Your point is taken, but libel is not and never was protected speech. The fact that the doctor sued under libel indicates that the claims were false or misrepresented. If the were in fact true, the doctor would gain nothing by bringing the case other than proving the claims were indeed true.
And in 200 years they'll ask about the previous 100 years why did we bog our defensive systems down in so much beuarocracy and red tape. Seriously, do you want someone to vote on this? Maybe have a debate while the missles are in the air?
They've haven't been very accurate in the past about who has stockpiles of weapons.
They're not FIRING missles at the stockpiles. Once the stockpiles are actually identified and under control the nuclear weapon would be used onsite to incinerate the weapons so we don't have to transport them or store them and run the risk of them being stolen or accidentally engaged.
The real number that you're looking for is "employment market participation rate", or the percentage of people who can work (minus retired, disabled, children and a few prohibited others).
No, you are wrong. All that statistic will measure is the # of people who could work but are not working which doesn't do us much good in determining the # of truly available workers, or workers who are unable to find jobs in the market. The number would be skewed by people who have retired early, have simply elected not to work (stay at home moms/dads for example), lazy people, or people for whatever reason have simply decided not to work. The number is useful in determing how much of the population is not participating in the labor market, and can be used to better understand fluctuations in true unemployment measures (e.g. people deciding they want to work again and start seeking employment). What we care about is the # of people who want jobs and can't find them, if that # goes up we know we have a loose labor market and we should probably try to keep our jobs increase savings and generally prepare for rough times if we lose our jobs, if it goes up, maybe there are better opportunities around.
RTFA. "The local consultation processes are still ongoing," Nachbar said. She confirmed that the 5,900 European layoffs are part of a plan announced in July to cut 14,500
These cuts are are part of the 14.5k announced earlier.
you have a fixed set of programs that are allowed to run
In practice this doesn't work. You can never keep track of all of the programs the various business users will legitamately need to run. New version of applications are always being made available. It's this type of thinking that keeps FireFox and other useful apps off of corporate desktops. You end up annoying your users because they can never run apps they actually need, or can't run them without going through an annoying approval process and you tie up your IT people approving software requests. Run a personal firewall on each PC, run anti-virus, make them mandatory (check them when users connect to the network... and isolate the user if they're not running), use firewalls, secure VPN, email anti-virus, and force OS updates. This works.
From a practical perspective the benefits from going to the Moon or Mars is in the trip itself. Actually sucessfully getting someone there and back requires a huge amount of spending (economic stimulas) and develops residual technologies that can be used in day-to-day industries. The public is right to question spending billions of dollars to go back to the Moon or Mars to do what... collect rocks, dirt, troll around for a bit looking for something? Even a permanent settlement is of no real practical value... except for the residual technologies that are developed to sustain human life in an inhospitable climate over a long period of time. That's a big deal, but the actual value provided by the settlement itself doesn't justify the costs alone.
I suggest we all get ponies. Why can't the cost of any future space projects be measured in the # of citizen who could be given a pony if the money was used for pony purchases instead?
Robots do a better job... Build a station with robots
Robots do a better job driving around on the terrain collecting samples, but I haven't seen any examples of robots doing a better job constructing or repairing any type of physical structure. The latency alone would be a serious challenge to overcome for anything other than a mostly autonomous building robot(s).
I frankly think the whole thing is a big waste of money, unless we're tapping into the innovations that these big relatively useless challenges provide us. They're big goals that produce a bunch of auxillary benefits, but honestly walking on the moon, close up pictures of Mars from rovers, even scientists testing soil there for 5-10 years is of no real benefit to anyone. It's the technology produced as a derivative of these attempts that of value.
How much money has a business made from the US landing on the Moon?
I can't quote you the exact figure, but the sound studio where the Moon Landing was staged surely made a hefty sum for use of their facilities and an agreement to keep quite.
One wonders if these keyboards are actually defects... being pawned of as ub3r l33t. I'm not even saying their mods, maybe Keytronics screwed up the manufacturing process, sold the keyboards for pennies on the dollar and these guys are selling them for $80 now. Who knows.
When the company selling you a product tells you the product will help demonstrate your status as l33t or rich or cool or whatever it's probably a safe bet that they're ripping you off.
I am so glad to see capitalism working the way it was intended. To him who gets there first is rewarded with the spoils.
Other than the fact that the company is private/public and not a government agency, this has nothing to do with capitalism. National property boundries are purely political.
Yea! Lets rob another planet of it's resources and destroy it in our wake!
Explain this. Who is being robbed? Although the entire plan is ludicrous, isn't it better to use resources on an uninhabited planet in a way that cannot impact the earth's environment, where evereyone lives... of course you probably believe the the removal of the minerals from Mars will reduce it's mass, resulting in changes in gravitational balance in the solar system, resulint in use moving closer to the sun, resulting in more global warming...
Won't we ever learn from our past mistakes? I'm tyring to remember the last time we mined something from another planet... must have missed that in my history books. Got a link?
So you mine a bunch of aluminosilicates and then what? Do these people realize how much energy it takes to break those bonds?
It really doesn't matter, because they've already developed and implemented a method to make a profit by seperating the bond between a fool and his money. The only resource they're going to tap into are the rich supply of suckers readily available here on Earth.
I still think the best fix for copyright is an initial 20 years, renewable for small periods with increasing renewal fees
This is an excellent solution which fairly balances the public's interests with the interests of the creators of IP, and still provides incentive to create IP that people want. Very nice.
Come on man. You're a reasonable guy... I don't think we agree on much of anything but that doesn't mean we can't have a civil conversation. I responded to a post from a guy who Immediately started blaming Bush. End result of a study of the situation may show that the Bush administration was at fault for cutting funding to the projects... then again maybe it will show that no matter what they did it wouldn't have been enough. My point was simply to point out that the picture was bullshit and the articles presented some good information, but no conclusions can be drawn from them yet. Is there some sort of 24-48 hour waiting period for responding to posts that I'm not aware of?
As for the word "troubling" which seems to make people balk. I think this is an excellent word choice... it means I'm actually moved to do something about the problem, I'm concerned about the government response, I'm bothered by the fact that we may have been able to avoid this disaster. I'm not livid and losing control of my ability to reason... I'm not screaming in the streets... I'm not weeping uncontrolably. Earlier today I was livid at the fact that innocent peopel are dead on streets and highways and outside the Superdome because we can't get them food and water... that's insane... but am I livid about an inconclusive article. No. Anyways... quit juding my emotional response.
I did not say anything about net tax cuts... I did say reductions in federal taxes replaced by increases in state taxes may actually ensure that the money goes to projects that need it instead of dumping it all into a big bucket and letting those filthy fucking politicians whore themselves out for it. Keep it at the state level, hold the politicians accountable for their use of the cash. The federal government structure (particularly the Senate) doesn't have adequate accountabiliyt, and the President takes too much credit/blame.
As to the shotgun... I do not own a shotgun and I am not a member of the NRA... but if I did own shotgun I would not eat the barrel.
Maybe, next time I'm rolling through Plano, you and I can go out and have a beer and talk about how screwed up things are because of people like me (you'll say) and people like you (I'll say). In the mean time just remember Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, and you're good enough, smart enough, and doc gonnit people like you.
Great article. One thing that is extremely clear from the article is how complex this situation is. We want an easy answer, some are falling on their old stand by which is blame Bush. But that article points out that the projects that were to be put into place were 30 years projects. I think we'll see how things shape up over the next several months... when experts can do real investigation and analysis. Right now people are jumping for anything to place blame or to use this to gain political power.
Bush was either ignorant of the facts (not a surprise considering how much time he had to prepare to assess the situation... but still, he was ignorant of a fact that most of us knew).
As to the government response. It has absolutely been appalling. I think they're trying... and I certainly am not close enough to the situation to understand the complexities... but we've got to do better in the future. Why didn't we have the military there sooner to bring stability? Why don't we drop food/water from planes? What is the long term plan for these people... will we help them with jobs and housing for the next 2+ months while the city is returned to semi-liveable conditions? These are real problems and although I'm still giving FEMA the benefit of the doubt... I think we all have a right to say WTF... we've got to do better.
As to blaming the viticms. I agree that there are certainly a lot of people who couldn't leave and I think that needs to be stressed now and addressed in the future (if you call for an evacuation you should be able to help at-risk people get out of harms way). That said... there are a lot of people who just decided not to go. Those people chose their fates.
Oh, and by the way, the largest recipient of those FEMA grants was... TEXAS.
Please cite your source. Also, since Texas is one of the most populace states and is also one of the largest states, it would certainly make for a better argument if showed per-capita or per-land mass comparisons with the other states that recieved FEMA grants.
Slashdot Mirror
Your point is taken, but libel is not and never was protected speech. The fact that the doctor sued under libel indicates that the claims were false or misrepresented. If the were in fact true, the doctor would gain nothing by bringing the case other than proving the claims were indeed true.
It will study the asteroid for two months before collecting a sample from the surface and departing for Earth
The original press release was edited by the Japanese Government, the original version read as follows:
It will study the asteroid for two months before awaking Godzilla.
And in 200 years they'll ask about the previous 100 years why did we bog our defensive systems down in so much beuarocracy and red tape. Seriously, do you want someone to vote on this? Maybe have a debate while the missles are in the air?
They've haven't been very accurate in the past about who has stockpiles of weapons.
They're not FIRING missles at the stockpiles. Once the stockpiles are actually identified and under control the nuclear weapon would be used onsite to incinerate the weapons so we don't have to transport them or store them and run the risk of them being stolen or accidentally engaged.
The real number that you're looking for is "employment market participation rate", or the percentage of people who can work (minus retired, disabled, children and a few prohibited others).
No, you are wrong. All that statistic will measure is the # of people who could work but are not working which doesn't do us much good in determining the # of truly available workers, or workers who are unable to find jobs in the market. The number would be skewed by people who have retired early, have simply elected not to work (stay at home moms/dads for example), lazy people, or people for whatever reason have simply decided not to work. The number is useful in determing how much of the population is not participating in the labor market, and can be used to better understand fluctuations in true unemployment measures (e.g. people deciding they want to work again and start seeking employment). What we care about is the # of people who want jobs and can't find them, if that # goes up we know we have a loose labor market and we should probably try to keep our jobs increase savings and generally prepare for rough times if we lose our jobs, if it goes up, maybe there are better opportunities around.
RTFA. "The local consultation processes are still ongoing," Nachbar said. She confirmed that the 5,900 European layoffs are part of a plan announced in July to cut 14,500
These cuts are are part of the 14.5k announced earlier.
you have a fixed set of programs that are allowed to run
In practice this doesn't work. You can never keep track of all of the programs the various business users will legitamately need to run. New version of applications are always being made available. It's this type of thinking that keeps FireFox and other useful apps off of corporate desktops. You end up annoying your users because they can never run apps they actually need, or can't run them without going through an annoying approval process and you tie up your IT people approving software requests. Run a personal firewall on each PC, run anti-virus, make them mandatory (check them when users connect to the network... and isolate the user if they're not running), use firewalls, secure VPN, email anti-virus, and force OS updates. This works.
From a practical perspective the benefits from going to the Moon or Mars is in the trip itself. Actually sucessfully getting someone there and back requires a huge amount of spending (economic stimulas) and develops residual technologies that can be used in day-to-day industries. The public is right to question spending billions of dollars to go back to the Moon or Mars to do what... collect rocks, dirt, troll around for a bit looking for something? Even a permanent settlement is of no real practical value... except for the residual technologies that are developed to sustain human life in an inhospitable climate over a long period of time. That's a big deal, but the actual value provided by the settlement itself doesn't justify the costs alone.
I suggest we all get ponies. Why can't the cost of any future space projects be measured in the # of citizen who could be given a pony if the money was used for pony purchases instead?
You raise an interesting point, but- Hey, look! Bigfoot riding a unicorn!
/.
Fair enough, but hey look an intelligent rationale comment on
Hell... since I'd love to see us get to Mars in my lifetime... I suggest we all start the rumour that China is working on a secret Mars
Actually, we've just outsourced our program to them... much cheaper you know.
How soon until someone proposes that we not worry about the return trip and leave the astronauts there permenently?
Once they're on their way.
Robots do a better job... Build a station with robots
Robots do a better job driving around on the terrain collecting samples, but I haven't seen any examples of robots doing a better job constructing or repairing any type of physical structure. The latency alone would be a serious challenge to overcome for anything other than a mostly autonomous building robot(s).
I frankly think the whole thing is a big waste of money, unless we're tapping into the innovations that these big relatively useless challenges provide us. They're big goals that produce a bunch of auxillary benefits, but honestly walking on the moon, close up pictures of Mars from rovers, even scientists testing soil there for 5-10 years is of no real benefit to anyone. It's the technology produced as a derivative of these attempts that of value.
I would reckon that the deal of escaping gravity that's about 40% that of Earth would be a non-trivial
Um, can you say portable space elevator?
How much money has a business made from the US landing on the Moon?
I can't quote you the exact figure, but the sound studio where the Moon Landing was staged surely made a hefty sum for use of their facilities and an agreement to keep quite.
One wonders if these keyboards are actually defects... being pawned of as ub3r l33t. I'm not even saying their mods, maybe Keytronics screwed up the manufacturing process, sold the keyboards for pennies on the dollar and these guys are selling them for $80 now. Who knows.
When the company selling you a product tells you the product will help demonstrate your status as l33t or rich or cool or whatever it's probably a safe bet that they're ripping you off.
Yes... Manifest Destiny II anyone?
Anyone know if the Ipod Nano is flash based?
Actually I think it may use 1/8 of an inch tape.
I am so glad to see capitalism working the way it was intended. To him who gets there first is rewarded with the spoils.
Other than the fact that the company is private/public and not a government agency, this has nothing to do with capitalism. National property boundries are purely political.
Yea! Lets rob another planet of it's resources and destroy it in our wake!
Explain this. Who is being robbed? Although the entire plan is ludicrous, isn't it better to use resources on an uninhabited planet in a way that cannot impact the earth's environment, where evereyone lives... of course you probably believe the the removal of the minerals from Mars will reduce it's mass, resulting in changes in gravitational balance in the solar system, resulint in use moving closer to the sun, resulting in more global warming...
Won't we ever learn from our past mistakes?
I'm tyring to remember the last time we mined something from another planet... must have missed that in my history books. Got a link?
So you mine a bunch of aluminosilicates and then what? Do these people realize how much energy it takes to break those bonds?
It really doesn't matter, because they've already developed and implemented a method to make a profit by seperating the bond between a fool and his money. The only resource they're going to tap into are the rich supply of suckers readily available here on Earth.
I still think the best fix for copyright is an initial 20 years, renewable for small periods with increasing renewal fees
This is an excellent solution which fairly balances the public's interests with the interests of the creators of IP, and still provides incentive to create IP that people want. Very nice.
Come on man. You're a reasonable guy... I don't think we agree on much of anything but that doesn't mean we can't have a civil conversation. I responded to a post from a guy who Immediately started blaming Bush. End result of a study of the situation may show that the Bush administration was at fault for cutting funding to the projects... then again maybe it will show that no matter what they did it wouldn't have been enough. My point was simply to point out that the picture was bullshit and the articles presented some good information, but no conclusions can be drawn from them yet. Is there some sort of 24-48 hour waiting period for responding to posts that I'm not aware of?
As for the word "troubling" which seems to make people balk. I think this is an excellent word choice... it means I'm actually moved to do something about the problem, I'm concerned about the government response, I'm bothered by the fact that we may have been able to avoid this disaster. I'm not livid and losing control of my ability to reason... I'm not screaming in the streets... I'm not weeping uncontrolably. Earlier today I was livid at the fact that innocent peopel are dead on streets and highways and outside the Superdome because we can't get them food and water... that's insane... but am I livid about an inconclusive article. No. Anyways... quit juding my emotional response.
I did not say anything about net tax cuts... I did say reductions in federal taxes replaced by increases in state taxes may actually ensure that the money goes to projects that need it instead of dumping it all into a big bucket and letting those filthy fucking politicians whore themselves out for it. Keep it at the state level, hold the politicians accountable for their use of the cash. The federal government structure (particularly the Senate) doesn't have adequate accountabiliyt, and the President takes too much credit/blame.
As to the shotgun... I do not own a shotgun and I am not a member of the NRA... but if I did own shotgun I would not eat the barrel.
Maybe, next time I'm rolling through Plano, you and I can go out and have a beer and talk about how screwed up things are because of people like me (you'll say) and people like you (I'll say). In the mean time just remember Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, and you're good enough, smart enough, and doc gonnit people like you.
Great article. One thing that is extremely clear from the article is how complex this situation is. We want an easy answer, some are falling on their old stand by which is blame Bush. But that article points out that the projects that were to be put into place were 30 years projects. I think we'll see how things shape up over the next several months... when experts can do real investigation and analysis. Right now people are jumping for anything to place blame or to use this to gain political power.
Bush was either ignorant of the facts (not a surprise considering how much time he had to prepare to assess the situation... but still, he was ignorant of a fact that most of us knew).
As to the government response. It has absolutely been appalling. I think they're trying... and I certainly am not close enough to the situation to understand the complexities... but we've got to do better in the future. Why didn't we have the military there sooner to bring stability? Why don't we drop food/water from planes? What is the long term plan for these people... will we help them with jobs and housing for the next 2+ months while the city is returned to semi-liveable conditions? These are real problems and although I'm still giving FEMA the benefit of the doubt... I think we all have a right to say WTF... we've got to do better.
As to blaming the viticms. I agree that there are certainly a lot of people who couldn't leave and I think that needs to be stressed now and addressed in the future (if you call for an evacuation you should be able to help at-risk people get out of harms way). That said... there are a lot of people who just decided not to go. Those people chose their fates.
Oh, and by the way, the largest recipient of those FEMA grants was... TEXAS.
Please cite your source. Also, since Texas is one of the most populace states and is also one of the largest states, it would certainly make for a better argument if showed per-capita or per-land mass comparisons with the other states that recieved FEMA grants.
Please cite your sources. These should be public record so you should be able to be provide links directly to the sources.