The Lord's book has foretold just this event, promised to occur just as Jesus Christ our savior returns to reign on earth as King of kings.
Or, the way I prefer to think about it: "Last call for fornicating and altar boy fondling! The party ends in five minutes. So satisfy your sinful urges one last time, and start moving towards the door. Oh yeah, and don't forget to step into the confessional on your way out."
There's a good play-by-play report of a hobbyist's adventures in mineral oil cooling here. The first page is just an introduction, but contains links to all the juicy bits on successive pages.
Some suggestions:
* BBC
* Russia Today
* Bloomberg
* The Guardian
* The Wall Street Journal / The Financial Times
* Al Jazeera (hit and miss - great coverage of Egypt/Libya/Bahrain, terrible coverage of Japan)
* Der Spiegel
Note: True financial publications like Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal (e.g., NOT CNBC) tend to get their facts straight because their readership is much more demanding. Financial publications aren't perfect (The Financial Times' coverage of Russia has historically been pathetic), but they're a hell of a lot better than what passes for news in the US. I'm American and I don't even watch mainstream US news or read mainstream newspapers anymore - the signal to noise is just dismal.
The terrorists aren't using the government, the government is using the terrorists.
Seems like a mutually beneficial relationship to me.
To draw a parallel with another resilient industry, who's actually using whom? Is the sex-obsessed client exploiting the vulnerable, defenseless prostitute? Or is it really the prostitute who's exploiting the client?
Either way, it's a comfy scenario for the military-industrial pimp.
This is neither about putting the cat back into the bag nor about preventing future leaks. This is about responding by doing something, regardless of whether or not that something that must be done is justified, legal, pragmatic, ethical, or effective.
Reacting has become the solitary goal of politicians...to take some kind of action when their constituents feel threatened, regardless of whether that action is appropriate, or if there even exists any action whatsoever is appropriate.
Cases in point:
The TSA
The War on Terrorism
Warrantless Wiretapping
The War on Drugs
MADD
Felony Time for Personal Drug Use
Religion
The Pledge of Allegiance
The Witchhunt to Determine Who Killed Michael Jackson
Laws Banning Assisted Suicide
Censorship of (insert media here)
Laws Against Flag Burning
The RIAA
The MPAA
etc.
etc.
etc.
It's a tragedy of this fully-padded, 100% sterilized, risk-free, instant-gratification, 24/7-connected dreamworld that we are increasingly inhabiting that there has to be an immediate cure for every evil. People no longer accept that sometimes the best action is no action at all.
Given two groups - one which changes its beliefs when confronted with contradictory evidence, and another which simply ignores the evidence - I'll put my faith in the first group.
There's a long-running joke among financial types....
If things are gonna get worse, buy bonds.
If they're gonna get much worse, buy gold.
If you're still worried, buy canned food, ammunition, and land in New Zealand.
I do understand statistics. While I agree it is highly unlikely that I would use the phrase 'statistically impossible', there is some nonzero probability.
There's some truth in what you wrote, but most of it is pretty far from reality.
In Russia's major cities, capitalism is alive and well. SMEs (small and medium enterprises) aren't as widespread as in the USA or Europe, but they are gaining ground. Wait another 20 years and they'll be everywhere. And the younger generation is quite ready to take any steps needed to support the economy.
You can buy everything in Russia that you can find in any American department store (except Slim Jims - for God's sake, they still don't sell Slim Jims). Prices are higher here, however, due to import tariffs on some goods, lower competition, and a relatively smaller market.
The import tariffs are partly a result of bureacracy (which I believe will disappear over the years) and partly to help support strategic domestic industries. For example, as an anti-crisis measure, the Russian government just increased its import tariff on consumer automobiles from 25% to 30% in a move to support the struggling domestic automotive sector. As a result, if I want to buy a quality-built car here, I can expect to spend 30-40% more for it than I would in the USA. Importantly, note that the import tariff has prompted many foreign manufacturers to set up factories inside Russia (Ford, Toyota, Honda, and others all have domestic manufacturing capacity). Given time, the price for new vehicles in Russia will come down as competition increases and the market grows, but it's gonna take another 15 years.
Economic development will help with the last two issues (the relatively lower competition and the relatively smaller size of the consumer market). Russian disposable incomes are advancing rapidly. In 2008, real incomes increased about 15%. That growth is going to be closer to 5% in 2009, but by 2010 the country should be back up to 10% annual real income growth.
The crisis is definitely going to crimp growth in 2009, of course. The government is facing its first budget deficit since 2000, and the RUB has already lost about 20% of its value against the USD and looks destined to drop another 10% by summer. However, with some USD 400 bn in foreign currency reserves on hand, the government can easily weather 2 years of low commodities prices without breaking a sweat. And commodity prices will start recovering by the end of 2009 - even in the midst of the crisis, there's simply too much demand out there (from China, Russia, India, the USA, etc.), while at the same time there's too little capex being spent on new capacity.
Don't get me wrong...there's still a lot that's wrong in Russia. The legal system needs a major overhaul. The country's still too dependent on foreign capital. The financial system is very immature, and needs a much strong legal framework that protects the rights of investors, especially bondholders. The RUB bond market is in tatters right now. The banking system is hurting in many many many ways right now (and I personally have no idea what the RIGHT way to heal it is).
And there are a LOT of people in Russia who still live below, at, or just marginally above the poverty line. In the major cities wages are doing quite well. In Moscow, educated young adults can easily make USD 2000-3000 per month. Many make MUCH more than this. But there are also a lot of people who make just barely enough to get by (I think the median monthly salary in Moscow is about USD 800 right now). In Russia's provincial regions salaries are much lower. I know doctors, teachers, policemen, and accountants who make USD 100 a month.
It's going to take a generation to bring Russia up to European levels. There's still a lot of work to be done. But the country as a whole is advancing very quickly. The stereotype of "a country with plenty of goods, but no one can afford to buy them" no longer applies. Wealth is starting to filter out of the major cities into the provincial regions. Salaries are gaining rapidly. And most importantly, the government is working hard to safeguard
If the kid can jump in the car and get it to move forward in the span of half a second, this MIGHT be a good idea. More likely, by the time (s)he's in the driver's seat mom has already suffered major internal injuries, and moving the car will just do more damage. Better to wait for medical services to arrive.
Real medical emergencies do not take place like in the movies. If you have a knife in you, it is NOT better to remove it on the spot (that knife is the only thing preventing you from bleeding). If you're pinned by a heavy object, it is better to wait until emergency services are in place to deal with any problems removing that object will cause (moving that object is only going to exacerbate any spinal injuries an internal bleeding). If you have a broken arm, it is NOT better to set it at the scene of the injury (doing so can further damage the surrounding tissue, increase bleeding, and potentially release bone marrow into the blood stream).
99% of the time, it's better to do absolutely nothing, and move the victim as little as possible. The obvious exceptions are when breathing is obstructed (possible in the case of the parent's example) or further danger is imminent (victim is unconscious in the passenger's seat after a car accident in the middle of a highway in a snowstorm, or perhaps the car is on fire).
P.S. The poster's point (that if the story had ended differently the spin about GTA would be different) is still valid, but the example (s)he used isn't the best one that could have been picked.
BASE jumpers jump from the Royal Gorge annually at the Go-Fast games. A parachute (round or ram-air) would almost certainly have helped in case of malfunction.
I'd wager the reason a parachute wasn't used is because of the added weight. Even a simple one-canopy reserve adds 6 or 7 pounds. Also, there's not as much of a "cool" factor to the crossing if it's done with a chest-mount reserve.
I can't comment on round-canopy reserve rigs, but modern 7-cell BASE canopies can be inflated enough to prevent death in well below 50 feet (dependent upon airspeed - at terminal velocity, this figure increases to around 100 feet).
These jetpacks are very tricky to fly, however. It's very easy to put yourself in an uncontrollable and unrecoverable spin, and if it happens it'll happen in mere tenths of a second. Also, because you're constantly burning fuel and getting lighter, the pilot has to be constantly easing up on the throttle to avoid rocketing off into the stratosphere.
I've heard rumors one of the pilots from Red Bull is considering doing exactly this; he believes that he could reach 2000 feet or so within 25-30 seconds, and then deploy a BASE canopy.
I'll prefix my comments on the economy by saying I'm an American living and working abroad in the financial sector. So I work with some of the issues haunting the global crisis every day.
Direct blame for the mess lies first and foremost with credit ratings agencies (Standard & Poor's, Moody's, Fitch, et al) and credit insurers (like AIG). They continued to provide strong ratings to mortgage-backed securities without considering the ripple effect a housing-market slump would have. Secondly, blame should fall on US regulating agencies (like the SEC), which failed to place adequate restrictions on mortgage brokers. And lastly, blame should fall on politicians for failing to address the problem of excessive consumer and corporate debt. For years the world has known that America's debt-fueled economic growth was unsustainable. And yet for the past six years, few regulative measures were introduced to increase banks' capitalization ratios. Republicans seem more to blame here, as the six years of deregulation were largely Republican sponsored, but Democrats haven't been much better on this issue.
The Bush administration is not directly responsible for the current financial crisis. Note, however, that the Bush administration's spending spree of the past 7 years has put the government in a decidedly weaker position to now deal with the financial crisis. The government is now much more leveraged than it was when Clinton left office, meaning the Treasury has less flexibility to control markets. The USD is in real danger, and the only reason it hasn't collaped is that there's no alternative currency that investors can run to (Europe is hurting just as bad right now as the USA). The War in Iraq was never worth bankrupting our country.
Let me repeat that...
The War in Iraq was never worth bankrupting our country.
The US national debt has increased in excess of USD 500 bn per year since 2003 and broke through USD 10 tn on September 30, 2008. That means USD 33 000 of debt per resident of the USA, or some 70% of GDP!!!!
In 2000 it was just USD 5.7 bn (58% of GDP) and was on its way down.
I don't credit Clinton with producing the strong economy of the time, and am neutral on the net effect of his tax increases, but I do believe one of his administration's best moves was to use the budget surplus to pay down the national debt.
Make no mistake, the USA is in a very difficult position right now, and its global power is diminishing measurably by the hour.
Economic and foreign policy should be THE deciding factors in the coming election. Completely forget about welfare, abortion, gay marriage, global warming, immigration, job outsourcing, socialized healthcare, agricultural subsidies, AIDS, the war on drugs, executive pay, intellectual property, and religion in the classroom. If the American population realized how dire the situation is right now, these would be non-issues in this election. Real issues like the war on terror, dependence on foreign hydrocarbons, education spending, political reform, antitrust regulation, and social security are important, but should take backseat to the two most pressing issues today: foreign policy and the economy (i.e. eliminating the credit crunch).
Issues like interrogation techniques, warrantless wiretapping, and incarceration of enemy combatants without trial should never have been issues in the first place. Suspected terrorists, both at home and abroad, should receive the same protections that any American citizen receives. Period. I'm still terrified that some Americans think otherwise, and absolutely horrified that some politicians agree with them. Warrantless wiretapping is absolutely disgusting, especially considering the FISA already allowed for a court order to be obtained up to three days after wiretapping had commenced. When voting, choose the smartest candidate you can based on the two most important criteria: foreign policay and the credit crunch. For any intelligent politician, the issues of interrogatio
There was a funny Russian parody on the LHC that was published a few weeks back. It plays on the fact that the words hadron and android are very similar in Russian.
You can find the original article at: http://vladimir.vladimirovich.ru/2008-7-9/#an2719
Translated roughly, it reads as:
One day Vladimir Vladimirovichâ Putin walked into the office of Vladislav Yurevich Surkov, the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. Seated, Vladislav Yurevich moved some levers in front of a huge television . The screen showed a colossal pipe, in which stood back to back an android of Boris Gryzlov, the Speaker of the Russian Duma, and an android of Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov, the Speaker of the Federation Council. "Listen bro," softly asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ, "what is that?" "The latest development in science," replied Vladislav Yurevich. "The Large Android Collider." "I myself see that it's large," stated Vladimir Vladimirovich as he curiously eyed the device. "But what's it for?" "To collide androids," explained Vladislav Yurevich. "I just press this red button, and they'll start to move in a circle towards each other. And then they'll collide with great energy." "What for?!" inquired a surprised Vladimir Vladimirovichâ. "Well, I was thinking...maybe we could finally produce real politics?" pensively commented Vladislav Yurevich. "Of course, there's a chance of side effects..." "What side effects?" worriedly asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ. "I don't know," replied Vladislav Yurevich honestly. "For example, the androids could begin to replicate uncontrolledly. There would be a chain reaction. Or, for example, so-called 'strange androids' could be produced. God forbid, of course." "Maybe it'd be better not to use it, eh?" asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ. "Maybe it'd be better not to collide them. You know, just to go on as things are, without politics, like we're used to..." "That's not interesting," inhaled Vladislav Yurevich as he reached for the big red button. Vladimir Vladimirovichâ closed his eyes in fear.
Actually, the reason there are very few good wingsuit fliers is because very few people on this planet have the time, money, and passion to pursue the sport to this level. There are lots of BASE jumpers who would love to devote themselves to wingsuit BASE. However, to push yourself to the level of the best of the best takes years of practice, thousands of jumps, a LOT of patience, and incremental increases in the complexity/aggressiveness of your flying.
Plus, there are only a few places on this planet where one can become a world-class wingsuit BASE jumper. Nearly all the best wingsuit BASE jumpers are Norwegians, though there are a few places in the Swiss Alps where you can do some successful wingsuit BASE. I'm sure there are a few other places around the world, but they're likely far less accessible and likely not as ideal as the Norwegian fjords.
If you want to join the ranks of the best, you need to live near one of these spots, travel there weekly, spend hours hiking to the exit point, and be prepared to walk back down if the weather doesn't look good (and in Norway, bad weather is the rule, not the exception).
Lastly, there are a huge variety of reasons people die in BASE jumping. However, it's not just because people are bad at the sport. Sometimes shit just happens. Even the best of the best screw up one jump in 1000.
Slashdot Mirror
.....and good riddance. Who ever used the sheeptossing feature, anyway? What a joke.
Take me back to the good old IRC days please. It's been a while since I smacked someone around with a large trout.
> I am a gravitational theorist. I don't even understand what that title means, but it sounds very cool.
It means the GP is a self-proclaimed expert at cracking Yo Mama jokes.
The Lord's book has foretold just this event, promised to occur just as Jesus Christ our savior returns to reign on earth as King of kings.
Or, the way I prefer to think about it: "Last call for fornicating and altar boy fondling! The party ends in five minutes. So satisfy your sinful urges one last time, and start moving towards the door. Oh yeah, and don't forget to step into the confessional on your way out."
Why is parent modded down? Should be +1 Appreciated.
Someone with points to spare, please lend this guy a hand.
What I want to start is a non-profit BANK!
Then start one.
Great! So can we kill the marketing departments now? Please?
I have it on good authority that these mindless jerks will be the first ones up against the wall when the Revolution comes.
There's a good play-by-play report of a hobbyist's adventures in mineral oil cooling here. The first page is just an introduction, but contains links to all the juicy bits on successive pages.
Sorry, no goatse.
You're obviously consulting the wrong media.
Some suggestions:
* BBC
* Russia Today
* Bloomberg
* The Guardian
* The Wall Street Journal / The Financial Times
* Al Jazeera (hit and miss - great coverage of Egypt/Libya/Bahrain, terrible coverage of Japan)
* Der Spiegel
Note: True financial publications like Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal (e.g., NOT CNBC) tend to get their facts straight because their readership is much more demanding. Financial publications aren't perfect (The Financial Times' coverage of Russia has historically been pathetic), but they're a hell of a lot better than what passes for news in the US. I'm American and I don't even watch mainstream US news or read mainstream newspapers anymore - the signal to noise is just dismal.
Dunno about Pamela Anderson, but there's clearly a market for President Barack Obama.
The terrorists aren't using the government, the government is using the terrorists.
Seems like a mutually beneficial relationship to me.
To draw a parallel with another resilient industry, who's actually using whom? Is the sex-obsessed client exploiting the vulnerable, defenseless prostitute? Or is it really the prostitute who's exploiting the client?
Either way, it's a comfy scenario for the military-industrial pimp.
This is neither about putting the cat back into the bag nor about preventing future leaks. This is about responding by doing something , regardless of whether or not that something that must be done is justified, legal, pragmatic, ethical, or effective.
Reacting has become the solitary goal of politicians...to take some kind of action when their constituents feel threatened, regardless of whether that action is appropriate, or if there even exists any action whatsoever is appropriate.
Cases in point:
The TSA
The War on Terrorism
Warrantless Wiretapping
The War on Drugs
MADD
Felony Time for Personal Drug Use
Religion
The Pledge of Allegiance
The Witchhunt to Determine Who Killed Michael Jackson
Laws Banning Assisted Suicide
Censorship of (insert media here)
Laws Against Flag Burning
The RIAA
The MPAA
etc.
etc.
etc.
It's a tragedy of this fully-padded, 100% sterilized, risk-free, instant-gratification, 24/7-connected dreamworld that we are increasingly inhabiting that there has to be an immediate cure for every evil. People no longer accept that sometimes the best action is no action at all.
Call me a heretic if you want, but...
Given two groups - one which changes its beliefs when confronted with contradictory evidence, and another which simply ignores the evidence - I'll put my faith in the first group.
There's a long-running joke among financial types....
If things are gonna get worse, buy bonds.
If they're gonna get much worse, buy gold.
If you're still worried, buy canned food, ammunition, and land in New Zealand.
I do understand statistics. While I agree it is highly unlikely that I would use the phrase 'statistically impossible', there is some nonzero probability.
Move to Russia. 13% income tax. Period.
There's some truth in what you wrote, but most of it is pretty far from reality.
In Russia's major cities, capitalism is alive and well. SMEs (small and medium enterprises) aren't as widespread as in the USA or Europe, but they are gaining ground. Wait another 20 years and they'll be everywhere. And the younger generation is quite ready to take any steps needed to support the economy.
You can buy everything in Russia that you can find in any American department store (except Slim Jims - for God's sake, they still don't sell Slim Jims). Prices are higher here, however, due to import tariffs on some goods, lower competition, and a relatively smaller market.
The import tariffs are partly a result of bureacracy (which I believe will disappear over the years) and partly to help support strategic domestic industries. For example, as an anti-crisis measure, the Russian government just increased its import tariff on consumer automobiles from 25% to 30% in a move to support the struggling domestic automotive sector. As a result, if I want to buy a quality-built car here, I can expect to spend 30-40% more for it than I would in the USA. Importantly, note that the import tariff has prompted many foreign manufacturers to set up factories inside Russia (Ford, Toyota, Honda, and others all have domestic manufacturing capacity). Given time, the price for new vehicles in Russia will come down as competition increases and the market grows, but it's gonna take another 15 years.
Economic development will help with the last two issues (the relatively lower competition and the relatively smaller size of the consumer market). Russian disposable incomes are advancing rapidly. In 2008, real incomes increased about 15%. That growth is going to be closer to 5% in 2009, but by 2010 the country should be back up to 10% annual real income growth.
The crisis is definitely going to crimp growth in 2009, of course. The government is facing its first budget deficit since 2000, and the RUB has already lost about 20% of its value against the USD and looks destined to drop another 10% by summer. However, with some USD 400 bn in foreign currency reserves on hand, the government can easily weather 2 years of low commodities prices without breaking a sweat. And commodity prices will start recovering by the end of 2009 - even in the midst of the crisis, there's simply too much demand out there (from China, Russia, India, the USA, etc.), while at the same time there's too little capex being spent on new capacity.
Don't get me wrong...there's still a lot that's wrong in Russia. The legal system needs a major overhaul. The country's still too dependent on foreign capital. The financial system is very immature, and needs a much strong legal framework that protects the rights of investors, especially bondholders. The RUB bond market is in tatters right now. The banking system is hurting in many many many ways right now (and I personally have no idea what the RIGHT way to heal it is).
And there are a LOT of people in Russia who still live below, at, or just marginally above the poverty line. In the major cities wages are doing quite well. In Moscow, educated young adults can easily make USD 2000-3000 per month. Many make MUCH more than this. But there are also a lot of people who make just barely enough to get by (I think the median monthly salary in Moscow is about USD 800 right now). In Russia's provincial regions salaries are much lower. I know doctors, teachers, policemen, and accountants who make USD 100 a month.
It's going to take a generation to bring Russia up to European levels. There's still a lot of work to be done. But the country as a whole is advancing very quickly. The stereotype of "a country with plenty of goods, but no one can afford to buy them" no longer applies. Wealth is starting to filter out of the major cities into the provincial regions. Salaries are gaining rapidly. And most importantly, the government is working hard to safeguard
When you see death walking up the path to your door, start typing fast.
I prefer to give death the finger.
Bad idea.....
If the kid can jump in the car and get it to move forward in the span of half a second, this MIGHT be a good idea. More likely, by the time (s)he's in the driver's seat mom has already suffered major internal injuries, and moving the car will just do more damage. Better to wait for medical services to arrive.
Real medical emergencies do not take place like in the movies. If you have a knife in you, it is NOT better to remove it on the spot (that knife is the only thing preventing you from bleeding). If you're pinned by a heavy object, it is better to wait until emergency services are in place to deal with any problems removing that object will cause (moving that object is only going to exacerbate any spinal injuries an internal bleeding). If you have a broken arm, it is NOT better to set it at the scene of the injury (doing so can further damage the surrounding tissue, increase bleeding, and potentially release bone marrow into the blood stream).
99% of the time, it's better to do absolutely nothing, and move the victim as little as possible. The obvious exceptions are when breathing is obstructed (possible in the case of the parent's example) or further danger is imminent (victim is unconscious in the passenger's seat after a car accident in the middle of a highway in a snowstorm, or perhaps the car is on fire).
P.S. The poster's point (that if the story had ended differently the spin about GTA would be different) is still valid, but the example (s)he used isn't the best one that could have been picked.
Have you actually seen a zzzPhone? Even a video of a zzzPhone?
All I've seen are Photoshopped images, and very poor ones at that (far worse than the Agora images).
Until someone gets a zzzPhone in their hands, it's vaporware.
BASE jumpers jump from the Royal Gorge annually at the Go-Fast games. A parachute (round or ram-air) would almost certainly have helped in case of malfunction.
I'd wager the reason a parachute wasn't used is because of the added weight. Even a simple one-canopy reserve adds 6 or 7 pounds. Also, there's not as much of a "cool" factor to the crossing if it's done with a chest-mount reserve.
I can't comment on round-canopy reserve rigs, but modern 7-cell BASE canopies can be inflated enough to prevent death in well below 50 feet (dependent upon airspeed - at terminal velocity, this figure increases to around 100 feet).
These jetpacks are very tricky to fly, however. It's very easy to put yourself in an uncontrollable and unrecoverable spin, and if it happens it'll happen in mere tenths of a second. Also, because you're constantly burning fuel and getting lighter, the pilot has to be constantly easing up on the throttle to avoid rocketing off into the stratosphere.
I've heard rumors one of the pilots from Red Bull is considering doing exactly this; he believes that he could reach 2000 feet or so within 25-30 seconds, and then deploy a BASE canopy.
I'll prefix my comments on the economy by saying I'm an American living and working abroad in the financial sector. So I work with some of the issues haunting the global crisis every day.
Direct blame for the mess lies first and foremost with credit ratings agencies (Standard & Poor's, Moody's, Fitch, et al) and credit insurers (like AIG). They continued to provide strong ratings to mortgage-backed securities without considering the ripple effect a housing-market slump would have. Secondly, blame should fall on US regulating agencies (like the SEC), which failed to place adequate restrictions on mortgage brokers. And lastly, blame should fall on politicians for failing to address the problem of excessive consumer and corporate debt. For years the world has known that America's debt-fueled economic growth was unsustainable. And yet for the past six years, few regulative measures were introduced to increase banks' capitalization ratios. Republicans seem more to blame here, as the six years of deregulation were largely Republican sponsored, but Democrats haven't been much better on this issue.
The Bush administration is not directly responsible for the current financial crisis. Note, however, that the Bush administration's spending spree of the past 7 years has put the government in a decidedly weaker position to now deal with the financial crisis. The government is now much more leveraged than it was when Clinton left office, meaning the Treasury has less flexibility to control markets. The USD is in real danger, and the only reason it hasn't collaped is that there's no alternative currency that investors can run to (Europe is hurting just as bad right now as the USA). The War in Iraq was never worth bankrupting our country.
Let me repeat that...
The War in Iraq was never worth bankrupting our country.
The US national debt has increased in excess of USD 500 bn per year since 2003 and broke through USD 10 tn on September 30, 2008. That means USD 33 000 of debt per resident of the USA, or some 70% of GDP!!!!
In 2000 it was just USD 5.7 bn (58% of GDP) and was on its way down.
I don't credit Clinton with producing the strong economy of the time, and am neutral on the net effect of his tax increases, but I do believe one of his administration's best moves was to use the budget surplus to pay down the national debt.
Make no mistake, the USA is in a very difficult position right now, and its global power is diminishing measurably by the hour.
Economic and foreign policy should be THE deciding factors in the coming election. Completely forget about welfare, abortion, gay marriage, global warming, immigration, job outsourcing, socialized healthcare, agricultural subsidies, AIDS, the war on drugs, executive pay, intellectual property, and religion in the classroom. If the American population realized how dire the situation is right now, these would be non-issues in this election. Real issues like the war on terror, dependence on foreign hydrocarbons, education spending, political reform, antitrust regulation, and social security are important, but should take backseat to the two most pressing issues today: foreign policy and the economy (i.e. eliminating the credit crunch).
Issues like interrogation techniques, warrantless wiretapping, and incarceration of enemy combatants without trial should never have been issues in the first place. Suspected terrorists, both at home and abroad, should receive the same protections that any American citizen receives. Period. I'm still terrified that some Americans think otherwise, and absolutely horrified that some politicians agree with them. Warrantless wiretapping is absolutely disgusting, especially considering the FISA already allowed for a court order to be obtained up to three days after wiretapping had commenced. When voting, choose the smartest candidate you can based on the two most important criteria: foreign policay and the credit crunch. For any intelligent politician, the issues of interrogatio
There was a funny Russian parody on the LHC that was published a few weeks back. It plays on the fact that the words hadron and android are very similar in Russian.
You can find the original article at: http://vladimir.vladimirovich.ru/2008-7-9/#an2719
Translated roughly, it reads as:
One day Vladimir Vladimirovichâ Putin walked into the office of Vladislav Yurevich Surkov, the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
Seated, Vladislav Yurevich moved some levers in front of a huge television . The screen showed a colossal pipe, in which stood back to back an android of Boris Gryzlov, the Speaker of the Russian Duma, and an android of Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov, the Speaker of the Federation Council.
"Listen bro," softly asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ, "what is that?"
"The latest development in science," replied Vladislav Yurevich. "The Large Android Collider."
"I myself see that it's large," stated Vladimir Vladimirovich as he curiously eyed the device. "But what's it for?"
"To collide androids," explained Vladislav Yurevich. "I just press this red button, and they'll start to move in a circle towards each other. And then they'll collide with great energy."
"What for?!" inquired a surprised Vladimir Vladimirovichâ.
"Well, I was thinking...maybe we could finally produce real politics?" pensively commented Vladislav Yurevich. "Of course, there's a chance of side effects..."
"What side effects?" worriedly asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ.
"I don't know," replied Vladislav Yurevich honestly. "For example, the androids could begin to replicate uncontrolledly. There would be a chain reaction. Or, for example, so-called 'strange androids' could be produced. God forbid, of course."
"Maybe it'd be better not to use it, eh?" asked Vladimir Vladimirovichâ. "Maybe it'd be better not to collide them. You know, just to go on as things are, without politics, like we're used to..."
"That's not interesting," inhaled Vladislav Yurevich as he reached for the big red button.
Vladimir Vladimirovichâ closed his eyes in fear.
Not if you staple them together.
Actually, the reason there are very few good wingsuit fliers is because very few people on this planet have the time, money, and passion to pursue the sport to this level. There are lots of BASE jumpers who would love to devote themselves to wingsuit BASE. However, to push yourself to the level of the best of the best takes years of practice, thousands of jumps, a LOT of patience, and incremental increases in the complexity/aggressiveness of your flying.
Plus, there are only a few places on this planet where one can become a world-class wingsuit BASE jumper. Nearly all the best wingsuit BASE jumpers are Norwegians, though there are a few places in the Swiss Alps where you can do some successful wingsuit BASE. I'm sure there are a few other places around the world, but they're likely far less accessible and likely not as ideal as the Norwegian fjords.
If you want to join the ranks of the best, you need to live near one of these spots, travel there weekly, spend hours hiking to the exit point, and be prepared to walk back down if the weather doesn't look good (and in Norway, bad weather is the rule, not the exception).
Lastly, there are a huge variety of reasons people die in BASE jumping. However, it's not just because people are bad at the sport. Sometimes shit just happens. Even the best of the best screw up one jump in 1000.