I said this in another comment, but it also applies here:
My undergrad is in anthropology, and AFAIK, nobody else anywhere in the world counts ages other than by solar years. Of course, I haven't read all the literature, but usually anthropologists are eager to harp on crap like that -- things we think are universal, but actually aren't. So if no one else is using anything but solar years now to reckon ages, I doubt anyone in the past would have used a different system.
As far as different units, correct me if I'm wrong, but the very definition of a year is one procession of the sun. If the bible says 800 years old, that means the person has seen 800 solar processions. I mean, even something like a 'lunar year' is just how many lunar cycles fit into a solar procession.
Well, my undergrad is in anthropology, and AFAIK, nobody else anywhere in the world counts ages other than by solar years. Of course, I haven't read all the literature, but usually anthropologists are eager to harp on crap like that -- things we think are universal, but actually aren't. So if no one else is using anything but solar years now to reckon ages, I doubt anyone in the past would have used a different system.
I don't buy the idea that 1000 year old people in the Bible is because they used a different counting system. Here's the reasons:
1. For any other 'year' based on the moon, the planets, etc, the ages of all the bible heroes could be recalculated, and then shown to be normal. I haven't seen any one do this yet.
2. At some point in the Bible, they stop using long ages, and people have normal life spans. If there was a change in age calculation in the culture, it is reflected in the literature. I haven't seen anyone look into the culture to explain why they changed.
3. There is enough weird stuff going on in the Bible to make long lifespans seem... normal. Why do we have to seek a rational explanation for this? It's not like long lifespans are the single 'deal-breaker' for skeptics.
Acutally, I was thinking one way you could do this, hopeout too much psychological trauma, is to create a clone with a full brain, and when the clone is 20 or so, have your brain removed, bisected, and replace half of the clone's brain with your brain. Put the other half of your brain in cold storage, and bury/burn your old body. After six months or so for adjustment, put the other half of your brain in the clone. Now you are completely migrated without having to grow a brainless body, and no psychological fallout;)
Regardless of any advances in gene therapy, organ recreation, etc., I think there will be a point where your body systems get too old to work together properly, and I think that age is well before 1000.
Think of it like a building. You can have bricks replacing themselves, but at some point you need to do a wholescale replacement of the wall because it's not aligned, and then we're getting into expensive surgery.
Some organs, like kidneys, lend themselves to remove and replace, but other systems are intertwined with other systems. I'm not sure that the body can maintain that indefinately. The body grows into an adult form, and then shrinks and dies. Even if you have cells maintaining themselves, the tissual structure might get out of control over time. Some tissues and orgrans can be economically replaced, others can't.
Yeah, that's pretty cool, but I would like actual subfolders so I can see who I'm getting new email from, instead of scrolling through an enormous sorted folder.
OK I RTFA... Do I have to create the search criteria first? Do I have to do this for each and every email address? If so, it is not exactly, precisely what I want. Don't wait for me to say it, just go ahead and make search folders for my entire address book.
1. The importing process seems to only have a wizard to import from other email programs. I would like to have the option to point to a directory or file of email to be imported.
2. It would be really cool to have automatic virtual directories. I have my email sorted into subfolder by email address. I have rules set up to put emails into folders. Why not have this be automatic? Sort by email address, sort by folders. I wonder why no popular email client has this.
This might be the answer to one problem that has been particularly vexing to me:
One project of mine involved a supplier quoting system. Supplier were to log on to view new RFQs, quote on them, and see if their quote got accepting. The quote table had a supplier_id field, of course, to indicate what suppliers had quoted. What made me very nervous was that simple integer that prevented suppliers from seeing each others' quotes -- they were in competition with each other, and we had no doubt that they would do whatever necessary to win the business. They were overseas, so really no legal protection there.
I know that databases have column level permissions, but what I really needed was *row* permissions -- the supplier's database account would only have permissions to SELECT rows that had a particular supplier_id.
Good thought -- this one was impressive: "Third, the web pages or whatever that are linking the torrent can (manually?) re-link a generated new torrent for the new seed, which has meanwhile kept the torrent alive rather than letting it all fall to pieces."
I've been doing the PHP/SQL thing for money for a while now, and I've been able to meet all my needs so far. I've taken a peek at Postgres, but I haven't found a good explanation and usage examples for some of the features that mysql lacks. I understand nested queries, transactions, and foreign keys, however I haven't found anything that helps me understand stored procedures, views, or triggers.
PGP for online transactions? Heck, even stupid stuff like bulletin boards and slashdot. I'm sick of having to make up new user ids and secure passwords for every freakin' site on the web. Why not just let everyone post PGP signed messages?
Seriously, I'm not asking in jest. Is there a problem with the technology as it stands?
Newborns can think very. They can distinguish their mother's breast from others, their mother's voice from others, and foreign langauges from their mother's tongue. If they can do all that, there's probably some more going on, but this is all we can test for using the suckle/interest test.
...voting 'transactions' happen so infrequently...
Dude, how hard it is to stage a bunch of bogus votes to test the machines out? We could tell each participant exactly how to vote, and see just how accurate they are.
I suggest you have a look at _Guns, Germs, and Steel_. Most, if not all, of our diseases have come from herd animals that we domesticated. We've gotten this far after 6,000 years with the filthy beasts; I hardly think we'll become extinct now, especially with our new-fangled medical technology.
As far as simian AIDS infecting humans, human AIDS is probably the exact same thing -- a bug some human picked up from an ape around 70-100 years ago in Africa. What would happen if simian AIDS jumped again? Probably what's going on now with regular AIDS.
"We are porting disease from the antire animal kingdom to our own without considering the consequences." This is nothing new. We've done fine so far.
If you feel you need a tinfoil hat, do not use aluminum foil. Make sure you use actual tin foil. Aluminum foil hats actually broadcast your thoughts to anyone who might be attempting to... intercept.
A language is not 'strange' just because few people use it. Here's what you should take away from the parent:
Some languages are better than others. The parent argues that lisp and smalltalk are some of the best languages to use. With other languages, you get to a point where you can't do it with that language alone, and you start building a meta-language out of that language, and there is your complexity creep. Avalon, etc. are an attempt to address the cruft and complexity that have grown up around the Windows platform.
As far as Microsoft gaining on "supperior [sic]" unix, keep in mind that Unix is not Lisp (TM). So your comment is irrelevant. Parent is arguing that if you don't want complexity creep, start out with something that you know can see you to the end. Parent claims this is smalltalk/lisp.
Slashdot Mirror
My undergrad is in anthropology, and AFAIK, nobody else anywhere in the world counts ages other than by solar years. Of course, I haven't read all the literature, but usually anthropologists are eager to harp on crap like that -- things we think are universal, but actually aren't. So if no one else is using anything but solar years now to reckon ages, I doubt anyone in the past would have used a different system.
As far as different units, correct me if I'm wrong, but the very definition of a year is one procession of the sun. If the bible says 800 years old, that means the person has seen 800 solar processions. I mean, even something like a 'lunar year' is just how many lunar cycles fit into a solar procession.
Well, my undergrad is in anthropology, and AFAIK, nobody else anywhere in the world counts ages other than by solar years. Of course, I haven't read all the literature, but usually anthropologists are eager to harp on crap like that -- things we think are universal, but actually aren't. So if no one else is using anything but solar years now to reckon ages, I doubt anyone in the past would have used a different system.
1. For any other 'year' based on the moon, the planets, etc, the ages of all the bible heroes could be recalculated, and then shown to be normal. I haven't seen any one do this yet.
2. At some point in the Bible, they stop using long ages, and people have normal life spans. If there was a change in age calculation in the culture, it is reflected in the literature. I haven't seen anyone look into the culture to explain why they changed.
3. There is enough weird stuff going on in the Bible to make long lifespans seem... normal. Why do we have to seek a rational explanation for this? It's not like long lifespans are the single 'deal-breaker' for skeptics.
Acutally, I was thinking one way you could do this, hopeout too much psychological trauma, is to create a clone with a full brain, and when the clone is 20 or so, have your brain removed, bisected, and replace half of the clone's brain with your brain. Put the other half of your brain in cold storage, and bury/burn your old body. After six months or so for adjustment, put the other half of your brain in the clone. Now you are completely migrated without having to grow a brainless body, and no psychological fallout ;)
Think of it like a building. You can have bricks replacing themselves, but at some point you need to do a wholescale replacement of the wall because it's not aligned, and then we're getting into expensive surgery.
Some organs, like kidneys, lend themselves to remove and replace, but other systems are intertwined with other systems. I'm not sure that the body can maintain that indefinately. The body grows into an adult form, and then shrinks and dies. Even if you have cells maintaining themselves, the tissual structure might get out of control over time. Some tissues and orgrans can be economically replaced, others can't.
And, like I replied to him, What a PITA to have to go and do that for my entire address book. Why am I doing the computer's work?
Yeah, that's pretty cool, but I would like actual subfolders so I can see who I'm getting new email from, instead of scrolling through an enormous sorted folder.
OK I RTFA... Do I have to create the search criteria first? Do I have to do this for each and every email address? If so, it is not exactly, precisely what I want. Don't wait for me to say it, just go ahead and make search folders for my entire address book.
2. It would be really cool to have automatic virtual directories. I have my email sorted into subfolder by email address. I have rules set up to put emails into folders. Why not have this be automatic? Sort by email address, sort by folders. I wonder why no popular email client has this.
Gol' darned Canadian socialized music industry!
One project of mine involved a supplier quoting system. Supplier were to log on to view new RFQs, quote on them, and see if their quote got accepting. The quote table had a supplier_id field, of course, to indicate what suppliers had quoted. What made me very nervous was that simple integer that prevented suppliers from seeing each others' quotes -- they were in competition with each other, and we had no doubt that they would do whatever necessary to win the business. They were overseas, so really no legal protection there.
I know that databases have column level permissions, but what I really needed was *row* permissions -- the supplier's database account would only have permissions to SELECT rows that had a particular supplier_id.
What database feature provides this capability?
A tracker tracker! I like it.
I've been doing the PHP/SQL thing for money for a while now, and I've been able to meet all my needs so far. I've taken a peek at Postgres, but I haven't found a good explanation and usage examples for some of the features that mysql lacks. I understand nested queries, transactions, and foreign keys, however I haven't found anything that helps me understand stored procedures, views, or triggers.
I don't think this is possible. How would a newcomer learn about any seeds when the tracker is down?
Coral is not dead sea creatures. It's acutally a living animal.
Coral is not dead sea creatures. It's acutally a living animal.
Fear the Swarm!
Similarly, does anyone know of an extension that puts the tabs *at the bottom of the screen*, near the taskbar?
Seriously, I'm not asking in jest. Is there a problem with the technology as it stands?
How much spam do you get from IM?
Newborns can think very. They can distinguish their mother's breast from others, their mother's voice from others, and foreign langauges from their mother's tongue. If they can do all that, there's probably some more going on, but this is all we can test for using the suckle/interest test.
Dude, how hard it is to stage a bunch of bogus votes to test the machines out? We could tell each participant exactly how to vote, and see just how accurate they are.
I hear a gargling sound.
I suggest you have a look at _Guns, Germs, and Steel_. Most, if not all, of our diseases have come from herd animals that we domesticated. We've gotten this far after 6,000 years with the filthy beasts; I hardly think we'll become extinct now, especially with our new-fangled medical technology.As far as simian AIDS infecting humans, human AIDS is probably the exact same thing -- a bug some human picked up from an ape around 70-100 years ago in Africa. What would happen if simian AIDS jumped again? Probably what's going on now with regular AIDS.
"We are porting disease from the antire animal kingdom to our own without considering the consequences." This is nothing new. We've done fine so far.
If you feel you need a tinfoil hat, do not use aluminum foil. Make sure you use actual tin foil. Aluminum foil hats actually broadcast your thoughts to anyone who might be attempting to... intercept.
Some languages are better than others. The parent argues that lisp and smalltalk are some of the best languages to use. With other languages, you get to a point where you can't do it with that language alone, and you start building a meta-language out of that language, and there is your complexity creep. Avalon, etc. are an attempt to address the cruft and complexity that have grown up around the Windows platform.
As far as Microsoft gaining on "supperior [sic]" unix, keep in mind that Unix is not Lisp (TM). So your comment is irrelevant. Parent is arguing that if you don't want complexity creep, start out with something that you know can see you to the end. Parent claims this is smalltalk/lisp.