Nazis undoubtedly used cars to do this. Clearly cars are the tool of oppressive governments. Nazis used guns to do this. Clearly guns are the tool of oppressive governments. Nazis used ID cards to do this. Clearly ID cards are the tool of oppressive regimes.
I really don't understand the paranoia some people have with ID cards. They are a tool just like any other.
It's a matter of scale. Yes, guns and cars are tools too, and they can be used for good (self defense and ambulances) or evil (murder and hit-and-runs), depending on who wields the tool. But, to go to an extreme, nuclear energy is also "just a tool," used for good (nuclear power) or evil (nuclear weapons).
Granted, ID cards may not be on the same level as nukes, but there is still much more at stake. Yes, they can be used for good, such as making it easier to get a job or even making it easier to catch a criminal. But it could also be used to track down innocent civilians who have committed no crimes. And unlike nuclear weapons, the system can be misused in a manner that most people don't even realize it's being misused.
I think the point is that if you leave work a little later, you save enough time driving through lighter traffic that you can get home to your friends/family/hobby at about the same time anyway. This reduces the time you're driving (saving your sanity and gas money) and increases the time you're at work (giving you more money or more vacation time, depending on how your company handles extra hours), and all it takes is a little planning.
Sure, Edison pushed for AC...in electric chairs. He lobbied for the criminal system to use the AC current, knowing that people wouldn't want the same type of power running through their homes. In fact, Edison tried to get people to say that criminals got "Westinghoused," not "electrocuted."
There's a quote (sorry, I don't remember who said it) that goes: "Evolution isn't towards something, it's away from something." I think this was the point he was trying to make.
Yes, you can induce evolution in organisms by bombarding them with radiation, but you can't predict how they would evolve. I would suspect that they would develop an immunity to the greater amount of radiation, but how? Create a way to filter out or block the radiation? Create a better DNA repair mechanism? Create a social system so that some organisms block out the radiation for others hiding behind them?
Or if the radition is strong enough to cause mutations, but not to cause any harm, than you really can't tell which way it will go. There could be any number of factors that could influence the survival rates, and any number of ways the organisms could adapt to each factor. You can induce evolution, but you have to have some pretty tight controls to drive it in any direction.
In the case of humans mentioned in the article, evolution wasn't towards socialization, it was away from predation. A subtle distinction, maybe, but an important one. Socialization wasn't some 'ultimate goal', it was just the means to an end, which just happened to be the means that worked out best (or maybe just worked in conjuction of other means) and was passed on.
For what it's worth, I didn't copy DVD's, and I got throttled.
I subscribed back in 2001, and started out getting the average 1 day turnaround. But over the next eight months, the turnaround stretched to 3 or 4 days and I cancelled. I didn't copy the DVDs (not only did I not have a DVD-burner at the time, I didn't even know HOW to rip DVDs), I just wanted to watch movies I couldn't rent locally.
A bullet can be designed to penetrate armour or it can be designed to expand in soft tissue. It CANNOT do both.
Actually, that's not true, thanks to new blended-metal bullets. From The Armed Forces Journal, (sorry, most reputable source I could find; not even a Wikipedia article about them)
The frangible APLP ammo will bore through steel and other hard targets but will not pass through a human torso, an eight-inch-thick block of artist's clay or even several layers of drywall. Instead of passing through a body, it shatters, creating "untreatable wounds."
"APLP" translating to "armor-piercing limited penetration."
Not that these have been around long enough for Hollywood to be right, just FYI.
Would importing gases really do any good? Or even any efforts to release gases from solids already on Mars?
Mars only has about one tenth the mass of Earth, so how long would it be able to hold any additional gases? Then again, the volume's only sixth that of Earth's, so does that make up for the smaller mass?
I really don't know all that much about terraformation (can ya tell?), but I assume that if we change the thickness of Mars' atmosphere, it'll eventually reset to it's current thickness (either by gas escaping to space or getting trapped on/under the surface). Then again, I have no idea how long that "eventually" can be.
If you want to know about Darwin's opinion on religion, I think the best source would be Darwin himself (an interesting read, especially the bits that were edited by request of his family).
If I understand this correctly, Darwin started out quite religious, slowly came to reject Christianity and the thought of any god at all, then settled on being agnostic. Here's a couple paragraphs that I thought stood out:
Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.
This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the Origin of Species ; and it is since that time that it has very gradually with many fluctuations become weaker. But then arises the doubt--can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions ? May not these be the result of the connection between cause and effect which strikes us as a necessary one, but probably depends merely on inherited experience ? Nor must we overlook the probability of the constant inculcation in a belief in God on the minds of children producing so strong and perhaps an inherited effect on their brains not yet fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to throw off their belief in God, as for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatred of a snake. I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.
Based on the entire chapter (not just the bit I've pasted here), it seems Darwin didn't really like Christianity when he wrote Origin of the Species. Of course, this just explains his beliefs, and doesn't really say how much these beliefs influenced his writing, so I guess it's not really proof of anything.
But whether or not you agree with him religiously, he seemed to put a great amount of thought into his beliefs, and I think he should be respected for that.
Probably illegal I'd guess in the United States, to deface money?
According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, it's only illegal if it's done "with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued." Since this type of modification is made with the intent to keep the bill in circulation, it's perfectly legal.
Which is why they haven't shut down sites like Where's George.
US Army's been developing computers for infantry for the last few years (I forget the code name, but it was typical Pentagon two parts macho two parts silly one part corny)
I'm only basing this on what I've seen on the War --*ahem*-- History Channel, but I think the system you're describing is the Land Warrior.
Re:In case you didn't get it...
on
How Ice Melts
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· Score: 1
Actually, I believe he was refering to the fictional state of water described in Kurt Wagner's book Ice-9 (a.k.a. Cat's Cradle), which would freeze any and all water molecules it came into contact with, potentially all water on the planet (obviously an influence for the comics to which you have linked).
It appears, however, that there is a real ice IX, but fortunately it won't kill us all (at least, not in the way Kurt Wagner invisioned).
I guess they aren't using the standard British Monopoly setup, because there is a Wimbeldon. IIRC, it's about where St. James Place usually is on the American board.
On the "Monopoly Live" board, the streets are (sorry for any spelling errors):
-Portobello Road Market, Camden Market -Hammersmith Apollo, Wembley Arena, GMTV -The Oval, Wimbeldon, Wembley Statium -Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Museum -London Eye, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square -Tottenham Court Road, Covent Garden, Regent Street -Notting Hill, Soho, Kings Road -Canary Wharf, The City
The railway stations are now airports, and are in order: London City Airport, Stansted Airport, Gatwick Airport, and Heathrow Airport
Utilities are Telecoms and The Sun
There is still Chance and Community Chest, but you have to text message for those, so your guess is as good as mine (anyone in England willing to tell the rest of us what they are like?).
Yes, but these objects could also be used to prevent violence (the hammer used to deflect the knife, the pillow to cushion the hammer blow, the knife to cut the pillow).
But we all know that copyrightable material can ONLY lead to pirating, so any attempts to reproduce (or even produce) such material will only lead to illegal acts, and must therefore be prevented.
You act like "big and cheap" is a new American trend. Remember World War II? The Japanese wanted a fast, maneuverable airplane, so they came up with the Zero-- small, sleek, made of lightweight aluminum. When the Americans got to the Pacific and saw the Zero in action, they wanted something to fight it...so they shoved a huge engine in a small-ish airplane and shipped it out. The plane performed just as well, and it helped win the war...which almost certainly helped to propogate the trend.
Re:Famous Quote
on
Hondas in Space
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· Score: 4, Informative
Actually, this quote was taken from a REAL quote by John Glenn.
When asked about what was going through his mind before he was launched into space, he replied:
"What would you think about, if it were you, sitting there in an oversized suit, strapped to an intricate and complex network of components...wires, circuits and engines, all procured by the government, from the lowest bidder?"
I bet that many people will pirate to get it now, and then buy it when it is on a shelf.
If I were to pirate it (what, me pirate?), it'd just be to get a bit of the storyline. I don't think I could ever seriously play a GTA game on anything other than the PS2.
With the low cost of printers, and a binding machine, why don't the schools print their own books?
Yeah, because the teachers have plenty of free time to write their own textbooks....
Or did you think the textbook companies would let schools print copies of their books themselves? Sure, it would be good for the education system, but I really doubt textbook publishers care about the education system.
My own feeling is that the first A.I. program will simulate a simple life form (like a worm)
IIRC, we determine which species are intelligent by testing to see if they are self aware (and we test for self awareness by seeing if they can recognize themselves in a mirror). Last I looked, a worm didn't fulfill this criteria.
Although it's a step in the right direction, I don't think replicating a lifeform that isn't naturally intelligent could be called a true artifical intelligence.
Slashdot Mirror
Nazis undoubtedly used cars to do this. Clearly cars are the tool of oppressive governments. Nazis used guns to do this. Clearly guns are the tool of oppressive governments. Nazis used ID cards to do this. Clearly ID cards are the tool of oppressive regimes.
I really don't understand the paranoia some people have with ID cards. They are a tool just like any other.
It's a matter of scale. Yes, guns and cars are tools too, and they can be used for good (self defense and ambulances) or evil (murder and hit-and-runs), depending on who wields the tool. But, to go to an extreme, nuclear energy is also "just a tool," used for good (nuclear power) or evil (nuclear weapons).
Granted, ID cards may not be on the same level as nukes, but there is still much more at stake. Yes, they can be used for good, such as making it easier to get a job or even making it easier to catch a criminal. But it could also be used to track down innocent civilians who have committed no crimes. And unlike nuclear weapons, the system can be misused in a manner that most people don't even realize it's being misused.
I think the point is that if you leave work a little later, you save enough time driving through lighter traffic that you can get home to your friends/family/hobby at about the same time anyway. This reduces the time you're driving (saving your sanity and gas money) and increases the time you're at work (giving you more money or more vacation time, depending on how your company handles extra hours), and all it takes is a little planning.
Sure, Edison pushed for AC...in electric chairs. He lobbied for the criminal system to use the AC current, knowing that people wouldn't want the same type of power running through their homes. In fact, Edison tried to get people to say that criminals got "Westinghoused," not "electrocuted."
The plate actually read "NO PLATE."
Snopes is there.
Nope, it was recorded in '88 for Cocktail, and was the Beach Boys first #1 hit in 22 years.
(see these wikipedia articles
There's a quote (sorry, I don't remember who said it) that goes: "Evolution isn't towards something, it's away from something." I think this was the point he was trying to make.
Yes, you can induce evolution in organisms by bombarding them with radiation, but you can't predict how they would evolve. I would suspect that they would develop an immunity to the greater amount of radiation, but how? Create a way to filter out or block the radiation? Create a better DNA repair mechanism? Create a social system so that some organisms block out the radiation for others hiding behind them?
Or if the radition is strong enough to cause mutations, but not to cause any harm, than you really can't tell which way it will go. There could be any number of factors that could influence the survival rates, and any number of ways the organisms could adapt to each factor. You can induce evolution, but you have to have some pretty tight controls to drive it in any direction.
In the case of humans mentioned in the article, evolution wasn't towards socialization, it was away from predation. A subtle distinction, maybe, but an important one. Socialization wasn't some 'ultimate goal', it was just the means to an end, which just happened to be the means that worked out best (or maybe just worked in conjuction of other means) and was passed on.
For what it's worth, I didn't copy DVD's, and I got throttled.
I subscribed back in 2001, and started out getting the average 1 day turnaround. But over the next eight months, the turnaround stretched to 3 or 4 days and I cancelled. I didn't copy the DVDs (not only did I not have a DVD-burner at the time, I didn't even know HOW to rip DVDs), I just wanted to watch movies I couldn't rent locally.
Actually, that's not true, thanks to new blended-metal bullets. From The Armed Forces Journal, (sorry, most reputable source I could find; not even a Wikipedia article about them)
"APLP" translating to "armor-piercing limited penetration."
Not that these have been around long enough for Hollywood to be right, just FYI.
You think that's funny? In high school our Coke machine just said "Drink! Coca Cola"
Would importing gases really do any good? Or even any efforts to release gases from solids already on Mars?
Mars only has about one tenth the mass of Earth, so how long would it be able to hold any additional gases? Then again, the volume's only sixth that of Earth's, so does that make up for the smaller mass?
I really don't know all that much about terraformation (can ya tell?), but I assume that if we change the thickness of Mars' atmosphere, it'll eventually reset to it's current thickness (either by gas escaping to space or getting trapped on/under the surface). Then again, I have no idea how long that "eventually" can be.
If I understand this correctly, Darwin started out quite religious, slowly came to reject Christianity and the thought of any god at all, then settled on being agnostic. Here's a couple paragraphs that I thought stood out:
Based on the entire chapter (not just the bit I've pasted here), it seems Darwin didn't really like Christianity when he wrote Origin of the Species. Of course, this just explains his beliefs, and doesn't really say how much these beliefs influenced his writing, so I guess it's not really proof of anything.
But whether or not you agree with him religiously, he seemed to put a great amount of thought into his beliefs, and I think he should be respected for that.
Probably illegal I'd guess in the United States, to deface money?
According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, it's only illegal if it's done "with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued." Since this type of modification is made with the intent to keep the bill in circulation, it's perfectly legal.
Which is why they haven't shut down sites like Where's George.
US Army's been developing computers for infantry for the last few years (I forget the code name, but it was typical Pentagon two parts macho two parts silly one part corny)
I'm only basing this on what I've seen on the War --*ahem*-- History Channel, but I think the system you're describing is the Land Warrior.
Actually, I believe he was refering to the fictional state of water described in Kurt Wagner's book Ice-9 (a.k.a. Cat's Cradle), which would freeze any and all water molecules it came into contact with, potentially all water on the planet (obviously an influence for the comics to which you have linked). It appears, however, that there is a real ice IX, but fortunately it won't kill us all (at least, not in the way Kurt Wagner invisioned).
I guess they aren't using the standard British Monopoly setup, because there is a Wimbeldon. IIRC, it's about where St. James Place usually is on the American board.
On the "Monopoly Live" board, the streets are (sorry for any spelling errors):
-Portobello Road Market, Camden Market
-Hammersmith Apollo, Wembley Arena, GMTV
-The Oval, Wimbeldon, Wembley Statium
-Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Museum
-London Eye, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square
-Tottenham Court Road, Covent Garden, Regent Street
-Notting Hill, Soho, Kings Road
-Canary Wharf, The City
The railway stations are now airports, and are in order: London City Airport, Stansted Airport, Gatwick Airport, and Heathrow Airport
Utilities are Telecoms and The Sun
There is still Chance and Community Chest, but you have to text message for those, so your guess is as good as mine (anyone in England willing to tell the rest of us what they are like?).
Yes, but these objects could also be used to prevent violence (the hammer used to deflect the knife, the pillow to cushion the hammer blow, the knife to cut the pillow).
But we all know that copyrightable material can ONLY lead to pirating, so any attempts to reproduce (or even produce) such material will only lead to illegal acts, and must therefore be prevented.
Almost the whole country is now like this.
You act like "big and cheap" is a new American trend. Remember World War II? The Japanese wanted a fast, maneuverable airplane, so they came up with the Zero-- small, sleek, made of lightweight aluminum. When the Americans got to the Pacific and saw the Zero in action, they wanted something to fight it...so they shoved a huge engine in a small-ish airplane and shipped it out. The plane performed just as well, and it helped win the war...which almost certainly helped to propogate the trend.
Actually, this quote was taken from a REAL quote by John Glenn.
When asked about what was going through his mind before he was launched into space, he replied:
"What would you think about, if it were you, sitting there in an oversized suit, strapped to an intricate and complex network of components...wires, circuits and engines, all procured by the government, from the lowest bidder?"
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. Or should I?
So this makes at least two
Robots and sharks with lasers on their heads can't do everything, you know.
Your problem is that you need to upgrade. Friggin' lasers have been out for some time.
There's no replacement for a slide scanner.
There's no replacement for a slide scanner.
There's no replacement for a slide scanner.
Can I have my karma now?
I bet that many people will pirate to get it now, and then buy it when it is on a shelf.
If I were to pirate it (what, me pirate?), it'd just be to get a bit of the storyline. I don't think I could ever seriously play a GTA game on anything other than the PS2.
>What's next? Objective reporting on Fox News?
Hey, that's an unfair comparison. After all, MTV actually had music videos once.
With the low cost of printers, and a binding machine, why don't the schools print their own books?
Yeah, because the teachers have plenty of free time to write their own textbooks....
Or did you think the textbook companies would let schools print copies of their books themselves? Sure, it would be good for the education system, but I really doubt textbook publishers care about the education system.
My own feeling is that the first A.I. program will simulate a simple life form (like a worm)
IIRC, we determine which species are intelligent by testing to see if they are self aware (and we test for self awareness by seeing if they can recognize themselves in a mirror). Last I looked, a worm didn't fulfill this criteria.
Although it's a step in the right direction, I don't think replicating a lifeform that isn't naturally intelligent could be called a true artifical intelligence.