To be credible, pseudoscience first has to discredit legitimate, fact based science. -- e.g. 'Conventional science steadfastly refuses to recognize my earthshaking breakthrough.' -- e.g. 'The scientific community is in a conspiracy to suppress my discoveries.' -- e.g. 'The debunkers are out in force trying to shut us down.' To illicitly shear the sheep, you must first separate the flock from the shepherds.
"People today tend to believe whatever story they hear first. " Evidently that trait, and realizing that it can be manipulated, is buried pretty deep in our DNA. Even preschool children will race to an authority figure so they can tattle their version of the tale first. Ditto for the so-called 'adults' in our workplaces. Couple that 'I snitched first' approach with some 'injured, suffering victim' melodrama and a lawsuit is born. In today's courts, fact, truth, and justice are often victims of opportunism and sensationalism. Hey -- Isn't your handle 'Opportunist'? With a capital 'O'? Hmmm.
Depends on what the basis of your persuasion is. If you are basing your argument or position on facts, data, or logic, then email is plaintext straightforward. OTOH if you are trying to sway, persuade, or con someone about a political, managerial, personal, emotional, or bullshit issue then Face-To-Face is the only way to go. Email is too open to misinterpretation of intent without the additional audio & visual cues for correct context.
Tradespeople, because when something breaks or needs to be built, all the theories in the universe won't get the job done. Theoreticians may (or may not) create new, more effective methods to address life's challenges, but someone has to implement the technology that is based on theory.
Pointless that is, to attempt convincing conspiracy theorists with facts. A review of the posts in this string makes that abundantly clear. For a dispassionate, rational, fact-based review of the 9-11 events refer to SKEPTIC magazine, vol 12, No. 4, 2006. www.skeptic.com has an overview of the issure's contents, but alas only the dead tree version has the details. Not that conspiracy buffs will ever let facts get in the way of conjecture and accusation. For them, the only thing worse than some malevolent force pulling the strings, is the thought that there are no strings holding their make-believe tin-hat world together.
An evil enemy they can handle, but not uncertainty or ambiguity.
It was an individual: George W. Bush. US security agencies protested publicizing the nuclear How-To. Bush overrode them. The international anti-proliferation agency asked that the web pages be taken down. Bush refused. The New York Times exposed the whole sad story about two Republican senators pushing to release the info. The pages were taken down -- very quietly. Republican flacks blamed the NYT for calling attention to the 'nucular' WMD info. If it keeps them in office, hawkish conservative 'patriots' must feel it is OK to help terrorists get the A-bomb.
AC: "... would love to see a sequel to Serenity or anything along the lines of it and would buy the dvd, even though im not a dvd buying person...." I stumbled onto Firefly while browsing for some new video to watch while using our exercise machine. Walmart had a 4 disc set of all the Firefly episodes, in the right order. ( Unlike Fox TV, who ruined the product with their botched, out of sequence broadcast version. ) I tried Firefly and liked it -- great storylines, effects, dialogue, and character development. I still re-view episodes from time to time as there are always nuances that I missed previously. Serenity carried on the Firefly storyline, and possibly ended it. If you liked Serenity you will enjoy the Firefly DVD's. Firefly will provide new insight and background on the Serenity characters and their struggles. One Serenity disappointment was Shepherd Book dying without learning of his enigmatic past. Firefly made it evident that he wasn't always a preacher, quite the contrary. Sidebar: don't know if the rental places have Firefly on the shelves or not. I buy what I like so I can watch it anytime I want. Without the distractions of brats, phones, and conversations which infest the cinemas. The spouse uses NetFlix, giving me a chance to review unknown titles. The biggest problem is finding time to watch what's available.
For knowledgeable/.ers ( aren't we all! ) Possible workaround? Instead of 3 concurrent streams, what about a single datastream. Converter box or software separates the single datastream back into the 3 (or more) original feeds. Needlessly complex and proprietary? Yes. Another anticompetitive result of our moronic patent system? Yes. Rhetorical question/answer format patent holder? The Rumsfeld.
Many of the benefits of modern life were discovered and developed using scientific principles that were based on 'just a theory'. On the other hand today's luddites, be they radical environmentalists or conservative christians, base their beliefs on concepts that can't even begin to qualify as 'just a theory'. At best they are 'just a conjecture'. Those who seek to suppress science could impress us by 'walking the walk' to match their talk. If you scorn science, please affirm your high moral status by refusing to utilize any products of modern medicine, engineering, chemistry, transportation, and communication. The fact that you post on/. using a computer and the internet confirms that you are a hypocrite.
Our crew works operations rather than IT, but your refrigerator and restrooms mirror our own. Kingsqueak may have spent time ('tho probably never 'worked') a government job. It can be as good or bad as each employee tries to make it. Whether the comments were from bitter memories or a vivid imagination remains to be seen.
Our 9 person staff working at a detached location is fortunate, and any lunch thievery is usually taken as a form of counting coup or one-upmanship. The occasional personnel who raided the vending machines (that we rent) or continually scavenged others' meals soon found themselves shunned and eventually evicted. We will always be burdened with a few (or more than a few) who work the system for their own benefit only. In corporatese, they aren't 'team players'. When people refuse to regulate their own behavior, someone else has to.
And hanging up on political pollsters can be two things.
Some calls will be 'Push Polls' with rhetoric 'questions' designed to sway you toward a candidate or away from his/her opponent.
That's an excellent time to hang up.
A FEW other polls are genuine attempts to determine voter preferences on a variety of issues. They are professionally done and quite expensive. They also provide a way for a few voters to disproportionately influence how a candidate will view those issues. That's an excellent time to participate and amplify your input on topics you consider important. The candidate may be from the opposite camp, but will pay attention to the risks involved in going against public opinion.
"If everything always gets worse then by now something must be truly goddamn awfull. " You may have a point regarding entertainment, but have you checked out the Whitehouse lately?
Amen! If I am going to track and organize technical data, contacts, and scheduling in the field, chopsticks just aren't going to cut it. 'Etch-A-Sketch' would work better than the keyboard substitutes that have been foisted off on buyers so far. A thumb-board is fine, as long as it has each of the letters and digits available with a single stroke.
Much of the PDA market share is being assimilated into the smart phones. PDA's are geeky and MP3 players are advertised as 'cool'. Guess which will sell in today's mass market.
The one I recall from a few years back was an early model AirBus. Looked like they were doing a low speed, low altitude pass over the runway for photographers. If I remember right the AirBus (300? 320?) powered up but kept losing altitude, ending up plowing a furrow of fire into the deciduous forest beyond the end of the runway. Don't know if the video clip is still on the web or not.
Good to see someone on our planet tending to the immediate threats instead of going for more politically productive targets like Mars or the moon. Here, in the USA, we haven't even adequately funded the effort to detect and track asteroids, let alone deflect or destroy them. Until recently amatuer astronomers and a very few dedicated professionals have been doing all the heavy lifting, with little or no support from our current administration. Evidently the people who allocate the funds are too busy starting wars and creating tax breaks for their cronies. If George Bush would look to the heavens instead of praying to them he would find plenty of weapons of mass destruction in earth crossing orbits.
This is an excellent neoconservative method for King George to remedy that pesky budget problem he has created since his appointment by the Supreme Court. Insurance companies will pay a fortune for this data. Marketing and sales of the DNA data can be subcontracted to a deserving large donor/contractor like Halliburton. Large data-centric corporations can bid on the data with off-the-books donations to the Republican Party. If only we could identify and track the DNA coding for liberalism, populist tendencies, honesty,and fiscal responsibility, we could sterilize, imprison, and/or eliminate that treasonous segment of the population.
Over time will mankind become so dependent on technology that we cannot survive without it? As a species we reap many benefits from tech. Sometimes there is a hidden cost or risk involved. Consider an ailment that is inherited but can be controlled by the application of technology. Just a few generations ago that ailment was fatal in childhood and self-limiting, since few individuals survived it long enough to have offspring to pass forward the genes. Technology allows its beneficiaries to pass those traits to future generations. Diabetes (in my own family) comes to mind. We have a strange conundrum where tech provides us immediate relief at the cost of increased long term risk to our offspring. A major loss of technology would be catastrophic or fatal to many individuals who depend on tech for basic survival. Nature would do a massive winnowing of mankind since natural selection plays no favorites. It remains to be seen whether man can 'evolve' technology fast enough to remedy the future problems that he creates in the present.
G4 made a a 'business decision' to go after the easy adolescent male gamester dollars rather than build thier customer base of dedicated hackers and noobs. I drifted away like 90% of the other posters here. Maybe, belatedly, they are finally realizing it was a bad decision. Too little, too late, too bad -- for all of us. Good tekkie shows are hard to find.
"I believe there is a standard outside humanity; be it some "god" or just the pure physical mechanics of the universe, humanity is subject to something outside ourselves, and I think the humanist view denies this truth."
I suggest you research humanism in more depth before you assert that rational humanists deny the laws of physics. Through the ages, under various labels, humanism has been mischaracterized under a variety of evil, satanic, orwellian, or socialist labels.
Humanists are very much centered on fact-based reality and measurable results of experimentation. Most have philosophical 'beliefs' that are based on the latest scientific findings.
Believe whatever misconceptions you want, but devotees of humanism will continue to base their beliefs on actual measurement, rather than mysticism, spiritualism, and fables.
Slashdot Mirror
To be credible, pseudoscience first has to discredit legitimate, fact based science.
-- e.g. 'Conventional science steadfastly refuses to recognize my earthshaking breakthrough.'
-- e.g. 'The scientific community is in a conspiracy to suppress my discoveries.'
-- e.g. 'The debunkers are out in force trying to shut us down.'
To illicitly shear the sheep, you must first separate the flock from the shepherds.
"People today tend to believe whatever story they hear first. "
Evidently that trait, and realizing that it can be manipulated, is buried pretty deep in our DNA.
Even preschool children will race to an authority figure so they can tattle their version of the tale first.
Ditto for the so-called 'adults' in our workplaces.
Couple that 'I snitched first' approach with some 'injured, suffering victim' melodrama and a lawsuit is born.
In today's courts, fact, truth, and justice are often victims of opportunism and sensationalism.
Hey -- Isn't your handle 'Opportunist'? With a capital 'O'? Hmmm.
Depends on what the basis of your persuasion is.
If you are basing your argument or position on facts, data, or logic,
then email is plaintext straightforward.
OTOH if you are trying to sway, persuade, or con someone
about a political, managerial, personal, emotional, or bullshit issue
then Face-To-Face is the only way to go.
Email is too open to misinterpretation of intent without
the additional audio & visual cues for correct context.
"Maybe an auditing circle-jerk could be set up:..."
Their circle is already a bunch of jerks.
Tradespeople, because when something breaks or needs to be built,
all the theories in the universe won't get the job done.
Theoreticians may (or may not) create new, more effective methods
to address life's challenges, but someone has to implement the
technology that is based on theory.
Pointless that is, to attempt convincing conspiracy theorists with facts.
A review of the posts in this string makes that abundantly clear.
For a dispassionate, rational, fact-based review of the 9-11 events
refer to SKEPTIC magazine, vol 12, No. 4, 2006.
www.skeptic.com has an overview of the issure's contents,
but alas only the dead tree version has the details.
Not that conspiracy buffs will ever let facts get in the way
of conjecture and accusation.
For them, the only thing worse than some malevolent force
pulling the strings, is the thought that there are no strings
holding their make-believe tin-hat world together.
An evil enemy they can handle, but not uncertainty or ambiguity.
It was an individual: George W. Bush.
US security agencies protested publicizing the nuclear How-To.
Bush overrode them.
The international anti-proliferation agency asked that the web pages be taken down.
Bush refused.
The New York Times exposed the whole sad story about two Republican senators pushing to release the info.
The pages were taken down -- very quietly.
Republican flacks blamed the NYT for calling attention to the 'nucular' WMD info.
If it keeps them in office, hawkish conservative 'patriots' must feel it is OK to help terrorists get the A-bomb.
"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one." (Bushwhacked)
AC: ..."
"... would love to see a sequel to Serenity or anything along the lines of it and would buy the dvd, even though im not a dvd buying person.
I stumbled onto Firefly while browsing for some new video to watch while using our exercise machine.
Walmart had a 4 disc set of all the Firefly episodes, in the right order.
( Unlike Fox TV, who ruined the product with their botched, out of sequence broadcast version. )
I tried Firefly and liked it -- great storylines, effects, dialogue, and character development.
I still re-view episodes from time to time as there are always nuances that I missed previously.
Serenity carried on the Firefly storyline, and possibly ended it.
If you liked Serenity you will enjoy the Firefly DVD's.
Firefly will provide new insight and background on the Serenity characters and their struggles.
One Serenity disappointment was Shepherd Book dying without learning of his enigmatic past.
Firefly made it evident that he wasn't always a preacher, quite the contrary.
Sidebar: don't know if the rental places have Firefly on the shelves or not.
I buy what I like so I can watch it anytime I want.
Without the distractions of brats, phones, and conversations which infest the cinemas.
The spouse uses NetFlix, giving me a chance to review unknown titles.
The biggest problem is finding time to watch what's available.
For knowledgeable /.ers ( aren't we all! )
Possible workaround?
Instead of 3 concurrent streams, what about a single datastream.
Converter box or software separates the single datastream back into the 3 (or more) original feeds.
Needlessly complex and proprietary?
Yes.
Another anticompetitive result of our moronic patent system?
Yes.
Rhetorical question/answer format patent holder?
The Rumsfeld.
Many of the benefits of modern life were discovered and developed using scientific principles that were based on 'just a theory'. /. using a computer and the internet confirms that you are a hypocrite.
On the other hand today's luddites, be they radical environmentalists or conservative christians, base their beliefs on concepts that can't even begin to qualify as 'just a theory'.
At best they are 'just a conjecture'.
Those who seek to suppress science could impress us by 'walking the walk' to match their talk.
If you scorn science, please affirm your high moral status by refusing to utilize any products of modern medicine, engineering, chemistry, transportation, and communication.
The fact that you post on
Our crew works operations rather than IT, but your refrigerator and restrooms mirror our own.
Kingsqueak may have spent time ('tho probably never 'worked') a government job.
It can be as good or bad as each employee tries to make it.
Whether the comments were from bitter memories or a vivid imagination remains to be seen.
Our 9 person staff working at a detached location is fortunate, and any lunch thievery is usually taken as a form of counting coup or one-upmanship.
The occasional personnel who raided the vending machines (that we rent) or continually scavenged others' meals soon found themselves shunned and eventually evicted.
We will always be burdened with a few (or more than a few) who work the system for their own benefit only.
In corporatese, they aren't 'team players'.
When people refuse to regulate their own behavior, someone else has to.
And hanging up on political pollsters can be two things.
Some calls will be 'Push Polls' with rhetoric 'questions' designed to sway you toward a candidate or away from his/her opponent.
That's an excellent time to hang up.
A FEW other polls are genuine attempts to determine voter preferences on a variety of issues.
They are professionally done and quite expensive.
They also provide a way for a few voters to disproportionately influence how a candidate will view those issues.
That's an excellent time to participate and amplify your input on topics you consider important.
The candidate may be from the opposite camp, but will pay attention to the risks involved in going against public opinion.
"If everything always gets worse then by now something must be truly goddamn awfull. "
You may have a point regarding entertainment, but have you checked out the Whitehouse lately?
...and even if it were true, Morrissey has nothing to worry about until VP Dick Cheney invites him out to the ranch to shotgun some disabled quail.
Amen!
If I am going to track and organize technical data, contacts, and
scheduling in the field, chopsticks just aren't going to cut it.
'Etch-A-Sketch' would work better than the keyboard substitutes
that have been foisted off on buyers so far.
A thumb-board is fine, as long as it has each of the letters and digits
available with a single stroke.
Much of the PDA market share is being assimilated into the smart phones.
PDA's are geeky and MP3 players are advertised as 'cool'.
Guess which will sell in today's mass market.
The one I recall from a few years back was an early model AirBus.
Looked like they were doing a low speed, low altitude
pass over the runway for photographers.
If I remember right the AirBus (300? 320?) powered up
but kept losing altitude, ending up plowing a furrow of
fire into the deciduous forest beyond the end of the runway.
Don't know if the video clip is still on the web or not.
Good to see someone on our planet tending to the immediate threats instead
of going for more politically productive targets like Mars or the moon.
Here, in the USA, we haven't even adequately funded the effort to detect
and track asteroids, let alone deflect or destroy them.
Until recently amatuer astronomers and a very few dedicated professionals
have been doing all the heavy lifting, with little or no support from
our current administration.
Evidently the people who allocate the funds are too busy starting wars
and creating tax breaks for their cronies.
If George Bush would look to the heavens instead of praying to them
he would find plenty of weapons of mass destruction in earth crossing orbits.
This is an excellent neoconservative method for King George
to remedy that pesky budget problem he has created
since his appointment by the Supreme Court.
Insurance companies will pay a fortune for this data.
Marketing and sales of the DNA data can be subcontracted
to a deserving large donor/contractor like Halliburton.
Large data-centric corporations can bid on the data
with off-the-books donations to the Republican Party.
If only we could identify and track the DNA coding for
liberalism, populist tendencies, honesty,and fiscal
responsibility, we could sterilize, imprison, and/or
eliminate that treasonous segment of the population.
I am not a media expert, but...
wouldn't 'The Prisoner' qualify as SciFi?
Lots of high-tech futuristic gadgets and conspiracies.
On the other hand, maybe it was just more Double-Oh Seven.
Over time will mankind become so dependent on technology that we cannot survive without it?
As a species we reap many benefits from tech.
Sometimes there is a hidden cost or risk involved.
Consider an ailment that is inherited but can be controlled by the application of technology.
Just a few generations ago that ailment was fatal in childhood and self-limiting, since few individuals survived it long enough to have offspring to pass forward the genes.
Technology allows its beneficiaries to pass those traits to future generations.
Diabetes (in my own family) comes to mind.
We have a strange conundrum where tech provides us immediate relief at the cost of increased long term risk to our offspring.
A major loss of technology would be catastrophic or fatal to many individuals who depend on tech for basic survival.
Nature would do a massive winnowing of mankind since natural selection plays no favorites.
It remains to be seen whether man can 'evolve' technology fast enough to remedy the future problems that he creates in the present.
Good point.
Several of the other posters are proving it for you.
G4 made a a 'business decision' to go after the easy adolescent male gamester dollars rather than build thier customer base of dedicated hackers and noobs.
I drifted away like 90% of the other posters here.
Maybe, belatedly, they are finally realizing it was a bad decision.
Too little, too late, too bad -- for all of us.
Good tekkie shows are hard to find.
"I believe there is a standard outside humanity; be it some "god" or just the pure physical mechanics of the universe, humanity is subject to something outside ourselves, and I think the humanist view denies this truth."
I suggest you research humanism in more depth before you assert that rational humanists deny the laws of physics. Through the ages, under various labels, humanism has been mischaracterized under a variety of evil, satanic, orwellian, or socialist labels.
Humanists are very much centered on fact-based reality and measurable results of experimentation.
Most have philosophical 'beliefs' that are based on the latest scientific findings.
Believe whatever misconceptions you want, but devotees of humanism will continue to base their beliefs on actual measurement, rather than mysticism, spiritualism, and fables.