I found out about it through a show I saw at the Adelaide Zoo with Dr Gertrude Glossip
She based her tour on the book and it was fascinating to see the animals in front of you while she gave an entertaining talk about behaviours you had never considered before.
Lions aren't thy only animals that have same sex couples. Emu's do it as well - they will steal an egg from a hetro couple and raise the chick as their own. I have heard that such homesexual pairs have a better sucess rate in raising chicks than the hetro pairs.
If you read the story of Lot you see that his wife gets turned to a pillar of salt when she turned back to look after being warned not to. After that event, Lot and his two daughters are holed up in a cave somewhere. The daughters figure that now their mother is dead that their father will never bear an heir. So they plan to get him drunk and copulate with him. This results in both the daughters getting pregnant and bearing a son to Lot. Each of these sons then go on to be a leader of one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
So not only is incest OK, its a great way to produce future leaders.
You don't even have to make this stuff up - Genesis 19:31-33
Well it is a specious argument.. its about other species!!
But I would argue that it is not a specious argument. Conservatives argue that homesexuality is a choice. A choice implies the ability to make a decision. But the conservative opinion also seems to be that only humans have the ability to make a free choice. So after documenting that animals partake in homosexual behaviour either you have to accept that homesexuality is not a choice, but a part of nature, or you have to concede that animals are capable of making choices in the same manner that humans are. You can't have it both ways.
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity Bruce Bagemihl St Martins Press, 1999 ISBN 0-312-19239-8 (hc) ISBN 0-312-25377-X (pbk)
750 pages of documented animal same sex behaviour from around the world covering pretty well covering every area of fauna speaks for itself.
Which always makes me ask questions when I hear people say that homeosexuality is a choice.
If it is free choice, and animals perform homosexual acts, does that mean that animals have free will and the ability to make such a choice?
I'll let you inot a secret.. I didn't read it all.. after about the first paragraph it started to seem like pointless justificataion - so thats about where I stopped really reading and then just skimmed over the rest.
You want to advertise a service (proxy server) to a bunch of people in a foreign country. But you don't want the authorities of that country to know because if they did they would just shut you down. So you intend (in thought only at this stage) to spam everyone in the country telling them where the proxy is.
So where in your magical spamming service is the option that allows you to spam to the opressed people without sending the same spam to the authorities?
There seems to be an election in the wind (I think I saw Nov mentioned), and Howard is on a downslide at the moment. I see this stunt as the Liberals (and that is the conservative party) playing the "think of the kiddies" card to drum up support.
Previously Howard has played the "OMG the illeagal immigrants" card (google for Tampa and babies overboard).
Hopefully this time the Oz public won't fall for it, bu then again we re-elected Howard in the election after the Tampa incident even though it had been shown that that was all a stunt.
Of course my opinion of Howard has been coloured ever since I listened to "How green was my cactus" many years ago, and he was always referred to as "Little Johnny Howard" (this was before he became supreme ruler).
I also liked it when a Japanese (I think) paper referred to him as "Shrub".. ie a little bush.
"The main difference from a pressure suit is that the counterpressure to the surface of the body is provided by an elastic non-airtight fabric instead of gas pressure - skin itself is actually quite airtight."
The Space Activity Suit is basically the same as jumping out of an airlock, but with pressure protection for your head only. As they say in the wikipedia article - "skin itself is actually quite airtight"
There was at least one sci-fi story back years ago where this jumping out into space thing was done. So it is not a new plot line.
(Disclaimer - I have never met Linus or heard him speak on anything )
After reading over the article, I came away with the impression that Linus appears to be an angry person. I have also noticed this in past topics where emails from Linus have been mentioned. So I am asking the question as to why he appears this way. Is it because I always see such references at particular time like now with hot button issues? Or perhaps because English is not his native tongue? Or is it because he really does have an anger management issue?
Based on his own comments in those emails (and the standards that he seems to hold everyone to) it seems to me that Linus would not work with himself as he himself appears very pig-headed and stubborn.
I am as far away as possible from the phone company.. so that makes DSL really crappy.. but then again there is always dial-up Fios has not yet been rolled out to my neighborhood. There is the wireless broadband being touted in this area.. but hmmm.. wireless.. when I can't even get a reliable wireless system running internal to my house.
Or I have 8Mbps from comcast which works pretty well >95% of the time - or at least it does when I am awake.. and I also work from home so that means >16 hours a day.
So what choice do I really have??????
The only problems I have with Comcast are the installers (which froma previous story were shown to be overworked contractors with little training), and that a while ago at 3PM everyday my cable internet connection just disappeared and only came back after a hard reset of my cable modem and router.. but that has stopped now (and I could never prove it was really them - but nothing has changed on this end for over 18 months)
Why are so many other systems not pure text files? What do they achieve that a flat file system can't? And how can you take steal the good points of those systems if you still rely on a flat file?
For example in a word processing document you can embed more than textual information. Or you can easily do things like say "Change style A to Style B" as the text is tagged with the style data. Sure these may not translate into concepts that directly relate to programming.. but they show that there are benefits to be had in a non flat file system.
But a simple idea that would greatly benefit scientific/engineering programming is to be able to tag variables and constants with units data. Yes this could be done in a flat file system, but I posit that the implementation would be a lot easier to deal with in a non flat file system.
Well I'll match your 2+ decades with my 2+ decades of coding in systems from low level to high level in multiple architectures from general to special purpose machines for systems that run 24/7 and have down time costs in the $100,000 per hour.. there.. have I pissed a bigger amount than you?
Making source code clean is admirable.. but using smart systems to help write code faster, better and more reliably is going to bring better returns than banging on the keyboard like an epilectic monkey .
I agree about visual programming not scaling well; I work in industrial systems where there are a lot of visual techniques used, and some of them are a pain to program.
However I was not intending a visual solution, I meant to use a markup technique to better create levels of abstraction, but still using text as the primary element. Your MPEG example made me think for a bit until I realised that I what I want is a source code system that has "units" of operation that match the structured elements of the language for which it is used. For example a loop element, or a function element. These could be zoomed into/expanded only as needed or collapsed down into summaries showing the general outline at other times (while still showing the gist of the code). As an added bonus other meta data could also be carried along with the elements - such as the engineering units that are defined for a variable. You could easily put together an MPEG encoder using a multilevel text system in a similar manner to a flat text file.
I know that people have worked on this, but I admit that I have yet to see anything commercial come of it. About the closest I have yet to see is in Visual Studio where you can show/hide sections of code
But the use of HTML to divorce content from presentation has been a huge success.
Source code programming has to be one of the last bastions of flat files. As such I guesss that means that non-flat file solutions are hard to do well, but that does not mean they are impossible to do
Rather than talk about the number of columns in a flat file, I think the issue should be more about why we are still using flat files to write source code in the first place. Why are we still doing this? Why not a programming mark up language akin to way that HTML is a presentation language? In that way people could display code to their preferences and this entire issue would be moot.
We didn't need some fancy electronic locking device to stop trolleys leaving the car park (translation to American: carts leaving the parking lot)
Instead each trolley stacked up in the waiting area had a small mechanical lock that attached a pin to the trolley in front by a chain. In order to release the next trolley in line you had to insert a $1 coin, which was retained in the lock. When you finished using your trolley, you locked it back up again and your coin was returned. No high faluting electronics, a built in incentive to return the trolley, and no mysterious lockups.
Of course trolley wheels have been designed since day one to lock up without any fancy electronics inside them..
While I am not going to disagree with you on anything you say, I will point out that digital cameras are digital electronics based technology, and given the growth of computers in the last 30 years it makes an interesting thought excercise to extrapolate cameras technology over the next 30 years. By then I would think that all of your pro-film arguments are moot (which wil sadden me as I prefer to shoot film for all of the reasons you put forward)
Now all we need in this thread is some pro-foveon zealots to counter your bayer arguments:D
yes yes yes.. I have working cameras from the 50's too. And while you will still have a working Nikon in 30 years time, will all the other systems needed to support it still exist? That was the point I was making, as if you only focus on once aspect then you will be wasting your time and money - ie one 50 year old car from Ohio.
BTW by electronic I did not mean digital (or digital cameras)- all early film cameras with electronics were analogue not digital.
And as for my "short lifetime" I have been around long enough to see various technolgies come and go. And given my current age it is feasible that I would be dead in 30 years time anyway.
Point in case.. your own camera may or not be working You know it will need maintenance to ensure that it is working. This is a cost that has to be factored in before you spend $$$$ in saving up the worlds supply of you favourite film.
And yes I also own 50 year old cameras (Finetta's from the 50's). Some of them work, some don't. They don't even need or have batteries, but I have decided that it is not worth my $$ to resurect the cameras that are non functional.
yeah I know I screwed up by missing the sheet film aspect. And yes I know all about MF and LF systems and electronicless they are.
But from a systems point of view, what is common place now will not be common place in 30 years time, so you need to consider the total cost of ownership for the next 30 years.. not just the film storage costs. I don't think that the poster is considering
Slashdot Mirror
But what do you say about primates performing oral sex on each other?
is that just being dumb? That takes a willing participant on both sides
I also own the book .. which is why I quoted it.
I found out about it through a show I saw at the Adelaide Zoo with Dr Gertrude Glossip
She based her tour on the book and it was fascinating to see the animals in front of you while she gave an entertaining talk about behaviours you had never considered before.
Lions aren't thy only animals that have same sex couples. Emu's do it as well - they will steal an egg from a hetro couple and raise the chick as their own. I have heard that such homesexual pairs have a better sucess rate in raising chicks than the hetro pairs.
If you read the story of Lot you see that his wife gets turned to a pillar of salt when she turned back to look after being warned not to. After that event, Lot and his two daughters are holed up in a cave somewhere. The daughters figure that now their mother is dead that their father will never bear an heir. So they plan to get him drunk and copulate with him. This results in both the daughters getting pregnant and bearing a son to Lot. Each of these sons then go on to be a leader of one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
So not only is incest OK, its a great way to produce future leaders.
You don't even have to make this stuff up - Genesis 19:31-33
Well it is a specious argument .. its about other species!!
But I would argue that it is not a specious argument. Conservatives argue that homesexuality is a choice. A choice implies the ability to make a decision. But the conservative opinion also seems to be that only humans have the ability to make a free choice. So after documenting that animals partake in homosexual behaviour either you have to accept that homesexuality is not a choice, but a part of nature, or you have to concede that animals are capable of making choices in the same manner that humans are. You can't have it both ways.
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity
Bruce Bagemihl
St Martins Press, 1999
ISBN 0-312-19239-8 (hc)
ISBN 0-312-25377-X (pbk)
750 pages of documented animal same sex behaviour from around the world covering pretty well covering every area of fauna speaks for itself.
Which always makes me ask questions when I hear people say that homeosexuality is a choice.
If it is free choice, and animals perform homosexual acts, does that mean that animals have free will and the ability to make such a choice?
I'll let you inot a secret .. I didn't read it all .. after about the first paragraph it started to seem like pointless justificataion - so thats about where I stopped really reading and then just skimmed over the rest.
So let me get this straight ..
You want to advertise a service (proxy server) to a bunch of people in a foreign country.
But you don't want the authorities of that country to know because if they did they would just shut you down.
So you intend (in thought only at this stage) to spam everyone in the country telling them where the proxy is.
So where in your magical spamming service is the option that allows you to spam to the opressed people without sending the same spam to the authorities?
I have bottles of it on my desk right now .. in the ratio of 2 hydrogen to 1 oxygen .. whats it called again? di-hydrogen monoxide or something.
There seems to be an election in the wind (I think I saw Nov mentioned), and Howard is on a downslide at the moment. I see this stunt as the Liberals (and that is the conservative party) playing the "think of the kiddies" card to drum up support.
.. ie a little bush.
Previously Howard has played the "OMG the illeagal immigrants" card (google for Tampa and babies overboard).
Hopefully this time the Oz public won't fall for it, bu then again we re-elected Howard in the election after the Tampa incident even though it had been shown that that was all a stunt.
Of course my opinion of Howard has been coloured ever since I listened to "How green was my cactus" many years ago, and he was always referred to as "Little Johnny Howard" (this was before he became supreme ruler).
I also liked it when a Japanese (I think) paper referred to him as "Shrub"
To quote the article I referred to:
"The main difference from a pressure suit is that the counterpressure to the surface of the body is provided by an elastic non-airtight fabric instead of gas pressure - skin itself is actually quite airtight."
The story I was thinking of was "Earthlight" by dodgy Arthur from 1955
The Space Activity Suit is basically the same as jumping out of an airlock, but with pressure protection for your head only. As they say in the wikipedia article - "skin itself is actually quite airtight"
There was at least one sci-fi story back years ago where this jumping out into space thing was done. So it is not a new plot line.
(Disclaimer - I have never met Linus or heard him speak on anything )
After reading over the article, I came away with the impression that Linus appears to be an angry person. I have also noticed this in past topics where emails from Linus have been mentioned. So I am asking the question as to why he appears this way. Is it because I always see such references at particular time like now with hot button issues? Or perhaps because English is not his native tongue? Or is it because he really does have an anger management issue?
Based on his own comments in those emails (and the standards that he seems to hold everyone to) it seems to me that Linus would not work with himself as he himself appears very pig-headed and stubborn.
Anyone care to explain?
Choose another ISP .. well lets see ..
.. so that makes DSL really crappy .. but then again there is always dial-up .. but hmmm .. wireless .. when I can't even get a reliable wireless system running internal to my house.
.. and I also work from home so that means >16 hours a day.
.. but that has stopped now (and I could never prove it was really them - but nothing has changed on this end for over 18 months)
I am as far away as possible from the phone company
Fios has not yet been rolled out to my neighborhood.
There is the wireless broadband being touted in this area
Or I have 8Mbps from comcast which works pretty well >95% of the time - or at least it does when I am awake
So what choice do I really have??????
The only problems I have with Comcast are the installers (which froma previous story were shown to be overworked contractors with little training), and that a while ago at 3PM everyday my cable internet connection just disappeared and only came back after a hard reset of my cable modem and router
Why are so many other systems not pure text files? What do they achieve that a flat file system can't? And how can you take steal the good points of those systems if you still rely on a flat file?
.. but they show that there are benefits to be had in a non flat file system.
For example in a word processing document you can embed more than textual information. Or you can easily do things like say "Change style A to Style B" as the text is tagged with the style data. Sure these may not translate into concepts that directly relate to programming
But a simple idea that would greatly benefit scientific/engineering programming is to be able to tag variables and constants with units data. Yes this could be done in a flat file system, but I posit that the implementation would be a lot easier to deal with in a non flat file system.
Well I'll match your 2+ decades with my 2+ decades of coding in systems from low level to high level in multiple architectures from general to special purpose machines for systems that run 24/7 and have down time costs in the $100,000 per hour .. there .. have I pissed a bigger amount than you?
.. but using smart systems to help write code faster, better and more reliably is going to bring better returns than banging on the keyboard like an epilectic monkey .
Making source code clean is admirable
I agree about visual programming not scaling well; I work in industrial systems where there are a lot of visual techniques used, and some of them are a pain to program.
However I was not intending a visual solution, I meant to use a markup technique to better create levels of abstraction, but still using text as the primary element. Your MPEG example made me think for a bit until I realised that I what I want is a source code system that has "units" of operation that match the structured elements of the language for which it is used. For example a loop element, or a function element. These could be zoomed into/expanded only as needed or collapsed down into summaries showing the general outline at other times (while still showing the gist of the code). As an added bonus other meta data could also be carried along with the elements - such as the engineering units that are defined for a variable. You could easily put together an MPEG encoder using a multilevel text system in a similar manner to a flat text file.
I know that people have worked on this, but I admit that I have yet to see anything commercial come of it. About the closest I have yet to see is in Visual Studio where you can show/hide sections of code
But the use of HTML to divorce content from presentation has been a huge success.
Source code programming has to be one of the last bastions of flat files. As such I guesss that means that non-flat file solutions are hard to do well, but that does not mean they are impossible to do
Rather than talk about the number of columns in a flat file, I think the issue should be more about why we are still using flat files to write source code in the first place. Why are we still doing this? Why not a programming mark up language akin to way that HTML is a presentation language? In that way people could display code to their preferences and this entire issue would be moot.
We didn't need some fancy electronic locking device to stop trolleys leaving the car park (translation to American: carts leaving the parking lot)
..
Instead each trolley stacked up in the waiting area had a small mechanical lock that attached a pin to the trolley in front by a chain. In order to release the next trolley in line you had to insert a $1 coin, which was retained in the lock. When you finished using your trolley, you locked it back up again and your coin was returned. No high faluting electronics, a built in incentive to return the trolley, and no mysterious lockups.
Of course trolley wheels have been designed since day one to lock up without any fancy electronics inside them
While I am not going to disagree with you on anything you say, I will point out that digital cameras are digital electronics based technology, and given the growth of computers in the last 30 years it makes an interesting thought excercise to extrapolate cameras technology over the next 30 years. By then I would think that all of your pro-film arguments are moot (which wil sadden me as I prefer to shoot film for all of the reasons you put forward)
:D
Now all we need in this thread is some pro-foveon zealots to counter your bayer arguments
yes yes yes .. I have working cameras from the 50's too. And while you will still have a working Nikon in 30 years time, will all the other systems needed to support it still exist? That was the point I was making, as if you only focus on once aspect then you will be wasting your time and money - ie one 50 year old car from Ohio.
BTW by electronic I did not mean digital (or digital cameras)- all early film cameras with electronics were analogue not digital.
And as for my "short lifetime" I have been around long enough to see various technolgies come and go. And given my current age it is feasible that I would be dead in 30 years time anyway.
Point in case .. your own camera may or not be working You know it will need maintenance to ensure that it is working. This is a cost that has to be factored in before you spend $$$$ in saving up the worlds supply of you favourite film.
And yes I also own 50 year old cameras (Finetta's from the 50's). Some of them work, some don't. They don't even need or have batteries, but I have decided that it is not worth my $$ to resurect the cameras that are non functional.
(oops hit submit at the wrong place)
I don't think that the poster is considering the overall cost, but is instead only focussing on one small area
yeah I know I screwed up by missing the sheet film aspect. And yes I know all about MF and LF systems and electronicless they are.
.. not just the film storage costs. I don't think that the poster is considering
But from a systems point of view, what is common place now will not be common place in 30 years time, so you need to consider the total cost of ownership for the next 30 years