Just think about it....who were the wealthiest and most powerful men in Socrates era? in Galileo era? did they deserve to have more wealth and money than Socrates, Galieo, Da Vinci or Mozart?
They were aristocracy and descendants of aristocracy. "Deserve" had nothing to do with it. That was not a meritocratic age. They were wealthy, destined to be so by God and luck, and it was their privilege, even their duty, to flaunt it.
This would touch the American voter far more seriously than WW2 rationing ever did - and I think modern generations are far less willing to accept that sort of hardship.
Did the citizenship of America have significant rationing in WW2 at all?
There was rationing. I don't know how you define "significant." No one starved, but rubber, food staples, farm equipment, gasoline, and cloth were all rationed...there is a list here, and a general article here.
Looking at that concert footage, anime styling is really weird when brought to reality. She looks like some sort of rubberized alien android. It doesn't look out of place in anime, but in the real world, it is a little freaky.
I wouldn't be surprised if a third party takes up the banner for 2012 and starts making serious noise, though.
We almost have a third party now, in the form of the Tea Party, and they haven't said jack about international trade relations. Their concerns are strictly insular. You had best be hoping for a fourth party to step up.
The Chinese have millions of rural peasants who would love a chance to work in their factories.
As I understand it, it is the rural peasants who are facing the worst environmental hazards. The cities, they've got smog, air pollution, and acid rain, but the countryside has the toxins, the flooding, the poor construction, and the scorched earth.
The biggest drawback I can see to having a home built out of aircraft aluminum is the corrosion issue. Contrary to what many people think aluminum does corrode. It is not as active a metal as steel, but it DOES corrode.
Architects build with aluminum all the time. I am sure they are taking the appropriate measures. I am actually wondering more about how they are removing the old paint and the steeped-in passenger/cattle smell.
That's why the flying wing design does work so well. But we won't be seeing those in use anytime soon. Why? Because people are afraid of change. What airline would agree to drop billions on a fleet of new aircraft that are faster and more efficient, if the passengers will refuse to fly in them?
At a guess, I'd say the problem is more likely to be with the airports. Their...ahem...their docking maneuvers are more accommodating of length than girth.
I have to correct you on one point, though. Bread does not require "road haulage, industrial ovens, North Sea gas, unnatural preservatives and ingredients from far-flung countries." All you need are three Wheat and a Workbench.
While on the topic of fiction, another author presented a scenario where the collapse of civilization was one-way - there was no way for a stone-age to discover metal again. See "Ring World".
Well, that really wasn't a fair situation. They lived on an artificial world made of might-as-well-be neutronium. There weren't any ores or easy metals to be had. Cocky-ass Protectors.
There's your singularity right there, bitches. As soon as you go digital, everything goes down the rabbit hole and there's no way you can access it from the dumber zones. And nobody seems to give a damn.
This deserves an "Insightful" mod, because you are totally correct. I suppose they assume that once you hit the singularity, you can't be brought back down to a pre-computer era.
You know, that right there is probably a really good sci-fi book idea.
Sure, nomadic cavemen probably wouldn't have bothered, but can you imagine a Roman Empire where all telegraph lines lead to Rome?
That would have been awesome, but probably wouldn't have had much impact on their preeminence. The Roman Empire already had the best communications in the world.
and if they forgot the details, they would just use man fire
And, indeed, the person manning the fire will probably tell you all about how they got it started, and threaten you with bodily harm if they have to do it all over again because you made the fire go out.
Trying to eliminate dependencies by "design conventions" makes about as much sense as legislating pi to be 3.
True, he should have said "packaging conventions." For the Mac, these are: anything that isn't part of the OS, include it in the internal Frameworks directory of your app; anything that IS a part of the OS, rely on the version-required/supported macros and weak linking.
So when do we become focused on looking at human beings as information processors?
Well, this article uses terms of information theory, talking about signaling, sensing, packets of information, and file-sharing. Not just to describe the bacterial interactions, but to describe how they affect the human mechanism. Or perhaps I should say, the human network.
I used to have a roommate who had a fixed gear bike. He loved it because he used clips, and thus when he'd have to stop at lights, he could balance without unclipping.
Offtopic, but I gotta say I think clips are just a broken ankle waiting to happen.
The form development took its cues from various aerodynamic, avian and decidedly feminine forms. Its erect posture intends a sense of poise while its supine conformity to the hand reconciles that with the user's desire for digital control. The curvature of the back also serves a functional role in elevating the projector lens elements when lying flat.
I am an atheist, but not that kind. I think a belief in God is really useful on an individual level, as a believer will have more self-confidence, perseverance, and satisfaction in life, but harmful at the societal level when religious leaders point the masses at an enemy.
AFAICT, 'Share this' doesn't copy the entire article, it just copies the blurb and gets people to go visit the news site if they want to know more. IMO that is not an implicit or explicit license to copy anything.
Only if you ignore what the words "Share this" actually mean in our language. The site asks me to share this; I'm sharing this. What's the problem?
Slashdot Mirror
They were aristocracy and descendants of aristocracy. "Deserve" had nothing to do with it. That was not a meritocratic age. They were wealthy, destined to be so by God and luck, and it was their privilege, even their duty, to flaunt it.
There was rationing. I don't know how you define "significant." No one starved, but rubber, food staples, farm equipment, gasoline, and cloth were all rationed...there is a list here, and a general article here.
Looking at that concert footage, anime styling is really weird when brought to reality. She looks like some sort of rubberized alien android. It doesn't look out of place in anime, but in the real world, it is a little freaky.
Yeah, Disney decanted the Beiber model from their cloning tanks a while back.
We almost have a third party now, in the form of the Tea Party, and they haven't said jack about international trade relations. Their concerns are strictly insular. You had best be hoping for a fourth party to step up.
As I understand it, it is the rural peasants who are facing the worst environmental hazards. The cities, they've got smog, air pollution, and acid rain, but the countryside has the toxins, the flooding, the poor construction, and the scorched earth.
Air molecules are actually bigger than water molecules. So you could have something that is air-tight but still leaks water.
Huh. I always thought is was the other way around, that air-tight is tighter than water-tight. Live and learn. :)
The biggest drawback I can see to having a home built out of aircraft aluminum is the corrosion issue. Contrary to what many people think aluminum does corrode. It is not as active a metal as steel, but it DOES corrode.
Architects build with aluminum all the time. I am sure they are taking the appropriate measures. I am actually wondering more about how they are removing the old paint and the steeped-in passenger/cattle smell.
At a guess, I'd say the problem is more likely to be with the airports. Their...ahem...their docking maneuvers are more accommodating of length than girth.
The problem with net-biased (what's the opposite of net-neutral?) ISP's is not their ability to block things.
I'm going to go with "pro-choice" as the opposite of "net-neutral." Because I feel like instigating. And because it is scarily plausible newspeak.
Great post!
I have to correct you on one point, though. Bread does not require "road haulage, industrial ovens, North Sea gas, unnatural preservatives and ingredients from far-flung countries." All you need are three Wheat and a Workbench.
You could do a semaphore system like the "clacks" from the Discworld novels. Those seem very doable.
Well, that really wasn't a fair situation. They lived on an artificial world made of might-as-well-be neutronium. There weren't any ores or easy metals to be had. Cocky-ass Protectors.
This deserves an "Insightful" mod, because you are totally correct. I suppose they assume that once you hit the singularity, you can't be brought back down to a pre-computer era.
You know, that right there is probably a really good sci-fi book idea.
That would have been awesome, but probably wouldn't have had much impact on their preeminence. The Roman Empire already had the best communications in the world.
And, indeed, the person manning the fire will probably tell you all about how they got it started, and threaten you with bodily harm if they have to do it all over again because you made the fire go out.
Trying to eliminate dependencies by "design conventions" makes about as much sense as legislating pi to be 3.
True, he should have said "packaging conventions." For the Mac, these are: anything that isn't part of the OS, include it in the internal Frameworks directory of your app; anything that IS a part of the OS, rely on the version-required/supported macros and weak linking.
Well, this article uses terms of information theory, talking about signaling, sensing, packets of information, and file-sharing. Not just to describe the bacterial interactions, but to describe how they affect the human mechanism. Or perhaps I should say, the human network.
decimal would totally fuck with our finite heads.
I think you mean...uh...heximal? Is that the word?
I used to have a roommate who had a fixed gear bike. He loved it because he used clips, and thus when he'd have to stop at lights, he could balance without unclipping.
Offtopic, but I gotta say I think clips are just a broken ankle waiting to happen.
Maybe you missed the part about it requiring a constant power supply of 400mA at 12V DC.
That is not hard. Or, more accurately, it is somebody else's problem. The lock is easy.
Flint and steel is pretty straightforward, though a bit unintuitive.
Based on other follow-up responses, this does not, in fact, appear to be the case.
I am an atheist, but not that kind. I think a belief in God is really useful on an individual level, as a believer will have more self-confidence, perseverance, and satisfaction in life, but harmful at the societal level when religious leaders point the masses at an enemy.
Only if you ignore what the words "Share this" actually mean in our language. The site asks me to share this; I'm sharing this. What's the problem?