In the US, the government IS the citizens. We vote and elect our leaders from among our peers. Our soldiers are volunteers who do a sometimes hard job in order to protect our way of life. My buddy just joined the army, and is about to get deployed to Iraq. It is more comfortable to objectify the US as an evil entity, but our country and army are simply the sum of its citizens.
What would 260 million free people do, if their government was "removed"? They would form another one, along the same principles of democracy.
The terrorists have a twisted logic - kill our civilians to advance their ideals, and hide amongst their own civilians because we are too ethical to strike back using their tactics against them. Believe me, Osama would not hesitate to use nuclear capability if he could get it. The only thing preventing the US from turning Afghanistan and Iraq into big sheets of glass is the compassion for human life that we have. And, we could do it without a single American casualty for very little cost (less than $1 billion).
Our troops are getting killed on the ground to minimize civilian casualties. Our taxes ($80 billion) are being used to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and ensure democracy for her citizens.
the best method they believe they have to achieving their goal (destruction of the USA and its allies, radical 'Islamification' of the world)
Their goal is the destruction of the US and its allies. The US and its allies are made up of civilians. Therefore, Osama's goal is to kill civilians.
Murdering businessmen will not advance Islam. It surely didn't advance the Taliban.
Terrorism will simply result in daisy cutters being dropped on the perpetrator's caves. Say what you will about GWB, but he is making the world a VERY DANGEROUS PLACE for terrorists. And, rightly so.
RFID might work at UPS. I used to load trucks there while in school.
Every box gets scanned coming into circulation, entering the warehouse, being loaded into feeder trucks, coming out of feeder (semi) trucks, going into delivery trucks, and then when delivered by the brown-shorts.
Every time the boxes get scanned (at each event listed above), it is by some sucker in the Teamster's union. Think Jimmy Hoffa. These guys make upwards of $9.50/hr, and get health/dental insurance.
UPS will develop their RFID tech in secret, and wait for another Teamster's Union strike...
I don't know about "spontaneous" evolution. These microbes probably have a life cycle measured in days or hours.
Most likely the slag-dumpage occured over time as a result of industrial or mining processes. As the pH level is gradually increased, microbes that are not alkaline resistant are killed off. Those that are alkaline resistant, manage to live.
Higher-lifeform evolution seems like an extended process to us, because mammals, reptiles, and amphibs have lifecycles that are measurable in years.
We simply use the same evolutionary logic that applies to "real" animals. Just compress it down to the number of lifecycles necessary to establish a genetically different population (instead of measuring evolution in terms of years or geologic epochs).
The plants function as a contaminant sink - they are capable of absorbing trace amounts of elements/minerals from the soil. If you harvest the biomass, then you collect some of the pollutants along with it.
Although, I don't know if this is effective enough to warrant much commercial development. It works in small amounts, but I seriously doubt it is used for much other than to fob off the greenies.
The best way to make money is to create a commercial game, and build an edit module so that the user community can build their own rooms and levels. Not unlike Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, and others.
Thus, your game is not "disposable" when finished - the commercial game serves as an education for amateur developers, who then make new content (for free).
Next, develop a moderating system for the user-created content (to weed out the crappy stuff), and see what floats to the top.
Once people stop buying the commercial game, open source the engine. This would be ideal, as you would have:
1) achieved profitability 2) a large user base 3) alot of pre-developed content and artwork 4) an enhanced reputation among the gaming community (everybody loves Bioware after NwN and KOTOR. Just imagine how cool they would be if they open-sourced these games in a couple of years!!) 5) "ideas" from open source developers to use in your next commercial engine (or even hire the best developers outright)
Sell T-shirts and hats to cover your bandwidth costs after giving away the farm, and you are money.
Well what would you call someone that promises products with features that don't even exist, only to go back to developers and demand that they deliver these forthcoming products? What about hiring staff that are not qualified for their
positions -- so unskilled, in fact, that they required manuals when chosen for
their respective positions?
That sounds like your average consultant shop, to me!
Slashdot Mirror
In the US, the government IS the citizens. We vote and elect our leaders from among our peers. Our soldiers are volunteers who do a sometimes hard job in order to protect our way of life. My buddy just joined the army, and is about to get deployed to Iraq. It is more comfortable to objectify the US as an evil entity, but our country and army are simply the sum of its citizens.
What would 260 million free people do, if their government was "removed"? They would form another one, along the same principles of democracy.
The terrorists have a twisted logic - kill our civilians to advance their ideals, and hide amongst their own civilians because we are too ethical to strike back using their tactics against them. Believe me, Osama would not hesitate to use nuclear capability if he could get it. The only thing preventing the US from turning Afghanistan and Iraq into big sheets of glass is the compassion for human life that we have. And, we could do it without a single American casualty for very little cost (less than $1 billion).
Our troops are getting killed on the ground to minimize civilian casualties. Our taxes ($80 billion) are being used to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and ensure democracy for her citizens.
Shock and DOS
the best method they believe they have to achieving their goal (destruction of the USA and its allies, radical 'Islamification' of the world)
Their goal is the destruction of the US and its allies. The US and its allies are made up of civilians. Therefore, Osama's goal is to kill civilians.
Murdering businessmen will not advance Islam. It surely didn't advance the Taliban.
Terrorism will simply result in daisy cutters being dropped on the perpetrator's caves. Say what you will about GWB, but he is making the world a VERY DANGEROUS PLACE for terrorists. And, rightly so.
InfoWorld is reporting that SpamCop is about to be sold to IronPort Systems for an undisclosed amount of money...
why do these frickin' tech guys have to CamelBack EveryThing?
Hey, I don't know about you, but no price is too small for that great selection of penis enlargement offers they must have at their fingertips.
I got one the other day, with a subject line saying "upgrade your wang".
I snorted my coffee through my nose laughing at that one.
Your packages are encapsulated in a rural stretch of NJ interstate.
I put them there.
Pop is for college students. I'll have you know I only drink Starbucks drip while pushing buttons on a board.
Hmpf!
Some enterprising cracker is going to encapsulate a key logger into a piece of spyware
That seems like alot of trouble to read your slashdot posts, when all they have to do is click on your username...
RFID might work at UPS. I used to load trucks there while in school.
Every box gets scanned coming into circulation, entering the warehouse, being loaded into feeder trucks, coming out of feeder (semi) trucks, going into delivery trucks, and then when delivered by the brown-shorts.
Every time the boxes get scanned (at each event listed above), it is by some sucker in the Teamster's union. Think Jimmy Hoffa. These guys make upwards of $9.50/hr, and get health/dental insurance.
UPS will develop their RFID tech in secret, and wait for another Teamster's Union strike...
You must be a consultant, too (posted from cubicle @ 7pm)...
STAR FIBER!
Star Fiber Router could be called the "X-wing"
I don't know about "spontaneous" evolution. These microbes probably have a life cycle measured in days or hours.
Most likely the slag-dumpage occured over time as a result of industrial or mining processes. As the pH level is gradually increased, microbes that are not alkaline resistant are killed off. Those that are alkaline resistant, manage to live.
Higher-lifeform evolution seems like an extended process to us, because mammals, reptiles, and amphibs have lifecycles that are measurable in years.
We simply use the same evolutionary logic that applies to "real" animals. Just compress it down to the number of lifecycles necessary to establish a genetically different population (instead of measuring evolution in terms of years or geologic epochs).
(+1, used the word DUMPAGE)
The plants function as a contaminant sink - they are capable of absorbing trace amounts of elements/minerals from the soil. If you harvest the biomass, then you collect some of the pollutants along with it.
It has been done in gold mine tailings with alfalfa: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlig hts_archive/alfalfa.html
Although, I don't know if this is effective enough to warrant much commercial development. It works in small amounts, but I seriously doubt it is used for much other than to fob off the greenies.
A greenie website for more info: http://www.aibs.org/bioscience/bioscience-archive/ vol45/green.clean.html
the most insightful post in the thread.
The best way to make money is to create a commercial game, and build an edit module so that the user community can build their own rooms and levels. Not unlike Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, and others.
Thus, your game is not "disposable" when finished - the commercial game serves as an education for amateur developers, who then make new content (for free).
Next, develop a moderating system for the user-created content (to weed out the crappy stuff), and see what floats to the top.
Once people stop buying the commercial game, open source the engine. This would be ideal, as you would have:
1) achieved profitability
2) a large user base
3) alot of pre-developed content and artwork
4) an enhanced reputation among the gaming community (everybody loves Bioware after NwN and KOTOR. Just imagine how cool they would be if they open-sourced these games in a couple of years!!)
5) "ideas" from open source developers to use in your next commercial engine (or even hire the best developers outright)
Sell T-shirts and hats to cover your bandwidth costs after giving away the farm, and you are money.
It appears to be the consultant shop m$ outsourced their news page to:
. ht ml
http://w.moreover.com/main_site/solutions/index
My favorite cliche is 'action item'. Lets have a meeting, set a time table, and come up with a list of 'action items'.
Some people would rather talk than work - that's the only explanation.
So I guess Halo would qualify for this contest?
Although, I'm TOLD it's harder/takes longer when you don't set the difficulty level to "Tenderfoot Girl Scout" mode...
You wouldn't be able to see anything but white flags in your spy photos.
the hubble?
Yeah, I use it to make my Slashdot posts.
RAD = Rapid Application Development
that the amount of fun you can have playing console games peaked in 1990.
Buy a Gateway server, and get your choice of:
1) Epson America Stylus(R) color Inkjet
OR
2) Gateway Brand 1.2 megapixel digital camera
*Plus*
Free UPS ground
Well what would you call someone that promises products with features that don't even exist, only to go back to developers and demand that they deliver these forthcoming products? What about hiring staff that are not qualified for their positions -- so unskilled, in fact, that they required manuals when chosen for their respective positions?
That sounds like your average consultant shop, to me!
Have you played D&D with us before?