What backs the dollar is the faith that the 14 trillion dollars will some day pay the 55 trillion dollars off.
Actually, what backs the dollar in the US is that the only legal tender for payment of taxes is USD, and if you don't pay your taxes you eventually wind up in jail.
If the supposed scarcity of engineers is real, then engineers would be paid a whole lot more, which would entice more people to go into engineering.
Exactly. Engineers come from a limited pool of people. You need to be smart and hard working. I'd hazard a guess and say that below IQ 125 or so just isn't going to cut it. So basically only about 5% of the population could even be an engineer.
If you are smart enough to be an engineer, especially a good engineer, you are also smart enough to be able to choose business, accounting, law, pharmacy, dentistry, medicine, etc. You are also smart enough to google pay scales and such while still in high school, and pick a career that is going to maximize the reward for the risk and the effort. If you want to rob those other well remunerated fields to create more engineers (since the game is zero-sum), you need to show the prospective students the money.
The other alternative is of course to create some sort of selective breeding program to create a society of engineers, but it would be politically impossible to implement and certainly not see any results over one presidential term. So yeah, show us the money.
...that's why you take a good, hard look at who pulls the strings for a given language and why before you adopt it
As long as it's properly FOSS and it is the best in its class, I think you are fine. If it's great, FOSS and the company screws up then it WILL be forked.
Being 12 year old, I find this entire discussion incredibly discriminating. It's bad enough that I'm subjected to taxation without representation, but now mandatory censorship?
On the bright side, you can do many things and get at most a slap on the wrist that would get an adult incarcerated for a long, long time. If Gary McKinnon was 12 years old in 2001 he would probably have received a job offer instead of a summons. And I think you are mistaken if you think being an adult qualifies you for representation. For that you will need money and influence.
You don't need to get rid of every single resistant bacterium to see public health benefits. In the absence of regular exposure to antibiotics, the 'superbugs' have no competitive advantage over other bacteria (indeed, maintaining their antibiotic resistance when they don't need it probably costs them just a little bit) and there will just naturally be fewer of them in the domestic food supply. It's not perfect, but it's better than doing nothing. And sometimes it's good to set a constructive example.
You bring up some good points. I probably should have prefaced that I think that the FDA should act in this case, and that the USA should set a good example. And I know that they can force other countries to toe the line by virtue of their import restrictions. I just didn't see this being addressed in any of the other comments.
I do realize that superbugs only have a competitive advantage over other bacteria in places like the human body, once entrenched (since everything else annoying will get destroyed by regular antibiotics). And they will continue to be a problem in any environment that sees a lot of contact between different people, e.g. contact sports with a lot of skin contact (e.g. wrestling), prostitution, hospitals, etc. Because people will continue to do those sort of activities and travel internationally, I doubt we'll ever be rid of diseases like MRSA. But we have to do something.
The USA doesn't grow most of the world's food. Farms in other countries will still use antibiotics irrespective of what the FDA does. The superbugs being developed elsewhere will eventually migrate to every other country. If we are to retain the ability to use the antibiotics we have today, action needs to be taken globally. Not sure how to enforce that, but that's what would have to happen.
feel the inside of your mouth. between your incisors and your molars (you have both, you're an omnivore): you can feel two jagged teeth. these are called your CANINES. they are MADE to RIP flesh from bone and masticate it
I prefer to use my molars for the actual mastication bit, but to each their own.
(5) is key. From what I've seen of dosbox, it works great. And from what I know from open source, the best there is will keep better because there is someone there improving it. Not that there aren't some notable exceptions (*cough* Amarok *cough*) but you can always use the old version.
(6) You can run the game on a modern large monitor. Or if it's too pixellated just run it in a window.
Throughout human history there have been hungry and starving people. As long as breeding abundantly in times of feast works out good for some segment of the population, they will continue to do it. I don't see how dumping more sugar in the petri dish is going to solve anything.
OTOH, we probably have the technology to actually make a difference in whether humanity gets wiped out or not either by our own stupidity or some other extinction event. If humanity gets wiped out, the starving millions get wiped out too.
Just to note...as someone in the building industry, I can tell you that home inspectors suck ass; the market doesn't support a real quality inspection, plus the real estate agent doesn't have a whole lot of incentive to hire a home inspector who _will_ find all the problems, because damn near any home has something worth mentioning to the trained eye.
What would you recommend as the best alternative? Learn the stuff yourself via googling, or hire someone else, e.g. a builder?
We'll always have lots of problems, but computers sure have solved SOME of mine. Computing is only lame if you use it for lame things.
I would give you mod points if I could. There are definitely some scary aspects to the current state of the world's technology, but there are also miraculous things. It is SO much easier for someone with a brain and a basic understanding of maths and science to do their own backyard R&D. The answers are literally at your fingertips. If you can think it, someone has probably tried it or done it. And if you are smart, you can often improve on what they have done. With enough eyes, all bugs are shallow. It applies to more than software.
The numbers may be against our survival. Our technology and the stupidity of at least one individual may hold within it the seeds of our own destruction. However, I am hopeful that our technology and ingenuity also provides a degree of resiliency to our species. With our technology we are a very hardy species already, exploring and living in more environments than any other species but those who ride on our coattails. I'm betting that we can do this.
The summary unfairly rewards low-grade abuse-resistant machines/brains.
In lots of ways, real life rewards the high-grade machine that is vulnerable to abuse. e.g. if I can make sound investment decisions or find interesting and well enough paid work, I'm happy to forget what I came to the supermarket for. That's what shopping lists are for, and why I write them. To be someone who can't tell when the talking heads on the financial channels are full of s***, or condemned to flip burgers for the term of my natural life.. no thanks.
The "Imperial" system actually works better for "rule of thumb" style measurements.
Perhaps we should throw out all our silly base 10 number system and start counting in base 12. And then we can move to Systeme Imperiale. Water would boil at a convenient gross degrees. And base 12 has the useful property that not only does it go to 11, but it also goes to 12! (Dozenalist pedants can substitute X,E; T,E; A,B; *,# if they prefer).
you can't be capitalistic and complain about cheap foriegn labor. that's is being a hypocrite
Well you can be mercantilist then. I would argue that countries like China are much more mercantilist than capitalist anyway.
However, an individual action by a businessman to support his own country in the face of market reality is suicidal, especially where the other businesses in his country have no qualms about doing anything for a dollar. The only way that would work is if they lobbied together for protectionist laws that would affect all businesses within the US.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, what backs the dollar in the US is that the only legal tender for payment of taxes is USD, and if you don't pay your taxes you eventually wind up in jail.
Exactly. Engineers come from a limited pool of people. You need to be smart and hard working. I'd hazard a guess and say that below IQ 125 or so just isn't going to cut it. So basically only about 5% of the population could even be an engineer.
If you are smart enough to be an engineer, especially a good engineer, you are also smart enough to be able to choose business, accounting, law, pharmacy, dentistry, medicine, etc. You are also smart enough to google pay scales and such while still in high school, and pick a career that is going to maximize the reward for the risk and the effort. If you want to rob those other well remunerated fields to create more engineers (since the game is zero-sum), you need to show the prospective students the money.
The other alternative is of course to create some sort of selective breeding program to create a society of engineers, but it would be politically impossible to implement and certainly not see any results over one presidential term. So yeah, show us the money.
Yes it is.
As long as it's properly FOSS and it is the best in its class, I think you are fine. If it's great, FOSS and the company screws up then it WILL be forked.
On the bright side, you can do many things and get at most a slap on the wrist that would get an adult incarcerated for a long, long time. If Gary McKinnon was 12 years old in 2001 he would probably have received a job offer instead of a summons. And I think you are mistaken if you think being an adult qualifies you for representation. For that you will need money and influence.
You bring up some good points. I probably should have prefaced that I think that the FDA should act in this case, and that the USA should set a good example. And I know that they can force other countries to toe the line by virtue of their import restrictions. I just didn't see this being addressed in any of the other comments.
I do realize that superbugs only have a competitive advantage over other bacteria in places like the human body, once entrenched (since everything else annoying will get destroyed by regular antibiotics). And they will continue to be a problem in any environment that sees a lot of contact between different people, e.g. contact sports with a lot of skin contact (e.g. wrestling), prostitution, hospitals, etc. Because people will continue to do those sort of activities and travel internationally, I doubt we'll ever be rid of diseases like MRSA. But we have to do something.
The USA doesn't grow most of the world's food. Farms in other countries will still use antibiotics irrespective of what the FDA does. The superbugs being developed elsewhere will eventually migrate to every other country. If we are to retain the ability to use the antibiotics we have today, action needs to be taken globally. Not sure how to enforce that, but that's what would have to happen.
I prefer to use my molars for the actual mastication bit, but to each their own.
Why do you presume they don't already have such a thing? (Other than the OTP, of course.)
I think he meant in terms of danger to people's lives, not blowback.
Damn straight.
If I may act equilaterally, it's time to start scalene back the jokes, guys.
(5) is key. From what I've seen of dosbox, it works great. And from what I know from open source, the best there is will keep better because there is someone there improving it. Not that there aren't some notable exceptions (*cough* Amarok *cough*) but you can always use the old version.
(6) You can run the game on a modern large monitor. Or if it's too pixellated just run it in a window.
That video was amazing - what you don't know can certainly hurt you. Thanks for the, uh, "heads up".
Technically speaking, that should be a beodawg cluster.
Throughout human history there have been hungry and starving people. As long as breeding abundantly in times of feast works out good for some segment of the population, they will continue to do it. I don't see how dumping more sugar in the petri dish is going to solve anything.
OTOH, we probably have the technology to actually make a difference in whether humanity gets wiped out or not either by our own stupidity or some other extinction event. If humanity gets wiped out, the starving millions get wiped out too.
What would you recommend as the best alternative? Learn the stuff yourself via googling, or hire someone else, e.g. a builder?
I would give you mod points if I could. There are definitely some scary aspects to the current state of the world's technology, but there are also miraculous things. It is SO much easier for someone with a brain and a basic understanding of maths and science to do their own backyard R&D. The answers are literally at your fingertips. If you can think it, someone has probably tried it or done it. And if you are smart, you can often improve on what they have done. With enough eyes, all bugs are shallow. It applies to more than software.
I think as long as you play the Iron Maiden loudly enough your neighbours can hear, you should be fine. Pink Floyd and Phish, not so much.
The numbers may be against our survival. Our technology and the stupidity of at least one individual may hold within it the seeds of our own destruction. However, I am hopeful that our technology and ingenuity also provides a degree of resiliency to our species. With our technology we are a very hardy species already, exploring and living in more environments than any other species but those who ride on our coattails. I'm betting that we can do this.
In lots of ways, real life rewards the high-grade machine that is vulnerable to abuse. e.g. if I can make sound investment decisions or find interesting and well enough paid work, I'm happy to forget what I came to the supermarket for. That's what shopping lists are for, and why I write them. To be someone who can't tell when the talking heads on the financial channels are full of s***, or condemned to flip burgers for the term of my natural life.. no thanks.
Scalability is a complicated topic and it's hard to make a general statement like that.
Perhaps we should throw out all our silly base 10 number system and start counting in base 12. And then we can move to Systeme Imperiale. Water would boil at a convenient gross degrees. And base 12 has the useful property that not only does it go to 11, but it also goes to 12! (Dozenalist pedants can substitute X,E; T,E; A,B; *,# if they prefer).
Well you can be mercantilist then. I would argue that countries like China are much more mercantilist than capitalist anyway.
However, an individual action by a businessman to support his own country in the face of market reality is suicidal, especially where the other businesses in his country have no qualms about doing anything for a dollar. The only way that would work is if they lobbied together for protectionist laws that would affect all businesses within the US.
Why?