Re:What happens when life IS found
on
Methane on Mars?
·
· Score: 1
None of which has any bearing on the topic at hand, which is the (hypothetical) discovery of bacteria on Mars. The theological implications of that would be trivial, which was my point. If you want to change the subject and talk about what if intelligent life were discovered, that's fine, but don't give me a pedantic lecture because what I said on this subject doesn't apply to that subject.
Well, in the sense that we're all Sendmail users and Apache users and BIND users (i.e. we interact with them on a day-to-day basis, even if we don't run them on our own systems),/.ers are (by definition) all Linux users (and Perl users). Of course that makes most of us Windows users as well, since it's hard to get through the day without hitting some site running IIS or Exchange.
Personally, I think it's silly that people try to pigeonhole me as a [insert OS here] user since I use (i.e acting as a local or authenticated remote operator or user of) anywhere from 4-8 different OSes over the course of a typical week.
Perhaps, but it is nonetheless a pain in the ass for those who would become "power users" of the tool in question.
Apple has simply come to a conclusion obvious to anyone who does much software support: if you include a printed manual, most users won't read it (even when they have a question), making it a waste of trees (and money). As for the would-be power users, that's what the after-market book industry is for. (Garage Band for Dummies is no doubt on the way.) So the people who don't/won't read the manual don't have to pay for one to be printed and shipped, and the people who want/need one, will buy one.
I used spacers, so the only parts touching cardboard are parts that usually touch the case or mounting brackets. And it's vented. I don't leave it on all the time; the whole point of using the box was so I'd have a machine I could take easily from place to place.
I don't see why not. The end I opened would need some extra tape to keep it closed, and I'd put some not-too-sticky tape over the ports to protect them. The biggest problem would be the power button getting pushed and it coming to life.
This is a more refined version of what I did recently, mounting a standard ATX motherboard (with integrated video), a sideways-mounted ethernet card, a 1U power supply, and a 20GB hard drive in a FedEx box, with a power and reset switch and an HD LED on one side. I had room in the box for a stock CD drive, but didn't bother, since I rarely use removable media. I did leave an unused IDE cable and power lead available near the opening in the end of the box, just in case (since the IDE connectors on the motherboard are inaccessible).
One substantial difference is that I used only the cardboard box itself as a mounting infrastructure; I didn't build a little case and then wrap the Windows or Linux box around it, like this does.
(Also noteworty is Google Sets [google.com], however I can't find many uses for it yet).
OK, this may not be a terribly practical use, but it's interesting: I just put in my first name and the first names of my two sisters, wondering if (against all odds) it would complete the set with my parents' names. Instead Google returned a set of four items: the three names I'd given it, plus a fourth name... which happens to be a name my parents considered giving to my little sister, and would have been on the short list if they'd had another child. It's probably just picking up on name preferences of the 1960's in my parents' culture, but in a sense it "predicted" what my baby sister would have been named.
"The first time anyone tried to do that, there would be such a hue and cry," said Michael Aisenberg, director of government relations for VeriSign, an ICANN contractor that keeps the master list of domain name suffixes like ".com." "You would be such a pariah, you would have your role as a custodian ripped away from you."
Nice to know that someone at Verisign has some understanding of that.
Scheduled for launch by NASA in August 2005, this orbiter will be equipped with what NASA calls the "most powerful camera ever flown on a planetary exploration mission." It will take extreme close-up images of Mars' surface.
With Spirit and Opportunity practically shoving their lenses into the dirt, I'm not sure that "extreme close-up" is the best way to describe photos taken from orbit.
Re:What happens when life IS found
on
Methane on Mars?
·
· Score: 1
True, but what happens when/if intelligent life is found that worships a completely different omnipotent God?
Haven't we already seen the answer to that, here on Earth?
But you're right that intelligent alien life would present new theological problems, especially to the One True Way religions. Some would take the "many faces of God" approach and say that "ia!8&k/'4s" is just another name for "Jehovah" or "Allah". The fact that the Antareans aren't children of Adam and Eve might take the edge off the missionary reflex, though I wouldn't count on it. Original Sin doctrine itself would be the trickiest to reconcile... but current theory about the evolution of species is already a bigger threat to that, by insisting that suffering and death pre-dated the Fall of Adam by millions of years.
If we found life on Mars with DNA that was mirrored compared to our DNA, what would that tell us?
That a transporter accident involving an Organian force field sent Terran bacteria to Mars instead?*
*cf. Spock Must Die! by James Blish
Re:What happens when life IS found
on
Methane on Mars?
·
· Score: 1
Islam, I think puts Mohammed in a special place and his message would have to originate on Earth and spread outward. I do not think there could be multiple Mohammeds. I am not qualified to speak regarding the Jewish religion.
[IANARabbi or even a Jew]
Judaism is not (by its nature) an evangelical religion, so the idea of a "message" to all sentient beings doesn't really apply. It is somewhat Earth-specific, however. The basic principle of it is that G-d is the sole creator of the Universe, and has a special covenant with the children of Abraham. In this context, sentient Martians, Vulcans, etc. would be just another bunch of goyim along with the Greeks, Egyptians, Inuit, Chinese, etc. I don't think the discovery of alien life would be a problem, except perhaps to require revisiting the rules of the Torah to see how they apply (as Jewish rabbis have done many times over the centuries)... e.g. Is it kosher to eat Martian algae, or are they traif?
...they will just 'adapt' their view of the universe...
When scientists do that, we call it "the scientific method". When species adapt, we call it "evolution". But when individuals with theological beliefs do it, you call it "sad". Your prejudices are showing. Spare us the unholier-than-thou attitude.
Re:What happens when life IS found
on
Methane on Mars?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Comments like this just demonstrate how clueless many atheists are about others' beliefs. (I don't buy much of it either, but at least I know what I'm not buying.) Nowhere in the Torah, the Gospels and Epistles, the Quran, or any other holy scripture I'm aware of, does it say that there is no life outside this world. No contradiction means no problem. To most theists, the discovery of life on Mars would just be yet another example of the wonders of God's creation.
the dominant Canadian accent corresponds very closely to the dominant American accent.
That's because they all live on our border and watch our TV shows.:) Seriously, the accent we're talking about here evolved mostly in the Great Lakes region, where there's always been plenty of interaction between the two countries. When you get away from that area (e.g. Newfoundland, Georgia) the similarities fade.
Its not that different from noting the similarities between Tyneside and Lothian accents. Sure, one's English and the other Scottish, but they're neighbors.
Don't tell me that English in England should be called "British English"... we don't refer to "French French" just because some Canadians speak it too.
No, but we might call it "Southern French", "Parisian French", "Norman French", "Provencal French", etc.:)
French is an unusual case in linguistics, however, as the people who live where it originated are (at least officially) trying very hard to keep it from evolving naturally.
I can relate to your inability to pronounce a Spanish RR, because I have a hard time with it as well. But sometimes I pull it off effectively, and I've had classmates who routinely nail it. What it sometimes takes is speech therapy (the same kinds of techniques used to teach kids not to talk like Elmer Fudd or Sylvester the cat), but it's certainly not a matter of "can't".
With Japanese speakers and the English L and R sounds, it can be a combination of not hearing the difference and not being able to pronounce them distinctly. These are two separate issues, so different individuals will make different mistakes, depending on which part they're having difficulty with. For example, you can probably hear the difference between R and RR, but you can't enunciate the latter. But you might not be able to hear the subtle difference between a B and a V, so you misspell words with them in it.
If I (a person who lives in America and speaks US English; no born American (thank goodness)) were to go to England and converse with an Englishman; who would have the accent, me or him? The obvious answer, as a lot of Americans fail to realize, is me.
I shared a flat with 5 UK citizens while at university in Scotland. We all had accents. There was a Glaswegian accent, a northern highlands accent, a Mancunian accent (i.e. Manchester), a Birmingham(?)-by-way-of-Australia accent, an East London accent, and a midwestern American accent (mine). (Plus a Welsh classmate whom I never could understand.) They occasionally made fun of me by talking funny like I did (especially the way I said my name), but I did the same with each of them.
I thought it was the language in the satellite countries that changed the least. And the language in the original country that changed and evolved the most.
One thing that has pushed the evolution of American English (more so than British) is the ongoing influx of non-native speakers adopting it. Britain has had immigrants of its own since the American colonies were created, to be sure, but particularly since that nasty split with the British, American English has been spoken more by former Africans, Germans, French, Chinese, Norwegians, Poles, Mexicans, Dutch, Koreans, Arabs, etc. than by former Britons. That had to affect its pronunciation (and might explain some of the regional variations, depending on which immigrants settled where).
Slashdot Mirror
None of which has any bearing on the topic at hand, which is the (hypothetical) discovery of bacteria on Mars. The theological implications of that would be trivial, which was my point. If you want to change the subject and talk about what if intelligent life were discovered, that's fine, but don't give me a pedantic lecture because what I said on this subject doesn't apply to that subject.
Personally, I think it's silly that people try to pigeonhole me as a [insert OS here] user since I use (i.e acting as a local or authenticated remote operator or user of) anywhere from 4-8 different OSes over the course of a typical week.
Apple has simply come to a conclusion obvious to anyone who does much software support: if you include a printed manual, most users won't read it (even when they have a question), making it a waste of trees (and money). As for the would-be power users, that's what the after-market book industry is for. (Garage Band for Dummies is no doubt on the way.) So the people who don't/won't read the manual don't have to pay for one to be printed and shipped, and the people who want/need one, will buy one.
I used spacers, so the only parts touching cardboard are parts that usually touch the case or mounting brackets. And it's vented. I don't leave it on all the time; the whole point of using the box was so I'd have a machine I could take easily from place to place.
Duh. That's what I get for ./ing a work. I need to do it when I'm fully awake.
I don't see why not. The end I opened would need some extra tape to keep it closed, and I'd put some not-too-sticky tape over the ports to protect them. The biggest problem would be the power button getting pushed and it coming to life.
One substantial difference is that I used only the cardboard box itself as a mounting infrastructure; I didn't build a little case and then wrap the Windows or Linux box around it, like this does.
The Russians got that close first. Their "Mars 2" lander's brakes didn't work and it crashed on the surface, way back in 1971.
OK, this may not be a terribly practical use, but it's interesting: I just put in my first name and the first names of my two sisters, wondering if (against all odds) it would complete the set with my parents' names. Instead Google returned a set of four items: the three names I'd given it, plus a fourth name... which happens to be a name my parents considered giving to my little sister, and would have been on the short list if they'd had another child. It's probably just picking up on name preferences of the 1960's in my parents' culture, but in a sense it "predicted" what my baby sister would have been named.
You need to tell it to do a large set.
Nice to know that someone at Verisign has some understanding of that.
With Spirit and Opportunity practically shoving their lenses into the dirt, I'm not sure that "extreme close-up" is the best way to describe photos taken from orbit.
Haven't we already seen the answer to that, here on Earth?
But you're right that intelligent alien life would present new theological problems, especially to the One True Way religions. Some would take the "many faces of God" approach and say that "ia!8&k/'4s" is just another name for "Jehovah" or "Allah". The fact that the Antareans aren't children of Adam and Eve might take the edge off the missionary reflex, though I wouldn't count on it. Original Sin doctrine itself would be the trickiest to reconcile... but current theory about the evolution of species is already a bigger threat to that, by insisting that suffering and death pre-dated the Fall of Adam by millions of years.
That a transporter accident involving an Organian force field sent Terran bacteria to Mars instead?*
*cf. Spock Must Die! by James Blish
[IANARabbi or even a Jew]
Judaism is not (by its nature) an evangelical religion, so the idea of a "message" to all sentient beings doesn't really apply. It is somewhat Earth-specific, however. The basic principle of it is that G-d is the sole creator of the Universe, and has a special covenant with the children of Abraham. In this context, sentient Martians, Vulcans, etc. would be just another bunch of goyim along with the Greeks, Egyptians, Inuit, Chinese, etc. I don't think the discovery of alien life would be a problem, except perhaps to require revisiting the rules of the Torah to see how they apply (as Jewish rabbis have done many times over the centuries)... e.g. Is it kosher to eat Martian algae, or are they traif?
When scientists do that, we call it "the scientific method". When species adapt, we call it "evolution". But when individuals with theological beliefs do it, you call it "sad". Your prejudices are showing. Spare us the unholier-than-thou attitude.
'Fraid so.
Bad science.
Bad writing.
Bad movie.
Comments like this just demonstrate how clueless many atheists are about others' beliefs. (I don't buy much of it either, but at least I know what I'm not buying.) Nowhere in the Torah, the Gospels and Epistles, the Quran, or any other holy scripture I'm aware of, does it say that there is no life outside this world. No contradiction means no problem. To most theists, the discovery of life on Mars would just be yet another example of the wonders of God's creation.
That's because they all live on our border and watch our TV shows. :) Seriously, the accent we're talking about here evolved mostly in the Great Lakes region, where there's always been plenty of interaction between the two countries. When you get away from that area (e.g. Newfoundland, Georgia) the similarities fade.
Its not that different from noting the similarities between Tyneside and Lothian accents. Sure, one's English and the other Scottish, but they're neighbors.
Not at all, it was an acute mistake...
There are also those who say that circumflex is a mistake.
No, wait... I'm thinking of circumcision . Never mind.
No, but we might call it "Southern French", "Parisian French", "Norman French", "Provencal French", etc. :)
French is an unusual case in linguistics, however, as the people who live where it originated are (at least officially) trying very hard to keep it from evolving naturally.
With Japanese speakers and the English L and R sounds, it can be a combination of not hearing the difference and not being able to pronounce them distinctly. These are two separate issues, so different individuals will make different mistakes, depending on which part they're having difficulty with. For example, you can probably hear the difference between R and RR, but you can't enunciate the latter. But you might not be able to hear the subtle difference between a B and a V, so you misspell words with them in it.
I shared a flat with 5 UK citizens while at university in Scotland. We all had accents. There was a Glaswegian accent, a northern highlands accent, a Mancunian accent (i.e. Manchester), a Birmingham(?)-by-way-of-Australia accent, an East London accent, and a midwestern American accent (mine). (Plus a Welsh classmate whom I never could understand.) They occasionally made fun of me by talking funny like I did (especially the way I said my name), but I did the same with each of them.
One thing that has pushed the evolution of American English (more so than British) is the ongoing influx of non-native speakers adopting it. Britain has had immigrants of its own since the American colonies were created, to be sure, but particularly since that nasty split with the British, American English has been spoken more by former Africans, Germans, French, Chinese, Norwegians, Poles, Mexicans, Dutch, Koreans, Arabs, etc. than by former Britons. That had to affect its pronunciation (and might explain some of the regional variations, depending on which immigrants settled where).
When you consider that the name "Firefox" was first unveiled only 7 weeks ago, I'd say near-parity with its predecessor represents pretty wide usage.