...
People are stupid, but they are also easily distracted and forget last year's MAJOR CRISIS in favor of this year's equally all-consuming disaster.
I'd agree with you, but eating Alar-treated apples has so obviously turned us all into a bunch of blind, cancerous mutants, that we've all learned our lesson.
The first video game I ever played was Pong in a bar. Later, Breakout and Pacman and the usual arcade suspects.
The first computer game I had that let you play against another remote player was called Modem Wars. It was similar to Stratego. You could dial up another player's modem and duke it out. We used a local BBS to set up matches. Great fun.
How about Quindicembre? But Dicembre really ought to be Dodicembre anyway since it's the twelfth month not the tenth, but if Dicembre is the twelfth, then the fifteenth would be Tredicembre.
Either way it's not really so long to wait, since this would be the thirteenth month.:-)
>A few of the first pictures are now available, with many more to come in the next few days.
Actually, only a few approach images are available. The first images from the close approach will not be available until 01/05/08 when Messenger has finished data collection and points its antenna towards Earth and begins to transmit data. Can't wait for images of a very harsh environment.
If you are a visitor from a country that does not issue passports that meet the requirements, how do you get on a flight?
You stay here and work in an illegal sweatshop until you learn enough Spanish to be mistaken for an illegal Mexican immigrant. Then you get deported to Tijuana, catch the commuter flight to Mexico City, and fly home from there.
Of course, if you actually try to use your phone across Europe then they kill you with the roaming charges, but at least it means if you buy an unlocked phone then you can use it anywhere.
Not having used a cell phone in Europe, I'm a bit curious about this.
The ability to take a phone from one carrier to the next isn't as important to me as the ability to take my phone from one area to the next.
I have a T-Mobile branded Razr. T-Mobile provided the unlock code for me with no fuss or bother at all. The phone works great just as it is all over Europe. As noted, international calling back to the US is a bit high, but it works really well and anyone can just call your regular number, which is important for business use. Be careful of voice mail, because it hits you twice on charges.
What I prefer to using my regular number is to buy a local SIM chip. On my recent trip to Italy, I went into a phone shop and purchased a prepaid SIM for TIM, one of the two main Italian options. This gave me an Italian phone number, a rate for calls within Italy about a third of the T-M rate and calls to the US at a rate about 80% of the T-M rate. A stop at an internet cafe let me email the number to my office and my kids and it's all good. When you need more minutes, you purchase a phone card at any Tabac shop, punch in the code and recharge your minutes. I've done the same in France and Germany.
If your trip is taking you to more than one country, this might not work as well, since TIM roaming in France would kill you, for example. There are multiple country SIM cards to be had, but I have no experience with them. You might be better off just using you US carrier card. Same if you are not making a lot of local calls. When I travel, I find I need to make or change hotel reservations, make restaurant reservations, etc. and having a local number saves time and money. If you don't make a bunch of local calls, it might not be worth the bother.
>I think Alton Brown would benefit from having a decent "play by play" guy to work with him... leaving him to just do the commentary on the dishes rather than a constant stream of talking.
Right you are Altus-san. The challenger is removing the gonads from the pike eel and is mincing them with a bit of daikon. Back to you.
If they some day find life, how do they know they haven't brought it from here on their missions?
If the life is based on DNA/RNA replication using L-amino acids you might think of contamination or panspermia. On the other hand, if it is based on a completely different chemistry from anything on Earth, you can be pretty sure it's alien. On the gripping hand, if it's somewhere in between, you have to consider all the possibilities including convergent evolution.
>Men's Water Polo: Three per quarter; one at the halftime (From TF NCAA A)
Given that university water polo quarters are seven minutes, this doesn't seem too draconian. I wonder how many people are live blogging Div II water polo. You're lucky to get 50 at Cal-0Stanford with the Pac 10 on the line. You would think they'd be glad of a little publicity.
>In what universe does the topic of gun control belong on a list of issues important to geeks
It's just a matter of degree. Your regular gun nut wants his Colt Python, full auto M16, and a K-bar knife. Your geek gun nut feels better with a BFG-9000, plasma cannon, chainsaw, and a backup Death Star if at all possible. It's all about who you think is after you.
This problem has been known ever since David Hume wrote about causation in the Treatise and the Inquiry. It has been discussed in Philosophy departments Forever.
Agreed. This NYT dustup is what you get when physicists write about metaphysics, philosophers write about biology, biologists write about physics, or any of them write about economics. You might get some interesting bits, but none of them have done enough background reading to know that it's all been hashed out 250 years ago and in graduate seminars ever since.
Personally, I put it all down to the damn squirrels. Them or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The empirical evidence seems pretty evenly balanced.
No, I was going for the flawed statement that wasn't blindingly obvious to everyone. Wingshooting a pretentious art analogy is more sporting than ground sluicing an obvious MS astroturf.
>I have been to the Louvre; I have seen the works of the masters, of Monet and Michaelangelo.
Dude, you're a bit off. All of the Monet paintings are in the Musée d'Orsay on the other side of the river. While there are a couple of Michelangelo sculptures and a few drawings in the Louvre, If you want to see Michelangelo Buonarroti's work, you need to go to Italy, Rome and Florence.
For my money, the most impressive sculptures in the Louvre are the Winged Bulls of Sargon II.
We all loved those great jokes about what you could do while you waited for your C64 to boot. But now, with the modern Windows computer, the old C64 just seems normal.
To be fair, he was criticizing an apparent failure to follow proper legal process in ruling against a trial jury for SCO, he never claimed they were or weren't guilty, just that from the evidence it probably should have gone to trial
Then that is a matter for appeal. The trial judge ruled on a matter of law. If one of the parties thinks the ruling was in error, take it up to the next level. That's how it is done. The Court of Appeal can:
Decline to hear the appeal - original trial court ruling stands
Hear the appeal and deny it - original trial court ruling stands
Hear the appeal and grant it - original trial court ruling reversed
Hear the appeal and send the matter back to the trial court for a rehearing of the ruling on appeal
Hear the appeal and order some sort of baby-splitting
All of which is always subject to further appeal. All it takes is lawyers and money; guns optional.
Lacking mod points today, I can't counteract the -1 Flamebait mod. However, I would like to point out that the parent was intended to be a humourous or satirical parody of a common form of spam. Get a grip folks, or is your member to flaccid to grip at all? Sheesh!
Whinging about moderation always gets modded down. Most people figure that out. The length of time it takes to figure it out is in roughly inverse proportion to their intelligence. There are some interesting aphorisms about repeating the same actions and expecting different outcomes that you might want to look up.
Supposedly, this is a huge problem. I read something recently (Scientific American?) that pointed out that the known radiation levels between Earth and Mars would be fatal to humans over the duration of the flight. They discussed shielding requirements and concluded that the required shielding was too massive for any economical flight to be possible with existing propellant technology. A variety of shielding materials were discussed including lead and water ice.
From our friend wikipedia we learn: "Professor John Reid led six research students from Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts in a follow-up study in 1995. They found highly congruent trails from stones that moved in the late 1980s and during the winter of 1992-1993. At least some stones were proved beyond a reasonable doubt to have been moved in ice flows that may be up to half a mile (800 m) wide. Physical evidence included swaths of lineated areas that could only have been created by moving thin sheets of ice. So wind alone as well as in conjunction with ice flows are thought to be motive forces." (References in the article.) Once a mystery, but not really one now.
Slashdot Mirror
... People are stupid, but they are also easily distracted and forget last year's MAJOR CRISIS in favor of this year's equally all-consuming disaster.I'd agree with you, but eating Alar-treated apples has so obviously turned us all into a bunch of blind, cancerous mutants, that we've all learned our lesson.
I am quite sure you have eaten many clones. Humans have been cultivating and eating cloned fruits and vegetables for many centuries.
The first video game I ever played was Pong in a bar. Later, Breakout and Pacman and the usual arcade suspects.
The first computer game I had that let you play against another remote player was called Modem Wars. It was similar to Stratego. You could dial up another player's modem and duke it out. We used a local BBS to set up matches. Great fun.
In Quîndecimber?
14 months is a long time to wait.
How about Quindicembre? But Dicembre really ought to be Dodicembre anyway since it's the twelfth month not the tenth, but if Dicembre is the twelfth, then the fifteenth would be Tredicembre.Either way it's not really so long to wait, since this would be the thirteenth month. :-)
The first images from the close approach will not be available until 01/05/08
That should be 01/15/08. After 15:00 EST.>A few of the first pictures are now available, with many more to come in the next few days.
Actually, only a few approach images are available. The first images from the close approach will not be available until 01/05/08 when Messenger has finished data collection and points its antenna towards Earth and begins to transmit data. Can't wait for images of a very harsh environment.
You stay here and work in an illegal sweatshop until you learn enough Spanish to be mistaken for an illegal Mexican immigrant. Then you get deported to Tijuana, catch the commuter flight to Mexico City, and fly home from there.
Not having used a cell phone in Europe, I'm a bit curious about this.
The ability to take a phone from one carrier to the next isn't as important to me as the ability to take my phone from one area to the next.
I have a T-Mobile branded Razr. T-Mobile provided the unlock code for me with no fuss or bother at all. The phone works great just as it is all over Europe. As noted, international calling back to the US is a bit high, but it works really well and anyone can just call your regular number, which is important for business use. Be careful of voice mail, because it hits you twice on charges.
What I prefer to using my regular number is to buy a local SIM chip. On my recent trip to Italy, I went into a phone shop and purchased a prepaid SIM for TIM, one of the two main Italian options. This gave me an Italian phone number, a rate for calls within Italy about a third of the T-M rate and calls to the US at a rate about 80% of the T-M rate. A stop at an internet cafe let me email the number to my office and my kids and it's all good. When you need more minutes, you purchase a phone card at any Tabac shop, punch in the code and recharge your minutes. I've done the same in France and Germany.
If your trip is taking you to more than one country, this might not work as well, since TIM roaming in France would kill you, for example. There are multiple country SIM cards to be had, but I have no experience with them. You might be better off just using you US carrier card. Same if you are not making a lot of local calls. When I travel, I find I need to make or change hotel reservations, make restaurant reservations, etc. and having a local number saves time and money. If you don't make a bunch of local calls, it might not be worth the bother.
>I think Alton Brown would benefit from having a decent "play by play" guy to work with him... leaving him to just do the commentary on the dishes rather than a constant stream of talking.
Right you are Altus-san. The challenger is removing the gonads from the pike eel and is mincing them with a bit of daikon. Back to you.If the life is based on DNA/RNA replication using L-amino acids you might think of contamination or panspermia. On the other hand, if it is based on a completely different chemistry from anything on Earth, you can be pretty sure it's alien. On the gripping hand, if it's somewhere in between, you have to consider all the possibilities including convergent evolution.
>Men's Water Polo: Three per quarter; one at the halftime (From TF NCAA A)
Given that university water polo quarters are seven minutes, this doesn't seem too draconian. I wonder how many people are live blogging Div II water polo. You're lucky to get 50 at Cal-0Stanford with the Pac 10 on the line. You would think they'd be glad of a little publicity.
>In what universe does the topic of gun control belong on a list of issues important to geeks
It's just a matter of degree. Your regular gun nut wants his Colt Python, full auto M16, and a K-bar knife. Your geek gun nut feels better with a BFG-9000, plasma cannon, chainsaw, and a backup Death Star if at all possible. It's all about who you think is after you.
>Just like Lake Michigan?
A couple of points:Agreed. This NYT dustup is what you get when physicists write about metaphysics, philosophers write about biology, biologists write about physics, or any of them write about economics. You might get some interesting bits, but none of them have done enough background reading to know that it's all been hashed out 250 years ago and in graduate seminars ever since.
Personally, I put it all down to the damn squirrels. Them or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The empirical evidence seems pretty evenly balanced.
No, I was going for the flawed statement that wasn't blindingly obvious to everyone. Wingshooting a pretentious art analogy is more sporting than ground sluicing an obvious MS astroturf.
How would you feel if you made a product so bad that no one would steal it?
>I have been to the Louvre; I have seen the works of the masters, of Monet and Michaelangelo.
Dude, you're a bit off. All of the Monet paintings are in the Musée d'Orsay on the other side of the river. While there are a couple of Michelangelo sculptures and a few drawings in the Louvre, If you want to see Michelangelo Buonarroti's work, you need to go to Italy, Rome and Florence.
For my money, the most impressive sculptures in the Louvre are the Winged Bulls of Sargon II.
Sorry, no. It was always "C colon backslash." At least for grownups. :-)
>Yep; and it booted up instantly too.
We all loved those great jokes about what you could do while you waited for your C64 to boot. But now, with the modern Windows computer, the old C64 just seems normal.
Then that is a matter for appeal. The trial judge ruled on a matter of law. If one of the parties thinks the ruling was in error, take it up to the next level. That's how it is done. The Court of Appeal can:
All of which is always subject to further appeal. All it takes is lawyers and money; guns optional.
Lacking mod points today, I can't counteract the -1 Flamebait mod. However, I would like to point out that the parent was intended to be a humourous or satirical parody of a common form of spam. Get a grip folks, or is your member to flaccid to grip at all? Sheesh!
Whinging about moderation always gets modded down. Most people figure that out. The length of time it takes to figure it out is in roughly inverse proportion to their intelligence. There are some interesting aphorisms about repeating the same actions and expecting different outcomes that you might want to look up.
Supposedly, this is a huge problem. I read something recently (Scientific American?) that pointed out that the known radiation levels between Earth and Mars would be fatal to humans over the duration of the flight. They discussed shielding requirements and concluded that the required shielding was too massive for any economical flight to be possible with existing propellant technology. A variety of shielding materials were discussed including lead and water ice.
From our friend wikipedia we learn: "Professor John Reid led six research students from Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts in a follow-up study in 1995. They found highly congruent trails from stones that moved in the late 1980s and during the winter of 1992-1993. At least some stones were proved beyond a reasonable doubt to have been moved in ice flows that may be up to half a mile (800 m) wide. Physical evidence included swaths of lineated areas that could only have been created by moving thin sheets of ice. So wind alone as well as in conjunction with ice flows are thought to be motive forces." (References in the article.) Once a mystery, but not really one now.