Many of the founding fathers had degrees from seminaries and were religeous.. I dare say Christian. So to say our founding fathers weren't Christian, is inaccurate. 27 had seminary degrees.
The Founding Fathers were all men. This means that most (if not all) of them masturbated on a regular basis -- would *you* screw Martha Washington? We live in a country founded by prolific masturbaters.
What does this have to do with our conversation? Absolutely nothing, just like your "point".
Christians pray to Jesus, they pray to the holy spirit, they pray to saints which cover certain aspects of life, they believe in an Adversary... Since when is that monotheism? Even the Ten Commandments imply that God/Yaweh isn't alone, just that you're not to worship any other god before him.
I can't believe that so-called freedom loving people submit their kids to this daily brainwashing.
Well, in their defense, small children aren't generally able to grasp the deeper concepts that are involved here, so starting them off with a simple "Like America because it's where we live" message is perfectly fine.
The problem is that so many Americans never seem to rise above this level of sophistication in their thinking about patriotism or what it means to be a US citizen, and they latch onto the symbols rather than the liberties which it represents.
It's sad, really. Consider it a good reason to spend time working on your kids' intellectual development -- read with them, talk to them, encourage them to understand not just what but why.
The problem, of course, is that many Americans cannot see past the symbols of America (pledges and flags) to realize what the real and important underlying concepts are.
This is why so many people can't seem to grasp, say, that banning flag burning is essentially unamerican -- protecting a symbol at the expense of what that symbol represents. Generations of Americans haven't lived and died to protect the flag, but to protect the freedoms it represents.
Until the sophistication level of the "average" American rises to the level where this is no longer an issue, this point remains very important.
BTW, saying "If you think the US is bad, check out China" is so incredibly misconcieved that I'm having trouble figuring out a suitable response. It's like saying "You might think our dump is bad, but Shelbyville's dump is *really* smelly". Maybe so, but I still don't want to live there.
It's only a "sad" day if you think our country is nothing beyond flags and forced repetition of some legislated mantra.
If, on the other hand, you believe that the strength of the US springs from our republic and the protections it provides its citizens, it's a happy day.
Beyond the phrasing issue, I don't think we should try to install patriotism by forcing people to recite a paragraph over and over again.
I would much prefer that our citizens be educated in what's good about America and what's unique about being a citizen so they can fight to keep it a place they should be willing to defend. I'm talking about things like civil rights -- due process, free speech, etc. Our children should be educated in why these things are important even when they're inconvenient (there are a lot of seemingly educated people who don't get this at all).
Again, something that makes America worth the effort is the fact that we don't have to put up with the government telling us what to believe. The Pledge is just hot air, but our *rights*, the ability to exercise those rights and the defense of those rights is critical to our continuing existance as something special and worthwhile. Without those, we're just another despotic country masquerading as a republic. The world has quite enough of those.
Again, some people think this country is special because of symbols like the flag or the pledge or the anthem. Personally, what I love and fear the loss of are the rights which those things represent.
What's the difference between "mormon" and "latter day saint"? Is it simply a usage issue (aka, followers of Islam are Muslims, not Islams)? Is it an honorific type of deal? Is it simply a preference? What would John Smith or Brigham Young have referred to themselves as?
There's a really simple reason why Software Sucks:
Software development is driven by clueless pointy-hairs, overreaching sales guys who make baseless promises and people who've never had a single software development class or written a single line of code
I realized this at my last company -- I was in a high enough staff position to see the whole tragedy unfold. Features were driven by what the sales team promised, deadlines by what was written into contracts without development's input, and product managers would bypass the release process and give customers internal test versions of the software. The developers were simply issued marching orders and then ignored.
I believe this is the way most crappy software comes about, regardless of how obvious this process is.
Of course, leave it to the geeks and you'll get Mozilla (good, solid, standards-compliant and really, really late). There's a balance between shipping decent software and shipping a product in time to stay alive as a company. id Software has this balance, ION Storm certainly did not.
Hey, if you want habitable surface area, start moving out to the Oort cloud.
I can't remember who originally suggested this, but if you can develop a reasonable fusion power source (which I consider a matter of time, although I couldn't guess how much), the Oort cloud is the perfect place to be. You can use comets to fuel your reactor and lights or large, locally made mirrors reflecting the dim sunlight to grow food (hm, gotta find something that grows well in zero grav... or you could teather two comets together and spin 'em for gravity).
There's a staggering number of Oort cloud objects of reasonable size. Once your kids come of age, they can inherit the family mining/farming/industrial/mirror manufacturing/reactor building/whatever business or buy a reactor of their own and hop to a passing comet to set up shop -- talk about the ultimate homesteading environment.
Your lifestyle would definately be *different* in this sort of environment, but I don't see any reason why people couldn't adapt to live like this. Eventually, you'd probably have huge numbers of objects teathered together to make great city-states.
As always, it seems that portible, plentiful energy is the big key.
Well, the thing there is that Phoenix is quite a bit closer to places with resources than the moon is. You can't really compare the two -- you can't build an aquaduct to the moon or lay train tracks, so the only way to get anything there is with a serious heavy lift vehicle (think Saturn V).
Now, Mars is the same way, but Mars is much more rich in resources and friendlier to terrestrial activity than the moon. In most cases with Mars you only have to move your tools there, then you can use the available resources to survive.
Think of everything you can't do easily on the moon -- you can't get oxygen from the atmosphere by applying basic chemistry, you can't grow plants due to the moon's relatively long days (on Mars you could use a pressure dome and some Mars-made mirrors to amplify light), you have to deal with decreased G, etc.
The only thing the moon has going for it is that it's relatively close. That said, if my ascent vehicle breaks down and I have to hang out until help arrives, I want to be on Mars -- I have a much better chance of survival.
Consider how cold it would be when you were on the night side of the moon. Now, as anyone who's ever lived in Wisconsin can tell you, you'll be cold no matter how much you pump the heat into your base. And going outside? Damned chilly.
My preferred solution is a hot tub (water=warm up fast), but a good hot sauna would do in a pinch.
Yeah, the discovery of massive amounts of water was huge. Given that, I'd say the first step in establishing a successful moon base would be to move it to Mars.
Think about it: The moon is our solar system's version of a wasteland -- all it needs is a sign saying "Why live here?".
Mars, on the other hand, has all the resources you could want. With electricity and some basic engineering, farming and construction skills, you could live happily on Mars pretty much independent of Earth. Well, you might have to import some nitrogen...
1) Most of their gear is really, really expensive. 2) The advantages of their stuff is hard to explain to cost-sensative pointy-hairs.
They do have other issues, of course, one of which is a serious lack of follow-through. Still, they've done some pretty neat stuff, and it sucks to see them plow into the ground 'cause they can't seem to adapt to a new bid'ness model. That empty building on 101 and Shoreline seems to me like a constant reminder of the recession and tech bust.
Dude, what do you think "due process" means? Why do you think I'm frightened that these people are being denied it? It means that their right to a trial is being denied to them and they can be held forever without even being charged with anything. No right to trial! No right to even a tribunal!
Look, I don't care if these guys get arrested, tried and locked up in SuperMax for the rest of time. It's the whole lack of the middle part (you know, trial?) that worries me. Civil rights are what makes America something special, and I'm not so scared of terrorists that I'm willing to flush 'em down the toilet.
You should agree with me. Unless, of course, you're suggesting that we can trust the government to always behave reponsibly and do the right thing. Jesus, why do you think we have a court system?
Some people hold the flag sacred. I, on the other hand, hold the ideas embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights in the same esteem.
It frightens and dismays me that you're willing to rip up our most basic civil rights by yelling "terrorist!", "smallpox!" and "dirty bomb!" at the top of your lungs.
And these aren't people who "come into this country", they're citizens of the US. Every American should be outraged that Bush and company are so willing to disregard the rights he's sworn to defend.
The article I read indicates that this is probably a misprint or other simple error.
More newsworthy: The Bush Administration is holding three US citizens in military custody, with no rights to legal representation or due process.
Jesus Christ, am I the only one who this terrifies? Am I going to someday have to explain to my kids why, on old episodes of Law & Order, the suspects weren't simply turned over to the military when they asked for a lawyer?
My advice: Don't pay *too* much for your speakers. There's a point where you've reached the best quality you're going to get and are just pouring money down the drain. Don't pay more than $300 for componants, and be sure to examine the cone material, frequency response, warrenty etc. instead of just brand name.
Besides, in many systems I've heard, the amplifiers and connecting wires seem to be the real make-or-break point. You can usually get cheap Monster wires (aka, primo insulation) on eBay.
Well, cell phones are reasonably cheap (usually free with the plan), so people don't care so much. Of course, you usually still go with the one with the best network in the area -- try getting a PCS signal in most of Wisconsin.
Once people have to lay down a few hundred bucks for something, they get a lot more picky.
You'd think so, but I drive from the Silicon Valley to Santa Barbara on a regular basis, and I can't find it for anything for a large portion of the drive.
Besides, many stations have different schedules. There's nothing worse than driving out halfway through "This American Life" and switching to "Talk of the Nation".
Oh, and I fell that I've already considered all things, thank you. =)
Mustang != Fast. The base V6 models (which is what I own) are only 150-190 HP at the crank, depending on the year. They're not dragsters, and they're not meant to be -- that's why the insurance is much more reasonable that it is for their V8 cousins, and why you can probably beat one off the line. For me, it's a sporty convertible that's both reasonably comfy and reasonably easy on the wallet.
Likewise, not all ricers are fast, even those who have apparently swapped their exhaust system with a chromed-out coffee can.
You want a fast quarter mile, go get a Subaru Impreza WRX (a 5.7 second car for 23k? Nice). You want a decent midsize SUV, go buy a Honda Pilot. You want a terribly ugly ride with a dated powerplant, large blindspots, lousy gas milage and uncomfortable seats, go get yourself an Aztec.
No, I said that a lot of us prefer listening to live radio over CDs or MP3s that we assemble.
I commute (well, have commuted and will hopefully commute again one day soon) within a single listening area. I listen to the radio even though the sound quality is crap because I prefer having a randomness in the music I hear during any given drive. It's like watching a movie on HBO even though you own the DVD and could have watched it anytime you pleased.
I don't think I'm the only person with this weird little preference...
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The Founding Fathers were all men. This means that most (if not all) of them masturbated on a regular basis -- would *you* screw Martha Washington? We live in a country founded by prolific masturbaters.
What does this have to do with our conversation? Absolutely nothing, just like your "point".
Christians pray to Jesus, they pray to the holy spirit, they pray to saints which cover certain aspects of life, they believe in an Adversary... Since when is that monotheism? Even the Ten Commandments imply that God/Yaweh isn't alone, just that you're not to worship any other god before him.
Yup. I can't wait to hear what President Al Gore has to say on this.
Well, in their defense, small children aren't generally able to grasp the deeper concepts that are involved here, so starting them off with a simple "Like America because it's where we live" message is perfectly fine.
The problem is that so many Americans never seem to rise above this level of sophistication in their thinking about patriotism or what it means to be a US citizen, and they latch onto the symbols rather than the liberties which it represents.
It's sad, really. Consider it a good reason to spend time working on your kids' intellectual development -- read with them, talk to them, encourage them to understand not just what but why.
This is why so many people can't seem to grasp, say, that banning flag burning is essentially unamerican -- protecting a symbol at the expense of what that symbol represents. Generations of Americans haven't lived and died to protect the flag, but to protect the freedoms it represents. Until the sophistication level of the "average" American rises to the level where this is no longer an issue, this point remains very important.
BTW, saying "If you think the US is bad, check out China" is so incredibly misconcieved that I'm having trouble figuring out a suitable response. It's like saying "You might think our dump is bad, but Shelbyville's dump is *really* smelly". Maybe so, but I still don't want to live there.
It's only a "sad" day if you think our country is nothing beyond flags and forced repetition of some legislated mantra.
If, on the other hand, you believe that the strength of the US springs from our republic and the protections it provides its citizens, it's a happy day.
I would much prefer that our citizens be educated in what's good about America and what's unique about being a citizen so they can fight to keep it a place they should be willing to defend. I'm talking about things like civil rights -- due process, free speech, etc. Our children should be educated in why these things are important even when they're inconvenient (there are a lot of seemingly educated people who don't get this at all).
Again, something that makes America worth the effort is the fact that we don't have to put up with the government telling us what to believe. The Pledge is just hot air, but our *rights*, the ability to exercise those rights and the defense of those rights is critical to our continuing existance as something special and worthwhile. Without those, we're just another despotic country masquerading as a republic. The world has quite enough of those.
Again, some people think this country is special because of symbols like the flag or the pledge or the anthem. Personally, what I love and fear the loss of are the rights which those things represent.
What's the difference between "mormon" and "latter day saint"? Is it simply a usage issue (aka, followers of Islam are Muslims, not Islams)? Is it an honorific type of deal? Is it simply a preference? What would John Smith or Brigham Young have referred to themselves as?
Anyhow, serious curiosity. Reply appreciated.
Software development is driven by clueless pointy-hairs, overreaching sales guys who make baseless promises and people who've never had a single software development class or written a single line of code
I realized this at my last company -- I was in a high enough staff position to see the whole tragedy unfold. Features were driven by what the sales team promised, deadlines by what was written into contracts without development's input, and product managers would bypass the release process and give customers internal test versions of the software. The developers were simply issued marching orders and then ignored.
I believe this is the way most crappy software comes about, regardless of how obvious this process is.
Of course, leave it to the geeks and you'll get Mozilla (good, solid, standards-compliant and really, really late). There's a balance between shipping decent software and shipping a product in time to stay alive as a company. id Software has this balance, ION Storm certainly did not.
Rant over. Please go about your business.
I can't remember who originally suggested this, but if you can develop a reasonable fusion power source (which I consider a matter of time, although I couldn't guess how much), the Oort cloud is the perfect place to be. You can use comets to fuel your reactor and lights or large, locally made mirrors reflecting the dim sunlight to grow food (hm, gotta find something that grows well in zero grav... or you could teather two comets together and spin 'em for gravity).
There's a staggering number of Oort cloud objects of reasonable size. Once your kids come of age, they can inherit the family mining/farming/industrial/mirror manufacturing/reactor building/whatever business or buy a reactor of their own and hop to a passing comet to set up shop -- talk about the ultimate homesteading environment.
Your lifestyle would definately be *different* in this sort of environment, but I don't see any reason why people couldn't adapt to live like this. Eventually, you'd probably have huge numbers of objects teathered together to make great city-states. As always, it seems that portible, plentiful energy is the big key.
And that's what I call expansion of humanity.
Now, Mars is the same way, but Mars is much more rich in resources and friendlier to terrestrial activity than the moon. In most cases with Mars you only have to move your tools there, then you can use the available resources to survive.
Think of everything you can't do easily on the moon -- you can't get oxygen from the atmosphere by applying basic chemistry, you can't grow plants due to the moon's relatively long days (on Mars you could use a pressure dome and some Mars-made mirrors to amplify light), you have to deal with decreased G, etc.
The only thing the moon has going for it is that it's relatively close. That said, if my ascent vehicle breaks down and I have to hang out until help arrives, I want to be on Mars -- I have a much better chance of survival.
Consider how cold it would be when you were on the night side of the moon. Now, as anyone who's ever lived in Wisconsin can tell you, you'll be cold no matter how much you pump the heat into your base. And going outside? Damned chilly.
My preferred solution is a hot tub (water=warm up fast), but a good hot sauna would do in a pinch.
Think about it: The moon is our solar system's version of a wasteland -- all it needs is a sign saying "Why live here?".
Mars, on the other hand, has all the resources you could want. With electricity and some basic engineering, farming and construction skills, you could live happily on Mars pretty much independent of Earth. Well, you might have to import some nitrogen...
David Carradine benefited from slow and stupid opponents. Bruce Lee would have -- should have -- killed him in seconds.
Slow Yoda would have sucked. Yoda as bunny-on-crystal-meta had the people in the theatre cheering, which is what counts.
SGI's big problem has always been twofold:
1) Most of their gear is really, really expensive.
2) The advantages of their stuff is hard to explain to cost-sensative pointy-hairs.
They do have other issues, of course, one of which is a serious lack of follow-through. Still, they've done some pretty neat stuff, and it sucks to see them plow into the ground 'cause they can't seem to adapt to a new bid'ness model. That empty building on 101 and Shoreline seems to me like a constant reminder of the recession and tech bust.
Hm, so where does ILM's old standby (SGI) fit into this whole deal?
My thinking: Lando. They've got soul, you're not really sure whose side they're on and they'll never find more work. =)
Dude, what do you think "due process" means? Why do you think I'm frightened that these people are being denied it? It means that their right to a trial is being denied to them and they can be held forever without even being charged with anything. No right to trial! No right to even a tribunal!
Who's the moron now?
Look, I don't care if these guys get arrested, tried and locked up in SuperMax for the rest of time. It's the whole lack of the middle part (you know, trial?) that worries me. Civil rights are what makes America something special, and I'm not so scared of terrorists that I'm willing to flush 'em down the toilet.
You should agree with me. Unless, of course, you're suggesting that we can trust the government to always behave reponsibly and do the right thing. Jesus, why do you think we have a court system?
Some people hold the flag sacred. I, on the other hand, hold the ideas embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights in the same esteem.
It frightens and dismays me that you're willing to rip up our most basic civil rights by yelling "terrorist!", "smallpox!" and "dirty bomb!" at the top of your lungs.
And these aren't people who "come into this country", they're citizens of the US. Every American should be outraged that Bush and company are so willing to disregard the rights he's sworn to defend.
More newsworthy: The Bush Administration is holding three US citizens in military custody, with no rights to legal representation or due process.
Jesus Christ, am I the only one who this terrifies? Am I going to someday have to explain to my kids why, on old episodes of Law & Order, the suspects weren't simply turned over to the military when they asked for a lawyer?
My advice: Don't pay *too* much for your speakers. There's a point where you've reached the best quality you're going to get and are just pouring money down the drain. Don't pay more than $300 for componants, and be sure to examine the cone material, frequency response, warrenty etc. instead of just brand name.
Besides, in many systems I've heard, the amplifiers and connecting wires seem to be the real make-or-break point. You can usually get cheap Monster wires (aka, primo insulation) on eBay.
By the way, what kind of car are you getting?
Once people have to lay down a few hundred bucks for something, they get a lot more picky.
You'd think so, but I drive from the Silicon Valley to Santa Barbara on a regular basis, and I can't find it for anything for a large portion of the drive.
Besides, many stations have different schedules. There's nothing worse than driving out halfway through "This American Life" and switching to "Talk of the Nation".
Oh, and I fell that I've already considered all things, thank you. =)
Likewise, not all ricers are fast, even those who have apparently swapped their exhaust system with a chromed-out coffee can.
You want a fast quarter mile, go get a Subaru Impreza WRX (a 5.7 second car for 23k? Nice). You want a decent midsize SUV, go buy a Honda Pilot. You want a terribly ugly ride with a dated powerplant, large blindspots, lousy gas milage and uncomfortable seats, go get yourself an Aztec.
I commute (well, have commuted and will hopefully commute again one day soon) within a single listening area. I listen to the radio even though the sound quality is crap because I prefer having a randomness in the music I hear during any given drive. It's like watching a movie on HBO even though you own the DVD and could have watched it anytime you pleased.
I don't think I'm the only person with this weird little preference...