I went to HS when a non-scientific calculator cost a months wages and did my CS degree before the advent of the web and ubiquitious email, but that doesn't mean these things are not useful tools for today's students. As for the utility of lectures, the problem with teaching yourself is that the teacher and the student are always at the same level of ignorance/enlightenment. But essentially I agree with you, no matter what tools you use you won't learn a thing if your not interested and don't practice.
An 18+ category will happen now that all the states attorney generals are in favour of fixing the obvious bug in the classification system, but the wheels of government turn slowly.
Intenet censorship is a political football in Australia, both major parties have been both for and against it over the last decade and more. The fact is the issue is used as a bargaining chip when horse trading votes with batshit crazy independent senators who under certain circumstances hold the balance of power in the senate. There is no serious intention by the 3 largest political parties to enact censorship laws, but at the same time the party in government must appear to support it (endless inquiries, lip-service, ect) to keep the batshit senators on side until they dissapear at the next election.
If you watch it closely it's kind of comical, for instance one batshit crazy senator found his own anti-abortion sponsors appearing on the "leaked" blacklist, for some reason he stopped aggitating for censorship after that.
Take a piece of plain paper and burn it completely. The solid matter you have left is pure carbon.
No, the solid stuff that is left is ash which is primarily calcium carbonate. Most of the carbon in the paper is burnt and floats away as CO2.
You could make a carbon crucible, put a steel ingot into it, then fire it and the steel will melt well before the carbon does anything remotely interesting.
Yet most of the worlds electricity is generated by doing the exact opposite, (burning carbon in steel crucibles).
Workarounds do not solve the root problem, nor will ignoring it make it go away, but a "work to rule" campaign might force a change, ie: shut down every linux server in the US and watch congress squeal like a stuck pig.
So apparently we can just mix and match random old techniques, and call it innovation and get it patented?
This particular combination of old techniques is nothing new. I was taught how to create a hash table using linked lists to manage collisions in first year CS back in 1989. The idea of software patents is bad enough but the fact that patents are awarded for algorithims that have been in text books for decades is absurd.
Exactly, our model of reality breaks down when contemplating things such as FTL travel and singularities. It seems to say that causality is broken but we simply don't know because with our current state of knowledge nature will not allow us to do the experiments. However experiments on the spontaneous creation of matter-antimatter pairs by "borrowing energy from the future" (ie: the quantum vacum) does seem to indicate causality can be broken at the quantum scale.
The person doing the cheating is the only one doing evil in that case.
No, the evil is a legal system that does not adhere to no-fault divorce principles. Such a system forces both parties to conduct a witch hunt if they want to retain their share of the assets, and when you look for evil you will inevitably find it. Aside from divorce laws, if trust has dropped so low that a person wants to hire someone to snoop on their partner, then they should save their money and simply walk away because the relationship is already dead.
I also cannot see any reason that FTL should imply time travel, any more than supersonic flight should interfere with.cause and effect.
Supersonic flight is nowhere near relativistic speeds so your Newtonian world won't noticably change. However according to Eienstien when you aproach the speed of light your mass appraches infinity, your length aproaches zero, and time flows like molasses in the winter. This implies that anything with mass cannot travel at the speed of light since it's mass would be infinite and therefore require infinite energy to get to that speed. A photon has no mass but it's direction can be "bent" if it passes near a large mass such as the sun, this implies that spacetime itself is warped by gravity and the photon is actualy traveling in a straght line in it's own frame of reference;ie the direction of travel is both curved and straight depending on the frame of reference. Time acts in similarly bizzare ways depending on the reference frame, ie: the photon "sees" all of eternity flash past in an instant whereas the observer sees it travel through space for billions of years.
The reason time goes bacwards in hypothetical FTL travel is purely mathematical, ie: the sign of T becomes negative (even more bizzare, length also becomes negative). Truth is nobody knows what happens in reality when you travel FTL beacuse in reality FTL travel appears to be impossible.
It not about "baby proofing the world" it's about justice; ie: holding fraudsters to account for their crimes no matter how dumb/greedy/ignorant their victims are.
It often amazes me that people who think of themselves as technically oriented and intelligent can't handle basic multiplication/division/addition/subtraction in analysing their own thoughts. And no, this isn't a dig at the parent, though it should have been obvious to him that the 400 km square (which is NOT what the OP said) wouldn't work either. It was, in fact, a dig at the OP.
OP here,
First, dismount from your high horse so I can speak to you like a human.
Second, it was not a math mistake it was a faulty recollection of something I read (and checked) long ago, I did indeed mistakenly recall 400 km sq as 400 sq km.
Third, 13^12 / 16 ^10 ~= 81; 81 / 1370w/sq.m (global average) ~= 17% efficientcy. So were down to a factor of two taking into account night time.
Fourth, put it in the desert where the AVERAGE solar irradiance is above 7kw/sq m and your "off by a factor of ten" looks like it was extracted from where the sun doesn't shine at all.
Have you ever been addicted to something? Heroin? Painkillers? Cocaine? Any actual experience of addiction?
Yep, been hooked on one of the most addictive substances known to man for 35yrs (nicotine). South Park was spot on, the only cure for my "disease" is to decide I want to be cured.
How is it involuntary?
All I can do to try and explain addiction to someone who has not experienced it is to offer a philosophical quote from Einstien about the illusion of free will - "A man cannot will what he wills".
[Buffett] has openly stated his disagreement with the concept of inheritance, and keeping in line with his beliefs, he has slated for most of his wealth (~90%) to be given away to various charitable organizations.
More importantly, Gates and Buffett have also pursaded roughly 50 gazzillionaires to make similar philanthropic pledges. As a cynical old fart I have to say I was suprised to find Zuckerberg and Ellison on that list.
And unlike Zuckerberg, [Buffett] is completely self-made, and is worth just as much (and has much more tangible holdings to his name, too).
Facebook is valued at ~$50B by share price. According to the Forbes 2010 rich list, Zuckerberg's personal wealth is $7B which is significantly less that Gates ($54B) and Buffett ($45B). At #42 of the Forbes list, Zuckerberg is notable mainly because of his age and the speed with which he accumulated his wealth.
Perhaps he saw the light in his old age and changed his ways (in which case more power to him), but somehow I doubt it.
I don't admire the way BG aquired his wealth but from as far back as the DOS days he said he would give most of it to charity after he turned 55, I think he deserves some credit for putting $30 billion where his mouth was.
400 sq/km of standard PV cells will match the current global generating capacity (~13TW). A square 20km on a side covered by PV cells would be incredibly expensive but it's hardly "carpeting every available inch".
Slashdot Mirror
I went to HS when a non-scientific calculator cost a months wages and did my CS degree before the advent of the web and ubiquitious email, but that doesn't mean these things are not useful tools for today's students. As for the utility of lectures, the problem with teaching yourself is that the teacher and the student are always at the same level of ignorance/enlightenment. But essentially I agree with you, no matter what tools you use you won't learn a thing if your not interested and don't practice.
I resent someone telling me I can't stream my own work from my own site without giving them money.
I would resent somone putting a toll both on my driveway but neither of these things are actually happening.
An 18+ category will happen now that all the states attorney generals are in favour of fixing the obvious bug in the classification system, but the wheels of government turn slowly.
The "Great firewall of Oz" has always been moot to those of us who watch Aussie politics.
Intenet censorship is a political football in Australia, both major parties have been both for and against it over the last decade and more. The fact is the issue is used as a bargaining chip when horse trading votes with batshit crazy independent senators who under certain circumstances hold the balance of power in the senate. There is no serious intention by the 3 largest political parties to enact censorship laws, but at the same time the party in government must appear to support it (endless inquiries, lip-service, ect) to keep the batshit senators on side until they dissapear at the next election.
If you watch it closely it's kind of comical, for instance one batshit crazy senator found his own anti-abortion sponsors appearing on the "leaked" blacklist, for some reason he stopped aggitating for censorship after that.
Australia is also well known for its censorship.
...by those who know nothing about Australia.
Take a piece of plain paper and burn it completely. The solid matter you have left is pure carbon.
No, the solid stuff that is left is ash which is primarily calcium carbonate. Most of the carbon in the paper is burnt and floats away as CO2.
You could make a carbon crucible, put a steel ingot into it, then fire it and the steel will melt well before the carbon does anything remotely interesting.
Yet most of the worlds electricity is generated by doing the exact opposite, (burning carbon in steel crucibles).
He would not appreciate people holding his teaching behinds artificial barriers.
Actually Feynman would have told you to put two sticks together to reach the bannana.
The GP deserves some of your points.
Workarounds do not solve the root problem, nor will ignoring it make it go away, but a "work to rule" campaign might force a change, ie: shut down every linux server in the US and watch congress squeal like a stuck pig.
So apparently we can just mix and match random old techniques, and call it innovation and get it patented?
This particular combination of old techniques is nothing new. I was taught how to create a hash table using linked lists to manage collisions in first year CS back in 1989. The idea of software patents is bad enough but the fact that patents are awarded for algorithims that have been in text books for decades is absurd.
Exactly, our model of reality breaks down when contemplating things such as FTL travel and singularities. It seems to say that causality is broken but we simply don't know because with our current state of knowledge nature will not allow us to do the experiments. However experiments on the spontaneous creation of matter-antimatter pairs by "borrowing energy from the future" (ie: the quantum vacum) does seem to indicate causality can be broken at the quantum scale.
The person doing the cheating is the only one doing evil in that case.
No, the evil is a legal system that does not adhere to no-fault divorce principles. Such a system forces both parties to conduct a witch hunt if they want to retain their share of the assets, and when you look for evil you will inevitably find it. Aside from divorce laws, if trust has dropped so low that a person wants to hire someone to snoop on their partner, then they should save their money and simply walk away because the relationship is already dead.
All of the random ass-headed cruelty of the world will suddenly make perfect sense once you go inside the Monkeysphere
I also cannot see any reason that FTL should imply time travel, any more than supersonic flight should interfere with.cause and effect.
Supersonic flight is nowhere near relativistic speeds so your Newtonian world won't noticably change. However according to Eienstien when you aproach the speed of light your mass appraches infinity, your length aproaches zero, and time flows like molasses in the winter. This implies that anything with mass cannot travel at the speed of light since it's mass would be infinite and therefore require infinite energy to get to that speed. A photon has no mass but it's direction can be "bent" if it passes near a large mass such as the sun, this implies that spacetime itself is warped by gravity and the photon is actualy traveling in a straght line in it's own frame of reference;ie the direction of travel is both curved and straight depending on the frame of reference. Time acts in similarly bizzare ways depending on the reference frame, ie: the photon "sees" all of eternity flash past in an instant whereas the observer sees it travel through space for billions of years.
The reason time goes bacwards in hypothetical FTL travel is purely mathematical, ie: the sign of T becomes negative (even more bizzare, length also becomes negative). Truth is nobody knows what happens in reality when you travel FTL beacuse in reality FTL travel appears to be impossible.
It not about "baby proofing the world" it's about justice; ie: holding fraudsters to account for their crimes no matter how dumb/greedy/ignorant their victims are.
It often amazes me that people who think of themselves as technically oriented and intelligent can't handle basic multiplication/division/addition/subtraction in analysing their own thoughts. And no, this isn't a dig at the parent, though it should have been obvious to him that the 400 km square (which is NOT what the OP said) wouldn't work either. It was, in fact, a dig at the OP.
OP here,
First, dismount from your high horse so I can speak to you like a human.
Second, it was not a math mistake it was a faulty recollection of something I read (and checked) long ago, I did indeed mistakenly recall 400 km sq as 400 sq km.
Third, 13^12 / 16 ^10 ~= 81; 81 / 1370w/sq.m (global average) ~= 17% efficientcy. So were down to a factor of two taking into account night time.
Fourth, put it in the desert where the AVERAGE solar irradiance is above 7kw/sq m and your "off by a factor of ten" looks like it was extracted from where the sun doesn't shine at all.
Yep that's exactly where I fucked up. I was using my faulty memory rather than a calculator.
Opps crossed the quote streams - got to type quickly before my PC falls into that swirly thing that suddenly appeared on my desk.
Have you ever been addicted to something? Heroin? Painkillers? Cocaine? Any actual experience of addiction?
Yep, been hooked on one of the most addictive substances known to man for 35yrs (nicotine). South Park was spot on, the only cure for my "disease" is to decide I want to be cured.
How is it involuntary?
All I can do to try and explain addiction to someone who has not experienced it is to offer a philosophical quote from Einstien about the illusion of free will - "A man cannot will what he wills".
[Buffett] has openly stated his disagreement with the concept of inheritance, and keeping in line with his beliefs, he has slated for most of his wealth (~90%) to be given away to various charitable organizations.
More importantly, Gates and Buffett have also pursaded roughly 50 gazzillionaires to make similar philanthropic pledges. As a cynical old fart I have to say I was suprised to find Zuckerberg and Ellison on that list.
And unlike Zuckerberg, [Buffett] is completely self-made, and is worth just as much (and has much more tangible holdings to his name, too).
Facebook is valued at ~$50B by share price. According to the Forbes 2010 rich list, Zuckerberg's personal wealth is $7B which is significantly less that Gates ($54B) and Buffett ($45B). At #42 of the Forbes list, Zuckerberg is notable mainly because of his age and the speed with which he accumulated his wealth.
Perhaps he saw the light in his old age and changed his ways (in which case more power to him), but somehow I doubt it.
I don't admire the way BG aquired his wealth but from as far back as the DOS days he said he would give most of it to charity after he turned 55, I think he deserves some credit for putting $30 billion where his mouth was.
Parsing is what computers do, comprehending is what humans do.
Lots of people will try a cracked game in order to see if the game is worth buying.
And then blame M$ for their malware infested windows box.
400 sq/km of standard PV cells will match the current global generating capacity (~13TW). A square 20km on a side covered by PV cells would be incredibly expensive but it's hardly "carpeting every available inch".