To put it bluntly, if you truly believe that a moon hotel is more important to humankind than saving innocent lives you are 1) stupid, and 2) an egotistical asshole.
Don't be ridiculous. A moon hotel is obviously not very important in the scheme of things. However, the technology to built it is probably the single most important thing we could possibly hope to develop. Remember, we're only Chicxulub rock away from extinction as long as we're trapped at the bottom of this gravity well. Unless we make the move into space, my kid, your kid, and a starving kid in Africa are equally at risk for total annihilation. Whether acknowledging that fact makes me 1) stupid or 2) egotistical is your decision.
I know it's tough to empathize with such ignorant and short-sighted people but they are out there...
You're right. It is tough to empathize with people who would trade a giant leap in the advancement of all human civilization for the short term gain of a few, however much they may need it. It's not that I want poor kids to starve, but I'd rather invest the money in something that would benefit all kids far more.
He should have better spent the money over the years, putting the money back into the cycle, instead of hoarding it.
Do you think he had a Scrooge McDuck-style vault filled with gold doubloons? He's an investor for Pete's sake, which by definition means that his money has been out circulating through the world to finance other peoples' dreams. When you say that such a man is worth $n dollars, you really mean that his outstanding loans are approximately worth $n dollars.
The world would be a better place if the personal wealth of someone would be restricted to a reasonable value (no-one really needs more than, say, 10 million dollars).
Have you ever read about how well such societies tend to do historically?
Legislation is unnecessary because telecoms would never engage in the kind of activity it would restrict, and
Legislation would harm competition.
All else aside, if a law wouldn't limit their behavior, how would it limit their behavior? I only heard a few minutes of the interview on my way to work, but Cleland immediately lost based on logical faults alone.
You're saying you prefer your holocaust denials to go un-opposed?
Your reading comprehension sucks. I don't think that a report about the deniers (presumably one making them look like ignorant jackasses) needs a "balancing" opinion from the deniers themselves.
Wasn't it in the eighties during Reagan's time that a bill was passed that removed the requirment for NEWS programs to offer balanced reports and present opposing views.
First, I too doubt that any such law ever existed. Second, if it did, good for Reagan! I don't want a news report on, say, holocaust deniers to have to present a balanced report of the opposing view. Imagine if all of Slashdot's criticisms of Fox News were required by law of all the other stations, too.
Up here in Soviet Canuckistan our state run news on CBC seems allot more balanced then the slhock coming from your Theo-Coporatocracy.
It's not surprising that Canada's national news will echo the sentiments of someone who describes the US as a "Theo-Coporatocracy". Given their government's current view of US politics, I would not have expected otherwise.
Remember, kiddies: 64-bits instead of 32 bits means you need 2x the RAM.
That's right! And your hard drive has to be twice as big because all of your binaries and data files will double in size. Not to mention that your DSL will downgrade to V.90, and your Ethernet card will turn into a tin can with a string hanging (loosely) from it.
Meanwhile, in our world, 64 bits means that pointers are bigger, but unless your MP3 codec has a separate pointer to each byte in its input files you probably won't notice much of a difference.
Actually, they want to open up the pharmaceutical patents and expand the privacy of Americans, too. So that's "healthcare wants to be less expensive" and "ourinformation wants to be private."
I'm not clear on this. In what way does ending pharmaceutical patents translate to cheaper drugs in the long term? What will encourage Big Pharm to invest their money into hyper-expensive R&D if they don't think they stand a reasonable shot at recuperating their money?
I agree that medicine is very expensive, but don't think that "stealing from the rich" is in the best interest of society.
I stand corrected: Again, MYSQL and HP are NOT Sponsors of SCO's laughable ploy, and probably have nothing whatsoever (or as little as possible) to do with SCO.
Bullshit. Google for SCO Forum 2006. Click the "sponsors" link. Read that HP is a Platinum Sponsor and MySQL AB is a Gold Sponsor. Now, that may mean $10 and $5 respectively, but you can bet your butt they're letting SCO use their names in the advertising.
Your idea of "as little as possible" covers a whole lot more than mine.
The way it was explained to me when I was in telephony was that the 99.999% applied only to getting a dialtone. That is, you didn't actually have to be able to call anyone, just that your line would produce that pleasing tone in your ear.
On the other hand, I've never been ubable to use a landline, at least to make local calls. Repeat: not once in my life have I ever picked up a phone and not been able to complete a local call. On one or two occasions I've received the "all circuits are busy" message when trying to call long-distance into disaster areas, but I've never personally experienced (or heard of) a local phone outage. While the 99.999% may be mythical, I'd have to anecdotally say that they come pretty darn close.
On the other hand, if you're using db2 for example you'll probably want to partition (with MDC - available even in free product) on day.
Is there any reason you're not also partitioning the PostgreSQL database, other than to make it look bad in the fictional benchmark? Maybe you can do more advanced partitioning with DB2 or Oracle - don't know, haven't used 'em - but PostgreSQL is certainly capable of the trivial example you mentioned.
For instance, I could define a "universal language standard" that encompasses C++, C, Java, C#, D, Smalltalk, Lisp, Algol, Fortran, and S/360 assembler code. Now how dumb would that be?
Or maybe they've improved a lot since I was in many moons ago.
They must have, if your opinion was ever valid in the first place. I was an operating room tech (Surgeon: "Scalpel." Me: Passes scalpel) at Naval Hospital San Diego in the mid '90s, and the surgery they were doing was absolutely first class. We had lots of famous visitors - a friend of mine got to scrub in on a chest case with Dr. DeBakey - and we performed a lot of routine operations that you're only now seeing in the civilian world.
I won't say that there aren't any bad doctors in the military, but there are plenty of brilliant ones to bring up the average. I wouldn't have thought twice about getting medical care for me or my family from the Navy.
I think you'll find that a requirement for a free civil society is a mixture of lawyers and guns.
Perhaps, although I'd pick guns over lawyers for making a safer, more enjoyable society (but again, I'd prefer that neither were necessary). I guess it really depends on which kind of lawyers we're discussing. I'm OK with prosecutors and defense attorneys - they both serve important roles. Civil lawyers are good for making sure a contract says what you think it says. Beyond that, I'd be hard pressed to name a worthwhile law specialty.
The sad thing is that the majority of sexual harassments are not done by strangers, but by relatives and family.
Got a reference for that? I'm not saying you're wrong, but my understanding was that date rape was a lot more common than incest.
That does not mean that strangers won't do such bad things. It is just that the focuspoint should be on preventing child abuse and sexual harassment in general, not just those that are done by strangers.
Even if you're right on the first part, external parties like MySpace can't do a lot to prevent family abuse. It's not like some sick bastard has to go online to meet his daughter. Finally, the scum that abuse their own kids aren't likely to be really big on teaching their kids prevention.
Re:What a ridiculous trend... CORBA to WebServices
on
The Rise and Fall of Corba
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
- authentication (no, dear MS people, HTTP basic is _NOT_ sufficient for the IBM MQ guys)
WS-Security, an OASIS standard (like OpenDocument Format), has been around since 2001. You may wish to update your SOAP knowledge.
But coding these days requires click and run...
No: it's all about the APIs and who's making them available. Got CORBA bindings for Google? How 'bout the National Weather Service? If nothing else, people are publishing SOAP APIs that we actually want to use. That alone makes it much more interesting that competing RPC protocols.
We use StarOffice for most of the PCs here because Texas' stupid "Robin Hood" law strips us of about $22,000,000 a year, forcing across-the-board budget cuts.
That's the most rational government act I've heard of lately. Congratulations to Texas for understanding that price and quality are two different attributes!
By your logic, Texas should be upgrading every PC in the state to Office '07. After all, that will be the current "state of the art" when this year's upcoming senior class graduates, and we wouldn't want Johnny Highschool to learn something as obsolete and non-real-world as Office '03. Never mind that he'll be too stupid to learn it on his own one afternoon when he gets his first real job - at least, according to your estimate of his abilities.
Quite frankly, if my boss discovered that a new hire was having trouble adapting to OpenOffice (which is the standard in our 50+ person company), they'd probably never make it past their probationary period. It's a shame that some people want to drop the bar for students so low.
Actually, yes. Unlike almost anyone else on line, I use my own name, so that people can tell when I (unlike, I'm sure, many others) offer their own writing.
While I respect your decision to link your online persona with your real world identity, that stance is hardly unique - or even all that rare. In other words, don't sprain your wrist patting yourself on the back.
maybe the Government should be able to "buy out" the patent and use it for the good of all mankind.....
First, I don't recall seeing that clause in the Constitution from which the government derives its legal powers.
Second, if BigCorp stood to make a billion dollars off that patent, how much would you be willing to pay them? If less than a billion, how would you justify confiscating their property without just compensation (fifth amendment)? If a billion of more, then what would the supposed benefits to society be and how would you avoid the inevitable corruption allegations ("you bought his patent but not mine - no fair!")?
Sorry, but the legal, ethical, and constitutional issues with your proposal far outway any possible benefit.
A large percentage of corporate users - those most likely to be interested in your project in the first place - are probably unamused at the politics evident in your
only screenshot. Yes, it's lighthearted. Yes, it's only cosmetic. But yes, it instantly reeks of "hippy in a basement".
Your project may be absolutely brilliant, but don't go out of your way to antagonize your potential customers even if your friends also think it's funny.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, I'm not surprised that California has taken so long, since they have so many giant redwoods.
I mean, since we're dropping non-sequiturs and all...
Don't be ridiculous. A moon hotel is obviously not very important in the scheme of things. However, the technology to built it is probably the single most important thing we could possibly hope to develop. Remember, we're only Chicxulub rock away from extinction as long as we're trapped at the bottom of this gravity well. Unless we make the move into space, my kid, your kid, and a starving kid in Africa are equally at risk for total annihilation. Whether acknowledging that fact makes me 1) stupid or 2) egotistical is your decision.
You're right. It is tough to empathize with people who would trade a giant leap in the advancement of all human civilization for the short term gain of a few, however much they may need it. It's not that I want poor kids to starve, but I'd rather invest the money in something that would benefit all kids far more.
Do you think he had a Scrooge McDuck-style vault filled with gold doubloons? He's an investor for Pete's sake, which by definition means that his money has been out circulating through the world to finance other peoples' dreams. When you say that such a man is worth $n dollars, you really mean that his outstanding loans are approximately worth $n dollars.
Have you ever read about how well such societies tend to do historically?
Well, Cleland claimed both that:
All else aside, if a law wouldn't limit their behavior, how would it limit their behavior? I only heard a few minutes of the interview on my way to work, but Cleland immediately lost based on logical faults alone.
Your reading comprehension sucks. I don't think that a report about the deniers (presumably one making them look like ignorant jackasses) needs a "balancing" opinion from the deniers themselves.
First, I too doubt that any such law ever existed. Second, if it did, good for Reagan! I don't want a news report on, say, holocaust deniers to have to present a balanced report of the opposing view. Imagine if all of Slashdot's criticisms of Fox News were required by law of all the other stations, too.
It's not surprising that Canada's national news will echo the sentiments of someone who describes the US as a "Theo-Coporatocracy". Given their government's current view of US politics, I would not have expected otherwise.
Ah, the good ol' Bunyan - the first system where I had root.
You can't? And to think that all this time I've been subcontracting for a company in an industry that doesn't exist.
That's right! And your hard drive has to be twice as big because all of your binaries and data files will double in size. Not to mention that your DSL will downgrade to V.90, and your Ethernet card will turn into a tin can with a string hanging (loosely) from it.
Meanwhile, in our world, 64 bits means that pointers are bigger, but unless your MP3 codec has a separate pointer to each byte in its input files you probably won't notice much of a difference.
I'm not clear on this. In what way does ending pharmaceutical patents translate to cheaper drugs in the long term? What will encourage Big Pharm to invest their money into hyper-expensive R&D if they don't think they stand a reasonable shot at recuperating their money?
I agree that medicine is very expensive, but don't think that "stealing from the rich" is in the best interest of society.
Bullshit. Google for SCO Forum 2006. Click the "sponsors" link. Read that HP is a Platinum Sponsor and MySQL AB is a Gold Sponsor. Now, that may mean $10 and $5 respectively, but you can bet your butt they're letting SCO use their names in the advertising.
Your idea of "as little as possible" covers a whole lot more than mine.
No one outside of marketing has ever used that word with a straight face. If you're going to astroturf, at least do it well.
On the other hand, I've never been ubable to use a landline, at least to make local calls. Repeat: not once in my life have I ever picked up a phone and not been able to complete a local call. On one or two occasions I've received the "all circuits are busy" message when trying to call long-distance into disaster areas, but I've never personally experienced (or heard of) a local phone outage. While the 99.999% may be mythical, I'd have to anecdotally say that they come pretty darn close.
Is there any reason you're not also partitioning the PostgreSQL database, other than to make it look bad in the fictional benchmark? Maybe you can do more advanced partitioning with DB2 or Oracle - don't know, haven't used 'em - but PostgreSQL is certainly capable of the trivial example you mentioned.
Hey, I kind of like Perl...
They must have, if your opinion was ever valid in the first place. I was an operating room tech (Surgeon: "Scalpel." Me: Passes scalpel) at Naval Hospital San Diego in the mid '90s, and the surgery they were doing was absolutely first class. We had lots of famous visitors - a friend of mine got to scrub in on a chest case with Dr. DeBakey - and we performed a lot of routine operations that you're only now seeing in the civilian world.
I won't say that there aren't any bad doctors in the military, but there are plenty of brilliant ones to bring up the average. I wouldn't have thought twice about getting medical care for me or my family from the Navy.
Perhaps, although I'd pick guns over lawyers for making a safer, more enjoyable society (but again, I'd prefer that neither were necessary). I guess it really depends on which kind of lawyers we're discussing. I'm OK with prosecutors and defense attorneys - they both serve important roles. Civil lawyers are good for making sure a contract says what you think it says. Beyond that, I'd be hard pressed to name a worthwhile law specialty.
Do we have to pick? Because I'm pretty cool with the idea of a society that doesn't need either of them.
Got a reference for that? I'm not saying you're wrong, but my understanding was that date rape was a lot more common than incest.
Even if you're right on the first part, external parties like MySpace can't do a lot to prevent family abuse. It's not like some sick bastard has to go online to meet his daughter. Finally, the scum that abuse their own kids aren't likely to be really big on teaching their kids prevention.
WS-Security, an OASIS standard (like OpenDocument Format), has been around since 2001. You may wish to update your SOAP knowledge.
No: it's all about the APIs and who's making them available. Got CORBA bindings for Google? How 'bout the National Weather Service? If nothing else, people are publishing SOAP APIs that we actually want to use. That alone makes it much more interesting that competing RPC protocols.
That's the most rational government act I've heard of lately. Congratulations to Texas for understanding that price and quality are two different attributes!
By your logic, Texas should be upgrading every PC in the state to Office '07. After all, that will be the current "state of the art" when this year's upcoming senior class graduates, and we wouldn't want Johnny Highschool to learn something as obsolete and non-real-world as Office '03. Never mind that he'll be too stupid to learn it on his own one afternoon when he gets his first real job - at least, according to your estimate of his abilities.
Quite frankly, if my boss discovered that a new hire was having trouble adapting to OpenOffice (which is the standard in our 50+ person company), they'd probably never make it past their probationary period. It's a shame that some people want to drop the bar for students so low.
How true. None of us our real name anywhere, or even provide their real email address (especially one that's obviously connected to their name).
While I respect your decision to link your online persona with your real world identity, that stance is hardly unique - or even all that rare. In other words, don't sprain your wrist patting yourself on the back.
First, I don't recall seeing that clause in the Constitution from which the government derives its legal powers.
Second, if BigCorp stood to make a billion dollars off that patent, how much would you be willing to pay them? If less than a billion, how would you justify confiscating their property without just compensation (fifth amendment)? If a billion of more, then what would the supposed benefits to society be and how would you avoid the inevitable corruption allegations ("you bought his patent but not mine - no fair!")?
Sorry, but the legal, ethical, and constitutional issues with your proposal far outway any possible benefit.
Your project may be absolutely brilliant, but don't go out of your way to antagonize your potential customers even if your friends also think it's funny.