I know I'm not smart enough on statistics or psychology to evaluate the article but it always struck me that D&K seemed to say something similar to what my grandpa said when I was a wee lad, "The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know", I know he wasn't the first person to say that, but he was the first person to say it to me. I don't know if D&K is autocorrelation or not, but I know that an awful lot of people seem to think they know more than maybe they actually do, probably me included. Hmmm, maybe the author of that article as well? I wonder if that occurred to him, seems like a glaring oversight not to at least recognize that possible irony.
100% agree. I've seen this type of thing up close (much smaller potatoes but same type of thing) and whatever is getting aired publicly is most likely not the real story. Not sure if the reasons you guessed are it or not, we probably won't know for awhile but your guesses are as good as mine.
People forget that Verizon and AT&T are the result of multiple mergers as well. Airtouch + Bell Atlantic Mobile + a bunch of little ones = Verizon
Cellular One + Southern Bell + a bunch of little ones = AT&T
The mistake was thinking to counter those two giant companies by making a 3rd giant company. Perhaps it would have been better to have not allowed the first two in the first place?
Just a thought to ponder.
Actually, the idea would be to NOT exclude them from life. Just the opposite. Say a person is convicted of drunk driving. Maybe they need to travel to work where mass transit is not an option but we want them to continue to be employed, support their family, pay taxes and so forth. If they were to have the option of using a self driving car or car service at a reasonable price, then such people can continue to be productive members of society and maybe even that might allow them to afford to address their underlying issue. Maybe I am being a Pollyanna but we begin by imagining.
Right, that's the point, although there have been some ideas where a self driving car could prevent those people from driving if they have been previously identified as having committed those offenses. Example, someone convicted of drunk driving could continue to be employed and travel to work (assuming mass transit is not an option) and continue to pay taxes but would not be allowed to drive. Probably impractical now but if the technology were to advance far enough then it could possibly reduce fatalities due to things like drunk driving. Just a thought.
On the contrary. That's the exact point I am making by positing the obvious unrealistic assumption that one could exclude drinkers (or other substance) distracted drivers etc.
Computers don't drink, don't text and don't have road rage, so their claims might be plausible in a broad statistical way. My guess is that if you excluded humans that drink, text, have anger issues etc. then the humans probably win out.
Excellent! I could quibble over details of this or that brand but that would be silly. The only category I would add is a ventilation system, especially if you have a 3D printer but even soldering and de-soldering can generate a lot of noxious fumes. Of course it depends on the environment your lab is in but assuming it's a basement or some closed in area, having a good exhaust system can be a godsend.
OMG, what a flash back for me. When I was about 14, my favorite uncle, you know, that cool uncle, he became a lawyer but when he was in college, he worked part time as a DJ at an underground FM rock station in Portland Oregon. Later, they went out of business and he was handling their chapter 11 or whaqt3ever. He knew I was a nerdly kid and was enthralled by all things electronics and said he would take me there and I could salvage some things which, now I realize he probably paid for but as a kid I had no idea at the time of course. They had this amazing TEAC 4 channel reel to reel, and boxes full of tapes. I grabbed that tape deck, the tapes and a sound board, a mic and whatever else. I was in heaven of course as a dumb kid. Later in college, I used that stuff and me and a some friends had a shitty punk rock band. But as a kid, way back in the 1970's I, for whatever reason, decided to listen to some of the tapes before recording over them. What I found on them was, The Fuggs, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa and a lot more. I changed/warped my life and led me to be in a punk rock band, but also, got my Masters in EE and eventually, a responsible life blah blah, but... It was so cool, like I some how tapped into some secret trove of... no idea. But I used that tape deck to make a demo tape that got us a single that well, no one cared about but for about 10 seconds, it was like I was cool. Sorry for the kooky memory. :)
I had this happen at my place a number of times, my house is up on a hill with large windows facing the view. I didn't want to put stickers or other things that would detract from the view. A neighbor mentioned that they put up a couple of decorative hanging plants off to the side of the windows, didn't have to be right in front which would block the view. I opted for a couple of hanging outdoor art pieces (I have a brown thumb). It worked, my theory is it gives the birds something to gauge perspective on perhaps. I am not sure how that could work for skyscrapers, but for a home like mine it worked like a charm.
Correct, you do not know me or my friends. You only know what I told you, that we had a lot of fun for a while, but I shortened what would have been a much longer story. It is easy to judge others when you do not know the details, I understand that. The best possible life is often a trade off between a lot of fun and responsibilities, children, family, careers, parents that need care and well, one could explain those things at great length, or one could say "life happens". Caring about others sometimes means making trade offs. I don't know you, so I won't judge you or your perspective, but you might want to consider broadening your perspective about what the best possible life entails. It's not always as simple as you might imagine. I wish you well, and hope you find your best possible life and find a way to understand how others often make a number of complicated calculations to find that, often that is not as simple as you might realize right now.
I can definitely attest to this, when I was in my late 20's, my best friend that I met in grad school bought a house, I was still living in an apartment when she called and said the place next door went up for sale, I put in a full price offer immediately. It was the best investment I ever made. For the next 5 or 6 years we had so much fun, her boyfriend knew me and my girlfriend from school and we all just hung out and did everything together. We had the key to each other's front door and would watch out for each other. We had dual house parties and all kinds of things. It was one of the best times of my life. But they got married we got married, jobs, moving to new houses, life happened. You focus shifts over time to work and family. It gets harder. I wish I could live next door to my BFF again. Maybe someday.
What if, you said, hey, let's have a nice vacation and ride our bikes or walked to a nice park near us and enjoy the beauty of the environment? We can have selfies and brag about how we had a zero carbon vacation. That would be cool, right?
Granted, cars and air travel, but I think it is more than minor. But anything that is unnecessary, is important. The point is, travel less, that's the best way to admire the places you admire. Something to consider the next time you plan a vacation.
How about a nice bike ride near where you live and marvel at the beauty that is near you? It's still beautiful. And you did our planet a favor.
Also, don't forget about air travel, especially private airplanes, something that is on the rise (e.g Netjets). Often the virtues of world travel are extolled as a way to learn about the world and bring people together etc. Except, it's extraordinarily carbon intensive and honestly doesn't do any of that IMO. Sure, seeing the Patagonia in person would be cool and all, but if I actually cared about it, I wouldn't go. I would admire it from afar to help preserve it. It's time to start travel shaming and discourage people from flying around just to get a selfie.
One other fun fact about numbering, the most frequently dialed exchanges, those for big cities would use the lowest numbers, e.g. downtown would be 223 for the exchange and big cities area codes 212 and so on. The reason was not for the convenience of the dialer, remember it was rotary dial way back when a lot of those first got assigned, it was because the signaling was in band so the longer it took for the dialing to happen the longer the trunk was seized. If you have ever used a rotary phone, you'll notice it takes forever to dial 909 for example. So to optimize for the network they made the most frequently used numbers, most populated places, have the lower digits.
I know, I am way late to the game on this one. But WTF. I made a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, in 2001, spent an entire year doing it. Coolest F-ing thing I ever did. No money. No reason other than my curiosity. I learned Sooooooooooo much doing it. I used to have a github on it but no one looked at it but, it was one of those things. It taught me something about patience, and a ton about so many things, controllers, ADC, DAC, DSP. It. was a fun lark. I have a PHD in EE from the 90's but I felt like I learned more from that project than anything else I have ever done. I know this is a post to the wind at this point. I don't care.
OK, throwing my dental horror story on the pile. About 15 years ago I bit on something in a wrap, and it hurt like heck, and I went to the dentist, and he said I needed an implant. $3000 later, I had a cool fake tooth. Then a few years later, something similar happened but this time I decided to try another approach. I used my water pick and sonic toothbrush and just kept after it while taking naproxen to deal with it.
Guess what, the tooth healed up and stopped hurting and stopped wiggling in there. that was about 10 years ago, and it's been fine ever since. Now, I use the water pick 3 times a day and brush at least the same number of times or more. And I have not been back to the dentist since. I just keep everything nice and clean in there. I am not a doctor and blah blah warning. Just my personal experience.
Everything can be addictive. My stepsister is addicted to buying things and never opening the item. Her husband enables this because they live out in the country and he had a sort of "warehouse" built for her with huge metal racks that hold hudreds of items she has purchased over the years that have never been opened or had the shrink wrap disturbed. It is of course a type of hoardism. She buys things but if she opens the package and uses the item it ruins it is sort of how she explains it. We know it is a disorder of some sort, she is addicted to buying things and hoarding them. What should we do about it?
Well, if her husband is OK with it, then what is it for us to judge? I am conflicted on this. But, I think, there is some sort of line where something is addicting and addicting and harmful. If this is not disrupting their lives, and they are happy, who am I to judge?
I don't know. To me it is weird, but probably a lot of things I do seem weird to others. I journal daily. Is that an addiction? Probably, of some sort, I don't know. How to navigate. The less harmful it is, the less we should meddle I suppose.
I am sort of blown away by the response to my post. I feel like I need to respond. But the posts from so many people are so amazing. I have "retired" a couple of times, but I keep coming back because, this is fun.
The thing I want to do, it has to do with a new technology that would revolutionize LEOS technology, at least, that's what I think. And, I have some models that support that. Who cares? Millions of people who can't afford a decent internet connection, or one at all. If I say more, I could spoil it.
But what if we could do both. Turn a small reasonable profit and provide connectivity, well, everywhere. And decently. That's my dream. It's OK to laugh. I do too. But heck. What else am I supposed to do. Why not take a shot with a kooky idea. So here I go, fingers crossed and all that.
Hi there, old person here. Tomorrow is my 65th birthday. I had vowed to myself that I would completely and totally retire, Finally, at 65. But then, this "thing" cropped up and the day after tomorrow, I am pitching my 3rd startup to investors. I wonder, am I crazy. But I feel passion for this project. So, I am throwing myself into the fray again, there is no logical reason to do so. So, Rudy, I understand.
I just had a flashback to 1984 when I was at Bell Labs when the Bell System was broken up and someone called me and said they "Found a building that had been misplaced" and that it was full of equipment they could not figure out what it was and if I could come and take a look to see what this stuff was. It was kind of funny, but that a company that size could misplace a warehouse full of old computer equipment is not exactly shocking. Most of it was old PDP11/70's and PDP8's, still in their original boxes and packaging, never opened or used. Even by then, it was pretty outdated having been surpassed by the Vax and 3B20's etc. But it was an amazing find. I told them it was old stuff and useless and to just sell it on the surplus market for whatever you can get.