Learning about something, doesn't require *agreeing* with it. I've read both the Koran and the Bible, and spend hundreds of hours learning about both. I don't *agree* with it,but it's still useful to understand it and know about it.
I agree with you in part. You can, for instance, learn about modern African sociopolitical dynamics without wanting to commit genocide or kill "witches". However, I think the majority of learning (at least in a schooling sense) relates to things relevant to your chosen career path that you need to know.
I'm all for religious tolerance and letting people believe whatever they want to. I firmly draw the line at the point where we make concessions that either infringe on the rights of others and/or borders on the point of ridiculousness. Sometimes it goes so far over the border that it gives the INS a boner.
I mean, these Muslims are medical students. Evolution is kind of important in understanding a few things in medical science - like how viruses work. Someone who says "No, despite the fact that we've proved this rather solidly and have been using this methodology for over a century, my magic sky spirit says it's wrong and therefore I refuse to believe in it" should absolutely not be a doctor. Refusing to participate in required courses on religious grounds should essentially mean that they are unqualified to be doctors.
I don't want a doctor who will covertly (or overtly) refuse to proscribe me an antibiotic because it's "heathen" and instead recommend that I pray to Allah or Jesus or Quetzcoatl for help. That is a bad doctor. It'd be like an electrician who says resistance is only a "theory" (while making air quotes with his hands clad in rubber gloves). I don't want anyone who is that incompetent or irresponsible to be remotely involved in a field that they choose to selectively believe how stuff really works.
My German's a bit rusty, but so far I get that this joke includes a nun who is stuck in John Mayer in some fashion. Then a dog does something with pancakes.
Do you think that once the oil wells dry up we'll just stop churning out smog from our vehicles?
When oil does run out, if we don't have reliable green technologies we'll just grow sugar cane or corn and make fuel out of that. There's loads of cars on the roads that can already run off of biofuels. Brazil, famously, has essentially all of its fuel made from cane sugar (and thus it's really cheap). It's not as if biofuels don't put out smog as well.
As a note, many school systems offer a different system of pay that teachers can sign up for. Rather than get, say, 36 weeks of pay at ~$833 a week you can elect to get 52 weeks of pay at ~$576 a week. This can make it easier to balance your budget and prevent cashflow problems during the summertime.
Some of the higher ups in the United States Army are raiding Native American settlements, claiming that they are a major threat to settlers living in the territories. Meanwhile, they are seizing land, stealing natural resources, and receiving government money all in order to combat this "threat".
A small band of Native Americans are angry enough about the constant intrusions on their land that they attack a symbol of American power. A dozen Apache braves fight their way to the Liberty Bell and destroy it with gunpowder barrels, injuring many civilians in the process and shaking the confidence of our young nation. All 12 of the braves die and are lauded as heroes by many Native American nations. Their deaths in the face of an oppressor inspires many other young men from various different tribes to take up arms against the United States, whether it be against a soldier or ordinary citizen. Many innocent people are killed on both sides.
The government responds to this threat by restricting travel between the states and territories. Many innocent people are erroneously killed due to these restrictions - most of them not Americans. France and Spain are pissed off at their citizens being constantly harassed at the border. Americans are forced to drink from lead cups as any true Native American spy would never drink from it for some "superstitious" reason. The American government ensures the populace that the lead cups are safe and that there's nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, a colonel's aide comes across detailed documents relating to a lot of this stuff which he believes is very bad. He leaks it to multiple newspapers under a pseudonym, but a careless mistake on his part makes his identity known. A large portion of the populace lauds him as a hero to freedom for shining light on what amounts to a vast, government-supported (and funded) conspiracy, and the majority of the military and government brands him a traitor.
What do you think would have happened?
Personally, I believe he would have been branded a traitor by the government, hastily executed after a "fair" trial, and then named as a hero of the nation many years (if not decades) later. The same thing has happened before, and it will happen again. Just look at how horribly Alan Turing was treated by the Britain. I'm fairly certain he's held in slightly better regard by the British - not to mention every single one of us here on Slashdot.
Manning will probably end up with a few years in jail - if that. Whether he's dismissed as a traitor or lauded as a hero will depend on many things, including whether or not the current (or future) Presidents pardon him and whether or not we take back our country from the assholes who pull the horrifying, filthy, and underhanded bullshit that they've been getting away with for over 60 years.
(Side note: I'm a bit tired and generally in a foul mood after being on the road for the better part of 12 hours. Feel free to nitpick any minor (or major!) historical inaccuracies in my post while simultaneously completely misunderstanding or misrepresenting the point.)
I now want to ghost write bad, racially uncomfortable science fiction.
Sen~or Spaceman and the Planet of Taco People
Chapter 3
"No, mi pantalones!" cried Sen~or Spaceman as the dreaded Taco people stole his pants. "All of my ground meat is in the pockets!"
Thinking deftly, El Spaceomano (as he's called in the barrio) produced his Siesta Ray from underneath his space sombrero. He fired off a multitude of shots, quickly felling the ghastly invaders and retrieving his sacred pantalones.
"Vaya," he began, staring at their limp, crunchy bodies, "...con Dios."
Fantastic idea, except for practicality purposes. It'll work for tech-oriented folks, but for your average person (i.e. the idiots who keep getting infected with the bad stuff), here's exactly what will happen:
Interact with screen? Yes. Interact with which folders? All. Interact with soundcard? Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay. etc.
My own company has developed a small catalyst that can be covalently bound to a targeting molecule. When released into the bloodstream, the catalyst gathers around the targeted cells and catalyzes the production of superoxide, which directly oxidizes the cell membrane. If you target virulence factors, or certain vital proteins in the membrane, there is no method by which they can develop immunity. Either they evolve to no longer have virulence factors (and are thus no longer a problem), or they have to change their entire membrane structure to an as yet unseen one that resists oxidative damage while still allowing water in, which would make it not only a new species, but a new kingdom.
Awesome! It will be great when the middle class can afford this in 20 years or so.
A double room is $80-100 a night. I'm very certain there's a point (factoring in the cost of the RV) where you do way better. I mean, say an RV is $80,000 - that's 100 nights in a motel. People have certainly taken RV trips for much longer than 100 days. And even when you factor in the maintenance costs (cars, usually around $3 -$20 a day) and fuel, RVs will probably still come out on top in the long run.
Third party votes in America are usually anywhere from 1% to 10% of the vote depending on who's being elected. I think we have a grand total of 1 senator who isn't a Republican or Democrat (he's an Independent.)
Under a proportional system, we would have 1-10% of the House and Senate (that's 1-10 Senators and ~6 - ~54 Representatives in the House) in third party control. Laws have absolutely been decided on a 10% margin, and there's been more than a few controversial congressional decisions that were decided on a 1% margin or even a single vote. It'd be nice to have that single vote outside of two super-powerful political parties.
I imagine the number of federal politicians (President, Vice President, Representatives, and Senators) that have not been a lawyer (or involved in law) at some point is very, very small. The only one that comes to mind is Ron Paul, who is a medical doctor. (Incidentally, the only reason I remember this is because of all the reading I've done on him over the years and I was surprised to find that he's a doctor and not a lawyer.)
Supreme Court justices obviously don't count as they were all lawyers at some point. Now if there was someone on the Supreme Court who was never involved in law, that would be a surprise.
Yeah , fuck scientists! Those entitled pricks draped in lab coats haven't done shit* for us!
.
.
.
* Except for essentially wiping out polio, smallpox, and a host of other major diseases. And generally improving the quality of life not just for all Americans but people the world around. And discovering nuclear power. And providing insights into how our universe works so that we may better understand it. And making the end of hunger a political problem rather than a practical problem. And...
I totally agree! A bunch of scientists were wrong once. Sure, they got more data and reevaluated their models to be more accurate, but since they were wrong once there's no good reason to ever listen to them!
This is great! We just solved a whole bunch of our country's problems!
We make planes out of this lighter-than-air material, and now we don't need engines or fuel. We can just hire a dozen dudes to give the thing a really hefty push in the right direction. We cut down on foreign dependence AND create jobs! AWESOME!
Something I've never understood about nuclear plants - they're rated as good for X amount of years, i.e. they'll run for 50 or 100 years and then they're at end-of-life. I'd understand machinery crapping out or getting unsafe after that much time, but why can't they clear the plant of old machinery and retrofit it?
Slashdot Mirror
Learning about something, doesn't require *agreeing* with it. I've read both the Koran and the Bible, and spend hundreds of hours learning about both. I don't *agree* with it,but it's still useful to understand it and know about it.
I agree with you in part. You can, for instance, learn about modern African sociopolitical dynamics without wanting to commit genocide or kill "witches". However, I think the majority of learning (at least in a schooling sense) relates to things relevant to your chosen career path that you need to know.
I'm all for religious tolerance and letting people believe whatever they want to. I firmly draw the line at the point where we make concessions that either infringe on the rights of others and/or borders on the point of ridiculousness. Sometimes it goes so far over the border that it gives the INS a boner.
I mean, these Muslims are medical students. Evolution is kind of important in understanding a few things in medical science - like how viruses work. Someone who says "No, despite the fact that we've proved this rather solidly and have been using this methodology for over a century, my magic sky spirit says it's wrong and therefore I refuse to believe in it" should absolutely not be a doctor. Refusing to participate in required courses on religious grounds should essentially mean that they are unqualified to be doctors.
I don't want a doctor who will covertly (or overtly) refuse to proscribe me an antibiotic because it's "heathen" and instead recommend that I pray to Allah or Jesus or Quetzcoatl for help. That is a bad doctor. It'd be like an electrician who says resistance is only a "theory" (while making air quotes with his hands clad in rubber gloves). I don't want anyone who is that incompetent or irresponsible to be remotely involved in a field that they choose to selectively believe how stuff really works.
I had a similar problem with a quantum carpenter. I asked him how much it would cost to redesign my kitchen and he could only provide an estimate.
I prefer my vegetables grown in cages, especially my watermelons.
My German's a bit rusty, but so far I get that this joke includes a nun who is stuck in John Mayer in some fashion. Then a dog does something with pancakes.
I need to hear the rest of it so badly./p.
Do you think that once the oil wells dry up we'll just stop churning out smog from our vehicles?
When oil does run out, if we don't have reliable green technologies we'll just grow sugar cane or corn and make fuel out of that. There's loads of cars on the roads that can already run off of biofuels. Brazil, famously, has essentially all of its fuel made from cane sugar (and thus it's really cheap). It's not as if biofuels don't put out smog as well.
Yeah, what a lazy asshole! I mean, it only takes 6-7 years to become an American citizen (in the best case scenario).
As a note, many school systems offer a different system of pay that teachers can sign up for. Rather than get, say, 36 weeks of pay at ~$833 a week you can elect to get 52 weeks of pay at ~$576 a week. This can make it easier to balance your budget and prevent cashflow problems during the summertime.
Windows... good?
Grog no like! Slashdot you change! Grog confused! GROG SMASH RASPBERRY PI IN FRUSTRATION!
Okay, let's use your 1863 scenario.
Some of the higher ups in the United States Army are raiding Native American settlements, claiming that they are a major threat to settlers living in the territories. Meanwhile, they are seizing land, stealing natural resources, and receiving government money all in order to combat this "threat".
A small band of Native Americans are angry enough about the constant intrusions on their land that they attack a symbol of American power. A dozen Apache braves fight their way to the Liberty Bell and destroy it with gunpowder barrels, injuring many civilians in the process and shaking the confidence of our young nation. All 12 of the braves die and are lauded as heroes by many Native American nations. Their deaths in the face of an oppressor inspires many other young men from various different tribes to take up arms against the United States, whether it be against a soldier or ordinary citizen. Many innocent people are killed on both sides.
The government responds to this threat by restricting travel between the states and territories. Many innocent people are erroneously killed due to these restrictions - most of them not Americans. France and Spain are pissed off at their citizens being constantly harassed at the border. Americans are forced to drink from lead cups as any true Native American spy would never drink from it for some "superstitious" reason. The American government ensures the populace that the lead cups are safe and that there's nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, a colonel's aide comes across detailed documents relating to a lot of this stuff which he believes is very bad. He leaks it to multiple newspapers under a pseudonym, but a careless mistake on his part makes his identity known. A large portion of the populace lauds him as a hero to freedom for shining light on what amounts to a vast, government-supported (and funded) conspiracy, and the majority of the military and government brands him a traitor.
What do you think would have happened?
Personally, I believe he would have been branded a traitor by the government, hastily executed after a "fair" trial, and then named as a hero of the nation many years (if not decades) later. The same thing has happened before, and it will happen again. Just look at how horribly Alan Turing was treated by the Britain. I'm fairly certain he's held in slightly better regard by the British - not to mention every single one of us here on Slashdot.
Manning will probably end up with a few years in jail - if that. Whether he's dismissed as a traitor or lauded as a hero will depend on many things, including whether or not the current (or future) Presidents pardon him and whether or not we take back our country from the assholes who pull the horrifying, filthy, and underhanded bullshit that they've been getting away with for over 60 years.
(Side note: I'm a bit tired and generally in a foul mood after being on the road for the better part of 12 hours. Feel free to nitpick any minor (or major!) historical inaccuracies in my post while simultaneously completely misunderstanding or misrepresenting the point.)
I now want to ghost write bad, racially uncomfortable science fiction.
Sen~or Spaceman and the Planet of Taco People
Chapter 3
"No, mi pantalones!" cried Sen~or Spaceman as the dreaded Taco people stole his pants. "All of my ground meat is in the pockets!"
Thinking deftly, El Spaceomano (as he's called in the barrio) produced his Siesta Ray from underneath his space sombrero. He fired off a multitude of shots, quickly felling the ghastly invaders and retrieving his sacred pantalones.
"Vaya," he began, staring at their limp, crunchy bodies, "...con Dios."
*zap*
Fantastic idea, except for practicality purposes. It'll work for tech-oriented folks, but for your average person (i.e. the idiots who keep getting infected with the bad stuff), here's exactly what will happen:
Interact with screen? Yes. Interact with which folders? All. Interact with soundcard? Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay. etc.
Not if done properly.
My own company has developed a small catalyst that can be covalently bound to a targeting molecule. When released into the bloodstream, the catalyst gathers around the targeted cells and catalyzes the production of superoxide, which directly oxidizes the cell membrane. If you target virulence factors, or certain vital proteins in the membrane, there is no method by which they can develop immunity. Either they evolve to no longer have virulence factors (and are thus no longer a problem), or they have to change their entire membrane structure to an as yet unseen one that resists oxidative damage while still allowing water in, which would make it not only a new species, but a new kingdom.
Awesome! It will be great when the middle class can afford this in 20 years or so.
You're right, thanks. I've been up for way, way too long and messed up something trivially simple.
It kinda makes the whole NASA satellite debacle look a little more sympathetic to me now. The dude probably just needed some coffee...
You guys need to get your proffessional liers back in line.
We're working on it, but those politicians sure like to hold onto their power.
A double room is $80-100 a night. I'm very certain there's a point (factoring in the cost of the RV) where you do way better. I mean, say an RV is $80,000 - that's 100 nights in a motel. People have certainly taken RV trips for much longer than 100 days. And even when you factor in the maintenance costs (cars, usually around $3 -$20 a day) and fuel, RVs will probably still come out on top in the long run.
Third party votes in America are usually anywhere from 1% to 10% of the vote depending on who's being elected. I think we have a grand total of 1 senator who isn't a Republican or Democrat (he's an Independent.)
Under a proportional system, we would have 1-10% of the House and Senate (that's 1-10 Senators and ~6 - ~54 Representatives in the House) in third party control. Laws have absolutely been decided on a 10% margin, and there's been more than a few controversial congressional decisions that were decided on a 1% margin or even a single vote. It'd be nice to have that single vote outside of two super-powerful political parties.
I imagine the number of federal politicians (President, Vice President, Representatives, and Senators) that have not been a lawyer (or involved in law) at some point is very, very small. The only one that comes to mind is Ron Paul, who is a medical doctor. (Incidentally, the only reason I remember this is because of all the reading I've done on him over the years and I was surprised to find that he's a doctor and not a lawyer.)
Supreme Court justices obviously don't count as they were all lawyers at some point. Now if there was someone on the Supreme Court who was never involved in law, that would be a surprise.
...actually, no it wouldn't.
Of course. If all the hybrids are killed, then we won't have a defense against the black oil.
They said that water doesn't reduce the risk of dehydration because it reduces dehydration itself rather than reducing the risk of it.
Wait, what? I mean, I get what they're saying, but are EU's advertising laws so strict that they've basically said no on a matter of semantics?
(If my statement comes across as something else, let me be clear - I am totally okay with this. There's too much BS in advertising as it is.)
Wow, where in Asia do you live? Here in Japan I've never seen that, and to be honest ketchup on pizza sounds disgusting.
Sir, more than a few people in your country have KFC for Christmas dinner. I rest my case.
Yeah , fuck scientists! Those entitled pricks draped in lab coats haven't done shit* for us!
.
.
.
* Except for essentially wiping out polio, smallpox, and a host of other major diseases. And generally improving the quality of life not just for all Americans but people the world around. And discovering nuclear power. And providing insights into how our universe works so that we may better understand it. And making the end of hunger a political problem rather than a practical problem. And...
On the bright side, there's always the custom ECU option. You can install any OS you want on a computer; why not your car?
I totally agree! A bunch of scientists were wrong once. Sure, they got more data and reevaluated their models to be more accurate, but since they were wrong once there's no good reason to ever listen to them!
This is great! We just solved a whole bunch of our country's problems!
We make planes out of this lighter-than-air material, and now we don't need engines or fuel. We can just hire a dozen dudes to give the thing a really hefty push in the right direction. We cut down on foreign dependence AND create jobs! AWESOME!
Something I've never understood about nuclear plants - they're rated as good for X amount of years, i.e. they'll run for 50 or 100 years and then they're at end-of-life. I'd understand machinery crapping out or getting unsafe after that much time, but why can't they clear the plant of old machinery and retrofit it?