While I think there should be a lot more independent testing before making too much hay of this,
the kind of logic that states; "the evidence is too obvious to be considered evidence" is really troubling me. What happens if most of the public has this mentality? I think we can look at recent US events to figure that out.
"Why would they have an identifiable URL?" That is not a critique. There are a lot of people in prison right now, because they did some very bone-headed things. If you do a LOT of crime, you are more and more likely to be tripped up by a bone-headed move.
"How can you have a conspiracy with people involved?"
"Why does everyone talk about this, with something this big, everyone would know."
>> There is a kind of dangerous acceptance of the status quo -- as bad as the "everything is a conspiracy" big foot crowd (apologies if we do one day find Big Foot), that is unable to accept the obvious -- because the conclusion is unacceptable. Why would Haliburton be linked to by a P2P by the way? Evil company that has been found guilty of defrauding the American taxpayer of $20 Billion and moved to Dubai, involved in an effort to spy on everyone's computers? Preposterous! The mere fact that there are so many accusations of wrong-doing makes it impossible that they are guilty.
Here is another related but seemingly off topic point; The Media and our Government, have told us; "Oh my Social Security is going to go bankrupt." What I just learned is that SS isn't supposed to BE AN ACCOUNT. It is supposed to go to Zero once the Baby Boomers are done retiring. In the 1980's, Reagan doubled the SS tax on the individual from 7 to 14% in order to allow for the Baby Boomer increase. SS was always intended as a money transfer from people working and too people retiring.
What does this have to do with a research plateau? America is falling apart. We have big companies, fat cats, people on the gravy train, who just take and take and take from our educated work force, from our infrastructure, and then have brainwashed us that the only sin is taxes.
Well taxes used to be 90% of people earning more than $3 Million, and we had the most booming and prosperous economy in the world. Higher education was free for anyone who wanted it (college a bit rarer at the time -- but many civilized nations pay for this). Taxes should be lower for working folks -- but in the end, what everyone pays is what everyone pays.
It is only in RELATIVE costs to businesses and individuals that you get distortions in the economy.
Well, enough with the economics lessons -- people either get it about the Commons or they don't. We don't seem to be moving around on efficient and clean trains everywhere in my state, so it's pretty obvious that MOST people don't understand it yet. Why are US businesses not competitive? Health Care. Anyway, why build it in the US when you can make it cheaper somewhere else and ship it in? America can has an infinite supply of retail jobs and middle managers -- I'm sure that manufacturing nothing, protecting nothing, and educating nothing won't have a down side.
Just pay attention to a 100 year old steam pipe bursting in New York. You will start to see signs of things just wearing out. Because we keep passing on the costs to the next people. The cuts in education, the lack of protection for high technology production, the outsourcing of our vital infrastructure. These chickens are coming home to roost.
As the "decency" party that has given us our supreme court, gets the power they want, you will see more intellectuals leaving for "smarter" locals.
Wow. You just sited all the really good NeoCon talking points. Looks like SlashDot is going to need a new, NeoSlashDot, where we check loyalty before login.
Let's break it down; McCain-Feingold censoring of political speech that criticizes incumbent politicians before elections. >> Real translation; this bill was to stop large corporations and Pacs from running issue ads. Propaganda is real and rampant -- and thanks to this, we will hear how we have all the best of all Health Care systems just before the 2008 elections; "Don't jeopardize your good care by being forced to see a socialist doctor..." cue the spooky music. In the next election, multi-billion $ multinational corporations, will tell us how Oil is clean, there is no global warming, we need to have vouchers to end the "hand out" of public education, we are just fine paying 15% more next year for crappy health care. They might as well just put up some white noise and flash "go to sleep," for 20 hours before each election. Because, when there is money involved -- that equals free speech. I however, who don't want my kids to have asthma, or fight in the next pointless resource war, obviously have nothing important enough to put on the TV -- because I don't have a Billion $ slush fund, nor do all my friends who just want to breathe air as well.
- Reinstitution of the fairness doctrine to censor all "controversial" broadcasts >> BS. The "Fairness Doctrine" was to have any NEWS outlet, be required to have someone on air to argue the other side of the issue -- so you get Rush on, with someone debating him, or you get Rush and then somebody smart on the next hour. It doesn't mean RUSH doesn't get to BS you for a good 4 hours a day. It just means that the "PUBLIC" air waves can't be used for just one political point of view.
I don't think this solves much -- so I'm not too worried about it failing. Cross-Fire was a nice example, of how two sock puppets can argue both sides of the wrong issue. Having a Poser as a Liberal doesn't mean you get the Liberal point of view -- just someone who seems like a wimp who is arguing with someone in a nicer suit.
- Opening the door for terrorists to sue ordinary citizens who say "I saw something suspicious" to security personnel >> Um, the real law, is that everyone can sue. We have courts and judges and things like that who can determine the merits. It's a pretty good system. What your nice point is making, is that people "our government has determined without a court of law to be terrorists may not have the right to the courts." Perhaps you could be a little more clear and just say; "Habeus Corpus is for Commies."
- PBS censors film for not being sensitive to radical "insurgents" who threaten folks who argue for moderation >> Don't really care what the story is. I doubt you understand moderation.
- Don Imus shut up by Al Sharpton's forces >> Wow, I missed the recruitment poster. Al Sharpton is an ambulance chaser poser. Imus was as critical of the administration as any Liberal -- I've heard worse stuff out of Rush Limbaugh's mouth. Sharpton works for Zuckerman -- nobody voted for this boob to represent anyone who can get offended and get cash. I don't certainly control him -- so he represents Al Sharpton. Don Imus is an idiot -- and if you support his comment as something people shouldn't apologize for -- you are an idiot.
That said, Don Imus was let go because MSNBC was looking to squeak by with a media consolidation issue, and being nice and Liberal before the Democrats for a few months seemed like a good corporate decision. But thanks for blaming a cracker losing money for his company, and then getting slammed by an ambulance chaser on Liberalism. I suppose we should just get rid of the Emancipation Proclamation and bring back Jim Crow -- how could we have been so wrong?
- Numerous incidents on college campuses >> Whatever. I suppose if we let the Clan rally happen once a year, we can let some NeoCons indoctrinate our
I don't understand when you talk about airwaves on radio and TV as public.
If they were public, people who put out propaganda and lied, would be in trouble. I'm a HELL of a lot more worried about my kids not understanding economics, and civics, and the TRUTH than I am about them hearing a swear word or seeing a boob. My son was breast fed -- so far, nakedness has not hurt him either.
Just read a recent story about $480 Billion in frequency bandwidth being given away without compensation. Did I get any money for that? No. But I can tell you, the Media didn't get it for FREE -- they are going to put out some darn good corporate and government swill for that $480 billion windfall.
I can guarantee you that the FCC will use this arbitrarily, and will happen to find offenders who happen to also be expressing a little too much anti CorpGov sentiment. Both Bush and Cheney now have uttered expletives to the public and I don't see them getting fines.
We are organisms. Mitochondria are in a symbiotic relationship with humans (most mammals) that is USUALLY beneficially. When we go into an oxygen-starved state, we can actually survive for some time by using anaerobic processes in our ATP cycle -- much like working out beyond our Aerobic capacity. What has been recently discovered is that the Mitochondria mistake the quick uptake of oxygen as a metastasis of cancer, so in their simple way, they are trying to "take one for the team" and they kill the cell they are in so that other cells might survive. The problem is -- this is the entire body. So the Mitochondria are causing cell death during resuscitation. The hypothermia technique is a way to slowly revive a person even many hours after their heart has stopped by slowing the oxygen uptake -- before your cells begin to break down, that is.
Now, the more complicated discussion this has brought about is "what are we?" We are more advanced in most things, mentally, than other organisms on our planet.
I've always felt that "spirit" might equate better to reality than "soul". But this bothers a lot of people, because it would mean that we have only "more" of something than our pets, and it is a point of discussion to say we are better than dolphins.
Organically, there doesn't seem much evidence for the classic Christian definition of a soul (and in most of their texts, life begins with the first BREATHE and ends with the last -- the bible doesn't support notions of conception). For instance, if you switch someone off (they die) and back on again. You can usually end up with the same person. Like a computer that is off -- as long as everything was "stored" will be able to retrieve everything.
But if you wipe the memories, the continuity is gone. It's possible for someone to be a different person after amnesia. Both the "feelings" you have -- your general attitude and well being that is organic, and the collection of baggage that makes up your drives (memory), go into creating your personality. Change your chemistry -- like with drugs, and you can love everybody or go crazy. We don't normally go through these sorts of radical fluctuations eating, for instance, a hamburger, so we get to have the comfy notion of how we are going to react. Of course, drugs, war, extreme changes if the world -- can disabuse of the notion of "who we are." I knew a very advanced man in the area of Psychopharmacology, and he told me he could make someone a killer with the right chemicals in an aerosol. So, within hour normal environment and chemistry -- we have a consistent behavior, but change our environment or a few neurotransmitters, and we can behave differently.
If there were a soul, that determined the "type" of person we were. What does that even mean if you can give someone a drug and steal their sanity? You could say; "I'm me as long as I'm drug free," but if I put you on a diet of just sugar, after a few days you would be one cranky, violence-prone individual.
Add to this the idea of "who we are." If there were something besides the organic storing of memories, then people who woke up after a brain trauma with complete amnesia would be the same person. That isn't the case. And if we somehow have a soul that allows us to have eternal life in the clouds somewhere - then there has to be a backup copy of our memories hidden somewhere not in our brain -- because head trauma people can lose every memory (beyond what is stored as reflex) and those memories are specific to areas in the brain. I can lose speech ability, or my childhood depending upon what part of my brain shuts down. If this changes who I am and how I act -- is there a sliding scale when I go before Saint Peter?
Most of us are decent people, when we aren't stressed. We'd like to think we are always good. I might return a briefcase with a million bucks in it -- even if I don't believe that I have a "reward for me in heaven." It has a lot to do with our I was raised -- or with animals, we would say, how they were trained. I can also
The US is merely a "home base" for multinational corporations who use our military to force adoption of their companies in various countries. You can look at how they are trying to get ANWR oil reserves -- which I believe are high sulfur content, so it would be an export.
Many multinationals don't pay taxes in the US. It's very easy to never show a profit if you can buy a Widget for outrageous amounts from your subsidiary in some off-shore tax haven. So our politicos have been bribed to look the other way, as the middle class gets squeezed. When the poop hits the fan -- much like Germany in WW I, I'm sure these carpet baggers will be running the same scam in another country they allow to prosper for a while before they harvest. You can just look how Prescott Bush was playing both sides in WW II as he bankrolled Buckenwald. Patriotism is just a scam for the unwashed.
Most of the Carlysle Groups companies, including KBR and Haliburton, are in Dubai. It really is an international concern, and I doubt it gives a crap about the US economy. Everything this government has done has been to reduce the Middle Class, and help multinationals. If we attack Iran, for instance, Big Oil and Russia will prosper. The US will be personna non grata around the world. What did Putin talk to Bush about in Crawford? How about; America plays "bad cop" for a while, and you can increase your iron grip on Russia by building up your military do defend yourself. Bush and Putin are really kindred spirits -- but Bush is a better actor. He cracks himself up with that Texas drawl coming from Connecticut. The guy didn't see a farm until after college -- so you tell me who Bush really is. Putting up that anti-missile system is just a boondoggle for profit -- that tech doesn't work, and I'm sure Putin knows it. If there were real animosity, I could understand his concern about more US bases on his border. But I have a feeling that the re-start of the cold war helps Putin and Bush bring in more tyranny in their respective countries.
Back to Iran; Will China merely stop buying our money in retaliation? Probably not. They are stuck at an 11% growth rate -- so that train is going to wreck if it ever stops. China will just buy up more of our infrastructure rather than depend upon the declining value of the US Dollar (which is based upon oil). Seems to me, that the rivalries showing on the world stage are all for show. Bush has safely steered any talk about the genocide in Africa away. That's where China is setting up their oil "freedom" initiative.
In Iraq, I'm guessing that their government doesn't have long to live. Either they give us Production Sharing Agreements (us, meaning BushCo), or we never leave. Cheney seems to be making headway on his efforts to bomb Iran.
But the Democrats seem to be getting some backbone and forcing the senate to stay awake until they end their filibuster seems to indicate that they know the clock is ticking. If they don't get rid of Bush and his entire cabinet NOW, then the Iran war and economic collapse and probably martial law are not far behind. If they don't understand this then we need new Democrats.
Has a weekly show on Saturdays called "Ring of Fire." The Kennedys tend to repeat a lot of first names. And due to their honesty and courage, tend to be REALLY unlucky.
This isn't a change in tactic, so much as the usual "part 2" of the Microsoft tactic.
Company X says they are coming out with something cool.
MS says they are going to have that too, in the Me-Too Y product.
When the cool product comes out -- if it survives the hype of having to compete with 800 lb gorilla (Microsoft) me-too PLUS! product Y and it is even successful. Microsoft will join the committee (to get all the tech and patent first as with MPEG4), or embrace the effort and pledge support.
So Me-Too Product Z is announced, and it will do everything that product X does -- because they are embracing openness. If the customer chooses to use Z, they get better performance and 20 extra features. Of course, like Microsoft's version of Java, needs an MS product to run.
After scaring the marketplace, they will buy enough of the depreciated company stock and vote not to sue Microsoft for stealing IP or anti-competitive tactics.
Of course, being Open Source, makes that tactic more difficult. Microsoft will just have to do MORE embracing and MORE extending than is usual. OXML will probably support 3D objects -- so if you want those in ODF, you are SOL.
Yes, but we compare this to $3 to $4 per gallon....... that is the wrong number. Bobby Kennedy (a Liberal with a track record for doing his homework to provide accurate stats) says the real cost of Gasoline -- without subisidies is $13 a gallon. Much of that cost, is related to our military -- which seems designed to always spend more than is required.
The Iraq war can be figured as a subsidy for Gasoline -- the 7% from the Middle East. Since the #1 issue with our withdrawal has to do with production sharing agreements and, well, nothing else.
I often get more out of Blog posts than I do articles and I will tell you why... Posters are kind of like the "Random Access" memory in our brains -- the dreams and perceptions that come up with creative problem solving. 99% of Blog posts just say basically; "this suxor" or "it's the bomb" and subsequent comments like "your bomb comment SuxOr and I'm in UR Base Killin yur robots." But, occasionally you get a gem where someone tips you off to something you didn't know. A lot of eyes means everyone has a bit of experience to bring -- and occasionally, you get an article enhanced by that trivia.
If there were a better filter to get rid of the noise -- that might be a good thing.
It's also useful to get the "Zeitgeist" of how people collectively feel. Unless it's about Apple, Windows, or generally fascists who support subverting the constitution -- then you are just going to get lots of people flooding the channel trying to control opinion.
Perhaps if blogging entries were all done unconsciously, they'd be of more use.
You are obviously well ahead of me on this -- especially when you talk about inserting code into memory spaces of running memory.
What I am talking about is that the OS look at applications and trust certain types of "actions." The first time an application tries to write to disk or modify something, the OS asks the user. The re-entrant code doesn't get run to escalate these privileges until it has permission to modify running code.
Anywho, there was a great application for OS9 called "GateKeeper" that did all this. Viruses couldn't bypass it, it didn't even worry about signatures -- just gave permission for applications on what they could "do." Of course in OS 9 on Mac, you had application and data space, and there was no way to script something to just say; "this is an application" from a bit of data.
The real problem, I believe, for the Anti-Virus efforts, is the OS itself. Permissions on UNIX go a long way to helping with the issue, but we also need "permissions on actions." Of course, there are certain things that by default must be trusted, because you cannot start from nothing.
I'm not dismissing efforts of real AV programmers -- just, that it's sort of like Health Insurance; the industry itself benefits too much from the problem to fix the fundamental issue. Being Virus proof should be a feature of the OS and be a "cost" against profits.
Whichever medium is most crack-able will become the standard. Any system that has perfect copy protection for media providers will languish on store shelves.
I notice how I still use DVD players, and I'm avoiding the BlueRay and HD-DVD in droves. We have bought about 8 DVD players (4 destroyed by my inquisitive 2-year-old) and we've purchased hundreds of movies (mostly on sale) while we've only purchased maybe a dozen music CDs in the last few years (entertainment value being what it is).
So, they can keep all of their intellectual property and take their toys and go home. I can live without HD-everything if the entertainment community wants to worry about how many times I play their title, or if they can squeeze another dime out of me by applying pressure.
Cigarettes are smoked...... it does not mean that Nicotene in an injectable form will cause cancer in the same way -- or if a derivative will. There is a slew of chemicals in normal tobacco smoke -- Nicotene just gets to star in our consciousness because it is what makes people addicted. Tar, asbestos, and smoke in the lungs may be bigger culprits.
But Nicotene's effect on our brain is profound and is worthy of study.
>> However, I do agree that big pharma likes to turn herbs into pills so that they can patent. But we definitely can't just weigh in on this being a bad thing yet.
Thanks for the usual post about; "there aren't any conspiracies" -- now THAT is a pretty flimsy theory. People get together in groups to figure out how to profit from others, or do something that they don't want people to know about. Wow, that NEVER happens. What was I thinking?
I think the almost PERFECT AV software can be made. You basically TRUST the applications and processes already running on a system. Any NEW process that enters the system, but be acting in a defined way and only allowed access to what it has permissions for.
So you need tokens, permissions, and a AV software that looks at what viruses DO -- rather than this mickey-mouse "signature" technique, that I'm sure has done a great job in creating a market for moving a few "1's" and "0's" around to roll out the next virus.
On the Mac, you not only have to use an Admin password to install a new application -- even running as an Admin, you have to "approve" the application opening a file the first time. The only weakness in this system is that it goes by name -- and a virus could be called "Photoshop." But with all of the reasonable actions set up on the Mac, and the fact that there is no ECONOMY for viruses -- there are few viruses.
There could be a lot more done, to protect an OS -- other than hope that every exploit like a buffer overrun on whatever the next function added to an application will be.
As long as devices communicate -- there is an opportunity for viruses -- just like in our own immune systems. But with computers, there is an opportunity to do a better job of "white listing" SAFE sources, and letting things run for a bit in a sand box, and only allow them to do certain things. It's that last bit that, even permissions don't effectively address. Should all applications be able to write ANYWHERE that the permissions allow? Perhaps not. Perhaps the permissions of WHAT an application can DO are more important than setting that on directories and files.
But the "perfect AV product" isn't the issue -- there isn't even a serious attempt to get rid of Malware in the first place. A product that could do that would kill the market.
Said another way; As long as you have Anti Virus companies that profit from virus protection -- you won't get rid of viruses. Just look at the bounty system for entrepreneurial people who submit new viruses to the major venders and you will see part of the problem. In this one case, I think it is right for Microsoft to build virus protection into the OS -- because then malware becomes a cost to their OS profit and a support headache. Unless there is an incentive for a CURE -- you won't get any.
Same reason you will see cures coming from countries that treat sick people as a cost, rather than health care as a cost.
Or countries like the US, where there are businesses that profit from warehousing criminals. There is too much money and power wrapped up in keeping things illegal. It isn't the drugs causing most of the trouble -- it's the money.
Seems to almost be some sort of Universal wisdom that we can glean from this.
If you don't want parasites on a system -- you don't create a healthy environment for them. Things that you want to get RID OF, should be a cost against profits -- not a source of revenue.
Same reason we shouldn't be taxing the middle class for Labor, unless we actually want to get rid of Work. Perhaps we should start taxing imports -- to reduce those and put Americans to work. What a far-fetched idea!
I'm assuming that a race that makes it beyond the Nuclear and the Pollution Age (like we are in), has some maturity with respect to balancing Wants and Needs.
Wants can take you anywhere, but needs start wars.
Now, with an immature race, that allows greedy psychopaths to get the reigns. The WANT for more oil profits and military boondoggles can certainly start wars. Most of the wars we have been involved in as a country were Wants and not Needs driven -- thought the populace was sold that story.
ON top of that, I'd like to say that it really sucks, that people have to choose between staying employed, and speaking their mind.
Monopoly power and fascism come to mind. And I think this trend is going to get worse before it gets better. Companies should be more afraid of these tactics -- and if enough of us call their bluff, maybe they will. After all, there are more of us, than there is of them.
almost every great breakthrough in Human history was "stumbled upon." Watch the series "Connections" and you will find that refrigeration was invented by a Florida Doctor who was trying to treat Yellow Fever. Fascinating stuff.
If you have FTL, you can mine asteroids and use gas giants for fuel. I can't think of anything beyond Biological products that would be any use for an FTL visitor to our planet.
Even if they never really understood it -- much like a lot of inventions like electricity we depend upon, such a fundamental technology would have many spin-offs.
It is an easy thing to imagine, that once a race hits something like Humanity's "Industrial Revolution" that society either advances at a quick pace or destroys itself rather quickly. The reason that we don't see other advanced races, is that once they get to broadcasting signals like Radio Waves (which would not be that easy to detect over great distances), it's probably less than a thousand years to advances that make those signals "go dark." You can already see the transition now; compression of Radio signals to use for devices and short-range communication.
I can see 4 scenarios; 1) FTL is difficult, and requires harnessing energies like black holes -- I think some SciFi author has already come up with a "class" of advancement, this would be along the lines of "planet builders." And when you look at such a high bar to get where movement between the stars is practical, then races are very advanced before they meet other races. 2) FTL is not too much beyond us -- say a thousand years. 3) There is no FTL, and thus visiting a planet like earth would be a one-way trip in some sort of suspension. This model would mean a lot more interaction, as whomever came to earth would inevitably "need to do something" with the locals. Either they would dominate, or have a limited interaction where they kept themselves mostly secret. Curiosity is probably the one defining feature of any advanced species. And when you are stuck somewhere as a curious being -- you either are going to "experiment" with what is there, or Grow, and dominate. Since we don't seem to be dominated by aliens -- it seems that MOST ideas of Alien involvement in earth would suggest that FTL was beyond them, and they just mess with humans to satisfy some curiosity they have. Of course -- FTL being very difficult, and requiring the moving of stars and such to create worm holes might fit this scenario as well. 4) NO aliens. About the most unlikely thing I can imagine. A Billion stars in a galaxy -- and a trillion galaxies, as far as we know. Now we are seeing that most may have gas giants like Jupiter. Once we have better telescopes -- how many earth like planets will we find? 1 in 10. 1 in 4. Most? Even if life is preposterously difficult, and even more rare to form intelligence. A Billion-Trillion chances over Billions and Billions of years (I can hear Carl Sagan in my head) provides a lot of opportunity.
In other news, Marvel decides to make plot lines that sell comic books.
How dare they kill off a character because it garners interest by fans!
Red Skull has robbed George Bush of his glory!
I think for even more, wallowing in the muck of increased sales, they should send Red Skull to GitMo, so that we can finally feel some pity for the character.... until of course, he starts working as a Prison Guard in Abu Ghraib.
Ah, see... they are just toying with you. If you keep with it, you will get a great payoff with powerful political commentary for people who are reading comic books instead of hanging out at Camp Casey. Yes, then the Bush administration will tremble!
It is very appropriate that he did... things standing as they are these days.
To continue the metaphor, I think his coffin should be draped with the Constitution, rather than the flag. So that they can both rest in peace with the respect they deserve.
If you could manage faster than light travel to cross the Universe, the chances are that basic resources we fight over (and much of that is a Created battle we don't really need) on earth, would not be an incentive to travel.
Anyone sufficiently advanced to cross the Galaxy, in other words, won't need to steal our gold or eat our people. The ONLY reason I would believe, that one would mess with other primitive races is to research, or manipulate evolution. You could seed planets, create interesting things because curiosity is all that drives you, or treat the Galaxy as your garden.
I don't think it would necessarily take a civilization Millions of years more advanced to start doing that. I think that within a thousand years, we will be able to travel across the galaxy and manipulate life forms.
There is only ONE thing in this universe I will rule out as NOT POSSIBLE.
That is Time Travel.
It is really emotionally a satisfying concept, but Time is an energy state. Things change at a slower or faster rate, depending upon acceleration or gravity -- but there is nothing BACK IN TIME to go to. The patterns that existed then, are not anywhere but chains of probabilities that are followed NOW. There is only one moment in time and that is NOW. Although things can exist in slightly future and past energy states -- time is just a concept.
You could possibly move into another Universe, and reality being infinitely big, it is very possible that there is ultimately another YOU out there experiencing a life like YOU know it. Because if things are infinite -- all things become possible. But FINDING another reality like this one would be difficult.
IMHO... time and space were created "between" the matter that was ultimately dense.
Even though observations right now, suggest our Universe is "open" because things are accelerating outwards at an increasing rate, I think I have a simple explanation for that and what happened BEFORE the big bang.
Stars have an upwards limit to mass. Too much and you can get blowback that creates a black hole as gravity creates the same relativistic accelerations that motion can. So the speed of light limits the amount of matter in a given space -- subject to the matter density around it. Suffice to say; Super Dense big bang allows for more of a gravity than space vacuum. But accelerated electrons and stars and galaxies and universes have upward limits.
I say Universes, because I believe that we are hurtling outwards TOWARDS other Universes, or other "big bangs" if you want to call them that -- but it is hard to say dimension and "outside" when all those dimensions are created by space/time forming between objects.
What happened before the Big Bang is what will happen at the end of this one. Matter from this Universe will vector with another -- but being as dimension and time and space are tricky here, it will accelerate "inside out" such that we will collide from points inside a black hole. More matter will be attracted from various big bangs than can be absorbed into the accretion, and that will form the imperfections that allow for a non-uniform space as we see it. Because if there was no extra matter, the accretion of an absolutely dense object would be too perfect and the "big bang" would be a deterministic and structured event -- just a guess. But I'm pretty sure perfection is a meaningless term in reality.
Your sciency argument about it being "so improbable" makes some sense... unless you consider how Improbable EVERYTHING IS.
You being born, means your parents met and had kids; about 1 in 1.75 Billion guessing by relative age -- the stats are slightly lower due to this requiring a specific male/female bonding.
You being the lucky sperm in the group -- perhaps about a trillion to 1. Because you have to consider how many unlucky sperm you dad produced that didn't become you.
OK -- the simple fact that you are born is some product of 1,750,000,000 ^ 1,000,000,000,000 and to really make it improbable you can factor in all your ancestors, having children that resulted in the chain of events that led to you.
You are misunderstanding that any specific happening in this Universe, is so mindbogglingly improbable as to be incalculable -- including the probability of a Universe forming out of nothingness -- which is pretty rare even at the chaotic level below Quantum Mechanics but deterministically INEVITABLE because we actually do, exist in a Universe.
>> Not that I'm saying YES or NO on the Roswell thing,... just that I don't think "inconceivable" means what you thin' it means.
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While I think there should be a lot more independent testing before making too much hay of this,
the kind of logic that states; "the evidence is too obvious to be considered evidence" is really troubling me. What happens if most of the public has this mentality? I think we can look at recent US events to figure that out.
"Why would they have an identifiable URL?" That is not a critique. There are a lot of people in prison right now, because they did some very bone-headed things. If you do a LOT of crime, you are more and more likely to be tripped up by a bone-headed move.
"How can you have a conspiracy with people involved?"
"Why does everyone talk about this, with something this big, everyone would know."
>> There is a kind of dangerous acceptance of the status quo -- as bad as the "everything is a conspiracy" big foot crowd (apologies if we do one day find Big Foot), that is unable to accept the obvious -- because the conclusion is unacceptable. Why would Haliburton be linked to by a P2P by the way? Evil company that has been found guilty of defrauding the American taxpayer of $20 Billion and moved to Dubai, involved in an effort to spy on everyone's computers? Preposterous! The mere fact that there are so many accusations of wrong-doing makes it impossible that they are guilty.
Why do I mention this?
Here is another related but seemingly off topic point; The Media and our Government, have told us; "Oh my Social Security is going to go bankrupt." What I just learned is that SS isn't supposed to BE AN ACCOUNT. It is supposed to go to Zero once the Baby Boomers are done retiring. In the 1980's, Reagan doubled the SS tax on the individual from 7 to 14% in order to allow for the Baby Boomer increase. SS was always intended as a money transfer from people working and too people retiring.
What does this have to do with a research plateau? America is falling apart. We have big companies, fat cats, people on the gravy train, who just take and take and take from our educated work force, from our infrastructure, and then have brainwashed us that the only sin is taxes.
Well taxes used to be 90% of people earning more than $3 Million, and we had the most booming and prosperous economy in the world. Higher education was free for anyone who wanted it (college a bit rarer at the time -- but many civilized nations pay for this). Taxes should be lower for working folks -- but in the end, what everyone pays is what everyone pays.
It is only in RELATIVE costs to businesses and individuals that you get distortions in the economy.
Well, enough with the economics lessons -- people either get it about the Commons or they don't. We don't seem to be moving around on efficient and clean trains everywhere in my state, so it's pretty obvious that MOST people don't understand it yet. Why are US businesses not competitive? Health Care. Anyway, why build it in the US when you can make it cheaper somewhere else and ship it in? America can has an infinite supply of retail jobs and middle managers -- I'm sure that manufacturing nothing, protecting nothing, and educating nothing won't have a down side.
Just pay attention to a 100 year old steam pipe bursting in New York. You will start to see signs of things just wearing out. Because we keep passing on the costs to the next people. The cuts in education, the lack of protection for high technology production, the outsourcing of our vital infrastructure. These chickens are coming home to roost.
As the "decency" party that has given us our supreme court, gets the power they want, you will see more intellectuals leaving for "smarter" locals.
Wow. You just sited all the really good NeoCon talking points. Looks like SlashDot is going to need a new, NeoSlashDot, where we check loyalty before login.
Let's break it down;
McCain-Feingold censoring of political speech that criticizes incumbent politicians before elections.
>> Real translation; this bill was to stop large corporations and Pacs from running issue ads. Propaganda is real and rampant -- and thanks to this, we will hear how we have all the best of all Health Care systems just before the 2008 elections; "Don't jeopardize your good care by being forced to see a socialist doctor..." cue the spooky music.
In the next election, multi-billion $ multinational corporations, will tell us how Oil is clean, there is no global warming, we need to have vouchers to end the "hand out" of public education, we are just fine paying 15% more next year for crappy health care. They might as well just put up some white noise and flash "go to sleep," for 20 hours before each election. Because, when there is money involved -- that equals free speech. I however, who don't want my kids to have asthma, or fight in the next pointless resource war, obviously have nothing important enough to put on the TV -- because I don't have a Billion $ slush fund, nor do all my friends who just want to breathe air as well.
- Reinstitution of the fairness doctrine to censor all "controversial" broadcasts
>> BS. The "Fairness Doctrine" was to have any NEWS outlet, be required to have someone on air to argue the other side of the issue -- so you get Rush on, with someone debating him, or you get Rush and then somebody smart on the next hour. It doesn't mean RUSH doesn't get to BS you for a good 4 hours a day. It just means that the "PUBLIC" air waves can't be used for just one political point of view.
I don't think this solves much -- so I'm not too worried about it failing. Cross-Fire was a nice example, of how two sock puppets can argue both sides of the wrong issue. Having a Poser as a Liberal doesn't mean you get the Liberal point of view -- just someone who seems like a wimp who is arguing with someone in a nicer suit.
- Opening the door for terrorists to sue ordinary citizens who say "I saw something suspicious" to security personnel
>> Um, the real law, is that everyone can sue. We have courts and judges and things like that who can determine the merits. It's a pretty good system. What your nice point is making, is that people "our government has determined without a court of law to be terrorists may not have the right to the courts." Perhaps you could be a little more clear and just say; "Habeus Corpus is for Commies."
- PBS censors film for not being sensitive to radical "insurgents" who threaten folks who argue for moderation
>> Don't really care what the story is. I doubt you understand moderation.
- Don Imus shut up by Al Sharpton's forces
>> Wow, I missed the recruitment poster. Al Sharpton is an ambulance chaser poser. Imus was as critical of the administration as any Liberal -- I've heard worse stuff out of Rush Limbaugh's mouth. Sharpton works for Zuckerman -- nobody voted for this boob to represent anyone who can get offended and get cash. I don't certainly control him -- so he represents Al Sharpton. Don Imus is an idiot -- and if you support his comment as something people shouldn't apologize for -- you are an idiot.
That said, Don Imus was let go because MSNBC was looking to squeak by with a media consolidation issue, and being nice and Liberal before the Democrats for a few months seemed like a good corporate decision. But thanks for blaming a cracker losing money for his company, and then getting slammed by an ambulance chaser on Liberalism. I suppose we should just get rid of the Emancipation Proclamation and bring back Jim Crow -- how could we have been so wrong?
- Numerous incidents on college campuses
>> Whatever. I suppose if we let the Clan rally happen once a year, we can let some NeoCons indoctrinate our
I don't understand when you talk about airwaves on radio and TV as public.
If they were public, people who put out propaganda and lied, would be in trouble. I'm a HELL of a lot more worried about my kids not understanding economics, and civics, and the TRUTH than I am about them hearing a swear word or seeing a boob. My son was breast fed -- so far, nakedness has not hurt him either.
Just read a recent story about $480 Billion in frequency bandwidth being given away without compensation. Did I get any money for that? No. But I can tell you, the Media didn't get it for FREE -- they are going to put out some darn good corporate and government swill for that $480 billion windfall.
I can guarantee you that the FCC will use this arbitrarily, and will happen to find offenders who happen to also be expressing a little too much anti CorpGov sentiment. Both Bush and Cheney now have uttered expletives to the public and I don't see them getting fines.
We are organisms. Mitochondria are in a symbiotic relationship with humans (most mammals) that is USUALLY beneficially. When we go into an oxygen-starved state, we can actually survive for some time by using anaerobic processes in our ATP cycle -- much like working out beyond our Aerobic capacity. What has been recently discovered is that the Mitochondria mistake the quick uptake of oxygen as a metastasis of cancer, so in their simple way, they are trying to "take one for the team" and they kill the cell they are in so that other cells might survive. The problem is -- this is the entire body. So the Mitochondria are causing cell death during resuscitation. The hypothermia technique is a way to slowly revive a person even many hours after their heart has stopped by slowing the oxygen uptake -- before your cells begin to break down, that is.
Now, the more complicated discussion this has brought about is "what are we?"
We are more advanced in most things, mentally, than other organisms on our planet.
I've always felt that "spirit" might equate better to reality than "soul". But this bothers a lot of people, because it would mean that we have only "more" of something than our pets, and it is a point of discussion to say we are better than dolphins.
Organically, there doesn't seem much evidence for the classic Christian definition of a soul (and in most of their texts, life begins with the first BREATHE and ends with the last -- the bible doesn't support notions of conception). For instance, if you switch someone off (they die) and back on again. You can usually end up with the same person. Like a computer that is off -- as long as everything was "stored" will be able to retrieve everything.
But if you wipe the memories, the continuity is gone. It's possible for someone to be a different person after amnesia. Both the "feelings" you have -- your general attitude and well being that is organic, and the collection of baggage that makes up your drives (memory), go into creating your personality. Change your chemistry -- like with drugs, and you can love everybody or go crazy. We don't normally go through these sorts of radical fluctuations eating, for instance, a hamburger, so we get to have the comfy notion of how we are going to react. Of course, drugs, war, extreme changes if the world -- can disabuse of the notion of "who we are." I knew a very advanced man in the area of Psychopharmacology, and he told me he could make someone a killer with the right chemicals in an aerosol. So, within hour normal environment and chemistry -- we have a consistent behavior, but change our environment or a few neurotransmitters, and we can behave differently.
If there were a soul, that determined the "type" of person we were. What does that even mean if you can give someone a drug and steal their sanity? You could say; "I'm me as long as I'm drug free," but if I put you on a diet of just sugar, after a few days you would be one cranky, violence-prone individual.
Add to this the idea of "who we are." If there were something besides the organic storing of memories, then people who woke up after a brain trauma with complete amnesia would be the same person. That isn't the case. And if we somehow have a soul that allows us to have eternal life in the clouds somewhere - then there has to be a backup copy of our memories hidden somewhere not in our brain -- because head trauma people can lose every memory (beyond what is stored as reflex) and those memories are specific to areas in the brain. I can lose speech ability, or my childhood depending upon what part of my brain shuts down. If this changes who I am and how I act -- is there a sliding scale when I go before Saint Peter?
Most of us are decent people, when we aren't stressed. We'd like to think we are always good. I might return a briefcase with a million bucks in it -- even if I don't believe that I have a "reward for me in heaven." It has a lot to do with our I was raised -- or with animals, we would say, how they were trained. I can also
It's the oil.
Domestic consumption isn't necessary.
The US is merely a "home base" for multinational corporations who use our military to force adoption of their companies in various countries. You can look at how they are trying to get ANWR oil reserves -- which I believe are high sulfur content, so it would be an export.
Many multinationals don't pay taxes in the US. It's very easy to never show a profit if you can buy a Widget for outrageous amounts from your subsidiary in some off-shore tax haven. So our politicos have been bribed to look the other way, as the middle class gets squeezed. When the poop hits the fan -- much like Germany in WW I, I'm sure these carpet baggers will be running the same scam in another country they allow to prosper for a while before they harvest. You can just look how Prescott Bush was playing both sides in WW II as he bankrolled Buckenwald. Patriotism is just a scam for the unwashed.
Most of the Carlysle Groups companies, including KBR and Haliburton, are in Dubai. It really is an international concern, and I doubt it gives a crap about the US economy. Everything this government has done has been to reduce the Middle Class, and help multinationals. If we attack Iran, for instance, Big Oil and Russia will prosper. The US will be personna non grata around the world. What did Putin talk to Bush about in Crawford? How about; America plays "bad cop" for a while, and you can increase your iron grip on Russia by building up your military do defend yourself. Bush and Putin are really kindred spirits -- but Bush is a better actor. He cracks himself up with that Texas drawl coming from Connecticut. The guy didn't see a farm until after college -- so you tell me who Bush really is. Putting up that anti-missile system is just a boondoggle for profit -- that tech doesn't work, and I'm sure Putin knows it. If there were real animosity, I could understand his concern about more US bases on his border. But I have a feeling that the re-start of the cold war helps Putin and Bush bring in more tyranny in their respective countries.
Back to Iran; Will China merely stop buying our money in retaliation? Probably not. They are stuck at an 11% growth rate -- so that train is going to wreck if it ever stops. China will just buy up more of our infrastructure rather than depend upon the declining value of the US Dollar (which is based upon oil). Seems to me, that the rivalries showing on the world stage are all for show. Bush has safely steered any talk about the genocide in Africa away. That's where China is setting up their oil "freedom" initiative.
In Iraq, I'm guessing that their government doesn't have long to live. Either they give us Production Sharing Agreements (us, meaning BushCo), or we never leave. Cheney seems to be making headway on his efforts to bomb Iran.
But the Democrats seem to be getting some backbone and forcing the senate to stay awake until they end their filibuster seems to indicate that they know the clock is ticking. If they don't get rid of Bush and his entire cabinet NOW, then the Iran war and economic collapse and probably martial law are not far behind. If they don't understand this then we need new Democrats.
Goes by Robert and Bobby.
Has a weekly show on Saturdays called "Ring of Fire." The Kennedys tend to repeat a lot of first names. And due to their honesty and courage, tend to be REALLY unlucky.
This isn't a change in tactic, so much as the usual "part 2" of the Microsoft tactic.
Company X says they are coming out with something cool.
MS says they are going to have that too, in the Me-Too Y product.
When the cool product comes out -- if it survives the hype of having to compete with 800 lb gorilla (Microsoft) me-too PLUS! product Y and it is even successful. Microsoft will join the committee (to get all the tech and patent first as with MPEG4), or embrace the effort and pledge support.
So Me-Too Product Z is announced, and it will do everything that product X does -- because they are embracing openness. If the customer chooses to use Z, they get better performance and 20 extra features. Of course, like Microsoft's version of Java, needs an MS product to run.
After scaring the marketplace, they will buy enough of the depreciated company stock and vote not to sue Microsoft for stealing IP or anti-competitive tactics.
Of course, being Open Source, makes that tactic more difficult. Microsoft will just have to do MORE embracing and MORE extending than is usual. OXML will probably support 3D objects -- so if you want those in ODF, you are SOL.
Yes, but we compare this to $3 to $4 per gallon.... ... that is the wrong number. Bobby Kennedy (a Liberal with a track record for doing his homework to provide accurate stats) says the real cost of Gasoline -- without subisidies is $13 a gallon. Much of that cost, is related to our military -- which seems designed to always spend more than is required.
The Iraq war can be figured as a subsidy for Gasoline -- the 7% from the Middle East. Since the #1 issue with our withdrawal has to do with production sharing agreements and, well, nothing else.
What's next -- Extra Virgin KY?
Then of course the advertisement would be;
"You Poke or Stroke and we'll prevent the Croak"
I often get more out of Blog posts than I do articles and I will tell you why...
Posters are kind of like the "Random Access" memory in our brains -- the dreams and perceptions that come up with creative problem solving. 99% of Blog posts just say basically; "this suxor" or "it's the bomb" and subsequent comments like "your bomb comment SuxOr and I'm in UR Base Killin yur robots." But, occasionally you get a gem where someone tips you off to something you didn't know. A lot of eyes means everyone has a bit of experience to bring -- and occasionally, you get an article enhanced by that trivia.
If there were a better filter to get rid of the noise -- that might be a good thing.
It's also useful to get the "Zeitgeist" of how people collectively feel. Unless it's about Apple, Windows, or generally fascists who support subverting the constitution -- then you are just going to get lots of people flooding the channel trying to control opinion.
Perhaps if blogging entries were all done unconsciously, they'd be of more use.
You are obviously well ahead of me on this -- especially when you talk about inserting code into memory spaces of running memory.
What I am talking about is that the OS look at applications and trust certain types of "actions." The first time an application tries to write to disk or modify something, the OS asks the user. The re-entrant code doesn't get run to escalate these privileges until it has permission to modify running code.
Anywho, there was a great application for OS9 called "GateKeeper" that did all this. Viruses couldn't bypass it, it didn't even worry about signatures -- just gave permission for applications on what they could "do." Of course in OS 9 on Mac, you had application and data space, and there was no way to script something to just say; "this is an application" from a bit of data.
The real problem, I believe, for the Anti-Virus efforts, is the OS itself. Permissions on UNIX go a long way to helping with the issue, but we also need "permissions on actions." Of course, there are certain things that by default must be trusted, because you cannot start from nothing.
I'm not dismissing efforts of real AV programmers -- just, that it's sort of like Health Insurance; the industry itself benefits too much from the problem to fix the fundamental issue. Being Virus proof should be a feature of the OS and be a "cost" against profits.
Here is my prediction;
Whichever medium is most crack-able will become the standard. Any system that has perfect copy protection for media providers will languish on store shelves.
I notice how I still use DVD players, and I'm avoiding the BlueRay and HD-DVD in droves. We have bought about 8 DVD players (4 destroyed by my inquisitive 2-year-old) and we've purchased hundreds of movies (mostly on sale) while we've only purchased maybe a dozen music CDs in the last few years (entertainment value being what it is).
So, they can keep all of their intellectual property and take their toys and go home. I can live without HD-everything if the entertainment community wants to worry about how many times I play their title, or if they can squeeze another dime out of me by applying pressure.
Cigarettes are smoked... ... it does not mean that Nicotene in an injectable form will cause cancer in the same way -- or if a derivative will. There is a slew of chemicals in normal tobacco smoke -- Nicotene just gets to star in our consciousness because it is what makes people addicted. Tar, asbestos, and smoke in the lungs may be bigger culprits.
But Nicotene's effect on our brain is profound and is worthy of study.
>> However, I do agree that big pharma likes to turn herbs into pills so that they can patent. But we definitely can't just weigh in on this being a bad thing yet.
Wow.
Thanks for the usual post about; "there aren't any conspiracies" -- now THAT is a pretty flimsy theory. People get together in groups to figure out how to profit from others, or do something that they don't want people to know about. Wow, that NEVER happens. What was I thinking?
I think the almost PERFECT AV software can be made. You basically TRUST the applications and processes already running on a system. Any NEW process that enters the system, but be acting in a defined way and only allowed access to what it has permissions for.
So you need tokens, permissions, and a AV software that looks at what viruses DO -- rather than this mickey-mouse "signature" technique, that I'm sure has done a great job in creating a market for moving a few "1's" and "0's" around to roll out the next virus.
On the Mac, you not only have to use an Admin password to install a new application -- even running as an Admin, you have to "approve" the application opening a file the first time. The only weakness in this system is that it goes by name -- and a virus could be called "Photoshop." But with all of the reasonable actions set up on the Mac, and the fact that there is no ECONOMY for viruses -- there are few viruses.
There could be a lot more done, to protect an OS -- other than hope that every exploit like a buffer overrun on whatever the next function added to an application will be.
As long as devices communicate -- there is an opportunity for viruses -- just like in our own immune systems. But with computers, there is an opportunity to do a better job of "white listing" SAFE sources, and letting things run for a bit in a sand box, and only allow them to do certain things. It's that last bit that, even permissions don't effectively address. Should all applications be able to write ANYWHERE that the permissions allow? Perhaps not. Perhaps the permissions of WHAT an application can DO are more important than setting that on directories and files.
But the "perfect AV product" isn't the issue -- there isn't even a serious attempt to get rid of Malware in the first place. A product that could do that would kill the market.
Said another way;
As long as you have Anti Virus companies that profit from virus protection -- you won't get rid of viruses. Just look at the bounty system for entrepreneurial people who submit new viruses to the major venders and you will see part of the problem. In this one case, I think it is right for Microsoft to build virus protection into the OS -- because then malware becomes a cost to their OS profit and a support headache. Unless there is an incentive for a CURE -- you won't get any.
Same reason you will see cures coming from countries that treat sick people as a cost, rather than health care as a cost.
Or countries like the US, where there are businesses that profit from warehousing criminals. There is too much money and power wrapped up in keeping things illegal. It isn't the drugs causing most of the trouble -- it's the money.
Seems to almost be some sort of Universal wisdom that we can glean from this.
If you don't want parasites on a system -- you don't create a healthy environment for them. Things that you want to get RID OF, should be a cost against profits -- not a source of revenue.
Same reason we shouldn't be taxing the middle class for Labor, unless we actually want to get rid of Work. Perhaps we should start taxing imports -- to reduce those and put Americans to work. What a far-fetched idea!
I'm assuming that a race that makes it beyond the Nuclear and the Pollution Age (like we are in), has some maturity with respect to balancing Wants and Needs.
Wants can take you anywhere, but needs start wars.
Now, with an immature race, that allows greedy psychopaths to get the reigns. The WANT for more oil profits and military boondoggles can certainly start wars. Most of the wars we have been involved in as a country were Wants and not Needs driven -- thought the populace was sold that story.
I'd like to also ad that you are an inspiration.
ON top of that, I'd like to say that it really sucks, that people have to choose between staying employed, and speaking their mind.
Monopoly power and fascism come to mind. And I think this trend is going to get worse before it gets better. Companies should be more afraid of these tactics -- and if enough of us call their bluff, maybe they will. After all, there are more of us, than there is of them.
almost every great breakthrough in Human history was "stumbled upon." Watch the series "Connections" and you will find that refrigeration was invented by a Florida Doctor who was trying to treat Yellow Fever. Fascinating stuff.
If you have FTL, you can mine asteroids and use gas giants for fuel. I can't think of anything beyond Biological products that would be any use for an FTL visitor to our planet.
Even if they never really understood it -- much like a lot of inventions like electricity we depend upon, such a fundamental technology would have many spin-offs.
It is an easy thing to imagine, that once a race hits something like Humanity's "Industrial Revolution" that society either advances at a quick pace or destroys itself rather quickly. The reason that we don't see other advanced races, is that once they get to broadcasting signals like Radio Waves (which would not be that easy to detect over great distances), it's probably less than a thousand years to advances that make those signals "go dark." You can already see the transition now; compression of Radio signals to use for devices and short-range communication.
I can see 4 scenarios;
1) FTL is difficult, and requires harnessing energies like black holes -- I think some SciFi author has already come up with a "class" of advancement, this would be along the lines of "planet builders." And when you look at such a high bar to get where movement between the stars is practical, then races are very advanced before they meet other races.
2) FTL is not too much beyond us -- say a thousand years.
3) There is no FTL, and thus visiting a planet like earth would be a one-way trip in some sort of suspension. This model would mean a lot more interaction, as whomever came to earth would inevitably "need to do something" with the locals. Either they would dominate, or have a limited interaction where they kept themselves mostly secret. Curiosity is probably the one defining feature of any advanced species. And when you are stuck somewhere as a curious being -- you either are going to "experiment" with what is there, or Grow, and dominate. Since we don't seem to be dominated by aliens -- it seems that MOST ideas of Alien involvement in earth would suggest that FTL was beyond them, and they just mess with humans to satisfy some curiosity they have. Of course -- FTL being very difficult, and requiring the moving of stars and such to create worm holes might fit this scenario as well.
4) NO aliens. About the most unlikely thing I can imagine. A Billion stars in a galaxy -- and a trillion galaxies, as far as we know. Now we are seeing that most may have gas giants like Jupiter. Once we have better telescopes -- how many earth like planets will we find? 1 in 10. 1 in 4. Most? Even if life is preposterously difficult, and even more rare to form intelligence. A Billion-Trillion chances over Billions and Billions of years (I can hear Carl Sagan in my head) provides a lot of opportunity.
In other news, Marvel decides to make plot lines that sell comic books.
How dare they kill off a character because it garners interest by fans!
Red Skull has robbed George Bush of his glory!
I think for even more, wallowing in the muck of increased sales, they should send Red Skull to GitMo, so that we can finally feel some pity for the character.... until of course, he starts working as a Prison Guard in Abu Ghraib.
Ah, see... they are just toying with you. If you keep with it, you will get a great payoff with powerful political commentary for people who are reading comic books instead of hanging out at Camp Casey. Yes, then the Bush administration will tremble!
[sorry, I couldn't help myself]
It is very appropriate that he did... things standing as they are these days.
To continue the metaphor, I think his coffin should be draped with the Constitution, rather than the flag. So that they can both rest in peace with the respect they deserve.
If you could manage faster than light travel to cross the Universe, the chances are that basic resources we fight over (and much of that is a Created battle we don't really need) on earth, would not be an incentive to travel.
Anyone sufficiently advanced to cross the Galaxy, in other words, won't need to steal our gold or eat our people. The ONLY reason I would believe, that one would mess with other primitive races is to research, or manipulate evolution. You could seed planets, create interesting things because curiosity is all that drives you, or treat the Galaxy as your garden.
I don't think it would necessarily take a civilization Millions of years more advanced to start doing that. I think that within a thousand years, we will be able to travel across the galaxy and manipulate life forms.
There is only ONE thing in this universe I will rule out as NOT POSSIBLE.
That is Time Travel.
It is really emotionally a satisfying concept, but Time is an energy state. Things change at a slower or faster rate, depending upon acceleration or gravity -- but there is nothing BACK IN TIME to go to. The patterns that existed then, are not anywhere but chains of probabilities that are followed NOW. There is only one moment in time and that is NOW. Although things can exist in slightly future and past energy states -- time is just a concept.
You could possibly move into another Universe, and reality being infinitely big, it is very possible that there is ultimately another YOU out there experiencing a life like YOU know it. Because if things are infinite -- all things become possible. But FINDING another reality like this one would be difficult.
That's just my opinion.
The Big Bang didn't go BANG.
... time and space were created "between" the matter that was ultimately dense.
IMHO
Even though observations right now, suggest our Universe is "open" because things are accelerating outwards at an increasing rate, I think I have a simple explanation for that and what happened BEFORE the big bang.
Stars have an upwards limit to mass. Too much and you can get blowback that creates a black hole as gravity creates the same relativistic accelerations that motion can. So the speed of light limits the amount of matter in a given space -- subject to the matter density around it. Suffice to say; Super Dense big bang allows for more of a gravity than space vacuum. But accelerated electrons and stars and galaxies and universes have upward limits.
I say Universes, because I believe that we are hurtling outwards TOWARDS other Universes, or other "big bangs" if you want to call them that -- but it is hard to say dimension and "outside" when all those dimensions are created by space/time forming between objects.
What happened before the Big Bang is what will happen at the end of this one. Matter from this Universe will vector with another -- but being as dimension and time and space are tricky here, it will accelerate "inside out" such that we will collide from points inside a black hole. More matter will be attracted from various big bangs than can be absorbed into the accretion, and that will form the imperfections that allow for a non-uniform space as we see it. Because if there was no extra matter, the accretion of an absolutely dense object would be too perfect and the "big bang" would be a deterministic and structured event -- just a guess. But I'm pretty sure perfection is a meaningless term in reality.
Just another theory to throw on the pile.
Your sciency argument about it being "so improbable" makes some sense... unless you consider how Improbable EVERYTHING IS.
You being born, means your parents met and had kids; about 1 in 1.75 Billion guessing by relative age -- the stats are slightly lower due to this requiring a specific male/female bonding.
You being the lucky sperm in the group -- perhaps about a trillion to 1. Because you have to consider how many unlucky sperm you dad produced that didn't become you.
OK -- the simple fact that you are born is some product of 1,750,000,000 ^ 1,000,000,000,000 and to really make it improbable you can factor in all your ancestors, having children that resulted in the chain of events that led to you.
You are misunderstanding that any specific happening in this Universe, is so mindbogglingly improbable as to be incalculable -- including the probability of a Universe forming out of nothingness -- which is pretty rare even at the chaotic level below Quantum Mechanics but deterministically INEVITABLE because we actually do, exist in a Universe.
>> Not that I'm saying YES or NO on the Roswell thing,... just that I don't think "inconceivable" means what you thin' it means.