I don't know of any mainstream religious group that denies the possibility of life on Mars. And I cannot see why they would deny it. If they believe that God created life on earth (whether by slow evolution, as many Christians do outside the US, or by sudden miraculous appearance, as some Christians do), what is hard about believing that the same thing happened on Mars (and, for that fact, on quintillions of other planets in the universe)?
Cheap $500 computer finally breaks down about the time you were wishing you could upgrade to a much newer, faster machine. Perfect timing, perfect excuse to upgrade ("Darn it! I just have to buy a brand new *fast* box...", he says with mock bitterness)
Expensive over-engineered Mac runs and runs for years after its technology has become so out-of-date that museums begin phoning you to see if you would donate your Mac as an example of ancient hardware. Every time you ask for an upgrade, your boss says "What's wrong? It still works, doesn't it?"
See, I prefer the cheap and nasty PC that costs a third of the price, lasts a third of the time, and gives up around the time I want a newer PC. I don't need to pay for a machine to keep going long past its prime. I want a PC that will last 3 years, not a cathedral that will last 3 centuries.
When the technology changes as fast as PC tech does, built-in obsolescence - cheap throwaways - aren't such a stupid idea. For the same price as a Mac I will have a newer, faster PC most of the time. And tech prices keep coming down.
Buy cheap, buy short-term, as it will always be cheaper and faster tomorrow.
Given how much of an asshole he is, sooner or later Jobs is going to become "uncool".
Listen, the guy wears black polo-necked tops from the 1960s. If he hasn't become uncool by now, he is never going to. It is like the VW beetle - the car was really just a 1930s car complete with running boards and flat windscreens, but once people saw it as "different", it remained fashionable forever. People *still* drive those things.
"I wonder why they didn't include this option with Windows Vista..."
That Windows 95 option was just before Cthulhu took possession of the souls of all the senior executives at Mi... oh, I get it, you weren't actually asking a real question, you were being rhetorical, weren't you?
So is it C *without* pointers? Or is it C *with* pointers that can't point wherever a C pointer can?
Pointers are the dark evil of C. Pointers and lack of buffer lengths. Oh, and the lack of garbage collection. And the lack of OO support (no I am *not* looking at you C++).
But anyway, we might get Objective-C on browsers. About time. The first browser was written in Objective-C.
What we want to know is, whether the 95% invested in a healthy interest rate actually causes some of the problems that the 5% being donated is fighting - or maybe causes some other, perhaps unrelated, troubles.
Imagine I set up a charitable endowment to fight cancer, but invested the endowment funds in industries that notoriously cause cancer (e.g. asbestos factories). A problem, no?
Or imagine I give nations wonderful grants, but tie them to agreement with my dubious political agenda. Can you not see that such charities *might* be ethically compromised, and that it is at least worth asking?
Rich people can buy a virtuous reputation. It is worth asking how virtuous that 'virtue' really is. And this even more true when there are questions about how the riches were made. RMS and Linus did not become fabulous billionaires by sharing their software ideas - they made us Gnu and Linux users richer. Their philanthropy was the less ostentatious kind that is easy to overlook. Rich man giving money is big news; non-rich man sharing is not. But the latter is the one I respect.
I have done that. A bank employee rang me and asked me for identifying information before trying to sell me some investment package.
I immediately refused to divulge identifying information to someone who calls me. The bank employee then gave me her identifying information, and I rang the bank to confirm the identity, which checked out as far as that went. When you ring the bank, they put you through to an enquiry person, you don't get a switchboard operator who can connect you to a specific employee. The enquiry person confirmed that the employee who rang me worked for the bank, but IIRC they were in another state where the investment branch of the bank was located.
But now *I* have her identifying information. I could get a female friend to ring up strangers posing as the real bank employee ("You can check with the bank that I work there if you want, and I will ring back tomorrow after you have checked"). So how do I know that the person who rang me really was a bank employee?
Fortunately she never called back and I had moved all my investment money somewhere else - I was no longer an interesting prospect for them.
Moral: if they give you their identifying information to check them out... then there is a still a hole.
ID is a fitting topic for a class on the philosophy of science, as is (say) Marxism (regarded by the early Marxists as "scientific socialism") and psychoanalysis.
Of course, the government does have the odd army, navy, air force, marine corp, coast guard, tanks, bombers, aircraft carriers, missile defence system (they only *tell* you they are pointed at other countries)... while all you have is a lousy high-powered rifle.
I am sure the government is living in fear of your armed take over every day.
(But just in case... (ahem) I welcome our new rifle-powered overlord and... yada yada yada)
"But when you say "a white solid that sublimates at -70 degrees F and martian surface pressure and is found in macroscopic quantities naturally" you narrow down the field quite a bit."
So we can rule out dandruff.
Although finding lots of dandruff on Mars would have explained why we haven't seen any Martians - they would have been too embarrassed to come out and be seen.
(Well someone has to think through the logical implications of these things.)
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What religious compliance is involved here?
I don't know of any mainstream religious group that denies the possibility of life on Mars. And I cannot see why they would deny it. If they believe that God created life on earth (whether by slow evolution, as many Christians do outside the US, or by sudden miraculous appearance, as some Christians do), what is hard about believing that the same thing happened on Mars (and, for that fact, on quintillions of other planets in the universe)?
"maybe we should stop recognizing their authority"
Let me know how it works out.
"If you wanted an answer to a complicated technical question, it was the best place to go."
That's Wikipedia!
And if Protestants are to consider any translation of the Bible as divinely inspired, why not Luther's translation of the Bible into German?
Oh wait, the KJV enthusiasts are usually American or British fundamentalists and so don't speak German and probably don't even know what Luther wrote.
And besides, God always speaks English. A thousand biblical epics cannot be wrong.
FTA: "Eventually, with many improved behaviors, it will become an autonomous family companion."
Hmm, sounds to me just like raising a child.
And I feel better now that you have pointed that out.
They are bound to change their ways now.
Well, there is actually one proven method of communicating with human beings that come along 10,000 years later.
Cave paintings.
(Who'd have thought that graffiti artists would come in handy one day?)
No StarBucks, no McDonalds, no expensive medical system...
Basically, it's *hell* for Americans.
"Windows is full of it"
There. Shortened your post for you.
Cheap $500 computer finally breaks down about the time you were wishing you could upgrade to a much newer, faster machine. Perfect timing, perfect excuse to upgrade ("Darn it! I just have to buy a brand new *fast* box...", he says with mock bitterness)
Expensive over-engineered Mac runs and runs for years after its technology has become so out-of-date that museums begin phoning you to see if you would donate your Mac as an example of ancient hardware. Every time you ask for an upgrade, your boss says "What's wrong? It still works, doesn't it?"
See, I prefer the cheap and nasty PC that costs a third of the price, lasts a third of the time, and gives up around the time I want a newer PC. I don't need to pay for a machine to keep going long past its prime. I want a PC that will last 3 years, not a cathedral that will last 3 centuries.
When the technology changes as fast as PC tech does, built-in obsolescence - cheap throwaways - aren't such a stupid idea. For the same price as a Mac I will have a newer, faster PC most of the time. And tech prices keep coming down.
Buy cheap, buy short-term, as it will always be cheaper and faster tomorrow.
Given how much of an asshole he is, sooner or later Jobs is going to become "uncool".
Listen, the guy wears black polo-necked tops from the 1960s. If he hasn't become uncool by now, he is never going to. It is like the VW beetle - the car was really just a 1930s car complete with running boards and flat windscreens, but once people saw it as "different", it remained fashionable forever. People *still* drive those things.
Jobs has become timeless.
"I wonder why they didn't include this option with Windows Vista..."
That Windows 95 option was just before Cthulhu took possession of the souls of all the senior executives at Mi... oh, I get it, you weren't actually asking a real question, you were being rhetorical, weren't you?
So is it C *without* pointers? Or is it C *with* pointers that can't point wherever a C pointer can?
Pointers are the dark evil of C. Pointers and lack of buffer lengths. Oh, and the lack of garbage collection. And the lack of OO support (no I am *not* looking at you C++).
But anyway, we might get Objective-C on browsers. About time. The first browser was written in Objective-C.
Hm, cross-platform Cocoa?
Yes, we know that, Mr Insightful.
What we want to know is, whether the 95% invested in a healthy interest rate actually causes some of the problems that the 5% being donated is fighting - or maybe causes some other, perhaps unrelated, troubles.
Imagine I set up a charitable endowment to fight cancer, but invested the endowment funds in industries that notoriously cause cancer (e.g. asbestos factories). A problem, no?
Or imagine I give nations wonderful grants, but tie them to agreement with my dubious political agenda. Can you not see that such charities *might* be ethically compromised, and that it is at least worth asking?
Rich people can buy a virtuous reputation. It is worth asking how virtuous that 'virtue' really is. And this even more true when there are questions about how the riches were made. RMS and Linus did not become fabulous billionaires by sharing their software ideas - they made us Gnu and Linux users richer. Their philanthropy was the less ostentatious kind that is easy to overlook. Rich man giving money is big news; non-rich man sharing is not. But the latter is the one I respect.
I have done that. A bank employee rang me and asked me for identifying information before trying to sell me some investment package.
I immediately refused to divulge identifying information to someone who calls me. The bank employee then gave me her identifying information, and I rang the bank to confirm the identity, which checked out as far as that went. When you ring the bank, they put you through to an enquiry person, you don't get a switchboard operator who can connect you to a specific employee. The enquiry person confirmed that the employee who rang me worked for the bank, but IIRC they were in another state where the investment branch of the bank was located.
But now *I* have her identifying information. I could get a female friend to ring up strangers posing as the real bank employee ("You can check with the bank that I work there if you want, and I will ring back tomorrow after you have checked").
So how do I know that the person who rang me really was a bank employee?
Fortunately she never called back and I had moved all my investment money somewhere else - I was no longer an interesting prospect for them.
Moral: if they give you their identifying information to check them out ... then there is a still a hole.
The trouble with trying to prove the earth is flat is: when you sail out to the edge of the world to show everyone else where it is, you fall off.
I know this for a fact. Saw it with my own eyes on Pirates of the Caribbean.
ID is a fitting topic for a class on the philosophy of science, as is (say) Marxism (regarded by the early Marxists as "scientific socialism") and psychoanalysis.
So ... when you said "That's down the hall, in Religion & Politics", that wasn't an authoritative answer.
So I cannot be certain that I *will* get an authoritative piece down the hall. I cannot be certain that there are no authorities here.
Want an authoritative piece? That might be down the hall in Religion & Politics. This might be Science: there might be no authorities here.
There: fixed it for you.
"And why would anyone be against clean air and water?"
Um, because they are drowning at sea?
"Has anyone thought that this is just the planet recovering from the ice age?"
Or as the lobster said as he sat in a gradually boiling pot:
"I'm so glad I am out of that refrigerator!"
Of course, the government does have the odd army, navy, air force, marine corp, coast guard, tanks, bombers, aircraft carriers, missile defence system (they only *tell* you they are pointed at other countries) ... while all you have is a lousy high-powered rifle.
I am sure the government is living in fear of your armed take over every day.
(But just in case ... (ahem) I welcome our new rifle-powered overlord and ... yada yada yada)
"But when you say "a white solid that sublimates at -70 degrees F and martian surface pressure and is found in macroscopic quantities naturally" you narrow down the field quite a bit."
So we can rule out dandruff.
Although finding lots of dandruff on Mars would have explained why we haven't seen any Martians - they would have been too embarrassed to come out and be seen.
(Well someone has to think through the logical implications of these things.)
Somewhere out there, someone has just been inspired to design a shoehorn with embedded Linux.
Not sure why. But someone will do it.
If there's oil, there's bound to be weapons of mass destruction. I say we invade Mars!
And that 70% from foreign sales explains why the US government has no desire to end the Microsoft monopoly.