For myself, I found that the best results I had were from developing healthy habits. In the long run, eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's doesn't any more impact than a single workout. I think it's the day to day routine that has the largest impact.
if something is dangerously radioactive now, it will be half as much in 50,000 years.
A simple, non scientific explanation follows:
As a radioactive isotope decays, it converts it's mass into radioactive energy that is released into the surrounding environment. An isotope with a short half life decays quickly, releasing lots of energy a short period of time. An isotope with a long half life decays slowly releasing a little radiation over a long period of time.
Isotopes with a long half life (such as uranium) are generally safe to handle. As a matter of fact, the most significant danger of uranium is not it's radioactivity; being a heavy metal uranium is extremely poisonous (in the same manor as lead.)
The most dangerous isotopes are the ones with a short half life, such as Iodine 131 (with a half life of 8 days) and Caesium 137 (half life of 30 years,) both of which were released during the Chernobyl disaster.
Natural Background radiation is by far the largest source of radiation exposure for the majority of the world population. Man-made radiation, including nuclear testing, counts for only a minute portion of our exposure.
You seem deeply concerned about this issue. I highly recommend that you throughly research the subject and re-consider your position. At a minimum, you should back up your arguments with reliable references.
That was kind of the point of the original poster (whom we mistakenly believed you were debating.)
A lot of people would be better off in understanding "randomness" if they would just realize that these two situations have exactly the same probability. Humans just assign more "meaning" to certain sequences than others.
Mathematically, over a long enough period of time (such the history of modern gambling,) it would be extremely surprising if black DIDN'T come up 13x in a row. That's the point everyone is making.
As a side note, It's been pointed out that humans are pseudo random. When asked to pick a random number between 1 and 10, how often does someone pick 1?
Or you could bet $30 on a single roll. You still win $30 if you are right. You haven't improved your odds, but you have spent 13x as long to lose the same amount of money. : )
Or to put it another way, the chances of getting 13 blacks in a row are 1/48^13. The chances of getting 8 reds and 5 blacks, in SOME order, is far higher than that.
When you find a casino willing to let you play roulette based on the cumulative red/black total of 13 spins, please let me know.
Mathematically, no betting strategy can guarantee more than a 98% return on your money in roulette. This is why casinos make money. In reality, the casino will eventually empty your pockets and kick you out before you have a chance to mathematically win back your losings.
If you don't believe me, write a simulator that only bets black from an infinite bank account and let me know how it turns out.
There's some truth in what you're saying, but I think that you are grossly simplifying things.
In my experience, physical attractiveness does play an important role in relationships. A friend put it well: "The difference between a close friend and a lover is attraction."
Just remember that attraction isn't only about looks.
A long time ago, I took up weightlifting and martial arts in order to improve my physique. I've been at both for years. But IMO, the biggest successes I've had have come from improving my attitude.
The absolute worst attitude problem is desperation. Until a geek conquers that, he is doomed to failure.
I've also learned how fragile relationships are. I've destroyed some great ones over the course of a 15 minute phone call.
I'd love it if a girl geek would be willing to chime in. : )
I think it's very possible to be a comfortable, stable, and secure person around your friends, family members, and co-workers and still be insecure around women. Each are a unique experience.
Perhaps those women are right; that they really can't find a comfortable, stable guy.
Perhaps many of the comfortable, stable guys aren't interested in girls with the kind self confidence issues that put them in M3s with assholes.
I'm drastically simplifying relationships when I write this and I'm also grossly generalizing, so please take what I write with a grain of salt. I'd love to hear other people's experience.
Here's my dating experience, having gone through many stages of personal growth...
- I've been a 'nice guy' who waited on women hand and foot.
I ended up being friends with women who had self respect issues. In my opinion, that kind of woman enjoys being around people whom she sees as more pitiful than herself. She loves the attention, but the more attention she is given, the lower her opinion of the man due to her own self respect issues. She desires strength in a romantic partner. Unfortunately, she's often the only kind of woman a self confessed 'nice guy' will spend much time with. Most other women are put off by his clingy attitude. The nice guy then begins to believe that all women are like her.
- I've been 'the asshole.'
The asshole is the basic male equivalent of the women I spent time with when I was a 'nice guy.' I was more successful, but I wasn't happy. I could never respect the women I dated, because my false sense of self confidence did not allow me to respect myself. The relationships I had were frequently shallow, and subtly antagonistic.
- I'm currently learning to relax, and to be confident.
I'm not Casanova, but I've had some success. I'm learning when to be strong, and when to let things go. I'm learning when to express my feelings, and when to control them. It's not easy, and there aren't simple rules... But I have mutual respect, and I've had some great experiences. I believe I'd be more successful if I was less intimidated by social situations.
My third party observation is that 99% girls will look at the comfortable and stable guys, wonder why THEY can't find a guy like that, and then hop in the M3 with the asshole.
When I hear this, I usually think there is something deeply inexperienced about the guy saying it.
I've known a lot of 'nice guys' and I've met a few truly confident, stable guys. Few (if any) of the confident, stable guys have this attitude. They aren't bothered by unstable women, because they aren't interested in them. They are generally too busy spending time around the confident, stable girls.
I'm not sure about other states, but in California there is no subpoena process for infractions. There is discovery, where you can demand a list of witnesses and copies of all documents/data to be used as evidence against you. The people would have no access to your GPS records unless you intend to use them in your defense.
Also, In most cases there is no prosecutor (the DA is too busy fighting real crime,) so there is no discovery against you.
I think your point is valid, however I have to question some of your statistics.
Your odds of dying in an airliner hijacked by terrorists are about 1 in 55 million.
This statistic would imply that approximately 5 Americans will have died in Airline Hijackings during my lifetime (est. U.S. population of 300 million divided by 1 in 55 million chance of a airline hijacking fatality.)
246 people died aboard an airplane during the September 11th hijacking. The odds of dieing on an airplane during the September 11th attacks alone would be approximately 1 in 1.2 million.
Please remember; bad statistics can quickly undermine an otherwise valid argument.
The 944 is a front engined, water cooled, modern 4 cylinder design. I did much of my own maintenance on it, and can attest to it's reliability and build quality.
With that said, you just made coffee come out of my nose. : )
Slashdot Mirror
The Wii needs a DVD player about as much as my Microwave needs to have a clock.
DVD players are cheap. This might have been an argument when the PS2 came out. It's not an argument anymore.
Thanks man.
For myself, I found that the best results I had were from developing healthy habits. In the long run, eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's doesn't any more impact than a single workout. I think it's the day to day routine that has the largest impact.
Good luck with your endeavors.
My mother is an obese Vegetarian. I'm a vegetarian maintaining my weight through diet and exercise.
I use the Physics Diet.
It has to work, because it's physics.
A cold shower might be in order. PLIF is admittedly fairly extreme humor, but it has some high points. Chicken.
This Parking Lot is Full comic seems quite appropreate given the subject matter.
For those who haven't seen it before, The Parking Lot is Full is a classic work of black humor.
; )
As a radioactive isotope decays, it converts it's mass into radioactive energy that is released into the surrounding environment. An isotope with a short half life decays quickly, releasing lots of energy a short period of time. An isotope with a long half life decays slowly releasing a little radiation over a long period of time.
Isotopes with a long half life (such as uranium) are generally safe to handle. As a matter of fact, the most significant danger of uranium is not it's radioactivity; being a heavy metal uranium is extremely poisonous (in the same manor as lead.)
The most dangerous isotopes are the ones with a short half life, such as Iodine 131 (with a half life of 8 days) and Caesium 137 (half life of 30 years,) both of which were released during the Chernobyl disaster.
Natural Background radiation is by far the largest source of radiation exposure for the majority of the world population. Man-made radiation, including nuclear testing, counts for only a minute portion of our exposure.
You seem deeply concerned about this issue. I highly recommend that you throughly research the subject and re-consider your position. At a minimum, you should back up your arguments with reliable references.
Mathematically, over a long enough period of time (such the history of modern gambling,) it would be extremely surprising if black DIDN'T come up 13x in a row. That's the point everyone is making.
As a side note, It's been pointed out that humans are pseudo random. When asked to pick a random number between 1 and 10, how often does someone pick 1?
Or you could bet $30 on a single roll. You still win $30 if you are right. You haven't improved your odds, but you have spent 13x as long to lose the same amount of money. : )
Mathematically, no betting strategy can guarantee more than a 98% return on your money in roulette. This is why casinos make money. In reality, the casino will eventually empty your pockets and kick you out before you have a chance to mathematically win back your losings.
If you don't believe me, write a simulator that only bets black from an infinite bank account and let me know how it turns out.
With a razor wit like that, it's no wonder you've had a lot of bad experiences with women. I'm glad you fully appreciated my comment though.
There's some truth in what you're saying, but I think that you are grossly simplifying things.
In my experience, physical attractiveness does play an important role in relationships. A friend put it well: "The difference between a close friend and a lover is attraction."
Just remember that attraction isn't only about looks.
A long time ago, I took up weightlifting and martial arts in order to improve my physique. I've been at both for years. But IMO, the biggest successes I've had have come from improving my attitude.
The absolute worst attitude problem is desperation. Until a geek conquers that, he is doomed to failure.
I've also learned how fragile relationships are. I've destroyed some great ones over the course of a 15 minute phone call.
I'd love it if a girl geek would be willing to chime in. : )
What has happened in your life that you have come to this conclusion?
An addendum...
I think it's very possible to be a comfortable, stable, and secure person around your friends, family members, and co-workers and still be insecure around women. Each are a unique experience.
Perhaps those women are right; that they really can't find a comfortable, stable guy.
Perhaps many of the comfortable, stable guys aren't interested in girls with the kind self confidence issues that put them in M3s with assholes.
I'm drastically simplifying relationships when I write this and I'm also grossly generalizing, so please take what I write with a grain of salt. I'd love to hear other people's experience.
Here's my dating experience, having gone through many stages of personal growth...
- I've been a 'nice guy' who waited on women hand and foot.
I ended up being friends with women who had self respect issues. In my opinion, that kind of woman enjoys being around people whom she sees as more pitiful than herself. She loves the attention, but the more attention she is given, the lower her opinion of the man due to her own self respect issues. She desires strength in a romantic partner. Unfortunately, she's often the only kind of woman a self confessed 'nice guy' will spend much time with. Most other women are put off by his clingy attitude. The nice guy then begins to believe that all women are like her.
- I've been 'the asshole.'
The asshole is the basic male equivalent of the women I spent time with when I was a 'nice guy.' I was more successful, but I wasn't happy. I could never respect the women I dated, because my false sense of self confidence did not allow me to respect myself. The relationships I had were frequently shallow, and subtly antagonistic.
- I'm currently learning to relax, and to be confident.
I'm not Casanova, but I've had some success. I'm learning when to be strong, and when to let things go. I'm learning when to express my feelings, and when to control them. It's not easy, and there aren't simple rules... But I have mutual respect, and I've had some great experiences. I believe I'd be more successful if I was less intimidated by social situations.
When I hear this, I usually think there is something deeply inexperienced about the guy saying it.
I've known a lot of 'nice guys' and I've met a few truly confident, stable guys. Few (if any) of the confident, stable guys have this attitude. They aren't bothered by unstable women, because they aren't interested in them. They are generally too busy spending time around the confident, stable girls.
Hey, I'd love it if the DA was present. Paying him $1xx per hour for a $200 ticket would make prosecuting traffic violations cost ineffective.
I'm not sure about other states, but in California there is no subpoena process for infractions. There is discovery, where you can demand a list of witnesses and copies of all documents/data to be used as evidence against you. The people would have no access to your GPS records unless you intend to use them in your defense.
Also, In most cases there is no prosecutor (the DA is too busy fighting real crime,) so there is no discovery against you.
Alcohol cannot make you optimistic. It can however suppress your pessimism.
Alcohol will make you think you can sing, or get you to ask out Gisele by suppressing the little voice that says you haven't got a shot at either.
This statistic would imply that approximately 5 Americans will have died in Airline Hijackings during my lifetime (est. U.S. population of 300 million divided by 1 in 55 million chance of a airline hijacking fatality.)
246 people died aboard an airplane during the September 11th hijacking. The odds of dieing on an airplane during the September 11th attacks alone would be approximately 1 in 1.2 million.
Please remember; bad statistics can quickly undermine an otherwise valid argument.
He's counting the money he saved by playing video games rather than going out on dates. ; )
Yeah. Sorry, I agree with you. I'm just tired, so didn't give you proper credit. : )
The 944 is a front engined, water cooled, modern 4 cylinder design. I did much of my own maintenance on it, and can attest to it's reliability and build quality.
With that said, you just made coffee come out of my nose. : )