We either kill them or we let them die out. Doh. It's not a worse fate than ending up in the abbatoir anyway. Besides, the population of farm animals is not "rapidly increasing". Their reproduction is micromanaged by farmers.
If that was supposed to be an argument against vegetarianism, it's just about the silliest I've ever heard...
For example, there are about 36,000 manuscripts from the dates 50-200AD that textual critics have used to determine that the New Testiment is about 98.3% accurate to what the original authors wrote.
Which says nothing on how accurate what the original authors wrote is to what actually happened.
"I've always used Windows, I'm used to it, I don't feel like changing. I don't care Linux is faster, better and makes more sense, I'm used to Windows and that's all there is to it."
It is much easier to imagine and understand what it means to say "I am six feet tall" than it is to say "I am one hundred and eighty three centimeters tall" or "I am one point eight meters tall".
The hell you say. It may be easier for you because you have been raised used feet and inches, but there is definitely nothing intrinsically more intuitive about it.
The Fahrenheit scale uses (aproximately) the normal human body temperature as 100. Since most real world temperatures (like weather) are done around this temperature and above 0 (the temperature of salted ice), the Fahrenheit scale is a more convenient scale for human life.
Again, I take that you mean a more convenient scale for Americans. From my point of view, the Fahrenheit scale is a counterintuitive horror. After ten years of exposure to the Imperial system, I can deal with inches, miles, gallons and pounds, but I still can't get my head around Fahrenheit. Besides, the most significant transition point in "the real world" is that of liquid water to ice. The Celsius scale springs from this. How much more intuitive you want to get?
I guess we all have our cultural biases and try to justify them, but from a standpoint of making sense, the Imperial System doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, definitely not in the 21st Century. Take my word (and that of all the other Europeans in/.) for it, the Metric system does work extraordinarily well in "everyday" situations.
What didn't make any sense is to have the droids speak to each other, since they all were centrally controlled by the mainframe in the blockade ship...
If we continue to have public schools, we will have a huge portion of the people who suppose that the "theory" of evolution is a proven fact (it's not, and Darwinian evolution is hardly thought of outside the United States anymore)
Well, on that logic, nothing is a proven fact, then, and we can throw the entire curriculum in the trash. As for Darwinian evolution not being thought of outside the US... Well, I don't know which orifice you pulled that out of, but it's certainly untrue. Maybe in other countries they also teach mechanisms parallel to Darwinian Natural Selection as able to drive Evolution (which is true, and a good thing), but certainly the US is the only Western nation in which the teaching of Evolution is under attack.
If people were allowed to home-school, in twenty years we'll have a significant proportion of kids who have never heard about Evolution. Not that don't believe on it, but that haven't even been given the chance to hear about it. And not only evolution, but whole tracts of science, politics and history will dissapear from many people's education. We'd have all over the country the Kansas situation, but cubed.
The school system is far from perfect, but it's infinitely better than the lack of it. With all its flaws, at least it gives kids the chance to learn...
I think you may have been extra-lucky...:) Geeks are outcasts all over the world, but what may make the problem so exacerbated in American schools is that everything is structured like a competition; Queen of the Prom, Student of the Month, Most likely to Succeed, yada yada.
The paradox about Europe (or at least the part of Europe I'm most familiar with) is that, even though being a geek will make you popular, being popular is in itself frowned upon. Success is OK, if you don't flaunt it, but conspicuous success is a social liability.
Well, no. In order for it being an evolutionary significant trait, it should increase your chances of reproductive success. For many geeks out there, it seems to do the opposite, though.:)
Those few who felt no doubts at all probably lacked the intelligence and imagination it takes to see yourself as the victim, or else they were true sociopaths. Doubt what I am saying? Talk at length with your spouse or your 'normal' siblings...
Well, they do say that the First Rule is "Always remember that everybody else is as scared as you are"...
I totally see your point, but it's worse than that. I have the money and (hopefully) the looks to get one night stands if I made that my goal. But I don't, because I can't. I lust after women just like the next guy, but nightclubs are to me like the surface of Neptune, just not my environment, and even the whole concept of "one night stands" is alien to me. Hell, I want to be able to talk to someone I'm sleeping with.
The thing is, we think too much. Thinking gets in the way of some forms of entertainment (the ones known to the masses as "having fun"), and opens whole new others (the ones known to the masses as "nerdy shit"). That's our lot, and even if sometimes I think I wouldn't mind to be for one night the dude with the slicked-back hair, the gold chains, the cigarette and the gorgeous blonde in the arm, on the whole I wouldn't change my life for anybody else's.
I'm a geek. I can't say I'm proud of it, since I wasn't given a choice in the matter, but on the whole, I'm glad and grateful for what I am.
That's much a matter of where you live... In Europe, where unemplyment is high and housing expensive, geeks get to live with their parents longer than they'd like to. Some would probably like the convenience, some would find it oppresive. I'm not sure that would make a defining geek trait...
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We either kill them or we let them die out. Doh. It's not a worse fate than ending up in the abbatoir anyway. Besides, the population of farm animals is not "rapidly increasing". Their reproduction is micromanaged by farmers.
If that was supposed to be an argument against vegetarianism, it's just about the silliest I've ever heard...
I believe that it also would only work at near 0K temperatures...
I imagine that the unproven 15% includes the bits about resurrecting the dead and playing fast and loose with the laws of conservation...
For example, there are about 36,000 manuscripts from the dates 50-200AD that textual critics have used to determine that the New Testiment is about 98.3% accurate to what the original authors wrote.
Which says nothing on how accurate what the original authors wrote is to what actually happened.
Bollocks to that example... Try this one:
"I've always used Windows, I'm used to it, I don't feel like changing. I don't care Linux is faster, better and makes more sense, I'm used to Windows and that's all there is to it."
Well, NASA has just been inconvenienced to the tune of several million dollars...
An engineer using British Imperial measurements does not deserve to leave.
:)
Not under his own power, at least...
Hey, good stuff there... That's a bookmark for sure. :)
Funny, in most of Europe the Imperial System has absolutely no place at all, and people manage pretty well...
It is much easier to imagine and understand what it means to say "I am six feet tall" than it is to say "I am one hundred and eighty three centimeters tall" or "I am one point eight meters tall".
/.) for it, the Metric system does work extraordinarily well in "everyday" situations.
The hell you say. It may be easier for you because you have been raised used feet and inches, but there is definitely nothing intrinsically more intuitive about it.
The Fahrenheit scale uses (aproximately) the normal human body temperature as 100. Since most real world temperatures (like weather) are done around this temperature and above 0 (the temperature of salted ice), the Fahrenheit scale is a more convenient scale for human life.
Again, I take that you mean a more convenient scale for Americans. From my point of view, the Fahrenheit scale is a counterintuitive horror. After ten years of exposure to the Imperial system, I can deal with inches, miles, gallons and pounds, but I still can't get my head around Fahrenheit. Besides, the most significant transition point in "the real world" is that of liquid water to ice. The Celsius scale springs from this. How much more intuitive you want to get?
I guess we all have our cultural biases and try to justify them, but from a standpoint of making sense, the Imperial System doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, definitely not in the 21st Century. Take my word (and that of all the other Europeans in
Bah. What's so great about outside?
What didn't make any sense is to have the droids speak to each other, since they all were centrally controlled by the mainframe in the blockade ship...
And people post crap on Slashdot! Yes, I see the connection now!
Two words:
Speedball 2
Back in the 70's and 80's, IBM was like a tyrannical, abusive father, but it has turned out to be one hell of a cool grandfather...
Well, the name of the company was originally "Transmeat", until the guy who registered with InterNIC made a typo, so you could well be right...
If we continue to have public schools, we will have a huge portion of the people who suppose that the "theory" of evolution is a proven fact (it's not, and Darwinian evolution is hardly thought of outside the United States anymore)
Well, on that logic, nothing is a proven fact, then, and we can throw the entire curriculum in the trash. As for Darwinian evolution not being thought of outside the US... Well, I don't know which orifice you pulled that out of, but it's certainly untrue. Maybe in other countries they also teach mechanisms parallel to Darwinian Natural Selection as able to drive Evolution (which is true, and a good thing), but certainly the US is the only Western nation in which the teaching of Evolution is under attack.
Bollocks.
If people were allowed to home-school, in twenty years we'll have a significant proportion of kids who have never heard about Evolution. Not that don't believe on it, but that haven't even been given the chance to hear about it. And not only evolution, but whole tracts of science, politics and history will dissapear from many people's education. We'd have all over the country the Kansas situation, but cubed.
The school system is far from perfect, but it's infinitely better than the lack of it. With all its flaws, at least it gives kids the chance to learn...
Actually, Beethoven or Bruckner are maybe better examples than Mozart... Wasn't Mozart a bit of a party animal? :)
I think you may have been extra-lucky... :) Geeks are outcasts all over the world, but what may make the problem so exacerbated in American schools is that everything is structured like a competition; Queen of the Prom, Student of the Month, Most likely to Succeed, yada yada.
The paradox about Europe (or at least the part of Europe I'm most familiar with) is that, even though being a geek will make you popular, being popular is in itself frowned upon. Success is OK, if you don't flaunt it, but conspicuous success is a social liability.
Well, no. In order for it being an evolutionary significant trait, it should increase your chances of reproductive success. For many geeks out there, it seems to do the opposite, though. :)
I'm only half-bitter...
Best of luck, man.
Hey, someone moderate up the above post, OK?
Those few who felt no doubts at all probably lacked the intelligence and imagination it takes to see yourself as the victim, or else they were true sociopaths. Doubt what I am saying? Talk at length with your spouse or your 'normal' siblings...
Well, they do say that the First Rule is "Always remember that everybody else is as scared as you are"...
I totally see your point, but it's worse than that. I have the money and (hopefully) the looks to get one night stands if I made that my goal. But I don't, because I can't. I lust after women just like the next guy, but nightclubs are to me like the surface of Neptune, just not my environment, and even the whole concept of "one night stands" is alien to me. Hell, I want to be able to talk to someone I'm sleeping with.
The thing is, we think too much. Thinking gets in the way of some forms of entertainment (the ones known to the masses as "having fun"), and opens whole new others (the ones known to the masses as "nerdy shit"). That's our lot, and even if sometimes I think I wouldn't mind to be for one night the dude with the slicked-back hair, the gold chains, the cigarette and the gorgeous blonde in the arm, on the whole I wouldn't change my life for anybody else's.
I'm a geek. I can't say I'm proud of it, since I wasn't given a choice in the matter, but on the whole, I'm glad and grateful for what I am.
That's much a matter of where you live... In Europe, where unemplyment is high and housing expensive, geeks get to live with their parents longer than they'd like to. Some would probably like the convenience, some would find it oppresive. I'm not sure that would make a defining geek trait...