User: jonathanbutz

Re:Suicide statistics and sources

On: Cameras Help Cops Catch a Killer

Analysis of death certificates from 2000 confirms 16.8k is accurate.

According to Mokdad et al. (http://www.csdp.org/research/1238.pdf 2004),
in 2000 there were 28663 deaths due to firearms (down from 36000 in 1990).

of those,
16586 (57.9%) were suicide
10801 (37.7%) were homicide
776 (2.7%) were accidents
270 were 'interventions', which I believe is a 'good kill' by police
230 are undetermined

Problem is Primary, not Secondary Education

On: Tech Czar Unimpressed With US IT Workforce

Successful developing nations adapt their curricula to produce timely skills, and many are the targets of massive investment and job migration.

Meanwhile, in the face of mass offshoring, we have an increasingly undereducated population whose skills are steadily declining in value.

Visas and offhosring appear attractive short-term solutions because qualified candidates have TOO MUCH education and cost too much.

If the average high school graduate had the needed skills, we'd already have the labor at a reasonable cost.

bill does not prevent wifi as public good

On: Verizon Seeks To Nix Fee-Based Municipal Wireless Grids

This bill only prevents government created agencies from charging fees for broadband.

Nowhere does it prevent municipalities from offering public networks such as the one already deployed in Altoona, PA.

too many standards

On: Bluetooth Plans to Triple Bandwidth

i realize that all the emerging wireless options (zigbee, 802.11n, uwb, etc.) are best suited to different conbinations of range, power needs, and bandwidth, but are devices really going to support so many different standards? we're just now seeing bluetooth and wifi together. add three more options, and i fear we'll have a mess.

"let me give you this pr0n."
"do you have zigbee2?"
"no. only uwb and 802.11n."
"infrared?"
"are you kidding?"
[sigh] "just email it to me..."

Re:(D) One problem

On: Could Nuclear Power Wean the U.S. From Oil?

Interesting fact: France does get most of its power from nuclear (77%, 400.9 TWh), but the US produces lots more nuclear power than France (769.8 TWh).

Source: 2001 CIA FactBook http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.

We really are energy gluttons (as I get into my 300 hp v8 and zoom to lunch).

I read the script - this movie will suck utterly

On: Doom Movie in Production For Aug 2005 Release

all it actually borrows from the game is the title and the portal. everything else is crap.

one of the stock characters sums up the genre and plot: "It's your basic unidentified enemy, heavy casualty situation."

that's about it. it begins well, with stock characters solving the mystery of the unknown nasty, slimy creatures that have something to do with the portal. there's a setup for a love interest, one intra-team conflict, and a bunch of similar dreck.

then it goes sideways. on the other side of the portal is/was a civilization of human-like things who had extra chromosomes or something, and contact caused us to deteriorate into a primal form. it's horrible even to remember. 'the relic' was a better movie than this could ever be.

true or not, does it matter?

On: Unexplained Leap In CO2 Levels

Geological evidence suggests there were periods in the planet's history when CO2 levels were substantially higher than they are now.

The climate was warmer, and the planet overall appears to have been more productive as a result, spawning larger land creatures (average and maximum) and rain forests at higher latitudes.

Maybe this is just what we need to support our burgeoning population.