If we would have followed the French's lead on Iraq, we wouldn't have invaded and wasted trillions of dollars in a war that we get absolutely NOTHING from
So, you think liberating a nation from a tyrannical dictator is worth nothing at all?
I think the US did two things wrong in Iraq, one was overstaying their welcome and the other was leaving the job half done. Should have gone to Syria and Iran as well. Not to mention the religious dictatorship in Saudi Arabia. Religious freedom is a basic human right and that includes being free FROM religion.
School shootings are very serious and the school staff should be proud of properly preventing it.
Did they? I didn't know that a symptom of a lunatic assassin was posting cartoons on youtube. Can you point me to previous examples of this? Where can i find cartoons made by lunatic assassins? I want to be able to recognize them in the future.
The Pentagon does not classify hacking as an act of war. What they are doing is stating that hacking by a foreign power may constitute an act of war
I don't see what the difference may be.
What are the ultimate consequences of hacking? People will die? Or is it just a website that will be defaced? Some embarrassing emails that will be published?
If a foreign power really attacks the country, the consequences will be dead people and destroyed property. If that does not happen, if the only result is lost face by a few government officers, then it's definitely *NOT* an act of war, just a normal diplomatic snafu.
Like the compassion needed for the teenage girl that runs over and kills a motorcyclist....
In this case the one who does not deserve compassion is the motorcyclist.
Car manufacturers are always creating ways to make cars safer for the occupants, seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, structural reinforcements, etc. Then there comes this guy in a vehicle that's intrinsically unsafe, without any protection for the driver or passenger, a vehicle that's small enough to be difficult to spot by other drivers, a vehicle so unstable that it must be continuously moving, so unstable it topples over at the slightest skid. Any motorcyclist who dies gets a Darwin award.
But I agree with you that being a new driver is no excuse for causing accidents. Unfortunately, in most places the exam for getting a driver's license is ridiculously easy. IMHO, the exam should include driving at the highest speed limit in the country and handling emergencies in adverse conditions, such as making an emergency stop on a wet track at night. That would do much more for reducing traffic deaths than reducing alcohol limits, for instance.
imagine a world where any surface can be used as a screen. The possibilities are endless. Unfortunately the marketeers will think exactly the same thing.
Neal Stephenson already mentioned this in his SF novel "Diamond Age". The end result when every surface was coated with marketing animations was that nothing stood out, so no one noticed anything. Call it the "Geocities effect" or, better, the "Altavista effect".
Perhaps many don't remember it, but before Google the main search site was Altavista. Its home page was loaded with ads, every one trying to catch your attention with the most obnoxious animation effect. Then Google came with its clean home page and the rest is history.
Let's see, the early IPCC reports warned us of 50 million climate refugees from flooded coastlines but 2010. I set up a couple of cots in my basement to help out but no one's come knocking at my door yet
First of all, assuming those 50 million to be spread evenly, this gives you a 0.7% chance of getting one refugee. But keep that cot in your basement, there's a 50% chance that one refugee will come to you in the next 140 years.
If you had actually read that paper you mention, instead of spreading oil industry propaganda, you would know that the author estimated that there were 25 million people who had to leave their homes because of climate problems in the mid-1990s and the trends indicated that this amount should double by 2010.
I don't know if the number of refugees actually doubled in that period. but the actions of the state government of Arizona seem to indicate that the problem is increasing. In 1995 no one would lose their business licence in Arizona for hiring a refugee. You do trust the Arizona governor, don't you? After all, you have always voted for her party, right?
Erlang (and other functional, single-static-assignment languages) are perfect for parallel programming.
Okay, then the only problem is getting something useful out of Erlang.
Back in 1985 the Japanese government announced a "fifth generation" computing project, with software to be developed in Prolog. So I went and learned Prolog, an intriguing and amusing language. Only problem is, it was totally useless for any actual application, as the Japanese found out.
Sorry, but in order to believe any of the promises of one of those non-vonNeumann languages, I have to see a practical working application first.
I remember i once read an article in a magazine that someone had recovered a piece of metal from the Nevada desert and had it analyzed. The author claimed this particular alloy was unknown on earth and gave the composition, i remember it had a particularly high nickel content.
My father was a mechanical engineer and I consulted his data books (this was around 1980, no wikipedia or google). I found an alloy that was very close to what was printed in that article, it happened to be a stainless steel designed for use in high temperatures.
So, the guy found a piece of a broken jet turbine near an air force proving grounds, went to all the trouble to have it analyzed, only to conclude it came from aliens...
The problem is that most people need to work at full time jobs to earn their living. Being a politician is an option only for those who have deep pockets supporting them.
If someone is driving in the "overtaking lane" at the speed limit, how can you legally get close enough to tail gate them?
The speedometers could have a small difference, while still being both within legal calibration limits. Maybe the guy in front has older tyres, that would translate to a slower speed at a given speedometer reading, because the circumference of a tyre decreases with wear. But why he's going faster than you is none of your business. Yes, he could be overspeeding, so what?
That's the big problem with left lane hogs, they think they are responsible for law enforcement, while they ignore that their own attitude is illegal. The priority for any driver is always driving safely, not trying to control others. If you don't move right when someone is behind you then you are guilty of reckless driving, it's as simple as that.
If car-people had the slightest awareness of their environment then they might actually choose to live somewhere near to public transportation and then we wouldn't need automated road-trains like this.
But car-people are irrational and can only talk of their "freedom" to cause and sit in traffic jams.
Agreed. If car-people were rational they would just follow the traffic regulations that exist in most places that say the left lane is for passing and traffic jams would be much reduced.
Traffic jams and too many accidents are caused by left lane hogs. Unfortunately, these people seem to believe the road is theirs alone as long as they do not exceed the speed limit. They classify any driver behind them as a "tailgater" who should be treated with contempt. They never stop to think that the ultimate cause of many accidents is the vehicles being too close together, and that situation is caused by a few people who drive slower than all other drivers and refuse to move to the right lane.
They didn't confirm DARK ENERGY, they provided a bunch of data that confirms the universe is expanding AS EXPECTED PER CURRENT THEORY (and current theory uses dark energy to explain).
You inverted cause and effect. There's no theory for the expansion of the universe by itself, dark energy is a theory that was created to explain the *measured* expansion. The problem with it is that it's ad hoc, dark energy is not predicted by any other effect that we have observed.
The press release was skimpy on details, but if I got it right it has demonstrated that dark energy is a good fit to the observed distribution of visible mass in the universe.
Slashdot Mirror
"unless the terms are specifically part of a news story"
And what else do they present other than news? Who do they think they are, slashdot?
If we would have followed the French's lead on Iraq, we wouldn't have invaded and wasted trillions of dollars in a war that we get absolutely NOTHING from
So, you think liberating a nation from a tyrannical dictator is worth nothing at all?
I think the US did two things wrong in Iraq, one was overstaying their welcome and the other was leaving the job half done. Should have gone to Syria and Iran as well. Not to mention the religious dictatorship in Saudi Arabia. Religious freedom is a basic human right and that includes being free FROM religion.
School shootings are very serious and the school staff should be proud of properly preventing it.
Did they? I didn't know that a symptom of a lunatic assassin was posting cartoons on youtube. Can you point me to previous examples of this? Where can i find cartoons made by lunatic assassins? I want to be able to recognize them in the future.
The Pentagon does not classify hacking as an act of war. What they are doing is stating that hacking by a foreign power may constitute an act of war
I don't see what the difference may be.
What are the ultimate consequences of hacking? People will die? Or is it just a website that will be defaced? Some embarrassing emails that will be published?
If a foreign power really attacks the country, the consequences will be dead people and destroyed property. If that does not happen, if the only result is lost face by a few government officers, then it's definitely *NOT* an act of war, just a normal diplomatic snafu.
One kilometer in Mars is close to one arc-minute along the surface.
Incidentally, that was the definition reason for the nautical mile on earth, it's one arc-minute along the sea surface.
Did anyone else read the headline and think that MI6 had given Al Qaeda bomb plans in return for a cupcake recipe?
That's exactly what happened. Only thing is, the explosive will not blow up and the cupcake recipe contains a powerful laxative.
Unfortunately, what they had managed to acquire was just the last year's worth of lunch menus of all Iranian embassies.
Even that could be a good propaganda weapon against the regime. Imagine if the menu included bacon and champagne.
Even among humans, how many times one must ask for someone to say it again.
Giving voice commands to a computer will get you a row boat when you ask for a robot and tickets for a nudist play when you want a new display.
Like the compassion needed for the teenage girl that runs over and kills a motorcyclist....
In this case the one who does not deserve compassion is the motorcyclist.
Car manufacturers are always creating ways to make cars safer for the occupants, seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, structural reinforcements, etc. Then there comes this guy in a vehicle that's intrinsically unsafe, without any protection for the driver or passenger, a vehicle that's small enough to be difficult to spot by other drivers, a vehicle so unstable that it must be continuously moving, so unstable it topples over at the slightest skid. Any motorcyclist who dies gets a Darwin award.
But I agree with you that being a new driver is no excuse for causing accidents. Unfortunately, in most places the exam for getting a driver's license is ridiculously easy. IMHO, the exam should include driving at the highest speed limit in the country and handling emergencies in adverse conditions, such as making an emergency stop on a wet track at night. That would do much more for reducing traffic deaths than reducing alcohol limits, for instance.
At least the commas decided to show up this time, but the preposition at the end... ugh
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
Winston Churchill
you need to be constantly reminded of the facts because cigarette companies will start lying about it first chance they get. Google for 'T Zone'.
Oil companies do the same for anthropocentric global warming.
Here's a suggestion for another "duh" research: when big business fear a drop in profits, they spread lies. Google for 'fear uncertainty doubt'
imagine a world where any surface can be used as a screen. The possibilities are endless. Unfortunately the marketeers will think exactly the same thing.
Neal Stephenson already mentioned this in his SF novel "Diamond Age". The end result when every surface was coated with marketing animations was that nothing stood out, so no one noticed anything. Call it the "Geocities effect" or, better, the "Altavista effect".
Perhaps many don't remember it, but before Google the main search site was Altavista. Its home page was loaded with ads, every one trying to catch your attention with the most obnoxious animation effect. Then Google came with its clean home page and the rest is history.
Let's see, the early IPCC reports warned us of 50 million climate refugees from flooded coastlines but 2010. I set up a couple of cots in my basement to help out but no one's come knocking at my door yet
First of all, assuming those 50 million to be spread evenly, this gives you a 0.7% chance of getting one refugee. But keep that cot in your basement, there's a 50% chance that one refugee will come to you in the next 140 years.
If you had actually read that paper you mention, instead of spreading oil industry propaganda, you would know that the author estimated that there were 25 million people who had to leave their homes because of climate problems in the mid-1990s and the trends indicated that this amount should double by 2010.
I don't know if the number of refugees actually doubled in that period. but the actions of the state government of Arizona seem to indicate that the problem is increasing. In 1995 no one would lose their business licence in Arizona for hiring a refugee. You do trust the Arizona governor, don't you? After all, you have always voted for her party, right?
What stops people from setting up tunnels into the worldwide internet?
The fact that there would exist no physical connection to the internet.
Threatening the president of the United States, such as saying "I'm going to kick your ass, President" counts as a class D felony under US Code.
Considering that 9% of those who reached that office were assassinated while in power, I think this is not a totally injudicious law.
Insulting the POTUS, however, is not a felony, feel free to do so.
reports of it's first sale to Lockheed Martin
Does it have spellcheck?
Any way is perfectly correct, in both spelling and grammar:
reports of it's first sale to Lockheed Martin
In this case it means the reports say it is the first sale to Lockheed Martin
reports of its first sale to Lockheed Martin
Here we have the possessive "its" meaning the first sale of that computer was to Lockheed Martin
Erlang (and other functional, single-static-assignment languages) are perfect for parallel programming.
Okay, then the only problem is getting something useful out of Erlang.
Back in 1985 the Japanese government announced a "fifth generation" computing project, with software to be developed in Prolog. So I went and learned Prolog, an intriguing and amusing language. Only problem is, it was totally useless for any actual application, as the Japanese found out.
Sorry, but in order to believe any of the promises of one of those non-vonNeumann languages, I have to see a practical working application first.
Cute for an astrophysicts
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/amelias-summer-job-finding-part-of-the-universe-20110526-1f6h5.html
Chubby, but cute.
I remember i once read an article in a magazine that someone had recovered a piece of metal from the Nevada desert and had it analyzed. The author claimed this particular alloy was unknown on earth and gave the composition, i remember it had a particularly high nickel content.
My father was a mechanical engineer and I consulted his data books (this was around 1980, no wikipedia or google). I found an alloy that was very close to what was printed in that article, it happened to be a stainless steel designed for use in high temperatures.
So, the guy found a piece of a broken jet turbine near an air force proving grounds, went to all the trouble to have it analyzed, only to conclude it came from aliens...
run yourself
The problem is that most people need to work at full time jobs to earn their living. Being a politician is an option only for those who have deep pockets supporting them.
"Game delayed to early November, promised to be on shelves in time for Christmas."
No, I think it will be on October 21.
Where do you get nuclear from it?
From the sun. WOOOOOOSHHH...
If someone is driving in the "overtaking lane" at the speed limit, how can you legally get close enough to tail gate them?
The speedometers could have a small difference, while still being both within legal calibration limits. Maybe the guy in front has older tyres, that would translate to a slower speed at a given speedometer reading, because the circumference of a tyre decreases with wear. But why he's going faster than you is none of your business. Yes, he could be overspeeding, so what?
That's the big problem with left lane hogs, they think they are responsible for law enforcement, while they ignore that their own attitude is illegal. The priority for any driver is always driving safely, not trying to control others. If you don't move right when someone is behind you then you are guilty of reckless driving, it's as simple as that.
If car-people had the slightest awareness of their environment then they might actually choose to live somewhere near to public transportation and then we wouldn't need automated road-trains like this.
But car-people are irrational and can only talk of their "freedom" to cause and sit in traffic jams.
Agreed. If car-people were rational they would just follow the traffic regulations that exist in most places that say the left lane is for passing and traffic jams would be much reduced.
Traffic jams and too many accidents are caused by left lane hogs. Unfortunately, these people seem to believe the road is theirs alone as long as they do not exceed the speed limit. They classify any driver behind them as a "tailgater" who should be treated with contempt. They never stop to think that the ultimate cause of many accidents is the vehicles being too close together, and that situation is caused by a few people who drive slower than all other drivers and refuse to move to the right lane.
They didn't confirm DARK ENERGY, they provided a bunch of data that confirms the universe is expanding AS EXPECTED PER CURRENT THEORY (and current theory uses dark energy to explain).
You inverted cause and effect. There's no theory for the expansion of the universe by itself, dark energy is a theory that was created to explain the *measured* expansion. The problem with it is that it's ad hoc, dark energy is not predicted by any other effect that we have observed.
The press release was skimpy on details, but if I got it right it has demonstrated that dark energy is a good fit to the observed distribution of visible mass in the universe.