And, let's not forget that there's money to be made from it. DDT resistance may have been looming by the time Silent Spring was first published but if the tobacco companies and right wing think-tanks want to pretend it was a silver bullet there will always be someone who decides that $100K for a 30-hour work-week beats ethics.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 6:02 AM on June 3, 2008

delmoi: the only thing you've asked for which hasn't happened yet is complete, open sales. The devices are completely open - unlike the eee - and the users are not only able to run their own sofware but are actively assisted in this process because the entire software stack was designed around the idea of users being able to modify their computers rather than being passive consumers.
That's reflected in the extensive use of Python, BitFrost and even the view-source key which doesn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:56 AM on December 25, 2007

I was amused to hear the local NPR affiliate suggesting that their listeners check for their news updates on Twitter and the Union-Tribune is now using Blogger for updates.

The real interesting question is whether they keep that sort of thing going in the future - I suspect someone's realizing that Google/Twitter's servers are a LOT more reliable than most of the local emergency service sites.

A few other interesting... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:14 PM on October 22, 2007

Tecate's definitely been threatened from what I've seen. Unfortunately, http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/ is overwhelmed at the moment but it was looking pretty ominous south of the border the last time I got through.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:37 PM on October 22, 2007

backseatpilot: I saw the MIT version - the length was due to it covering all three movies and was quite well done (easily 10x the entertainment value of the prequels). Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have made it online and the promised DVD hasn't materialized yet.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 9:31 PM on September 19, 2007

Shameless promotion of a commercial site but I feel like supporting eMusic for continued DRM-free eclecticism.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:19 PM on April 17, 2007

The same thing works for AXIS network cameras, too.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 9:51 PM on January 4, 2005

Mac users: Safari doesn't support the streaming JPEG frame technique most of these cameras use (it tries to download the entire thing before displaying it); Firefox works great.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:57 AM on January 5, 2005

First, SpamAssassin still works quite well as long as you run sa-learn periodically so it can tune the Bayesian classifier - I just don't get spam on accounts which use SpamAssassin.

Second, the entire point is a little nonsensical. Yes, that answer is suspicious but spammers were already well aware of SpamAssassin and actively trying to break it for ages. More importantly, most of the techniques SpamAssassin uses aren't easy to cheat, particularly since they overlap (e.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 4:24 PM on April 25, 2004

skallas - the reason FTP is disappearing is because it's inferior to HTTP and less reliable (not to mention that the servers tend to suck massively compared to web servers from an admin's point of view). Users attempting to send enormous files in email isn't a transfer protocol issue; it's only going to go away with education - almost as often for sysadmins as for the users. It's amazing how often our users' collaborators do not have access to any sort of server - sure, they'll have a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:44 PM on March 27, 2004

skallas - I didn't miss your point - it's just that it continues to be invalid. There's no significant difference between copying a file into your public_html directory and copying it into your public directory on an FTP server - this is in fact what much of the world does on a regular basis. If you don't have a public directory on a web server, _by definition_ your problem has nothing to do with client support and everything to do with incompetent sysadmins.

Even with... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 5:48 PM on March 29, 2004

This is further support for the argument that you should generally store as much raw (=non-lossy) data as possible because future processing power is likely to afford what seems miraculous now. It's not even possible to predict what might be useful then - I seem to recall a few cases where what seemed like unimportant measurements came in handy for people trying to establish baselines or find evidence for past astronomical events.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:59 AM on February 17, 2004

I believe the list is alphabetized by ISO country codes - e.g. Morocco (MA) is sorted at the beginning of the M's, Spain (ES) is in the E's. Classic database-geek mistake...

(Here's my measly 7%)
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:09 PM on January 25, 2004

Amusingly, Miguel posted this about the same time I received my plane ticket to Lisbon...
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:46 PM on September 13, 2003

I particularly liked his curiosity about our modern reluctance to change anything the Founding Fathers touched, leading to endless battles regarding things like affirmative action, campaign finance or gun control where everyone's so busy trying to creatively reinterpret the constitution to support their position that they ignore the underlying issues these debates are really proxies for. Working on unambiguous amendments would provide a higher degree of closure and it would slow the increasingly... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:28 PM on August 7, 2003

8 million people is only 2% of the population. Notice how the articles dance around the subject of how few people in that group actually pay income taxes? "Up to" is a convenient way of not mentioning the vanishingly small percentage of low-income workers who actually could benefit from a tax reduction - the average is already a little under -5% so we're otherwise talking about "increased handouts" as opposed to tax cuts. If we really wanted to improve their tax situation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 8:38 PM on June 1, 2003

Excellent - if everyone really wanted to hurt Bush, they'd give up on things like blocking traffic and start generating bad publicity and court cases over these cynical vote-grabbing handouts. It'd be wonderful if this came up every time Bush made some claim about commitment to free trade...
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 8:18 PM on March 26, 2003

I can't imagine a Republican administration doing something solely because labor wanted it. Labor is a Democratic constituency, not Republican. Republicans get points bashing labor union


That used to be true but the stereotype isn't true any more - the Democrats do best in predominantly white-collar areas and the Republicans are carrying a lot more blue-collar areas than you might think. The steel tariff exists solely because Bush's handlers... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:47 AM on March 27, 2003

destro - they're probably trying a repeat of the oil / food shakedowns they've done in the past when the NK economy tanked. Appeasement is cheaper than repairing the damage from a war and it seems like most of the surrounding countries are trying to maintain the status quo until something changes the NK government (like a coup or Jung's death) - given the problems of dealing with an untrustable, paranoid xenophobe this may be the best solution.

bletch - I think it's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:53 PM on January 1, 2003

bletch - I've always thought that was a great example of the shear size of modern, high-tech economies. The U.S. military defends the U.S., Europe and South Korea (and to a lesser degree, most of the world) and is significantly ahead of the rest of the world by any measure of power. For this we pay a princely 3-4% of the GDP - that's even less than we spend on education, let alone things like health-care or social security.

It's interesting comparing the CIA's table of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 4:36 PM on January 1, 2003

troutfishing - that assumes they ever thought otherwise. There's no evidence that they ever actually stopped their nuclear program - the only new wrinkle was a public announcement that they had not followed past agreements, which wasn't really a surprise to anyone who was paying attention. Given the extreme xenophobia and paranoia which has marked the North Korean government, I doubt they ever consider the possibility that they won't need nukes to deal with an invasion.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:30 PM on January 1, 2003

destro - I think it is because of their history of saber rattling whenever they need western aid and because they're so dependent on imports to fend of mass starvation and run their economy. The 1994 deal expired in October and, since the North Korean government admitted never having followed their side of the deal, fuel oil shipments were suspended after November.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:49 PM on January 1, 2003

This might be a simple typo - Google News suggested Roger McCann and found some stories from the local TV stations.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:10 PM on October 29, 2002

The History News Network summary:


The committee:

agreed with James Lindgren, who found that Bellesiles's table one lumped
data in such a way that "it is almost impossible to tell" where
he got his information.
agreed with Randolph Roth that that Bellesiles's numbers were "mathematically
improbable or impossible."
agreed with Gloria... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 4:28 PM on October 27, 2002

The New York Times interesting article today featuring some rare, unmonitored interviews with Iraqis:

What the Iraqi people would like to hang on their walls would be
banners saying, `Yes, yes, Mr. Bush. Yes, yes, America.' There are 22
million Iraqis, and every one of them has 100 stories to tell of their
suffering under Saddam.

posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:19 PM on October 27, 2002

I think a lot of the concern would go away if there was a very strong confirmation at every level of the law that there is a personal right to own guns which cannot be changed by the state short of a constitutional amendment. One of the reasons why gunowners tend to fear registration is that the slippery slope is real - promises that registration databases won't be used for confiscation haven't been kept in the past and there's no reason to believe that they will be in the future. When gun... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 4:46 PM on October 16, 2002

Well, if Saddam wasn't going to employ some of General Van Riper's tactics before, now he knows that they'd be effective against an American invasion, so maybe he'll add them to his bag of tricks.


I'm sure they'd love it if he did - the whole point of these exercises is to think about what could happen and how to stop it. Anyone trying that now would find some very unpleasant surprises.

I don't know why so many people... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:19 PM on August 21, 2002

Then you're against the entire financial business?


He might be but I think he was focused more on the "without having to do anything" part. Investment is all about risk but too many people thought stocks offered some sort of guaranteed return and never did any research to see whether the company they were buying looked healthy or that the risk they were running was justified by the return or their tolerance for risk. Remember all those... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:57 AM on August 18, 2002

Beth - sorry about that. Mea culpa...
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:06 PM on August 18, 2002

This end of the world stuff has been preached since the seventies. We were supposed to be underwater by now.


Or in an ice age, or considering draconian laws to deal with massive overpopulation or coping with critical depletion of fossil fuels, minerals and metals. (Note to self - if Paul Ehrlich makes another bet, take it)

Even if you ignore the people who are trying to portray their anti-development tastes as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:47 AM on August 18, 2002

All of this conflicting parenting advice reminds me of the old saw about the man who had five theories on raising kids and later ended up with five kids and no theories...
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:22 PM on August 17, 2002

Clancy chose Denver. The movie adaptation acquired a gratuitous location change somewhere along the way.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:21 PM on August 10, 2002

ilsa - we did think he was that bad. Saddam is still in power because the Saudis didn't want a Western army installing a replacement government (they would have been just tickled to see elections in the area). Since our official policy was (and continues to be) sucking up to the Saudis, the point wasn't forced.

The UN inspection thing is particularly sensitive - the people who were on the ground reported all sorts of deception, coverups and endless... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 5:20 PM on August 10, 2002

matteo - every government health program in existence tells you fast-food is bad. Anyone who went through the public schools got a refresher course every year, to say nothing about the presidential fitness campaigns, advertising from private groups like the American Heart Association, the frequent TV reports, etc. The people eat fast food do not care.

Why should the rest of us be taxed in a futile attempt to force people to do something they don't want to do? It hasn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:02 PM on July 27, 2002

do you know that cars didn't have seatbelts once upon a time, and they had crappy brakes?
Now they do have better safety, and they probably cost a few dollars more for that (not thousands, safety is often cheap).


That's a fundamentally different situation - the problem isn't that the food is defective, it's the people who eat atrocious diets and never exercise.


I repeat, this lawsuit's crap, but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 7:25 PM on July 27, 2002

I've been in an Over the Rhine mood lately. They have an MP3archive and, even better, some more obscure tracks like this great instrumental version of Toledo.

eMusic is great for finding obscure bands - they have fast servers and a ton of great older music as well as an odd mix of modern stuff with a few big names and quite a few obscure ones.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:09 PM on July 12, 2002

The funny thing is that the emission standards for Yucca mountain are well below the natural background radiation in a building using marble or granite and yet we obsess about them while ignoring things like the radiation released into the environment by burning coal in the meantime.

Nuclear is the cleanest major power source we have at the moment. Things like solar are useful but too weak to eliminate the need for major power sources (on earth, anyway - I'd love to move... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:33 AM on July 10, 2002

The real point here is that if we invested even half the money into R&D for alternative energy sources that we've invested in nuclear over the past 50 years, it's a good bet we wouldn't need nuclear power at all.


Utter nonsense straight out of the alternative power industry's most aggressive spin.

Nobody's preventing basic research, lots of people with money claim they want it . . . what's stopping it? If there was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:04 AM on July 12, 2002

What I want to know is what so many people consider rampant criminal behaviour capitalism run amok? There are a number of things wrong (negligent boards, corrupt auditors, dishonest analysts, etc.) but that's hardly evidence that the concept itself is a failure - corruption is anathema to capitalism.

This wasn't some great conspiracy to defraud Joe Public, either. The fact is simply that most people got caught up in a get-rich-quick frenzy and dismissed anyone who... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:06 PM on June 25, 2002

MySQL is not faster than most flatfile databases. (all, really, but maybe some sadistic nerd can devise a slow one.) flatfile databases are mere files, with indices and other metadata packed at the head of the file. Any SQL Server technology makes browsing slower due to the communication between the web server (for which PHP or another server- side technology is acting) and the database server as well as the increased complexity of transaction. (SQL queries are performed by seeking... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:02 PM on May 25, 2002

Yech - when did designers start writing like marketroids?

(And if we want to reopen the usability flame wars that flashturbation would be a good case study.)
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 2:18 AM on April 29, 2002

Companies like Microsoft and Cisco are great examples of companies which are going to take a beating in the market. Apparently if you count options as expenses they've had losses in recent, allegedly profitable years. That's one reason why Microsoft keeps raising prices for customers they've locked in - even though it's a long term risk, it's the only way they can meet Wall Street's expectations in markets with aren't expanding the way they used to.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:59 PM on April 18, 2002

Because it's not racism. Racism would be things like claiming skin-color determines performance on an academic test.

The problem has nothing to do with race and everything to do with lousy preparation. A white kid stuck at a crappy school is going to be just as bad off as the black kid in the seat next to him.

Real change will require fixing the K-12 educational system and in this state won't happen without a major sea-change at the CTA.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:29 PM on April 13, 2002

If this works, how long will it be before the conspiracy theorists start claiming that 9/11 was coordinated by software companies looking for a replacement for dot-com money?
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 12:53 AM on April 13, 2002

Odd as well that he would even write something about "nationalists" that applies so thoroughly to himself.


I think it's just an example of selection-bias. If everyone you choose to associate with has similar beliefs, you'll assume those are average, "center" beliefs. If you don't associate with people whose beliefs you disagree with (extremely common) this can lead to an amazing skew because nobody's going to raise a serious... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 3:37 PM on March 31, 2002

Billman - I generally agree but do note that the K5 article you linked uses numbers for bandwidth costs which are off by something like a factor of 30 for managed hosting and somewhat more than that for dedicated connections at very high bandwidth levels.

I do think that a site like Salon could easily be profitable if they kept costs down. It's a common dot-com problem - salon.com probably would be profitable if it was, say, an editor, designer, general manager and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 1:30 PM on February 3, 2002

Charmian - the writing is overall of lower quality and not just because they lost some of the big name writers. A lot of it is just lame - straight out of the "trendy-liberalism-to-impress-your-college-friends" Cliff Notes. Every so often there's some interesting articles - Wagner Au's "We Were Wrong" recent was a decent attempt at the sort of reconsidering dogma that party-line liberals should be doing more of (wasn't being a liberal supposed to involve more thought?) - but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 9:36 PM on February 3, 2002

That's probably the best sign that Salon is failing - how frequently are they being blogged about now?
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 10:59 PM on February 3, 2002

skallas - the fact that you don't allow for a rational position opposite either of the statements you take as givens is exactly the problem they're talking about.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 6:55 PM on January 30, 2002

Capitalism is not self correcting

Capitalism is self-correcting to the degree that buyers want it to be. The system works but it doesn't magically compensate for stupidity. It's sort of like voting - everyone bitches about the politicians but almost nobody ever votes for the alternatives and we end up with exactly the government we deserve.
posted to MetaFilter by adamsc at 11:43 PM on January 22, 2002