I see alot of skepticism as to whether the rock was a real meteorite or not and a lot of justifications that are just plain silly.
The idea that a meteorite has to make a big smoking hole in the ground is stuck in our minds through tv and movies. A small meteorite has a small terminal velocity (compared to a hulking big rock) and won't plow into the earth at amazing velocities, killing all in it's path
Did the thing hit her foot or not? who knows...it could easily ricocheted off another object first...it was going off for tests, and if it is real we'll know soon enough.
Meteorites are not that rare, especially in the tail wake of a major meteor shower, it's just most go unnoticed as the probability of whacking a person, or even a noticeable man-made structure is rather low.
As for how the meteorite looks, there are many types of rocks that can come from space; not all are iron based, and entry into the atmosphere can alter their look significantly.
There is no reason NOT to believe this is real, unless the rock gets analyzed and is found to be fake, which I honestly don't think is very likely.
I am somewhat surprised that more museums and such have not bid on the rock, as space materials tend to fetch a hefty priec tag.
Interestingly, the theory of evolution was actually proposed by a few scientists/philosophers in ancient Greece, though they, like many of the discoveries of the ancient Greeks, were slowly lost and ignored once their empires fell. It is interesting to wonder where we would be today if everything that had been discovered before Christ was even born had been saved, researched, and proven back then, as opposed to 2000 years later!
I've got myself a nicely tuned 800MHz Athlon system (with Radeon graphics, Audigy sound). It isn't the fastest out there nor is it the greatest anymore, but it managed to handle every game I threw at it until NWN. Neverwinter Nights brought my machine to a crawl, and even on the lowest graphics settings was slow. I found this very disappointing as many similar Forgotten Realms games play perfectly fine on my computer.
In the quest to make a very visually appealing game, NWN turned into overkill as even on the most minimal settings I cannot enjoy the game. Warcraft 3, though, runs perfectly : )
The issue when developing new voter systems is to make is completely secure, but user friendly.
Unfortunately, designing anything for use by the general public isn't easy, as there will always be some people that will be confused, and in some cases rightfully so.
Assuming this new system is completely secure, there will need to be explicit instructions and examples to ensure even the most brain-dead person can cast their vote.
With some luck we won't see a repeat of the election insanity we saw in Florida and elsewhere.
Computers are a tough case for recycling, and it is pretty obvious why 1st world nations would cart their electronics to other areas of the world to be recycled.
Complex electronics (that are broken + unrepairable) are very difficult to recycle as there are many, many components. Simple things such as paper, aluminum, and plastics get recycled frequently because it is cheap to do, easy, and actually can make some money.
Computers, on the other hand, are mostly a burden and require a great deal of effort, much done by hand, in order to recycle effectively. It is rather disappointing that better programs are not being devised to deal with this problem as the amount of electronic waste in increasing rapidly. Small shops in a 3rd world country will not be able to handle such waste for too long before it simply becomes too much.
This sort of waste disposal for materials that are dogeared as unusable is very widespread and extends to many other areas than electronics...and will become a major issue in the near future as current methods of disposal are not goint to be effective forever.
Wow...I am impressed...I would have hoped that they would have done their research and denied the patent.
Once again the internet is serving as a haven for patent and copyright degeneration. The laws are not well understood, are misinterpreted, and have consistantly lead to problems online, even within those government bodies that should have done their homework and known better.
This technology existed long before ActiveBuddy and it is only a matter of time before someone...or many someones decide to challenge this.
It kinda reminds me of when Despair Inc. (http://www.despair.com) successfully patented the frownie:-( as a part-joke, part-puiblicity stunt. See their website for a true and rather amusing story.
This find is actually very significant. It is a rare example of mutations in history that lead to an immediate and dramatic change in a species.
The fossil record before the past million years or so (when homo sapiens sapiens became prominant) has a great deal of gaps in it. Overall these gaps are not HUGE, but they do account for many changes in phenotype.
This speech discovery shows how an advantageous mutation can quickly transform a species, both advancing it, and also erasing those that failed to evolve with it.
This provides a decent analogy to how primates (Great apes specifically) were able to evolve into autralopithecus and other early hominids so dramatically.
I have a feeling that as we dissect and analyze the human genome more (as well as the genomes of animals) we will discover many more evolutionary links that explain in much more detail how we evolved.
While this idea has some merit, I don't see it as a viable solution to parenting worries.
There are many issues that make these sorts of tracking solutions far from foolproof, or even relaiable.
First of all, for a tracking device to even be remotely effective, the recipient must either be oblivious to it, or be accepting of it's use. In young children this shouldn't be an issue aside from the possiblity it could be broken (obviously such a device wouldn't be a cell phone or pager, but something much simpler)
For much older kids, this becomes somewhat pointless, and also bordering on ethical concerns as I doubt many older teens would appreciate being tracked everywhere they go, even if the intention is security.
Tracking a Cell Phone or Pager is only useful if the device is on, the betteries are OK, and the device is within range of a signal. Extreme hikers/climbers have discussed this idea as well as a method of security for themselves in case of an accident, but ran into major issues due to lack of signal range in more remote places.
Lastly, tracking employees...in my opinion, if you don't trust your employees enough to do their jobs properly and be in the right place, then there is obviously something wrong somewhere. I don't think tracking of this nature would benefit anyone except for paranoid/control freak bosses. I am pretty sure employees would object to such impositions as well, most likely hurting morale and, to a lesser extent, productivity.
Good ideas, but very few viable applications that wouldnt be excessively invasive or ineffective. Monitoring babies and young children is the only application of tracking that would seem worthwhile, and I doubt many of them are running around with cell phones or pagers (ie we'd need a new device to track with anyway; that's nothing new to this field.
up until recently, the extent of electronic implants has been limited to physical aids or recording/information gathering devices.
While it aesthetically might be awkward, this is the first step towards effectively resolving bodily deficiencies through direct interfaces with the nervous system (and more specifically the brain).
The distractions are not the main concern as they can be blocked out with practice over time...the REAL issue is being able to appear to the rest of the people around you as an average lucky schmuck. Most card counters are very quiet at the table because they have so much going through their heads --- or even worse, they try to act "normal" and in the process make fools of themselves.
This is a psychological exercise as much as one of memory and calculation. It is akin in some ways to cheating a lie detector test, something that few people can manage.
If you are playing for high stakes and to take the casino to town, then this is a much greater worry than if you are just hopping in for a few hours, but still is relevant.
In terms of probability, the more random the better : )
Unless they are shuffling the cards in some way to thwart the expectations of players (very unlikely, though theoretically possible), then odds are card counting would still work.
Re:The mob loves it when you cheat em....
on
MIT vs. Las Vegas
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· Score: 1
If you count intelligently and quietly, and don't win over and over making a huge scene, then odds are you won't get caught.
There is a huge difference between screwing a casino for tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days and simply going in for a few hours and having some fun trying out your tricks.
Casinos are good at catching cheaters, but most of this is catching people who are blatantly trying to better their system.
If you're calm, cool, move slowly, and don't attract attention to yourself, then you can make a profit without getting in trouble.
The trick to counting cards is to push probability a bit more in your favor...so in the long run you will win more.
Many casinos have different standards for shuffling and usage of decks that try to prevent card counting, but it is possible nonetheless.
Blackjack tends to be the most popular game in this discussion as the odds of winning aren't too far off from 50/50 (certainly better than most casino games, where the odds are far more daunting), assuming you play intelligently.
Even if the decks are reshuffled 2/3 of the way through, you can still push probability by successfully counting.
One cheap tactic is to count the cards as a bystander, and then join in (if it is allowed) when the card supply is nearing it's end. This guarantees an unfair advantage, even if it isn't huge. Simply knowing that a particular card or cards are in short supply (or large supply) can be enough to push the odds a bit.
In all honesty, anyone can count cards...sure not everyone can memorize everything, but to at least keep track of the more important cards (aces and 10-K) will be beneficial. It's all about the law of averages and using repeated trials to get ahead.
And yes, casinos regularly kick people out that win over and over suspiciously, and as they are private organizations, it is their right to do so.
I am glad that many other countries are getting involved in space exploration.
There is much to be learned and gained from outer space that stretches through every area of science and industry. And who knows, maybe we'll actually find life besides our own one day.
It's my hope that countries will cooperate as much as possible in space missions and that success up there could help in the diffusing of problems down here.
I personally didn't buy diamonds at all. I got a sapphire ring for my (now) fiancee. She loved it and found it to be just as nice as expensive diamonds would have been. In fact, she made it a point (in anticipation of my getting a ring) of telling me not to spend too much money and asked me not to buy a large, expensive ring.
Maybe some traditions die hard, but this isn't the 1700's anymore. Culture is moving away from sexism as well as hard-wired, compulsory traditions.
If the only possible way to express your love is to send yourself into debt, then I think something is very wrong. If your woman will only be happy with something incredibly expensive, then, again, something isn't quite right.
You can say 'it's just money', and what is money when compared with love---but that simply equates money with love.
I am completely leaving out the issues behind the mining of diamonds as well as the racket that makes them so damn expensive, for the sake of space.
Bottom line: Society today is very, very materialistic. Despite that, serious love should not hinge on a monetary committment of any kind. Whatever you do in order to show your love, just make sure it is sincere and meaningful --- not just an "everyone else does it, so I will too" sort of thing. A diamond ring may seem special...but think of it this way, everyone and their mothers buys diamond rings, many because it is just tradition. How special is that really?
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The idea that a meteorite has to make a big smoking hole in the ground is stuck in our minds through tv and movies. A small meteorite has a small terminal velocity (compared to a hulking big rock) and won't plow into the earth at amazing velocities, killing all in it's path
Did the thing hit her foot or not? who knows...it could easily ricocheted off another object first...it was going off for tests, and if it is real we'll know soon enough.
Meteorites are not that rare, especially in the tail wake of a major meteor shower, it's just most go unnoticed as the probability of whacking a person, or even a noticeable man-made structure is rather low.
As for how the meteorite looks, there are many types of rocks that can come from space; not all are iron based, and entry into the atmosphere can alter their look significantly.
There is no reason NOT to believe this is real, unless the rock gets analyzed and is found to be fake, which I honestly don't think is very likely.
I am somewhat surprised that more museums and such have not bid on the rock, as space materials tend to fetch a hefty priec tag.
Interestingly, the theory of evolution was actually proposed by a few scientists/philosophers in ancient Greece, though they, like many of the discoveries of the ancient Greeks, were slowly lost and ignored once their empires fell. It is interesting to wonder where we would be today if everything that had been discovered before Christ was even born had been saved, researched, and proven back then, as opposed to 2000 years later!
In the quest to make a very visually appealing game, NWN turned into overkill as even on the most minimal settings I cannot enjoy the game. Warcraft 3, though, runs perfectly : )
Unfortunately, designing anything for use by the general public isn't easy, as there will always be some people that will be confused, and in some cases rightfully so.
Assuming this new system is completely secure, there will need to be explicit instructions and examples to ensure even the most brain-dead person can cast their vote.
With some luck we won't see a repeat of the election insanity we saw in Florida and elsewhere.
Complex electronics (that are broken + unrepairable) are very difficult to recycle as there are many, many components. Simple things such as paper, aluminum, and plastics get recycled frequently because it is cheap to do, easy, and actually can make some money.
Computers, on the other hand, are mostly a burden and require a great deal of effort, much done by hand, in order to recycle effectively. It is rather disappointing that better programs are not being devised to deal with this problem as the amount of electronic waste in increasing rapidly. Small shops in a 3rd world country will not be able to handle such waste for too long before it simply becomes too much.
This sort of waste disposal for materials that are dogeared as unusable is very widespread and extends to many other areas than electronics...and will become a major issue in the near future as current methods of disposal are not goint to be effective forever.
Once again the internet is serving as a haven for patent and copyright degeneration. The laws are not well understood, are misinterpreted, and have consistantly lead to problems online, even within those government bodies that should have done their homework and known better.
This technology existed long before ActiveBuddy and it is only a matter of time before someone...or many someones decide to challenge this.
It kinda reminds me of when Despair Inc. (http://www.despair.com) successfully patented the frownie :-( as a part-joke, part-puiblicity stunt. See their website for a true and rather amusing story.
The fossil record before the past million years or so (when homo sapiens sapiens became prominant) has a great deal of gaps in it. Overall these gaps are not HUGE, but they do account for many changes in phenotype.
This speech discovery shows how an advantageous mutation can quickly transform a species, both advancing it, and also erasing those that failed to evolve with it.
This provides a decent analogy to how primates (Great apes specifically) were able to evolve into autralopithecus and other early hominids so dramatically.
I have a feeling that as we dissect and analyze the human genome more (as well as the genomes of animals) we will discover many more evolutionary links that explain in much more detail how we evolved.
There are many issues that make these sorts of tracking solutions far from foolproof, or even relaiable.
First of all, for a tracking device to even be remotely effective, the recipient must either be oblivious to it, or be accepting of it's use. In young children this shouldn't be an issue aside from the possiblity it could be broken (obviously such a device wouldn't be a cell phone or pager, but something much simpler)
For much older kids, this becomes somewhat pointless, and also bordering on ethical concerns as I doubt many older teens would appreciate being tracked everywhere they go, even if the intention is security.
Tracking a Cell Phone or Pager is only useful if the device is on, the betteries are OK, and the device is within range of a signal. Extreme hikers/climbers have discussed this idea as well as a method of security for themselves in case of an accident, but ran into major issues due to lack of signal range in more remote places.
Lastly, tracking employees...in my opinion, if you don't trust your employees enough to do their jobs properly and be in the right place, then there is obviously something wrong somewhere. I don't think tracking of this nature would benefit anyone except for paranoid/control freak bosses. I am pretty sure employees would object to such impositions as well, most likely hurting morale and, to a lesser extent, productivity.
Good ideas, but very few viable applications that wouldnt be excessively invasive or ineffective. Monitoring babies and young children is the only application of tracking that would seem worthwhile, and I doubt many of them are running around with cell phones or pagers (ie we'd need a new device to track with anyway; that's nothing new to this field.
This definately gets a tip of the hat from me.
up until recently, the extent of electronic implants has been limited to physical aids or recording/information gathering devices.
While it aesthetically might be awkward, this is the first step towards effectively resolving bodily deficiencies through direct interfaces with the nervous system (and more specifically the brain).
The distractions are not the main concern as they can be blocked out with practice over time...the REAL issue is being able to appear to the rest of the people around you as an average lucky schmuck. Most card counters are very quiet at the table because they have so much going through their heads --- or even worse, they try to act "normal" and in the process make fools of themselves.
This is a psychological exercise as much as one of memory and calculation. It is akin in some ways to cheating a lie detector test, something that few people can manage.
If you are playing for high stakes and to take the casino to town, then this is a much greater worry than if you are just hopping in for a few hours, but still is relevant.
In terms of probability, the more random the better : )
Unless they are shuffling the cards in some way to thwart the expectations of players (very unlikely, though theoretically possible), then odds are card counting would still work.
If you count intelligently and quietly, and don't win over and over making a huge scene, then odds are you won't get caught.
There is a huge difference between screwing a casino for tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days and simply going in for a few hours and having some fun trying out your tricks.
Casinos are good at catching cheaters, but most of this is catching people who are blatantly trying to better their system.
If you're calm, cool, move slowly, and don't attract attention to yourself, then you can make a profit without getting in trouble.
The trick to counting cards is to push probability a bit more in your favor...so in the long run you will win more.
Many casinos have different standards for shuffling and usage of decks that try to prevent card counting, but it is possible nonetheless.
Blackjack tends to be the most popular game in this discussion as the odds of winning aren't too far off from 50/50 (certainly better than most casino games, where the odds are far more daunting), assuming you play intelligently. Even if the decks are reshuffled 2/3 of the way through, you can still push probability by successfully counting.
One cheap tactic is to count the cards as a bystander, and then join in (if it is allowed) when the card supply is nearing it's end. This guarantees an unfair advantage, even if it isn't huge. Simply knowing that a particular card or cards are in short supply (or large supply) can be enough to push the odds a bit.
In all honesty, anyone can count cards...sure not everyone can memorize everything, but to at least keep track of the more important cards (aces and 10-K) will be beneficial. It's all about the law of averages and using repeated trials to get ahead.
And yes, casinos regularly kick people out that win over and over suspiciously, and as they are private organizations, it is their right to do so.
I am glad that many other countries are getting involved in space exploration. There is much to be learned and gained from outer space that stretches through every area of science and industry. And who knows, maybe we'll actually find life besides our own one day. It's my hope that countries will cooperate as much as possible in space missions and that success up there could help in the diffusing of problems down here.
I personally didn't buy diamonds at all. I got a sapphire ring for my (now) fiancee. She loved it and found it to be just as nice as expensive diamonds would have been. In fact, she made it a point (in anticipation of my getting a ring) of telling me not to spend too much money and asked me not to buy a large, expensive ring. Maybe some traditions die hard, but this isn't the 1700's anymore. Culture is moving away from sexism as well as hard-wired, compulsory traditions. If the only possible way to express your love is to send yourself into debt, then I think something is very wrong. If your woman will only be happy with something incredibly expensive, then, again, something isn't quite right. You can say 'it's just money', and what is money when compared with love---but that simply equates money with love. I am completely leaving out the issues behind the mining of diamonds as well as the racket that makes them so damn expensive, for the sake of space. Bottom line: Society today is very, very materialistic. Despite that, serious love should not hinge on a monetary committment of any kind. Whatever you do in order to show your love, just make sure it is sincere and meaningful --- not just an "everyone else does it, so I will too" sort of thing. A diamond ring may seem special...but think of it this way, everyone and their mothers buys diamond rings, many because it is just tradition. How special is that really?