.......why is this not the case in the US?........
One major reason is population density. How many miles of cable need to be strung per user in the Netherlands compared to the USA? Added to the cables is the cost of the repeaters and amplifiers and other paraphernalia needed to counter signal loss over distance. DSL signals are especially subject to speed degradation within as little as 2 miles. The extra money for all this has to come from the customers. The relatively low population density, especially in the western parts of the USA is also the biggest reason public transit doesn't work very well there.
Diesel engine efficiency goes down with increasing RPM, whereas this is not the case with gasoline cars. Gas engines peak efficiency curve is not nearly as flat and it is quite possible to have better efficiency at 65-70 mph than at 45-55.
.....Maybe the customer is inconvenienced for the few seconds it takes to activate it, but how does this really matter?......
So what else is new? These little anti-theft tags have been used of some time now. These are presently located inside the DVD case and on or in other items. When you go out the door they cause the thief detectors to scream. A cashier forgot to deactivate some once and when I walked out the door the detector yelled at me. Of course I had the receipt. There was the embarrassment and inconvenience though. With this new scheme, if a not quite awake cashier forgets to activate, you'll have to go back to the store, after finding out your DVD won't play. That is called wasting the customer's wasting time and money. Making a customer show that they really did buy and not steal the item, does not make for the kind of image which I'd like to project onto my customers, if I were a store owner.
......Perhaps people should think a little more before they open their mouths........
That is good advice, spoken by Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago.
"But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)
If what He said is true, then God has a data collection and retention service far more detailed and accurate than a mere computer.
....Having a government mandated requirement to board a private, commerical, airplane is a very BAD idea.......
Having each airline choose whether to have such a requirement might work. I suspect however that the airlines which do have an ID requirement would get the lions share of business because people like to FEEL secure. If having an ID requirement actually DOES improve security is at the very best debatable. I think you would be in the minority of passengers who object to having an ID requirement.
While I generally agree that when government touches anything it is more often than not done more expensively and in an inept manner than when a private entity with a profit motive does the same thing. Because there are many private entities, there is the potential of a confusing hodge-podge of requirements and methods. This requires standards which everybody must agree to. In the absence of such an agreement, it often becomes necessary for an outside body to impose one. To do this is generally a function of government. What side of the road to drive on and which color of light to stop and go for are arbitrary, but everyone must agree. Having a uniform means of identification applicable to a common activity, such as getting on a public, common carrier is desirable for an orderly society. A relatively trivial extension of the current passport structure already in place for international travel could be extended to domestic airlines. Very few people have a problem with the passport requirement to travel to foreign lands.
.....If everyone went out and got a passport, this would be a non-issue.....
Exactly right. A passport is required to fly from LA to Vancouver B.C. or to Mexico or any other foreign country. They could just require one to fly from LA to NY or any other place within the USA. Why should a license to drive a vehicle to be anything other than that? Why does it serve as a de-facto ID card in the first place?
The US Passport agency already has the expertise and infra structure in place. The could issue a non-passport document for those not currently eligible for a normal US passport. Having a reasonably secure, uniform special ID to get on an airplane is not such a bad idea. However there are many who never fly, so why should they need one?
A court might strike down the coercing of the states to re-make all their driver licenses. A number of states have already flatly said they will not comply, especially if the high costs are not covered. Someone who is from a state the license of which is not 'approved' by the federal bureaucrats might also have a good chance in a lawsuit against the feds. The commerce clause in the constitution is being stretched awfully far these days.
..... are not just selling a physical disk, you are selling the contents.....
Of course, that is true, but that only applies to the FIRST sale. Why should different rules apply to CDs, DVDs than to other items of commerce, such as used cars and furniture? Ford doesn't get a cut when I sell my Mustang to a used car dealer who then sells it to you. Can you give me a good reason why an exception should be made for things that are or were protected by copyright? No copy is being made when a legal copy of a work is sold via an intermediary from one consumer to another, so copyright law does not apply. If it did, then it would have to apply to books, magazines and other printed work also. Used books have been bought and sold since humans learned to write. It just sounds like some incredibly greedy content companies are now buying and already have in some states, bought themselves a special exception from equally greedy and dishonest politicians. If this slippery slope we are on continues, eventually all used merchandise will either be heavily taxed or outlawed completely.
.......It also means the artist gets no money from your purchase........
Now wait a minute! Did the artist not get paid when that copy his/her work was first sold? Artists who want to be paid each time someone listens to their work should NEVER make a recordings, but confine their artistry to live performance. Once a recording is made, the purchaser of that recording may listen as often as desired, without paying extra for each listen.
.......Those people who lowered the risk might se a drop but not you......
This would be true if there was a sufficient differential in premiums between smokers and others. I don't know if that is the case or even legal.
Otherwise I agree with you on what else you wrote.
I just read an interesting book that asserts rather persuasively that there is not the slightest correspondence between heart attacks and cholesterol. In passing though it does say that there is statistically significant evidence that smoking increases heart attack risk. The author also makes a big deal that risk is not equal to cause. The book is called "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskov.
.....The idea behind insurance is that some company collect money based on risks........
So what is the difference, for example, between health insurance and fire insurance? If you set your own house on fire, the insurance company rightfully doesn't need to pay you for a new one. You'll go to jail for arson. So why should they have to pay someone who deliberately destroys their healthy body with certain drugs, tobacco or alcohol? The correlation between well done hamburger and cancer is questionable, but there is little doubt about the above named substances and correlation to all sorts of illnesses.
If the house burns because of shoddy wiring or someone running an overloaded extension cord under the carpet, the insurance could balk, but in the end pay for the damage. If someone is not healthy because of negligence they still pay also. The difference is the deliberate action, despite ample warning. The more people ignore these, the more premium the ones that pay attention have to pay. We require seat belts in cars because it has been shown that more often than not, they will save from death or severe injury. However, there is no guarantee that a seat belt and airbags will save anyone. Safe driving is a much better way to do that.
..... He claimed she smoked but she never has........
Any doctor who cannot tell whether a person smokes or not should go and dig ditches instead of pretending to be a medical professional. I'm sure there are blood tests that can be done of a person is suspected about lying about their habit. In any case, I never advocated that a person who smokes or does other KNOWN harmful things to their body (drugs) should not get medical treatment, only that they should not ask me to pay for it with taxes or high insurance premiums. If they can afford an expensive habit, they should also calculate in the cost of medical care needed because of such a habit. I think it used to be called being responsible for their own actions instead of blaming others and then suing them over hot coffee.
......You don't have to campaign for smoke free businesses or anything......
Actually it is nice to be able to go into a restaurant and not have to breathe all that bad air. However, I would not pass such laws against smoking. Instead, when a smoker or druggie needs medical help because of their habit, they'd be told to pay cash up front for all treatment. If they had no money, no treatment period. Insurance would not be available to them either.
Part of education is to teach people that actions have consequences. The laws of physics can have severe effects on those who ignore them. Man made laws should be no different. Breaking school network rules and reaping punishment may prevent the breaking of much more important rules later in life.
........they'll obey the rules that make sense........
It would be nice if all rules made sense all the time, but that will not happen. Anybody who wants to be part of a club, school, employment or even society at large must obey the rules, get them changed or get out of the club. Club rules don't have to be right or wrong, moral, compassionate and equal. If the school or employer forbids certain things, doesn't mean they are forbidden elsewhere. In Germany I am allowed to drive 200 miles per hour on certain public highways. If I get caught doing this here in the US I pay a fine or worse. I did enjoy driving very fast in Germany, but I'll abide by the speed limit even in Nevada or eastern Oregon where it makes much less sense to have such limits than in Germany. I guess Germans feel they should be allowed to drive as fast as they wish and Americans want to have the freedom to own guns. All societies and clubs have the right to make rules they wish.
Before I get into the reply itself, I want to thank you for a courteous and thoughtful reply, very unlike many here on/.
(.......The common scientific thought is that everything that goes on in the mind, actually goes on in the brain - neural impulses, chemical reactions, and all that other neat stuff.........)
It is exactly that limiting idea, that mind arises from and is governed by physical processes rather than the other way around, that prevents us from readily embracing concepts and ideas brought to us by someone who came from outside of our fishbowl, the physical universe. Because of unbelief, we fail understand that we are destined to, yes required to, leave here.
I have PCs and Macs. One one of the Macs I can also boot Windows and have also run Linux. The same physical computer behaves very different in each case. Is it not the software the "soul" or "mind" of the computer that gives it a distinct personality? Even a totally different physical architecture, such as the older PPC Mac can run Windows and its programs. One of the concepts taught in the Bible is that the real you, the real me, is immaterial and lives in a physical body.
(....Even if there is an Ultimate Power (i.e. God), It would still be governed by whatever laws exist at that level.......)
If God is ultimate than He could not be subject to any laws that he did not make or were not part of His nature. Otherwise these laws and/or their originator(s) would be ultimate.
(......I'm also a determinist. I believe that free will is an illusion.....)
Theologians and philosophers have debated this for ages. In the end, there can be only one ultimate will, the will of God. In that sense you have come to a logical conclusion in being a determinist. However, consider the possibility that this ultimate power allows free will, as a subset under His will, to operate in a limited domain. We experience this every day with our own children. As they get more mature, we let then make more and more choices. Many of these choices are made on the basis of whether they BELIEVE what their parents tell them.
The question then is: Do we believe what God tells us about our origins, purpose and destiny and then make choices accordingly? As we get more mature and really believe what God tells us, will we not also be given the opportunity to explore realms and places far beyond the wildest imaginations of our fiction writers? We will not need wormholes, spaceships, warpdrives, stargates and all the other fun stuff of science fiction.
The Apostle Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," nor has it entered into the heart of man, "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
.....And I hope you realize that electrons and photons are subject to gravity........
Of course I know that these are physical and therefore are subject to gravity. I was not talking necessarily about the "supernatural", but the "normal" processes of thought, the world of ideas, imagination. These are activities of mind. You say you don't believe in (fill in the blank here) yet belief, a non-physical attribute of mind, shapes your life (and mine) more than you would likely admit.
It is by our minds as humans, that we are able to shape the physical world, more than any other living thing on this planet. Everything we do, every motion we make, every act of creativity first comes as an act of our will to and through our mind. All human laws, rules and regulations arise in human minds. Could you not conceive (in your mind) the possibility that the laws of science first arose in a mind, which itself is not subject to these laws, but outside (transcendent) and beyond them?
Traveling to other universes (dimensions, worlds) seems to be difficult if it must be done under the constraints of the laws of physics (to which science is limited) as we understand them. If of course we choose to classify anything outside of our present understanding as fiction and unscientific, then will never transcend these physical limitations. Someone named Jesus did enter our time-space universe from outside, but the things He told us and demonstrated about that other side, such as heaven, hell and "miracles" for example, are generally dismissed as fantasy, mostly because they ARE outside of our present understanding of reality. We can really only make three assumptions (beliefs). 1)That what He said is fantasy or outright false, 2) that He and his followers throughout the ages are deluded, or 3) that it is true. If they are true, then the travel to other realms is not only possible, but mandatory reality for every being that has a mind.
Wrong. Information is a message from a sender which which allows you or whatever entity the information is received by to act upon it. Nothing can react to random bits because there is no way to tell what message these bits carry. The bits themselves are not the message, but their arrangement is. The letters of the alphabet in and of themselves carry no message. It is only their arrangement into the words and sentences of a mutually understood language between the sender and receiver which constitutes information.
You can buy a new disk and the result of the experiment will be the same. Information is NOT subject to gravity or inertia. That's why it can be modulated onto a carrier and travel at the speed of light. Matter, which IS subject to gravity and inertia cannot go that fast. The same information can also be in many places simultaneously. Information CARRIERS are physical and therefore subject to the laws of physics which affect these carriers. Information in and of itself is not subject to physical limitations. Science is limited to dealing with the physical. Thoughts, logic, ideas, inspiration, purpose, intent, motives, truth, untruth etc. in short all activities of mind, are of a higher order, able to control the physical parts of reality, but never the other way round. All that the physical can do is to damage or stifle the expression of a particular instance of information.
It is only by faith, in itself a non-phsical construct, through religion that we attempt to deal with non-phsical concepts. God, soul, spirit, devil & demon, angel, life and death belong into the area that science is not equipped to deal with. When we dream of traveling to other universes through wormholes or whatever we understand the physical limitations to a degree. However we have essentially zero understanding through science of the non-physical dimensions of life.
...... liquidate the company's assets and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders........
That's what Michael Dell suggested for Apple a few years ago. Now he's in the same boat like Jobs was, namely to try and save the company he started. Maybe he can a lesson from Jobs. To start with, Dell might make a better product. Quality does sell.
........Apple's features and look-and-feel were stupendous, and they deserve a lot of credit - it's a beautiful product, but it costs too damned much!!.....
Generally, you get what you pay for. You'll be replacing your cheap machine in about half the time that the Apple would have lasted you, so your costs will be the same. With the HP you get the added bonus of spyware and viruses unless you spend extra $$ to protect your machine against that sort of garbage. For the extra money to protect it you get to run a whole raft of software ALL the time, that will do nothing but slow your computer down, making your whole experience that much less. You spent less money up front, but will be paying for it the whole time you have that computer. Did you REALLY save money? Of course, on paper you did.
......About the only upgrades I've been able to perform on my laptop......
Why upgrade a computer any more than a refrigerator or TV set? Computers have become appliances you just replace when they break or no longer do some job you wish to use them for. Alternatively. find a dedicated use for them. An old broken freezer makes a mouse proof feed container for horses.
One of our 2001 Apple laptops makes a great video/music player. It also works great for listening to Internet radio. I wouldn't use it for photoshop or video work however. A new Macbook does that kind of work.
It's an actual experiment YOU can do! Fill a say 300 GB HD with random bits and then carefully weigh it on the best balance you can get.
Now fill the thing with pictures, software, music, whatever information you like and repeat the weighing. Be careful to wipe off dust and fingerprints. Maybe have the whole computer on a scale as you wirelessly transfer the data to it.
Tell me about the results. Hint: There will be no difference in weight.
........In order to reproduce those observations,..........
No, it is in order to protect existing theories about the origin and age of the Universe. Dark matter and energy are not needed if those long held theories are thrown out. That of course is unthinkable. There is no problem in observing the way galaxies rotate. The problem is interpreting these movements in the light of existing assumptions. One such baseless assumption (belief) is that all of the "constants" of physics have indeed been always constant throughout all time. If that pet idea is given up, then there is no problem to explain the movements of the galaxies. However, giving up that idea would also entail giving up some other cherished notions about how old everything really is. It is ridiculous pseudo science and pure fiction to assume that 96% of all the "stuff" that gives rise to gravity should not be already discovered or discoverable. It is similar to the "ether" theories of a hundred some odd years ago.
You are wrong in that. Space is a definite something with measured electrical and magnetic properties. Mass is a property of matter-energy. Matter-energy moving through space takes TIME. Space-time and matter energy is what science can explore according to the laws of physics we know about so far. These laws of physics are in another totally independent realm, the realm of thought, information. It is these immaterial things which are at a higher level. It is they which govern the operation of and interactions of time-space and matter-energy.
Science studies these interactions, but cannot explore how these laws that govern them came to be. That is where faith comes in. Man is ultimately governed by faith, belief, not logic. We humans must not give ourselves airs that this is not the case.
......So they both look like giant instant-death gravity fields........
The solution of course is to figure out how not to be subject to some of the laws of physics. Becoming exempt to the laws of gravity and the constraints of time and space would be a good start. We know that mind, thought, information, whatever you want to call it is not subject to gravity and may not be subject to the limits of time and locality as well. We have certain "religious" or metaphysical terms also: soul, spirit, ghost, demon, angel etc. A pure mind, not constrained by being physical and subject to death, should have no problem exploring black holes or worm holes.
Such a mind could nevertheless have a degree of control over the physical which we humans would call miracles. Being born of a virgin, walking on water, turning it into wine or even coming back from death itself would be an ordinary thing for such an entity. There is one such, person called Jesus, who did all that and more and He claimed to be God, come to earth. Some believe He is truth, but many believe He is fiction. Science of course it limited to the physical, by definition, and thus cannot explore these things.
.....installing it without permission on someone's network......
He didn't install anything anywhere but on his own computer. He didn't cause any harm to anyone either, except to the pride of the University's IT staff. There are some web sites that refuse to recognize any browser except IE. Am I doing something wrong when I tell my Mac to inform their server that this particular request is coming from a Windows machine running IE? Some of these same web sites then work just fine with Safari on the Mac. This student did in effect do the same thing. He instructed his computer to lie to the server and tell that stupid server what it wanted to hear, so the young man could get on with his work.
It's strange that you use these terms together as if they were synonymous. Someone can flout every stupid artificial rule and still be totally trustworthy. Someone who thinks and analyzes the rules and then decides which ones are in keeping with the goals of the company and which ones are just there to protect lazy or incompetent managers is usually a very valuable employee. A totally compliant yes man, who scrupulously obeys every minute detail of every rule can be a disloyal liar and a cheat. The University was too lazy or too incompetent to secure their NETWORK. Instead they chose to try to protect their users computers.
It is much better to deal with intruders while they are attempting to enter your yard than when they are already halfway in your bedroom. It is much better to protect the networks and their gateways that to try to protect every single student's computer.
Slashdot Mirror
.......why is this not the case in the US?........
One major reason is population density. How many miles of cable need to be strung per user in the Netherlands compared to the USA? Added to the cables is the cost of the repeaters and amplifiers and other paraphernalia needed to counter signal loss over distance. DSL signals are especially subject to speed degradation within as little as 2 miles. The extra money for all this has to come from the customers. The relatively low population density, especially in the western parts of the USA is also the biggest reason public transit doesn't work very well there.
....Jetta diesel ........
Diesel engine efficiency goes down with increasing RPM, whereas this is not the case with gasoline cars. Gas engines peak efficiency curve is not nearly as flat and it is quite possible to have better efficiency at 65-70 mph than at 45-55.
.....Maybe the customer is inconvenienced for the few seconds it takes to activate it, but how does this really matter?......
So what else is new? These little anti-theft tags have been used of some time now. These are presently located inside the DVD case and on or in other items. When you go out the door they cause the thief detectors to scream. A cashier forgot to deactivate some once and when I walked out the door the detector yelled at me. Of course I had the receipt. There was the embarrassment and inconvenience though. With this new scheme, if a not quite awake cashier forgets to activate, you'll have to go back to the store, after finding out your DVD won't play. That is called wasting the customer's wasting time and money. Making a customer show that they really did buy and not steal the item, does not make for the kind of image which I'd like to project onto my customers, if I were a store owner.
......Perhaps people should think a little more before they open their mouths........
That is good advice, spoken by Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago.
"But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)
If what He said is true, then God has a data collection and retention service far more detailed and accurate than a mere computer.
....Having a government mandated requirement to board a private, commerical, airplane is a very BAD idea.......
Having each airline choose whether to have such a requirement might work. I suspect however that the airlines which do have an ID requirement would get the lions share of business because people like to FEEL secure. If having an ID requirement actually DOES improve security is at the very best debatable. I think you would be in the minority of passengers who object to having an ID requirement.
While I generally agree that when government touches anything it is more often than not done more expensively and in an inept manner than when a private entity with a profit motive does the same thing. Because there are many private entities, there is the potential of a confusing hodge-podge of requirements and methods. This requires standards which everybody must agree to. In the absence of such an agreement, it often becomes necessary for an outside body to impose one. To do this is generally a function of government. What side of the road to drive on and which color of light to stop and go for are arbitrary, but everyone must agree. Having a uniform means of identification applicable to a common activity, such as getting on a public, common carrier is desirable for an orderly society. A relatively trivial extension of the current passport structure already in place for international travel could be extended to domestic airlines. Very few people have a problem with the passport requirement to travel to foreign lands.
.....If everyone went out and got a passport, this would be a non-issue.....
Exactly right. A passport is required to fly from LA to Vancouver B.C. or to Mexico or any other foreign country. They could just require one to fly from LA to NY or any other place within the USA. Why should a license to drive a vehicle to be anything other than that? Why does it serve as a de-facto ID card in the first place?
The US Passport agency already has the expertise and infra structure in place. The could issue a non-passport document for those not currently eligible for a normal US passport. Having a reasonably secure, uniform special ID to get on an airplane is not such a bad idea. However there are many who never fly, so why should they need one?
A court might strike down the coercing of the states to re-make all their driver licenses. A number of states have already flatly said they will not comply, especially if the high costs are not covered. Someone who is from a state the license of which is not 'approved' by the federal bureaucrats might also have a good chance in a lawsuit against the feds. The commerce clause in the constitution is being stretched awfully far these days.
..... are not just selling a physical disk, you are selling the contents.....
Of course, that is true, but that only applies to the FIRST sale. Why should different rules apply to CDs, DVDs than to other items of commerce, such as used cars and furniture? Ford doesn't get a cut when I sell my Mustang to a used car dealer who then sells it to you. Can you give me a good reason why an exception should be made for things that are or were protected by copyright? No copy is being made when a legal copy of a work is sold via an intermediary from one consumer to another, so copyright law does not apply. If it did, then it would have to apply to books, magazines and other printed work also. Used books have been bought and sold since humans learned to write. It just sounds like some incredibly greedy content companies are now buying and already have in some states, bought themselves a special exception from equally greedy and dishonest politicians. If this slippery slope we are on continues, eventually all used merchandise will either be heavily taxed or outlawed completely.
.......It also means the artist gets no money from your purchase........
Now wait a minute! Did the artist not get paid when that copy his/her work was first sold? Artists who want to be paid each time someone listens to their work should NEVER make a recordings, but confine their artistry to live performance. Once a recording is made, the purchaser of that recording may listen as often as desired, without paying extra for each listen.
.......Those people who lowered the risk might se a drop but not you......
This would be true if there was a sufficient differential in premiums between smokers and others. I don't know if that is the case or even legal.
Otherwise I agree with you on what else you wrote.
I just read an interesting book that asserts rather persuasively that there is not the slightest correspondence between heart attacks and cholesterol. In passing though it does say that there is statistically significant evidence that smoking increases heart attack risk. The author also makes a big deal that risk is not equal to cause. The book is called "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskov.
.....The idea behind insurance is that some company collect money based on risks........
So what is the difference, for example, between health insurance and fire insurance? If you set your own house on fire, the insurance company rightfully doesn't need to pay you for a new one. You'll go to jail for arson. So why should they have to pay someone who deliberately destroys their healthy body with certain drugs, tobacco or alcohol? The correlation between well done hamburger and cancer is questionable, but there is little doubt about the above named substances and correlation to all sorts of illnesses.
If the house burns because of shoddy wiring or someone running an overloaded extension cord under the carpet, the insurance could balk, but in the end pay for the damage. If someone is not healthy because of negligence they still pay also. The difference is the deliberate action, despite ample warning. The more people ignore these, the more premium the ones that pay attention have to pay. We require seat belts in cars because it has been shown that more often than not, they will save from death or severe injury. However, there is no guarantee that a seat belt and airbags will save anyone. Safe driving is a much better way to do that.
..... He claimed she smoked but she never has........
Any doctor who cannot tell whether a person smokes or not should go and dig ditches instead of pretending to be a medical professional. I'm sure there are blood tests that can be done of a person is suspected about lying about their habit. In any case, I never advocated that a person who smokes or does other KNOWN harmful things to their body (drugs) should not get medical treatment, only that they should not ask me to pay for it with taxes or high insurance premiums. If they can afford an expensive habit, they should also calculate in the cost of medical care needed because of such a habit. I think it used to be called being responsible for their own actions instead of blaming others and then suing them over hot coffee.
......You don't have to campaign for smoke free businesses or anything......
Actually it is nice to be able to go into a restaurant and not have to breathe all that bad air. However, I would not pass such laws against smoking. Instead, when a smoker or druggie needs medical help because of their habit, they'd be told to pay cash up front for all treatment. If they had no money, no treatment period. Insurance would not be available to them either.
Part of education is to teach people that actions have consequences. The laws of physics can have severe effects on those who ignore them. Man made laws should be no different. Breaking school network rules and reaping punishment may prevent the breaking of much more important rules later in life.
........they'll obey the rules that make sense........
It would be nice if all rules made sense all the time, but that will not happen. Anybody who wants to be part of a club, school, employment or even society at large must obey the rules, get them changed or get out of the club. Club rules don't have to be right or wrong, moral, compassionate and equal. If the school or employer forbids certain things, doesn't mean they are forbidden elsewhere. In Germany I am allowed to drive 200 miles per hour on certain public highways. If I get caught doing this here in the US I pay a fine or worse. I did enjoy driving very fast in Germany, but I'll abide by the speed limit even in Nevada or eastern Oregon where it makes much less sense to have such limits than in Germany. I guess Germans feel they should be allowed to drive as fast as they wish and Americans want to have the freedom to own guns. All societies and clubs have the right to make rules they wish.
Before I get into the reply itself, I want to thank you for a courteous and thoughtful reply, very unlike many here on
(.......The common scientific thought is that everything that goes on in the mind, actually goes on in the brain - neural impulses, chemical reactions, and all that other neat stuff.
It is exactly that limiting idea, that mind arises from and is governed by physical processes rather than the other way around, that prevents us from readily embracing concepts and ideas brought to us by someone who came from outside of our fishbowl, the physical universe. Because of unbelief, we fail understand that we are destined to, yes required to, leave here.
I have PCs and Macs. One one of the Macs I can also boot Windows and have also run Linux. The same physical computer behaves very different in each case. Is it not the software the "soul" or "mind" of the computer that gives it a distinct personality? Even a totally different physical architecture, such as the older PPC Mac can run Windows and its programs. One of the concepts taught in the Bible is that the real you, the real me, is immaterial and lives in a physical body.
(....Even if there is an Ultimate Power (i.e. God), It would still be governed by whatever laws exist at that level.......)
If God is ultimate than He could not be subject to any laws that he did not make or were not part of His nature. Otherwise these laws and/or their originator(s) would be ultimate.
(......I'm also a determinist. I believe that free will is an illusion.....)
Theologians and philosophers have debated this for ages. In the end, there can be only one ultimate will, the will of God. In that sense you have come to a logical conclusion in being a determinist. However, consider the possibility that this ultimate power allows free will, as a subset under His will, to operate in a limited domain. We experience this every day with our own children. As they get more mature, we let then make more and more choices. Many of these choices are made on the basis of whether they BELIEVE what their parents tell them.
The question then is: Do we believe what God tells us about our origins, purpose and destiny and then make choices accordingly? As we get more mature and really believe what God tells us, will we not also be given the opportunity to explore realms and places far beyond the wildest imaginations of our fiction writers? We will not need wormholes, spaceships, warpdrives, stargates and all the other fun stuff of science fiction.
The Apostle Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," nor has it entered into the heart of man, "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
.....And I hope you realize that electrons and photons are subject to gravity........
Of course I know that these are physical and therefore are subject to gravity. I was not talking necessarily about the "supernatural", but the "normal" processes of thought, the world of ideas, imagination. These are activities of mind. You say you don't believe in (fill in the blank here) yet belief, a non-physical attribute of mind, shapes your life (and mine) more than you would likely admit.
It is by our minds as humans, that we are able to shape the physical world, more than any other living thing on this planet. Everything we do, every motion we make, every act of creativity first comes as an act of our will to and through our mind. All human laws, rules and regulations arise in human minds. Could you not conceive (in your mind) the possibility that the laws of science first arose in a mind, which itself is not subject to these laws, but outside (transcendent) and beyond them?
Traveling to other universes (dimensions, worlds) seems to be difficult if it must be done under the constraints of the laws of physics (to which science is limited) as we understand them. If of course we choose to classify anything outside of our present understanding as fiction and unscientific, then will never transcend these physical limitations. Someone named Jesus did enter our time-space universe from outside, but the things He told us and demonstrated about that other side, such as heaven, hell and "miracles" for example, are generally dismissed as fantasy, mostly because they ARE outside of our present understanding of reality. We can really only make three assumptions (beliefs). 1)That what He said is fantasy or outright false, 2) that He and his followers throughout the ages are deluded, or 3) that it is true. If they are true, then the travel to other realms is not only possible, but mandatory reality for every being that has a mind.
.....Hint: random bits are still information.....
Wrong. Information is a message from a sender which which allows you or whatever entity the information is received by to act upon it. Nothing can react to random bits because there is no way to tell what message these bits carry. The bits themselves are not the message, but their arrangement is. The letters of the alphabet in and of themselves carry no message. It is only their arrangement into the words and sentences of a mutually understood language between the sender and receiver which constitutes information.
You can buy a new disk and the result of the experiment will be the same. Information is NOT subject to gravity or inertia. That's why it can be modulated onto a carrier and travel at the speed of light. Matter, which IS subject to gravity and inertia cannot go that fast. The same information can also be in many places simultaneously. Information CARRIERS are physical and therefore subject to the laws of physics which affect these carriers. Information in and of itself is not subject to physical limitations. Science is limited to dealing with the physical. Thoughts, logic, ideas, inspiration, purpose, intent, motives, truth, untruth etc. in short all activities of mind, are of a higher order, able to control the physical parts of reality, but never the other way round. All that the physical can do is to damage or stifle the expression of a particular instance of information.
It is only by faith, in itself a non-phsical construct, through religion that we attempt to deal with non-phsical concepts. God, soul, spirit, devil & demon, angel, life and death belong into the area that science is not equipped to deal with. When we dream of traveling to other universes through wormholes or whatever we understand the physical limitations to a degree. However we have essentially zero understanding through science of the non-physical dimensions of life.
...... liquidate the company's assets and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders........
That's what Michael Dell suggested for Apple a few years ago. Now he's in the same boat like Jobs was, namely to try and save the company he started. Maybe he can a lesson from Jobs. To start with, Dell might make a better product. Quality does sell.
........Apple's features and look-and-feel were stupendous, and
they deserve a lot of credit - it's a beautiful product, but it costs too damned much!!.....
Generally, you get what you pay for. You'll be replacing your cheap machine in about half the time that the Apple would have lasted you, so your costs will be the same. With the HP you get the added bonus of spyware and viruses unless you spend extra $$ to protect your machine against that sort of garbage. For the extra money to protect it you get to run a whole raft of software ALL the time, that will do nothing but slow your computer down, making your whole experience that much less. You spent less money up front, but will be paying for it the whole time you have that computer. Did you REALLY save money? Of course, on paper you did.
......About the only upgrades I've been able to perform on my laptop......
Why upgrade a computer any more than a refrigerator or TV set? Computers have become appliances you just replace when they break or no longer do some job you wish to use them for. Alternatively. find a dedicated use for them. An old broken freezer makes a mouse proof feed container for horses.
One of our 2001 Apple laptops makes a great video/music player. It also works great for listening to Internet radio. I wouldn't use it for photoshop or video work however. A new Macbook does that kind of work.
.......Um, how do we know that?.......
It's an actual experiment YOU can do! Fill a say 300 GB HD with random bits and then carefully weigh it on the best balance you can get.
Now fill the thing with pictures, software, music, whatever information you like and repeat the weighing. Be careful to wipe off dust and fingerprints. Maybe have the whole computer on a scale as you wirelessly transfer the data to it.
Tell me about the results. Hint: There will be no difference in weight.
........In order to reproduce those observations,..........
No, it is in order to protect existing theories about the origin and age of the Universe. Dark matter and energy are not needed if those long held theories are thrown out. That of course is unthinkable. There is no problem in observing the way galaxies rotate. The problem is interpreting these movements in the light of existing assumptions. One such baseless assumption (belief) is that all of the "constants" of physics have indeed been always constant throughout all time. If that pet idea is given up, then there is no problem to explain the movements of the galaxies. However, giving up that idea would also entail giving up some other cherished notions about how old everything really is. It is ridiculous pseudo science and pure fiction to assume that 96% of all the "stuff" that gives rise to gravity should not be already discovered or discoverable. It is similar to the "ether" theories of a hundred some odd years ago.
....Space is nothing...
You are wrong in that. Space is a definite something with measured electrical and magnetic properties. Mass is a property of matter-energy. Matter-energy moving through space takes TIME. Space-time and matter energy is what science can explore according to the laws of physics we know about so far. These laws of physics are in another totally independent realm, the realm of thought, information. It is these immaterial things which are at a higher level. It is they which govern the operation of and interactions of time-space and matter-energy.
Science studies these interactions, but cannot explore how these laws that govern them came to be. That is where faith comes in. Man is ultimately governed by faith, belief, not logic. We humans must not give ourselves airs that this is not the case.
......So they both look like giant instant-death gravity fields........
The solution of course is to figure out how not to be subject to some of the laws of physics. Becoming exempt to the laws of gravity and the constraints of time and space would be a good start. We know that mind, thought, information, whatever you want to call it is not subject to gravity and may not be subject to the limits of time and locality as well. We have certain "religious" or metaphysical terms also: soul, spirit, ghost, demon, angel etc. A pure mind, not constrained by being physical and subject to death, should have no problem exploring black holes or worm holes.
Such a mind could nevertheless have a degree of control over the physical which we humans would call miracles. Being born of a virgin, walking on water, turning it into wine or even coming back from death itself would be an ordinary thing for such an entity. There is one such, person called Jesus, who did all that and more and He claimed to be God, come to earth. Some believe He is truth, but many believe He is fiction. Science of course it limited to the physical, by definition, and thus cannot explore these things.
.....installing it without permission on someone's network ......
He didn't install anything anywhere but on his own computer. He didn't cause any harm to anyone either, except to the pride of the University's IT staff. There are some web sites that refuse to recognize any browser except IE. Am I doing something wrong when I tell my Mac to inform their server that this particular request is coming from a Windows machine running IE? Some of these same web sites then work just fine with Safari on the Mac. This student did in effect do the same thing. He instructed his computer to lie to the server and tell that stupid server what it wanted to hear, so the young man could get on with his work.
.....more trustworthy or rule-abiding.......
It's strange that you use these terms together as if they were synonymous. Someone can flout every stupid artificial rule and still be totally trustworthy. Someone who thinks and analyzes the rules and then decides which ones are in keeping with the goals of the company and which ones are just there to protect lazy or incompetent managers is usually a very valuable employee. A totally compliant yes man, who scrupulously obeys every minute detail of every rule can be a disloyal liar and a cheat. The University was too lazy or too incompetent to secure their NETWORK. Instead they chose to try to protect their users computers.
It is much better to deal with intruders while they are attempting to enter your yard than when they are already halfway in your bedroom. It is much better to protect the networks and their gateways that to try to protect every single student's computer.