As a business, you can replace yourself or your equipment with more efficient people or equipment. (read: forign workers and robots) and you get to profit from it.
If it were a perfectly fair society, you could hire a lower cost Indian that does better work to replace yourself and make the profit. Instead, only your company can do that now.
Interesting insight. As an IT person, however, I find it's possible to use tools on my computer to allow me to do more work in less time. You have to be diabolical about it, however, because if you let your boss know how easy it is, they will give you more work. The only way I will do more work is if the work benefits me, but then I would implement a tool to do that work for me thus bringing me back down to little or no work.
If you are working too hard, it's your own fault. If your boss pays you too much, it's his fault. But I know that it is not my responsibility to ensure that my boss is getting full value out of me. It is also not my responsibility that I cannot do certain things that are asked of me.
Honesty, however is a good thing. It's just a good idea to remember that there are others around who will become extremely jealous of your 5 minute work week and complain to the management. At least look like you are working, do what they ask, and show up on time. It doesn't hurt to stay 15 minutes after every day. Or always leave after your boss does.
Do this, and you'll be a manager soon! Then, you can hire other two people under you to do the 5 minutes of work you do each day, then give them 5 minutes of work and you've tripled your output!
Now comes the question of morality. Is this right? I ask you this: is working 60 hours a week for a minimal living wage moral? Being away from family and friends, not having time to pursue other interests? Why SHOULDN'T you take advantage of your own knowledge and other's ignorance? I mean, don't we all just die, in the end?
I thought 28 Days Later was retarded. I didn't care about any of the characters, and the damn virus thing has been overplayed as it is. I didn't expect much, and I didn't get it.
Resident Evil was almost exactly the same movie, only set underground, and for a much better apocalyptic plot there's always Terry Gillam's 12 Monkeys...
Unless a brick can report its actual position and orientation in 3D space along with any delta since is was laid (better be none) you can't tell anymore about "settling damage" than with a visual inspection. But GPS down to the fraction of a centimeter is beyond what the military has access to.
What about relative deltas. IE, you have 1000 bricks stacked up, and you monitor all of them. The wall starts bowing inward. If the bricks are capable of communicating with neighboring bricks and measuring how they are moving relative to each other, the problem is solved.
If you add up all of the individual deltas, brick to brick, you end up with a curve which represents the total movement of the wall.. You wouldn't even need a fixed reference, although that would be useful to relate your new data to other external objects, like the earth, or another wall, or the roof..
Just a quation: Would the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Miles Davis and Pink Floyd (and alot more:) have made the music they did make, if they didn't "waste" their money on drugs?
So drugs doesn't have to be waste:) (And there goes my karma)
Heh.
Anyway, things were different then; that was before the perfect manuafactured stars age. That was before MTV became the shiny things network.
Loss of revenue? If a CD is copied then the record company has lost the revenue they would have gained if the CD was purchased by those receiving the copies.
You forgot the maybe. If no copy is made, and it isn't worth it to actually buy it, they don't make any money either.
They are trying to make it out like CD's are like food or toilet paper, but really it's their own fault they have a flawed business model. Sorry, folks, the end has come. They have enough cash to keep kicking and screaming for a while, but I think the film industry is a little bigger on the money side, and they are all into that pretty heavily also.
I'll never shed a tear. I've turned my back. Sorry to all the artists, but you're just going to have to work harder and sell tour tickets and tshirts like everyone else. The scam is over.
Paying $0 for something that doesn't exist is theft?
It's merely a pattern of bits that causes my speakers to emit a sound wave.
It's worth $0, I'll pay $0 to get it. Now, it would be worth a few bucks to me to have a really nice, always available, searchable collection of very high quality patterns that I could download at a decent speed.
Artists make money touring. The only people who profit from CD sales are the Record Companies. It's a scam, and I'm done with it. I've turned my back.
His job is to be the dick who pisses us off; he's a prick policeman, a tool of the industry. Of course he doesn't listen to himself. It'd be to hard on his conscious.....
I wonder if this is how the Jews felt about Himmler in Nazi Germany?
Of course we all know they mean that we are stealing from a vapor of revenue they "could have" made if the person:
A. hadn't copied the file B. still wanted it enough to pay $16
I don't have a problem paying for music, but the RIAA is making a big mistake if they think they can legislate out of existence economic law.
Supply vs. Demand. They should view P2P as COMPETITION, not as theft. Then, they would realize what it is: An inferior method of getting inferior versions of a product for a low low low price.
Back to the sharing!=copying!=stealing, I think that the original intent of copyright was to safeguard initial profits of a trademark or intellectual property, but then eventually safeguard the data so everyone can be enriched by it. I mean, that's what humanity is about--sharing and loving stuff, right? When did money become more important than happiness?! The RIAA wants to control everything, and they are seeing their empire collapse from under them as new, open sources of information take over where they couldn't go. Information wants to be free.
Anyway, maybe if the RIAA LOWERED THE PRICES ON THEIR MUSIC, more people would buy it. $16 isn't reasonable. That is 3 meals. Why do we as a society accept rockstars that make a lot of money anyway? They don't deserve it. They just waste it on clothes and drugs and cars. Personally, I am happy to support good and hardworking stars that come to my city on tours. But I will never buy a CD from the big5 again. Sigh, I digress.
You fail to use your imagination adaquately. Remember, the microscopes and lasers you speak of are all based in this simulated world also. Therefore the same limitations apply to both the measurement tool and the reality they are trying to measure.
I think that everyone should look at this more pragmatically. What difference does it make? None really. If you choose to live your life like this is a big video game, go for it. I'd probably admire you. The problem is that there are lots of people with small brains, who fail to see the possibilities that many of us here on Slashdot do. And for them, just as AOL is an adaquate internet connection, the explainations for the world they have been taught is good enough also.
When it comes to philosophy, reality boils down to the idea of reality. What is real? Are 2 humans' brains really close enough to actually even have the same idea of reality? I mean, even with a common communications protocol, such as English, there is much idea that is never transferred between to humans when discussing what is real and what isn't.
The Matrix did a good job of VISUALLY analysing what real is (from an entertainment standpoint) but I think the problem is that we all have different ideas about reality and the methods we use to communicate, to help others understand what we are seeing, simply break down too soon.
In a reality like the Matrix, everyone is interconnected, everyone's brain is perfectly meshed with some advanced connection layer, more like a hardware layer than a software layer. In that case, we would all be in the same world, and we would be that holistic, one mind.
What a lot of people don't realize is that even with the conventional laws of physics and math and other junk we've been taught in school, it's easy to see that we all affect one another with our thoughts and actions. And altough we do not use an advanced protocol and design system to change the world by walking thru it, we do. I affect you and you me. In essence, humanity--well actually ALL MATTER functions as a single giant unit, a universe, in which all things happen.
Humans have such a huge ego that we can't even imagine being so small and meaningless. But we are. At the same time, we are more important then say dirt, because we exist as a higher order of organization. Like a whirlpool in a river, a human life brings together molucules in symphony, and then becomes more efficient at affecting its surroundings, sort of a form of communication and messaging.
Anyway, back to the original point. We are in a virtual world insofar as we use abstraction layers, tools for translation, to increase our inate ability to affect the world, be it a piece of dirt (translates your energy with a shovel to move it), a garage door (translates your energy thru a remote), a glass of water (with a hand, direct energy), or perhaps another person (translates your thoughts and intentions thru english or another language..). So, it makes no difference wether you call it Life, the Matrix, whatever, we are still all just junk that happens to be here, and I find it pretty fucking entertaining to be living in a video game.
Yeah, really the government should do a study to figure out how much it would cost to fiber everything, to the curb or to the pole. Then, they could design some sort of standardized connectors for fiber, a new protocol also, and then the cable/phone companies could lease time/bandwidth from it. Sort of like the banking industry--where the government owns all the money, the banks just lease it from them for an interest rate... or many other things already discussed. Some things are better run by government..
But, this will never happen, because it will throw off the class structure so carefully built by the one way media. If everyone had high speed data connectivity, everyone would be able to communicate with everyone, especially the working class, meaning that they could possibly organize a revolution of some kind, ie: communism.
Better to keep the advanced tools of communication in the hands of the prosperous for as long as possible until they can catch up with laws, regulations, and ways to copy/tap the messages for their own control.
Perhaps maybe it's time we start to think differently. But you have to examine the sociological impact. Frankly, the world/U.S. is not ready for government sponsored fiber to the curb. However, there is a small demand for this service so private industry has been created to deal with that demand.
And yet again, because the government is staying out of it, we have monopolies forming, etc, just like AT&T in the 70's and 80's. Dark times ahead, fellas.
I ran a couple of AS/400's for a while. They were extremely important systems. I think the interaction is fascinating. There's nothing like booting 500 workstataions off and watching them slowly fall off the box. It's like a human system, almost. Everything has to get done before it just quits. And all the god damn interfaces, lines, fuck it. What am I saying? AS/400 is a bitch and needs to die.
A. I was really drunk and stoned in college. B. When I first started, they used SSNs. THEN they switched to some other number the next year. C. I don't really care. SSN's are fine with me. I think everyone should have their own unique number to pull up everything from taxes to bank accounts to power bills, etc. I think there needs to be some sort of secondary ID associated with the number though (like palm or thumbprints, ala Identix scanners). Together, they form a, while not flawless, security/id measure definitely good enough for us to use in everyday life. Most people aren't interesting enough to warrant any additional security. D. I think the main issue with security is not the security itself but rather the people who are untrustworthy. Personally, I think if everyone's intimate personal details were released publically, no one would have anything to hide and the world would be a much better place. I don't care if you look at my shit; as long as my money is safe, everything's cool. So, just tag all my money with the same security, and there you go. E. Who really cares.
Another plant people haven't looked at for biomass generation is industrial hemp, aka "weed". It has been shown that the cannabis sativa/indica is capable of generating more biomass per square acre than almost any other plant known (besides kudzu or some other exotic plants, but they can't grow in harsh climates). The seeds are also quite high in density, actually close to soybeans. Plus the plant is a lot easier on soil than soybeans. I've heard of a number of different ideas for turning the biomass into viable energy, from fermentation in giant tanks to seed presses, etc. The hard part is getting the end to end process efficient enough (as always). With biomass, the problem is more difficult than just pulling oil out of the ground. You have to grow the stuff, harvest it, move it to the processing plant, change it into dense energy, hopefully through a catalytic process (some type of exotic enzyme, perhaps?), and then transport the energy to somewhere where it can be used.
Hydrocarbons are good for this, because they are stable, but can be made unstable quite easily (aerosol, ie: carburation).
I think personally we should look more along the lines of natural energy processes, including a very important molocule known as ATP (adenosene tri-phosphate). Little, if any, research has been done with regards to high energy molocules other than hydrocarbons and metal ions (battery technology) because... well, I don't know why. High explosive technologies are also something interesting to look at--highly stable, high energy density (like Semtex), but we need some sort of cataylic reaction to "un-do" the stability without a huge chain reaction/explosion.
Perhaps the answer is under our noses. I think that bio-research including specialized proteins and enzymes, and genetically engineered bacteria can be used to do the work for us, using only solar power. So, we can use the sun and plants to create biomass across large swaths of unused land, (even land poor for growing food crops) then use bacteria with specialized enzymes to process the biomass into something more useable. Use sunlight to power that process also. Then, extract the high energy molucules for transport (ATP is quite stable if it is pure, but very bioreactive), and then convert it to other energy forms for use in daily life.
The problem is that natural processes have evolved to be a sort of slow and efficient process--not something that would fit in with today's society. Ideally, we would also slow down our own way of living to match up with the efficient natural process. Of course, that would involve ingestion of some of the aforementioned biomass;) That's not going to happen anytime soon, since everyone is so obsessed with getting through their lives as quickly as possible, when, in all realism, you are just going to die in the end. *sigh*
I'm going to look into the enzyme angle though, and perhaps we can make some progress. I know it's possible--they already have those "oil eating" bacteria that change oil into CO2, methane, and water. Perhaps with the addition of some heat and pressure, the process can be expedited?
You guys are going to love what I've designed. A new way for music. Of course, I can't say anything til it's patented. And let me just put it this way: I'm not patenting it for the money. No one else is to be trusted with this idea, no one else would have the integrity to do it right. Yes, the big record companies could snatch my idea up and waste it, or I can keep it to myself and do it right. Be aware folks, the revolution is coming, and modern musicians are going to be snatching their rights back.
Yeah, I think the current system has done a fine job of putting a lot of needless fear into everyone. I think that we all forget that we are all humans, and most (99.999%) of us do not have any serious desire to kill one another.
Frankly, I would have a hell of a time punching someone, let alone shooting them dead.
But now they have us all believing that there are a lot more psychos in the world than there really are. And when you think about it, their tactics are kindof self-defeating, because sooner or later, they will run out of suicide bombers.
I think, honestly, that they are using this thing as an excuse to lock down this country a little more, so that the people with the money and power and prestige can keep that stuff, and so we can live the rest of our lives giving it too them. I don't think it's communist Indymedia craziness to say that some people in the world are hoarding wealth, not for any reason other than to keep it from the common man.
Maybe it's necessary from their point of view, to "keep the status quo", as they have everything they want right now and don't want to lose anything.
But putting me on the spot for wanting a little of it for myself, and saying I'm supporting "terrorism" because I want a little bit of stuff for myself, and putting into effect stronger and stronger laws to prevent me from ever having the opportunity to get a little bit for myself is WRONG.
Why are we fighting FOR THEM NOW? How did they turn us around so quickly from the way we felt in the 90's, when we actually started to achieve a little something for ourselves, after the long, cold war of fear and distrust? Finally we stopped being nervous that an imminent nuclear war would destroy the world. And look at what the economy did! We didn't CARE about bombs, fear, anything else. We just were LIVING our lives, in the NOW, and everything was wonderful. And the general public was becoming more and more aware of the control the mass media and HUGE corporations have over them.
Now they have us running in fear of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, germ warfare all over again! Who CARES?
That's an accurate portrayal of my workday also, except that I sit right next to my boss because this is a small company and we "don't have money" to give everyone an office. Ever try to write perl with 2 people screaming into their SPEAKER PHONES about 10 feet away, with no door to slam? The regular pages that come every 5 minutes, at least, with that hideous "diiiiiinggg" tone to start it and the clatter as the inconsiderate slam down their handset instead of pressing the release. Getting called "fuck head" for showing up 5 minutes late, getting paid $10.00 an hour. Having a print server I have to reset EVERY time I reboot, then delete and reinstall the drivers on my box. Having 6 different email addresses to fill all the roles I play in this company. Contemplating suicide? I'm contemplating removing lug nuts from my bosses' Excursion, and then driving off in my dented, dingy, 1994 Mistubishi sans 2 hubcaps and Air Conditioning into the blazing Nevada desert. Something tells me we should both look for another job.
Slashdot Mirror
As a business, you can replace yourself or your equipment with more efficient people or equipment. (read: forign workers and robots) and you get to profit from it.
If it were a perfectly fair society, you could hire a lower cost Indian that does better work to replace yourself and make the profit. Instead, only your company can do that now.
Interesting insight. As an IT person, however, I find it's possible to use tools on my computer to allow me to do more work in less time. You have to be diabolical about it, however, because if you let your boss know how easy it is, they will give you more work. The only way I will do more work is if the work benefits me, but then I would implement a tool to do that work for me thus bringing me back down to little or no work.
If you are working too hard, it's your own fault. If your boss pays you too much, it's his fault. But I know that it is not my responsibility to ensure that my boss is getting full value out of me. It is also not my responsibility that I cannot do certain things that are asked of me.
Honesty, however is a good thing. It's just a good idea to remember that there are others around who will become extremely jealous of your 5 minute work week and complain to the management. At least look like you are working, do what they ask, and show up on time. It doesn't hurt to stay 15 minutes after every day. Or always leave after your boss does.
Do this, and you'll be a manager soon! Then, you can hire other two people under you to do the 5 minutes of work you do each day, then give them 5 minutes of work and you've tripled your output!
Now comes the question of morality. Is this right? I ask you this: is working 60 hours a week for a minimal living wage moral? Being away from family and friends, not having time to pursue other interests? Why SHOULDN'T you take advantage of your own knowledge and other's ignorance? I mean, don't we all just die, in the end?
Hmm, Interesting Questions.
Uh oh, now the terrorists could possibly use this information in an ATTACK ON AMERICAN INTERESTS.
I thought 28 Days Later was retarded. I didn't care about any of the characters, and the damn virus thing has been overplayed as it is. I didn't expect much, and I didn't get it.
Resident Evil was almost exactly the same movie, only set underground, and for a much better apocalyptic plot there's always Terry Gillam's 12 Monkeys...
I love the (insert failed human interface device here); It's so bad.
Unless a brick can report its actual position and orientation in 3D space along with any delta since is was laid (better be none) you can't tell anymore about "settling damage" than with a visual inspection. But GPS down to the fraction of a centimeter is beyond what the military has access to.
What about relative deltas. IE, you have 1000 bricks stacked up, and you monitor all of them. The wall starts bowing inward. If the bricks are capable of communicating with neighboring bricks and measuring how they are moving relative to each other, the problem is solved.
If you add up all of the individual deltas, brick to brick, you end up with a curve which represents the total movement of the wall.. You wouldn't even need a fixed reference, although that would be useful to relate your new data to other external objects, like the earth, or another wall, or the roof..
Which, I might mention, I love. It's so bad.
Buy a CD from an indie band covered under an Indie label
BEWARE however! Many indie labels are really major labels hiding out under a different name/suubsidiary. Do your research beforehand!
Cheers.
Exactly. It's pop culture. The root in culture? Cult.
Alas, they prey on the teens with the big allowances, a group whose numbers have grown all to large.
Just a quation: :) have made the music they did make, if they didn't "waste" their money on drugs?
:) (And there goes my karma)
Would the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Miles Davis and Pink Floyd (and alot more
So drugs doesn't have to be waste
Heh.
Anyway, things were different then; that was before the perfect manuafactured stars age. That was before MTV became the shiny things network.
Loss of revenue? If a CD is copied then the record company has lost the revenue they would have gained if the CD was purchased by those receiving the copies.
You forgot the maybe. If no copy is made, and it isn't worth it to actually buy it, they don't make any money either.
They are trying to make it out like CD's are like food or toilet paper, but really it's their own fault they have a flawed business model. Sorry, folks, the end has come. They have enough cash to keep kicking and screaming for a while, but I think the film industry is a little bigger on the money side, and they are all into that pretty heavily also.
I'll never shed a tear. I've turned my back. Sorry to all the artists, but you're just going to have to work harder and sell tour tickets and tshirts like everyone else. The scam is over.
Paying $0 for something that doesn't exist is theft?
It's merely a pattern of bits that causes my speakers to emit a sound wave.
It's worth $0, I'll pay $0 to get it. Now, it would be worth a few bucks to me to have a really nice, always available, searchable collection of very high quality patterns that I could download at a decent speed.
Artists make money touring. The only people who profit from CD sales are the Record Companies. It's a scam, and I'm done with it. I've turned my back.
His job is to be the dick who pisses us off; he's a prick policeman, a tool of the industry. Of course he doesn't listen to himself. It'd be to hard on his conscious.....
I wonder if this is how the Jews felt about Himmler in Nazi Germany?
Of course we all know they mean that we are stealing from a vapor of revenue they "could have" made if the person:
A. hadn't copied the file
B. still wanted it enough to pay $16
I don't have a problem paying for music, but the RIAA is making a big mistake if they think they can legislate out of existence economic law.
Supply vs. Demand. They should view P2P as COMPETITION, not as theft. Then, they would realize what it is: An inferior method of getting inferior versions of a product for a low low low price.
Back to the sharing!=copying!=stealing, I think that the original intent of copyright was to safeguard initial profits of a trademark or intellectual property, but then eventually safeguard the data so everyone can be enriched by it. I mean, that's what humanity is about--sharing and loving stuff, right? When did money become more important than happiness?! The RIAA wants to control everything, and they are seeing their empire collapse from under them as new, open sources of information take over where they couldn't go. Information wants to be free.
Anyway, maybe if the RIAA LOWERED THE PRICES ON THEIR MUSIC, more people would buy it. $16 isn't reasonable. That is 3 meals. Why do we as a society accept rockstars that make a lot of money anyway? They don't deserve it. They just waste it on clothes and drugs and cars. Personally, I am happy to support good and hardworking stars that come to my city on tours. But I will never buy a CD from the big5 again. Sigh, I digress.
John Ashcroft Video
On the page www.whatisthematrix.com (Warner Brothers' Page), there are a bunch of philosophy papers on the idea that the movie is based on.
What's so bad about living in the Matrix? is one of my favorites, there are many others also. Check it out if you're interested..
You fail to use your imagination adaquately. Remember, the microscopes and lasers you speak of are all based in this simulated world also. Therefore the same limitations apply to both the measurement tool and the reality they are trying to measure.
I think that everyone should look at this more pragmatically. What difference does it make? None really. If you choose to live your life like this is a big video game, go for it. I'd probably admire you. The problem is that there are lots of people with small brains, who fail to see the possibilities that many of us here on Slashdot do. And for them, just as AOL is an adaquate internet connection, the explainations for the world they have been taught is good enough also.
When it comes to philosophy, reality boils down to the idea of reality. What is real? Are 2 humans' brains really close enough to actually even have the same idea of reality? I mean, even with a common communications protocol, such as English, there is much idea that is never transferred between to humans when discussing what is real and what isn't.
The Matrix did a good job of VISUALLY analysing what real is (from an entertainment standpoint) but I think the problem is that we all have different ideas about reality and the methods we use to communicate, to help others understand what we are seeing, simply break down too soon.
In a reality like the Matrix, everyone is interconnected, everyone's brain is perfectly meshed with some advanced connection layer, more like a hardware layer than a software layer. In that case, we would all be in the same world, and we would be that holistic, one mind.
What a lot of people don't realize is that even with the conventional laws of physics and math and other junk we've been taught in school, it's easy to see that we all affect one another with our thoughts and actions. And altough we do not use an advanced protocol and design system to change the world by walking thru it, we do. I affect you and you me. In essence, humanity--well actually ALL MATTER functions as a single giant unit, a universe, in which all things happen.
Humans have such a huge ego that we can't even imagine being so small and meaningless. But we are. At the same time, we are more important then say dirt, because we exist as a higher order of organization. Like a whirlpool in a river, a human life brings together molucules in symphony, and then becomes more efficient at affecting its surroundings, sort of a form of communication and messaging.
Anyway, back to the original point. We are in a virtual world insofar as we use abstraction layers, tools for translation, to increase our inate ability to affect the world, be it a piece of dirt (translates your energy with a shovel to move it), a garage door (translates your energy thru a remote), a glass of water (with a hand, direct energy), or perhaps another person (translates your thoughts and intentions thru english or another language..). So, it makes no difference wether you call it Life, the Matrix, whatever, we are still all just junk that happens to be here, and I find it pretty fucking entertaining to be living in a video game.
Yeah, really the government should do a study to figure out how much it would cost to fiber everything, to the curb or to the pole. Then, they could design some sort of standardized connectors for fiber, a new protocol also, and then the cable/phone companies could lease time/bandwidth from it. Sort of like the banking industry--where the government owns all the money, the banks just lease it from them for an interest rate... or many other things already discussed. Some things are better run by government..
But, this will never happen, because it will throw off the class structure so carefully built by the one way media. If everyone had high speed data connectivity, everyone would be able to communicate with everyone, especially the working class, meaning that they could possibly organize a revolution of some kind, ie: communism.
Better to keep the advanced tools of communication in the hands of the prosperous for as long as possible until they can catch up with laws, regulations, and ways to copy/tap the messages for their own control.
Perhaps maybe it's time we start to think differently. But you have to examine the sociological impact. Frankly, the world/U.S. is not ready for government sponsored fiber to the curb. However, there is a small demand for this service so private industry has been created to deal with that demand.
And yet again, because the government is staying out of it, we have monopolies forming, etc, just like AT&T in the 70's and 80's. Dark times ahead, fellas.
I ran a couple of AS/400's for a while. They were extremely important systems. I think the interaction is fascinating. There's nothing like booting 500 workstataions off and watching them slowly fall off the box. It's like a human system, almost. Everything has to get done before it just quits. And all the god damn interfaces, lines, fuck it. What am I saying? AS/400 is a bitch and needs to die.
A. I was really drunk and stoned in college.
B. When I first started, they used SSNs. THEN they switched to some other number the next year.
C. I don't really care. SSN's are fine with me. I think everyone should have their own unique number to pull up everything from taxes to bank accounts to power bills, etc. I think there needs to be some sort of secondary ID associated with the number though (like palm or thumbprints, ala Identix scanners). Together, they form a, while not flawless, security/id measure definitely good enough for us to use in everyday life. Most people aren't interesting enough to warrant any additional security.
D. I think the main issue with security is not the security itself but rather the people who are untrustworthy. Personally, I think if everyone's intimate personal details were released publically, no one would have anything to hide and the world would be a much better place. I don't care if you look at my shit; as long as my money is safe, everything's cool. So, just tag all my money with the same security, and there you go.
E. Who really cares.
"No soup for you!"
Sorry, obligitory.
Another plant people haven't looked at for biomass generation is industrial hemp, aka "weed".
;) That's not going to happen anytime soon, since everyone is so obsessed with getting through their lives as quickly as possible, when, in all realism, you are just going to die in the end. *sigh*
It has been shown that the cannabis sativa/indica is capable of generating more biomass per square acre than almost any other plant known (besides kudzu or some other exotic plants, but they can't grow in harsh climates). The seeds are also quite high in density, actually close to soybeans. Plus the plant is a lot easier on soil than soybeans. I've heard of a number of different ideas for turning the biomass into viable energy, from fermentation in giant tanks to seed presses, etc. The hard part is getting the end to end process efficient enough (as always). With biomass, the problem is more difficult than just pulling oil out of the ground. You have to grow the stuff, harvest it, move it to the processing plant, change it into dense energy, hopefully through a catalytic process (some type of exotic enzyme, perhaps?), and then transport the energy to somewhere where it can be used.
Hydrocarbons are good for this, because they are stable, but can be made unstable quite easily (aerosol, ie: carburation).
I think personally we should look more along the lines of natural energy processes, including a very important molocule known as ATP (adenosene tri-phosphate). Little, if any, research has been done with regards to high energy molocules other than hydrocarbons and metal ions (battery technology) because... well, I don't know why. High explosive technologies are also something interesting to look at--highly stable, high energy density (like Semtex), but we need some sort of cataylic reaction to "un-do" the stability without a huge chain reaction/explosion.
Perhaps the answer is under our noses. I think that bio-research including specialized proteins and enzymes, and genetically engineered bacteria can be used to do the work for us, using only solar power. So, we can use the sun and plants to create biomass across large swaths of unused land, (even land poor for growing food crops) then use bacteria with specialized enzymes to process the biomass into something more useable. Use sunlight to power that process also. Then, extract the high energy molucules for transport (ATP is quite stable if it is pure, but very bioreactive), and then convert it to other energy forms for use in daily life.
The problem is that natural processes have evolved to be a sort of slow and efficient process--not something that would fit in with today's society. Ideally, we would also slow down our own way of living to match up with the efficient natural process. Of course, that would involve ingestion of some of the aforementioned biomass
I'm going to look into the enzyme angle though, and perhaps we can make some progress. I know it's possible--they already have those "oil eating" bacteria that change oil into CO2, methane, and water. Perhaps with the addition of some heat and pressure, the process can be expedited?
You guys are going to love what I've designed. A new way for music. Of course, I can't say anything til it's patented. And let me just put it this way: I'm not patenting it for the money. No one else is to be trusted with this idea, no one else would have the integrity to do it right. Yes, the big record companies could snatch my idea up and waste it, or I can keep it to myself and do it right. Be aware folks, the revolution is coming, and modern musicians are going to be snatching their rights back.
Yeah, I think the current system has done a fine job of putting a lot of needless fear into everyone. I think that we all forget that we are all humans, and most (99.999%) of us do not have any serious desire to kill one another.
Frankly, I would have a hell of a time punching someone, let alone shooting them dead.
But now they have us all believing that there are a lot more psychos in the world than there really are. And when you think about it, their tactics are kindof self-defeating, because sooner or later, they will run out of suicide bombers.
I think, honestly, that they are using this thing as an excuse to lock down this country a little more, so that the people with the money and power and prestige can keep that stuff, and so we can live the rest of our lives giving it too them. I don't think it's communist Indymedia craziness to say that some people in the world are hoarding wealth, not for any reason other than to keep it from the common man.
Maybe it's necessary from their point of view, to "keep the status quo", as they have everything they want right now and don't want to lose anything.
But putting me on the spot for wanting a little of it for myself, and saying I'm supporting "terrorism" because I want a little bit of stuff for myself, and putting into effect stronger and stronger laws to prevent me from ever having the opportunity to get a little bit for myself is WRONG.
Why are we fighting FOR THEM NOW? How did they turn us around so quickly from the way we felt in the 90's, when we actually started to achieve a little something for ourselves, after the long, cold war of fear and distrust? Finally we stopped being nervous that an imminent nuclear war would destroy the world. And look at what the economy did! We didn't CARE about bombs, fear, anything else. We just were LIVING our lives, in the NOW, and everything was wonderful. And the general public was becoming more and more aware of the control the mass media and HUGE corporations have over them.
Now they have us running in fear of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, germ warfare all over again! Who CARES?
Bah.
That's an accurate portrayal of my workday also, except that I sit right next to my boss because this is a small company and we "don't have money" to give everyone an office. Ever try to write perl with 2 people screaming into their SPEAKER PHONES about 10 feet away, with no door to slam? The regular pages that come every 5 minutes, at least, with that hideous "diiiiiinggg" tone to start it and the clatter as the inconsiderate slam down their handset instead of pressing the release. Getting called "fuck head" for showing up 5 minutes late, getting paid $10.00 an hour. Having a print server I have to reset EVERY time I reboot, then delete and reinstall the drivers on my box. Having 6 different email addresses to fill all the roles I play in this company. Contemplating suicide? I'm contemplating removing lug nuts from my bosses' Excursion, and then driving off in my dented, dingy, 1994 Mistubishi sans 2 hubcaps and Air Conditioning into the blazing Nevada desert. Something tells me we should both look for another job.
Don't forget a few others; Real Genius, which is more about hacking hacking, not computer hacking;