The problem is that the missionaries are letting perfect be the enemy of good. Their perfect plan for the elimination of STDs, when executed imperfectly, leads to a horrific spread of STDs (since they don't recommend condoms, so every slip-up has a great chance of spreading STDs and causing unwanted pregnancies). A scientist's less ambitious, imperfect plan for the reduction of STD spreading, when executed imperfectly, will still cut down on the spread of STDs (since people might "forget" to use a condom, but at least they'll know they should and won't see it as a bad thing. The people who are infected will have trouble spreading it to other partners most of the time, unlike the "just stay monogamous, pretty please?" plan.).
Not funny, Insightful. We could have Star Trek-level technology and we'd still suffer with the awful legacy of man's basest instincts and the old cognitive bugs from our days stalking prey and eluding predators in the jungle.
If an AIDS vaccine were available on the market tomorrow, the right-wingers would want to stop it from being distributed, worried that it will cause autism or take the danger out of sexual promiscuity (see: HPV vaccine). Scientologists would worry that it will bring volcano spirits back into your soul or something. The alternative medicine crowd would say it's useless and a Big Pharma scam.
In case you haven't noticed, li-poly batteries have been in consumer devices for the last year or two. I have an Energizer XP2000 that has one. The iPhone4's non-replaceable battery is a li-po.
Yeah I don't get why hydrogen isn't used for more unmanned projects at least. The US military is straining world helium supplies to fill its massive Blue Devil unmanned recon blimps as it is. Hydrogen isn't super-dangerous if your blimp isn't painted with rocket fuel. We fly kerosene-filled planes all the time that would plummet if the kerosene tanks (wings) were seriously ruptured and it's no big deal.
Great another architecture-specific solution that's also a security nightmare. I have to put together one of those solution forms for this sort of thing ("Your solution presents a (X) Technical solution That requires: (X) All devices to use the same CPU architecture (X) significant security compromises" and so on)
Why the hell would you want a statically typed language to replace Javascript? Multiple people have said they want this but I can't imagine why. Of all the problems with JS that's the last thing I'd imagine people would have a problem with.
...then finally the device will become slim enough to have the keyboard built-in without pissing off even the trendiest of Starbucks-dwellers, and we would have come full circle back to the convertible laptop.
Watching this year's Republican debates makes me feel like we're living in the world of the Starship Troopers movie. Crowds cheering at things like the count of convicts put to death in Texas...what disgusting savagery.
And what do they have in common? Both environments where wheels are quite useless, except as used on modern offroad vehicles developed in the 20th century.
If you think car safety has ever been sacrificed for greater efficiency, you don't know what you're talking about. We're struggling to get the 40MPG that primitive Datsuns from the '70s with fridge-like aerodynamics got because we have to deal with the obscene amount of weight added by all the safety improvements, especially since the early 2000s. And no reduction in weight has ever been mandated.
If we wanted to sacrifice safety, modern cars would have a body like a Geo Metro or base-model CRX (except with composite or molded plastic panels), with 600cc-1.3L engines and robotized manual gearboxes with automatic pulse-and-glide systems, and we'd be getting 60MPG+ easy.
Weight is the arch-enemy of performance and efficiency and should not be seen as anything other than that just because it might lend some sliver of safety in an accident that can very easily be compensated for. As an extreme counterpoint, the safest cars in the world are Formula One cars, and they have their minimum fully-loaded weight with driver set at a bit over 1400lbs. Teams often have to add ballast to meet it.
I'm a cubicle drone doing nothing military-related. We're all just sharing anecdotes, which is fine as long as we label them as such rather than making sweeping (and Reaganesque) statements like the GP did.
Do you have any first-hand experience with this? Because I do, and in my experience the contractors are pampered telecommuters who only physically pop in a few times per week.
In fact we had a big issue a few years back where we had to replace a bunch of contractors with full-time government workers because they are that much more expensive and an accountability nightmare.
And since I've already stated where I work, I was one of the people who replaced a contractor. I take in somewhere between a third and a half of what the contractor did and you bet your ass I get more done as a full-time employee, even on just the 1 or 2 duties that the contractor had vs. the many more I also have now.
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I'm learning so much about fundie Christians and neo-feudalists in this discussion.
Holy shit, you're a scary fucker O_O
The problem is that the missionaries are letting perfect be the enemy of good. Their perfect plan for the elimination of STDs, when executed imperfectly, leads to a horrific spread of STDs (since they don't recommend condoms, so every slip-up has a great chance of spreading STDs and causing unwanted pregnancies). A scientist's less ambitious, imperfect plan for the reduction of STD spreading, when executed imperfectly, will still cut down on the spread of STDs (since people might "forget" to use a condom, but at least they'll know they should and won't see it as a bad thing. The people who are infected will have trouble spreading it to other partners most of the time, unlike the "just stay monogamous, pretty please?" plan.).
Not funny, Insightful. We could have Star Trek-level technology and we'd still suffer with the awful legacy of man's basest instincts and the old cognitive bugs from our days stalking prey and eluding predators in the jungle.
If an AIDS vaccine were available on the market tomorrow, the right-wingers would want to stop it from being distributed, worried that it will cause autism or take the danger out of sexual promiscuity (see: HPV vaccine). Scientologists would worry that it will bring volcano spirits back into your soul or something. The alternative medicine crowd would say it's useless and a Big Pharma scam.
In case you haven't noticed, li-poly batteries have been in consumer devices for the last year or two. I have an Energizer XP2000 that has one. The iPhone4's non-replaceable battery is a li-po.
Yeah I don't get why hydrogen isn't used for more unmanned projects at least. The US military is straining world helium supplies to fill its massive Blue Devil unmanned recon blimps as it is. Hydrogen isn't super-dangerous if your blimp isn't painted with rocket fuel. We fly kerosene-filled planes all the time that would plummet if the kerosene tanks (wings) were seriously ruptured and it's no big deal.
Inb4 UFO sightings flare up!
Great another architecture-specific solution that's also a security nightmare. I have to put together one of those solution forms for this sort of thing ("Your solution presents a (X) Technical solution That requires: (X) All devices to use the same CPU architecture (X) significant security compromises" and so on)
We're hoping this fad will blow over.
Why the hell would you want a statically typed language to replace Javascript? Multiple people have said they want this but I can't imagine why. Of all the problems with JS that's the last thing I'd imagine people would have a problem with.
Yeah we'll just ditch the platform-independent web and lose all web applications. So what's your One True Platform of choice? iOS on ARM I assume?
Nobody told me and I've been using my N900 the whole time with no problems. Why am I the last to learn these things!?
...then finally the device will become slim enough to have the keyboard built-in without pissing off even the trendiest of Starbucks-dwellers, and we would have come full circle back to the convertible laptop.
Watching this year's Republican debates makes me feel like we're living in the world of the Starship Troopers movie. Crowds cheering at things like the count of convicts put to death in Texas...what disgusting savagery.
And what do they have in common? Both environments where wheels are quite useless, except as used on modern offroad vehicles developed in the 20th century.
That's a good thing, don't worry about it.
If you think car safety has ever been sacrificed for greater efficiency, you don't know what you're talking about. We're struggling to get the 40MPG that primitive Datsuns from the '70s with fridge-like aerodynamics got because we have to deal with the obscene amount of weight added by all the safety improvements, especially since the early 2000s. And no reduction in weight has ever been mandated.
If we wanted to sacrifice safety, modern cars would have a body like a Geo Metro or base-model CRX (except with composite or molded plastic panels), with 600cc-1.3L engines and robotized manual gearboxes with automatic pulse-and-glide systems, and we'd be getting 60MPG+ easy.
Weight is the arch-enemy of performance and efficiency and should not be seen as anything other than that just because it might lend some sliver of safety in an accident that can very easily be compensated for. As an extreme counterpoint, the safest cars in the world are Formula One cars, and they have their minimum fully-loaded weight with driver set at a bit over 1400lbs. Teams often have to add ballast to meet it.
Yeah I know plenty, 3 at this job alone.
True, but steam engines from that era were typically designed to run on coal.
I'm a cubicle drone doing nothing military-related. We're all just sharing anecdotes, which is fine as long as we label them as such rather than making sweeping (and Reaganesque) statements like the GP did.
If you add up all those things it still might not even bring me to half the contractor's pay. Not significant in the face of the price difference.
Also we fire people on a whim around here (we just say there are "confidentiality issues," our office's verision of "It's coming right for us!").
Hey it's steam-powered. That means it runs on coal, that sexy America-tastic power source. You guys love coal right?
Insurance will still be a bitch on a car this old though...
Local Tea Party meetings, I'd guess.
Do you have any first-hand experience with this? Because I do, and in my experience the contractors are pampered telecommuters who only physically pop in a few times per week.
In fact we had a big issue a few years back where we had to replace a bunch of contractors with full-time government workers because they are that much more expensive and an accountability nightmare.
And since I've already stated where I work, I was one of the people who replaced a contractor. I take in somewhere between a third and a half of what the contractor did and you bet your ass I get more done as a full-time employee, even on just the 1 or 2 duties that the contractor had vs. the many more I also have now.
I know a foreign government that does the same, if it makes you Americans feel any better...