Even more ironically, the FBI has long since been investigating peace and civil rights advocates (MLK, for example). In light of this dynamic, it's difficult to equate greater surveillance with more safety. Most civil libertarians would argue the reverse: that losing our civil liberties is the greatest of all dangers.
I agree. On the one hand, it's a waste of time to address a fringe audience in a rational/scientific manner. On the other hand, sometimes fringe ideas become more widely accepted by the culture, and the mythology begins to gain general acceptance. This goes far beyond the example of the moon landings. The demographic here, for example, is apt to be heavily influenced by sci-fi authors, videogames, the "official line" from the w3c industrial consortium, etc. Whether we accept these things as "true", desirable, or not doesn't matter -- they've become a part of our lifestyle and no rational appeal will change it.
I think NASA's best response would be to lead an international manned mission to Mars in the next 10 years. If we spent a little less on defense and a little more on international science and goodwill projects, it could be that some of the cynicism that fuels crackpots will go away, and they'll be "running on empty." Go to Mars and start building exotic propulsion systems for an unmanned trip to Alpha Centauri in our lifetimes.
The effect of this is seen with radiometers: those light-bulb shaped things with alternating black and white "propellers". The differential in how they react to the incoming photons makes it spin.
But I don't think this was NASA's counter to the "flag waving" theory. Their official response, I believe, was that it wiggled as the astronauts were setting it up. Apparently, putting anything more than a few inches into lunar ground often gave the astronauts a lot of grief (especially drilling for core samples).
Regarding the flag, I think it's more interesting to note that the US flag really doesn't make much sense when many of our other "messages" were about coming in peace for all mankind, etc. Originally, there were many that contended we should have planted a UN flag instead. The more conservative/nationalistic voices in America shot this down.
There are more than a few problems with these kinds of pre-contact (Phoenicians, Polynesians, etc.) theories, though. If the Basques were trading North American pelts with the English, they somehow never encountered Native Americans, traded with them, or left any other sort of influence. No Basque artifacts have been found in North America. A one-way contact sounds extremely unlikely. Contrast this with the French, for example. Here in Minnesota the voyageurs made incredible inroads. Their presence here is found in place-names, clay pipes, iron tools, and trade (and marriage) with the local Native American population.
We also have a pre-columbian mythology here, with the famed Alexandria Runestone (http://www.atc.tec.mn.us/runestone/runestone.htm) . You'll note that it's not at the Smithsonian, but rather a small town in central Minnesota. You'll also note that it's been mechanically cleaned, so accurate dating is no longer possible. But there are still people who swear by the authenticity despite overwhelming odds against it, and no real support from serious archaeologists.
Many historical/archaeological claims become an article of pseudo-scientific faith at some point for many people -- but it's safest to be quite skeptical of claims based on singular lines of evidence.
Lucas borrowed about 75% of "The Force" from Eastern philosophy (he was a friend of the late Joseph Campbell as well). The problem in Phantom Menace is that he reduced it to a crass physical/DNA thing: the metachlorians(sp?).
I began to wonder -- can you take a pill or hormone treatment and manipulate the force all the better? Since it's biologically/genetically determined, it seems to weigh in heavily on the "nature" rather than "nurtue" side. This contradicts Obi-Wan's Star Wars statements to young Luke on the Millenium Falcon about trusting the force, using intuition, etc. More like, "Trust the little microscopic lifeforms in your body."
And, since young Anikin had a higher metachlorian count "than even master Yoda", we are left with the impression that corruption is inevitable, and that evil is stronger than good.
Of course, if it were the other way around, you'd have a darned short movie, and no long epic good v. evil ala Lord of the Rings.
This is another characteristically flawed discussion on the promises of XML.
Platform independence. Nope. This depends on the committment of hardware and software manufacturers to build compatible cross-platform technologies -- and commit to them for long periods of time. Parsers, browsers, OS's, databases, languages, etc. What are we learning with Java? Sun and Microsoft can't even come to agreement on it. Just how many browsers out there support the full range of XML implementation? Who's going to dominate this battle? Who's going to lose?
Data interchange vs. data storage. Things like Xscheme, xquery, etc. are all duplicates of technologies which have existed in RDBMS technologies for 20 years. Most of the XML apps. I've seen look like a trip backward in time, to the days of flat and denormalized databases.
The glorious w3c. It's $50,000/year to join, and dominated by Fortune 1000's. Is this the best drumbeat that we should all march to?
The Layered Network Model. XML is a little problematic for me in that, if used to send tags to a browser, seems to violate the basic separation of presentation, session, and application layers. The definitive data source must be server-side, and HTTP (with a presentation layer!) is hardly the best place to be doing data conversions. Probably a dedicated socket elsewhere. Why involve the client and a browser in the exchange of data formats? XML re-invents the wheel and puts it on the wrong place of the carriage.
I have a fuller discussion on the problems of XML here: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~brams006/mortality.html.
NASA needs some wild-eyed, scraggly-haired Berkeley astronomy professor to head it up. Maybe we'll actually go to Mars then. I know Slashdot doesn't like to get partisan but check out this from the BBC from 1999 (Republicans demand huge cuts in NASA):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid _4 04000/404947.stm
Then check out where Dan Goldin is going -- the Council on Competitiveness. Read the history of this organization.
Reagan & Bush screwing with the EPA and clean air:
http://www.epa.gov/history/publications/reilly/2 6. htm
Headed by Dan Quayle:
http://www.quaylemuseum.org/backup/biograph.html
So let me get this straight. The Republicans hate space exploration, they appoint a budget hawk to end the era of manned space exploration beyond earth orbit, and then -- rather than teaching astronomy -- he goes back to where his true colors shine.
Hollywood doesn't butcher good books by mistake-- it's done entirely on purpose to suit the medium and the perceived market.
They'll get a teen heart-throb for the girls, make sure there's marketable merchandise, load the movie with pointless cliches, corporate advertisements, chase scenes, and the basic formula:
(1) character introduction (2) some injustice to create a revenge motive (3) the struggle (4) bad guys are coming out ahead (5) good guy is brutally beaten (6) good guy gets a last reserve of energy and beats bad guy to a pulp. (7) good guy turns his back, bad guys raises the gun (8) good guy blows away bad guy
I think most sci-fi/action movies in the past 15 years have near-identical plot lines. It's not easy to enjoy them when you know exactly what's going to happen. This may not exactly be the book, but Hollywood will find a means of formulizing it into their terms.
Of course, after you download the 120+ MB's you'll discover that it's good for 30 days, then you need to spring for a license (at the same pricey schedule as Oracle on other platforms).
Slashdot Mirror
Even more ironically, the FBI has long since been investigating peace and civil rights advocates (MLK, for example). In light of this dynamic, it's difficult to equate greater surveillance with more safety. Most civil libertarians would argue the reverse: that losing our civil liberties is the greatest of all dangers.
I agree. On the one hand, it's a waste of time to address a fringe audience in a rational/scientific manner. On the other hand, sometimes fringe ideas become more widely accepted by the culture, and the mythology begins to gain general acceptance. This goes far beyond the example of the moon landings. The demographic here, for example, is apt to be heavily influenced by sci-fi authors, videogames, the "official line" from the w3c industrial consortium, etc. Whether we accept these things as "true", desirable, or not doesn't matter -- they've become a part of our lifestyle and no rational appeal will change it.
I think NASA's best response would be to lead an international manned mission to Mars in the next 10 years. If we spent a little less on defense and a little more on international science and goodwill projects, it could be that some of the cynicism that fuels crackpots will go away, and they'll be "running on empty." Go to Mars and start building exotic propulsion systems for an unmanned trip to Alpha Centauri in our lifetimes.
The effect of this is seen with radiometers: those light-bulb shaped things with alternating black and white "propellers". The differential in how they react to the incoming photons makes it spin.
But I don't think this was NASA's counter to the "flag waving" theory. Their official response, I believe, was that it wiggled as the astronauts were setting it up. Apparently, putting anything more than a few inches into lunar ground often gave the astronauts a lot of grief (especially drilling for core samples).
Regarding the flag, I think it's more interesting to note that the US flag really doesn't make much sense when many of our other "messages" were about coming in peace for all mankind, etc. Originally, there were many that contended we should have planted a UN flag instead. The more conservative/nationalistic voices in America shot this down.
There are more than a few problems with these kinds of pre-contact (Phoenicians, Polynesians, etc.) theories, though. If the Basques were trading North American pelts with the English, they somehow never encountered Native Americans, traded with them, or left any other sort of influence. No Basque artifacts have been found in North America. A one-way contact sounds extremely unlikely. Contrast this with the French, for example. Here in Minnesota the voyageurs made incredible inroads. Their presence here is found in place-names, clay pipes, iron tools, and trade (and marriage) with the local Native American population.
) . You'll note that it's not at the Smithsonian, but rather a small town in central Minnesota. You'll also note that it's been mechanically cleaned, so accurate dating is no longer possible. But there are still people who swear by the authenticity despite overwhelming odds against it, and no real support from serious archaeologists.
We also have a pre-columbian mythology here, with the famed Alexandria Runestone (http://www.atc.tec.mn.us/runestone/runestone.htm
Many historical/archaeological claims become an article of pseudo-scientific faith at some point for many people -- but it's safest to be quite skeptical of claims based on singular lines of evidence.
Lucas borrowed about 75% of "The Force" from Eastern philosophy (he was a friend of the late Joseph Campbell as well). The problem in Phantom Menace is that he reduced it to a crass physical/DNA thing: the metachlorians(sp?).
I began to wonder -- can you take a pill or hormone treatment and manipulate the force all the better? Since it's biologically/genetically determined, it seems to weigh in heavily on the "nature" rather than "nurtue" side. This contradicts Obi-Wan's Star Wars statements to young Luke on the Millenium Falcon about trusting the force, using intuition, etc. More like, "Trust the little microscopic lifeforms in your body."
And, since young Anikin had a higher metachlorian count "than even master Yoda", we are left with the impression that corruption is inevitable, and that evil is stronger than good.
Of course, if it were the other way around, you'd have a darned short movie, and no long epic good v. evil ala Lord of the Rings.
-Paul
This is another characteristically flawed discussion on the promises of XML.
Platform independence. Nope. This depends on the committment of hardware and software manufacturers to build compatible cross-platform technologies -- and commit to them for long periods of time. Parsers, browsers, OS's, databases, languages, etc. What are we learning with Java? Sun and Microsoft can't even come to agreement on it. Just how many browsers out there support the full range of XML implementation? Who's going to dominate this battle? Who's going to lose?
Data interchange vs. data storage. Things like Xscheme, xquery, etc. are all duplicates of technologies which have existed in RDBMS technologies for 20 years. Most of the XML apps. I've seen look like a trip backward in time, to the days of flat and denormalized databases.
The glorious w3c. It's $50,000/year to join, and dominated by Fortune 1000's. Is this the best drumbeat that we should all march to?
The Layered Network Model. XML is a little problematic for me in that, if used to send tags to a browser, seems to violate the basic separation of presentation, session, and application layers. The definitive data source must be server-side, and HTTP (with a presentation layer!) is hardly the best place to be doing data conversions. Probably a dedicated socket elsewhere. Why involve the client and a browser in the exchange of data formats? XML re-invents the wheel and puts it on the wrong place of the carriage.
I have a fuller discussion on the problems of XML here: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~brams006/mortality.html.
NASA needs some wild-eyed, scraggly-haired Berkeley astronomy professor to head it up. Maybe we'll actually go to Mars then. I know Slashdot doesn't like to get partisan but check out this from the BBC from 1999 (Republicans demand huge cuts in NASA):d _4 04000/404947.stm
2 6. htm
l
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsi
Then check out where Dan Goldin is going -- the Council on Competitiveness. Read the history of this organization.
Reagan & Bush screwing with the EPA and clean air:
http://www.epa.gov/history/publications/reilly/
Headed by Dan Quayle:
http://www.quaylemuseum.org/backup/biograph.htm
So let me get this straight. The Republicans hate space exploration, they appoint a budget hawk to end the era of manned space exploration beyond earth orbit, and then -- rather than teaching astronomy -- he goes back to where his true colors shine.
Hollywood doesn't butcher good books by mistake-- it's done entirely on purpose to suit the medium and the perceived market.
They'll get a teen heart-throb for the girls, make sure there's marketable merchandise, load the movie with pointless cliches, corporate advertisements, chase scenes, and the basic formula:
(1) character introduction
(2) some injustice to create a revenge motive
(3) the struggle
(4) bad guys are coming out ahead
(5) good guy is brutally beaten
(6) good guy gets a last reserve of energy and beats bad guy to a pulp.
(7) good guy turns his back, bad guys raises the gun
(8) good guy blows away bad guy
I think most sci-fi/action movies in the past 15 years have near-identical plot lines. It's not easy to enjoy them when you know exactly what's going to happen. This may not exactly be the book, but Hollywood will find a means of formulizing it into their terms.
Of course, after you download the 120+ MB's you'll discover that it's good for 30 days, then you need to spring for a license (at the same pricey schedule as Oracle on other platforms).