In almost any emergency situation you can dream up, you're better off using a cell phone.
You know, I linked to that article about the 2003 blackout's effect on cell phones for a reason...:-)
It's best to have both a cell and a landline, so that you've got maximum chance of one working in case of a disaster.
It's also useful to have two telephone numbers; my cell number I give to people I actually would like to talk to, the home landline number is for people who can leave a message that I'll check at my convenience.
Not a generic link.... say a wiki. I mean, who really believes that some guy cannot get a cop under 40.
I believe this device is only made by one manufacturer (patented, probably). And according to the web site of the anti-social child-torturing bastards ("Won't somebody please think of the children, and ban this horrible thing?!?!") who make this device, the high frequencies it uses are generally inaudible to people over 20.
Cancel your land line and get a cell phone (and remember to put a text-messaging block on it). You won't receive ANY telemarketing calls.
And you'll also be screwed in case of a power failure, when celluar towers lose power. POTS is amazingly reliable, running on batteries for a long time. (Of course, for best results you'll need an old-school wired phone - pick one up at Goodwill.)
The government already does that much more frequently and accurately through taxes.
Don't know about other countries, but the last time the U.S. census rolled around, they sent me the "long" form. Had I filled it in, I would have given them much information that could not be deduced from my income taxes - racial heritage, schooling, work location, commute time...
Since it's none of their damn business, I filled in the box for how many people live here, and left the rest blank. The U.S. constitution (again, don't know about other countries) empowers the federal government to conduct an enumeration of citizens for the purpose of allocating representatives, not to pry into their lives. (And possibly make later oppression easier - see for example the round-up of Japanese-Americans during WWII. See also John Gilmore's page on the topic.)
Had they asked nicely, I might have been disposed to give more information. Their assertion that my response is compelled by law, however, generated in me the irrepressible urge that usually arises when confronted with blatantly irrational and unconstitutional laws - to tell them, "Up yours".
Uh... don't facts have to be supported by evidence? If evolution is "fact" then where is the evidence?
Uh...did you sleep through biology? Ok, maybe you went to school in Kansas, or were homeschooled by parents determined to keep you ignorant, sorry about that.
May I recommend the talk.origins archive to catch you up on the science you unfortunately missed out on? Happy reading!
When the information was shared with man on how the universe and world was created, who among us could understand genetics, quantum physics, superstring theory and a host of things we still don't know about?
What, God couldn't leave us a time capsule that would open when we were smart enough to understand it? Or better yet, get off his celestial ass, come down here (wait, isn't he already here?), and talk to us now? This omnipotent creator of the Universe could only speak to ancient illiterate Israelites?
Either God (the sort of personal creator-being existing outside of space and time popularly conceieved of in our culture) does not exist, God does not want to communicate clearly with us, or God is severely limited in powers and abilities.
The biblical account of creation only has a few crucial claims...So far, I've never learned any science that contradicts these fundamentals.
Please learn some more science, then...
"Things appeared in a certain order: the universe, later plants, later sea creatures & birds, then land creatures and finally mankind." We know this to be inaccurate, birds are a relatively recent evolutionary branch.
"Men are a special act of creation, unique from animals in that they're in `God's own image.'" Science show us that we are close cousins with other animals; the more we investigate, the less unique we find humans. (Though great anthrocentrism persists in our culture, especailly in terms of ethics, it is not scientific.)
Slaves came from West Africa. White males got rich. This also destroyed the culture and society in West Africa.
It should be noted that many of the slaves were sold to the white male slave traders by black male persons - slavery existed in Africa before white guys showed up, a tribe that conquered another would enslave it. And while the people who got rich were by and large white males (and the African tribal chiefs who sold them the slaves), only a few white males got rich by slave trading; it is ambiguous to assert that "White males got rich." Most white males were still trying to eke a living out of the dirt between various acts of oppression and agression from kings and landlords.
so yes, you do have a lot to be ashamed of...
I have never taken slaves, owned slaves, or advocated slavery, classic colonialism, neocolonialism, or racism, so what exactly do I have to be ashamed of? The fact that other people with penises and relatively pale skin (as compared to most people of African ancestry) have engaged in exploitive and oppressive acts, does not and should not cause me to be ashamed.
I don't remember her skateboard gear, but I do remember the motorcycle clothing Hiro wore stiffening to protect him
"The orange and blue coverall, bulging all over with sintered armogel padding, is the uniform of a Kourier..." We see it first on YT, then later on Hiro.
So you get hit by a big slug, and all your clothes instantly stiffen with the absorbed energy, clubbing you across your whole body?
Well, that's how all impact-protective gear works, spreading out the force. One of these, for example, takes a karate kick that might break your ribs, and turns it into a slap across your whole chest that just stings and maybe knocks the wind out. They are, however, remarkably awkward; it would be nice to have a flexible version that stiffened on impact.
The problem isn't the "War on Terror". Terrorists are real.
But we're not at war with terrorists. War is a conflict between governments, or groups trying to form governments; organied bodies capable of entering into meaningful binding agreements, so that the war can have a definitive end.
They are not technology deveopers, merely technology copiers.
Do you think that status will last forever?
It was China that first developed gunpowder, printing, the magnetic compass, and the planetarium. When they recover from the effects of a few centuries of colonialism and Maoism - really just a blip on the course of Chinese history - expect China to be a dominant world power, technologically and politically.
In fact, they wouldn't have half their navigation tech if Clinton hadn't circumvented security recommendations for campaign contributions.
This presents a bit of a contradiction in Thomas Jefferson.
And what about TJ doesn't present a bit of a contradiction? A slave owner - indeed a slave-raper - who beleived that "all men are created equal", for crying out loud.
Of course it's also entirely likely that part-time "citizen cops" (aren't the existing cops also citizens?)
The problem is that all too often they see themselves as cops first.
The Founding Fathers beleived that a standing military was a bad idea, that it was a sore tempation for governments to get involved in military adventures and that it made for a military that felt set apart from ordinary citizens. They intended instead for an effective citizen militia, capable of defending the nation. Given the history of American military intervention and the development of the "military-industrial" complex, it seems that their fears about a standing military were well founded.
The idea of a standing police force has similar problems. It's an invitation to criminalize all sorts of behaviors that aren't the state's business, and it makes for a police force that feels set apart from ordinary citizens.
How many stories do I need to read on Slashdot, Digg, Fark, Google News, Wikipedia about things like this before people start doing something about things like this?
That's why you fight it in court. It would be very easy to win such a case if the arresting officer has no evidence
Except that you have still spent the night - perhaps several nights - in an overcrowded filthy jail cell packed full of addicits and violent people, you've lost wages, had court costs, probably been roughed up at least a little by police, and gotten an arrest record. A "not guilty" verdict in court is scant consolation.
I increasingly wonder if the whole idea of a full-time professional police force isn't a bad idea, if perhaps a sort of militia of "citizen cops" (with a small corps of professional full-time investigators) might not result in less of the "thin blue line" attitude that seems to slide slowly and gently towards the police state. (Of course, so long as the cops spend much of their time enforcing laws against consensual acts, lasw that should never have been made in the first place, perhaps abuse of power in inevitable; once a cop thinks he has the power to forcibly prevent you from controling your own nervous system by ingesting certain chemicals, or forcibly prevent you from sleeping with certain people, what power won't he take on?)
however when your talking about the SIZE of something.. 200 light years is pretty damn big
No, when dealing with structures on the order of galaxies and galactic clusters, 200 light years is negligable. The Milky Way is about 100,000 LY in diameter; the "Local Group" of galaxies is 10 million LY across.
So this new thingie is about 20 times the diameter of the Local Group, that's pretty big.
Slashdot Mirror
So in addiction to red, yellow, et cetera, we could have levels like "blackwatch plaid" and "the cover of Rush's album Moving Pictures."
Nah. The threat levels are:
You know, I linked to that article about the 2003 blackout's effect on cell phones for a reason... :-)
It's best to have both a cell and a landline, so that you've got maximum chance of one working in case of a disaster.
It's also useful to have two telephone numbers; my cell number I give to people I actually would like to talk to, the home landline number is for people who can leave a message that I'll check at my convenience.
I believe this device is only made by one manufacturer (patented, probably). And according to the web site of the anti-social child-torturing bastards ("Won't somebody please think of the children, and ban this horrible thing?!?!") who make this device, the high frequencies it uses are generally inaudible to people over 20.
And you'll also be screwed in case of a power failure, when celluar towers lose power. POTS is amazingly reliable, running on batteries for a long time. (Of course, for best results you'll need an old-school wired phone - pick one up at Goodwill.)
Don't know about other countries, but the last time the U.S. census rolled around, they sent me the "long" form. Had I filled it in, I would have given them much information that could not be deduced from my income taxes - racial heritage, schooling, work location, commute time...
Since it's none of their damn business, I filled in the box for how many people live here, and left the rest blank. The U.S. constitution (again, don't know about other countries) empowers the federal government to conduct an enumeration of citizens for the purpose of allocating representatives, not to pry into their lives. (And possibly make later oppression easier - see for example the round-up of Japanese-Americans during WWII. See also John Gilmore's page on the topic.)
Had they asked nicely, I might have been disposed to give more information. Their assertion that my response is compelled by law, however, generated in me the irrepressible urge that usually arises when confronted with blatantly irrational and unconstitutional laws - to tell them, "Up yours".
Uh...did you sleep through biology? Ok, maybe you went to school in Kansas, or were homeschooled by parents determined to keep you ignorant, sorry about that.
May I recommend the talk.origins archive to catch you up on the science you unfortunately missed out on? Happy reading!
What, God couldn't leave us a time capsule that would open when we were smart enough to understand it? Or better yet, get off his celestial ass, come down here (wait, isn't he already here?), and talk to us now? This omnipotent creator of the Universe could only speak to ancient illiterate Israelites?
Either God (the sort of personal creator-being existing outside of space and time popularly conceieved of in our culture) does not exist, God does not want to communicate clearly with us, or God is severely limited in powers and abilities.
Please learn some more science, then...
"Things appeared in a certain order: the universe, later plants, later sea creatures & birds, then land creatures and finally mankind." We know this to be inaccurate, birds are a relatively recent evolutionary branch.
"Men are a special act of creation, unique from animals in that they're in `God's own image.'" Science show us that we are close cousins with other animals; the more we investigate, the less unique we find humans. (Though great anthrocentrism persists in our culture, especailly in terms of ethics, it is not scientific.)
It should be noted that many of the slaves were sold to the white male slave traders by black male persons - slavery existed in Africa before white guys showed up, a tribe that conquered another would enslave it. And while the people who got rich were by and large white males (and the African tribal chiefs who sold them the slaves), only a few white males got rich by slave trading; it is ambiguous to assert that "White males got rich." Most white males were still trying to eke a living out of the dirt between various acts of oppression and agression from kings and landlords.
I have never taken slaves, owned slaves, or advocated slavery, classic colonialism, neocolonialism, or racism, so what exactly do I have to be ashamed of? The fact that other people with penises and relatively pale skin (as compared to most people of African ancestry) have engaged in exploitive and oppressive acts, does not and should not cause me to be ashamed.
Mosex + Emacs + Flyspell.
Not that I always use it, obviously, especially for quickie posts; but when I want to be careful, it's a great combo.
"The orange and blue coverall, bulging all over with sintered armogel padding, is the uniform of a Kourier..." We see it first on YT, then later on Hiro.
Well, that's how all impact-protective gear works, spreading out the force. One of these, for example, takes a karate kick that might break your ribs, and turns it into a slap across your whole chest that just stings and maybe knocks the wind out. They are, however, remarkably awkward; it would be nice to have a flexible version that stiffened on impact.
I don't know. It should remind you of Snow Crash, where YT's protective skateboard gear was similar, not the energy shields of Dune.
But we're not at war with terrorists. War is a conflict between governments, or groups trying to form governments; organied bodies capable of entering into meaningful binding agreements, so that the war can have a definitive end.
Do you think that status will last forever?
It was China that first developed gunpowder, printing, the magnetic compass, and the planetarium. When they recover from the effects of a few centuries of colonialism and Maoism - really just a blip on the course of Chinese history - expect China to be a dominant world power, technologically and politically.
Clinton merely continued the policies of Reagan and Bush I with respect to "technology transfer" to China.
And what about TJ doesn't present a bit of a contradiction? A slave owner - indeed a slave-raper - who beleived that "all men are created equal", for crying out loud.
The problem is that all too often they see themselves as cops first.
The Founding Fathers beleived that a standing military was a bad idea, that it was a sore tempation for governments to get involved in military adventures and that it made for a military that felt set apart from ordinary citizens. They intended instead for an effective citizen militia, capable of defending the nation. Given the history of American military intervention and the development of the "military-industrial" complex, it seems that their fears about a standing military were well founded.
The idea of a standing police force has similar problems. It's an invitation to criminalize all sorts of behaviors that aren't the state's business, and it makes for a police force that feels set apart from ordinary citizens.
What, do you think modern police are highly trained? In Maryland the basic training is 21-weeks, 840 hours.
For comparison, this "esthetician" (skin care for spas) training program is 600 hours.
Army National Guard training is 9 weeks of Basic plus 5 to 16 weeks of AIT, 14 to 24 weeks total.
It's entirely reasonable that part-time "citizen cops" could undergo just as much training as current entry-level professional police.
Yeah, good luck with that. Especially if you're the sort of poor black inner-city resident most likely to be the target of police harassment.
In Baltimore City, over 21,000 arrests without charges being filed were made (that figure is just of African-American victims) between April 2004 and April 2005.
The last time any citizens got serious about doing something about police brutality, conservative hero Ronald Reagan signed one of the first modern gun control laws to disarm them; their leaders were targeted for harrassment by federal and local governments, and some were assassinated.
Actually, presidential approval ratings have varied from 90% (Bush II after 9/11) to 24% (Truman after removing MacArthur from command in Korea).
Except that you have still spent the night - perhaps several nights - in an overcrowded filthy jail cell packed full of addicits and violent people, you've lost wages, had court costs, probably been roughed up at least a little by police, and gotten an arrest record. A "not guilty" verdict in court is scant consolation.
I increasingly wonder if the whole idea of a full-time professional police force isn't a bad idea, if perhaps a sort of militia of "citizen cops" (with a small corps of professional full-time investigators) might not result in less of the "thin blue line" attitude that seems to slide slowly and gently towards the police state. (Of course, so long as the cops spend much of their time enforcing laws against consensual acts, lasw that should never have been made in the first place, perhaps abuse of power in inevitable; once a cop thinks he has the power to forcibly prevent you from controling your own nervous system by ingesting certain chemicals, or forcibly prevent you from sleeping with certain people, what power won't he take on?)
No, when dealing with structures on the order of galaxies and galactic clusters, 200 light years is negligable. The Milky Way is about 100,000 LY in diameter; the "Local Group" of galaxies is 10 million LY across.
So this new thingie is about 20 times the diameter of the Local Group, that's pretty big.
Something 200 light years across is not big (on galactic scales). TFA says the structure here is 200 million LY.