Exactly. It's hysterical to me to see Shell oil's commercials promoting "clean energy"...like natural gas, and hydrogen! See, they really do care about something other than their bottom line. Except that those industries just mean more money going to Big Oil.
Hydrogen isn't an "energy source," it's a (somewhat inefficient) way of storing energy. You can't just "get" hydrogen with no electrical expenditure to begin with. It must be produced by getting it from water at considerable energetic expense.
So that electricity comes from power plants - in the US, that means mostly coal and oil.
So congratulations to the "green" consumers choosing their hydrogen - I mean coal - powered cars!
While I understand that electron/positron collisions require the linear accelerator, doesn't a lot of this hinge upon the discovery of the Higgs boson? I mean, basically, this whole project is being built with the assumption that the Higgs boson both exists and will be possible to study in a 40 km LinAc.
I'm all for new particle accelerators, but I'm also all for not using money needlessly. It seems to me that it would be prudent to delay starting a project of this magnitude and international importance until we're sure that all the hypotheses regarding the Higgs boson are correct.
Additionally, the whole "superconducting accelerator" thing is hardly new. The Tevatron at Fermilab (which is the fifth stage of a five-stage particle accelerator) already uses superconducting magnets. Anyone happen to know if this LinAc is any different from that (other than the obvious straight/curved difference) or if journalists just like to say "revolutionary superconducting technology" as if they know what they're talking about?
Computer geeks vs. indie music geeks
on
TiVo Will Die
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Computer geeks are getting to the point of being like indie music geeks.
Indie music geeks have attained the level of zen ennui where they deem bands passe before the last flyer reading "2 GUITARISTS SEEK DRUMMER" is done printing at Kinko's.
Now computer geeks are achieving the same thing by declaring every new technology dead before it's even managed to hit its stride. It does not make you a geekier person, or a better one, or a smarter one, to say this crap.
I have nothing to do at work but listen to mp3's and talk on AIM (my days at work bear an astonishing resemblance to my days off). So you should instant message me.
As I said above, I think it will hurt the assets of the companies and the asses of their CEOs (that "federal pound you in the ass prison" thing again) when they give the government unrestricted wiretap power - imagine the potential exposure of corporate corruption! I'd imagine these companies have quite a bit to hide, more than Joe Sixpack ever would.
They already DO ignore a lot of those laws. Bribery and corruption is rampant. And the one time they have a chance to say no in a GOOD way, they refuse it.
Those corporations are corrupt to the core, and it strikes me that wiretaps being made more easy might have negative effects on their bottom line and on the bottoms of the executives (once they get sent to "federal pound you in the ass prison").
I think it's a matter of rational self interest for 'em.
Megacorporations, for once, have amazing power to do a huge amount of good for freedom in this country - by refusing to comply. They wield enough political power to shut this ridiculous new measure down. Their "pull" could be used to make sure this law never took effect.
But instead, they're kowtowing to the government, ensuring that we lose another of the few shreds of privacy we had left.
Organized resistance by individuals is great - but organized resistance by corporations (who should realize that, with all the corporate scandals, may be hurting themselves by giving more wiretap power to the government) would be fantastic and pretty much unstoppable.
Let's see a show of corporate brute force! Who's with me?
Oh yeah. I bought it. Would you like to buy it from me? Special deal, one time only, and only because the French are unpatriotic. $500 and it's yours. Free shipping.
Ok, kiddies, the important lesson of the day is:
When you want to scam people into buying your product, try to advertise a product that exists. Then it'll always work.
So...ummm...*shuffles feet*...who wants to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?
Doesn't anyone proofread this stuff? Or copy edit it?
My GOD.
I don't think the image of nerds as "illiterates who can only babble rabidly and ungrammatically about animation" is the one we're really trying to project - is it?
I suppose we're going to start burning Shakespeare's works because they were blatantly stolen from other writers, right?
Idea modification and adaptation is not plagiarism - much of human progress in the arts has happened because of this phenomenon, and the internet neither started nor ended it.
No, the tank lost ALL coolant within a 5 mile drive, continuously.
The radiator, however, would remain full for weeks without any problems.
Therefore, I feel fairly safe in diagnosing the problem as "not the radiator."
It's not like this is the first time one corporation has funded blatantly false muckraking efforts against another.
It's just Robber Barons, Part II.
They'll all have their little squabbles and the money will pass from hand to hand, and in the end the only people who win aren't the consumers, or even the corporate bigwigs - it's the lawyers. Same as it ever was.
Oh yeah, and as a woman who can't afford to go to a mechanic every time my car needs a fluid topoff, I think this would suck a lot.
I think it would discourage people from doing routine maintenance on their vehicles and from being able to figure out problems before heading to the mechanic.
When I go to mechanics, they often try to rip me off or tell me I need more parts than I do. One of them tried to get me to buy a new radiator when I already knew I only needed a coolant overflow tank (because the radiator was full and only the overflow tank was consistently empty).
Sure, if a person's not going to do any maintenance anyway, whatever. But this is basically like saying "rip me off, pretty please, I have no idea what this car does or what's under the hood!"
Additionally - what happens when you need a jump, or when your battery needs replaced? Even the most technologically inept woman I've ever met can be talked through a battery installation. What happens if your battery dies a hundred miles from the nearest Volvo dealership?
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. It's hysterical to me to see Shell oil's commercials promoting "clean energy"...like natural gas, and hydrogen! See, they really do care about something other than their bottom line. Except that those industries just mean more money going to Big Oil.
Hydrogen isn't an "energy source," it's a (somewhat inefficient) way of storing energy. You can't just "get" hydrogen with no electrical expenditure to begin with. It must be produced by getting it from water at considerable energetic expense. So that electricity comes from power plants - in the US, that means mostly coal and oil. So congratulations to the "green" consumers choosing their hydrogen - I mean coal - powered cars!
While I understand that electron/positron collisions require the linear accelerator, doesn't a lot of this hinge upon the discovery of the Higgs boson? I mean, basically, this whole project is being built with the assumption that the Higgs boson both exists and will be possible to study in a 40 km LinAc. I'm all for new particle accelerators, but I'm also all for not using money needlessly. It seems to me that it would be prudent to delay starting a project of this magnitude and international importance until we're sure that all the hypotheses regarding the Higgs boson are correct. Additionally, the whole "superconducting accelerator" thing is hardly new. The Tevatron at Fermilab (which is the fifth stage of a five-stage particle accelerator) already uses superconducting magnets. Anyone happen to know if this LinAc is any different from that (other than the obvious straight/curved difference) or if journalists just like to say "revolutionary superconducting technology" as if they know what they're talking about?
Indie music geeks have attained the level of zen ennui where they deem bands passe before the last flyer reading "2 GUITARISTS SEEK DRUMMER" is done printing at Kinko's.
Now computer geeks are achieving the same thing by declaring every new technology dead before it's even managed to hit its stride. It does not make you a geekier person, or a better one, or a smarter one, to say this crap.
That would be bad in innumerable ways.
Can I take off my tinfoil hat now? It's kind of itchy. And hot.
I have nothing to do at work but listen to mp3's and talk on AIM (my days at work bear an astonishing resemblance to my days off). So you should instant message me.
I read Ayn Rand as a teenager. I've said those words in the same sentence more times than I care to admit.
As I said above, I think it will hurt the assets of the companies and the asses of their CEOs (that "federal pound you in the ass prison" thing again) when they give the government unrestricted wiretap power - imagine the potential exposure of corporate corruption! I'd imagine these companies have quite a bit to hide, more than Joe Sixpack ever would.
They already DO ignore a lot of those laws. Bribery and corruption is rampant. And the one time they have a chance to say no in a GOOD way, they refuse it.
For the tokyo tower, I'll throw in a copy of Duke Nukem Forever AND a copy of George R.R. Martin's "A Feast For Crows."
Oh no...carrier lost? Were you eaten by a grue? :)
Those corporations are corrupt to the core, and it strikes me that wiretaps being made more easy might have negative effects on their bottom line and on the bottoms of the executives (once they get sent to "federal pound you in the ass prison").
I think it's a matter of rational self interest for 'em.
But instead, they're kowtowing to the government, ensuring that we lose another of the few shreds of privacy we had left.
Organized resistance by individuals is great - but organized resistance by corporations (who should realize that, with all the corporate scandals, may be hurting themselves by giving more wiretap power to the government) would be fantastic and pretty much unstoppable.
Let's see a show of corporate brute force! Who's with me?
Unobtanium? Sure! That sounds easy enough to find. What could possibly go wrong?
Oh yeah. I bought it. Would you like to buy it from me? Special deal, one time only, and only because the French are unpatriotic. $500 and it's yours. Free shipping.
Everyone needs a bridge. And this is a steal - I went to a dentist once and a bridge cost hundreds!
She. :)
I'll give it to you for $20, one time only deal - you can paypal the money to me, bridgeofbirds@yahoo.com .
Ok, kiddies, the important lesson of the day is: When you want to scam people into buying your product, try to advertise a product that exists. Then it'll always work. So...ummm...*shuffles feet*...who wants to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?
audio input? Perhaps you're thinking of the Audi-Oh! vibrator (vaguely NSFW).
My GOD.
I don't think the image of nerds as "illiterates who can only babble rabidly and ungrammatically about animation" is the one we're really trying to project - is it?
You don't say!
I suppose we're going to start burning Shakespeare's works because they were blatantly stolen from other writers, right?
Idea modification and adaptation is not plagiarism - much of human progress in the arts has happened because of this phenomenon, and the internet neither started nor ended it.
No, the tank lost ALL coolant within a 5 mile drive, continuously. The radiator, however, would remain full for weeks without any problems. Therefore, I feel fairly safe in diagnosing the problem as "not the radiator."
It's not like this is the first time one corporation has funded blatantly false muckraking efforts against another. It's just Robber Barons, Part II. They'll all have their little squabbles and the money will pass from hand to hand, and in the end the only people who win aren't the consumers, or even the corporate bigwigs - it's the lawyers. Same as it ever was.
I think this is a terrible idea.
Oh yeah, and as a woman who can't afford to go to a mechanic every time my car needs a fluid topoff, I think this would suck a lot.
I think it would discourage people from doing routine maintenance on their vehicles and from being able to figure out problems before heading to the mechanic.
When I go to mechanics, they often try to rip me off or tell me I need more parts than I do. One of them tried to get me to buy a new radiator when I already knew I only needed a coolant overflow tank (because the radiator was full and only the overflow tank was consistently empty).
Sure, if a person's not going to do any maintenance anyway, whatever. But this is basically like saying "rip me off, pretty please, I have no idea what this car does or what's under the hood!"
Additionally - what happens when you need a jump, or when your battery needs replaced? Even the most technologically inept woman I've ever met can be talked through a battery installation. What happens if your battery dies a hundred miles from the nearest Volvo dealership?