Sparsely populated areas like Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the northern United States
Eh, that's called Canada. And if you ask any Canadian if Canada is part of the USA, then expect some form of... unhappy reaction.
Also, there's the saying "No jobs on a dead planet."
Although I don't believe the world will actually die, it certainly will be (further) badly injured.
That injury will extend to the health of human societies and, as a consecuence, the health of humans' ability to trade.
I've been told many times that I should patent my ideas. However...
- Patenting is very expensive for an individual and I simply don't have that money.
- Yet it would only apply to a part of the world. So to be effective, I'd have to patent each idea several times.
This are the very reasons why I won't be patenting my inventions.
I'd rather work with market forces and find ways to encorouge people to join the ecosystems I create, rather than give them incentive to compete.
Obviously the moon contains (actially, consists of) minerals. It wouldn't be there otherwise. Especially seeing as it was a large chunk broken off from Earth a few billion years ago. And sure, earth has been supplemented by asteroids since then, but so has the moon. So the question is not really "Does the moon have minerals?" but more a matter of "How much can we expect to find on the surface?".
Gold and silver are somewhat financially valuable to us now. But from what I understand, they are also relatively common. I suspect the reports highlight gold and silver because that's language that beancounters who pay for the space programs understand. But there are far more valuable resources that we'll desparately need in 25-75 years time.
So, more importantly... because lacking in rare earth minerals could stymie advancements in technology...
What "rare earth" minerals might be "common moon" minerals?
I've heard loads of these "there is water" "there isn't water" on such and such place over the ages, and I'm starting to be a bit of a doubting
I suspect the moon has nothing at all. No water, no minerals, no elements at all. Just moondust, which of course is not made of minerals, but of moondust, or possibly cheese.;)
for large scale disasters it makes a LOT more sense to drop 2 of those and two fuel/generator sets and supply 10x more people with fresh water since every cargo flight counts.
That may depend on how close together those people are.
If people are spread across a large area in many small villages, then perhaps many small setups is a more suitable option.
This is great for a sci-fi concept. The kind that blurs the boundary between science and fiction.
the litany of bacterial talents does nibble at conventional assumptions about thinking: Bacteria can distinguish “self” from “other,” and between their relatives and strangers; they can sense how big a space they’re in; they can move as a unit; they can produce a wide variety of signaling compounds,
So, they're intelligent. They lead complex and social lives.
including at least one human neurotransmitter; they can also engage in numerous mutually beneficial relationships with their host’s cells.
Some of them are our benevolent "masters". They're similar to dog/horse breeders in that they control how we develop over time, and do so to their own ends. Much like a breeder will breed a dog for bird hunting, combat or for company. But like breeders, they also care about us and our well being. Who knows how much they've engineered multicellular animals?
They control us as much as they need to. Bacteria let us live our lives, making nations, exploring the planet and so on, as long as that suits their needs. Recently our masters have decided it's time to start moving onto space, and humans have been chosen for that purpose, and many others.
Even more impressive, some bacteria, such as Myxococcus xanthus, practice predation in packs, swarming as a group over prey microbes such as E. coli and dissolving their cell walls.
Other bacteria don't like us, nor do they like our masters. And our masters protect us as best they can.
Unfortunately, lately humans have been misbehaving like a dog who thinks it has risen in rank above its master. We're literally biting the hand that feeds us. This makes it hard for our masters to control us and protect us.
I read somewhere last year, that rain clouds are usually full of bacetria that change their cell walls to start causing droplets. It seems that bacteria control when clouds will drop down as rain. So bacteria also control weather. Lately the bioshere has been changing very rapidly, and this has pissed off many types of bacteria that rely on those ecosystems. So we, along with our masters, are becoming very unpopular.
With science in this new age dawning, we discover that the "spirits" that shamans talked about and said had formed the world, are different forms of bacteria.
With technology we once again learn to communicate to the "spirits" that control the world (but with other means than drums and chanting).
We also learn about the sinister plot (splot?, splat?) against us (where E.Coli is just one of the grunts doing the dirty work). With our growing unpopularity, more of the bacteria are siding against us.
The war has begun...
I brew mead, and it's suprising how many people don't know how I get the bubbles into the drink.
I like looking at their shocked/disgusted expressions when I explain to them that it's the yeast that eats the honey and pisses alcohol and farts carbon dioxide. =)
No they didn't - they started off with the four elements of air, earth, fire and water. Then they realised that there were maybe a score of "elements" (even the concept was vague)
Given that the "concept was vague", I think the alchemists had a point. What they termed as elements we term as states:
- earth - solid
- water - liquid
- air - gas
- fire - reaction (plasma?!?)
Aside from that, yeah, they were off on the wrong track. But how were they to know that? We know that thanks to them.
They were the chemists of their time, before chemistry was formalised. And you know...
we all start becoming knowledgeable from a state of ignorance.
Totally agree. But in many countries that would mean many people would loose their jobs and I don't think any government really wants that reputation.
Also, many people who work in the public sector do so because the private sector doesn't accept that level of incompetence. (I'm not trolling. That's how it is in my industry where I live.)
So if so many people no longer fit into the public sector, and the private sector won't have them, then what?
Perhaps stereovision works better for some people than it does for others.
My father and I definately appreciate 3D, while my girlfriend gets nothing out of it. To her, everything looks fake when in 3D.
That said, I can understand the common sentiment that all it adds to movies is novelty. Perhaps now, yes, while the technology is young. That's always the case with new tech (if 3D can be considered new).
But in a few years time, when the novelty has worn off and people have more experience playing with 3D as a medium, perhaps then we will start seeing more sensible and practical use of 3D.
In gaming, stereoscopic 3D is definately much better than monoscopic 3D. There's just no contest.
In my experience, one can estimate distances and thus timing better, objects have proper shape causing objects and tunnels to no longer be camouflaged by clusters of bitmaps, etc.
I guess we'll see how it turns out (pun unintended).
Yeah, I tried X-Wing Alliance. But it was too story driven (and an annoying story at that). And the "mission editor" was waaay to simplistic. Also, if I remember correctly, it was single player only.
Get rid of all the stupid environmentalists who opposed nuclear energy. They are responsible for global warming, not SUV drivers.
As much as I consider myself an environmentalist, I completely agree with that.
I think too many environmentalists in todays politics were anti-nuke hippies in their younger days and are still afraid of The Bomb. I remember the cold war era, and understand their sentiment too. (Though I was a kid, not a hippie.)
But times have changed, technology has evolved, and we can now go nuclear without meltdowns or nukes. We should already have gone nuclear years ago.
China operates like the Orwellian nightmare of a business, uprooting people and destroying history and nature in its relentless march forward, hoping to get where its going before something irrevocably breaks.
If you're referring to China relocating entire villages for the 3 Gorges Dam project
The Three Gorges Dam is only one big example. But apparently, its quite common in China.
Apparently, when the government wishes to use land for some purpose and there's a village (or suburb) in the way, then the government will build a few high density residential buildings and have the entire village move in. In doing so, the entire village is uprooted, its history destroyed, and the place where the village was (the nature) is destroyed.
I still wish to see a remake of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. The scripted missions were great, more varied and more involving than any other space/flight sim I've come across. One really got a feel for different ships, such as the clunkyness of a Y-Wing compared to a TIE-Interceptor or A-Wing.
The problem was that the internet wasn't fast enough. Even with direct dial-up, lag was bad. Basically the game came out a a couple of years too early.
I think an XvT2 would actually do quite alright now. With broadband there'd be very little lag, and with modern computers battles could be truly huge.
What I'd like to see is something like XvT, but where some players can control capital ships (several players serving different roles on a ship) and a few players even serving as admirals. Flight groups could be populated by a mix of players and NPCs. Anyone interested in making something like that?
Anyway, I miss XvT. But I don't think it will run on modern platforms.
Yep. It's like any problem, there are three stages:
1. You don't know what you're dealing with (yet), so it seems like it ought to be pretty straight forward. (eg. Newton's physics)
2. You learn more and see that it's not as simple as it looks. (ex. Einstein's physics) In fact, it looks really complicated. (ex. current theories)
4. Then things start to come together, and eventually, with a clear understanding, it all looks so simple and obvious. In fact, when you show other people, they can't see what was so difficult in the first place. (sometime in the distant(?) future)
I'd say that we're somewhere in stage 2 at the moment.
Walk through, and a body weight of 90kg's will suddenly turn into 270kg's. Man, I'd just crumple onto the ground and claw my way back.
That'd be a bummer of a showstopper.
Slashdot Mirror
Sparsely populated areas like Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the northern United States
Eh, that's called Canada. And if you ask any Canadian if Canada is part of the USA, then expect some form of... unhappy reaction.
Also, there's the saying "No jobs on a dead planet."
Although I don't believe the world will actually die, it certainly will be (further) badly injured.
That injury will extend to the health of human societies and, as a consecuence, the health of humans' ability to trade.
I've been told many times that I should patent my ideas. However...
- Patenting is very expensive for an individual and I simply don't have that money.
- Yet it would only apply to a part of the world. So to be effective, I'd have to patent each idea several times.
This are the very reasons why I won't be patenting my inventions.
I'd rather work with market forces and find ways to encorouge people to join the ecosystems I create, rather than give them incentive to compete.
Obviously the moon contains (actially, consists of) minerals. It wouldn't be there otherwise. Especially seeing as it was a large chunk broken off from Earth a few billion years ago. And sure, earth has been supplemented by asteroids since then, but so has the moon. So the question is not really "Does the moon have minerals?" but more a matter of "How much can we expect to find on the surface?".
Gold and silver are somewhat financially valuable to us now. But from what I understand, they are also relatively common. I suspect the reports highlight gold and silver because that's language that beancounters who pay for the space programs understand. But there are far more valuable resources that we'll desparately need in 25-75 years time.
So, more importantly... because lacking in rare earth minerals could stymie advancements in technology...
What "rare earth" minerals might be "common moon" minerals?
I've heard loads of these "there is water" "there isn't water" on such and such place over the ages, and I'm starting to be a bit of a doubting
I suspect the moon has nothing at all. No water, no minerals, no elements at all. Just moondust, which of course is not made of minerals, but of moondust, or possibly cheese. ;)
for large scale disasters it makes a LOT more sense to drop 2 of those and two fuel/generator sets and supply 10x more people with fresh water since every cargo flight counts.
That may depend on how close together those people are.
If people are spread across a large area in many small villages, then perhaps many small setups is a more suitable option.
the litany of bacterial talents does nibble at conventional assumptions about thinking: Bacteria can distinguish “self” from “other,” and between their relatives and strangers; they can sense how big a space they’re in; they can move as a unit; they can produce a wide variety of signaling compounds,
So, they're intelligent. They lead complex and social lives.
including at least one human neurotransmitter; they can also engage in numerous mutually beneficial relationships with their host’s cells.
Some of them are our benevolent "masters". They're similar to dog/horse breeders in that they control how we develop over time, and do so to their own ends. Much like a breeder will breed a dog for bird hunting, combat or for company. But like breeders, they also care about us and our well being. Who knows how much they've engineered multicellular animals?
They control us as much as they need to. Bacteria let us live our lives, making nations, exploring the planet and so on, as long as that suits their needs. Recently our masters have decided it's time to start moving onto space, and humans have been chosen for that purpose, and many others.
Even more impressive, some bacteria, such as Myxococcus xanthus, practice predation in packs, swarming as a group over prey microbes such as E. coli and dissolving their cell walls.
Other bacteria don't like us, nor do they like our masters. And our masters protect us as best they can.
Unfortunately, lately humans have been misbehaving like a dog who thinks it has risen in rank above its master. We're literally biting the hand that feeds us. This makes it hard for our masters to control us and protect us.
I read somewhere last year, that rain clouds are usually full of bacetria that change their cell walls to start causing droplets. It seems that bacteria control when clouds will drop down as rain. So bacteria also control weather. Lately the bioshere has been changing very rapidly, and this has pissed off many types of bacteria that rely on those ecosystems. So we, along with our masters, are becoming very unpopular.
With science in this new age dawning, we discover that the "spirits" that shamans talked about and said had formed the world, are different forms of bacteria.
With technology we once again learn to communicate to the "spirits" that control the world (but with other means than drums and chanting).
We also learn about the sinister plot (splot?, splat?) against us (where E.Coli is just one of the grunts doing the dirty work). With our growing unpopularity, more of the bacteria are siding against us.
The war has begun...
So, is that totally over the top? =)
I brew mead, and it's suprising how many people don't know how I get the bubbles into the drink.
I like looking at their shocked/disgusted expressions when I explain to them that it's the yeast that eats the honey and pisses alcohol and farts carbon dioxide. =)
These facts by themselves may trigger existential shock: People are partly made of pond scum.
I've met some people who simply are scum.
So, when silk worms finally do make silk as strong as spiders' silk, then will those silk moths be able to open their own cocoons?
the perfect cover for carrying out studies that might be looked at as heresy.
...which would partly be why he wrote so much based upon the bible!
No they didn't - they started off with the four elements of air, earth, fire and water. Then they realised that there were maybe a score of "elements" (even the concept was vague)
Given that the "concept was vague", I think the alchemists had a point. What they termed as elements we term as states:
- earth - solid
- water - liquid
- air - gas
- fire - reaction (plasma?!?)
Aside from that, yeah, they were off on the wrong track. But how were they to know that? We know that thanks to them.
They were the chemists of their time, before chemistry was formalised. And you know...
we all start becoming knowledgeable from a state of ignorance.
Some things may wrongly appear to be mumbo jumbo, because we have not researched them properly yet.
What's wrong with Skype?
What should businesses use instead?
I quite liked it :) but I have no mod points. :/
As this is rather counter productive, then... what on Earth is the "Peoples Republic" trying to achieve by doing this?
Totally agree. But in many countries that would mean many people would loose their jobs and I don't think any government really wants that reputation.
Also, many people who work in the public sector do so because the private sector doesn't accept that level of incompetence. (I'm not trolling. That's how it is in my industry where I live.)
So if so many people no longer fit into the public sector, and the private sector won't have them, then what?
The truth is, IPv6 hasn't taken off because really there is no huge need for it.
There will be a desperate need for it once we finally run out of available IPv4 addresses. Let's try to avoid that as much as we can.
Perhaps stereovision works better for some people than it does for others.
My father and I definately appreciate 3D, while my girlfriend gets nothing out of it. To her, everything looks fake when in 3D.
That said, I can understand the common sentiment that all it adds to movies is novelty. Perhaps now, yes, while the technology is young. That's always the case with new tech (if 3D can be considered new).
But in a few years time, when the novelty has worn off and people have more experience playing with 3D as a medium, perhaps then we will start seeing more sensible and practical use of 3D.
In gaming, stereoscopic 3D is definately much better than monoscopic 3D. There's just no contest.
In my experience, one can estimate distances and thus timing better, objects have proper shape causing objects and tunnels to no longer be camouflaged by clusters of bitmaps, etc.
I guess we'll see how it turns out (pun unintended).
Yeah, I tried X-Wing Alliance. But it was too story driven (and an annoying story at that). And the "mission editor" was waaay to simplistic. Also, if I remember correctly, it was single player only.
Trees aren't replanted just because people don't bother
Uhuh? What about forests destoyed for fuel, lumber, pulp, etc.?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation
http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/gunns-pulp-mill
Get rid of all the stupid environmentalists who opposed nuclear energy. They are responsible for global warming, not SUV drivers.
As much as I consider myself an environmentalist, I completely agree with that.
I think too many environmentalists in todays politics were anti-nuke hippies in their younger days and are still afraid of The Bomb. I remember the cold war era, and understand their sentiment too. (Though I was a kid, not a hippie.)
But times have changed, technology has evolved, and we can now go nuclear without meltdowns or nukes. We should already have gone nuclear years ago.
China operates like the Orwellian nightmare of a business, uprooting people and destroying history and nature in its relentless march forward, hoping to get where its going before something irrevocably breaks.
If you're referring to China relocating entire villages for the 3 Gorges Dam project
The Three Gorges Dam is only one big example. But apparently, its quite common in China.
Apparently, when the government wishes to use land for some purpose and there's a village (or suburb) in the way, then the government will build a few high density residential buildings and have the entire village move in. In doing so, the entire village is uprooted, its history destroyed, and the place where the village was (the nature) is destroyed.
References:
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=151&catid=11&subcatid=72
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LE20Ad02.html
I still wish to see a remake of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. The scripted missions were great, more varied and more involving than any other space/flight sim I've come across. One really got a feel for different ships, such as the clunkyness of a Y-Wing compared to a TIE-Interceptor or A-Wing.
The problem was that the internet wasn't fast enough. Even with direct dial-up, lag was bad. Basically the game came out a a couple of years too early.
I think an XvT2 would actually do quite alright now. With broadband there'd be very little lag, and with modern computers battles could be truly huge.
What I'd like to see is something like XvT, but where some players can control capital ships (several players serving different roles on a ship) and a few players even serving as admirals. Flight groups could be populated by a mix of players and NPCs. Anyone interested in making something like that?
Anyway, I miss XvT. But I don't think it will run on modern platforms.
Yep. It's like any problem, there are three stages:
1. You don't know what you're dealing with (yet), so it seems like it ought to be pretty straight forward. (eg. Newton's physics)
2. You learn more and see that it's not as simple as it looks. (ex. Einstein's physics) In fact, it looks really complicated. (ex. current theories)
4. Then things start to come together, and eventually, with a clear understanding, it all looks so simple and obvious. In fact, when you show other people, they can't see what was so difficult in the first place. (sometime in the distant(?) future)
I'd say that we're somewhere in stage 2 at the moment.
Walk through, and a body weight of 90kg's will suddenly turn into 270kg's. Man, I'd just crumple onto the ground and claw my way back.
That'd be a bummer of a showstopper.