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Someone was hit by a blimp?

And here's the wreckage./p

I'd say gaining complexity is perhaps the definition of evolution, perhaps even including bloat and complexity (even biological systems aren't immune. Lots of complex animals have useless bits left over weighing them down. Appendix, etc).

I agree with most of your other argument but you are flat wrong when you say the appendix is a "useless bit". By some very elementary research it can be seen that the human appendix, for example, is not vestigal and certainly seen to play a part in the immune system. In fact, the appendix can also be found useful for reconstructive surgery. If it has to be removed so be it, but do not classify it as useless just because some biology textbook says so, as research such as above has already been conducted to show that it is useful.

I think the argument is better made that GUIs have evolved too much for their own good. I wonder what would happen if you launched NT 4's explorer.exe in WinXP.... I think i'm gonna go try it...

Let us know the results you find and I hope you don't have anything vital that's not backuped on the machine before attempting your experiment.

The real reason there are blue lights in server rooms. They draw us in. And if caffine isn't enough.... http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060201_blu e_light.html

A better FA can be found here. This article is sort of related, and interseting.

Who is "us" exactly, and what did you propose to do? Cripple the world economy, thereby setting off mass warfare, disease, and starvation, leading to the decimation of huge numbers of people? Get off your high horse.

Also, what did you do? Have you foregone all conveniences of modern life? No more health care, no more eating food that was transported by polluting trucks. Right? Yeah, thought so. It's not so clear-cut when it comes down to you losing out.

Yeah, maybe there is a critical problem here, but stop pretending like you have the "right" solution to it and everyone else is just being stupid.

This article from May 2005 (I know, old news) says that personal nuclear powered batteries as early as 2007. There's not really any new tech in them, just a design innovation. The technology is called betavoltaics (Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaics).

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050513_new_b attery.html

Layne

As a follow up, I came across this article (May 2005) the other day:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050513_new_b attery.html

Layne

The thing about these ants... is it was proven that they only 'remembered' how many steps they tookhttp://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060629_ ant_pedometers.html. they didnt remember the path they took. and as far as i know... remembering an amount of steps takes a hell of a lot less information space than remembering the whole path.

Slashdot wants more characters per line Sky above 37Â375"N 122Â2222"W at Sat 2005 Jul 2 20:11 Slashdot wants more characters per line ScienceDaily Magazine -- News Summaries Slashdot wants more characters per line BBC NEWS | Science/Nature Slashdot wants more characters per line Science News Online Slashdot wants more characters per line Molecule of the Day Slashdot wants more characters per line The Loom Slashdot wants more characters per line Cosmic Variance Slashdot wants more characters per line Scientific American news Slashdot wants more characters per line Sciencegate Slashdot wants more characters per line New Scientist Slashdot wants more characters per line LiveScience Slashdot wants more characters per line Science And Politics Slashdot wants more characters per line Chris C Mooney Slashdot wants more characters per line symmetry Magazine Slashdot wants more characters per line Discover Magazine Slashdot wants more characters per line Mathematician OTD Slashdot wants more characters per line Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home Slashdot wants more characters per line Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Home Slashdot wants more characters per line ESA - Cassini-Huygens Slashdot wants more characters per line NASA - Cassini-Huygens: Close Encounter with Saturn Slashdot wants more characters per line HiRISE Operations Center -- HiROC Slashdot wants more characters per line Cassini Saturn Slashdot wants more characters per line CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Slashdot wants more characters per line Saturn Today Slashdot wants more characters per line HubbleSite - NewsCenter Slashdot wants more characters per line MESSENGER Web Site Slashdot wants more characters per line Deep Impact: Your First Look Inside a Comet! Slashdot wants more characters per line Pluto, Charon, and other Kuiper Belt Objects including, Sedna, 2003 UB313, as well as Asteroids and Comets. Slashdot wants more characters per line Nature Slashdot wants more characters per line Pharyngula

Call me skeptical, but a scientific summary from Fox News?

Here's a better one.

The first description of this idea - although not as a handheld- seems to have been made in 1934, where ' In his 1934 story The Lost Language, writer David H. Keller describes a device that is actually able to make speech from printed text--the sound-transposing machine.'

/* The republicans have become very good at presenting "evidence" that anyone who already believes a point and wants to continue, can do so. */

/* Liberals however tend to be more ready to challenge their preconceived ideals, so aren't as open to fluff pieces aimed at allowing someone to retain a "Faith" in the face of significant evidence against it. */

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Like when I watched "Bowling for Columbine", and then found out that it was full of half-truths, distortions, and outright lies, I went to some of my "liberal" friends to discuss it. After seeing the evidence and point-by-point dissections of Moore's movie, they all agreed that it was just propaganda. Oh wait, no they didn't, they put their fingers in their ears and screeched loudly to drown out the common sense. Here's a link for those liberals that will believe it, and even for those rascally republicans that will just ignore it. http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060124_politi cal_decisions.htmlDemocrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds

Here's the thing. We all do it. Now that you are aware of it, you can stop acting like some snarky pious better-than-you-because-I-am-open-minded snob.

Hawking probably just read this , and panicked.

It turns out kids notice that nobody says "I believe germs exist" or "I believe in gravity", but people do say "I believe in God". And so kids are much less sure about God existing. (Nobody gets punished for not believing in atoms.)

I only wish more parents would realize that about their "beliefs", and think about it.

Hey numbnuts ... this chip idea is for the illegals crossing the Mexican border. Not for the legal immigrants. You didn't even have to RTFA to know that as it's right in the goddamn article summary!

Nowhere in the article summary, linked article nor the Silverman transcript does it say it's for illegal immigrants.

If you read any of the above then you'd notice that it's a proposal for guestworkers coming in from Columbia and Mexico, additionally to have their tags verfied at their places of employment. There would be no real obstacles stopping this from expanding to immigrants from other countries.

What I'd like to know is: who's going to pay for all of the RFID readers deployed in the field and the communications infrastructure to verify the tags with the Department of Immigration?

evolution is about a hell of a lot more than mutations

Very true, and very unfortunate fo rthe evolution of slashdotters. You have to get a girlfriend before you can evolve.

The dumbass with an IQ of 60 living in a trailer park or a city's slum with his twelve kids will have descendants who rule the world.

Meanwhile, the assburger in his mother's basement with an IQ if 297 will sadly never pass his genes along. Evolutionary dead end, he is.

More on topic, there are Better sources of information that the Boston Herald. Gees, people! This is supposed to be a nerd site!

Humans have some really unique aspects about us as a species. We have advanced language. We have art. We have complex emotions and psychology.

Other animals have language (not as advanced, obviously), have been known to engage in artistic activity, and appear to experience emotion. (Of course we can't say for sure - but then I can't say for sure whether you experience emotion either.) They also show culture, in the form of complex learned behaviors that differ from group to group.

When I asked a professor point blank why the need for art and culture would develop through the course of evolution

Evolution produces all sorts of things that are not "needed" for survival, like peacock tails.

Take away its tax and our gasoline/petrol likely have similar costs. That extra tax you're paying is funding your health care system, which costs half of what ours does, while giving you better care.

Add the cost of our insurance premiums (and our employers' shares of it) and I'm sure we're paying twice as much as you.

After all, your government may be full of self-serving wankers like all countries' governments, but at least they're not for sale to the highest paying foreign corporation like ours are.

(thinking of retiring in Europe...)

From a little over a month ago on LiveScience.com about this uphill-flowing water. http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060329_w ater_uphill.html

Actually one of the other articles on that same page, The Real Spiderman deals with that topic.

A reproduction.

Not much more to say.
I find your skepticism for all things big business particularly ironic when juxtaposed with your (apparent) faith.

AFAICT, the heart of ID is that the 'proof' of evolutionary theory is nothing more than a godly prank on the scientific community, and the reason why there are (or rather, aren't) "missing links" is that the all-seeing, all-knowing God somehow 'forgot' to create some of the missing intermediate links in the paleontological record.

They seem to further believe that 'we're right' is sufficient scientific cause to throw out a couple of centuries of accumulated proof and refinement.

The real problem with ID proponents is that they seem to think that accepting evolution somehow requires a disbelief in god -- which is incorrect. Even the vatican has denounced anti-evolution ID as misguided, while clinging to the belief that God still had a hand in creation.

The fact of the matter is that the 'proof' of evolution is out there. You can believe it or not -- but if you reject it, you should at least be honest enough to admit that it's for religious reasons and not scientific ones.

Actually, he's up on the latest proposed model:

http://www.livescience.com/history/060309_easter_i sland.html

KFG

Right. A Hurricane has never made it to New York. And certainly not in the last 100 years...

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050601_h urricane_1938.html

As part of his daily routine, Kurzweil ingests 250 supplements, eight to 10 glasses of alkaline water and 10 cups of green tea. He also periodically tracks 40 to 50 fitness indicators, down to his "tactile sensitivity.'' Adjustments are made as needed.

http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedis play/img_display.php?pic=060308_sandia_z_02.jpg&ca p=%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fgoat.cx%22%3EAddit ional%20Images%3C%2Fa%3E

Look at this

"Housed at Sandia National Laboratories, the Z machine attracted a lot of attention eight years ago when its energy output more than quadrupled - raising hopes that the reactions in the Z could provide a new source of clean, abundant power. To help further progress towards this end, the machine is getting a $61.7 million upgrade, officials announced recently."

If you ask me that sounds like the Z-Machine did that eight years before ago.

It is embarrassing that so many people in the US still use these damn stupid units.

Here is another interesting Live"Science" article:
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/051219_chi mps_split.html
Search for "Max Plank" (it should read Max Planck).
Oh, and the title of the article is "When Humans and Chimps Split" - well done on this one!

...but I was more interested in this story. Just think...soon there could actually BE sharks with freaking laser beams on their heads.

Good luck finding somebody to carry your telegram. Western Union just shut down their telegraphy operation.

The company now believes its search tools are as good, if not better, than Google's--a message that Berkowitz believes would be difficult to convey as long as Jeeves stuck around.

"This is really the first time in our history that we have been able to stand up and shout about what we are doing so we can get the attention we deserve,'' Berkowitz said.

Read this: http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_eart h_mp.html for enlightenment.

What the fuck is right... I stand corrected, I don't like it, it's BS.

There's a study that you missed your chance to get in on.
Oh well, global warming's all about truthiness anyway, right?

Well, so getting married and staying married brings increased wealth (hey, I know that as a single guy, I no doubt spend a greater percentage of my income than if I were married). If you also have kids, you WILL get added immune protection as a mother even though there CAN be additional depression (the depression is stastically greater, although not absolutely greater). I know that my mom, after having 8 kids (I'm the oldest), has an incredible immune system and rarely if ever gets the flu/cold/etc. when we kids do. She can worry at times, but as long as the stress is limited, it's not a bad thing per se. And I'm sure she has no regrets from raising a large family and she's very socially adjusted and we as kids are also quite outgoing, friendly, and have a greater appreciation for diversity (and are much less fussy) than smaller families with whom we interact. Plus, there is a much greater cost benefit having 8 children rather than 4, not to mention the help the older give to the younger, babysitting opportunities, larger pool of shared knowledge, and a lot more. People never can tell I'm from a big family, because I really don't act any differently, and it's interesting trivia ...

Puzzling - that I keep posting URL for research - that shows jets causing global warming - but somehow a space is put into the word "earth" in the correct URL. Amazing isn't it. Censorship? Zombies!?

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060124_e arth_albedo.html

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060124_e arth_albedo.html/

Here's the URL - that Jets causing Global Warming.

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060124_e arth_albedo.html/

I guess my counterargument would be that the leveling effect of bringing the "outside" in doesn't damage the cause of censors if the "outside" gets as bad as (or equivalent to) the "inside".

I'm not convinced that things will get better there, partly because I see that things are getting worse out here. At some point, if the bad guys squash rivals everywhere, then the good guys lose.

Now, as a Christian, I have a certain faith that will not happen. But as an observer, I'm not real convinced. I see the US progressing to a stage where it is willing to do all the things the bad guys do. I see governments that are nominally Democratic and Free N Fair controlled by corporations, and doing some of those same bad things.

Nor am I convinced that Democracy provides a real answer, or helps governments stay off the "bad side". It isn't just the fact that Nazi Germany was previously a democratic power.

It has to do with things like the article here that question whether Democracy can stay rational and balanced. It has to do with the extreme undermining effect of corruption on society, and the fact that corruption seems to be inherent to unleashing power among those who desire it.

These things make me wonder if, as the density of our world population rises, the most stable (and therefore ultimate) situation might not be the rule of terror in a superautocratic society. By entropy, one might postulate that nobody could stay on top for long, but that doesn't mean that the system might not be stable.

If that were the case, it would not be a pleasant world to live in. Yes, people could still live virtuous lives. As a Christian, I'm sure that salvation would still be a serious issue for many people, and therefore Christianity would remain strong. But this is kindof saying that a dying man's thoughts are of eternity.

I R'd TFA and they linked to an article describing cars using around 250 miles/gallon.

Essentially, bats which had smaller testicles had larger brains while those who had larger testicles had smaller brains.

Those with bigger testicles were able to breed with more females more often than those with smaller testicles.

Given this, the question is "do the monkey police have a vice squad?"

There has been so much chicken little, sky is falling hysteria about voting I think the public has become immune.

It's not the hysteria that has the public numb to the consequences. It's the lack of real consequences to them of fraudulent voting.

The difference between the major parties in the US is so narrow that their reasons for garnering support are essentially tribal, and any politician is far more likely to represent the views of other politicians or lobbyists than those of their electorate. Even their lying is equivalent.... http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060124_politi cal_decisions.html

I'm sorry, but he did.

He said "like the DMCA, the NET Act was also signed into law by the Clinton Administration."

That's a direct quote, and an obvious attempt to deflect criticism of the GOP. If he'd meant to ( correctly ) spread the blame to all deserving parties, he would have said something more along the lines of "the DMCA and NET Acts had full support of the Democrats as well" or something like that.

Your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired

If you've read my posts and decided I'm a big fan of the Democratic party, the same could be said for your own reading comprehension... but I'm thinking that you are able to understand things that are written quite easily. It may simply be that you choose to ignore that information.

His birthday was January 6 in the Julian
calendar. Here's an article about it:
http://livescience.com/history/060104_franklin_cal endar.html

A fun unix parlor trick is the following:
    cal 9 1752
Unix cal knows where the 11 days were removed.
Franklin would be proud.

January 7 before the calander change.
http://www.livescience.com/history/060104_franklin _calendar.html

I read this write-up of the study in question:

http://www.livescience.com/history/ap_051215_mona_ lisa.html

This isn't science. Jim Wayman, a biometrics researcher, says "It's hocus pocus, not serious science, but it's good for a laugh, and it doesn't hurt anybody." He's right, though this is right up there with those studies that find an equation for the perfect ice cream cone, or whatever. The annoying thing is, people take this shit seriously.

Furthermore, from the link, "it couldn't detect the hint of sexual suggestion or disdain many have read into Mona Lisa's eyes". It occurs to me that the Mona Lisa, like all art, is subject to the interpretation of the viewer as well as the intent of the artist. Maybe the enigma WAS da Vinci's intent. In which case, studies like this are just blowing smoke up our asses. We all put a little of ourselves into the art.

I didn't get the IMAX reference and was about to reply, but instead looked it up:

Here's what I found for those interested:
http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050319_imax.h tml

Every day, I hear about it. Global warming this, global warming that, doom, gloom, and FUD. Got a hurricane problem? Well, it's obviously because of global warming, not a long-term, unrelated trend. Hot day? Well, that's global warming too, not just a high-pressure system. Global warming is even getting blamed for allergies:

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/051122_all ergy_rise.html

What's next, missing socks blamed on global warming?

Seriously, though, I'm not saying that there's no human factor in the current climate change, I'm just saying that the climate change is probably not as bad as some people are trying to make it out to be (FUD sells) and a significant portion of the climate change is probably natural. The fact is, we don't know for sure, and to make grandiose proclamations about climate change is unscientific.

And now, to the relevant portion, here's this link.

http://www.junkscience.com/MSU_Temps/Arctic.htm

Yes, the Arctic has been warming, but then again, it also cooled for a while, (and the last few years haven't even been the warmest on record) according to these guys. Granted, they seem to be biased in the anti-global warming direction, but at least it's an alternative voice in a din of FUD.

Dead Wrong. Google wholphin for more. I think this even made Slashdot.

Even the famous example of a sterile hybrid the mule occasionally reproduces. Didn't you catch the meaning of 'almost always sterile'?

You can't understand how biologists can put so much credence into an 'obviously wrong theory' because you are ignorant.

You did get one thing right, if only by accident. "Yet, somehow evolutionists want us to believe that not only can one species mutate into another, but that they do this in male-female pairs!" They really don't want us to believe this, 'cause they know it is wrong. The part you got right is that this is pretty much impossible. It is not a matter of one big mutation. If you really want to understand how new species can arise, google "ring species"

Supposedly the HAARP-aurora interaction DOES create naked eye visible scintillations when at 1 MW.....