Bugs Bunny? Bugs Bunny? Me, myself and I were mostly responsible for the popularization of ACME products here on earth. Believe me I have the scars to prove it! All those episodes starring moi and featuring ACME products, ending with wwhheeeeeezzooo splat and you somehow manage to related ACME with that frackin ADD riddled smart assed yappy wabbit! Let's see where did I put that ACME combination rocket launcher / geek transmutation device. Hope ya like tits as much as you think you do:)
"employment. I, as a high school student, ought to be able to go and flip burgers for a pittance. (Hey, I've an idea! Let's require computer techs to be licensed before they can run helpdesks or do house calls! That way we make sure people don't pay for bad work!) I also ought to be able to go and install a floor, furnace or pipe in someone's house, if they're willing to pay me. If I kill myself it's my own fault."
And when you burn the customers house down and possibly the neighbors as well and kill all the occupants? But the Geek Squad should be licensed? Well it fits with the rest of you dystopian logic I guess. I am a licensed master electrician and certified controls technician and have been around long enough to have a grasp of what licensing and certification is about, you are as clueless in this area as you are of history.
If it where not for the efforts and sacrifices of liberal progressives and and workers unions you would not have many things you take for granted every day. The clean water piped to your home, the shit that gets piped away. The electrical grid, one of the FDR things you seem to hate that I don't think you have any idea what it would be like to do without. The banking regulatory system that even today still provides some protection to your assets, even though it and the SEC has had their nuts cut off by the last few Republican congresses, and populated by lackeys at the top by a Republican President. The Social Security - FDR again - system that would have seen to it children like yourself could stay warm and eat if you lost your family and hopefully will still ensure you parents will not have to beg off their children or suck theist ass in later life if worst comes to worst for them. The public school system that despite its many failings that lifted most of a a nation out of illiteracy, something which benefits us all. The telecom/internet systems that allow you to post your drivel for the entire world to read. The highways that allow movement of goods and services as well as you ass. The public health system that eliminated smallpox and TB and fights daily against new threats with organizations like the CDC and your local health dept. The medical emergency care system that ensure you will not be left to bleed to death on the sidewalk, though it is in a pretty piss poor state today thanks mostly to insurance companies. The national atmospheric and oceanographic organization that is at the root of every weather forecast and warning. The right the work reasonable hours with a base for wages only slightly less that what it really takes to live on. Regulatory agencys like the NFPA & services like the fire dept that might save the folks your amateur furnace installation could kill. I would include the police but they for a large part have been infected with a facist mentality.
What continues to amaze me is the hypocritical nature of an ideology whose base denies physical evolution but embraces wholeheartedly a ruthless belief in a social survival of the fittest mentality.
I have had several hundred of dollars in copper stolen from me in the last year, I have also lost quite a bit in high grade aluminum stock and even more in some really nice stainless steel items. I am pretty certain I know who took it and where they sold it, but given it was several weeks before I noticed it missing and the generic nature of scrap materials it was pretty hopeless to pursue. One of the persons who I suspect of taking it got a second party message that I thought he took it and wanted to talk to him one last time, I haven't see the lazy ass squirrel brained weeny since. Shame, I had been collecting the stuff for many years and most of it was not intended to be scrap but instead to be reused in projects like a really nice BBQ, solar panels, a fluidized bed wood fired boiler, etc. Pisses me off more to think of it being crushed or shredded than issues about the simple loss of $$'s. That and the fact that I had often befriended these morons and many times fed them way to much of my locally famous sassafras pork loin.
I can tell you have probably never dealt with such a situation. One last year for me is classic of what I and others I have known experienced. In this case I was t-boned by another driver who fully admitted all fault. The accident totaled my pickup, leaving it undriveable. Every step along the way from procuring towing and rental reimbursement to the final settlement was paved with a strategy of minimizing payment. The first offer they made on my pickup was less than half the honest replacement value. In the end I was out several hundred dollars cash and settled for about 85% of so the actual replacement value of the truck just to stop the cash hemorrhaging that I could not afford. Best of all this was from a insurance company that specializes in providing insurance to the religious community, the guy who hit me was a parson. Typical
AT&T, from my experience anyway. Cingular service went to hell since the AT&T group crawled out from under the rock. I am stuck with the cellular account for various reasons, one being my employer, but I simply killed my land line account as it was expensive and useless. I had a pretty decent relationship, with average or slightly better than average service with Bellsouth for many years prior to the merger, acquisition of AT&T, recreation of AT&T or whatever the heck it was. Simply put ever since service has been rotten from my POV. Maybe they need another breakup;).
I had used DUCKU2 as the answer to a secret question at my bank once, had to tell both the clerk and her manager, they seemed to enjoy it though. Kinda like getting people to try and replicate the noise of a failing drive or A/C unit over the phone, (switch to speaker) could you repeat that please? "squealllll, chunka, chunka, squeellll". Sadly this often passes for entertainment around the shop, yea we are a pretty easy bunch to entertain.
Heck at age eleven or so (1967) I regularly purchased by the pound, potassium nitrate, flowers of sulfur, rosin and charcoal from the local pharmacy to build black powder rocket engines, try that as an adult today.
"The GPL is quite explicit: running the program is not restricted; unless you are modifying or distributing the software, you can do absolutely what you like."
The way I understand the GPL it would be more accurate to say; unless you are modifying AND distributing the software, you can do absolutely what you like. Someone correct me if I am not right on this VERY important point. Please quote the specific passage that requires you to distribute the source code for a GPL licensed program you have modified and use internally but have not marketed or otherwise distributed.
text below from Wikipedia:
"Copyleft applies only when a person seeks to redistribute the program. One is allowed to make private modified versions, without any obligation to divulge the modifications as long as the modified software is not distributed to anyone else. Note that the copyleft applies only to the software and not to its output (unless that output is itself a derivative work of the program); for example, a public web portal running a modified derivative of a GPL'ed content management system is not required to distribute its changes to the underlying software."
"The FBI, like all police agencies, is corrupt and incompetent, largely by design."
I have come to wonder if one main strategy of the Republican party for the last 12 years or so has been to destroy the public faith in the government. Maybe it is simply a combination of factors like the power drunkenness that comes on those with little opposition to restrain them and the tendency they have for patronage gone crazy, it would of course be really tough to not factor in the actual ineptness at the top levels of late.
Still considering the bold politicizing of agency's along side the gross failures of so many, I cannot help to think maybe they feel they have to prove their old mantra of all "government is inefficient and at best a necessary evil".
What the foundation is about..... is preservation and expansion of power. Gates is not giving away this money he is simply diverting it from the tax roles. The actual divestment of the wealth to charities is a small fraction of the Foundations total holdings. I do not dispute that Gates has an interest in helping people. I do not dispute that on the balance the foundation could be a extraordinary positive agent of change in the world. However nearly all such foundations have a common trait due to the laws that support their existence. By giving away 5% of the wealth they avoid a tax rate that would most likely be higher than 5%. The reinvestment of the 95% remaining wealth should yield a average return of much better than 5%. From the basic facts in should be obvious that not only is the foundation perpetually self replenishing it is actually growing in wealth and thus power. Additionally the wealth it controls, it controls itself, not the representatives of the people via the tax man. So the power stays within the executors of the foundation perpetually, or at least as long as the laws allow it to do so.
As to whether an individual foundation turns out to be a beast or a angel will be for future historians to decide. In this specific case I can only note that due to the level of initial holdings, especially since Warren Buffet has chipped in, it has the potential to be one of the greatest agents of change in human history. Not only does it matter what is done with the 5-10% or so that goes to charitable efforts, what probably matters more is how the 90-95% not given away is invested. What probably matters more than anything is how the wealth and thus power accrued by the Foundation is managed. The problems that can be created by unethical use of the power that this level of wealth can buy should be apparent to anyone but the most dense.
"I'm so tired of these ineffective and inconvenient excuses for the government to steal my rights in the name of protecting me. Fuck off already. At the rate things are going, the next round of so called 'terrorists' will actually be citizens revolting against the protective measures.... arrgghhhh"
Exactly. I have come to think that all these "security" measures are more about setting up the framework to deal with domestic malcontents than foreign interlopers. It seems to me there is a common perception from many people in powerful positions and those on the fringe of society that there is a bad storm on the horizon. Those of us in the comfortable section of society have been to busy with our long but easily lived hours to see it. You know "someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm".
I have taken large doses of a B complex for most my life as instructed by a physician in the early 60's as a treatment for hyperactive type behavior. From what I have read the primary active agent is Niacin. The original dose instructions equated to 50mg Niacin a day as a child of six. At age fifty my usual daily dose of Niacin varies from 100 to 200 mg. If I happen to miss a couple days I get noticeably fuzzy headed and sluggish. A single 100mg dose seems to help defuzz me in a couple hours or so. I have noticed similar if a bit slower to act results from Ginkgo as well and take it occasionally. I have also noticed Ginseng taken with either Niacin or Ginkgo seems to help level and extend the benefits as well as reducing the ammonia odor in my first urine of the day probably because it has a diuretic effect and thus simply dilutes my urine.
I agree on the part about gases, and generally agree with you on the most commonly used face masks. However the issue of particle size and the protection provided is dependent on the rating and method of use of the mask. Those used in hospital isolation instances are rated for a specific size particle and up. The NIOSH designation for these masks are N95 and is so designated by the ability to prevent the passage of particles up to the 95th percentile or a particle size of about 3 microns and larger. To provide proper protection the mask type must be matched or fitted to the wearers face type and they need to be clean shaven where the masks sealing edge meets the meat so to speak. The biggest problem with this type of protection device is that the act of removing and discarding it can easily expose you to the materials or pathogens it captured, plus people have the habit of reusing the masks which is poor practice.
I work in health care as an operations HVAC alarms/controls technician and we have finally taken to using "papper hoods" which use HEPA rated cartridge type filters and battery pak fan powered vinyl/poly hoods to provide a clean forced positive pressure air supply. The fit and sealing are not an issue plus the removal and cleanup of the reusable device is safer.
The short line is that N95 type of face masks will provide pretty good protection for things like mowing your yard, or occasional light construction, wood or auto shop work IF you take care to fit them well and remove and dispose of them carefully, it is best not to reuse them. On the other hand the masks most folks buy at the hardware store, the ones with the label that says they "will not protect your lungs" are worse than nothing at all. If you have sever allergy issues or are involved in regular work in environments of concern then a papper hood setup is not that expensive, a few hundred I believe. Plus you can buy the swappable cartridges rated for some chemicals/gases as well.
"2400 years later, we still didn't reach a conclusion. Go figure..."
Pick any type of event or content and there are people who are emboldened or aroused to action, there are those who are sated, there those who are repulsed, there are those who are unaffected. The issue is as it always has been is there are also those who would try to use extreme examples to further their own ambitions for power and control or to simply push their own world view for ego gratification.
This all being said I personally think that what one has as an input has to be considered as affecting ones output. I think at a specific level of consciousness our minds are basically organic self programming computation devices. If you choose to input information of a specific genera without any conflicting data your output will be observant of this. Not quite "monkey see, monkey do" but the long term implications of such behavior would similar. If you choose ONLY one input type, be it of violent pornography, the rants of a crazy preacher or mullah, the teachings of classic philosophers, the study of chemistry or physics you can expect your output to reflect your choice of input. Aristotle had a fix for this in "the golden mean" or "moderation in all things", which actually reflects the way most people live their lives.
However there are "some people" who choose to limit their inputs to those that reflect their world view as compiled to date, hence the popularity of stuff like extreme political views, religious orders, FOX News and the various tabloids. Remember where I mentioned those people who would use such to further their own ambitions. All this is human nature as viewed from the amber side. We have been through these before and will again. There have been many microcosms of "dark ages" and "enlightenments" the best we can hope for is to avoid the longer darker ones. With the issues today like the complexity and size of our global civilization, the cultural mixing in real time instead of decades, the dependency and unintended consequence type dangers that come in tandem with technological progress, the depletion of resources and the explosion in disparity of wealth I feel a great unease about the near future.
Good old Eric Blair had an excellent insight into human nature, the English in particular, and great skill as a word smith. This is why his works seem so relevant today, they are based on countless millennial old observations of the human animal.
How long before someone sneaks in long pig as a modest proposal? A smart ass comment of "eat me" takes on new rather disturbing implications. How about custom receipe creations via grow your own kits, of course hawked by one Billy Mayes for only three easy payments of 19.95+shipping? How about DNA mixing kits and chimeras? Be a butt head and pass out on your buddies couch and wake up with a mosquito bite or two, a few weeks later someone has a new grilled geeky goat recipe.
Go ahead mod me down because these are ridiculous and extreme examples of how this could go all wrong. But I notice a lot of just as insanely stupid stuff happening everyday that is ignored by the same people that would have decried as silly any prediction of such. As far as I am concerned you can all go eat yourselves anyway, after all who should have the right to tell you that you can't?
One million is less than one half of one percent of the total population. I suspect that even within the/. population that less than 2% of us are on this list. The question is not whether or not the one million are actually part of an active terrorist network. The question is can the government get away with the systematic violation of the civil rights of these people. I think that the 99.5 plus percent of the rest of the population will for the most part not even notice it. The intent is to discourage dissent in as much as possible. These types of actions also tend to to cause the logical and physical retraction of groups, that is they close ranks helping to prevent large collations or confederations from forming. It is much easier to quietly deal with a few hundred "militia" types here and there than a confederation of hundreds of thousands of the same. The sad part of this all is that one half of one percent of the population probably deserves to be on a list of persons who should be considered suspect of doing wicked things and being a danger to the nation, problem is most of them will never be on such a list, worst of all the cream of this crop are involved in creating such a list in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
Bugs Bunny? Bugs Bunny? Me, myself and I were mostly responsible for the popularization of ACME products here on earth. Believe me I have the scars to prove it! All those episodes starring moi and featuring ACME products, ending with wwhheeeeeezzooo splat and you somehow manage to related ACME with that frackin ADD riddled smart assed yappy wabbit! Let's see where did I put that ACME combination rocket launcher / geek transmutation device. Hope ya like tits as much as you think you do :)
WileC. --super genius, if a bit of a hungry one.
"employment. I, as a high school student, ought to be able to go and flip burgers for a pittance. (Hey, I've an idea! Let's require computer techs to be licensed before they can run helpdesks or do house calls! That way we make sure people don't pay for bad work!) I also ought to be able to go and install a floor, furnace or pipe in someone's house, if they're willing to pay me. If I kill myself it's my own fault."
And when you burn the customers house down and possibly the neighbors as well and kill all the occupants? But the Geek Squad should be licensed? Well it fits with the rest of you dystopian logic I guess. I am a licensed master electrician and certified controls technician and have been around long enough to have a grasp of what licensing and certification is about, you are as clueless in this area as you are of history.
If it where not for the efforts and sacrifices of liberal progressives and and workers unions you would not have many things you take for granted every day. The clean water piped to your home, the shit that gets piped away. The electrical grid, one of the FDR things you seem to hate that I don't think you have any idea what it would be like to do without. The banking regulatory system that even today still provides some protection to your assets, even though it and the SEC has had their nuts cut off by the last few Republican congresses, and populated by lackeys at the top by a Republican President. The Social Security - FDR again - system that would have seen to it children like yourself could stay warm and eat if you lost your family and hopefully will still ensure you parents will not have to beg off their children or suck theist ass in later life if worst comes to worst for them. The public school system that despite its many failings that lifted most of a a nation out of illiteracy, something which benefits us all. The telecom/internet systems that allow you to post your drivel for the entire world to read. The highways that allow movement of goods and services as well as you ass. The public health system that eliminated smallpox and TB and fights daily against new threats with organizations like the CDC and your local health dept. The medical emergency care system that ensure you will not be left to bleed to death on the sidewalk, though it is in a pretty piss poor state today thanks mostly to insurance companies. The national atmospheric and oceanographic organization that is at the root of every weather forecast and warning. The right the work reasonable hours with a base for wages only slightly less that what it really takes to live on. Regulatory agencys like the NFPA & services like the fire dept that might save the folks your amateur furnace installation could kill. I would include the police but they for a large part have been infected with a facist mentality.
What continues to amaze me is the hypocritical nature of an ideology whose base denies physical evolution but embraces wholeheartedly a ruthless belief in a social survival of the fittest mentality.
wabi-sabi
matthew
I have had several hundred of dollars in copper stolen from me in the last year, I have also lost quite a bit in high grade aluminum stock and even more in some really nice stainless steel items. I am pretty certain I know who took it and where they sold it, but given it was several weeks before I noticed it missing and the generic nature of scrap materials it was pretty hopeless to pursue. One of the persons who I suspect of taking it got a second party message that I thought he took it and wanted to talk to him one last time, I haven't see the lazy ass squirrel brained weeny since. Shame, I had been collecting the stuff for many years and most of it was not intended to be scrap but instead to be reused in projects like a really nice BBQ, solar panels, a fluidized bed wood fired boiler, etc. Pisses me off more to think of it being crushed or shredded than issues about the simple loss of $$'s. That and the fact that I had often befriended these morons and many times fed them way to much of my locally famous sassafras pork loin.
wabi-sabi
matthew
My uncle Leroy once ran such a business out of house like this. He called himself a wholesaler and referred to his repeat customers as retailers.
wabi-sabi
matthew
I can tell you have probably never dealt with such a situation. One last year for me is classic of what I and others I have known experienced. In this case I was t-boned by another driver who fully admitted all fault. The accident totaled my pickup, leaving it undriveable. Every step along the way from procuring towing and rental reimbursement to the final settlement was paved with a strategy of minimizing payment. The first offer they made on my pickup was less than half the honest replacement value. In the end I was out several hundred dollars cash and settled for about 85% of so the actual replacement value of the truck just to stop the cash hemorrhaging that I could not afford. Best of all this was from a insurance company that specializes in providing insurance to the religious community, the guy who hit me was a parson. Typical
wabi-sabi
Matthew
"Let me get this straight -- in rocket science, you can spend small and get great performance?"
Naw, but you can spend big and get shitty performance, happens all the time.
wabi sabi
matthew
AT&T, from my experience anyway. Cingular service went to hell since the AT&T group crawled out from under the rock. I am stuck with the cellular account for various reasons, one being my employer, but I simply killed my land line account as it was expensive and useless. I had a pretty decent relationship, with average or slightly better than average service with Bellsouth for many years prior to the merger, acquisition of AT&T, recreation of AT&T or whatever the heck it was. Simply put ever since service has been rotten from my POV. Maybe they need another breakup ;).
wabi-sabi
matthew
I had used DUCKU2 as the answer to a secret question at my bank once, had to tell both the clerk and her manager, they seemed to enjoy it though. Kinda like getting people to try and replicate the noise of a failing drive or A/C unit over the phone, (switch to speaker) could you repeat that please? "squealllll, chunka, chunka, squeellll". Sadly this often passes for entertainment around the shop, yea we are a pretty easy bunch to entertain.
wabi-sabi
matthew
If she likes it den dat taint da wong way, ya can tell from da feedback signal, eeyowwee you sob! == wong way but oohhhoo baby! == uhuhuh!
wabi-sabi
matthew
Heck at age eleven or so (1967) I regularly purchased by the pound, potassium nitrate, flowers of sulfur, rosin and charcoal from the local pharmacy to build black powder rocket engines, try that as an adult today.
wabi-sabi
matthew
My personal favorite novels were "Animal Farm" and "Coming up for air".
And this rather nice instructive rant on English language usage by this master thinker and word smith;
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
wabi-sabi
matthew
"The GPL is quite explicit: running the program is not restricted; unless you are modifying or distributing the software, you can do absolutely what you like."
The way I understand the GPL it would be more accurate to say; unless you are modifying AND distributing the software, you can do absolutely what you like. Someone correct me if I am not right on this VERY important point. Please quote the specific passage that requires you to distribute the source code for a GPL licensed program you have modified and use internally but have not marketed or otherwise distributed.
text below from Wikipedia:
"Copyleft applies only when a person seeks to redistribute the program. One is allowed to make private modified versions, without any obligation to divulge the modifications as long as the modified software is not distributed to anyone else. Note that the copyleft applies only to the software and not to its output (unless that output is itself a derivative work of the program); for example, a public web portal running a modified derivative of a GPL'ed content management system is not required to distribute its changes to the underlying software."
wabi-sabi
matthew
"The FBI, like all police agencies, is corrupt and incompetent, largely by design."
I have come to wonder if one main strategy of the Republican party for the last 12 years or so has been to destroy the public faith in the government. Maybe it is simply a combination of factors like the power drunkenness that comes on those with little opposition to restrain them and the tendency they have for patronage gone crazy, it would of course be really tough to not factor in the actual ineptness at the top levels of late.
Still considering the bold politicizing of agency's along side the gross failures of so many, I cannot help to think maybe they feel they have to prove their old mantra of all "government is inefficient and at best a necessary evil".
wabi-sabi
matthew
"So you're saying it's not how big it is, but it's how long it will last?"
Don't leave out speed, how fast one... I mean it, gets the job done is important too.
wabi-sabi
matthew
What the foundation is about... .. is preservation and expansion of power. Gates is not giving away this money he is simply diverting it from the tax roles. The actual divestment of the wealth to charities is a small fraction of the Foundations total holdings. I do not dispute that Gates has an interest in helping people. I do not dispute that on the balance the foundation could be a extraordinary positive agent of change in the world. However nearly all such foundations have a common trait due to the laws that support their existence. By giving away 5% of the wealth they avoid a tax rate that would most likely be higher than 5%. The reinvestment of the 95% remaining wealth should yield a average return of much better than 5%. From the basic facts in should be obvious that not only is the foundation perpetually self replenishing it is actually growing in wealth and thus power. Additionally the wealth it controls, it controls itself, not the representatives of the people via the tax man. So the power stays within the executors of the foundation perpetually, or at least as long as the laws allow it to do so.
As to whether an individual foundation turns out to be a beast or a angel will be for future historians to decide. In this specific case I can only note that due to the level of initial holdings, especially since Warren Buffet has chipped in, it has the potential to be one of the greatest agents of change in human history. Not only does it matter what is done with the 5-10% or so that goes to charitable efforts, what probably matters more is how the 90-95% not given away is invested. What probably matters more than anything is how the wealth and thus power accrued by the Foundation is managed. The problems that can be created by unethical use of the power that this level of wealth can buy should be apparent to anyone but the most dense.
Wabi-sabi
Matthew
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." Benjamin Franklin
wabi-sabi
matthew
"
This may shock you:
vampires are dead!"
Really, I think I have often heard them called the undead, or was that the zombies, or maybe it was the Republican party post Bush?
wabi-sabi
matthew
"I'm so tired of these ineffective and inconvenient excuses for the government to steal my rights in the name of protecting me. Fuck off already. At the rate things are going, the next round of so called 'terrorists' will actually be citizens revolting against the protective measures.... arrgghhhh"
Exactly. I have come to think that all these "security" measures are more about setting up the framework to deal with domestic malcontents than foreign interlopers. It seems to me there is a common perception from many people in powerful positions and those on the fringe of society that there is a bad storm on the horizon. Those of us in the comfortable section of society have been to busy with our long but easily lived hours to see it. You know "someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm".
wabi-sabi
matthew
"Does that indicate that we now look at Microsoft as "grown up?""
We must be, 'cause kids don't lie about or refuse to be accountable for their actions or toss chairs in angry hissy fits do they?
wabi-sabi
matthew
I have taken large doses of a B complex for most my life as instructed by a physician in the early 60's as a treatment for hyperactive type behavior. From what I have read the primary active agent is Niacin. The original dose instructions equated to 50mg Niacin a day as a child of six. At age fifty my usual daily dose of Niacin varies from 100 to 200 mg. If I happen to miss a couple days I get noticeably fuzzy headed and sluggish. A single 100mg dose seems to help defuzz me in a couple hours or so. I have noticed similar if a bit slower to act results from Ginkgo as well and take it occasionally. I have also noticed Ginseng taken with either Niacin or Ginkgo seems to help level and extend the benefits as well as reducing the ammonia odor in my first urine of the day probably because it has a diuretic effect and thus simply dilutes my urine.
wabi-sabi
matthew
"They are NOT gases or fine particles."
I agree on the part about gases, and generally agree with you on the most commonly used face masks. However the issue of particle size and the protection provided is dependent on the rating and method of use of the mask. Those used in hospital isolation instances are rated for a specific size particle and up. The NIOSH designation for these masks are N95 and is so designated by the ability to prevent the passage of particles up to the 95th percentile or a particle size of about 3 microns and larger. To provide proper protection the mask type must be matched or fitted to the wearers face type and they need to be clean shaven where the masks sealing edge meets the meat so to speak. The biggest problem with this type of protection device is that the act of removing and discarding it can easily expose you to the materials or pathogens it captured, plus people have the habit of reusing the masks which is poor practice.
I work in health care as an operations HVAC alarms/controls technician and we have finally taken to using "papper hoods" which use HEPA rated cartridge type filters and battery pak fan powered vinyl/poly hoods to provide a clean forced positive pressure air supply. The fit and sealing are not an issue plus the removal and cleanup of the reusable device is safer.
The short line is that N95 type of face masks will provide pretty good protection for things like mowing your yard, or occasional light construction, wood or auto shop work IF you take care to fit them well and remove and dispose of them carefully, it is best not to reuse them. On the other hand the masks most folks buy at the hardware store, the ones with the label that says they "will not protect your lungs" are worse than nothing at all. If you have sever allergy issues or are involved in regular work in environments of concern then a papper hood setup is not that expensive, a few hundred I believe. Plus you can buy the swappable cartridges rated for some chemicals/gases as well.
wabi-sabi
matthew
I would hate the think what the results of "cat" would look like.
wabi sabi
matthew
"2400 years later, we still didn't reach a conclusion. Go figure..."
Pick any type of event or content and there are people who are emboldened or aroused to action, there are those who are sated, there those who are repulsed, there are those who are unaffected. The issue is as it always has been is there are also those who would try to use extreme examples to further their own ambitions for power and control or to simply push their own world view for ego gratification.
This all being said I personally think that what one has as an input has to be considered as affecting ones output. I think at a specific level of consciousness our minds are basically organic self programming computation devices. If you choose to input information of a specific genera without any conflicting data your output will be observant of this. Not quite "monkey see, monkey do" but the long term implications of such behavior would similar. If you choose ONLY one input type, be it of violent pornography, the rants of a crazy preacher or mullah, the teachings of classic philosophers, the study of chemistry or physics you can expect your output to reflect your choice of input. Aristotle had a fix for this in "the golden mean" or "moderation in all things", which actually reflects the way most people live their lives.
However there are "some people" who choose to limit their inputs to those that reflect their world view as compiled to date, hence the popularity of stuff like extreme political views, religious orders, FOX News and the various tabloids. Remember where I mentioned those people who would use such to further their own ambitions. All this is human nature as viewed from the amber side. We have been through these before and will again. There have been many microcosms of "dark ages" and "enlightenments" the best we can hope for is to avoid the longer darker ones. With the issues today like the complexity and size of our global civilization, the cultural mixing in real time instead of decades, the dependency and unintended consequence type dangers that come in tandem with technological progress, the depletion of resources and the explosion in disparity of wealth I feel a great unease about the near future.
Good old Eric Blair had an excellent insight into human nature, the English in particular, and great skill as a word smith. This is why his works seem so relevant today, they are based on countless millennial old observations of the human animal.
wabi-sabi
matthew
How long before someone sneaks in long pig as a modest proposal? A smart ass comment of "eat me" takes on new rather disturbing implications. How about custom receipe creations via grow your own kits, of course hawked by one Billy Mayes for only three easy payments of 19.95+shipping? How about DNA mixing kits and chimeras? Be a butt head and pass out on your buddies couch and wake up with a mosquito bite or two, a few weeks later someone has a new grilled geeky goat recipe.
Go ahead mod me down because these are ridiculous and extreme examples of how this could go all wrong. But I notice a lot of just as insanely stupid stuff happening everyday that is ignored by the same people that would have decried as silly any prediction of such.
As far as I am concerned you can all go eat yourselves anyway, after all who should have the right to tell you that you can't?
wabi-sabi
matthew
One million is less than one half of one percent of the total population. I suspect that even within the /. population that less than 2% of us are on this list. The question is not whether or not the one million are actually part of an active terrorist network. The question is can the government get away with the systematic violation of the civil rights of these people. I think that the 99.5 plus percent of the rest of the population will for the most part not even notice it. The intent is to discourage dissent in as much as possible. These types of actions also tend to to cause the logical and physical retraction of groups, that is they close ranks helping to prevent large collations or confederations from forming. It is much easier to quietly deal with a few hundred "militia" types here and there than a confederation of hundreds of thousands of the same.
The sad part of this all is that one half of one percent of the population probably deserves to be on a list of persons who should be considered suspect of doing wicked things and being a danger to the nation, problem is most of them will never be on such a list, worst of all the cream of this crop are involved in creating such a list in the first place.
wabi-sabi
matthew