Not to totally go in the face of your post, but to counter your "massive improbability" comment. Yes, it's totally a massive improbability that life starts easily. However, what life has on it's side is TIME. Enceladus has been happily circling it's planet for millions of years. Sure, it's improbably that life was created there in the first minute. It's also improbably that just the right mix of ingredients was there the next minute - but the odds get better and better with every following minute that the right bunch of ingredients came along and life popped into existence from the precursors that were in the water. Given millions and millions of years, I would say that the chances don't look like a massive improbability, but more along the lines of a massive probability that at some point the right mix of things came together and made life of some sort. I would go so far as to say that I think it would be a massive improbability that the universe isn't simply teeming with life of all sorts.
The hypothetical particle even seems to have the right mass to account for one theory of dark matter."
Not to ask the blatantly obvious, but if it's the right mass for one theory of dark matter, I can't help but wonder where they are all being produced. Given a life of 20 picoseconds, I can't imagine that there would be monstrous factories of these things all over the universe to account for the stupidly large amount of mass they are supposed to account for. How come we haven't found them before?
I play a lot of games, and I go to the gym. I just cannot imagine trying to combine the two activities into one encompassing session where I get out of breath, sticky with my own sweat and line up a frag count.
I can't see this thing really kicking off. Wii-Fit works because it's totally a fitness product and isn't painting itself into a game. People who want exercise don't mind a bit of entertainment. People who want to play games don't want to be running all the time.
I hope it works, anything to get people moving more, but I think they are trying to market this to the wrong market. I can't see a gamer putting away his high precision gamer mouse, G15 keyboard and guarana energy drinks in favour of a running mat and handlebars.
The type of player that plays a game to be the good guy smashing the "bad guys" without a second thought is likely to be the guy who votes for a president who does the same. Other players who see that not all the apparent "bad guys" are actually "bad guys" but rather might be a normal person that is portrayed as a "bad guy" by someone else play horde - and are willing to vote for a person who doesn't just point at shoot at the first thing he doesn't understand.
I can't wait till the japanese send out scientific vessels to nearby planets. To perform scientific "experiments" on the wildlife. Experiments where the wildlife ends up in meals back home.
What I meant to ask really is I would love to know what the world would be like if everyone decided to do away with their sticks.
Would a lack of big sticks effectively breed out the smaller sticks? Would there be a need for someone to go make a medium stick if there wasn't anyone with a bigger stick to start with?
To make a less vague example: If the US spent the money it has on the War in Iraq/Afghanistan on humanitarian efforts in those exact same countries would there still be such a level of insurgency and resentment or would the common people whose lives would have been vastly improved weeded out the problems themselves? I mean, why are those people turning to extremism? If I didn't have water to drink, food to eat, a hospital for when I was sick I could easily be turned to go "fight the enemy". If I had those things given to me (or access to them in the first place) I can't imagine myself able to be stirred up to that level of rage at all. I sometimes think different to others, but rather than focusing so much on putting out the fire, why can't people spent more focus on finding out why the fire started in the first place?
Maybe not, but remember that our military budget is far larger than any other country's (even if you account for labor rates), meaning that we have the "most toys" because we spend the most on military stuff.
If I was sarcastic I would reply with "And look at all the good it has done you". Luckily I am not sarcastic. No wait...
I would really really love to know how the world would be today if the US (and hopefully all the others) put all their defense/war budgets into humanitarian/environmental projects instead. I wonder if it really would be a utopia or if it would have fallen into chaos without the threat of such vast arms.
In a hundred or so years when we have the technology to get there. Might even be the ideal place for a colony someday.
Look, I agree that it's a nice place to go visit, but if you looked into things, you would find that it is 10.5 Light Years Away from earth it would take close to an eternity to get there with current rocket technology and certainly what is being developed. And not to rain on the parade again, but before anyone goes touting ION ENGINES will get us there, no, they really won't. You see Ion Engines need large amounts of power to run. Really large amounts that are generally limited to the amount of juice that can be generated by huge solar panels. Short of putting a nuclear reactor on this ship to get us there, we simply won't have enough sunlight to make the engine run once is starts to fade away from the centerish part of our solar system.
In short, I would love to agree, but I really think that you would need to change the "hundred or so" part of your post to be "many hundreds or so".
That's assuming we can deal with the massive solar winds that are 30 times as powerful as the ones in our system. Did I forget that part?
Pffft. If you ask me, the files pulled that left traces were clearly the amateurs. If you ask me, the real question is how many times the files were pulled WITHOUT leaving any evidence. That's one that all you paranoid 1984 types missed here:P
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Nothing to see hear, Move along.
IMPOSTOR! No slashie would make this sort of grammatical error! Quickly! To the brands and pitchforks! We have an angry mob to form!
Not to totally go in the face of your post, but to counter your "massive improbability" comment. Yes, it's totally a massive improbability that life starts easily. However, what life has on it's side is TIME. Enceladus has been happily circling it's planet for millions of years. Sure, it's improbably that life was created there in the first minute. It's also improbably that just the right mix of ingredients was there the next minute - but the odds get better and better with every following minute that the right bunch of ingredients came along and life popped into existence from the precursors that were in the water. Given millions and millions of years, I would say that the chances don't look like a massive improbability, but more along the lines of a massive probability that at some point the right mix of things came together and made life of some sort. I would go so far as to say that I think it would be a massive improbability that the universe isn't simply teeming with life of all sorts.
The hypothetical particle even seems to have the right mass to account for one theory of dark matter."
Not to ask the blatantly obvious, but if it's the right mass for one theory of dark matter, I can't help but wonder where they are all being produced. Given a life of 20 picoseconds, I can't imagine that there would be monstrous factories of these things all over the universe to account for the stupidly large amount of mass they are supposed to account for. How come we haven't found them before?
I play a lot of games, and I go to the gym. I just cannot imagine trying to combine the two activities into one encompassing session where I get out of breath, sticky with my own sweat and line up a frag count.
What about the person who emits a "funky odor"? We don't start trying to quantify that little bastard :)
I can't see this thing really kicking off. Wii-Fit works because it's totally a fitness product and isn't painting itself into a game. People who want exercise don't mind a bit of entertainment. People who want to play games don't want to be running all the time.
I hope it works, anything to get people moving more, but I think they are trying to market this to the wrong market. I can't see a gamer putting away his high precision gamer mouse, G15 keyboard and guarana energy drinks in favour of a running mat and handlebars.
Well, I ... ... welcome ... ... ..... overlords!
Every 8 minutes. We call the time 4 minutes later "mini ice minutes."
Lordy, MOD that PARENT up. That's utter gold!
With money to be made still, this will not stop :)
There will be a way to bring the doctor back. The budgets say so.
The type of player that plays a game to be the good guy smashing the "bad guys" without a second thought is likely to be the guy who votes for a president who does the same. Other players who see that not all the apparent "bad guys" are actually "bad guys" but rather might be a normal person that is portrayed as a "bad guy" by someone else play horde - and are willing to vote for a person who doesn't just point at shoot at the first thing he doesn't understand.
Brilliant post! My kingdom for mod points today!
Well, I bleep bleep welcome bleep new bleeps!
I can't wait till the japanese send out scientific vessels to nearby planets. To perform scientific "experiments" on the wildlife. Experiments where the wildlife ends up in meals back home.
What I meant to ask really is I would love to know what the world would be like if everyone decided to do away with their sticks.
Would a lack of big sticks effectively breed out the smaller sticks? Would there be a need for someone to go make a medium stick if there wasn't anyone with a bigger stick to start with?
To make a less vague example: If the US spent the money it has on the War in Iraq/Afghanistan on humanitarian efforts in those exact same countries would there still be such a level of insurgency and resentment or would the common people whose lives would have been vastly improved weeded out the problems themselves? I mean, why are those people turning to extremism? If I didn't have water to drink, food to eat, a hospital for when I was sick I could easily be turned to go "fight the enemy". If I had those things given to me (or access to them in the first place) I can't imagine myself able to be stirred up to that level of rage at all. I sometimes think different to others, but rather than focusing so much on putting out the fire, why can't people spent more focus on finding out why the fire started in the first place?
How old is that series now?
Maybe not, but remember that our military budget is far larger than any other country's (even if you account for labor rates), meaning that we have the "most toys" because we spend the most on military stuff.
If I was sarcastic I would reply with "And look at all the good it has done you". Luckily I am not sarcastic. No wait...
I would really really love to know how the world would be today if the US (and hopefully all the others) put all their defense/war budgets into humanitarian/environmental projects instead. I wonder if it really would be a utopia or if it would have fallen into chaos without the threat of such vast arms.
Hmmm, I thought the quote referred to a twelve parsec run?
Besides, how can you bring yourself to glorify such an obvious scientific error (whatever the context was)?
I like your thinking. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
(It'd take me only 10 parsecs to figure it out. That's how good I am at).
It would take you around 300 000 000 000 000 kilometers to work out if you can get through something roughly 8 975 880 000 km wide?
You too can read about what a parsec and astronomical unit is in the privacy of your own home.
That's so wrong.
Hang on, I mean, I totally have no idea what that reference means. I have never....
Why must people with no idea on a particular subject always be in charge of the budgets around a particular subject?
In a hundred or so years when we have the technology to get there. Might even be the ideal place for a colony someday.
Look, I agree that it's a nice place to go visit, but if you looked into things, you would find that it is 10.5 Light Years Away from earth it would take close to an eternity to get there with current rocket technology and certainly what is being developed. And not to rain on the parade again, but before anyone goes touting ION ENGINES will get us there, no, they really won't. You see Ion Engines need large amounts of power to run. Really large amounts that are generally limited to the amount of juice that can be generated by huge solar panels. Short of putting a nuclear reactor on this ship to get us there, we simply won't have enough sunlight to make the engine run once is starts to fade away from the centerish part of our solar system.
In short, I would love to agree, but I really think that you would need to change the "hundred or so" part of your post to be "many hundreds or so".
That's assuming we can deal with the massive solar winds that are 30 times as powerful as the ones in our system. Did I forget that part?
... that's not a moon!!
Pffft. If you ask me, the files pulled that left traces were clearly the amateurs. If you ask me, the real question is how many times the files were pulled WITHOUT leaving any evidence. That's one that all you paranoid 1984 types missed here :P
First they came for those who wanted more than 120 characters, but I did not speak out, because I did not want more tha
That has to be one of the funniest sigs I have seen. It's clever and works so well on so many levels. Bravo!