President Obama had better tread carefully here. A lot of tech-savvy internet folks contributed to his campaign and voted for him. A lot of them don't like the RIAA, and are decidedly un-thrilled with his appointment of two RIAA scumbags to his government.
Pissing such people off would be a huge tactical mistake, assuming Mr. Obama has plans to be more than a one-term wonder.
The difference being, of course, that the tools exist to let you find out whether the treasure chest is there if you choose to do so. That isn't the case yet for finding Earth-size planets 10 or 20 light years away, especially if they're orbiting a long way out from a bigger, hotter star than ours.
In any case, it's considerably more likely that somebody made a few bucks by accepting barrels of toxic waste for burial in what is now your back yard, then sold the property to a developer.
The story's not about photography. It's about a major multinational corporation using its lawyers and money to bully into silence bloggers who point out its failures.
The sniper was Canadian, so I'm pretty sure the armour wouldn't have saved the target in the long run. The sniper was told that the guy he killed was responsible for blowing up ten skids of imported microbrewery beer. If the rifle didn't work, that sniper would have run down there with a dull, rusty spoon, cut the guy's balls off and beaten him to death with them.
If there's a more hidebound, out-of-touch, bunch of rich old white men on the continent than a meeting of Ontario judges, I'd be surprised. Even the few who happen to have vaginas fit the profile.
Girls who want intelligent babies pay more than that for my sperm. Only the half-wits at Microsoft could imagine that the guilty parties (and the people who know them) carry less than $250,000 in their wallets.
I'm saying you may be right, but maybe not. Call it the "Humpty Dumpty Effect". Given the complexity of the Earth's global environment and the fact that it's an evolving system, not a static one, going back may not be an option. The composition of the atmosphere, for example, has changed pretty significantly over Earth's geological history, and the changes have been driven by poorly-understood biogeochemical processes. The current balance of gases and its generators do not necessarily act in phase, or in a way we can reproduce.
Bottom line: I'd rather dick around with the atmosphere of another planet than this one, especially when it looks like it may be relatively easy to set processes in motion, but difficult to stop or control them.
Research in evolutionary biology suggests this may not be the case. It would probably be easier to take a system as complex as our current environment and turn it into something else entirely than to turn the clock back. Krakatoa after the major eruption in 1883 is an example of significant differences that arise even within the context of an otherwise-stable environment. The climax community that emerged a hundred years after the eruption was significantly different than the one which existed before it. Both achieved homeostasis, but in different ways.
Two things: First, a question. What are the orbital mechanics? Would it be possible to build a "bus" that could drop off a navigation-capable "probe taxi" near each destination?
Second, a dream. If ever there was a time to send a large human crew on a career-length mission (maybe 30 - 40 years), this would be the one. High-acceleration supply/instrument packages could be sent before and after them. A serious commitment to zero-gravity construction could be undertaken. The cost would be huge, but the payback would potentially be on a scale rivaling the technology revolution that grew out of Apollo.
And let's face it, the odds that we're screwing up our only livable habitat in potentially-ugly ways are increasing. Developing the capacity to move at least a few people elsewhere isn't such a terrible idea.
It's like Microsoft has a death wish. I'm about as far from a power user as you can get, and I'm sitting here right now with more than three applications open. Lots of people who work with graphics or multimedia applications take short breaks and don't want to shut everything down. Is it unreasonable to have open at the same time: PhotoShop, Firefox, Thunderbird, Winamp, a bit torrent client, a paint or draw ap, a game of some kind, a calculator and something to hotsync a PDA? I could easily add a few more perfectly reasonable examples.
Yes, the Bush administration had a well-documented record of threatening scientists who publicized evidence about global warming, and even had junior PR hacks re-write the work of scientists under their direct control. They didn't want any real science upsetting the rosy picture they were painting, especially just prior to the last-but-one election.
Very true. Which is why, rather than go to all the trouble of putting up page after page of peer-reviewed evidence, only to have it "refuted" by non-refereed publications, tabloid articles, and lists of alleged skeptics (many of whom have had requests that their names be removed ignored), I simply point out that an overwhelming majority of reputable scientists with good research records accept that global warming is happening, and humans have a significant role in it, and let it go at that.
I've done this dance far too many times before, and have no intention of doing it again here.
"Controversy" doesn't even begin to let you know whether something's believable. Various well-funded oil industry whores have been questioning Global Warming and just about anything else that doesn't fit a "Burn More Oil" world view for decades. I think they took lessons from the tobacco industry.
If there's a vested interest, they'll certainly have an army of well-paid, lying pricks standing ready to bury the work of honest researchers under a mountain of bullshit. Wikipedia needs to persuade some people with unimpeachable credentials to evaluate the really questionable entries, and mark the good ones appropriately.
I haven't sent a "100% agree with everything you just said" post to anybody since I started dropping by here a couple of years ago. Time to change that.
You're right.
Regardless of its virtues, expecting Microsoft to use Mono as anything but a club to beat Open Source to death is plain stupid. Their track record in this respect is far beyond arguable, and their part in the ISO situation proves they have no intention of changing. You'd do better expecting discipline from a starving weasel in a hen house.
Such privileged people have their failings, but they're certainly socially aware. They would easily figure out that:
a) Bill Gates is the quintessential computer nerd
b) male computer nerds have 0 contact with members of the opposite sex
c) only female mosquitoes bite
d) if Bill Gates had a whole jarful, the mosquitoes must certainly be males
They would quickly conclude that there's nothing to worry about, and they would have another glass of shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck champagne, another cracker full of endangered sturgeon roe topped with the last shred of viable Passenger Pigeon DNA, and chuckle at Bill's attempt to be clever.
If there were one or two left, those RIAA douchebags would have something to ride to court the next time they go after the pension of some disabled war vet.
It seems that quite a few people missed the fact that TFA refers only to "proof of concept".
First of all, the odds that this technology will stand still are zero. Second, anybody who wanted to get really nasty would find a way to access the remote databases and do a little creative matchmaking. After all, it's not like anybody's ever managed to walk off with a few million tax records and credit card numbers and stuff like that before, is it? I seem to recall DB breaches were getting so common it was necessary to force disclosure of the fact. Third, the government has all the information by default, and the people running it are very often not your friend.
No doubt the next big thing will be a urinal/generator fueled (indirectly) by beer. The Super Bowl could generate enough power to satisfy America's energy needs for the next three weeks. And the Stanley Cup Playoffs could wean the world off petroleum products forever.
Is there anything the RIAA can do to reduce illegal file-sharing without generating massive amounts of bad publicity?
Well, they could build an altar on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial and sacrifice their lawyers on it. I bet thousands of people would be willing to give up illegal file sharing for a while as the price for attending such a ceremony.
Quite a few would give it up for good if they could participate directly.
Slashdot Mirror
President Obama had better tread carefully here. A lot of tech-savvy internet folks contributed to his campaign and voted for him. A lot of them don't like the RIAA, and are decidedly un-thrilled with his appointment of two RIAA scumbags to his government.
Pissing such people off would be a huge tactical mistake, assuming Mr. Obama has plans to be more than a one-term wonder.
The difference being, of course, that the tools exist to let you find out whether the treasure chest is there if you choose to do so. That isn't the case yet for finding Earth-size planets 10 or 20 light years away, especially if they're orbiting a long way out from a bigger, hotter star than ours.
In any case, it's considerably more likely that somebody made a few bucks by accepting barrels of toxic waste for burial in what is now your back yard, then sold the property to a developer.
So writes "Anonymous Coward".
Can you spell, "irony"? I knew you could.
The story's not about photography. It's about a major multinational corporation using its lawyers and money to bully into silence bloggers who point out its failures.
You didn't get that?
The sniper was Canadian, so I'm pretty sure the armour wouldn't have saved the target in the long run. The sniper was told that the guy he killed was responsible for blowing up ten skids of imported microbrewery beer. If the rifle didn't work, that sniper would have run down there with a dull, rusty spoon, cut the guy's balls off and beaten him to death with them.
It's the Canadian Way.
If there's a more hidebound, out-of-touch, bunch of rich old white men on the continent than a meeting of Ontario judges, I'd be surprised. Even the few who happen to have vaginas fit the profile.
Girls who want intelligent babies pay more than that for my sperm. Only the half-wits at Microsoft could imagine that the guilty parties (and the people who know them) carry less than $250,000 in their wallets.
"Hey Ogg, I bet those guys who had the really good dope are camped in that cave in Dark Valley."
"I think you're right, Targ. Listen...you can hear them laughing their heads off."
"Let's go see if they'll let us have some."
"Good plan, Ogg."
I'm saying you may be right, but maybe not. Call it the "Humpty Dumpty Effect". Given the complexity of the Earth's global environment and the fact that it's an evolving system, not a static one, going back may not be an option. The composition of the atmosphere, for example, has changed pretty significantly over Earth's geological history, and the changes have been driven by poorly-understood biogeochemical processes. The current balance of gases and its generators do not necessarily act in phase, or in a way we can reproduce.
Bottom line: I'd rather dick around with the atmosphere of another planet than this one, especially when it looks like it may be relatively easy to set processes in motion, but difficult to stop or control them.
Research in evolutionary biology suggests this may not be the case. It would probably be easier to take a system as complex as our current environment and turn it into something else entirely than to turn the clock back. Krakatoa after the major eruption in 1883 is an example of significant differences that arise even within the context of an otherwise-stable environment. The climax community that emerged a hundred years after the eruption was significantly different than the one which existed before it. Both achieved homeostasis, but in different ways.
Two things: First, a question. What are the orbital mechanics? Would it be possible to build a "bus" that could drop off a navigation-capable "probe taxi" near each destination?
Second, a dream. If ever there was a time to send a large human crew on a career-length mission (maybe 30 - 40 years), this would be the one. High-acceleration supply/instrument packages could be sent before and after them. A serious commitment to zero-gravity construction could be undertaken. The cost would be huge, but the payback would potentially be on a scale rivaling the technology revolution that grew out of Apollo.
And let's face it, the odds that we're screwing up our only livable habitat in potentially-ugly ways are increasing. Developing the capacity to move at least a few people elsewhere isn't such a terrible idea.
It's like Microsoft has a death wish. I'm about as far from a power user as you can get, and I'm sitting here right now with more than three applications open. Lots of people who work with graphics or multimedia applications take short breaks and don't want to shut everything down. Is it unreasonable to have open at the same time: PhotoShop, Firefox, Thunderbird, Winamp, a bit torrent client, a paint or draw ap, a game of some kind, a calculator and something to hotsync a PDA? I could easily add a few more perfectly reasonable examples.
Yes, the Bush administration had a well-documented record of threatening scientists who publicized evidence about global warming, and even had junior PR hacks re-write the work of scientists under their direct control. They didn't want any real science upsetting the rosy picture they were painting, especially just prior to the last-but-one election.
Very true. Which is why, rather than go to all the trouble of putting up page after page of peer-reviewed evidence, only to have it "refuted" by non-refereed publications, tabloid articles, and lists of alleged skeptics (many of whom have had requests that their names be removed ignored), I simply point out that an overwhelming majority of reputable scientists with good research records accept that global warming is happening, and humans have a significant role in it, and let it go at that.
I've done this dance far too many times before, and have no intention of doing it again here.
Sorry, but you're just plain wrong on the matter, and probably a troll.
It's a "belief" shared by a large majority of reputable scientists with credentials to comment intelligently on the matter.
"Controversy" doesn't even begin to let you know whether something's believable. Various well-funded oil industry whores have been questioning Global Warming and just about anything else that doesn't fit a "Burn More Oil" world view for decades. I think they took lessons from the tobacco industry.
If there's a vested interest, they'll certainly have an army of well-paid, lying pricks standing ready to bury the work of honest researchers under a mountain of bullshit. Wikipedia needs to persuade some people with unimpeachable credentials to evaluate the really questionable entries, and mark the good ones appropriately.
I haven't sent a "100% agree with everything you just said" post to anybody since I started dropping by here a couple of years ago. Time to change that.
You're right.
Regardless of its virtues, expecting Microsoft to use Mono as anything but a club to beat Open Source to death is plain stupid. Their track record in this respect is far beyond arguable, and their part in the ISO situation proves they have no intention of changing. You'd do better expecting discipline from a starving weasel in a hen house.
Such privileged people have their failings, but they're certainly socially aware. They would easily figure out that:
a) Bill Gates is the quintessential computer nerd
b) male computer nerds have 0 contact with members of the opposite sex
c) only female mosquitoes bite
d) if Bill Gates had a whole jarful, the mosquitoes must certainly be males
They would quickly conclude that there's nothing to worry about, and they would have another glass of shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck champagne, another cracker full of endangered sturgeon roe topped with the last shred of viable Passenger Pigeon DNA, and chuckle at Bill's attempt to be clever.
In Soviet Russia, giant snake eat girl. In decadent West...
If there were one or two left, those RIAA douchebags would have something to ride to court the next time they go after the pension of some disabled war vet.
It seems that quite a few people missed the fact that TFA refers only to "proof of concept".
First of all, the odds that this technology will stand still are zero. Second, anybody who wanted to get really nasty would find a way to access the remote databases and do a little creative matchmaking. After all, it's not like anybody's ever managed to walk off with a few million tax records and credit card numbers and stuff like that before, is it? I seem to recall DB breaches were getting so common it was necessary to force disclosure of the fact. Third, the government has all the information by default, and the people running it are very often not your friend.
Damn...you beat me to the punch. Double or nothing on a race to the back porch/beer cooler?
No doubt the next big thing will be a urinal/generator fueled (indirectly) by beer. The Super Bowl could generate enough power to satisfy America's energy needs for the next three weeks. And the Stanley Cup Playoffs could wean the world off petroleum products forever.
Is there anything the RIAA can do to reduce illegal file-sharing without generating massive amounts of bad publicity?
Well, they could build an altar on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial and sacrifice their lawyers on it. I bet thousands of people would be willing to give up illegal file sharing for a while as the price for attending such a ceremony.
Quite a few would give it up for good if they could participate directly.