iharris

Interestingly, some provinces place weekly or monthly limits on the purchase of tax-exempt smokes in order to combat this. However, their method of synchronizing the limits with retailers is laughably outdated and insecure (one province transmits drivers' license numbers and home addresses in plaintext using plain FTP or dial-up). Because of this, some retailers are able to forge the necessary ID to obtain limitless tax-exempt cigarettes which are then sold to non-Indians.

Source: I worked as a network technician for several retailers across Canada who were later penalized for fraud of this sort. Yikes.

If memory serves, I believe that they mean that the servers run at 100% capacity, not 100% load ie. CCP does not throttle back system resources during periods of light use.

I largely agree with Fred's opinion on the shortcomings of bioinformaticians and the general attitude in the industry, but my personal experience was actually pretty positive. My past research was on building visualizations of the complicated biochemical processes, for use in educating undergrads. It was certainly more interesting than slogging through mounds of crappy data.

Just another data point for someone contemplating a career in BINF, although some purists might say that my work did not really fall under the same category.

I would absolutely love to see more visualizations like this in e-textbooks. I think it would assist with the readers' understanding, particularly in secondary school math or physics where students may have difficulty grasping new concepts in geometry, algebra, and the like. As a math tutor, having something to show my students really helps things. Well done!

Yes, yes, yes! This article matches the feeling I had when riding a road bike for the first time. The sense of speed and freedom is amazing, like rediscovering the joy of a bike without training wheels. If I can offer one piece of advice, it is to find a group of like-minded cyclists to ride with. Nothing builds camaraderie like toiling in the saddle with four other guys on a Cat-2 climb, and you will learn so much from their experience.

Let's not gloss over the fact that the sole purpose of organ transplants is to save lives. I have a hard time believing his argument about financial motivation for organ donation - a surgeon's salary should preclude the temptation of "making a quick buck" through questionable organ transplant practices.

On the other hand, I absolutely think that potential donors need to give INFORMED consent when they fill out their donor card - whether advised by a medical professional or with their own research. Obviously, no one should ever be coerced or manipulated into consenting based on false pretenses. I'm aware that I will still be "alive" - at least physiologically - at the time an organ is harvested, but I trust that my family can make the right decision if I'm unconscious, and I'd prefer to have a shot at saving someone's life when I'm on my way out.

I'm not convinced that a point-and-shoot camera can be considered "pro". Thumbs-up for manual exposure settings and the inclusion of Android, but a single f/2.8-5.9 lens is not going to be suitable in a lot of situations. I also don't see a flash (or flash mount) anywhere, which would make it annoying to take photos in a dark bar or restaurant.

Alternatively, I think it would be neat to apply some of these features to Nikon/Canon's existing DSLR lineups, eg. having wifi/4G connectivity on a DSLR that didn't require an $800 attachment.

Heh... they say that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear! With that said, it really depends on where you live and what route you take to work. In my city (one of the colder parts of Canada), I can ride a road bike in the winter since my route takes me into downtown and the streets are usually well-plowed when it snows.

Otherwise, a mountain bike with some studded snow tires can get you by - it's pretty invigorating to make tracks in fresh powder in the mornings!

Generally, the heat your body produces while cycling is enough to maintain your core temperature. Just keep your extremities well-insulated and your body as dry as possible.

Yeah, for me, 1d experiences the lowest load of all zones. According to the pricing history for spot instances, 1d experiences the fewest price spikes compared to 1a and 1b. I'd be interested to see if other users have noticed the same thing for their zones.

I have instances in two different zones - both are down, although I don't know if AWS's randomization means that my 1a and 1d are actually located in the same logical zone.

SNS sent me an e-mail of my instance alarms pretty quickly.

EDIT: My status checks were slow to update like the sibling comment stated, although the alarms that measure system resources triggered almost immediately when everything blew up. I think the status checks refresh at a certain interval, but those aren't really meant for real-time monitoring AFAIK.

The website could use some optimization but it's a great start. I like the music that you've posted so far. One question, though: Would you consider doing short musical sound effects ("jingles" for lack of a better word)? For example, for level-ups or small achievements within a game. A lot of music is available for games but it seems tough to find decent-sounding musical effects that can be used in this way.

This looks great! As a former property manager, I can definitely say that integrated credit checks would be a godsend (when I was doing this there weren't any great web-based tools like there are now).

Actually, here's the children's documentary I mentioned. They also use a couple other sneaky tricks to make the product appear larger without image manipulation software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjz_eiIX8k

Yeah, there was a kids' documentary made about fast-food photography a few years back. Basically they will just use a skillet to surface cook (brown) the outside of the patty to avoid the shrinkage that occurs when you grill a burger (lots of water and fat drip out and evaporate). This sort of answers the parent's question too. It's definitely not safe to eat.

IIRC, in the Burger King ads they heat thin metal strips and use them to sear lines into the patty, giving the "flame-grilled" illusion without having to cook and shrink the patty.

This is a great idea and your descriptions and illustrations are hilarious.

A couple things - on the subscription form you might need to provide some details about what countries you can ship to (The "State", "Zipcode", and lack of a "Country" input box implies that it's only for U.S. addresses but it should be explicit).

I was also unclear on whether subscribers would be charged for shipping costs (is it included? or extra? If it's in addition to the $11/mo, can you provide rates?).

I agree with your point about not pointing fingers. I do think that this article has value - in the sense that it fosters a frank dialogue about the human-rights records of our own governments.

As a dual US/CA citizen currently living in Canada, I think that both nations have made some troubling human-rights violations in recent months with the Occupy protests and G20 summit. While the Chinese article has its flaws, it does make some valid points about hypocrisy in our governments. One thing that especially bothers me is the treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America (Native Americans, aboriginal tribes, whatever term you like). Can we really take the moral "high ground" when bashing China about the Tibet issue? Granted, the Canadian government has made some baby steps towards reconciliation with indigenous tribes in the country, but there's a lot of room for improvement (I am not as up-to-date about the current state of affairs in the US).

In essence, none of our governments are perfect, but finger-pointing isn't going to get us anywhere. I think that it's more important for us to look at how we can improve in the future. Having the US include itself in its human-rights report would be a great first step but I seriously doubt that it'll happen.

Seconded! I think you guys are building something great here, and I can't wait to take it for a spin. Keep it up!

On a related note, I think that Microsoft and OEMs would have a hard time overcoming consumers' perception of the iPad as 'sexy' or 'luxurious'. Apple's had the head-start to build this sort of brand recognition for the iPad and IMHO, I fear that any attempts by OEMs to budge it will appear 'cheap' (quality-wise) or imitative.

Take the laptop market for example. Some attempts have been made at a sleek design that rivals the Macbook (HP Envy, Dell Adamo etc) but those products haven't really taken off.

As for the software and OS? I really like the Metro interface - I guess we'll have to wait and see how it turns out with regard to the app library and user experience.

Right, I should have been more specific - I mostly meant in the PC/laptop product line, where there was often a notable price gap if you compared similar hardware specs. I'm not saying that either product was inferior, just that if the average uninformed consumer is comparing a PC and Mac with similar horsepower, price would definitely factor into the decision.

I can really feel the irony here - one of the biggest gripes of Apple critics was the price of their products. It'll be interesting to see if things have turned around.

Unless Microsoft will produce their own hardware for a Win8 tablet, I think we are going to see a whole slew of tablet models with varying (and sometimes dubious) build quality. Like it or not, the iPad is pretty well put-together - I think that the tablet manufacturers are really going to have to scramble to compete on the hardware front.

I actually think that Win8 has some potential as a tablet OS, although my experience with the developer preview on a PC was a little underwhelming.

I'm in agreement here. Like it or not, FB will likely affect everyone here, whether directly or indirectly. Regardless of how the trading goes today, it should be an interesting ride.

That's a good point. I guess I was more concerned that other companies (or unscrupulous app developers) might abuse the ability to place ads anywhere. As long as Google exerts strict control over ad policy and placement, it's a win-win like you said.

I had to pick the Swiss cheese out of my sandwich after seeing the pictures.

The potential applications of this technology are pretty awesome - I just hope that we don't see Google ads superimposed on every blank surface we look at.

It takes guts to take a leap like this. Good luck, I hope you succeed.

Actually, you can get pretty close by coding in Semicolon:

http://pksunkara.github.com/semicolon/

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago - I had to renew a domain whose registrar was eNom Canada and I wasn't listed as the site owner. I just explained the situation fully and offered to pay for the renewal myself and they eventually helped me out. They seemed pretty accommodating when renewals were involved, a transfer would probably require you to jump through more hoops. Good luck!