I guess my point was missed, FWIW I'm not a luddite who doesn't see any value in handheld technology. I've been through about 6 iPods now and have come to rely on them, for music and for advancing my Spanish and Portuguese through podcasts.

My problem is with the techno-dweebs I know who get excited over any technology advancement. As long as it's newer, faster, shinier, smaller, with better audio/video/storage/bandwidth, etc, than last quarter's model I'm supposed to be impressed when they wave it around and rattle off its specs. Then they use it to look up Brady Bunch trivia or some such garbage.

The smug sense of "I have more computing power in my hand than the Apollo astronauts had" yet they can't construct a fucking correct sentence on their own if their lives depended on it. But I digress. >> ^Quboid:

I wouldn't have thought there'd be so many Luddites on the sift.
@ulysses1904, yes, your non-existent example of exaggerated uselessness is indeed useless. Something useful? How about checking prices and product reviews while in the shop? I can browse my local video store and if I see an interesting movie, I pull out my phone, load the IMDB app, take a picture of the BluRay case and learn all about it.
When I was in Italy a few months ago, I had language trouble when ordering food on one occasion - I pulled out my phone, typed my order into Google Translate and handed the phone to the waitress. That day, the human race was closer to having a Babel Fish than we have been in thousands of years of human development - but hey, it's just a gizmo, right? Who cares?
In fact, come to think of it, even your example isn't useless - that birther nonsense wouldn't have lasted long if everyone with a smartphone could have done that while watching Obama's inauguration.
@CheshireSmile, if that's all you need then fine, although I'm guessing your friends have rubbish keyboards on their phones. I don't need much, but I want loads and why not? If I'm waiting for a plane or something, I like to be able to web browse, check Facebook and Twitter, play games, whatever.
My Samsung Galaxy S 2 probably would not survive falling out the window of a moving car, however this has yet to cause me any distress - just out of interest, how often does your phone fall out of a moving car?

Yes, each to their own. Nothing wrong with not having a smartphone, but I don't think it's fair to dismiss them as useless gizmos, or as being unusably fragile. I've found my smartphones to be useful and sufficiently robust.

I wouldn't have thought there'd be so many Luddites on the sift.

@ulysses1904, yes, your non-existent example of exaggerated uselessness is indeed useless. Something useful? How about checking prices and product reviews while in the shop? I can browse my local video store and if I see an interesting movie, I pull out my phone, load the IMDB app, take a picture of the BluRay case and learn all about it.

When I was in Italy a few months ago, I had language trouble when ordering food on one occasion - I pulled out my phone, typed my order into Google Translate and handed the phone to the waitress. That day, the human race was closer to having a Babel Fish than we have been in thousands of years of human development - but hey, it's just a gizmo, right? Who cares?

In fact, come to think of it, even your example isn't useless - that birther nonsense wouldn't have lasted long if everyone with a smartphone could have done that while watching Obama's inauguration.

@CheshireSmile, if that's all you need then fine, although I'm guessing your friends have rubbish keyboards on their phones. I don't need much, but I want loads and why not? If I'm waiting for a plane or something, I like to be able to web browse, check Facebook and Twitter, play games, whatever.

My Samsung Galaxy S 2 probably would not survive falling out the window of a moving car, however this has yet to cause me any distress - just out of interest, how often does your phone fall out of a moving car?

Yeah, I'm surrounded by colleagues who get all squishy over the latest gizmo. I always tell them "I don't care if you can point your phone at somebody and have it scan their features and somehow call up their birth certificate online and project it as a hologram in mid-air, complete with the 3D embossed county seal. I'd still say big fucking deal, show me something useful".

>> ^rougy:

@bcglorf,
You're right that it has to be looked at more closely. If you find anything concrete, please feel free to share the link with me if you feel like it.
Regarding the "social spending" angle, I'm curious to know how much of that had to do with investing in some of the more trashy gizmos that Goldman et al had to offer.
We know that here in the states, a number of pension funds took a major hit when Wall Street tanked. They had invested heavily in the CDO scam (AAA rated). Wall Street was bailed out, they weren't.
I'm curious to know how much of Greece's damage was caused by similar investments.
I'm betting it was substantial.

P.S. - G.S. has been behind a lot of really dirty financial shit and they always seem to get away with it. A number of municipalities in the USA have suffered gravely thanks to G.S. They were basically looted. Matt Taibi wrote a great article about it in Rolling Stone, but I can't find the link just now. Worth a read if you feel like Googling for it.
This is worth a read, but I don't think it's the same article I was thinking of.


No love of GS here .

I find the worst part of it though is the bailing out of massive corps like them, while their CEO's and top dogs pocket billions in profits while the companies were taking the massive risks that led to the companies collapse. In my opinion it's criminal to not demand that the ridiculous profits made taking the risks aren't the funds being used to payoff the debts from those very same risks turning out poorly later on.

For the record, in America a very big part of the wealth that was lost wasn't just pocketed by the ultra-wealthy. There were also all the middle class chaps refinancing homes they couldn't afford every two years and pocketing $30k-$60k a year for doing nothing but holding onto a home for two years. Some of those folks put that money away and came out fine. Most however bought RV's, electronics, multiple vehicles to fill their three car garages, and any other toys they wanted. After all, they were earning $30k a year for doing virtually nothing and had the money to burn. Of course after they had burnt that money, their backs were up against the wall when they bought that last fateful home before the market dropped out and found themselves with a $750k mortgage for home now worth $200k and payments they could only make in a world were they sold their home next year for $900k. Again, not everyone was doing this, but the numbers were very high. Over the 15 or so years this madness was going on, the guys really milking it had burnt through almost a half million dollars each buying stuff they really didn't need and with a method that had left them indebted for that same half mill with no way to pay it off. With 10s of thousands of people all having run after this, the value of the bad decisions of even the middle class was utterly massive. It wasn't only Goldman Sachs laughing all the way to the bank with free money, they were just doing it at a bigger scale, taking their 10% cut off the excess of thousands of similarly greedy middle class folk.

@bcglorf,

You're right that it has to be looked at more closely. If you find anything concrete, please feel free to share the link with me if you feel like it.

Regarding the "social spending" angle, I'm curious to know how much of that had to do with investing in some of the more trashy gizmos that Goldman et al had to offer.

We know that here in the states, a number of pension funds took a major hit when Wall Street tanked. They had invested heavily in the CDO scam (AAA rated). Wall Street was bailed out, they weren't.

I'm curious to know how much of Greece's damage was caused by similar investments.

I'm betting it was substantial.



P.S. - G.S. has been behind a lot of really dirty financial shit and they always seem to get away with it. A number of municipalities in the USA have suffered gravely thanks to G.S. They were basically looted. Matt Taibi wrote a great article about it in Rolling Stone, but I can't find the link just now. Worth a read if you feel like Googling for it.

This is worth a read, but I don't think it's the same article I was thinking of.

Back in my day, all we had was wood and rocks to play with!!! Not some pansy ass $500 rattle gizmo.

To update: Turns out Gizmo accidentally fried one of our server's power supply. It's since been replaced, so that should put an end to the pain in our collective ass. Now stop lingering. Get back to Sifting!

“Dogs are the best detectors,” Oates said at an Oct. 20 news conference at JIEDDO headquarters in Arlington, Va.When dogs are teamed with small dismounted teams of U.S. and Afghan troops, they are capable of detecting 80 percent of IEDs, he said. “That combo presents the best detection system we currently have.”

Since it was created in 2006, JIEDDO has eagerly sought out every possible technological tool it could find in government, industry and academia to locate and remotely detonate IEDs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. So far it has spent nearly $17 billion on new technologies and training programs.

...

Training and educating soldiers is critical in the fight against IEDs, Oates said. It is also the “most underappreciated” piece of JIEDDO’s portfolio. U.S. troops from the get-go face a huge disadvantage in this war because they lack knowledge of local language and culture, Oates said. They also “carry enormous ignorance” about what motivates locals to collaborate with the Taliban or al-Qaida and help them build and bury IEDs. “This is a complicated challenge for us,” Oates said.

BAGHDAD — Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq’s security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless.

The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.

Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.

>> ^Yogi:
>> ^misterwight:

Seriously, the Republican congressmen are actually the dumbest people in America, right?!

Actually, Republican politicians are pretty smart. They're succeeding in pushing this blatantly hypocritical agenda. It's the voters, the people that are allowing this charade to go on, that are the dumbest people in America.

I don't agree that they're dumb. They're just busy and not being told the truth and there's tons of reasons why they're allowing and have been allowing America to be run this way but it's not cause they're dumbs.


So, people are incompetent? Because that is the word that comes to my mind with your description of busy/sloppy. They are too busy? Maybe people need to stop being so busy while a bus crashes into their god-damn living rooms.

People are busy because; A-they have made themselves busy searching for the next stupid fad, app, or gizmo they really do not need in life but crave so they can say they are cool B-Because people cannot accept a normal care free lifestyle.

In fact, a care free political system cannot be stood for either by people. We love sensationalism!!! And we love it now!!! How dare the evil commie Liberals ruin everything!!! I am voting republican and for freedom! Of course they are commies too!!! I am voting democrat!

What would people have to complain about then? That is the reason we have both parties being a bunch of softblows... It is the same reason atheists need religion to feel important... bash bash bash.

@blankfist, well you're confusing free markets with reality. Again.

The free market is as real as Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. Always has been.

Competition is good, for some things.

But cooperation is better, for many things.

I'm repulsed by the fact that we live in a society that thinks it's more important to have the latest little gizmos and gadgets than it is to keep people housed, fed, and employed.

>> ^Payback:

The whole idea to have gears in the first place is to convert between torque and speed. The second motor in this gizmo not only takes away the speed of the output, it removes the torque as well.


I was noticing that too. It doesn't seem like a system that would be useful for heavy vehicles or fast accelerations. The shortest gear would have the least amount of power.

It would also seem to reduce efficiency in the lower gear ratios, unless they're somehow harvesting the power lost through the control gear.

The whole idea to have gears in the first place is to convert between torque and speed. The second motor in this gizmo not only takes away the speed of the output, it removes the torque as well.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Maybe stick to your happy little trees.

Just kidding, you make some very good points.>> ^highdileeho:
I'm going to try to be as nice as possible. Iv'e seen the microsoft version, Iv'e seen the mac version. I just want to know. When will anyone actually really need any of this crap. Is it just a fancy gizmo to be whipped out at coffee shops in the hopes that it will start a conversation? Or do people really need to cut and paste shoes, or boobs, or search the internet with a machine that isn't nearly as fast as the last gizmo that you bought. I don't get any of it, but I do understand that apple has whipped Americans up in this consumerism frenzy, to throw down hard earned cash on things that no one will ever really need. And these consumers will defend with seering lunacy it's ability to do things that no one needs better than any competetor. I'm just waiting patiently for the day when people have finally determined that they don't need anymore. Mr. Creosote lives

I'm going to try to be as nice as possible. Iv'e seen the microsoft version, Iv'e seen the mac version. I just want to know. When will anyone actually really need any of this crap. Is it just a fancy gizmo to be whipped out at coffee shops in the hopes that it will start a conversation? Or do people really need to cut and paste shoes, or boobs, or search the internet with a machine that isn't nearly as fast as the last gizmo that you bought. I don't get any of it, but I do understand that apple has whipped Americans up in this consumerism frenzy, to throw down hard earned cash on things that no one will ever really need. And these consumers will defend with seering lunacy it's ability to do things that no one needs better than any competetor. I'm just waiting patiently for the day when people have finally determined that they don't need anymore. Mr. Creosote lives