The US may be a founding power, but I'm also a "founding power" of a LUG that I no longer have any say in.
The fact is: the US has money and power. UN politicians (which are mostly the political castoff from the various European nations) generally want this power, and they try and leverage "popular opinion" to get the US to give money to certain causes that the UN wants to support. Or so they say - they really just want to syphon a large amount of the money and power off the top to keep for themselves.
You may think this flamebait, but if you look at the history of the UN over the last 30 years, you'll see it is indeed quite true.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The fed, at least according to the constitution, has no say in the matter.
This really isn't surprising, IMO. It's already possible (and incredibly simple) to test for sugar level trends (ie not just the current blood sugar level), stress levels (long term), heavy metal levels, parasites, and any number of other things through very simple wet slide and dry smear microscope tests. I'm guessing they just found the pattern that indicates anxiety.
That's OK, I got the sniffles a week ago and went to the doctor, who told me it was the flu. I was better the next morning, so no big deal. It appears I now have immunity, and you wasted your time getting a shot. Pfeh!
From a national perspective (and from a "survival of the race" perspective as well), it would probably be best to infect as many of the world's population, then. The few that would survive (well, I think I heard 50% of the population) would retain immunity to this specific strain of flu preventing a widespread resurgeance, and further bolster the general human immunity to the flu in the future.
Also, I read somewhere that some descendants of the people that surived the black plague have full immunity to the HIV (and thus, AIDS). I don't recall the specifics of why, but having a large part of the population (and their descendants, to a lesser degree) immune to a particularly deadly flu variant would certainly be a good thing for the overall immune systems of humanity.
Eh? The black plague didn't set us back 200 years, you nitwit.
The black plague occured from 1347 - 1340. That's three years. During that period of time, there were also plagues throughout the rest of the world which may or may not have been related (I don't know the specifics). I would suspect they were, as worldwide travel and commerce were just starting to become prevailant.
During and after the plague for 100 years, there were immense steps of progress made in pure science, medicine, navigation, sanitation, and mechanics. If anything, the plague promoted further inventions and provoked people to think, "how can we fix things?"
Hardship brings out the best and worst of people. Some people seek to destroy, while ohters seek to repair and build. If it wasn't for the black plague (and its subsequently related plagues every generation), we would never have discovered (or possible had the motivation to discover) many of the niceties that we now take advantage. People would've simply gone on living the status quo for
Go read a book or something. Inventions, discoveries, and other strides of human ingenuity are often paralleled by great catastrophies or unpleasant events which people are trying to circumvent.
Great! Then, as a smoker, I should be fine, even though I fit in that age category.
Besides, don't we have technology now that theydidn't back then, allowing us to 'fix' that problem? For instance, being able to siphon liquid off the lungs.
I smoke, drink, sleep less than 5 hours a night, have alergies during the early fall season, eat poorly, and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I've not had a cold in 3 years.
Certain people simply have different immune systems.
If the shit hits the fan that severely, you're not going to care about your "identity", and it's really not going to be important. Food, water, and remaining alive will be far greater concerns than your mother's maden name.
Not only that, but it would a good time to fall underneath the radar, as it were. Start over.
You'll get the wrong answer if you ask the wrong question. The same thing happens when you derail the topic by mentioning something unrelated.
So what if an animal has an imagination? That has little to do with an animals ability to consciously conceptualize, or to see new solutions to problems and then act on their vision. Blind mimicry or acting on instict are not signs of "advancement" in any sense of the word. They're direct contradictions.
Also, dreaming (whether it's you or the dog) has nothing to do with coherrency, reason, or "advancement". Dreams very rarely make sense, which is because a dream is basically your brain performing a core dump of the day's emotions and experiences.
The difference here is that no other species has the concept of being advanced. Hell, they don't even have the concept of concept. So, in the terms of reasoning, yes, we are the "most advanced".
So, gorillas (and other primates) use tools. BFD. Elephants use tools. Spiders can make tools. Dolphins can be trained to use tools. Pretty much any animal with a limited set of natural tools suited to their environment can learn how to use tools.
I'm not sure I see what the big deal is, as this doesn't "prove" anything.
If you want to get a balanced taste of that "wonderful" part of the country, you'll also bring a couple rape recovery kits and some triage first aid kits.
Seems like a waste of time, gas, and money to travel that far just to bring down a single UHaul full of supplies. Now, if your manhours are the main thing you're donating, that's another story. But for that many people, I'd think you'd want at least that much equipment just to keep yourselves going (food, clothes, boots, tools, etc.)
Hard to say, but this is what I would bring for myself: - a firearm, preferably something small and easy to carry (a pistol or revolver would do nicely). Load it (preferably) with snake shot (LOTs of unfriendly snakes down there) and something to kill larger two-legged vermin or dogs (like hollowpoints). - single-piece rubber boots. I think some call them "galoshes" but the ones I'm thinking of are thick rubber. They're durable, and will keep your feet dry in the worst of conditions. - two changes of clothing per day. - bug spray - garlic (you eat it and rub it on your skin - keeps skeeters at bay. also very good at naturally detoxifying your body and boosting the immune system) - vitamin C (your body needs more of it under stress, and it will help keep you healthy) - vitamin B (skeeters don't like it either) - soap and washcloth, deoderant (you might not get a chance for a full bath, but basic sanitation is necessary to remain healthy) - and at least 1/2 a gallon of water per-person for bathing. - a fold-out chair (like the small canvas and aluminum frame ones) - you won't want to sit down on the ground in many of these places - a poncho that allows you to still be mobile and functionally useful while wearing it - at least 3 changes of socks per day - icy hot - crowbar, hammer, and tool belt - rope. I like parachute cord, though most any variety would probably be useful if you needed it at all - fire - always valuable, though if you don't know what kind of 'living' situation you'll be in down there... - tent/sleeping eqiupment - same as fire... if you don't know where you're staying, you'll have to be prepared.
In general, one thing applies: always be prepared. If you think you won't actually need it (iPod), you won't. If you think you'll need it, you might, but probably won't. If you don't think you'll need it (say, jerry cans), you'll likely need 3x as many as you were planning to bring, but left at home due to space constraints....
Well, it depends on who's perspective you're looking from. From a managerial perspective, 20 servers running mail is much better than 1, because it's more money they get to push around, and it results in more power and influence. Thus, the "manager" type will see exchange as being better, no matter what, because this is somewhere that a Linux solution will never compete.
I will continue to be bored by this genre until they give the cars guns, mines, and possibly other weapons ala "James Bond". They had this figured out, to some degree, in the 1990's, as I remember playing several games in the arcades and on game systems (Rock 'n' Roll Racing, one of my all-time favorites) that fit this bill. What's wrong with game developers that they don't do that now? Anyone know of such games?
NFS + missile launchers, oil slicks, and mines would rock my face clean off its bone. C'mon, people! If you can upgrade an engine, you can upgrade a weapon system...
Not to mention, "a small number of people actually thinking it was good and recommending it to their friends". Of the dozens of people I know that saw it within the first couple weeks, only two said it was "very good", and they both went to see it 2 more times each. They also thought Episode I and II were good, though. Everyone else I knew that saw it thought it was "OK, but better than the 1st and 2nd".
I didn't see EpIII until this past month, and I was most certainly not wow'ed by it. Overall, better than I and II, but not as good as RotJ. There were no noteable scenes, and all the CGI characters, IMO, really detracted from the personable nature of the film.
Asimov was a pacifistic dreamer. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you, but this is reality. Not everyone is pacifistic, and there are most certainly segments of people in our world who would not hesitate to kill if it meant an increase in social status for themselves.
It is morally repugnant to an honorable person (a 'warrior') to have machines fighting wars for you.
There is something to be said for efficient tools to reduce the causalties within your military forces (tanks, air support, artillery, small arms, body armor, etc.), but it comes down to this crucial point: if you remove all disinsentive for engaging in conflict with an enemy, a people will have little protest against wanton wars.
That said, there's no substitute for troops on the ground. You can hide your peoople in a bunker which control your robots, or you can hide away the servers running the AI coordination for the robots, but if that facility is breached, any robot killing machine (which isn't a "combatant", as only a sentient can be a combatant) that is not autonomous is functionally useless and might even be used against you.
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The US may be a founding power, but I'm also a "founding power" of a LUG that I no longer have any say in.
The fact is: the US has money and power. UN politicians (which are mostly the political castoff from the various European nations) generally want this power, and they try and leverage "popular opinion" to get the US to give money to certain causes that the UN wants to support. Or so they say - they really just want to syphon a large amount of the money and power off the top to keep for themselves.
You may think this flamebait, but if you look at the history of the UN over the last 30 years, you'll see it is indeed quite true.
Actually,
Article [X.]
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The fed, at least according to the constitution, has no say in the matter.
This really isn't surprising, IMO. It's already possible (and incredibly simple) to test for sugar level trends (ie not just the current blood sugar level), stress levels (long term), heavy metal levels, parasites, and any number of other things through very simple wet slide and dry smear microscope tests. I'm guessing they just found the pattern that indicates anxiety.
That's OK, I got the sniffles a week ago and went to the doctor, who told me it was the flu. I was better the next morning, so no big deal. It appears I now have immunity, and you wasted your time getting a shot. Pfeh!
From a national perspective (and from a "survival of the race" perspective as well), it would probably be best to infect as many of the world's population, then. The few that would survive (well, I think I heard 50% of the population) would retain immunity to this specific strain of flu preventing a widespread resurgeance, and further bolster the general human immunity to the flu in the future.
Also, I read somewhere that some descendants of the people that surived the black plague have full immunity to the HIV (and thus, AIDS). I don't recall the specifics of why, but having a large part of the population (and their descendants, to a lesser degree) immune to a particularly deadly flu variant would certainly be a good thing for the overall immune systems of humanity.
Eh? The black plague didn't set us back 200 years, you nitwit.
The black plague occured from 1347 - 1340. That's three years. During that period of time, there were also plagues throughout the rest of the world which may or may not have been related (I don't know the specifics). I would suspect they were, as worldwide travel and commerce were just starting to become prevailant.
During and after the plague for 100 years, there were immense steps of progress made in pure science, medicine, navigation, sanitation, and mechanics. If anything, the plague promoted further inventions and provoked people to think, "how can we fix things?"
Hardship brings out the best and worst of people. Some people seek to destroy, while ohters seek to repair and build. If it wasn't for the black plague (and its subsequently related plagues every generation), we would never have discovered (or possible had the motivation to discover) many of the niceties that we now take advantage. People would've simply gone on living the status quo for
Go read a book or something. Inventions, discoveries, and other strides of human ingenuity are often paralleled by great catastrophies or unpleasant events which people are trying to circumvent.
Great! Then, as a smoker, I should be fine, even though I fit in that age category.
Besides, don't we have technology now that theydidn't back then, allowing us to 'fix' that problem? For instance, being able to siphon liquid off the lungs.
What's your point?
I smoke, drink, sleep less than 5 hours a night, have alergies during the early fall season, eat poorly, and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I've not had a cold in 3 years.
Certain people simply have different immune systems.
Why bother keeping all that stuff?
If the shit hits the fan that severely, you're not going to care about your "identity", and it's really not going to be important. Food, water, and remaining alive will be far greater concerns than your mother's maden name.
Not only that, but it would a good time to fall underneath the radar, as it were. Start over.
Er, outdoorsness?
Was it the fine red clay/dust on your shoes or something else about the outdoors that caused this to happen?
Not to mention anyone that owns or fires a firearm (including anyone in the military), uses fertilizers, or takes any number of medications.
Yeah, but this is twice as stupid, so they had to post it again.
You'll get the wrong answer if you ask the wrong question. The same thing happens when you derail the topic by mentioning something unrelated.
So what if an animal has an imagination? That has little to do with an animals ability to consciously conceptualize, or to see new solutions to problems and then act on their vision. Blind mimicry or acting on instict are not signs of "advancement" in any sense of the word. They're direct contradictions.
Also, dreaming (whether it's you or the dog) has nothing to do with coherrency, reason, or "advancement". Dreams very rarely make sense, which is because a dream is basically your brain performing a core dump of the day's emotions and experiences.
No kidding. 10 years of observation, and only 2 instances of tool use?
Sorry, how is that even remotely groundbreaking or impressive? You could almost chalk thoes kinds of odds up to random chance.
The difference here is that no other species has the concept of being advanced. Hell, they don't even have the concept of concept. So, in the terms of reasoning, yes, we are the "most advanced".
That poor gorilla. That bitch wouldn't even let him eat!
So, gorillas (and other primates) use tools. BFD. Elephants use tools. Spiders can make tools. Dolphins can be trained to use tools. Pretty much any animal with a limited set of natural tools suited to their environment can learn how to use tools.
I'm not sure I see what the big deal is, as this doesn't "prove" anything.
If you want to get a balanced taste of that "wonderful" part of the country, you'll also bring a couple rape recovery kits and some triage first aid kits.
Seems like a waste of time, gas, and money to travel that far just to bring down a single UHaul full of supplies. Now, if your manhours are the main thing you're donating, that's another story. But for that many people, I'd think you'd want at least that much equipment just to keep yourselves going (food, clothes, boots, tools, etc.)
Hard to say, but this is what I would bring for myself:
- a firearm, preferably something small and easy to carry (a pistol or revolver would do nicely). Load it (preferably) with snake shot (LOTs of unfriendly snakes down there) and something to kill larger two-legged vermin or dogs (like hollowpoints).
- single-piece rubber boots. I think some call them "galoshes" but the ones I'm thinking of are thick rubber. They're durable, and will keep your feet dry in the worst of conditions.
- two changes of clothing per day.
- bug spray
- garlic (you eat it and rub it on your skin - keeps skeeters at bay. also very good at naturally detoxifying your body and boosting the immune system)
- vitamin C (your body needs more of it under stress, and it will help keep you healthy)
- vitamin B (skeeters don't like it either)
- soap and washcloth, deoderant (you might not get a chance for a full bath, but basic sanitation is necessary to remain healthy)
- and at least 1/2 a gallon of water per-person for bathing.
- a fold-out chair (like the small canvas and aluminum frame ones) - you won't want to sit down on the ground in many of these places
- a poncho that allows you to still be mobile and functionally useful while wearing it
- at least 3 changes of socks per day
- icy hot
- crowbar, hammer, and tool belt
- rope. I like parachute cord, though most any variety would probably be useful if you needed it at all
- fire - always valuable, though if you don't know what kind of 'living' situation you'll be in down there...
- tent/sleeping eqiupment - same as fire... if you don't know where you're staying, you'll have to be prepared.
In general, one thing applies: always be prepared. If you think you won't actually need it (iPod), you won't. If you think you'll need it, you might, but probably won't. If you don't think you'll need it (say, jerry cans), you'll likely need 3x as many as you were planning to bring, but left at home due to space constraints....
Here's my guess: they had an 'undercover' MS employee working there who would make sure things went "as planned".
Why else would this get news unless someone made point of directing the reporters towards it?
Well, it depends on who's perspective you're looking from. From a managerial perspective, 20 servers running mail is much better than 1, because it's more money they get to push around, and it results in more power and influence. Thus, the "manager" type will see exchange as being better, no matter what, because this is somewhere that a Linux solution will never compete.
I will continue to be bored by this genre until they give the cars guns, mines, and possibly other weapons ala "James Bond". They had this figured out, to some degree, in the 1990's, as I remember playing several games in the arcades and on game systems (Rock 'n' Roll Racing, one of my all-time favorites) that fit this bill. What's wrong with game developers that they don't do that now? Anyone know of such games?
NFS + missile launchers, oil slicks, and mines would rock my face clean off its bone. C'mon, people! If you can upgrade an engine, you can upgrade a weapon system...
Not to mention, "a small number of people actually thinking it was good and recommending it to their friends". Of the dozens of people I know that saw it within the first couple weeks, only two said it was "very good", and they both went to see it 2 more times each. They also thought Episode I and II were good, though. Everyone else I knew that saw it thought it was "OK, but better than the 1st and 2nd".
I didn't see EpIII until this past month, and I was most certainly not wow'ed by it. Overall, better than I and II, but not as good as RotJ. There were no noteable scenes, and all the CGI characters, IMO, really detracted from the personable nature of the film.
Asimov was a pacifistic dreamer. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you, but this is reality. Not everyone is pacifistic, and there are most certainly segments of people in our world who would not hesitate to kill if it meant an increase in social status for themselves.
It is morally repugnant to an honorable person (a 'warrior') to have machines fighting wars for you.
There is something to be said for efficient tools to reduce the causalties within your military forces (tanks, air support, artillery, small arms, body armor, etc.), but it comes down to this crucial point: if you remove all disinsentive for engaging in conflict with an enemy, a people will have little protest against wanton wars.
That said, there's no substitute for troops on the ground. You can hide your peoople in a bunker which control your robots, or you can hide away the servers running the AI coordination for the robots, but if that facility is breached, any robot killing machine (which isn't a "combatant", as only a sentient can be a combatant) that is not autonomous is functionally useless and might even be used against you.