First, I am not american, so, of course I tend to favor the democrats but I would have a hard time naming a single US senator or even candidate apart Hillary Clinton.
I would like to point that the two polls, IIRC, had more than 5 points of difference, that is a huge difference that allows one to question the methodologies of the two institutes, but I would be a fool to attribute to malice what can be to incompetence, so let it be a useful coincidence. You must understand that I don't care about who wins this election, I would prefer democrats but, well, you know Clinton wasn't liked a lot either in Europe (but he was less hated than GWB, I admit). What worries me is the absolute trust americans have in electronic voting machines. Because there are a lot of politician in Europe who would like to use these. I really think the last american elections were rigged ( read the Diebold memos, read about all electronic voting 'incidents', explain the differences between the result and the exit polls )
I am not randomly bitching, I have been consistently against electronic voting as long as it doesn't use a verifiable cryptographic security. I am tired of explaining the nuance of this policy to people who don't care but I keep on doing this.
polls consistently shows democrat winning from a few weeks but a few days before the elections, a poll showed a republican progression and another one still showed democrats winning by a large margin.
My guess is that, to the world's (and US ?) surprise, republicans will win by a small margin, explaining it by the last day of campaign.
Sir Nicholas Stern's report on the economics of climate change, which was published last week, says that the debate is over. It isn't. There are more greenhouse gases in the air than there were, so the world should warm a bit, but that's as far as the "consensus" goes.
The Stern report is the first study of the economical effects of a worst case of the rise of temperature. It is recent, there has been no consensus yet for or against it in the scientific and economic spheres.
I think scientists said from years to politicians "Be careful, a climate change could occur and could be catastrophic". Of course, when confronted to something that hypothetical, a politician doesn't give a damn. The Stern report says "there is a consensus over the fact that the climate changes" even TFA acknowledges that, "and it could be THAT serious" and on this, no consensus, he took a plausible but worst case scenario. The Stern report is not a scientific piece, it is a translation in politic-speech that in the sake of precaution, something should be done.
I find it refreshing also that an official document reminds that there is in fact a consensus over the fact that the world will warm and that this should be of concern to politicians.
From TFA : Welcome Slashdot! Pretty please, read the FAQ! And NO, the receipt DOES NOT allow you to prove to ANYONE how you voted.
And yet, strangely, I don't understand what prevents anyone to do so...
considering it could have happen the day after and the day after this day and still be befor US elections, that makes is a 3 on 365 days. I would also admit that it would have looked like a strange coincidence during the whole week before elections, that puts us at 7 days in 365 days or a 2% probability. You decide if this can just happen or not.
From the news report, they are all firing rounds in the street. Out of joy for Chiites (or Shias, I don't remember how they are called in english) and of anger for Sunies
I found out first about the WTC plane crashes on Slashdot. While everything else was a mess, Slashdot proved to be the best resouce. Sometimes the site can serve a better place by being more than just tech and yet not lose its roots.
Too bad this gets posted while Slashdot moderation is broken.
Death penalty has been accepted as legal by Iraqi parliament the day befor Saddam's trial opened. From there things looked pretty straightforward.
I read however that in the case of death sentences, the appeal was automatic and that it could take a few more months to be confirmed. He clearly waits for a civil war to happen in Iraq in order to save his head. He will take any chance to gain some time.
Right now we can just watch and see how this story end. I doubt this automated procedure could take into account contributor copying their own copyrighted materials insode wikipedia. I think this has already happened, I don't say that 100% of the 142 articles are in this case, but I think he raises an interesting point. Let's now see how this ends
When biologists uncover a squeleton from an unknown extinct species, the first question they ask themselves is : Is this a new species or a deformed member of a known species.Deformations can be caused by illness, by foetus development abnormality, by ponctual mutation.
How can they be sure this is not such a case ? This dolphin only have an extra pair of fins, couldn't this be an extreme case of conjointed twins ?
If there would be less debate about evolution in the US, I believe Fox News would have reported this as what it is : a dolphin with a malformation.
I don't know the US legal system but from what I understood, every law transgression is 'criminal'. In most EU states, the 'criminal' label describes only the most serious violation. There are less serious violation, not called 'crimes' (I think you would translate it by 'offense') that are still illegal but the difference IIRC correctly is that you cannot be sentenced to jail for an offense.
They bring a copy of their corp XP-pro ? At least their company bought a licence. Last figures I saw (a few years ago I admit) were 50% pirated softwares in US and 97% in China.
Well, you have them on paper, right. I am not sure I want more gouvernance from the "country" that dismissed the.xxx TLD over blatantly political reasons, that has implemented the DMCA, forbidden online gambling, etc...
Anyway, the "governance" of Internet is not in the hand of the US governement, it is a diluted entity. Some see the ICANN as what is the closest to an Internet administration but this is clearly an exageration. If a board is to be given powers over Internet infrastructure, it simply CAN NOT be 100% american. Cables go through the whole world and are owned by various companies, routers are everywhere, etc...
Saying that an international board should have the control doesn't mean the UN. And frankly, do you think an international board with representative from US, EU, China, Japan, Russia, India, etc... would make a worse job than representatives from D.C, Texas, Florida, California, Utah, etc... ?
For me the red line has been crossed in 2003 when I read two report of the same news, one from France, saying "Kofi Anna has qualified the attack on Iraq as illegal" and the second, from MSNBC, saying "Kofi Anna has (wrongly) qualified the attack on Iraq as illegal"
What we really need, if there are to be any meaningful reductions in CO2 emissions, is a replacement for oil as a transportation fuel. Because of how central fossil fuels in general are to running our economies, even increasing efficiency won't necessarily do any good because of Jevons Paradox.
So, what do we have that can do it?
I would go with fusion and Project ITER
It frightens me the ridiculously low budget and the amount of time spent on inept political discussions about this project, considering it could be the solution to one of the most important problems of the current human civilization (just after getting rid of religious conflicts and understanding women)
I remain skeptical of the global warming arguments, and divided on what to think of the whole issue. I've seen evidence both for and against the reality and human cause of global warming.
Don't listen to people or medias. Get the facts, I mean, the raw datas, use your brain, make yourself an opinion. That is not because there are two vocal sides that it is wise to settle for a middle ground.
A bazillion may not be enough, it is not infinite. It is all about the probability of the apparition of life. If the apparition of life on a earth-like planet has a probability of 1/X and there are less than X planets in the universe, then we probably are alone, and maybe it has taken several universes for the life to appear. Big numbers can exist on the two sides of the equation. We simply don't have enough data yet to know
I think the crowd here wants to live in a SF universe. I for one, would like to see a contact with an alien civilization in my lifetime, even if I think it is improbable. A Big Question in science is : Is the apparition of life on Earth a common event in the Universe or is it a unique and almost impossible event ?
Having proofs of ancient life on Mars would have put us a step nearer the alien contact. Of course the crowd here is mostly optimistic about aliens intentions:-)
Slashdot Mirror
First, I am not american, so, of course I tend to favor the democrats but I would have a hard time naming a single US senator or even candidate apart Hillary Clinton.
I would like to point that the two polls, IIRC, had more than 5 points of difference, that is a huge difference that allows one to question the methodologies of the two institutes, but I would be a fool to attribute to malice what can be to incompetence, so let it be a useful coincidence.
You must understand that I don't care about who wins this election, I would prefer democrats but, well, you know Clinton wasn't liked a lot either in Europe (but he was less hated than GWB, I admit). What worries me is the absolute trust americans have in electronic voting machines. Because there are a lot of politician in Europe who would like to use these. I really think the last american elections were rigged ( read the Diebold memos, read about all electronic voting 'incidents', explain the differences between the result and the exit polls )
I am not randomly bitching, I have been consistently against electronic voting as long as it doesn't use a verifiable cryptographic security. I am tired of explaining the nuance of this policy to people who don't care but I keep on doing this.
polls consistently shows democrat winning from a few weeks but a few days before the elections, a poll showed a republican progression and another one still showed democrats winning by a large margin.
My guess is that, to the world's (and US ?) surprise, republicans will win by a small margin, explaining it by the last day of campaign.
And now the scary part : people will buy it.
From TFA :
Sir Nicholas Stern's report on the economics of climate change, which was published last week, says that the debate is over. It isn't. There are more greenhouse gases in the air than there were, so the world should warm a bit, but that's as far as the "consensus" goes.
The Stern report is the first study of the economical effects of a worst case of the rise of temperature. It is recent, there has been no consensus yet for or against it in the scientific and economic spheres.
I think scientists said from years to politicians "Be careful, a climate change could occur and could be catastrophic". Of course, when confronted to something that hypothetical, a politician doesn't give a damn. The Stern report says "there is a consensus over the fact that the climate changes" even TFA acknowledges that, "and it could be THAT serious" and on this, no consensus, he took a plausible but worst case scenario. The Stern report is not a scientific piece, it is a translation in politic-speech that in the sake of precaution, something should be done.
I find it refreshing also that an official document reminds that there is in fact a consensus over the fact that the world will warm and that this should be of concern to politicians.
...who first read : "The End of Net Anonymity Is Brazil" ?
Aren't there some VLT arrays more sensitive ?
From TFA :
Welcome Slashdot! Pretty please, read the FAQ! And NO, the receipt DOES NOT allow you to prove to ANYONE how you voted.
And yet, strangely, I don't understand what prevents anyone to do so...
considering it could have happen the day after and the day after this day and still be befor US elections, that makes is a 3 on 365 days. I would also admit that it would have looked like a strange coincidence during the whole week before elections, that puts us at 7 days in 365 days or a 2% probability. You decide if this can just happen or not.
What do you think the Iraqis believe?
From the news report, they are all firing rounds in the street. Out of joy for Chiites (or Shias, I don't remember how they are called in english) and of anger for Sunies
I found out first about the WTC plane crashes on Slashdot. While everything else was a mess, Slashdot proved to be the best resouce. Sometimes the site can serve a better place by being more than just tech and yet not lose its roots.
Too bad this gets posted while Slashdot moderation is broken.
Death penalty has been accepted as legal by Iraqi parliament the day befor Saddam's trial opened. From there things looked pretty straightforward.
I read however that in the case of death sentences, the appeal was automatic and that it could take a few more months to be confirmed. He clearly waits for a civil war to happen in Iraq in order to save his head. He will take any chance to gain some time.
Right now we can just watch and see how this story end. I doubt this automated procedure could take into account contributor copying their own copyrighted materials insode wikipedia. I think this has already happened, I don't say that 100% of the 142 articles are in this case, but I think he raises an interesting point. Let's now see how this ends
When biologists uncover a squeleton from an unknown extinct species, the first question they ask themselves is : Is this a new species or a deformed member of a known species .Deformations can be caused by illness, by foetus development abnormality, by ponctual mutation.
How can they be sure this is not such a case ? This dolphin only have an extra pair of fins, couldn't this be an extreme case of conjointed twins ?
If there would be less debate about evolution in the US, I believe Fox News would have reported this as what it is : a dolphin with a malformation.
THATS your security blanket? A fictitious pie-in-the-sky technology?
Well, the mutually assured destruction doctrine is not really the most reassuring philosophy either
I don't know the US legal system but from what I understood, every law transgression is 'criminal'. In most EU states, the 'criminal' label describes only the most serious violation. There are less serious violation, not called 'crimes' (I think you would translate it by 'offense') that are still illegal but the difference IIRC correctly is that you cannot be sentenced to jail for an offense.
They bring a copy of their corp XP-pro ? At least their company bought a licence. Last figures I saw (a few years ago I admit) were 50% pirated softwares in US and 97% in China.
100 millions web sites seems like a low figure to me. You mean 100 million servers right ?
I really don't understand the intricacies of international diplomacy
Diplomats are useful when the weather is fine. When it rains, however, they tend to drown in every raindrop.
Charles de Gaulle
Tien Anmen Google Images
Well, you have them on paper, right. I am not sure I want more gouvernance from the "country" that dismissed the .xxx TLD over blatantly political reasons, that has implemented the DMCA, forbidden online gambling, etc...
Anyway, the "governance" of Internet is not in the hand of the US governement, it is a diluted entity. Some see the ICANN as what is the closest to an Internet administration but this is clearly an exageration. If a board is to be given powers over Internet infrastructure, it simply CAN NOT be 100% american. Cables go through the whole world and are owned by various companies, routers are everywhere, etc...
Saying that an international board should have the control doesn't mean the UN. And frankly, do you think an international board with representative from US, EU, China, Japan, Russia, India, etc... would make a worse job than representatives from D.C, Texas, Florida, California, Utah, etc... ?
For me the red line has been crossed in 2003 when I read two report of the same news, one from France, saying "Kofi Anna has qualified the attack on Iraq as illegal" and the second, from MSNBC, saying "Kofi Anna has (wrongly) qualified the attack on Iraq as illegal"
What we really need, if there are to be any meaningful reductions in CO2 emissions, is a replacement for oil as a transportation fuel. Because of how central fossil fuels in general are to running our economies, even increasing efficiency won't necessarily do any good because of Jevons Paradox.
So, what do we have that can do it?
I would go with fusion and Project ITER
It frightens me the ridiculously low budget and the amount of time spent on inept political discussions about this project, considering it could be the solution to one of the most important problems of the current human civilization (just after getting rid of religious conflicts and understanding women)
I remain skeptical of the global warming arguments, and divided on what to think of the whole issue. I've seen evidence both for and against the reality and human cause of global warming.
Don't listen to people or medias. Get the facts, I mean, the raw datas, use your brain, make yourself an opinion. That is not because there are two vocal sides that it is wise to settle for a middle ground.
A bazillion may not be enough, it is not infinite. It is all about the probability of the apparition of life. If the apparition of life on a earth-like planet has a probability of 1/X and there are less than X planets in the universe, then we probably are alone, and maybe it has taken several universes for the life to appear. Big numbers can exist on the two sides of the equation. We simply don't have enough data yet to know
Apart for all the sex-toy jokes, that would be cool if I could plug my cell phone to this.
And no, I am not thinking about the vibrator mode....
I think the crowd here wants to live in a SF universe. I for one, would like to see a contact with an alien civilization in my lifetime, even if I think it is improbable. A Big Question in science is : Is the apparition of life on Earth a common event in the Universe or is it a unique and almost impossible event ?
:-)
Having proofs of ancient life on Mars would have put us a step nearer the alien contact. Of course the crowd here is mostly optimistic about aliens intentions