Ahh, North Lake to South Lake loop, perhaps? We did that hike as our Sierra Trek in 2000, crossing both Muir and Bishop passes. Went through Dusy Basiin and Evolution Valley, too, all without the bullshit that the religious nuts have tried to turn scouts into. Even with all the bad stuff, if you can find the right troop, Boy Scouts is still an incredibly fun and vialable experience. It's a shame that our daughters won't be able to do it as well. Blame the Mormons for that one as well. The United States is one of two countries in the world without co-ed scouting.
According to a friend who is a geologist, the quake was on a slip fault, not a thrust falt, and therefore could not produce a tsunami. And, since it was something like 70 miles offshore, the shaking itself didn't do any real damage, either.
Actually, while other animals have more, humans only have about 350 different receptors. The key to our ability to smell so many distinct scents is that each odorant will activate more then one kind of recpetor. Thus, olfaction is not, "oh, this receptor lit up, so it's this smell," but rather, "these receptors lit up, and combined they produce this smell."
Given the choice between eating a human and tapping into a power line, what do you think these super-bots of your post would do? If there are people around, there are likely much more efficient sources of electrical power nearby.
On the other hand, see Phillip K. Dick's story, Second Variety, for robots that use human flesh for power.
Monopolies are not always deleterious. As a general rule, the cost of producing a single unit of something goes down as more of them are produced. In most industries, this effect is reverses after a certain amount of product. But in some instances, the economies of scale continue for a very long time. These special cases are called natural monopolies; monopoly firms actually benefit the economy. But we're talking power companies and national defense. Scientific journals certainly should not be a monopolized.
Why is it that when companies step into public domain scientific fields the results are inevitably viagra when there is still no cure for cancer, aids... etc. Public grants and public institutions (Nations and Universities) are still the bedrock for pure scientifc research. I only see economic and superficial consumerism inspired by the x-prize.
This is why it's so distressing that the research aspect of major universities has recently been driven more and more toward economic gain. Presidents and boards are seeing the hard sciences as a way to get patents and generate cash, not as a public service or even as goal worthy of persuing just for the sake of knowladge. Maybe science will have to move in the direction of open source as well, like these argiriculturalists have done.
Is exploring the limits of the human body and mind not a worthy cause? Feats of physical and emotional endurance can inspire, educate, and enrich people's lives. Only considering acts which help people relieve pain "worthy" is an awfully negative outlook on life. I say celebrate the accomplishments of our fellow humans, silly or not.
Jobs may be right that portable video may not be all that great, but that doesn't mean that Apple shouldn't come out with a video iPod just to throw at the media.
This is no way to do buisness at all. It takes a ton of R&D money to produce a solid product like the iPod, so making a video version without a real market would be a waste. And if Apple were to try to produce something cheaply to satisfy "the media," it would be crappy and ruin their reputation. Nope, if they're going to make something, they'll make it right and only if they think it will sell.
So what happens when human genetic engeneering comes to fruition and a company owns the genes that you have in your body? Will you then be sued for having a child if the patented genes show up in his or her genome? Or will the child itself be brought to court as a being whose very existance violates intellectual property laws?
While this does seem a little alarmist, it pays to consider the extremes of our laws and policies before those extremes are reached. It would be a great failing of our legistative and legal system if such a case ever even came close to actuality.
It depends on the state. Laws vary, as do interpretations of those laws. But I believe that most sensible law enformenct officials and sexual assualt counselors, at least the ones I've talked to, point to the initiating partner as the one at fault. So, yes, if the woman initiated it, she might be the rapist. Other people say that the drunker one is the victim. Everyone, though, knows that the law is there to protect people, not to get them in trouble. But the vast majority of rapists are men, a fact we as guys have to accept.
Think about you comment, too. Where's the outrage for the rapes that happened in the frat? I'm positive (and I'm at college, too) that out of 62 allegations, even with the most generous leeway for your brothers, at least a few were actual rapes. Why no concern for those women who's lives were shattered? Your attitude is exactly why so many women are afraid to come forward after being sexually assaulted.
Actually, rape has the exact same rate of flase reporting as any other violent crime, according to the FBI. And, when combined with the huge numbers of people who do not report rapes that do happen, you are dead wrong. The vast majority of rape allegations are true.
Furthermore, the situations you described with your frat could very well have been rapes. In most, if not all, states, intoxicated individuals can't give consent to have sex, and thus having sex with them is rape. The fact that the DAs didn't end up bringing charges means next to nothing. The level of proof that is needed to get a conviction in a rape case is enormous; a survivor usually has to have some kind of physical evidence. Many times, this will be washed away by the time she decides to go to the police, leaving only the opposing statements of the rapist and his victem.
Regardless of all that, please remeber that one of the most damaging things that you can do to a survivor of rape or sexual assault who discloses to you is to not believe them. Our culture already puts tons of shame and guilt them, so it's a huge deal to come out and admit to being a survivor. They are, in the vast majority of the time, telling the truth. And even if they're not, that's for the police to decide. You should just be supportive. Or just shut up and say nothing.
As dissapointing as it is, I find myself watching Live TV sometimes, even though I have a TiVo. (I blame my sisters for clogging the HD with crap, but I digress.) So this feature would work there. There are also times where I'll watch commercials to kill time while someone is up from their seat or something, another opportunity for advertisers. And then, as others have mentioned, some commercials just beg to be watched over and over again.
Which actually brings up an interesting new phenomena. If a commercial looks cool, I occasionally stop the fast forwarding through it to watch. There's a challege, make your ad interesting enough to grab a viewer's attention, even when being played at triple FF.
MacRumors has a more complete history of the rumors surrounding the mini iPods. Think Secret is not the only source pointing toward their introduction.
Waterfield is a great company, and they make great products, as far as I can tell. In doing a bunch of research before getting my 17in PowerBook, they looked like the best sleeve makers around. They have a sleeve made just to fit the 17in, with neoprene padding and a nylon shell. And it looks sweet. Very sleek, but with a stylistic touch as well. To some, especially Mac users, looks are very important. I personally don't want my wonder-of-industrial-design laptop sitting in a boring case. Waterfield the company is a small outfit based in San Francisco, and they have great customer service. They even hand wrote a note on the invoice, a small touch that I appreciate in the usually impersonal computer industry. Really, all the little things give it character. The sleeve is not just some random bag, but an accessory that deserves as much thought as any other. They also make specialized carrying cases for iPods and iSights, just as well thought out as the rest of the line.
Scientists are actually working on a blood subsitutie, also called a Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carrier, derived from cow blood. Biopure Corporation calls its product Hemopure. The company has a fairly inofrmative website here. Wired Magazine had another decent piece. Currently it is in human trials in South Africa where AIDS has decimated the blood supply.
The problem with pure hemoglobin is that it falls apart in the blood when not in a blood cell and becomes poisonous. Hemopure is cross linked with polymers within its structure to make it stay togeather and to increase it's oxygen carrying capbilites. Super cow blood, one might say.
It does carry with it a chance of winning, it's just that that chance applied and the outcome picked before you choose to gamble high/low. They might be lying by implying that the outcome is generated based on your high/low choice as opposed to your choice to play high/low, but the final result is the same.
The raffle analogy is flawed, because people do win sometimes, no matter what they pick for the high/low.
The authors have made an awful big deal over something which isn't really that important. In a computer controled gamble, the processor has to pick the outcome at some point. When you first put your money in and spin, the outcome is determined after you decide to play. For that second bet, the outcome is determined before you decide to play. Essentially, the gamble is in whether or not to take that additional bet, not going higher or lower. The companies are not comitting fraud, they are just dressing the second bet with the high/low feature to make it more interesting.
In fact, the ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was caused by the uterus wandering around into different parts of the body. This was their effort to explain otherwise causeless sympotoms all over the body. How's that for creativity?
At least in California, the speed limits are reset every ten years on surface streets. A survey is done on a road (ever driven over those black wires connected to a little box on the side of the road?) and the speeds of all of the drivers for a certain period of time are logged. The new limit is set at 85th percentile?85 percent of dirvers drive at or above that speed. The law allows for certain deductions to the posted limit, such as the presence of driveways or schools, but generally, the limit is how fast most people drive. Interestingly enough, if there is not a current speed survey on a road, the police may not use radar to give you a ticket. The key is finding those roads.
Slashdot Mirror
Ahh, North Lake to South Lake loop, perhaps? We did that hike as our Sierra Trek in 2000, crossing both Muir and Bishop passes. Went through Dusy Basiin and Evolution Valley, too, all without the bullshit that the religious nuts have tried to turn scouts into. Even with all the bad stuff, if you can find the right troop, Boy Scouts is still an incredibly fun and vialable experience. It's a shame that our daughters won't be able to do it as well. Blame the Mormons for that one as well. The United States is one of two countries in the world without co-ed scouting.
According to a friend who is a geologist, the quake was on a slip fault, not a thrust falt, and therefore could not produce a tsunami. And, since it was something like 70 miles offshore, the shaking itself didn't do any real damage, either.
Two words: Karl Rove
....how weird is that going to feel?
Actually, while other animals have more, humans only have about 350 different receptors. The key to our ability to smell so many distinct scents is that each odorant will activate more then one kind of recpetor. Thus, olfaction is not, "oh, this receptor lit up, so it's this smell," but rather, "these receptors lit up, and combined they produce this smell."
The key is to get blogs that have a niche. You have to know what kind of information you are trying to get from them.
The aforementioned TMP is great for foreign policy and includes a fair amount of original reporting.
Brad DeLong, a Cal economist, has an excellent blog focusing on econimic issues.
The Gadflyer is a collaborative effort looking mainly at the politcal landscape and campagin maneuvering.
And, finally, for a more literary dessert than Wonkette, try Travis LaFrance He's hillariously aloof and searingly witty.
Given the choice between eating a human and tapping into a power line, what do you think these super-bots of your post would do? If there are people around, there are likely much more efficient sources of electrical power nearby.
On the other hand, see Phillip K. Dick's story, Second Variety, for robots that use human flesh for power.
Monopolies are not always deleterious. As a general rule, the cost of producing a single unit of something goes down as more of them are produced. In most industries, this effect is reverses after a certain amount of product. But in some instances, the economies of scale continue for a very long time. These special cases are called natural monopolies; monopoly firms actually benefit the economy. But we're talking power companies and national defense. Scientific journals certainly should not be a monopolized.
Why is it that when companies step into public domain scientific fields the results are inevitably viagra when there is still no cure for cancer, aids... etc. Public grants and public institutions (Nations and Universities) are still the bedrock for pure scientifc research. I only see economic and superficial consumerism inspired by the x-prize.
This is why it's so distressing that the research aspect of major universities has recently been driven more and more toward economic gain. Presidents and boards are seeing the hard sciences as a way to get patents and generate cash, not as a public service or even as goal worthy of persuing just for the sake of knowladge. Maybe science will have to move in the direction of open source as well, like these argiriculturalists have done.
Is exploring the limits of the human body and mind not a worthy cause? Feats of physical and emotional endurance can inspire, educate, and enrich people's lives. Only considering acts which help people relieve pain "worthy" is an awfully negative outlook on life. I say celebrate the accomplishments of our fellow humans, silly or not.
Jobs may be right that portable video may not be all that great, but that doesn't mean that Apple shouldn't come out with a video iPod just to throw at the media.
This is no way to do buisness at all. It takes a ton of R&D money to produce a solid product like the iPod, so making a video version without a real market would be a waste. And if Apple were to try to produce something cheaply to satisfy "the media," it would be crappy and ruin their reputation. Nope, if they're going to make something, they'll make it right and only if they think it will sell.
So what happens when human genetic engeneering comes to fruition and a company owns the genes that you have in your body? Will you then be sued for having a child if the patented genes show up in his or her genome? Or will the child itself be brought to court as a being whose very existance violates intellectual property laws?
While this does seem a little alarmist, it pays to consider the extremes of our laws and policies before those extremes are reached. It would be a great failing of our legistative and legal system if such a case ever even came close to actuality.
It depends on the state. Laws vary, as do interpretations of those laws. But I believe that most sensible law enformenct officials and sexual assualt counselors, at least the ones I've talked to, point to the initiating partner as the one at fault. So, yes, if the woman initiated it, she might be the rapist. Other people say that the drunker one is the victim. Everyone, though, knows that the law is there to protect people, not to get them in trouble. But the vast majority of rapists are men, a fact we as guys have to accept.
Think about you comment, too. Where's the outrage for the rapes that happened in the frat? I'm positive (and I'm at college, too) that out of 62 allegations, even with the most generous leeway for your brothers, at least a few were actual rapes. Why no concern for those women who's lives were shattered? Your attitude is exactly why so many women are afraid to come forward after being sexually assaulted.
Actually, rape has the exact same rate of flase reporting as any other violent crime, according to the FBI. And, when combined with the huge numbers of people who do not report rapes that do happen, you are dead wrong. The vast majority of rape allegations are true.
Furthermore, the situations you described with your frat could very well have been rapes. In most, if not all, states, intoxicated individuals can't give consent to have sex, and thus having sex with them is rape. The fact that the DAs didn't end up bringing charges means next to nothing. The level of proof that is needed to get a conviction in a rape case is enormous; a survivor usually has to have some kind of physical evidence. Many times, this will be washed away by the time she decides to go to the police, leaving only the opposing statements of the rapist and his victem.
Regardless of all that, please remeber that one of the most damaging things that you can do to a survivor of rape or sexual assault who discloses to you is to not believe them. Our culture already puts tons of shame and guilt them, so it's a huge deal to come out and admit to being a survivor. They are, in the vast majority of the time, telling the truth. And even if they're not, that's for the police to decide. You should just be supportive. Or just shut up and say nothing.
As dissapointing as it is, I find myself watching Live TV sometimes, even though I have a TiVo. (I blame my sisters for clogging the HD with crap, but I digress.) So this feature would work there. There are also times where I'll watch commercials to kill time while someone is up from their seat or something, another opportunity for advertisers. And then, as others have mentioned, some commercials just beg to be watched over and over again.
Which actually brings up an interesting new phenomena. If a commercial looks cool, I occasionally stop the fast forwarding through it to watch. There's a challege, make your ad interesting enough to grab a viewer's attention, even when being played at triple FF.
Plus, the car's front end dips, just like happens when you break, before the robot even touches the car.
MacRumors has a more complete history of the rumors surrounding the mini iPods. Think Secret is not the only source pointing toward their introduction.
Waterfield is a great company, and they make great products, as far as I can tell. In doing a bunch of research before getting my 17in PowerBook, they looked like the best sleeve makers around. They have a sleeve made just to fit the 17in, with neoprene padding and a nylon shell. And it looks sweet. Very sleek, but with a stylistic touch as well. To some, especially Mac users, looks are very important. I personally don't want my wonder-of-industrial-design laptop sitting in a boring case. Waterfield the company is a small outfit based in San Francisco, and they have great customer service. They even hand wrote a note on the invoice, a small touch that I appreciate in the usually impersonal computer industry. Really, all the little things give it character. The sleeve is not just some random bag, but an accessory that deserves as much thought as any other. They also make specialized carrying cases for iPods and iSights, just as well thought out as the rest of the line.
Scientists are actually working on a blood subsitutie, also called a Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carrier, derived from cow blood. Biopure Corporation calls its product Hemopure. The company has a fairly inofrmative website here. Wired Magazine had another decent piece. Currently it is in human trials in South Africa where AIDS has decimated the blood supply.
The problem with pure hemoglobin is that it falls apart in the blood when not in a blood cell and becomes poisonous. Hemopure is cross linked with polymers within its structure to make it stay togeather and to increase it's oxygen carrying capbilites. Super cow blood, one might say.
It does carry with it a chance of winning, it's just that that chance applied and the outcome picked before you choose to gamble high/low. They might be lying by implying that the outcome is generated based on your high/low choice as opposed to your choice to play high/low, but the final result is the same. The raffle analogy is flawed, because people do win sometimes, no matter what they pick for the high/low.
The authors have made an awful big deal over something which isn't really that important. In a computer controled gamble, the processor has to pick the outcome at some point. When you first put your money in and spin, the outcome is determined after you decide to play. For that second bet, the outcome is determined before you decide to play. Essentially, the gamble is in whether or not to take that additional bet, not going higher or lower. The companies are not comitting fraud, they are just dressing the second bet with the high/low feature to make it more interesting.
In fact, the ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was caused by the uterus wandering around into different parts of the body. This was their effort to explain otherwise causeless sympotoms all over the body. How's that for creativity?
At least in California, the speed limits are reset every ten years on surface streets. A survey is done on a road (ever driven over those black wires connected to a little box on the side of the road?) and the speeds of all of the drivers for a certain period of time are logged. The new limit is set at 85th percentile?85 percent of dirvers drive at or above that speed. The law allows for certain deductions to the posted limit, such as the presence of driveways or schools, but generally, the limit is how fast most people drive. Interestingly enough, if there is not a current speed survey on a road, the police may not use radar to give you a ticket. The key is finding those roads.