... is if they now cancel the whole switch to digital TV altogether.
Seriously, could they have screwed the pooch on this whole thing any worse if they actually tried to be this incompetent?
Generally libertarian as I am, since the government is making property unfit for its intended use by an act of Congress, then it should be compensating those property owners accordingly.
Point of clarification: The federal limitations on stem-cell research apply only to embryonic stem cells -- there are other types of stem cells (adult, umbilical cord) that are completely unfettered by any federal restrictions, along with the specified (pre-existing) lines of embryonic cells.
It is a falsehood that has been repeated often enough to be accepted as fact that the current policy "bans stem-cell research", when in fact, the current policy was the first to federally fund such research at all, and does not affect non-embryonic stem cells.
Oh please, don't get started on Ohio. Pennsylvania was closer than Ohio, is a larger state, and yet you don't hear people complaining nearly daily two years later that the whole state went to Kerry despite being nearly 50-50.
Let's say I'm authorized to work from a remote location for some subset of my time. However, for various technical and policy reasons, I do not have secure remote access to the network from the remote -- I would need to then physically carry any information from point A to point B (and back again) if I need to use it in the remote location.
If you don't think this is a reasonable scenario, then you've never done government work.
I'm not saying it would be easy... but since we're talking theory anyway... couldn't you "split" the light through some form of prism so that one stream is bent around the concealed object, and the other is directed to a very small collector inside the object that could be used to create a display for whomever or whatever was inside?
Part of the problem, as you say, is that people don't willingly acknowledge facts that run counter to what they already believe. But another part of the problem is that there are many cases where both sides have a particular frame of reference and either discount or refuse to look at the problem outside that frame of reference.
Take what is likely the most controversial issue of the last 30-40 years: abortion. One side's views are dominated by focusing on the pregnant woman's control of her own body, the other is focused on the life of the unborn child. Both sides can make logical arguments, but have a hard time "getting through" to the other side because group #1 says, "yes, but what about the rights of the mother" while group #2 says, "yes, but what about the rights of the child".
Of course, it's much easier to recognize the problems that it is to come up with solutions. The best I can offer is to stop a moment to consider why the other side of the argments believes what they believe, and objectively decide whether that is reasonable without referencing your own beliefs. Even if you don't agree with the other side's position, you may at least be able to understand that they're not the evil gits you may otherwise assume that they are.
I usually keep about a dozen "CD-run" apps like this at a time. It's no so much bulk or weight, as convenience. It also reduces wear and tear on the disks themselves, making it less likely that I will damage the originals. Plus, running from HD makes the battery last longer than running from the CD.
How's this for a real gripe, then? I can use Nero to make a playable image of a CD, something I do on my older titles so that they can go on my laptop computer and I don't have to lug the original CDs with me (this was very useful when I was having CD-ROM driver issues that wer elocking up the computer [since fixed]).
Games with the requirement of having the original CD don't let me do that.
You might have a point, if the article didn't talk about collaboration with William Goldman who wrote a) the book "The Pricess Bride" and b) the screenplay for "The Princess Bride".
Great idea, at least until the people receiving the implants start shouting EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! and try to kill large groups of people by photographic over-exposure.
some huge proportion of the world's crops would need to be converted to this cause. A pretty big chunk of the world's population is already somewhat hungry
Non-sequiter. The problem of hunger isn't the availability of crops (hell, we pay people to not grow food int he U.S.), it's distribution.
1. Due to problems like Mad Cow disease, many countries have banned feeding animal waste to animals. The U.S. has not banned this. As a result, CWT is paying for waste products that under other circumstances, they would actually get money for disposing of. This is why they're planning on building in Europe -- because acquiring the raw material becomes an asset, not a liability.
2. The U.S. government currently offers a $1/gallon tax credit for certain bio-diesel fuels. The CWT does not currently qualify for this credit because of the language of the law. If that is changed, there are 42 gallons per U.S. barrel, meaning a $42/barrel tax credit, which as far as I know, is as good as cash.
No process can be 100% (or more) efficient -- the CWT process is about 80%-85% efficient. That means that the remaining energy is turned to waste, so it obviously produces less energy at the end than when it started.
However, when looking at usable energy, the system is highly efficient. Most of the energy in the CWT comes from the energy stored in the "feedstock" (turkey guts, etc.). This is energy that would normally be slowly released as waste energy as the feedstocks decomposed. instead, this process turns that energy into useful products, primarily diesel fuel. Removing the energy from the feedstock, the process produces about 4-5 times more usable energy than it uses.
The commercial-free distribution costs would be insane. It would be cheaper to mail a set of DVDs to each fan.
Which isn't a bad idea. Why assume that the broadcast medium is the proper mechanism. If enough fans sign on for a subscription service to be able to 1) produce the show, 2) master the DVDs, and 3) distribute the DVDs to subscribers, especially if it could be done at a reasonable profit, then why not try a subscription-based model rather than old-fashioned broadcast TV?
the only thing of course, is that to have DSL, you need an actual phone number/line. unless everyone is going to run to cable, land lines are here to stay
Looking with a longer-term view, high-speed WiFi can eliminate the need for landlines altogether, as you can use a broadband WiFi connection rather than cable or DSL.
Nit-pick -- Dobson was widely mis-quoted and over-analyzed. He was complaining about a pro-gay organization that used familiar cartoon characters (SpongeBob by name, given the current popularity) in their materials. He never said that SpongeBob was gay.
Somewhat off-topic, but my copy of Alpha Centauri won't run on my newer computers (with 2.8 GHz processors and Windows XP) -- it claims my processor isn't supported. Any ideas?
Get back to me once you look up and understand the concept of a "representative republic".
The "democracy" part comes in how the government officials are selected, but while in office, they have the responsibilty to discharge the duties of their offices without being subject to a constant public referendum. Remember that when voting... it's not about where candidate X stands on position Y, it's whether or not you trust candidate X to make these kinds of decisions.
What the rest of the world thinks does not matter.
George W. Bush is President of the United States, not President of the Rest of the World. His job is to act in the best interests of the United States. If that means going against the wishes of the rest of the world, so be it.
While you can argue the case that the best interests of the United States need to include (to some degree) world opinion, how much influence it should have is a judgement call and always subject to differences in opinion. The guy sitting in the Oval Office gets to make that decision, though, not the newspapers, talking-heads, or bloggers.
As a development manager, I genrally only require detailed comments for the entire function, unless there is a particular block that is tricky or non-intuitive. Using good (i.e., self-documenting) variable and function names also helps.
If your functions are too large to be properly documented as a whole, then you most likely need to break them up into smaller functions.
Slashdot Mirror
... is if they now cancel the whole switch to digital TV altogether. Seriously, could they have screwed the pooch on this whole thing any worse if they actually tried to be this incompetent?
Generally libertarian as I am, since the government is making property unfit for its intended use by an act of Congress, then it should be compensating those property owners accordingly.
That would be... um... oh yeah, an iPod.
Point of clarification: The federal limitations on stem-cell research apply only to embryonic stem cells -- there are other types of stem cells (adult, umbilical cord) that are completely unfettered by any federal restrictions, along with the specified (pre-existing) lines of embryonic cells. It is a falsehood that has been repeated often enough to be accepted as fact that the current policy "bans stem-cell research", when in fact, the current policy was the first to federally fund such research at all, and does not affect non-embryonic stem cells.
Hasn't someone done a d20 variation in the B45 universe?
Oh please, don't get started on Ohio. Pennsylvania was closer than Ohio, is a larger state, and yet you don't hear people complaining nearly daily two years later that the whole state went to Kerry despite being nearly 50-50.
Let's say I'm authorized to work from a remote location for some subset of my time. However, for various technical and policy reasons, I do not have secure remote access to the network from the remote -- I would need to then physically carry any information from point A to point B (and back again) if I need to use it in the remote location.
If you don't think this is a reasonable scenario, then you've never done government work.
I'm not saying it would be easy... but since we're talking theory anyway... couldn't you "split" the light through some form of prism so that one stream is bent around the concealed object, and the other is directed to a very small collector inside the object that could be used to create a display for whomever or whatever was inside?
(An image would work so much better here...)
Take what is likely the most controversial issue of the last 30-40 years: abortion. One side's views are dominated by focusing on the pregnant woman's control of her own body, the other is focused on the life of the unborn child. Both sides can make logical arguments, but have a hard time "getting through" to the other side because group #1 says, "yes, but what about the rights of the mother" while group #2 says, "yes, but what about the rights of the child".
Of course, it's much easier to recognize the problems that it is to come up with solutions. The best I can offer is to stop a moment to consider why the other side of the argments believes what they believe, and objectively decide whether that is reasonable without referencing your own beliefs. Even if you don't agree with the other side's position, you may at least be able to understand that they're not the evil gits you may otherwise assume that they are.
I usually keep about a dozen "CD-run" apps like this at a time. It's no so much bulk or weight, as convenience. It also reduces wear and tear on the disks themselves, making it less likely that I will damage the originals. Plus, running from HD makes the battery last longer than running from the CD.
How's this for a real gripe, then? I can use Nero to make a playable image of a CD, something I do on my older titles so that they can go on my laptop computer and I don't have to lug the original CDs with me (this was very useful when I was having CD-ROM driver issues that wer elocking up the computer [since fixed]). Games with the requirement of having the original CD don't let me do that.
You might have a point, if the article didn't talk about collaboration with William Goldman who wrote a) the book "The Pricess Bride" and b) the screenplay for "The Princess Bride".
Great idea, at least until the people receiving the implants start shouting EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! and try to kill large groups of people by photographic over-exposure.
Non-sequiter. The problem of hunger isn't the availability of crops (hell, we pay people to not grow food int he U.S.), it's distribution.
1. Due to problems like Mad Cow disease, many countries have banned feeding animal waste to animals. The U.S. has not banned this. As a result, CWT is paying for waste products that under other circumstances, they would actually get money for disposing of. This is why they're planning on building in Europe -- because acquiring the raw material becomes an asset, not a liability.
2. The U.S. government currently offers a $1/gallon tax credit for certain bio-diesel fuels. The CWT does not currently qualify for this credit because of the language of the law. If that is changed, there are 42 gallons per U.S. barrel, meaning a $42/barrel tax credit, which as far as I know, is as good as cash.
No process can be 100% (or more) efficient -- the CWT process is about 80%-85% efficient. That means that the remaining energy is turned to waste, so it obviously produces less energy at the end than when it started.
However, when looking at usable energy, the system is highly efficient. Most of the energy in the CWT comes from the energy stored in the "feedstock" (turkey guts, etc.). This is energy that would normally be slowly released as waste energy as the feedstocks decomposed. instead, this process turns that energy into useful products, primarily diesel fuel. Removing the energy from the feedstock, the process produces about 4-5 times more usable energy than it uses.
Yeah, but Gannon is a conservative, so facts won't actually matter to the crowd here at Slashdot.
Which isn't a bad idea. Why assume that the broadcast medium is the proper mechanism. If enough fans sign on for a subscription service to be able to 1) produce the show, 2) master the DVDs, and 3) distribute the DVDs to subscribers, especially if it could be done at a reasonable profit, then why not try a subscription-based model rather than old-fashioned broadcast TV?
Looking with a longer-term view, high-speed WiFi can eliminate the need for landlines altogether, as you can use a broadband WiFi connection rather than cable or DSL.
Nit-pick -- Dobson was widely mis-quoted and over-analyzed. He was complaining about a pro-gay organization that used familiar cartoon characters (SpongeBob by name, given the current popularity) in their materials. He never said that SpongeBob was gay.
That did it, thanks! (And thanks to everyone else who replied as well...)
Somewhat off-topic, but my copy of Alpha Centauri won't run on my newer computers (with 2.8 GHz processors and Windows XP) -- it claims my processor isn't supported. Any ideas?
Get back to me once you look up and understand the concept of a "representative republic".
The "democracy" part comes in how the government officials are selected, but while in office, they have the responsibilty to discharge the duties of their offices without being subject to a constant public referendum. Remember that when voting... it's not about where candidate X stands on position Y, it's whether or not you trust candidate X to make these kinds of decisions.
George W. Bush is President of the United States, not President of the Rest of the World. His job is to act in the best interests of the United States. If that means going against the wishes of the rest of the world, so be it.
While you can argue the case that the best interests of the United States need to include (to some degree) world opinion, how much influence it should have is a judgement call and always subject to differences in opinion. The guy sitting in the Oval Office gets to make that decision, though, not the newspapers, talking-heads, or bloggers.
If your functions are too large to be properly documented as a whole, then you most likely need to break them up into smaller functions.