I think I'll still be alive when it becomes obvious that oil is no longer a viable energy source. (I just turned 54, so I reckon it'll be within 30 years.) Current thinking is that we're within 5 years of production declining below demand.
I used to work for an oil and gas company, and I noticed that there are very few large reserves being found on land or in shallow water these days. The reservoirs are getting smaller and more expensive to exploit.
The Chicken Little arguments about oil are actually still around - and as convincing as they ever were. We are running out of oil, it'll happen fairly soon, it's just that no-one knows quite how soon it'll happen. You haven't been paying attention.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission is airing a documentary as we speak. I'd better go and watch it. OTOH, nucular energy really is our only option, at least in the short term.
I'm reading this on a box (which I built) running Linux, with some Home Pride motherboard and video card - 1280x1064 resolution and 16 million (or whatever) colours. I didn't _have_ to do anything (except agree with what the installation software suggested) to get this to work. Now, while I'll happily concede the soundcard doesn't work (or at least I don't think it does - I can't be fucked investigating something I really don't need that much), everything important (like network card, already-mentioned video card, CD burner, 120MB of hard disk, etc, etc) works fine. Straight out of the box.
I'd say at $15 per hour, you're just a tad overvalued.
I've got news for you - this is happening right now. I think you are a bit naive in claiming that workers won't stand for it. Nothing much happenned when the bulk of manufacturing industry got shipped offshore 20-odd years ago, and look how many job losses that caused. The most that any workers (blue- or white-collar) will do in this situation is say, "They're takin' our jobs!"
A centrally-controlled economy is orthogonal to a communist state. After all Nazi Germany's economy was (to a great extent) centrally-controlled, and they certainly weren't communists.
Thanks, Wavicle. I make pizzas at home as well, but I'm grateful for the tips on the dough - I don't take nearly as much trouble over it, but I think I'll give your method a try.
"Jury rigged" implies a kludge that allows you to survive (say, if your ship got dismasted, or something). "Jerry built" applies mostly to extremely poorly built houses (the kind that has mortar made of flour paste).
I disagree. The part of the software development cycle known as "maintenance" is, for most software, a long, long period of enhancement and modification to suit changed requirements until the stuff finally gets to be too unstable to use. At this point, it is either frozen or jettisoned.
I'm not dodging anything. The entangled storylines in the books are reasonably complicated, and I was quite impressed by the way the movies handled it. While there are lots of books with a more complicated plot than LotR, it takes some effort to keep track of everything that's going on (but not as much as, say, "The Brothers Karamazov", I'll grant).
The only point on which I'd be inclined to agree with you is turning Gimli into a Comical Mexican Sidekick (but I didn't let it bother me too much). I think the other changes were covered under the terms of Jackson's dramatic licence, because they worked.
Don't forget that most of the punters had never even _heard_ of Tolkien before these films were made, and certainly wouldn't have been able to deal with the greater complexities of plot involved in making the movies conform 100% to the books.
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Just bear in mind that DNA referred to it as H2G2 ...
I think I'll still be alive when it becomes obvious that oil is no longer a viable energy source. (I just turned 54, so I reckon it'll be within 30 years.) Current thinking is that we're within 5 years of production declining below demand.
I used to work for an oil and gas company, and I noticed that there are very few large reserves being found on land or in shallow water these days. The reservoirs are getting smaller and more expensive to exploit.
The Chicken Little arguments about oil are actually still around - and as convincing as they ever were. We are running out of oil, it'll happen fairly soon, it's just that no-one knows quite how soon it'll happen. You haven't been paying attention.
The Australian Broadcasting Commission is airing a documentary as we speak. I'd better go and watch it. OTOH, nucular energy really is our only option, at least in the short term.
Are Catholic mods anything like Catholic Girls? (Down on their knees in front of Father O'Blivion.) 'Cause I could _really_ use a blow job ...
Nah, they lied. Or, at the most charitable, used an Enron-style accounting system.
Disclaimer: I used to work in the oil industry.
> The only reason people buy RedHat is to get the technical support.
That's the point, dipshit.
Now _that_ is funny.
I think he meant "munch".
Oops, that's 120GB of disk. I need more coffee.
I'm reading this on a box (which I built) running Linux, with some Home Pride motherboard and video card - 1280x1064 resolution and 16 million (or whatever) colours. I didn't _have_ to do anything (except agree with what the installation software suggested) to get this to work. Now, while I'll happily concede the soundcard doesn't work (or at least I don't think it does - I can't be fucked investigating something I really don't need that much), everything important (like network card, already-mentioned video card, CD burner, 120MB of hard disk, etc, etc) works fine. Straight out of the box.
I'd say at $15 per hour, you're just a tad overvalued.
I've got news for you - this is happening right now. I think you are a bit naive in claiming that workers won't stand for it. Nothing much happenned when the bulk of manufacturing industry got shipped offshore 20-odd years ago, and look how many job losses that caused. The most that any workers (blue- or white-collar) will do in this situation is say, "They're takin' our jobs!"
A centrally-controlled economy is orthogonal to a communist state. After all Nazi Germany's economy was (to a great extent) centrally-controlled, and they certainly weren't communists.
Thanks, Wavicle. I make pizzas at home as well, but I'm grateful for the tips on the dough - I don't take nearly as much trouble over it, but I think I'll give your method a try.
No, "It _just_ works", as in "barely". It's all in the emphasis.
No. It's "jury rigged" and "jerry built".
"Jury rigged" implies a kludge that allows you to survive (say, if your ship got dismasted, or something). "Jerry built" applies mostly to extremely poorly built houses (the kind that has mortar made of flour paste).
I disagree. The part of the software development cycle known as "maintenance" is, for most software, a long, long period of enhancement and modification to suit changed requirements until the stuff finally gets to be too unstable to use. At this point, it is either frozen or jettisoned.
Wow! Someone else who's heard of Piet Hein. Cool. (You're probably Dutch, which sort of explains it.)
> frequently, code maintenance is not the point.
Bullshit. Code maintenance is _always_ the point (from someone who has spent most of his professional life fixing and enhancing other people's code).
I'm not dodging anything. The entangled storylines in the books are reasonably complicated, and I was quite impressed by the way the movies handled it. While there are lots of books with a more complicated plot than LotR, it takes some effort to keep track of everything that's going on (but not as much as, say, "The Brothers Karamazov", I'll grant).
I had a look at the link, and I can't work out what you base that assertion on.
Still, the Protestants (particularly in Germany) really took to the Final Solution to the witch problem in a big way.
Have you ever read "Canticle for Liebowitz"? One of the holy pieces of writing is exactly as you've said - a shopping list.
Have you actually read the books?
The only point on which I'd be inclined to agree with you is turning Gimli into a Comical Mexican Sidekick (but I didn't let it bother me too much). I think the other changes were covered under the terms of Jackson's dramatic licence, because they worked.
Don't forget that most of the punters had never even _heard_ of Tolkien before these films were made, and certainly wouldn't have been able to deal with the greater complexities of plot involved in making the movies conform 100% to the books.