I've recently heard about the theory of an 'intelligent universe', If it proves out one day to be true, think of the universe as one huge-ass computer that is "alive" & thinking. On a magnitude wa-a-a-y beyond human capacity. It's an interesting theory I heard on the Science channel's "Wormhole" program, the onwe narrated by Morgan Freeman. Heckuva good show.
When 1st forming, or 'accreating', the earth was way too hot, any water would be boiled away. Once it cooled enough, any bombardment of ice would collect over time into oceans. Yeah, we are talking a lot of ice hitting earth. If anyone has a better explanation, I'm open to it.
If I was the creator of the universe, and had billions of trillions of planets capable of supporting life, what would be the most efficient 'delivery system' for me to use to deliver the "Seeds of Life" to them all? Frozen water. Lots of iceballs with the 'seeds of life' in them. Since all life on earth is based on water, and water is not native to earth, all of our water came from 'out there'. So, if life sprouted on this planet, it stands to reason it's happened everywhere. Ergo, we most likely are not 'alone'.
Pre cell phones, landline phones could be tapped using the 'infinity device'. Google it, here is one link I found. http://www.tscm.com/phone/infinity_transmitter.html All you had to do was plug it in between a phone and a phone line, then dial any phone#. The phone dialed would not ring and an open connection was made, allowing the 'tapper' to hear anything via the 'tapees' phone microphone. No loacating function to it, but if you had the phone number, information via reverse lookup phonebooks gave the address of even 'unlisted' numbers.
What exactly are you doing that you're so worried about people knowing your location?
I don't really care if people know where I am. What I care about is if they try to contact me or interfere with my movements. Simply having knowledge of my location doesn't really amount to much.
Why should you be worrie about people knowing your location? Ask the kid in Long Island, NY, who, after leaving a party one night, was 'tracked' by thugs who used easily purchased 'tracking apps'. He was shot and killed on a highway miles away from that party. All those thugs had to do to track him was to enter his phone into a $30 app. Oh, you can ask that kid, but he can't answer you, because he's DEAD. Dead because he somehow pissed off some thug with an app and a gun somehow. What if one day that kid is you, will 'ease of tracking' still be a non-issue for you?
I never did trust those chickens. They look dumb, but that's just a disguise. Now they're coming for us just because all their ancestors were so damn delicious!. Great. We're doomed. Game over for the humans, man. Pack your shit, here come's the new species to dominate the planet!
gotta keep up with the gimmicks. what do you want them to do, make better movies?
Surely, you jest, sir. Most surely.
Better movies! Where I find movies worth watching nowadays is on TMC. The movies made in the 30's, 40's and 50's. They may be old, but they're new to me. They have great involved plotlines, top-notch acting and directing, and some innovative (for the time in which they were made) camera direction. I can watch those old films all the way through, while most recent movies on dvd's I borrow from my library get ejected before they're halfway watched. Whiz-bang 3d/cgi means nothing after you've seen it a few times. Give me a good story that's believeably acted, and then I might actually pay theater prices to see it.
Yep, the film industry is going to keep milking the 3-d cow for a while.
What is a 4-D movie? "It refers to physical effects that are coordinated with the images on the screen that involve your other senses," says media analyst and entertainment lawyer James Hirsen. "It is things like moving seats during a chase scene, the smell of gun powder when there is an explosion on the screen and during a spooky foggy scene you are surrounded by real fog." http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/4-d-movies-coming-soon-theater-near-172042434.html
To me all 3 qualify. At the very least if you are going to narrowly define it, at the least the iPad is.. iPhone should be. iPod, depends on which one. A classic is an embedded computer, a touch, well, its a computer too...
computer/kmpyootr/ Noun: 1. An electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program. 2. A person who makes calculations, esp. with a calculating machine. Synonyms: calculator Wikipedia Dictionary com
My main reason for wanting devices with removable batteries is that these things all have some form of communication ability, and any hacker with the right equipment can turn on a device that's "off". But not if I can pull the battery out! And I want that ability. Also, having a couple extra charged batteries for my phone where no ac is means I don't have to worry about using the thing like I want to.
I agree. I've never had a negative thought about Wikipedia's look. I like the way it looks. It's clean, useable, and easy on the eyes. It doesn't need anything more. I'd even say it shouldn't add anything more. Clutter is the opposite of information. And the charge that it's difficult to edit is ridiculous.
Concerning building living areas, I remember reading in an old Popular Science an idea of building low cost 'moon-homes', and even space stations, via a machine that would scoop up lunar soil, compact it into cubes which are somehow sealed. Then, taking advantage of the moon's low gravity, the cubes can be 'catapulted' precisely to anywhere on the moon, or space, to be caught and stored until later use and assembly. Have you and your students given this idea any consideration, or would spraying sealant on pre-existing cave floors/walls be more feasible for living quarters?
I have read that by introducing fast spreading/oxegyn producing lichens, that Mars' could be 'terraformed' into having an breatheable atmosphere within 300-400 years. If this is correct and feasible, is this dea going to be incorporated into your plans? Thank you and best of luck with this exciting endeavor!
I'm no fan of abortion for controlling overpopulation, so birth control is the lesser of two evils.
Why is birth control evil? I'm not joking, I honestly don't understand what make it "the lesser of two evils".
"gr8_phk" & "bledri"... As soon as I had reread what I posted, I regretted not deleting my 1st sentence, and you are both correct for calling me on it. Birth control is not evil. And in my life I have known good women who had abortions, and they were not evil people, they were then young unworldly women who were coerced by their boyfriends to end their pregnancy. In my defense I claim having posted while not fully awake. I had read so many vicious negative comments that I really wanted to see if I could start a new thread that would stimulate positive feedback, which happily did ensue. I learn much reading/. . I've been a fan of this site for a few years now, and it is only recently that I've been contributing to discussions. In the future I promise to be a better self-editor before tapping on 'submit'. P.S. It is also not always easy composing on an android phone, scrolling up/down can be extremely frustrating at times, my laptop was sabotaged.
I once read that when Ray Tomlinson (the imventor of email) was asked about spam, he said he has an ironclad rule. "If I don't recognize the sender I immediatly delete it." I've been following his advice with good results for more than a decade now.
Please note the absence of Bill Gates' name from this project.
That doesn't equate to Bill Gates not being supportive of his wife's efforts. This is her thing she's doing, and he's probably purposely staying in the background, helping his wife as needed. Maybe he feels having his name involved would bring unwanted detractors to her cause, perfectly understandable.
The pill doesn't stop STDs, does it?
Why are the MEN not wearing condoms, then? Why are women sleeping with men who don't care about them enough to even wear a condom?
Why are MOST women attracted to violent, uncaring men?
If MOST women were attracted to caring, kind men, then that's exactly what most men would become, overnight...
I'd always wondered why women are attracted to men who treat them badly, too. I learned it's subconcious. When seeking out a mate, it's the male that most reminds them of their father that determines who she chooses. It's learned in those formulative childhood years, when girls see how their male role-model behaves and act. Simply put, they're all looking for a guy who reminds them of their "Daddy". Bad, abusive type"Dad"=bad, abusive mate. Good, loving caring "Dad"= good, loving mate. You could be the nicest guy in the world, if the girl you're trying for
wasn't raised in a normal, nuturing envirnment, then the deck is stacked against you from the start. You have to keep be extra caring and set an example of a consistentcy for her, and hope she realizes that there is a big difference between the guys who are abusive and the real "MEN" who show kindness and compassion. Control is not love, though some women are conditioned to think it is.
Lasees really suck up the electric. You'ld need ground staions hooked into a power grid spread out near the intended fly route. This idea has potential for powering passenger planes, jet fuel isn't getting any cheaper.
I'm no fan of abortion for controlling overpopulation, so birth control is the lesser of two evils. To their credit, the Gate's are being pro-human with their fortune, and I wonder what I would do in their position. Do I build bridges, dig wells, hand out laptops? Money/food/supplies sent to poor countries never seems to get to the people in need, getting stolen by corrupt local officials somewhere along the distribution line. So, if you were in the Gate's position, how would YOU spend your money for the common good?
I agree with you completely. Isn't it cool!? I'm 52 now, and as a kid, before the moon landing, many people then thought it quite possible that the lunar lander might sink into the 'green cheese' surface of the moon! I know that sounds crazy to anyone born after 1969 reading this, but that was people's thinking back then. We couldn't be sure what the moon was made of. We really didn't know! We've come so far since then in our knowledge of the universe, and every pic of anything we haven't done or seen before always makes me feel so awed. Awed, and grateful. Grateful for being alive in this amazing time of discovery we live in. And I wonder how far we'll eventually go.....
George Carlin had his own unique view on the 'save the earth' issue. God, I miss that guy!.....g, pale -blue-dot, perspective, plastic “We’re so self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. I’m tired of this shit. I’m tired of f-ing Earth Day. I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is that there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a shit about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me. The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. WE are! We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic asshole.” George Carlin *** And here's a Youtube link of George... http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=948Nm34arfA
Slashdot Mirror
I've recently heard about the theory of an 'intelligent universe', If it proves out one day to be true, think of the universe as one huge-ass computer that is "alive" & thinking. On a magnitude wa-a-a-y beyond human capacity. It's an interesting theory I heard on the Science channel's "Wormhole" program, the onwe narrated by Morgan Freeman. Heckuva good show.
If you can create universes, you can pretty much deliver life any damn way you want to, I imagine. Who's gonna tell you no?
When 1st forming, or 'accreating', the earth was way too hot, any water would be boiled away. Once it cooled enough, any bombardment of ice would collect over time into oceans. Yeah, we are talking a lot of ice hitting earth. If anyone has a better explanation, I'm open to it.
If I was the creator of the universe, and had billions of trillions of planets capable of supporting life, what would be the most efficient 'delivery system' for me to use to deliver the "Seeds of Life" to them all? Frozen water. Lots of iceballs with the 'seeds of life' in them. Since all life on earth is based on water, and water is not native to earth, all of our water came from 'out there'. So, if life sprouted on this planet, it stands to reason it's happened everywhere. Ergo, we most likely are not 'alone'.
Pre cell phones, landline phones could be tapped using the 'infinity device'. Google it, here is one link I found. http://www.tscm.com/phone/infinity_transmitter.html All you had to do was plug it in between a phone and a phone line, then dial any phone#. The phone dialed would not ring and an open connection was made, allowing the 'tapper' to hear anything via the 'tapees' phone microphone. No loacating function to it, but if you had the phone number, information via reverse lookup phonebooks gave the address of even 'unlisted' numbers.
What exactly are you doing that you're so worried about people knowing your location?
I don't really care if people know where I am. What I care about is if they try to contact me or interfere with my movements. Simply having knowledge of my location doesn't really amount to much.
Why should you be worrie about people knowing your location? Ask the kid in Long Island, NY, who, after leaving a party one night, was 'tracked' by thugs who used easily purchased 'tracking apps'. He was shot and killed on a highway miles away from that party. All those thugs had to do to track him was to enter his phone into a $30 app. Oh, you can ask that kid, but he can't answer you, because he's DEAD. Dead because he somehow pissed off some thug with an app and a gun somehow. What if one day that kid is you, will 'ease of tracking' still be a non-issue for you?
I never did trust those chickens. They look dumb, but that's just a disguise. Now they're coming for us just because all their ancestors were so damn delicious!. Great. We're doomed. Game over for the humans, man. Pack your shit, here come's the new species to dominate the planet!
gotta keep up with the gimmicks. what do you want them to do, make better movies?
Surely, you jest, sir. Most surely.
Better movies! Where I find movies worth watching nowadays is on TMC. The movies made in the 30's, 40's and 50's. They may be old, but they're new to me. They have great involved plotlines, top-notch acting and directing, and some innovative (for the time in which they were made) camera direction. I can watch those old films all the way through, while most recent movies on dvd's I borrow from my library get ejected before they're halfway watched. Whiz-bang 3d/cgi means nothing after you've seen it a few times. Give me a good story that's believeably acted, and then I might actually pay theater prices to see it.
Yep, the film industry is going to keep milking the 3-d cow for a while. What is a 4-D movie? "It refers to physical effects that are coordinated with the images on the screen that involve your other senses," says media analyst and entertainment lawyer James Hirsen. "It is things like moving seats during a chase scene, the smell of gun powder when there is an explosion on the screen and during a spooky foggy scene you are surrounded by real fog." http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/4-d-movies-coming-soon-theater-near-172042434.html
What is the definition of a computer then?
To me all 3 qualify. At the very least if you are going to narrowly define it, at the least the iPad is.. iPhone should be. iPod, depends on which one. A classic is an embedded computer, a touch, well, its a computer too...
computer /kmpyootr/ Noun: 1. An electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program. 2. A person who makes calculations, esp. with a calculating machine. Synonyms: calculator Wikipedia Dictionary com
My main reason for wanting devices with removable batteries is that these things all have some form of communication ability, and any hacker with the right equipment can turn on a device that's "off". But not if I can pull the battery out! And I want that ability. Also, having a couple extra charged batteries for my phone where no ac is means I don't have to worry about using the thing like I want to.
If apple devices are'nt computers, may God strike..., that judge, dead! "Computers" come in all kinds of forms, here's your proof... http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm
I agree. I've never had a negative thought about Wikipedia's look. I like the way it looks. It's clean, useable, and easy on the eyes. It doesn't need anything more. I'd even say it shouldn't add anything more. Clutter is the opposite of information. And the charge that it's difficult to edit is ridiculous.
Sometimes, less is more.
Concerning building living areas, I remember reading in an old Popular Science an idea of building low cost 'moon-homes', and even space stations, via a machine that would scoop up lunar soil, compact it into cubes which are somehow sealed. Then, taking advantage of the moon's low gravity, the cubes can be 'catapulted' precisely to anywhere on the moon, or space, to be caught and stored until later use and assembly. Have you and your students given this idea any consideration, or would spraying sealant on pre-existing cave floors/walls be more feasible for living quarters?
Wouldn't a moon base launch facility be more economical, fuel-wise, for the journey to Mars?
I have read that by introducing fast spreading/oxegyn producing lichens, that Mars' could be 'terraformed' into having an breatheable atmosphere within 300-400 years. If this is correct and feasible, is this dea going to be incorporated into your plans? Thank you and best of luck with this exciting endeavor!
Why is birth control evil? I'm not joking, I honestly don't understand what make it "the lesser of two evils". "gr8_phk" & "bledri"... As soon as I had reread what I posted, I regretted not deleting my 1st sentence, and you are both correct for calling me on it. Birth control is not evil. And in my life I have known good women who had abortions, and they were not evil people, they were then young unworldly women who were coerced by their boyfriends to end their pregnancy. In my defense I claim having posted while not fully awake. I had read so many vicious negative comments that I really wanted to see if I could start a new thread that would stimulate positive feedback, which happily did ensue. I learn much reading /. . I've been a fan of this site for a few years now, and it is only recently that I've been contributing to discussions. In the future I promise to be a better self-editor before tapping on 'submit'. P.S. It is also not always easy composing on an android phone, scrolling up/down can be extremely frustrating at times, my laptop was sabotaged.
I once read that when Ray Tomlinson (the imventor of email) was asked about spam, he said he has an ironclad rule. "If I don't recognize the sender I immediatly delete it." I've been following his advice with good results for more than a decade now.
Melinda's in trouble with the church now. http://m.smh.com.au/world/faith-in-contraception-puts-gates-on-collision-course-with-the-vatican-20120712-21yx7.html Now is the time when the faith of her convictions will be tested. Being a catholic has always been a problem for intelligent women.
Please note the absence of Bill Gates' name from this project.
That doesn't equate to Bill Gates not being supportive of his wife's efforts. This is her thing she's doing, and he's probably purposely staying in the background, helping his wife as needed. Maybe he feels having his name involved would bring unwanted detractors to her cause, perfectly understandable.
The pill doesn't stop STDs, does it? Why are the MEN not wearing condoms, then? Why are women sleeping with men who don't care about them enough to even wear a condom?
Why are MOST women attracted to violent, uncaring men?
If MOST women were attracted to caring, kind men, then that's exactly what most men would become, overnight...
I'd always wondered why women are attracted to men who treat them badly, too. I learned it's subconcious. When seeking out a mate, it's the male that most reminds them of their father that determines who she chooses. It's learned in those formulative childhood years, when girls see how their male role-model behaves and act. Simply put, they're all looking for a guy who reminds them of their "Daddy". Bad, abusive type"Dad"=bad, abusive mate. Good, loving caring "Dad"= good, loving mate. You could be the nicest guy in the world, if the girl you're trying for wasn't raised in a normal, nuturing envirnment, then the deck is stacked against you from the start. You have to keep be extra caring and set an example of a consistentcy for her, and hope she realizes that there is a big difference between the guys who are abusive and the real "MEN" who show kindness and compassion. Control is not love, though some women are conditioned to think it is.
Lasees really suck up the electric. You'ld need ground staions hooked into a power grid spread out near the intended fly route. This idea has potential for powering passenger planes, jet fuel isn't getting any cheaper.
I'm no fan of abortion for controlling overpopulation, so birth control is the lesser of two evils. To their credit, the Gate's are being pro-human with their fortune, and I wonder what I would do in their position. Do I build bridges, dig wells, hand out laptops? Money/food/supplies sent to poor countries never seems to get to the people in need, getting stolen by corrupt local officials somewhere along the distribution line. So, if you were in the Gate's position, how would YOU spend your money for the common good?
I agree with you completely. Isn't it cool!? I'm 52 now, and as a kid, before the moon landing, many people then thought it quite possible that the lunar lander might sink into the 'green cheese' surface of the moon! I know that sounds crazy to anyone born after 1969 reading this, but that was people's thinking back then. We couldn't be sure what the moon was made of. We really didn't know! We've come so far since then in our knowledge of the universe, and every pic of anything we haven't done or seen before always makes me feel so awed. Awed, and grateful. Grateful for being alive in this amazing time of discovery we live in. And I wonder how far we'll eventually go.....
George Carlin had his own unique view on the 'save the earth' issue. God, I miss that guy! .....g, pale -blue-dot, perspective, plastic “We’re so self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. I’m tired of this shit. I’m tired of f-ing Earth Day. I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is that there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a shit about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me. The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. WE are! We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic asshole.” George Carlin *** And here's a Youtube link of George... http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=948Nm34arfA