I'm writing to voice my objections to the placement of RFID chips in future US passports.
RFID technology is not a secure technology. Chipping the passports allows anyone with an inexpensive chip reader to easily identify who is an American and make them a target for terrorist activities.
Chipping also allows opens the door to identity theft. Someone could discreetly obtain the information broadcast by the chip and forge a fake chip.
A barcode like the UPS shipping barcodes or some sort of magstripe can achieve your aims without the security concerns that RFID technology brings up.
Wrong again. Bin Laden was left because he was NEVER considered the primary factor in any of this. Bush NEEDS bin Laden to be a boogeyman to justify his goals of suppressing civil rights and trashing the economy for his oligarch friends.
The GP pretty much said the same thing in the line above the one you quoted. Otherwise, good rebuttal.
From the GP:Pertty much everyone suspects that Bush may have deliberately allowed Bin Laden to escape in order to maintain the excuse to keep the apparatus of the faux 'war on terror' in place.
"It is in our best interest that they remain hidden if they exist--even wihtout any sort of Gattacan bioengineering."
I feel confidant in saying that a series of genes are responsible for intelligence and that there is variation amongst humans in these genes. While environmental pressures (e.g. chemical exposure in utero, presence or lack of stimulation while growing up) certainly play a role in the development of intelligence, they do not account for all variation. While I cannot point to any specific genes, I can point out that there is a difference in intelligence between humans and similar species, such as the chimpanzee. (Fascinating creatures, check out books by Franz de Waal for more information.) You may be saying Duh! at this point, but remember there is only a small genetic difference and a large intellectual difference between us and our dear cousins. Unless you believe that some sort of magic happened to endow us with our intellectual gifts, you must acknowledge that this difference in intelligence is due to the genetic differences. Therefore, there are genes related to intelligence. It is highly probable that these genes show variation within our species, expecially when you consider the great variation in intelligence in our species.
Since you stated that you are not under a contract, you have no obligations. You can legally walk out today if you want. You won't get a good referral if you do that, but you allready have another job lined up. Common courtesy is to give two weeks. Presumably this new job pays better, so the sooner you get to that job, the more money you will make.
You are not required to sign anything. You are not required to be on call. You are not required to give him 6 weeks notice. You are not required to give two weeks notice. You are not required to do anything for your current employer.
Remember, when you are employed, you are selling your labor and your life. Your life is slipping away day by day. Why spend your time working at a high stress job if you don't have to?
I recommend giving your current employer two weeks notice, and then taking a couple of weeks for yourself before starting your new job. Spend that time spending time with your family, hanging out with friends, watching clouds go by, catching up on your reading, basically living life. Many employers don't let new employees take vacation for quite a while after they've been hired, so this may be your only opportunity to get some good quality liesure time. Remember, no says on their death bed that they wish they had spent more time at the office. People always regret not spending more time with their loved ones or not spending more time in some liesurely pursuit.
Don't forget the endosymbiotic bacteria. How amazing is it that we have the descendents of some proteobacteria (mitochondira) living within our cells. They're built just like a eubacteria, have their own DNA, and 16s RNA analysis places them very close to a similar free living bactera. The same can be said about the chloroplasts in plants, except they are similar to the oxygenic photoautotrophic cyanobacteria. A few simple eukaryotic organisms do exist without mitochondria, but the vast of eukaryotic organsisms do have them. We don't merely share a common ancestor with microbial life, we are dependant upon them for our very existence.
"- install... those kits that limit the amount of water per toilet flush."
You mean,... a brick?!? Don't bother purchasing some expensive kit. Walk outside, find some suitable heavy object, like a rock, and gently install it in the tank of the toilet. Or, if your allergic to sunlight, get an empty mountain dew bottle, fill it with dihydrogen monoxide, and gently install it in the tank of the toilet. If you need some DHMO, shoot me an email and I will sell you some for the low price of $19.95/ gallon plus shipping and handling.
The toilets reservoir is full when a float reaches a predetermined height and shuts off the flow of water into the reservoir. Next time you take a shit, take the lid off of the tank and see.
As for the brown lawns, either replace them with cacti and succulents (depending on location) or spray paint it green. A green lawn started off as status symbol, because they are incredibly expensive in time and other resources to maintain. Admittedly spray painting the lawn is not the most environmentally friendly thing to do, but it will be green and you will save water.
Lets face it. A large chunk of the gas used in this country is used in ever increasing commutes to work. More and more people are spending increasing amounts of time on the road, often at low or single digit speeds. Fear not though, for there is a solution. A solution that not only will help you save money on fuel expenditures, but reduce congestion on the freeways of America, and increase the amount of liesure time for all participants. This solution is so elegant, that it can be summed up in three measly little words.
GET LAID OFF!
Getting laid off could be the best thing that ever happened to you and the environment. You will reduce that amount of pollution you produce. You will have a steady income. Your job stress will disappear. You will have no commute. And best of all, you will have the free time to complete all those F/OSS projects you've been meaning to complete.
That's right folks! Get laid off today and you can reap all these benefits, save energy, and get your money back from the government. So what are you waiting for, go get laid off today!
I wonder what they would think of the endosymbiotic theory. How long will it take them to get around to accepting that? How amazing is it that we have the descendents of some proteobacteria (mitochondira) living within our cells. They're built just like a eubacteria, have their own DNA, and 16s RNA analysis places them very close to a similar free living bactera. The same can be said about the chloroplasts in plants, except they are similar to the oxygenic photoautotrophic cyanobacteria. A few simple eukaryotic organisms do exist without mitochondria, but the vast of eukaryotic organsisms do have them. We don't merely share a common ancestor with microbial life, we are dependant upon them for our very existence.
That would be such strong proof, that it would be proof of the non-existance of God; for proof denies faith, and without faith, God is nothing. So, in a puff of logic, God would promptly vanish.
It's a bit difficult to make a lot of money by sueing some kid's parents. Also, blameing the parents does not gather ratings, so the networks won't put that up as news. Now, someone sueing a videogame maker is newsworthy and will get people riled up enough to watch the report or read the article.
Amazing. Whats next.... patents on 1's and 0's ??!!
Actually, Bill Gates did that a few years ago. He's just waiting for everyone to use 1s and 0s so that he can increase the amount of money he collects when he sues everyone for patent infringement.
See the following article from the Onion for more information.
REDMOND, WA-In what CEO Bill Gates called "an unfortunate but necessary step to protect our intellectual property from theft and exploitation by competitors," the Microsoft Corporation patented the numbers one and zero Monday.
With the patent, Microsoft's rivals are prohibited from manufacturing or selling products containing zeroes and ones-the mathematical building blocks of all computer languages and programs-unless a royalty fee of 10 cents per digit used is paid to the software giant.
"Microsoft has been using the binary system of ones and zeroes ever since its inception in 1975," Gates told reporters. "For years, in the interest of the overall health of the computer industry, we permitted the free and unfettered use of our proprietary numeric systems. However, changing marketplace conditions and the increasingly predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our numerals."
A number of major Silicon Valley players, including Apple Computer, Netscape and Sun Microsystems, said they will challenge the Microsoft patent as monopolistic and anti-competitive, claiming that the 10-cent-per-digit licensing fee would bankrupt them instantly.
"While, technically, Java is a complex system of algorithms used to create a platform-independent programming environment, it is, at its core, just a string of trillions of ones and zeroes," said Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, whose company created the Java programming environment used in many Internet applications. "The licensing fees we'd have to pay Microsoft every day would be approximately 327,000 times the total net worth of this company."
"If this patent holds up in federal court, Apple will have no choice but to convert to analog," said Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs, "and I have serious doubts whether this company would be able to remain competitive selling pedal-operated computers running software off vinyl LPs."
As a result of the Microsoft patent, many other companies have begun radically revising their product lines: Database manufacturer Oracle has embarked on a crash program to develop "an abacus for the next millennium." Novell, whose communications and networking systems are also subject to Microsoft licensing fees, is working with top animal trainers on a chimpanzee-based message-transmission system. Hewlett-Packard is developing a revolutionary new steam-powered printer.
Despite the swarm of protest, Gates is standing his ground, maintaining that ones and zeroes are the undisputed property of Microsoft.
"We will vigorously enforce our patents of these numbers, as they are legally ours," Gates said. "Among Microsoft's vast historical archives are Sanskrit cuneiform tablets from 1800 B.C. clearly showing ones and a symbol known as 'sunya,' or nothing. We also own: papyrus scrolls written by Pythagoras himself in which he explains the idea of singular notation, or 'one'; early tracts by Mohammed ibn Musa al Kwarizimi explaining the concept of al-sifr, or 'the cipher'; original mathematical manuscripts by Heisenberg, Einstein and Planck; and a signed first-edition copy of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being And Nothingness. Should the need arise, Microsoft will have no difficulty proving to the Justice Department or anyone else that we own the rights to these numbers."
Added Gates: "My salary also has lots of zeroes. I'm the richest man in the world."
According to experts, the full ramifications of Microsoft's patenting of one and zero have yet to be realized.
"Because all integers and natural numbers derive from one and zero, Microsoft may, by extension, lay claim to ownership of all mathem
A freind of mine and I have a great barter system worked out. I provide tech support and she gives me haircuts and dinner and wine and... other things.
I don't know what the author of the book is referring to, but ECT (ElectroConvulsive Teherapy) or some sort of imaging like CT, MRI, or PET scanning could be it. On the other hand, these suggestions of mine are mearly theorectical. Given the kookyness of his other future tech, he could have somthing else in mind.
Here in the San Diego area, we've been migrating to LED traffic lights for the past four or five years. The conventional lights seem to be replaced as they fail, so we still have a mix of LED and incandescent street lights. We also have the solar arrays on a number of street signs. Again, they seem to be the newer ones. I haven't seen any with wind turbines though.
My understanding is that a group is allowed to use a classroom for a prayer session, provided that any religious related group was allowed to meet. So if you had a Christian prayer group, you had to permit the pagans and the atheists to meet up as well.
Actually, I have to disagree. Only a small percentage of Americans (13%) accept the standard theory of evolution. The majority believe in creationism and the rest some sort of guided evolution. Fortunately, two thirds of Americans want evolution taught in school.
An older poll from 1991 indicates that the percentage of people believing in creationism is on the rise. The same goes for those accepting naturalistic evolution.
I didn't find any numbers for the rest of the world.
The link goes to an article about a Nov 2004 CBS poll that explains in more detail, and I've included the poll results below.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/22/opinio n/ polls/main657083.shtml VIEWS ON EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM
God created humans in present form All Americans 55% Kerry voters 47% Bush voters 67%
Humans evolved, God guided the process All Americans 27% Kerry voters 28% Bush voters 22%
Humans evolved, God did not guide process All Americans 13% Kerry voters 21% Bush voters 6%
Another interesting article. http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_pub li.htm
We in the real world have our own radiation resistant organisms. So we can't eat them and they are not exactly the most intelligent of organisms, but we have other animals for that. Deinococcus radiodurans, or "strange berry that withstands radiation," is the most radiation resistant organism known to science. A feisty little bug with some rather peculiar features. It's DNA is circular in structure, like all bacteria, but it also has many copies of the same molecule stacked on top of each other and special enzymes to repair it when damaged. Just thought you would be interested.
Slashdot Mirror
www.emusic.com
You won't find Brittany Spears there, but do you really care?
Here's the letter that I just sent.
Feel free to copy and modify it as you see fit.
Hi,
I'm writing to voice my objections to the placement of RFID chips in future US passports.
RFID technology is not a secure technology. Chipping the passports allows anyone with an inexpensive chip reader to easily identify who is an American and make them a target for terrorist activities.
Chipping also allows opens the door to identity theft. Someone could discreetly obtain the information broadcast by the chip and forge a fake chip.
A barcode like the UPS shipping barcodes or some sort of magstripe can achieve your aims without the security concerns that RFID technology brings up.
Sincerely,
(my real name, no sig)
Wrong again. Bin Laden was left because he was NEVER considered the primary factor in any of this. Bush NEEDS bin Laden to be a boogeyman to justify his goals of suppressing civil rights and trashing the economy for his oligarch friends.
The GP pretty much said the same thing in the line above the one you quoted. Otherwise, good rebuttal.
From the GP:Pertty much everyone suspects that Bush may have deliberately allowed Bin Laden to escape in order to maintain the excuse to keep the apparatus of the faux 'war on terror' in place.
Are there going to be any real posts today?
"It is in our best interest that they remain hidden if they exist--even wihtout any sort of Gattacan bioengineering."
I feel confidant in saying that a series of genes are responsible for intelligence and that there is variation amongst humans in these genes. While environmental pressures (e.g. chemical exposure in utero, presence or lack of stimulation while growing up) certainly play a role in the development of intelligence, they do not account for all variation. While I cannot point to any specific genes, I can point out that there is a difference in intelligence between humans and similar species, such as the chimpanzee. (Fascinating creatures, check out books by Franz de Waal for more information.) You may be saying Duh! at this point, but remember there is only a small genetic difference and a large intellectual difference between us and our dear cousins. Unless you believe that some sort of magic happened to endow us with our intellectual gifts, you must acknowledge that this difference in intelligence is due to the genetic differences. Therefore, there are genes related to intelligence. It is highly probable that these genes show variation within our species, expecially when you consider the great variation in intelligence in our species.
Actually, he can ask you to do everything that he jsut feels like. He just can't reasonably expect you to comply.
Since you stated that you are not under a contract, you have no obligations. You can legally walk out today if you want. You won't get a good referral if you do that, but you allready have another job lined up. Common courtesy is to give two weeks. Presumably this new job pays better, so the sooner you get to that job, the more money you will make.
You are not required to sign anything. You are not required to be on call. You are not required to give him 6 weeks notice. You are not required to give two weeks notice. You are not required to do anything for your current employer.
Remember, when you are employed, you are selling your labor and your life. Your life is slipping away day by day. Why spend your time working at a high stress job if you don't have to?
I recommend giving your current employer two weeks notice, and then taking a couple of weeks for yourself before starting your new job. Spend that time spending time with your family, hanging out with friends, watching clouds go by, catching up on your reading, basically living life. Many employers don't let new employees take vacation for quite a while after they've been hired, so this may be your only opportunity to get some good quality liesure time. Remember, no says on their death bed that they wish they had spent more time at the office. People always regret not spending more time with their loved ones or not spending more time in some liesurely pursuit.
Don't forget the endosymbiotic bacteria. How amazing is it that we have the descendents of some proteobacteria (mitochondira) living within our cells. They're built just like a eubacteria, have their own DNA, and 16s RNA analysis places them very close to a similar free living bactera. The same can be said about the chloroplasts in plants, except they are similar to the oxygenic photoautotrophic cyanobacteria. A few simple eukaryotic organisms do exist without mitochondria, but the vast of eukaryotic organsisms do have them. We don't merely share a common ancestor with microbial life, we are dependant upon them for our very existence.
"- install ... those kits that limit the amount of water per toilet flush."
... a brick?!? Don't bother purchasing some expensive kit. Walk outside, find some suitable heavy object, like a rock, and gently install it in the tank of the toilet. Or, if your allergic to sunlight, get an empty mountain dew bottle, fill it with dihydrogen monoxide, and gently install it in the tank of the toilet. If you need some DHMO, shoot me an email and I will sell you some for the low price of $19.95/ gallon plus shipping and handling.
You mean,
The toilets reservoir is full when a float reaches a predetermined height and shuts off the flow of water into the reservoir. Next time you take a shit, take the lid off of the tank and see.
As for the brown lawns, either replace them with cacti and succulents (depending on location) or spray paint it green. A green lawn started off as status symbol, because they are incredibly expensive in time and other resources to maintain. Admittedly spray painting the lawn is not the most environmentally friendly thing to do, but it will be green and you will save water.
Lets face it. A large chunk of the gas used in this country is used in ever increasing commutes to work. More and more people are spending increasing amounts of time on the road, often at low or single digit speeds. Fear not though, for there is a solution. A solution that not only will help you save money on fuel expenditures, but reduce congestion on the freeways of America, and increase the amount of liesure time for all participants. This solution is so elegant, that it can be summed up in three measly little words.
GET LAID OFF!
Getting laid off could be the best thing that ever happened to you and the environment. You will reduce that amount of pollution you produce. You will have a steady income. Your job stress will disappear. You will have no commute. And best of all, you will have the free time to complete all those F/OSS projects you've been meaning to complete.
That's right folks! Get laid off today and you can reap all these benefits, save energy, and get your money back from the government. So what are you waiting for, go get laid off today!
That sounds so Discordian.
I wonder what they would think of the endosymbiotic theory. How long will it take them to get around to accepting that? How amazing is it that we have the descendents of some proteobacteria (mitochondira) living within our cells. They're built just like a eubacteria, have their own DNA, and 16s RNA analysis places them very close to a similar free living bactera. The same can be said about the chloroplasts in plants, except they are similar to the oxygenic photoautotrophic cyanobacteria. A few simple eukaryotic organisms do exist without mitochondria, but the vast of eukaryotic organsisms do have them. We don't merely share a common ancestor with microbial life, we are dependant upon them for our very existence.
That would be such strong proof, that it would be proof of the non-existance of God; for proof denies faith, and without faith, God is nothing. So, in a puff of logic, God would promptly vanish.
It's a bit difficult to make a lot of money by sueing some kid's parents. Also, blameing the parents does not gather ratings, so the networks won't put that up as news. Now, someone sueing a videogame maker is newsworthy and will get people riled up enough to watch the report or read the article.
And don't forget the cell phones. It's for "emergencies" only.
How about an Open Virtual Anonymous LAN. You could you call it OVAL. Eh?!
Amazing. Whats next.... patents on 1's and 0's ??!!
Actually, Bill Gates did that a few years ago. He's just waiting for everyone to use 1s and 0s so that he can increase the amount of money he collects when he sues everyone for patent infringement.
See the following article from the Onion for more information.
REDMOND, WA-In what CEO Bill Gates called "an unfortunate but necessary step to protect our intellectual property from theft and exploitation by competitors," the Microsoft Corporation patented the numbers one and zero Monday.
With the patent, Microsoft's rivals are prohibited from manufacturing or selling products containing zeroes and ones-the mathematical building blocks of all computer languages and programs-unless a royalty fee of 10 cents per digit used is paid to the software giant.
"Microsoft has been using the binary system of ones and zeroes ever since its inception in 1975," Gates told reporters. "For years, in the interest of the overall health of the computer industry, we permitted the free and unfettered use of our proprietary numeric systems. However, changing marketplace conditions and the increasingly predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our numerals."
A number of major Silicon Valley players, including Apple Computer, Netscape and Sun Microsystems, said they will challenge the Microsoft patent as monopolistic and anti-competitive, claiming that the 10-cent-per-digit licensing fee would bankrupt them instantly.
"While, technically, Java is a complex system of algorithms used to create a platform-independent programming environment, it is, at its core, just a string of trillions of ones and zeroes," said Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, whose company created the Java programming environment used in many Internet applications. "The licensing fees we'd have to pay Microsoft every day would be approximately 327,000 times the total net worth of this company."
"If this patent holds up in federal court, Apple will have no choice but to convert to analog," said Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs, "and I have serious doubts whether this company would be able to remain competitive selling pedal-operated computers running software off vinyl LPs."
As a result of the Microsoft patent, many other companies have begun radically revising their product lines: Database manufacturer Oracle has embarked on a crash program to develop "an abacus for the next millennium." Novell, whose communications and networking systems are also subject to Microsoft licensing fees, is working with top animal trainers on a chimpanzee-based message-transmission system. Hewlett-Packard is developing a revolutionary new steam-powered printer.
Despite the swarm of protest, Gates is standing his ground, maintaining that ones and zeroes are the undisputed property of Microsoft.
"We will vigorously enforce our patents of these numbers, as they are legally ours," Gates said. "Among Microsoft's vast historical archives are Sanskrit cuneiform tablets from 1800 B.C. clearly showing ones and a symbol known as 'sunya,' or nothing. We also own: papyrus scrolls written by Pythagoras himself in which he explains the idea of singular notation, or 'one'; early tracts by Mohammed ibn Musa al Kwarizimi explaining the concept of al-sifr, or 'the cipher'; original mathematical manuscripts by Heisenberg, Einstein and Planck; and a signed first-edition copy of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being And Nothingness. Should the need arise, Microsoft will have no difficulty proving to the Justice Department or anyone else that we own the rights to these numbers."
Added Gates: "My salary also has lots of zeroes. I'm the richest man in the world."
According to experts, the full ramifications of Microsoft's patenting of one and zero have yet to be realized.
"Because all integers and natural numbers derive from one and zero, Microsoft may, by extension, lay claim to ownership of all mathem
Avtually, most vehicles reach peak fuel efficiency when the somebody forgets to put the parking break on and the car rolls down the hill.
A freind of mine and I have a great barter system worked out. I provide tech support and she gives me haircuts and dinner and wine and ... other things.
electromedicine (whatever TF that is..),
I don't know what the author of the book is referring to, but ECT (ElectroConvulsive Teherapy) or some sort of imaging like CT, MRI, or PET scanning could be it. On the other hand, these suggestions of mine are mearly theorectical. Given the kookyness of his other future tech, he could have somthing else in mind.
Here in the San Diego area, we've been migrating to LED traffic lights for the past four or five years. The conventional lights seem to be replaced as they fail, so we still have a mix of LED and incandescent street lights. We also have the solar arrays on a number of street signs. Again, they seem to be the newer ones. I haven't seen any with wind turbines though.
My understanding is that a group is allowed to use a classroom for a prayer session, provided that any religious related group was allowed to meet. So if you had a Christian prayer group, you had to permit the pagans and the atheists to meet up as well.
I guess I won't get to use all these stickers I made up anymore.
o ok disclaimers/
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textb
Actually, I have to disagree. Only a small percentage of Americans (13%) accept the standard theory of evolution. The majority believe in creationism and the rest some sort of guided evolution. Fortunately, two thirds of Americans want evolution taught in school.
o n/ polls/main657083.shtml
b li.htm
An older poll from 1991 indicates that the percentage of people believing in creationism is on the rise. The same goes for those accepting naturalistic evolution.
I didn't find any numbers for the rest of the world.
The link goes to an article about a Nov 2004 CBS poll that explains in more detail, and I've included the poll results below.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/22/opini
VIEWS ON EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM
God created humans in present form
All Americans
55%
Kerry voters
47%
Bush voters
67%
Humans evolved, God guided the process
All Americans
27%
Kerry voters
28%
Bush voters
22%
Humans evolved, God did not guide process
All Americans
13%
Kerry voters
21%
Bush voters
6%
Another interesting article.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_pu
We in the real world have our own radiation resistant organisms. So we can't eat them and they are not exactly the most intelligent of organisms, but we have other animals for that. Deinococcus radiodurans, or "strange berry that withstands radiation," is the most radiation resistant organism known to science. A feisty little bug with some rather peculiar features. It's DNA is circular in structure, like all bacteria, but it also has many copies of the same molecule stacked on top of each other and special enzymes to repair it when damaged. Just thought you would be interested.