Re:Another classic -- Dragon's Egg by Robert Forwa
on
Mission of Gravity
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· Score: 1
thanks a lot, I'll look into it. I do suggest you look into the C.S. Lewis Space trilogy if you haven't. He takes advantage of the science fiction/fantasy setting to propoe some real interesting perceptions on religion, angels, god, and the ever famous "good and evil".
Always glad to find a new "old" book!
on
Mission of Gravity
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· Score: 3
Books like "Enders Game", Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backwards" C.S.Lewis's "Space Trilogy" (which is very good by the way, for being written 60 years ago. Not exactly even close to accurate most predictions of space travel and the like, but very insightful at times into the metaphysical and religous realms. Come on, it's C.S. Lewis, what do you expect?) and even Gulliver's Travel.
"Of course, this means God is directly responsible for all the evil and horror extant in the world. Which means God must either be evil, or be capable of evil, which negates God's omnibenevolence."
I've always disliked this argument, as I've never really seen the point. If there is a God, then our recognition of "evil" or "good" is completely pointless. If God exists, then we have no point of comparison, because our sight is infinitely shorter.
I don't mean to turn this into a religious debate, or philosophical even, but the presence of God negats our understanding of ANYTHING, therefore "evil" is no longer a definition, just a perception.
I think that the reason cloning is so often faught against, is because of the undoubtable outcome; complete change in society as we know it. There are so many possibilites within the technologies of cloning that everything else pales in comparison. I personally, in the short term, am against it, I just don't see enough benefit to outweigh the risk. If the technology could exist without being used, however, I would not be against it. There may be a benefit, someday, to mass clone a particular human or immunity. Since that will never happen, and people, scientists, governments, and crazy terrorists are always going to be "running the wrong way", I must profess my dislike with the technology.
Though Atari was very popular for its time, I can't imagine that there that many games and stations in distribution. I don't mean variety, I mean total! I don't really know where to find the data, but I'd bet that there were only 10-20 million atari games made EVER! Therefore it seems odd that so many could be horded. If memory serves, even Nintendo only sells some few ten million games a year. (I want to say 40 million, but I really don't know). Though Atari was the biggest for its time, by today's standard, it had a very low fan base.(but since I don't have numbers, I just don't know.)
Wow, thats some cache! I wonder if in ten years someones going to have like a million copies of tekken for sale, or better yet CastleVania. I didn't think there were that many atari games made to begin with, cetainly not enough to end up with a whole million.
The only way that the internet has hurt the general power supply is that it has made enough people rich (not me) and even more people so lazy (ME!) that they have to purchase machines to do everything possible so they can to do as little as possible.
Between Doom, Wolf 3-d, Quake, and Warcraft I about shut down as a functioning human!
I find it hard to believe that the internet is the cauase for California's power shortages. I read an article about this recently, and was exposed to several other causes for decreasing power surpluses.
1) Little change in capable output: Over the last twenty or thirty years the U.S. has done very little to increase the technology used in producing electric power, therefore stifling our ability to compete with the growing demands for electric power.
2) The HUGE increase in high amp appliances. From toatsters, microwaves, washers, dryers, things that nearly every household now has. Its a safe guess that in the last twenty years our average household demand for electricity has risen dramatically. Not inlcuding the internet.
I don't think that our little low power computers, even in great numbers, have much, if anything, to do with California's,(or anywhere else for that matter) power failures.
"but I would guess that it can't capture verbal communications very well, and that seems like a major flaw."
I agree, the individual and how he/she intereact with other co-workers on a verbal or non-verbal is by far the most important aspect of having a fine tune well run organism (entity). I am interested to see the further development of this, however, because I do think that technology, software included, will be paramount in communication in the future, not just in callind long distance, but also to each other in close quarters. I don't know how, exactly, but its my best guess.
I'm not holding my breath yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open.
Microsoft is the biggest threat to microsoft. I thank God for the competitive marker, knowing that a once small idea like Linux, can grow to outplay the big boys!
In the DUNE books by Frank Herbert, isn't there quite a bit of discussion about the negatives of technology? There is even a great Jihad because of the downward spiral human kind suffered from the excessive use of technology. What was that Jihad called, anybody know?
Though I am not a big fan of trade show prices, if you are serious, then I'd suggest getting ahold of some publications or trade show info on polymers. Web sites such as Society of Plastics Engineers and Ge Polymerland are helpful, but what I would recommend is for you to attend ANTEC 2001. This trade show will have all of the new polymer technologies, not just in fillers or money savers, but also (and probably more-so) in engineering plastics for cel phones, medical, automotive, and many, many other areas. I don't think that I am going to attend because I have no real reason to, but if I was wanting to design an artificial limb, I'd be there.
If you want any more plastic links, I have quite a few.
I worked several years for a concrete and masonry company, and so have been around many heated floors. Never in my own home, though. When I build a home (hopefully in the next two years) I will pay a lot of attention to this detail.
I know this sounds silly, but doesn anybody elses thermostat not work well? I've never had one work properly in any home I've been in! The living room's too hot, or the bathroom is too cold, something along those lines.
The homes that have had the best control were those with heated floors (that I'm familiar with anyway). Tubes run throughout the floors of the home can be set up to control heat far better then air vents or electrical heaters. That is one of the things I would like to see, and if there is newer and better technology in this area, then by all means, use it, I lost plenty of sleep last night because the thermometer said it was cold while I was dying of heat!
I see with your point, and I agree for the most part, however I do think that a "company" employee sending bad mail of some kind, or performing illegal actions, can be turned on the company, or at least cause suspicion and investigation. I strongly disagree with the ethics (and logic) in this, though, I think that my actions are my own, and not the person who's internet I am using, but I do think that in todays court system, with the popoluar vote looking both in supsicion and dismay at the internet, companies can still be held liable, even if they can prove they are not at fault.
(i.e. the same idiots that grant patents are probably the ones that sit on jury's and preside in courts.)
I think you're right! Companies should "reserve" the right to monitor email, especially in larger companies. What I wanted to convey, though, (even if I didn't come close) is that it all depends on the level of trust between the managers and the employees. When I was growing up, my parents never snooped through my bedroom, even though they had every "right" to, according to the law, but they had no right to according to our personal law. They knew that if they invaded my privacy so grossly as that, then our relationship would be drastically affected, and in a company I think things are much similar. If the employees are continually and openly monitored without provocation, you'll see the trust level drop immediately. But if they feel safe, important, trusted, I think you'll gain their loyalty and their good behavior, if not exceptional.
Side note: I should point out that there are levels of who and how much to trust. The less experienced and responsible and employee is, then there should be more monitoring of them. If the rules are set out, though, and the employees know there is a "chance" of being released for bad behavior, anybody that's being paid a decent amount, particularly in profit sharing, then they won't risk it.
(I'm rambling, I'll quit while I'm ahead)
I read recently (maybe on Slashdot) about how Dow Chemical laid off a bunch of employees for being involved in porn email, and I totally disagreed with this. I think, as a manager myself, that privacy is highly important. Privacy, closely related to security, is one of the key ingrediants in keeping up employee morale, however there are some drawbacks:
1) The legal risk mentioned above
2) Potential loss of regulation, therefor output
3) Drop in customer or employee satisfaction
One way to increase privacy and not affect company stature is to be more performance based rather than methods based. If your employees are meeting their expected goals and deadlines, than they most likely need little, if any, watching from your managers. There will always, of course, be certain issues that will need direct management control, such as porn, illegal activities, or bad customer service, but I believe there are many ways to combat these issues without jeapordizing the loyalty of your employees.
In reading about the movie before, I did read that nearly the entire original story line would be included in the movie. I seem to remember somtething about slight deviation with Aaragorn and Arwin in order to add a little femininity to the movie.
As a betting man, I think it will be a great movie, but I am never too hopeful.
I'm glad to hear the the director brought in the artists you mentioned, I really like Lee's work, in fact I just got a print of his for Christmas. That pleased me!
Though I have my hopes pretty high for this, I'm half expecting to be disappointed. From what I've read, the movie's supposed to be real accurate, as accurate as we can expect anyway, but after movies like Dungeons & Dragons I don't know what to think. God that movie sucked!
Lord of the rings is by far my favorite book, as it is for many people, and were all going to be irked when Hollywood screws it up, and everyone in the country become "avid" "Lord of the Rings" fans.
For me, pessimism and optimism seem to be at a stalemate.
I can certainly see the issues here. Science is getting to the point where politics and philosophy are an integral part. Todays technologies are becoming threates, problems, or if nothing else, completely confusing to the common masses. Look at our patent system, or our regulatory system! People don't understand, people can't understand. Decade technology changes so much that we can't keep up with it, barely as individuals, and certainly not as a society!
Science will move us into the direction that we want to go...but where do we want to go?
I agree, the movie'd end up looking way too childish. I really don't mind the art too much, but It's not anywhere how I envision tolkien's world.
Have you checked out the Tolkien Archives? Its a cool site. It used to have pictures from Lee and nasmith, but I think copyright laws got in the way. Good place for pictures though, I've taken more than a few for wallpaper.
You're right, I couldn't remember it exactly and I didn't have time to make sure. I was hoping no one would catch it! Guess I should've paid more attention in Economics.
Because of this, then, therefore this!
Since the beginning of the Napster war, I've heard the argument that "people who download music, buy more music, therefore downloads lead to sales."
Though I can't stand the RIAA, and I completely agree with the existence of music sharing, I think this is another week "statistic" supporting napster.
Napster, I think, is bad for big bands like Metallica, but great for many would-be-Metallica's!
Slashdot Mirror
I'm often surprised at how astute people can be.
I've always disliked this argument, as I've never really seen the point. If there is a God, then our recognition of "evil" or "good" is completely pointless. If God exists, then we have no point of comparison, because our sight is infinitely shorter.
I don't mean to turn this into a religious debate, or philosophical even, but the presence of God negats our understanding of ANYTHING, therefore "evil" is no longer a definition, just a perception.
I think that the reason cloning is so often faught against, is because of the undoubtable outcome; complete change in society as we know it. There are so many possibilites within the technologies of cloning that everything else pales in comparison. I personally, in the short term, am against it, I just don't see enough benefit to outweigh the risk. If the technology could exist without being used, however, I would not be against it. There may be a benefit, someday, to mass clone a particular human or immunity. Since that will never happen, and people, scientists, governments, and crazy terrorists are always going to be "running the wrong way", I must profess my dislike with the technology.
Though Atari was very popular for its time, I can't imagine that there that many games and stations in distribution. I don't mean variety, I mean total! I don't really know where to find the data, but I'd bet that there were only 10-20 million atari games made EVER! Therefore it seems odd that so many could be horded. If memory serves, even Nintendo only sells some few ten million games a year. (I want to say 40 million, but I really don't know). Though Atari was the biggest for its time, by today's standard, it had a very low fan base.(but since I don't have numbers, I just don't know.)
Wow, thats some cache! I wonder if in ten years someones going to have like a million copies of tekken for sale, or better yet CastleVania. I didn't think there were that many atari games made to begin with, cetainly not enough to end up with a whole million.
Between Doom, Wolf 3-d, Quake, and Warcraft I about shut down as a functioning human!
1) Little change in capable output: Over the last twenty or thirty years the U.S. has done very little to increase the technology used in producing electric power, therefore stifling our ability to compete with the growing demands for electric power.
2) The HUGE increase in high amp appliances. From toatsters, microwaves, washers, dryers, things that nearly every household now has. Its a safe guess that in the last twenty years our average household demand for electricity has risen dramatically. Not inlcuding the internet.
I don't think that our little low power computers, even in great numbers, have much, if anything, to do with California's,(or anywhere else for that matter) power failures.
I agree, the individual and how he/she intereact with other co-workers on a verbal or non-verbal is by far the most important aspect of having a fine tune well run organism (entity). I am interested to see the further development of this, however, because I do think that technology, software included, will be paramount in communication in the future, not just in callind long distance, but also to each other in close quarters. I don't know how, exactly, but its my best guess.
I'm not holding my breath yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open.
Microsoft is the biggest threat to microsoft. I thank God for the competitive marker, knowing that a once small idea like Linux, can grow to outplay the big boys!
In the DUNE books by Frank Herbert, isn't there quite a bit of discussion about the negatives of technology? There is even a great Jihad because of the downward spiral human kind suffered from the excessive use of technology. What was that Jihad called, anybody know?
If you want any more plastic links, I have quite a few.
I worked several years for a concrete and masonry company, and so have been around many heated floors. Never in my own home, though. When I build a home (hopefully in the next two years) I will pay a lot of attention to this detail.
I appreciate your feedback.
The homes that have had the best control were those with heated floors (that I'm familiar with anyway). Tubes run throughout the floors of the home can be set up to control heat far better then air vents or electrical heaters. That is one of the things I would like to see, and if there is newer and better technology in this area, then by all means, use it, I lost plenty of sleep last night because the thermometer said it was cold while I was dying of heat!
(i.e. the same idiots that grant patents are probably the ones that sit on jury's and preside in courts.)
When I was growing up, my parents never snooped through my bedroom, even though they had every "right" to, according to the law, but they had no right to according to our personal law. They knew that if they invaded my privacy so grossly as that, then our relationship would be drastically affected, and in a company I think things are much similar.
If the employees are continually and openly monitored without provocation, you'll see the trust level drop immediately. But if they feel safe, important, trusted, I think you'll gain their loyalty and their good behavior, if not exceptional.
Side note: I should point out that there are levels of who and how much to trust. The less experienced and responsible and employee is, then there should be more monitoring of them. If the rules are set out, though, and the employees know there is a "chance" of being released for bad behavior, anybody that's being paid a decent amount, particularly in profit sharing, then they won't risk it. (I'm rambling, I'll quit while I'm ahead)
1) The legal risk mentioned above
2) Potential loss of regulation, therefor output
3) Drop in customer or employee satisfaction
One way to increase privacy and not affect company stature is to be more performance based rather than methods based. If your employees are meeting their expected goals and deadlines, than they most likely need little, if any, watching from your managers.
There will always, of course, be certain issues that will need direct management control, such as porn, illegal activities, or bad customer service, but I believe there are many ways to combat these issues without jeapordizing the loyalty of your employees.
In reading about the movie before, I did read that nearly the entire original story line would be included in the movie. I seem to remember somtething about slight deviation with Aaragorn and Arwin in order to add a little femininity to the movie. As a betting man, I think it will be a great movie, but I am never too hopeful. I'm glad to hear the the director brought in the artists you mentioned, I really like Lee's work, in fact I just got a print of his for Christmas. That pleased me!
Though I have my hopes pretty high for this, I'm half expecting to be disappointed. From what I've read, the movie's supposed to be real accurate, as accurate as we can expect anyway, but after movies like Dungeons & Dragons I don't know what to think. God that movie sucked! Lord of the rings is by far my favorite book, as it is for many people, and were all going to be irked when Hollywood screws it up, and everyone in the country become "avid" "Lord of the Rings" fans. For me, pessimism and optimism seem to be at a stalemate.
Science will move us into the direction that we want to go...but where do we want to go?
Have you checked out the Tolkien Archives? Its a cool site. It used to have pictures from Lee and nasmith, but I think copyright laws got in the way. Good place for pictures though, I've taken more than a few for wallpaper.
You're right, I couldn't remember it exactly and I didn't have time to make sure. I was hoping no one would catch it! Guess I should've paid more attention in Economics.
Because of this, then, therefore this! Since the beginning of the Napster war, I've heard the argument that "people who download music, buy more music, therefore downloads lead to sales." Though I can't stand the RIAA, and I completely agree with the existence of music sharing, I think this is another week "statistic" supporting napster. Napster, I think, is bad for big bands like Metallica, but great for many would-be-Metallica's!