It's even more fun if you're also interested in pyrotechnics.
Re:what you are fearing...
on
Brain Privacy
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Retarded literally means "delayed" (the French word tard means late, retarder means "to delay", which you might see at an airport or a train station in France if your plane or train were delayed - very common in France, but that's besides the point) and it refers to passing development milestones at a higher age than is expected from normal children, that is, talking longer to learn motor, social and cognitive skills like speech, crawling, walking or reading. In this sense, people with AS are "retarded" in a social sense, but by definition they aren't retarded in an intellectual or a linguistic sense, otherwise they wouldn't fall under the definition of Asperger's Syndrome which requires normal language capabilities and average or above average intelligence. Some people with AS also have apraxia - a lack of motor coordination that causes them to appear [very] clumsy.
The term "retarded" is strongly stigmatised, and many people associate it with Trisonomy 21/Downs Syndrome or other forms of severe mental disabilities. People with HFA and AS are often above average intelligence and some can be a genius in a very specific area, but they lack important social skills, which can cause bizarre (to "normal" people) behaviour and usually social withdrawl and isolation. Neither condition can be treated per se, but it is possible to "learn" some of the innate social capabilities that most people have.
Ironic, considering that we don't know whether Goldtsein was ever supposed to have existed. It could be that he was a renegade executed long ago but still used as a scapegoat by the Party, which needed someone to focus their population's hatred on. Goldstein's "book" wasn't written by Goldstein, but rather by O'Brien.
Prussia was the name of the German state that encompassed the states that are today known as Berlin and Brandenburg, in the north-eastern part of Germany.
The A7N8X Deluxe is nice, except for it's Achilles' Heel, a two phase power supply for the processor (rather than 3 phase), which reduces the motherboard's reliability and lifetime. I wish they would use a 3 phase power supply, otherwise this board is out of the question for me. Also there is the issue of unreliable caps...
Please show some evidence to demonstrate your claim. I don't think the Philidelphia Experiment ever occured, at least not in the form described by eyewitnesses.
You might have some ESD problems with your carpet-based semiconductor. It had better be grounded.
Re:I don't know about you guys ...
on
Games of the Year
·
· Score: 1
When playing Diablo II, one always got the impression that the developers had already planned the expansion pack and, when playing the expansion pack, that they've already planned the sequel...
Yes, but The Fifth Element had a stylised, rather unrealistic version of the future. The cars could fly, but their chassis looked old fashioned even by today's standards. Surely a flying car wouldn'd look like a 60s gas guzzler without the wheels. The buildings, too, despite being far higher than today's skyscrapers, were not the steel prisms with glass façades that modern high rises have, but rather the older style with lots of concrete and smaller windows.
One must remember that with technological change comes also cultural change.
Sadly, most computer equipment isn't even designed for a three year lifespan, let alone a 30 year one. And yes, equipment should be designed to last quite a few years, especially if it is solid state, since there are many uses for a computer even though it may not be state-of-the-art any more. Most computer companies are more interesting in designing their components to fail at the earliest opportunity, to ensure people will have to upgrade even if they don't want to. Ahhh, the wonders of planned obsolesence.
FYI, Switzerland actually has a kind of a formal right to firearm ownership, like the US, though it isn't contained within the constitution, but rather in article three of the weapons code ( Waffengesetz)
Art. 3 Recht auf Waffenerwerb, Waffenbesitz und Waffentragen
Das Recht auf Waffenerwerb, Waffenbesitz und Waffentragen ist im Rahmen dieses Gesetzes gewährleistet.
"The right to procure, possess and bear arms is guaranteed within the limitations of this law".
In reality, getting a licence to carry a firearm is practically impossible. Though there is a little paper work involved, it is a lot easier to get a gun in Switzerland than in any other European country. That could change though, since the federal firearms laws - which are only 5 years old[1] - are set to be revised.
[1] Before this, each canton (=state) had it's own rules and regulations, like the US does today.
Where do you intend to find a cheap source of Platinum? Platinum is an element, not a compound, so they only way you could manufacture it artificially is with a particle accelerator, and that is hardly very efficient.
It's also worth mentioning the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a tunnel that is planned to run 57 km under the Alps - almost twice the length of the Channel Tunnel - and may become even longer.
Consisting of two parallel rail tunnels and costing around seven billion Swiss Francs, it is intended facilitate high speed rail transport and will be opened in 2012.
I managed to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, in the evening. The view is magnificent but it is very windy. It is so crowded that you practically can't move - not appropriate for claustrophobic people. If you want to get a good view of Paris, though, you'd be better of going up the Tour Montparnasse, the tallest regular skyscraper in France, at sixty floors.
Many people did indeed believe that the world was flat - in the middle ages. But, shortly before the Renaissance, the generally accepted view amoung educated people was that the world was flat - the Catholic church still maintained the Earth was at the centre of the universe, but didn't seriously try to claim it was flat, as often suggested. Perhaps peasants believed that it was flat, but that's irrevelevant.
It was in fact the Queen of Spain who supported Colombus' trip, and it was the King of Portugal, who was searching for a sea route to India, who turned him down. His advisors informed him that Colombus greatly underestimated the circumference of the Earth and that there would be no way of making it all the way to India without landing somewhere, since there wasn't room on the ships to take all the necessary supplies.
As it happens, the continent of America was conviently between Europe and America. Had it not been there, the advisors would have been correct, and Columbus would have most likely died at sea. He had landed in America - an island in the Caribbean to be precise - and believed himself to be in India. His second great mistake, the fact that America was, in fact, America, and not India, was first realised after his death when Magellan circumnavigated the globe.
Actually I read the book. Pretty good for '40s SF. I was left with the impression that that would be what the world would like after a nuclear war or other major global disaster. If you read DotT, you might also want to read The Chrysalids...
Disclaimer: It was a few years since I actually read the book.
Slashdot Mirror
It's even more fun if you're also interested in pyrotechnics.
The term "retarded" is strongly stigmatised, and many people associate it with Trisonomy 21/Downs Syndrome or other forms of severe mental disabilities. People with HFA and AS are often above average intelligence and some can be a genius in a very specific area, but they lack important social skills, which can cause bizarre (to "normal" people) behaviour and usually social withdrawl and isolation. Neither condition can be treated per se, but it is possible to "learn" some of the innate social capabilities that most people have.
IANAP
Ironic, considering that we don't know whether Goldtsein was ever supposed to have existed. It could be that he was a renegade executed long ago but still used as a scapegoat by the Party, which needed someone to focus their population's hatred on. Goldstein's "book" wasn't written by Goldstein, but rather by O'Brien.
Prussia was the name of the German state that encompassed the states that are today known as Berlin and Brandenburg, in the north-eastern part of Germany.
The A7N8X Deluxe is nice, except for it's Achilles' Heel, a two phase power supply for the processor (rather than 3 phase), which reduces the motherboard's reliability and lifetime. I wish they would use a 3 phase power supply, otherwise this board is out of the question for me. Also there is the issue of unreliable caps...
Except there is no evidence that the Ark ever existed. The Titanic sunk because it hit an iceberg, not because it was badly designed.
Please show some evidence to demonstrate your claim. I don't think the Philidelphia Experiment ever occured, at least not in the form described by eyewitnesses.
This is meant for toddlers, right?
What use to sane adults have for a water-proof book?
If we're clones of aliens, then they aren't aliens anymore, since a clone is an *exact* genetic copy, so they aliens are actually humans.
You might have some ESD problems with your carpet-based semiconductor. It had better be grounded.
When playing Diablo II, one always got the impression that the developers had already planned the expansion pack and, when playing the expansion pack, that they've already planned the sequel...
Yes, but The Fifth Element had a stylised, rather unrealistic version of the future. The cars could fly, but their chassis looked old fashioned even by today's standards. Surely a flying car wouldn'd look like a 60s gas guzzler without the wheels. The buildings, too, despite being far higher than today's skyscrapers, were not the steel prisms with glass façades that modern high rises have, but rather the older style with lots of concrete and smaller windows.
One must remember that with technological change comes also cultural change.
Sadly, most computer equipment isn't even designed for a three year lifespan, let alone a 30 year one. And yes, equipment should be designed to last quite a few years, especially if it is solid state, since there are many uses for a computer even though it may not be state-of-the-art any more. Most computer companies are more interesting in designing their components to fail at the earliest opportunity, to ensure people will have to upgrade even if they don't want to. Ahhh, the wonders of planned obsolesence.
"The right to procure, possess and bear arms is guaranteed within the limitations of this law".
In reality, getting a licence to carry a firearm is practically impossible. Though there is a little paper work involved, it is a lot easier to get a gun in Switzerland than in any other European country. That could change though, since the federal firearms laws - which are only 5 years old[1] - are set to be revised.
[1] Before this, each canton (=state) had it's own rules and regulations, like the US does today.
Uhh, that's about as useful as putting your sixpacks of beer in a safe when you know the combination.
/usr/bin/games /usr/local/games
chmod -R 755
Where do you intend to find a cheap source of Platinum? Platinum is an element, not a compound, so they only way you could manufacture it artificially is with a particle accelerator, and that is hardly very efficient.
-1, Another bloody Simpsons quote that everyone has heard before
It's also worth mentioning the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a tunnel that is planned to run 57 km under the Alps - almost twice the length of the Channel Tunnel - and may become even longer.
Consisting of two parallel rail tunnels and costing around seven billion Swiss Francs, it is intended facilitate high speed rail transport and will be opened in 2012.
http://www.alptransit.ch/e/01/index.htm
I managed to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, in the evening. The view is magnificent but it is very windy. It is so crowded that you practically can't move - not appropriate for claustrophobic people. If you want to get a good view of Paris, though, you'd be better of going up the Tour Montparnasse, the tallest regular skyscraper in France, at sixty floors.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Many people did indeed believe that the world was flat - in the middle ages. But, shortly before the Renaissance, the generally accepted view amoung educated people was that the world was flat - the Catholic church still maintained the Earth was at the centre of the universe, but didn't seriously try to claim it was flat, as often suggested. Perhaps peasants believed that it was flat, but that's irrevelevant.
It was in fact the Queen of Spain who supported Colombus' trip, and it was the King of Portugal, who was searching for a sea route to India, who turned him down. His advisors informed him that Colombus greatly underestimated the circumference of the Earth and that there would be no way of making it all the way to India without landing somewhere, since there wasn't room on the ships to take all the necessary supplies.
As it happens, the continent of America was conviently between Europe and America. Had it not been there, the advisors would have been correct, and Columbus would have most likely died at sea. He had landed in America - an island in the Caribbean to be precise - and believed himself to be in India. His second great mistake, the fact that America was, in fact, America, and not India, was first realised after his death when Magellan circumnavigated the globe.
Australia has 19 million people. That is slightly more than two. And they're concentrated into a handful of cities along the coastline.
Shouldn't that be dead AND alive?
So do IBM, Western Digital, Seagate and Maxtor...
Actually I read the book. Pretty good for '40s SF. I was left with the impression that that would be what the world would like after a nuclear war or other major global disaster. If you read DotT, you might also want to read The Chrysalids...
Disclaimer: It was a few years since I actually read the book.
Except when skygazing, one does not usually lose one's sight or other bodily functions. Except in certain British '40s science-fiction.