The metal in coins intended for circulation (rather than bulk storage) is not pure gold, but rather a gold alloy. I understand that it's usually gold with a small amount of copper, possibly some silver.
The problem isn't just the government, per se. Once this kind of activity becomes entrenched it will never go away, and once that information is there, people will want access to it for any purpose they can think of. Insurance companies looking to exclude people from coverage, lawyers looking for something they can use against you in court, DEA types looking for opportunities to confiscate property, the list is absolutely endless. Sure, a few bad apples may or may not be nailed... but the rest of us will never know when we do something online that is perfectly innocent gets us put away. Given the dismal track record of wiretapping at convicting criminals I have no reason to expect that unlimited data retention will be of any more real use to law enforcument... but it will sure as Hell cause other problems.
Well, you probably are a conspiracy nut, which means that you fit right in with the Slashdot crowd. Unforunately, that does not in any way mean that you're wrong.
I find it highly unlikely that they will mandate transmission of such data to government servers: the bandwidth requirements alone would be staggering. They'll just do what East Germany^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H the European Union is doing: require ISPs to log everything and keep it forever and forget about that whole "judicial oversight" thing. What this does mean, depending upon what information your ISP happens to log, that you may someday find yourself arrested or be the subject of a lawsuit for something you might or might not have done years earlier. I'm sure the RIAA is going to just love this. I can see it now: "don't download anything illegal because we can come after you forever."
One of these days we're all going to wake up in a cramped, dark space moving at tremendous speed, getting warmer by the minute. We'll peer outside, and ask ourselves, "where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?"
There are more Webmail providers in the U.S. than the three you mentioned (heck, I have my own Webmail server) and few have a presence in China or are in any way subject to Chinese law. So your remark is really a bit off base... nice attempted dig at the U.S., but not accurate. Might as well say that if you want free speech in China, you don't use any provider anywhere. I guarantee, if some other nation had a Yahoo that set up shop in China, you'd be complaining about their actions as well, if you were ever allowed to hear about them. So don't slam the entire United States Internet community for the actions of a few corporations. Besides, any halfway-competent ISP offers Webmail access when you set up an account, so there's plenty of options for using U.S.-based Webmail without risking exposure to your local Party official.
Scientific theories can be disproven (the majority of them are) but are only "proven" to a certain degree of accuracy, and unfortunately for our creationist friends a theory does not have to model reality absolutely perfectly in order to be useful and considered valid. The degree to which a theory corresponds to physical reality is tested by the underlying predictive power of the theory. If it has none, then it is effectively disproven. If it has some, then more research can often be performed to refine and improve on that ability, such has been happening with the Theory of Evolution for over a century. Are there parts of the evolution of life on Earth that we don't fully understand? Yes... but the creationists make an erroneous assumption that a. that lack invalidates Evolution and b. we won't eventually fill in the gaps.
Like it or not, Creationism and Intelligent Design are examples of invalid "theories" that were disproven from the get-go! I have no problem with anyone believing anything they want... even in the Flying Spaghetti Monster if that floats your boat. But the kind of disingenuousness and subversive activity I see in the Creationist camp is very disturbing. Science must not be subjugated to religious dogma, which is exactly the end that these people have in mind.
Well, try out JonoF's port if you haven't already. It does show that there could have been a nice upward migration path for 3DRealms that would have kept the Duke franchise alive all these years. Instead, they put all their radioactive apples in the Duke Nukem Forever basket, are taking forever to release anything, and have very little to show for it. The port really does have the same feel as the original, only with substantially better graphics.
And you're right... in particular, it was the game play that set Duke apart. The other Build engine games that followed (Shadow Warrior, Blood, Redneck Rampage and others) largely managed to keep that same playability. All those games were absolutely hysterical to play in network mode. Sometimes we'd get seven or eight people playing on my old BBS LAN... at times we were laughing so hard we could barely shoot straight. "Ahhhh, much better!", "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all outa gum", "NOBODY steals our chicks... and lives." There was one map where everyone was Duking it out at ground level, and I climbed to a rooftop about twenty stories up and was dropping pipe bombs into the thick of it. Had to time it just right so they'd blow up in mid-air over everyone's heads. Nobody could figure out why they were spontaneously self-destructing. Hilarious. "What the fuck???" was the most common reaction. Of course, it did take an hour or so but once I got found out it was amazing how fast a free-for-all turned into a 7 on 1.
Another time I set up a DOS box running Carbon Copy so that I could take over anyone's keyboard remotely. I'd wait 'til they were facing a wall, say, and fire their rocket launcher. Foom! More hilarity ensued, once again followed by "What the fuck?" Yeah, we had a lot of fun back then.
but it's not something that's observable in real time.
Well, in the case of higher organisms significant variation requires aeons, but with simpler lifeforms (bacteria, fruit flies, etc.) we can observe changes occurring very rapidly.
Seems to me that a lot of people get hung up confusing what Evolution describes (how life changes over time) with how life originated. Those are two very different questions.
I'm guessing that you do not understand what the term "theory" means in this context. You also don't seem to understand what a "fact" means in conjuction with a "scientific hypothesis" or a "scientific theory". Oh sure, creationists attempt to redefine the terminology in order to gain a surface veneer of validity, much as the RIAA has redefined "copyright infringement" as "piracy". However, word games are about as far as creationists can (or ever will) be able to go, and at that they only manage to fool themselves and other equally ignorant (or duplicitous) individuals. Scientists and educated laymen simply shake their heads in wonder.
Science it is not, theory it is not, hypothesis it may be but as a hypothesis it is by design untestable and therefore... well. I think you can take it from here. A smidgen of research into the basics of the scientific method should immediately clear up any remaining confusion. There are things that, by their nature, are not subject to rational or scientific analysis. God is one of those things. Conversely, science, by its nature, can only be corrupted and rendered useless by the unreasoning insertion of religious ideals.
Rationality already triumphed... but that victory is in the past, and some battles have to be fought over and over again. I should say that the battle never ends. There certainly seems to be an endless supply of ignorance.
Well, I don't know... after the breakup of old AT&T twenty-odd years ago, our local Baby Bell (Illinois Bell) eventually became Ameritech. From a customer service perspective, they were pretty good, I had very few problems with either their policies or their personnel. Matter of fact, their technicians were uniformly competent. Then SBC (the Southern Boys Club) in their amoebic way absorbed old Ameritech and everything went to hell in a handbasket. After hearing some of the public remarks by the CEO of SBC (that Whitacre character) I can understand why.
Well, I think I've heard stupider ones here on Slashdot, but it's certainly in the Top Ten. By that logic, we should all abide by tribal law... after all, the native Americans predated the United States by centuries.
Inducing such a major phase change in an economy the size of ours is a trillion-dollar, decades-long project. It wouldn't happen without a sustained commitment from both the public and private sectors. That's highly unlikely given the way our political and economic system operates, and I don't care who is President.
A much more plausible scenario would be to find an interim fuel that lessens or eliminates our dependence upon foreign petroleum and is compatible with existing equipment. That would bolster our economic output, increase foreign investment in our industries (by maintaining cheap energy for manufacturing and transport), and ease the transition. At the same time, issue tax credits to individuals, corporations and cities that invest in whatever technology we ultimately decide is the "best" for the long haul. Whatever that may be.
Jack Valenti, one time head of the Motion Picture Association of America, once said:
Just because technology lets you do something doesn't mean you should.
He was talking about illegal copying of DVDs, of course... but the comment is still valid in this context. Just because you can easily connect a user's copy of your software to your servers doesn't mean you should.
I know, I know... Jack Valenti. But he did have a point.
Slashdot Mirror
real chance of dethoning the king.
I assume you meant "dethonging". Of course, until this moment I was unaware that Gates wore thongs.
Yes, I understand perfectly. You mean "capsizing". Unfortunately, the usual followup to "capsizing" is "sinking".
The metal in coins intended for circulation (rather than bulk storage) is not pure gold, but rather a gold alloy. I understand that it's usually gold with a small amount of copper, possibly some silver.
The problem isn't just the government, per se. Once this kind of activity becomes entrenched it will never go away, and once that information is there, people will want access to it for any purpose they can think of. Insurance companies looking to exclude people from coverage, lawyers looking for something they can use against you in court, DEA types looking for opportunities to confiscate property, the list is absolutely endless. Sure, a few bad apples may or may not be nailed ... but the rest of us will never know when we do something online that is perfectly innocent gets us put away. Given the dismal track record of wiretapping at convicting criminals I have no reason to expect that unlimited data retention will be of any more real use to law enforcument ... but it will sure as Hell cause other problems.
Well, you probably are a conspiracy nut, which means that you fit right in with the Slashdot crowd. Unforunately, that does not in any way mean that you're wrong.
I find it highly unlikely that they will mandate transmission of such data to government servers: the bandwidth requirements alone would be staggering. They'll just do what East Germany^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H the European Union is doing: require ISPs to log everything and keep it forever and forget about that whole "judicial oversight" thing. What this does mean, depending upon what information your ISP happens to log, that you may someday find yourself arrested or be the subject of a lawsuit for something you might or might not have done years earlier. I'm sure the RIAA is going to just love this. I can see it now: "don't download anything illegal because we can come after you forever."
One of these days we're all going to wake up in a cramped, dark space moving at tremendous speed, getting warmer by the minute. We'll peer outside, and ask ourselves, "where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?"
There are more Webmail providers in the U.S. than the three you mentioned (heck, I have my own Webmail server) and few have a presence in China or are in any way subject to Chinese law. So your remark is really a bit off base ... nice attempted dig at the U.S., but not accurate. Might as well say that if you want free speech in China, you don't use any provider anywhere. I guarantee, if some other nation had a Yahoo that set up shop in China, you'd be complaining about their actions as well, if you were ever allowed to hear about them. So don't slam the entire United States Internet community for the actions of a few corporations. Besides, any halfway-competent ISP offers Webmail access when you set up an account, so there's plenty of options for using U.S.-based Webmail without risking exposure to your local Party official.
Funny, maybe you are unaware of this definition.
... but I was being funny.
I am
You are in violation of federal law if you smelt a coin. I believe it is a felony.
Why would sniffing a coin be illegal?
Scientific theories can be disproven (the majority of them are) but are only "proven" to a certain degree of accuracy, and unfortunately for our creationist friends a theory does not have to model reality absolutely perfectly in order to be useful and considered valid. The degree to which a theory corresponds to physical reality is tested by the underlying predictive power of the theory. If it has none, then it is effectively disproven. If it has some, then more research can often be performed to refine and improve on that ability, such has been happening with the Theory of Evolution for over a century. Are there parts of the evolution of life on Earth that we don't fully understand? Yes ... but the creationists make an erroneous assumption that a. that lack invalidates Evolution and b. we won't eventually fill in the gaps.
... even in the Flying Spaghetti Monster if that floats your boat. But the kind of disingenuousness and subversive activity I see in the Creationist camp is very disturbing. Science must not be subjugated to religious dogma, which is exactly the end that these people have in mind.
Like it or not, Creationism and Intelligent Design are examples of invalid "theories" that were disproven from the get-go! I have no problem with anyone believing anything they want
Sober to Hangover without ever passing through Drunk.
And as Chief Engineer Scott would no doubt remark: "Are ye daft, laddie? What would be the point of thot?"
I'll settle for a flying car. I want my flying car. They promised us flying cars.
Well, try out JonoF's port if you haven't already. It does show that there could have been a nice upward migration path for 3DRealms that would have kept the Duke franchise alive all these years. Instead, they put all their radioactive apples in the Duke Nukem Forever basket, are taking forever to release anything, and have very little to show for it. The port really does have the same feel as the original, only with substantially better graphics.
... in particular, it was the game play that set Duke apart. The other Build engine games that followed (Shadow Warrior, Blood, Redneck Rampage and others) largely managed to keep that same playability. All those games were absolutely hysterical to play in network mode. Sometimes we'd get seven or eight people playing on my old BBS LAN ... at times we were laughing so hard we could barely shoot straight. "Ahhhh, much better!", "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all outa gum", "NOBODY steals our chicks ... and lives." There was one map where everyone was Duking it out at ground level, and I climbed to a rooftop about twenty stories up and was dropping pipe bombs into the thick of it. Had to time it just right so they'd blow up in mid-air over everyone's heads. Nobody could figure out why they were spontaneously self-destructing. Hilarious. "What the fuck???" was the most common reaction. Of course, it did take an hour or so but once I got found out it was amazing how fast a free-for-all turned into a 7 on 1.
And you're right
Another time I set up a DOS box running Carbon Copy so that I could take over anyone's keyboard remotely. I'd wait 'til they were facing a wall, say, and fire their rocket launcher. Foom! More hilarity ensued, once again followed by "What the fuck?" Yeah, we had a lot of fun back then.
but it's not something that's observable in real time.
Well, in the case of higher organisms significant variation requires aeons, but with simpler lifeforms (bacteria, fruit flies, etc.) we can observe changes occurring very rapidly.
Seems to me that a lot of people get hung up confusing what Evolution describes (how life changes over time) with how life originated. Those are two very different questions.
I'm guessing that you do not understand what the term "theory" means in this context. You also don't seem to understand what a "fact" means in conjuction with a "scientific hypothesis" or a "scientific theory". Oh sure, creationists attempt to redefine the terminology in order to gain a surface veneer of validity, much as the RIAA has redefined "copyright infringement" as "piracy". However, word games are about as far as creationists can (or ever will) be able to go, and at that they only manage to fool themselves and other equally ignorant (or duplicitous) individuals. Scientists and educated laymen simply shake their heads in wonder.
... well. I think you can take it from here. A smidgen of research into the basics of the scientific method should immediately clear up any remaining confusion. There are things that, by their nature, are not subject to rational or scientific analysis. God is one of those things. Conversely, science, by its nature, can only be corrupted and rendered useless by the unreasoning insertion of religious ideals.
Science it is not, theory it is not, hypothesis it may be but as a hypothesis it is by design untestable and therefore
Rationality already triumphed ... but that victory is in the past, and some battles have to be fought over and over again. I should say that the battle never ends. There certainly seems to be an endless supply of ignorance.
Okay, I think that's the definitive answer. Anybody else have a better one?
I would hate to see what would happen after the bellsouth acquisition.
At that point, I think everything will go south.
Well, I was being nice ... usually I refer to them as the "Southern Bastards Club." But hey, that's just me.
Well, I don't know ... after the breakup of old AT&T twenty-odd years ago, our local Baby Bell (Illinois Bell) eventually became Ameritech. From a customer service perspective, they were pretty good, I had very few problems with either their policies or their personnel. Matter of fact, their technicians were uniformly competent. Then SBC (the Southern Boys Club) in their amoebic way absorbed old Ameritech and everything went to hell in a handbasket. After hearing some of the public remarks by the CEO of SBC (that Whitacre character) I can understand why.
Well, I think I've heard stupider ones here on Slashdot, but it's certainly in the Top Ten. By that logic, we should all abide by tribal law ... after all, the native Americans predated the United States by centuries.
Do you think it would apply to telepathy?
I think you're doing fine and it's the submitter that was confused.
Inducing such a major phase change in an economy the size of ours is a trillion-dollar, decades-long project. It wouldn't happen without a sustained commitment from both the public and private sectors. That's highly unlikely given the way our political and economic system operates, and I don't care who is President.
A much more plausible scenario would be to find an interim fuel that lessens or eliminates our dependence upon foreign petroleum and is compatible with existing equipment. That would bolster our economic output, increase foreign investment in our industries (by maintaining cheap energy for manufacturing and transport), and ease the transition. At the same time, issue tax credits to individuals, corporations and cities that invest in whatever technology we ultimately decide is the "best" for the long haul. Whatever that may be.
... but he said some relatives don't know about his work ...
They do now.
Jack Valenti, one time head of the Motion Picture Association of America, once said:
... but the comment is still valid in this context. Just because you can easily connect a user's copy of your software to your servers doesn't mean you should.
... Jack Valenti. But he did have a point.
Just because technology lets you do something doesn't mean you should.
He was talking about illegal copying of DVDs, of course
I know, I know