In order for Tivo to survive against the snarly market forces of TV they would have had to promise even more invasive advertising to replace the ads we skip over. In two years Tivo would (will?) end up looking like a cheesy free web page with banner ads and annoying pop-ups. I'd rather live in the moment and go to the bathroom during ad breaks.
One the things that those who practice ancient Chinese medicine believe is that certain types of energy run through meridians in the body, and are tied to individual organs or groups of organs. Supposedly, each energy has a peak time and a nadir time. For instance, the lung energy has its peak from 3-5 am and then the large intestine energy peaks from 5-7 am.
Practitioners use this diagnostically by associating when people have a major dip in their energy level to show them which energy needs to be strengthened, which may indicate a pathology in that associated organ.
The individual energies correlate to five elements that are each expressed by particular flavors, seasons, colors etc. and they will recommend a person increase their exposure to the things associated with the element where their energy is weakest.
It would be interesting to see if the times of people's energetic nadir as predicted by this system or observed empirically did correlate to physical or emotional issues as predicted by this ancient system.
I have to tell you I have been pretty skeptical learning about it all but there are a lot things that correlate with accepted western medical theory and some intuitive things that are just dead on, whether I believe in it or not.
I think the Hugos have simply an unstated expansion of the definition to include some fantasy. After all, the winner for Dramatic Presentation was Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'.
I am very happy with American gods as their choice. I think Gaiman's writing is lush and well-crafted. While American Gods may thematically reflect the flavor of the Sandman comics/graphic novels as a book it gave Gaiman the space to explore the themes with a lot more depth.
Despite having a signature darkness his writing has shown a great range from Stardust to Neverwhere to Smoke and Mirrors and even his children's books. I am glad that he is receving some of the critical acclaim that is his due.
The US$3,000.00 cost for the personal version is way too expensive, IMHO. Kamen should seriously talk with the one company that produce a Segway-like scooter at a reasonable cost: Honda. Using its motorcycle and electric vehicle expertise, Honda could build such a scooter for US$1,800.00 or less per scooter.
What evidence do we have that the technology developed to create the Segway's handling and propulsion systems are related to motorcycle engines or even the Insight? It's pointless to speculate on the prospective pricing of other manufacturers of the same product when we don't know enough about the tech of the original.
As for the price, yes it is too high to be a viable option for the average civilian consumer, US or otherwise, at this point. I don't blame Kamen for that. New technology always comes out at a high price. If the Segway ends up picking up the government and major commercial contracts it is aiming for though it may just generate enough revenue to drive the price down more quickly than with comparable advances we have had in the past (pc, dvd etc.).
The main obstacle to a Segway revolution on our city streets will be at the municipal level though. There will be a catch 22 for a while where it won't be viable to invest in one, even if you could afford it, until local governments decide how they will be regulated. Yet local governments won't see the need to make policy without a consumer presence and demand. Once that hurdle is jumped then we'll see what the Segway can do for city congestion/pollution.
All in all it will be a while before we can truly judge the impact that the Segway will have, but I for one think it's worth the wait.
It actually won't take a mass extermination or international conflict to get the world's population in check. Small differences in the number of children each woman has have dramatic changes rapidly. Check out this Atlantic Monthly article.
You're right - I should have made myself more clear.
What concerns me about stimulating a greenhouse effect on Mars is that it is not something we can just turn on and off. There is no 'bake for 100 years and then allow to cool for 10' type recipe with which we could micromanage (haha) the temperature of the surface reliably - if it were appropriate in the first place.
I would also add that we can only see what we are looking for. Our inability to find lifeforms on Mars may in fact be limited to what our conception of a lifeform is.
The problem with the agreement is that even if the U.S. does not have 'exclusive' rights to Mars it is highly likely that it will have de facto control of the economy. It's all well and good to say that anyone can go but the fact is that we are one of two nations that can actually get there.
These are some of the concerns I expressed when submitting the article. My top three pet peeves re: the terraformation and colonization are these:
1)Interplanetary colonization will ultimately result in the same crises as international colonization has in our global history: class exploitation, the introduction of new species into ecosystems with disastrous results (in this case even ecosystems we propose to create) and international conflict.
2)We as a species are under the misapprehension that the land, water, air, plants and animals with which we share this planet are 'resources' at our disposal. We have not yet learned how to responsibly interact with our environment with regards to other organisms and future generations. We cannot be trusted with another biosphere.
3)Even if one and two were not true, as geologically ephemeral inhabitants of the earth we do not own this planet, much less the rest of the solar system, galaxy or universe in which we live.
I have a hard time placing judgement on the Franco/German ban on Nazi paraphenalia. It's true that they are only objects, and in many ways less reminiscent of Nazi attrocities than many physical places. Being of German jewish descent and having spent a summer in Nuremberg just after the unification, I must say I found it disturbing that there was no public aknowledgement of the city's past. It felt like a denial of history rather than a condemnation.
For that reason, despite the nausea I feel every time I see a swastika, I think it is valuable to have tangible reminders of the history we do not want to be doomed to repeat. On the other hand, having lived in France as well, I don't think that that is a problem facing most French adults.
But what about the children? Won't somebody please think of the children?
Seriously, the younger generation coming up who by now do not have parents who lived through that era are the ones who need to be shown the history. They need to have tangible evidence of where bigotry can lead.
It's for the same reason I oppose hate crime/hate speech laws - In addition to the loaded first ammendment issues and the setting of subjecting precedents. It's better to know what's out there than to be ignorant of the violent aspects of society.
When Nazi paraphenalia is outlawed, only outlaws will have Nazi paraphenalia.
"ein offenes betriebssystem hat nicht nur vorteile" basically means "an open-source system has no advantages."
The text in the corner says:
"An open-source system can mutate each time. Going with Windows 2000 you have all programs and services at hand. This saves time and, truly, some money. More information is available at www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000"
Slashdot Mirror
In order for Tivo to survive against the snarly market forces of TV they would have had to promise even more invasive advertising to replace the ads we skip over. In two years Tivo would (will?) end up looking like a cheesy free web page with banner ads and annoying pop-ups. I'd rather live in the moment and go to the bathroom during ad breaks.
Practitioners use this diagnostically by associating when people have a major dip in their energy level to show them which energy needs to be strengthened, which may indicate a pathology in that associated organ.
The individual energies correlate to five elements that are each expressed by particular flavors, seasons, colors etc. and they will recommend a person increase their exposure to the things associated with the element where their energy is weakest.
It would be interesting to see if the times of people's energetic nadir as predicted by this system or observed empirically did correlate to physical or emotional issues as predicted by this ancient system.
I have to tell you I have been pretty skeptical learning about it all but there are a lot things that correlate with accepted western medical theory and some intuitive things that are just dead on, whether I believe in it or not.
I am very happy with American gods as their choice. I think Gaiman's writing is lush and well-crafted. While American Gods may thematically reflect the flavor of the Sandman comics/graphic novels as a book it gave Gaiman the space to explore the themes with a lot more depth. Despite having a signature darkness his writing has shown a great range from Stardust to Neverwhere to Smoke and Mirrors and even his children's books. I am glad that he is receving some of the critical acclaim that is his due.
What evidence do we have that the technology developed to create the Segway's handling and propulsion systems are related to motorcycle engines or even the Insight? It's pointless to speculate on the prospective pricing of other manufacturers of the same product when we don't know enough about the tech of the original.
As for the price, yes it is too high to be a viable option for the average civilian consumer, US or otherwise, at this point. I don't blame Kamen for that. New technology always comes out at a high price. If the Segway ends up picking up the government and major commercial contracts it is aiming for though it may just generate enough revenue to drive the price down more quickly than with comparable advances we have had in the past (pc, dvd etc.).
The main obstacle to a Segway revolution on our city streets will be at the municipal level though. There will be a catch 22 for a while where it won't be viable to invest in one, even if you could afford it, until local governments decide how they will be regulated. Yet local governments won't see the need to make policy without a consumer presence and demand. Once that hurdle is jumped then we'll see what the Segway can do for city congestion/pollution.
All in all it will be a while before we can truly judge the impact that the Segway will have, but I for one think it's worth the wait.
What concerns me about stimulating a greenhouse effect on Mars is that it is not something we can just turn on and off. There is no 'bake for 100 years and then allow to cool for 10' type recipe with which we could micromanage (haha) the temperature of the surface reliably - if it were appropriate in the first place.
I would also add that we can only see what we are looking for. Our inability to find lifeforms on Mars may in fact be limited to what our conception of a lifeform is.
The problem with the agreement is that even if the U.S. does not have 'exclusive' rights to Mars it is highly likely that it will have de facto control of the economy. It's all well and good to say that anyone can go but the fact is that we are one of two nations that can actually get there.
1)Interplanetary colonization will ultimately result in the same crises as international colonization has in our global history: class exploitation, the introduction of new species into ecosystems with disastrous results (in this case even ecosystems we propose to create) and international conflict.
2)We as a species are under the misapprehension that the land, water, air, plants and animals with which we share this planet are 'resources' at our disposal. We have not yet learned how to responsibly interact with our environment with regards to other organisms and future generations. We cannot be trusted with another biosphere.
3)Even if one and two were not true, as geologically ephemeral inhabitants of the earth we do not own this planet, much less the rest of the solar system, galaxy or universe in which we live.
For that reason, despite the nausea I feel every time I see a swastika, I think it is valuable to have tangible reminders of the history we do not want to be doomed to repeat. On the other hand, having lived in France as well, I don't think that that is a problem facing most French adults.
But what about the children? Won't somebody please think of the children?
Seriously, the younger generation coming up who by now do not have parents who lived through that era are the ones who need to be shown the history. They need to have tangible evidence of where bigotry can lead.
It's for the same reason I oppose hate crime/hate speech laws - In addition to the loaded first ammendment issues and the setting of subjecting precedents. It's better to know what's out there than to be ignorant of the violent aspects of society.
When Nazi paraphenalia is outlawed, only outlaws will have Nazi paraphenalia.
__________________________________________________
The text in the corner says: "An open-source system can mutate each time. Going with Windows 2000 you have all programs and services at hand. This saves time and, truly, some money. More information is available at www.microsoft.com/germany/windows2000"