I wonder if the reason this is so widely tolerated is because people have absorbed the notion that making and interpreting laws has to be hard
No, the problem is that most folks that say "there ought to be a law" can't think logically. If they were capable of thinking their argument through, they would realize that although something is seen as "undesirable" according to some ineffable social science aesthetic, it does not follow that it can be forbidden or regulated.
Take "assault weapons bans", for example -- the laws come down to a categorical ban based on things like the shape of the buttstock, or the shape of the muzzle, or the brand and model name. Why? Because there is no such thing as an "assault weapon". That term is an epithet, nothing more. It is loaded with negative semantic cache -- thus the bans engender overwhelming popular support -- but it utterly lacks logical foundation. My grandfather's M1 Garand is a lot deadlier than my father's AR-15, but it has a beautiful walnut stock, thus it is a "proud historical relic" not a "scary assault weapon". The aesthetic has chosen.
Now, rinse and repeat for every aspect of society. Free healthcare? Sure! Mandatory air bags? Why not? Abortions for some, tiny American flags for others!
No law can be smarter than its author. Laws are written by stupid people, therefore the laws are stupid. Q.E.D.
In fact, the relative freedom that western societies have enjoyed for the last several generations are an historical aberration; one that I *don't* want to see corrected.
Last several generations? Either you mean "several == 1", or you've forgotten Poland and East Germany.
This is a prime example of why Godwin's Law should be repealed -- by not talking about the Nazis, we are breeding ignorance of history. Sometimes a comparison to Hitler (or Stalin, or Big Brother) is apropos.
Pointing an unloaded gun at a police officer is technically "assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer", a crime that usually carries a less than 20 year sentence, and certainly doesn't carry the death penalty. Nevertheless, you are unlikely to be convicted or even see trial, as the police officer will shoot you Dead Right There.
This isn't about justice, crime or punishment, it's about doing something incredibly stupid that will get you killed.
Too bad economics alone is incapable of keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals. Weapons that have no purpose beyond killing large numbers of people. Like, say, an M240.
Is this meant to be taken seriously?
1) I've never heard of a criminal that could afford an M240, even on the black market. These sorts of criminals simply don't exist outside of A-Team reruns.
2) Weapons like the M240 exist to save lives. You don't have to go very far to find people whose lives were saved by the introduction of M60, M240, or Ma Deuce to an otherwise deadly situation. I have friends that are alive as a direct result of the just and timely application of that technology. I think that purpose is pretty important "beyond killing".
3) I happen to know of someone with an M2. He's no criminal, and his very expensive toy has never killed anyone or anything while in his possession. He shoots targets with it. Is that not a "purpose beyond killing"?
you are affirming that the Constitution guarantees you the right of each citizen to bear nuclear arms
That straw man argument is completely absurd, as it presumes that there exists some individual in military service which has the equivalent authority to use nuclear arms. Sorry, not so. There is no individual in military or government service -- no, not even the President -- which has the authority to use nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons protocol is designed such that no individual could EVER wield that power, and that any use of nuclear weapons occurs as a collective act of the nation as a whole (through agreement of both the military authorities and our elected representatives).
Now, in the hypothetical world where individual soldiers were installed with discretionary "strategic nuclear strike" capability, then YES, the people need that power too. Because it's TEOTWAWKI, and the guys with the nukes are gonna end up with all the girls.
Is this a first, someone from one cartoon town responding to someone else on slashdot from another cartoon town?
Well, to whatever extent that 1000 square miles of moderately-arable, sparsely-populated tundra in the middle of the Colorado Rockies could be considered a "town". I prefer to think of it as a wormhole to Alaska. Folks here use solar power because that's all that they CAN get.
Still, it's a nice enough place, at least since that know-it-all John Galt moved out. What a jerk!
So I could power my whole house for a one time investment of less than $2k? Sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?
Depends on what your expectations are. Were you planning on actually having power during the other 20 hours of the day? If so, then you'll need to have a very large battery array, and about 6 times the solar capacity you've calculated in order to fully charge the batteries during the relatively brief peak hours. Add in a massive charge controller and inverter, and you are pretty close to working.
We have lots of people here in South Park (no, not a joke) that run solar; but none run solar exclusively (that's impossible). In order to do things like laundry or the dishes, most of them have to fire up the generator. And, during the winter, peak solar hours are shorter, and weaker, so the batteries start to sulfate from over-discharge if you don't keep them topped off -- more generator time. During some months we have a regular parade of people bringing their generators in to town for service.
Also understand that this special class of individualist burns wood for heat, and owns no air conditioner. The solar powers the well and the freezer, and not much else. Most of the power they use is delivered in the form of wood and propane.
"Trees on the ground" are still part of the carbon cycle. After a tree falls, fungus and bacteria get to work breaking down all that cellulose, and all the carbon that tree absorbed during life gets re-released into the atmosphere.
The only way to use trees for carbon sequestration is to cut them down and build houses out of them. Seems like you should earn carbon credits when you buy lumber.
Please note that the article is not "Ham Radios Are Heroes in Oregon". The equipment isn't the important part of the equation. The heroes are the operators which train in communication nets, traffic handling, propagation, repeater/relay operation -- DAILY. Go listen to a traffic net in your area with a scanner. Then, you will understand; this isn't something you could do in an emergency without training and organization.
Finally: "are there many countries where there aren't ham operators and there's a need for such stuff?" No, there aren't.
Because any operation on those frequencies DOES affect interstate commerce, even if your operation doesn't cross interstate boundaries.
Consider the case you are proposing. If you are operating on a frequency that is in use in a neighboring state, you may not interfere with users in that state, but you may interfere with interstate users in your state. That's interference with interstate commerce, same as if you blocked an interstate highway with a railroad car. Would you consider the argument "but the highway was only blocked in one state, so it's not interfering with interstate commerce" a viable defense?
Consider the case the GGP proposed: why can't you run your own radio station? Interesting prospect. If YOU can run your own radio station unregulated, that means ANYONE can run their own radio station unregulated. Interesting idea. Horrific. Who then would enforce spectral purity or resolve interference disputes on unregulated stations? "But my signal doesn't hit any other states!" Who determined that? What enforcement is there? If none, then none.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3: "The Congress shall have power... To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;"
Like it or not, RF crosses state and national boundaries, and requires an enforced monopoly to be usable. Thus, the commerce clause applies.
The design you are deriding is chemically self-regulating, and thermally stable. Remove heat, and the hydride breaks down, inducing criticality. Fission produces heat which raises the core temperature. High temperature causes the formation of the hydride, halting fission.
Do you understand the difference between electricity and heat? TFA mentions heat output, not electrical output. This is not an electric generator. Is it too much to ask that you read the article before dismissing it as propaganda?
Nevertheless, it is great for industrial applications, like creating steam for coal sand extraction or syngas production. With appropriate co-generation facilities, it could work for residential heat and power, but that's pretty pointless -- large nuclear reactors are already quite efficient at large scale power production. Isolated locations like Antarctica will see these; Middle America will not.
1) Do you understand the difference between a bath tub and a hot tub? Your math is off by about a factor of 4.
2) Do you understand the chemical properties of uranium hydride? Your statements about cooling are groundless.
Welcome to exciting world of nuclear engineering, where nuclear engineers do the design work. Go get them some coffee.
Just a hint from the API: Google Maps is integrated into the framework. Thus, location-based services developed on this platform will use Google. This is no small thing -- look at the Google Maps mashups of the last several years.
As a user of Google Maps on Windows Mobile, I can tell you that the only thing broken about it is Windows Mobile. Amazing operating system, assuming you adopt the "why the heck did it just do that?" definition of "amazing". (e.g. wakes from hibernation to display the "low battery" notification)
Baloney. It was beautiful in March and April 1986, by far the best comet views in my lifetime, with a bright detailed tail 8 degrees long. Hyukatake and Hale-Bopp were good, but not that good.
Let me guess, you went out to see Halley in October or November of 1985, before perihelion, long before peak, when it was in the night sky. Sorry, the views were in the spring, in the morning sky. Just like they were telling folks on the news; no one listened.
You've made a very dangerous statement, but so far everyone has ignored it:
all religions, whether Muslim, Christian or whatever have extremist factions and that's where the problems are.
There are two statements you could have made regarding religion and violence: 1) violent religious people are extremists, or 2) religious extremists are violent. By choosing 2, you have defined the two sets as identical by reflexivity. This is the first step: bigotry. The next step is where you identify members of the first group (religious extremists) by characteristics other than violence (the second group), and then attempt to control them in order to "prevent violence". This is the second step: persecution.
The real freedom here is that you can define an extremist by any terms you like. You've done so: "mainstream" is okay, by your words. How digestible! Why, the majority of people aren't violent, and the majority of people are "mainstream" by definition. Who would disagree? Obviously, the minority groups are the dangerous ones. Something must be done.
Feel free to have fun with this, it's like mad libs:
1) Choose a group of people of which you are not a member. (followers of a non-mainstream religion)
2) Choose a negative attribute that a small subset of that group possesses. (violence)
3) State in neutral terms that members of the group possess the negative attribute.
4) Persecute the entire group.
Slashdot Mirror
Take "assault weapons bans", for example -- the laws come down to a categorical ban based on things like the shape of the buttstock, or the shape of the muzzle, or the brand and model name. Why? Because there is no such thing as an "assault weapon". That term is an epithet, nothing more. It is loaded with negative semantic cache -- thus the bans engender overwhelming popular support -- but it utterly lacks logical foundation. My grandfather's M1 Garand is a lot deadlier than my father's AR-15, but it has a beautiful walnut stock, thus it is a "proud historical relic" not a "scary assault weapon". The aesthetic has chosen.
Now, rinse and repeat for every aspect of society. Free healthcare? Sure! Mandatory air bags? Why not? Abortions for some, tiny American flags for others!
No law can be smarter than its author. Laws are written by stupid people, therefore the laws are stupid. Q.E.D.
This is a prime example of why Godwin's Law should be repealed -- by not talking about the Nazis, we are breeding ignorance of history. Sometimes a comparison to Hitler (or Stalin, or Big Brother) is apropos.
This isn't about justice, crime or punishment, it's about doing something incredibly stupid that will get you killed.
There is a God, and this is Hell.
1) I've never heard of a criminal that could afford an M240, even on the black market. These sorts of criminals simply don't exist outside of A-Team reruns.
2) Weapons like the M240 exist to save lives. You don't have to go very far to find people whose lives were saved by the introduction of M60, M240, or Ma Deuce to an otherwise deadly situation. I have friends that are alive as a direct result of the just and timely application of that technology. I think that purpose is pretty important "beyond killing".
3) I happen to know of someone with an M2. He's no criminal, and his very expensive toy has never killed anyone or anything while in his possession. He shoots targets with it. Is that not a "purpose beyond killing"?
Now, in the hypothetical world where individual soldiers were installed with discretionary "strategic nuclear strike" capability, then YES, the people need that power too. Because it's TEOTWAWKI, and the guys with the nukes are gonna end up with all the girls.
Still, it's a nice enough place, at least since that know-it-all John Galt moved out. What a jerk!
We have lots of people here in South Park (no, not a joke) that run solar; but none run solar exclusively (that's impossible). In order to do things like laundry or the dishes, most of them have to fire up the generator. And, during the winter, peak solar hours are shorter, and weaker, so the batteries start to sulfate from over-discharge if you don't keep them topped off -- more generator time. During some months we have a regular parade of people bringing their generators in to town for service.
Also understand that this special class of individualist burns wood for heat, and owns no air conditioner. The solar powers the well and the freezer, and not much else. Most of the power they use is delivered in the form of wood and propane.
"Trees on the ground" are still part of the carbon cycle. After a tree falls, fungus and bacteria get to work breaking down all that cellulose, and all the carbon that tree absorbed during life gets re-released into the atmosphere.
The only way to use trees for carbon sequestration is to cut them down and build houses out of them. Seems like you should earn carbon credits when you buy lumber.
Please note that the article is not "Ham Radios Are Heroes in Oregon". The equipment isn't the important part of the equation. The heroes are the operators which train in communication nets, traffic handling, propagation, repeater/relay operation -- DAILY. Go listen to a traffic net in your area with a scanner. Then, you will understand; this isn't something you could do in an emergency without training and organization.
Finally: "are there many countries where there aren't ham operators and there's a need for such stuff?" No, there aren't.
Because any operation on those frequencies DOES affect interstate commerce, even if your operation doesn't cross interstate boundaries.
Consider the case you are proposing. If you are operating on a frequency that is in use in a neighboring state, you may not interfere with users in that state, but you may interfere with interstate users in your state. That's interference with interstate commerce, same as if you blocked an interstate highway with a railroad car. Would you consider the argument "but the highway was only blocked in one state, so it's not interfering with interstate commerce" a viable defense?
Consider the case the GGP proposed: why can't you run your own radio station? Interesting prospect. If YOU can run your own radio station unregulated, that means ANYONE can run their own radio station unregulated. Interesting idea. Horrific. Who then would enforce spectral purity or resolve interference disputes on unregulated stations? "But my signal doesn't hit any other states!" Who determined that? What enforcement is there? If none, then none.
Does it interfere with any licensed services? Does it create unfair competition to any licensed services? Is it operated in a safe manner?
I don't think you've thought it through.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3: "The Congress shall have power... To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;"
Like it or not, RF crosses state and national boundaries, and requires an enforced monopoly to be usable. Thus, the commerce clause applies.
Do you understand the difference between electricity and heat? TFA mentions heat output, not electrical output. This is not an electric generator. Is it too much to ask that you read the article before dismissing it as propaganda?
Nevertheless, it is great for industrial applications, like creating steam for coal sand extraction or syngas production. With appropriate co-generation facilities, it could work for residential heat and power, but that's pretty pointless -- large nuclear reactors are already quite efficient at large scale power production. Isolated locations like Antarctica will see these; Middle America will not.
1) Do you understand the difference between a bath tub and a hot tub? Your math is off by about a factor of 4.
2) Do you understand the chemical properties of uranium hydride? Your statements about cooling are groundless.
Welcome to exciting world of nuclear engineering, where nuclear engineers do the design work. Go get them some coffee.
Aspartame has never been shown to cause excitotoxic damage, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's and possibly even Alzheimer's.
Fixed that for you.
Just a hint from the API: Google Maps is integrated into the framework. Thus, location-based services developed on this platform will use Google. This is no small thing -- look at the Google Maps mashups of the last several years.
As a user of Google Maps on Windows Mobile, I can tell you that the only thing broken about it is Windows Mobile. Amazing operating system, assuming you adopt the "why the heck did it just do that?" definition of "amazing". (e.g. wakes from hibernation to display the "low battery" notification)
Welcome to slashdot, where bigotry is modded insightful.
Um, this gate doesn't support SGv6. Please use an SGv6->SGv4 tunnel.
Walking bird, standing dog, big eye, big eye.
I think you've just invented retroactive conspiracy -- and simultaneously, the retroactive conspiracy nutjob.
Let me guess, you went out to see Halley in October or November of 1985, before perihelion, long before peak, when it was in the night sky. Sorry, the views were in the spring, in the morning sky. Just like they were telling folks on the news; no one listened.
A bigot never sees a bigot in the mirror.
The real freedom here is that you can define an extremist by any terms you like. You've done so: "mainstream" is okay, by your words. How digestible! Why, the majority of people aren't violent, and the majority of people are "mainstream" by definition. Who would disagree? Obviously, the minority groups are the dangerous ones. Something must be done.
Feel free to have fun with this, it's like mad libs:
1) Choose a group of people of which you are not a member. (followers of a non-mainstream religion)
2) Choose a negative attribute that a small subset of that group possesses. (violence)
3) State in neutral terms that members of the group possess the negative attribute.
4) Persecute the entire group.
It's been working for millenia.