I've never been properly fitted or anything...I just have a medium quality mountain bike I ride on the trails around some local parks. Yes to clipless pedals...the idea of having my feet attached to the bike terrifies me! Remembering to pop them out before trying to put a foot down seems like something I'd have a hard time mastering!;)
Not true. I have always had a very large frame, and even when at a "healthy" BMI, my weight is about 260 lbs. Years of jogging/running and playing soccer (yes, I know, soccer...I was too much of a geek to ever think of playing football, much to several coaches' lament) have left my knees painful, popping, pre-arthritic degenerative wrecks. Actually, come to think of it, it's probably for the best that I never liked football.
Unfortunately, my doctors have only just recently told me that I should have avoided such high-impact exercise once I hit 235-240 lbs (which I did by age 19). The human body just isn't designed to carry around that much weight (even if it is fairly well-toned muscle). Cartilage can only take so much pounding before it begins to degrade. Biking and elliptical machines are about all I can do for cardio work anymore, and even that hurts like a bitch afterwards. I'm in my mid-thirties, and looking at knee replacements in the next 10-15 years. Yay. At least pro athletes who have to deal with this nonsense have a career (and hopefully a lot of savings) to look back on and say "It was worth it." I'm just an overly-large Unix Engineer (who's weight, now that I can't run anymore, is closer to 300 lbs now—biking just isn't cutting it like running did...sigh).
I got the impression from the movie that politically (perhaps in their constitution), they were hampered when it came to that sort of defense. Remember the shitstorm that the defense minister generated by having her earthside agent deal with the inbound shuttles. The president and his council were not happy with her at all. She made a big speech about needing the freedom and tools to keep things safe (or at least keep the status quo), and they seemed content to ignore her and threaten her removal if she acted violently again.
In the movie, on the station, all labor, security, etc. is performed by semi-autonomous service droids (as well as policing of the unwashed masses below). It's not a stretch to assume that all construction of the station was also done with robotic labor. No worries about the masses having any say on construction schedules, especially if said robots are harvesting raw materials from the asteroid belt/comets. In fact, the only real "industry" we see on earth is a factory assembling service droids.
Actually, in the movie, the primary wheel of the station is more of a U-shaped trough, completely open on the inner "sky" side wall. That's actually one of the major issues I had with the movie...because I'm pretty sure one just gee of centrifugal force is nowhere near enough to keep an atmosphere only a few miles deep in place (it's maybe 5-10 miles...it's hard to judge scale with all the "homes" inside being palatial estates). Nowhere is there discussion of any sort of force fields or anything of the like meant to keep the air in (though one of the Elysium agents produces a crackling, sparking protective field to hide behind at several points in the movie, so there is *some* sort of field tech). The various shuttlecraft have no issues dipping in and out of atmo with impunity as they flit about the station, implying there's nothing there, field-wise. I was hoping they'd cover a little bit more of the tech behind the station, but sadly, they did not.
That depends entirely on where you live. For instance, not the case at all, here in VA. Leave 'em where you like....now, doing so, I will agree, is horribly irresponsible....but not necessarily illegal.
Bypasses what regulation, exactly? In my state (VA) and in most others, there is no "regulation" of firearms beyond that limited by the National Firearms Act of 1986 (which includes restrictions on machine guns, short-barreled (sawed-off) rifles and shotguns, and "destructive devices" like grenades, mortars, RPGs and the like). It is only a small minority of US states that require any sort of licensing or registration of firearms. In most places, it is perfectly legal to build anything you like--out of any materials you like--as long as you do not sell (transfer) it to another person.
No, there isn't a limit to "side blogs" as they're called (I run another one for information on my band's tour schedule). Replying to messages and following other blogs is limited to your primary blog, however.
As far as self-censoring the occasional photograph I take that might have boobs, the horse is already out of the barn. Someone at Tumblr made the call some time ago that my blog was NSFW (luckily, they recognized the difference between art and porn, and did not flag it as "adult." This NSFW flag can apparently never be changed (Tumblr has no mechanism for review or protestation of their classifications). I'd have to start completely over, and somehow convince my several thousand followers to go follow the new blog. At this point, I've got too much invested in "my brand" to deal with any of that.
It's not just blogs that feature posts tagged as "adult," it's the entirety of any blog tumblr has already flagged as NSFW or adult (the overall blog flag, not just posts). My personal photography blog has been branded as NSFW, as I sometimes post risque work. Basically, there will be no new discovery of my blog, since Tumblr's also blocked internal tag searches for such blogs as well (unless one is already following said blog). My rate of addition of new followers dropped precipitously after that. Bastards...like the occasional nipple is going to end the world.
Actually, shotgun shells are also nowhere to be found. At least here in Northern VA, the Dick's Sporting Goods stores around me used to always have several pallets of 12-gauge target load available. Ever since Sandy Hook, there have been giant bare spots on the floor where the cases of shells used to be. When they do have any shells, you're limited to six boxes. Wal-Mart restricts buyers to two boxes. This has significantly impacted my favorite past-time, skeet and trap shooting (which is especially frustrating because we've had such a mild winter I could have been out there a lot more weekends than the shortage has allowed).
On an average Saturday, my friends and I would easily burn through 500-600 shells in a couple hours. I'd use my reloading press (recently purchased because at the rate I was using shells, it's more economical to make/reload my own), but good luck finding any primers! The weird thing is, it seems people are hoarding all the clays, too...it's getting hard to find those around here as well!
I'd love some googling pointers on "where to look," sir. I was just about to start an AR-10 build when Newtown happened. So far I've found nothing but out of stock stores or insanely inflated prices. To think, my last AR build, I picked up a Stag Arms lower for only $69...
Too true. If you cheerfully list all your deviancies during the investigation process, and convince them that you wouldn't be embarrassed by the world knowing about said kinks, they'll rubberstamp you through.
Hell, one of my (cleared) coworkers runs one of the DC area's more infamous Dom/sub B&D dungeons....but because he'll happily tell you all about it if you ask, no one cares.
Actually, as I understand it (after our recent security briefing) dissemination of classified materials by any US citizen is against the law, clearance holder or not. They don't generally go after journalists and the like after they get their hands on a leaked document (unless it were to cause some serious damage), but believe you me...the folks who leaked it? Up shit creek if they get found out.
Ask Scooter Libby about what happens to people like that (sure, W commuted his 30-month sentence to time served, but the felony charge still stands, as well as the $250,000 fine).
Actually, no. Perhaps the *article* says that, but we just had an emergency briefing at work (for the U.S. army—mostly civilian employees and contractors in my office) yesterday regarding all the recent Wikileaks activity.
Seeking out (even on your own time, using your own computer) the information will result in—at best—a suspension of one's clearance, if not an outright immediate termination of said clearance (either of which would result in one losing one's job).
Downloading the material (which has not been declassified, which is all the security wonks care about) will result in what we call "spillage." Your machine (yes, even your personally owned computer), once having held the data is considered classified, to be turned over to the relevant authorities (seized).
They were very, very clear on this, citing all legal precedent and demonstrating authority to do so, to the point where a roomful of my fellow cantankerous IT engineers even stopped asking annoyed questions and silenced down.
Bottom line (at least as far as the Army is concerned): The material is classified, and any possession of said material (be it form Wikileaks or the NYT) will get your ass in hot water pretty damn quickly.
Heh, I got a *nasty* glare from one of the security officers when I asked "What about the stuff they read out loud during newscasts on NPR while I'm driving home? Is my brain classified now?" That got a good chuckle from the assembled engineers, but not the security folks, hahaha.
No, no sir...I have given if great thought, and while it seems to be more math-in-the-head work to me, I am going to amaze my coworkers with your complex calculations at lunch today!
I wish I had some mod points at the moment. I can only offer my anecdotal experiences to this, but I agree with you 100%.
I have a good number of friends (all the children from three large families that lived near my house growing up, who's parents pulled them out of school when our state began teaching sex-ed to elementary schoolers). All of these kids are fairly bright, all well educated (most finishing their HS coursework by age 15 or 16), many of whom went on to college.
The few with whom I was closest (meaning they hung out with me—and my other public school friends) came out "normal." The ones who had really no other human interaction other than their church services and Sunday school are generally socially awkward, have no sense of empathy, and tend to be very selfish. College helped correct some of this in a few of them, but most of them ended up dropping out after a year or two because their lack of social skills either made them pariahs or just made school too awkward for them.
The ones with whom I'm still good friends (mostly the "normal" ones who got socialized as teens) agree that their parents did them a great disservice when they got yanked out of public school.
As I was taught in Drivers Ed here in VA (and then reinforced several years later at a *ahem* mandatory driver improvement course), the solid section of lane markings leading up to the stop line is supposed to be painted to such a length that when you are going the speed limit, if you are within the solid section of line as the light turns yellow, you will have time to clear the intersection before red.
Now the downside of this is that to deal with ever changing traffic and congestion, light timing is tweaked constantly, resulting in lights that go red way before the painted lines indicate they should.
I received a red light ticket for just this reason once when I was in college (pulled over, not via camera). I tried to explain this line length thing to the arresting officer, but he was having none of it. Fortuitously, my little sister was still in high school, and was taking drivers ed at that time. I borrowed her drivers ed book and took it into court with me. When I showed the judge the paragraph explaining that this is how—according to the book—intersections ALWAYS are configured (obviously not really true in the real world) he was rather flummoxed (as was the cop who ticketed me). They had no idea that everyone was being taught this (whether it was valid information or not). Because of it, my ticket got dismissed. I suspect everyone else in court for red light offenses that session tried to use the same defense after I was done (no idea, 'cause I was focused on just getting the hell away from there before they changed their minds!)
As far as I know, they're STILL teaching that the solid lines denote the "safe area" you can keep going through the yellow.
Not to nitpick, but in Tennessee, there are no licenses required to own a gun (handgun or long gun). A permit is required to carry a loaded gun, but anyone who is 18 years old with a clean criminal record may purchase and keep guns.
Of course, if he were to get jail time, then his ability to own firearms after getting out might be restricted, depending on with what he was charged (only felonies involving the use or attempted use of force, violence or a deadly weapon and felony drug charges will result in restrictions to gun ownership). If he's charged with negligence or something similar, he'll be free to own weapons when he gets out.
Slashdot Mirror
For reasons that should be blatantly obvious...
Mole-people kidnappings?
I've never been properly fitted or anything...I just have a medium quality mountain bike I ride on the trails around some local parks. Yes to clipless pedals...the idea of having my feet attached to the bike terrifies me! Remembering to pop them out before trying to put a foot down seems like something I'd have a hard time mastering! ;)
Not true. I have always had a very large frame, and even when at a "healthy" BMI, my weight is about 260 lbs. Years of jogging/running and playing soccer (yes, I know, soccer...I was too much of a geek to ever think of playing football, much to several coaches' lament) have left my knees painful, popping, pre-arthritic degenerative wrecks. Actually, come to think of it, it's probably for the best that I never liked football.
Unfortunately, my doctors have only just recently told me that I should have avoided such high-impact exercise once I hit 235-240 lbs (which I did by age 19). The human body just isn't designed to carry around that much weight (even if it is fairly well-toned muscle). Cartilage can only take so much pounding before it begins to degrade. Biking and elliptical machines are about all I can do for cardio work anymore, and even that hurts like a bitch afterwards. I'm in my mid-thirties, and looking at knee replacements in the next 10-15 years. Yay. At least pro athletes who have to deal with this nonsense have a career (and hopefully a lot of savings) to look back on and say "It was worth it." I'm just an overly-large Unix Engineer (who's weight, now that I can't run anymore, is closer to 300 lbs now—biking just isn't cutting it like running did...sigh).
*spoliers!*
I got the impression from the movie that politically (perhaps in their constitution), they were hampered when it came to that sort of defense. Remember the shitstorm that the defense minister generated by having her earthside agent deal with the inbound shuttles. The president and his council were not happy with her at all. She made a big speech about needing the freedom and tools to keep things safe (or at least keep the status quo), and they seemed content to ignore her and threaten her removal if she acted violently again.
In the movie, on the station, all labor, security, etc. is performed by semi-autonomous service droids (as well as policing of the unwashed masses below). It's not a stretch to assume that all construction of the station was also done with robotic labor. No worries about the masses having any say on construction schedules, especially if said robots are harvesting raw materials from the asteroid belt/comets. In fact, the only real "industry" we see on earth is a factory assembling service droids.
Actually, in the movie, the primary wheel of the station is more of a U-shaped trough, completely open on the inner "sky" side wall. That's actually one of the major issues I had with the movie...because I'm pretty sure one just gee of centrifugal force is nowhere near enough to keep an atmosphere only a few miles deep in place (it's maybe 5-10 miles...it's hard to judge scale with all the "homes" inside being palatial estates). Nowhere is there discussion of any sort of force fields or anything of the like meant to keep the air in (though one of the Elysium agents produces a crackling, sparking protective field to hide behind at several points in the movie, so there is *some* sort of field tech). The various shuttlecraft have no issues dipping in and out of atmo with impunity as they flit about the station, implying there's nothing there, field-wise. I was hoping they'd cover a little bit more of the tech behind the station, but sadly, they did not.
Storing a gun in an usecured barn is illegal.
That depends entirely on where you live. For instance, not the case at all, here in VA. Leave 'em where you like. ...now, doing so, I will agree, is horribly irresponsible....but not necessarily illegal.
Bypasses what regulation, exactly? In my state (VA) and in most others, there is no "regulation" of firearms beyond that limited by the National Firearms Act of 1986 (which includes restrictions on machine guns, short-barreled (sawed-off) rifles and shotguns, and "destructive devices" like grenades, mortars, RPGs and the like). It is only a small minority of US states that require any sort of licensing or registration of firearms. In most places, it is perfectly legal to build anything you like--out of any materials you like--as long as you do not sell (transfer) it to another person.
I expected a little less sensationalism and a lot more intelligence from slashdot.
You must be new here. ;)
No, there isn't a limit to "side blogs" as they're called (I run another one for information on my band's tour schedule). Replying to messages and following other blogs is limited to your primary blog, however.
As far as self-censoring the occasional photograph I take that might have boobs, the horse is already out of the barn. Someone at Tumblr made the call some time ago that my blog was NSFW (luckily, they recognized the difference between art and porn, and did not flag it as "adult." This NSFW flag can apparently never be changed (Tumblr has no mechanism for review or protestation of their classifications). I'd have to start completely over, and somehow convince my several thousand followers to go follow the new blog. At this point, I've got too much invested in "my brand" to deal with any of that.
It's not just blogs that feature posts tagged as "adult," it's the entirety of any blog tumblr has already flagged as NSFW or adult (the overall blog flag, not just posts). My personal photography blog has been branded as NSFW, as I sometimes post risque work. Basically, there will be no new discovery of my blog, since Tumblr's also blocked internal tag searches for such blogs as well (unless one is already following said blog). My rate of addition of new followers dropped precipitously after that. Bastards...like the occasional nipple is going to end the world.
Oh, that means in Texas, we can shoot her!
...unless one used a revolver or a brass catcher (or simply policed ones rounds after shooting).
After a few reloads, all those overlapping stamps would get awfully hard to read.
Actually, shotgun shells are also nowhere to be found. At least here in Northern VA, the Dick's Sporting Goods stores around me used to always have several pallets of 12-gauge target load available. Ever since Sandy Hook, there have been giant bare spots on the floor where the cases of shells used to be. When they do have any shells, you're limited to six boxes. Wal-Mart restricts buyers to two boxes. This has significantly impacted my favorite past-time, skeet and trap shooting (which is especially frustrating because we've had such a mild winter I could have been out there a lot more weekends than the shortage has allowed).
On an average Saturday, my friends and I would easily burn through 500-600 shells in a couple hours. I'd use my reloading press (recently purchased because at the rate I was using shells, it's more economical to make/reload my own), but good luck finding any primers! The weird thing is, it seems people are hoarding all the clays, too...it's getting hard to find those around here as well!
OMFG....excuse my while I clean up the mess from my spit-take. Oh, if only I had some mod points at the moment... Best laugh I've had all day!
I'd love some googling pointers on "where to look," sir. I was just about to start an AR-10 build when Newtown happened. So far I've found nothing but out of stock stores or insanely inflated prices. To think, my last AR build, I picked up a Stag Arms lower for only $69...
Lucky Albert...
Too true. If you cheerfully list all your deviancies during the investigation process, and convince them that you wouldn't be embarrassed by the world knowing about said kinks, they'll rubberstamp you through.
Hell, one of my (cleared) coworkers runs one of the DC area's more infamous Dom/sub B&D dungeons....but because he'll happily tell you all about it if you ask, no one cares.
Actually, as I understand it (after our recent security briefing) dissemination of classified materials by any US citizen is against the law, clearance holder or not. They don't generally go after journalists and the like after they get their hands on a leaked document (unless it were to cause some serious damage), but believe you me...the folks who leaked it? Up shit creek if they get found out.
Ask Scooter Libby about what happens to people like that (sure, W commuted his 30-month sentence to time served, but the felony charge still stands, as well as the $250,000 fine).
Actually, no. Perhaps the *article* says that, but we just had an emergency briefing at work (for the U.S. army—mostly civilian employees and contractors in my office) yesterday regarding all the recent Wikileaks activity.
Seeking out (even on your own time, using your own computer) the information will result in—at best—a suspension of one's clearance, if not an outright immediate termination of said clearance (either of which would result in one losing one's job).
Downloading the material (which has not been declassified, which is all the security wonks care about) will result in what we call "spillage." Your machine (yes, even your personally owned computer), once having held the data is considered classified, to be turned over to the relevant authorities (seized).
They were very, very clear on this, citing all legal precedent and demonstrating authority to do so, to the point where a roomful of my fellow cantankerous IT engineers even stopped asking annoyed questions and silenced down.
Bottom line (at least as far as the Army is concerned): The material is classified, and any possession of said material (be it form Wikileaks or the NYT) will get your ass in hot water pretty damn quickly.
Heh, I got a *nasty* glare from one of the security officers when I asked "What about the stuff they read out loud during newscasts on NPR while I'm driving home? Is my brain classified now?" That got a good chuckle from the assembled engineers, but not the security folks, hahaha.
No, no sir...I have given if great thought, and while it seems to be more math-in-the-head work to me, I am going to amaze my coworkers with your complex calculations at lunch today!
See, I take 10% and double it. Your way is just weird. Hehehe
I wish I had some mod points at the moment. I can only offer my anecdotal experiences to this, but I agree with you 100%.
I have a good number of friends (all the children from three large families that lived near my house growing up, who's parents pulled them out of school when our state began teaching sex-ed to elementary schoolers). All of these kids are fairly bright, all well educated (most finishing their HS coursework by age 15 or 16), many of whom went on to college.
The few with whom I was closest (meaning they hung out with me—and my other public school friends) came out "normal." The ones who had really no other human interaction other than their church services and Sunday school are generally socially awkward, have no sense of empathy, and tend to be very selfish. College helped correct some of this in a few of them, but most of them ended up dropping out after a year or two because their lack of social skills either made them pariahs or just made school too awkward for them.
The ones with whom I'm still good friends (mostly the "normal" ones who got socialized as teens) agree that their parents did them a great disservice when they got yanked out of public school.
As I was taught in Drivers Ed here in VA (and then reinforced several years later at a *ahem* mandatory driver improvement course), the solid section of lane markings leading up to the stop line is supposed to be painted to such a length that when you are going the speed limit, if you are within the solid section of line as the light turns yellow, you will have time to clear the intersection before red.
Now the downside of this is that to deal with ever changing traffic and congestion, light timing is tweaked constantly, resulting in lights that go red way before the painted lines indicate they should.
I received a red light ticket for just this reason once when I was in college (pulled over, not via camera). I tried to explain this line length thing to the arresting officer, but he was having none of it. Fortuitously, my little sister was still in high school, and was taking drivers ed at that time. I borrowed her drivers ed book and took it into court with me. When I showed the judge the paragraph explaining that this is how—according to the book—intersections ALWAYS are configured (obviously not really true in the real world) he was rather flummoxed (as was the cop who ticketed me). They had no idea that everyone was being taught this (whether it was valid information or not). Because of it, my ticket got dismissed. I suspect everyone else in court for red light offenses that session tried to use the same defense after I was done (no idea, 'cause I was focused on just getting the hell away from there before they changed their minds!)
As far as I know, they're STILL teaching that the solid lines denote the "safe area" you can keep going through the yellow.
Not to nitpick, but in Tennessee, there are no licenses required to own a gun (handgun or long gun). A permit is required to carry a loaded gun, but anyone who is 18 years old with a clean criminal record may purchase and keep guns.
Of course, if he were to get jail time, then his ability to own firearms after getting out might be restricted, depending on with what he was charged (only felonies involving the use or attempted use of force, violence or a deadly weapon and felony drug charges will result in restrictions to gun ownership). If he's charged with negligence or something similar, he'll be free to own weapons when he gets out.