Again, I have no idea why they insist on downing these things. For a little less orbital debris? Since they presumably actually work, why doesn't the government just buy them; even if they don't use them right this second they can maintain their orbits until a time when they will be useful... --
Very true, oldest newspaper still running in the World, so I guess it deserves it.
Really? I've heard of other papers that are considered to be the oldest, such as the London Gazette, Berrow's Worcester Journal, and Lloyd's List. Guess it comes down to how you define a "newspaper"...
--
So what happens if after all the major industrialized nations drastically reduce CFC output and this hole continues to grow? Then what?
Then we try something else. I never understood the position that because it wasn't 100% proven that something harmed the environment, then we should ignore it. As is 95% wasn't sure enough. Or 50%.
--
. In recent years Thompson has gone on the record saying negative things about Linux and not really getting the whole picture.
Well, you say "whole picture" as some sort of objective truth; maybe he interprets the whole picture differently than the linux community. His claims aren't particularly outrageous; he said that the code quality in linux varies (I think few people will argue with that), and that while it's fine for a PC, it's not that great for embedded systems or firewalls. Now that last part is definitely debatable, but considering this one of the men that a) created UNIX, and b) has been involved in the OS field for 30 years or so, I think he definitely has a right to make those kinds of judgements. More so than the average linux coder, who seems only to know MS and linux.
--
This kind of thing's happened before. Greek became the principal language of the eastern Meditteranean, Latin became the principal language of academics in the Middle Ages, French became the principal language of diplomacy. Now it's English's turn; in a hundred years it'll change to Mandarin or Hindi or Spanish. Unless a language is spoken only by a relatively small group of people, the chances are pretty slim it will be eradicated so easily. --
What is really amazing in light of this is how Canada gets by with a land mass larger than the US, and a population smaller than California.
But almost all their population lives within a few miles of the border. The actual denseley populated area of Canada, where most of those services would be, isn't especially large when compared against the entire US. --
The actual words themselves are easy; the pronunciation, spelling, etc., and the sentence structure is really nice and logical, but since it's not an indo-european language it's a little difficult for english speakers I think. --
While New Yorkers typically claim nothing in common with CA, their political views both tend to be very liberal, thus the same. The Electoral College is the only thing keeping our governemt fair.
Give me a break. Why the hell should your vote be worth more than mine? Just because I'm registered in New York? People from areas with low population density like much of the midwest are already overrepresented in the legislative branch. As long as we keep the electoral system
they'll be overrepresented during presidential elections too, and personally I think every person's vote should be equally as loud.
Is it fair to let one group, even if more in number, from one small area determine what's best for everyone in the country, particularly for people thousands of miles away from them, who themselves have no say in their destiny, due to the system you want to see created?
Better than to be steamrolled by coalitions of small states in the Senate.
--
pray tell, if Bush's credentials (Yale,Harvard MBA, successful business, Governor) aren't enough to be president, then what is?
Its widely known that he got into both Yale and Harvard on his family name. As for his business record, he failed several times in business. Each time he was bailed out by his father's friends. He finally made reasonably well on a deal one of his father's friends brought him into. The governorship of Texas is almost a figurehead role, and the decisions he did make reflect poorly on his political career; what he did to the environment, especially, borders on the criminal.
Clinton was a governor too.
Bill Clinton was a governor for 14 years, and before that an attorney general. He's spent his entire professional life in law and politics.
As was Reagan, the best president of the 20th century.
How on earth was Reagan the "best president of the 20th century"? As far as I'm concerned Bush is another Reagan; a pleasant, bland clean slate that extreme right wingers can use to push their reactionary politics.
--
They could have graduated from MIT with honors and it wouldnt matter; my original point would remain the same: just because Bush (OR Gore for you repubs) has a different ideology from you _doesnt_ mean you have to make unsupported and idiotic claims about them.
It's not just ideology though. I didn't like his father that much, but I recognized that he was basically a competent president. I voted for Clinton, but I didn't worry about Dole; he seemed a decent man who would do a fine job if elected. The claims against Bush aren't unsupported or idiotic. He has made several factual errors in his speeches; he has misrepresented himself as a moderate when in fact he is to the right of most of the Republican party; and he has basically no real credentials to be President.
--
Nixon didn't do what Gore is doing now because he didn't want to damage the country.
That is a fallacy.
First of all, if Nixon had gained Illinois, he would still have lost the election.
Secondly, he DID contest the results. He just did it a lot quieter than Gore is doing now.
After the election, Republicans launched a multi-state attack on the election results. They created grand juries. They appealed to state elections commissions. They demanded, and received, recounts in several election districts in several states. They showed no widespread discrepancy. In fact, Nixon lost 3 electoral votes afterwards, as Kennedy was shown to have won Hawaii rather than Nixon.
You can find related stories on Slate or Salon;.
--
Canada is in America, North America. I'm sure you mean the USA, but I can't blame you for calling it America since USA isn't really a name, it's just an acronym.
American refers to a citzen of the United States of America, just as Mexican refers to a citizen of the United States of Mexico, or Chinese refers to a citizen of the People's Republic of China. It would be linguistically and logically absurd to call a citizen of the US anything other than American. What are the options? United Statesian? That would be ridiculous. Many nations are comprised of various states, it would lead to confusion. USian, as I've seen suggested on slashdot? That would sound even worse. Both would be as ridiculous as calling a citizen of the People's Republic of China a "People's Republican" or "PRCian". --
The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) is considering designating high-speed internet services provided in Canada an essential service
This reasoning is flawed. No real work can be done by someone who doesn't have an adequate technical formation.
What exactly qualifies as "real work"? Or "adequate technical formation"? It's a very vague pronouncement, and the "real" before work looks like it can easily become a circular argument; "real work" can only be done by someone with a technical background, otherwise it's not "real".
Social sciences are notorious for leading to nowhere whilst leaving the illusion of progress (forged by social scientists, of course).
Actually, the social sciences are the most self-critical disciplines around, and have become more so as time goes on. Which social scientists talk about "progress" exactly? And they lead nowhere? What a ridiculous charge. All social sciences have at their foundation history, and I don't think knowing anything about the past can ever become irrelevant.
Althought they are helpful in many personal aspects and should not be neglected, one should be careful not follow the current trend and overemphasize them in favor of science.
It is ludicrous to think that there is a "current trend" to overemphasize social science over the physical and natural sciences in education. Scientific departments tend to be far, far better funded, and social science graduates usually have few illusions how their degrees will be received by potential employers.
Fortunately there are still some that like challenges and study exact sciences.
I like challenges, so I studied both. Social sciences are less "exact" because they simply deal with more complex variables.
--
No wonder. The media has taken over culture and now people are more interested in looking like Britany Spears or an NSYNC guy. Face it, our culture is a cult to the body, not to knowledge...we are all part of the "ultra-light" culture who feels good because they buy the "right stuff"(by The new kids on the block) rather than by ideals or concepts that can transcend all that we know.
Our culture has ALWAYS been like that, sadly enough. The anti-intellectualism streak that runs through it has actually gotten a little better than it used to be, I think, due to the rise of the computer industry and the idea that you can actually make money by thinking. --
Might have actually been Buckminster Fuller himself. I know he didn't expect his inventions to come into use right away, but had a timeline which was often decades long before he expected them to be used. --
Yahoo and google are different enough that I find them both useful. Yahoo groups sites by category; if I want to look at a bunch of sites on some common subject, like say 3-d art, yahoo is my first start. If I want to do a search for something more obscure, like the exact text of an error message, I use google. I don't use google all the time because quite frankly raw search results can be extremely annoying, and just because a site has a lot of links pointing to it doesn't always make it useful. --
Creating realistic clothing in games may not seem that difficult...The math is a bit intense, but the implications are that realistic cloth simulation remains out of reach for today's processors
Actually I would have assumed it would be very, very difficult to realistically model clothing. I'd have assumed it would be very, very difficult to UNrealistically model clothing. I'm no CG designer (or physicist), but wouldn't it be similiar to realistically model fluid dynamics, only with a whole lot of weird variables thrown in?
--
Slashdot Mirror
Marketshare!=success. Even if they gained 100% market share, if they're giving away their product they won't make a cent on it.
--
If you REALLY want kids to succeed, get a hold of some old Infocom games. Nothing better in terms of learning analytical skills.
--
Again, I have no idea why they insist on downing these things. For a little less orbital debris? Since they presumably actually work, why doesn't the government just buy them; even if they don't use them right this second they can maintain their orbits until a time when they will be useful...
--
Very true, oldest newspaper still running in the World, so I guess it deserves it.
Really? I've heard of other papers that are considered to be the oldest, such as the London Gazette, Berrow's Worcester Journal, and Lloyd's List. Guess it comes down to how you define a "newspaper"...
--
So what happens if after all the major industrialized nations drastically reduce CFC output and this hole continues to grow? Then what?
Then we try something else. I never understood the position that because it wasn't 100% proven that something harmed the environment, then we should ignore it. As is 95% wasn't sure enough. Or 50%.
--
And you are a fool if you volcanoes have no influence on the climate just because Rush Limbuagh thinks they do.
The point made by the poster seemed to be that Rush Limbaugh thinks the problems are ONLY caused by volcanos. Which is patently ridiculous.
--
. In recent years Thompson has gone on the record saying negative things about Linux and not really getting the whole picture.
Well, you say "whole picture" as some sort of objective truth; maybe he interprets the whole picture differently than the linux community. His claims aren't particularly outrageous; he said that the code quality in linux varies (I think few people will argue with that), and that while it's fine for a PC, it's not that great for embedded systems or firewalls. Now that last part is definitely debatable, but considering this one of the men that a) created UNIX, and b) has been involved in the OS field for 30 years or so, I think he definitely has a right to make those kinds of judgements. More so than the average linux coder, who seems only to know MS and linux.
--
This kind of thing's happened before. Greek became the principal language of the eastern Meditteranean, Latin became the principal language of academics in the Middle Ages, French became the principal language of diplomacy. Now it's English's turn; in a hundred years it'll change to Mandarin or Hindi or Spanish. Unless a language is spoken only by a relatively small group of people, the chances are pretty slim it will be eradicated so easily.
--
What is really amazing in light of this is how Canada gets by with a land mass larger than the US, and a population smaller than California.
But almost all their population lives within a few miles of the border. The actual denseley populated area of Canada, where most of those services would be, isn't especially large when compared against the entire US.
--
The actual words themselves are easy; the pronunciation, spelling, etc., and the sentence structure is really nice and logical, but since it's not an indo-european language it's a little difficult for english speakers I think.
--
has discovered four new outer moons of Saturn
Wow, four new outer moons? They were formed, what, yesterday? Wouldn't "previously unknown" be a better designation than "new"?
--
. His debating skills seem to revolve around chanting "fuzzy numbers" over and over again.
Don't forget "Worshington".
--
While New Yorkers typically claim nothing in common with CA, their political views both tend to be very liberal, thus the same. The Electoral College is the only thing keeping our governemt fair.
Give me a break. Why the hell should your vote be worth more than mine? Just because I'm registered in New York? People from areas with low population density like much of the midwest are already overrepresented in the legislative branch. As long as we keep the electoral system they'll be overrepresented during presidential elections too, and personally I think every person's vote should be equally as loud.
Is it fair to let one group, even if more in number, from one small area determine what's best for everyone in the country, particularly for people thousands of miles away from them, who themselves have no say in their destiny, due to the system you want to see created?
Better than to be steamrolled by coalitions of small states in the Senate.
--
Bill Clinton was a governor for 14 years
Let me amend that; Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas for about 10 years. Point still stands.
--
pray tell, if Bush's credentials (Yale,Harvard MBA, successful business, Governor) aren't enough to be president, then what is?
Its widely known that he got into both Yale and Harvard on his family name. As for his business record, he failed several times in business. Each time he was bailed out by his father's friends. He finally made reasonably well on a deal one of his father's friends brought him into. The governorship of Texas is almost a figurehead role, and the decisions he did make reflect poorly on his political career; what he did to the environment, especially, borders on the criminal.
Clinton was a governor too.
Bill Clinton was a governor for 14 years, and before that an attorney general. He's spent his entire professional life in law and politics.
As was Reagan, the best president of the 20th century.
How on earth was Reagan the "best president of the 20th century"? As far as I'm concerned Bush is another Reagan; a pleasant, bland clean slate that extreme right wingers can use to push their reactionary politics.
--
They could have graduated from MIT with honors and it wouldnt matter; my original point would remain the same: just because Bush (OR Gore for you repubs) has a different ideology from you _doesnt_ mean you have to make unsupported and idiotic claims about them.
It's not just ideology though. I didn't like his father that much, but I recognized that he was basically a competent president. I voted for Clinton, but I didn't worry about Dole; he seemed a decent man who would do a fine job if elected. The claims against Bush aren't unsupported or idiotic. He has made several factual errors in his speeches; he has misrepresented himself as a moderate when in fact he is to the right of most of the Republican party; and he has basically no real credentials to be President.
--
Nixon didn't do what Gore is doing now because he didn't want to damage the country.
;.
That is a fallacy.
First of all, if Nixon had gained Illinois, he would still have lost the election.
Secondly, he DID contest the results. He just did it a lot quieter than Gore is doing now.
After the election, Republicans launched a multi-state attack on the election results. They created grand juries. They appealed to state elections commissions. They demanded, and received, recounts in several election districts in several states. They showed no widespread discrepancy. In fact, Nixon lost 3 electoral votes afterwards, as Kennedy was shown to have won Hawaii rather than Nixon.
You can find related stories on Slate or Salon
--
Yes, you can now avoid that unconscionable slowdown when you run Quake Arena at 1,024,000x7,680,000 with 256 trillion colors.
--
Canada is in America, North America. I'm sure you mean the USA, but I can't blame you for calling it America since USA isn't really a name, it's just an acronym.
American refers to a citzen of the United States of America, just as Mexican refers to a citizen of the United States of Mexico, or Chinese refers to a citizen of the People's Republic of China. It would be linguistically and logically absurd to call a citizen of the US anything other than American. What are the options? United Statesian? That would be ridiculous. Many nations are comprised of various states, it would lead to confusion. USian, as I've seen suggested on slashdot? That would sound even worse. Both would be as ridiculous as calling a citizen of the People's Republic of China a "People's Republican" or "PRCian".
--
The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) is considering designating high-speed internet services provided in Canada an essential service
And they call us Americans spoiled...
--
Where to begin....
This reasoning is flawed. No real work can be done by someone who doesn't have an adequate technical formation.
What exactly qualifies as "real work"? Or "adequate technical formation"? It's a very vague pronouncement, and the "real" before work looks like it can easily become a circular argument; "real work" can only be done by someone with a technical background, otherwise it's not "real".
Social sciences are notorious for leading to nowhere whilst leaving the illusion of progress (forged by social scientists, of course).
Actually, the social sciences are the most self-critical disciplines around, and have become more so as time goes on. Which social scientists talk about "progress" exactly? And they lead nowhere? What a ridiculous charge. All social sciences have at their foundation history, and I don't think knowing anything about the past can ever become irrelevant.
Althought they are helpful in many personal aspects and should not be neglected, one should be careful not follow the current trend and overemphasize them in favor of science.
It is ludicrous to think that there is a "current trend" to overemphasize social science over the physical and natural sciences in education. Scientific departments tend to be far, far better funded, and social science graduates usually have few illusions how their degrees will be received by potential employers.
Fortunately there are still some that like challenges and study exact sciences.
I like challenges, so I studied both. Social sciences are less "exact" because they simply deal with more complex variables.
--
No wonder. The media has taken over culture and now people are more interested in looking like Britany Spears or an NSYNC guy. Face it, our culture is a cult to the body, not to knowledge...we are all part of the "ultra-light" culture who feels good because they buy the "right stuff"(by The new kids on the block) rather than by ideals or concepts that can transcend all that we know.
Our culture has ALWAYS been like that, sadly enough. The anti-intellectualism streak that runs through it has actually gotten a little better than it used to be, I think, due to the rise of the computer industry and the idea that you can actually make money by thinking.
--
Might have actually been Buckminster Fuller himself. I know he didn't expect his inventions to come into use right away, but had a timeline which was often decades long before he expected them to be used.
--
Yahoo and google are different enough that I find them both useful. Yahoo groups sites by category; if I want to look at a bunch of sites on some common subject, like say 3-d art, yahoo is my first start. If I want to do a search for something more obscure, like the exact text of an error message, I use google. I don't use google all the time because quite frankly raw search results can be extremely annoying, and just because a site has a lot of links pointing to it doesn't always make it useful.
--
Creating realistic clothing in games may not seem that difficult...The math is a bit intense, but the implications are that realistic cloth simulation remains out of reach for today's processors
Actually I would have assumed it would be very, very difficult to realistically model clothing. I'd have assumed it would be very, very difficult to UNrealistically model clothing. I'm no CG designer (or physicist), but wouldn't it be similiar to realistically model fluid dynamics, only with a whole lot of weird variables thrown in?
--