alexqgb

98 ms·

841.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Also, @Oatmeal is famously nuts about Tesla. His interest is neither casual nor recent. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla
842.
by alexqgb 14y ago
You mean West Germany. We're talking about East Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany
843.
by alexqgb 14y ago
@thedaniel has it exactly right. The really dark shadow looming in German imaginations is the Stasi's. Keep in mind, if you were 18 when the Wall came down, you're only 41 today, so these aren't vague or abstract fears. You actually grew up
844.
by alexqgb 14y ago
"In Germany privacy issues tend to get blown out of proportion." Gosh, I wonder why? I mean, what is it about German history - in particular - that would trigger such powerful negative reactions to the technical foundations of a surveillanc
845.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Jet Fucking Blue I recently landed at SFO, near midnight, and found that their handlers had completely sheered a wheel of my suitcase. The pull handle was also busted. And this was a bag tough enough to survive 15 years of use without troub
846.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Marginal improvements in apparent resolution aren't the only thing that a more efficient codecs can deliver. The same capacity can also be used to increase the bitrate of the encoded files dramatically, and / or deliver streams at much high
847.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Speaking of dumb and short-sighted, how do you fail to see that robotic drivers can make vastly more efficient use of existing infrastructure than humans? How do you not see that reducing traffic jams lowers the amount of gasoline burnt idl
848.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Just tried that. Here's the auto-response I got. From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <mailerdaemon@googlemail.com> Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure) Date: August 14, 2012 7:20:01 PM PDT We're writing to let you know that t
849.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Worth noting: they won't let you get rid of your account. All you can do is "deactivate" it, meaning other users can't interact with you. Oh, and you won't get email updates. But as soon as you log in again, your account is "reactivated". I
850.
by alexqgb 14y ago
"Now - you didn't say as much - but I expect the argument you're leading to is that people who pirate books should be treated the same way as shoplifters. Which I think is a horrible idea. Not because pirating things is morally laudable, or
851.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Sorry about the edits. And yes, I was trying to underscore the difference between patrons and customers. There is a profound distinction between them, just as there is a profound difference between a commercial business and an organized cha
852.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Being reduced to pure dependence on goodwill when every other player in the economic system can also depend on the force of law (e.g. shopkeepers and shoplifting) reduces the victims - and I do mean victims - to the state of fourth class ci
853.
by alexqgb 14y ago
This cannot be upvoted hard enough. Education would reform itself overnight if teachers were hired from the top third of high school classes, not the bottom two thirds, and paid salaries that started ~$70k and reached ~$100k in five years i
854.
by alexqgb 14y ago
This is why property tax makes so much sense at the local level. It doesn't hit people who pass through without making any commercial exchanges, but if they work or buy, then the establishments involved include the local rates in their pric
855.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Except in this case we're talking about a solved problem. The simple rule - and is really is simple - is 3/2/1: three copies, two local, and one remote. Anything less is "backup", not backup. Time Machine (a free utility that ships with OSX
856.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Of course there's an implied promise. If platform operators openly stated "anything you develop can and will be used against you - by us" then no one in their right minds would develop on those platforms. As you note, the trust involved is
857.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Actually, the real issue is that they're breaking their implicit promise to refrain from competing against the outside developers they rely on to improve their "open" ecosystem.
858.
by alexqgb 14y ago
I'm fairly sure the "commentary and criticism" exception pertains to fair use use of media that refers to the media itself (e.g. film reviews, cultural commentary, satire of a popular program etc.) All this is very different from declaring
859.
by alexqgb 14y ago
That may be less a West Coast / East Coast thing and more a California thing in particular. I say that because my family hosted a couple of exchange students from France who were really struck by the veneer of friendliness here, and the ver
860.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Remember, that's "R" as in "Russia", which really isn't a region renowned for reliable reporting.
861.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Also, The Economist doesn't provide credit for individual writers since, in their estimation, there aren't any. Individuals prepare the pieces, of course, but the publication's editorial approach marks up the results quite heavily in a proc
862.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Do yourself an enormous favor and subscribe via email. I recognize the friction, and I understand why this may keep Edge from shooting to the top of lists like these. But in terms of actual content it's unparalleled.
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by alexqgb 14y ago
If it's any consolation, his district (the 21st) has been gerrymandered so heavily that you'd need a nuclear powered crowbar to get him out. Given that his party is free to cherry pick the people who can vote for him, he's a representative
864.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Actually, a 22/8 split is the norm, making a half hour slot 26.6% ads.
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by alexqgb 14y ago
3-2-1: Three copies, two local, one remote. That's backup. Anything less is "backup". I use Time Machine for local and Backblaze for remote. Very happy with both. Dropbox is great for stuff I want to sync across machines or share with other
866.
by alexqgb 14y ago
$300 for a 7.85" with a Retina display would be outstanding. I say that as someone who loves the idea of the iPad, but has not gotten one because they're too cumbersome for extended reading.
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by alexqgb 14y ago
Yeah, they really put the FU in FU.
868.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Is there any other kind?
869.
by alexqgb 14y ago
That assumes you sell software and service as a package. Why not decouple them and take the opportunity to create a new service relationship? Even better, develop the software on the assumption that it will be resold and create a "secondary
870.
by alexqgb 14y ago
Actually, the goal of a business is to create a customer.

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