Do you mean something like the Harmon Kardon "drive+play" unit that mounts an external display and a wired "click wheel" type remote in your car? Link: http://www.harmankardon.com/drive-1/default.aspx
IANAD, but what about drugs that affect just one of those three enzymes, such as SSRI's? (I use the example since I am most familiar with the use of those for treating depression.)
I actually played football in High School. I wasn't big enough to keep playing in college, even if I hadn't injured my shoulder just before my Senior year of football. I also had the singular distinction of taking more AP classes than any of my peers. I had the potential to be valedictorian, but 1) never studied, 2) didn't want to appear too smart to better fit in with my friends, and 3) just didn't give a shit. We had a couple of really smart guys on the team who not only played but also had top 10% GPAs.
Although I would probably have to agree that I wouldn't have lasted through a swim practice, had we had a swim team. But, I think that is largely due to the fact that the two sports require vastly different skill sets.
Reminds me of the time I was looking for an offsite storage solution for our tapes at an old location. (Or a week's worth, anyway.) I had one lady suggest the big a$$ safe sitting in one room that was too heavy to move, but wasn't used for anything anymore.
Me: What's that safe made of? Her: Steel, I think. That's why it's so heavy! Me: And what's this tape made of? (Show her the tape.) Her: Plastic, of course. Me: Right, and what happens to the big metal safe in a fire? Specifically, what happens to the contents inside the safe during a fire? Her (with enthusiasm): Why, they'll be fine! Her (placating tone): It is a safe, after all.
At that point, I simply walked away while making a mental note to erase half of her home directory... (I'm not a true bastard - I won't erase everything.)
The scary part is that at a previous job, this lady used to be "in IT", which I'm sure is what fully qualified her to come up with a "cheaper, on-site alternative" to sending the tapes off-site for safe keeping. Just like the other woman in my office who used to be "in IT" but whose domain password I had to reset at least once a week. I guess the key words are "used to be".
The only thing I haven't seen mentioned in these discussions is what I find most important about Vista: the new AD policy controls. The number of configurable elements in AD has increased by, what?, two-fold? Now, I would love to argue that many of those should have been there in the first place (such as windows power management controls), but the simple fact is that they weren't. The addition of the multitude of new controls, some which should have been there all along, like the aforementioned power management controls, and some of which are necessary due to new technologies, such as WiFi and other emerging security concerns, means that from an IT stand point, I will have greater control over my client's network of PCs. I will be able to better push down a standardized desktop environment to my users at the simple click of a few buttons, not to mention the several new levels of security settings that the end users will never see (unless they actually try to stick the verbally prohibited USB Drive in their machine).
This doesn't even beging to talk about Network Access Protection, which on the surface sounds like a really good idea. Although, I have my doubts as to Microsofts ability to properly implement it and the relative "foolproofness" of the technology. (It could end up being another registry debacle, for all I know.)
I don't currently have any documentation to link to for backup purposes, but a simple Google search for "Vista Active Directory" should provide plenty of information for the curious.
I actually ran in to a similar problem with Sprint. I was living in New Orleans at the time Katrina hit. Due to the damage caused by Katrina the entire 504 area code was jacked up - so much so that I actually bought a prepaid cell phone with an out of state number just so my family/friends/work could get a hold of me. I could still make outbound calls since the local towers were fine, but inbound routing on the 504 area code was totally jacked up.
Anyway, about two months after the hurricane I suddenly get this bill that's about $130 over my usual bill. So, I call up to Sprint and explain that I really don't see how I could have possibly used that many minutes when I've only received all of two calls on the phone all month, and had been using the other phone primarily. The lady cops up and says that, yeah, it's probably a bug in the billing system charging me for all of those incoming calls that never actually terminated on my phone. Long story short, they admitted that their system wasn't foolproof and that they would credit me for the overage.
I know what some people say, but I have had nothing but good service the few times I've had to call a Sprint representative.
I'm mostly only familiar with the frictional belt CVTs. The only one I've personally driven was Nissan's unit fitted to a Murano.
I just read a good article (http://www.sae.org/automag/techbriefs_01-00/03.ht m) on Audi's new system. The article states that their system will still only handle "up to 350 Nm (258 lbft)." While that is an adequate ammount of torque, a quick scan of some manufacturers' websites shows that most manufacturers' flagship sedans would be approaching that limit.
The other important thing to remember about the Williams F1 CVT is that it may have only been designed to last one or two races. Typically, at that level of the sport, many parts are not designed for longevity. If I'm not mistaken, before recent rules changes, many (all?) teams would use a new engine for each race. In fact, I remember reading an article about the development of the Bugatti Veyron. VW contracted the gearbox design to a team that usually handles Formula 1 gearboxes. The contractors mentioned that one of the biggest problems they had was with the longeivity of the gearbox. Sure, they design for high horsepower cars routinely, but never ones that are expected to put 50,000, 75,0000, etc. on the gearbox.
I would like to find out more specifics about the Williams CVT. It would seem like a good option to increase fuel efficiency in modern cars.
That said, I still prefer a traditional manual and would have a hard time trading one in for a CVT myself. Maybe people like me are one of the reasons that CVTs haven't been received as well in the US.
CVTs will be the greatest thing since sliced bread once they work out the durability kinks. I think the biggest problem I've heard so far is that they aren't well suited for high horsepower applications due to the fact that they just can't "hang on" as well as two physical gears mating together.
It's a really weird sensation to drive a car with a CVT, though. I can't describe it except to say that it's weird to feel a a near constant ammount of accelerative force propelling you along.
Thanks! I'm very interested in learning about this. Common sense (and my parents along with various articles regarding fuel efficiency) has always told me that more revs = less efficiency.
It would be worth looking in to how technologies such as VTEC affect the volumetric efficiency. Especially as I think just about every manufacturer has some form of valve train modulation system (VVT-i for Toyta, MIVEC for Mitsubishi, VANOS for BMW, etc.).
I plan to check out all of those links tonight when I have some free time.
D'oh! I click on the link and it just redirects to a.gif for pistonheads.com. Do you have the link to the original article? I'm actually really interested in the powercurve graph.
While it may have been true at one time that most engines peak at 2000 - 2500, I would venture a guess that it's not the case today.
That said, I don't have access to the power curves for any of those vehicles (and frankly don't have enough time to look them up at the moment), but I would venture a guess that they all start to make "usable torque" around 2000 - 2500 RPMs.
Speaking from experience, the Civic really doesn't start to produce good power until 2500 - 3000. The Aveo is dog slow no matter how you cut it and I hope to never drive one again. I haven't driven the most recent incarnations of the Impala and Camry, but the previous generation models both seemed to produce appreciable torque starting at around 2000rpm. I know the F-series truck has good low end torque, and I haven't been fortunate enough to drive the modern incarnation of the M3. (They'll never be able to improve over the first geneneration M3 in my opinion, anyway.)
That article is really good though and actually supports my reasoning for why I like the S2000 (even despite its anaemic torque output) - I loooove my revs, and the S2000 due to its relatively flat torque curve seems to have good throttle response all through the rev range. It's actually a shame that Honda is cancelling the car since I probably won't be ready to buy a new car for another year or two.
Or maybe I'll get lucky, win the lottery, and go buy that turbo Porsche I've always wanted...
I call bullshit. Many cars don't reach peak torque until very late in the rev range. The 2000 year model Honda S2000 doesn't reach peak torque until 7500 RPM: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.aspx ?year=2000&make=Honda&model=S2000&trimid=-1. That's only 1500 RPM below Redline, btw. I have a hard time believing that the engine is actually working most efficiently at 7500 RPM.
Actually, I was going to point out that the right leaders haven't been found yet, BUT I was also going to mention that they never will be found. The truth is, we're all human and 9 time out of 10, those that rise to a leadership role do so because they desire a leadership role. Along with this desire for a leadership role is a desire for power, and that is all to easy to exploit in a communist society where the government retains control over all of the necessary resources with little to no checks and balances by the general populace. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It has been shown time and again that communism merely ends up resulting in a society with a powerful, rich, governmental aristocracy and a poor, underpriveliged labor class. This eventually leads to an uninspired and unmotivated underclass (the labor class) performing little to no work, which generally translates in to the ruling class "inspiring" the underclass with threats of death and/or retaliation. Individuals in the underclass have no means by which to be rewarded for a job well done - that would go against the principles of "everybody equal", so negative reforcement has to be used instead. (Stalin killed millions upon millions of his own citizens to enforce his rule.) The society eventually reaches a point where it just can't sustain itself and collapses upon itself.
Communism is great in theory, but next to impossible to implement in practice. What communism fails to take in to consideration is the human factor. IMHO, the only reason it appears to work in smaller societies is due to the fact that everybody knows everybody else and can actually see the effects of their labor on the others in their society - they actually care about doing a good job.
Actually, I believe that most countries disallow the transporting of minors into their country with the sole intention of having sexual relations with them. Go to www.ageofconsent.com for more information and clarification on these laws.
(I would have looked up the info on Spain, but seeing as I'm at work, that would probably be a bad idea.)
Good point. I'd always heard that India is one of the worst places to drive in the world, so I just did a quick search for an article with some statistics but didn't think about the fact that it was overall road deaths and not just car related deaths.
Stardock's Totalgaming.net offers full games for purchase, including Galactic Civilizations 2. While a number of the games are smaller, indie releases, there are some older titles from large publishers.
It must also be pointed out that all of the games offered on Totalgaming.net are devoid of DRM.
I think it's all about preparedness. You just have to prepare for the natural disaster that you expect. Truth be told, as a former New Orleans resident, it wasn't the hurricanes that bothered me. It was the inevitable flooding. There's not much you can do to protect against that, and flooding was a constant nuissance and threat the entire time I was living down there. That said, you can prepare for most disasters and its that preparedness that I believe gives most people the courage and strength to live in those areas.
What's funny is that, even though I know better, I am now extremely adverse to living in another hurricane prone area. I almost lost everything I own the last time -- I don't feel like being put back in to that kind of situation.
Don't worry, she probably didn't waste any time at all. Everybody else is behind it. How do you think it would look at the next elections "Katherine Blanco supports violent video games."
You can tell the difference -- because they use the same switch gear as before, the time lag built in to the control systems to let the incandescents glow down manifests as a few milliseconds of all-lamps-off. Takes a moment to get used to it, but you're very aware of lights changing -- I think it's safer that way, myself.
That's because people in Australia are apparently actually taught how to drive. When I was back in New Orleans last month, I think I counted 6 or 7 close calls when driving through intersections where the power had not yet been restored. People seem to think that a light being "off" means that they should blow through it at top speed instead of proceeding with caution after coming to a complete stop. I've seen similar behavior here in Atlanta, leading me to conclude that drivers in the American South are basically taught exactly jack and shit. (My own driving test in Arkansas consisted of driving around the block in a residential area with no traffic, however I did learn good traffic light behaviour as it was not uncommon to happen upon a nonworking traffic device in the rural areas where i grew up.)
LOL. Well I've lived in the American South for the last, oh, 20 or so years so I'm not too used to cool weather. I actually have a good friend from Norway. He usually has good things to say about the place. (At which point I have to point out that Noway went from providing the world with Vikings to getting invaded by my ethnic ancestry in WWII, all in good fun.:))
I am amazed that it is that easy to obtain a work visa. From what I've read about other countries in the past (UK, France, etc.) it can be rather hard to get a working visa in a lot of European countries. That said, I think I might keep living in the American South for a while where the temperatures rarely drop below 40F (4.4 on the normal scale used by the rest of the damn world). Heck, when I lived in New Orleans, I can't remember one single instance that I put on a sweater during the winter season. Still, I want to visit Scandanavia some time. It seems like a wonderfully different place to tour around as opposed to the usual touristy places such as Paris, Rome, etc.
I've always had an Intellimouse Explorer. Back when I was in college and actually had time to play FPS's, I was still wishing for more buttons. My buttons varied a little, but for TFC it was: Mouse1: Fire Mouse2: Jump Mouse3: Grenade1 Mouse4: Grenade2
You actually have a good point. The other day a group of my friends, most of whom are a little older than I, got on the subject of porn which turned to the classic Deep Throat. Anyway, I mentioned that I had only seen the ASCII version (http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/deep.htm). Well, needless to say, nobody had any clue what I was talking about so I had to spend about 10 minutes trying to explain before I gave up.
This is a tool, and how you use it determines its impact -- it is neither evil nor good. You, however sound like a more reasonable/responsible parent. You know that there will be the parents out there who will abuse this technology and hold this technology over their children's heads as a virtual leash. The technology will be used as more of a threat to the kids that they shouldn't do something instead of a useful tool to check up on your kids should they do something wrong.
Right now, we have a lackadaisical generation (and no, not every kid is that way), with poor manners, poor morals in many cases, and not a lot of fundamental common sense. Why is that? My parents drilled in to me a strong sense of morals and a generally good set of manners. Common sense... I personally think a lot of that is learned from experiences.
If its use might keep your kid out of trouble, perhaps trouble they are not prepared for or trouble even you could not forsee, isn't that worth it? Apparently not. What did we do without this tool when confronted with a situation our parents couldn't forsee and prepare us for? We thought for ourselves and figured it out on our own. Our parents couldn't prepare us for everything. We did occasionally have to trust our own judgement in some situations. Those are what tend to be known as learning experiences.
Oh, BTW, how is this technology any different than when we were kids, and every mother and father on the block new you and watched over you, and reported your transgressions to your parents before you even got home? Communities used to be tight-knit affairs, but that has changed, and you cannot always rely on the people around you. And you cannot always be sure who is living on your block -- just because there's a Megan's law doesn't mean a sex offender can't move into your neighborhood without you knowing it. And how about the ones that haven't been caught. For the record, I didn't realy grow up in a community like this. I lived in a slightly more rural area where the houses typically sat on an acre or more. Granted a few of our neighbors knew who I was, but it certainly wasn't the same sort of suburban community that you speak of. Regarding the sex offenders, what makes you think that there are any more sex offenders today than there were when we were growing up? The only difference is that now, because of Megan's Law, we actually know who the convicted ones are. When we were growning up, a convicted sex offender could have moved next door and we would have never known the difference.
I'm tired of these knee-jerk reactions to technology and especially where it involves kids. I'm just tired of many parents not giving their children a fair chance to grow up and learn important life lessons.
If I didn't want them to fall down and go boom, I'd put them in a fscking bubble and feed them through a tube! I'm not talking A Clockwork Orange here! I want to have all the tools I can to ensure the safety of my children, especially when I work an hour's train ride away (and let's not start the whole find-a-job-closer-to-home-and-be-a-better-family argument: as usual, it's not as simple as everyone makes it out to be). As stated before, you at least sound like you seem to be resaonably responsible with tools like this. You seem to appreciate the value of our kids learning some of life's lessons. Many people, however, seem to think that they need to protect their children 24/7 from the big bad boogie man (or should I say Terrorist these days?) lurking around the next corner. I also agree with you regarding the "work closer to home" argument. I'd say that less than half of the people I know work within 20 minutes of their job.
Here's some food for thought though: Is our world really any more dangerous than it used to be? Or has the reporting simply gotten better?
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Do you mean something like the Harmon Kardon "drive+play" unit that mounts an external display and a wired "click wheel" type remote in your car? Link: http://www.harmankardon.com/drive-1/default.aspx
Gotcha.
IANAD, but what about drugs that affect just one of those three enzymes, such as SSRI's? (I use the example since I am most familiar with the use of those for treating depression.)
I actually played football in High School. I wasn't big enough to keep playing in college, even if I hadn't injured my shoulder just before my Senior year of football. I also had the singular distinction of taking more AP classes than any of my peers. I had the potential to be valedictorian, but 1) never studied, 2) didn't want to appear too smart to better fit in with my friends, and 3) just didn't give a shit. We had a couple of really smart guys on the team who not only played but also had top 10% GPAs.
Although I would probably have to agree that I wouldn't have lasted through a swim practice, had we had a swim team. But, I think that is largely due to the fact that the two sports require vastly different skill sets.
Reminds me of the time I was looking for an offsite storage solution for our tapes at an old location. (Or a week's worth, anyway.) I had one lady suggest the big a$$ safe sitting in one room that was too heavy to move, but wasn't used for anything anymore.
Me: What's that safe made of?
Her: Steel, I think. That's why it's so heavy!
Me: And what's this tape made of? (Show her the tape.)
Her: Plastic, of course.
Me: Right, and what happens to the big metal safe in a fire? Specifically, what happens to the contents inside the safe during a fire?
Her (with enthusiasm): Why, they'll be fine!
Her (placating tone): It is a safe, after all.
At that point, I simply walked away while making a mental note to erase half of her home directory... (I'm not a true bastard - I won't erase everything.)
The scary part is that at a previous job, this lady used to be "in IT", which I'm sure is what fully qualified her to come up with a "cheaper, on-site alternative" to sending the tapes off-site for safe keeping. Just like the other woman in my office who used to be "in IT" but whose domain password I had to reset at least once a week. I guess the key words are "used to be".
The only thing I haven't seen mentioned in these discussions is what I find most important about Vista: the new AD policy controls. The number of configurable elements in AD has increased by, what?, two-fold? Now, I would love to argue that many of those should have been there in the first place (such as windows power management controls), but the simple fact is that they weren't. The addition of the multitude of new controls, some which should have been there all along, like the aforementioned power management controls, and some of which are necessary due to new technologies, such as WiFi and other emerging security concerns, means that from an IT stand point, I will have greater control over my client's network of PCs. I will be able to better push down a standardized desktop environment to my users at the simple click of a few buttons, not to mention the several new levels of security settings that the end users will never see (unless they actually try to stick the verbally prohibited USB Drive in their machine).
This doesn't even beging to talk about Network Access Protection, which on the surface sounds like a really good idea. Although, I have my doubts as to Microsofts ability to properly implement it and the relative "foolproofness" of the technology. (It could end up being another registry debacle, for all I know.)
I don't currently have any documentation to link to for backup purposes, but a simple Google search for "Vista Active Directory" should provide plenty of information for the curious.
I actually ran in to a similar problem with Sprint. I was living in New Orleans at the time Katrina hit. Due to the damage caused by Katrina the entire 504 area code was jacked up - so much so that I actually bought a prepaid cell phone with an out of state number just so my family/friends/work could get a hold of me. I could still make outbound calls since the local towers were fine, but inbound routing on the 504 area code was totally jacked up.
Anyway, about two months after the hurricane I suddenly get this bill that's about $130 over my usual bill. So, I call up to Sprint and explain that I really don't see how I could have possibly used that many minutes when I've only received all of two calls on the phone all month, and had been using the other phone primarily. The lady cops up and says that, yeah, it's probably a bug in the billing system charging me for all of those incoming calls that never actually terminated on my phone. Long story short, they admitted that their system wasn't foolproof and that they would credit me for the overage.
I know what some people say, but I have had nothing but good service the few times I've had to call a Sprint representative.
I'm mostly only familiar with the frictional belt CVTs. The only one I've personally driven was Nissan's unit fitted to a Murano.
t m) on Audi's new system. The article states that their system will still only handle "up to 350 Nm (258 lbft)." While that is an adequate ammount of torque, a quick scan of some manufacturers' websites shows that most manufacturers' flagship sedans would be approaching that limit.
I just read a good article (http://www.sae.org/automag/techbriefs_01-00/03.h
The other important thing to remember about the Williams F1 CVT is that it may have only been designed to last one or two races. Typically, at that level of the sport, many parts are not designed for longevity. If I'm not mistaken, before recent rules changes, many (all?) teams would use a new engine for each race. In fact, I remember reading an article about the development of the Bugatti Veyron. VW contracted the gearbox design to a team that usually handles Formula 1 gearboxes. The contractors mentioned that one of the biggest problems they had was with the longeivity of the gearbox. Sure, they design for high horsepower cars routinely, but never ones that are expected to put 50,000, 75,0000, etc. on the gearbox.
I would like to find out more specifics about the Williams CVT. It would seem like a good option to increase fuel efficiency in modern cars.
That said, I still prefer a traditional manual and would have a hard time trading one in for a CVT myself. Maybe people like me are one of the reasons that CVTs haven't been received as well in the US.
CVTs will be the greatest thing since sliced bread once they work out the durability kinks. I think the biggest problem I've heard so far is that they aren't well suited for high horsepower applications due to the fact that they just can't "hang on" as well as two physical gears mating together.
It's a really weird sensation to drive a car with a CVT, though. I can't describe it except to say that it's weird to feel a a near constant ammount of accelerative force propelling you along.
Thanks! I'm very interested in learning about this. Common sense (and my parents along with various articles regarding fuel efficiency) has always told me that more revs = less efficiency.
It would be worth looking in to how technologies such as VTEC affect the volumetric efficiency. Especially as I think just about every manufacturer has some form of valve train modulation system (VVT-i for Toyta, MIVEC for Mitsubishi, VANOS for BMW, etc.).
I plan to check out all of those links tonight when I have some free time.
D'oh! I click on the link and it just redirects to a .gif for pistonheads.com. Do you have the link to the original article? I'm actually really interested in the powercurve graph.
x ?year=2003&make=Honda&model=Civic&trimid=-1x ?year=2006&make=BMW&model=M3&trimid=-1x ?year=2004&make=Chevrolet&model=Aveo&trimid=-1x ?year=2006&make=Chevrolet&model=Impala&trimid=-1x ?year=2007&make=Toyota&model=Camry&trimid=-1x ?year=2006&make=Ford&model=F-150&trimid=-1
To be fair, though I did pick the most extreme engine I could think of off of the top of my head, I would have to disagree with the sentiment that most cars peak around 2000 - 2500. Some examples off of the top of my head...
My 2003 Civic (a relatively normal car) peaks at 4800: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
A 2006 M3 peaks at 4900: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
A Chevy Aveo is a little closer to your range at 3600: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
A Chevy Impala peaks at 4000 or 4400, depending on the engine: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
Even the Camry, the best selling car in America, peaks at 4000 for the 4-banger and 4700 for the V6: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
And lastly, the Ford F-Series trucks, quoted as being the best selling vehicle in North America, peak at 3500 or 3750 depending on the motor: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.asp
While it may have been true at one time that most engines peak at 2000 - 2500, I would venture a guess that it's not the case today.
That said, I don't have access to the power curves for any of those vehicles (and frankly don't have enough time to look them up at the moment), but I would venture a guess that they all start to make "usable torque" around 2000 - 2500 RPMs.
Speaking from experience, the Civic really doesn't start to produce good power until 2500 - 3000. The Aveo is dog slow no matter how you cut it and I hope to never drive one again. I haven't driven the most recent incarnations of the Impala and Camry, but the previous generation models both seemed to produce appreciable torque starting at around 2000rpm. I know the F-series truck has good low end torque, and I haven't been fortunate enough to drive the modern incarnation of the M3. (They'll never be able to improve over the first geneneration M3 in my opinion, anyway.)
That article is really good though and actually supports my reasoning for why I like the S2000 (even despite its anaemic torque output) - I loooove my revs, and the S2000 due to its relatively flat torque curve seems to have good throttle response all through the rev range. It's actually a shame that Honda is cancelling the car since I probably won't be ready to buy a new car for another year or two.
Or maybe I'll get lucky, win the lottery, and go buy that turbo Porsche I've always wanted...
I call bullshit. Many cars don't reach peak torque until very late in the rev range. The 2000 year model Honda S2000 doesn't reach peak torque until 7500 RPM: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.aspx ?year=2000&make=Honda&model=S2000&trimid=-1. That's only 1500 RPM below Redline, btw. I have a hard time believing that the engine is actually working most efficiently at 7500 RPM.
Actually, I was going to point out that the right leaders haven't been found yet, BUT I was also going to mention that they never will be found. The truth is, we're all human and 9 time out of 10, those that rise to a leadership role do so because they desire a leadership role. Along with this desire for a leadership role is a desire for power, and that is all to easy to exploit in a communist society where the government retains control over all of the necessary resources with little to no checks and balances by the general populace. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It has been shown time and again that communism merely ends up resulting in a society with a powerful, rich, governmental aristocracy and a poor, underpriveliged labor class. This eventually leads to an uninspired and unmotivated underclass (the labor class) performing little to no work, which generally translates in to the ruling class "inspiring" the underclass with threats of death and/or retaliation. Individuals in the underclass have no means by which to be rewarded for a job well done - that would go against the principles of "everybody equal", so negative reforcement has to be used instead. (Stalin killed millions upon millions of his own citizens to enforce his rule.) The society eventually reaches a point where it just can't sustain itself and collapses upon itself.
Communism is great in theory , but next to impossible to implement in practice. What communism fails to take in to consideration is the human factor. IMHO, the only reason it appears to work in smaller societies is due to the fact that everybody knows everybody else and can actually see the effects of their labor on the others in their society - they actually care about doing a good job.
Actually, I believe that most countries disallow the transporting of minors into their country with the sole intention of having sexual relations with them. Go to www.ageofconsent.com for more information and clarification on these laws.
(I would have looked up the info on Spain, but seeing as I'm at work, that would probably be a bad idea.)
Good point. I'd always heard that India is one of the worst places to drive in the world, so I just did a quick search for an article with some statistics but didn't think about the fact that it was overall road deaths and not just car related deaths.
Stardock's Totalgaming.net offers full games for purchase, including Galactic Civilizations 2. While a number of the games are smaller, indie releases, there are some older titles from large publishers.
It must also be pointed out that all of the games offered on Totalgaming.net are devoid of DRM.
The shuttle is, however, safer than driving a car in India: http://onlypunjab.com/fullstory2k5-insight--status -21-newsID-12414.html
I think it's all about preparedness. You just have to prepare for the natural disaster that you expect. Truth be told, as a former New Orleans resident, it wasn't the hurricanes that bothered me. It was the inevitable flooding. There's not much you can do to protect against that, and flooding was a constant nuissance and threat the entire time I was living down there. That said, you can prepare for most disasters and its that preparedness that I believe gives most people the courage and strength to live in those areas.
What's funny is that, even though I know better, I am now extremely adverse to living in another hurricane prone area. I almost lost everything I own the last time -- I don't feel like being put back in to that kind of situation.
Don't worry, she probably didn't waste any time at all. Everybody else is behind it. How do you think it would look at the next elections "Katherine Blanco supports violent video games."
You can tell the difference -- because they use the same switch gear as before, the time lag built in to the control systems to let the incandescents glow down manifests as a few milliseconds of all-lamps-off. Takes a moment to get used to it, but you're very aware of lights changing -- I think it's safer that way, myself.
That's because people in Australia are apparently actually taught how to drive. When I was back in New Orleans last month, I think I counted 6 or 7 close calls when driving through intersections where the power had not yet been restored. People seem to think that a light being "off" means that they should blow through it at top speed instead of proceeding with caution after coming to a complete stop. I've seen similar behavior here in Atlanta, leading me to conclude that drivers in the American South are basically taught exactly jack and shit. (My own driving test in Arkansas consisted of driving around the block in a residential area with no traffic, however I did learn good traffic light behaviour as it was not uncommon to happen upon a nonworking traffic device in the rural areas where i grew up.)
LOL. Well I've lived in the American South for the last, oh, 20 or so years so I'm not too used to cool weather. I actually have a good friend from Norway. He usually has good things to say about the place. (At which point I have to point out that Noway went from providing the world with Vikings to getting invaded by my ethnic ancestry in WWII, all in good fun. :))
I am amazed that it is that easy to obtain a work visa. From what I've read about other countries in the past (UK, France, etc.) it can be rather hard to get a working visa in a lot of European countries. That said, I think I might keep living in the American South for a while where the temperatures rarely drop below 40F (4.4 on the normal scale used by the rest of the damn world). Heck, when I lived in New Orleans, I can't remember one single instance that I put on a sweater during the winter season. Still, I want to visit Scandanavia some time. It seems like a wonderfully different place to tour around as opposed to the usual touristy places such as Paris, Rome, etc.
I've always had an Intellimouse Explorer. Back when I was in college and actually had time to play FPS's, I was still wishing for more buttons. My buttons varied a little, but for TFC it was:
Mouse1: Fire
Mouse2: Jump
Mouse3: Grenade1
Mouse4: Grenade2
Mouse5 varied based on the class I was playing.
You actually have a good point. The other day a group of my friends, most of whom are a little older than I, got on the subject of porn which turned to the classic Deep Throat. Anyway, I mentioned that I had only seen the ASCII version (http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/deep.htm). Well, needless to say, nobody had any clue what I was talking about so I had to spend about 10 minutes trying to explain before I gave up.
Doesn't it get kind of cold up there? :)
This is a tool, and how you use it determines its impact -- it is neither evil nor good.
You, however sound like a more reasonable/responsible parent. You know that there will be the parents out there who will abuse this technology and hold this technology over their children's heads as a virtual leash. The technology will be used as more of a threat to the kids that they shouldn't do something instead of a useful tool to check up on your kids should they do something wrong.
Right now, we have a lackadaisical generation (and no, not every kid is that way), with poor manners, poor morals in many cases, and not a lot of fundamental common sense. Why is that? My parents drilled in to me a strong sense of morals and a generally good set of manners. Common sense... I personally think a lot of that is learned from experiences.
If its use might keep your kid out of trouble, perhaps trouble they are not prepared for or trouble even you could not forsee, isn't that worth it? Apparently not.
What did we do without this tool when confronted with a situation our parents couldn't forsee and prepare us for? We thought for ourselves and figured it out on our own. Our parents couldn't prepare us for everything. We did occasionally have to trust our own judgement in some situations. Those are what tend to be known as learning experiences.
Oh, BTW, how is this technology any different than when we were kids, and every mother and father on the block new you and watched over you, and reported your transgressions to your parents before you even got home? Communities used to be tight-knit affairs, but that has changed, and you cannot always rely on the people around you. And you cannot always be sure who is living on your block -- just because there's a Megan's law doesn't mean a sex offender can't move into your neighborhood without you knowing it. And how about the ones that haven't been caught.
For the record, I didn't realy grow up in a community like this. I lived in a slightly more rural area where the houses typically sat on an acre or more. Granted a few of our neighbors knew who I was, but it certainly wasn't the same sort of suburban community that you speak of. Regarding the sex offenders, what makes you think that there are any more sex offenders today than there were when we were growing up? The only difference is that now, because of Megan's Law, we actually know who the convicted ones are. When we were growning up, a convicted sex offender could have moved next door and we would have never known the difference.
I'm tired of these knee-jerk reactions to technology and especially where it involves kids.
I'm just tired of many parents not giving their children a fair chance to grow up and learn important life lessons.
If I didn't want them to fall down and go boom, I'd put them in a fscking bubble and feed them through a tube! I'm not talking A Clockwork Orange here! I want to have all the tools I can to ensure the safety of my children, especially when I work an hour's train ride away (and let's not start the whole find-a-job-closer-to-home-and-be-a-better-family argument: as usual, it's not as simple as everyone makes it out to be).
As stated before, you at least sound like you seem to be resaonably responsible with tools like this. You seem to appreciate the value of our kids learning some of life's lessons. Many people, however, seem to think that they need to protect their children 24/7 from the big bad boogie man (or should I say Terrorist these days?) lurking around the next corner. I also agree with you regarding the "work closer to home" argument. I'd say that less than half of the people I know work within 20 minutes of their job.
Here's some food for thought though: Is our world really any more dangerous than it used to be? Or has the reporting simply gotten better?