I have a friend who has ALS (same disease as Hawking) and we haven't gotten a proper message from him in more than 2 years. I can't imagine how lonely that is. These types of systems really pay off in the quality of life they can create for disabled patients and such. Color me excited.
I do, however, hope the price drops significantly.
i've never figured why anyone would pay money to a private organisation chaired by their neigbours, just to have the pleasure of them policing your front yard for you.
My current roomate (and the owner of our residence), grew up on a ranch out in the country. He has no problem maintaining a nice home on his own, as I had watched him do it for years. However, the condo he purchased is a member to an HOA. My roomate has quite the self-reliant, rebellious spirit so I asked him this precise question. Why would he want to buy a piece of property where he pays his neighbors to police him? His response was pretty simple. Since he was starting college, he wanted to be able to focus on his studies without having to worry about simple maintenance like maintaining the paint, maintaining the garden, repairing broken/faulty windows and the like.
So the answer to your question, at least in some cases, is convenience. Some people really prefer the convenience of having their homes maintained for them over the pride of maintaining said home themselves.
Now, I posed that question a year and a half ago and that was the response I got. Since then, my roomate has landscaped the front area, repainted the front of the house, replace three windows, and tiled the garage. So, despite his wanting to be free of the burden of maintaining his home, he still ended up maintaining his home. I pointed this out to him and he shrugged his shoulders. Lesson was learned. Now we're both moving on.
Because that would get rid of all the annoying Viagra spam and commercials, which is, essentially, the only thing standing between humanity and utopia.
Seriously? If we're going to be inserting something under our skin, can we at least get some super powers out of it too? I don't need to have invasive surgery to buy the latest copy of Cosmopolitan quicker. I do need to have invasive surgery to shoot fire out of the palms of my hands.
Right now almost half of my paycheck (literally 43%) goes towards paying federal and state taxes.
My taxes pay for things like maintenance of state highways. Despite the fact that I drive a motorcycle and a lightweight car, my taxes pay to repair the damage done by those Californians that choose to commute in a 2 ton SUV or a Hummer 3.
My taxes pay for studies in my local community, to determine what the root causes of particulate pollution are in areas nearby the beach. Despite the fact that I choose to live right next to the beach, and my sidewalk is constantly covered by sand, I judiciously sweep off my sidewalk every weekend. My taxes pay state professionals to determine where the sand is coming from (the beach, duh). My taxes also pay to sponsor programs to clean the sand off the nearby streets despite the fact that I already contribute to this cause because I take pride in where I live.
My taxes pay for the CHP. My taxes pay the salaries of an executive department that, apparently, has nothing better to do at 2 in the morning than pull me over and harass me for an hour due to nothing more than, 'suspicious driving.' It doesn't matter that I was doing the responsible thing and acting as sober driver for all my friends, my taxes pay for my own harassment.
My taxes pay to hold committees regarding the nuclear power plant operating in my area. At the local farmer's market, every time I hear a debate spark up over whether or not nuclear power is safe, I spend time, patiently, explaining to those spreading hysterics precisely why nuclear power is clean, safe energy. Specifically, I explain to them the safety procedures involved in nuclear power plant operation to ease their mind that the nearby power plant is not going to doom us all. Despite that, there are numerous protests about the power plant operating in my area. As a result, various bureaucratic agencies in my state hold public hearings (funded by my tax dollars) where they debate shutting one of the most successful nuclear power plants in the United States down due to public concern.
I work my ass off every day, weekends included, to be a responsible citizen and to make my community a better place. I maintain multiple computers at home which run Ubuntu and which upon which I perform tedious maintenance to ensure that my boxes are not polluting the net. Despite this personal choice to be responsible, there are those in this country that propose a general population tax to fix other, irresponsible folks' f***-ups.
You can feed me all the cliche lines about how taxes pay for a healthy society and healthy societies benefit everyone, but from where I stand, all that excuse looks like to me is a hand wavy way to say that if you live a responsible life, you are going to get boned. The American dream has taught me, in no small amount, that the best attitude to maintain towards the world is one of hedonism and the exploitation of others. Another general tax, levied not only on those that are irresponsible, but also levied on those that are responsible members of society, to pay for the plagues unleashed by those who are lazy and irresponsible is not just. Such a tax does not create a healthy society. Such a tax does not encourage responsibility or hard work. That kind of policy, from what I have seen, does nothing more than invite more parasites to come feed of off what could, otherwise, be classified as a healthy society.
Sure, I sound like the typical ol' fogey that has nothing better to do than bitch about higher taxes. But I, for one, am tired of watching nearly half my paycheck buy and pay for the stupidity of the masses. To quote Adam Ryan:
"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?"
...who fancy themselves aerospace engineers because they've played around with some model rockets.
It's funny to me that you use a title drop to dismiss Project Orion. I don't know what profession you work in, or what your background is in, but I must say that not all aerospace engineers dismiss project Orion as nonsense out of hand. Granted, as the design stands today, there are some serious flaws and issues to be worked on. That, however, is what being an aerospace engineer is all about. We use our combined experience and knowledge to work in teams to develop realistic designs to extraordinarily complex problems. That's not a PR soundbit, that's my assessment of my own profession. Now, as I said, I don't know your background, but I work with aerospace engineers from multiple companies (propulsion/launch companies to be explicit) on a daily basis. Some of my best friends, actually, are aerospace engineers. Of the people I know that have both experience and technical chops, there are some that think projects similar to Orion in nature really are the future of space flight. Quite a few AE's that I know will state, in very explicit terms, that nuclear power and propulsion are very much required if we ever start to take deep space exploration seriously.
I will also state that, of the folk I work with and talk to everyday, there are two schools of engineering thought that become readily apparent. There are the super cynical, everything that can be done has been done types. There are also the super idealistic, everything worth doing still needs to be done types. Whatever your background, it seems you probably relate more to the former category. That is, I would wager that you at least have some experience (you at least boast from a point of condescension like you do). That experience has taught you that projects in the engineering world take years of work, millions of dollars in investment, teams of hundreds of people checking each others numbers and so forth. After a significant amount of time in that environment, it is easy to make the claim that new, difficult projects are neither feasible nor worth doing. Yet, despite such bold claims (and I have heard them made often by quite a few people), the space industry has chugged forward, steadily, for 50 years. We have launch vehicles that would make the first rocket scientists in the world wet themselves in excitement. We have solar arrays and batteries that make the first few spacecraft look like cheap RC hobby projects. We have laser based communications. We have Kalman filters and direct, adaptive control algorithms. We have light weight composites. We have plasma based propulsion systems for Christ's sake. In fact, the Japan, a nation that was, until recently, considered to have a trivial space program, has been working tirelessly to return their Hayabusa spacecraft back to Earth after showing, definitively, that electric propulsion has a very grand use in the modern space agency (although, it certainly does have its flaws, like all systems, as has also been demonstrated by that mission).
So sure, it's easy to dismiss the big ideas, the crazy new ones, as impossible and impractical and incapable of becoming a reality. However, as an aerospace engineer myself, I don't tend to take such statements seriously. Rather, I take them as a challenge, as any decent engineer should.
You make a good point, and while my post definitely was worded as a pissed off rant about they city life, I won't deny being hyperbolic. I wasn't attempting to say that the city life sucks and that it's completely not for me, just that it, like country life, has its own limitations.
Currently, I do live in a city and I listed the examples I listed because they are precisely what I have had to give up to be able to try the city life. Now, the upside is that I never have to worry about a ride home from the bars because I can walk. I get the joy of watching the neighborhood kids hit each other with sticks for entertainment purposes. I never run out of moving targets for my paintball gun since half my neighbors are cat ladies. Finally, I am refreshing my Spanish skills because not everyone speaks great English in the city.
So yes, I agree, the city life does have its advantages, as I mentioned above. It also certainly offers some new insight. For instance, when I lived in the country, I never quite understood who all these, 'risk adverse, over-protective chatty Cathies,' were that I had heard referenced on the internet. Now I deal with them first hand on a daily basis.
I also figure there are some city environments that are better to be a part of than others. I happen to live in a neighborhood with a lot of older retired single folk. That said, being the younger, reckless country boy is obviously going to make me a black sheep to an extent. I am sure there are other cities (college towns maybe) that wouldn't be as stifling as the one I live in.
Nonetheless, the point I was trying to make via absurdity, was that in a city, you do half to account for those around you. There is, to some extent, a responsibility to not make life suck for your neighbors. Out in the sticks, you don't have that problem. If you feel like doing something incredibly stupid like building your own rail gun, feel free. Just don't point it at any cars coming up the long driveway.
So yeah, both lifestyles have their advantages and disadvantages. At this point though, I much prefer not having to deal with nosy neighbors who refuse to accept that the smell of engine degreaser is a perfectly natural smell to be billowing from a garage.
What are the chances that we can get that kind of smarts imported into the US?
We, as US citizens, are only interested in importing your goods if they are made in China. Chinese goods combine low prices with high quality! So keep your northern European elite socialist imports to yourselves!
To be honest, I'm caught in the middle of this "Big pharma?
Like most hot-topic issues in the world, that's probably the best place to be. It would be nice if zealots only existed in religious circles, but they don't. Remaining in the middle, open minded, critical, and interested is about the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you.
You know, it's easy to hate on Texas because they do some dumb shit. It's just as easy to hate on Californians because we do some dumb shit (see our DMV for example, or Hollywood in general), though usually on the other side of the spectrum. It's all well and good to say that we should give Texas the boot from the union because they are so ignorant and extremist. But while we're at it, I propose we kick my own state, California, out as well, because we are populated by a bunch of unicorn-fart huffing idiots that think the world runs on happiness and tulips.
While we're at it, I say we kick most of the South out because half of them act like they never even finished high school. I say we kick New York out because those folk are a whole kind of crazy in and of themselves. I say we throw Utah out because their Mormon agenda makes Bush's idiocy seem like enlightened brilliance. I say we kick Hawaii out because they are more like Indonesia anyways....and so on.
Don't get me wrong, Texas's justice systems seems to have its head half way up its ass and turned sideways. But just because there is a very vocal, and powerful, minority doesn't mean that the whole state should pay. When it comes down to it, just about everyone in America has a few screws loose in the head. The only difference is that some folk have better screws loose than others. So rather than proposing we kick a member state out just because they are a different kind of crazy, how's about we roll up our sleeves and just work harder to improve it?
And for the record, I know you were speaking tongue in cheek. But let's face it, the cool thing about this country is that we can have two bat-shit insane states like California and Texas coexist peacefully without constantly waging turf wars with each other over Arizona and New Mexico.
if said teenager was downloading a Britney Spears song then it is of course wrong, and they should be harshly punished.
Agreed, anyone caught listening to that infernal racket should be burned at the stake. Downloading Britney Spears songs only propagates the stereotype that Britney Spears makes good music. This is a social injustice that should be fought not only in the trenches and streets, but on the very intrawebz we inhabit today.
Education, sanitation, health, social mobility, environmental footprint, cities are superior to villages in almost every way.
Except that I can't play my drums in the city without inciting a jihad from my neighbors. I can't keep a well stocked, functioning garage at a reasonable price with which to maintain my motorcycle. I can't open the garage door to my shop without my neighbors freaking out over the strange smells coming from that, "mad scientist's lab." I can't raise my pet cow in the city, which provides milk and, eventually, a couple years worth of meat for my family. I can't raise chickens in the city, which provide eggs and a convenient means of waste disposal, in the city. I can't clean my vintage rifle collection to ensure that they remain in good, functional condition without my neighbors freaking the crap out over the madman next door. I can't walk around without my shirt off on a hot day because some over-reactive mother thinks that means I am some kind of pervert.
So, sure, high population density areas are nice in quite a few ways. The one thing they are not nice about is encouraging innovation, invention, or trying something new. City life has its advantages, I will never deny that. But you can be damned sure that if you are going to live in the city you are going to have to fight for your right to try new things every step of the way.
There is a book about that. The End of Time by Julian Barbour supposedly makes a similar assertion. I haven't gotten terribly far in the book as it is atrociously boring and monotone. (Some theoretical physicists really shouldn't be authors). Nonetheless, the topic is an interesting one to explore. I also recall Kaku having a discussion about various physical models of the universe simplifying when time is considered not to exist in his book Hyperspace. I am hoping he touches on the subject in his newer book Parallel Worlds.
Finally, this particular press release is actually about this young man's book. From Eternity to Here was just released in January of 2010. I don't have a copy yet but I certainly do intend to add it to my reading list. Finally, Hawking's Brief History of Time should be an essential read for anyone interested in time. I also figure that reading some eastern thought literature such as the Tao Te Ching might bring a very different perspective to the table regarding time.
As one might be able to tell, this topic is incredible to me. I've always found the concept of time to be a perplexing piece of crap that breaks people, kind of like religion. I didn't really mean for this post to turn into a list of references, but if anyone is interested in this particular entity in our universe, some of the words in the books I discussed might help. Also, any suggestions from others would be appreciated.
Actually there is a bit in the Bible, the New Testament, where Peter, I think it is, is preaching to some unconverted tribes. He mentions, in very explicit terms that using, 'filthy language,' is considered sinful. I would look it up for you with the appropriate verse and what not, but I have already spent far too much time reading that book in my life. I don't intend to waste anymore time doing so.
No, but your snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish, insects, dingos, and politicians do. Don't get me wrong, Australia sounds like it is an amazing and fun place to visit. But don't be disingenuous, everything tries to kill you down there. =P
You know, it's a funny joke, but I do have to comment on this.
Just recently I visited New Zealand as an American (first time overseas). I spent the whole trip couchsurfing and meeting locals and generally trying out bad ideas with good people. It was one of the best experiences of my life. However, throughout the exploits, I was constantly engaged in conversation with various Kiwis regarding everything from American politics to Grey's Anatomy and Baseball. No matter what the political topic that was being discussed, I had multiple people tell me they resented American culture.
I was told, with very little beating about the bush, that American culture filters down into New Zealand culture as the two are so close and similar. As such, New Zealand has picked up such American bad habits as entitlement culture, easting disorders to maintain a, 'healthy weight', a heavy influence on religion in politics, and a general disregard for the respect of your community. I knew that quite a few places in the world were pissed off at America. I made peace with that. But it really broke my heart to know that when a decent country (I consider New Zealand to be such) inherits some influence from America, it is often regarded as negative.
I'm not sure we Yanks know the extent to which our actions influence the world at large. I can tell you, each one of these conversations that I had made me want to show every New Zealander I met just how fascinating Americans can be. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of cruft that exists in American society, but there is so much cool stuff too. We have a system where any group of kids can set up a local band and wear their heart on their sleeve for all to see. We have hardcore computer folk in the Silicon Valley that invent and reinvent things like the internet. We have a space industry that is currently trying to open space to the public. We have cowboys in Texas that can shoot a bullet through the center of a lifesaver. We have rock stars and movie stars and surfers and housewives and professional escorts and orange trees and snowboarding and mountains and deserts and Yellowstone and coyotes and the list goes on and on. We live in a fascinating area with a fascinating culture, but other countries don't get to see that whole picture. Other countries only get a smidgen of America here and a bit of America there. As a result, some of our most embarrassing facets bleed out into the rest of the world.
So yeah, you both jest, and I appreciate it. But I wish like hell we Americans would have a little more self respect so as to prevent ourselves from culturally polluting the rest of the world.
That seems to me a gross distortion of the Biblical principle.
I'd agree with you on that point. I'd go farther to assert that gross distortions in general are a significant factor in driving Christianity towards the zealotry and social irrelevance that I think we are seeing today. However, that's just an opinion on my part.
Who's representing the US in the ACTA negotiations. If it's just the usual **AA people
Once again, the USTR is, ostensibly, the US representative for negotiating ACTA. Currently this position is held by Ron Kirk. The official positions of this office can be found at their website here. Contacting the office via official channels can be done by reading through this contact page. The official USTR position and stance regarding ACTA can be found here. Finally, if you search for, "US Trade Representative ACTA," on google then you can find a link on the page titled, "US Trade Rep wants your input on ACTA Boing Boing," which is supposed to be a place that discusses how you can give the USTR input regarding ACTA. Unfortunately, I cannot access boing boing from work, and cannot link to it directly.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a friend who has ALS (same disease as Hawking) and we haven't gotten a proper message from him in more than 2 years. I can't imagine how lonely that is. These types of systems really pay off in the quality of life they can create for disabled patients and such. Color me excited.
I do, however, hope the price drops significantly.
i've never figured why anyone would pay money to a private organisation chaired by their neigbours, just to have the pleasure of them policing your front yard for you.
My current roomate (and the owner of our residence), grew up on a ranch out in the country. He has no problem maintaining a nice home on his own, as I had watched him do it for years. However, the condo he purchased is a member to an HOA. My roomate has quite the self-reliant, rebellious spirit so I asked him this precise question. Why would he want to buy a piece of property where he pays his neighbors to police him? His response was pretty simple. Since he was starting college, he wanted to be able to focus on his studies without having to worry about simple maintenance like maintaining the paint, maintaining the garden, repairing broken/faulty windows and the like.
So the answer to your question, at least in some cases, is convenience. Some people really prefer the convenience of having their homes maintained for them over the pride of maintaining said home themselves.
Now, I posed that question a year and a half ago and that was the response I got. Since then, my roomate has landscaped the front area, repainted the front of the house, replace three windows, and tiled the garage. So, despite his wanting to be free of the burden of maintaining his home, he still ended up maintaining his home. I pointed this out to him and he shrugged his shoulders. Lesson was learned. Now we're both moving on.
And why stop at changing genitalia?
Because that would get rid of all the annoying Viagra spam and commercials, which is, essentially, the only thing standing between humanity and utopia.
Seriously? If we're going to be inserting something under our skin, can we at least get some super powers out of it too? I don't need to have invasive surgery to buy the latest copy of Cosmopolitan quicker. I do need to have invasive surgery to shoot fire out of the palms of my hands.
Raise your standards Germany. Have some dignity!
Right now almost half of my paycheck (literally 43%) goes towards paying federal and state taxes.
My taxes pay for things like maintenance of state highways. Despite the fact that I drive a motorcycle and a lightweight car, my taxes pay to repair the damage done by those Californians that choose to commute in a 2 ton SUV or a Hummer 3.
My taxes pay for studies in my local community, to determine what the root causes of particulate pollution are in areas nearby the beach. Despite the fact that I choose to live right next to the beach, and my sidewalk is constantly covered by sand, I judiciously sweep off my sidewalk every weekend. My taxes pay state professionals to determine where the sand is coming from (the beach, duh). My taxes also pay to sponsor programs to clean the sand off the nearby streets despite the fact that I already contribute to this cause because I take pride in where I live.
My taxes pay for the CHP. My taxes pay the salaries of an executive department that, apparently, has nothing better to do at 2 in the morning than pull me over and harass me for an hour due to nothing more than, 'suspicious driving.' It doesn't matter that I was doing the responsible thing and acting as sober driver for all my friends, my taxes pay for my own harassment.
My taxes pay to hold committees regarding the nuclear power plant operating in my area. At the local farmer's market, every time I hear a debate spark up over whether or not nuclear power is safe, I spend time, patiently, explaining to those spreading hysterics precisely why nuclear power is clean, safe energy. Specifically, I explain to them the safety procedures involved in nuclear power plant operation to ease their mind that the nearby power plant is not going to doom us all. Despite that, there are numerous protests about the power plant operating in my area. As a result, various bureaucratic agencies in my state hold public hearings (funded by my tax dollars) where they debate shutting one of the most successful nuclear power plants in the United States down due to public concern.
I work my ass off every day, weekends included, to be a responsible citizen and to make my community a better place. I maintain multiple computers at home which run Ubuntu and which upon which I perform tedious maintenance to ensure that my boxes are not polluting the net. Despite this personal choice to be responsible, there are those in this country that propose a general population tax to fix other, irresponsible folks' f***-ups.
You can feed me all the cliche lines about how taxes pay for a healthy society and healthy societies benefit everyone, but from where I stand, all that excuse looks like to me is a hand wavy way to say that if you live a responsible life, you are going to get boned. The American dream has taught me, in no small amount, that the best attitude to maintain towards the world is one of hedonism and the exploitation of others. Another general tax, levied not only on those that are irresponsible, but also levied on those that are responsible members of society, to pay for the plagues unleashed by those who are lazy and irresponsible is not just. Such a tax does not create a healthy society. Such a tax does not encourage responsibility or hard work. That kind of policy, from what I have seen, does nothing more than invite more parasites to come feed of off what could, otherwise, be classified as a healthy society.
Sure, I sound like the typical ol' fogey that has nothing better to do than bitch about higher taxes. But I, for one, am tired of watching nearly half my paycheck buy and pay for the stupidity of the masses. To quote Adam Ryan:
"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?"
Well Microsoft, is he?
there's not a lot anyone can do to keep him from grabbing the occasional headline with his latest antics.
What was that the Anonymous Coward mentioned a little further up the page? The double tap? What was that in reference too? =P
...who fancy themselves aerospace engineers because they've played around with some model rockets.
It's funny to me that you use a title drop to dismiss Project Orion. I don't know what profession you work in, or what your background is in, but I must say that not all aerospace engineers dismiss project Orion as nonsense out of hand. Granted, as the design stands today, there are some serious flaws and issues to be worked on. That, however, is what being an aerospace engineer is all about. We use our combined experience and knowledge to work in teams to develop realistic designs to extraordinarily complex problems. That's not a PR soundbit, that's my assessment of my own profession. Now, as I said, I don't know your background, but I work with aerospace engineers from multiple companies (propulsion/launch companies to be explicit) on a daily basis. Some of my best friends, actually, are aerospace engineers. Of the people I know that have both experience and technical chops, there are some that think projects similar to Orion in nature really are the future of space flight. Quite a few AE's that I know will state, in very explicit terms, that nuclear power and propulsion are very much required if we ever start to take deep space exploration seriously.
I will also state that, of the folk I work with and talk to everyday, there are two schools of engineering thought that become readily apparent. There are the super cynical, everything that can be done has been done types. There are also the super idealistic, everything worth doing still needs to be done types. Whatever your background, it seems you probably relate more to the former category. That is, I would wager that you at least have some experience (you at least boast from a point of condescension like you do). That experience has taught you that projects in the engineering world take years of work, millions of dollars in investment, teams of hundreds of people checking each others numbers and so forth. After a significant amount of time in that environment, it is easy to make the claim that new, difficult projects are neither feasible nor worth doing. Yet, despite such bold claims (and I have heard them made often by quite a few people), the space industry has chugged forward, steadily, for 50 years. We have launch vehicles that would make the first rocket scientists in the world wet themselves in excitement. We have solar arrays and batteries that make the first few spacecraft look like cheap RC hobby projects. We have laser based communications. We have Kalman filters and direct, adaptive control algorithms. We have light weight composites. We have plasma based propulsion systems for Christ's sake. In fact, the Japan, a nation that was, until recently, considered to have a trivial space program, has been working tirelessly to return their Hayabusa spacecraft back to Earth after showing, definitively, that electric propulsion has a very grand use in the modern space agency (although, it certainly does have its flaws, like all systems, as has also been demonstrated by that mission).
So sure, it's easy to dismiss the big ideas, the crazy new ones, as impossible and impractical and incapable of becoming a reality. However, as an aerospace engineer myself, I don't tend to take such statements seriously. Rather, I take them as a challenge, as any decent engineer should.
Just my two cents.
Is that why we dumped Pluto as a planet? We were looking for something smoother and hotter?
Oh yeah!
"Oh, sorry, your Genetic Rating (tm) says you probably won't live long enough to pay us back, can't help you with that new car".
Fuck it. If that's the case you might as well just steal the damn car and go out with a bang.
You make a good point, and while my post definitely was worded as a pissed off rant about they city life, I won't deny being hyperbolic. I wasn't attempting to say that the city life sucks and that it's completely not for me, just that it, like country life, has its own limitations.
Currently, I do live in a city and I listed the examples I listed because they are precisely what I have had to give up to be able to try the city life. Now, the upside is that I never have to worry about a ride home from the bars because I can walk. I get the joy of watching the neighborhood kids hit each other with sticks for entertainment purposes. I never run out of moving targets for my paintball gun since half my neighbors are cat ladies. Finally, I am refreshing my Spanish skills because not everyone speaks great English in the city.
So yes, I agree, the city life does have its advantages, as I mentioned above. It also certainly offers some new insight. For instance, when I lived in the country, I never quite understood who all these, 'risk adverse, over-protective chatty Cathies,' were that I had heard referenced on the internet. Now I deal with them first hand on a daily basis.
I also figure there are some city environments that are better to be a part of than others. I happen to live in a neighborhood with a lot of older retired single folk. That said, being the younger, reckless country boy is obviously going to make me a black sheep to an extent. I am sure there are other cities (college towns maybe) that wouldn't be as stifling as the one I live in.
Nonetheless, the point I was trying to make via absurdity, was that in a city, you do half to account for those around you. There is, to some extent, a responsibility to not make life suck for your neighbors. Out in the sticks, you don't have that problem. If you feel like doing something incredibly stupid like building your own rail gun, feel free. Just don't point it at any cars coming up the long driveway.
So yeah, both lifestyles have their advantages and disadvantages. At this point though, I much prefer not having to deal with nosy neighbors who refuse to accept that the smell of engine degreaser is a perfectly natural smell to be billowing from a garage.
Dramatic?
...
No my friend....
This is SLASHDOT!!!!!!!
Cut me a break, it's the end of a very long Monday...
What are the chances that we can get that kind of smarts imported into the US?
We, as US citizens, are only interested in importing your goods if they are made in China. Chinese goods combine low prices with high quality! So keep your northern European elite socialist imports to yourselves!
=P
To be honest, I'm caught in the middle of this "Big pharma?
Like most hot-topic issues in the world, that's probably the best place to be. It would be nice if zealots only existed in religious circles, but they don't. Remaining in the middle, open minded, critical, and interested is about the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you.
And yet boys never call me back. :(
*In my best Benderesque voice:*
Heya baby, wanna destroy all humans?
You know, it's easy to hate on Texas because they do some dumb shit. It's just as easy to hate on Californians because we do some dumb shit (see our DMV for example, or Hollywood in general), though usually on the other side of the spectrum. It's all well and good to say that we should give Texas the boot from the union because they are so ignorant and extremist. But while we're at it, I propose we kick my own state, California, out as well, because we are populated by a bunch of unicorn-fart huffing idiots that think the world runs on happiness and tulips.
While we're at it, I say we kick most of the South out because half of them act like they never even finished high school. I say we kick New York out because those folk are a whole kind of crazy in and of themselves. I say we throw Utah out because their Mormon agenda makes Bush's idiocy seem like enlightened brilliance. I say we kick Hawaii out because they are more like Indonesia anyways....and so on.
Don't get me wrong, Texas's justice systems seems to have its head half way up its ass and turned sideways. But just because there is a very vocal, and powerful, minority doesn't mean that the whole state should pay. When it comes down to it, just about everyone in America has a few screws loose in the head. The only difference is that some folk have better screws loose than others. So rather than proposing we kick a member state out just because they are a different kind of crazy, how's about we roll up our sleeves and just work harder to improve it?
And for the record, I know you were speaking tongue in cheek. But let's face it, the cool thing about this country is that we can have two bat-shit insane states like California and Texas coexist peacefully without constantly waging turf wars with each other over Arizona and New Mexico.
if said teenager was downloading a Britney Spears song then it is of course wrong, and they should be harshly punished.
Agreed, anyone caught listening to that infernal racket should be burned at the stake. Downloading Britney Spears songs only propagates the stereotype that Britney Spears makes good music. This is a social injustice that should be fought not only in the trenches and streets, but on the very intrawebz we inhabit today.
Education, sanitation, health, social mobility, environmental footprint, cities are superior to villages in almost every way.
Except that I can't play my drums in the city without inciting a jihad from my neighbors. I can't keep a well stocked, functioning garage at a reasonable price with which to maintain my motorcycle. I can't open the garage door to my shop without my neighbors freaking out over the strange smells coming from that, "mad scientist's lab." I can't raise my pet cow in the city, which provides milk and, eventually, a couple years worth of meat for my family. I can't raise chickens in the city, which provide eggs and a convenient means of waste disposal, in the city. I can't clean my vintage rifle collection to ensure that they remain in good, functional condition without my neighbors freaking the crap out over the madman next door. I can't walk around without my shirt off on a hot day because some over-reactive mother thinks that means I am some kind of pervert.
So, sure, high population density areas are nice in quite a few ways. The one thing they are not nice about is encouraging innovation, invention, or trying something new. City life has its advantages, I will never deny that. But you can be damned sure that if you are going to live in the city you are going to have to fight for your right to try new things every step of the way.
I'll take my freedom any day, thanks.
There is a book about that. The End of Time by Julian Barbour supposedly makes a similar assertion. I haven't gotten terribly far in the book as it is atrociously boring and monotone. (Some theoretical physicists really shouldn't be authors). Nonetheless, the topic is an interesting one to explore. I also recall Kaku having a discussion about various physical models of the universe simplifying when time is considered not to exist in his book Hyperspace. I am hoping he touches on the subject in his newer book Parallel Worlds.
Finally, this particular press release is actually about this young man's book. From Eternity to Here was just released in January of 2010. I don't have a copy yet but I certainly do intend to add it to my reading list. Finally, Hawking's Brief History of Time should be an essential read for anyone interested in time. I also figure that reading some eastern thought literature such as the Tao Te Ching might bring a very different perspective to the table regarding time.
As one might be able to tell, this topic is incredible to me. I've always found the concept of time to be a perplexing piece of crap that breaks people, kind of like religion. I didn't really mean for this post to turn into a list of references, but if anyone is interested in this particular entity in our universe, some of the words in the books I discussed might help. Also, any suggestions from others would be appreciated.
Actually there is a bit in the Bible, the New Testament, where Peter, I think it is, is preaching to some unconverted tribes. He mentions, in very explicit terms that using, 'filthy language,' is considered sinful. I would look it up for you with the appropriate verse and what not, but I have already spent far too much time reading that book in my life. I don't intend to waste anymore time doing so.
A google search can probably find it for you.
Take away the right to say fuck, and you take away the right to say "Fuck the government."
It seems he would have a particularly interested bit in this release. I wonder if he lives in California.
Meh, a lot of dotters need a +1 humor modifier. But we don't go about asking for a lack of one do we? =P
We won't bite :P
No, but your snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish, insects, dingos, and politicians do. Don't get me wrong, Australia sounds like it is an amazing and fun place to visit. But don't be disingenuous, everything tries to kill you down there. =P
(Except the people).
You know, it's a funny joke, but I do have to comment on this.
Just recently I visited New Zealand as an American (first time overseas). I spent the whole trip couchsurfing and meeting locals and generally trying out bad ideas with good people. It was one of the best experiences of my life. However, throughout the exploits, I was constantly engaged in conversation with various Kiwis regarding everything from American politics to Grey's Anatomy and Baseball. No matter what the political topic that was being discussed, I had multiple people tell me they resented American culture.
I was told, with very little beating about the bush, that American culture filters down into New Zealand culture as the two are so close and similar. As such, New Zealand has picked up such American bad habits as entitlement culture, easting disorders to maintain a, 'healthy weight', a heavy influence on religion in politics, and a general disregard for the respect of your community. I knew that quite a few places in the world were pissed off at America. I made peace with that. But it really broke my heart to know that when a decent country (I consider New Zealand to be such) inherits some influence from America, it is often regarded as negative.
I'm not sure we Yanks know the extent to which our actions influence the world at large. I can tell you, each one of these conversations that I had made me want to show every New Zealander I met just how fascinating Americans can be. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of cruft that exists in American society, but there is so much cool stuff too. We have a system where any group of kids can set up a local band and wear their heart on their sleeve for all to see. We have hardcore computer folk in the Silicon Valley that invent and reinvent things like the internet. We have a space industry that is currently trying to open space to the public. We have cowboys in Texas that can shoot a bullet through the center of a lifesaver. We have rock stars and movie stars and surfers and housewives and professional escorts and orange trees and snowboarding and mountains and deserts and Yellowstone and coyotes and the list goes on and on. We live in a fascinating area with a fascinating culture, but other countries don't get to see that whole picture. Other countries only get a smidgen of America here and a bit of America there. As a result, some of our most embarrassing facets bleed out into the rest of the world.
So yeah, you both jest, and I appreciate it. But I wish like hell we Americans would have a little more self respect so as to prevent ourselves from culturally polluting the rest of the world.
That seems to me a gross distortion of the Biblical principle.
I'd agree with you on that point. I'd go farther to assert that gross distortions in general are a significant factor in driving Christianity towards the zealotry and social irrelevance that I think we are seeing today. However, that's just an opinion on my part.
Who's representing the US in the ACTA negotiations. If it's just the usual **AA people
Once again, the USTR is, ostensibly, the US representative for negotiating ACTA. Currently this position is held by Ron Kirk. The official positions of this office can be found at their website here. Contacting the office via official channels can be done by reading through this contact page. The official USTR position and stance regarding ACTA can be found here. Finally, if you search for, "US Trade Representative ACTA," on google then you can find a link on the page titled, "US Trade Rep wants your input on ACTA Boing Boing," which is supposed to be a place that discusses how you can give the USTR input regarding ACTA. Unfortunately, I cannot access boing boing from work, and cannot link to it directly.
Any other questions?