If this is true. It's just staggering to me. If there was life on Mars.... there may still be. If there was life on Mars, then how common is life elsewhere in the galaxy? If it can exist on ancient Mars, there's no reason it can't exist on any of the other millions of planets scattered through the billions of stars in our Galaxy.
If life is found on Mars... or found to have existed.... then it can be anywhere.
Under the ice of Europa aswell?
While we may never meet our neighbours..... it would still be nice to know that yes, they may well be out there.... somewhere. The Galaxy may well be teeming. I sure hope it is. I mean, if it becomes clear that rather than being just blacks, whites.... whatevers.... on a cosmological scale where there is actual non-terrestrial life.... shouldn't it be clear that we all are just the one race?
Despite MS best efforts, IE just won't shake it's 'insecure' tag, will it?
Part of me wonders if perhaps these vulnerabilities aren't being made a big deal of because of the reputation of IE6. The rest of me which started using Firefox a long time ago just feels smug and superior.
Aside from Gmail, (which I access with Thunderbird) I try not to use too many google services. . I'm also mindful of that recent Apple patent about ad's which can physically block the machine, forcing the user to interact with them.
There's also a personal freedom/privacy issue.
I use Linux because it's 'mine' as such. I can pretty do what I want with it (compared to traditional software licenses anyway). I'm not quite sure how to word this in a rational.... but something about Google providing me a free laptop, in exchange for being allowed to target-advertise me.... it's deeply unsettling. I don't like being followed.
Of course, I'm just a tinfoil hat moron, but well.... my computer is my castle, thick stone walls around my data safeguarding my privacy against casual observers. I don't want transparent walls of glass showing my world to someone else.... even it it was free.
I do apply the same motivations. 'Big oil' or what have you has much less to loose right now, especially considering that oil reserves *are* dwindling. Oil will have to be replaced pretty quickly, or climate change or not, we're going to be in a right little pickle.
How much money is invested not in AGW research as such, but in Green Technology? Wind turbines, carbon scrubbers etc.... How many people are employed by this 'green boom'? How many politicians elected on the promise of green politics? How many products marketted as being greener than last years thing? 'Greenness' has become such a big marketting force now it's staggering.
It's worrying.
I see the real problem not as being Co2 of AGW. These are things we can live through, provided we have technology. In fact, it seems to me that AGW is a smokescreen for a much larger problem. What I think our main problem is, is the accelerating depletion of natural resources, in part being fuelled by planned obsolescence driving this newer-greener marketing machine. A lot of older, perfectly functional goods are being thrown out based on the perception that buying something new is somehow environmentally friendly. It is horrifically innefficient.
The thing with science on this subject, is that a lot of people stand to loose money, either way you split it. And researchers will always give results that pay the bills, can't blame them for that. The sheer marketing force behind this now though, is bothering me.... it's taken on such a force that anyone who doubts or raises skepticism is burned at a carbon neutral stake.
Even 'big oil' companies are jumping on the 'green' bandwagon.
--------------------->
Source was RTE news lunchtime broadcast. Unfortunately I didn't record it.
There're a lot of people who stand to lose a lot of money if climate change is proved to have non-anthropogenic origins.
This makes me think of the flooding in Ireland happening right now... a once-in-a-hundred-years flood which was quickly blamed on global climate change. When asked when the last such flood was, the answer was 'about 90 years ago'.
It's all so alarmist, so much like those fake antivirus programs that tell your all your secret info is being stolen by Russian crackers unless you pay Russian crackers for protection that will never work... it just grows less and less credible in my mind.
True, I didn't think of that. It does depend on how the statisitics are being calculated. Bing is the defualt IE8 search provider. While it offers a choice, most people just click through the defaults to get browsing. Are these registered -for want of a better way to say it- as Bing users then?
I wonder if there's any relation between this, and the number of users who've upgraded too IE8 and just not bothered/realised that they can change the default in-browser search client?
That's all that need be said. Microsoft realised it was in the wrong, and took steps to correct it. They didn't stonewall, they didn't hide. I must admit to being pleasantly surprised. Microsoft themselves place great importance on respecting software licenses/copyright, and it's nice to see them practice when it comes to other people's copyrights.
You're right, of course. It is my fault for not explaining them.But computer technology is not something I'm good at explaining, without referring to more technology, which I'll then have to explain. It's just too much hassle to try and make them understand.
There is also a small satisfaction that comes from saying "Trust me, it's for your own good" to my parents, after having heard those exact same words hundreds of times myself growing up, with nary an explanation as to how it was my own good.
Not really. They didn't ask for anything really. They weren't having a problem at all, they knew no better than Internet exploder. Their computer had a virus and I cleaned it out, installing Firefox at the same time. I told them to use Firefox from then on... cue confusion. It was partly my fault for not explaining it.
The thing is, most people see Internet Explorer as 'The Internet', in much the same way that they see Ms Windows as 'The computer'. I mean, I installed Firefox on a parents laptop, and they're first worry was that they wouldn't be able to find their favourite website 'because it was a different internet'.
People who don't grasp this concept will never see a reason to upgrade, and unfortunately, this means a silent majority of PC users probably never will.
Yeah,
It's the common thing. Of course, if everybody waited until something had been proved to be safe/possible, before going ahead and doing it, why would anyone ever do anything? We'd still be living in caves, using MS-DOS.
Slashdot may laugh at fanfic readers, but a lot of old classics are going poof as we speak. The things we first read when we found the web and were curious and naive are gone now. And in many cases, gone forever. A lot of amateur author's pages are going down, and a lot of good stories are going with them.
Should I dare suggest: "Boldly going where no man has gone before" ?
Too obvious?
Too surpased by the reality of the last 50 years?
Too much of a Star Wars fan to laugh? Heh, all failed attempts at humour aside however, It is sobering to think, that that white light far above, has human beings on it. Human beings no different from us. They eat, sleep and breath... and of course....
Slashdot Mirror
That'd be sad.
I know that sounds silly, but I really can't think of a better way to put it.
It seems though, with the Cambrian explosion, all it takes is for life to reach a critical mass, then away it goes.
The Internet has been around in some form since the 70's, but it only really hit big in the 90's... and now it's everywhere.
Life on Mars never got to that point.
The BBC ended it after 2 seasons.
It's life.
Or was life.
If this is true. It's just staggering to me. If there was life on Mars.... there may still be. If there was life on Mars, then how common is life elsewhere in the galaxy? If it can exist on ancient Mars, there's no reason it can't exist on any of the other millions of planets scattered through the billions of stars in our Galaxy.
If life is found on Mars... or found to have existed.... then it can be anywhere.
Under the ice of Europa aswell?
While we may never meet our neighbours..... it would still be nice to know that yes, they may well be out there.... somewhere. The Galaxy may well be teeming. I sure hope it is. I mean, if it becomes clear that rather than being just blacks, whites.... whatevers.... on a cosmological scale where there is actual non-terrestrial life.... shouldn't it be clear that we all are just the one race?
Rain is wet....
Despite MS best efforts, IE just won't shake it's 'insecure' tag, will it?
Part of me wonders if perhaps these vulnerabilities aren't being made a big deal of because of the reputation of IE6. The rest of me which started using Firefox a long time ago just feels smug and superior.
Yup.
And then get sent to prison in the UK for not giving the police your decryption key.
No..
Aside from Gmail, (which I access with Thunderbird) I try not to use too many google services. . I'm also mindful of that recent Apple patent about ad's which can physically block the machine, forcing the user to interact with them.
There's also a personal freedom/privacy issue.
I use Linux because it's 'mine' as such. I can pretty do what I want with it (compared to traditional software licenses anyway). I'm not quite sure how to word this in a rational .... but something about Google providing me a free laptop, in exchange for being allowed to target-advertise me.... it's deeply unsettling. I don't like being followed.
Of course, I'm just a tinfoil hat moron, but well.... my computer is my castle, thick stone walls around my data safeguarding my privacy against casual observers.
I don't want transparent walls of glass showing my world to someone else.... even it it was free.
It feels very Big brother-ish.
RE: All three above.
I do apply the same motivations. 'Big oil' or what have you has much less to loose right now, especially considering that oil reserves *are* dwindling. Oil will have to be replaced pretty quickly, or climate change or not, we're going to be in a right little pickle.
How much money is invested not in AGW research as such, but in Green Technology? Wind turbines, carbon scrubbers etc.... How many people are employed by this 'green boom'? How many politicians elected on the promise of green politics? How many products marketted as being greener than last years thing? 'Greenness' has become such a big marketting force now it's staggering.
It's worrying.
I see the real problem not as being Co2 of AGW. These are things we can live through, provided we have technology. In fact, it seems to me that AGW is a smokescreen for a much larger problem. What I think our main problem is, is the accelerating depletion of natural resources, in part being fuelled by planned obsolescence driving this newer-greener marketing machine. A lot of older, perfectly functional goods are being thrown out based on the perception that buying something new is somehow environmentally friendly. It is horrifically innefficient.
The thing with science on this subject, is that a lot of people stand to loose money, either way you split it. And researchers will always give results that pay the bills, can't blame them for that. The sheer marketing force behind this now though, is bothering me.... it's taken on such a force that anyone who doubts or raises skepticism is burned at a carbon neutral stake.
Even 'big oil' companies are jumping on the 'green' bandwagon.
--------------------->
Source was RTE news lunchtime broadcast. Unfortunately I didn't record it.
It's an interesting thing alright.
There're a lot of people who stand to lose a lot of money if climate change is proved to have non-anthropogenic origins.
This makes me think of the flooding in Ireland happening right now... a once-in-a-hundred-years flood which was quickly blamed on global climate change. When asked when the last such flood was, the answer was 'about 90 years ago'.
It's all so alarmist, so much like those fake antivirus programs that tell your all your secret info is being stolen by Russian crackers unless you pay Russian crackers for protection that will never work... it just grows less and less credible in my mind.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/20/cru_climate_hack/
Relevant to this story.
True, I didn't think of that. It does depend on how the statisitics are being calculated. Bing is the defualt IE8 search provider. While it offers a choice, most people just click through the defaults to get browsing. Are these registered -for want of a better way to say it- as Bing users then?
I wonder if there's any relation between this, and the number of users who've upgraded too IE8 and just not bothered/realised that they can change the default in-browser search client?
That's all that need be said. Microsoft realised it was in the wrong, and took steps to correct it. They didn't stonewall, they didn't hide. I must admit to being pleasantly surprised. Microsoft themselves place great importance on respecting software licenses/copyright, and it's nice to see them practice when it comes to other people's copyrights.
No more Fox News on Google search results. More space on the front page for 'better' sources.
You're right, of course. It is my fault for not explaining them.But computer technology is not something I'm good at explaining, without referring to more technology, which I'll then have to explain. It's just too much hassle to try and make them understand.
There is also a small satisfaction that comes from saying "Trust me, it's for your own good" to my parents, after having heard those exact same words hundreds of times myself growing up, with nary an explanation as to how it was my own good.
Not really. They didn't ask for anything really. They weren't having a problem at all, they knew no better than Internet exploder. Their computer had a virus and I cleaned it out, installing Firefox at the same time. I told them to use Firefox from then on... cue confusion. It was partly my fault for not explaining it.
The thing is, most people see Internet Explorer as 'The Internet', in much the same way that they see Ms Windows as 'The computer'. I mean, I installed Firefox on a parents laptop, and they're first worry was that they wouldn't be able to find their favourite website 'because it was a different internet'. People who don't grasp this concept will never see a reason to upgrade, and unfortunately, this means a silent majority of PC users probably never will.
Yeah, It's the common thing. Of course, if everybody waited until something had been proved to be safe/possible, before going ahead and doing it, why would anyone ever do anything? We'd still be living in caves, using MS-DOS.
Slashdot may laugh at fanfic readers, but a lot of old classics are going poof as we speak. The things we first read when we found the web and were curious and naive are gone now. And in many cases, gone forever. A lot of amateur author's pages are going down, and a lot of good stories are going with them.
More's the pity really.
Should I dare suggest: "Boldly going where no man has gone before" ? Too obvious? Too surpased by the reality of the last 50 years? Too much of a Star Wars fan to laugh? Heh, all failed attempts at humour aside however, It is sobering to think, that that white light far above, has human beings on it. Human beings no different from us. They eat, sleep and breath... and of course....