By appeasing them, these 'sons' of Genghis Khan won't burn down the place and cart off the waitresses when they are done.
Actually, it's a great gimmick, and with the test costing about $330 dollars, I am certain that they don't lose a dime, in fact they probably make more money per customer, and whichever lab is doing the testing is getting free publicity for the real 'meat' of the DNA testing business; paternity testing.
Unlike the CIA, whose basic functions are clearly outlined in the 1947 law that created it, NSA, created in 1952, simply gathers intelligence.
...
All intelligence agencies are tasked with producing a particular product. NSA produces -- that is, collects, analyzes, and disseminates to its consumers -- Signals Intelligence, called SIGINT. It comes from communications or other types of signals intercepted from what we called "targeted entities," and it amounts to about 80 percent of the viable intelligence the U.S. government receives.
In certain cases, the NSA can look into the activities of U.S. citizens or residents if it believes they are acting as agents for another country. The agency must first get the permission of a special court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and then get the U.S. attorney general's consent.
While it's not "normally" permitted, it's hard to say if they ever get turned down.
If you make a call that the NSA has processed your conversation. The only difference is the "in the U.S. we protect personal freedoms", but don't worry, the Bush administration is working hard to remove that distinction.
You (Principal Skinner), of all people should know that Ubiquiness is a perfectly cromulent word. Of course it is very similar in meaning to another word: 'ubiquitousness'.
the mistaken belief its easier to maintain and makes downloading quicker.
It does make downloading successive pages quicker, but I don't know anybody at 14.4K, so it doesn't make anywhere near the difference that it used to. It helps download speed, if you have rollover image based navigation (really a mistake, but sometimes you don't have a choice). Also, before the ubiquiness of the Application server it was either use JavaScript Objects kept in a hidden frame (or what was later called a 'pop-under') or roll you own CGI session mgmt.
However, you are right bout the need for usuability hacks with frames, just getting the back button to work right is a real pain. But, I disagree about JavaScript being 'Evil', it's a tool which is particularly well suited for client side actions. I have used JavaScript recently to re-order a list rather than redoing the query, it's much faster than any of the alternatives. If you want to surf the net with JavaScipt turned off, that's your business. Now I avoid frames, unless I am told that is how it will be, but JavaScript is still very useful, especially combined with CSS (aka DHTML)
The "lax" windows security model and the viruses you mention may be issues, but they have nothing to do with this issue. It's like saying: "Becuase of the war in Iraq, and the growth of fungus, You should only have salad at McDonalds', because it's better for you, QED."
Silly me, I had always assumed that at least most of the 419 scams just *said* that they were from Nigeria. More than a Half-A-Billion dollar cottage industry in a poor country like Nigeria and that was just what the fraudsters had left for the government to take, WOW, A whole economy based on stupid, greedy people.
Honestly, would you like to donate a finger to nick for a video?
I wouldn't want to do it, but there are people who would consider this a great thrill and they may consider the nick a trophy of how they beat the saw. Spinning blades of death and descruction, yielding to my mighty finger. I predict that this device will find some *interesting* applications, at least until it becomes the expected result.
I wonder if this same technology might be used to create an automatic, mechanical, cat replacement that uses the meat detector to find mice. (But then again, how would you keep it from eating your neighbor's kitten too?...:-)
Of course with this technology, it would have to "chew" on everything it could find, just to check to see if it is meat. Kinda makes having a cat scratch up your couch a better alternative.
That depends on if you consider "new" to mean, I just came up with a great idea, or "new" to mean as a working product. I am sure that there has been a lot of "buzz" around this system, it's many applications would save hundred of millions of dollars, if not billions. Litigation cost, hospital costs, workman's comp costs. Hell the only people who could possibly hate this idea are personal injury lawyers and hand surgeons!
...could result in a lot fewer people visiting the emergency room due to deadly accidents.
wouldn't a visit to the morgue be a more likely visit with a deadly accident? Can't anyone think of the chain saw killers, I mean what are they supposed to do?
Most kidding aside, this would be great for chain saws, right now it looks like it's only available for table saws, perhaps the system is quite large.
While #3 is an urban legend, there is some truth to it.
What truth, do you mean that even the Russians have found the fisher space pen useful?
She gave another example of this. Say you're pulled over in the US. They take your license, and bring it back to their car. There, they enter it into a computerized system that keeps track of the ticket, and then bring your license back to you.
So forging your own license is a quick way to clean your record? or better yet, misplacing it. The computerized system will tell much more than the "number of tickets", it tells if you have a valid license or if there is a warrant out for your arrest. Also just punching a hole in a DL is also a violiation of due process, in essense it would be a conviction of a traffic violation, without a proper court hearing. (I believe that that was a actual U.S. court ruling, but I have no idea where to find it)
They sent their teams over with a different device. It was called a stick.
That must have been one long stick, or the "inspectable size room" must have been particularly small ("Talk softly and carry a big stick", comes to mind). I would assume that the stick was broken up to smaller pieces which were screwed together for each and every room (I'm thinking Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). Why didn't they just use a tape measure? Most likely because they were trying to work around tables and desks and whatever else was in the rooms. I would suspect that the laser measuring system gave our inspectors quick accurate readings, which allowed them to move quickly and spend more time inspecting.
You're right, sometimes there is a simple solution to a problem, but just because it's simple doesn't make it the best answer, or even right for any situation. The Russians are an intelligent and inventive people, and have done the best that they can with a limited budget, often with good success, however I would not like to be in that position.
The snopes website has an excellent recap of this issue...Space pen. One really interesting addition is... "Fisher pen was eventually used by both American and Soviet astronauts"
Space travel is not space colonization. All of the equipment created yet so far cannot sustain life without continuious and expensive resupply from the spacecraft where we currently live (Earth).
Of course, all of the programs, vehicles, habitats, and support systems created to date to accomplish that goal have been developed by governments. Same thing happened with early aviation, but of course, commercialization changed a lot about the costs.
Early avaiation was explored by two brothers on winter vacations from thier bike building business, without any government money, but within twenty years of 'the first powered flight' (yes, I am aware of claims other than the Wright brothers) there was substantial commerical investments in the business. While the government was an early well-funded client, it certainly didn't provide the seed.
Just because you are not aware of it, doesn't mean that most every decsion is a "risk analysis" of some type, hell some guy decided that attaching ballons to a lawn chair was an acceptable risk for the benefit of the experience. I don't know what the odds are for a "lawn chair" launch, but I don't believe that it would be worth the experience. However I do believe that the 1 in 56 chance of DEATH with the space shuttle is both acceptable to me and quite daring. You really have to look to Russian Roulette before you find an experience with "worse odds" for the experience.
Just to quite clear...
Just because I approach the subject with some logic and careful consideration doesn't mean that that I don't believe in the project. I am all for manned space exploration, and strongly believe that it is important for the future of humanity.
Right now as I type, and then as you read, we are traveling through space on a large (by our standards not the Universe's) rock. Stepping outside this rock's thin layer of atmosphere to get a better look at the stars is a matter better suited for a space based telescope. Sure, I like to experience extended periods of weighlessness and look at the stars from a little more clear perspective, but I wouldn't want to travel in a manner which is less safe than the Shuttle (about a 1-in-56 chance of dying). Your benifit/risk analysis may be more liberal, but really you'd go to a certain death for one minute in Low Earth Orbit, really. On related matter, I don't think that we'll ever see colonization of space (other than the occasional oddball), the cost of maintaining life there is too high, and will likely remain so through our lifetimes.
The more that I read from that guy (Schmeiser) the more that just don't believe him. He seems pretty quick about throwing around serious changes, for example from the page you linked:
I ran into Hofmann after the trial. He apologized to me for lying about supplying Monsanto with a sample of clean Roundup Ready canola seed for use in court. He told me that Monsanto had taken him on trips, to lunch and given him free products to use on his farm.
But he wasn't the only witness whom Monsanto wined and dined. Hofmann told me that Monsanto had a reception room where liquor and other refreshments were served to witnesses while the trial was happening. (emphsis mine)
Seems to me that Canada has some serious legal problems which far exceeds a simple patent violation. According to Schmeiser, you can buy off any Canadian for dinner and a couple of drinks. His buddy, Hofmann was even willing to say that he lied in court.
Also, he consistantly talks about how much care he takes with "his seed". Yet, when the grain company which he trusts to innoculate his valued property has identified samples 2 years later, "My lawyer, Terry Zakreski, pointed out that it would be difficult to know, after the passage of two years, the origin of the seed."
He also talks about that damn ditch...
In 1999 Monsanto formally accused me of illegally planting its transgenic seed the year before. It based this accusation on what its agents claimed was Roundup-resistant canola that they found growing in the ditch next to my fields.
But at the begining of the rant he says:
In August of 1998, the company got a court order allowing it to enter my land to take crop samples provided that the company or its agents notified my lawyer and me.
So it was based on that sample not some ditch. Of course, he claims that they didn't do the sampling with his presence or even notify him (or his laywer) of it, and "Incredibly, the judge didn't consider this during the trial". I guess that they had proof enough of the notification of the sample, otherwise (I think) his lawyer could have gotten the evidence thrown out (IANAL). I find it amusing that he doesn't have the guts to call the Judge 'just another Monsanto stooge' like he seems to do with everyone else (his lawyer probally advised him to be a little more careful). He had plenty of oppurtunity to pay a third party on his own to make a sample of his crops, in fact his lawyer (who was apparently already advising him on the matter) should have insisted that he do so.
Just after the lawsuit notification (in 1999?)...
Feeling uneasy about the pending lawsuit, I took samples from all of my fields, plus what the flour mill had returned to me, to the University of Manitoba to be tested for the presence of Monsanto's patented genes. I had to send the samples there at my expense because Agriculture Canada, a government agency, refused to test my seed. Yet, it did testing for Monsanto at taxpayer expense.
So the sample which only shows around 8% 'contamination' was done in '99, the year after Monsanto accused him of planting the seed. It would take a lot of balls to plant the seed again (if he did it the first time). IANAF (I am not a farmer), but it seems to me that a consistant 10% regrowth could be expected, and the ditch would test higher becuase it was never harvested or plowed under.
Don't get me wrong, generally I am for the 'little guy', but something smells with Schmeiser's story. Perhaps it is just his consistantly confontational writing style, but I am seeing too many unfilled holes. He also seems more than willing to throw around mud (except at the Judge), but then again I couldn't imagine the fustration of someone who might be falsely accused. In the end, it's not my fight, I've written much more than I need, the Supreme Court of Canada has found him in violation, for now th
It was not his fault that Monsanto's seed contaminated his field.
Well Monsanto orginally alleged that it was his fault (aquired "said" seed and planted), but they couldn't prove it.
Schmeiser didn't use Roundup on his crop...This is undisputed.
True, but the rest of that story is "in 1998", by that time Monsanto was obviously looking at him, it would be stupid for him to use the product, especially if he planted the seed on purpose. Personally I would like to know how much he used before 1998, it would be irrelavent to the court case, but I am guessing that the initial planting of the "said seed" (if it was planted) was in 1997 (or before; how old is that seed?), if he was spaying roundup like there was no tomorrow, perhaps he already knew that his crops would take it.
Schmeiser showed that the percentage of Roundup resistant crop in his first crop was gradient in exactly the way that would be expected if it was contaminated by seed from a passing truck or other farmer's field. That is, it was highest near the road and fell off with distance.
I haven't seen this fact anywhere (I haven't looked to hard, but), could you provide a direct link? (the link in your comment just goes to an index page of all the Canadian Supreme Court rulings; one of my links was to the actual rulling). Was that part of the ruling, or just something that guy wrote. I might have missed it, I not that familiar with the case, but the "95-98%" in the supreme court's ruling stood out. It told me that there is a little more to the story.
Tests of their 1998 canola crop revealed that 95-98 per cent was Roundup Ready Canola
Sounds to me that they found it in a little more than that ditch as he claims. It's still an interesting read, and does raise some good questions. Like "who owns life"
GPS equipment prices have been dropping already, many cell phones include it for emergency location.
However, GPS has never been a subscription service, so having an additional system will only increase the cost of intergrating the new system. If anything this may temporally increase the price of GPS/Galileo equipement, as some manufacturers will try to build dual compatability. I predict that over the short term Galileo will be considered a commerical failure as it is commercially unneeded. It was built for political reasons and national pride. If we ever got into a major war with another world power, the first targets would be all of the navigational satalites.
For a while, I was even "stopping by" the server room on weekends just to bring that damn project back up. It was a real mess. When we took the responsability of deploying the project, one of the developers on my team, took it as a "fill-in project" to improve several problems with the code (in particualar the handling of the database connection), unfortunately as the upgrade neared deployment the business unit suddenly claimed to know nothing of the upgrade and prevented us from deploying it. While still being in production it was at the end of it's lifecycle, and they realilized (I believe) that they would need to do some testing. Trust me, we spent 10 to 20 times the effort to try to get the old "sloppy" code to work. I don't believe that our upgrade would have fixed the problem, but it would have handled the poor DB connection much cleaner. I'd like to say more, but I have already said too much.
ActionScript is JavaScript/ECMAScript repurposed for the server-side.
Do you mean like Server Side Java Script, my god what a mess that was, I had to support an old project written in it, it finally broke when someone unexpectedly (and irrevokably) did a database upgrade.
I am a little suprised that the line for JavaScript would indicate that it is a "dead" (or dying) language. Sure there hasn't been any real developments in the language in a while, but maybe they are just trying to let the browsers catch up.
Also I thought that Action Script is for dynamicly controlling the Flash plugin, and has very little to do with JavaScript (or ECMAScript), other than some syntax.
Looks to me that they made the right choice for a server, after more than half and hour as a slashdot article, the server is still up and the large picture loads quickly. Granted, phrases like "We have succeeded with what could be termed a 2003 version of a short-range "Phaser on Stun"" and calling 20 feet "long range" doesn't inspire confidence, but it seem like a item which could be developed into something useful.
Slashdot Mirror
I saw that thing and thought Little Shop of Horrors (the original movie), or for that matter... Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the orginal movie). Man, that is one big pod...
Actually, it's a great gimmick, and with the test costing about $330 dollars, I am certain that they don't lose a dime, in fact they probably make more money per customer, and whichever lab is doing the testing is getting free publicity for the real 'meat' of the DNA testing business; paternity testing.
From here
From a CNN special about the NSA: While it's not "normally" permitted, it's hard to say if they ever get turned down.If you make a call that the NSA has processed your conversation. The only difference is the "in the U.S. we protect personal freedoms", but don't worry, the Bush administration is working hard to remove that distinction.
You (Principal Skinner), of all people should know that Ubiquiness is a perfectly cromulent word. Of course it is very similar in meaning to another word: 'ubiquitousness'.
However, you are right bout the need for usuability hacks with frames, just getting the back button to work right is a real pain. But, I disagree about JavaScript being 'Evil', it's a tool which is particularly well suited for client side actions. I have used JavaScript recently to re-order a list rather than redoing the query, it's much faster than any of the alternatives. If you want to surf the net with JavaScipt turned off, that's your business. Now I avoid frames, unless I am told that is how it will be, but JavaScript is still very useful, especially combined with CSS (aka DHTML)
The "lax" windows security model and the viruses you mention may be issues, but they have nothing to do with this issue. It's like saying: "Becuase of the war in Iraq, and the growth of fungus, You should only have salad at McDonalds', because it's better for you, QED."
Silly me, I had always assumed that at least most of the 419 scams just *said* that they were from Nigeria. More than a Half-A-Billion dollar cottage industry in a poor country like Nigeria and that was just what the fraudsters had left for the government to take, WOW, A whole economy based on stupid, greedy people.
Not them again! I'm so sick and tired of the SPCHD!
That depends on if you consider "new" to mean, I just came up with a great idea, or "new" to mean as a working product. I am sure that there has been a lot of "buzz" around this system, it's many applications would save hundred of millions of dollars, if not billions. Litigation cost, hospital costs, workman's comp costs. Hell the only people who could possibly hate this idea are personal injury lawyers and hand surgeons!
You're right, sometimes there is a simple solution to a problem, but just because it's simple doesn't make it the best answer, or even right for any situation. The Russians are an intelligent and inventive people, and have done the best that they can with a limited budget, often with good success, however I would not like to be in that position.
The snopes website has an excellent recap of this issue...Space pen. One really interesting addition is ... "Fisher pen was eventually used by both American and Soviet astronauts"
Just because you are not aware of it, doesn't mean that most every decsion is a "risk analysis" of some type, hell some guy decided that attaching ballons to a lawn chair was an acceptable risk for the benefit of the experience. I don't know what the odds are for a "lawn chair" launch, but I don't believe that it would be worth the experience. However I do believe that the 1 in 56 chance of DEATH with the space shuttle is both acceptable to me and quite daring. You really have to look to Russian Roulette before you find an experience with "worse odds" for the experience.
Just to quite clear ...
Just because I approach the subject with some logic and careful consideration doesn't mean that that I don't believe in the project. I am all for manned space exploration, and strongly believe that it is important for the future of humanity.
We. Are. In. Space. Already.
Right now as I type, and then as you read, we are traveling through space on a large (by our standards not the Universe's) rock. Stepping outside this rock's thin layer of atmosphere to get a better look at the stars is a matter better suited for a space based telescope. Sure, I like to experience extended periods of weighlessness and look at the stars from a little more clear perspective, but I wouldn't want to travel in a manner which is less safe than the Shuttle (about a 1-in-56 chance of dying). Your benifit/risk analysis may be more liberal, but really you'd go to a certain death for one minute in Low Earth Orbit, really. On related matter, I don't think that we'll ever see colonization of space (other than the occasional oddball), the cost of maintaining life there is too high, and will likely remain so through our lifetimes.
Seems to me that Canada has some serious legal problems which far exceeds a simple patent violation. According to Schmeiser, you can buy off any Canadian for dinner and a couple of drinks. His buddy, Hofmann was even willing to say that he lied in court.
Also, he consistantly talks about how much care he takes with "his seed". Yet, when the grain company which he trusts to innoculate his valued property has identified samples 2 years later, "My lawyer, Terry Zakreski, pointed out that it would be difficult to know, after the passage of two years, the origin of the seed."
He also talks about that damn ditch...
But at the begining of the rant he says:
So it was based on that sample not some ditch. Of course, he claims that they didn't do the sampling with his presence or even notify him (or his laywer) of it, and "Incredibly, the judge didn't consider this during the trial". I guess that they had proof enough of the notification of the sample, otherwise (I think) his lawyer could have gotten the evidence thrown out (IANAL). I find it amusing that he doesn't have the guts to call the Judge 'just another Monsanto stooge' like he seems to do with everyone else (his lawyer probally advised him to be a little more careful). He had plenty of oppurtunity to pay a third party on his own to make a sample of his crops, in fact his lawyer (who was apparently already advising him on the matter) should have insisted that he do so.
Just after the lawsuit notification (in 1999?)...
So the sample which only shows around 8% 'contamination' was done in '99, the year after Monsanto accused him of planting the seed. It would take a lot of balls to plant the seed again (if he did it the first time). IANAF (I am not a farmer), but it seems to me that a consistant 10% regrowth could be expected, and the ditch would test higher becuase it was never harvested or plowed under.
Don't get me wrong, generally I am for the 'little guy', but something smells with Schmeiser's story. Perhaps it is just his consistantly confontational writing style, but I am seeing too many unfilled holes. He also seems more than willing to throw around mud (except at the Judge), but then again I couldn't imagine the fustration of someone who might be falsely accused. In the end, it's not my fight, I've written much more than I need, the Supreme Court of Canada has found him in violation, for now th
What he doesn't say is something that I found in following the link canadians.org to the information page on this issue, there you can find a link to the Judgement from May 21, it found that:
Sounds to me that they found it in a little more than that ditch as he claims. It's still an interesting read, and does raise some good questions. Like "who owns life"However, GPS has never been a subscription service, so having an additional system will only increase the cost of intergrating the new system. If anything this may temporally increase the price of GPS/Galileo equipement, as some manufacturers will try to build dual compatability. I predict that over the short term Galileo will be considered a commerical failure as it is commercially unneeded. It was built for political reasons and national pride. If we ever got into a major war with another world power, the first targets would be all of the navigational satalites.
For a while, I was even "stopping by" the server room on weekends just to bring that damn project back up. It was a real mess. When we took the responsability of deploying the project, one of the developers on my team, took it as a "fill-in project" to improve several problems with the code (in particualar the handling of the database connection), unfortunately as the upgrade neared deployment the business unit suddenly claimed to know nothing of the upgrade and prevented us from deploying it. While still being in production it was at the end of it's lifecycle, and they realilized (I believe) that they would need to do some testing. Trust me, we spent 10 to 20 times the effort to try to get the old "sloppy" code to work. I don't believe that our upgrade would have fixed the problem, but it would have handled the poor DB connection much cleaner. I'd like to say more, but I have already said too much.
All kidding aside, it's a tremendous step. Rutan should be honored in the name of the first commerical spaceport.
Also I thought that Action Script is for dynamicly controlling the Flash plugin, and has very little to do with JavaScript (or ECMAScript), other than some syntax.
Looks to me that they made the right choice for a server, after more than half and hour as a slashdot article, the server is still up and the large picture loads quickly. Granted, phrases like "We have succeeded with what could be termed a 2003 version of a short-range "Phaser on Stun"" and calling 20 feet "long range" doesn't inspire confidence, but it seem like a item which could be developed into something useful.