"...especially since most people would equate a programming language with an action."
I recall reading about the original when it first appeared, IIRC the name was selected as a tribute to the game of go. The game is a well known example of complex behaviour from a few simple rules that is often used in computer science and logistics undergrad courses.
Complex behaviour from a few simple rules is an important concept in programming languages (and mathematics), the fact that standard C has only 30-odd keywords and can create abtitralily complex applications is a least partially responsible for it being the lingua franca of computer languages.
IMHO the two geeky kids* in charge of Google should change the name for no other reason than "it's the right thing to do", especially to a fellow geek.
kids* - My eldest son turns 30 next year, now get off my lawn unless you want to mow it...
...or are the sharks down under simply more aggressive?"
I would guess we have a lot more pointers than CA just because of the scale of their territory and the abundance of prey down here, but not all attacks are white pointers, mako sharks and the now rare grey nurse shark (amoung others) are also known to attack people.
For once I agree witb timmarthy (the GP), it's common knowledge in Australia that swimming/surfing anywhere near a seal colony is tempting fate (especially near dusk or dawn).
Oz Trivia: "White pointers" is a euphemisim for topless bathers.
"The thing about wind power that I don't really understand is what the long term effects of taking massive amounts of energy from the wind and pumping it into the power grid will have."
The wind occurs in the bottom ~5km of the atmosphere. The largest windmill is ~100 meters tall, covering the entire planets surface with windmills would have about the same effect on wind as covering it with large trees, ie: virtually nil.
People rarely appreciate just how much power the wind has, on the day of the Aussie bushfire disaster last Febuary, I was sitting at home sweltering in 47degC heat fed by a 100km hour wind coming off the desert, native bats and birds were literally falling out of trees dead from dehydration, my punny fan on a stand did nothing to aleviate the discomfort unless I got out of a cold shower and stood in front of it still dripping. Ironically these winds and the blast furnace conditions they bring are created by cold fronts moving in from the Antartic, when the front passed over Melbourne that day, the temprature dropped by 15deg in 15 minutes.
Now to put windmills cumulative effects on the wind into perspective think about running them in reverse and how many you would need to to drag that amount of cold air from Antartica to Australia.
"his motor neurone disease would have caused him to be considered a huge 'burden' during his childhood"
Not that it detracts from your point but he did not show any symptoms until after he was enrolled in Cambridge, his case is also very unusual in that most sufferers are lucky to last a decade after the onset of symptoms.
"What does Paris Hilton produce? I'm no communist, but the mere fact that she exists makes me think again."
Hilton used to be universally associated with the chain of luxuray hotels her daddy owns, I chalk up her existence as an example of capitalist aristocracy.
"I guess the critical question is how realistic is it that bacteria have survived the trip from Earth to Mars on the backs of meteorites?"
The solar wind offers another transport mechanisim that doesn't need metorites. It could simply blow spores off the top of Earth's atmosphere in the direction of Mars, like a giant dandylion[sic] without the stalk.
"If we just look at empirical facts, the probability of finding life twice in the same solar system is not huge."
Hey Eienstien, that's not an emprical fact. It's not even a statistic, it's an anecdote, a single data point from a virtually infinite population of solar systems.
Here in Australia we have a concept known as "A fair go" -AKA- "A fair suck of the sav".
I genuinely belive you have been mislead by political muck rakers, if you have the courage to entertain self-scepticisim then give Holdren a fair suck of the sav by reading the book in question, or at least use it to put the quotes from your link in context.
Don't get me wrong here I'm not trying to debate your political views or defend Holdren's views. You asked for someone to defend Holdren and I did by pointing out he also has rights under your admirable founding documents.
I'm an old fart, I learnt critical thinking the easy way (ie: early in life), at about age 20 I read a book by James Randi that totally demolished my firmly held belief in the paranormal. Politicians use many of the same phycological tricks that magicians use, since then I have found that going to the source on any issue often results in political enlightenment.
As a genuinely disinterested observer, out of context quotes do not trump sworn testimony. If the republicans have evidence that refutes his testimony then why didn't they bring it up at the confirmation? Why aren't they screaming perjury?
"this is the USA. We have a right to a government we can trust. Holdren should be ineligible for government positions of responsibility in a non-totalitarian regime. Maybe someday we can have one of those again."
No you have a right to cast a vote for who YOU trust and a right to observe the ballot count. Holdren also has rights such as the presumption of innocence, and the right to hold and express any OPINIONS he likes, regardless of wether he works for the government or not.
To sack him for him for ANY opinion (let alone one he refutes under oath) would be tantamount to convicting him of a thought crime. When the US starts prosecuting it's government advisers for thought crimes I will accept your proposition that it has become a totalitarian regime.
In my lifetime the world's population has more than doubled, that fact is currently treated as the "elephant in the room" in any discussions about our species future.
I accept your basic facts, I'm not american and know little of him but WP largely agrees with your link in that Holdren speculated on radical birth control and actively supported SOME of those ideas. However it also states - "He testified to the nomination committee that he does not believe that government should have a role in determining optimal population size [6] and that he has never endorsed forced sterilization."
Without the benifit of actually reading the book it looks to me it's your typical "acedemic investigates doomsday population senarios" type of thing that was fashionable in the 70's and 80's. However to go from there to a vast government sterilization conspiracy taking place via flu shots is a political leap of (bad) faith that I'm not willing to take.
"And by the way, chlorine in water is not just the single biggest public health improvement of the 20th century. It is by far the biggest health improvement in the entire history of the human species"
Same thing really, but I would argue the 19th century sewer works and the germ theory that inspired the use of chlorine were just as important.
No dude, Bill Maher is not a smart guy at all....He was rather funny as a comedian
Critical thinking is a skill, intelligence is inate. Successful stand up comedians are ALL "smart", if you doubt that then try earning a buck making people laugh.
Remeber that Murdoch is the guy who in the 80's busted the UK's entrenched print unions by modernising the Fleet street presses.
He doesn't want Google or anyone else to stop linking or he would have already stopped them by technical means, what he wants is a slice of Google pie, the bigger the slice the better. If he thinks ordinary people can't see through his feigned "push for paid content" then his sense of entilment must be at least an order of magnitute larger than his media empire.
I know it's your god given right to wear a tinfoil hat and shun modern medicine but please keep out of the way while the rest of us excersise our right to be duped into involontary sterilization.
"Wash your hands, don't pick your nose, stay away from people who show symptoms, don't share your keyboard, mouse, cell phone, or cup, get plenty of fresh air and exercise, eat right, have adequate ventilation, stay away from smokers, have a glass of something alcoholic every day or two, and you'll be fine, and you'll lower your chances of rheumetoid arthritis in your old age."
No you won't be fine, flu is an airborne disease. Besides I'd much rather have a jab and a hypothetical chance of aches and pains in old age than going full OCD for the rest of my life.
If everyone had the flu shot, there would be no more flu.
If more people have the flu shot, there will be less flu than there is now.
Absolutely not true.
How did the GP get +5 informative?
Sure an ounce prevention is worth a pound of cure but the GP does not seem to recognise vaccines as prevention. My guess is the GP is a fit and arrogant man who is way too young to remeber polio or smallpox. I'm sure he will change his opinions after he wakes up one morning and experiences his first bout of pneumonia.
I only know Maher from youtube clips, he is a smart and funny guy but every now and then he demonstrates he hasn't quite got the hang of the critical thinking thing and comes out with "alternative" health advise that makes me groan. I once heard him repeat the 1990's greenpeace meme that putting clorine in the water to kill bugs was a BadThing(TM), never mind that it is probably the single biggest public health improvement of the 20th century in terms of lives saved.
Slashdot Mirror
FWIW - You made me laugh. :)
"...especially since most people would equate a programming language with an action."
I recall reading about the original when it first appeared, IIRC the name was selected as a tribute to the game of go. The game is a well known example of complex behaviour from a few simple rules that is often used in computer science and logistics undergrad courses.
Complex behaviour from a few simple rules is an important concept in programming languages (and mathematics), the fact that standard C has only 30-odd keywords and can create abtitralily complex applications is a least partially responsible for it being the lingua franca of computer languages.
IMHO the two geeky kids* in charge of Google should change the name for no other reason than "it's the right thing to do", especially to a fellow geek.
kids* - My eldest son turns 30 next year, now get off my lawn unless you want to mow it...
...or are the sharks down under simply more aggressive?"
I would guess we have a lot more pointers than CA just because of the scale of their territory and the abundance of prey down here, but not all attacks are white pointers, mako sharks and the now rare grey nurse shark (amoung others) are also known to attack people.
For once I agree witb timmarthy (the GP), it's common knowledge in Australia that swimming/surfing anywhere near a seal colony is tempting fate (especially near dusk or dawn).
Oz Trivia: "White pointers" is a euphemisim for topless bathers.
Nah, stating the obvious is just a hobby for me.
"you beet me to it
That'll happen if you sit around vegitating.
"The thing about wind power that I don't really understand is what the long term effects of taking massive amounts of energy from the wind and pumping it into the power grid will have."
The wind occurs in the bottom ~5km of the atmosphere. The largest windmill is ~100 meters tall, covering the entire planets surface with windmills would have about the same effect on wind as covering it with large trees, ie: virtually nil.
People rarely appreciate just how much power the wind has, on the day of the Aussie bushfire disaster last Febuary, I was sitting at home sweltering in 47degC heat fed by a 100km hour wind coming off the desert, native bats and birds were literally falling out of trees dead from dehydration, my punny fan on a stand did nothing to aleviate the discomfort unless I got out of a cold shower and stood in front of it still dripping. Ironically these winds and the blast furnace conditions they bring are created by cold fronts moving in from the Antartic, when the front passed over Melbourne that day, the temprature dropped by 15deg in 15 minutes.
Now to put windmills cumulative effects on the wind into perspective think about running them in reverse and how many you would need to to drag that amount of cold air from Antartica to Australia.
"That's why technology is developed to reduce the negative outcomes of those accidents (crumple zones, seat belts, airbags)"
An air bag that explodes in the users face when they click on a spam link is a wonderfull inovation, where can I get them in bulk?
"his motor neurone disease would have caused him to be considered a huge 'burden' during his childhood"
Not that it detracts from your point but he did not show any symptoms until after he was enrolled in Cambridge, his case is also very unusual in that most sufferers are lucky to last a decade after the onset of symptoms.
"What does Paris Hilton produce? I'm no communist, but the mere fact that she exists makes me think again."
Hilton used to be universally associated with the chain of luxuray hotels her daddy owns, I chalk up her existence as an example of capitalist aristocracy.
"I guess the critical question is how realistic is it that bacteria have survived the trip from Earth to Mars on the backs of meteorites?"
The solar wind offers another transport mechanisim that doesn't need metorites. It could simply blow spores off the top of Earth's atmosphere in the direction of Mars, like a giant dandylion[sic] without the stalk.
"If we just look at empirical facts, the probability of finding life twice in the same solar system is not huge."
Hey Eienstien, that's not an emprical fact. It's not even a statistic, it's an anecdote, a single data point from a virtually infinite population of solar systems.
"Reproductive "success" is not genetic anymore, its based on social factors. The goal of most humans is no longer to spawn the most progeny."
The goal of most people is to have sex, the pill is one of the most influential and underrated inventions of the 20th century.
"How the fuck parent got modded up is beyond me."
You'll see that all of the random ass-headed cruelty of the world will suddenly make perfect sense once we go inside the monkeysphere.
Here in Australia we have a concept known as "A fair go" -AKA- "A fair suck of the sav".
I genuinely belive you have been mislead by political muck rakers, if you have the courage to entertain self-scepticisim then give Holdren a fair suck of the sav by reading the book in question, or at least use it to put the quotes from your link in context.
Don't get me wrong here I'm not trying to debate your political views or defend Holdren's views. You asked for someone to defend Holdren and I did by pointing out he also has rights under your admirable founding documents.
I'm an old fart, I learnt critical thinking the easy way (ie: early in life), at about age 20 I read a book by James Randi that totally demolished my firmly held belief in the paranormal. Politicians use many of the same phycological tricks that magicians use, since then I have found that going to the source on any issue often results in political enlightenment.
As a genuinely disinterested observer, out of context quotes do not trump sworn testimony. If the republicans have evidence that refutes his testimony then why didn't they bring it up at the confirmation? Why aren't they screaming perjury?
"this is the USA. We have a right to a government we can trust. Holdren should be ineligible for government positions of responsibility in a non-totalitarian regime. Maybe someday we can have one of those again."
No you have a right to cast a vote for who YOU trust and a right to observe the ballot count. Holdren also has rights such as the presumption of innocence, and the right to hold and express any OPINIONS he likes, regardless of wether he works for the government or not.
To sack him for him for ANY opinion (let alone one he refutes under oath) would be tantamount to convicting him of a thought crime. When the US starts prosecuting it's government advisers for thought crimes I will accept your proposition that it has become a totalitarian regime.
I don't know about the GP but I only needed one look. Do you realise you have reinvented Luminiferous ether?
Good point, how could I forget "portals"!
"I haven't heard any defense of Holdren, BTW"
In my lifetime the world's population has more than doubled, that fact is currently treated as the "elephant in the room" in any discussions about our species future.
I accept your basic facts, I'm not american and know little of him but WP largely agrees with your link in that Holdren speculated on radical birth control and actively supported SOME of those ideas. However it also states - "He testified to the nomination committee that he does not believe that government should have a role in determining optimal population size [6] and that he has never endorsed forced sterilization."
Without the benifit of actually reading the book it looks to me it's your typical "acedemic investigates doomsday population senarios" type of thing that was fashionable in the 70's and 80's. However to go from there to a vast government sterilization conspiracy taking place via flu shots is a political leap of (bad) faith that I'm not willing to take.
"And by the way, chlorine in water is not just the single biggest public health improvement of the 20th century. It is by far the biggest health improvement in the entire history of the human species"
Same thing really, but I would argue the 19th century sewer works and the germ theory that inspired the use of chlorine were just as important.
No dude, Bill Maher is not a smart guy at all....He was rather funny as a comedian
Critical thinking is a skill, intelligence is inate. Successful stand up comedians are ALL "smart", if you doubt that then try earning a buck making people laugh.
Remeber that Murdoch is the guy who in the 80's busted the UK's entrenched print unions by modernising the Fleet street presses.
He doesn't want Google or anyone else to stop linking or he would have already stopped them by technical means, what he wants is a slice of Google pie, the bigger the slice the better. If he thinks ordinary people can't see through his feigned "push for paid content" then his sense of entilment must be at least an order of magnitute larger than his media empire.
I know it's your god given right to wear a tinfoil hat and shun modern medicine but please keep out of the way while the rest of us excersise our right to be duped into involontary sterilization.
"Wash your hands, don't pick your nose, stay away from people who show symptoms, don't share your keyboard, mouse, cell phone, or cup, get plenty of fresh air and exercise, eat right, have adequate ventilation, stay away from smokers, have a glass of something alcoholic every day or two, and you'll be fine, and you'll lower your chances of rheumetoid arthritis in your old age."
No you won't be fine, flu is an airborne disease. Besides I'd much rather have a jab and a hypothetical chance of aches and pains in old age than going full OCD for the rest of my life.
How did the GP get +5 informative?
Sure an ounce prevention is worth a pound of cure but the GP does not seem to recognise vaccines as prevention. My guess is the GP is a fit and arrogant man who is way too young to remeber polio or smallpox. I'm sure he will change his opinions after he wakes up one morning and experiences his first bout of pneumonia.
I only know Maher from youtube clips, he is a smart and funny guy but every now and then he demonstrates he hasn't quite got the hang of the critical thinking thing and comes out with "alternative" health advise that makes me groan. I once heard him repeat the 1990's greenpeace meme that putting clorine in the water to kill bugs was a BadThing(TM), never mind that it is probably the single biggest public health improvement of the 20th century in terms of lives saved.
"I make 50K per year (before taxes) and would like to be filthy rich someday."
They call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to belive it. - Carlin