It certainly is not "obvious'. Also, "fast food and candy" are attributes more likely associated with recent generations. Degenerative brain diseases typically affect older people who are much less likely to have lived that kind of lifestyle to a level that is impacting significantly on their health.
My aunty, at 72 years old, and slowly but surely is descending towards full Alzheimer's disease, yet her lifetime diet could hardly be considered "junk food". It was more like the typical diet of the working classes of her generation: "meat and three veg". Later in life (the last 15 years) she lived in the country (very clean air), took regular walks, and ate fresh vegetables from the garden every day.
Diet is very important for many reasons, but I don't think science will find a single smoking gun for these types of brain diseases. Rather there will be a number of highly complex interrelating factors that accumulate over a lifetime, some might even result from subtle behavioural issues, and some will be passed on in genetic code also.
- "Barrack Obama. He believes and that's good enough for me."
Anyone can say "I believe". What comes out of their mouth, however, and what they actually believe, are two different matters entirely. Note: this is not a comment directed at Barrack Obama specifically, but the blind sheep like our Anonymous Coward friend here who is willing to place trust in an unknown entity rather than their own self. Oh, wait... I see.
There are easy ways to report underage or kiddie porn to the authorities. The following site contains a number of useful links, it was the first site listed after a quick Google search:
This is a particularly useful project for electronic musicians and synth geeks. The famous Roland TB-303 - whatever you might think of the sound - is to dance music as guitars are to rock music. The real deal is prohibitively expensive for most people these days if you can find one for sale.
The designer (?) of this exact replica has made the real analogue sound available to anyone that with half a brain and a light wallet. You can build it your self which might then inspire someone to build other instruments that extend on the original, and the design is now open forever.
The sound you get out of it is about as close to the original as possible - it's been notoriously difficult to copy and many people have failed in the past - even Roland!!
... but equally it can be a stimulator of new ideas... and certainly it can inspire scientists or engineers to investigate new directions not previously conceived of.... think of this as a proof of concept, rather than something you immediately rush to your local dealer for, cheque book in hand.
It is also worth reading "DMT - The Spirit Molecule" by Dr. Rick Strassman.
Dimethyltryptamine is the most powerful hallucinogenic known to man, and the book concerns the study of the effects DMT has on the human mind. During the experiements he discovers that the "alien abduction experience" can be recreated "at will" by administering relatively high doses of DMT.
DMT occurs naturally in the human brain and is regulated by the pineal gland - we are all taking a dose of the schedule one drug right now.
From this we can determine that perhaps the "alien abduction experience" is built in to us at some level, and that those who experience it have somehow triggered a flood of DMT.
It is the same fraud that has been perpetrated by financial institutions for centuries. Money as most people understand it does not exist today except as 1's and 0's, the so called "gold standard" is long gone.
Money only exists because of debt, and we are slaves to that debt. The more debt created, the more money there is. Ever wondered why it is so easy to get credit?
As this BBC news article illustrates, even direct monitoring of a known suspects phone(s) in the lead up to a terrorist event still does not prevent bad things happening:
How is the ability to monitor and store information on a whole population going to help? Who is promising that they can improve the situation? Who has their hand in the governments pocket?
We are fast heading towards a total surveillance society, and that will only have negative consequences for *everyone*, including the so called elites.
In that respect, it would be simply amazing if the government could implement just the part of the "Economic Rescue Bill" that promised to salary cap the CEO's, and also rid us of the so called "Golden Parachute" which sees even the most ludicrous failures walk away with millions.
In fact, world governments need to look at introducing a salary cap across the board - from sports to law to industry.
That would surely fix a few economic problems now and in the future.
If we were able to identify a pattern of distribution of various organic materials throughout different galaxies, we might discover that galaxies can be classed as male or female (or similar).
Meaning, when two galaxies collide they are effectively mating which if successful, based on the available organic materials, seeds or at least primes the newly combined galaxy for the formation of life.
I am aware that the Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda galaxy some time off in the future (!!!) but perhaps there was a collision in the past. Has this possibility been ruled out by astronomers / astrophysicists?
... British robot enthusiasts are more likely to respond to this interesting challenge if the site of the "mock enemy village" was centred around, oh I don't know... say 10 Downing Street?
Peace (!), Andy.
p.s. or for 60's T.V. geeks, the real Village from the Prisoner... dodge Rover for an extra 10 points...
Sound waves cannot be encrypted - where there is a will, there is a way. Certain people will always take pleasure from using whatever means necessary to make copies of music, or almost any art for that matter. Digital systems just make it more convenient and therefore it occurs on a massive scale.
Setting up a microphone and recording the output from the speakers might be the last resort and the lowest quality, but people will go to these lengths if it is the only way they can get something for nothing / they are not supposed to / what other people have or even because they like the technical challenge of getting the best recording they can using the tools and techniques they possess.
Although the syntax *might* be a little too advanced at this stage... being able to get real time audio feedback from method calls etc. will provide a certain fun factor that could spur his interest more than simple text output on a terminal screen (and could double as a great debugging aide).
There is full documentation with the install, and a lot of example functions and classes to get started. The separate GUI environment miniAudicle - currently in beta - allows Chuck programs (Shreds in Chuck speak) to be started and stopped in realtime, making it very easy to use.
It's a little like the old days of "Logo" but with sound:)
Washington D.C. band Fugazi (and Minor Threat before them) have been running as an independent band for almost 20 years. Quietly touring the world, releasing and distributing their own records, essentially doing everything off their own back. I don't believe they quite got around to giving their music away for free yet, but they stand a fantastic model of what can be achieved without a record company and a whole lot of determination and love for their craft...
peace,
andy.
If they worked with the mininova.org team (et al) they could get logs of how many times each torrent/file has been downloaded. Should be a simple spreadsheet job from that point!
In my own personal experience with depression, the associated feeling is born out of an inability to believe in ones (higher) self. Please feel free to leave out "higher" if you don't agree with the weight that carries.
It seems obvious now that happy people do not have this problem. The unhappy person is so UN-believing in their own self that they would prefer to put that belief in to a pharmaceutical product / company.
With respect to people that have a real chemical imbalance, most people who suffer from "depression" are attached to a word that matches their feeling a little blue. Drugs are not the solution to this problem. It is relatively easy to fix through holistic treatments such as regular meditation, exercise and healthy eating, and maybe a little reading.
Sorry if that is not be what you want to hear... but if you fall in to the above category, you are doing it to yourself.
YMMV? I am convinced otherwise....
Peace,
Andy.
If you're buying a CD because of a song you heard on commercial radio, only to find that you are disappointed with the rest of the content (i.e. the only good tracks are the ones played on the radio)... well I think you are sourcing new music from the wrong place.
Radio (now) exists to advertise whatever cr*p the RIAA wants you to buy...
I *do* regularly download illegal music... but I also have invested a large amount of my disposable income for the last 15 years (and continue to do so) on supporting local bands in my area by paying to see them play live, AND buying their CD & records.
I currently have **NO** plans to buy DRM crippled, low bit-rate rubbish from the likes of Apple et al.
The illegal tracks I do download are either difficult to find in the CD shops (online or otherwise), or > 20 years old and for which it really doesn't seem appropriate to pay £10 - £15 for (as I don't expect any more income for the work I did 10 - 15 years ago, why should musicians continue to profit from say one good album without ever having to work again?)
And strangely enough some of us actually appreciate the dupes. Not all of us catch the story first time round. Have you looked at CNN or BBC news 24 lately? It's dupes on the half hour, every half hour. That's how news is generally presented to us.
Believe it or not, some of us have work to get on with and lives to lead. I do not spend 99% of my day pressing F5 to refresh Slashdot just so I can get FP and call "dupe"...
Ah, cheers for reminding me about the best way to get clean. Soap free and loving it...
Was introduced to Sam's Magic Hat sauna this year, lovely lovely people:)
And this is getting towards the whole point of these festivals isn't it?
We don't need all this c*rporate sh*te to exist - just to be clean for example. It is unnecessary and just plain evil in so many ways.
Slightly off topic, but...
It might surprise you to know that the key to all this "new age mumbo-jumbo" is to experience first hand. Ever tried a shamanic ritual?
You WILL be pleasantly surprised I think! It may not work first time (but it did for me) and I was gob-smacked.
I, as you, was once of the mind set that "it doesn't work." "it's not science"... all the usual stuff.
As others are getting towards in all the threads here... this festival and the fact that new age hippies are may be contradicting themselves by introducing a Internet connection - when their "dogma" would seem to be totally against science and technology - are missing the point.
I think the "modern hippie/activist" would be sane and educated enough to realise that technology is a necessary part of evolution, almost guaranteed to happen if you will... but at the same time it is being fully mis-used in this world at present... and hence are striving for a better more peaceful co-existence.
It is this individualistic society that we are bought up in that causes so many problems and they are trying to get away from that.
Slashdot Mirror
It certainly is not "obvious'. Also, "fast food and candy" are attributes more likely associated with recent generations. Degenerative brain diseases typically affect older people who are much less likely to have lived that kind of lifestyle to a level that is impacting significantly on their health.
My aunty, at 72 years old, and slowly but surely is descending towards full Alzheimer's disease, yet her lifetime diet could hardly be considered "junk food". It was more like the typical diet of the working classes of her generation: "meat and three veg". Later in life (the last 15 years) she lived in the country (very clean air), took regular walks, and ate fresh vegetables from the garden every day.
Diet is very important for many reasons, but I don't think science will find a single smoking gun for these types of brain diseases. Rather there will be a number of highly complex interrelating factors that accumulate over a lifetime, some might even result from subtle behavioural issues, and some will be passed on in genetic code also.
Peace,
Andy.
"It looks like you're trying to make love! Do you need help?"
FUCK OFF CLIPPY
"It looks like you have accidentally left the 'Caps Lock' key turned on. Would you like me to turn it off for you?"
... and if it could determine the looping pattern and break out, could it then go on to pen some dope lyrics like this:
"Insane in the membrane, ;)
Crazy insane got no brain,
Insane in the brain"
This actually is a phenomenon known as the overview effect. Space travelers often report a transcendental sense of connectedness.
For those of us in the cheap seats, LSD can do this too.
- "Barrack Obama. He believes and that's good enough for me."
Anyone can say "I believe". What comes out of their mouth, however, and what they actually believe, are two different matters entirely. Note: this is not a comment directed at Barrack Obama specifically, but the blind sheep like our Anonymous Coward friend here who is willing to place trust in an unknown entity rather than their own self. Oh, wait ... I see.
Peace,
Andy.
BTW - let's assume you are jacking off to some hot, cute blonde on YouPorn ... and you have a fleeting thought: "hmm, she does look underage" ...
Are YOU gonna stop what you are doing to report it? Or maybe this time it aint so important 'cause you nearly "made it"?
It's easy to talk ... easy to type comments on Slashdot ... it's not always so easy (or "convenient") to act ...
Just sayin' is all ...
Peace,
Andy.
There are easy ways to report underage or kiddie porn to the authorities. The following site contains a number of useful links, it was the first site listed after a quick Google search:
http://www.kidsread.net/Report_to_FBI.htm
Could have hit "I'm feeling lucky" but with a search term like "reporting underage porn" you never know ...
http://www.google.com.au/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK257&q=reporting+underage+porn&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Peace,
Andy.
This is a particularly useful project for electronic musicians and synth geeks. The famous Roland TB-303 - whatever you might think of the sound - is to dance music as guitars are to rock music. The real deal is prohibitively expensive for most people these days if you can find one for sale.
The designer (?) of this exact replica has made the real analogue sound available to anyone that with half a brain and a light wallet. You can build it your self which might then inspire someone to build other instruments that extend on the original, and the design is now open forever.
The sound you get out of it is about as close to the original as possible - it's been notoriously difficult to copy and many people have failed in the past - even Roland!!
This x0x0b0x just fantastic work. Respect!!
Peace,
Andy.
... but equally it can be a stimulator of new ideas ... and certainly it can inspire scientists or engineers to investigate new directions not previously conceived of. ... think of this as a proof of concept, rather than something you immediately rush to your local dealer for, cheque book in hand.
Peace,
Andy.
It is also worth reading "DMT - The Spirit Molecule" by Dr. Rick Strassman.
Dimethyltryptamine is the most powerful hallucinogenic known to man, and the book concerns the study of the effects DMT has on the human mind. During the experiements he discovers that the "alien abduction experience" can be recreated "at will" by administering relatively high doses of DMT.
DMT occurs naturally in the human brain and is regulated by the pineal gland - we are all taking a dose of the schedule one drug right now.
From this we can determine that perhaps the "alien abduction experience" is built in to us at some level, and that those who experience it have somehow triggered a flood of DMT.
Peace,
Andy.
It is the same fraud that has been perpetrated by financial institutions for centuries. Money as most people understand it does not exist today except as 1's and 0's, the so called "gold standard" is long gone.
Money only exists because of debt, and we are slaves to that debt. The more debt created, the more money there is. Ever wondered why it is so easy to get credit?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279
(an excellent 50 minute video explaining "where money comes from" - make time if you don't understand this concept already).
Peace,
Andy.
As this BBC news article illustrates, even direct monitoring of a known suspects phone(s) in the lead up to a terrorist event still does not prevent bad things happening:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7606834.stm
How is the ability to monitor and store information on a whole population going to help? Who is promising that they can improve the situation? Who has their hand in the governments pocket?
We are fast heading towards a total surveillance society, and that will only have negative consequences for *everyone*, including the so called elites.
Peace,
Andy.
In that respect, it would be simply amazing if the government could implement just the part of the "Economic Rescue Bill" that promised to salary cap the CEO's, and also rid us of the so called "Golden Parachute" which sees even the most ludicrous failures walk away with millions.
In fact, world governments need to look at introducing a salary cap across the board - from sports to law to industry.
That would surely fix a few economic problems now and in the future.
Peace,
Andy.
If we were able to identify a pattern of distribution of various organic materials throughout different galaxies, we might discover that galaxies can be classed as male or female (or similar).
Meaning, when two galaxies collide they are effectively mating which if successful, based on the available organic materials, seeds or at least primes the newly combined galaxy for the formation of life.
I am aware that the Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda galaxy some time off in the future (!!!) but perhaps there was a collision in the past. Has this possibility been ruled out by astronomers / astrophysicists?
Peace,
Andy.
... British robot enthusiasts are more likely to respond to this interesting challenge if the site of the "mock enemy village" was centred around, oh I don't know ... say 10 Downing Street?
Peace (!),
Andy.
p.s. or for 60's T.V. geeks, the real Village from the Prisoner ... dodge Rover for an extra 10 points ...
Sound waves cannot be encrypted - where there is a will, there is a way. Certain people will always take pleasure from using whatever means necessary to make copies of music, or almost any art for that matter. Digital systems just make it more convenient and therefore it occurs on a massive scale.
Setting up a microphone and recording the output from the speakers might be the last resort and the lowest quality, but people will go to these lengths if it is the only way they can get something for nothing / they are not supposed to / what other people have or even because they like the technical challenge of getting the best recording they can using the tools and techniques they possess.
Chuck has been covered before on /.
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/20/0434210
Although the syntax *might* be a little too advanced at this stage ... being able to get real time audio feedback from method calls etc. will provide a certain fun factor that could spur his interest more than simple text output on a terminal screen (and could double as a great debugging aide).
There is full documentation with the install, and a lot of example functions and classes to get started. The separate GUI environment miniAudicle - currently in beta - allows Chuck programs (Shreds in Chuck speak) to be started and stopped in realtime, making it very easy to use.
It's a little like the old days of "Logo" but with sound :)
http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/
http://audicle.cs.princeton.edu/mini/
(not sure why but the server is currently unavailable).
More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChucK
Peace,
Andy.
Washington D.C. band Fugazi (and Minor Threat before them) have been running as an independent band for almost 20 years. Quietly touring the world, releasing and distributing their own records, essentially doing everything off their own back. I don't believe they quite got around to giving their music away for free yet, but they stand a fantastic model of what can be achieved without a record company and a whole lot of determination and love for their craft ...
peace,
andy.
If they worked with the mininova.org team (et al) they could get logs of how many times each torrent/file has been downloaded. Should be a simple spreadsheet job from that point!
In my own personal experience with depression, the associated feeling is born out of an inability to believe in ones (higher) self. Please feel free to leave out "higher" if you don't agree with the weight that carries. It seems obvious now that happy people do not have this problem. The unhappy person is so UN-believing in their own self that they would prefer to put that belief in to a pharmaceutical product / company. With respect to people that have a real chemical imbalance, most people who suffer from "depression" are attached to a word that matches their feeling a little blue. Drugs are not the solution to this problem. It is relatively easy to fix through holistic treatments such as regular meditation, exercise and healthy eating, and maybe a little reading. Sorry if that is not be what you want to hear ... but if you fall in to the above category, you are doing it to yourself.
YMMV? I am convinced otherwise ....
Peace,
Andy.
You missed two vital /. steps:
4. ???
5. Profit (although I doubt many lawyers have this problem)
If you're buying a CD because of a song you heard on commercial radio, only to find that you are disappointed with the rest of the content (i.e. the only good tracks are the ones played on the radio) ... well I think you are sourcing new music from the wrong place.
Radio (now) exists to advertise whatever cr*p the RIAA wants you to buy ...
I *do* regularly download illegal music ... but I also have invested a large amount of my disposable income for the last 15 years (and continue to do so) on supporting local bands in my area by paying to see them play live, AND buying their CD & records.
I currently have **NO** plans to buy DRM crippled, low bit-rate rubbish from the likes of Apple et al.
The illegal tracks I do download are either difficult to find in the CD shops (online or otherwise), or > 20 years old and for which it really doesn't seem appropriate to pay £10 - £15 for (as I don't expect any more income for the work I did 10 - 15 years ago, why should musicians continue to profit from say one good album without ever having to work again?)
And strangely enough some of us actually appreciate the dupes. Not all of us catch the story first time round. Have you looked at CNN or BBC news 24 lately? It's dupes on the half hour, every half hour. That's how news is generally presented to us.
...
Believe it or not, some of us have work to get on with and lives to lead. I do not spend 99% of my day pressing F5 to refresh Slashdot just so I can get FP and call "dupe"
Bored now.
Ah, cheers for reminding me about the best way to get clean. Soap free and loving it ...
Was introduced to Sam's Magic Hat sauna this year, lovely lovely people :)
And this is getting towards the whole point of these festivals isn't it?
We don't need all this c*rporate sh*te to exist - just to be clean for example. It is unnecessary and just plain evil in so many ways.
Slightly off topic, but ...
It might surprise you to know that the key to all this "new age mumbo-jumbo" is to experience first hand. Ever tried a shamanic ritual?
You WILL be pleasantly surprised I think! It may not work first time (but it did for me) and I was gob-smacked.
I, as you, was once of the mind set that "it doesn't work." "it's not science" ... all the usual stuff.
As others are getting towards in all the threads here ... this festival and the fact that new age hippies are may be contradicting themselves by introducing a Internet connection - when their "dogma" would seem to be totally against science and technology - are missing the point.
I think the "modern hippie/activist" would be sane and educated enough to realise that technology is a necessary part of evolution, almost guaranteed to happen if you will ... but at the same time it is being fully mis-used in this world at present ... and hence are striving for a better more peaceful co-existence.
It is this individualistic society that we are bought up in that causes so many problems and they are trying to get away from that.