The good news, though, is that thanks to some development aid partners (like Norway), it's being given development options other than "get as much oil as possible and build your economy around it" (a.k.a. the US-China model). Norway is huge on hydropower, and Uganda has a lot of potential in that area.
Good luck on good hydro power.
Never, ever try to mail anything there. I don't know whether it's customs or the postal service that's corrupt, but it's like mailing things into a black hole. I think one or two postcards I sent might have made it through. Even Express Mail doesn't get any respect. If you want to get anything to anyone, it's FedEx/DHL or bust.
Both are corrupt but customs will give you more trouble. I've had FedEx packages held hostage at customs over ridiculous excuses, same as postal service. The difference between the postal service and FedEx/DHL is that with the latter, once it clears customs, it will actually get to you. Postal service is a crapshoot.
The goods sold in stores have pretty much been shipped overland from Mombasa (in a barroom, drinking gin *weeps for Warren*). Former UK colony, so they're all UK-spec electrically. In '05 or '06, a clock-radio you'd pay $19 for at WalMart cost $100 due to all that shipping. Thankfully, things have gotten a little better now, but an unlocked iPhone 3G S is still $1200+. Oh, yes, there are iPhones. There's an Apple authorized reseller right downtown in Kampala, although there's an unhealthy lag for them to actually get each new revision of things in-stock.
Four years ago, my power supply for my Powerbook went bad while I was upcountry. The Kampala Apple guy was happy to sell me a spare for 200USD. It only took a four day round trip to go pick it up.
I searched for Uganda news. The message as I see it is that we need engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure. Just sending money will not be enough there and it would not be enough here. Send auditors too.
Read between the lines of the story you linked. This is a problem that's typical of Uganda and it's not matter of "needing more engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure." The problem is corruption at all levels.
Huawei and the Chinese are bending the Ugandans over on this one, which is normal because in Uganda, everyone gets screwed at some point.
To promote aid in most regions of Africa, you have to be prepared to deliver that aid against armed resistance, or accept that that aid might be coopted to feed the army that oppresses people who need aid. That's not really helping.
I've worked in medical/humanitarian for the better part of a decade, mostly in Africa, in some of the most active conflict areas. I have worked in Darfur, eastern Congo/the Kivus, northern Uganda, etc during some of the peaks in violence and insecurity. I have never delivered aid against armed resistance, nor do I know anyone or any organization who has. That's movie/TV stuff, not reality.
Second, of course aid will be coopted, redirected or siphoned to various armed groups. That is the nature of armed groups, to take by force.
The "not really helping" comment - actually, the entire paragraph reveals your naivety - it is impossible to provide aid without a diversion, either into the grey/black markets, pockets of armed factions, open markets.
I really do want to help these folk, and I can think of no better way to do that than to repeat the message of the great (and missed) Sam Kinnison: Move to where the food is. You're in a freaking desert where things don't grow. MOVE.
An ignorant joke that only makes sense or is funny when the listener has no knowledge of the subject.
The mostly heavily populated areas of Africa are temperate. Humans evolved on the African high plains. Think about it.
I've taken a couple old PM cases, gutted them, hacked in modern components and had some funny reactions from Apple guys.
I think I'm going to try it again, only this time, I want to change the finish from alu to gold or bronze to fit in more with Art Nouveau/Deco style of projects I've been going with. Anyone got any ideas how to do that?
No, Ars actually went about doing exactly the wrong way. Ars only asked when the backlash got to the point where it had taken over discussion on the site.
The first thing they did was block content for ABP users, then started banning people who started asking what was up.
They then became rude and condescending towards users who criticized the way in which the action was carried out, to the point that some Ars staff were publicly stating that they were sorely disappointed in the attitudes of other Ars staff.
Within 24 hours, people had figured out how to bypass the Ars-side ABP anti-filter and had posted instructions. (Consider your audience, Ars!)
Only then, after Ars' anti ABP measure become moot, did Ars come back and "ask nicely" which was accompanied by Asian/Jewish/Catholic mother-in-law levels of guilt tripping.
I was one of the ones who pointed out Slashdot's "Disable Advertising" checkbox - the day I saw this is the day I whitelisted/. for most of my machines and signed up for a subscription. One discrete, unobtrusive note was enough to remind me that I was adblocking, that bandwidth isn't free, and that I enjoyed the site enough to pay for it. That one little note generated a lot of good will from me towards Slashdot, which had been flagging.
That stunt Ars pulled, OTOH, along with the commentary of Ars staffers, has essentially destroyed all of my good will towards them, good will that took the better part of a decade to develop.
I had previously subscribed to Ars but I will NOT be renewing my subscription.
Yes, depending on the circumstances, which I have already stated a few factors for.
And I don't need Mythbusters to inform me of the capabilities of a 1000 lbs warhead for the same reason I don't need to speculate to the possible spectrum of results to know what a GP 1000 lbs warhead does in varying circumstances and environments.
What is your experience that you believe otherwise?
BTW, just realized that there's a misunderstanding.
What you stated, that displacement of the apparent location is almost as good can be true, depending on the circumstances and the nature of the target.
What I was responding to was badboy_tw2002's specific example of a tank.
You're conflating the perspectives of "good enough" in my argument and yours.
You mean in real life, as opposed to internet dick waving arguments? That depends.
Depends on the size and type of warhead, the geology of the ground, the angle of the impact of the missile and the alignment of the tank relative to the strike.
A "standard" 1000lbs conventional cruise missile warhead is a fragmentation/blast effect weapon. Against a 60-ton MBT, anything more than a couple meters away will have minimal effects on the crew, assuming they're buttoned up. Shaken and dinged up, maybe.
OTOH, the tank itself may have been damaged and/or lost mobility but it's a far cry from having what's essentially a 1000 lbs land directly on the vehicle, in which case the tank is most assuredly dead and the crew does not survive.
In terms of the very basic science, what about the explosion is the dangerous bit? Fragmentation and the pressure wave, plus possible secondary fragmentation if you're inside a vehicle. Tank armor is designed to protect against these threats, which is why hardware designed to kill tanks are specialized to either penetrate armor or strike where there is next to no armor (the top).
Directly ON the tank, game's over. Next to the tank, now you're playing against the tank's strength, which is why I responded to badboy_2002 and interval1066 the way I did. A tank sittng right next to where the cruise missile hit is decidedly NOT about the same thing as a direct hit.
A tank sitting right next to where the cruise missile hit is about the same as the missile hitting the tank itself.
To which I stated that, no, it's not [about the same]. Not unless the warhead is nuclear is how that if should have been read in context.
If a cruise missile with a conventional 1000 lbs warhead misses an armored target, it's a miss. A "tank" a few meters away will not be destroyed, if it sustains serious damage at all. The crew will, in all probability, survive.
The problem is that people have a difficult time conceptualizing dimensions because the human mind isn't built for it.
Take interlocking 2D rings. In strict 2D, the concept of interlocking cannot exist. You're taking your 3D worldview into a 2D space.
Take, for example, the Olympic rings. That's a 2D projection of 3D objects. There's an implicit cue that this is a projection because lines pass over one another. There is an "over" and an "under." This cannot exist on one 2D plane.
The human mind isn't even very good at 3-dimensional thinking. If anything, it's built to comprehend 3D but tends to think in 2.5-dimensions.
[blockquote]The theory presented by the Meads and experts who testified on their behalf...[/blockquote]
Who are these "experts"? Are their identities in the public record? I want to know how these fools can possibly considered qualified, expert witnesses when they clearly lack the medical and scientific judgment to critically and objectively evaluate and analyze the facts in front of them. Really. How is it that these people still have jobs?
South Korea has historically retarded the entry of younger peoples into the workforce via an emphasis on compulsory education.
If anything, South Korea is would be one of the better examples for why widespread child labor is not a necessary stage for rapid industrial development. In 1955, South Korea had a per capita GDP lower than that of most African nations. 55 years later, it is among the largest economies in the world and one that is knowledge based, at that.
All without a significant child labor as a path out of poverty phase.
[quote]During most of our audits, suppliers stated that Apple was the only company that had ever audited their facility for supplier responsibility.[/quote]
IOW, other companies don't give a shit about abusive labor practices from their suppliers. They might pay lip service but no one's really doing any audits to actually check. Apple, OTOH, is going out there and digging around to make sure their suppliers are in compliance with labor and environmental standards.
New low? This is leadership in defining a more responsible way to do business.
I went to TAMS when I was 15. Since it was a coed residential program, they had very strict rules about fraternization (separate floors, open doors if someone of the opposite sex present within a room, etc) and within weeks of arriving, a couple of us had figured out how to access the ventilation ducting and were making regular visits to the girls' floor/wing after lights-out.
I had a great time, right until I got kicked out. Of college. At age 16.
How is this different? TAMS, for one, is residential.
Second, TAMS is also technically your high school. You do not graduate from high school/receiver your high school diploma two years early - you are awarded your high school diploma from TAMS after completing the program.
I'd know, since I was in the TAMS program during the early 90s, until I was expelled.
Or if you RTFA'd and clicked on the relevant links, you'd quickly discover that the guy is a Harvard trained physicist who happens to be teaching at the Department of Radiology at Hopkins because of his relevant research interests.
The guy is a prof in a Medical school. What does he know about physics!?
Because the guy's a Harvard trained PhD physicist with relevant research interests, who also happens to be teaching at the Department of Radiology at Hopkins, that's why.
As I would mine, because it seems that some are reading that I did the demos with simunition loaded weapons pointed directly at my head, which would be pretty damn stupid.
You're right. That would be dangerous and irresponsible. Which is why it shouldn't be done.
Note that I stated that this is demonstrated within arm's range. I did not state that the demonstration is done with the weapon pointed at someone's head. Admittedly, I could have been clearer, but you drew that conclusion on your own.
Gun at their head? This is a massive procedural mistake and an error of the first order.
I've taught several different types of courses to different LEOs. If the target is close enough to touch you, you will simply not have enough time to react to hit your target. A lot of officers don't understand this until it's demonstrated to them with simunition.
Simple human reaction time to an external stimulus is 0.05 to 0.20 seconds, depending on the type of stimulus - tactile, audial, visual, roughly in that order.
That.75 seconds that your brought up may have included decision trees because simple human reaction time to simple stimuli is much, much faster than 3/4 seconds.
Slashdot Mirror
The good news, though, is that thanks to some development aid partners (like Norway), it's being given development options other than "get as much oil as possible and build your economy around it" (a.k.a. the US-China model). Norway is huge on hydropower, and Uganda has a lot of potential in that area.
Good luck on good hydro power.
Never, ever try to mail anything there. I don't know whether it's customs or the postal service that's corrupt, but it's like mailing things into a black hole. I think one or two postcards I sent might have made it through. Even Express Mail doesn't get any respect. If you want to get anything to anyone, it's FedEx/DHL or bust.
Both are corrupt but customs will give you more trouble. I've had FedEx packages held hostage at customs over ridiculous excuses, same as postal service. The difference between the postal service and FedEx/DHL is that with the latter, once it clears customs, it will actually get to you. Postal service is a crapshoot.
The goods sold in stores have pretty much been shipped overland from Mombasa (in a barroom, drinking gin *weeps for Warren*). Former UK colony, so they're all UK-spec electrically. In '05 or '06, a clock-radio you'd pay $19 for at WalMart cost $100 due to all that shipping. Thankfully, things have gotten a little better now, but an unlocked iPhone 3G S is still $1200+. Oh, yes, there are iPhones. There's an Apple authorized reseller right downtown in Kampala, although there's an unhealthy lag for them to actually get each new revision of things in-stock.
Four years ago, my power supply for my Powerbook went bad while I was upcountry. The Kampala Apple guy was happy to sell me a spare for 200USD. It only took a four day round trip to go pick it up.
I searched for Uganda news. The message as I see it is that we need engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure. Just sending money will not be enough there and it would not be enough here. Send auditors too.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050070.html
Read between the lines of the story you linked. This is a problem that's typical of Uganda and it's not matter of "needing more engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure." The problem is corruption at all levels.
Huawei and the Chinese are bending the Ugandans over on this one, which is normal because in Uganda, everyone gets screwed at some point.
To promote aid in most regions of Africa, you have to be prepared to deliver that aid against armed resistance, or accept that that aid might be coopted to feed the army that oppresses people who need aid. That's not really helping.
I've worked in medical/humanitarian for the better part of a decade, mostly in Africa, in some of the most active conflict areas. I have worked in Darfur, eastern Congo/the Kivus, northern Uganda, etc during some of the peaks in violence and insecurity. I have never delivered aid against armed resistance, nor do I know anyone or any organization who has. That's movie/TV stuff, not reality.
Second, of course aid will be coopted, redirected or siphoned to various armed groups. That is the nature of armed groups, to take by force.
The "not really helping" comment - actually, the entire paragraph reveals your naivety - it is impossible to provide aid without a diversion, either into the grey/black markets, pockets of armed factions, open markets.
I really do want to help these folk, and I can think of no better way to do that than to repeat the message of the great (and missed) Sam Kinnison: Move to where the food is. You're in a freaking desert where things don't grow. MOVE.
An ignorant joke that only makes sense or is funny when the listener has no knowledge of the subject.
The mostly heavily populated areas of Africa are temperate. Humans evolved on the African high plains. Think about it.
Still sell for quite a bit on eBay/Craigslist.
I've taken a couple old PM cases, gutted them, hacked in modern components and had some funny reactions from Apple guys.
I think I'm going to try it again, only this time, I want to change the finish from alu to gold or bronze to fit in more with Art Nouveau/Deco style of projects I've been going with. Anyone got any ideas how to do that?
No, Ars actually went about doing exactly the wrong way. Ars only asked when the backlash got to the point where it had taken over discussion on the site.
The first thing they did was block content for ABP users, then started banning people who started asking what was up.
They then became rude and condescending towards users who criticized the way in which the action was carried out, to the point that some Ars staff were publicly stating that they were sorely disappointed in the attitudes of other Ars staff.
Within 24 hours, people had figured out how to bypass the Ars-side ABP anti-filter and had posted instructions. (Consider your audience, Ars!)
Only then, after Ars' anti ABP measure become moot, did Ars come back and "ask nicely" which was accompanied by Asian/Jewish/Catholic mother-in-law levels of guilt tripping.
I was one of the ones who pointed out Slashdot's "Disable Advertising" checkbox - the day I saw this is the day I whitelisted /. for most of my machines and signed up for a subscription. One discrete, unobtrusive note was enough to remind me that I was adblocking, that bandwidth isn't free, and that I enjoyed the site enough to pay for it. That one little note generated a lot of good will from me towards Slashdot, which had been flagging.
That stunt Ars pulled, OTOH, along with the commentary of Ars staffers, has essentially destroyed all of my good will towards them, good will that took the better part of a decade to develop.
I had previously subscribed to Ars but I will NOT be renewing my subscription.
Yes, depending on the circumstances, which I have already stated a few factors for.
And I don't need Mythbusters to inform me of the capabilities of a 1000 lbs warhead for the same reason I don't need to speculate to the possible spectrum of results to know what a GP 1000 lbs warhead does in varying circumstances and environments.
What is your experience that you believe otherwise?
BTW, just realized that there's a misunderstanding.
What you stated, that displacement of the apparent location is almost as good can be true, depending on the circumstances and the nature of the target.
What I was responding to was badboy_tw2002's specific example of a tank.
You're conflating the perspectives of "good enough" in my argument and yours.
You mean in real life, as opposed to internet dick waving arguments? That depends.
Depends on the size and type of warhead, the geology of the ground, the angle of the impact of the missile and the alignment of the tank relative to the strike.
A "standard" 1000lbs conventional cruise missile warhead is a fragmentation/blast effect weapon. Against a 60-ton MBT, anything more than a couple meters away will have minimal effects on the crew, assuming they're buttoned up. Shaken and dinged up, maybe.
OTOH, the tank itself may have been damaged and/or lost mobility but it's a far cry from having what's essentially a 1000 lbs land directly on the vehicle, in which case the tank is most assuredly dead and the crew does not survive.
In terms of the very basic science, what about the explosion is the dangerous bit? Fragmentation and the pressure wave, plus possible secondary fragmentation if you're inside a vehicle. Tank armor is designed to protect against these threats, which is why hardware designed to kill tanks are specialized to either penetrate armor or strike where there is next to no armor (the top).
Directly ON the tank, game's over. Next to the tank, now you're playing against the tank's strength, which is why I responded to badboy_2002 and interval1066 the way I did. A tank sittng right next to where the cruise missile hit is decidedly NOT about the same thing as a direct hit.
No, your reading comprehension is flawed.
Here's what you said, bolding and emphasis mine:
To which I stated that, no, it's not [about the same]. Not unless the warhead is nuclear is how that if should have been read in context.
If a cruise missile with a conventional 1000 lbs warhead misses an armored target, it's a miss. A "tank" a few meters away will not be destroyed, if it sustains serious damage at all. The crew will, in all probability, survive.
No, it's not. Not unless the warhead is nuclear.
A near miss against sufficient armor is a miss. That's half the reason the armor is there in the first place.
The problem is that people have a difficult time conceptualizing dimensions because the human mind isn't built for it.
Take interlocking 2D rings. In strict 2D, the concept of interlocking cannot exist. You're taking your 3D worldview into a 2D space.
Take, for example, the Olympic rings. That's a 2D projection of 3D objects. There's an implicit cue that this is a projection because lines pass over one another. There is an "over" and an "under." This cannot exist on one 2D plane.
The human mind isn't even very good at 3-dimensional thinking. If anything, it's built to comprehend 3D but tends to think in 2.5-dimensions.
I wonder what's more distracting, texting while driving or counting the number of people who are texting while driving (;
The chart on that wiki page is all messed up. If you go to the Heritage site, very few of those numbers match up with the WSJ and Heritage numbers.
From the summary and article:
[blockquote]The theory presented by the Meads and experts who testified on their behalf...[/blockquote]
Who are these "experts"? Are their identities in the public record? I want to know how these fools can possibly considered qualified, expert witnesses when they clearly lack the medical and scientific judgment to critically and objectively evaluate and analyze the facts in front of them. Really. How is it that these people still have jobs?
What about Korea?
South Korea has historically retarded the entry of younger peoples into the workforce via an emphasis on compulsory education.
If anything, South Korea is would be one of the better examples for why widespread child labor is not a necessary stage for rapid industrial development. In 1955, South Korea had a per capita GDP lower than that of most African nations. 55 years later, it is among the largest economies in the world and one that is knowledge based, at that.
All without a significant child labor as a path out of poverty phase.
From page 13 of the summary report:
[quote]During most of our audits, suppliers stated that Apple was the only company that had ever audited their facility for supplier responsibility.[/quote]
IOW, other companies don't give a shit about abusive labor practices from their suppliers. They might pay lip service but no one's really doing any audits to actually check. Apple, OTOH, is going out there and digging around to make sure their suppliers are in compliance with labor and environmental standards.
New low? This is leadership in defining a more responsible way to do business.
Pffft. Maybe you were, but not all of us were.
I went to TAMS when I was 15. Since it was a coed residential program, they had very strict rules about fraternization (separate floors, open doors if someone of the opposite sex present within a room, etc) and within weeks of arriving, a couple of us had figured out how to access the ventilation ducting and were making regular visits to the girls' floor/wing after lights-out.
I had a great time, right until I got kicked out. Of college. At age 16.
How is this different? TAMS, for one, is residential.
Second, TAMS is also technically your high school. You do not graduate from high school/receiver your high school diploma two years early - you are awarded your high school diploma from TAMS after completing the program.
I'd know, since I was in the TAMS program during the early 90s, until I was expelled.
Or if you RTFA'd and clicked on the relevant links, you'd quickly discover that the guy is a Harvard trained physicist who happens to be teaching at the Department of Radiology at Hopkins because of his relevant research interests.
Now who's making presumptions?
If you click on his name in the article, it takes you to his page, where it's fairly obvious that he's a physicist, not a physician.
The guy is a prof in a Medical school. What does he know about physics!?
Because the guy's a Harvard trained PhD physicist with relevant research interests, who also happens to be teaching at the Department of Radiology at Hopkins, that's why.
As I would mine, because it seems that some are reading that I did the demos with simunition loaded weapons pointed directly at my head, which would be pretty damn stupid.
You're right. That would be dangerous and irresponsible. Which is why it shouldn't be done.
Note that I stated that this is demonstrated within arm's range. I did not state that the demonstration is done with the weapon pointed at someone's head. Admittedly, I could have been clearer, but you drew that conclusion on your own.
Gun at their head? This is a massive procedural mistake and an error of the first order.
I've taught several different types of courses to different LEOs. If the target is close enough to touch you, you will simply not have enough time to react to hit your target. A lot of officers don't understand this until it's demonstrated to them with simunition.
Simple human reaction time to an external stimulus is 0.05 to 0.20 seconds, depending on the type of stimulus - tactile, audial, visual, roughly in that order.
That .75 seconds that your brought up may have included decision trees because simple human reaction time to simple stimuli is much, much faster than 3/4 seconds.