"This isn't exactly something new, pyrolysis is a perfectly viable way of generating fuel."
1. Build portable liposuction-pyrolyzer units. 2. Sell to fatass Americans who will then be able to power their SUVs using their fast-food diet. 3. Profit!
"overvoltage : do you live in a third world country ?"
No, I live in a first world country where power is subject to events such as lightning strikes, and I live in an area where power lines are sometimes taken out by storms or vehicles hitting the poles.
"Worse when you payed out the ass for 'certified mechanics' to begin with."
Passing a cert test for cars isn't terribly difficult, but then neither is passing the AMT test to perform work on aircraft.:P
Tests don't make a mechanic.
"Popularized, maybe, with the moon shots and all, but NEVER popular."
I was born in 1959, and your statement is dead-on. Ever ready to reap the benefits of science, American culture is still bitterly backward and only changes slowly despite what popular media would have us believe. The capable few change themselves, while the mob just drone along as usual. America despises smart people, exalting the retarded (note all the programs for window-lickers) and largely abandoning their gifted superiors. The US school system was a Hellmouth long before Jon Katz wrote about it.
We need a self-aware, pro-science counterculture than can enable those who are deserving and eager, and rescue/separate them from their toxic inferiors.
"Because other men will pay ungodly amounts of money to watch slathering ape-beasts play a sport better than any other slathering ape-beasts, but nobody really wants to watch scientists do much of anything no matter how good they are at it."
SABs are sexy, scientists, not so much. Solution? Be the scientist that gets rich from improving the performance of SABs. Money can't buy "happiness", but it sure can facilitate it!
"So, how do we make science (and other "intelligent" subjects) popular again? "
You seek out the like-minded and nurture intelligent discourse there. The peons don't deserve your attempts to help them, and if they are religious they see science as a threat.
We need a pro-science counterculture, because the current culture itself is the problem. The counterculture can thrive, and the anti-science culture can be bypassed by its superiors.
We should seek to educate the highly intelligent and leave the mob in the dust. Since most of them are too stupid (not ignorant) or religious (willfully ignorant) to learn science so the best thing to do is separate and support the gifted.
Some of the billions we waste on trying to educate retards should instead be spent on giving the highly intelligent the environment they need to improve society as a whole. If scientific education were seen as a privilege more people would seek it. The gifted and capable should be educated differently than the mob and groomed for success. The general public don't need to learn more than job skills.
Russia and France were mature countries with secular ideals. The US was settled by religious fanatics who were often hounded out of their home countries.
Despite some American leaders being Freethinkers, the mob remained and remains simple religious beasts, especially in rustic areas originally settled by the lower classes. The resurgence of religion, especially Evangelical Christianity, means that the "Christian Taliban" theocrats are seeking control of the country. That's hardly a climate receptive to science.
"If you can't drive a tractor, and fit, maintain and operate all the implements for it by the time you're 11, then it's special school time..."
Farming often instills a higher degree of competence in operating mechanical systems.
In training US Air Force technicians I found the "farm boys" (and girls!) were much quicker to adapt to tasks from towing aircraft/backing them into hardened shelters to troubleshooting and repair.
Modern farms are highly technical, and in the US some of the largest tractors ever built are designed and fabricated by their owners.
Employees driving vehicles they do not own have no business complaining. They can use footage to defend themselves when not at fault (an important consideration for truckers) and their employer can keep them doing what they are being paid to do.
"The surprising thing for me is that the companies that have this capability and are resisting this are missing an opportunity to make a lot of money on what some people obviously think is a valuable service."
Any car recent enough to have OnStar is worth far more than an ebook reader, even if the car is being parted out and on its way to the shredder.
"We can explore these unknown areas in the minefield of life or we can stand, frozen in fear. "
That's a False Choice Fallacy because technology has changed the game.
We can develop superb systems of machines to do all the Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous work while we watch and learn from afar. The "adventure" component of terrestrial exploration was because technology sucked, men were cheap, and their support systems were simple and made of common materials.
The systems to support them cost so much that they cannot be expendable.
The old Earth model for "exploration" using throwaway people isn't practical because vessels are no longer expendable wooden ships. We don't need to send people to directly experience space because the environment is such that they are a burden (because they must be isolated from a hostile environment) and their "experience" of sensor operation is indirect anyway.
We do need superb machines that are so effective they can do our will remotely and make sending tourists/colonists later an after thought.
We can still afford to lose people when the mission suits it (war and law enforcement come to mind) but the horrendously expensive systems that support astronauts are too valuable to destroy.
Manned systems concentrate resources in a "Death Star" loss-multiplier. Dispersed robot systems mean losses are in smaller bites and that systems can have a MUCH faster development cycle than fossils like Shuttle.
Want to advance science? Leave the meat tourists on Terra.
"Yes, non-lethal, except for the 100's of times it has killed people."
That's a tiny casualty _rate_. If you can design a better system, do so and grow very rich.
"Tasers are nothing but a torture device used like a cattle prod when people don't "comply" with police orders."
They should comply with the orders and take their case to court afterwards.
How would you personally enforce (not request) physical compliance when someone refuses to comply? Pick a case you find righteous and lawful, say removing anti-abortionists rioting at an abortion clinic, to remove the "I wouldn't do that." option.
Slashdot Mirror
"Given your user name, I don't want to imagine anything about you, lest I become a gibbering heap of slag-brained insanity."
Quite right. Safer to imagine ME instead.
"Until the farmer loses, that town is stuck on dial-up. Now, that's a travesty"
The townspeople have the option to do what ever, within legal limits, they wish in order to convince the farmer of the error of his ways.
"This isn't exactly something new, pyrolysis is a perfectly viable way of generating fuel."
1. Build portable liposuction-pyrolyzer units.
2. Sell to fatass Americans who will then be able to power their SUVs using their fast-food diet.
3. Profit!
The massive dumping of pollutants in the Ramapo Mountains is a classic example of US Mafia-organized dumping.
"overvoltage : do you live in a third world country ?"
No, I live in a first world country where power is subject to events such as lightning strikes, and I live in an area where power lines are sometimes taken out by storms or vehicles hitting the poles.
"the damage done by not letting them run and play is even greater."
Not in terms of lawsuits against the coach and school.
Little Joey vapor-locks on a hot day = lawsuit.
Little Joey turns into Twinkie the Hut and spends his life posting on Slashdot = no lawsuit. (burrrp!)
"Worse when you payed out the ass for 'certified mechanics' to begin with."
Passing a cert test for cars isn't terribly difficult, but then neither is passing the AMT test :P
to perform work on aircraft.
Tests don't make a mechanic.
"Hospitals do all kinds of disinfection that you wouldn't and couldn't do in your own home, and people still get staph infections."
They also ignore and omit proper precautions, even those as basic as a physician washing his hands between touching patients.
We lose more people to MRSA in the US than we do to murder and the WoT, but it doesn't make much news for some reason...
"You don't need the latest CPU or graphics chip when all you do online is watch porn."
Having them doesn't exactly hurt the experience. :)
"Popularized, maybe, with the moon shots and all, but NEVER popular."
I was born in 1959, and your statement is dead-on.
Ever ready to reap the benefits of science, American culture is still bitterly backward and only changes slowly despite what popular media would have us believe. The capable few change themselves, while the mob just drone along as usual. America despises smart people, exalting the retarded (note all the programs for window-lickers) and largely abandoning their gifted superiors. The US school system was a Hellmouth long before Jon Katz wrote about it.
We need a self-aware, pro-science counterculture than can enable those who are deserving and eager, and rescue/separate them from their toxic inferiors.
"Because other men will pay ungodly amounts of money to watch slathering ape-beasts play a sport better than any other slathering ape-beasts, but nobody really wants to watch scientists do much of anything no matter how good they are at it."
SABs are sexy, scientists, not so much. Solution? Be the scientist that gets rich from improving the performance of SABs. Money can't buy "happiness", but it sure can facilitate it!
"Naked girls. Guys would flock to science if there wers lots of naked girls."
The naked girls go with the money.
Guys would flock to science if it paid enough to buy the toys
that the socially inept use to lure poontang!
"So, how do we make science (and other "intelligent" subjects) popular again? "
You seek out the like-minded and nurture intelligent discourse there. The peons don't deserve your attempts to help them, and if they are religious they see science as a threat.
We need a pro-science counterculture, because the current culture itself is the problem. The counterculture can thrive, and the anti-science culture can be bypassed by its superiors.
We should seek to educate the highly intelligent and leave the mob in the dust. Since most of them are too stupid (not ignorant) or religious (willfully ignorant) to learn science so the best thing to do is separate and support the gifted.
Some of the billions we waste on trying to educate retards should instead be spent on giving the highly intelligent the environment they need to improve society as a whole. If scientific education were seen as a privilege more people would seek it. The gifted and capable should be educated differently than the mob and groomed for success. The general public don't need to learn more than job skills.
Russia and France were mature countries with secular ideals. The US was settled by religious fanatics who were often hounded out of their home countries.
Despite some American leaders being Freethinkers, the mob remained and remains simple religious beasts, especially
in rustic areas originally settled by the lower classes. The resurgence of religion, especially Evangelical Christianity, means that the "Christian Taliban" theocrats are seeking control of the country. That's hardly a climate receptive to science.
"Not long ago, IBM's standard word processor was Lotus WordPro."
Still available as part of SmartSuite:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/smartsuite/wordprofeatures.html
The interesting question is "can it be reprogrammed as a radar jammer/spoofer"?
The LMC/"poor" are politically illiterate and are too busy surviving to attend rallies.
"If you can't drive a tractor, and fit, maintain and operate all the implements for it by the time you're 11, then it's special school time..."
Farming often instills a higher degree of competence in operating mechanical systems.
In training US Air Force technicians I found the "farm boys" (and girls!) were much quicker to adapt to tasks from towing aircraft/backing them into hardened shelters to troubleshooting and repair.
Modern farms are highly technical, and in the US some of the largest tractors ever built are designed and fabricated by their owners.
Employees driving vehicles they do not own have no business complaining. They can use footage to defend themselves when not at fault (an important consideration for truckers) and their employer can keep them doing what they are being paid to do.
"The surprising thing for me is that the companies that have this capability and are resisting this are missing an opportunity to make a lot of money on what some people obviously think is a valuable service."
Any car recent enough to have OnStar is worth far more than an ebook reader, even if the car is being parted out and on its way to the shredder.
"We can explore these unknown areas in the minefield of life or we can stand, frozen in fear. "
That's a False Choice Fallacy because technology has changed the game.
We can develop superb systems of machines to do all the Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous work while we watch and learn from afar. The "adventure" component of terrestrial exploration was because technology sucked, men were cheap, and their support systems were simple and made of common materials.
The systems to support them cost so much that they cannot be expendable.
The old Earth model for "exploration" using throwaway people isn't practical because vessels are no longer expendable wooden ships. We don't need to send people to directly experience space because the environment is such that they are a burden (because they must be isolated from a hostile environment) and their "experience" of sensor operation is indirect anyway.
We do need superb machines that are so effective they can do our will remotely and make sending tourists/colonists later an after thought.
We can still afford to lose people when the mission suits it (war and law enforcement come to mind) but the horrendously expensive systems that support astronauts are too valuable to destroy.
Manned systems concentrate resources in a "Death Star" loss-multiplier. Dispersed robot systems mean losses are in smaller bites and that systems can have a MUCH faster development cycle than fossils like Shuttle.
Want to advance science? Leave the meat tourists on Terra.
"Yes, non-lethal, except for the 100's of times it has killed people."
That's a tiny casualty _rate_. If you can design a better system, do so and grow very rich.
"Tasers are nothing but a torture device used like a cattle prod when people don't "comply" with police orders."
They should comply with the orders and take their case to court afterwards.
How would you personally enforce (not request) physical compliance when someone refuses to comply?
Pick a case you find righteous and lawful, say removing anti-abortionists rioting at an abortion clinic, to remove the "I wouldn't do that." option.