And it is not surprising that many seem to require unnatural diets to occur (feeding meat to herbivores, forcing cannibalism where this is not found in nature, etc). For whatever prions might occur under normal circumstances, evolution has probably equipped us to stop the chain reaction, or deal with the products. Ones that can only spread under circumstances not found in nature OTOH, are "new" to the body and some of them may therefore accumulate in dangerous amounts.
Prions do not self replicate. They can merely spread their degenrate configuration to other preexisting molecules of the same kind. And this is only a problem when the degenerate version is highly stable and the body doesn't know how to deal with it.
using anti-prion medication probably won't work all the time as it would just breed a drug-resistant breed of prions
Not necesarily. Unlike the changes available for lifeforms with their own DNA, there is probably a finite number of ways a given human protein can degrade into a replicating prion configuration. Most proteins probaly have no capacity for becoming prions. For others, the body is perfectly capable of dealing with them.
The capacity to become a prion is already built into the structure of the host protein in question, not aquired through exposure. So while this evolution is probably real and possibly a stumbling block for therapies, it remains confined to the space of potential configurations already inherent in our proteome, of which only a very small subset will cause trouble as prions.
Everyone needs to learn statistics.
All of us who understand one iota of it are in a constant state of depression over how everyone keeps on making the most banal mistakes.
But just a general gripe is not very helpful. Getting everyone to take advanced degrees in statistics is simply not going to happen. Most engineering courses inclue some basics, but that only helps a bit. What is needed is to teach it (to the "masses", i.e. the ones who really ought to know better) in terms of the pitfalls first, and what to understrand the workarounds. Those who have no iterest in pursuing it further might still gain some insight about where to be careful, and those with potential might more easily see the point in investing in some real knowledge.
How about burning labs, a ski resort, condos and houses. Does that qualify?
Only if a central goal or effect is to incite terror in the adversary or its sympathisers.
If the operation is more suited to destroy the capacity for something they wish to prevent (even with casualties, in fact) the correct term is "sabotage".
"Terrorism" is a spescific term with a specific meaning, delineated by the intent and type of effect of a tactic . It is not a general measure of how "bad" something is. Plenty of things that are not terrorism will get people hurt.
Umm, there are only one hundred percentage points in the grand total. One of those is quite significant when there are no more coming.
Here's an exercise * Find a sheet of square-ruled paper. * Outline a 10-by-10 square area. * Fill in one of thhem * Reflect on those 100 being all there is.
Exactly. This is why there are hardly anyone today making any money on reporting outside of the BBC. Sorry, but when your central argument reaches _that_ level of bollocks, it is in fact OK to treat it as already refuted and proceed to mock the source for its arrogance and likley intentions.
It's almost as bad as the "Corrupt, biased and rich Big Science with the scary Agenda is throttling the flow of balanced and objective information from poor and struggling mom-and-pop oil corporations" shit/meme.
Perhaps you can put it a Red Sox sticker, or another "hetero" emblem?
Nope. Still "gay".
OK, calm down; I did put it in quotes for a reason. I meant it in the South Park sense, in order to highlight that it is _not_ a rational analysis, but rather grounded in cultural stereotypes about "coolness".
That only explains why we don't all get one, not why we despise those that do.
Personally I think it's because it just looks silly / "gay". Some, like TFA, might argue that this is the result of intrinsic aspects of its design. I suspect that it is a more than sufficient combination that A) We are not used to seeing it and B) It does not, unlike, say a motorcycle, exude power to counterbalance that unfamiliarity.
I believe if the regular bike was introduced today, reactions would be much the same.
If on the other hand you had infinite time and money, you could use genetic algorithmns, rapid prototyping, and a whole lot of robotics to do thousands of real-life tests until you have a close-to unbeatable design. Might take a year or two, dpending on the parrallellism, but hey, how cool would it be?
I do agree simulating in stead of prototyping would be nicer, but if we don't know if the sim is correct...:-)
Eye of the beholder man. I just see people concerned about mp3 players blowing up, even if the risk _is_ negligible to the individual owner. What is so strange and unlikely about that? Sound pretty normal to me.
Are you seriously suggesting this story would fly much differently if it was about the Zune or Zen?
From your post it seems like you want to become a software engineer (not a computer scientist). That's cool. I agree with all the people saying you could usefully learn at least one very different language, but it won't help you land jobs (only do them:-)
I would consider getting a certification in Java or C#. Both are widely used, and will be for some time, and you can leverage the knowledge you do have. Certifications are not as important as some would have you believe, but to anyone hiring a graduate for production work it will provide some safety, and you will become more secure in your chosen language.
But more importanly that that: read up on software engineering! Read some of the modern classics, and follow the writings of the gurus of modern imperative programming.
Wait a minute; what is it they really measure here? Is frequency of prayer really a good indicator of how religious you are?
I don't think they have correlated the treatment thing to strength of conviction or diligence in religious practice at all.
What they've done is correlate it to a recurring behavior pattern of irrationally trying to affect what is not under your control. Whooopee. Who'd have thunk it?
I don't see how photons of lower energy could be causing us problems.
And so the question inevitably arises: Do you in fact know enough about photons and radiation for your failure to see any problems to imply with any degree of probability that there are no problem problem? Or should our conclusion be simply "no, you don't, do you?".
Your implicit assumption that higher energy photons are universally more dangerous than lower energy photons would seem to speak for the latter.
... GPS devices should be outlawed... history books, almanacs, encyclopedias... Those should be outlawed too. Plus the internet... and possibly phones, the mail system, UPS, FedEx and other courier services. Then maybe we can finally feel safe!
Nope, they can still just go and scope out targets in real life. Better just raze it all to be on the safe side.
Slashdot Mirror
And it is not surprising that many seem to require unnatural diets to occur (feeding meat to herbivores, forcing cannibalism where this is not found in nature, etc). For whatever prions might occur under normal circumstances, evolution has probably equipped us to stop the chain reaction, or deal with the products. Ones that can only spread under circumstances not found in nature OTOH, are "new" to the body and some of them may therefore accumulate in dangerous amounts.
Prions do not self replicate. They can merely spread their degenrate configuration to other preexisting molecules of the same kind. And this is only a problem when the degenerate version is highly stable and the body doesn't know how to deal with it.
using anti-prion medication probably won't work all the time as it would just breed a drug-resistant breed of prions
Not necesarily. Unlike the changes available for lifeforms with their own DNA, there is probably a finite number of ways a given human protein can degrade into a replicating prion configuration. Most proteins probaly have no capacity for becoming prions. For others, the body is perfectly capable of dealing with them.
The capacity to become a prion is already built into the structure of the host protein in question, not aquired through exposure. So while this evolution is probably real and possibly a stumbling block for therapies, it remains confined to the space of potential configurations already inherent in our proteome, of which only a very small subset will cause trouble as prions.
Everyone needs to learn statistics. All of us who understand one iota of it are in a constant state of depression over how everyone keeps on making the most banal mistakes. But just a general gripe is not very helpful. Getting everyone to take advanced degrees in statistics is simply not going to happen. Most engineering courses inclue some basics, but that only helps a bit. What is needed is to teach it (to the "masses", i.e. the ones who really ought to know better) in terms of the pitfalls first, and what to understrand the workarounds. Those who have no iterest in pursuing it further might still gain some insight about where to be careful, and those with potential might more easily see the point in investing in some real knowledge.
There will be a continuous string of technical problems preventing the big kahuna right up until 2012. How long you want to party is up to you.
Also, CRTs have the advantage of additional weight, if you're going to use one as a boat anchor as well as a computer display.
Attacking communications infrastructure licensed and regulated by the federal government most certainly DOES make it domestic terrorism.
No it does not. Get thee to a dictionary.
How about burning labs, a ski resort, condos and houses. Does that qualify?
Only if a central goal or effect is to incite terror in the adversary or its sympathisers.
If the operation is more suited to destroy the capacity for something they wish to prevent (even with casualties, in fact) the correct term is "sabotage".
"Terrorism" is a spescific term with a specific meaning, delineated by the intent and type of effect of a tactic . It is not a general measure of how "bad" something is. Plenty of things that are not terrorism will get people hurt.
I have a feeling you're being a bit biased about which money and which channels for them you are following.
Umm, there are only one hundred percentage points in the grand total. One of those is quite significant when there are no more coming.
Here's an exercise
* Find a sheet of square-ruled paper.
* Outline a 10-by-10 square area.
* Fill in one of thhem
* Reflect on those 100 being all there is.
People now have private insurance
I note with interest whom you do and do not include in your definition of "people".
Exactly. This is why there are hardly anyone today making any money on reporting outside of the BBC. Sorry, but when your central argument reaches _that_ level of bollocks, it is in fact OK to treat it as already refuted and proceed to mock the source for its arrogance and likley intentions.
It's almost as bad as the "Corrupt, biased and rich Big Science with the scary Agenda is throttling the flow of balanced and objective information from poor and struggling mom-and-pop oil corporations" shit/meme.
I propose a new name: Shit+meme = Shmeme.
what exactly is their goal? To insure everyone?
To get the US out of the "developing nation" status that your lack of universal healthcare puts you in, as far as most of the free world is concerned?
Off the top of my head I cannot name a single instance when a software fault caused a plane crash
OK, I'm convinced. It can't possibly have happened, then.
Perhaps you can put it a Red Sox sticker, or another "hetero" emblem?
Nope. Still "gay".
OK, calm down; I did put it in quotes for a reason. I meant it in the South Park sense, in order to highlight that it is _not_ a rational analysis, but rather grounded in cultural stereotypes about "coolness".
That might actually be fun to watch.
Still holding out for massively multiplayer Calvinball, though.
That only explains why we don't all get one, not why we despise those that do.
Personally I think it's because it just looks silly / "gay". Some, like TFA, might argue that this is the result of intrinsic aspects of its design. I suspect that it is a more than sufficient combination that
A) We are not used to seeing it
and
B) It does not, unlike, say a motorcycle, exude power to counterbalance that unfamiliarity.
I believe if the regular bike was introduced today, reactions would be much the same.
If on the other hand you had infinite time and money, you could use genetic algorithmns, rapid prototyping, and a whole lot of robotics to do thousands of real-life tests until you have a close-to unbeatable design. Might take a year or two, dpending on the parrallellism, but hey, how cool would it be?
I do agree simulating in stead of prototyping would be nicer, but if we don't know if the sim is correct... :-)
"but it seems"
Eye of the beholder man. I just see people concerned about mp3 players blowing up, even if the risk _is_ negligible to the individual owner. What is so strange and unlikely about that? Sound pretty normal to me.
Are you seriously suggesting this story would fly much differently if it was about the Zune or Zen?
I've never met a utility company that would touch something once they got an inkling of a way in which it could be made somebody else's problem.
That's nothing. I've never met a utility company at all.
What if killer penguins decided to attack these floating nuke stations and because of that developed mutant powers? :P
Then they'd all pass on. These penguins would be no more. They would cease to be. They would expire and go to meet their maker.
They'd be stiffs. Bereft of life, they would rest in peace. If it want for the sea and frost they'd push up the daisies.
Their metabolic processes would then be history. They'd be off the twig.
They'd kick the bucket, they'd shuffle off their mortal coil, run down the curtain and join the bleedin' choir invisibile.
They would become...
The X-PENGUINS!
From your post it seems like you want to become a software engineer (not a computer scientist). That's cool. I agree with all the people saying you could usefully learn at least one very different language, but it won't help you land jobs (only do them :-)
I would consider getting a certification in Java or C#. Both are widely used, and will be for some time, and you can leverage the knowledge you do have. Certifications are not as important as some would have you believe, but to anyone hiring a graduate for production work it will provide some safety, and you will become more secure in your chosen language.
But more importanly that that: read up on software engineering! Read some of the modern classics, and follow the writings of the gurus of modern imperative programming.
Wait a minute; what is it they really measure here?
Is frequency of prayer really a good indicator of how religious you are?
I don't think they have correlated the treatment thing to strength of conviction or diligence in religious practice at all.
What they've done is correlate it to a recurring behavior pattern of irrationally trying to affect what is not under your control. Whooopee. Who'd have thunk it?
I don't see how photons of lower energy could be causing us problems.
And so the question inevitably arises:
Do you in fact know enough about photons and radiation for your failure to see any problems to imply with any degree of probability that there are no problem problem?
Or should our conclusion be simply "no, you don't, do you?".
Your implicit assumption that higher energy photons are universally more dangerous than lower energy photons would seem to speak for the latter.
... GPS devices should be outlawed ... history books, almanacs, encyclopedias ... Those should be outlawed too. Plus the internet ... and possibly phones, the mail system, UPS, FedEx and other courier services. Then maybe we can finally feel safe!
Nope, they can still just go and scope out targets in real life. Better just raze it all to be on the safe side.