Privacy Is Slipping Away? 393
IAmTheDave writes, "This morning MSNBC's home page is topped by the opening story in a series, Privacy Under Attack, But Does Anybody Care? Privacy rights have been debated to death here on Slashdot, but this article attempts to understand people's ambivalence towards the decline of privacy. The article discusses how over 60 percent of Americans — while somewhat unable to quantify what exactly privacy is and what's being lost — feel a pessimism about privacy rights and their erosion. However, a meager 6-7% polled have actually taken any steps to help preserve their privacy. The article's call to action: '...everyone has secrets they don't want everyone else to know, and it's never too late to begin a discussion about how Americans' right to privacy can be protected.'"
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