Actually, no, you're NOT turned away, and I speak from firsthand experience. You may stand in line with 200 illegal aliens for several hours before you see a doctor, but you are not turned away, nor are you billed, other than possibly a relatively small flat fee (akin to an office call fee).
If you do have something dire going on, you go to the STAT queue which is much quicker.
"A physician practicing on the basis of his personal experience would never have a clue whether one class of accidents turns out to have a few more or less deaths than another when averaged over thousands and thousands of cases."
Perhaps not. But a physican can look at you and say, "Aha! You have a broken arm!" without first needing to know how far you fell.
Pretty much, regardless of why they're clear out here in the middle of bumfuck nullspace -- remember, Sol system is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, as the galaxy goes. So we're not going to get mainstream travellers regardless.
3) They might be criminals, political refugees, or any other "undesirable" on the run, who see our remote backward world as a good hideout (this falls somewhere between "planned" and "seredipitous" at least for them). Maybe the scum of their species, maybe the oppressed. Maybe they'll think "Cool, suckers to exploit!" or bring down their version of the law on our heads for harbouring a fugitive.
Not only that, but the next aliens that come along may believe the exact opposite, so trying to custom-craft your reactions is a mistake no matter how you plan it.
The mission is to steal sand from an American beach.
The Soviet Union sends a stealth submarine, which disgorges a camo'd scuba dude who swims up to the beach in the middle of the night, grabs some sand, and swims away.
"the kind of fun, mindless calibrating kids can do for hours"
That's an interesting insight. Maybe the popularity of such things today among adults is symptomatic of a society that increasingly, has never quite grown up.:(
Why would I want to put up with eyestrain and carpal-tunnel syndrome??
There's always some such objection from people who just don't see a particular attraction... very often because they've never tried it, or are simply poor at it -- but nonetheless have contempt for it.
"However, unlike how the conservative, pro-consumerism people who propose starting a business as the simple solution to your each and every economic woe will tell you, it is a very difficult thing to do and you will likely spend a large amount of time and energy making it profitable in the first place."
Funny thing, it's the liberal micromanage-everyone's-life types who made it this difficult to succeed at building a business. After all, the best road to a classless society is to make sure no one can do better than their neighbours!! See http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/permits-index.html for a bazillion examples all in one handy place.
Senator McGovern (if I recall rightly who it was) discovered this after he retired from the Senate, and learned that the very laws HE had pushed for made it impossible for him to follow his dream of owning a nice hotel. He then said flat out that if he'd known how hard he was making it for small business, he would never have supported such laws in the first place.
While that's true some places, it's not the case in California, New York, Florida, and just about any metro area in the U.S. Complying with all the regulations, permits, and fees is a major adventure. Hiring even one part-time employee in these areas is another adventure (if you do it wholly legally). Yeah, you can start a part-time business in your garage and hope no one catches you at it, but unless it involves eBay you're not going to make a living at it.
Check this out -- similar bullshit (same dance, different tune) applies to most types of business that are open to the public anywhere in California.
Only reason I use some CFLs at all is because it cuts about $100 off my electric bill -- CA's rates are THAT high. But I still don't like the damned things, mainly for the irritating fuzzy light. Have found that if I put one regular and one CFL in a given fixture, this helps the light quality considerably.
Does sound like I better go forth and find a few boxes of the real thing to hoard against future shortages:(
The other thing with the CFLs is that when they start toward the final fail, they get HOT. I don't mean overly warm, I mean fire-hazard hot. I've learned that as soon as they lose that annoying white edge and dim down a little, I need to start checking them regularly for excess heat output.
Is that why the alt-lightbulbs all seem to put "fuzzy edges" on everything? Can make doing precision work difficult, and very annoying in kitchen or bathroom.
The decision essentially means that if you unlock the passenger door, put something on the seat, then walk around the car to unlock the driver door -- while you are so walking, any passing cop can run over, open the passenger door, and take whatever is on the front seat, all without a warrant.
There are circle irrigation fields in Saudi Arabia, of all places. I found them by wandering around in Google Maps -- "what's this dark spot in the middle of the desert??" zoomed in, and lo and behold, it was a big patch of circle irrigators!
I've been told by someone who lived there that the isolated location helps avoid crop destruction by feral goats and other critters, not to mention that there's no need for pest control of any sort.
And Minnesota mosquitoes are mere twin-engine jobs. Alaska mosquitoes are jet-propelled.:)
Seriously, in MN you can get by with a good coating of OFF! but in AK it won't even slow them down. Folks there use a thick slather of "bear grease" to avoid terminal mosquito-caused anemia (as I mentioned above, actually thought to be the leading cause of death in caribou).
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, no, you're NOT turned away, and I speak from firsthand experience. You may stand in line with 200 illegal aliens for several hours before you see a doctor, but you are not turned away, nor are you billed, other than possibly a relatively small flat fee (akin to an office call fee).
If you do have something dire going on, you go to the STAT queue which is much quicker.
An AC says, "In other words, s/1620/1728/ and s/Red Indians/Aborigines/"
That's sure'nuf a properly geeky way to express it :D
"The same continent they [the British] kept trying, sometimes successfully, to invade, during the last thousand years."
But not until after they'd been well-instructed in the craft of invasion by the Celts, the Romans, the Saxons, and the Norman-French.
"A physician practicing on the basis of his personal experience would never have a clue whether one class of accidents turns out to have a few more or less deaths than another when averaged over thousands and thousands of cases."
Perhaps not. But a physican can look at you and say, "Aha! You have a broken arm!" without first needing to know how far you fell.
And where any problem that won't fit into a predefined pigeonhole clearly does not exist.
There's no room for judgment calls in such a system.
Pretty much, regardless of why they're clear out here in the middle of bumfuck nullspace -- remember, Sol system is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, as the galaxy goes. So we're not going to get mainstream travellers regardless.
3) They might be criminals, political refugees, or any other "undesirable" on the run, who see our remote backward world as a good hideout (this falls somewhere between "planned" and "seredipitous" at least for them). Maybe the scum of their species, maybe the oppressed. Maybe they'll think "Cool, suckers to exploit!" or bring down their version of the law on our heads for harbouring a fugitive.
Not only that, but the next aliens that come along may believe the exact opposite, so trying to custom-craft your reactions is a mistake no matter how you plan it.
That's a damned good question. Is there a UPS engineer in the house??
[goes off, looks it up]
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/10/20/172811.shtml seems to be a good overview. I get the point, anyway.
I'm also reminded of the old not-quite-a-joke:
The mission is to steal sand from an American beach.
The Soviet Union sends a stealth submarine, which disgorges a camo'd scuba dude who swims up to the beach in the middle of the night, grabs some sand, and swims away.
Red China sends a million tourists to the beach.
"The internet is like a microscope into the human psyche."
[unplugs computer and runs away screaming]
"the kind of fun, mindless calibrating kids can do for hours"
That's an interesting insight. Maybe the popularity of such things today among adults is symptomatic of a society that increasingly, has never quite grown up. :(
or playing computer games of any sort??
Why would I want to put up with eyestrain and carpal-tunnel syndrome??
There's always some such objection from people who just don't see a particular attraction... very often because they've never tried it, or are simply poor at it -- but nonetheless have contempt for it.
"However, unlike how the conservative, pro-consumerism people who propose starting a business as the simple solution to your each and every economic woe will tell you, it is a very difficult thing to do and you will likely spend a large amount of time and energy making it profitable in the first place."
Funny thing, it's the liberal micromanage-everyone's-life types who made it this difficult to succeed at building a business. After all, the best road to a classless society is to make sure no one can do better than their neighbours!! See http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/permits-index.html for a bazillion examples all in one handy place.
Senator McGovern (if I recall rightly who it was) discovered this after he retired from the Senate, and learned that the very laws HE had pushed for made it impossible for him to follow his dream of owning a nice hotel. He then said flat out that if he'd known how hard he was making it for small business, he would never have supported such laws in the first place.
While that's true some places, it's not the case in California, New York, Florida, and just about any metro area in the U.S. Complying with all the regulations, permits, and fees is a major adventure. Hiring even one part-time employee in these areas is another adventure (if you do it wholly legally). Yeah, you can start a part-time business in your garage and hope no one catches you at it, but unless it involves eBay you're not going to make a living at it.
Check this out -- similar bullshit (same dance, different tune) applies to most types of business that are open to the public anywhere in California.
http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/permits-index.html
Haha... actually the problem is with things like pulling slivers, cleaning contacts, anything that needs light with a hard edge.
Having lived for extended periods without electricity or running water, I've already had THAT practice :)
Do you know offhand what flash version syfy.com requires??
No disagreement here, on either count :)
Only reason I use some CFLs at all is because it cuts about $100 off my electric bill -- CA's rates are THAT high. But I still don't like the damned things, mainly for the irritating fuzzy light. Have found that if I put one regular and one CFL in a given fixture, this helps the light quality considerably.
Does sound like I better go forth and find a few boxes of the real thing to hoard against future shortages :(
The other thing with the CFLs is that when they start toward the final fail, they get HOT. I don't mean overly warm, I mean fire-hazard hot. I've learned that as soon as they lose that annoying white edge and dim down a little, I need to start checking them regularly for excess heat output.
Is that why the alt-lightbulbs all seem to put "fuzzy edges" on everything? Can make doing precision work difficult, and very annoying in kitchen or bathroom.
While I was RTFAing, this car analogy came to me:
The decision essentially means that if you unlock the passenger door, put something on the seat, then walk around the car to unlock the driver door -- while you are so walking, any passing cop can run over, open the passenger door, and take whatever is on the front seat, all without a warrant.
Okay, who bubble-wrapped the planet??
There are circle irrigation fields in Saudi Arabia, of all places. I found them by wandering around in Google Maps -- "what's this dark spot in the middle of the desert??" zoomed in, and lo and behold, it was a big patch of circle irrigators!
I've been told by someone who lived there that the isolated location helps avoid crop destruction by feral goats and other critters, not to mention that there's no need for pest control of any sort.
Each planet is essentially a monoculture -- very much in the spirit of Trek!!
And Minnesota mosquitoes are mere twin-engine jobs. Alaska mosquitoes are jet-propelled. :)
Seriously, in MN you can get by with a good coating of OFF! but in AK it won't even slow them down. Folks there use a thick slather of "bear grease" to avoid terminal mosquito-caused anemia (as I mentioned above, actually thought to be the leading cause of death in caribou).