You been knocking back some of grandpa's cough syrup?
It's the biggest substance abuse problem there is. Just the fatalities from drunk driving dwarf the fatalities from the rest of it, even with the Zetas and the rest shooting everything in sight.
How much petty crime occurs to feed drug habits? A lot. And the biggest of those drugs is alcohol. The only thing that limits that is it being cheaper than most illegal drugs.
I've lived with alkies who've been previously out on the street they were so bad. It's a real wake up to see, and no better than a full blown junkie.
"Yes and do you have any idea how many lives have been ruined by alcohol in the mean time? The problem with prohibition was that nobody was following that law, for the most part not even the law enforcement being expected to enforce the law."
And many of the current drug laws (think marijuana) are different how?
Both my parents grew up during prohibition. Based on what they said, it was a useless farce. What with homebrewing of wine and beer allowed and a blind eye turned to most speakeasies and setup joints (provided they paid their bribes to the cops/politicians) there wasn't all that much reduction in alcoholism.
I heard that in physics when the SSC got cut. The same old saw. NSF and DOE budgets are pretty stable and so a lot of the large amounts that would have been used would be used for other physics.
Even my first advisor thought that. He was ecstatic when the SSC was killed.
Didn't seem to turn out that way. Maybe it would this time, but I'd not bet on it.
I think more likely, the effect would be that a major NASA program was killed, and it would be used as a precedent for tearfully killing other programs that "we're sorry, but we just can't afford that right now."
"I've decided one thing regarding the next election and it's that I will refuse to vote for anyone who is against cutting defense spending."
Good thing that I'm not running, then.;)
Like most of us here, I might be competitive running for dog catcher, but not much more than that.
I certainly agree though that NASA gets used as a political bargaining chip way or gets downsized in favor of things that have more political "zip" too often. It's been done for decades, going back at least to Nixon, and pretty much to LBJ.
What part of "I'm hardly a peacenick", did you miss there?
I think pulling down too fast is unwise. And we're likely doing it too fast, at least with what the current plans "say". I think those will get pushed back the way a lot of things that are said get modified in light of ground truth.
Or, is it just easier to argue against something I didn't say rather than something I did say?
Well, yeah. The US isn't providing the ground troops. The rebels aren't the world's best trained, but they're mostly winning. The Brits and the Qataris are providing special forces to train them.
A lot of other NATO countries are doing air sorties for it.
Yeah, war can be a lot cheaper if you get someone else to pay for a good part of it. Though we did fire an awful lot of cruise missiles in the early part of it.
"I'll worry about the 2nd law of Thermodynamics once the sun goes out. Until then, we have more energy hitting the earth than human civilization can ever harness."
Uh huh.
The 1950s is calling and saying "Electricity from nuclear will be too cheap to meter. We just have to work out a few little problems."
"You simply need to tax the heck out of consumerism"
Yeah, like those major luxury items that contribute massively to greenhouse gas emission called food and fuel.
Like most "neat easy simple" ideas, I have my doubts about how neat, easy, or simple it is.
"reusable energy"
If you've come up with a way to reuse energy once it's been expended, Dr. Clausius and Lord Kelvin would like to have a word with you about the second law of thermodynamics.
"actually, that would be far beyond their abilities to produce, and at any rate useless for a bomb. while fissionable isn't fissile."
Questionable how far beyond.
In quantity, yes it would be difficult but not because of lack of knowledge.
Natanz isn't set up for it (not got the right neutron spectrum being a light water power reactor). But, they have a reasearch reactor (forget the name of the site) that could be set up for it. Whether they've bothered, given all the work they've done on enriched uranium is an open question.
The problem with needing an implosion system rather than gun type no longer really applies. It's well known explosives engineering these days.
(And yes, I know that Pu 238 isn't bomb material. It was a joke. Laugh.)
"Now if I can just keep them from running away from all the bass..."
I've seen a lynx that pulled the person holding his leash into the rave dance with him, and was having quite a time investigating all the weird stuff going on in there.
His name was Cody, and he was an educational animal for Animals for Awareness. They'd take him to schools in the Chicago area so the kids could see him. Incredibly cool critter. Very personable (a lot of lynxes are a bit skittish).
John P. (my first grad school adviser) is that you?
Sure sounds like him.
He was ecstatic when the SSC was cancelled in the 90s. I don't think he really let himself understand that none of the money would go to things he wanted funded.
The fallacy that if the money wasn't spent on JWST it would get spent on something more worthwhile is just that. A fallacy.
And before you get too bent out of shape at some astro type tossing cold water one you, my background is solid state too. (Curse you Murray Gell Mann and your Squalid State comments.:)
If you get something of any size hitting you out there, it's likely going so fast a shield wouldn't make much difference anyway. But, there isn't a big debris attracting mass like the earth out there either.
Slashdot Mirror
"People drinking booze isn't that big a deal."
You been knocking back some of grandpa's cough syrup?
It's the biggest substance abuse problem there is. Just the fatalities from drunk driving dwarf the fatalities from the rest of it, even with the Zetas and the rest shooting everything in sight.
How much petty crime occurs to feed drug habits? A lot. And the biggest of those drugs is alcohol. The only thing that limits that is it being cheaper than most illegal drugs.
I've lived with alkies who've been previously out on the street they were so bad. It's a real wake up to see, and no better than a full blown junkie.
"Yes and do you have any idea how many lives have been ruined by alcohol in the mean time? The problem with prohibition was that nobody was following that law, for the most part not even the law enforcement being expected to enforce the law."
And many of the current drug laws (think marijuana) are different how?
Both my parents grew up during prohibition. Based on what they said, it was a useless farce. What with homebrewing of wine and beer allowed and a blind eye turned to most speakeasies and setup joints (provided they paid their bribes to the cops/politicians) there wasn't all that much reduction in alcoholism.
"I support the annexing of Mexico!"
We already did that with a big part of Mexico in the 1840s.
Oh, this is just the start of a whole raft of things wrong with US patent law.
Business method, anyone?
I heard that in physics when the SSC got cut. The same old saw. NSF and DOE budgets are pretty stable and so a lot of the large amounts that would have been used would be used for other physics.
Even my first advisor thought that. He was ecstatic when the SSC was killed.
Didn't seem to turn out that way. Maybe it would this time, but I'd not bet on it.
I think more likely, the effect would be that a major NASA program was killed, and it would be used as a precedent for tearfully killing other programs that "we're sorry, but we just can't afford that right now."
"I've decided one thing regarding the next election and it's that I will refuse to vote for anyone who is against cutting defense spending."
Good thing that I'm not running, then. ;)
Like most of us here, I might be competitive running for dog catcher, but not much more than that.
I certainly agree though that NASA gets used as a political bargaining chip way or gets downsized in favor of things that have more political "zip" too often. It's been done for decades, going back at least to Nixon, and pretty much to LBJ.
What part of "I'm hardly a peacenick", did you miss there?
I think pulling down too fast is unwise. And we're likely doing it too fast, at least with what the current plans "say". I think those will get pushed back the way a lot of things that are said get modified in light of ground truth.
Or, is it just easier to argue against something I didn't say rather than something I did say?
Do you really think that if it gets killed that any of that money will come to your program?
Not likely. The money will just be removed from NASA.
I wish you luck in your pipe dream, but I think that's all it is.
"...paid for by people who don't want to, have no choice in the matter, and have families to feed."
You mean like the war in Afghanistan?
Well, that's only 9 years and some months old, but still.
(I'm hardly a peacenick, but it's gone on longer and cost more than was expected by most people.)
"Hell the Libyan War is cheaper than NASA."
Well, yeah. The US isn't providing the ground troops. The rebels aren't the world's best trained, but they're mostly winning. The Brits and the Qataris are providing special forces to train them.
A lot of other NATO countries are doing air sorties for it.
Yeah, war can be a lot cheaper if you get someone else to pay for a good part of it. Though we did fire an awful lot of cruise missiles in the early part of it.
I doubt they'd be calling it unauthorized if he'd made them 2 billion.
"I'll worry about the 2nd law of Thermodynamics once the sun goes out. Until then, we have more energy hitting the earth than human civilization can ever harness."
Uh huh.
The 1950s is calling and saying "Electricity from nuclear will be too cheap to meter. We just have to work out a few little problems."
Quite a number of countries have tried that. It generally didn't work out very well.
Look at the history of "reeducation" to change emotional outlook and viewpoint toward one that values doing what is seen to be best for the whole.
Certainly didn't work well in Cambodia, for example.
But, hey. You'll just be changing attitudes to the proper ones, not the evil ones that others tried, right?
"You simply need to tax the heck out of consumerism"
Yeah, like those major luxury items that contribute massively to greenhouse gas emission called food and fuel.
Like most "neat easy simple" ideas, I have my doubts about how neat, easy, or simple it is.
"reusable energy"
If you've come up with a way to reuse energy once it's been expended, Dr. Clausius and Lord Kelvin would like to have a word with you about the second law of thermodynamics.
Peace through superior capitalism.
"actually, that would be far beyond their abilities to produce, and at any rate useless for a bomb. while fissionable isn't fissile."
Questionable how far beyond.
In quantity, yes it would be difficult but not because of lack of knowledge.
Natanz isn't set up for it (not got the right neutron spectrum being a light water power reactor). But, they have a reasearch reactor (forget the name of the site) that could be set up for it. Whether they've bothered, given all the work they've done on enriched uranium is an open question.
The problem with needing an implosion system rather than gun type no longer really applies. It's well known explosives engineering these days.
(And yes, I know that Pu 238 isn't bomb material. It was a joke. Laugh.)
"They'll have plenty soon."
They might even be willing to deliver it.
"plutonium trolls you!"
No, no. That was back on Usenet.
What, you've never hears of Ludwig Plutonium and the Plutonium Atom Totality?
Plutonium and Alexander Abian were the net loons supreme on sci.physics for years.
Not a problem. We'll just rely on the Russians just like with manned access to the ISS. What could possibly go wrong?
"Now if I can just keep them from running away from all the bass..."
I've seen a lynx that pulled the person holding his leash into the rave dance with him, and was having quite a time investigating all the weird stuff going on in there.
His name was Cody, and he was an educational animal for Animals for Awareness. They'd take him to schools in the Chicago area so the kids could see him. Incredibly cool critter. Very personable (a lot of lynxes are a bit skittish).
"I wonder what will happen if they find a strong magnetic anomaly near Tycho crater?"
Then Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the MPAA will file a copyright infrngement suit against the universe.
John P. (my first grad school adviser) is that you?
Sure sounds like him.
He was ecstatic when the SSC was cancelled in the 90s. I don't think he really let himself understand that none of the money would go to things he wanted funded.
The fallacy that if the money wasn't spent on JWST it would get spent on something more worthwhile is just that. A fallacy.
And before you get too bent out of shape at some astro type tossing cold water one you, my background is solid state too. (Curse you Murray Gell Mann and your Squalid State comments. :)
"Does anyone know what protects the mirrors?"
It's not in earth orbit. It's roughtly a million miles from the earth, so space junk isn't really a factor.
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/orbit.html
If you get something of any size hitting you out there, it's likely going so fast a shield wouldn't make much difference anyway. But, there isn't a big debris attracting mass like the earth out there either.
Well, thank heavens they aren't the Frivolous and Disorganized Crime Agency.
There's a whole wikipedia article on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore