"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
Isn't it just a corruption of the original Chesney Hawkes song?
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
Never ever heard it in the UK. Maybe it's taken off since I've been an expat.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
Instinctively it feels like an Americanism. I'm pretty sure "one of (a) few" or "one of a handful" is more commonly used.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
Kay Burley being a massive hypocrite... shock....her excuse is even worse than Professor Pants down who claimed he simply made a risk based assessment when he decided nookie couldn't wait.
A woman who has spent 6 months asking the most ridiculous questions about what the rules are and aren't just didn't know the rules....while she spends every day trashing everybody else if they even hesitate about what they are.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
Most "Americanisms" tend to be exactly like this. Usually maintaining an archaic (in UK) form (fall for autumn), or adopting a little known regional variation (pants for trousers).
Gaming news - Cyberpunk 2077 has got it's reviews out, it looks amazing. From the makers of The Witcher. I'm going to get it when the PS5 patch is out.
“Cyberpunk 2077” wants to be the “Witcher 3” of crime dramas, and it very much hits that high bar in almost every regard. The writing is an engaging thrill ride that’s going to leave you wondering what’s going to happen next. Conversations flow with natural pacing, emotion and wit to stay entertaining and grounded. And they all take place in the evocative sheen and grime of a cyberpunk world. I’d leave a bar in Night City and feel like I spent some actual time in a smoky, low-lit environment for the last hour, having cigarette smoke blown in my face and smelling like whiskey. In its design, it is to 2020 what “Red Dead Redemption 2” was to 2018.
...
It’s a good thing “Cyberpunk 2077” gets so many details right, because in its current prelaunch state, it’s … what you’d expect from a launch CDPR game. Before “Witcher 3” became the darling of the industry, it was released in a famously buggy state. “Cyberpunk 2077” continues this tradition despite seven years in development, several delays and worrying reports of overtime crunch.
I thought Witcher 3 was one of the best games I've ever played, but I'm waiting until after Christmas when the new Xboxes are in stock again. Hopefully that way some of the bugs will be sorted.
I'm enjoying assassin's creed valhalla at the moment. Not sure anything will ever top the Witcher - but Cyberpunks attention to detail is impressive (i.e. choosing the size of your genitalia)
My son outgrew computer games about aged 13. I thought that was fairly normal.
Games are played by many, if not most adults: my octogenarian step-mother plays bridge for instance.
Computers are just another way of playing, and games like The Witcher 3 are not just games but huge and complex stories that you can immerse yourself in. It is also a game which explores themes that are a bit too adult for a thirteen-year old: it has an 18 certificate for a reason.
Don’t recall that stopping him in all honesty. I enjoy bridge and chess but I’ve never got into computer games. Just never saw the attraction.
I don't understand why people cannot understand the attraction. Gaming is no different to any other entertainment, yet for some it's as though there's something strange about it. Maybe it involves a skill challenge like a physical game, maybe it has a good story like a movie, it depends, it makes as little sense to not understand the appeal as to not understand why someone might like to read a book - even if not everyone would enjoy reading a book, is it hard to figure out why someone might?
I hadn’t played computer games for two decades or more until my young son got a PS4.
Oh boy. can I now see the appeal! The Unchartered and Assassin’s Creed series are more like immersive, interactive cinema than video games in the old sense of the term. Works of art.
No love for Papers Please, the world's best paperwork checking simulator, or Hatoful Boyfriend, the dating sim between a human girl in the post apocalypse and sentient pigeons? One of these is actually good.
It's a wide field
I had to look those up!
I can see the appeal of the first one, the second one... hmm...
It's concentrated madness, and worth watching a stream of it at least, though likely not spending money on.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
Most "Americanisms" tend to be exactly like this. Usually maintaining an archaic (in UK) form (fall for autumn), or adopting a little known regional variation (pants for trousers).
I am with them on 'pants' (though obviously I wouldn't use it myself), as if underpants is correctly termed, at some point the thing that went over them must have been called pants. Or maybe to be purely British, we should drop (tee-hee) our pants and just call then breeches.
All good words...but what about actions. Little sign yet that the west are going to move away from huge over reliance on China for crucial supply chain.
Gaming news - Cyberpunk 2077 has got it's reviews out, it looks amazing. From the makers of The Witcher. I'm going to get it when the PS5 patch is out.
“Cyberpunk 2077” wants to be the “Witcher 3” of crime dramas, and it very much hits that high bar in almost every regard. The writing is an engaging thrill ride that’s going to leave you wondering what’s going to happen next. Conversations flow with natural pacing, emotion and wit to stay entertaining and grounded. And they all take place in the evocative sheen and grime of a cyberpunk world. I’d leave a bar in Night City and feel like I spent some actual time in a smoky, low-lit environment for the last hour, having cigarette smoke blown in my face and smelling like whiskey. In its design, it is to 2020 what “Red Dead Redemption 2” was to 2018.
...
It’s a good thing “Cyberpunk 2077” gets so many details right, because in its current prelaunch state, it’s … what you’d expect from a launch CDPR game. Before “Witcher 3” became the darling of the industry, it was released in a famously buggy state. “Cyberpunk 2077” continues this tradition despite seven years in development, several delays and worrying reports of overtime crunch.
I thought Witcher 3 was one of the best games I've ever played, but I'm waiting until after Christmas when the new Xboxes are in stock again. Hopefully that way some of the bugs will be sorted.
I'm enjoying assassin's creed valhalla at the moment. Not sure anything will ever top the Witcher - but Cyberpunks attention to detail is impressive (i.e. choosing the size of your genitalia)
My son outgrew computer games about aged 13. I thought that was fairly normal.
Games are played by many, if not most adults: my octogenarian step-mother plays bridge for instance.
Computers are just another way of playing, and games like The Witcher 3 are not just games but huge and complex stories that you can immerse yourself in. It is also a game which explores themes that are a bit too adult for a thirteen-year old: it has an 18 certificate for a reason.
Don’t recall that stopping him in all honesty. I enjoy bridge and chess but I’ve never got into computer games. Just never saw the attraction.
I don't understand why people cannot understand the attraction. Gaming is no different to any other entertainment, yet for some it's as though there's something strange about it. Maybe it involves a skill challenge like a physical game, maybe it has a good story like a movie, it depends, it makes as little sense to not understand the appeal as to not understand why someone might like to read a book - even if not everyone would enjoy reading a book, is it hard to figure out why someone might?
I hadn’t played computer games for two decades or more until my young son got a PS4.
Oh boy. can I now see the appeal! The Unchartered and Assassin’s Creed series are more like immersive, interactive cinema than video games in the old sense of the term. Works of art.
No love for Papers Please, the world's best paperwork checking simulator, or Hatoful Boyfriend, the dating sim between a human girl in the post apocalypse and sentient pigeons? One of these is actually good.
It's a wide field
I had to look those up!
I can see the appeal of the first one, the second one... hmm...
It's concentrated madness, and worth watching a stream of it at least, though likely not spending money on.
Minor point in the great scheme of things but why didn't Boris get Ursula vdL to come to London?
Surely a trip to Brussels creates bad visuals for his main constituency whatever the outcome.
Because the supplicant travels towards power
Thinking about it I think this might be getting overthought.
Sounds like a contradition, to realise it's overthought, by thinking. I do agree we overinterpret everything though.
Kona is a great leftfield choice. Mystery/adventure set in the boonies of French Canada in the depths of winter. Well worth a look if you can find it cheap second hand.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
Most "Americanisms" tend to be exactly like this. Usually maintaining an archaic (in UK) form (fall for autumn), or adopting a little known regional variation (pants for trousers).
I am with them on 'pants' (though obviously I wouldn't use it myself), as if underpants is correctly termed, at some point the thing that went over them must have been called pants. Or maybe to be purely British, we should drop (tee-hee) our pants and just call then breeches.
Pants was the word we used growing up. "Trousers" was what posh people on telly called them. The use of pants to mean underpants (something I don't recall before the Eighties) still jars with me.
Gaming news - Cyberpunk 2077 has got it's reviews out, it looks amazing. From the makers of The Witcher. I'm going to get it when the PS5 patch is out.
“Cyberpunk 2077” wants to be the “Witcher 3” of crime dramas, and it very much hits that high bar in almost every regard. The writing is an engaging thrill ride that’s going to leave you wondering what’s going to happen next. Conversations flow with natural pacing, emotion and wit to stay entertaining and grounded. And they all take place in the evocative sheen and grime of a cyberpunk world. I’d leave a bar in Night City and feel like I spent some actual time in a smoky, low-lit environment for the last hour, having cigarette smoke blown in my face and smelling like whiskey. In its design, it is to 2020 what “Red Dead Redemption 2” was to 2018.
...
It’s a good thing “Cyberpunk 2077” gets so many details right, because in its current prelaunch state, it’s … what you’d expect from a launch CDPR game. Before “Witcher 3” became the darling of the industry, it was released in a famously buggy state. “Cyberpunk 2077” continues this tradition despite seven years in development, several delays and worrying reports of overtime crunch.
I thought Witcher 3 was one of the best games I've ever played, but I'm waiting until after Christmas when the new Xboxes are in stock again. Hopefully that way some of the bugs will be sorted.
I'm enjoying assassin's creed valhalla at the moment. Not sure anything will ever top the Witcher - but Cyberpunks attention to detail is impressive (i.e. choosing the size of your genitalia)
My son outgrew computer games about aged 13. I thought that was fairly normal.
Games are played by many, if not most adults: my octogenarian step-mother plays bridge for instance.
Computers are just another way of playing, and games like The Witcher 3 are not just games but huge and complex stories that you can immerse yourself in. It is also a game which explores themes that are a bit too adult for a thirteen-year old: it has an 18 certificate for a reason.
Don’t recall that stopping him in all honesty. I enjoy bridge and chess but I’ve never got into computer games. Just never saw the attraction.
I don't understand why people cannot understand the attraction. Gaming is no different to any other entertainment, yet for some it's as though there's something strange about it. Maybe it involves a skill challenge like a physical game, maybe it has a good story like a movie, it depends, it makes as little sense to not understand the appeal as to not understand why someone might like to read a book - even if not everyone would enjoy reading a book, is it hard to figure out why someone might?
I hadn’t played computer games for two decades or more until my young son got a PS4.
Oh boy. can I now see the appeal! The Unchartered and Assassin’s Creed series are more like immersive, interactive cinema than video games in the old sense of the term. Works of art.
No love for Papers Please, the world's best paperwork checking simulator, or Hatoful Boyfriend, the dating sim between a human girl in the post apocalypse and sentient pigeons? One of these is actually good.
It's a wide field
I had to look those up!
I can see the appeal of the first one, the second one... hmm...
It's concentrated madness, and worth watching a stream of it at least, though likely not spending money on.
Minor point in the great scheme of things but why didn't Boris get Ursula vdL to come to London?
Surely a trip to Brussels creates bad visuals for his main constituency whatever the outcome.
Because the supplicant travels towards power
Thinking about it I think this might be getting overthought.
Sounds like a contradition, to realise it's overthought, by thinking. I do agree we overinterpret everything though.
Kona is a great leftfield choice. Mystery/adventure set in the boonies of French Canada in the depths of winter. Well worth a look if you can find it cheap second hand.
Looked it up on Steam, and I think something is wrong with their algorithm, as it states it is similar to two games I have played, which are in no way similar: Fallout 4 and Return of the Obra Din. One, a massive open world RPG with heavy combat focus and dialogue interactions across myriad plot paths made by a big big company, the other a black and white pixel game with no animations made by one guy, about piecing together clues to identify dead people on a ghost ship.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
Most "Americanisms" tend to be exactly like this. Usually maintaining an archaic (in UK) form (fall for autumn), or adopting a little known regional variation (pants for trousers).
I am with them on 'pants' (though obviously I wouldn't use it myself), as if underpants is correctly termed, at some point the thing that went over them must have been called pants. Or maybe to be purely British, we should drop (tee-hee) our pants and just call then breeches.
Pants was the word we used growing up. "Trousers" was what posh people on telly called them. The use of pants to mean underpants (something I don't recall before the Eighties) still jars with me.
Gaming news - Cyberpunk 2077 has got it's reviews out, it looks amazing. From the makers of The Witcher. I'm going to get it when the PS5 patch is out.
“Cyberpunk 2077” wants to be the “Witcher 3” of crime dramas, and it very much hits that high bar in almost every regard. The writing is an engaging thrill ride that’s going to leave you wondering what’s going to happen next. Conversations flow with natural pacing, emotion and wit to stay entertaining and grounded. And they all take place in the evocative sheen and grime of a cyberpunk world. I’d leave a bar in Night City and feel like I spent some actual time in a smoky, low-lit environment for the last hour, having cigarette smoke blown in my face and smelling like whiskey. In its design, it is to 2020 what “Red Dead Redemption 2” was to 2018.
...
It’s a good thing “Cyberpunk 2077” gets so many details right, because in its current prelaunch state, it’s … what you’d expect from a launch CDPR game. Before “Witcher 3” became the darling of the industry, it was released in a famously buggy state. “Cyberpunk 2077” continues this tradition despite seven years in development, several delays and worrying reports of overtime crunch.
I thought Witcher 3 was one of the best games I've ever played, but I'm waiting until after Christmas when the new Xboxes are in stock again. Hopefully that way some of the bugs will be sorted.
I'm enjoying assassin's creed valhalla at the moment. Not sure anything will ever top the Witcher - but Cyberpunks attention to detail is impressive (i.e. choosing the size of your genitalia)
My son outgrew computer games about aged 13. I thought that was fairly normal.
Games are played by many, if not most adults: my octogenarian step-mother plays bridge for instance.
Computers are just another way of playing, and games like The Witcher 3 are not just games but huge and complex stories that you can immerse yourself in. It is also a game which explores themes that are a bit too adult for a thirteen-year old: it has an 18 certificate for a reason.
Don’t recall that stopping him in all honesty. I enjoy bridge and chess but I’ve never got into computer games. Just never saw the attraction.
I don't understand why people cannot understand the attraction. Gaming is no different to any other entertainment, yet for some it's as though there's something strange about it. Maybe it involves a skill challenge like a physical game, maybe it has a good story like a movie, it depends, it makes as little sense to not understand the appeal as to not understand why someone might like to read a book - even if not everyone would enjoy reading a book, is it hard to figure out why someone might?
I hadn’t played computer games for two decades or more until my young son got a PS4.
Oh boy. can I now see the appeal! The Unchartered and Assassin’s Creed series are more like immersive, interactive cinema than video games in the old sense of the term. Works of art.
No love for Papers Please, the world's best paperwork checking simulator, or Hatoful Boyfriend, the dating sim between a human girl in the post apocalypse and sentient pigeons? One of these is actually good.
It's a wide field
I had to look those up!
I can see the appeal of the first one, the second one... hmm...
It's concentrated madness, and worth watching a stream of it at least, though likely not spending money on.
Minor point in the great scheme of things but why didn't Boris get Ursula vdL to come to London?
Surely a trip to Brussels creates bad visuals for his main constituency whatever the outcome.
Because the supplicant travels towards power
Thinking about it I think this might be getting overthought.
Sounds like a contradition, to realise it's overthought, by thinking. I do agree we overinterpret everything though.
Kona is a great leftfield choice. Mystery/adventure set in the boonies of French Canada in the depths of winter. Well worth a look if you can find it cheap second hand.
Looked it up on Steam, and I think something is wrong with their algorithm, as it states it is similar to two games I have played, which are in no way similar: Fallout 4 and Return of the Obra Din. One, a massive open world RPG with heavy combat focus and dialogue interactions across myriad plot paths made by a big big company, the other a black and white pixel game with no animations made by one guy, about piecing together clues to identify dead people on a ghost ship.
It doesn’t sound much like either! It’s essentially a noir mystery set in 1960s/70s Quebec. Lots of snow, not many people!
Given his record of being spot on wrong about every single aspect of this, one wonders a la Sumption, why he is given air time? I can think of about 40 posters on here, on both sides of the argument, who could claim more expertise.
A Russian businessman who was married to Vladimir Putin’s daughter received an estimated $380m (£283m) stake in a Russian petrochemicals company for just $100, an investigation by Russia’s iStories investigative outlet has claimed.
I think Loeffler, who did debate, will beat Warnock even if Ossoff beats Purdue so the GOP will hold their Senate majority regardless
Easier for Biden to find one Cabinet spot or plum Ambassadorship for a final term Republican senator from a blue state than to find two, though.
Ambassador Collins xD
Collins and a couple of other moderate Republicans find themselves in an incredibly strong position politically. She's not going to trade it in for an admittedly very pleasant retirement job as ambassador to Japan or whatever.
Pat Toomey is a fairly staunchly conservative Republican and ex-Club For Growth president - he twice primaried the moderate Republican, Arlen Specter, who switched parties under the pressure.
Don't confuse disliking Trump and being willing to call him out (and being on the way out himself - he'd already announced this was his final term) with being on the brink of defection or doing Joe Biden a major favour.
I think Loeffler, who did debate, will beat Warnock even if Ossoff beats Purdue so the GOP will hold their Senate majority regardless
Easier for Biden to find one Cabinet spot or plum Ambassadorship for a final term Republican senator from a blue state than to find two, though.
Ambassador Collins xD
Collins and a couple of other moderate Republicans find themselves in an incredibly strong position politically. She's not going to trade it in for an admittedly very pleasant retirement job as ambassador to Japan or whatever.
Toomey on the other hand has already said he isn't running in 2022 anyway.
I think Loeffler, who did debate, will beat Warnock even if Ossoff beats Purdue so the GOP will hold their Senate majority regardless
Easier for Biden to find one Cabinet spot or plum Ambassadorship for a final term Republican senator from a blue state than to find two, though.
The Senate doesn't have term limits, neither does the House.
What have term limits got to do with anything? I'm talking about those who have already announced they aren't standing again (there may be others wanting a way out, of course).
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
I think Loeffler, who did debate, will beat Warnock even if Ossoff beats Purdue so the GOP will hold their Senate majority regardless
Easier for Biden to find one Cabinet spot or plum Ambassadorship for a final term Republican senator from a blue state than to find two, though.
Ambassador Collins xD
Collins and a couple of other moderate Republicans find themselves in an incredibly strong position politically. She's not going to trade it in for an admittedly very pleasant retirement job as ambassador to Japan or whatever.
The problem the moderate Republicans have is that they are completely sidelined within their party, and are ripe for Primary challeges.
Now, Ms Collins is probably immune, as she's in Blue Maine. And Toomey is on his way out, anyway.
But Ben Sasse in Nebraska (very Red) and Mitt Romney in Utah (whatever colour Mormons are) could both be primaried if they strayed too far from the party line,
There's also Murkowski, who lost a Primary challenge and then won as a write-in.
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
I have to say, despite all my years living in the US, I hate the Americanism "one of the only" to mean 'one of the few'
Since when was “one of the only” an Americanism? I’ve said that since I was a kid and I’ve never even been to the US.
I certainly use it. But perhaps such is the influence of american TV? I also used to prounced zeds and zees thanks to Sesame Street.
OK, a google search shows it has been around in English since 1770 at least (i.e. in British English) but that it only gained widespread use relatively recently, which would have coincided with my arrival in the US, hence my impression it was an Americanism. Seems to be language mavens view it as illogical and/or ungrammatical but acceptable.
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
It’s hardly ungrammatical, though it does seem to be implying a missing logical step - ie the only counties in the state which made such a drastic reduction in voting access were those which swung to the Democrats.
"Hugo Rifkind" Tech giants aren’t selling, they’re buying you We need to be realistic about why internet companies are pouring astronomical sums into artificial intelligence research" (£)
(CNN): Where President Donald Trump decides to spend the final weeks of his presidency has become a matter of internal speculation as aides wonder whether he'll leave the White House for the holidays -- and never return.
At this stage, there are plans for Trump to remain at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach over Christmas and New Year's, but the guidance offered to staffers ends there, people familiar with the plans said. Trump could return to Washington for the final days on his term. But there have also been some discussions about the President and the first lady remaining in Florida and not coming back to the White House, a White House official said.
Guardian: A trial is likely to go ahead in January to find out whether mixing and matching Covid vaccines gives better protection than two doses of the same one, the head of the British government’s taskforce has said.
The concept is known as a heterologous prime-boost. “It means mix and matching vaccines,” said Bingham. “So you do a prime with one vaccine and then the second – whether it’s 28 days or two months or whatever the agreed periods would be – would be with a different vaccine.”
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
A propos nothing, I'm a big fan of William and Kate but why the fudgety-fudge are they traipsing around the country during a pandemic? Who the heck do they think they are? Have they not heard of setting an example?
They're really fallen in my estimation. It's self-important nonsense and totally ill-conceived.
Also on a tangent, but one that SeanT might find interesting from his travels, a piece from CNN about the huge synthetic drug production in the Golden Triangle of SE Asia:
Really interesting video about how electric cars will interact with classic cars in the future.
TL:DR almost everyone buying an electric car now, is doing it for the tax advantages. Classic cars that drive few miles have almost no effect on CO2 emissions.
A propos nothing, I'm a big fan of William and Kate but why the fudgety-fudge are they traipsing around the country during a pandemic? Who the heck do they think they are? Have they not heard of setting an example?
They're really fallen in my estimation. It's self-important nonsense and totally ill-conceived.
A rare point on which you and I agree. Why on Earth are people travelling during a pandemic?
Incredible life even apart from test pilot heroics, helped the French Resistance to make bombs after being shot down in 1944, was one of the first to shoot down an Me 262.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
F1: not sure it's confirmed Hamilton's missing Abu Dhabi, though it seems likely.
Ladbrokes have the big three (Russell included) at 2.87 for the win. Albon is 81, behind Perez, Ricciardo, Ocon, and Stroll, tying with Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, and Gasly.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
They're a data-harvesting company that offers a taxi service. They still haven't worked out how to monetise that data, but they are creating a shedload of it across multiple markets every single day.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
And they are based close to the area where the London Press hangs out!
A Russian businessman who was married to Vladimir Putin’s daughter received an estimated $380m (£283m) stake in a Russian petrochemicals company for just $100, an investigation by Russia’s iStories investigative outlet has claimed.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
Indeed - the right wing commentariat describing the Millwall support as typical of ordinary football fans merely demonstrates how little the right wing commentariat knows about ordinary football fans.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
Indeed - the right wing commentariat describing the Millwall support as typical of ordinary football fans merely demonstrates how little the right wing commentariat knows about ordinary football fans.
you mean they are all well off middle class because no one else can afford the ticket prices ?
Incredible life even apart from test pilot heroics, helped the French Resistance to make bombs after being shot down in 1944, was one of the first to shoot down an Me 262.
So. Clearly before social distancing became a thing.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
Edit: Next ridiculously overhyped technology: fusion power. It's very, very difficult and won't be feasible for a long time, if ever. Don't believe otherwise.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
Indeed - the right wing commentariat describing the Millwall support as typical of ordinary football fans merely demonstrates how little the right wing commentariat knows about ordinary football fans.
you mean they are all well off middle class because no one else can afford the ticket prices ?
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
Commercial imperatives and hype, of the type which is driving the wider AI movement more broadly. AI has proved its usefulness in certain specific areas, but it's still characterised by a fairly poor ratio of global hype to achievement up to now, purely because of the billions upon billions of dollars and pounds involved.
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
That implies there are ‘nice’ Milwall fans.
The one I know seems a nice enough bloke. Professional carer. Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
In Russia, by contrast, they have threatened to shoot the first person to refuse a vaccine.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Lots of clubs have an element of supporters that are trouble. I think the thing with Millwall is that their troublesome element is a much larger proportion of their overall support.
Indeed - the right wing commentariat describing the Millwall support as typical of ordinary football fans merely demonstrates how little the right wing commentariat knows about ordinary football fans.
you mean they are all well off middle class because no one else can afford the ticket prices ?
The one problem with the League Cup is that tickets are cheap - it allows the riff raff to get in:
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
Could. I suggest we have a self imposed limit of only posting the same thing three times in any 24 hour period these constant identical postings and individual spats are ruining the debates.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
There are other issues too, though, concerned with the commercially-driven overestimation of how far AI has come more broadly. The 1970s and early 1980s saw something quite similar, before expectations settled down into a more realistic pattern.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
I don't see why the ability to drive autonomously on motorways would be such a game-changer for logistics. You've still got to pay a driver to sit in the vehicle when it enters and leaves the motorway network. The only difference is that the driver can have a snooze while on the motorway (which itself would obviously require absolute trust in the technology).
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
There are other issues too, though, concerned with the commercially-driven overestimation of how far AI has come more broadly. The 1970s and early 1980s saw something quite similar, before expectations settled down into a more realistic pattern.
In other areas, AI has led to striking advances. Voice recognition, for example, has come on enormously over the last couple of decades, as has machine translation.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
I don't see why the ability to drive autonomously on motorways would be such a game-changer for logistics. You've still got to pay a driver to sit in the vehicle when it enters and leaves the motorway network. The only difference is that the driver can have a snooze while on the motorway (which itself would obviously require absolute trust in the technology).
I think that its much more likely that they will be first used in a highly controlled environment such as an airport to move people and luggage to and from fixed points with their flexibility slowly increasing from there. Cities and country roads will be too complex for a considerable time yet but they might operate in dedicated lanes in a similar way.
Uber’s fraught and deadly pursuit of self-driving cars is over
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
So now they’re nothing but a massively loss-making taxi company.
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
I’m not sure if it Was it here or elsewhere that I pointed out that self driving cars isn’t a 98/2% problem but a 99.99998% / 0.00002%
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
Not everyone. Quite a number of us on this site have been pointing out for ages that automated cars are, for exactly this reason, still a long, long way off other than in controlled environments (e.g. motorways, perhaps). What I find it hard to fathom is why the people tasked with working on these projects and their investors seem to take so long to reach the same conclusion.
You have this the wrong way around. What most people have failed to fathom is that an automated car does not have to work on every road in every circumstance to hold a multi trillion valuation and to provide the associated level of customer utility / societal disruption.
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
There are other issues too, though, concerned with the commercially-driven overestimation of how far AI has come more broadly. The 1970s and early 1980s saw something quite similar, before expectations settled down into a more realistic pattern.
In other areas, AI has led to striking advances. Voice recognition, for example, has come on enormously over the last couple of decades, as has machine translating.
Indeed, but just as in the 1970s and 1980s, these are much less challenging than the promised domestic robots that would run your house and take care of all functions. The disappointing result for many were mini Tomy robots which would wheel up and down carrying a mug of beer, until they hit unforeseen walls.
Comments
"Election officials in Cobb County, the third largest county in Georgia, are planning to open fewer than half the early voting locations for the Senate runoff elections in January. It is one of the only counties in the state to make such a drastic reduction in voting access while the pandemic surges.
The county swung heavily to Democrats in the general election"
NYTimes
Biden 1.04
Democrats 1.04
Biden PV 1.02
Biden PV 49-51.9% 1.03
Trump PV 46-48.9% 1.03
Trump ECV 210-239 1.06
Biden ECV 300-329 1.06
Biden ECV Hcap -48.5 1.05
Biden ECV Hcap -63.5 1.06
Trump ECV Hcap +81.5 1.01
AZ Dem 1.05
GA Dem 1.05
MI Dem 1.04
NV Dem 1.04
PA Dem 1.05
WI Dem 1.05
Trump to leave before end of term NO 1.11
Trump exit date 2021 1.08
So, it's official, I am on old fuddy-duddy.
A woman who has spent 6 months asking the most ridiculous questions about what the rules are and aren't just didn't know the rules....while she spends every day trashing everybody else if they even hesitate about what they are.
The use of pants to mean underpants (something I don't recall before the Eighties) still jars with me.
https://twitter.com/bbcnewsnight/status/1336084243194261506?s=21
I can think of about 40 posters on here, on both sides of the argument, who could claim more expertise.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/07/timnit-gebru-google-firing-resignation-ai-research
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/07/putins-former-son-in-law-bought-shares-worth-380m-for-100-report-says
Don't confuse disliking Trump and being willing to call him out (and being on the way out himself - he'd already announced this was his final term) with being on the brink of defection or doing Joe Biden a major favour.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55215778
Uber is selling its autonomous vehicle business to Aurora Innovations, a San Francisco-based startup founded by the former head engineer of Google’s self-driving car project, the two companies announced Monday.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/7/22158745/uber-selling-autonomous-vehicle-business-aurora-innovation
Full self driving cars are still miles away, despite the $10bns spent on the research on them.
Now, Ms Collins is probably immune, as she's in Blue Maine. And Toomey is on his way out, anyway.
But Ben Sasse in Nebraska (very Red) and Mitt Romney in Utah (whatever colour Mormons are) could both be primaried if they strayed too far from the party line,
There's also Murkowski, who lost a Primary challenge and then won as a write-in.
Zero
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1336091885497176079
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-ports-brexit-customs-transition-period/
Tech giants aren’t selling, they’re buying you
We need to be realistic about why internet companies are pouring astronomical sums into artificial intelligence research" (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/tech-giants-arent-selling-theyre-buying-you-jhqfljs5h
At this stage, there are plans for Trump to remain at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach over Christmas and New Year's, but the guidance offered to staffers ends there, people familiar with the plans said.
Trump could return to Washington for the final days on his term. But there have also been some discussions about the President and the first lady remaining in Florida and not coming back to the White House, a White House official said.
The concept is known as a heterologous prime-boost. “It means mix and matching vaccines,” said Bingham. “So you do a prime with one vaccine and then the second – whether it’s 28 days or two months or whatever the agreed periods would be – would be with a different vaccine.”
The sell off of the self driving car business, to another company with the same major shareholders, looks to me like the investors putting their hands in their pockets to prop up Uber for another year.
I’ll stick my neck out and say we’ll not see self-driving cars for years, except in very controlled environments.
https://twitter.com/CuomoPrimeTime/status/1336157469622538240?s=20
I could see him going all the way in years to come but he does first need to win Jan 5th.
Early voting begins on Monday in both runoffs (so not really a month away).
They're really fallen in my estimation. It's self-important nonsense and totally ill-conceived.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/07/asia/laos-ban-mom-port-zhao-wei-intl-hnk-dst/index.html
TL:DR almost everyone buying an electric car now, is doing it for the tax advantages. Classic cars that drive few miles have almost no effect on CO2 emissions.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=1CUA2imRYRM
Why on Earth are people travelling during a pandemic?
97 years, and still tweeting last week.
https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/status/1336150145369444352
Brief clip of some aerobatics.
https://twitter.com/vashikoo/status/1255083591379202048
Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match
It looks like those nasty Millwall fans have won.
Of course, one swallow and all that.
And Good Morning everyone. Just had a newsflash from Sky to say first Covid vaccine shot administered.
Edit - my personal experience of Milwall fans is that they are right scummy gits. But maybe I’ve just been unlucky in that every time I’ve been near a match I’ve only seen the ones that riot.
Because automation beyond a point removes the needs for the driver to concentrate the actual point at which you can say an automated car is safe is actually far, far later than everyone thought.
F1: not sure it's confirmed Hamilton's missing Abu Dhabi, though it seems likely.
Ladbrokes have the big three (Russell included) at 2.87 for the win. Albon is 81, behind Perez, Ricciardo, Ocon, and Stroll, tying with Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, and Gasly.
Just that market, so not betting yet.
Cynical? Moi?
I am hearing interesting rumours of another Tory Minister trying to bung a contract to his mates.
The animals looked from pig to man, and man to pig, but could no longer see any difference.
Edit: Next ridiculously overhyped technology: fusion power. It's very, very difficult and won't be feasible for a long time, if ever. Don't believe otherwise.
Only in Britain. Imagine the puns if he'd been first.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46630294
William Shakespeare XXIV
Tesla’s current autopilot offering requires you to hold onto the wheel and stay alert and there’s plenty it still doesn’t even attempt to do. And yet an estimated third of new Tesla owners still buy the software at a price of $10k. Just wait until it “only” allows hands off - no observation driving on motorways. Quite a game changer for the value of those vehicles, and for global logistics you will agree.
Personally I think almost everyone has this wrong. I have a long standing bet that we’re going to see driverless vehicles approved somewhere before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. I expect I’ll probably now lose that bet but not by much.
Just another example of the mismanagement of this crisis.
I suppose a recurrent theme of his plays is how power corrupts, and brings despotism. Is he an early advocate of anarcho-syndicalism?