A few reasons to blow up a mall, rather than a plane, if you have enough explosives to blow up either: 1) it's harder, and costs more, to get onto a plane than into a mall, with or without explosives. 2) it's easier to get explosives into a mall than a plane, and this was true even before 9/11, with the old security practices. 3) people are already afraid of planes. not many people are afraid of malls, however. if your objective is to terrorize a nation, the best approach is to reduce predictability. unpredictability of danger == panic. even if half of all planes (and nothing else) blew up, that wouldn't terrorize a nation nearly as much as if there was a 1/1000 chance that a plane blew up + a 1/1000 chance a mall blew up + 1/1000 chance a post office blew up +... . that's how you terrorize, if you have the resources.
You mean in your opinion foreign students shouldn't be given scholarships, since there are domestic students with similar potential that could use it? I don't really agree. AFAIK, in all schools that give scholarships to foreign students, financial need is transparent to the admission process. I.e., they admit the best, probably independently of nationality, then give scholarships as needed.
Actually, that stuff about different cultures creating a "vibrant" learning environment and all that crap is only true under certain conditions. All too often I see that as the number of students with similar cultural backgrounds increases, they just create their own little community, and completely shut themselves in. You can see this with students from China, India, and, guess where else? Nope, the US! That's right - most American-born students themselves aren't willing to spend any time with the foreign students, thus getting no benefit from their existence.
This is actually a pretty interesting topic, unfortunately I know nothing about it outside of my own observations...
hammer(Nail::head), sir! Combine this with the fact that black and white logic is oh-so-attractive, and you have yourself the root cause of many failures of public discourse.
Interesting argument. I'm guessing that, by the same reasoning, you believe all forms of social security programs (in the generic sense of the term, be it welfare, medicare, etc.) are in essence equivalent to slave labor, since you are being taxed to, as you say, "make others' life easy." In other words, simply extending you argument, all government programs funded by taxation are equivalent to slave labor. Since all government is funded by taxation, this way of thinking leads to the conclusion that the only just government is no government - complete anarchy, in the most literal sense of the word.
Do you agree with my conclusion, or do you see faults in my reasoning?
Well, I prefer mistaking serious statements for jokes to the opposite. So, if you keep saying that, I'm gonna stick my fingers in my ears and go "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALALALA."
i think it's somewhat irrelevant whether or not he's telling the truth, since intuitively it seems implausible that what he describes doesn't exist, from a simple demand/supply point of view (and i know the demand is there...).
i know i'm not supposed to feed the trolls, but dude, you're funny! this is a prime example of irony, if i ever did see one. (get it? he's criticizing the engineering-assholes for not being civilized, thus displaying his own lack of manners? funny, right?)
heh, that was the best part of the whole article. OTOH, it's not like academic dishonesty is explicitly forbidden in the bible, unlike homosexuality, so who cares, right?
If you feel so strongly about this, perhaps instead of trolling on/., you should talk to the legislators working on this, and try to convince them to out in exemptions for small businesses?
I hail from a country that has nothing remotely similar to the ADA. About a week ago, I was admiring various aspects of civil engineering here in urban America - accessibility features, in particular. And I found myself thinking, "if I was wheelchair-bound, how different would life be here vs. in my home country?" It got so depressing that I had to force myself to think about something else. The point is, if you think the ADA serves no purpose other than allowing a few dishonest individuals to abuse the system for their personal benefit, then I'll make a bet with you - get yourself a wheelchair, fly to my native country, and try to live in the capital for, say, a month, without any assistance. I.e. do your own shopping, cooking, etc. If you survive the whole month, you can have all my internal organs.
I can think of much better candidates for "geek mecca": Alan Turing memorial statue in Sackville Park, Manchester; the HP garage in Palo Alto, California; the first Department of Computer Sciences -- Purdue University; the list goes on.
A well-formed argument indeed:]. For what it's worth, I agree with you - I thing the top Chinese scientists and engineers have demonstrated the ability to get projects of this scale done correctly. Comparing poorly assembled toys to aircraft isn't really fair.
Slashdot Mirror
And temperatures in South Carolina become more like those in Maine! Wait, that's not how it works...
A few reasons to blow up a mall, rather than a plane, if you have enough explosives to blow up either: 1) it's harder, and costs more, to get onto a plane than into a mall, with or without explosives. 2) it's easier to get explosives into a mall than a plane, and this was true even before 9/11, with the old security practices. 3) people are already afraid of planes. not many people are afraid of malls, however. if your objective is to terrorize a nation, the best approach is to reduce predictability. unpredictability of danger == panic. even if half of all planes (and nothing else) blew up, that wouldn't terrorize a nation nearly as much as if there was a 1/1000 chance that a plane blew up + a 1/1000 chance a mall blew up + 1/1000 chance a post office blew up + ... . that's how you terrorize, if you have the resources.
both you and your wife have a ___? dude, where i live, marriage like that ain't legal...
You mean in your opinion foreign students shouldn't be given scholarships, since there are domestic students with similar potential that could use it? I don't really agree. AFAIK, in all schools that give scholarships to foreign students, financial need is transparent to the admission process. I.e., they admit the best, probably independently of nationality, then give scholarships as needed.
Actually, that stuff about different cultures creating a "vibrant" learning environment and all that crap is only true under certain conditions. All too often I see that as the number of students with similar cultural backgrounds increases, they just create their own little community, and completely shut themselves in. You can see this with students from China, India, and, guess where else? Nope, the US! That's right - most American-born students themselves aren't willing to spend any time with the foreign students, thus getting no benefit from their existence.
This is actually a pretty interesting topic, unfortunately I know nothing about it outside of my own observations...
dude, pollen ain't bad for nobody, except for them asthmatics.
I don't get it. What clowns?
To make sure blowjobs aren't distracting our drivers.
It's all somewhere in the middle, on both sides.
hammer(Nail::head), sir! Combine this with the fact that black and white logic is oh-so-attractive, and you have yourself the root cause of many failures of public discourse.
what does any of this have to do with conditional probability tables?
/ML student
Interesting argument. I'm guessing that, by the same reasoning, you believe all forms of social security programs (in the generic sense of the term, be it welfare, medicare, etc.) are in essence equivalent to slave labor, since you are being taxed to, as you say, "make others' life easy." In other words, simply extending you argument, all government programs funded by taxation are equivalent to slave labor. Since all government is funded by taxation, this way of thinking leads to the conclusion that the only just government is no government - complete anarchy, in the most literal sense of the word.
Do you agree with my conclusion, or do you see faults in my reasoning?
Point conceded.
:] )
(Ouch... that hurt
Well, I prefer mistaking serious statements for jokes to the opposite. So, if you keep saying that, I'm gonna stick my fingers in my ears and go "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALALALA."
Soo.... Yeah.
i think it's somewhat irrelevant whether or not he's telling the truth, since intuitively it seems implausible that what he describes doesn't exist, from a simple demand/supply point of view (and i know the demand is there...).
i know i'm not supposed to feed the trolls, but dude, you're funny! this is a prime example of irony, if i ever did see one. (get it? he's criticizing the engineering-assholes for not being civilized, thus displaying his own lack of manners? funny, right?)
heh, that was the best part of the whole article. OTOH, it's not like academic dishonesty is explicitly forbidden in the bible, unlike homosexuality, so who cares, right?
you need a humor transplant, dude... GP was funny!
Surely you mean the "uncanny valley?" /pedant
s/out in/put in/g
If you feel so strongly about this, perhaps instead of trolling on /., you should talk to the legislators working on this, and try to convince them to out in exemptions for small businesses?
I hail from a country that has nothing remotely similar to the ADA. About a week ago, I was admiring various aspects of civil engineering here in urban America - accessibility features, in particular. And I found myself thinking, "if I was wheelchair-bound, how different would life be here vs. in my home country?" It got so depressing that I had to force myself to think about something else. The point is, if you think the ADA serves no purpose other than allowing a few dishonest individuals to abuse the system for their personal benefit, then I'll make a bet with you - get yourself a wheelchair, fly to my native country, and try to live in the capital for, say, a month, without any assistance. I.e. do your own shopping, cooking, etc. If you survive the whole month, you can have all my internal organs.
I can think of much better candidates for "geek mecca": Alan Turing memorial statue in Sackville Park, Manchester; the HP garage in Palo Alto, California; the first Department of Computer Sciences -- Purdue University; the list goes on.
we can't push image processing hundreds of years into the future
exaggerate much? really, you think it'll take hundreds of years to solve the vision problem?
now i want a cookie....
A well-formed argument indeed :]. For what it's worth, I agree with you - I thing the top Chinese scientists and engineers have demonstrated the ability to get projects of this scale done correctly. Comparing poorly assembled toys to aircraft isn't really fair.