Interesting link. I think one of the more important statements he makes is towards the end, whereas if there is a psychological condition that makes a person more likely to believe the inconsistancies of religion, there should exist an equal and opposite psychological condition that makes a person unable to tolerate anything that cannot be explained by logic. I have met one of those people, who was determined to never lie to his children about the eastern bunny, santa claus, or anything imaginative that makes childhood so fun.
I'd hate to live in either polarized society, the atheist or the fundamentalist, both equally intolerant of the views of the other. Either way stifles creativity and intrudes on personal freedoms.
The classic example of this was the conversion of the basic "hamburger box" by McDonalds....
"In November 1990 the McDonald's Corporation, largely in response to pressure from the public and from environmental groups, made the decision to replace Styrofoam "clamshell" hamburger containers with paperboard boxes."... "The manufacturing process uses other resources, too--one study estimates that manufacturing a Styrofoam clamshell uses 30 percent less energy, and generates 46 percent less air pollution and 42 percent less water pollution, than does manufacturing a paperboard box."
Not to mention the paper box insulates poorly, requiring more heat-lamp energy; and because paper has to be treated to repel grease, it decomposes slower than normal paper, and could not be recycled like the plastic-based styrofoam could.
... then shouldn't we be able to see her right breast as well?
The faster the velocity of the left breast, the less attention we have to locate the position of the right one... also known as Heisenberg's Wife Principle.
Yeah, but we humans survive by wearing an insulating layer (or several) woven from the the fibers of plants and skins of animals, both of which tend to be quite dead for the application... these studies look into how living creatures adjust their bodies to survive these temperatures, they're evolved a non-toxic (to them) anti-freeze...
But you can't really exclude food... because that's the building block that is used to upgrade/replace/recreate other "life" units.
For a robot to reproduce, it would need the means to move around, collect resources from the environment, refine and shape those resources into parts that can be used. On the macro scale, we use high temperatures to break ores apart, but at small scales we could just sort through the crystals for the right materials. We organics do it by gathering sugar sources, digesting it into its components, chemically tag the stuff we want to keep with enzymes, and we build more cells by reorganizing the bits. Once that processing system exists within a nanomachine, somewhere around there we'd have to stop thinking of them as machines, and more like metalic organisms...
Every year prior the board voted themselves excempt from the mandatory retirement age, except for this one, when there was a little coup to remove Roy (and some other guy) by not extending the contract. It resolved in a nice little expulsion without any shareholder votes on the matter, and the rest of them get out smelling like roses.
After Roy (noisily) resigned, the stock dipped ~8%, but then it went back up... but then again, the whole stock market rose in December... Course, with this latest fiasco, their stock is already sinking; Ameritrade tells me its down to $23.67 in after hours trading.
For some real healthy anti-Eisner articles written from the points of view of ex-Disney employees (Cast Members), I'll point you at MiceAge, a site that seems to be doing a good job bringing the park perspective to the forefront... seems to be a lot of behind the scenes politics, the comings and goings of executives, as well as how facilities is being (mis-)handled...
The whole point of the parent is that there is enough business to support the industry as a whole, it's just that the focus isn't where it used to be 4 years ago. You lay people off at Company A because Product A isn't as desirable anymore, which has no bearing on the desirability of Comany/Product B. And, if more people realized this, they would jump at the opportunities out there now...
Was: General telecom, ISPs, general IT networking mantainance Now: Biotech, hospitals, record keeping, transactional databases, financial auditing, data mining
No, the purchasing power (cost of living) in Norway is not the same. My sister is living in Stravanger, Norway, and she often complains about the costs of average stuff.... cost of movies, cost of clothes, costs in general. The difference is that their health care costs are almost all subsidized by the government, as well as low cost education services.
From this tourist site, a half-litre (1.05 pint) beer costs 40KR, or $5.86 US.
Nice, then I found this site for British students, albeit the rates are a few years old. I've modified it with current currency rates.
Rent of an apartment in Oslo: 6000 NKR per month (US $880)
Rent for a room in university residence: 2500 NKR per month (US $367)
the first is the press release sheet of the original site, Turnitin (turn-it-in)
one is a project proposal by an IT company that offers to install Turnitin at schools in australia. It appears they use the press release to describe the product
three are schools that have implemented Turnitin, and have "appropriated" a paragraph of the press release to link back to Turnitin's main site
These guys didn't care about the deficit when in one year they gave the Pentagon $74 billion increase, $40 billion ($400 billion/10 years) to create a Medicare senior drug plan, or $12 billion in farm subsidies. Surely we can scrape together $1 billion this year to do some actual science... Incidentally, I happen to be a trickle-down believer, and any money we put towards NASA will only go to help provide jobs for scientists and engineers, something we really need to do to drive off what's left of the Dot-Bomb, and help rekindle the USA's technology drive.
In 2002, Chester County, PA, was still using punch ballots. You go to the desk, sign the book, get the card, go into the booth, slide the card into a little box so that the holes in the end of the card rest on two little pins. You then read through a book of questions, and punch holes into the paper next to the number that matches your answer (In this way, noone can casually glance at the card and know how you voted on the way to the dropbox). Write in candidate names went at the botton of the card. When you're done, you remove the card from the punch box and drop it in a slot in a lockbox.
So summer of 2002, I moved upriver to Montgomery County, PA, where they had installed electronic machines like you described. You go to the desk, sign the book, then are directed to a booth. The machine is a giant board about 3 feet wide by 2.5 feet tall, and you just push the name(s) you want and the board lights up. I distinctly remember there are two "party lever" buttons at the top of the board that allow you to Select All Democrats or Select All Republicans, but you can still override with individual choices, or select Write In buttons (where you filled out another paper next to the board). You have to make a selection for every question on the "ballot" before the Register Vote button lights up. You push that one, it saves your vote, and gives you a receipt (date/time that you were there, but not your individual choices).
I saw a better version of this on a big screen when I went to Disney World this Christmas vacation; it's running in Innovations in Epcot projected on a 20 foot square screen, part of a "nanoscale devices" exhibit.
It's not quite the Charles & Ray Earnes movie, since it starts out in space at ~10^9 (orbiting earth) then "smoothly" zooms in to ~10^-10 (electron level)... "smoothly" being a somewhat obvious computerized blend between satelite cameras to normal optics to electron microscope images... but it was at 30 frames a second, not seconds per frame like Florida's java applet.
English-readers can find Wage Statistics on Norwegian government officials here, where you would find the Average Ministry Salary in 2002 was 30,200 Kroner, or about $4,260. There is a footnote, however, indicating that costs of health services are not included.
Interestingly enough, I ran across this through Google: "I do not think any job is worth 10 times a prime minister's salary," said Minister of Finance Gudmund Restad (Centre) when asked about Tormod Hermansen's NOK 7 million salary.", where one could infer that the prime minister's salary is ~700,000 NOK, or $102,734 on 5/20/2003, the day of this report. By comparison, Pres Bush's salary is $400,000 (raised from $200,000 by Pres Clinton in 1999, the first raise since 1969).
Personally, the salary levels in USA's government are outrageous, given the rate of increase (or lack thereof) of the common person's salary. My personal political beliefs align with the Republican party, who used to represent reduction of government... and recent budget bloat really concerns me... And you are correct, our cultures are vastly different. I for one, do not understand how you can have a political party called the "Christian People's Party" who can expect to remain neutral on affairs of church & state. It's also discouraging to me that the average Norwegian citizen cannot differetiate between the concepts of capitalism and greed; there is quite a difference between valuing and rewarding the risks and contributions of individuals, versus rewarding administrators at obscene rates for playing numbers games and bending rules for personal gain.
CNN did a study earlier this year, to check the personal finances of American Senators. The reason behind this is, due to new campaign finance laws, if you decide to privately fund your campaign, you are not held to the free speach restrictions telling you when you may broadcast your commercials... but I digress.
At the time (Jun 13), only 40 out of 100 were millionaires, with 22 of those Republican and 18 of those Democrat. Of the same group of 40, 6 were Women and 34 were Men. The top 3 wealthiest are all Democrat.
From a blurb at the bottom, there are at least a few "common" people in the Senate... "at least 10 senators reported net worths of less than $100,000." Still a substantial salary in my opinion.
Not surprisingly, the founding fathers had a more "ogliarch" view of government. Benjamin Franklin believed that if the Senators were not given a salary, then only the wealthy could afford to spend their free time governing the nation. He was voted down, and congress instituted a salary of $6 per day.
I think the one thing that history has taught us is that what matters most is not who does it first, but who markets the living hell out of the idea.
After all, we don't call people on the Elisha Grey Telephone (Bell), we don't listen to the Tesla Radio (Marconi), and we don't watch Farnsworth televisions (RCA).
There's a big business in creating stabilized cameras for helicopters... thats how we get our pretty pictures for the evening news. Like all things, its just a matter of time until we figure out how to scale them down to fit on our mini-copters. The only downside is I saw from browsing a $40,000.00 price tag for a quality lens.
As for the noise aspect, I totally agree with you...
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting link. I think one of the more important statements he makes is towards the end, whereas if there is a psychological condition that makes a person more likely to believe the inconsistancies of religion, there should exist an equal and opposite psychological condition that makes a person unable to tolerate anything that cannot be explained by logic. I have met one of those people, who was determined to never lie to his children about the eastern bunny, santa claus, or anything imaginative that makes childhood so fun.
I'd hate to live in either polarized society, the atheist or the fundamentalist, both equally intolerant of the views of the other. Either way stifles creativity and intrudes on personal freedoms.
Now you're making me feel bad, because as soon as I saw (a) through (e), I scrolled down to see how long the comment was...
Damn.
The classic example of this was the conversion of the basic "hamburger box" by McDonalds....
... "The manufacturing process uses other resources, too--one study estimates that manufacturing a Styrofoam clamshell uses 30 percent less energy, and generates 46 percent less air pollution and 42 percent less water pollution, than does manufacturing a paperboard box."
"In November 1990 the McDonald's Corporation, largely in response to pressure from the public and from environmental groups, made the decision to replace Styrofoam "clamshell" hamburger containers with paperboard boxes."
Not to mention the paper box insulates poorly, requiring more heat-lamp energy; and because paper has to be treated to repel grease, it decomposes slower than normal paper, and could not be recycled like the plastic-based styrofoam could.
... then shouldn't we be able to see her right breast as well?
The faster the velocity of the left breast, the less attention we have to locate the position of the right one... also known as Heisenberg's Wife Principle.
Yeah, but we humans survive by wearing an insulating layer (or several) woven from the the fibers of plants and skins of animals, both of which tend to be quite dead for the application... these studies look into how living creatures adjust their bodies to survive these temperatures, they're evolved a non-toxic (to them) anti-freeze...
But you can't really exclude food... because that's the building block that is used to upgrade/replace/recreate other "life" units.
For a robot to reproduce, it would need the means to move around, collect resources from the environment, refine and shape those resources into parts that can be used. On the macro scale, we use high temperatures to break ores apart, but at small scales we could just sort through the crystals for the right materials. We organics do it by gathering sugar sources, digesting it into its components, chemically tag the stuff we want to keep with enzymes, and we build more cells by reorganizing the bits. Once that processing system exists within a nanomachine, somewhere around there we'd have to stop thinking of them as machines, and more like metalic organisms...
Every year prior the board voted themselves excempt from the mandatory retirement age, except for this one, when there was a little coup to remove Roy (and some other guy) by not extending the contract. It resolved in a nice little expulsion without any shareholder votes on the matter, and the rest of them get out smelling like roses.
After Roy (noisily) resigned, the stock dipped ~8%, but then it went back up... but then again, the whole stock market rose in December... Course, with this latest fiasco, their stock is already sinking; Ameritrade tells me its down to $23.67 in after hours trading.
For some real healthy anti-Eisner articles written from the points of view of ex-Disney employees (Cast Members), I'll point you at MiceAge, a site that seems to be doing a good job bringing the park perspective to the forefront... seems to be a lot of behind the scenes politics, the comings and goings of executives, as well as how facilities is being (mis-)handled...
The whole point of the parent is that there is enough business to support the industry as a whole, it's just that the focus isn't where it used to be 4 years ago. You lay people off at Company A because Product A isn't as desirable anymore, which has no bearing on the desirability of Comany/Product B. And, if more people realized this, they would jump at the opportunities out there now...
Was: General telecom, ISPs, general IT networking mantainance
Now: Biotech, hospitals, record keeping, transactional databases, financial auditing, data mining
From this tourist site, a half-litre (1.05 pint) beer costs 40KR, or $5.86 US.
Nice, then I found this site for British students, albeit the rates are a few years old. I've modified it with current currency rates.
Rent of an apartment in Oslo: 6000 NKR per month (US $880)
Rent for a room in university residence: 2500 NKR per month (US $367)
Bus ticket: 20 NKR (US $2.93)
Hamburger: 50 NKR (US $7.33)
Coca cola: 18 NKR (US $2.64)
Loaf of bread: 20 NKR (US $2.93)
Cinema ticket: 60 NKR (US $8.80)
Yes, but hasn't shows like "American Idol" shown that we can be just as entertained by the "junk" ?
This implies I can find the cache folder that it dumps the images into, and replace the filenames with zero-length read-only stubs....
Criminal uses cell phone to call in kidnapping ransom. Police trace phone, find criminal + kid. Summer 2003
Kidnap victim memorizes rapists cellphone. Police check registry, find perp. Jun 2003
Kidnapped woman had cellphone hidden on person. Cops trace it to car, catch perp in parking lot. Nov 2003
And many more...
the first is the press release sheet of the original site, Turnitin (turn-it-in)
one is a project proposal by an IT company that offers to install Turnitin at schools in australia. It appears they use the press release to describe the product
three are schools that have implemented Turnitin, and have "appropriated" a paragraph of the press release to link back to Turnitin's main site
These guys didn't care about the deficit when in one year they gave the Pentagon $74 billion increase, $40 billion ($400 billion/10 years) to create a Medicare senior drug plan, or $12 billion in farm subsidies. Surely we can scrape together $1 billion this year to do some actual science... Incidentally, I happen to be a trickle-down believer, and any money we put towards NASA will only go to help provide jobs for scientists and engineers, something we really need to do to drive off what's left of the Dot-Bomb, and help rekindle the USA's technology drive.
In 2002, Chester County, PA, was still using punch ballots. You go to the desk, sign the book, get the card, go into the booth, slide the card into a little box so that the holes in the end of the card rest on two little pins. You then read through a book of questions, and punch holes into the paper next to the number that matches your answer (In this way, noone can casually glance at the card and know how you voted on the way to the dropbox). Write in candidate names went at the botton of the card. When you're done, you remove the card from the punch box and drop it in a slot in a lockbox.
So summer of 2002, I moved upriver to Montgomery County, PA, where they had installed electronic machines like you described. You go to the desk, sign the book, then are directed to a booth. The machine is a giant board about 3 feet wide by 2.5 feet tall, and you just push the name(s) you want and the board lights up. I distinctly remember there are two "party lever" buttons at the top of the board that allow you to Select All Democrats or Select All Republicans, but you can still override with individual choices, or select Write In buttons (where you filled out another paper next to the board). You have to make a selection for every question on the "ballot" before the Register Vote button lights up. You push that one, it saves your vote, and gives you a receipt (date/time that you were there, but not your individual choices).
I saw a better version of this on a big screen when I went to Disney World this Christmas vacation; it's running in Innovations in Epcot projected on a 20 foot square screen, part of a "nanoscale devices" exhibit.
... "smoothly" being a somewhat obvious computerized blend between satelite cameras to normal optics to electron microscope images... but it was at 30 frames a second, not seconds per frame like Florida's java applet.
It's not quite the Charles & Ray Earnes movie, since it starts out in space at ~10^9 (orbiting earth) then "smoothly" zooms in to ~10^-10 (electron level)
Timothy approved a much more informative summary article Yesterday, in the Science section, here, detailing all the issues encountered before landing.
You know the Three Rules...
1. Invent Product
2. ???
3. Profit!
English-readers can find Wage Statistics on Norwegian government officials here, where you would find the Average Ministry Salary in 2002 was 30,200 Kroner, or about $4,260. There is a footnote, however, indicating that costs of health services are not included.
Interestingly enough, I ran across this through Google: "I do not think any job is worth 10 times a prime minister's salary," said Minister of Finance Gudmund Restad (Centre) when asked about Tormod Hermansen's NOK 7 million salary.", where one could infer that the prime minister's salary is ~700,000 NOK, or $102,734 on 5/20/2003, the day of this report. By comparison, Pres Bush's salary is $400,000 (raised from $200,000 by Pres Clinton in 1999, the first raise since 1969).
Personally, the salary levels in USA's government are outrageous, given the rate of increase (or lack thereof) of the common person's salary. My personal political beliefs align with the Republican party, who used to represent reduction of government... and recent budget bloat really concerns me... And you are correct, our cultures are vastly different. I for one, do not understand how you can have a political party called the "Christian People's Party" who can expect to remain neutral on affairs of church & state. It's also discouraging to me that the average Norwegian citizen cannot differetiate between the concepts of capitalism and greed; there is quite a difference between valuing and rewarding the risks and contributions of individuals, versus rewarding administrators at obscene rates for playing numbers games and bending rules for personal gain.
Yea, I noticed that after I hit submit... silly mistake :)
CNN did a study earlier this year, to check the personal finances of American Senators. The reason behind this is, due to new campaign finance laws, if you decide to privately fund your campaign, you are not held to the free speach restrictions telling you when you may broadcast your commercials... but I digress.
At the time (Jun 13), only 40 out of 100 were millionaires, with 22 of those Republican and 18 of those Democrat. Of the same group of 40, 6 were Women and 34 were Men. The top 3 wealthiest are all Democrat.
From a blurb at the bottom, there are at least a few "common" people in the Senate... "at least 10 senators reported net worths of less than $100,000." Still a substantial salary in my opinion.
Not surprisingly, the founding fathers had a more "ogliarch" view of government. Benjamin Franklin believed that if the Senators were not given a salary, then only the wealthy could afford to spend their free time governing the nation. He was voted down, and congress instituted a salary of $6 per day.
I don't consider 72% in favor of a "slim majority"...
I think the one thing that history has taught us is that what matters most is not who does it first, but who markets the living hell out of the idea.
After all, we don't call people on the Elisha Grey Telephone (Bell), we don't listen to the Tesla Radio (Marconi), and we don't watch Farnsworth televisions (RCA).
There's a big business in creating stabilized cameras for helicopters... thats how we get our pretty pictures for the evening news. Like all things, its just a matter of time until we figure out how to scale them down to fit on our mini-copters. The only downside is I saw from browsing a $40,000.00 price tag for a quality lens.
As for the noise aspect, I totally agree with you...