The worst thing about the myth of "second hand smoke" is the way it magically fails to affect the smoker, although everybody else in the area's affected. Not only that, but the myth directly controdicts the statistical evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. My advice is to do what I do: smoke a pipe and don't inhale. No problems with lung cancer, better smelling smoke, and you can drive your doctor up the wall by knowing what you're doing and thinking for yourself.
Diabetes type 2 occurs due to insulin resistance caused by overdose of insulin. Your bodyparts simply fail to respond to it thus you have type 2 diabetes and you must take an insulin shot and change your diet.
Nice try, but you missed the mark here. With Type II diabetes, you don't need to take insulin except under special circumstances. You control it by changing your diet and taking various pills that help you keep your blood glucose under control.
What is known is it is impossible to acquire Type II diabetes if you have less than 5% body fat. A person of normal weight has zero chance of acquiring the disorder.
Try telling that to those of us with Type II Diabetes caused by exposure to Agent Orange. This is a known long-term effect, and everybody exposed to Agent Orange will develop it sooner or later.
C being a constant (i.e. a fixed scalar number) is indeed merely a convention, as opposed to Pi being a constant.
C is not a "fixed scaler number," but a physical measurement with a unit of distance per time. The exact number used is, of course, dependant on what units you use to measure distance and time, but if you measure using meters per second and I use furlongs per fortnight, either can be converted to the other and get the same value. Pi, on the other hand is a pure number: it has no unit because its value doesn't depend on any unit. No matter what units you use, you come up with exactly the same number. Maybe this is what you were trying to say?
Ah, I see: quibbling. The velocity of light is not a convention, but the value we use for that constant (and all other constants that have units) is a convention based on the value of the units of measurements. How clever, how trivial, how irrelevant.
Where we may disagree is that today's vacuum is the same medium as yesterday's vacuum. Could the Earth be passing through an errant blob of dark matter or some such phenomena that changes the index of refraction of a vacuum?
Not a disagreement at all; simply something I'd not taken into account. Nice idea, and quite reasonable. Not sure how you'd use either the strong or weak force, but it might be possible to find a way to measure something about the internal vibration (if any) of the nuclei of different isotopes.
No, I didn't mis-read it. He said that the speed of light is defined by convention, and he's wrong. It doesn't take any particular knowledge of Special Relativity to know that. Good thing, as I'm just a layman in such things.
The speed of light is a function of the medium it is passing through -- light travels more slowly in materials like optical fiber, water, air, etc. than it does in a "vacuum."
Yes, of course it is. However, it is constant within that medium. As I said, no matter who measures it, no matter when or where, the speed of light is a constant. (Yes, it's a constant for that medium if you want to nitpick, but it is a constant.)
And a bad guess it is, too. The speed of light in a vacuum is not a convention, it is the ultimate constant. No matter when or where you measure it, no matter how fast you are going, it comes out to exactly the same value. That means, if you're moving at.9c relative to me, and we both measure the speed of a beam of light going in the same direction as you are, we will both still come up with the same measurement: that beam is travelling at exactly c with respect to both of us. Weird, yes, but true.
I'd rather burn a disk with Ad Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy and give it to people than to have to educate people on a system that they know nothing about.
What makes you think they know anything about Windows? They've been using it for years? So? Just because they've strained their brains memorizing how to use a few programs and get them to do about 10% of what they're capable of doesn't mean the know computers. It's sad to say, but for most people computers really are incomprehensible and too many that could understand them refuse to try.
Linux is fine, linux is great, but you have to be willing to put in a little effort learning it. Yes, put those programs on. Then, use Task Scheduler to make sure they get run at reasonable intervals. It's about all you can do for people like that.
I did tech support for an ISP for over seven years, until my call-center was closed. I can't count the number of people I had to try to help when they'd lost email, files, urls or whatever. Sometimes, we got lucky; either they were looking in the wrong place, or hadn't emptied the Trash. The rest of the time, I gave them the company's mantra for the occasion: "Gone is gone."
On a side note, sometimes the Trash works as a great backup if you know how to use it. I had a caller once delete some system files as part of removing/replacing Dial-Up Networking to make sure these files got replaced. Alas, it crashed at just the wrong moment, before the files got replaced. Now, it can't boot at all. Deo gratis, she had a boot disk. I talked her into going into the directory containing the Trash in DOS, found the files by size, copied them back to \Windows\System, renamed them and got her system working again. I doubt she ever realized that she'd probably been talking to the only tech in the company that could have done that, and it really didn't matter. Yes, I know how to keep files from going to the Trash when they're deleted, but I never have callers do it. Just In Case. That was the worst problem solved that way, but not the only one.
Most computer users would rather double click an install file than sift through the giant apt repository.
Now that you only have to double-click on an install file, or click OK on one button on an autorun program, Computer-Barbies are paying consultants to do it because, "Installing software is hard!"
For me, the satisfaction of not giving MicroSoft money was completely unimportant. I wouldn't mind giving them money if I only got a proper value for the money spent.
- # No coerced upgrades, where existing users have to plead with people who have already upgraded to jump through hoops to avoid sending unreadable new formats.
This isn't MS's problem, it's yours. If you want to cling to old formats, outdated software and outmoded formats, that's your problem.
Not everybody has the ca$h to be upgrading every program from NanoLimp each time. As the format for e.g., MSWord changes with each version, if you can't afford to upgrade, pretty soon you can't read anybody else's files.
Funny, isn't it, how so many people are always ready to solve problems by throwing somebody else's money at them?
Documentation of all registry settings, regardless of if they should be modified manually or not.
I took that one further. I pointed out that no program should be allowed to change the registry settings for any other program. That makes it much harder for malware to hijack your startpage or for a trojan to change another program's settings to call the trojan.
Well, maybe not a flying saucer, but a neat flying wing with a very small take-off requirement. I think it was first used in Dick Tracy, the first of (I think) three serials done with Ralph Boyd in the lead. I'm not sure off-hand what other serials it was used in, but can find out if anybody's that interested. The Dick Tracy serials are fine entertainment, and Ralph Boyd looks like what Chester Gould was thinking of when he drew the character.
Yes, the outfit I work at right now is perfectly happy to ship a prototype if it appears to work
So what you do is make sure there's always a flaw in your prototype that will keep it from being shipped without ruining the demo. As an example, if there's a database involved, make sure it's not expandable enough to be anything but a toy or only has room in the records for the minimal fields needed right now. That way, it's easier to re-write from scratch than try to adapt what you've written.
You need root to start/stop the app? Install sudo, and configure it so that they can start/stop it without bothering you. People don't wonder why they have sysadmins, they wonder why their sysadmins are control-freaks that won't configure things properly so that people can get their jobs done.
No. Either the minority is gathered into one district, leaving the rest safe for the majority party, or they're diluted through a number of districts, giving them nothing. As the majority party has more votes in the Legislature, they'll always approve a plan that helps them keep their control, not one that throws it away as you seem to think.
Yes, as a Californian, I know we do. I opposed it, voted against it and would vote to remove it. Nobody except for members of a party should have a say in who any party runs. That goes for all parties, not only whatever one (if any) I'm registered with.
It would be cool if the supremes solved this by ruling that all voters have to be able to vote in all primaries
No, it would negate the entire point of primaries. Primary elections are intended to let each party decide by vote who will represent them in the General Election. Allowing people not in the party to vote, or cross-over voting allows people outside the party to influence this; the most probable reason is to ensure that the least electable candidate gets the nod.
Proportional representation has always led to splinter parties, inability for any party to gain a majority and coalitions dominated by tiny parties that can bring everything crashing down if their extremist plans aren't put into operation. It's nothing more than a plan to ensure that minorities have the final word and disenfranchise everybody else.
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The worst thing about the myth of "second hand smoke" is the way it magically fails to affect the smoker, although everybody else in the area's affected. Not only that, but the myth directly controdicts the statistical evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. My advice is to do what I do: smoke a pipe and don't inhale. No problems with lung cancer, better smelling smoke, and you can drive your doctor up the wall by knowing what you're doing and thinking for yourself.
Nice try, but you missed the mark here. With Type II diabetes, you don't need to take insulin except under special circumstances. You control it by changing your diet and taking various pills that help you keep your blood glucose under control.
Try telling that to those of us with Type II Diabetes caused by exposure to Agent Orange. This is a known long-term effect, and everybody exposed to Agent Orange will develop it sooner or later.
C is not a "fixed scaler number," but a physical measurement with a unit of distance per time. The exact number used is, of course, dependant on what units you use to measure distance and time, but if you measure using meters per second and I use furlongs per fortnight, either can be converted to the other and get the same value. Pi, on the other hand is a pure number: it has no unit because its value doesn't depend on any unit. No matter what units you use, you come up with exactly the same number. Maybe this is what you were trying to say?
Ah, I see: quibbling. The velocity of light is not a convention, but the value we use for that constant (and all other constants that have units) is a convention based on the value of the units of measurements. How clever, how trivial, how irrelevant.
Not a disagreement at all; simply something I'd not taken into account. Nice idea, and quite reasonable. Not sure how you'd use either the strong or weak force, but it might be possible to find a way to measure something about the internal vibration (if any) of the nuclei of different isotopes.
No, I didn't mis-read it. He said that the speed of light is defined by convention, and he's wrong. It doesn't take any particular knowledge of Special Relativity to know that. Good thing, as I'm just a layman in such things.
Yes, of course it is. However, it is constant within that medium. As I said, no matter who measures it, no matter when or where, the speed of light is a constant. (Yes, it's a constant for that medium if you want to nitpick, but it is a constant.)
And a bad guess it is, too. The speed of light in a vacuum is not a convention, it is the ultimate constant. No matter when or where you measure it, no matter how fast you are going, it comes out to exactly the same value. That means, if you're moving at .9c relative to me, and we both measure the speed of a beam of light going in the same direction as you are, we will both still come up with the same measurement: that beam is travelling at exactly c with respect to both of us. Weird, yes, but true.
Yes, I can't give any examples, because Homeland Security forbids it.
It sounds like your aunt goes by the motto, "It's better to calculate than never."
What makes you think they know anything about Windows? They've been using it for years? So? Just because they've strained their brains memorizing how to use a few programs and get them to do about 10% of what they're capable of doesn't mean the know computers. It's sad to say, but for most people computers really are incomprehensible and too many that could understand them refuse to try.
Linux is fine, linux is great, but you have to be willing to put in a little effort learning it. Yes, put those programs on. Then, use Task Scheduler to make sure they get run at reasonable intervals. It's about all you can do for people like that.
On a side note, sometimes the Trash works as a great backup if you know how to use it. I had a caller once delete some system files as part of removing/replacing Dial-Up Networking to make sure these files got replaced. Alas, it crashed at just the wrong moment, before the files got replaced. Now, it can't boot at all. Deo gratis, she had a boot disk. I talked her into going into the directory containing the Trash in DOS, found the files by size, copied them back to \Windows\System, renamed them and got her system working again. I doubt she ever realized that she'd probably been talking to the only tech in the company that could have done that, and it really didn't matter. Yes, I know how to keep files from going to the Trash when they're deleted, but I never have callers do it. Just In Case. That was the worst problem solved that way, but not the only one.
No, they make you knurd. So far past sober, you come out the other side.
Now that you only have to double-click on an install file, or click OK on one button on an autorun program, Computer-Barbies are paying consultants to do it because, "Installing software is hard!"
For me, the satisfaction of not giving MicroSoft money was completely unimportant. I wouldn't mind giving them money if I only got a proper value for the money spent.
Not everybody has the ca$h to be upgrading every program from NanoLimp each time. As the format for e.g., MSWord changes with each version, if you can't afford to upgrade, pretty soon you can't read anybody else's files.
Funny, isn't it, how so many people are always ready to solve problems by throwing somebody else's money at them?
I took that one further. I pointed out that no program should be allowed to change the registry settings for any other program. That makes it much harder for malware to hijack your startpage or for a trojan to change another program's settings to call the trojan.
Well, maybe not a flying saucer, but a neat flying wing with a very small take-off requirement. I think it was first used in Dick Tracy, the first of (I think) three serials done with Ralph Boyd in the lead. I'm not sure off-hand what other serials it was used in, but can find out if anybody's that interested. The Dick Tracy serials are fine entertainment, and Ralph Boyd looks like what Chester Gould was thinking of when he drew the character.
So what you do is make sure there's always a flaw in your prototype that will keep it from being shipped without ruining the demo. As an example, if there's a database involved, make sure it's not expandable enough to be anything but a toy or only has room in the records for the minimal fields needed right now. That way, it's easier to re-write from scratch than try to adapt what you've written.
You need root to start/stop the app? Install sudo, and configure it so that they can start/stop it without bothering you. People don't wonder why they have sysadmins, they wonder why their sysadmins are control-freaks that won't configure things properly so that people can get their jobs done.
No. Either the minority is gathered into one district, leaving the rest safe for the majority party, or they're diluted through a number of districts, giving them nothing. As the majority party has more votes in the Legislature, they'll always approve a plan that helps them keep their control, not one that throws it away as you seem to think.
Yes, as a Californian, I know we do. I opposed it, voted against it and would vote to remove it. Nobody except for members of a party should have a say in who any party runs. That goes for all parties, not only whatever one (if any) I'm registered with.
No, it would negate the entire point of primaries. Primary elections are intended to let each party decide by vote who will represent them in the General Election. Allowing people not in the party to vote, or cross-over voting allows people outside the party to influence this; the most probable reason is to ensure that the least electable candidate gets the nod.
Proportional representation has always led to splinter parties, inability for any party to gain a majority and coalitions dominated by tiny parties that can bring everything crashing down if their extremist plans aren't put into operation. It's nothing more than a plan to ensure that minorities have the final word and disenfranchise everybody else.