I don't seem to see anything in my post about 'monkeys' - I'm talking about Neandertal looking beasts - though there are plenty of universities and other organisations saying that our DNA is not related to them either. Who the hell knows.
What do you suggest? I believe in some mythical entity instead? That the Earth is only 6000 years old?
Thanks, you are definitely correct - my point was meant to be in reference to the cause - at least that was what was in my brain at the time. Didn't come out that way though. Messed that one up.
Keep your pants on there fella, these 'scientists' can't even agree amongst themselves how the dinosaurs died out. Some look at the dirt and see a big old black stripe that might indicate 'volcanic' activity, some interpret it as a big chunk of rock smashing into the earth causing a massive dust cloud around the globe.
I think most of the more valid science places the blame on several major catastropic events occuring in close proximity (time, not distance) - enough to shift the balance. Some also seem to say that the dino just wasn't suited to such a rapid change in environment.
Don't just scream without some justification for the noise.
I seem to recall from many science books that the human form (not what it looks like now, but rather two legs, two arms, walking mostly upright, ugly features, lots of hair) has existed for the last 80 to 100 thousand years. I also read that the last ice age ended somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand years ago.
As a species we seemed to live through that ok. I think the anonymous individual above me might need to delve into a few of the geological sciences before spouting trash about Kyoto accords.
While I don't normally agree with the way America deals with world affairs, I think perhaps they are right about Kyoto being more about 'money making' than about the environment.
I make no claims about global warming in this post, simply because there is far too much conflicting evidence. I do, however, try not to pollute as far as possible in my life.
That would make me the grandparent, for a website that I typed by accident, 35 hits or so a day is 'a lot' in my little tiny world opinion:-)
Actually, you are totally right, I did try to research prior to posting, but couldn't remember the link, so I more or less tried to make it sound 'bigger' than it really was. I think I lied.
Speaking of security staff, a while back I was at the ADSCS (DSD field site) one of the 'admin/security' staff had 'misplaced' a laptop. *cough* stolen *cough* Yup, that one was brushed under the carpet... You pop the lid on a can of coke on the feops floor and you'll be in front of the OH&S commission before the 'Psshhh' sound is even finished.
(Feops - front end operations - where all the flashy lights are)
Another ironic twist - DSD head of security (Lets call him Mike) telephoning me for a 'safe' combination - on an old analogue mobile phone while on leave. (Australia pre-gsm) Sigh... (No, I didn't give it:-)
Yellow post-its with vault combinations, passwords, you name it. It happens. 'Yeah but the 'entire building' is considered a class A safe, the standard excuse'
Then you get slapped with positive vetting review. Makes you want to give it all up for a nice job as a taxi driver.
Doesn't snopes or one of those other urban legend sites have something about that pen, fully privately funded by fisher, nothing at all to do with NASA. Price tag was 2 million as well.
The russians also use 'pens' by the way. Pencil dust and all.
I'm thinking that the low tech solution is comprised of a few thousand human individuals working the same routine each day - this old tried and true method could well be more expensive than an automated computer based system.
Humans - Medical, dental, wages, holidays, etc... (Until they retire)
I like the human touch better myself, but feel that anything risking human lives should probably have at least some level of automated oversight. (Alarm buzzers and such to snap the driver/pilot out of their daze if the computer notices they are not responding, that type of thing)
Yep, it might be lazyness, but why does every little windows based software vendor think his or her application is so great that it requires a tray icon, startup scripts, and stupid notifications that require user intervention at random intervals.
Download software - waste 30 minutes figuring out how to turn off all the annoying crud that should not even be there anyway. Nothing should have the ability to steal focus. Besides, hitting the start menu just after login on windows will result in the start menu disappearing for no logical reason anyway. Makes no difference. The parent makes some valid points.
On topic, the head security dude is definitely going to have his fingers on a few pulses down at the grass roots level - when he lay down at night to sleep, there can be no doubt that in his quiet times he knows it's simply about attracting a couple more idiots into the microsoft cycle, these people cannot be that shut off to real world opinion.
Do you mean 'political pressure' or 'religious pressure' - or the opinion that your current president is a religious nutter.
I'm Australian, I have no opinion on the whole political Bush thing anyway. (Like another guy said above, bush bashing is about bying a wreck and driving it through the scrub until you are forced to walk several kilometers home with a big old smile on your face - or anything related to the vagina.)
I'm not sure if this is all just subjective - but over the last few days I've installed first Avast, then AVG - (only one at a time). Avast seems to slow my system down a small chunk.
It might simply be that I never set it up properly. Might be that 'on access' scanning business it does.
AVG do some pretty good deals for non-profits, Avast is free, not sure which is 'better' though.
Vioxx and COX-2 are not alone. Bad choices get made.
We are all 'terminal' some of us simply faster than others. This is where I'm at, not selectively choosing one sickness over another.
If someone developed a cure for all cancer, no, I would not condone confiscation, but neither would I condone a price tag beyond the reach of 'anyone' with cancer. That's the extent of my argument.
Your last point is a little hard to disagree with in its entirety. So what is the solution? Leave the suffering to suffer simply because they can't afford to pay? (This already happens in some countries - Philippines for example)
I do agree R&D money has to come from somewhere, but without competition it is a common theme that prices tend to go up, never down.
I don't disagree with your statements, but I would like to hope there is some middle ground that is not purely about money or socialism. Human kindness and all.
Make someone healthy, they can contribute back to society - at gunpoint if needed:-)
The whole thing is not so black and white for everyone.
I'm thinking you are trolling a little, regardless, there are numerous reasons one might use encryption, none of them to do with hiding from the government.
Think industrial espionage.
Cheap off the shelf solutions, you could potentially make millions as a result of a confidential transmission sent in the clear.
There are more ways to spot a terrorist than just their communications. Planning something big, did they recently stock up on extra toilet paper? New piles of dirt right outside a square block of concrete... Large purchases of bleach.. etc.
Whatever problem the FBI has with encryption is all theirs. If they can't break it, they need to devise better systems to do so, don't live your life just to appease the government. Would you mind if I rummage through your wallet? Not bloody likely, same with your telephone calls.
No they don't - they spend about a 'million' on 5 or 6 Sun enterprise level servers, switches, patch panels, ATM stuff, a few other cool things, tap into any network stream that may or may not be of interest.
Let the thing run for a few days.
The analysts take 10 minutes to decide there is nothing of interest, the managers come and spend 4 days looking at 'free porn' - And I kid you not!
You use a cell phone, your IMSI will eventually be logged, along with any other relevant info (sancs, locations, who you've called, who the people you've called have called etc) This doesn't make you a target unless you are within trigger thresholds of a known entity.
I don't wear tinfoil by the way. None of this is rocket science, all of it is available from google - once you weed out the UFO crap.
Governments monitor their people, governments also monitor other countries - been going on since naked tribal chicks threw sticks at each other.
Ok a lot off topic, so the tinfoil hats wont believe me, but I swear this is true! Somewhere back in 97 the place I was working at had been tasked with recording various video streams coming from different asian countries - anyway, their techs usually spend 15 minutes setting things up before the head honcho's pop up and start doing the business - one time the techs were watching a porno in the background, joking around they pointed the camera at it for a few minutes... Like good little collection staff, we recorded everything (including that)
Had a few safe draws full of the most boring idiots talking to each other about inane government crap.
Anyway, a year or so later we had a visit from a few high ranking civil servants, and an army General - aside from the flashy lights of the officer fascination panels, they wanted a quick demo of video conference. One of the guys grabbed a tape at random... And you can guess the rest:-)
Fortunately generals have a sense of humor too.
The guy who did it is now flying in the back of P3C orions out of Adelaide. (This last paragraph will confirm it for those in the know - I was there:-)
You swing between extremes. Removing a lot of the government mandated overhead to get 'approved for humans' would certainly help real people. I think if it was someone you knew or cared for, you'd be less inclined to 'put up with the current system'
This does not in any way mean socialism, besides, it's cancer, who gives a shit about the poor greedy corporation that wants to sit on the cure while waiting for the highest bidder, or the best way to screw over the world for a great big fat return of investment.
People like to get things that are 'free' - this is obvious - people also appreciate items that are priced based on the cost of raw materials, not on the cost of the CEO.
In the foyer of DSD there is (or was) an old Cray SC. The plate says it ran at a whopping 150MHz - pretty fast in its day I guess. That thing was liquid cooled, can see the piping work through a perspex panel in the front. (Or walk around the back and climb inside the machine - poke around a bit, nobody cares, seriously) It has been stripped down, most of the electronics are gone, just one segment left.
The thing looks like some 1970's piece of 'new age' furnature - think of a tube with seats all around the base.
(disclaimer, I haven't been inside HQDSD since 2000, so I don't know if it's still there)
The new supercomputers look like V12 racing engines, with cute wind tunnel desinged plastic covers and all.
Try the search option at the discovery website - simply type 'xray' and you'll get it. (do I need to spell out the obvious?:-)
The patients were wearing clothing - it's not like she couldn't see them at all, just not their 'skin beneath the clothing'
I don't ever ask for positive moderation, I don't even think about it - I do try to be honest, informative, or jovial in everything I post. Why troll when you might just make a few friends and expand your mind.
$100 'could' get you a lot of good quality components - plastics are not that expensive to make, electrical compenents are also cheap, probably the most expensive piece would be the hard drive and the display. How much does it 'really' cost to manufacture that lego set selling for $500 US? My guess is about $10 for raw materials at most.
Problem is people will happily hand over a grand for a laptop in 'first world' countries. I've seen laptops for around 24,000 peso in the Philippines, that's about $400 US.
Most people pay that much for their cell phones here, so they could easily afford a $100 laptop.
Then again if you are showy with a laptop here in public, you're likely to have it ripped from your hands before too long.
Slashdot Mirror
Further to that:
http://www.psu.edu/ur/NEWS/news/Neandertal.html
Says it better than I can.
I don't seem to see anything in my post about 'monkeys' - I'm talking about Neandertal looking beasts - though there are plenty of universities and other organisations saying that our DNA is not related to them either. Who the hell knows.
What do you suggest? I believe in some mythical entity instead? That the Earth is only 6000 years old?
Evolution is where I'm at.
Thanks, you are definitely correct - my point was meant to be in reference to the cause - at least that was what was in my brain at the time. Didn't come out that way though. Messed that one up.
And everyones 'local' weather aggrigated and plotted out in whatever way looks the coolest this month - shows global warming as factual because?
:-)
That's right, it doesn't
Ok I'm trolling
Keep your pants on there fella, these 'scientists' can't even agree amongst themselves how the dinosaurs died out. Some look at the dirt and see a big old black stripe that might indicate 'volcanic' activity, some interpret it as a big chunk of rock smashing into the earth causing a massive dust cloud around the globe.
I think most of the more valid science places the blame on several major catastropic events occuring in close proximity (time, not distance) - enough to shift the balance. Some also seem to say that the dino just wasn't suited to such a rapid change in environment.
Don't just scream without some justification for the noise.
I seem to recall from many science books that the human form (not what it looks like now, but rather two legs, two arms, walking mostly upright, ugly features, lots of hair) has existed for the last 80 to 100 thousand years. I also read that the last ice age ended somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand years ago.
As a species we seemed to live through that ok. I think the anonymous individual above me might need to delve into a few of the geological sciences before spouting trash about Kyoto accords.
While I don't normally agree with the way America deals with world affairs, I think perhaps they are right about Kyoto being more about 'money making' than about the environment.
I make no claims about global warming in this post, simply because there is far too much conflicting evidence. I do, however, try not to pollute as far as possible in my life.
Thankyou.
That would make me the grandparent, for a website that I typed by accident, 35 hits or so a day is 'a lot' in my little tiny world opinion :-)
Actually, you are totally right, I did try to research prior to posting, but couldn't remember the link, so I more or less tried to make it sound 'bigger' than it really was. I think I lied.
Apologies.
Speaking of security staff, a while back I was at the ADSCS (DSD field site) one of the 'admin/security' staff had 'misplaced' a laptop. *cough* stolen *cough* Yup, that one was brushed under the carpet... You pop the lid on a can of coke on the feops floor and you'll be in front of the OH&S commission before the 'Psshhh' sound is even finished.
:-)
(Feops - front end operations - where all the flashy lights are)
Another ironic twist - DSD head of security (Lets call him Mike) telephoning me for a 'safe' combination - on an old analogue mobile phone while on leave. (Australia pre-gsm) Sigh... (No, I didn't give it
Yellow post-its with vault combinations, passwords, you name it. It happens. 'Yeah but the 'entire building' is considered a class A safe, the standard excuse'
Then you get slapped with positive vetting review. Makes you want to give it all up for a nice job as a taxi driver.
I recall once typing in slashdot.org, (incorrectly) and ended up at a site displaying nice frequency/time graphs of how often that occured. (A lot)
I wish I could remember what it was - I think salshdot.org - (now just a black page with an automatic redirect)
One of those milk through the nose moments.
Doesn't snopes or one of those other urban legend sites have something about that pen, fully privately funded by fisher, nothing at all to do with NASA. Price tag was 2 million as well.
The russians also use 'pens' by the way. Pencil dust and all.
Yeah, but most gardeners will take time to pluck out the weeds - just to use another metaphor.
It's called 'moderation' - if someone is a dick, remove the post. The owner does have that right.
I'm thinking that the low tech solution is comprised of a few thousand human individuals working the same routine each day - this old tried and true method could well be more expensive than an automated computer based system.
Automation - expensive start up. Periodic maintenance.
Humans - Medical, dental, wages, holidays, etc... (Until they retire)
I like the human touch better myself, but feel that anything risking human lives should probably have at least some level of automated oversight. (Alarm buzzers and such to snap the driver/pilot out of their daze if the computer notices they are not responding, that type of thing)
If you don't mind me asking, what happened to 'Cephus'? you speak of her in the past tense.
if I had mod points....
Yep, it might be lazyness, but why does every little windows based software vendor think his or her application is so great that it requires a tray icon, startup scripts, and stupid notifications that require user intervention at random intervals.
Download software - waste 30 minutes figuring out how to turn off all the annoying crud that should not even be there anyway. Nothing should have the ability to steal focus. Besides, hitting the start menu just after login on windows will result in the start menu disappearing for no logical reason anyway. Makes no difference. The parent makes some valid points.
On topic, the head security dude is definitely going to have his fingers on a few pulses down at the grass roots level - when he lay down at night to sleep, there can be no doubt that in his quiet times he knows it's simply about attracting a couple more idiots into the microsoft cycle, these people cannot be that shut off to real world opinion.
Do you mean 'political pressure' or 'religious pressure' - or the opinion that your current president is a religious nutter.
I'm Australian, I have no opinion on the whole political Bush thing anyway. (Like another guy said above, bush bashing is about bying a wreck and driving it through the scrub until you are forced to walk several kilometers home with a big old smile on your face - or anything related to the vagina.)
I'm not sure if this is all just subjective - but over the last few days I've installed first Avast, then AVG - (only one at a time). Avast seems to slow my system down a small chunk.
It might simply be that I never set it up properly. Might be that 'on access' scanning business it does.
AVG do some pretty good deals for non-profits, Avast is free, not sure which is 'better' though.
Vioxx and COX-2 are not alone. Bad choices get made.
:-)
We are all 'terminal' some of us simply faster than others. This is where I'm at, not selectively choosing one sickness over another.
If someone developed a cure for all cancer, no, I would not condone confiscation, but neither would I condone a price tag beyond the reach of 'anyone' with cancer. That's the extent of my argument.
Your last point is a little hard to disagree with in its entirety. So what is the solution? Leave the suffering to suffer simply because they can't afford to pay? (This already happens in some countries - Philippines for example)
I do agree R&D money has to come from somewhere, but without competition it is a common theme that prices tend to go up, never down.
I don't disagree with your statements, but I would like to hope there is some middle ground that is not purely about money or socialism. Human kindness and all.
Make someone healthy, they can contribute back to society - at gunpoint if needed
The whole thing is not so black and white for everyone.
I'm thinking you are trolling a little, regardless, there are numerous reasons one might use encryption, none of them to do with hiding from the government.
Think industrial espionage.
Cheap off the shelf solutions, you could potentially make millions as a result of a confidential transmission sent in the clear.
There are more ways to spot a terrorist than just their communications. Planning something big, did they recently stock up on extra toilet paper? New piles of dirt right outside a square block of concrete... Large purchases of bleach.. etc.
Whatever problem the FBI has with encryption is all theirs. If they can't break it, they need to devise better systems to do so, don't live your life just to appease the government. Would you mind if I rummage through your wallet? Not bloody likely, same with your telephone calls.
No they don't - they spend about a 'million' on 5 or 6 Sun enterprise level servers, switches, patch panels, ATM stuff, a few other cool things, tap into any network stream that may or may not be of interest.
Let the thing run for a few days.
The analysts take 10 minutes to decide there is nothing of interest, the managers come and spend 4 days looking at 'free porn' - And I kid you not!
You use a cell phone, your IMSI will eventually be logged, along with any other relevant info (sancs, locations, who you've called, who the people you've called have called etc) This doesn't make you a target unless you are within trigger thresholds of a known entity.
I don't wear tinfoil by the way.
None of this is rocket science, all of it is available from google - once you weed out the UFO crap.
Governments monitor their people, governments also monitor other countries - been going on since naked tribal chicks threw sticks at each other.
Ok a lot off topic, so the tinfoil hats wont believe me, but I swear this is true! Somewhere back in 97 the place I was working at had been tasked with recording various video streams coming from different asian countries - anyway, their techs usually spend 15 minutes setting things up before the head honcho's pop up and start doing the business - one time the techs were watching a porno in the background, joking around they pointed the camera at it for a few minutes... Like good little collection staff, we recorded everything (including that)
:-)
:-)
Had a few safe draws full of the most boring idiots talking to each other about inane government crap.
Anyway, a year or so later we had a visit from a few high ranking civil servants, and an army General - aside from the flashy lights of the officer fascination panels, they wanted a quick demo of video conference. One of the guys grabbed a tape at random... And you can guess the rest
Fortunately generals have a sense of humor too.
The guy who did it is now flying in the back of P3C orions out of Adelaide. (This last paragraph will confirm it for those in the know - I was there
SBRS was the coolest place to work!
You swing between extremes. Removing a lot of the government mandated overhead to get 'approved for humans' would certainly help real people. I think if it was someone you knew or cared for, you'd be less inclined to 'put up with the current system'
This does not in any way mean socialism, besides, it's cancer, who gives a shit about the poor greedy corporation that wants to sit on the cure while waiting for the highest bidder, or the best way to screw over the world for a great big fat return of investment.
People like to get things that are 'free' - this is obvious - people also appreciate items that are priced based on the cost of raw materials, not on the cost of the CEO.
That's what I think anyway.
In the foyer of DSD there is (or was) an old Cray SC. The plate says it ran at a whopping 150MHz - pretty fast in its day I guess. That thing was liquid cooled, can see the piping work through a perspex panel in the front. (Or walk around the back and climb inside the machine - poke around a bit, nobody cares, seriously) It has been stripped down, most of the electronics are gone, just one segment left.
The thing looks like some 1970's piece of 'new age' furnature - think of a tube with seats all around the base.
(disclaimer, I haven't been inside HQDSD since 2000, so I don't know if it's still there)
The new supercomputers look like V12 racing engines, with cute wind tunnel desinged plastic covers and all.
I'm thinking you are just shooting off at the mouth without any search effort what-so-ever.
:-)
http://www.discoverychannelasia.com/beyondhuman/
(there's a picture of her as well!)
Try the search option at the discovery website - simply type 'xray' and you'll get it. (do I need to spell out the obvious?
The patients were wearing clothing - it's not like she couldn't see them at all, just not their 'skin beneath the clothing'
I don't ever ask for positive moderation, I don't even think about it - I do try to be honest, informative, or jovial in everything I post. Why troll when you might just make a few friends and expand your mind.
$100 'could' get you a lot of good quality components - plastics are not that expensive to make, electrical compenents are also cheap, probably the most expensive piece would be the hard drive and the display. How much does it 'really' cost to manufacture that lego set selling for $500 US? My guess is about $10 for raw materials at most.
Problem is people will happily hand over a grand for a laptop in 'first world' countries. I've seen laptops for around 24,000 peso in the Philippines, that's about $400 US.
Most people pay that much for their cell phones here, so they could easily afford a $100 laptop.
Then again if you are showy with a laptop here in public, you're likely to have it ripped from your hands before too long.