The welfare state, European style, is all about teaching a man to fish - by breaking down barriers blocking access to education, like the insane student loans you have to take in some places. It is not about handing out money, it is about creating equal chances.
Absolutely. All I wanted to say was that there are so many undefined parameters in the equation that it is hopeless to get out a meaningful result - but, as I said, that is not what it is meant for at all. Still nice to see that one of those parameters appears to be broader than previously thought.
To be honest, if I look at the decisions of the chambers of appeal of the EPO, I don't see them influenced heavily by the language of TRIPS. They frankly don't give a shit. Drug patents have been allowed in all industrialized nations before, and frankly, the are legitimate, given the massive development costs these days.
From my European perspective, the main problem in the US is not patent law as such, but a insane litigation system, inflicting costs on small-time guys that they just can't bear, thereby opening to door for patent troll blackmailing. The litigation costs in Germany, for example differ by orders of magnitude. I have seen cases go to the highest German court with total costs in the low five figures - that's an amount a small business on the edge of technology can bear, we are not talking millions here.
And you have to take it from an AC...;) Color me educamated, too. I was not consciously aware of that mosque, though it stirs some memory - wasn't it shown at some point in a Civilization game?
Well, Drake didn't assume much. The Drake equation is ultimately not about calculating the amount of life in the universe, but - at least at the current stage of knowledge - about providing a framework for collecting and thinking about what parameters might influence the amount of life in the universe.
A couple of years ago I would have smirked at that. Now I humbly ask you for confirmation that this actually was sarcasm as I hope, as too many retards run around truly believing not being able to dump your shit into the local river is GUBBERMINT OPPRESSION....
Naturally. They do it for the mythical FUNDING, or what is that PR effort supposed to effect? That's why everyone wanting to get filthy rich goes into science instead of picking a honest job like hedge fund manager. "Deluded" is a concept you brought up, by the way.
That appears to be the master plan, seeing the spread between filthy rich and just plain filthy getting bigger and bigger as of late. Also, I need to find me a Shadowrun game again...;)
Absolutely true about the details - but I was rather thinking of the impression. The same thing that made the GP think of Tower of Babel made me immediately think of Zigguraths, and I rather believe that this was what the architect wanted to evoke. But, in the end, that's only speculation - haven't heard any statement from him. Just seems more natural as source for an architectural citation.
Well, that is the classic Ziggurath design that inspired the whole Tower of Babel story. Mostly useless, ritualistic mega-structures, the only use being the observatory post on top to watch the stars and determine the seasons - which could have been done with much less crap around it. I don't think the architect aimed at the Tower story as such, but rather cited the Ziggurath as classical structure of the region.
The most prominent ruin-to-be from the height of the empire, the days of peak oil. Give it 50 years and the few rag-clad scavengers populating the lower levels will wonder what the fuck anyone thought when they built this....
I am sorry that science can't provide you with the be-all end-all answers you desire. It is not designed that way. May I suggest taking up a religion instead?
To summarize - population genetics is utterly fascinating, just look at the east-west gradient you see in Europe regarding some mitochondrially inherited traits, with a small island in Basque, pointing at an immigration wave from the eastern European steppes just leaving the Basque as a sole remnant of the indigenous population. It correlates well with linguistics, too. It's just so simplistic to wrap this up in some outdated concept of "race". Besides, those trotting out the 'race' thing usually have an agenda. And it tends not to be pretty.
Agreed, that's basically what I am aiming at. Obviously we have morphological differences, and a whole lot of cultural ones on top of that. The genetic distance - and internal homogeneity - between those groups are, however, not remotely significant enough to establish different races in a genetic sense. We humans just fuck around too much and move all over the place too much for the term to make any sense in the strict biological definition of the word.
Didn't check the site for about a year for losing interest. When I came back , I had forgotten my password and had lost my old e-mail account. Being not obsessed with UID, I just got a new account instead of putting up with the hassle of getting the old one back. And, no, the old karma was fine, no need to ask:P
Wrong direction. Since when are English, German and Russian anything but nationalities? The diversity amongst humans is not nearly large enough to qualify the introduction of biologically solidly defined races. Local varieties, that's all. 'Race' in humans is a pure social construct.
It's my second, too, after years of lurking before the first. The Old Ones invoked above were purely Lovecraftian, though, and not at all related to UID...
I was aware how tidal lock works - we get to look beyond our lab walls and offices every now and then;) Thanks, though, for the part about the collision speed. Gotta have a look at the paper - that is actually an interesting aspect.
Obviously, you had to be summoned, YodasEvilTwin... The Master's sentence structure is actually closely related to Latin sentence structure - which actually pretty much allows for near random jumbling. It has a preferred mode, though, which is Yodaesque.
Hm, how far into the moon's life did tidal lock set in? Was there enough volcanic activity left for this mechanism to work? With the recent reports on rather young volcanic structures, that might be - but as I said above, I am kinda clueless regarding anything exceeding basic astronomy.
As I do not know many Jews or Muslims, I can only speak for this atheist's Christian friends, who have no problem at all with science. On the large scale, literalist idiots are basically an American problem. Hell, the Vatican has an observatory, with some damn good scientist running it.
Can you bloody grammar nazis take your dictionaries, fold em up until they only consist of sharp edges and shove them up your arse, please? You are doing nothing but lowering the signal to noise ratio on this side - and in the most obnoxious manner. And the Old Ones know, S/N is bad enough already in these parts.
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The welfare state, European style, is all about teaching a man to fish - by breaking down barriers blocking access to education, like the insane student loans you have to take in some places. It is not about handing out money, it is about creating equal chances.
Absolutely. All I wanted to say was that there are so many undefined parameters in the equation that it is hopeless to get out a meaningful result - but, as I said, that is not what it is meant for at all. Still nice to see that one of those parameters appears to be broader than previously thought.
From my European perspective, the main problem in the US is not patent law as such, but a insane litigation system, inflicting costs on small-time guys that they just can't bear, thereby opening to door for patent troll blackmailing. The litigation costs in Germany, for example differ by orders of magnitude. I have seen cases go to the highest German court with total costs in the low five figures - that's an amount a small business on the edge of technology can bear, we are not talking millions here.
And you have to take it from an AC... ;) Color me educamated, too. I was not consciously aware of that mosque, though it stirs some memory - wasn't it shown at some point in a Civilization game?
Well, Drake didn't assume much. The Drake equation is ultimately not about calculating the amount of life in the universe, but - at least at the current stage of knowledge - about providing a framework for collecting and thinking about what parameters might influence the amount of life in the universe.
A couple of years ago I would have smirked at that. Now I humbly ask you for confirmation that this actually was sarcasm as I hope, as too many retards run around truly believing not being able to dump your shit into the local river is GUBBERMINT OPPRESSION....
Pray tell, where is that abundance of oil? Distributed over the all those stripper wells putting out a couple of barrels a day?
Naturally. They do it for the mythical FUNDING, or what is that PR effort supposed to effect? That's why everyone wanting to get filthy rich goes into science instead of picking a honest job like hedge fund manager. "Deluded" is a concept you brought up, by the way.
That appears to be the master plan, seeing the spread between filthy rich and just plain filthy getting bigger and bigger as of late. Also, I need to find me a Shadowrun game again... ;)
Absolutely true about the details - but I was rather thinking of the impression. The same thing that made the GP think of Tower of Babel made me immediately think of Zigguraths, and I rather believe that this was what the architect wanted to evoke. But, in the end, that's only speculation - haven't heard any statement from him. Just seems more natural as source for an architectural citation.
Well, that is the classic Ziggurath design that inspired the whole Tower of Babel story. Mostly useless, ritualistic mega-structures, the only use being the observatory post on top to watch the stars and determine the seasons - which could have been done with much less crap around it. I don't think the architect aimed at the Tower story as such, but rather cited the Ziggurath as classical structure of the region.
The most prominent ruin-to-be from the height of the empire, the days of peak oil. Give it 50 years and the few rag-clad scavengers populating the lower levels will wonder what the fuck anyone thought when they built this....
I am sorry that science can't provide you with the be-all end-all answers you desire. It is not designed that way. May I suggest taking up a religion instead?
To summarize - population genetics is utterly fascinating, just look at the east-west gradient you see in Europe regarding some mitochondrially inherited traits, with a small island in Basque, pointing at an immigration wave from the eastern European steppes just leaving the Basque as a sole remnant of the indigenous population. It correlates well with linguistics, too. It's just so simplistic to wrap this up in some outdated concept of "race". Besides, those trotting out the 'race' thing usually have an agenda. And it tends not to be pretty.
Agreed, that's basically what I am aiming at. Obviously we have morphological differences, and a whole lot of cultural ones on top of that. The genetic distance - and internal homogeneity - between those groups are, however, not remotely significant enough to establish different races in a genetic sense. We humans just fuck around too much and move all over the place too much for the term to make any sense in the strict biological definition of the word.
Didn't check the site for about a year for losing interest. When I came back , I had forgotten my password and had lost my old e-mail account. Being not obsessed with UID, I just got a new account instead of putting up with the hassle of getting the old one back. And, no, the old karma was fine, no need to ask :P
And what of all that qualifies as "race" in the biological sense? Of course we have different histories, but that doesn't make us different races.
Wrong direction. Since when are English, German and Russian anything but nationalities? The diversity amongst humans is not nearly large enough to qualify the introduction of biologically solidly defined races. Local varieties, that's all. 'Race' in humans is a pure social construct.
That's 'Nazis' - it's a name.
A name I will not honor by capitalization. Also, hook, line, sinker...
It's my second, too, after years of lurking before the first. The Old Ones invoked above were purely Lovecraftian, though, and not at all related to UID...
I was aware how tidal lock works - we get to look beyond our lab walls and offices every now and then ;) Thanks, though, for the part about the collision speed. Gotta have a look at the paper - that is actually an interesting aspect.
Obviously, you had to be summoned, YodasEvilTwin... The Master's sentence structure is actually closely related to Latin sentence structure - which actually pretty much allows for near random jumbling. It has a preferred mode, though, which is Yodaesque.
Hm, how far into the moon's life did tidal lock set in? Was there enough volcanic activity left for this mechanism to work? With the recent reports on rather young volcanic structures, that might be - but as I said above, I am kinda clueless regarding anything exceeding basic astronomy.
As I do not know many Jews or Muslims, I can only speak for this atheist's Christian friends, who have no problem at all with science. On the large scale, literalist idiots are basically an American problem. Hell, the Vatican has an observatory, with some damn good scientist running it.
Can you bloody grammar nazis take your dictionaries, fold em up until they only consist of sharp edges and shove them up your arse, please? You are doing nothing but lowering the signal to noise ratio on this side - and in the most obnoxious manner. And the Old Ones know, S/N is bad enough already in these parts.