This is exactly the "what if?" tripe I'm talking about. There are people dying RIGHT NOW from actual problems in the food industry with handling, inspection, and other boring unsexy things. Do people picket for those? Of course not. They picket and argue and debate about the boogeyman that could concievable hurt somebody somewhere someday.
People who waste their time on trendy non-issues like this make me sick.
Electric Vehicles in the form factor of a car just aren't going to happen in our lifetime, from the looks of things.
Batteries have an issue of a pitifully short life(God help you if you run out of batteries and don't get around to recharging in time, there's a few hundred kilograms of toxic material to dispose of and a few dozen thousands of dollars to replace them), and an energy density not high enough to give any sort of range (in an EV you're lucky if you can fit about a gallon of gas worth of electrical energy onboard, with similar range). Ultracaps might have been up for the challenge, but their energy density isn't comparable to batteries. Flywheel storage was the one I was betting on, but it only has a storage capacity about equal to good batteries, plus there are the issues of the physics implications of carrying around a massive chunk of rotating carbon fibre thread while driving around at 100km/h.
The best bet, from where I'm standing, is to try to get new energy-dense liquid fuels based on plants which doesn't requre any strange composites or anything, just natural processes helped along a bit, because then you can run those flammable liquids in existing cars with little or no alteration. This way you don't end up spending massive massive massive amounts of energy to replace every vehicle in service today (Think about the amount of energy that goes into creating steel, shaping steel, and making the vehicles we drive. Imagine that amount of energy -- currently provided by some of the lowest quality fossil fuels -- applied to every vehicle in North America, Oceana, and Europe, and that happening RIGHT NOW because gas is going to disappear overnight), you get to keep the high energy density and energy release due to heat, which is important in places that aren't a balmy 20C in mid-winter, and most importantly, it provides a financially doable alternative for people who aren't rich and can't buy a brand new car because some new form of energy has become fashionable.
For the record, I drive an '85 Bronco II. It sucks gas like it's going out of style, but I paid for it with cash, and it was cheap. I couldn't go out tomorrow and buy some fancy pants engineering prototype for a brand new fuel with cash, I'd have to take out an irresponsible amount of debt. I suppose if it was an electric SUV or a solar powered terrorist van or something I could live in it down by the river and it would make sense buying a vehicle that costs as much as a new home, but frankly, I'd much rather spend my money on a house than on a car, and even then, I'm renting right now.
The "Let's burn food!" idea seems terrible until you realise that your tax dollars are going into paying farmers not to grow to keep food prices at levels that allow them to survive anyway, so might as well save the tax money and give farmers a powerful reason to exist and to have a high yield.
Mechanised Silver cycle derived from oil? That's a new one to me. If you meant agricultural cycle and were referring to the use of nitrogen fertiliser derived from fossil fuels, I reckon that could be fixed somewhat by simply returning ethanol feedstock back to the fields instead of feeding it to cattle. That would probably help keep the plant nutrients in the soil while allowing farmers and energy companies to maintain sustainable energy.
I personally don't believe that the ascetic attitude is really the right one. I think that with continued scientific development, we can reduce the energy requirements of the most important things in our lives, increase the thoroughput of renewable energy sources, and overall create a better life for everyone. We shouldn't go back to living in caves, we don't have to go back to living in caves, and while there might be some changes to be made when the black stuff quits flowing, I don't believe these doomsday prophecies.
That's not an issue with genetically modified foods as such, it's an issue with an hyperimmune response to certain foods, and the foods whose genetic materials are used.
Using your arguement, we shouldn't import brazil nuts, because they cause an hyperimmune response.
I'm sure there's a long list leading up to that hallowed spot of #2. There's no good reason for a horse to be #2.
But one thing I know for certain is applied technology tends to work better than something not actually designed for a certain purpose. Horses, for example, are designed to be living creatures, and in this they excel. However, as an effective means of locamotion, they require massive amounts of infastructure, requiring massive amounts of dangerous pollution in the form of fecal matter be dealt with (Not to mention large amounts of methane produced, and trace amounts of hydrogen sulphide), requiring massive amounts of inefficient fuel be imported into cities(How much grass does a horse need to eat to haul you around the city compared to a gallon or two of gas?), and storage.
It's good that you skipped the lecture, because after a single day of trying to ride in -40C on the unpaved, unplowed bike path(I lucked out and there were a few car tracks I could at least ride in), and taking 2 full hours to reach my place of employment and arriving utterly and completely exhausted and drenched in sweat, I decided the 15 minute car ride was far preferable for all but the 3 months in which the weather permits bike riding.
I can't stand cities. This many humans have to live like something digital, cramped into the smallest space science, government and business will allow, while the choking stench of the stale, lifeless air the concrete artifical desert feeds them chokes and stifles, and the brilliantly bright, starless, vacant sky stretching just out of reach like a ceiling hangs over everyone like the claustrophobic bars of a prison cell. People drive their cars, and walk around, and try in vain to escape the million sets of eyes which lurk, omnipresent, to find a spot to call their own for just a moment, but it's impossible.
I pity anyone trapped in such a place. It's not how a human should live.
I'd be more willing to be that the reason is college professors of any kind that might be worthwhile would depend on some sort of empirical research to back claims about GMO foods being hazardous, instead of vague boogeymen.
If there were studies showing GMO food as anything other than a way to grow more, better food on the same land, I'd be the first in line, but there isn't. It's just a bunch of luddites wasting everyone's time while there are actual food health and safety issues to worry about being ignored. For example, food industries are constantly lobbying for more self-inspection and self-regulation, which has lead to cases where food of terrible quality makes it onto the market. In one case, it was beef for a school lunch program, and a bunch of kids got really sick. I don't recall if any died. Rather than picketing something that's hurting people and making kids sick TODAY, anti-GMO folks are fighting some boogeyman.
No, you're right. The rule of law is set, and those who wilfully molest it must be punished.
Yes, the US should be nuked from orbit for their frequent disregard for WTO rulings, NAFTA rulings, international agreements which aren't convenient, and their own laws and constitution.
What is an unreasonable risk, exactly? The statistical likelihood does increase, but more people than you could imagine drink and drive. Do you think that all those drunks that file out of the bar at 2AM night after night take a cab home?
It seems like given the fact that the law simply isn't enforced during certain times of the day, drinking and driving should be enforced in any event that there's an accident, and during peak hours. You'll just have to trust people not to abuse it. If they do, they'll eventually run out of luck and their life ends.
That's not to say I drink and drive, mind you, or condone it. However, it happens, and there's nothing done to stop it in certain circumstances, so it's easier to drop the pretenses and enact limited scope legislation in all cases where practice is similarly limited. The law that is enforced and the law written into the books ought not to be different, right?
The thing is, I know that RIAA lawyers have illegally and unethically coerced false testimony out of young people before. For that reason alone I wouldn't let an RIAA lawyer get near a kid.
By the way, since when can you sue a 10 year old? Aren't there legal protections for children in that backwards little banana republic?
I guess the NDP would be the best bet for copyright reform, though it's something I wouldn't think the Bloc would be against doing. I doubt the Liberals or Conservatives could do much more than they have, and most of that is bowing early to the demands of the RIAA, giving an excuse to tell them to fuck themselves now that they're going around suing people.
It's going to take less time to RTFM or find an appropriate walkthrough on-line than it will take to install 10 OSes. It'll also give you the ability to do something in the future.
If I remember right, all you have to do is copy a couple files to a couple different locations and change the existing xfconfig file to use "nvidia" instead of "nv".
If any of your rantings actually offered a truly testable hypothesis that could demonstrate some big conspiracy, I'd ask for proof. The thing is, the de facto moderation standard is to moderate according to one's own opinion, regardless of whether you're a FSF guy or a MSF guy or whatever your stance.
But I'll keep an eye out for that whole intimidation thing. I'm not really sure how you can intimidate someone on the internet without it crossing over into something with a legal recourse, but I'll keep an eye on it.
And even there it's pretty warm! Look to Winnipeg, then look up -- Waaaaay up, and you'll see me, praying on my pillow every night for global warming to bring summer in faster.
Anyway, I'm done with the whole Global Warming thing on my end. The whole phenomenon is turning into a way for would-be ascetics to peddle misery when there are solutions which don't require living in a cave. For example, both the Pulp and Paper industry and the lumber industry are moving to burning the waste wood from their processes, or gassification it to create natural gas, both of which are carbon neutral since trees grow back. With a carefully managed forestry program and an efficient power boiler, these massive industries can not just achieve energy independence from the grid, but can start selling relatively clean, carbon neutral, sustainable energy to the grid. The answer to global warming is the same answer that turned cars from 3mpg guzzlers to vehicles like the 50+mpg Toyota Prius(though I'm not sure that the batteries used actually let the life of the car be any less polluting).
More science, better environmental regulations to entice polluters to put the capital into less polluting equipment that also happens to be more efficient, and overall just speeding up the implementation of newer, cleaner technologies is what'll work. Asking people to become hermits, to give up their nice cars, their nice houses, to go wander the desert for 40 years, it's just a bunch of self-righteous pricks who think that ascetic solutions are the only solution.
I don't understand something here. What's so tough about pressing the button marked "internet", or the button marked "E-Mail"?
For that matter, if you're a good grandson you've already got her using thunderbitd and firefox, so you're using the exact same applications.
Honestly, there are good reasons not to use Linux(The robustness and nearly 100% coverage in terms of drivers are two important ones), but web browsing and e-mail aren't two of them. I'm not sure about printing, I don't have a printer. Not huge on paying for inkjet carts, and too cheap to buy a solid laser printer.
I hate to say it, but if you really installed a full 10 different distributions to try to get the video card working, the problem likely exists between the keyboard and chair.
It's good that freespire finally had the drivers pre-installed, but if that wasn't the case, what would you have done? Downloaded another 10 distributions?
Sun Tzu says you must win the victory before winning the battle. Installing 10 or more different distributions to solve your own technical inability to get the video drivers installed is fighting and fighting and fighting, but fighting a tree when there's an army elsewhere.
To be completely fair, a default installation of Windows XP will give you a very nice unaccelerated 16 bit colours in one resolution.
Anyway, most people don't use their PCs for games. Hell, I've got a really nice rig with a pretty high end video card, and even I mostly use my PS2 when I want games. It's simply easier not having to deal with Computer-isms. I pop the game in, it works. Windows can't compete.
There's a spot where the two concepts diverge. Just because evolution has a good reason for a human to be sincerely altruistic doesn't mean that human isn't being sincerely altruistic.
It's like being part of a practical joke where you're made to believe your friend has had some terrible thing happen to him. Just because it's a practical joke doesn't mean your emotions are insincere.
Look into using msconfig to reduce the programs that start on bootup and administrative tools to clean up services that programs install as running despite never using them (The iPod service Apple installs with iTunes is a good one). Also, make sure to run a good anti-spyware tool now and again to make sure you're not losing cycles to that.
If you do that regularly and defragment your drive often, there's nothing there to slow down your PC. My machine at work was used by a couple of my predecessors, and it's the fastest in our office despite having some out-of-date hardware, because I run super-tight.
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Did I miss something? Did the LCBO start up only recently? Was the beer store really the only place to get booze in the 80s?
This is exactly the "what if?" tripe I'm talking about. There are people dying RIGHT NOW from actual problems in the food industry with handling, inspection, and other boring unsexy things. Do people picket for those? Of course not. They picket and argue and debate about the boogeyman that could concievable hurt somebody somewhere someday.
People who waste their time on trendy non-issues like this make me sick.
Electric Vehicles in the form factor of a car just aren't going to happen in our lifetime, from the looks of things.
Batteries have an issue of a pitifully short life(God help you if you run out of batteries and don't get around to recharging in time, there's a few hundred kilograms of toxic material to dispose of and a few dozen thousands of dollars to replace them), and an energy density not high enough to give any sort of range (in an EV you're lucky if you can fit about a gallon of gas worth of electrical energy onboard, with similar range). Ultracaps might have been up for the challenge, but their energy density isn't comparable to batteries. Flywheel storage was the one I was betting on, but it only has a storage capacity about equal to good batteries, plus there are the issues of the physics implications of carrying around a massive chunk of rotating carbon fibre thread while driving around at 100km/h.
The best bet, from where I'm standing, is to try to get new energy-dense liquid fuels based on plants which doesn't requre any strange composites or anything, just natural processes helped along a bit, because then you can run those flammable liquids in existing cars with little or no alteration. This way you don't end up spending massive massive massive amounts of energy to replace every vehicle in service today (Think about the amount of energy that goes into creating steel, shaping steel, and making the vehicles we drive. Imagine that amount of energy -- currently provided by some of the lowest quality fossil fuels -- applied to every vehicle in North America, Oceana, and Europe, and that happening RIGHT NOW because gas is going to disappear overnight), you get to keep the high energy density and energy release due to heat, which is important in places that aren't a balmy 20C in mid-winter, and most importantly, it provides a financially doable alternative for people who aren't rich and can't buy a brand new car because some new form of energy has become fashionable.
For the record, I drive an '85 Bronco II. It sucks gas like it's going out of style, but I paid for it with cash, and it was cheap. I couldn't go out tomorrow and buy some fancy pants engineering prototype for a brand new fuel with cash, I'd have to take out an irresponsible amount of debt. I suppose if it was an electric SUV or a solar powered terrorist van or something I could live in it down by the river and it would make sense buying a vehicle that costs as much as a new home, but frankly, I'd much rather spend my money on a house than on a car, and even then, I'm renting right now.
The "Let's burn food!" idea seems terrible until you realise that your tax dollars are going into paying farmers not to grow to keep food prices at levels that allow them to survive anyway, so might as well save the tax money and give farmers a powerful reason to exist and to have a high yield.
Mechanised Silver cycle derived from oil? That's a new one to me. If you meant agricultural cycle and were referring to the use of nitrogen fertiliser derived from fossil fuels, I reckon that could be fixed somewhat by simply returning ethanol feedstock back to the fields instead of feeding it to cattle. That would probably help keep the plant nutrients in the soil while allowing farmers and energy companies to maintain sustainable energy.
I personally don't believe that the ascetic attitude is really the right one. I think that with continued scientific development, we can reduce the energy requirements of the most important things in our lives, increase the thoroughput of renewable energy sources, and overall create a better life for everyone. We shouldn't go back to living in caves, we don't have to go back to living in caves, and while there might be some changes to be made when the black stuff quits flowing, I don't believe these doomsday prophecies.
That's not an issue with genetically modified foods as such, it's an issue with an hyperimmune response to certain foods, and the foods whose genetic materials are used.
Using your arguement, we shouldn't import brazil nuts, because they cause an hyperimmune response.
I'm sure there's a long list leading up to that hallowed spot of #2. There's no good reason for a horse to be #2.
But one thing I know for certain is applied technology tends to work better than something not actually designed for a certain purpose. Horses, for example, are designed to be living creatures, and in this they excel. However, as an effective means of locamotion, they require massive amounts of infastructure, requiring massive amounts of dangerous pollution in the form of fecal matter be dealt with (Not to mention large amounts of methane produced, and trace amounts of hydrogen sulphide), requiring massive amounts of inefficient fuel be imported into cities(How much grass does a horse need to eat to haul you around the city compared to a gallon or two of gas?), and storage.
It's good that you skipped the lecture, because after a single day of trying to ride in -40C on the unpaved, unplowed bike path(I lucked out and there were a few car tracks I could at least ride in), and taking 2 full hours to reach my place of employment and arriving utterly and completely exhausted and drenched in sweat, I decided the 15 minute car ride was far preferable for all but the 3 months in which the weather permits bike riding.
I can't stand cities. This many humans have to live like something digital, cramped into the smallest space science, government and business will allow, while the choking stench of the stale, lifeless air the concrete artifical desert feeds them chokes and stifles, and the brilliantly bright, starless, vacant sky stretching just out of reach like a ceiling hangs over everyone like the claustrophobic bars of a prison cell. People drive their cars, and walk around, and try in vain to escape the million sets of eyes which lurk, omnipresent, to find a spot to call their own for just a moment, but it's impossible.
I pity anyone trapped in such a place. It's not how a human should live.
I'd be more willing to be that the reason is college professors of any kind that might be worthwhile would depend on some sort of empirical research to back claims about GMO foods being hazardous, instead of vague boogeymen.
If there were studies showing GMO food as anything other than a way to grow more, better food on the same land, I'd be the first in line, but there isn't. It's just a bunch of luddites wasting everyone's time while there are actual food health and safety issues to worry about being ignored. For example, food industries are constantly lobbying for more self-inspection and self-regulation, which has lead to cases where food of terrible quality makes it onto the market. In one case, it was beef for a school lunch program, and a bunch of kids got really sick. I don't recall if any died. Rather than picketing something that's hurting people and making kids sick TODAY, anti-GMO folks are fighting some boogeyman.
No, you're right. The rule of law is set, and those who wilfully molest it must be punished.
Yes, the US should be nuked from orbit for their frequent disregard for WTO rulings, NAFTA rulings, international agreements which aren't convenient, and their own laws and constitution.
It's the only way they'll learn.
What is an unreasonable risk, exactly? The statistical likelihood does increase, but more people than you could imagine drink and drive. Do you think that all those drunks that file out of the bar at 2AM night after night take a cab home?
It seems like given the fact that the law simply isn't enforced during certain times of the day, drinking and driving should be enforced in any event that there's an accident, and during peak hours. You'll just have to trust people not to abuse it. If they do, they'll eventually run out of luck and their life ends.
That's not to say I drink and drive, mind you, or condone it. However, it happens, and there's nothing done to stop it in certain circumstances, so it's easier to drop the pretenses and enact limited scope legislation in all cases where practice is similarly limited. The law that is enforced and the law written into the books ought not to be different, right?
The thing is, I know that RIAA lawyers have illegally and unethically coerced false testimony out of young people before. For that reason alone I wouldn't let an RIAA lawyer get near a kid.
By the way, since when can you sue a 10 year old? Aren't there legal protections for children in that backwards little banana republic?
I guess the NDP would be the best bet for copyright reform, though it's something I wouldn't think the Bloc would be against doing. I doubt the Liberals or Conservatives could do much more than they have, and most of that is bowing early to the demands of the RIAA, giving an excuse to tell them to fuck themselves now that they're going around suing people.
Oh, you mean the banana republic. No clue.
If there's no flour for bread, why not just let them eat cake?
It's going to take less time to RTFM or find an appropriate walkthrough on-line than it will take to install 10 OSes. It'll also give you the ability to do something in the future.
If I remember right, all you have to do is copy a couple files to a couple different locations and change the existing xfconfig file to use "nvidia" instead of "nv".
If any of your rantings actually offered a truly testable hypothesis that could demonstrate some big conspiracy, I'd ask for proof. The thing is, the de facto moderation standard is to moderate according to one's own opinion, regardless of whether you're a FSF guy or a MSF guy or whatever your stance.
But I'll keep an eye out for that whole intimidation thing. I'm not really sure how you can intimidate someone on the internet without it crossing over into something with a legal recourse, but I'll keep an eye on it.
And even there it's pretty warm! Look to Winnipeg, then look up -- Waaaaay up, and you'll see me, praying on my pillow every night for global warming to bring summer in faster.
Anyway, I'm done with the whole Global Warming thing on my end. The whole phenomenon is turning into a way for would-be ascetics to peddle misery when there are solutions which don't require living in a cave. For example, both the Pulp and Paper industry and the lumber industry are moving to burning the waste wood from their processes, or gassification it to create natural gas, both of which are carbon neutral since trees grow back. With a carefully managed forestry program and an efficient power boiler, these massive industries can not just achieve energy independence from the grid, but can start selling relatively clean, carbon neutral, sustainable energy to the grid. The answer to global warming is the same answer that turned cars from 3mpg guzzlers to vehicles like the 50+mpg Toyota Prius(though I'm not sure that the batteries used actually let the life of the car be any less polluting).
More science, better environmental regulations to entice polluters to put the capital into less polluting equipment that also happens to be more efficient, and overall just speeding up the implementation of newer, cleaner technologies is what'll work. Asking people to become hermits, to give up their nice cars, their nice houses, to go wander the desert for 40 years, it's just a bunch of self-righteous pricks who think that ascetic solutions are the only solution.
I don't understand something here. What's so tough about pressing the button marked "internet", or the button marked "E-Mail"?
For that matter, if you're a good grandson you've already got her using thunderbitd and firefox, so you're using the exact same applications.
Honestly, there are good reasons not to use Linux(The robustness and nearly 100% coverage in terms of drivers are two important ones), but web browsing and e-mail aren't two of them. I'm not sure about printing, I don't have a printer. Not huge on paying for inkjet carts, and too cheap to buy a solid laser printer.
Take off the tinfoil hat, bro.
I hate to say it, but if you really installed a full 10 different distributions to try to get the video card working, the problem likely exists between the keyboard and chair.
It's good that freespire finally had the drivers pre-installed, but if that wasn't the case, what would you have done? Downloaded another 10 distributions?
Sun Tzu says you must win the victory before winning the battle. Installing 10 or more different distributions to solve your own technical inability to get the video drivers installed is fighting and fighting and fighting, but fighting a tree when there's an army elsewhere.
To be completely fair, a default installation of Windows XP will give you a very nice unaccelerated 16 bit colours in one resolution.
Anyway, most people don't use their PCs for games. Hell, I've got a really nice rig with a pretty high end video card, and even I mostly use my PS2 when I want games. It's simply easier not having to deal with Computer-isms. I pop the game in, it works. Windows can't compete.
There's a spot where the two concepts diverge. Just because evolution has a good reason for a human to be sincerely altruistic doesn't mean that human isn't being sincerely altruistic.
It's like being part of a practical joke where you're made to believe your friend has had some terrible thing happen to him. Just because it's a practical joke doesn't mean your emotions are insincere.
Now, here's the thing; It IS the default behaviour, because we're talking about my home PC.
Really, why would I let the guys at work call me in to work on my computer in the middle of the night?
What's important is that the local gravity is taken into account when considering how heavy-handed it is. Imperial systems don't do that.
Look into using msconfig to reduce the programs that start on bootup and administrative tools to clean up services that programs install as running despite never using them (The iPod service Apple installs with iTunes is a good one). Also, make sure to run a good anti-spyware tool now and again to make sure you're not losing cycles to that.
If you do that regularly and defragment your drive often, there's nothing there to slow down your PC. My machine at work was used by a couple of my predecessors, and it's the fastest in our office despite having some out-of-date hardware, because I run super-tight.