Do individual people respond to the same inkblots, the same way over time? Or might I see the same splotch in 3 months and associate something else with it? If there's drift over time, this wouldn't be such a good idea. As someone who has administered the Rorschach a number of times, I think I might be able to shed some light on your questions. (Of course, there are some things I have some ethical concerns about revealing, but hopefully this will clear some of it up.) You can google about for validity and the Rorschach, and see that it has test-retest validity on par with commonly used intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), and the interpretation stands up between test administrations over relatively long periods of time (1 to 3 years).
A "normal" person* will respond to the whole Rorschach test in a similar fashion over time, given that their personality hasn't undergone a lot of changes in between test administrations. Their answers to individual inkblots may change, but that's why they're given multiple inkblots to associate to. In this case, it's not the little parts, it's the whole thing.
Another example might be the SAT - if you take it at Time A, and later at Time B, you might respond to different questions in different ways, but both test scores should be relatively close to each other (barring having taken a test preparation course or being hit in the head by a crowbar between tests.;) ).
* We could probably argue a lot about what a "normal" person is, which is why I put the word "normal" in quotes.
I wanted to add a comment along the lines of "humans are falible, God is (supposedly) not," but then it would probably just start another loop of "but humans made up God, so God is falible," arguments.
Do you ever go through a modern Indian reserve? They all drive monsterous trucks and SUVs. There isn't a hybrid or bicycle in the whole place for anyone over the driving age. I rarely advocate for people to own SUVs or huge trucks - but I've been out to reservations in North Dakota in the dead of winter, and believe me, they need them. It's not like New York City, when people have access to a subway to take them where they want to go - reservations (and the Indians on them) live in isolated communities that have poor infrastructure, and worse economies. It's not about whether they do or don't care about the environment (hint: most of them do care about the environment), hybrid vehicles just aren't an option because of their cost and their ability to handle shitty roads in a snowstorm.
You're fooling yourself with PC-tinted glasses if you think they're somehow more respectful of the Earth than the evil whiteys. You're fooling yourself if you think that it has something to do with anything other than where they have to live.
The American indians simply lacked the technology to have a significant impact on their environment until they got horses, at which point their population expanded and they routinely exhausted hunting grounds, and became far more mobile as a result. Not all of the Native people in North America were the nomadic Plains-Indian type you seem to cast them as. There were many stationary, agriculture-based tribes, who did a fair job of fouling up their environment without horses.;) There is a brilliant book called 1491 that discusses the impact the Native people had on the land, and does an excellent job of talking about the practices that benefited them and ultimately killed them prior to the arrival of Europeans.
As for African cultures, the majority of the Sahara desert became so because of goats, which were protected from predators by humans. Okay, how did goats create the Sahara? Are you suggesting they ate everything in their path and changed the environment like that?
So far the only places where geothermal energy is usable is near active Volcanic areas where the geothermal gradient is steep enough to allow high temperatures near the surface and thus a high enough energy density to make the investment profitable (Think Iceland and California). All the other places the heat flow is too low to be usable for anything else than house heating. I could be wrong, but I don't think there is a volcano near Manhattan. And the 260,000 square foot area that it plans on heating is much more than house-sized. Although, there was a particularly nice townhouse in the general area, it's probably out of the price range of the average slashdotter (and that has more to do with the real estate market than the cost of drilling for the geothermal heat pump).
The fun part is that the US government already runs a highly successful single payer health care system: the Veterans Health Administration. I'm not sure why this is modded "Funny" when the VA Healthcare System does really well within its budgetary constraints. Why can't the U.S. use that as a model to provide healthcare to the rest of its citizens?
I hope they manage to avoid the problems that hit Intel's Core 2 Duo, and squash some of their own bugs while they're at it. Or is it too late to handle those problems at this stage in the manufacturing process?
There was a great game called Battle Chess, where the pieces would actually duke it out when one would take another piece... I remember the Pawn-takes-Knight animation, as the plucky little pikeman would kick the Knight in the junk.
There is a Computerworld article from the previous slashdot story that seems pretty helpful in understanding the meltdown of their electronic medical records systems. They say that they are running the world's largest Citrix server system, and it does not scale well for their purposes.
As someone who has been frustrated by a variety of Electronic Medical Records systems in different medical settings, I must say that my "favorite" has been VistA (the medical records software used by the Veteran's Administration, and no relation to Microsoft Vista). Currently, I'm using GE's Centricity at my work site and have had some minor problems that have resulted in delays in entering my data. (Problems with VistA were more related to the entire network being down - problems with Centricty have been with database connectivity... I wish I could say more about it, but I'm not an IT person, I'm just a lowly end-user).
Slashdot's computers might benefit from a co-processor, the function of which is to monitor and correct spelling and grammar errors. It would serve like an editor's job, only better, because, you know, it might actually work.
Do you want your leader's vote to be for sale to the most powerful lobby, or would you rather it be for sale to the public opinion of the majority?
I'd rather see someone with real integrity. The problem with our leaders following the will of the majority is that the majority doesn't always want what is good. (For example: Brown v. Board of Education)
And why do we need to ensure (meaning spending taxpayers money) to make sure that everyone grows to their "full potential"? I personally don't care if someone their is so fucked up they cant teach themselves to read in their spare time. More cheap labour to serve me and less potential competition for me.
I don't know what kind of business you're in, but I think of the situation this way: More education=better jobs. Better jobs=more income. More income=more money to spend on you and your company's product. Bonuses in that More income=money into tax system for other important things, and more income=less likely to rob your ass.
Where does that all start? With better education, and people given some opportunities to improve their situation. There is no guarantee that this will result in better paying jobs, but even if it doesn't, it has other benefits as well. (I'm a fan of the saying "A rising tide lifts all ships.") With increased access to education, you could end up with a more informed electorate. More art. Maybe even fewer fucking stupid people who ruin shit for the rest of us!;)
Mom was bored out of her little mind at the caretaker's. With a little help from some slightly older children, she taught herself to read. But she learned a much more important lesson: If there was anything at all she wanted to learn, it was her responsibility to teach herself.
Uh-huh. The pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps story. What about the people who are surrounded by irresponsibility, or don't have the resources, or don't have the help? How are they going to achieve even a little portion of their potential? I think your theoretical story has some holes in it.
That doesn't mean that the system is perfect - but people need to fix the problems, rather than abandon ship.
You need a compelling reason for them to not exist, and morality is not relevant. You must show actual harm.
Just curious, what is an acceptable threshold for us to consider the "case closed" scientifically?
Do we need to get a 10,000 person samples of men and women, show them child porn (group A), show them adult porn (group B), and show them no porn (group C) and then let them baby-sit your kid unsupervised over some course of time? Or should we just continue to do our best to gather correlations?
All the people who are yelling out "Correlation doesn't equal causation" and "there is no research to support that conclusion, therefore it's wrong," in studying the effects of child porn makes me wonder if they have considered the ethics of attempting to study such a dangerous topic.
A guy who sets up a rendezvous with a kid for sex and shows up at the kid's house is *not* the same thing as someone typing messages to an underage person that might be construed as shady.
I believe (and I get to use the "IANAL" acronym) those messages could be "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor" - sorry I can't find the specific statute.
By now I have dozens if not hundreds of disparate accounts on various sites. Sometimes I want to comment on a "registered users only" site and find my email is already in use [...] If I were a convicted sex offender, it would be impossible for me to:
1) figure out and register all online identities
2) keep track of those (and keep the authorities up to date) whenever I created a new one
So when you got caught, it would be pretty clear by examining the IP logs and dates when/where you were or were not accessing those accounts, right? Or at least, enough to create some room for reasonable doubt? "Your honor, I could not have sent those emails and naughty messages, because I forgot the password in March, and they were sent in August."
See, the military is already prepared for that answer. If you refuse a direct order in the field -- and make no mistake, when they come for you, it won't be in an office meeting -- you get shot on the spot. What is the likelihood of a significant portion of the military defecting after watching their friend get his head blown off by their commander, with the gun is now pointed directly at them?
I'm sure as a slashdot reader, you are familiar with the word frag, but maybe not it's origins. That's how soldiers would handle their commanding officers in the past (especially the dangerous, "follow-this-illegal-order-or-die" kind of officer).
I see a lot of people giving props to rtorrent, (yay for screen and other text-y goodness) but I'll throw in my $.02 with ktorrent - I like the IP blocking filter in place on it, handles multiple torrents, and doesn't get in my way when I don't want it to be.;) (You are running linux and kde, right?)
This is a compelling idea. Did you think of it, or did you hear it somewhere? Is anyone else talking about it?
Yeah, Switzerland has a policy like this in place already.
I guess my question is how the "differently-abled" would serve out their requirement. And how low would that threshold for "differently-abled" be?
For example, one of my friends in high school was legally blind. He could march in marching band, and could drive a car (passably), but I would never want to have him behind the trigger on a gun. Or, let's say a teenager who is obese, and unable to meet a fitness requirement, how do they serve? Or what about the "If I had a gun, I'd get all Columbine up in this place," kinds of kids? Or the opposite-side pacifist kids? (The link from Wikipedia to the Swiss Armed Forces answers a few of those questions, but would they be applicable to the US?)
Slashdot Mirror
A "normal" person* will respond to the whole Rorschach test in a similar fashion over time, given that their personality hasn't undergone a lot of changes in between test administrations. Their answers to individual inkblots may change, but that's why they're given multiple inkblots to associate to. In this case, it's not the little parts, it's the whole thing.
Another example might be the SAT - if you take it at Time A, and later at Time B, you might respond to different questions in different ways, but both test scores should be relatively close to each other (barring having taken a test preparation course or being hit in the head by a crowbar between tests.
* We could probably argue a lot about what a "normal" person is, which is why I put the word "normal" in quotes.
I wanted to add a comment along the lines of "humans are falible, God is (supposedly) not," but then it would probably just start another loop of "but humans made up God, so God is falible," arguments.
As for African cultures, the majority of the Sahara desert became so because of goats, which were protected from predators by humans. Okay, how did goats create the Sahara? Are you suggesting they ate everything in their path and changed the environment like that?
I hope they manage to avoid the problems that hit Intel's Core 2 Duo, and squash some of their own bugs while they're at it. Or is it too late to handle those problems at this stage in the manufacturing process?
There was a great game called Battle Chess, where the pieces would actually duke it out when one would take another piece... I remember the Pawn-takes-Knight animation, as the plucky little pikeman would kick the Knight in the junk.
:-)
damn that game was fun.
Free chair throwing license included!
You better read the Microsoft EULA in there. It might be free for home use, but throwing chairs in a business might get you promoted.
There is a Computerworld article from the previous slashdot story that seems pretty helpful in understanding the meltdown of their electronic medical records systems. They say that they are running the world's largest Citrix server system, and it does not scale well for their purposes.
As someone who has been frustrated by a variety of Electronic Medical Records systems in different medical settings, I must say that my "favorite" has been VistA (the medical records software used by the Veteran's Administration, and no relation to Microsoft Vista). Currently, I'm using GE's Centricity at my work site and have had some minor problems that have resulted in delays in entering my data. (Problems with VistA were more related to the entire network being down - problems with Centricty have been with database connectivity... I wish I could say more about it, but I'm not an IT person, I'm just a lowly end-user).
Damn, I missed the announcement!
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter....
that revives the concept op co-processors.
Slashdot's computers might benefit from a co-processor, the function of which is to monitor and correct spelling and grammar errors. It would serve like an editor's job, only better, because, you know, it might actually work.
(Bye-bye karma!)
Do you want your leader's vote to be for sale to the most powerful lobby, or would you rather it be for sale to the public opinion of the majority?
I'd rather see someone with real integrity. The problem with our leaders following the will of the majority is that the majority doesn't always want what is good. (For example: Brown v. Board of Education)
(mostly because I don't see the original AC respond to their questions)...
Writing on someone's forehead, huh? You might find a useful writing implement at Pen Island
Snakeoil, Mostly.... hmmm, wait a second. That's it! put the computer in snake oil to keep it cool! That will work even better than cooking oil.
And why do we need to ensure (meaning spending taxpayers money) to make sure that everyone grows to their "full potential"? I personally don't care if someone their is so fucked up they cant teach themselves to read in their spare time. More cheap labour to serve me and less potential competition for me.
;)
I don't know what kind of business you're in, but I think of the situation this way: More education=better jobs. Better jobs=more income. More income=more money to spend on you and your company's product. Bonuses in that More income=money into tax system for other important things, and more income=less likely to rob your ass.
Where does that all start? With better education, and people given some opportunities to improve their situation. There is no guarantee that this will result in better paying jobs, but even if it doesn't, it has other benefits as well. (I'm a fan of the saying "A rising tide lifts all ships.") With increased access to education, you could end up with a more informed electorate. More art. Maybe even fewer fucking stupid people who ruin shit for the rest of us!
Mom was bored out of her little mind at the caretaker's. With a little help from some slightly older children, she taught herself to read. But she learned a much more important lesson: If there was anything at all she wanted to learn, it was her responsibility to teach herself.
Uh-huh. The pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps story. What about the people who are surrounded by irresponsibility, or don't have the resources, or don't have the help? How are they going to achieve even a little portion of their potential? I think your theoretical story has some holes in it.
That doesn't mean that the system is perfect - but people need to fix the problems, rather than abandon ship.
You need a compelling reason for them to not exist, and morality is not relevant. You must show actual harm.
Just curious, what is an acceptable threshold for us to consider the "case closed" scientifically?
Do we need to get a 10,000 person samples of men and women, show them child porn (group A), show them adult porn (group B), and show them no porn (group C) and then let them baby-sit your kid unsupervised over some course of time? Or should we just continue to do our best to gather correlations?
All the people who are yelling out "Correlation doesn't equal causation" and "there is no research to support that conclusion, therefore it's wrong," in studying the effects of child porn makes me wonder if they have considered the ethics of attempting to study such a dangerous topic.
First, you bust someone with a pseudo-crime like child molestation, rape, murder
Wait a minute, are you saying those aren't crimes?
Quick, call the Bureau of Prisons! There has been a terrible mistake!
A guy who sets up a rendezvous with a kid for sex and shows up at the kid's house is *not* the same thing as someone typing messages to an underage person that might be construed as shady.
I believe (and I get to use the "IANAL" acronym) those messages could be "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor" - sorry I can't find the specific statute.
By now I have dozens if not hundreds of disparate accounts on various sites. Sometimes I want to comment on a "registered users only" site and find my email is already in use [...] If I were a convicted sex offender, it would be impossible for me to: 1) figure out and register all online identities 2) keep track of those (and keep the authorities up to date) whenever I created a new one
So when you got caught, it would be pretty clear by examining the IP logs and dates when/where you were or were not accessing those accounts, right? Or at least, enough to create some room for reasonable doubt? "Your honor, I could not have sent those emails and naughty messages, because I forgot the password in March, and they were sent in August."
See, the military is already prepared for that answer. If you refuse a direct order in the field -- and make no mistake, when they come for you, it won't be in an office meeting -- you get shot on the spot. What is the likelihood of a significant portion of the military defecting after watching their friend get his head blown off by their commander, with the gun is now pointed directly at them?
I'm sure as a slashdot reader, you are familiar with the word frag, but maybe not it's origins. That's how soldiers would handle their commanding officers in the past (especially the dangerous, "follow-this-illegal-order-or-die" kind of officer).
I see a lot of people giving props to rtorrent, (yay for screen and other text-y goodness) but I'll throw in my $.02 with ktorrent - I like the IP blocking filter in place on it, handles multiple torrents, and doesn't get in my way when I don't want it to be. ;) (You are running linux and kde, right?)
[Jayne] "I'll be in my bunk." [/Jayne]
This is a compelling idea. Did you think of it, or did you hear it somewhere? Is anyone else talking about it?
Yeah, Switzerland has a policy like this in place already.
I guess my question is how the "differently-abled" would serve out their requirement. And how low would that threshold for "differently-abled" be?
For example, one of my friends in high school was legally blind. He could march in marching band, and could drive a car (passably), but I would never want to have him behind the trigger on a gun. Or, let's say a teenager who is obese, and unable to meet a fitness requirement, how do they serve? Or what about the "If I had a gun, I'd get all Columbine up in this place," kinds of kids? Or the opposite-side pacifist kids? (The link from Wikipedia to the Swiss Armed Forces answers a few of those questions, but would they be applicable to the US?)