This is interesting. The article is pretty vauge on the details of the study. The question i want the answer to is this:
Let's say one barrel of oil will produce 10 gallons of gasoline (I made that number up but let it represent the total cost of oil for 10 gallons of gasoline (or diesel, whatever). All the oil needed to be refined, to create energy to run the refining process, transport...etc). How many barrels of oil does it take to create enough ethanol to replace 10 gallons of gasoline?
If it takes more than one barrel of oil to produce this much ethanol, then by using ethanol we are increasing the amount of oil we use.
Where does the oil go when producing ethanol? Well, yes there is fuel for the tractor. But there is also oil in the fertilizer and pesticides used to grow the crop. There is the energy of refining the ethanol.
Now if we can take crops used for food and use their waste material after a harvest to produce ethanol then we may be able to discount somewhat the oil used in fertizlier and pesticides since that oil would be used anyway, making ethanol less expensive in terms of the oil used to produce it.
I was in Scotland about a year ago and every store clerk scrutinized my credit card signature. They told me a merchant who alerted police to a stolen credit card received a 50 or so Pound reward.
Cynics will quite rightly point out that there is always some global event that could be used to 'explain' the times when the Egg machines behaved erratically. After all, our world is full of wars, disasters and terrorist outrages, as well as the occasional global celebration. Are the scientists simply trying too hard to detect patterns in their raw data?
The team behind the project insist not. They claim that by using rigorous scientific techniques and powerful mathematics it is possible to exclude any such random connections.
'We're perfectly willing to discover that we've made mistakes,' says Dr Nelson. 'But we haven't been able to find any, and neither has anyone else.
Our data shows clearly that the chances of getting these results by fluke are one million to one against.
That's hugely significant.' But many remain sceptical.
What does this passage mean? How, exactly, has Dr Nelson refuted that "there is always some global event that could be used to 'explain' the times when the Egg machines behaved erratically". The article seems to claim he has used "rigorous scientific techniques and powerful mathematics" to exclude the fact that the Egg reaction and the proximity to a major event are not random. However, the critics in the previous paragraph are saying major events happen each day,
and if the Egg went off every day we would always have an explaination. I dont understand how Dr Nelson has answered the critics. Also, how can we know that the identified major events are actually what is driving the Egg (maybe a car crash that killed someone in a large, scattered family drove it up 4 hours before the 9/11 attacks).
And how many false negatives are there, when a large event happens, say the announcement that North Korea has the bomb or the disputed election in the Ukraine, and the Egg does not predict anything?
This sounds like the wonderful theory that bad things always happen in threes. They always do, because you count the next three bad things that happen in succession and then start over. Works everytime.
I always thought these assignments were interesting but worded incorrectly. That always annoyed me. The prof does not care for you to explain what the author thought or cared about, but rather to intelligently make connections between the work and the rest of the (literary and real) world. Couching this assignment in the notion that you are looking for specific stuff that the author came up with i think makes the grading seem less subjective.
Analyzing a work for "the authors intent" is really just short hand for "think about this work deeply and write up what you think is interesting".
Well, i'm not sure the comparison between ATMs and postal machines is valid. Also, I'm not sure but I think this is the machine in question.
At any rate, I understand and support the need for ATMs to have cameras. If i'm mugged getting cash that picture will be handy, or if my ATM card is stolen that picture will be valuable. The trade off of privacy for security, I think, is worth it with regards to ATMs (and the 7-11).
I'm not sure I see how a postal machine taking my picture helps me, ie. I dont see how this loss of privacy helps me. True, I could be mugged getting stamps but that seems unlikely. Or someone could force me to mail their package, but again, unlikely. The postal machine does deal with credit cards so maybe robbery is a possiblity. I'm also not sure where these machines will be placed. A robbery inside a Post Office seems unlikely (the link i posted above mentions a program to place the machines in Hallmark stores but notes that plan was scrapped).
The article says "Camera required by FAA." I really dont understand that, do they mean the Fed Aviation Administration?
I dont have any true numbers either but here are a few costs you did not mention.
Hazardous duty pay for the troops for being in a war zone. Medical costs for those injured. The large number of bombs and ammo (I think you are underestimating this aspect of the cost. How many rounds do you think are shot off in training everyday? How many are shot off when trying to retake a city with 10,000 troops?). The huge cost of the upkeep of the equipment (especially in the desert). The cost of transporting huge amounts of people and material half way around the world. The cost of building large military bases in Iraq. The cost of rebuilding what we have destroyed in Iraq.
Yes, i'd agree that the Zahn novels are quite good, but these deal with main plot line stories and probably would not make it into a TV show IF lucas is really making episodes 7-9. Though if lucas could work Thrawn and mara jade in that would be nice.
and i completely agree about Anderson. Some of the worst stuff i ever read.
This could be great. If Lucas et al took something like the brian daley novels (Han Solo at Stars' End, (1979), Han Solo's Revenge (1979) and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (1982)) --stories that involved the SW characters but not really the plot line of the movies-- and made a bunch of television episodes out of them that could be really interesting. That could give lots of very creative people a great way to flesh out the rest of the SW universe and provide some neat backstory, without worrying too much about stepping on the Canon of SW. How neat would it be to see Lando and Han back in the bad old days smuggling spice or gambling for each other's ship? Or following Biggs through the Academy? Or watching the Empire take over a planet or two?
The problem is of course, most all TV shows and movies produced are crap. And I dont think the SW TV show is any more or less likely to be crappy TV than any other sci-fi/fantasy show.
This is a crappy thing to do on the 'hackers' part, this is certainly anathema to the love of free speech, which is one of the rallying cries of Bush's oppenents.
In the words of Bib Fortuna: "He must be allowed to speak."
but we should be careful not to blame "liberals" or the "left" but to blame the 'hackers' that actually are proposing this.
``Our concern is voter confidence,'' Howard Simon, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, told the court. ``There is no way to know if a vote isn't counted by one of these machines.''
Joining the ACLU in Judge Susan B. Kirkland's courtroom were several other organizations that cited evidence in recent elections in Florida and Virginia that recorded abnormal numbers of blank votes or computer glitches that resulted in incorrect vote tallies.
[snip]
speaking of the ACLU. Have you signed up yet? Freedom can't protect itself. And Freedom is not free, thank a vet!
"For example, there is no tool anywhere that allows for arbitrary dynamic instrumentation of a production operating system kernel."
actually that's not true. Kerninst does exactly that.
Kerninst is a framework for dynamically splicing code into a running kernel, almost anywhere, anytime. Code can be removed and changed at will. Kerninst works on standard (unmodified) Solaris and Linux kernels, *no* kernel re-compilation is necessary.
While you do have a point, i've been stared down quite a few times in coffee shops because of my lack of piercing or whatnot, they are not all that way. Just like anything else (shock!) there are good ones and bad ones. There are jerks in every profession.
You are exactly correct. The military should not and cannot be expected to be a domestic police force.
This essay , which was awarded the top prize for the Strategy Essay Competition at the National Defense University presented by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Colin Powell in 1992, explains why.
Briefly, the US military has a very important job, namely protection of the US from external threats, which the military should not be distracted from by acting as the police.
Right, but the difference here is that Burbank (whoa, flash back to my 5th grade report on this guy) actually bred new varieties of plants.
The link you cite says he "conduct[ed] cross-breeding experiments on plants" to develop "several new varieties of flowers and vegetables." He did not just walk outside and pick up a plant that was growing wild and patent it.
this is all crazy.
exactly! how can this be a good thing? I've been hoping the ending of eIII would be anakin emergining from something like the meditation chamber on the star destroyer in empire fully cloaked in the Vader suit (the old vader suit), with swirling gas, a la the 'arena' lightsaber duel on bespin, parting for him to emerge, with no sound but his heavy breathing.
Seriously, besides the Simpons and the odd episode of Alias, most all the programs that i run across are extremely predictable and dull (i should mention that malcolm in the middle and arrested development is often good as well). I dont care to see the sixteenth reincarnation of "lets put real people in a stressful situation and watch them break down" (real meaning hollywood real, wannabe actors and models).
Slashdot Mirror
That would require some parents to say "No" to their children. Completely unacceptable.
Let's say one barrel of oil will produce 10 gallons of gasoline (I made that number up but let it represent the total cost of oil for 10 gallons of gasoline (or diesel, whatever). All the oil needed to be refined, to create energy to run the refining process, transport...etc). How many barrels of oil does it take to create enough ethanol to replace 10 gallons of gasoline?
If it takes more than one barrel of oil to produce this much ethanol, then by using ethanol we are increasing the amount of oil we use.
Where does the oil go when producing ethanol? Well, yes there is fuel for the tractor. But there is also oil in the fertilizer and pesticides used to grow the crop. There is the energy of refining the ethanol.
Now if we can take crops used for food and use their waste material after a harvest to produce ethanol then we may be able to discount somewhat the oil used in fertizlier and pesticides since that oil would be used anyway, making ethanol less expensive in terms of the oil used to produce it.
I was in Scotland about a year ago and every store clerk scrutinized my credit card signature. They told me a merchant who alerted police to a stolen credit card received a 50 or so Pound reward.
This is a good point. Would the UV rays make it through the tube?
Junta is a great, less serious game along these lines.
What does this passage mean? How, exactly, has Dr Nelson refuted that "there is always some global event that could be used to 'explain' the times when the Egg machines behaved erratically". The article seems to claim he has used "rigorous scientific techniques and powerful mathematics" to exclude the fact that the Egg reaction and the proximity to a major event are not random. However, the critics in the previous paragraph are saying major events happen each day, and if the Egg went off every day we would always have an explaination. I dont understand how Dr Nelson has answered the critics. Also, how can we know that the identified major events are actually what is driving the Egg (maybe a car crash that killed someone in a large, scattered family drove it up 4 hours before the 9/11 attacks).
And how many false negatives are there, when a large event happens, say the announcement that North Korea has the bomb or the disputed election in the Ukraine, and the Egg does not predict anything?
This sounds like the wonderful theory that bad things always happen in threes. They always do, because you count the next three bad things that happen in succession and then start over. Works everytime.
Analyzing a work for "the authors intent" is really just short hand for "think about this work deeply and write up what you think is interesting".
At any rate, I understand and support the need for ATMs to have cameras. If i'm mugged getting cash that picture will be handy, or if my ATM card is stolen that picture will be valuable. The trade off of privacy for security, I think, is worth it with regards to ATMs (and the 7-11).
I'm not sure I see how a postal machine taking my picture helps me, ie. I dont see how this loss of privacy helps me. True, I could be mugged getting stamps but that seems unlikely. Or someone could force me to mail their package, but again, unlikely. The postal machine does deal with credit cards so maybe robbery is a possiblity. I'm also not sure where these machines will be placed. A robbery inside a Post Office seems unlikely (the link i posted above mentions a program to place the machines in Hallmark stores but notes that plan was scrapped).
The article says "Camera required by FAA." I really dont understand that, do they mean the Fed Aviation Administration?
Here
Hazardous duty pay for the troops for being in a war zone. Medical costs for those injured. The large number of bombs and ammo (I think you are underestimating this aspect of the cost. How many rounds do you think are shot off in training everyday? How many are shot off when trying to retake a city with 10,000 troops?). The huge cost of the upkeep of the equipment (especially in the desert). The cost of transporting huge amounts of people and material half way around the world. The cost of building large military bases in Iraq. The cost of rebuilding what we have destroyed in Iraq.
The site you reference claims to be: "Paid for by the Democratic National Committee", not the US Gov't.
and i completely agree about Anderson. Some of the worst stuff i ever read.
The problem is of course, most all TV shows and movies produced are crap. And I dont think the SW TV show is any more or less likely to be crappy TV than any other sci-fi/fantasy show.
In the words of Bib Fortuna: "He must be allowed to speak."
but we should be careful not to blame "liberals" or the "left" but to blame the 'hackers' that actually are proposing this.
speaking of the ACLU. Have you signed up yet?
Freedom can't protect itself. And Freedom is not free, thank a vet!
actually that's not true. Kerninst does exactly that.
Kerninst is a framework for dynamically splicing code into a running kernel, almost anywhere, anytime. Code can be removed and changed at will. Kerninst works on standard (unmodified) Solaris and Linux kernels, *no* kernel re-compilation is necessary.
Two friendly local coffee shops:
One
Two
you are not consuming fast enough!
This essay , which was awarded the top prize for the Strategy Essay Competition at the National Defense University presented by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Colin Powell in 1992, explains why.
Briefly, the US military has a very important job, namely protection of the US from external threats, which the military should not be distracted from by acting as the police.
Right, but the difference here is that Burbank (whoa, flash back to my 5th grade report on this guy) actually bred new varieties of plants. The link you cite says he "conduct[ed] cross-breeding experiments on plants" to develop "several new varieties of flowers and vegetables." He did not just walk outside and pick up a plant that was growing wild and patent it. this is all crazy.
At least a few pundits have said the same. Here is one.
a new suit would really interrupt the mood.
Seriously, besides the Simpons and the odd episode of Alias, most all the programs that i run across are extremely predictable and dull (i should mention that malcolm in the middle and arrested development is often good as well). I dont care to see the sixteenth reincarnation of "lets put real people in a stressful situation and watch them break down" (real meaning hollywood real, wannabe actors and models).
i grind it up real fine like and rub in on the insides of my eye lids. keeps me awake all day.
"I wrote them down in my Diary so that I wouldn't have to remember!"