What is the probability that the Earth would be struck by one during some period of time? What would the observable effects be?
IIRC, tiny black holes would pass right through the earth. They might cause small acoustic effects, and people have looked for these in seismic data, with no definitive results yet.
I seem to recall a professor detailing such an event when I was at university circa 2002.
He didn’t refer to it as a black hole, though.
unwilling to pay even a tiny token amount for a service they use
This isn't really true, though. Whatsapp used to be an annual paid service at $1 per year.
People are willing to pay some small amount for a compelling service.
Librem 5 from purism is a linux phone in development. [1]
Sure, it's not shipping for another year, but the company has shipped plenty of (well-regarded) linux laptops, and even gone so far as to figure out how to shut off intel's AMT in their newer machines. [2]
[1] https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpuri.sm%2Fshop%2Flibrem-5%2F
[2] https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpuri.sm%2Flearn%2Favoiding...
"We regret to inform you that we're discontinuing YouTube TV. You will have nine days to move to a new TV provider."
Like clockwork.
It's a pretty big world, and part of it's always going to be gloomy, and part of it's always going to be booming.
That's how slashdot's always been...
I've dealt with a few, and I will grant that for some 'shiny' is probably enough.... but... I think that in most cases it will depend on whether the CEO is willing to dedicate time to learning Win8 or not. It does take time to learn, and until you learn, you look stupid.
CEOs don't like to look stupid.
Unless they have come to Win8 on their own, it is very unlikely that a CEOs underlings will persuade them to change.
Sure, people lose some mental faculty as they age, but in my estimation it's far more likely because of physical degradation of the brain than a hand-waving concept like "degradation of psyche". Stop the physical degradation of the brain, and the mind will remain fresh.
Observation: Insurance rates are currently set at a level that the market and competitive pressure will bear, without this additional information.
Prediction: Early adopters will see some benefit in lowered insurance costs, but once most people are enrolled, insurance rates will creep back up to previous levels (that being the established level that the market will bear). Insurance companies will create additional rules that will facilitate a greater rate of insurance claim denial based up the new information, and will see greater profits arise due to this. Consumers overall will see no benefit in the long run.
Apple's dev kit was free until v4, and is now priced at a whopping $4.99. With that, you get easy access to a huge amount of resources for learning, and a thriving community to boot. The eclipse dev kit and the android development plugin is free, and again you get a huge number of example, a community, and support.
What you don't get from either is jerked around for $200 before you can even poke your head in the door. With iOS and Android, you can develop to your heart's content for free, and if you decide you've got something that you want to publish, you can do it after paying the $99 (Apple) or $25 (Android).
If that's too expensive, shift your focus to Android development. You can release you APK for free, and anyone can install after downloading it from your own website.
Finally - other people have disagreed with me, but I see the Arthur/Fenchurch bit as the high point of the series. Here's Arthur, beaten up for years in the other books, finally find a soulmate and happiness. Marvin finally feels good about something.
As far as I'm concerned, THE END.
The first time a company attempts shenanigans like this, there's an uproar. Then they wait a while, for some of the people to get used to the idea, or apathetic, or both, and then attempt it again.
Too much hue and cry the second time results in a third repetition, with a slightly longer cycle. Process repeats until implementation.
I've got agree with malevolentjelly on this. If you're going to take on the mantle of speaking from authority, you should have some authority to speak from. In addition, the parent poster states that
"When Doctorow makes sweeping statements, it's best to back away and think through them"
and you write
"Measure an idea on its merits"
How does encouraging readers to step back and examine NOT cause them to measure ideas on merit? Did you even read what you replied to?
C++ is the best example of second-system effect since OS/360.
