m5c32 comments

Posted in: Ehime enacts law instructing cyclists to wear a helmet See in context

To each their own, but...

Wearing helmets does not make riding bikes more secure[1]. What happens is people get an added sense of security (from bikers but also from other traffic) so they bike a little less carefully (or automobiles take more risks), so they get into bigger accidents and this leads to just about the same rate of major injuries.

All in all it's a 'feel-good' measure, but in the end there is little to indicate it decreases the incidence of injuries to bicyclists.

[1]http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-03/national/39708755_1_mandatory-helmet-laws-rates-pediatrics

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Camera adjusts focus after taking pictures See in context

but the resulting photos are 2007-cellphone-camera-resolution

That's the wrong comparison. It's like saying an A3 sheet of paper is bigger than a bowling ball.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan's postwar gov't, media colluded on nuclear power: Nobel winner See in context

I dunno, I think it's a bit disingenuous to fault people for proposing nuclear power back in the 50's.

We didn't know then what we know now about nuclear power (and maybe more importantly, human nature/psychology).

Of course, then you can say, well, if they didn't know, then they should have refrained. Well, the thing is humanity is about taking chances and advancing -failed societies are riddled with tentativeness. What's that saying "It wouldn't be called research, if we already knew what we were doing"? Plus, alternative technologies of the day (50s and 60s) were no where near being ready for prime time power production. Alternative technologies were not really ready till 90s at earliest (and not economically viable, but feasible). It's not till now that they are economically viable.

In addition, as bad as the result of the meltdown has been, the systems did power the second ‡ largest economy for the better part of 40 years.

So this whole collusion thing is a bit revisionist, to say the least. It's more of an attack piece for the sake of some opportunistic recognition. I mean, it's in vogue, so why not pile on, right?

The fault, as other have said, was to keep some of these plants running past their sell-by-date and also for not making the necessary renovations to keep them up to revised code. And in the particular case of Fukushima, doing little to remedy the seismic and tsunami threats.

‡ Yes, I know it's 3rd now, but they helped make it and keep it second for quite a while.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Posted in: San Francisco sours on Apple computers See in context

What I read in other sites is that Apple required EPEAT to modernize its rules

Yes and no. Apple say they can recycle their parts (perhaps they can) but not all Apple parts go back to Apple for recycling. EPEAT would ensure that more recyclers were able to recycle parts. However, Apple's current mfg process makes recycling by others less standard and thus more difficult. Apple on the other hand is hoping that their clout (and brand goodwill) will be able to convince people to stay with Apple despite the shortcomings. Basically Apple don't want to subvert their design to recycling priorities.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: N Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to deter U.S. See in context

The same lie is used by the U.S. with the War on Terror.

Yeah, but 95% of GDP isn't diverted into the military ala NK.

Another thing is the "war on terror" is something the people tell the gov't to be prepared for, on the other hand in NK, it's the military who tell the people that they must be prepared for war.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Getting smaller and smaller See in context

Neat but wouldn't want to get into an accident in one.

Neither do people on scooters or motorcycles but it happens. At least you're protected against the elements. As long as you're not taking them on an an expressway, these should be good to go around town.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Commuters' tolerance tested in face of declining public manners See in context

“Once on my way home I got groped by a woman around age 50. Since I’m a woman, it didn’t bother me that much, but her hands were definitely roaming over my hips and thighs.

If I were a guy into that kind of thing, and this ain't my bag, but if it were... I'd dress up as a woman and get on that train too. Course, the height and girth might throw people off, but if I were a shorter person... Still, expectations (that only women board those cars) are very powerful so I think it would still work.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Microsoft unveils Surface tablet to compete with Apple's iPad See in context

Another device that no doubt millions of consumers are going to be sucked into buying.

Who's forcing you to buy anything? As for "everyone", if "everyone" didn't spend money, the world would go into such an economic funk that the great depression would look like a walk in the park.

Not relatively innocuous billionaires.

On the other hand, history might have Billy G in there somewhere for his and his wife's work in Africa.

I'd have to see the specs to see SSD

Look at the specs there http://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-announces-surface-family-pcs-233100776.html

Yes. Very late to the party.

It's early in the post-PC race. Anyone could win. I would not count out a company which holds 80%+ share of the desktop space. They also have a very good R&D team. Innovation is not only the domain of Cupertino and Mountain View. Google has a chance as well, if they can get their newly acquired Motorola engineers on task.

The first one that comes out with a USB port on it.

Both the RT and PRO versions will have USB.

I had better google it on my iPad.

Yes, the ipad works, if you're a casual user who mostly uses it as a consumption medium rather than a production medium. The ipad is the TV replacement for the couch potato, MS and GOOG tablets are more like truly portable computing devices for workers --they are meant to live somewhere between workstations (number crunching machines) and smartphones.

The storage idea of all tablets is that your DATA is on the cloud and not on the device.

If it's your personal data, sure. But that's not true if you work with restricted (medical and or personally identifiable) data.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Posted in: Police arrest 19-yr-old American musician over Irish student's murder See in context

Could be true, but I've never pressed anyone's neck with my hands.

Well, I guess you never heard of MP Milligan or Michael Hutchense… they should give you an idea.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: Skype jacks ads into free Internet phone calls See in context

I don't know what the fuss is about.

When you use GOOG to search, you get to see paid contextual ad placements in the results.

When you read your Gmail you get contextual ads across the top.

If you want a free service to survive, you're going to have to put up with ads (just like you put up with ads on JT). It's better they monetize soem way and not end up in the junkyard of web companies which went under because they failed to make enough money to survive.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Gov't aims to make all lighting LED-based by 2020 See in context

So what about all the outdoor signage, lanterns and street lights?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Royal funeral See in context

Where's the bizcool, or roycool/pristcool attire/cladding?

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Posted in: Apple maps a path to mobile throne See in context

The new Maps on iOS 6 beta is nothing special... plus it's buggy.

Did you notice the beta in the name or not? There's a reason for that qualification.

Anyhow, two things.

Apple doesn't have to pay goog foe their maps API and two, AAPL keeps its users' data for itself to monetize.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan to develop drones to monitor radiation See in context

Big Brother watching you.

Huh? Do you keep looking up at the sky as you walk? You know it can't see your face from its heights --it would only see the top of your head/hat/helmet/etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan has evidence N Korea missile launchers came from China, media report See in context

The North Korean government has already shown enormous resilience in the face of considerable diplomatic, political, financial, and economic pressure.

You could call it that, or you could call it foolhardiness. Compare SK and NK. How far apart they are -socio-economically, if not politically. They could be in the same place, but they're not. All because of their stubbornness and selfishness (of the autocrats.)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's No. 2 mobster to be freed on Y1.5 bil bail See in context

nor do they decapitate the heads of dozens of victims and dump them in the middle of towns like in Mexico.

you're right about that. they prefer the old barrels-at-the-bottom-of-the-bay treatment. helps keep up appearances.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Fukui governor says he believes Oi reactors are safe See in context

So it's a question of religion now, is it?

To be fair, he didn't say he had faith. Belief is about perception and reality and our mental modeling thereof.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan to develop drones to monitor radiation See in context

i think the purpose would be to improve drone technology for the future selling japanese weapon to oversea

Yeah, because drones are highly secret technology no-one could reproduce and second, the drone market is worth trillions.[1]

[1]Drone tech is not that hard and it's also a small market (it's definitely, definitely NOT going to pull Japan's economy out of its free-fall any more than a cottage industry of left-handed basket weavers would)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's No. 2 mobster to be freed on Y1.5 bil bail See in context

Since some illegal activities, such as the purchase of drugs, sex, involvement in gambling and the formation of cartels are difficult to eliminate entirely, states are faced with a decision whether to simply continually suppress these activities, and or to allow violent groups to police them so to reduce the concomitant violence (and number of fatalities) that occur when such activities continue without any form of governance.

I think that's a false choice. First, all these activities can be regulated (see Germany, see Netherlands, see Las Vegas for respective examples. Additionally, even if they remained illegal, there is no "need" for their governance -see low level grey/black markets. They only exist because they can extort/coerce/threaten/overtake others in the business for profit for its own reason. There is more profit in numbers --that's the reason. You could have 1000 individual racketeers who had no organization (went solo) or you could have an organization made up of 1000. The second is more profitable for those at the top of the organization --not so much for the soldiers and associates. The second is also the more dangerous evolution due to its nature (more resources, more corruption, more power).

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan to develop drones to monitor radiation See in context

The japanese are resilient and tough to the things others are chicken about.

Humans and, for that matter, most life is resilient. About 175k yago our species was down to a few thousand roaming Africa. Yeah, we are resilient and recovered. People know that. On the other hand, individually, this sucks -that's what people care about. That's why people are outraged. People want and require something to be done. That's their right and they must, must with all their vigor demand vigilance and redress.

While it's of historical interest what happened in Russia or the US regarding their nuclear accidents, it's irrelevant to people in Japan. Moreover, only one nuclear accident in the whole world exceeded the largest accident -the Ukranian one. We're not talking 3MI's here. And please, don't compare the 1960s to the 2010s. That's disingenuous.

Your whole rant is about trying to deflect. To what end?

UAVs are not "RC airplanes" no more than "RC cars" are equal to automobiles. UAVs have endurance, tie in with satellite navigation and can be put into autopilot with a prescribed route. In addition, they can carry payload/equipment/sensors for remote reconnaissance/telemetry, etc.

This could also be addressed by satellites --altho at an order of magnitude more cost.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's No. 2 mobster to be freed on Y1.5 bil bail See in context

Wow, who has 1500 crore yen lying around?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Cat hurled from Sydney bridge onto moving car See in context

They say it all starts with cats. Find 'im and look in the fridge.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan to develop drones to monitor radiation See in context

You know, these Canadians already have a cheap system ready to go. http://www.aeryon.com/products/avs.html No production lead time issues.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Password breach spreads beyond LinkedIn See in context

-Don't share passwords amongst diff web properties. -Use a password managers such as lastpass of 1password or passpack. Lastpass has a FF and Safari plugin. -Use Strong passwords 20+ char of alphanum and non-alphanum chars; don't think concatenating several words will help. Use two-factor auth when available. -Websites need to move away from easy to compute hashing like SHA-1 and MD5. Use something like bcrypt, at least.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Internet freedom and the erosion of democracy See in context

Not to sound defeatist or anything, but if not Telia-Sonera, someone else would do it -or failing that, they'd homebrew their own. Principles are nice, but they often wilt in the face of reality.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Pepsi's newest designer flavor - Salty Watermelon See in context

Salt + sweet = drink moar pepsi. That's the reason, more sales.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: New York proposes ban on sale of oversized sodas See in context

This makes sense. Studies have shown that when people are given discrete portions, they tend to eat/drink less (compared to being fed a continuous portion). For example, if you give them 100gr of chocolate in 20gr portions versus a single 100gr portion, they will tend to eat less when the same amount is divided into discrete units.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Gree to boost gaming controls after 'complete gacha' charge See in context

Well, pachinko parlors can't have anyone nipping at their heels. The audacity!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Robot vacuum cleaner responds to voice commands in 3 languages, plus Kansai dialect See in context

At double the price of comparable robotic vacuums, this one better be able to suck more than just the dirt off the floor --without any malfunctions.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Hackers pick Google's pocket with Mac virus See in context

The Malware in question is not a virus, it's a trojan. There's a world of difference.

You're being pedantic for no reason. Virus has be come the generic word for malware on any platform.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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