"I don't understand how you can follow a belief system that selectively accepts what we have learned from the scientific process; it works for EVERYTHING else, but not evolution?"
There is still a sizable population of slashdotters who think the scientific process doesn't work when it comes to climate.
IMHO there is too little effort spent teaching the role of skepticisim in science and too much effort spent teaching factoids. I think the good reverend was trying to make a similar point but that was ignored in favour of a good ol' fashion witch burning.
That's it in a nutshell. Bussiness people want certainty and can't understand why "proffesionals" have such a problem delivering on time. Technical people can't understand why milestones matter. Neither group fully understands what it is that they are building./gross_generalization.
To use a building analogy, I would have no problem hiring various tradesmen to build a townhouse in my backyard. However if I have to get a bridging loan to pay for the gap between construction and sale of said townhouse it becomes imperitive that (say) the plubmer turns up on the right day and gets the job done in the time he quoted.
Where I live in Australia you would need to get written permission from you neighbours to build the balcony I described or redisign it so that you could not see into their existing private space.
You are not forced to employ an architect but if you have an unreasonable neighboor an architect that knows the planning laws is worth their weight in gold.
"What does the Arrafat thing matter? The Palestinian territories don't have any oil."
If Arrafat was unimportant then why send the US sectratary of state into a bombed out building surrounded by tanks and 2.5 million "terrorists"? Don't they have mobile phones in Palestine?
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon, not a drop of oil between them, do they matter?
"You need to take a long hard look at the kind of people running America"
Two things I would like to see are; the missing Saudi pages from the 2002 US intelligence report, and a transcript of the converstaion between Powell and Arrafat when Powell visited Arrafat during Israel's siege of his HQ's. The first was widely reported, the second less so but I am dammned if I can find a decent reference or news report about either.
Yes, the old saying goes; "A bad tradesman blames his tools".
A DeWalt may have a longer life but it's unlikely to matter with home renovations (I have done heaps of renovating and have only worn out two "crappy" power drills over 30yrs). For single use expensive stuff like post hole diggers and floor sanders it is much better to hire them, but a portable drop saw and one of those multi-purpose benchtops are good investments.
One place where you should not skimp on quality is the part that does the actual cutting, eg sawblades, router cutters, drill bits, ect. If you buy tungsten tipped you will only need to buy them once.
"Or you could ignore the permits as no one will ever know anyway. It's not really any of their business to begin with."
So it's none of my bussiness when next door builds a balcony that robs my private yard of both privacy and light?
I hope your local council rips down your shack and gives you leggo blocks to practice with until you understand you are not the only person on the planet.
"Have you considered doing work on the house yourself?"
This is a great advice! The first 10yrs of my working life were spent as a day labourer in various places mainly the building industry. I bought a second hand Apple IIe as a hobby in the mid-eighties, a few years later I found I could make money from my hobby and decided to educate myself properly. I have been a well paid geek now for almost 20yrs.
The wife and I got sick of the sight of each other about 8yrs ago and I ended up in a flat near the beach and close to work, I also ended up putting on about 20kg due to no longer having an active life doing the renovations/lanscaping I had done to the family home (the gym simply bores me to death).
Anyway to cut a long story short I took advantage of the recent slump in the housing market to save $50-80k on the purchase price of a house "in need of some TLC". I am about to move into this 60yr old dump that has a huge backyard and is literally a 5min stroll from the beach, shops, school, and train station.
The block is zoned high density and I plan (with the help of an architect and builder) to put two townhouses in the backyard and renovate the dump into a period style home and add an attic to take advantage of the views over the bay on one side and the wetlands on the other. The building of the townhouses and the structural work for the attic will all be done by hired labour enabeling me to sell off the townhouses quickly.
Some of my friends see the house and I'm sure they think I have lost my mind, but the house is structurally sound and I have just two simple objectives. 1. Get fit/active again and 2. lose the mortgage.
Very, very, worst case senarion is I end up with the same mortgage that I have now. However I will have gained a nice home and lost 20kg. The health aspect alone might be enough to encorage me to do it all over again with a different dump that nobody but an old fool like me would bid on at auction.:)
"You insist only on counting the decline in violent deaths as "saving", while at the same time demanding that the overall number due to the invasion be ignored."
Because I did not mention that in my post does not mean I was insisting, demanding, or ignoring anything. On the contrary, your assumption that you know what I think has caused you to ignore my "terrible mistake" remark and stick your head not in the sand, but up your arse.
You can tell the truth and still come to the wrong conclusion.
Yes, US foriegn policy still leaves a lot to be desired but I agree with the GP in that "the Surge and the Awakening DID save Iraqi lives", if you can't admit that truth then you are the one with their head in the sand. Peronally I didn't agree with the "surge" when it was proposed, but I cannot deny the GP's "truth" just because I have a different set of "truths".
Regardless of the geopolitical and economic motives that spawned the Iraq war, getting rid of Saddam was a great idea for saving lives. However the US botched the operation badly by using an axe rather than a scapal. Once that terrible mistake was made they could not simply leave without creating a huge power vacum that would in my opinion have seen a lot more lives lost in a bloody civil war. IMHO I think the top brass in the US have done a good job recently in changing US tactics away from the cowboy mentality that got the them into the mess, and focusing on the tactics used by the UK to defeat the IRA extremists in the 90's. The only tactical mistake I see them making now is demonizing Iran, and that is not coming from the Pentagon, it's coming from the remnants of the neo-con movement and their lame duck president.
In my mind this lends weight to the old saying; The US will always do the right thing, after they have exhusted all other options.
I don't think your post was flamebait, your entitled to your opinion but I suspect some people would violently disagree with it. The Taliban are a tribe with far more women and children than fighters, their fatal mistake as a "government" (I can't think of another term) was to stand in between AQ and the US. IMHO fighting terror with terror may satisfy the human need for revenge but it is not the most intelligent option.
I'm not saying that the "US are the terrorists" but they are certainly seen as such in some of the tribal areas (and by some of the mods apparently). The SUCCESSFULL strategies that are in use today have more in common with those used to defeat IRA extremists than they do with a terminator movie. I think the US military machine has gone a long way toward learning that you must actually WIN hearts and minds and not simply take it for granted they will be welcomed as liberators.
Personally I was in favor of kicking Saddam out, however when in the first few days of the war the US disbanded ALL of Iraq's existing military and civil institutions, I knew they had stepped into quicksand.
Simple, effective ideas will spread like wildfire, my favorite exampe is the Pot in a Pot Fridge that extends the life of farm produce from one day to three or four, meaning that a subsistance farmer does not have to sell all his excess at the village market on the same day it was picked.
I don't know how usefull this thing is to Jose-sixpack but he should certainly be given the opportunity to judge that for himself.
"Russian space technology tend to be simple, inefficient, based on the oldest technology they can get away with, and remains unchanged pretty much as long as they aren't forced to improve it. Russian tech is really the complete polar opposite of NASA tech, so such exchanges very rarely work out."
Meanwhile on board the ISS....
*crackle* - Huston, we have a problem. Our pens don't work.
Speaking of reactor type, what the hell is a "fission surface power system", a google search that excludes "NASA" is not helpful. Is it another phrase for a pebble bed reactor? - I belive they can be made to arbritrary sizes but I'm no certainly no expert. Do pebble beds require a constant supply of coolant or can the coolant be in a closed loop?
I think you're right but I'm not sure since it's bad luck to RTFA. However I would to practice this improved version by slightly modifying your statement...
Science is a continuosly improving version of superstition in terms of its value to humankind.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't understand how you can follow a belief system that selectively accepts what we have learned from the scientific process; it works for EVERYTHING else, but not evolution?"
There is still a sizable population of slashdotters who think the scientific process doesn't work when it comes to climate.
IMHO there is too little effort spent teaching the role of skepticisim in science and too much effort spent teaching factoids. I think the good reverend was trying to make a similar point but that was ignored in favour of a good ol' fashion witch burning.
"Sad to say, but that's censorship. Coming from someone I respect like Berners-Lee, I am truly disappointed."
Censorship means denying access to information. How does rating the information as (un)trustworthy deny access?
"...it won't work perfectly which is to say it won't work - period.
Nothing works perfectly - period! However, this does not mean we throw out the Principa Mathematica.
"Look at an algorithm like PageRank which Google bombed so easily. What's to prevent miscreants from messing with this?"
Nothing. - What's preventing you from learning the SKILL of researching information (eg: the definition of censorship)?
Nice strawman since I wasn't talking about windows or existing buildings.
And BTW, I grew up in the Australian bush. People who invaded our privacy were shot at.
"slipping"
/gross_generalization.
That's it in a nutshell. Bussiness people want certainty and can't understand why "proffesionals" have such a problem delivering on time. Technical people can't understand why milestones matter. Neither group fully understands what it is that they are building.
To use a building analogy, I would have no problem hiring various tradesmen to build a townhouse in my backyard. However if I have to get a bridging loan to pay for the gap between construction and sale of said townhouse it becomes imperitive that (say) the plubmer turns up on the right day and gets the job done in the time he quoted.
Arms salesman: "This is our new anti-matter bomb, it can blow up half the planet"
Dictator: "Just what I was looking for, I'll take two!"
Appologies to Billy Connelly.
Where I live in Australia you would need to get written permission from you neighbours to build the balcony I described or redisign it so that you could not see into their existing private space.
You are not forced to employ an architect but if you have an unreasonable neighboor an architect that knows the planning laws is worth their weight in gold.
"What does the Arrafat thing matter? The Palestinian territories don't have any oil."
If Arrafat was unimportant then why send the US sectratary of state into a bombed out building surrounded by tanks and 2.5 million "terrorists"? Don't they have mobile phones in Palestine?
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon, not a drop of oil between them, do they matter?
Carefull, that sort of recusion will lead you straight to the loony bin.
"You need to take a long hard look at the kind of people running America"
Two things I would like to see are; the missing Saudi pages from the 2002 US intelligence report, and a transcript of the converstaion between Powell and Arrafat when Powell visited Arrafat during Israel's siege of his HQ's. The first was widely reported, the second less so but I am dammned if I can find a decent reference or news report about either.
Yes, the old saying goes; "A bad tradesman blames his tools".
A DeWalt may have a longer life but it's unlikely to matter with home renovations (I have done heaps of renovating and have only worn out two "crappy" power drills over 30yrs). For single use expensive stuff like post hole diggers and floor sanders it is much better to hire them, but a portable drop saw and one of those multi-purpose benchtops are good investments.
One place where you should not skimp on quality is the part that does the actual cutting, eg sawblades, router cutters, drill bits, ect. If you buy tungsten tipped you will only need to buy them once.
"Or you could ignore the permits as no one will ever know anyway. It's not really any of their business to begin with."
So it's none of my bussiness when next door builds a balcony that robs my private yard of both privacy and light?
I hope your local council rips down your shack and gives you leggo blocks to practice with until you understand you are not the only person on the planet.
"Have you considered doing work on the house yourself?"
:)
This is a great advice! The first 10yrs of my working life were spent as a day labourer in various places mainly the building industry. I bought a second hand Apple IIe as a hobby in the mid-eighties, a few years later I found I could make money from my hobby and decided to educate myself properly. I have been a well paid geek now for almost 20yrs.
The wife and I got sick of the sight of each other about 8yrs ago and I ended up in a flat near the beach and close to work, I also ended up putting on about 20kg due to no longer having an active life doing the renovations/lanscaping I had done to the family home (the gym simply bores me to death).
Anyway to cut a long story short I took advantage of the recent slump in the housing market to save $50-80k on the purchase price of a house "in need of some TLC". I am about to move into this 60yr old dump that has a huge backyard and is literally a 5min stroll from the beach, shops, school, and train station.
The block is zoned high density and I plan (with the help of an architect and builder) to put two townhouses in the backyard and renovate the dump into a period style home and add an attic to take advantage of the views over the bay on one side and the wetlands on the other. The building of the townhouses and the structural work for the attic will all be done by hired labour enabeling me to sell off the townhouses quickly.
Some of my friends see the house and I'm sure they think I have lost my mind, but the house is structurally sound and I have just two simple objectives. 1. Get fit/active again and 2. lose the mortgage.
Very, very, worst case senarion is I end up with the same mortgage that I have now. However I will have gained a nice home and lost 20kg. The health aspect alone might be enough to encorage me to do it all over again with a different dump that nobody but an old fool like me would bid on at auction.
"Only an all seeing, all knowing, being would be able to show proof."
"I think therefore I am". Now get on your knees!
Of course outside of formal systems with accepted axioms that is the only proof anyone can show, problem is they can only show it to themselves.
You're not going to save the world by shouting at it.
"And yeah, like I said US foriegn policy still leaves a lot to be desired." - Opps, that was another post of mine.
"the rest of the world was 'letting a friend drive drunk'...."
As a member of the rest of the world, I think that sums it up perfectly. And yeah, like I said US foriegn policy still leaves a lot to be desired.
"You insist only on counting the decline in violent deaths as "saving", while at the same time demanding that the overall number due to the invasion be ignored."
Because I did not mention that in my post does not mean I was insisting, demanding, or ignoring anything. On the contrary, your assumption that you know what I think has caused you to ignore my "terrible mistake" remark and stick your head not in the sand, but up your arse.
You can tell the truth and still come to the wrong conclusion.
Yes, US foriegn policy still leaves a lot to be desired but I agree with the GP in that "the Surge and the Awakening DID save Iraqi lives", if you can't admit that truth then you are the one with their head in the sand. Peronally I didn't agree with the "surge" when it was proposed, but I cannot deny the GP's "truth" just because I have a different set of "truths".
Regardless of the geopolitical and economic motives that spawned the Iraq war, getting rid of Saddam was a great idea for saving lives. However the US botched the operation badly by using an axe rather than a scapal. Once that terrible mistake was made they could not simply leave without creating a huge power vacum that would in my opinion have seen a lot more lives lost in a bloody civil war. IMHO I think the top brass in the US have done a good job recently in changing US tactics away from the cowboy mentality that got the them into the mess, and focusing on the tactics used by the UK to defeat the IRA extremists in the 90's. The only tactical mistake I see them making now is demonizing Iran, and that is not coming from the Pentagon, it's coming from the remnants of the neo-con movement and their lame duck president.
In my mind this lends weight to the old saying; The US will always do the right thing, after they have exhusted all other options.
I don't think your post was flamebait, your entitled to your opinion but I suspect some people would violently disagree with it. The Taliban are a tribe with far more women and children than fighters, their fatal mistake as a "government" (I can't think of another term) was to stand in between AQ and the US. IMHO fighting terror with terror may satisfy the human need for revenge but it is not the most intelligent option.
I'm not saying that the "US are the terrorists" but they are certainly seen as such in some of the tribal areas (and by some of the mods apparently). The SUCCESSFULL strategies that are in use today have more in common with those used to defeat IRA extremists than they do with a terminator movie. I think the US military machine has gone a long way toward learning that you must actually WIN hearts and minds and not simply take it for granted they will be welcomed as liberators.
Personally I was in favor of kicking Saddam out, however when in the first few days of the war the US disbanded ALL of Iraq's existing military and civil institutions, I knew they had stepped into quicksand.
*crackle* - Touche!
"Smithers, release the astroturfer's"
Simple, effective ideas will spread like wildfire, my favorite exampe is the Pot in a Pot Fridge that extends the life of farm produce from one day to three or four, meaning that a subsistance farmer does not have to sell all his excess at the village market on the same day it was picked.
I don't know how usefull this thing is to Jose-sixpack but he should certainly be given the opportunity to judge that for himself.
"Russian space technology tend to be simple, inefficient, based on the oldest technology they can get away with, and remains unchanged pretty much as long as they aren't forced to improve it. Russian tech is really the complete polar opposite of NASA tech, so such exchanges very rarely work out."
Meanwhile on board the ISS....
*crackle* - Huston, we have a problem. Our pens don't work.
*crackle* - Want to borrow my pencil comrade.
Speaking of reactor type, what the hell is a "fission surface power system", a google search that excludes "NASA" is not helpful. Is it another phrase for a pebble bed reactor? - I belive they can be made to arbritrary sizes but I'm no certainly no expert. Do pebble beds require a constant supply of coolant or can the coolant be in a closed loop?
I think you're right but I'm not sure since it's bad luck to RTFA. However I would to practice this improved version by slightly modifying your statement...
Science is a continuosly improving version of superstition in terms of its value to humankind.