But when you go back far enough, it does requires the belief that everything which set off the chain of events somehow came into being without an intelligent creator.
Preconceived notions about how the universe came into being have nothing to do with science. Furthermore, you don't need to know all the details about how things came into being to practice science.
There's nothing to "believe" in when it comes to science (it works either way) but if the fear of death makes people interested, that's great.
After all, science has brought us not only longer lives, but more fulfilling, healthier lives with less suffering. If you're worried about death it's just sensible to turn to science.
Encrypted mail is a problem of convenience, not technology.
That's only partially true -- there's no way to encrypt or hide the recipient of the email. Do you want the government to know if you're talking to the "wrong" people?
Is there any chance that this and the Verizon metadata will cause real outrage, by which I mean by enough citizens to have some political effect?
If you remember aaaalll the way back to 2005, a whistleblower at AT&T in San Francisco made public the NSA's secret wiretapping program. Despite ongoing lawsuits brought on by the EFF, it doesn't seem like the majority of the public really cared at all.
Seems like most people simply don't give a shit about their rights. The government could announce a plan to cut every man's dick off, and few would complain. Well, some cranky newspaper columnists might complain about the "hippie protesters," but that's it.
Fed Ex, UPS, and most large supermarkets are union operations. Less business for them means less power for union bosses and more power for individual citizens.
Right, because nothing says "power for individual citizens" like sweatshops and 80 hour workweeks.
XML doesn't magically solve everything in this regard. If there's no good documentation for the format, it's unlikely you'll be able to display everything exactly as intended. Likewise, if the format is hideously complex (see: Microsoft Office Open XML) or there's bugs in the de-facto implementation, it's going to be tricky to reverse engineer.
I'd also point out that MS Office spits out compressed XML. I believe it's based on ZIP, which is very well documented, but that's yet another hurdle to cross. And then you have to deal with the binary format of the XML itself -- ASCII, UTF8, etc.
People don't advertise their mental illnesses in bars either. You usually find out that stuff by meeting them in person and getting to know them. And you're going to do that anyway, no matter how you met them, as that's the entire point, isn't it?
Maybe not for you, me, or your average Slashdot reader. But there certainly are people out there who are socially adept enough to rapdily pick out the problematic types in a crowd.
Foxconn hates producing products for Apple, is actively seeking other partners.
Foxconn's customer list includes HP, Dell, Acer... pretty much every major computer company in the world. But don't let facts get in the way of your blind consumerism!
Back when BlockBuster instituted "No Late Fees" I knew they were doomed. Basically they were profiting on bad luck and stupidity of which people are never short. So then BB had to profit from providing a quality service. Doomed!
That move was a hail mary for Blockbuster, they'd already lost to Netflix & Friends at that point. Besides, it wasn't really a "no late fee" policy so much as a "we'll eventually charge the full cost of the movie to your card if you don't return it" policy. Not the same thing.
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A nickel mine might not be the most environmentally friendly thing in the world, but what about drilling for oil? Is that giant spill in the gulf a couple years ago really better for the environment than mining for nickel?
I was the president of the ACM chapter at my university for a while. Here's a few of the activities we did, maybe it'll give you some ideas:
* Programming competitions. This is a fun way to learn how to solve new problems, and works best in groups. Look into TopCoder and ACM-ICPC for sample problems.
* Textbook lending library. Get students to donate their used textbooks and make them available to students studying in the lab. This way students will skip buying the books and spend more time together studying.
* Video game party. Get some game consoles, TVs/monitors, and some pizza. Social games like Rock Band and sports games usually work well for this.
To a large extent the GUI a solved problem. The issue here is more fundamental: different desktops have completely different configurations, themes, different icons may/may not be available, different shell options, online account systems, keyrings, dock indicators, tray icons, etc. etc.
Even if you survive the nightmare of programming for a system like this, you'll never survive supporting it.
Making your app work with Unity and Gnome 3 is bad enough. Throw in Mate or XFCE and you're fucked. Time is always limited, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my time writing a polished app than an unpolished app that's compatible with many different desktops.
Choices have cost: the Linux community's continued refusal to acknowledge this has left the Linux desktop in a continuous state of disrepair.
What they have is a tethered airplane, not a kite.
If I understand their website correctly, it takes off and lands like a VTOL, but once it's in the air it acts primarily as a glider. If needed the turbine/engines can be used to propel it like an airplane for short periods.
So it's not exactly a kite, it's more of a mashup between a helicopter, a glider, and an airplane.
Slashdot Mirror
And they finally dropped the strange 8-tab maximum on Mobile Safari!
Preconceived notions about how the universe came into being have nothing to do with science. Furthermore, you don't need to know all the details about how things came into being to practice science.
There's nothing to "believe" in when it comes to science (it works either way) but if the fear of death makes people interested, that's great.
After all, science has brought us not only longer lives, but more fulfilling, healthier lives with less suffering. If you're worried about death it's just sensible to turn to science.
That's only partially true -- there's no way to encrypt or hide the recipient of the email. Do you want the government to know if you're talking to the "wrong" people?
If you remember aaaalll the way back to 2005, a whistleblower at AT&T in San Francisco made public the NSA's secret wiretapping program. Despite ongoing lawsuits brought on by the EFF, it doesn't seem like the majority of the public really cared at all.
Seems like most people simply don't give a shit about their rights. The government could announce a plan to cut every man's dick off, and few would complain. Well, some cranky newspaper columnists might complain about the "hippie protesters," but that's it.
I kinda doubt that, since Miguel now uses a Mac.
The rate of unemployment has nothing to do with whether employees should be able to eat, make rent, and be able to retire some day.
Many Wal Mart employees make less than $10 an hour. They're on strike for a reason.
Right, because nothing says "power for individual citizens" like sweatshops and 80 hour workweeks.
Between Google Shopping Express and Instacart, it's safe to say that Webvan has been fully resurected.
XML doesn't magically solve everything in this regard. If there's no good documentation for the format, it's unlikely you'll be able to display everything exactly as intended. Likewise, if the format is hideously complex (see: Microsoft Office Open XML) or there's bugs in the de-facto implementation, it's going to be tricky to reverse engineer.
I'd also point out that MS Office spits out compressed XML. I believe it's based on ZIP, which is very well documented, but that's yet another hurdle to cross. And then you have to deal with the binary format of the XML itself -- ASCII, UTF8, etc.
More importantly the FAA would have some words with you.
Maybe not for you, me, or your average Slashdot reader. But there certainly are people out there who are socially adept enough to rapdily pick out the problematic types in a crowd.
Foxconn's customer list includes HP, Dell, Acer... pretty much every major computer company in the world. But don't let facts get in the way of your blind consumerism!
That move was a hail mary for Blockbuster, they'd already lost to Netflix & Friends at that point. Besides, it wasn't really a "no late fee" policy so much as a "we'll eventually charge the full cost of the movie to your card if you don't return it" policy. Not the same thing.
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A nickel mine might not be the most environmentally friendly thing in the world, but what about drilling for oil? Is that giant spill in the gulf a couple years ago really better for the environment than mining for nickel?
No idea about the manufacturing side, but Tesla recycles their batteries as efficiently as possible.
* Can you power a Tesla Model S with non-polluting renewable energy?
* Can you power a gasoline SUV with non-polluting renewable energy?
One should think about those two questions for a moment before saying that the Tesla pollutes more than an SUV.
I was the president of the ACM chapter at my university for a while. Here's a few of the activities we did, maybe it'll give you some ideas:
* Programming competitions. This is a fun way to learn how to solve new problems, and works best in groups. Look into TopCoder and ACM-ICPC for sample problems.
* Textbook lending library. Get students to donate their used textbooks and make them available to students studying in the lab. This way students will skip buying the books and spend more time together studying.
* Video game party. Get some game consoles, TVs/monitors, and some pizza. Social games like Rock Band and sports games usually work well for this.
Ah yes, nothing says "freedom" like buying a product from the Chinese government.
Wait until Stallman realizes he's "sacrificed his freedom" just by turning on a computer.
To a large extent the GUI a solved problem. The issue here is more fundamental: different desktops have completely different configurations, themes, different icons may/may not be available, different shell options, online account systems, keyrings, dock indicators, tray icons, etc. etc.
Even if you survive the nightmare of programming for a system like this, you'll never survive supporting it.
Making your app work with Unity and Gnome 3 is bad enough. Throw in Mate or XFCE and you're fucked. Time is always limited, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my time writing a polished app than an unpolished app that's compatible with many different desktops.
Choices have cost: the Linux community's continued refusal to acknowledge this has left the Linux desktop in a continuous state of disrepair.
There's awesome hackerspaces all over the world, you should be able to locate them very easily with this newfangled thing called "The Google."
If I understand their website correctly, it takes off and lands like a VTOL, but once it's in the air it acts primarily as a glider. If needed the turbine/engines can be used to propel it like an airplane for short periods.
So it's not exactly a kite, it's more of a mashup between a helicopter, a glider, and an airplane.