I live in a post-communist country and I remember the communism very well. Most people in the Czech Republic, before the fall of communism, would probably answer "yes, we agree with the goverment" in any poll, regardless of the question, if they just weren't absolutely sure that the authorities wouldn't know their answer. Because free expression of opinion, in such a country, may mean anything from financial loss to death.
Well, I have studied at Faculty of Science in Prague. I have never ever had so much free sex available whenever I wanted as at that time. Now I work in IT industry and it sucks a lot - may be just because the little number of women around. But at the Faculty of Science, about 50% of the students and employees were female - many of them beautiful and most of them with a very open attitude towards sex and such.
So my personal experience is that scientists tend to get lot more sex than computer geeks:)
Well, despite the unfortunate deportation of the German speaking population from Czechoslovakia after the WWII, Czechs are not a good example of Slavic people. When I look at our family grave, despite I am not being able to speak German at all, few generations back, I see only German/Austrian names. I would say that Germanic genes are as important as Slavic genes in the Czech population (we have been under Austrian rule for centuries, while Czechs ruled over some Germanic territories before that). According to genetic studies, there is also significant amount of Celtic genes. Genetically, Czechs are not Slavs but European hodge-podge mongrels:)
In Czech republic, beer is not a drink of lower classes at all. It is a national drink consumed by almost everyone, people from all classes, from the poor to the country's president. However, wine is popular in the southeast part of the country (Moravia), because it is a traditional wine region. May be, Moravians are mor intelligent than people from the other parts of the country?:) I do not know. But certainly they have more beautiful girls there:) May be more sex means better science:D
Mars has too thin atmosphere for its mass. It can keep much stronger atmosphere. A bigger problem is its weak magnetic field which allows atmosphere to be blown away by sun wind (which is however a very slow process).
Since when are 15 years old girls targeted by pedophiles?
I was dating a 15 yo girl and I certainly do not feel like a pedophile.
And there is nothing illegal about it of course.
"In science, a theory is a mathematical description, a logical explanation, a verified hypothesis, or a proven model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theory which explains why the apple behaves so is the current theory of gravitation." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory)
There is very strong evidence for evolution between species. As good as the evidence for gravity.
How far do you suppose science would have gotten if people were not able to see patterns in the behavior of the physical world? Science can deal with that. Statistics is a good tool to deal with randomness. You can see patterns in non deterministic world.
That point is really not relevant though, since what we wish to be true isn't necessarily what is true. Right. But assuming nondeterministic world and behaving accordingly is the optimal strategy. If the world is really nondeterministic, I have chosen correctly. If it is not, I was determined to make the bad choice anyway.
You are quite right that quantum randomness can propagate up to the macroscopic world, probably the most dramatic example of this would be the large-scale structure of the universe itself which it is believed to have originated from quantum fluctuations early on.
So, while it is true that this is possible in some cases, it is not always shown to be the case. Computers are quite deterministic. While it's theoretically possible that quantum fluctuations can cause random behavior in a CPU it does not happen (at the current scales of transistors, that is). If you look at the functioning of a single neuron it doesn't seem to be the case either.
Given a specific electrical stimulus, the neuron will respond the same way each time. If you scale this up to larger and larger clusters of neurons, their is no point where the neurons lose their reliably predictable behavior, however things still get less and less predictable as the number of neurons interacting increases. This is of course just a result of the complexity of the system and the inability to fully capture the exact state of all the neurons at one time. Quantum fluctuations are not needed, and to my knowledge not observed, but the result of all the interactions is still the wonderfully (and sometimes frustratingly) unpredictable human nature. I am confident that quantum randomness propagates to the macroscopic world even in the case of neural systems. There is noise in the system (even computers built to be deterministic can make nondeterministic errors, albeit rarely) and the noise comes at least partially from the quantum world. May be some neurotransmitter molecule desintagrates because of some quantum event. May be an important neuron dies because of DNA mutation caused by a quantum event. I can imagine hundreds of different scenarios in which quantum event changes macroscopic state of a neural system.
Quantum randomness can and does propagate to macroscopic world through the butterfly effect. If the quantum world is truly nondeterministic than the world as a whole is nondeterministic chaotic system as well. There are deterministic interpretations of quantum theory however. (I do not like them, because deterministic world is not interesting enough for me.)
But that is just FUD and plainly false "facts". I do not see anything such in the deal. Microsoft is payning money to Novell not Novell to Microsoft, where is Novell saying his distribution infringes? Nowhere. That is just a paranoid hysterical interpretation.
Novell's patents are still available for Red Hat to countersue Microsoft if necessary because of membership of both companies in the http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/ - nothing changed with that
Novell is still able to sue Microsoft over patents - the agreement contains a covenant not to sue each others customers - what is wrong with that? We don't like SW patents, do we? Why should customers be sued? Sue the company, if wou want to sue, not its customers.
Novell didn't admit any Linux code infringes any Microsoft IP. In fact, Microsoft is paying money to Novell, not vice versa.
...
I do not see anything wrong here. Microsoft recognized importance of LInux - that's a good thing. Companies would cooperate to increase compatibility - a good thing...
So what is wrong here? Except irrational responses?
RTFA. You do not need to climb to orbit to win the prize. "a test of over 20 teams to use light to power a vehicle along a tether, this year up about 50 meters..."
As well as your thinking that true will is NOT to 'do whatever the fuck you want' doesn't change it.
And yes, I know AC as well as chaos magick and other related stuff.
Slashdot Mirror
We have landed on Titan :)
Is Christianity a cult or a religion? It is hard to imagine anything more bizarre than the Christian ritualized cannibalism. Eat body of Christ. Eek.
I live in a post-communist country and I remember the communism very well. Most people in the Czech Republic, before the fall of communism, would probably answer "yes, we agree with the goverment" in any poll, regardless of the question, if they just weren't absolutely sure that the authorities wouldn't know their answer. Because free expression of opinion, in such a country, may mean anything from financial loss to death.
Well, I have studied at Faculty of Science in Prague. I have never ever had so much free sex available whenever I wanted as at that time. Now I work in IT industry and it sucks a lot - may be just because the little number of women around. But at the Faculty of Science, about 50% of the students and employees were female - many of them beautiful and most of them with a very open attitude towards sex and such. So my personal experience is that scientists tend to get lot more sex than computer geeks :)
Well, despite the unfortunate deportation of the German speaking population from Czechoslovakia after the WWII, Czechs are not a good example of Slavic people. When I look at our family grave, despite I am not being able to speak German at all, few generations back, I see only German/Austrian names. I would say that Germanic genes are as important as Slavic genes in the Czech population (we have been under Austrian rule for centuries, while Czechs ruled over some Germanic territories before that). According to genetic studies, there is also significant amount of Celtic genes. Genetically, Czechs are not Slavs but European hodge-podge mongrels :)
In Czech republic, beer is not a drink of lower classes at all. It is a national drink consumed by almost everyone, people from all classes, from the poor to the country's president. However, wine is popular in the southeast part of the country (Moravia), because it is a traditional wine region. May be, Moravians are mor intelligent than people from the other parts of the country? :) I do not know. But certainly they have more beautiful girls there :) May be more sex means better science :D
Mars has too thin atmosphere for its mass. It can keep much stronger atmosphere. A bigger problem is its weak magnetic field which allows atmosphere to be blown away by sun wind (which is however a very slow process).
MArs atmosphere is 90% CO2 but the atmosphere is extremely thin. So, it really needs more CO2 to become warmer.
Since when are 15 years old girls targeted by pedophiles? I was dating a 15 yo girl and I certainly do not feel like a pedophile. And there is nothing illegal about it of course.
Here in continental Europe, we use the English billion. We call the american billion a milliard.
That is scientific opinion. As opposed to the religious pseudoscience.
"In science, a theory is a mathematical description, a logical explanation, a verified hypothesis, or a proven model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theory which explains why the apple behaves so is the current theory of gravitation." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory) There is very strong evidence for evolution between species. As good as the evidence for gravity.
Gravity is a theory, as well. Both are known facts.
if the layer has alpha, it may be even less secure than blurring :)
not a problem when using plain jpegs, of course (but may affect png)
So, while it is true that this is possible in some cases, it is not always shown to be the case. Computers are quite deterministic. While it's theoretically possible that quantum fluctuations can cause random behavior in a CPU it does not happen (at the current scales of transistors, that is). If you look at the functioning of a single neuron it doesn't seem to be the case either.
Given a specific electrical stimulus, the neuron will respond the same way each time. If you scale this up to larger and larger clusters of neurons, their is no point where the neurons lose their reliably predictable behavior, however things still get less and less predictable as the number of neurons interacting increases. This is of course just a result of the complexity of the system and the inability to fully capture the exact state of all the neurons at one time. Quantum fluctuations are not needed, and to my knowledge not observed, but the result of all the interactions is still the wonderfully (and sometimes frustratingly) unpredictable human nature. I am confident that quantum randomness propagates to the macroscopic world even in the case of neural systems. There is noise in the system (even computers built to be deterministic can make nondeterministic errors, albeit rarely) and the noise comes at least partially from the quantum world. May be some neurotransmitter molecule desintagrates because of some quantum event. May be an important neuron dies because of DNA mutation caused by a quantum event. I can imagine hundreds of different scenarios in which quantum event changes macroscopic state of a neural system.
Presuming the universe is deterministic I have no choice anyway.
Quantum randomness can and does propagate to macroscopic world through the butterfly effect. If the quantum world is truly nondeterministic than the world as a whole is nondeterministic chaotic system as well. There are deterministic interpretations of quantum theory however. (I do not like them, because deterministic world is not interesting enough for me.)
But that is just FUD and plainly false "facts". I do not see anything such in the deal. Microsoft is payning money to Novell not Novell to Microsoft, where is Novell saying his distribution infringes? Nowhere. That is just a paranoid hysterical interpretation.
What expense to comunnity? Where is any harm? Novell hasn't done anything bad. It is just hysteria.
RTFA. You do not need to climb to orbit to win the prize. "a test of over 20 teams to use light to power a vehicle along a tether, this year up about 50 meters..."
As well as your thinking that true will is NOT to 'do whatever the fuck you want' doesn't change it. And yes, I know AC as well as chaos magick and other related stuff.
Unless mindless indulgence is your true purpose, hence True Will. 'Do What Thou Wilt' is therefore equivalent of 'Do whatever the fuck you want'.
I will run my ddate programm to celebrate it :)
Today is Boomtime, the 38th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3172
the parent is insightful