it makes no sense for republicans or democrats to want to preserve the system.
Actually, it does. Notice how there's very little attention on California or Texas; the EC helps both parties in that they can concentrate their candidates' attention on a smaller part of the country than otherwise.
Now, note that it's still a simplistic thesis - candidates still have to visit CA or TX or NY for fund-raisers and such - but as campaign focuses go, it helps them in that they can focus only on the so-called swing-states.
Not American, but I love hearing stories of people using their right to vote for the first time. It's something that's close to my heart - in fact, am actively thinking I'll volunteer some time with an NGO next year when my country votes - but compliments on your good work.
You'll be glad to know, then, that a lot of states are projected to switch their polarities this election cycle. Look up fivethirtyeight.com for more details.
I'm not sure why you think the Democrats are focussing on Palin, when Obama has done anything but that. Perhaps you're confusing the blogosphere with the real game on the ground?
She never demanded books be pulled from shelves: she was trying to address the opposite, what would happen if an angry parent, say, demanded a book be pulled?
But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book "Daddy's Roommate" on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.
"Sarah said she didn't need to read that stuff," Ms. Chase said. "It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn't even read it."
I look forward to hearing your cognitive dissonance in explaining this away.
I think you're assuming that the only things we can reasonably believe are those things that can be proven by the scientific method.
Let me make this as simple and plain as possible. While I have every right to believe in a tooth fairy, I cannot let that belief cloud my judgement on deciding what needs to be taught in a dental faculty.
It is also a cruel, cynical joke on the families in Big and Little Diomede who have been seperated by fifty years of Cold War. Unless Palin is saying that she worked towards re-uniting those families in (Russian) Big Diomede who were shipped off to Siberia for their own "protection", it's not just an amusing show of ignorance, it's also despically cruel.
The problem is that the "public sector" is amazing, first and foremost, in funding research... with specific outcomes. Confirming politician's views of things. There are actual Chinese papers, peer reviewed and everything, "proving" Tibet is not a country separate from China.
Which is why not filling up governmental leadership positions with your high-school buddies is such a good step towards not being an authoritarian, fascist regime, don't you agree?
"Privacy" of memories is an interesting question; the discussion is more scientific (ie, whether it is possible) than legal.
Privacy, per se, is recognized by Indian jurisprudence. Has been ruled to be part of the Fundamental Rights in a 1991 (?) ruling, even though there's no Article specifically stating thus.
Non-sequitor. African-Americans have always been near unanimous in their support of the Democrat party; note how Bill Clinton was called the first African-American president.
This might sound like a strange notion, but some folks actually prefer voting for a party that at least doesn't anally-probe you.
Secular? No country with a caste system is secular.
The caste "system" is actually a British construct; there's no social "system" as such. There have been sparring communities for ever; like many other countries, community-based discrimination exists and is a real problem.
The difference in India is in terms of empowerment; India is one of the few democracies where the lower the social pecking-order you go, the more likely that you're to vote. It's a big nation, a billion people; while I personally prefer social-change to come faster, the fact remains that change nevertheless is happening, it is dramatic, helped in no part by the current attempts at some form of a meritocracy.
Additionally, India is unique in the region to accord the freedom to practise and propagate religion as a Fundamental Right, which translates to the right of all affected minorities to start their own educational institutions of their own free-will; regardless of how older generations treat their compatriots, it is this libertarian right that has caused the maximum social upliftment and subsequent prosperity. That the official name of the Indian Union according to the Constitution includes the adjective "secular" highlights, and is a constant reminder of, our constitutional commitment.
Now on to those civilized Indian quotes about Pakistan...
I think most Indian politicians are aware that if they, say, plan to nuke two of Pakistan's biggest urban centers into kingdom come, the fallout will happen on this side of the Wagah border. Lahore is, after all, only thirty minutes away from the international border.
That said, as an Indian, I'll say this: I'm in two minds on this one. While on the one hand, I'm rather happy that we got a sweet deal without breaking too much of a sweat (and yes, nuclear energy is required for the nation) and while we aren't, or rather shouldn't, really be going down the testing route, it is nevertheless difficult to sell nuclear non-proliferation to the so-called "rogue" nations. It is definitely a concern for the international community, and it'll be good for everyone, India included, to come out with a newer, clearer carrot-and-stick framework now that the old one's pretty much been invalidated.
She got a passport saying she's 16. That's the ultimate form of identity; if date-of-births there are suspect, I'm afraid the Chinese government is equally culpable.
As I recall, neither were the Americans the only people to "whine" about this (as you put it), nor did it start with the girl winning a gold; a quick Google search finds an article from July, with quotes from Canadians and people with other nationalities.
A false dichotomy. You can be impressed by an individual girl's performance and yet point out that she, and more importantly her government, had broken the game's rules.
This was from a cache of an Excel spreadsheet from a gov.cn website. If you can't trust the authenticity of documents on a gov.cn website, then I'd say you have far greater problems than some netizens allegedly spreading "rumours".
My mom went to the US on a Fulbright fellowship for nine months, doing research on nanotechnology. Before going to her visa interview, the US-government-funded agency liasing with her specifically asked her to state that her field was something trivial, like physics or biology or something.
Fulbright is the premiere research grant that you can get in US universities, and has a very very high rate of return (meaning, most Fulbrighters don't continue staying in the US unlike F1/J1 folks, mostly coz they're in the US as representatives of their individual countries), and is often done on a reciprocal basis with backing from the highest possible sources. And yet, scientists selected are asked to dumb themselves down before a sabre-rattling Department of Homeland Security.
I'm sure gov.US has been guilty of far graver infrations, but living on the other side of the world, found this one incident rather illuminating.
Surely, literacy and education levels have increased in the last 200 years? In fact, I'd suspect they didnt exactly have meta-discussions on political discussions like we're having now.:-)
My problem is the size of the keys. I have fat fingers, and without tactile feedback, it's hell trying to fit the tips of my finger into the space for a key.
Your title says the Olympics is Vista and Silverlight only. Unless you're saying that the Olympics uses other Vista-only technology that I haven't heard of, one would presume you were saying Silverlight was Vista-only.
Since September 2007, we've had Silverlight 1.0, Silverlight 1.1, Silverlight 2 Beta 1, and two weeks back, Silverlight 2 Beta 2. None of the versions are backwards-compatible, in fact, between 1.0 and 1.1, the computing model had completely changed. code developed for one version isn't operable in others.
Second of all, this is the standard MS release cycle. They do an alpha or CTP. Then they do one or two betas. Then they do one or two RC's, and finally RTM.
The Olympics start on 8-8-08. Today's date is 8-7-08. We're at Ver 2 Beta 2 now. By your words, they need to do an alpha, at least one RC and then release NBCOlympics.com in production. All this in a month.
Gosh, Firefox 3 went through what, 6 RC's in one month. YEAH! DESPERATION!!!!! I SPITE AT THEE MICROSOFT, FROM MY MOTHERS BASEMENT!
I work with Silverlight on a daily basis; you can see some of the work my team did on the Silverlight showcase site (won't point to the exact entry). None of the work, though, was developed on Firefox, nor did we do any of it in my mom's basement.
Trust me when I say this, MS has been _extremely_ aggressive in rolling out new features and versions in Silverlight. We think the only reason they're so aggressive is because of the Olympics; this is a hard production deadline they can't afford to miss. That is why we have versions every month. Hence my supposition of there being panic in Redmond.
While Silverlight is not Vista-only, you're right in another respect: we've had four different beta versions so far for Silverlight in the past four months. Somehow, I sense panic in a certain room in Redmond.
Heheheh, Telugu as street-cred. There was a time out here on/. when I had to explain what Telugu is to most masses. (Guess I still have to, just find that someone would take Telugu as an example).
We have a long and chequered history of international people taking to the language and contributing to the language's literary corpus. Sir CP Brown, for instance, not only wrote a dictionary that's still used (and available on the net), but also wrote a collection of short-stories. Benjamin Schulge wrote (translated) the first printed book in Telugu, the Telugu Bible. There are other people too, whose names escape me now.
So yes, while your colleagues probably won't know much about Telugu's European heritage and thus won't increase your street-cred with _them_, you won't be the first. In my experience though, unless someone with an attractive disposition is involved, not many would want to venture out of their comfort-zones and learn a not-so-prominent language.:-)
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Actually, it does. Notice how there's very little attention on California or Texas; the EC helps both parties in that they can concentrate their candidates' attention on a smaller part of the country than otherwise.
Now, note that it's still a simplistic thesis - candidates still have to visit CA or TX or NY for fund-raisers and such - but as campaign focuses go, it helps them in that they can focus only on the so-called swing-states.
Not that I like the EV system, though.
Not American, but I love hearing stories of people using their right to vote for the first time. It's something that's close to my heart - in fact, am actively thinking I'll volunteer some time with an NGO next year when my country votes - but compliments on your good work.
Not using a high-definition television out here, but being coherent in replies is a dead giveaway.
You'll be glad to know, then, that a lot of states are projected to switch their polarities this election cycle. Look up fivethirtyeight.com for more details.
I'm not sure why you think the Democrats are focussing on Palin, when Obama has done anything but that. Perhaps you're confusing the blogosphere with the real game on the ground?
An angry parent like, say, herself:
I look forward to hearing your cognitive dissonance in explaining this away.
You should read the linked article. As a fellow poster had already noted below, McCain has already sold out on this position as well.
Let me make this as simple and plain as possible. While I have every right to believe in a tooth fairy, I cannot let that belief cloud my judgement on deciding what needs to be taught in a dental faculty.
It is also a cruel, cynical joke on the families in Big and Little Diomede who have been seperated by fifty years of Cold War. Unless Palin is saying that she worked towards re-uniting those families in (Russian) Big Diomede who were shipped off to Siberia for their own "protection", it's not just an amusing show of ignorance, it's also despically cruel.
Which is why not filling up governmental leadership positions with your high-school buddies is such a good step towards not being an authoritarian, fascist regime, don't you agree?
"Privacy" of memories is an interesting question; the discussion is more scientific (ie, whether it is possible) than legal.
Privacy, per se, is recognized by Indian jurisprudence. Has been ruled to be part of the Fundamental Rights in a 1991 (?) ruling, even though there's no Article specifically stating thus.
Non-sequitor. African-Americans have always been near unanimous in their support of the Democrat party; note how Bill Clinton was called the first African-American president.
This might sound like a strange notion, but some folks actually prefer voting for a party that at least doesn't anally-probe you.
The caste "system" is actually a British construct; there's no social "system" as such. There have been sparring communities for ever; like many other countries, community-based discrimination exists and is a real problem.
The difference in India is in terms of empowerment; India is one of the few democracies where the lower the social pecking-order you go, the more likely that you're to vote. It's a big nation, a billion people; while I personally prefer social-change to come faster, the fact remains that change nevertheless is happening, it is dramatic, helped in no part by the current attempts at some form of a meritocracy.
Additionally, India is unique in the region to accord the freedom to practise and propagate religion as a Fundamental Right, which translates to the right of all affected minorities to start their own educational institutions of their own free-will; regardless of how older generations treat their compatriots, it is this libertarian right that has caused the maximum social upliftment and subsequent prosperity. That the official name of the Indian Union according to the Constitution includes the adjective "secular" highlights, and is a constant reminder of, our constitutional commitment.
I think most Indian politicians are aware that if they, say, plan to nuke two of Pakistan's biggest urban centers into kingdom come, the fallout will happen on this side of the Wagah border. Lahore is, after all, only thirty minutes away from the international border.
That said, as an Indian, I'll say this: I'm in two minds on this one. While on the one hand, I'm rather happy that we got a sweet deal without breaking too much of a sweat (and yes, nuclear energy is required for the nation) and while we aren't, or rather shouldn't, really be going down the testing route, it is nevertheless difficult to sell nuclear non-proliferation to the so-called "rogue" nations. It is definitely a concern for the international community, and it'll be good for everyone, India included, to come out with a newer, clearer carrot-and-stick framework now that the old one's pretty much been invalidated.
She got a passport saying she's 16. That's the ultimate form of identity; if date-of-births there are suspect, I'm afraid the Chinese government is equally culpable.
As I recall, neither were the Americans the only people to "whine" about this (as you put it), nor did it start with the girl winning a gold; a quick Google search finds an article from July, with quotes from Canadians and people with other nationalities.
A false dichotomy. You can be impressed by an individual girl's performance and yet point out that she, and more importantly her government, had broken the game's rules.
This was from a cache of an Excel spreadsheet from a gov.cn website. If you can't trust the authenticity of documents on a gov.cn website, then I'd say you have far greater problems than some netizens allegedly spreading "rumours".
My mom went to the US on a Fulbright fellowship for nine months, doing research on nanotechnology. Before going to her visa interview, the US-government-funded agency liasing with her specifically asked her to state that her field was something trivial, like physics or biology or something.
Fulbright is the premiere research grant that you can get in US universities, and has a very very high rate of return (meaning, most Fulbrighters don't continue staying in the US unlike F1/J1 folks, mostly coz they're in the US as representatives of their individual countries), and is often done on a reciprocal basis with backing from the highest possible sources. And yet, scientists selected are asked to dumb themselves down before a sabre-rattling Department of Homeland Security.
I'm sure gov.US has been guilty of far graver infrations, but living on the other side of the world, found this one incident rather illuminating.
Surely, literacy and education levels have increased in the last 200 years? In fact, I'd suspect they didnt exactly have meta-discussions on political discussions like we're having now. :-)
Me, I'm looking at a Nokia E71 instead.
Your title says the Olympics is Vista and Silverlight only. Unless you're saying that the Olympics uses other Vista-only technology that I haven't heard of, one would presume you were saying Silverlight was Vista-only.
Since September 2007, we've had Silverlight 1.0, Silverlight 1.1, Silverlight 2 Beta 1, and two weeks back, Silverlight 2 Beta 2. None of the versions are backwards-compatible, in fact, between 1.0 and 1.1, the computing model had completely changed. code developed for one version isn't operable in others.
Second of all, this is the standard MS release cycle. They do an alpha or CTP. Then they do one or two betas. Then they do one or two RC's, and finally RTM.
The Olympics start on 8-8-08. Today's date is 8-7-08. We're at Ver 2 Beta 2 now. By your words, they need to do an alpha, at least one RC and then release NBCOlympics.com in production. All this in a month.
Gosh, Firefox 3 went through what, 6 RC's in one month. YEAH! DESPERATION!!!!! I SPITE AT THEE MICROSOFT, FROM MY MOTHERS BASEMENT!
I work with Silverlight on a daily basis; you can see some of the work my team did on the Silverlight showcase site (won't point to the exact entry). None of the work, though, was developed on Firefox, nor did we do any of it in my mom's basement.
Trust me when I say this, MS has been _extremely_ aggressive in rolling out new features and versions in Silverlight. We think the only reason they're so aggressive is because of the Olympics; this is a hard production deadline they can't afford to miss. That is why we have versions every month. Hence my supposition of there being panic in Redmond.
While Silverlight is not Vista-only, you're right in another respect: we've had four different beta versions so far for Silverlight in the past four months. Somehow, I sense panic in a certain room in Redmond.
To put it in a geek context, one word: Silverlight.
Heheheh, Telugu as street-cred. There was a time out here on /. when I had to explain what Telugu is to most masses. (Guess I still have to, just find that someone would take Telugu as an example).
We have a long and chequered history of international people taking to the language and contributing to the language's literary corpus. Sir CP Brown, for instance, not only wrote a dictionary that's still used (and available on the net), but also wrote a collection of short-stories. Benjamin Schulge wrote (translated) the first printed book in Telugu, the Telugu Bible. There are other people too, whose names escape me now.
So yes, while your colleagues probably won't know much about Telugu's European heritage and thus won't increase your street-cred with _them_, you won't be the first. In my experience though, unless someone with an attractive disposition is involved, not many would want to venture out of their comfort-zones and learn a not-so-prominent language. :-)