Indeed, why are some people just completely unable to comprehend that not *everyone* is a greedy bastard?
Because that's a basic precept of economics. Where there people who are not greedy bastards, economic theory breaks down.
You know what I find fascinating? This guy predicted a world in which millions of out-of-work geeks will *not* spend their copious free time arguing about anime and operating systems. Put in that perspective, he's either an optimist or clinically retarded.
I've told the NYT that I'm a 98 year old woman in California (because I remember the zip code 90210 from the TV show). Seems we have something in common.:)
This works in Windows, Linux, or any icon-based GUI.
1. Make a new folder (or directory). 2. Drag the icons for your applications (or shortcuts/links to them) into that folder. 3. Size and customize that folder to your liking. I suggest the height of the screen and one icon wide, stuck against the right side of the desktop. You can make it horizontal, make it a text list, adjust 'magnification' by adjusting icon size, etc. 4. Leave that folder open on your desktop.
I've been doing this on Windows machines for years. It's superior to the Start Menu list or the task bar because you can drag documents onto the icons and the applications will open them.
I suppose someone should patent task bars, desktop icon grids, and digital clocks next.
This sounds like a great idea, except for one thing. You DID break the law. You SHOULD have paid the fine.
I'm all in favor of finding ways around the surveillance state. But I wish there were ways for lawful citizens to avoid surveillance that did not also allow criminals to get away.
And I'll note that we have such omnipresent surveillance because of criminals like you that slip between the cracks. If people would own up and take responsibility for their bad behavior (or, ya know, not behave badly in the first place) then the state might be less inclined to monitor everyone, all the time.
Welcome to "How to ruin an economy 101: Start by taking away everything from those who know how to make and invest money, then give it to the worst investors you can."
Isn't that better than, "Take money away from those who don't know how to make it"? I mean, the people who know how to make money can go make more, right? Whereas if you take it from people who don't know how to make money, they'll remain destitute for life.
An upper class of hardworking geniuses that support the rest of their society seems to me to be a better thing than having a lower class of slaves.
And I speak as someone who's probably already in the upper class. Please, tax me more, and repair the roads/network infrastructure/health care in America. Because if I didn't have those things when I was clawing my way up, I'd have never made it this far.
Re:Controls Correction
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 1
Well, my point is, parts of Spore are too complex for a child, while other parts are too simple to keep the interest of an adult. Yes, you can play only the stages that interest you, but the game ties them all together, enticing you to try them all. But it's almost guaranteed that there is no person who will like every stage. I think that's a design flaw.
Re:Controls Correction
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
My problem with the controls is that they change between phases. In the creature phase, you move using WASD and look around with the mouse. In the tribal phase that's reversed -- you rotate and move the camera with WASD and move your selected units with the mouse. And, as stated, the key bindings are non-customizable.
Design decisions like that have diminished this game for me. The reviewer says it has a 'low learning curve', but it has you climb up the learning curve over and over and over again. And the penalties for not being a master of all the controls and tactics can be harsh, especially in the space stage. I worry that kids who love the creature stage will bawl with frustration when they set foot into the galaxy.
It's an okay game. I'd give it 7/10, and will probably stop playing it much after a week or so.
The mass of new particles can be predicted with extreme precision using quantum theory. Lattice chromodynamics predicts new particles using theorized hyperspatial symmetries that we have extrapolated from the symmetries in known particles. Because these symmetries are extremely complicated, the masses of these postulated particles are calulated by computer. If the computer prediction matches up to the measured mass of a new particle, that's one step toward verifying the theory.
And yes, I know that even though all of that is accurate, it often sounds like it could have been made up on the spot.:)
I would love to see solar and wind to become the only needed power source, but that isnt a reality.
Why isn't it?
These solar plants cover 12.5 square miles and deliver about 1/30,000th the world's energy consumption. At that efficiency, you could cover just 1/10th of the Sahara desert with solar plants and supply all the energy the world needs. It's also clear that solar energy has many advantages over other sources that are dirty and/or non-renewable.
The big problems for us are distribution and storage of energy. But generation? We've got generation handled, and plants like these prove it.
If I were going to be president six months from now, I'd make sure that we returned to the Moon, in force. I'd spend what it takes to put a permanent solar power base there, lasering back to a network of satellites and delivering cheap, clean power around the world.
And you'd fund it by selling pony rides on unicorns, and selling off unicorn farts as high-octane jet fuel. Not to mention all that gold you'd find from your 'Look for the end of the rainbow' initiative.
We do not have the resources to have both groundbreaking space exploration and a military as expensive as the rest of the worlds' combined. We have to break the back of the military establishment and end our wars (plural!) before we can hope to make any progress in space. I'd be very happy if Obama spent his eight years just putting our economic shit in order, so that the next president can talk seriously about going back to the moon.
'Weaponizing' anthrax means taking the spores from the mold and making them into uniform bits that are small enough to get into the alveoli in human lungs. This generally involves culturing the anthrax, then freezing it with an adulturant (such as bentonite), then shaving particles off carefully -- 'carefully' so that they are very small particles with no clumps, and also because you're creating a spray of fine particles that will kill you.
This is a very different process from creating a vaccine, but none of it is very difficult if you know the process. An immunologist would know how to culture the anthrax, and he could figure out the adulturation and grinding process without too much trouble.
Read the article. He was going to a shrink for years, and admitted to thoughts of suicide. He died from an overdose of prescription medication. I think 'obviously mentally ill' is a valid supposition.
Whether he was guilty or not is another matter. That's why I used 'the perpetrator' in my post above.
There's no mention of any potential motive for a "top government scientist" to start mailing anthrax.
And yet all the suspects were top US government scientists.
Face it -- this terrorist attack came from a US citizen. Anthrax is hard to weaponize, and a US source was always the most likely origin.
The perpetrator probably had no relation to 9/11, or Iraq. In fact, his agenda may have been to increase domestic tensions to incite our invasion of Iraq. (Witness the spurious mention of bentonite, which was known to be an Iraqi addition to anthrax agents. It was not in the mailed anthrax, but plenty of news sources reported incorrectly that it was.) He might not have had any agenda; Ivins was obviously mentally ill.
No, sadly, I don't think these questions will ever be answered.
You *can* look like a bodybuilder without hormones or steroids -- many bodybuilders avoid those things. What nearly all of them do, however, is dehydrate themselves. If you dehydrate to the point that your fat cells shrink, then the muscle tone shows. This is obviously not recommended for anyone -- you might do less harm to your body by just taking the steroids.
I use wired earphones because holding the cell phone up to my ear gives me a headache. I don't have any causal relationship for it, I just know empirically that it does. But if it's more dangerous to use a wired earphone, I may give bluetooth a try.
It's more than that. Rorschach wandered outside in Antarctica and didn't come back. Dan knows he didn't take the owlship. One way or another, they're all complicit in Rorschach's death -- they didn't ask questions when he disappeared, and there's no sign that they even looked for him.
They gave up being heroes, gave up any pretense of changing the world for the better, because they were overwhelmed and outclassed. Probably for the best, in their situation....but me, I would have been Rorschach.
Maybe you can answer the question on my mind, then. After experiencing a week of healthy air, what are the chances that the public will complain again after the Olympics when they go back to breathing in the same old crud?
The same way protons and electrons avoid crashing into each other. The energy states are discontinuous and do not include zero. Once the bottomonium meson reaches its lowest state, it can't lose any more energy, so it can't get close enough to annihilate.
I checked on Google Earth before settling on an example. Paris to Amsterdam is 270 miles. New York to DC is 210 miles. Comparable distances. Both are extreme commutes, but there are plenty of people who make them. More importantly there are trucks delivering merchandise along that route daily, and along routes ten times larger from one coast of America to the other. The american economy is dependent upon long-distance driving.
I think it's fair to compare the US to individual European countries for this discussion, because we are talking about cultural values. Your EU countries set up their economic systems based on smallish regions that are well-served by rail lines. Now you're united, but you're not going to adopt the long-distance free-driving lifestyle that we have in America. Our lifestyle was developed based on tremendous distances accessible only by roads. We will now have to adopt something like the European lifestyle. And that transition will be painful.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed, why are some people just completely unable to comprehend that not *everyone* is a greedy bastard?
Because that's a basic precept of economics. Where there people who are not greedy bastards, economic theory breaks down.
You know what I find fascinating? This guy predicted a world in which millions of out-of-work geeks will *not* spend their copious free time arguing about anime and operating systems. Put in that perspective, he's either an optimist or clinically retarded.
One of the computers they are using is named 'Ultra Hal.' They even dare to use that name!
That's nothing. Here is a company called Cyberdyne that's making a robot suit called HAL.
It's like these people are taunting apocalyptic memes and daring them to come true.
I've told the NYT that I'm a 98 year old woman in California (because I remember the zip code 90210 from the TV show). Seems we have something in common. :)
This works in Windows, Linux, or any icon-based GUI.
1. Make a new folder (or directory).
2. Drag the icons for your applications (or shortcuts/links to them) into that folder.
3. Size and customize that folder to your liking. I suggest the height of the screen and one icon wide, stuck against the right side of the desktop. You can make it horizontal, make it a text list, adjust 'magnification' by adjusting icon size, etc.
4. Leave that folder open on your desktop.
I've been doing this on Windows machines for years. It's superior to the Start Menu list or the task bar because you can drag documents onto the icons and the applications will open them.
I suppose someone should patent task bars, desktop icon grids, and digital clocks next.
This sounds like a great idea, except for one thing. You DID break the law. You SHOULD have paid the fine.
I'm all in favor of finding ways around the surveillance state. But I wish there were ways for lawful citizens to avoid surveillance that did not also allow criminals to get away.
And I'll note that we have such omnipresent surveillance because of criminals like you that slip between the cracks. If people would own up and take responsibility for their bad behavior (or, ya know, not behave badly in the first place) then the state might be less inclined to monitor everyone, all the time.
Welcome to "How to ruin an economy 101: Start by taking away everything from those who know how to make and invest money, then give it to the worst investors you can."
Isn't that better than, "Take money away from those who don't know how to make it"? I mean, the people who know how to make money can go make more, right? Whereas if you take it from people who don't know how to make money, they'll remain destitute for life.
An upper class of hardworking geniuses that support the rest of their society seems to me to be a better thing than having a lower class of slaves.
And I speak as someone who's probably already in the upper class. Please, tax me more, and repair the roads/network infrastructure/health care in America. Because if I didn't have those things when I was clawing my way up, I'd have never made it this far.
Well, my point is, parts of Spore are too complex for a child, while other parts are too simple to keep the interest of an adult. Yes, you can play only the stages that interest you, but the game ties them all together, enticing you to try them all. But it's almost guaranteed that there is no person who will like every stage. I think that's a design flaw.
My problem with the controls is that they change between phases. In the creature phase, you move using WASD and look around with the mouse. In the tribal phase that's reversed -- you rotate and move the camera with WASD and move your selected units with the mouse. And, as stated, the key bindings are non-customizable.
Design decisions like that have diminished this game for me. The reviewer says it has a 'low learning curve', but it has you climb up the learning curve over and over and over again. And the penalties for not being a master of all the controls and tactics can be harsh, especially in the space stage. I worry that kids who love the creature stage will bawl with frustration when they set foot into the galaxy.
It's an okay game. I'd give it 7/10, and will probably stop playing it much after a week or so.
Don't know why nobody has said this yet, but...
I, for one, welcome our dinosaur-eating insect overlords.
The mass of new particles can be predicted with extreme precision using quantum theory. Lattice chromodynamics predicts new particles using theorized hyperspatial symmetries that we have extrapolated from the symmetries in known particles. Because these symmetries are extremely complicated, the masses of these postulated particles are calulated by computer. If the computer prediction matches up to the measured mass of a new particle, that's one step toward verifying the theory.
And yes, I know that even though all of that is accurate, it often sounds like it could have been made up on the spot. :)
Personally, I protest weekly in my town...
Oh you're that guy. I've seen you.
Um, not sure how to tell you this, but your 'THE END IS HERE' placard is looking a little worn. And you could really use a haircut. Hope this helps.
I would love to see solar and wind to become the only needed power source, but that isnt a reality.
Why isn't it?
These solar plants cover 12.5 square miles and deliver about 1/30,000th the world's energy consumption. At that efficiency, you could cover just 1/10th of the Sahara desert with solar plants and supply all the energy the world needs. It's also clear that solar energy has many advantages over other sources that are dirty and/or non-renewable.
The big problems for us are distribution and storage of energy. But generation? We've got generation handled, and plants like these prove it.
If I were going to be president six months from now, I'd make sure that we returned to the Moon, in force. I'd spend what it takes to put a permanent solar power base there, lasering back to a network of satellites and delivering cheap, clean power around the world.
And you'd fund it by selling pony rides on unicorns, and selling off unicorn farts as high-octane jet fuel. Not to mention all that gold you'd find from your 'Look for the end of the rainbow' initiative.
We do not have the resources to have both groundbreaking space exploration and a military as expensive as the rest of the worlds' combined. We have to break the back of the military establishment and end our wars (plural!) before we can hope to make any progress in space. I'd be very happy if Obama spent his eight years just putting our economic shit in order, so that the next president can talk seriously about going back to the moon.
And for those Bruce Willis fans out there, it's possible that Galileo nuked Jupiter for us.
'Weaponizing' anthrax means taking the spores from the mold and making them into uniform bits that are small enough to get into the alveoli in human lungs. This generally involves culturing the anthrax, then freezing it with an adulturant (such as bentonite), then shaving particles off carefully -- 'carefully' so that they are very small particles with no clumps, and also because you're creating a spray of fine particles that will kill you.
This is a very different process from creating a vaccine, but none of it is very difficult if you know the process. An immunologist would know how to culture the anthrax, and he could figure out the adulturation and grinding process without too much trouble.
Read the article. He was going to a shrink for years, and admitted to thoughts of suicide. He died from an overdose of prescription medication. I think 'obviously mentally ill' is a valid supposition.
Whether he was guilty or not is another matter. That's why I used 'the perpetrator' in my post above.
There's no mention of any potential motive for a "top government scientist" to start mailing anthrax.
And yet all the suspects were top US government scientists.
Face it -- this terrorist attack came from a US citizen. Anthrax is hard to weaponize, and a US source was always the most likely origin.
The perpetrator probably had no relation to 9/11, or Iraq. In fact, his agenda may have been to increase domestic tensions to incite our invasion of Iraq. (Witness the spurious mention of bentonite, which was known to be an Iraqi addition to anthrax agents. It was not in the mailed anthrax, but plenty of news sources reported incorrectly that it was.) He might not have had any agenda; Ivins was obviously mentally ill.
No, sadly, I don't think these questions will ever be answered.
You *can* look like a bodybuilder without hormones or steroids -- many bodybuilders avoid those things. What nearly all of them do, however, is dehydrate themselves. If you dehydrate to the point that your fat cells shrink, then the muscle tone shows. This is obviously not recommended for anyone -- you might do less harm to your body by just taking the steroids.
Can you give me a cite for this?
I use wired earphones because holding the cell phone up to my ear gives me a headache. I don't have any causal relationship for it, I just know empirically that it does. But if it's more dangerous to use a wired earphone, I may give bluetooth a try.
This week's lesson: this discovery comes not long after phosphorus was eliminated from most household laundry detergents by federal law.
Federal law in America and in most of Europe, apparently. I wonder how much of the developing world still uses phosphorus-based detergents?
It's more than that. Rorschach wandered outside in Antarctica and didn't come back. Dan knows he didn't take the owlship. One way or another, they're all complicit in Rorschach's death -- they didn't ask questions when he disappeared, and there's no sign that they even looked for him.
They gave up being heroes, gave up any pretense of changing the world for the better, because they were overwhelmed and outclassed. Probably for the best, in their situation. ...but me, I would have been Rorschach.
Maybe you can answer the question on my mind, then. After experiencing a week of healthy air, what are the chances that the public will complain again after the Olympics when they go back to breathing in the same old crud?
The same way protons and electrons avoid crashing into each other. The energy states are discontinuous and do not include zero. Once the bottomonium meson reaches its lowest state, it can't lose any more energy, so it can't get close enough to annihilate.
It is a doublet, also known as a meson. They're not long-lived, but they exist.
I have no idea why they didn't use the word 'meson' in the article. Bottomonium is a type of quarkonium, which is a type of meson.
I checked on Google Earth before settling on an example. Paris to Amsterdam is 270 miles. New York to DC is 210 miles. Comparable distances. Both are extreme commutes, but there are plenty of people who make them. More importantly there are trucks delivering merchandise along that route daily, and along routes ten times larger from one coast of America to the other. The american economy is dependent upon long-distance driving.
I think it's fair to compare the US to individual European countries for this discussion, because we are talking about cultural values. Your EU countries set up their economic systems based on smallish regions that are well-served by rail lines. Now you're united, but you're not going to adopt the long-distance free-driving lifestyle that we have in America. Our lifestyle was developed based on tremendous distances accessible only by roads. We will now have to adopt something like the European lifestyle. And that transition will be painful.