I work in the industry, so I might be able to provide an alternate viewpoint. Esentially what happened to the airline industry is that the market changed from a luxury market (high profit margins, low competition) to a commodity market (low profit margins, intense competition). Unfortunately, the airlines had all made long term deals with the trade unions that presumed stagnate market conditions - so when the market changed, they could not change with it.
The smaller carriers all have one thing in common - no unions. They do not pay their pilots as much, and their pilots do not get paid if they don't fly. The number one expense for an airline is fuel, but the number two expense are the pilots, stewardesses, mechanics, and baggage handlers. There was no way for older airlines to meet the new market conditions (fly more for less profit per flight) without paying people less. The problem is that no one wants to be paid less, so instead they get rid of the least powerful people (who also happen to be the least paid). This is also specified in the union contract... all laying off actions must be FILO.
Essentially, the major carriers are hamstrung by the unions, and they will not survive long term. Unions work by artificially limiting labor supply - but that doesn't work if there is not enough work.
The unions say how evil it is that they are getting pay cuts, but where exactly do they expect the money to come from? The government really should not prop up certain providers when others are eager to take there place. Competition works for the most part. Air travel is becoming a commodity market, like cars. Market transitions cause upheavals, and change the market leaders - especially if the current leaders cannot change their bussiness structure.
I have to say that I totally disagree about management being incompetant - the current management (at least the upper level ones I deal with) are extremely good. They may even get the airline to survive and change to the current market conditions. But what has really destroyed the airlines is the changing markets, and the unions preventing the old airlines to change with the times. The only thing management could have done would be to have rejected the union contracts earlier. But I doubt if that was possible.
Unions seem to believe that society owes them a living. The problem is that society (except in the form of government) is not a person, and so recognizes no debts. Fighting that is totally ineffective because there is no one to fight.
Reflection is another method, of course. But if what you were proposing (that reflection is the only method), you would not be able to hear sounds from around an isolated object - which is onviously not true.
Interestingly enough, reflections can be modeled by multiple point sources along the wavefront at the reflection point once you add in the forced edge conditions.
Except... the water has a higher density, so the ice floats. How high does it float? It floats at the height where the amount of water displaced equals the amount of water in the ice.
So you cannot ever use floating ice to change the level of water.
Another thing to be cautious of with insurance - will the insurance company be able to cover what they have insured? Often, after a major incident like a hurricane, local insurance agencies refuse to pay out and instead go bankrupt...
There is no direct warning system in place, but the fact is that Africa will be hit first - giving Spain an hour or two notice, and giving the US about ten hours notice to evacuate.
Of course, does anyone think New York could be evacuated in 10 hours?
Unfortunately, waves do not travel in straight lines (well, not in the way described). Waves act as if they are recreated at each point in the wavefront, which allows them to turn around corners.
This is highly dependant on wavelength to aperature ratio, which is why you can hear sounds around a corner, but not see around one.
It sounds like no one could be ready - the wave would just be too big. All that could be hoped for is an evacuation, and we don't even have early warning systems in place for that.
What really worries me is the possibilities for a terrorist to place a small nuclear bomb there. With a small weapon, placed in a low-security location, a single act of terror could destroy New York, Washington, Boston, etc. - the entire eastern seaboard!
And how long until that security system is broached - given an insanely large installed base and Microsoft's historical capabilities in the security area?
I hope it works too, but I'm not holding my breath. I really doubt anyone is going to update their "VCR"'s operating system.
The real problem is that while it may work out of the box, within months it will fail.
We all have had to "repair" computers so infected with spyware that they are practically unusable. Now someone's PVR is going to do that! The only people that can use this long term are the technical people that can keep the thing working.
I just don't think people want a PVR that must be reinstalled every few months.
I think a lot of insight can come from your parent/child conversation. Another way to look at it is a conversation between GOD and the Guy that thinks rubbing sticks together for fire is pretty cool.
GOD: I created the Universe.
GUY: Woah! How long did that take?
GOD: Well, you see, time didn't really exist at the start...
GUY: (Blank look)
GOD: 6 Days
GUY: Neato! What did you do next?
GOD: I waited for everything to congeal.
GUY: How long did that take?
GOD: (Exasperated) One day.
GUY: Wow! How did you make me?
GOD: I altered the quantum equations of the Universe temperarily so that the carbon, nitrogen, and other elements moved to precisely the right relative locations.
GUY: (Blank look)
GOD: I made you from dirt.
GUY: Ohhhhhh!
I believe many of the places where God has been proven "wrong" come from things like this - where God was trying to use "little words" to describe very complex things. Like when you tell your daughter that the sky is blue because it has water in it - it sort of is, but it is really due to refraction, etc. But there is no way your daughter would understand that!
Well, think about it - are the terrorists in the middle east going to embrace the religious right in the US because of an asteroid?
Prediction: France will say do nothing, while trying to corner the market on shelters. Germany will say do nothing, because you are just as likely to make things worse. Rusia will say launch countermeasures (on Russain rockets, of course). Isreal will say that it obviously is God's way to kill the infidels, and the Muslim world will say much the same thing. Then the US will give trillions of dollars to the current President's best friend's company, a billion dollar rocket will go up, and will have a small chance of succeeding.
Outcome: China is destroyed when it hits, everyone blames the US, and the corrupt government of France gets enough money to survive a few more years. The Germans, however, continue to build the world's best machines - and take over the world using ROBOTS! (The Japanese are busy with something else)
I was discussing this with some associates (heavily involved in worldwide finance and investment). It is very interesting how non-americans, especially Europeans, view Americans. The USA has one of the most transparent system of leadership in the world, meaning that if the President or a member of congress is "corrupt" they are more likely to be punished in the US than anywhere else. (For proof of this look at the relative numbers of politicians kicked from office in disgrace - trust me, if you have never had a government official impeached it is NOT because you have a perfect government!) Yet Europeans tend to think that the US has far more corruption because the corruption is found and advertised. Most countries conceal their corruption - leading to powerful corrupters that remain hidden. It is very scary, for example, that there are no arrests made about the "Food fo Oil" program abuses in France. The US equivalent, "Iran/Contra" nearly caused an impeachment - and caused lots of arrests and international media attention.
I find this very sad, because essentially Europeans are now slaves to an established system of corruption - very similar to the Aristocracies of older times. Unfortunately, the binding is so complete that they do not even realize their slavery... although at least violence is rather rare under the modern system.
"Asteroid hitting Earth" is a Bernoulli event. It hits, or it does not hit
I cannot believe someone would post such inaccuracies to Slashdot, the last bastion of scientific thought! Obviously, this is not a Bernoulli event! The asteriod and the Earth each have a wave function showing the probability of their respective positions. Because of this wave function (at least until it collapses), the asteroid will both hit and miss the Earth.
We must stop these fake science posts! Think of the children!
The thrust is primarily from vaporized asteroid matter being ejected from the side facing the nuke. This is actually a fairly efficient process (as in greater than 1%), since the matter is ejected at relatively low speed. That means you get substantial thrust for a given energy input.
This has actually been contemplated as a method of propelling interstellar spacecraft - see the Orion project and various subprojects.
Why on EARTH do shared showers present an "insurmountable" problem?
For the same reason that men don't shower with women - its embarassing to everyone involved. And yes, I do know that there are homosexuals in the military - but as "don't ask, don't tell" holds, people aren't embarrassed. You may say that is insignificant, but inexperienced, young men that are embarrassed do stupid things - like punch the guy that embarrassed them.
How does practicing homosexuality hurt the people involved in the practice?
Honestly, I don't know - I merely have faith that from an eternal perspective homosexuals are individually helped by not engaging in homosexual activity. I could give you some guesses, but that is all they are. I realize that you (and many others) do not believe that, and I'm not asking you to. I am telling you what I believe - because I was asked a question that showed a lack of understanding of my beliefs.
As for showing compassion, I have openly homosexual friends - in fact my best friend. I have thought about this a lot - I know he struggled with morals most of his life. I'm pretty sure that most people's perceptions are distorted by their feelings on this issue (on both sides), but I try to find objective answers to questions - and discuss the issues when I feel it is appropriate.
I don't really care whether you are a hetrosexual or not - but I do like that you are a rocket scientist (just no that way, you understand...)!
Until that question is answered, ostracizing homosexuals is Evil.
Agreed, for reasonable values of ostracizing. For example, one could say that refusing to allow a practicing homosexual to be a bishop is ostracizing. For most situations, treating homosexuals as different from heterosexuals is evil. But not all, such as homosexuals in the military (shared showers present an insurmountable problem - each homosexual would need there own seperate shower). Deciding where these boundaries are is a most difficult task, to be sure.
How does homosexuality hurt anybody? (Else)
I do not believe that homosexuality hurts third parties. I believe that practicing homosexuality hurts the people involved in the practice. I further believe that although you have a duty to warn your neighbor (as in everyone you know) when they are doing what you believe to be a dangerous practice, you must allow them to make their own choices. This particular problem adds in the sensitive nature of human sexuality - you have to be careful what you say because you might be hurting people.
I respect homosexuals as people, practicing homosexuality or not. If asked, I will tell people my beliefs, but I make sure that they understand that I do not look down on them at all. I also have demons that I face, and I would not like someone throwing them in my face, either.
If eternal blackness is my reward for being rational, I don't mind...
And if God was a being that would reward rational behaviour with eternal darkness, would you really want to be with him in heaven?
I believe God is our father, and nothing like this. He wants us to learn and grow, and eventually to be like him. That's my belief, anyway.
I agree with you that we should try to solve the problems here on Earth, not just say it's "God's will." It's Gods will that we learn to solve the problems! It's also God's will that we live together in peace as much as possible.
To me, the key for understanding religion is to realize that you have imperfect people trying to teach other imperfect people what they know about life - and then some clever imperfect people wrote it down. For example, in the Bible they commonly were "commanded" to wipe out another civilization. I am not sure what the commandment was (perhaps it really was to exterminate everyone), but since best case it was second hand from God I think a man probably goofed the interpretation.
Why do you believe what you believe?
That is, of course, a deeply personal question - I'll try to answer anyway. In my life, I have experienced many things. Many of those things seem to require "loading the dice" in order to have happened. What I mean is that random chance does not seem to be guiding my life - my life is pushed in the direction of maximum experience (eternal term benefit, if you will). For example, I lost the ability to walk for a long time. That taught me about pain, and about overcoming obstacles. There have been many experiences, more than I could relate, that have reinforced this viewpoint. Obviously, there are always questions. But I find that simply because I do not know the answer doesn't mean it isn't there... often I will think up a possible answer to questions long after I am no longer asking.
I guess I believe that the evidence in my life weighs in favor of an external influence. I know that I don't know a lot, but what I do know leads me in that direction. As an example, while I couldn't walk, my leg started hurting (not really that abnormal, so I let it go). But over the course of a week, it got worse and worse. I couldn't sleep, and it hurt enormously even to drag myself across the hallway on the floor. None of my pain medicines were working, and I didn't have medical insurance (hard to keep a job when you can't walk). I was scared, and I asked my church for a blessing. They came over and gave me a special blessing for the sick. That night, I got the distinct impression that I should go to the internet and research gout. To my knowlege, I had never heard of the word gout before. Yet, after looking on the internet for five minutes I found page after page describing my condition exactly. More importantly, I found methods of treatment.
Now, of course, it is possible that I had subconsciously heard someone talking about gout prior to that, or any number of other posibilities. But experiences like that in my life (and there are many others) have lead me to believe. I still can't prove it, but I believe very strongly.
Besides, quantum mechanics is a dead giveaway, isn't it? The real universe could not possibly be that weird...
Slashdot Mirror
I work in the industry, so I might be able to provide an alternate viewpoint. Esentially what happened to the airline industry is that the market changed from a luxury market (high profit margins, low competition) to a commodity market (low profit margins, intense competition). Unfortunately, the airlines had all made long term deals with the trade unions that presumed stagnate market conditions - so when the market changed, they could not change with it.
The smaller carriers all have one thing in common - no unions. They do not pay their pilots as much, and their pilots do not get paid if they don't fly. The number one expense for an airline is fuel, but the number two expense are the pilots, stewardesses, mechanics, and baggage handlers. There was no way for older airlines to meet the new market conditions (fly more for less profit per flight) without paying people less. The problem is that no one wants to be paid less, so instead they get rid of the least powerful people (who also happen to be the least paid). This is also specified in the union contract... all laying off actions must be FILO.
Essentially, the major carriers are hamstrung by the unions, and they will not survive long term. Unions work by artificially limiting labor supply - but that doesn't work if there is not enough work.
The unions say how evil it is that they are getting pay cuts, but where exactly do they expect the money to come from? The government really should not prop up certain providers when others are eager to take there place. Competition works for the most part. Air travel is becoming a commodity market, like cars. Market transitions cause upheavals, and change the market leaders - especially if the current leaders cannot change their bussiness structure.
I have to say that I totally disagree about management being incompetant - the current management (at least the upper level ones I deal with) are extremely good. They may even get the airline to survive and change to the current market conditions. But what has really destroyed the airlines is the changing markets, and the unions preventing the old airlines to change with the times. The only thing management could have done would be to have rejected the union contracts earlier. But I doubt if that was possible.
Unions seem to believe that society owes them a living. The problem is that society (except in the form of government) is not a person, and so recognizes no debts. Fighting that is totally ineffective because there is no one to fight.
Reflection is another method, of course. But if what you were proposing (that reflection is the only method), you would not be able to hear sounds from around an isolated object - which is onviously not true.
Interestingly enough, reflections can be modeled by multiple point sources along the wavefront at the reflection point once you add in the forced edge conditions.
Except... the water has a higher density, so the ice floats. How high does it float? It floats at the height where the amount of water displaced equals the amount of water in the ice.
So you cannot ever use floating ice to change the level of water.
So are you with me in Streeterville, in the Loop, or Gold Coast?
Another thing to be cautious of with insurance - will the insurance company be able to cover what they have insured? Often, after a major incident like a hurricane, local insurance agencies refuse to pay out and instead go bankrupt...
There is no direct warning system in place, but the fact is that Africa will be hit first - giving Spain an hour or two notice, and giving the US about ten hours notice to evacuate.
Of course, does anyone think New York could be evacuated in 10 hours?
Unfortunately, waves do not travel in straight lines (well, not in the way described). Waves act as if they are recreated at each point in the wavefront, which allows them to turn around corners.
This is highly dependant on wavelength to aperature ratio, which is why you can hear sounds around a corner, but not see around one.
Well this most recent disaster was a 9R. So I'd say yes, an 11R (about 100 times the 9R) is at least theoretically possible.
Ahhh. So you believe in security through obscurity?
At 150 feet high, at least at the shore the death rate will be pretty darn close to 100%...
It sounds like no one could be ready - the wave would just be too big. All that could be hoped for is an evacuation, and we don't even have early warning systems in place for that.
What really worries me is the possibilities for a terrorist to place a small nuclear bomb there. With a small weapon, placed in a low-security location, a single act of terror could destroy New York, Washington, Boston, etc. - the entire eastern seaboard!
And how long until that security system is broached - given an insanely large installed base and Microsoft's historical capabilities in the security area?
I hope it works too, but I'm not holding my breath. I really doubt anyone is going to update their "VCR"'s operating system.
Just think - and now they want your stereo and VCR to be running Windows, internet connected...
The real problem is that while it may work out of the box, within months it will fail.
We all have had to "repair" computers so infected with spyware that they are practically unusable. Now someone's PVR is going to do that! The only people that can use this long term are the technical people that can keep the thing working.
I just don't think people want a PVR that must be reinstalled every few months.
I think a lot of insight can come from your parent/child conversation. Another way to look at it is a conversation between GOD and the Guy that thinks rubbing sticks together for fire is pretty cool.
GOD: I created the Universe.
GUY: Woah! How long did that take?
GOD: Well, you see, time didn't really exist at the start...
GUY: (Blank look)
GOD: 6 Days
GUY: Neato! What did you do next?
GOD: I waited for everything to congeal.
GUY: How long did that take?
GOD: (Exasperated) One day.
GUY: Wow! How did you make me?
GOD: I altered the quantum equations of the Universe temperarily so that the carbon, nitrogen, and other elements moved to precisely the right relative locations.
GUY: (Blank look)
GOD: I made you from dirt.
GUY: Ohhhhhh!
I believe many of the places where God has been proven "wrong" come from things like this - where God was trying to use "little words" to describe very complex things. Like when you tell your daughter that the sky is blue because it has water in it - it sort of is, but it is really due to refraction, etc. But there is no way your daughter would understand that!
Well, think about it - are the terrorists in the middle east going to embrace the religious right in the US because of an asteroid?
Prediction: France will say do nothing, while trying to corner the market on shelters. Germany will say do nothing, because you are just as likely to make things worse. Rusia will say launch countermeasures (on Russain rockets, of course). Isreal will say that it obviously is God's way to kill the infidels, and the Muslim world will say much the same thing. Then the US will give trillions of dollars to the current President's best friend's company, a billion dollar rocket will go up, and will have a small chance of succeeding.
Outcome: China is destroyed when it hits, everyone blames the US, and the corrupt government of France gets enough money to survive a few more years. The Germans, however, continue to build the world's best machines - and take over the world using ROBOTS! (The Japanese are busy with something else)
Or not...
I was discussing this with some associates (heavily involved in worldwide finance and investment). It is very interesting how non-americans, especially Europeans, view Americans. The USA has one of the most transparent system of leadership in the world, meaning that if the President or a member of congress is "corrupt" they are more likely to be punished in the US than anywhere else. (For proof of this look at the relative numbers of politicians kicked from office in disgrace - trust me, if you have never had a government official impeached it is NOT because you have a perfect government!) Yet Europeans tend to think that the US has far more corruption because the corruption is found and advertised. Most countries conceal their corruption - leading to powerful corrupters that remain hidden. It is very scary, for example, that there are no arrests made about the "Food fo Oil" program abuses in France. The US equivalent, "Iran/Contra" nearly caused an impeachment - and caused lots of arrests and international media attention.
I find this very sad, because essentially Europeans are now slaves to an established system of corruption - very similar to the Aristocracies of older times. Unfortunately, the binding is so complete that they do not even realize their slavery... although at least violence is rather rare under the modern system.
"Asteroid hitting Earth" is a Bernoulli event. It hits, or it does not hit
I cannot believe someone would post such inaccuracies to Slashdot, the last bastion of scientific thought! Obviously, this is not a Bernoulli event! The asteriod and the Earth each have a wave function showing the probability of their respective positions. Because of this wave function (at least until it collapses), the asteroid will both hit and miss the Earth.
We must stop these fake science posts! Think of the children!
If I may point out - the difference between a "red" state and a "blue" state is typically less than 5% of the population...
The thrust is primarily from vaporized asteroid matter being ejected from the side facing the nuke. This is actually a fairly efficient process (as in greater than 1%), since the matter is ejected at relatively low speed. That means you get substantial thrust for a given energy input.
This has actually been contemplated as a method of propelling interstellar spacecraft - see the Orion project and various subprojects.
Of course what we should really do is drop everything and try to capture this into earth orbit - then we would have the ultimate space station!
How is this MS's fault?
Primarily because their developers are allowed to run as administrator. If they weren't, EVERYTHING would very quickly work as non-admin!
Why on EARTH do shared showers present an "insurmountable" problem?
For the same reason that men don't shower with women - its embarassing to everyone involved. And yes, I do know that there are homosexuals in the military - but as "don't ask, don't tell" holds, people aren't embarrassed. You may say that is insignificant, but inexperienced, young men that are embarrassed do stupid things - like punch the guy that embarrassed them.
How does practicing homosexuality hurt the people involved in the practice?
Honestly, I don't know - I merely have faith that from an eternal perspective homosexuals are individually helped by not engaging in homosexual activity. I could give you some guesses, but that is all they are. I realize that you (and many others) do not believe that, and I'm not asking you to. I am telling you what I believe - because I was asked a question that showed a lack of understanding of my beliefs.
As for showing compassion, I have openly homosexual friends - in fact my best friend. I have thought about this a lot - I know he struggled with morals most of his life. I'm pretty sure that most people's perceptions are distorted by their feelings on this issue (on both sides), but I try to find objective answers to questions - and discuss the issues when I feel it is appropriate.
I don't really care whether you are a hetrosexual or not - but I do like that you are a rocket scientist (just no that way, you understand...)!
Until that question is answered, ostracizing homosexuals is Evil.
Agreed, for reasonable values of ostracizing. For example, one could say that refusing to allow a practicing homosexual to be a bishop is ostracizing. For most situations, treating homosexuals as different from heterosexuals is evil. But not all, such as homosexuals in the military (shared showers present an insurmountable problem - each homosexual would need there own seperate shower). Deciding where these boundaries are is a most difficult task, to be sure.
How does homosexuality hurt anybody? (Else)
I do not believe that homosexuality hurts third parties. I believe that practicing homosexuality hurts the people involved in the practice. I further believe that although you have a duty to warn your neighbor (as in everyone you know) when they are doing what you believe to be a dangerous practice, you must allow them to make their own choices. This particular problem adds in the sensitive nature of human sexuality - you have to be careful what you say because you might be hurting people.
I respect homosexuals as people, practicing homosexuality or not. If asked, I will tell people my beliefs, but I make sure that they understand that I do not look down on them at all. I also have demons that I face, and I would not like someone throwing them in my face, either.
If eternal blackness is my reward for being rational, I don't mind...
And if God was a being that would reward rational behaviour with eternal darkness, would you really want to be with him in heaven?
I believe God is our father, and nothing like this. He wants us to learn and grow, and eventually to be like him. That's my belief, anyway.
I agree with you that we should try to solve the problems here on Earth, not just say it's "God's will." It's Gods will that we learn to solve the problems! It's also God's will that we live together in peace as much as possible.
To me, the key for understanding religion is to realize that you have imperfect people trying to teach other imperfect people what they know about life - and then some clever imperfect people wrote it down. For example, in the Bible they commonly were "commanded" to wipe out another civilization. I am not sure what the commandment was (perhaps it really was to exterminate everyone), but since best case it was second hand from God I think a man probably goofed the interpretation.
Why do you believe what you believe?
That is, of course, a deeply personal question - I'll try to answer anyway. In my life, I have experienced many things. Many of those things seem to require "loading the dice" in order to have happened. What I mean is that random chance does not seem to be guiding my life - my life is pushed in the direction of maximum experience (eternal term benefit, if you will). For example, I lost the ability to walk for a long time. That taught me about pain, and about overcoming obstacles. There have been many experiences, more than I could relate, that have reinforced this viewpoint. Obviously, there are always questions. But I find that simply because I do not know the answer doesn't mean it isn't there... often I will think up a possible answer to questions long after I am no longer asking.
I guess I believe that the evidence in my life weighs in favor of an external influence. I know that I don't know a lot, but what I do know leads me in that direction. As an example, while I couldn't walk, my leg started hurting (not really that abnormal, so I let it go). But over the course of a week, it got worse and worse. I couldn't sleep, and it hurt enormously even to drag myself across the hallway on the floor. None of my pain medicines were working, and I didn't have medical insurance (hard to keep a job when you can't walk). I was scared, and I asked my church for a blessing. They came over and gave me a special blessing for the sick. That night, I got the distinct impression that I should go to the internet and research gout. To my knowlege, I had never heard of the word gout before. Yet, after looking on the internet for five minutes I found page after page describing my condition exactly. More importantly, I found methods of treatment.
Now, of course, it is possible that I had subconsciously heard someone talking about gout prior to that, or any number of other posibilities. But experiences like that in my life (and there are many others) have lead me to believe. I still can't prove it, but I believe very strongly.
Besides, quantum mechanics is a dead giveaway, isn't it? The real universe could not possibly be that weird...