The problem with so-called strategic voting is that it only works -- when it does -- in the short run. In the long run, it just encourages the "major" parties to keep feeding us the same old bullshit. If enough people would have the guts and brains to tell the "major" parties to go fuck themselves, then they'd stop being able to screw us.
"Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
He does have something that Gore does not. Integrity.
GWB? "Integrity"? This is George W. Bush you're referring to, right? No doubt Dubya's spinmeisters are happy to know how well they've succeeded.
I don't have any "hatred of GWB", I'm just disgusted that he and Al are what the Republicrats and their corporate owners are offering us. Near as I can tell, Dubya and Al register about even on the ol' integrity-ometer -- for both of them the needle is pegged... at the low end.
I think Dan Quayle would take issue with just how "new" it is. Maybe new against Democrats.
Ha! No, it's not new against the Democrats either. What's new is the level to which the supposedly "liberal media" is oblivious to the manipulation and/or complicit in it.
You think that's bad? It doesn't just happen for polls, it happens during the actual election. I know people who've done poll-sitting, and some have had to threaten legal action to get the people in charge to record the votes for "third party" candidates.
It always amazes me how often science fiction predicts the future. This concept is similar to (and even looks like) the warp bubble idea in Star Trek.
Actually, I suspect that it went the other way. Trek fx creators probably based the looks of the warp bubble on the shapes magnetic fields take. And the looks are sorta similar, but I can't see why you think the concepts are...
... and maybe their restrooms don't get cleaned often enough. What's that got to do with whether or not they can do what they claim? Maybe having a slashproof server isn't as high up on their list of priorities as doing actual product development.
Not if you don't care about the population. Recall the Centauri bombardment of the Narn Homeworld in B5?? Similar effect, but add an Ice Age as well. . . .
I don't remember the Centauri referring to that as "terraforming" -- or even "centauriforming" -- though it would be in character for them to dissemble like that.
Londo: "War? War is such an ugly word. We just thought Narn could use a little... 'cooling off'."
Surely any technology that could make Mars livable for humans could be adapted to reverse environmental castastrophe here on Earth.
Mostly true, but wouldn't it make sense to do at least some testing elsewhere first? We've got a pretty shitty track record as far as unintented consequences are concerned...
(Plus, some terraforming techniques are kinda tricky to adapt to an occupied planet -- slamming it with comets, fer instance.)
There is some speculation that it would be better to use methanol in fuel-cell vehicles -- it's supposedly easier and safer to make, store, and transport. Retro-fitting gasoline stations to sell methanol would supposedly be easier as well. I think most companies working on fuel-cell vehicles are concentrating on using methanol. (Including DaimlerChrysler.)
AL GORE INVENTED THE INTERNET! That's what he said. And you know you can trust our polititions.
This would be funnier if Gore actually said that. He didn't. What he did say was an exaggeration but evidently not enough of one that his opponents could refrain from exaggerating his exaggeration. And their spin seems to have worked really well -- every gullible sucker in the US (of which there are evidently tens of millions) thinks that AL Gore said that he invented the internet.
Re:Old tech new again?
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3D Printers
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· Score: 2
So you read the article, and then posted "I remember seeing something very similar several years ago", when that "something very similar" was something that they specifically referred to in the article.
Maybe you did read the article. It's pretty easy to see why it sounded like you didn't. [shrug] "It's only a message board... Don't take it so seriously."
Re:Old tech new again?
on
3D Printers
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· Score: 2
They mention that in the article
The differences are (a) they're working on "printing" things with combinations of different materials and (b) they're speculating that these "3D printers" might be able to be mass-produced for "ordinary consumers".
Nanites are just like AI.
1) Wait ten years
2) See how far off their predictions are
3) Go to step #1
1) Read shallow, badly-researched fluff pieces about a new technology
2) Don't bother trying to find anything to read by anyone who has a reasonable, knowledge-based point of view of the topic
3) Adopt oh-so-hip more-blase-and-cynical-than-thou attitude
4) Go to step #1
What the FUCK does Courtney Love's talent have to do with anything?
Nothing. Who the fuck said it did?
Anyway, she's sueing for money won from MP3, so indirectly, she's taking this money from MP3.com.
That's a heck of a stretch. The amount of money coming out of MP3's pocket will be unaffected by whether she wins or loses, but Universal may end up with less of its heist. What part of this simple bit of math do you not understand?
Actually, that was my first thought when the Russians initially refused outside help. But it is very strange. Why would the Russians want to keep this a secret when it was apparently public knowledge?
Some of the knowledge is public. Presumably a great deal of it is not. Details matter.
Plus, secrecy is even more of a habit with their military and government than it is with ours.
And what use is military might in this post-Cold War era?
No disrespect meant, but... what?! Even just in terms of a military as only a defense, Russia has at least as much a need for one as any other country, and more than most. The "end of the Cold War" was by no stretch of the imagination the end of war, nor the end of military-based international posturing.
There's no need for a "new arms race" when the old one didn't end. Slowed down a little, maybe.
OK, I understand the trip will be faster then, but it kinda defeats the purpose waiting 14 years, doesn't it?
Nope. The point of making the trip shorter isn't (necessarily) to get there sooner, it's to make the trip itself shorter. The less time it takes you to get there, the less resources you need to take with you. (Or, the longer the time you can actually spend on Mars, exploring.)
Also, the less time people spend in transition, the less stress they'll take on their physiological and psychological health.
A few things now adays qualify for automatic buys for me (regardless of reviews).
Clarke used to be an auto buy for me, but Songs of Distant Earth was the last one I liked. IMO, he went downhill really fast after that. (There's a rumor that he didn't actually write anything after that. Not that I pay much attention to rumors, but I'd almost prefer to believe that one.)
I did read it. Every last paragraph. To me, it seemed obvious that he was really reaching and stretching a lot in order to cram the X-Men's square peg into the round hole of an agenda that he had in mind.
Have you read the X-Men? The author of the article didn't have to stretch at all. IIRC, there was at least one issue -- sorry, I don't remember which -- of X-Men that actually pointed out the similarities, I guess for people who'd somehow missed it.
One can easilly find a much more obvious tale of gay-bashing in the classic Alan Moore comic "V for Vendetta".
Um. And? If that ever gets made into a film, someone can write about that. Assuming, of course, that the story isn't "straightened up" by Hollywood.
Erik Duserre made it excrutiatingly clear that this was just one comparison that could be drawn, and in fact made reference to the even-more-obvious geek reference. (Among others.) So you don't need to feel too left out 'cause an agenda other than yours happens to get a little attention.
Slashdot Mirror
"Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
GWB? "Integrity"? This is George W. Bush you're referring to, right? No doubt Dubya's spinmeisters are happy to know how well they've succeeded.
I don't have any "hatred of GWB", I'm just disgusted that he and Al are what the Republicrats and their corporate owners are offering us. Near as I can tell, Dubya and Al register about even on the ol' integrity-ometer -- for both of them the needle is pegged ... at the low end.
Ha! No, it's not new against the Democrats either. What's new is the level to which the supposedly "liberal media" is oblivious to the manipulation and/or complicit in it.
I know more about Nader than I really know about either of the two republicrats, and that's part of why I've decided to vote for him.
And it's not about the Supreme Court. It's about scare tactics.
You think that's bad? It doesn't just happen for polls, it happens during the actual election. I know people who've done poll-sitting, and some have had to threaten legal action to get the people in charge to record the votes for "third party" candidates.
Kibo
Actually, I suspect that it went the other way. Trek fx creators probably based the looks of the warp bubble on the shapes magnetic fields take. And the looks are sorta similar, but I can't see why you think the concepts are ...
... and maybe their restrooms don't get cleaned often enough. What's that got to do with whether or not they can do what they claim? Maybe having a slashproof server isn't as high up on their list of priorities as doing actual product development.
I don't remember the Centauri referring to that as "terraforming" -- or even "centauriforming" -- though it would be in character for them to dissemble like that.
Londo: "War? War is such an ugly word. We just thought Narn could use a little ... 'cooling off'."
Mostly true, but wouldn't it make sense to do at least some testing elsewhere first? We've got a pretty shitty track record as far as unintented consequences are concerned ...
(Plus, some terraforming techniques are kinda tricky to adapt to an occupied planet -- slamming it with comets, fer instance.)
Ob: I am not a chemist.
This would be funnier if Gore actually said that. He didn't. What he did say was an exaggeration but evidently not enough of one that his opponents could refrain from exaggerating his exaggeration. And their spin seems to have worked really well -- every gullible sucker in the US (of which there are evidently tens of millions) thinks that AL Gore said that he invented the internet.
Maybe you did read the article. It's pretty easy to see why it sounded like you didn't. [shrug] "It's only a message board ... Don't take it so seriously."
The differences are (a) they're working on "printing" things with combinations of different materials and (b) they're speculating that these "3D printers" might be able to be mass-produced for "ordinary consumers".
It was.
1) Wait ten years
2) See how far off their predictions are
3) Go to step #1
1) Read shallow, badly-researched fluff pieces about a new technology
2) Don't bother trying to find anything to read by anyone who has a reasonable, knowledge-based point of view of the topic
3) Adopt oh-so-hip more-blase-and-cynical-than-thou attitude
4) Go to step #1
Nothing. Who the fuck said it did?
Anyway, she's sueing for money won from MP3, so indirectly, she's taking this money from MP3.com.
That's a heck of a stretch. The amount of money coming out of MP3's pocket will be unaffected by whether she wins or loses, but Universal may end up with less of its heist. What part of this simple bit of math do you not understand?
Some of the knowledge is public. Presumably a great deal of it is not. Details matter.
Plus, secrecy is even more of a habit with their military and government than it is with ours.
And what use is military might in this post-Cold War era?
No disrespect meant, but ... what?! Even just in terms of a military as only a defense, Russia has at least as much a need for one as any other country, and more than most. The "end of the Cold War" was by no stretch of the imagination the end of war, nor the end of military-based international posturing.
There's no need for a "new arms race" when the old one didn't end. Slowed down a little, maybe.
Uh, wait ... are you talking here about Russia? Or the US?
I remember hearing the talk about a "peace dividend" and laughing. There are no well-paid corporate lobbyists for peace ...
Nope. The point of making the trip shorter isn't (necessarily) to get there sooner, it's to make the trip itself shorter. The less time it takes you to get there, the less resources you need to take with you. (Or, the longer the time you can actually spend on Mars, exploring.)
Also, the less time people spend in transition, the less stress they'll take on their physiological and psychological health.
Clarke used to be an auto buy for me, but Songs of Distant Earth was the last one I liked. IMO, he went downhill really fast after that. (There's a rumor that he didn't actually write anything after that. Not that I pay much attention to rumors, but I'd almost prefer to believe that one.)
Have you read the X-Men? The author of the article didn't have to stretch at all. IIRC, there was at least one issue -- sorry, I don't remember which -- of X-Men that actually pointed out the similarities, I guess for people who'd somehow missed it.
One can easilly find a much more obvious tale of gay-bashing in the classic Alan Moore comic "V for Vendetta".
Um. And? If that ever gets made into a film, someone can write about that. Assuming, of course, that the story isn't "straightened up" by Hollywood.
Erik Duserre made it excrutiatingly clear that this was just one comparison that could be drawn, and in fact made reference to the even-more-obvious geek reference. (Among others.) So you don't need to feel too left out 'cause an agenda other than yours happens to get a little attention.
And they use the magic words "drugs" and "terrorism", so anything they do is ok. Really.
"'National security': the root password to the [United States] Constitution." - Phil Karn
He's kind of a nut, but a really, really smart nut. (I had the pleasure of taking a class from him, many years ago.)