Hydro power isn't considered all that sustainable. For one, dams mess up river ecology, and the reservoir floods large areas of land and often displaces people. Because of the lowered velocity of water in the reservoir, the river drops much of its suspended load, the reservoir fills up with silt, and it needs to be dregded at great expense in money and energy. Also, most of the suitable hydropower sites in the world already have been exploited.
Don't forget that Russ Feingold is the same Senator who introduced a bill to halt research on data-mining technology by the Dept. of Homeland Security until Congress can investigate it.
Hey, considering that Nicola released Renaissance mere weeks ago, the fact that it's stable, usable and highly cool on GNUstep and MacOS X is quite an achievement!
Look at the statistics. The sidewalk is almost always less safe for bicyclists than the street. It's really bad when you ride on the sidewalk next to opposing traffic. Drivers just aren't looking for fast-moving bicycles to enter intersections or cross driveways from the sidewalk. Same reason that bike paths that parallel roads are less safe than the road. Drivers may swear, but at least it means they saw you!
I have to chime in here, having read up on this topic recently....
Sure, you can look at the Segway as another excuse not to walk or ride. But the truth of the matter is, for distances greater than 3 city blocks, most people will hop in their cars and drive. This leads to community designs without sidewalks, an absence of shops that can survive outside of a mall, shopping, strip, or otherwise, and other omissions (shade trees, pedestrian crossings, etc.) that tend to reinforce the impulse to drive.
In my opinion, that's the wrong way to look at it. The question: Why in hell is your destination usually more than 3 blocks away?! Well, it started out as a good idea -- get dirty industry away from residential areas -- but has turned into poor zoning laws. Just look at how most new development since the 1950's has residential, retail, and other business areas strictly segregated. In a lot of places (like Tampa, FL it seems), there's no worthwhile destination nearby and people are forced to drive. Once people are in their cars to go everywhere, why build pedestrian amenities? Thus, it's become a negative feedback loop.
I don't believe that a Segway is the answer. If an area lacks pedestrian- or bike-friendly facilities, why would people use a Segway to make the trip instead of a car? It's going to be just as dangerous and unpleasant as on foot or on a bike.
It's easy to call Objective C methods from C++ source. They have a 'language' called Objective C++ which consists of the ObjC extensions on top of C++. Now, as to re-writing the whole API in C++, forget it. Cocoa (and OpenStep from whence it came) was designed in and for Objective C and uses features of the language that are just not available in C++. It'd be like re-writing STL for C. (True, Cocoa does have Java support, but it's not seamless.)
Probably some do. The nation is full of pre-existing wood-frame houses. I'm sure that some of them live in straw bale, stone, or tamped-earth houses.
Furthermore, tree-sitters are aiming to protect old-growth forest. Y'know, that stuff that won't grow back for another 500-1000 years. Logging has already destroyed all but 1-2% of the nation's old-growth forest. I've been to the last patch of old-growth in Wisconsin. It's less than an acre.
So, why can't the lumber companies do their cutting in secondary-succession forests or the former prairie areas that have become forest, or on their extensive tree farms, and leave old-growth alone? Good forestry practices are not incompatible with environmental goals in the younger forests, but highly destructive in old-growth areas.
Of course, if any of you people who use this argument had actually bothered to educate yourself on the topic, you'd know some interesting facts: Fire-suppression in the nation's forests became entrenched policy and widespread with the rise of the conservation movement in the United States, with the likes of Gifford Pinchot. The idea was that fires destroy the valuable lumber in the forest. Yep, fire-suppression is a policy implemented to protect commercial logging interests. First loggers suppress the small, brush-clearing fires that don't affect the big trees, then bitch when the fuel builds up to fuel crown fires of Biblical proportions. A lot of environmentalists favor letting the little fires burn. They know that fires aren't supposed to take out large trees. That's logger crap. Instead of burning, big trees are supposed to fall down and rot. Forest soil is generally not rich soil, and a healthy forest needs the nutrients from rotting trees for the next generation of trees. Logging, even selective logging by the big lumber corporations, pulls out those nutrients. That's not to say that selective cutting isn't possible in a healthy forest, just not on the scale of the big lumber companies. There's a Native American reservation here in Wisconsin where they practice intelligent selective cuts. They started with 3 billion board feet of lumber in the 19th century, they've produced 9bn board feet over the years, and have 6bn now. That's good stewardship, but production rates that the big lumber companies would scoff at. To recap: Letting small fires burn also reduces the danger of the catastrophic forest fires, but it's the logging interests suppressing the small fires.
It must be that smug superiority of geeks, sustained and amplified through years of telling each other we're all so goddamn smart that we actually believe the hype. Gosh, if you can hack the Linux kernel, or if you can build a complete content management system for a company Web site, or if you can get paid a buttload of money at a computer job right out of high school, why then, you must know everything there is to know about the world, right?
That's the only explaination I can find for the concentration of knee-jerk anti-enviro hounds around here. Okay, if all y'all think yer so goddamn smart, a challenge:
It's easy to pick at an argument or position, to find inconsistencies or to attack parts of it. It's a hell of a lot harder to posit a position or argument yourself. The challenge, then, is to explain and support the idea that all of the changes made to the natural environment by humankind are a-okay and nothing to worry about. Oh yes, and no references whatsoever to the defects in the arguments of environmentalists, or any technology-will-fix-it-all-someday hand waving. Bonus points if you're actually aware of all or most (or even a lot) of the changes made to the natural enviroment by humankind.
The Green Party USA and Association of State Green Parties are seperate organizations with seperate platforms. Yep, there are Green Party members who won't denounce the maximum wage idea, and those who actively support it. That's probably why it's in the GPUSA platform. But as the AC says, the Green Party is a political party with a plurality of opinions.
You must understand something about the Green Party here. It's not a monolithic organization like the Republican and Democratic parties, it's a federation of local Green Parties. They have 10 key values, but not a unified platform. The maximum income plank comes from the Green Party USA platform. My point, in case anybody missed it, saying that you haven't heard of anybody disagreeing with a particular plank of a platform is a spectacular FUD tactic: You can smear somebody on the basis of omission! C'mon. For a person or a party to explicitly disagree with a particular plank, it would first have to be on their radar screens, so to speak. I cannot speak for all of the state parties, but I know that the Wisconsin Green Party platform does not include such a plank. Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign platform did not include such a plank. Omitting it from the platform surely implies disagreement, no?
(Please note: I have not yet seen anyone from the Republican or Democratic parties say they do not agree with what follows.)
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift First Published in 1729
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC
It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars; it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets.
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of 2s., which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.
There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! too frequent among us! sacrificing the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children, although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remains one hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born: the question therefore is, how this number shall be reared and provided for, which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing, till they arrive at six years old, except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier, during which time, they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers, as I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.
I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half-a-crown at most on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.
I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.
I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, increaseth to 28 pounds.
I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.
Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told by a grave author, an eminent French physician, that fish being a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season; therefore, reckoning a year after Lent, the markets will be more glutted than usual, because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom: and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of papists among us.
I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, laborers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants; the mother will have eight shillings net profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child.
Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.
As to our city of Dublin, shambles may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.
A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said that many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding fourteen years of age nor under twelve; so great a number of both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of work and service; and these to be disposed of by their parents, if alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance assured me, from frequent experience, that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our schoolboys by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable; and to fatten them would not answer the charge. Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission be a loss to the public, because they soon would become breeders themselves; and besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice (although indeed very unjustly), as a little bordering upon cruelty; which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, however so well intended.
But in order to justify my friend, he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa, who came from thence to London above twenty years ago, and in conversation told my friend, that in his country when any young person happened to be put to death, the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime dainty; and that in his time the body of a plump girl of fifteen, who was crucified for an attempt to poison the emperor, was sold to his imperial majesty's prime minister of state, and other great mandarins of the court, in joints from the gibbet, at four hundred crowns. Neither indeed can I deny, that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town, who without one single groat to their fortunes cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at playhouse and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for, the kingdom would not be the worse.
Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed, and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by cold and famine, and filth and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the young laborers, they are now in as hopeful a condition; they cannot get work, and consequently pine away for want of nourishment, to a degree that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labor, they have not strength to perform it; and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come.
I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies; and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an Episcopal curate.
Secondly, The poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to distress and help to pay their landlord's rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown.
Thirdly, Whereas the maintenance of an hundred thousand children, from two years old and upward, cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a-piece per annum, the nation's stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum, beside the profit of a new dish introduced to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom who have any refinement in taste. And the money will circulate among ourselves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture.
Fourthly, The constant breeders, beside the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children, will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year. Fifthly, This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns; where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection, and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating: and a skilful cook, who understands how to oblige his guests, will contrive to make it as expensive as they please.
Sixthly, This would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards or enforced by laws and penalties. It would increase the care and tenderness of mothers toward their children, when they were sure of a settlement for life to the poor babes, provided in some sort by the public, to their annual profit instead of expense. We should see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to the market. Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, their sows when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage.
Many other advantages might be enumerated. For instance, the addition of some thousand carcasses in our exportation of barreled beef, the propagation of swine's flesh, and improvement in the art of making good bacon, so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs, too frequent at our tables; which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well-grown, fat, yearling child, which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a lord mayor's feast or any other public entertainment. But this and many others I omit, being studious of brevity.
Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly weddings and christenings: I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses, and the rest of the kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand.
I can think of no one that will possibly be raised against this propasal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and it was indeed one principal design in offering it to the world. I desire the reader will observe, that I calculated my remedy for this one individual Kingdom of Ireland, and for no other that ever was, is, or, I think, ever can be upon earth. Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foriegn luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence, and temperance: Of learning to love our country, wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Tompinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor act any longe like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants. Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, into our shopkeepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure and goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair propasal of just dealing, though often and ernestly invited to it.
Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the likes expedients, till he hath at least a glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them in practice. But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly dispairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this propasal, which as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expense and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country that would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.
After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion as to reject any offer proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, and offering a better, I desire the author or authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points. First, as things now stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for an hundred thousand useless mouths and backs. And secondly, there being a round million of creatures in human figure throughout this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock would leave them in debt two millions of pounds sterling, adding those who are beggars by profession to the bulk of farmers, cottagers, and laborers, with their wives and children who are beggars in effect: I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold as to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food, at a year old in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes as they have since gone through by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the most inevitable prospect of entailing the like or greater miseries upon their breed for ever.
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
Don't be part of the problem. Be part of the solution. Be a Geek and make a scientifically based decision.
Okay. Science sez:
The United States produces a significant percentage of its sorghum, wheat and cotton on the Great Plains, irrigated by water from the Oglala aquifer. Agricultural and municipal wells are extracting the water at a rate fantastically higher than the aquifer recharge rate, so that it will run dry within decades.
Acid deposition from industrial, automobile and other sources of pollution damages trees and buildings, reduces the productivity of agricultural lands, and destroys aquatic ecosystems.
Intensive agricultural practices in the United States result in massive topsoil erosion, which damages aquatic ecosystems (the Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone' being the most dramatic example), and will eventually drastically cut the productivity of the affected land.
Big monoculture farms require the application of pesticides and fertilizers to keep crop yields high. Both add to the environmental damage mentioned above, and get into the ground water to contaminate municipal wells, too.
The U.S. converts 1 to 3 million acres of agricultural land to structured environment (cities, roads, etc.) annually. To compensate for the loss, the agriculture is driven to ever-more marginal lands.
Smog, mostly from industry and automobiles, causes billions of dollars annually in medical expenses and lost productivity, not to mention the human suffering from the various ailments.
Free-market economic theory sez: These costs of economic activity are not bourne by the primary actor, who reaps the benefits, but by everybody. Thus, the rational actor in a free market acts in destructive ways because he can get the full benefits of the activity and bear only a tiny fraction of the cost.
Any one actor causes only slight environmental damage, it is only in the aggregate that it becomes readily apparent and harmful, so there is no point of focus, no one actor for the market to punish.
Of course, above I have only listed those activities where the damage is done to resources held in common. The free market can correct for practices that damage specific areas, or come from specific sources in a short time frame-- but only after the damage has been done. And in cases where the damage does not become apparent until years or decades later, what recourse does the market have?
I expect you have some weasel words to make this argument sound irrelevant or misguided. But the fact of the matter is that people get cancer, lung diseases, suffer from birth defects or retardation, and other health problems all over the U.S. and the world as a result of environmentally-unfriendly economic practices. Sometimes the market can correct for what harmed them, sometimes it can't. Never-the-less, the harm is done. No amount of weasel words can change that fact.
Here's a classic example of "refutation by category." Here's how it works: Pay no attention to the thesis presented, just stick a label on it, say "Q.E.D." and refuse to discuss it further. "Envirowacko" is a good category to use, along with perennial favorites socialist, communist, racist, PC, religious fundamentalist, liberal media and "What about the children?!"
I keep hearing this about AmigaOS, and I still can't figure out what definition of "realtime" you're using. I learned that a realtime operating system is one that can guarantee a response to an external event within a given time.
AmigaOS patently does not satisfy this condition, because any running task on the system can disable interrupts, and therefore multitasking. Any program that need to walk the Exec list does so, which means that multitasking is disabled for varying amounts of time depending on the contents of the Exec list.
(My memory is hazy. Can't programs also install their own interrupt handlers? That, too, is going to lead to varying, unknown latencies.)
To me, the Amiga was special. It wasn't just a chipset, or an operating system. Indeed, there were the games and the demoscene that banged away at the hardware and made it really perform. There were the digital artists and animators who used the fantastic software of the time to take advantage of the machine's capabilities to create great works. There were electronic music composers galore putting out more MODs than anybody can count. There were the users who adored the multitasking operating system which boosted their productivity and enjoyment. There were the programmers who filled up Aminet with software. There was the desktop video production revolution begun with the Video Toaster. And there was the team of dedicated people designing and building the machine itself. "The Amiga" was a gestalt of all these things; hardware, operating system, and a wonderfully creative, vibrant user community.
That's dead. I left the Amiga scene four years after Commodore went toes up. It was finally time to go when most of the talented, dynamic people had fled the platform for greener pastures: BeOS, Linux, even Windows. All that was left were the "somebody should" people. Y'know, the people who say "somebody should do X," but do nothing themselves. Well, except for the well-meaning, insane people who would try to run Amiga development companies on a wing and a prayer before collapsing into financial ruin. That reminded me very much of the "ghost dancing" of the plains Indians as they tried to fight a force that was extinguishing their whole way of life.
All that's left now are some real die-hards who are happy to just now get Quake II, a company that has salvaged the Amiga name from the post-Commodore disaster, and an outdated operating system. This new hardware is a fine thing for those die-hards. It'll give them new hardware, faster machines, and new OS features. It's not enough, though, to even reverse the Amiga Diaspora and bring back all the talent and drive that made for such a rich user community. It's certainly not enough to bring in significant new blood.
I wish Eyetech luck. I hope they can make a profit on the AmigaOne, that there are enough die-hards to keep it going. I just won't be back, because it's not "the Amiga" anymore.
Am I to assume that your proposed solution to drunk driving is better driver training? After all, millions of people drive drunk without a problem. Given that, it makes sense to find ways to make this a little safer? [As has been pointed out already in this discussion, driving under the influence of a cell phone is just as impairing as driving while drunk, so the analogy is quite valid.]
In my opinion, what is really needed is some sort of GPS (or simliar) based autopilot feature. [...] If everybody had a guidance system (one that communicates with other vehicles), there would no longer be a need for Stop signs, traffic lights, or maybe even street lights.
That's nice in theory, and I'm not saying it can never be done, but how's a GPS-based autopilot going to deal with:
Pedestrians
Other road users (bicycles, mopeds, tractors, horse & buggy*, tractors*, et cetera)
Animals
Road closures
Road surface irregularity
Other unexpected obstructions
People, while not perfect, have a much better heuristic to handle real-world situations than any program I've yet seen.
* Yep, see both of these types of vehicles 'round here.
Bizarre personal biases aside, you'll notice that the flavor of the vast majority of discussions on Slashdot is negative. Set up *any* sort of plan, position, or proposition in front of this crowd and they'll delight in telling you that it sucks, it'll never work, and here's why. (Then again, this is hardly unique to Slashdot.)
While I agree with much of what you say, I'm in favor of keeping the Libertarians around. Y'see, politicians don't much like to take a stand on, or discuss issues that stray too far from the centrist view. Thus, the scope of political debate can become more and more narrow. We need the vocal lunatic fringes to raise the issues, and give the mainstream politicians an opportunity to talk about such issues, yet seem reasonable and moderate compared to the lunatic fringe.
All I see on that page is version 1.0 of the "MorphOS Development Reference Manual," but nowhere on the site do I see anything about a 1.0 release of the OS itself. Furthermore, the site says that the purpose of MorphOS is to run Amiga programs FREE OF the old Amiga hardware.
Whether you store the type of the file using the MIME type in a filesystem-based metadata, using a creator/type pair like the Macintosh, or encode the metadata into the filename (i.e. filename extensions), this information has one thing in common: It's extrinsic to the data. It can get lost or changed to an incorrect value.
We have countless examples of how hard this sucks. It ranges from an annoyance for Mac users dealing with files that came through a non-Mac system all the way up to lost time and money when users spread.vbs viruses because Windows hid the filename extension and they think an e-mail attachment is a.jpg file.
The better way is plain: use an intrinsic property of the data in a file. Put another way: Decide what data a file contains by looking at what data the file contains. That's exactly how the Unix 'file' command works. It matches bit patterns in the file against the "magic" database to determine a file type.
Of course, there are file types not easily identified by simple bit strings. Starting with v3.0, AmigaOS had it right with the DataTypes system. Part of DataTypes was the 'descriptor' which provided the system with three ways to identify types of data: a bit string, a callback function, and a filename pattern. These three can be combined, as well. Thus, it's possible to identify a JPEG image file by looking at the first four bytes, to tell the difference between an MPEG video stream and an MP3 with the callback function, and to fall back to identifying unstructured files, such as a raw dump of PCM sound data, by filename.
Why oh why has no other system adopted this cool system?
Slashdot Mirror
Hydro power isn't considered all that sustainable. For one, dams mess up river ecology, and the reservoir floods large areas of land and often displaces people. Because of the lowered velocity of water in the reservoir, the river drops much of its suspended load, the reservoir fills up with silt, and it needs to be dregded at great expense in money and energy.
Also, most of the suitable hydropower sites in the world already have been exploited.
Don't forget that Russ Feingold is the same Senator who introduced a bill to halt research on data-mining technology by the Dept. of Homeland Security until Congress can investigate it.
I'm proud to have voted for him.
Story here.
Anybody working on one? If we can find a good way to add support to GNUstep, I bet we could port this app fairly easily. (If it's a Cocoa app, natch.)
Hey, considering that Nicola released Renaissance mere weeks ago, the fact that it's stable, usable and highly cool on GNUstep and MacOS X is quite an achievement!
Look at the statistics. The sidewalk is almost always less safe for bicyclists than the street. It's really bad when you ride on the sidewalk next to opposing traffic. Drivers just aren't looking for fast-moving bicycles to enter intersections or cross driveways from the sidewalk. Same reason that bike paths that parallel roads are less safe than the road.
Drivers may swear, but at least it means they saw you!
I have to chime in here, having read up on this topic recently....
In my opinion, that's the wrong way to look at it. The question: Why in hell is your destination usually more than 3 blocks away?! Well, it started out as a good idea -- get dirty industry away from residential areas -- but has turned into poor zoning laws. Just look at how most new development since the 1950's has residential, retail, and other business areas strictly segregated. In a lot of places (like Tampa, FL it seems), there's no worthwhile destination nearby and people are forced to drive. Once people are in their cars to go everywhere, why build pedestrian amenities? Thus, it's become a negative feedback loop.
I don't believe that a Segway is the answer. If an area lacks pedestrian- or bike-friendly facilities, why would people use a Segway to make the trip instead of a car? It's going to be just as dangerous and unpleasant as on foot or on a bike.
It's easy to call Objective C methods from C++ source. They have a 'language' called Objective C++ which consists of the ObjC extensions on top of C++.
Now, as to re-writing the whole API in C++, forget it. Cocoa (and OpenStep from whence it came) was designed in and for Objective C and uses features of the language that are just not available in C++. It'd be like re-writing STL for C. (True, Cocoa does have Java support, but it's not seamless.)
Gosh, and here we had people claiming that environmentalists are dangerous whackos.
Probably some do. The nation is full of pre-existing wood-frame houses. I'm sure that some of them live in straw bale, stone, or tamped-earth houses.
Furthermore, tree-sitters are aiming to protect old-growth forest. Y'know, that stuff that won't grow back for another 500-1000 years. Logging has already destroyed all but 1-2% of the nation's old-growth forest. I've been to the last patch of old-growth in Wisconsin. It's less than an acre.
So, why can't the lumber companies do their cutting in secondary-succession forests or the former prairie areas that have become forest, or on their extensive tree farms, and leave old-growth alone? Good forestry practices are not incompatible with environmental goals in the younger forests, but highly destructive in old-growth areas.
Of course, if any of you people who use this argument had actually bothered to educate yourself on the topic, you'd know some interesting facts:
Fire-suppression in the nation's forests became entrenched policy and widespread with the rise of the conservation movement in the United States, with the likes of Gifford Pinchot. The idea was that fires destroy the valuable lumber in the forest. Yep, fire-suppression is a policy implemented to protect commercial logging interests.
First loggers suppress the small, brush-clearing fires that don't affect the big trees, then bitch when the fuel builds up to fuel crown fires of Biblical proportions. A lot of environmentalists favor letting the little fires burn. They know that fires aren't supposed to take out large trees. That's logger crap.
Instead of burning, big trees are supposed to fall down and rot. Forest soil is generally not rich soil, and a healthy forest needs the nutrients from rotting trees for the next generation of trees. Logging, even selective logging by the big lumber corporations, pulls out those nutrients.
That's not to say that selective cutting isn't possible in a healthy forest, just not on the scale of the big lumber companies. There's a Native American reservation here in Wisconsin where they practice intelligent selective cuts. They started with 3 billion board feet of lumber in the 19th century, they've produced 9bn board feet over the years, and have 6bn now. That's good stewardship, but production rates that the big lumber companies would scoff at.
To recap: Letting small fires burn also reduces the danger of the catastrophic forest fires, but it's the logging interests suppressing the small fires.
It must be that smug superiority of geeks, sustained and amplified through years of telling each other we're all so goddamn smart that we actually believe the hype. Gosh, if you can hack the Linux kernel, or if you can build a complete content management system for a company Web site, or if you can get paid a buttload of money at a computer job right out of high school, why then, you must know everything there is to know about the world, right?
That's the only explaination I can find for the concentration of knee-jerk anti-enviro hounds around here. Okay, if all y'all think yer so goddamn smart, a challenge:
It's easy to pick at an argument or position, to find inconsistencies or to attack parts of it. It's a hell of a lot harder to posit a position or argument yourself. The challenge, then, is to explain and support the idea that all of the changes made to the natural environment by humankind are a-okay and nothing to worry about. Oh yes, and no references whatsoever to the defects in the arguments of environmentalists, or any technology-will-fix-it-all-someday hand waving. Bonus points if you're actually aware of all or most (or even a lot) of the changes made to the natural enviroment by humankind.
Anybody up to the challenge?
The Green Party USA and Association of State Green Parties are seperate organizations with seperate platforms.
Yep, there are Green Party members who won't denounce the maximum wage idea, and those who actively support it. That's probably why it's in the GPUSA platform. But as the AC says, the Green Party is a political party with a plurality of opinions.
You must understand something about the Green Party here. It's not a monolithic organization like the Republican and Democratic parties, it's a federation of local Green Parties. They have 10 key values, but not a unified platform. The maximum income plank comes from the Green Party USA platform.
My point, in case anybody missed it, saying that you haven't heard of anybody disagreeing with a particular plank of a platform is a spectacular FUD tactic: You can smear somebody on the basis of omission! C'mon. For a person or a party to explicitly disagree with a particular plank, it would first have to be on their radar screens, so to speak.
I cannot speak for all of the state parties, but I know that the Wisconsin Green Party platform does not include such a plank. Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign platform did not include such a plank. Omitting it from the platform surely implies disagreement, no?
(Please note: I have not yet seen anyone from the Republican or Democratic parties say they do not agree with what follows.)
A Modest Proposal
by Jonathan Swift
First Published in 1729
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC
It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars; it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets.
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of 2s., which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.
There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! too frequent among us! sacrificing the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children, although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remains one hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born: the question therefore is, how this number shall be reared and provided for, which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing, till they arrive at six years old, except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier, during which time, they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers, as I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.
I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half-a-crown at most on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.
I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.
I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, increaseth to 28 pounds.
I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.
Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told by a grave author, an eminent French physician, that fish being a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season; therefore, reckoning a year after Lent, the markets will be more glutted than usual, because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom: and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of papists among us.
I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, laborers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants; the mother will have eight shillings net profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child.
Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.
As to our city of Dublin, shambles may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.
A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said that many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding fourteen years of age nor under twelve; so great a number of both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of work and service; and these to be disposed of by their parents, if alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance assured me, from frequent experience, that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our schoolboys by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable; and to fatten them would not answer the charge. Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission be a loss to the public, because they soon would become breeders themselves; and besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice (although indeed very unjustly), as a little bordering upon cruelty; which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, however so well intended.
But in order to justify my friend, he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa, who came from thence to London above twenty years ago, and in conversation told my friend, that in his country when any young person happened to be put to death, the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime dainty; and that in his time the body of a plump girl of fifteen, who was crucified for an attempt to poison the emperor, was sold to his imperial majesty's prime minister of state, and other great mandarins of the court, in joints from the gibbet, at four hundred crowns. Neither indeed can I deny, that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town, who without one single groat to their fortunes cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at playhouse and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for, the kingdom would not be the worse.
Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed, and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by cold and famine, and filth and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the young laborers, they are now in as hopeful a condition; they cannot get work, and consequently pine away for want of nourishment, to a degree that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labor, they have not strength to perform it; and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come.
I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies; and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an Episcopal curate.
Secondly, The poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to distress and help to pay their landlord's rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown.
Thirdly, Whereas the maintenance of an hundred thousand children, from two years old and upward, cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a-piece per annum, the nation's stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum, beside the profit of a new dish introduced to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom who have any refinement in taste. And the money will circulate among ourselves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture.
Fourthly, The constant breeders, beside the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children, will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year. Fifthly, This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns; where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection, and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating: and a skilful cook, who understands how to oblige his guests, will contrive to make it as expensive as they please.
Sixthly, This would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards or enforced by laws and penalties. It would increase the care and tenderness of mothers toward their children, when they were sure of a settlement for life to the poor babes, provided in some sort by the public, to their annual profit instead of expense. We should see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to the market. Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, their sows when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage.
Many other advantages might be enumerated. For instance, the addition of some thousand carcasses in our exportation of barreled beef, the propagation of swine's flesh, and improvement in the art of making good bacon, so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs, too frequent at our tables; which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well-grown, fat, yearling child, which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a lord mayor's feast or any other public entertainment. But this and many others I omit, being studious of brevity.
Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly weddings and christenings: I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses, and the rest of the kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand.
I can think of no one that will possibly be raised against this propasal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and it was indeed one principal design in offering it to the world. I desire the reader will observe, that I calculated my remedy for this one individual Kingdom of Ireland, and for no other that ever was, is, or, I think, ever can be upon earth. Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foriegn luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence, and temperance: Of learning to love our country, wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Tompinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor act any longe like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants. Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, into our shopkeepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure and goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair propasal of just dealing, though often and ernestly invited to it.
Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the likes expedients, till he hath at least a glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them in practice. But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly dispairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this propasal, which as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expense and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country that would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.
After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion as to reject any offer proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, and offering a better, I desire the author or authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points. First, as things now stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for an hundred thousand useless mouths and backs. And secondly, there being a round million of creatures in human figure throughout this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock would leave them in debt two millions of pounds sterling, adding those who are beggars by profession to the bulk of farmers, cottagers, and laborers, with their wives and children who are beggars in effect: I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold as to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food, at a year old in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes as they have since gone through by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the most inevitable prospect of entailing the like or greater miseries upon their breed for ever.
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
(1729)
THE END
Okay. Science sez:
Free-market economic theory sez: These costs of economic activity are not bourne by the primary actor, who reaps the benefits, but by everybody. Thus, the rational actor in a free market acts in destructive ways because he can get the full benefits of the activity and bear only a tiny fraction of the cost.
Any one actor causes only slight environmental damage, it is only in the aggregate that it becomes readily apparent and harmful, so there is no point of focus, no one actor for the market to punish.
Of course, above I have only listed those activities where the damage is done to resources held in common. The free market can correct for practices that damage specific areas, or come from specific sources in a short time frame-- but only after the damage has been done. And in cases where the damage does not become apparent until years or decades later, what recourse does the market have?
I expect you have some weasel words to make this argument sound irrelevant or misguided. But the fact of the matter is that people get cancer, lung diseases, suffer from birth defects or retardation, and other health problems all over the U.S. and the world as a result of environmentally-unfriendly economic practices. Sometimes the market can correct for what harmed them, sometimes it can't. Never-the-less, the harm is done. No amount of weasel words can change that fact.
Here's a classic example of "refutation by category." Here's how it works: Pay no attention to the thesis presented, just stick a label on it, say "Q.E.D." and refuse to discuss it further.
"Envirowacko" is a good category to use, along with perennial favorites socialist, communist, racist, PC, religious fundamentalist, liberal media and "What about the children?!"
I keep hearing this about AmigaOS, and I still can't figure out what definition of "realtime" you're using. I learned that a realtime operating system is one that can guarantee a response to an external event within a given time.
AmigaOS patently does not satisfy this condition, because any running task on the system can disable interrupts, and therefore multitasking. Any program that need to walk the Exec list does so, which means that multitasking is disabled for varying amounts of time depending on the contents of the Exec list.
(My memory is hazy. Can't programs also install their own interrupt handlers? That, too, is going to lead to varying, unknown latencies.)
To me, the Amiga was special. It wasn't just a chipset, or an operating system. Indeed, there were the games and the demoscene that banged away at the hardware and made it really perform. There were the digital artists and animators who used the fantastic software of the time to take advantage of the machine's capabilities to create great works. There were electronic music composers galore putting out more MODs than anybody can count. There were the users who adored the multitasking operating system which boosted their productivity and enjoyment. There were the programmers who filled up Aminet with software. There was the desktop video production revolution begun with the Video Toaster. And there was the team of dedicated people designing and building the machine itself. "The Amiga" was a gestalt of all these things; hardware, operating system, and a wonderfully creative, vibrant user community.
That's dead. I left the Amiga scene four years after Commodore went toes up. It was finally time to go when most of the talented, dynamic people had fled the platform for greener pastures: BeOS, Linux, even Windows. All that was left were the "somebody should" people. Y'know, the people who say "somebody should do X," but do nothing themselves. Well, except for the well-meaning, insane people who would try to run Amiga development companies on a wing and a prayer before collapsing into financial ruin. That reminded me very much of the "ghost dancing" of the plains Indians as they tried to fight a force that was extinguishing their whole way of life.
All that's left now are some real die-hards who are happy to just now get Quake II, a company that has salvaged the Amiga name from the post-Commodore disaster, and an outdated operating system. This new hardware is a fine thing for those die-hards. It'll give them new hardware, faster machines, and new OS features. It's not enough, though, to even reverse the Amiga Diaspora and bring back all the talent and drive that made for such a rich user community. It's certainly not enough to bring in significant new blood.
I wish Eyetech luck. I hope they can make a profit on the AmigaOne, that there are enough die-hards to keep it going. I just won't be back, because it's not "the Amiga" anymore.
Am I to assume that your proposed solution to drunk driving is better driver training? After all, millions of people drive drunk without a problem. Given that, it makes sense to find ways to make this a little safer?
[As has been pointed out already in this discussion, driving under the influence of a cell phone is just as impairing as driving while drunk, so the analogy is quite valid.]
That's nice in theory, and I'm not saying it can never be done, but how's a GPS-based autopilot going to deal with:
People, while not perfect, have a much better heuristic to handle real-world situations than any program I've yet seen.
* Yep, see both of these types of vehicles 'round here.
Bizarre personal biases aside, you'll notice that the flavor of the vast majority of discussions on Slashdot is negative. Set up *any* sort of plan, position, or proposition in front of this crowd and they'll delight in telling you that it sucks, it'll never work, and here's why.
(Then again, this is hardly unique to Slashdot.)
While I agree with much of what you say, I'm in favor of keeping the Libertarians around.
Y'see, politicians don't much like to take a stand on, or discuss issues that stray too far from the centrist view. Thus, the scope of political debate can become more and more narrow. We need the vocal lunatic fringes to raise the issues, and give the mainstream politicians an opportunity to talk about such issues, yet seem reasonable and moderate compared to the lunatic fringe.
All I see on that page is version 1.0 of the "MorphOS Development Reference Manual," but nowhere on the site do I see anything about a 1.0 release of the OS itself.
Furthermore, the site says that the purpose of MorphOS is to run Amiga programs FREE OF the old Amiga hardware.
Simply this: Try to go through life without entering public spaces.
Whether you store the type of the file using the MIME type in a filesystem-based metadata, using a creator/type pair like the Macintosh, or encode the metadata into the filename (i.e. filename extensions), this information has one thing in common: It's extrinsic to the data. It can get lost or changed to an incorrect value. .vbs viruses because Windows hid the filename extension and they think an e-mail attachment is a .jpg file.
We have countless examples of how hard this sucks. It ranges from an annoyance for Mac users dealing with files that came through a non-Mac system all the way up to lost time and money when users spread
The better way is plain: use an intrinsic property of the data in a file. Put another way: Decide what data a file contains by looking at what data the file contains. That's exactly how the Unix 'file' command works. It matches bit patterns in the file against the "magic" database to determine a file type.
Of course, there are file types not easily identified by simple bit strings. Starting with v3.0, AmigaOS had it right with the DataTypes system. Part of DataTypes was the 'descriptor' which provided the system with three ways to identify types of data: a bit string, a callback function, and a filename pattern. These three can be combined, as well. Thus, it's possible to identify a JPEG image file by looking at the first four bytes, to tell the difference between an MPEG video stream and an MP3 with the callback function, and to fall back to identifying unstructured files, such as a raw dump of PCM sound data, by filename.
Why oh why has no other system adopted this cool system?