We spend approximately 21% of our budget on National Defense. Nearly half the budget is lost to entitlements.
Now where would *I* get all the money to spend on good projects? Earmarks buried in the various bills that pass Congress. There were over 2000 (two thousand) earmarks in the Defense budget alone. This is money being spent by Congress, not the DOD, but charged as part of the defense budget. How many monunments (read research centers, bridges, etc) do we need named for LIVING members of Congress?
We spend an amazing amount on education but efforts to improve it are thwarted by Teacher Union's, Special Interest Groups, and Politicians. If you want to improve education don't look to Washington, get involved at the local level. You will see the wall first hand.
Improved Infrastucture? Look, we already budget more than enough to fix and maintain what we have. The problem is that Congress takes the money allocated and redirects it to new projects. You then have government incompetence at the state level as well. Ever wonder why a certain bridge disaster disappeared from the news so quickly? Because it was exposing the system that is failing. You cannot just throw more money at a failing system and expect good results. If that were the case we would have best schools and roads in the world!
Lets hit your next category. Medical research. The private sector is doing amazing things in this area - why? Because by not taking Federal money for all lines of research they are left with options they would lose otherwise. Getting the Feds involved handcuffs researchers in more ways than you can count. Medical research is big money, the risks are great but the rewards are great. Keeping people living longer means more money for the companies that can provide it. The government has no interest in you living longer as you cost them more money when you do. (remember that entitlement section of the budget? Nearly half directly spent there)
New power alternatives. We already have seen where Congress is going. Ethanol. Why? The FARM industry. Earmarks out the wahzoo for a fix that may cause more problems than it solves. Less food for the world and more pollutants of a different sort. Wind farms you say? Sure, just don't put them in some Congressman's backyard! Nuclear? No member of Congress has the willpower to stand behind this industry. Simply put it does not get them votes. The money is high and tied too much to a small area. Whereas ethanol allows for tax money to be spread around garnishing lots of votes!
Yes the military spends a lot of money. Yes a lot is wasted. However that same military is the reason why we can bitch about the state of our country and the world with near impunity. We don't have to worry about tanks rolling over our demonstrations, we don't have to worry about family members being disappeared overnight because a relative spoke out in university, and we don't go to the market worried about some whacko with a bomb on his chest.
My sole criteria for the next election is, who will cut the BUDGET the most. The taking from Americans is extreme. Bush was anything but a conservative, having grown the government to sizes beyond reason. There is no reason to have so many people dependant on the government to survive. By creating such a situation we doom the future generations. Where will be the innovations and great strides in society when its people don't have to do so as someone else will foot the bill and tuck them in?
Getting the government off our backs is the first step to having a great country. Our government should be here to serve us, not indenture us.
They keep refering to "bank accounts" which implies to me that they have the routing number and account number. Most likely preying on people with bad credit who could not get Credit Cards
Defendants withdrew funds from consumers' bank accounts in one of two ways: by electronically debiting consumer bank accounts through the Automated Clearing House Network or by submitting checks and falsely representing that the consumers had approved them.
So this is a case of direct taking from accounts or use of fradulenet checks. That is why no Credit Card company raised an alarm, they were not even in the loop
Nobody doubts anymore that climate change is at least in part man-made.
I love that line. Can be taken as a claim that we cause the majority of it or just.00001% of it.
But it gets better. Basically Global Warming is at fault for all weather bad, specifically all weather events that costs us money. Regardless if the earth was warmer before, regarldess of the fact we don't know out own planet's ideal temperature, regardless of the fact we can't even forcast a year ahead, and finally - regardless of the fact that the people who win from all the Global Warming scare mongering are politicians and big business.
Then we have a plane wreck as #2? Followed by a retinue of things that more accidental than "purposely caused" With mining accidents it amazes me we still ignore the thousands who die in China in these accidents. We lose six or seven in America and it makes the top 10???
IPCC as the #1 green idea? That bunch of bad science and fraud? Using names without permission to bolster their claims and using the power of government to intimidate others? The second entry was not much better. All that GW and the green push accomplish at the government level is to give politicians new ways to spend money, new titles, and even more travel to exotic locations. Carbon Capping? Basically new embedded tax passed onto consumers so big dirty corporations can still pollute. Oh I know there is that part about "refund" to consumers from the government - but we know better don't we. It will come as targetted benefits to buy votes. Most of these green ideas reek of deperateness to find something to make a top ten list. I can think of ten better stories - top ten green developments - like improvements in solar cell manufacturing, CFLs, how many companies recycle their waste for fuel (McDs in England) and such.
Now the medical section was much better. At least here we had some real good entries. The difference here is that this is real science, where the green section isn't science half the time. The diabetes news from last year was great. We are well on our way to getting people off of needles.
Sorry but Time's top ten lists are more politically motivated and to curry favor with certain groups than to provide any real knowledge or laud accomplishmen. Notice how their top ten disasters are not in countries that might react badly towards their reporters in the future? Stick to areas like the medical advances, put in another for technological advances, and ditch the political spin crap ideas and we might have lists worth a damn, lists that tell people what really means something.
I wonder how it applies to the situation where you buy one CD, rip it to MP3, and then multiple members of the family have copies of it on various devices (music players, CDs, PCs, and even ringtones on their phones). In essence you are sharing among people who never purchased their own copy. Perhaps that is the new angle the RIAA is going for. Sharing among family. The difference between traditional sharing and music sharing is that the later is unlimited. You can only share a CD to one person at a time, just like a book. Rip it to your hard drive and everyone in the family suddenly can share the same at one time.
That is what happened in major metro areas like Atlanta. They simply could not compete with retailers who were pros in that industry; like Best Buy and Circuit City. They even picked up console games in plenty yet failed to price compete there. Worse their selection was usually not as good either.
Combined with an industry that moved away from component sales. Yet CompUSA didn't see this and expanded their component offerings too late for the game.
Finally they seemed completely at a loss when it came to pricing. The big box retailers had already picked up the games and sold them along side lower priced systems. Best Buy got smart a year or so ago and moved away from rebates while forums were replete with complaints about rebates at CompUSA.
CompUSA is a great example of a business that adapted wrong to a changing retail environment. They went the right direction but without the guidance necessary to do it correctly.
The last challenge after getting any number of characters to level 70 for an old school RPG/CRPG/MMORPGer like myself is multiboxing. For the most part WOW is pretty dead easy. Its designed to be that way, very much like the original CRPGs.
The thing with multiboxing is that you can put together a team of two or more characters and run your own team; just like the old CRPG days. The challenge becomes in cooridination and reacting. Learning the ins and outs of the script and macro languages. Even learning how to get all your hardware to work together.
there are some who run ten at a time. I currently run three on an iMac just fine. Its loads of fun and learning to coordinate three completely different characters is quite the challenge.
Still, this notebook is really just a big buy in to future BETA testing. See that one little note buried in the features?
but it only takes a few people to make a MMORPG only a few people will ever want to play.
Considering all the angst displayed here when World of Warcraft is mentioned there should be no shortage in OS programmers creating new and great MMORPGs to bring down the evil and all so boring and all so many people are leaving and etc etc World of Warcraft.
But there isn't.
The problem in crafting a MMORPG is that it takes a long long time. I can find any number of people "with great ideas for a MMORPG" I just cannot find anyone who is a. willing to expend the real time it will take, b. compromise with others, c. just be available for group meetings, and d. willing to code the grunt side of the setup.
Hell this guy is just making a module for NWN or such... all the ugly stuff most programmers hate is provided (art work etc)
The days of just tossing out something (laughable anyone think a MMORPG can be made quickly - even muds took time to evolve beyond copies of diku)
I seriously doubt Apple would cave in even if told they must be sold without a SIM lock. They would simply redefine the terms of purchase to be a lease. As such they could do what they want. End of contract, phone goes back to AT&T or Apple. They won't care of the condition as the contract terms were just to avoid future lawsuits and keep their lock in.
Like others said, its a damn cell phone. It has convinced me that a touch only interface sucks for a phone and for typing. Sure you can do it but compared to phones with real keys it just doesn't cut it.
Write your Congressmen, both House and Senate, of the importance to science, prestige for America, and the space program. Feel free to list other concerns you have but give NASA and in particular the AMS high marks so that it stands out. Do not mention the war or the expenditure of the funds on it, that will only get you written off. Instead stay positive.
Then get your friends to send emails and the like. You can use wikipedia for the links to your own Congressmen. You might try writing into the opinion section of your local paper, again focusing on the positives for us as a country and even as a species (just don't drag the war into it as people will focus on it and your real message will be lost)
Hubble was saved because people focused on it. The AMS is not nearly known as well but if portrayed in a positive light and put on the same stage as Hubble then congress might just spend all that wasted earmark money on science instead of making monuments to living politicians
because Wikipedia does have a slant, in political, religious, environmental, and other areas.
It is practiced and preached.
To avoid a slanted moderation or the implied existance of one there can be no secrecy. Wikipedia is supposed to be public, on the up and up, as such we need all the going on's there kept in the open. As soon as you permit one secret group within the organization others will crop up. Worse you will have created some who are more equal than others and thereby their opinion will determine what is allowed and not. Articles the favored few don't like will be subject to more scruitiny and subsequent bannings of the people who dispute them, facts not withstanding.
Basically what your claiming is anyone who disagrees and is aggressive about it is wrong and therefor rightly removed. In other words, the consensus doesn't have to be right, it just has to be.
if this means the ISS, another extremely over budget albatross around our necks, faces more limitations then so be it.
This damn thing and the shuttles has trapped us into low earth orbit for how many years?
The fact is, the shuttle system is what killed the AMS. We can't replace them and the one recent accident set us back two plus years. Add in the fact that another such accident and its all over till NASA comes up with a new launch vehicle and yes your priorities MUST change.
Idiot President or not, at least NASA and the NSF had seen continous budget increases during his term.
I know in IGN, their VN boards to be specific, that posts with negative comments about Turbine were regularly whacked and the poster banned as someone from Turbine made it known they would not frequent IGN or its boards unless some ground rules were in place : mainly no negative comments about the state of the game and no anti-turbine comments allowed.
It seriously tanked the boards. Needless to say within the year Turbine had their own boards as most sites balked at the restriction. Those that didn't saw their user numbers go down.
Game publishers hold big sticks. With professional level magazines they withhold money, with fansites, even big ones, they withhold their people. Works wonders until the word gets out.
I remember a cute little survey they did when Atlanta's airport had been renovated heavily in the late 70s. The trams would tell people to "this train is leaving the station", "move away from the doors" etc... they tried a male voice, a female voice, and finally a mechanical voice - eerily like a Cylon.
People responded much better to the last. I think they reverted to a female voice during the Olympics.
For some applications I think people need and expect a non-human sounding option. For many of us geeks its "cool" too. Now for having books read to me a good voice actor cannot be beat, but for text on the fly - I want it fast and accurately pronounced. If that requires a "mechanical" style voice then so be it, though hearing 6 speak might be all anyone needs:)
Israel has the unfortunate problem of being an overly convienent scapegoat for its neighbor's internal problems. What better way to refocus the ire of your own people by pointing them to Israel. As such Israel has to take steps that others see as extreme or even ludicrous. No reasonable party would use nerve gas on a civilian population, right? Same as no reasonable party would bomb civilians with suicide/homicide bombers, right?
Read : When dealing with an unreasonable enemy you take steps that most sane people would consider unreasonable.
The only real issue I have, using a white 24" iMac, is I get periodic freezing of the whole system - no spinning rainbox CD either... its just locked. Bizarre as it sounds, its the UI that is locked. By that I mean I was just fine on Skype - just could not do anything with the keyboard or programs, the mouse moved but could not activate anything.
Still the whole upgrade has been mostly ho hum. As in, for a hundred bucks I would have expected something really outstanding here (and no time machine isn't)
why name Gates and Jobs?
on
Google Goes Green
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Name their companies. Even then, does it matter? Most of this Google press release is simple headline grabbing. Where are the dollar figures of what is going where? Are they working alongside other large companies trying to do the same or cherry picking companies they can snap up later for their investment?
Frankly Gates doesn't have to do anything in the renewable energy market, what he is doing through his foundation is saving more lives than can be counted, not exploiting current pc trends towards "everything global warming", doing proven work that benefits people today. Hell, his foundation is more important than Microsoft in my book. Trade some "evil" here for worlds of good elsewhere.
As for Apple, they list many iniatives. Why do they have to be energy related to qualify for points? They do a lot in the recycling arena. They make a big thing out of ensuring their equipment is recyclable and is moving to using non-dangerous/polluting means of making it.
How many votes per mile of track can a Congressman buy?
Answer that instead.
The amount of money just wasted in earmarks alone could solve a multitude of problems, from medical care, rehabilitation for our vets, maglev, NASA, and more. You name it, we have the money for it.
The problem is, not all of the above garner vote buying opportunities.
The real reason the Iraq war annoys Congressmen is that it deprives them of money they could have used in directed vote buying campaigns. Instead of a monument to a living Congressman (read: new pool in your neighborhood or library - etc) it went overseas and is lost to them. Now it does garner votes in a negative way but Congressmen prefer postive vote buying expenditures.
Now the problem I see with the maglev tower is, who is going to want it in their backyard? It looks more palatable than a windfarm but its so damn tall that that the land area may be moot versus the "sight pollution". Of course we already have giant cooling towers but this thing looks larger.
We really need a new Mahattan project for our generation - one that frees us of fossil fuel generated power. Of course our next problem will be heat pollution - all that power does have a side effect (green power or not)
and quit not because of who they are working for but because they pissed off all their coworkers already and new faces to start over again. Hell there have been many people we practicaly CHEERED when they finally left.
Its hostile because they, the quitter, made it that way. Tell me which is more likely, an office full for twenty hostile people and one good person or the other way around? Which one quits and then turns in the company for fraud?
In fact, they seem to make a big thing out of that "feature"....
Granted I only have about a dozen HD DVDs but I haven't found one to break that feature yet, but I bet some company will. I wonder if Blu-Ray has a similar requirement
But can ANY OF YOU honestly say that if Iraq wasn't occurring (which btw I think has gone far too long) that the budget issue faced here wouldn't still be present?
Face it, the government budget process is all about buying votes and paying off political donors through whatever method that they can do it.
This project is probably not getting funding because a. Its not in a voting member's domain b. Its not flashy c. Its not in the news enough to interest people
It certainly isn't being sidelined because of Iraq. In fact the NSF keeps getting bigger budgets year after year!
Why not ask, what EARMARK can be converted to real science instead of building memorials to living Congressmen!
What is so sad is the damn partisan hate on places like/., it clouds intelligent discussion and the same people abuse the moderation system to take out their petty hatred of one side or the other, regardless of the poster's position. In essence, dare not point out the truth when a more/. (Read:PC) item can be blamed.
If you want science like this continue don't raise Iraq with your Congressmen, instead raise the issue of America falling behind in science. Write your Congressmen today (I wrote both of my Senators and provided the link to the article). If you do not know your Congressmen then use WIKIPEDIA to find them!
Look, we aren't going to save valid science expenditures by going on about Iraq, fact is most of Congress doesn't really care anymore about Iraq and will write you off as just a whiner. Instead PROMOTE it on its own merits. That is how we can advance the cause of science. Get your friends to write. Congressmen react to many people showing concern over what may be an item they never heard of. The amount of money needed that most can slip it in on any old bill.
I am sure there are many science friendly Congressmen, it needs to be brought to their attention as well.
Yes Iraq sucks and its eating billions, but to blame it for every little project that is favored here and elsewhere is to ignore the way Congress works. They are buying votes with your tax dollars, Iraq offends many of them because it deprives them of billions to spend - not just because its wrong. Show Congress that this is a concern! Otherwise you will be left with taking out your hatred for others on message boards and getting nothing done
Slashdot Mirror
Andromeda Strain?
I am quite sure man has cooked up more virulent things than Nature will throw at us from space anytime soon.
We spend approximately 21% of our budget on National Defense. Nearly half the budget is lost to entitlements.
Now where would *I* get all the money to spend on good projects? Earmarks buried in the various bills that pass Congress. There were over 2000 (two thousand) earmarks in the Defense budget alone. This is money being spent by Congress, not the DOD, but charged as part of the defense budget. How many monunments (read research centers, bridges, etc) do we need named for LIVING members of Congress?
We spend an amazing amount on education but efforts to improve it are thwarted by Teacher Union's, Special Interest Groups, and Politicians. If you want to improve education don't look to Washington, get involved at the local level. You will see the wall first hand.
Improved Infrastucture? Look, we already budget more than enough to fix and maintain what we have. The problem is that Congress takes the money allocated and redirects it to new projects. You then have government incompetence at the state level as well. Ever wonder why a certain bridge disaster disappeared from the news so quickly? Because it was exposing the system that is failing. You cannot just throw more money at a failing system and expect good results. If that were the case we would have best schools and roads in the world!
Lets hit your next category. Medical research. The private sector is doing amazing things in this area - why? Because by not taking Federal money for all lines of research they are left with options they would lose otherwise. Getting the Feds involved handcuffs researchers in more ways than you can count. Medical research is big money, the risks are great but the rewards are great. Keeping people living longer means more money for the companies that can provide it. The government has no interest in you living longer as you cost them more money when you do. (remember that entitlement section of the budget? Nearly half directly spent there)
New power alternatives. We already have seen where Congress is going. Ethanol. Why? The FARM industry. Earmarks out the wahzoo for a fix that may cause more problems than it solves. Less food for the world and more pollutants of a different sort. Wind farms you say? Sure, just don't put them in some Congressman's backyard! Nuclear? No member of Congress has the willpower to stand behind this industry. Simply put it does not get them votes. The money is high and tied too much to a small area. Whereas ethanol allows for tax money to be spread around garnishing lots of votes!
Yes the military spends a lot of money. Yes a lot is wasted. However that same military is the reason why we can bitch about the state of our country and the world with near impunity. We don't have to worry about tanks rolling over our demonstrations, we don't have to worry about family members being disappeared overnight because a relative spoke out in university, and we don't go to the market worried about some whacko with a bomb on his chest.
My sole criteria for the next election is, who will cut the BUDGET the most. The taking from Americans is extreme. Bush was anything but a conservative, having grown the government to sizes beyond reason. There is no reason to have so many people dependant on the government to survive. By creating such a situation we doom the future generations. Where will be the innovations and great strides in society when its people don't have to do so as someone else will foot the bill and tuck them in?
Getting the government off our backs is the first step to having a great country. Our government should be here to serve us, not indenture us.
Defendants withdrew funds from consumers' bank accounts in one of two ways: by electronically debiting consumer bank accounts through the Automated Clearing House Network or by submitting checks and falsely representing that the consumers had approved them.
See http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48738769_illinois-ag-madigan-joins-six-states-ftc-suit-stop-florida-company-fraudulent-debits
So this is a case of direct taking from accounts or use of fradulenet checks. That is why no Credit Card company raised an alarm, they were not even in the loop
I love that line. Can be taken as a claim that we cause the majority of it or just .00001% of it.
But it gets better. Basically Global Warming is at fault for all weather bad, specifically all weather events that costs us money. Regardless if the earth was warmer before, regarldess of the fact we don't know out own planet's ideal temperature, regardless of the fact we can't even forcast a year ahead, and finally - regardless of the fact that the people who win from all the Global Warming scare mongering are politicians and big business.
Then we have a plane wreck as #2? Followed by a retinue of things that more accidental than "purposely caused" With mining accidents it amazes me we still ignore the thousands who die in China in these accidents. We lose six or seven in America and it makes the top 10???
IPCC as the #1 green idea? That bunch of bad science and fraud? Using names without permission to bolster their claims and using the power of government to intimidate others? The second entry was not much better. All that GW and the green push accomplish at the government level is to give politicians new ways to spend money, new titles, and even more travel to exotic locations. Carbon Capping? Basically new embedded tax passed onto consumers so big dirty corporations can still pollute. Oh I know there is that part about "refund" to consumers from the government - but we know better don't we. It will come as targetted benefits to buy votes. Most of these green ideas reek of deperateness to find something to make a top ten list. I can think of ten better stories - top ten green developments - like improvements in solar cell manufacturing, CFLs, how many companies recycle their waste for fuel (McDs in England) and such.
Now the medical section was much better. At least here we had some real good entries. The difference here is that this is real science, where the green section isn't science half the time. The diabetes news from last year was great. We are well on our way to getting people off of needles.
Sorry but Time's top ten lists are more politically motivated and to curry favor with certain groups than to provide any real knowledge or laud accomplishmen. Notice how their top ten disasters are not in countries that might react badly towards their reporters in the future? Stick to areas like the medical advances, put in another for technological advances, and ditch the political spin crap ideas and we might have lists worth a damn, lists that tell people what really means something.
I wonder how it applies to the situation where you buy one CD, rip it to MP3, and then multiple members of the family have copies of it on various devices (music players, CDs, PCs, and even ringtones on their phones). In essence you are sharing among people who never purchased their own copy. Perhaps that is the new angle the RIAA is going for. Sharing among family. The difference between traditional sharing and music sharing is that the later is unlimited. You can only share a CD to one person at a time, just like a book. Rip it to your hard drive and everyone in the family suddenly can share the same at one time.
How does Fair Use apply in this situation?
That is what happened in major metro areas like Atlanta. They simply could not compete with retailers who were pros in that industry; like Best Buy and Circuit City. They even picked up console games in plenty yet failed to price compete there. Worse their selection was usually not as good either.
Combined with an industry that moved away from component sales. Yet CompUSA didn't see this and expanded their component offerings too late for the game.
Finally they seemed completely at a loss when it came to pricing. The big box retailers had already picked up the games and sold them along side lower priced systems. Best Buy got smart a year or so ago and moved away from rebates while forums were replete with complaints about rebates at CompUSA.
CompUSA is a great example of a business that adapted wrong to a changing retail environment. They went the right direction but without the guidance necessary to do it correctly.
but Mechwarrior 2 still has to be my favorite game music of all time. I still can listen to it in my car and don't tire of it.
It had great music, one of the first games I remember using CD tracks as music
into researching which one would be better long term I discovered Battlestar Galactica would only be on HD DVD
The last challenge after getting any number of characters to level 70 for an old school RPG/CRPG/MMORPGer like myself is multiboxing. For the most part WOW is pretty dead easy. Its designed to be that way, very much like the original CRPGs.
The thing with multiboxing is that you can put together a team of two or more characters and run your own team; just like the old CRPG days. The challenge becomes in cooridination and reacting. Learning the ins and outs of the script and macro languages. Even learning how to get all your hardware to work together.
there are some who run ten at a time. I currently run three on an iMac just fine. Its loads of fun and learning to coordinate three completely different characters is quite the challenge.
Still, this notebook is really just a big buy in to future BETA testing. See that one little note buried in the features?
but it only takes a few people to make a MMORPG only a few people will ever want to play.
Considering all the angst displayed here when World of Warcraft is mentioned there should be no shortage in OS programmers creating new and great MMORPGs to bring down the evil and all so boring and all so many people are leaving and etc etc World of Warcraft.
But there isn't.
The problem in crafting a MMORPG is that it takes a long long time. I can find any number of people "with great ideas for a MMORPG" I just cannot find anyone who is a. willing to expend the real time it will take, b. compromise with others, c. just be available for group meetings, and d. willing to code the grunt side of the setup.
Hell this guy is just making a module for NWN or such... all the ugly stuff most programmers hate is provided (art work etc)
The days of just tossing out something (laughable anyone think a MMORPG can be made quickly - even muds took time to evolve beyond copies of diku)
I seriously doubt Apple would cave in even if told they must be sold without a SIM lock. They would simply redefine the terms of purchase to be a lease. As such they could do what they want. End of contract, phone goes back to AT&T or Apple. They won't care of the condition as the contract terms were just to avoid future lawsuits and keep their lock in.
Like others said, its a damn cell phone. It has convinced me that a touch only interface sucks for a phone and for typing. Sure you can do it but compared to phones with real keys it just doesn't cut it.
Write your Congressmen, both House and Senate, of the importance to science, prestige for America, and the space program. Feel free to list other concerns you have but give NASA and in particular the AMS high marks so that it stands out. Do not mention the war or the expenditure of the funds on it, that will only get you written off. Instead stay positive.
Then get your friends to send emails and the like. You can use wikipedia for the links to your own Congressmen. You might try writing into the opinion section of your local paper, again focusing on the positives for us as a country and even as a species (just don't drag the war into it as people will focus on it and your real message will be lost)
Hubble was saved because people focused on it. The AMS is not nearly known as well but if portrayed in a positive light and put on the same stage as Hubble then congress might just spend all that wasted earmark money on science instead of making monuments to living politicians
because Wikipedia does have a slant, in political, religious, environmental, and other areas.
It is practiced and preached.
To avoid a slanted moderation or the implied existance of one there can be no secrecy. Wikipedia is supposed to be public, on the up and up, as such we need all the going on's there kept in the open. As soon as you permit one secret group within the organization others will crop up. Worse you will have created some who are more equal than others and thereby their opinion will determine what is allowed and not. Articles the favored few don't like will be subject to more scruitiny and subsequent bannings of the people who dispute them, facts not withstanding.
Basically what your claiming is anyone who disagrees and is aggressive about it is wrong and therefor rightly removed. In other words, the consensus doesn't have to be right, it just has to be.
if this means the ISS, another extremely over budget albatross around our necks, faces more limitations then so be it.
This damn thing and the shuttles has trapped us into low earth orbit for how many years?
The fact is, the shuttle system is what killed the AMS. We can't replace them and the one recent accident set us back two plus years. Add in the fact that another such accident and its all over till NASA comes up with a new launch vehicle and yes your priorities MUST change.
Idiot President or not, at least NASA and the NSF had seen continous budget increases during his term.
on the larger available boards out there.
I know in IGN, their VN boards to be specific, that posts with negative comments about Turbine were regularly whacked and the poster banned as someone from Turbine made it known they would not frequent IGN or its boards unless some ground rules were in place : mainly no negative comments about the state of the game and no anti-turbine comments allowed.
It seriously tanked the boards. Needless to say within the year Turbine had their own boards as most sites balked at the restriction. Those that didn't saw their user numbers go down.
Game publishers hold big sticks. With professional level magazines they withhold money, with fansites, even big ones, they withhold their people. Works wonders until the word gets out.
I remember a cute little survey they did when Atlanta's airport had been renovated heavily in the late 70s. The trams would tell people to "this train is leaving the station", "move away from the doors" etc... they tried a male voice, a female voice, and finally a mechanical voice - eerily like a Cylon.
:)
People responded much better to the last. I think they reverted to a female voice during the Olympics.
For some applications I think people need and expect a non-human sounding option. For many of us geeks its "cool" too. Now for having books read to me a good voice actor cannot be beat, but for text on the fly - I want it fast and accurately pronounced. If that requires a "mechanical" style voice then so be it, though hearing 6 speak might be all anyone needs
Israel has the unfortunate problem of being an overly convienent scapegoat for its neighbor's internal problems. What better way to refocus the ire of your own people by pointing them to Israel. As such Israel has to take steps that others see as extreme or even ludicrous. No reasonable party would use nerve gas on a civilian population, right? Same as no reasonable party would bomb civilians with suicide/homicide bombers, right?
Read : When dealing with an unreasonable enemy you take steps that most sane people would consider unreasonable.
The only real issue I have, using a white 24" iMac, is I get periodic freezing of the whole system - no spinning rainbox CD either... its just locked. Bizarre as it sounds, its the UI that is locked. By that I mean I was just fine on Skype - just could not do anything with the keyboard or programs, the mouse moved but could not activate anything.
Still the whole upgrade has been mostly ho hum. As in, for a hundred bucks I would have expected something really outstanding here (and no time machine isn't)
Name their companies. Even then, does it matter? Most of this Google press release is simple headline grabbing. Where are the dollar figures of what is going where? Are they working alongside other large companies trying to do the same or cherry picking companies they can snap up later for their investment?
Frankly Gates doesn't have to do anything in the renewable energy market, what he is doing through his foundation is saving more lives than can be counted, not exploiting current pc trends towards "everything global warming", doing proven work that benefits people today. Hell, his foundation is more important than Microsoft in my book. Trade some "evil" here for worlds of good elsewhere.
As for Apple, they list many iniatives. Why do they have to be energy related to qualify for points? They do a lot in the recycling arena. They make a big thing out of ensuring their equipment is recyclable and is moving to using non-dangerous/polluting means of making it.
but here is the real issue.
How many votes per mile of track can a Congressman buy?
Answer that instead.
The amount of money just wasted in earmarks alone could solve a multitude of problems, from medical care, rehabilitation for our vets, maglev, NASA, and more. You name it, we have the money for it.
The problem is, not all of the above garner vote buying opportunities.
The real reason the Iraq war annoys Congressmen is that it deprives them of money they could have used in directed vote buying campaigns. Instead of a monument to a living Congressman (read: new pool in your neighborhood or library - etc) it went overseas and is lost to them. Now it does garner votes in a negative way but Congressmen prefer postive vote buying expenditures.
Now the problem I see with the maglev tower is, who is going to want it in their backyard? It looks more palatable than a windfarm but its so damn tall that that the land area may be moot versus the "sight pollution". Of course we already have giant cooling towers but this thing looks larger.
We really need a new Mahattan project for our generation - one that frees us of fossil fuel generated power. Of course our next problem will be heat pollution - all that power does have a side effect (green power or not)
and quit not because of who they are working for but because they pissed off all their coworkers already and new faces to start over again. Hell there have been many people we practicaly CHEERED when they finally left.
Its hostile because they, the quitter, made it that way. Tell me which is more likely, an office full for twenty hostile people and one good person or the other way around? Which one quits and then turns in the company for fraud?
of the feature presentation.
In fact, they seem to make a big thing out of that "feature"....
Granted I only have about a dozen HD DVDs but I haven't found one to break that feature yet, but I bet some company will. I wonder if Blu-Ray has a similar requirement
TROLL rated comment.
/., it clouds intelligent discussion and the same people abuse the moderation system to take out their petty hatred of one side or the other, regardless of the poster's position. In essence, dare not point out the truth when a more /. (Read:PC) item can be blamed.
But can ANY OF YOU honestly say that if Iraq wasn't occurring (which btw I think has gone far too long) that the budget issue faced here wouldn't still be present?
Face it, the government budget process is all about buying votes and paying off political donors through whatever method that they can do it.
This project is probably not getting funding because
a. Its not in a voting member's domain
b. Its not flashy
c. Its not in the news enough to interest people
It certainly isn't being sidelined because of Iraq. In fact the NSF keeps getting bigger budgets year after year!
Why not ask, what EARMARK can be converted to real science instead of building memorials to living Congressmen!
What is so sad is the damn partisan hate on places like
If you want science like this continue don't raise Iraq with your Congressmen, instead raise the issue of America falling behind in science. Write your Congressmen today (I wrote both of my Senators and provided the link to the article). If you do not know your Congressmen then use WIKIPEDIA to find them!
Look, we aren't going to save valid science expenditures by going on about Iraq, fact is most of Congress doesn't really care anymore about Iraq and will write you off as just a whiner. Instead PROMOTE it on its own merits. That is how we can advance the cause of science. Get your friends to write. Congressmen react to many people showing concern over what may be an item they never heard of. The amount of money needed that most can slip it in on any old bill.
I am sure there are many science friendly Congressmen, it needs to be brought to their attention as well.
Yes Iraq sucks and its eating billions, but to blame it for every little project that is favored here and elsewhere is to ignore the way Congress works. They are buying votes with your tax dollars, Iraq offends many of them because it deprives them of billions to spend - not just because its wrong. Show Congress that this is a concern! Otherwise you will be left with taking out your hatred for others on message boards and getting nothing done
the NSF has over SIX BILLION dollars in its budget.
Iraq has nothing to do with it, raising that as an issue is just beyond ignorant.
Let that horse die.
Now as for the telescope, it would be nice to see the whole list of what NSF decided to fund