Am I lucidly forcasting the future or did I just see this "ask slashdot" question a short while back? You mean there is so little going on that the eds feel the need to post recent history as news? Or perhaps they didn't feel the question was adequately addressed the first time around? Looks more like a wake up call to see if anyone is actually reading the damn thing (which there is. sometimes. occasionally. ho hum...).
When you look at all the angles, the problem can seem overbearing, but gestalt for a minute. Mainly, the issue is "we use x tons of stuff and produce y tons of waste". Reduce x and y automatically goes down. Food packaging is just one example of riotus overuse. The fact that so many items are individually packaged is just ridiculous! I can make 4 containers to hold 500ml of liquid but use less resources if I package all 2000ml in one package. This is basic geometry. And so much that we produce doesn't recycle easily or is toxic to living organisms. What to do with waste "y" is a difficult question and I'm not sure what the best solution is, but certainly using less product "x" makes the problem smaller in range and scope.
Yes, every method for dealing with waste does cost something. Using less in the first place and reusing whenever possible makes this problem less daunting. Maybe consumption could be reduced to such a point that the amount of waste could be effectively (both environmentally and econimcally) dealt with.
They have lots of light bulbs, strips of leds, etc. as well as a bunch of other neat items (solar lantern, flashlights, flashing safety vests). Some of the household items simply screw into a light socket, others would require some sort of transformer.
...who would have thought that so much posting and controversy would be stirred up by this! For the record:
1) I liked American Gods very much when I read it and even felt it was a sort of commentary about current american values. 'Course, I love everything Gaiman has ever written including Sandman, Neverwhere, Good Omens, and so forth.
2) I thoroughly enjoyed Goblet of Fire and all of the other Harry Potter books. They are mere mind candy (not difficult reading) and enjoyable for what they are.
3) Should a Harry Potter book have recieved the Hugo? Well it is good writing for what it is. But in the rampant discussion concerning what is fantasy and what is sci-fi, there are many grey lines. That being said, I believe that Harry Potter is purely fantasy. And if the Hugo is a sci-fi award, then it shouldn't have been awarded to Goblet of Fire. Gaiman's works tend to fall in the grey area and are even similar to the "urban fantasy" works of Charles DeLint. I don't think that I would give DeLint an award in the sci-fi category (even though I really love his stuff and recommend it to everyone) but surely in the fantasy realm. Maybe American Gods should be in that realm too. Then again, I really like Gaiman's work, and since it is in that grey area (an area that theoretical physics is in as well) I'd just as soon not argue at length as to whether it deserves the Hugo or not. Let's just say that I'm glad it got an award.
4) Finally, there are way too many posts under the "Narrow Minded Bigot" subject that are just way off-topic but have been modded up for being "insightful" or similar. People debating what is christian/pagan etc. (though very politely in general, thank-you) is not on the topic of this years and last years Hugo award winner.
Optimist: The glass is half full Pessimist: The glass is half empty Doofus: The glass is half full, no, wait, empty, ummm what was the question? Realist: Hey, I ordered a cheeseburger!
This is the most informative and level headed paper I've seen on this subject. The results that were observed (albeit w/2 units that had problems consistently functioning) seem more in line with the sorts of results one would expect to see. It would be nice to think that they could (or perhaps even are sometimes) achieve all the results that the CTV article claims. This would seem to call for a fairly full investigation of what sort of equipment could be designed to be more reliable and what kind of results could be consistently achieved. If it really does work, it would be no suprise to me since the Russians have been building rockets that use less moving parts and run on kerosene (as opposed to American rockets which are much more complex and run on fuels that are much more unstable). When you've got less to work with, you often have to come up with simpler solutions.
O.K., the word on mushrooms (and other fungii) is this: They are REALLY hard to grow in a casual/won't-be-there-on-the-weekend/or-that-week- I-go-away environment. What's more, the mushroom as we think of it is only the fruiting body of a plant that is basically never seen. A mushroom is generally a mass of white threads in the soil, at the base of a tree or under the bark of a rotting tree (depending on what kind of mushroom it is). There is nothing to see except for when the mushroom decides to produce fruiting bodies to distribute spores (which it will do only when it thinks conditions are PERFECT). Some mushrooms have little or no smell, or they smell "earthy." Others stink strongly. And while there are many kinds of edible mushrooms, there are others that, if accidentally ingested, whill kill you in a terrible and painful manner (like total shut down of the liver or complete destruction of the nervous system). I know this because I hunt wild mushrooms to eat. And almost all of them do NOT grow in sh*t. Very few do. One of the many nuances of growing them is getting the right combination of soil and moisture and keeping your culture sterile and pure which is very difficult.
I've only managed to grow one mushroom indoors and that is one that grows in a pot with a type of shamrock. I didn't even try to plant it. It just appeared! It is the only mushroom I know of to commonly appear in houseplants (the lemon-yellow lepiota or Lepiota Lutea) and is poionous if ingested. So while "mushrooms" is an amusing answer to your query, it is in no way practical at all.
And yes, it is "technically" a plant, part of a major division of the plant kingdom known as "non-flowering" plants which includes hornwarts, lichens, mosses, some palms and evergreen trees.
...I recommend spider plants. You just stick them in some water and they grow just fine, they don't even need soil. You can buy one potted for pretty cheap at any home center (you can probably get one for around $1.99). When it forms runners, you can cut them off and place the leaf clusters in water and they *will thrive*! You can also try to find a friend who already has a spider plant and get clippings from them. Once the cluster has developed a root system, you can then pot it in soil or leave it in water, either way! I've had one spider plant for 15 years. I don't know how many years my mother had it before that. I've rooted many plants off of it too. You can let potted spider plants dry out even. They'll start to look like they need some water but will survive this way for a l-o-n-g time. Just give them some water and they bounce right back! If you water them regularly, they get downright jungle on you. They can do well in everything from direct sunlight to very little light at all. This will affect how deep a green they are (along with water) and will also determine whether or not they form yellow colored veins. These are truly hardy plants. The only way I know of to kill them is to let one (not in soil) dry out for a few weeks, or, let one (in soil) dry out for over a month. I've never fertilized one, ever, just watered. Sometimes I put the dead leaf clippings back into the pot. If you want, you can put them under a grow light. If they get enough light, they will produce runners with very small white flowers (they don't really have any odor that you would notice). These are really great plants and they produce some great oxygen! So grab a spider and get growing!
...that no one has deciphered it yet if it is not in any language but is in someone's own personal code (which would then have to be deciphered into whatever their language was, living or dead, and then translated). What if the person who coded it couldn't spell? What if the book is a decoy or ruse written by someone to draw attention away from a truly important book that they possessed? Maybe it was made up by some shyster and sold to an unsuspecting scholar or emperor as a "lost" treatise on the stars that tells all if only *you* can figure it out. You don't need to know how to spell or even write to make up a book like that (in fact it probably helps if you can't do any of those things!) This doesn't mean that it isn't from the 15th century. There were just as many con artists then (if not more) as there are now.
Just because it biodegrades, doesn't make it an environmental godsend. Manure is biodegradable and its excess runoff has done a fine job of screwing up the Chesapeake Bay (just to name one of a multitude of places). Then there are the energy costs of producing it to look at. The article makes no mention of it but from the cost, it sounds like it is at least on par with current petro plastics. And just how enviromentally friendly is the manufacturing process itself?
Then there is the growing of the corn itself. With orders for large quantities of it possible, it sounds like another factory farming nightmare. Genetically modified strains, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, irrigation.... don't assume that because something was grown, that it is environmentally friendly. Sugar is grown and it farming and processing are the major reasons for destruction of the Florida Everglades habitat.
Don't get me wrong, I am very much interested in finding ways to do things better that are currently very harmful. But rather than be gulled by the happy glowing ads, we need to look at the full picture in every situation.
You could always try these very simple and effective solutions: Bake your own cookies. Buy them at your local bakery and bring your own container for them to put them in. And if you're going shopping, try the bulk section and bring your own REUSABLE cloth bags. No one ever said you had to use the grocery stores plastic or paper bags. A lot of stores will give a small credit too for using your own bags and saving them some operating/overhead costs.
Well, there are problems with solar energy and producing solar PV cells but I still think the thing is just damn cool! LEDs, fiberoptic cable, a nifty architecture, at least it shows (possibly) that someone is thinking beyond coal and oil. Don't go thinking that hydro is the answer either since that seriously messes with ecosystems. Maybe those organic solar projects we read about here a few months back. Hmmm.... Hell, I'll take a few windmills right about now. Anything to stick it to the fatcats still in the energy business having a suckfest with the US government.
I'm glad to see any variety of languages out there, so long as we can have a universal translator for communication between systems. Now if we could only move on to a greater variety of hardware architecture.
What fools these mortals be.
on
Black Water
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Great. So we hear that fishermen are reporting an insurgence of flesh eating bacteria and none of the "smart" doctors who have treated it have had the intelligence or forsight to actually culture a sample of the organism. They just take a guess at what they think it might be and administer a stiff antibacterial. What f***ing morons.
Then we hear that there is a dead zone of some 400 square miles where the water is sort of black all the way to the bottom and nothing is living in it. The few fish that wander into the "black water" go crazy to get out it. And no scientists have been dispatched to take water samples and find out what the hell is going on. Are they also stupid or are they under orders to not find out what is the cause? Or perhaps working on a "five dollar a day" budget has crippled them and their ability to do anything.
Oh no, nothing wrong here. Just some old wives tales and pirate yarns. It must be that those fisherman are just drinking too much slcohol. Of course, everyone knows that if you get drunk alot and then go hang out on boats for long periods of time, you automically contract a case of flesh eating bacteria. Ask any yachter or sailing man. Everything is just great in the president's brother's state.
I tell ya, if I had any say in it, there be a team of marine biologist and chemists descending on the Gulf of Mexico like a swarm of locusts. This is nuts. And to hear that there is also a huge dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River is really insane. A river mouth traditionally was a place that would be teaming with life due to nutrients and food being washed down to the sea but here in the good old McUSA it's just business as usual.
Yes, how much longer until one of those near misses registers a direct hit. I'm hoping the cosmic debris might raise IQs everywhere while killing off major quantities of stupid people and politicians.
When the ice melted, the seas rose. - Morgan Llewellyn, The Elementals
There are quite a few companies out there (http://www.ledtronics.com) right now who are manufacturing LED lamps (for you non techies that means "light bulb" not the fixture itself which is a "lighting instrument") which are meant to be used in standard US medium screw base sockets. I just discovered this the other day and I think that it is way cool! You can also get flashight bulbs to replace the inkies that you currently have in your flashlight (alas, the lowest voltage I've found so far is 6V which is twice the voltage of a 2 AA Maglite).
Ever since I saw those little blue night lights, I've been waiting for this technology to come to general home lighting. If this organic sheet material ever hits the market, I'll be one of the first to put up a ceiling border in every room. I especially like the idea of "papering" the underside of my kitchen cabinets with this stuff for the best in counter lighting. I only hope that the rest of the world will see what a great thing this is and that builders and remodelers will make it a construction industry standard.
Of course, I would expect corporations to embrace this as a mode of lighting for their offices since they must pay some steep electrical bills in lighting alone. Anything to lower overhead costs.
It would of course be especially great if they can produce this material to create full spectrum light. Just my hopes for part of a more environmentally friendly future.
The Next Step Is...
on
Pilot of My Soul
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· Score: 2, Interesting
taking this further and applying it to yourself to add or remove habits that you don't like. If you are trying to gain a new routine, then it would make sense to find a way to link the firing of dopamine receptors with it. Many actions themselves cause the receptors to fire and so are self reaffirming. Whereas other things that we want to do (like brushing your teeth) or don't want to do (like quitting smoking) do not themselves generate closely time linked positive responses. The benefits of these activities is apparent over time but there is no immediate dopamine response related to either. When you are trying to quit smoking, You dopamine levels probably decrease every time you deny yourself the "burning pleasure". It is through a strong consistent act of consciousness (exertion of will), or a minor superiority complex (I'm better by doing this thing and thinking that I'm better actually gives me a dopamine dose), or an outside dopamine reducer/raiser (if I shock myself when I smoke/reward myself with sugar when I don't I'll forcibly change my behavior.).
It seems that the ideas of this provide a firm example for AI modeling tied to a consciousness modual to turn on for learning and changes in the environmental norm. Whether you get friendly or dangerous machines would seem to be dependant on what the initial reward/punishment programming would be coupled with how much mobility (both communicational and physical) you give them.
It is however possible that various creepers could be even older. When I think of something like crab grass or mint which do a very nice job of taking over lawns and gardens, I don't find it too hard to believe that there could be something out there living a long time in the rainforest.
Of course, somehow 15,000 year old grass just doesn't seem that interesting. b-)
Actually, considering the desert conditions under which the bush grows, I think they have a pretty good chance. Now if the bush was growing in a region where there was lots of rainfall, I'm sure the task might be near impossible due to the largely accelerated rate of decomposition. So it is quite possible that there are older things in the rain forest, but we have no way of knowing.
As I understand it from the article, the bush sends out clone sprouts around itself which are literally the same plant (being connected by the root runners). The inner sections grow older and eventually die off, but the younger surrounding sprouts survive and continue to sprout outwards themselves. Scientists can take any preserved samples they can find of the older dead parts from the center and find out when the bush started growing (or at least measure the minimum of how old the bush is since even older parts may have completely disappeared with age).
Because of the wind conditions of where this particular bush is growing, only the sprouts on the leeward side have survived and continued to propagate. Scientists searched in a line windward from the bush and followed the trace root remains as far as they could to find the oldest parts. These dead remains of an earlier part of the bush are what they are carbon dating.
They pretty much say all this in the article, these are just the Cliff Notes.
The idea of this bush being that old is mind blowing. It is awesome in the same way as that extremely large mushroom they found (covers acres I believe). As an animal, I can only consider such a thing and just gape.
If you want to believe what you read in the book of Genesis in the Bible, the oldest man only lived to under a thousand (Methusulah or some such). As far as this bush is concerned, that person never even made it out of adolescence. The idea that this bush started growing while man was still very mired in the Stone Age is mind blowing. I suppose now we'll have to build a garbage dump on top of or something.
"My what a short view you have Grandma."
"All the better to crush you with, my dear."
Hmmm, OK, you actually seem to be a person whose ideas about all this are quite similar to my own.
Yes, Fractals in my mind do display the actual nature of the universe (micro reflected in macro reflected in micro reflected in....). I can see how a person would be thrown into thinking bacteria=disease. From a literal mind set, this isn't so, but from a connotative viewpoint, yes, disease is the thought that comes to mind. I would myself be very likely to view it that way if roles were reversed.
Personally, I'm not sure how Gaia or the Universe at large percieves the human species but the truth probably lies somewhere between cancer and helpful higher consciousness.
And speaking of Gaia and narrow points of view, you must remember, we are not any one thing. Yes we are gaia (as the collection of microorganisms can be seen as a single collective) but we are also individuals who form sub groups (institutions such as military, manufacturers, explorers, bowling leagues, etc.) and are also made up of sub groups (organs) which are in turn made up of individuals (cells). Following fractilic thought, we can go as large or as small in either direction as you like. So we are in many ways like single microorganisms who are trying individually or in sub group collectives to reach other petri dishes.
Truly my view of all this is so comprehensive that it would require me to either write a tome the size of "The Co-Evolution of Life and Environment" or simply say "It is."
Well the mouth has been shot and the lips are smoking. This is in one way annoying since it causes aggravation. On the other hand, now more information and viewpoints have been exchanged than may have been. Nothing wrong with an itch so long as you can scratch it!
Wow. This is a neat idea. But not really a new one. Not new that is in terms of trying to find some way to use all the wasted energy. Right now we are still using technologies that are terribly inefficient. All this heat going out the exhaust pipe of our vehicles. What about the heat exhaust from your furnace? Your gas water heater? It seems that if we can generate X amount of energy, we should be able to use every last scrap of it in some way, rather than just simply releasing it into the environment. Does anyone know of any other projects out there to reclaim and use some of this lost energy?
I wonder if I could then direct that laser at the moron who's tailgating me while yacking on his cell phone. b-)
I'm not sure if we can control overpopulation or not. Unfortunately I feel probably not. On the other hand (depending on my frame of mind in any given hour) I optimistically think that a flexing of sociological principles might be some help. A mass concerted ad campaign at controlling the population (i.e. "Sure you can have twelve children living in the gutter and dying young because we don't have the resources to support them or you could have two who live a very comfortable life, or perhaps one living royally") could possibly be effective or at least slow the rate of growth down enough that we might get around to colonizing in time to stem a ecological disaster (for humans that is, the planet itself probably could care less).
And yes, I agree with you that overpopulation is not sometime in the distant and murky future but is right now. To be honest, I have no idea how we are going to get a group of sentient species billions strong to all realize that we need to do something now or natural forces will do this for us. Allergies and diseases may very well be just the point of a mass of this kind of correction coming down the pike.
Obviously you feel need the need to flex your ego here. Guess what? There are many types of bacterium that are not "diseases". The bacterium in the petri dish example is simply a way of showing how the macro is reflected in the micro.
I make no claims as to what is correct or proper for our species (or any species for that matter) to do to deal with this "petri dish syndrome". It would seem that controlling our rate of population would be a good idea if we wish to maintain a consistent quality of life rather than one that degrades as the number of resources dwindles. Of course maybe you have some better suggestions for us to deal with rampant population growth (soylent green, Hannibal's line of fine men's clothing) but your raging viewpoint seems to have blinded you from making any useful suggestions.
Yes, if there is a god (or perhaps just a metaconsciousness) then the primary commandment would seem to be "Live" since that which competes better is generally favored. But like the bacterium in the petri dish, consuming a limited set of resources in an unchecked manner leads to one swift fate, "Death".
All things that live do so by consuming other things that are alive (or recently were) with maybe the exception being "lower" life forms (lichens and various types of protozoa come to mind) that can get by on chemicals (water, minerals, etc.) and the energy of the sun. We are more like the bacteria in that we need the algar media (in our case higher forms of life for consumption) to continue to live.
As this relates to the exploration of space (which was the original topic) we are like bacteria in a dish seeking to jump to other dishes and further propagate our species. How much or how little I think of the human race does not play into this here, though your shooting from the hip doesn't win it any points when I think of the longer term planning and bigger view needed to continue the propagation and evolution of the species.
Slashdot Mirror
Am I lucidly forcasting the future or did I just see this "ask slashdot" question a short while back? You mean there is so little going on that the eds feel the need to post recent history as news? Or perhaps they didn't feel the question was adequately addressed the first time around? Looks more like a wake up call to see if anyone is actually reading the damn thing (which there is. sometimes. occasionally. ho hum...).
When you look at all the angles, the problem can seem overbearing, but gestalt for a minute. Mainly, the issue is "we use x tons of stuff and produce y tons of waste". Reduce x and y automatically goes down. Food packaging is just one example of riotus overuse. The fact that so many items are individually packaged is just ridiculous! I can make 4 containers to hold 500ml of liquid but use less resources if I package all 2000ml in one package. This is basic geometry. And so much that we produce doesn't recycle easily or is toxic to living organisms. What to do with waste "y" is a difficult question and I'm not sure what the best solution is, but certainly using less product "x" makes the problem smaller in range and scope.
Yes, every method for dealing with waste does cost something. Using less in the first place and reusing whenever possible makes this problem less daunting. Maybe consumption could be reduced to such a point that the amount of waste could be effectively (both environmentally and econimcally) dealt with.
www.ledtronics.com
They have lots of light bulbs, strips of leds, etc. as well as a bunch of other neat items (solar lantern, flashlights, flashing safety vests). Some of the household items simply screw into a light socket, others would require some sort of transformer.
...who would have thought that so much posting and controversy would be stirred up by this! For the record:
1) I liked American Gods very much when I read it and even felt it was a sort of commentary about current american values. 'Course, I love everything Gaiman has ever written including Sandman, Neverwhere, Good Omens, and so forth.
2) I thoroughly enjoyed Goblet of Fire and all of the other Harry Potter books. They are mere mind candy (not difficult reading) and enjoyable for what they are.
3) Should a Harry Potter book have recieved the Hugo? Well it is good writing for what it is. But in the rampant discussion concerning what is fantasy and what is sci-fi, there are many grey lines. That being said, I believe that Harry Potter is purely fantasy. And if the Hugo is a sci-fi award, then it shouldn't have been awarded to Goblet of Fire. Gaiman's works tend to fall in the grey area and are even similar to the "urban fantasy" works of Charles DeLint. I don't think that I would give DeLint an award in the sci-fi category (even though I really love his stuff and recommend it to everyone) but surely in the fantasy realm. Maybe American Gods should be in that realm too. Then again, I really like Gaiman's work, and since it is in that grey area (an area that theoretical physics is in as well) I'd just as soon not argue at length as to whether it deserves the Hugo or not. Let's just say that I'm glad it got an award.
4) Finally, there are way too many posts under the "Narrow Minded Bigot" subject that are just way off-topic but have been modded up for being "insightful" or similar. People debating what is christian/pagan etc. (though very politely in general, thank-you) is not on the topic of this years and last years Hugo award winner.
Optimist: The glass is half full
Pessimist: The glass is half empty
Doofus: The glass is half full, no, wait, empty, ummm what was the question?
Realist: Hey, I ordered a cheeseburger!
This is the most informative and level headed paper I've seen on this subject. The results that were observed (albeit w/2 units that had problems consistently functioning) seem more in line with the sorts of results one would expect to see. It would be nice to think that they could (or perhaps even are sometimes) achieve all the results that the CTV article claims. This would seem to call for a fairly full investigation of what sort of equipment could be designed to be more reliable and what kind of results could be consistently achieved. If it really does work, it would be no suprise to me since the Russians have been building rockets that use less moving parts and run on kerosene (as opposed to American rockets which are much more complex and run on fuels that are much more unstable). When you've got less to work with, you often have to come up with simpler solutions.
5 Kingdoms, 8, 6, 3? I remember being taught 2 though that was a long time ago. Maybe it's time to check out a general bio text again....
O.K., the word on mushrooms (and other fungii) is this: They are REALLY hard to grow in a casual/won't-be-there-on-the-weekend/or-that-week- I-go-away environment. What's more, the mushroom as we think of it is only the fruiting body of a plant that is basically never seen. A mushroom is generally a mass of white threads in the soil, at the base of a tree or under the bark of a rotting tree (depending on what kind of mushroom it is). There is nothing to see except for when the mushroom decides to produce fruiting bodies to distribute spores (which it will do only when it thinks conditions are PERFECT). Some mushrooms have little or no smell, or they smell "earthy." Others stink strongly. And while there are many kinds of edible mushrooms, there are others that, if accidentally ingested, whill kill you in a terrible and painful manner (like total shut down of the liver or complete destruction of the nervous system). I know this because I hunt wild mushrooms to eat. And almost all of them do NOT grow in sh*t. Very few do. One of the many nuances of growing them is getting the right combination of soil and moisture and keeping your culture sterile and pure which is very difficult.
I've only managed to grow one mushroom indoors and that is one that grows in a pot with a type of shamrock. I didn't even try to plant it. It just appeared! It is the only mushroom I know of to commonly appear in houseplants (the lemon-yellow lepiota or Lepiota Lutea) and is poionous if ingested. So while "mushrooms" is an amusing answer to your query, it is in no way practical at all.
And yes, it is "technically" a plant, part of a major division of the plant kingdom known as "non-flowering" plants which includes hornwarts, lichens, mosses, some palms and evergreen trees.
Actually, Chia Pets require good moisture and a medium amount of sunlight at the least (after all, they are sprouted seeds).
...I recommend spider plants. You just stick them in some water and they grow just fine, they don't even need soil. You can buy one potted for pretty cheap at any home center (you can probably get one for around $1.99). When it forms runners, you can cut them off and place the leaf clusters in water and they *will thrive*! You can also try to find a friend who already has a spider plant and get clippings from them. Once the cluster has developed a root system, you can then pot it in soil or leave it in water, either way! I've had one spider plant for 15 years. I don't know how many years my mother had it before that. I've rooted many plants off of it too. You can let potted spider plants dry out even. They'll start to look like they need some water but will survive this way for a l-o-n-g time. Just give them some water and they bounce right back! If you water them regularly, they get downright jungle on you. They can do well in everything from direct sunlight to very little light at all. This will affect how deep a green they are (along with water) and will also determine whether or not they form yellow colored veins. These are truly hardy plants. The only way I know of to kill them is to let one (not in soil) dry out for a few weeks, or, let one (in soil) dry out for over a month. I've never fertilized one, ever, just watered. Sometimes I put the dead leaf clippings back into the pot. If you want, you can put them under a grow light. If they get enough light, they will produce runners with very small white flowers (they don't really have any odor that you would notice). These are really great plants and they produce some great oxygen! So grab a spider and get growing!
...that no one has deciphered it yet if it is not in any language but is in someone's own personal code (which would then have to be deciphered into whatever their language was, living or dead, and then translated). What if the person who coded it couldn't spell? What if the book is a decoy or ruse written by someone to draw attention away from a truly important book that they possessed? Maybe it was made up by some shyster and sold to an unsuspecting scholar or emperor as a "lost" treatise on the stars that tells all if only *you* can figure it out. You don't need to know how to spell or even write to make up a book like that (in fact it probably helps if you can't do any of those things!) This doesn't mean that it isn't from the 15th century. There were just as many con artists then (if not more) as there are now.
Just because it biodegrades, doesn't make it an environmental godsend. Manure is biodegradable and its excess runoff has done a fine job of screwing up the Chesapeake Bay (just to name one of a multitude of places). Then there are the energy costs of producing it to look at. The article makes no mention of it but from the cost, it sounds like it is at least on par with current petro plastics. And just how enviromentally friendly is the manufacturing process itself?
Then there is the growing of the corn itself. With orders for large quantities of it possible, it sounds like another factory farming nightmare. Genetically modified strains, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, irrigation.... don't assume that because something was grown, that it is environmentally friendly. Sugar is grown and it farming and processing are the major reasons for destruction of the Florida Everglades habitat.
Don't get me wrong, I am very much interested in finding ways to do things better that are currently very harmful. But rather than be gulled by the happy glowing ads, we need to look at the full picture in every situation.
You could always try these very simple and effective solutions: Bake your own cookies. Buy them at your local bakery and bring your own container for them to put them in. And if you're going shopping, try the bulk section and bring your own REUSABLE cloth bags. No one ever said you had to use the grocery stores plastic or paper bags. A lot of stores will give a small credit too for using your own bags and saving them some operating/overhead costs.
Well, there are problems with solar energy and producing solar PV cells but I still think the thing is just damn cool! LEDs, fiberoptic cable, a nifty architecture, at least it shows (possibly) that someone is thinking beyond coal and oil. Don't go thinking that hydro is the answer either since that seriously messes with ecosystems. Maybe those organic solar projects we read about here a few months back. Hmmm.... Hell, I'll take a few windmills right about now. Anything to stick it to the fatcats still in the energy business having a suckfest with the US government.
they can't bitch. How about posting anonymously?
I'm glad to see any variety of languages out there, so long as we can have a universal translator for communication between systems. Now if we could only move on to a greater variety of hardware architecture.
Great. So we hear that fishermen are reporting an insurgence of flesh eating bacteria and none of the "smart" doctors who have treated it have had the intelligence or forsight to actually culture a sample of the organism. They just take a guess at what they think it might be and administer a stiff antibacterial. What f***ing morons.
Then we hear that there is a dead zone of some 400 square miles where the water is sort of black all the way to the bottom and nothing is living in it. The few fish that wander into the "black water" go crazy to get out it. And no scientists have been dispatched to take water samples and find out what the hell is going on. Are they also stupid or are they under orders to not find out what is the cause? Or perhaps working on a "five dollar a day" budget has crippled them and their ability to do anything.
Oh no, nothing wrong here. Just some old wives tales and pirate yarns. It must be that those fisherman are just drinking too much slcohol. Of course, everyone knows that if you get drunk alot and then go hang out on boats for long periods of time, you automically contract a case of flesh eating bacteria. Ask any yachter or sailing man. Everything is just great in the president's brother's state.
I tell ya, if I had any say in it, there be a team of marine biologist and chemists descending on the Gulf of Mexico like a swarm of locusts. This is nuts. And to hear that there is also a huge dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River is really insane. A river mouth traditionally was a place that would be teaming with life due to nutrients and food being washed down to the sea but here in the good old McUSA it's just business as usual.
Yes, how much longer until one of those near misses registers a direct hit. I'm hoping the cosmic debris might raise IQs everywhere while killing off major quantities of stupid people and politicians.
When the ice melted, the seas rose. - Morgan Llewellyn, The Elementals
There are quite a few companies out there (http://www.ledtronics.com) right now who are manufacturing LED lamps (for you non techies that means "light bulb" not the fixture itself which is a "lighting instrument") which are meant to be used in standard US medium screw base sockets. I just discovered this the other day and I think that it is way cool! You can also get flashight bulbs to replace the inkies that you currently have in your flashlight (alas, the lowest voltage I've found so far is 6V which is twice the voltage of a 2 AA Maglite).
Ever since I saw those little blue night lights, I've been waiting for this technology to come to general home lighting. If this organic sheet material ever hits the market, I'll be one of the first to put up a ceiling border in every room. I especially like the idea of "papering" the underside of my kitchen cabinets with this stuff for the best in counter lighting. I only hope that the rest of the world will see what a great thing this is and that builders and remodelers will make it a construction industry standard.
Of course, I would expect corporations to embrace this as a mode of lighting for their offices since they must pay some steep electrical bills in lighting alone. Anything to lower overhead costs.
It would of course be especially great if they can produce this material to create full spectrum light. Just my hopes for part of a more environmentally friendly future.
taking this further and applying it to yourself to add or remove habits that you don't like. If you are trying to gain a new routine, then it would make sense to find a way to link the firing of dopamine receptors with it. Many actions themselves cause the receptors to fire and so are self reaffirming. Whereas other things that we want to do (like brushing your teeth) or don't want to do (like quitting smoking) do not themselves generate closely time linked positive responses. The benefits of these activities is apparent over time but there is no immediate dopamine response related to either. When you are trying to quit smoking, You dopamine levels probably decrease every time you deny yourself the "burning pleasure". It is through a strong consistent act of consciousness (exertion of will), or a minor superiority complex (I'm better by doing this thing and thinking that I'm better actually gives me a dopamine dose), or an outside dopamine reducer/raiser (if I shock myself when I smoke/reward myself with sugar when I don't I'll forcibly change my behavior.).
It seems that the ideas of this provide a firm example for AI modeling tied to a consciousness modual to turn on for learning and changes in the environmental norm. Whether you get friendly or dangerous machines would seem to be dependant on what the initial reward/punishment programming would be coupled with how much mobility (both communicational and physical) you give them.
Just some of my musings on this subject
It is however possible that various creepers could be even older. When I think of something like crab grass or mint which do a very nice job of taking over lawns and gardens, I don't find it too hard to believe that there could be something out there living a long time in the rainforest.
Of course, somehow 15,000 year old grass just doesn't seem that interesting. b-)
Actually, considering the desert conditions under which the bush grows, I think they have a pretty good chance. Now if the bush was growing in a region where there was lots of rainfall, I'm sure the task might be near impossible due to the largely accelerated rate of decomposition. So it is quite possible that there are older things in the rain forest, but we have no way of knowing.
As I understand it from the article, the bush sends out clone sprouts around itself which are literally the same plant (being connected by the root runners). The inner sections grow older and eventually die off, but the younger surrounding sprouts survive and continue to sprout outwards themselves. Scientists can take any preserved samples they can find of the older dead parts from the center and find out when the bush started growing (or at least measure the minimum of how old the bush is since even older parts may have completely disappeared with age).
Because of the wind conditions of where this particular bush is growing, only the sprouts on the leeward side have survived and continued to propagate. Scientists searched in a line windward from the bush and followed the trace root remains as far as they could to find the oldest parts. These dead remains of an earlier part of the bush are what they are carbon dating.
They pretty much say all this in the article, these are just the Cliff Notes.
The idea of this bush being that old is mind blowing. It is awesome in the same way as that extremely large mushroom they found (covers acres I believe). As an animal, I can only consider such a thing and just gape.
If you want to believe what you read in the book of Genesis in the Bible, the oldest man only lived to under a thousand (Methusulah or some such). As far as this bush is concerned, that person never even made it out of adolescence. The idea that this bush started growing while man was still very mired in the Stone Age is mind blowing. I suppose now we'll have to build a garbage dump on top of or something.
"My what a short view you have Grandma."
"All the better to crush you with, my dear."
Hmmm, OK, you actually seem to be a person whose ideas about all this are quite similar to my own.
Yes, Fractals in my mind do display the actual nature of the universe (micro reflected in macro reflected in micro reflected in....). I can see how a person would be thrown into thinking bacteria=disease. From a literal mind set, this isn't so, but from a connotative viewpoint, yes, disease is the thought that comes to mind. I would myself be very likely to view it that way if roles were reversed.
Personally, I'm not sure how Gaia or the Universe at large percieves the human species but the truth probably lies somewhere between cancer and helpful higher consciousness.
And speaking of Gaia and narrow points of view, you must remember, we are not any one thing. Yes we are gaia (as the collection of microorganisms can be seen as a single collective) but we are also individuals who form sub groups (institutions such as military, manufacturers, explorers, bowling leagues, etc.) and are also made up of sub groups (organs) which are in turn made up of individuals (cells). Following fractilic thought, we can go as large or as small in either direction as you like. So we are in many ways like single microorganisms who are trying individually or in sub group collectives to reach other petri dishes.
Truly my view of all this is so comprehensive that it would require me to either write a tome the size of "The Co-Evolution of Life and Environment" or simply say "It is."
Well the mouth has been shot and the lips are smoking. This is in one way annoying since it causes aggravation. On the other hand, now more information and viewpoints have been exchanged than may have been. Nothing wrong with an itch so long as you can scratch it!
Wow. This is a neat idea. But not really a new one. Not new that is in terms of trying to find some way to use all the wasted energy. Right now we are still using technologies that are terribly inefficient. All this heat going out the exhaust pipe of our vehicles. What about the heat exhaust from your furnace? Your gas water heater? It seems that if we can generate X amount of energy, we should be able to use every last scrap of it in some way, rather than just simply releasing it into the environment. Does anyone know of any other projects out there to reclaim and use some of this lost energy?
I wonder if I could then direct that laser at the moron who's tailgating me while yacking on his cell phone. b-)
I'm not sure if we can control overpopulation or not. Unfortunately I feel probably not. On the other hand (depending on my frame of mind in any given hour) I optimistically think that a flexing of sociological principles might be some help. A mass concerted ad campaign at controlling the population (i.e. "Sure you can have twelve children living in the gutter and dying young because we don't have the resources to support them or you could have two who live a very comfortable life, or perhaps one living royally") could possibly be effective or at least slow the rate of growth down enough that we might get around to colonizing in time to stem a ecological disaster (for humans that is, the planet itself probably could care less).
And yes, I agree with you that overpopulation is not sometime in the distant and murky future but is right now. To be honest, I have no idea how we are going to get a group of sentient species billions strong to all realize that we need to do something now or natural forces will do this for us. Allergies and diseases may very well be just the point of a mass of this kind of correction coming down the pike.
Obviously you feel need the need to flex your ego here. Guess what? There are many types of bacterium that are not "diseases". The bacterium in the petri dish example is simply a way of showing how the macro is reflected in the micro.
I make no claims as to what is correct or proper for our species (or any species for that matter) to do to deal with this "petri dish syndrome". It would seem that controlling our rate of population would be a good idea if we wish to maintain a consistent quality of life rather than one that degrades as the number of resources dwindles. Of course maybe you have some better suggestions for us to deal with rampant population growth (soylent green, Hannibal's line of fine men's clothing) but your raging viewpoint seems to have blinded you from making any useful suggestions.
Yes, if there is a god (or perhaps just a metaconsciousness) then the primary commandment would seem to be "Live" since that which competes better is generally favored. But like the bacterium in the petri dish, consuming a limited set of resources in an unchecked manner leads to one swift fate, "Death".
All things that live do so by consuming other things that are alive (or recently were) with maybe the exception being "lower" life forms (lichens and various types of protozoa come to mind) that can get by on chemicals (water, minerals, etc.) and the energy of the sun. We are more like the bacteria in that we need the algar media (in our case higher forms of life for consumption) to continue to live.
As this relates to the exploration of space (which was the original topic) we are like bacteria in a dish seeking to jump to other dishes and further propagate our species. How much or how little I think of the human race does not play into this here, though your shooting from the hip doesn't win it any points when I think of the longer term planning and bigger view needed to continue the propagation and evolution of the species.