Consider the progress of biotech. Then give it another 5-10 years, and imagine the biotech equivalent of a script kiddie. Playing with, for example, rabies. Then imagine some angry bio-scriptkiddie releasing an airborne, virulent rabies variant with a very short incubation period.
No, it's not the hordes of the Living Dead, feasting on human flesh. But the effects might well be similar. . .
And, in reality, it was due to several rather f-ed up teachers who couldn't be fired due to union rules.
Example: 8th Grade Earth Science: Homework for one entire week: a word-search puzzle.
Example: 2nd Grade Science: Animal-rights indoctrination with "guest speakers" from PETA. No countering opinions,
That was ONE week. Another was an English teacher who told my oldest that "Tom Sawyer" was an inappropriate choice for a book report, said book report assignment was "Write a book report on a classic piece of American Literature". When I pressed for examples of "appropriate" books, none were given, but my suggested alternatives of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and "The Wizard of Oz" were "too anglo-centric". . ./boggle.
About three months of similar experiences, and we decided we could do better ourselves. I cannot speak for others, just relating why WE did it. I will note that MOST of the parents in the local homeschooling group were NOT Evangelical Christians, but generally college-educated techies and professionals. Your mileage may, of course, vary. . .
You have an unusual view of the states, to consider minority religious practices as the norm.
And I'll note, that WE home-schooled, due to the totally inadequate results of the local elementary and middle schools.
Hell, **I** had a larger and more varied library than the local elementary and middle schools combined.
As for homeschooling results, both daughers passed their GED at 15, the earliest age allowed at the time, and both are 3.5 GPAs or better in college. Both can code, know history (American and World), and speak several languages (English, Spanish, French, German, and smatterings of Russian and Japanese. . . ),
And as for religion: I'm agnostic, wife is a Spiritualist, and the daughters are Pagan and Atheist, respectively.
Perhaps you may have noticed the news about the growth of the Arctic Ice Pack over the past year.
My point on "global warming" is this: if we go beyond the region of actually-measured-and-recorded temperatures, and look at the last few thousand years, you'd find that the rise that is claimed to be caused by Anthropogenic Global Warming is LESS than that deduced by things like growth patterns, vegetation reaches, and trade records.
To wit: the "Medieval Optimum" period, when it was not only possible to grow wine grapes in the British Isles, but archeological records show that it WAS done.
Or, perhaps more dramatically, when Greenland **WAS** green. One can find the remains of forests crushed by the expanding icecap, that were green and growing in the late 1300s and early 1400s.
One also finds evidence of an earlier Climate Optimum, the so-called Roman Climate Optimum from ~250BC to ~400AD.
Both had average high temperatures well in excess of the readings claimed as evidence of AGW.
So I was giggling at the point that AGW is based on a very short observation period for long-term planetary processes. . . .
I am TEMPTED to reply with the short version of this argument, that goes as follows:
SCIENCE, bitches!
However, I'd tell you how I'm confident of my information. We call it "Geology", and it's what I studied and did 20+ years ago, before I evolved into an IT Geek. Specifically, Quaternary Geology, which, amongst other things, chronicles the glaciations of the past 2.6 million years. Which is proven by land structures, glacial remains like drumlins and moraines, and radio-isotopic dating of various types used to date those structures.
I also note the longer-term average climate based on the extensive fossil and geological record, as evidenced by not just radio-dating, but standard principles like "unless overturned (which can be detected easily by examination of the rocks), lower strata are older than younger strata. Paleomagnetic data yields approximate latitude, so we KNOW most of what is now the US and Europe were swampy jungles, which require a significantly warmer and wetter climate than they currently enjoy. And before you mention Continental Drift, paleomagnetic data was crucial in supporting that theory, as well.
So again, I say to your boggling: SCIENCE, bitches!!!
I rather giggle at "Man-Made Global Warming". Primarily, because the planet has been in an Ice Age for the past 2-3 million years: we are merely between continental glacial advances.
The HISTORIC climate for most of the US was hot and swampy for the past several hundred million years. Since genus homo has only been around for the last 2 million years or so, you can't even blame us for human-induced global COOLING. . .
Indeed. In fact, the one really critical lesson of the last 2 or so years, from both Fukushima and NYC/SuperStorm Sandy, is do ***NOT*** build critical or fragile structures near, at, or below sea-level in a near-ocean-shore environment.
I would disagree. The point of terrorism, be it physical (bombs, guns, etc) or electronic is to get people to change their behavior. Considering how media-dependent the average US Cit is (and not even considering the so-called "low-information voters), modifying the news they see seems to be a faster and less risky alternative. . .
I submit, that neither you, nor anyone else in their right mind would continue to purchase a worsened service, that costs four times more than it used to - if they were well-informed and had a choice.
When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!
Given the track record of popularizing the CD-ROM and e-commerce by the Pr0n industry, OF COURSE it's going to have sex toy / pR0n applications early on. . .
. ..but how many will remember it in 7 years ? Or get past HR, who tend to frown on things like a stint in prison and a dishonorable discharge. And even if he keeps his IT skills current (unlikely at Fort Leavenworth. ..) no employer will trust him for ANYTHING sensitive. .
No, for the most part, his prospects look pretty dim for anything significant. . .
No. The Armed Forces do not provide Gender Reassignment therapy or surgery. For at least the next 7 or so years, he/she's S.O.L. And then he/she's going to have to find a way to pay for it: it's not cheap (I have a friend who went f->m ) and he/she's going to have problems getting a job with a Dishonorable Discharge. . .
First, the trial was only notionally under the Constitution. The court-martial was conducted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
It is MUCH harsher than civilian courts, and Manning, as a soldier in the US Army, was under a restricted set of rights to begin with.
The sentence is for 5 or 6 (depending how you count them) espionage counts, two computer fraud counts, five theft counts, and multiple military violations.
Most Murder or Rape trials are for a single major count: there are at LEAST 12 major counts against Manning. . .
. ..and considering that "Pallywood" setups of faked massacres, or at least showing much larger events than actually happened are well documented in the recent past (google "Green Helmet Guy" or "White Coat Guy". ..), the claims of a chemwar massacre just after an observer team arrives, requires special scrutiny.
Not saying it DIDN'T happen, but there's a record of activists staging sites to make things look far worse than actually happened.
The classic example is a single older Palestinian woman, claiming her house was destroyed by Israeli attacks. At three separate sites. All within the same month. . .
No, they deny ANTHROPOGENIC global warming. That's my biggest beef with IPCC: they started with a conclusion, and the inherent bias of that made their conclusion inevitable.
The BETTER question to have asked is "Why is global climate changing ?", so that all possible causes and inputs could have been considered. . .
Well, then **cite** those humans. I was just describing the obvious test to determine the truth of the proposition and get a useful statistical universe of data out of it. . .
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Ebola kills TOO fast. For an honest-to-god Zombie Virus, you want one that deactivates/destroys higher mental functions and possibly ups aggression.
Which I why my script-kiddie scenario suggested a rabies variant. . .
You mean, fictional, SO FAR.
Consider the progress of biotech. Then give it another 5-10 years, and imagine the biotech equivalent of a script kiddie. Playing with, for example, rabies. Then imagine some angry bio-scriptkiddie releasing an airborne, virulent rabies variant with a very short incubation period.
No, it's not the hordes of the Living Dead, feasting on human flesh. But the effects might well be similar. . .
And, in reality, it was due to several rather f-ed up teachers who couldn't be fired due to union rules.
Example: 8th Grade Earth Science: Homework for one entire week: a word-search puzzle.
Example: 2nd Grade Science: Animal-rights indoctrination with "guest speakers" from PETA. No countering opinions,
That was ONE week. Another was an English teacher who told my oldest that "Tom Sawyer" was an inappropriate choice for a book report, said book report assignment was "Write a book report on a classic piece of American Literature". When I pressed for examples of "appropriate" books, none were given, but my suggested alternatives of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and "The Wizard of Oz" were "too anglo-centric". . . /boggle.
About three months of similar experiences, and we decided we could do better ourselves. I cannot speak for others, just relating why WE did it. I will note that MOST of the parents in the local homeschooling group were NOT Evangelical Christians, but generally college-educated techies and professionals. Your mileage may, of course, vary. . .
You have an unusual view of the states, to consider minority religious practices as the norm.
And I'll note, that WE home-schooled, due to the totally inadequate results of the local elementary and middle schools.
Hell, **I** had a larger and more varied library than the local elementary and middle schools combined.
As for homeschooling results, both daughers passed their GED at 15, the earliest age allowed at the time, and both are 3.5 GPAs or better in college. Both can code, know history (American and World), and speak several languages (English, Spanish, French, German, and smatterings of Russian and Japanese. . . ),
And as for religion: I'm agnostic, wife is a Spiritualist, and the daughters are Pagan and Atheist, respectively.
So, you were saying ???
Perhaps you may have noticed the news about the growth of the Arctic Ice Pack over the past year.
My point on "global warming" is this: if we go beyond the region of actually-measured-and-recorded temperatures, and look at the last few thousand years, you'd find that the rise that is claimed to be caused by Anthropogenic Global Warming is LESS than that deduced by things like growth patterns, vegetation reaches, and trade records.
To wit: the "Medieval Optimum" period, when it was not only possible to grow wine grapes in the British Isles, but archeological records show that it WAS done.
Or, perhaps more dramatically, when Greenland **WAS** green. One can find the remains of forests crushed by the expanding icecap, that were green and growing in the late 1300s and early 1400s.
One also finds evidence of an earlier Climate Optimum, the so-called Roman Climate Optimum from ~250BC to ~400AD.
Both had average high temperatures well in excess of the readings claimed as evidence of AGW.
So I was giggling at the point that AGW is based on a very short observation period for long-term planetary processes. . . .
I am TEMPTED to reply with the short version of this argument, that goes as follows:
SCIENCE, bitches!
However, I'd tell you how I'm confident of my information. We call it "Geology", and it's what I studied and did 20+ years ago, before I evolved into an IT Geek. Specifically, Quaternary Geology, which, amongst other things, chronicles the glaciations of the past 2.6 million years. Which is proven by land structures, glacial remains like drumlins and moraines, and radio-isotopic dating of various types used to date those structures.
I also note the longer-term average climate based on the extensive fossil and geological record, as evidenced by not just radio-dating, but standard principles like "unless overturned (which can be detected easily by examination of the rocks), lower strata are older than younger strata. Paleomagnetic data yields approximate latitude, so we KNOW most of what is now the US and Europe were swampy jungles, which require a significantly warmer and wetter climate than they currently enjoy. And before you mention Continental Drift, paleomagnetic data was crucial in supporting that theory, as well.
So again, I say to your boggling: SCIENCE, bitches!!!
I rather giggle at "Man-Made Global Warming". Primarily, because the planet has been in an Ice Age for the past 2-3 million years: we are merely between continental glacial advances.
The HISTORIC climate for most of the US was hot and swampy for the past several hundred million years. Since genus homo has only been around for the last 2 million years or so, you can't even blame us for human-induced global COOLING. . .
Indeed. In fact, the one really critical lesson of the last 2 or so years, from both Fukushima and NYC/SuperStorm Sandy, is do ***NOT*** build critical or fragile structures near, at, or below sea-level in a near-ocean-shore environment.
I would disagree. The point of terrorism, be it physical (bombs, guns, etc) or electronic is to get people to change their behavior. Considering how media-dependent the average US Cit is (and not even considering the so-called "low-information voters), modifying the news they see seems to be a faster and less risky alternative. . .
And yet, talk of cost-benefit analysis is strangely absent from anyone discussing a given risk. . .
Cable Television service ???
And by this, I take it that the bookshelf full of evidence has a broken corner, and you've used a handy copy of The Bible to short it up ???
Well, that's because shooting people requires almost no training and can run on long-ago created stocks of weapons and bullets.
Of course, I should talk: my favorite gun was made by the Soviets in 1943. And my latest can of ammo for it was made in 1978. . .
When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!
- Cave Johnson
Given the track record of popularizing the CD-ROM and e-commerce by the Pr0n industry, OF COURSE it's going to have sex toy / pR0n applications early on. . .
. . .but how many will remember it in 7 years ? Or get past HR, who tend to frown on things like a stint in prison and a dishonorable discharge. And even if he keeps his IT skills current (unlikely at Fort Leavenworth. . .) no employer will trust him for ANYTHING sensitive. .
No, for the most part, his prospects look pretty dim for anything significant. . .
You forgot to add Anti-Microsoft (although, that's not a conspiracy, it's just good sense. . . )
Well, that's only appropriate, as Sen. Ted Stevens tells us, since the Internet is an entire SERIES of tubes. . .
No. The Armed Forces do not provide Gender Reassignment therapy or surgery. For at least the next 7 or so years, he/she's S.O.L. And then he/she's going to have to find a way to pay for it: it's not cheap (I have a friend who went f->m ) and he/she's going to have problems getting a job with a Dishonorable Discharge. . .
It's just like 2 flavors of the same toothpaste. Different boxes, different color schemes, but in the end, just squishy and abrasive. . .
We're never getting off this planet, are we?
Fuck.
Of course we aren't. That would require intelligent life. . . . And there's less and less of that every single day. In fact. . .
. . . nevermind, Idol's on. . . .
First, the trial was only notionally under the Constitution. The court-martial was conducted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). It is MUCH harsher than civilian courts, and Manning, as a soldier in the US Army, was under a restricted set of rights to begin with. The sentence is for 5 or 6 (depending how you count them) espionage counts, two computer fraud counts, five theft counts, and multiple military violations. Most Murder or Rape trials are for a single major count: there are at LEAST 12 major counts against Manning. . .
. . .and considering that "Pallywood" setups of faked massacres, or at least showing much larger events than actually happened are well documented in the recent past (google "Green Helmet Guy" or "White Coat Guy". . .), the claims of a chemwar massacre just after an observer team arrives, requires special scrutiny.
Not saying it DIDN'T happen, but there's a record of activists staging sites to make things look far worse than actually happened.
The classic example is a single older Palestinian woman, claiming her house was destroyed by Israeli attacks. At three separate sites. All within the same month. . .
No, they deny ANTHROPOGENIC global warming. That's my biggest beef with IPCC: they started with a conclusion, and the inherent bias of that made their conclusion inevitable.
The BETTER question to have asked is "Why is global climate changing ?", so that all possible causes and inputs could have been considered. . .
Well, then **cite** those humans. I was just describing the obvious test to determine the truth of the proposition and get a useful statistical universe of data out of it. . .