I think Obama is a pretty good guy but I'm puzzled why his number two and number three Department of Justice lawyers are ex-RIAA thugs. Surely if the administration wants to investigate wrong doing they might instead take a look at someone like Countrywide Home Loans, who systematically defrauded untold numbers of hopeful homeowners. They did far more than their share to contribute to the US' current financial woes. I'm pretty sure they could find no end of miscreants to thunder over with their DOJ hobnail boots.
There has been quite a bit of talk about encouraging immigration from the US, as well as Brazil, Argentina, India, China, Japan, Chile and Bolivia. Most of these places are noticeable for their entrepeneurial spirit. Canada needs a population of at least 70 million, better 100 million. That said, the only way any Americans will be settling in Canada will be as lawful immigrants.
It doesn't take a military genius to figure out Canada's contingency plans. First you could drop a hydrogen bomb into the middle of this country and we wouldn't even notice it. This country is big, and it's cold. Hard to fight here. The instant you sent troops up, we'd come down, and we'd kick the holy hell out of the US and its infrastructure. I don't see how you could defend against a bunch of really good professional soldiers that look, sound and act like Americans. Sorry bud, but invasion just isn't in the cards.
You could immigrate and you'd find yourselves in a pretty fancy country with great prospects. You'd find we like you and we know all about you as well. Or, you could just continue acting like the jackasses you've been for the past eight years.
"But then I bet few of the native Americans living 10,000 years ago knew how to swim."
I'll bet that native Americans living 10,000 years ago were smarter and more capable than the author. After all, the penalty for not learning to swim was......... permanent.
If it is in exactly, precisely the same orbit, then yes, the speed should be about the same, otherwise there will be a collision and one or both of the objects cease to exist, or else the larger object gravitationally captures the smaller object as a moon.
I am NOT an astronomer.
It would be nifty to see a graphical link between bill amendment sponsors, campaign contributions and signatories. That way you could click on one of the riders to the bill, see who sponsored it and why - like who got paid off.
I've seen notations to this effect in slashdot coversations about the DMCA for instance.
It has also been useful in Canadian political discussions such as those at http://michaelgeist.ca/ where we could see that the minister responsible for communications law (Bev Oda, also known as Odious Oda) was heavily supported by the communications industry.
When I built my house in 1985, I built a passive solar home (three sided, two-story concrete box with south facing glass and air conduits built into an insulated slab). We placed four solar hot water heaters on the roof as well. The house has repaid the investment many times over, but my one regret is that I allowed myself to be talked out of putting in a geo heat pump system. At the time the experts told me it was too expensive for the projected return. They were wrong of course.
I don't know much about accounting, but it has always seemed to me that carbon cap trading schemes are just a gigantic boondoggle that allow bad actors to continue acting badly. For my money, if governments (Canadian in my case) want to encourage green technology and lower the country's carbon footprint, then they need to very strongly encourage geo heat exchangers in new construction and particularly for green renovations. Solar heating is not always possible, especially this far north, but geothermal exchange is always there.
As a post script, for anyone thinking of installing solar hot water panels on their roof, think again. If it is possible to mount them at ground level on a rack, you achieve two things: A. no holes in your expensive roof, and B. it is much easier to maintain them at ground level.
And yeah, sure, putting one in Alberta tar-sands country is fine, because the only people living up there are the oil workers.
The Woodland Cree First Nation and the folks in the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation would be fascinated at their "non-person" status.
I used to work with a guy from Fort Chip called Noel Mercredi. It was the name the Catholic priest christened him with. I guess Christmas came on Wednesday that year. He was a person too. He once told me that the name of his tribe meant "The People". Pretty common among aboriginal groups actually. Strange to find that attitude in the first world though.
Not really, although I see your point. It's a visceral thing. Your thumb says "I will not HAVE this in my living room!" and pifft, it's gone, along with any advertisers who follow. Problem solved, no list involved.;-)
I've noticed lately that a lot more TV ads are venturing into extremely obnoxious territory. Many of the ads are so annoying that I never want to see them again, so I mute that ad as soon as I clue in that it's coming. For the most part, I'm talking about ads that scream to get your attention. I dislike people screaming at me anyway, and if they are screaming to get my attention so they can siphon money from my wallet, they get on my mute first list.
I know I'm not alone in this - lots of people are pretty quick with the mute button and it causes me to wonder.... Suppose you are an advertiser who pays for a really endearing ad that people love to watch. Maybe something like the slightly bewildered A&W proprietor they've been airing lately. So you go to the expense of creating ads that follow a story line and that are successful, if the audience sees and hears them.
Now imagine what happens if your ad follows one of those obnoxious ads people immediately mute. I suppose the only solution is to make sure your ad is always in the first slot - but that could get expensive.
Yes. Exactly. It always irks me when modern people betray their own ignorance and arrogance. Dr Haak's speculation that there might not have been space for love is ridiculous. Love is what held them together and made life worthwhile. Somebody else in this thread mentions that we tend to view stone age people as ignorant, brutal children.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the modern human who displays these traits. Our modern world offers an enormously effective safety net that allows the stupid to survive. Simply put, we are breeding stupid people and our modern medical technology also means we are breeding people who physically could not survive in the natural world. The stone age cultures were brilliant and the people made use of wonderful technology: snowshoes, skis, atlatls, or woomeras, stone blades sharper than any scalpel, and canoes, dugouts and sleighs for traveling. The Saan bushmen and Australian aborigine tribes people used marvelous technology to survive in impossible deserts.
These stone age people possessed encyclopedic knowledge of plants, animals, geology and terrain. They were educated to the doctorate level in their skills and knowledge and the passing grade was survival. The stupid people died.
Welcome back. I'm personally very happy to see you all on the road to recovery after this long illness. While I found much to admire in John McCain and his administration would likely have been better for Canada, who can disagree that the whole world was pulling for Obama? And just think, it's a two'fer. You get Michelle Obama as well. Sounds like a bargain to me.
This means Sweet Fuck-All until and unless the Court subpoenas the boards of directors of firms like this. Corporations will continue to try destroying their customers' rights under law until it gets treated as the criminal activity that it is.
"However -- this doesn't mean that we should blithely accept the extinction of an important food crop. This is a warning. What if it were rice? Or sweet corn?"
I don't believe in scare tactics, but you are right on the money. Consider the case of Ug99, a very appropriate name and a very dangerous threat to the world wheat and barley crop.
If I was a politico in the wheat growing states and provinces, I might take a dim view of anyone growing ornamental barberry bushes. So far as I know, we don't have a defence against this dangerous wheat and barley blight.
Given the enormous amount of travel today, both people and plant diseases are incredibly easy to transmit. We'll have to get used to it.
There aren't all that many planets that meet our criterion for human-equivalent life in our own galaxy, in my opinion. Of those that might have/will produce intelligent life we could communicate with, time and distance severely limit our ability to detect them. This clock shows just how vanishingly small our own percentage of time on the planet is. It's just a blip. Travelling outward from earth is a wave of radio and television signals that could be detected by an alien intelligence if it intersects their detection system in the vanishingly small percentage of time that they are listening.
A million civilizations could have risen and turned to dust, bombarding the galaxy with radio and television signals and it is very likely we would have missed the tiny flash they made.
Slashdot Mirror
Not to be a pain in the ass, but if you're quoting Latin, spell it correctly...
non sequitur - it does not follow.
I think Obama is a pretty good guy but I'm puzzled why his number two and number three Department of Justice lawyers are ex-RIAA thugs. Surely if the administration wants to investigate wrong doing they might instead take a look at someone like Countrywide Home Loans, who systematically defrauded untold numbers of hopeful homeowners. They did far more than their share to contribute to the US' current financial woes. I'm pretty sure they could find no end of miscreants to thunder over with their DOJ hobnail boots.
It doesn't take a military genius to figure out Canada's contingency plans. First you could drop a hydrogen bomb into the middle of this country and we wouldn't even notice it. This country is big, and it's cold. Hard to fight here. The instant you sent troops up, we'd come down, and we'd kick the holy hell out of the US and its infrastructure. I don't see how you could defend against a bunch of really good professional soldiers that look, sound and act like Americans. Sorry bud, but invasion just isn't in the cards.
You could immigrate and you'd find yourselves in a pretty fancy country with great prospects. You'd find we like you and we know all about you as well. Or, you could just continue acting like the jackasses you've been for the past eight years.
I'll bet that native Americans living 10,000 years ago were smarter and more capable than the author. After all, the penalty for not learning to swim was......... permanent.
File this under not good for trade.
If it is in exactly, precisely the same orbit, then yes, the speed should be about the same, otherwise there will be a collision and one or both of the objects cease to exist, or else the larger object gravitationally captures the smaller object as a moon. I am NOT an astronomer.
Seems Obama may not be so supportive of Bush after all.
I've seen notations to this effect in slashdot coversations about the DMCA for instance. It has also been useful in Canadian political discussions such as those at http://michaelgeist.ca/ where we could see that the minister responsible for communications law (Bev Oda, also known as Odious Oda) was heavily supported by the communications industry.
DHS....mysterious buses...mysterious government installations - might be a prison....the only thing missing is a fleet of black helicopters.
I don't know much about accounting, but it has always seemed to me that carbon cap trading schemes are just a gigantic boondoggle that allow bad actors to continue acting badly. For my money, if governments (Canadian in my case) want to encourage green technology and lower the country's carbon footprint, then they need to very strongly encourage geo heat exchangers in new construction and particularly for green renovations. Solar heating is not always possible, especially this far north, but geothermal exchange is always there.
As a post script, for anyone thinking of installing solar hot water panels on their roof, think again. If it is possible to mount them at ground level on a rack, you achieve two things: A. no holes in your expensive roof, and B. it is much easier to maintain them at ground level.
Not sure why there should be any doubt what the mirrors are made of. Maybe they can't determine the makeup of the mirror from dead specimens.
The Woodland Cree First Nation and the folks in the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation would be fascinated at their "non-person" status.
I used to work with a guy from Fort Chip called Noel Mercredi. It was the name the Catholic priest christened him with. I guess Christmas came on Wednesday that year. He was a person too. He once told me that the name of his tribe meant "The People". Pretty common among aboriginal groups actually. Strange to find that attitude in the first world though.
No electricity required. Most of us are using a stirling-cycle fan powered by the heat from the stove.
The Ecofan is a good example.
This is one of the most succinct and brilliant comments I've read in a few months on slashdot.
I don't know if you are in the habit of making brilliant observations, but on the off-chance that you do, now I'll see them during my casual reads.
Thanks.
It's the awful truth isn't it? The Baby Boomers really aren't ever going to go away are they?
Not really, although I see your point. It's a visceral thing. Your thumb says "I will not HAVE this in my living room!" and pifft, it's gone, along with any advertisers who follow. Problem solved, no list involved. ;-)
I know I'm not alone in this - lots of people are pretty quick with the mute button and it causes me to wonder.... Suppose you are an advertiser who pays for a really endearing ad that people love to watch. Maybe something like the slightly bewildered A&W proprietor they've been airing lately. So you go to the expense of creating ads that follow a story line and that are successful, if the audience sees and hears them.
Now imagine what happens if your ad follows one of those obnoxious ads people immediately mute. I suppose the only solution is to make sure your ad is always in the first slot - but that could get expensive.
One of the funniest things I've ever read on Slashdot. Thank you for that image.
Yes. Exactly. It always irks me when modern people betray their own ignorance and arrogance. Dr Haak's speculation that there might not have been space for love is ridiculous. Love is what held them together and made life worthwhile. Somebody else in this thread mentions that we tend to view stone age people as ignorant, brutal children.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the modern human who displays these traits. Our modern world offers an enormously effective safety net that allows the stupid to survive. Simply put, we are breeding stupid people and our modern medical technology also means we are breeding people who physically could not survive in the natural world. The stone age cultures were brilliant and the people made use of wonderful technology: snowshoes, skis, atlatls, or woomeras, stone blades sharper than any scalpel, and canoes, dugouts and sleighs for traveling. The Saan bushmen and Australian aborigine tribes people used marvelous technology to survive in impossible deserts.
These stone age people possessed encyclopedic knowledge of plants, animals, geology and terrain. They were educated to the doctorate level in their skills and knowledge and the passing grade was survival. The stupid people died.
Welcome back. I'm personally very happy to see you all on the road to recovery after this long illness. While I found much to admire in John McCain and his administration would likely have been better for Canada, who can disagree that the whole world was pulling for Obama? And just think, it's a two'fer. You get Michelle Obama as well. Sounds like a bargain to me.
What the hell is a hard core liberal? Is it like being a hard core free trader? A hard core choco-holic?
This means Sweet Fuck-All until and unless the Court subpoenas the boards of directors of firms like this. Corporations will continue to try destroying their customers' rights under law until it gets treated as the criminal activity that it is.
I don't believe in scare tactics, but you are right on the money. Consider the case of Ug99, a very appropriate name and a very dangerous threat to the world wheat and barley crop.
If I was a politico in the wheat growing states and provinces, I might take a dim view of anyone growing ornamental barberry bushes. So far as I know, we don't have a defence against this dangerous wheat and barley blight.
Given the enormous amount of travel today, both people and plant diseases are incredibly easy to transmit. We'll have to get used to it.
Yes, let's all imagine that for a moment. Let us imagine every spare bit of land in the whole US covered in wind turbines 1,000 feet high.
Now imagine a field of 1,000 foot high wind turbines turning in the wind and picture the wind 10 miles high!
Pretty insignificant.
A million civilizations could have risen and turned to dust, bombarding the galaxy with radio and television signals and it is very likely we would have missed the tiny flash they made.