cstross

114 ms·

961.
by cstross 14y ago
I don't think I've ever read one. And I'm not planning on writing one any time soon. (The professional life of a pharmacist is, ideally, extremely boring. If it isn't, someone's going to be very ill, if not dead.)
962.
by cstross 14y ago
Actually, IIRC insulin is classified as a Pharmacy-Only medicine in the UK, rather than Prescription-Only, meaning that it can be sold by a pharmacist without requiring a prescription, to address exactly this sort of situation. Even if th
963.
by cstross 14y ago
I'm lousy at the maker thing. But I try to select gifts that the recipients will find useful . Even if it's still an act of consumption, it might as well be one that meets a need -- a better carving knife or a nice pen, rather than a solar
964.
by cstross 14y ago
Point of note: the pinch-to-zoom failure to wrap text to the viewport is also a feature of some Apple apps -- notably Pages, which is very pretty on the iPhone but fundamentally Not Fit For Purpose as a word processor on those devices, un
965.
Stross on: the end of voice telephony?(antipope.org)
9 points by cstross 14y ago|2 comments
966.
by cstross 14y ago
Modern commercial airliners do not land themselves without human input. Someone needs to dial in a whole bunch of parameters then monitor the instruments carefully. Autopilots aren't infallible; they're basically glorified cruise control
967.
by cstross 14y ago
The most worrying angles seem to be human factors issues: the lack of coordination between drone crews and airport ATC, and the apparent deficits in training/qualification of pilots. "Similar accident rate to F-16s at a similar time in thei
968.
by cstross 14y ago
"Cold, carbonated" in 7 days. That's not beer! That's vile fizzy fake-beer! Real automated home breweries do exist: the Braumeister range from Germany spring to mind: http://www.speidels-braumeister.de/Eigenes-Bier-brauen-mit-d... ... But
969.
by cstross 14y ago
The notional eight hour work-day wasn't invented for occupations with high cognitive/reasoning workloads; it was invented for factories that needed workers to operate three shifts per day consistently. It became culturally ingrained because
970.
by cstross 14y ago
"should have taken 15 minutes and has actually taken 2 hours" is a really good sign that it's time to give up and go get some sleep. This is also a good sign that you should sign off sick if you've got a cold or flu or some other ailment,
971.
by cstross 14y ago
Some folks can pull all-nighters; not only can I not stay awake for more than 24 hours (I literally keel over sideways and faceplant on the floor, snoring) but if I try working more than 10 hours, I run into stupid hour syndrome. And in my
972.
by cstross 14y ago
Third option: Inman pays Oatmeal Studios -- either a consideration for using their trademark, or buys the trademark outright. Fourth option: Inman licenses his content to Oatmeal Studios, who then handle the greeting card side of the busi
973.
by cstross 14y ago
Alas, "publishing" is actually about a dozen different business models flying in loose formation. Generalizing from, say, trade fiction publishing to peer-reviewed academic journals to text books to newspapers is, shall we say, not going to
974.
by cstross 14y ago
Heck, even the publisher stands in risk of being disintermediated here Only if you don't know what a publisher does. See also: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/cmap-2-h...
975.
Liberator: the untold history of the first British laptop (theregister.co.uk)
2 points by cstross 14y ago|0 comments
976.
by cstross 14y ago
It's worth noting that some of the publishers have woken up and taken corrective action. Holtzbrinck, a giant German family owned publishing conglomerate you probably haven't heard of, actually owns Macmillan, who you might have heard of,
977.
by cstross 14y ago
Also note: British judges and prosecutors are not elected by popular vote -- they're appointed from within the system on the recommendation of their peers. So they're heavily invested in the authority of the judicial system itself, rather
978.
by cstross 14y ago
I currently spend about 60 hours a week working with my 15" rMBP. I tried the 2880 x 1800 and 1650 x 1050 resolutions; but in the end I gave up and went for the native emulated 1440 x 900. Because what that gives you is in effect an incred
979.
by cstross 14y ago
Metric is rational and a standard ... except that a good chunk of our global computer industry is dominated by American corporations, and they still run on the width of the King's Finger :)
980.
by cstross 14y ago
(Resolution is not the same as Size. Resolution = pixels per inch; size = number of inches. OK?) The interesting thing about the Galaxy Note is that as it moves the slider between the 7" tablet and 3.5-4" smartphone sizes it hits an interes
981.
by cstross 14y ago
Yup, that was my reading, too.
982.
by cstross 14y ago
Many unmanned launch vehicles still are descended from re-purposes ICBMs. Atlas-V and Titan-IV are probably best viewed as "trademark compatible" -- they're so far evolved from the originals that they bear little resemblance to them -- bu
983.
by cstross 14y ago
Author of blog piece seems to be very confused about how staged rockets work, and appears to think that a two stage rocket is somehow inherently more efficient than a three stage rocket! Which is just plain wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org
984.
by cstross 14y ago
Really? It's stuff I was taught about in physics lessons at grammar school, circa age 15, back in the 1970s. Have things slipped so far?
985.
by cstross 14y ago
Rolls eyes There is a reason they keep two Soyuz ships docked on the ISS at all times as lifeboats, in case they need to evacuate in a hurry. Those things are bloody expensive; if jumping overboard was a reasonable alternative, it'd be
986.
by cstross 14y ago
You can configure InstaPaper to email your cuttings file to your Kindle account's email address whenever you add a new article to it. This works with any Kindle device (including the Kindle app on iOS or Android).
987.
by cstross 14y ago
Agree. I have an iPad 3. I found it too damn heavy for comfortable reading. So I bought a Google Nexus 7. Which is exactly the right size, and a delight ... except that most (not all) Android apps look like they were beaten with the ugly st
988.
by cstross 14y ago
The case of t-shirt guy (Barry Thew) is much worse than "4 months for wearing an offensive t-shirt". Turns out he has a history. a) He's a psychiatric patient, on anti-psychotic meds with a history of compulsory in-patient detention, b) His
989.
by cstross 14y ago
This piece understates the problem, if anything. A lot of "journalism" today consists of regurgitating press releases rather than actually reporting on issues . And a lot of tech journalists have journalism qualifications but no tech --
990.
by cstross 14y ago
Genuine question: at what age is Olber's Paradox explored in high school physics these days? (It was part of my A-level physics curriculum in the UK, age 17, circa 1981 ... I'm finding it rather odd that it was unfamiliar to this journalist

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