My suspicion (flag display been more prominent of late than in the 60s, 70s and 80s) is that it's a reaction by conservatives against the increasing liberalization of American society. If you'd told conservatives two decades ago that gay marriage would be legal in some states, that Americans would by-and-large reject a war currently being fought, or that government would be 20% of GDP and rising, they'd have said it could never happen.
Small-government, social conservatives are losing at every turn (despite the "the fundies are taking over" meme on/.) The President that they helped to elect is one of the most unpopular in history, the government is larger than ever, and the nation has just elected LBJs spiritual successor (Great Society II, here we come).
Essentially, conservatives have lost the fight for the hearts and minds of America. Waving the flag and being "patriotic" is one way to ease the pain.
When I was stationed in Italy, they hied me off to the "Drafting" shop from my lowly Airborne Infantry job based on the fact that the CSM saw some doodles during an inspection. (It's a little more complicated than that, but that covers the essentials).
For the last six months of my tour, I did "exciting" stuff like design tickets for the Army/Navy game party at the Officer's Club, added graphics to overheads the commander of USAREUR presented to Bush I, and other assorted graphic arts-related stuff. And my formal training/experience was nil.
Arachnophobia may not be innate (I think you could argue either way on this--my daughter cried when she saw a spider crawling along the rail of her crib--and as far as I know, that's the first time she ever saw one), but it's a reasonable response.
Spiders are venomous. For an average person, identification of spiders at any distance isn't easy, so the "danger! move away" response is the safe one. And eliminating spiders in a child's bedroom, for instance, is pretty much a no-brainer.
Here in California, one of the common spiders is the Black Widow. When I was a child, my father wound up in the hospital after being "bitten" by a Black Widow. Which again means that the "danger! move away" response makes sense.
With bees and wasps, you've got people who know either first or second hand about the pain of a sting, so again, I don't think a moderate amount of fear is unreasonable, no matter that the danger of being stung is pretty low. For people like myself (where anaphylactic shock is a possibility) moving away from the vicinity of bees is not only reasonable, but wise.
All that to say that I don't think some degree of concern about spiders, bees, and wasps is completely unreasonable--which is what a phobia implies.
By the way, I used to scoop up spiders and carry them outside when I found them indoors. But since I've been married, I usually have to vacuum them up. Sheesh--lose track of one spider on the way to the front door and you'll never live it down:-)
Personal ethics should prevent you from doing any number of things that are both legal and unethical. And to jump directly to Godwin here: personal ethics should have prevented citizens of Nazi Germany from performing their legally required duty of turning Jews over to the SS.
If your personal ethics don't trump your "legal obligations" then you don't have any.
I don't believe in trusting the wolves to guard the sheep.
Why would anyone sane trust the company that either a) couldn't be bothered to fix exploits, or b) doesn't have the smarts to find the exploits, to protect them?
If Microsoft can afford to find these exploits and block them using their AV product, why can't they just patch the OS? It could be the deafening sound of greed... or some other, more mundane reason.
But my basic question stands: if they can do this in AV, why can't they do it in their OS?
On many fronts, the malware situation on Windows is the OS's fault.
First, OS files should not be writable by random executables on the system. Period. The idea that bobs_your_uncle_32.exe, installed on a user account, runs as a superuser and can modify important system files is completely idiotic. The inability of Microsoft to implement a basic separation between privilege levels is the root of the problem (pun intended)--and they don't get to weasel out of it by saying "you COULD run/install software as a local user" because their FUBAR'd implementation meant that wasn't a realistic option.
Secondly, a lot of malware installation has historically been the result of stupid things that Microsoft did to be "helpful"--like automatically executing scripts in Outlook's preview pane. Or the idea that installation of software should be "silent"--where a program can be downloaded and installed without any user interaction. Brilliant.
Microsoft has made (some small) improvements in these areas. But they're not off the hook by any means.
It's not a weakness of the American system (i.e. it's not inherent in the system itself) it's a weakness in Americans.
Why anyone would do something they don't want for the approval of others is beyond me. If you hate your job, where you spend so much of your waking time, life must be miserable. A good number of us reject the proposition that outside approval is the be-all end-all, though it doesn't seem to be the majority opinion.
On the other hand, a lot of the carping you hear has more to do with people choosing to take jobs for the money and then deciding that the job sucks. Those folks should either stop complaining, or switch to a lower-paying job they enjoy more (hate less)
Better to do something you enjoy and live life with just the necessities than to do something you hate and have more material possessions. Of course, there's a line there, too--maybe it's worth it to do something you hate if you are making a ton of money.
It's interesting that nobody thought of this (a parawing car) before, considering the big bucks honest companies like Terrafugia and shysters like Moller have spent in the last few years.
The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground. So it wouldn't do for something where stealthiness is a requirement. But for survivability, I'd bet on a ripstop nylon wing over steel spars and aluminum ribs any day
If the catalog info disappears, the catalog info disappears. That has nothing to do with whether the book exists (my complete Twain will remain on my self no matter what happens to the catalog data) nor with whether it's available (you can always BUY a paper copy--AFAICT, Amazon et. al. do not use catalog information)
If you're infantry (or were) it seems unlikely that your hearing is still that good. By the time I got out (almost 5 years with some time in the sandbox) I had about a 20% hearing loss in my right ear (eardrum, meet 5.56 round and associated sharp sound) and tinnitus in both.
But maybe they're not issuing those little orange "don't do squat" earplugs anymore?
I remember a short story called (I think) The Re-Liberation of Earth, where an oldster is telling a child about how two groups of aliens have been fighting over earth, which during the course of the fighting has been ecologically destroyed.
With the government's (and other busybodies') complete inability to understand unintended consequences, I foresee hilarity (for certain values of hilarity) as greens gain more and more control over our lives.
You don't have kids and you live in your mom's basement, right?
My daughter likes McDonalds, but she's just as happy stealing the tomatoes out of my wife's salad or mooching ravioli from mine when we're in a "real" restaurant. She likes mac 'n cheese, but will also happily eat peanut butter and jelly (but not together--we have to make one peanut butter sandwich and one jelly sandwich) or homemade soup, or any of a dozen other things.
You should get out and meet some people with kids. You'd be amazed at what they like and it might relieve your paranoia that "We are mere years away from becoming unable to survive in our own world"
I really liked Saberhagen's Berserkers. A lot of the short stories were cool (though there were a couple that were just silly). But I haven't read any of them in a loooong time.
Thanks for the reminder. I'll have to go back and read some of these again.
The issue is energy denisty. Gasoline is currently about 15 times more efficient (by weight) than the best battery technology available. In other words, a pound of gas will take you 15 times further than a fully charged pound of batteries.
Nobody cares about how efficient your regenerative braking is, because it's never going to be all that high (there are too many other factors involved--friction, air resistance, etc--for it to approach double digits). And the "loss" you're talking about in the clutch/transmission system is already accounted for in the 15:1 ratio mentioned above.
What is needed for electric to really take off is a breakthrough in battery technology. Until batteries approach the energy density of fossil fuels, gasoline is going to be #1.
Generators sold to consumers do not need to meet the strict exhaust regulations the government imposes on passenger vehicle engines. If you do a power-to-power comparison between (for instance) a Honda 1000 and a Honda Accord, you'll find that the generator produces significantly more pollutants than the car. I'm curious to see how Aptera is going to get around this when they have to get their car to pass CARB's tests.
This is why it's not done commercially--though your retrofit idea would work.
If you can manage to get bitten by a radioactive spider, or otherwise exposed to unusual radiation, you're hired. Though for slashdotters, I suppose sunlight qualifies as "unusual radiation"
Slashdot Mirror
My suspicion (flag display been more prominent of late than in the 60s, 70s and 80s) is that it's a reaction by conservatives against the increasing liberalization of American society. If you'd told conservatives two decades ago that gay marriage would be legal in some states, that Americans would by-and-large reject a war currently being fought, or that government would be 20% of GDP and rising, they'd have said it could never happen.
Small-government, social conservatives are losing at every turn (despite the "the fundies are taking over" meme on /.) The President that they helped to elect is one of the most unpopular in history, the government is larger than ever, and the nation has just elected LBJs spiritual successor (Great Society II, here we come).
Essentially, conservatives have lost the fight for the hearts and minds of America. Waving the flag and being "patriotic" is one way to ease the pain.
Precisely the point of the AP making such a big deal out of this--they've made progress in their efforts to get the public to mistrust the military.
Dude, so true!
When I was stationed in Italy, they hied me off to the "Drafting" shop from my lowly Airborne Infantry job based on the fact that the CSM saw some doodles during an inspection. (It's a little more complicated than that, but that covers the essentials).
For the last six months of my tour, I did "exciting" stuff like design tickets for the Army/Navy game party at the Officer's Club, added graphics to overheads the commander of USAREUR presented to Bush I, and other assorted graphic arts-related stuff. And my formal training/experience was nil.
They may look "black" to you, but to African's they're Arabs.
Arachnophobia may not be innate (I think you could argue either way on this--my daughter cried when she saw a spider crawling along the rail of her crib--and as far as I know, that's the first time she ever saw one), but it's a reasonable response.
Spiders are venomous. For an average person, identification of spiders at any distance isn't easy, so the "danger! move away" response is the safe one. And eliminating spiders in a child's bedroom, for instance, is pretty much a no-brainer.
Here in California, one of the common spiders is the Black Widow. When I was a child, my father wound up in the hospital after being "bitten" by a Black Widow. Which again means that the "danger! move away" response makes sense.
With bees and wasps, you've got people who know either first or second hand about the pain of a sting, so again, I don't think a moderate amount of fear is unreasonable, no matter that the danger of being stung is pretty low. For people like myself (where anaphylactic shock is a possibility) moving away from the vicinity of bees is not only reasonable, but wise.
All that to say that I don't think some degree of concern about spiders, bees, and wasps is completely unreasonable--which is what a phobia implies.
By the way, I used to scoop up spiders and carry them outside when I found them indoors. But since I've been married, I usually have to vacuum them up. Sheesh--lose track of one spider on the way to the front door and you'll never live it down :-)
Ethics ARE more important than legality.
Personal ethics should prevent you from doing any number of things that are both legal and unethical. And to jump directly to Godwin here: personal ethics should have prevented citizens of Nazi Germany from performing their legally required duty of turning Jews over to the SS.
If your personal ethics don't trump your "legal obligations" then you don't have any.
I don't believe in trusting the wolves to guard the sheep.
Why would anyone sane trust the company that either a) couldn't be bothered to fix exploits, or b) doesn't have the smarts to find the exploits, to protect them?
If Microsoft can afford to find these exploits and block them using their AV product, why can't they just patch the OS? It could be the deafening sound of greed... or some other, more mundane reason.
But my basic question stands: if they can do this in AV, why can't they do it in their OS?
On many fronts, the malware situation on Windows is the OS's fault.
First, OS files should not be writable by random executables on the system. Period. The idea that bobs_your_uncle_32.exe, installed on a user account, runs as a superuser and can modify important system files is completely idiotic. The inability of Microsoft to implement a basic separation between privilege levels is the root of the problem (pun intended)--and they don't get to weasel out of it by saying "you COULD run/install software as a local user" because their FUBAR'd implementation meant that wasn't a realistic option.
Secondly, a lot of malware installation has historically been the result of stupid things that Microsoft did to be "helpful"--like automatically executing scripts in Outlook's preview pane. Or the idea that installation of software should be "silent"--where a program can be downloaded and installed without any user interaction. Brilliant.
Microsoft has made (some small) improvements in these areas. But they're not off the hook by any means.
It's not a weakness of the American system (i.e. it's not inherent in the system itself) it's a weakness in Americans.
Why anyone would do something they don't want for the approval of others is beyond me. If you hate your job, where you spend so much of your waking time, life must be miserable. A good number of us reject the proposition that outside approval is the be-all end-all, though it doesn't seem to be the majority opinion.
On the other hand, a lot of the carping you hear has more to do with people choosing to take jobs for the money and then deciding that the job sucks. Those folks should either stop complaining, or switch to a lower-paying job they enjoy more (hate less)
Better to do something you enjoy and live life with just the necessities than to do something you hate and have more material possessions. Of course, there's a line there, too--maybe it's worth it to do something you hate if you are making a ton of money.
My first thought too. Hello? Wing-stored fuel is pretty much the standard.
What ARE they teaching them in schools these days?
Air conditioning? You're one of those Air Farce pukes, aren't you. HMMMWs with air conditioning... sheesh.
I love that thing...
It's interesting that nobody thought of this (a parawing car) before, considering the big bucks honest companies like Terrafugia and shysters like Moller have spent in the last few years.
The downside is that it's LOUD as heck, since it uses the fan for propulsion while on the ground. So it wouldn't do for something where stealthiness is a requirement. But for survivability, I'd bet on a ripstop nylon wing over steel spars and aluminum ribs any day
What kind of odd world do you live in?
If the catalog info disappears, the catalog info disappears. That has nothing to do with whether the book exists (my complete Twain will remain on my self no matter what happens to the catalog data) nor with whether it's available (you can always BUY a paper copy--AFAICT, Amazon et. al. do not use catalog information)
Right.
First they embraced the Web browser, and I didn't say anything, because it didn't affect me
Then they extended the web browser with ActiveX, and I didn't say anything, because it didn't affect me
Once they got to the extinguish phase, there was no one left to complain
OK then, emacs...
Wait, never mind. He said "light weight"
Really?
If you're infantry (or were) it seems unlikely that your hearing is still that good. By the time I got out (almost 5 years with some time in the sandbox) I had about a 20% hearing loss in my right ear (eardrum, meet 5.56 round and associated sharp sound) and tinnitus in both.
But maybe they're not issuing those little orange "don't do squat" earplugs anymore?
Shampoo INVENTED tinfoil hats
I remember a short story called (I think) The Re-Liberation of Earth, where an oldster is telling a child about how two groups of aliens have been fighting over earth, which during the course of the fighting has been ecologically destroyed.
With the government's (and other busybodies') complete inability to understand unintended consequences, I foresee hilarity (for certain values of hilarity) as greens gain more and more control over our lives.
You don't have kids and you live in your mom's basement, right?
My daughter likes McDonalds, but she's just as happy stealing the tomatoes out of my wife's salad or mooching ravioli from mine when we're in a "real" restaurant. She likes mac 'n cheese, but will also happily eat peanut butter and jelly (but not together--we have to make one peanut butter sandwich and one jelly sandwich) or homemade soup, or any of a dozen other things.
You should get out and meet some people with kids. You'd be amazed at what they like and it might relieve your paranoia that "We are mere years away from becoming unable to survive in our own world"
Or the White Plauge from the book of the same name.
I really liked Saberhagen's Berserkers. A lot of the short stories were cool (though there were a couple that were just silly). But I haven't read any of them in a loooong time.
Thanks for the reminder. I'll have to go back and read some of these again.
The issue is energy denisty. Gasoline is currently about 15 times more efficient (by weight) than the best battery technology available. In other words, a pound of gas will take you 15 times further than a fully charged pound of batteries.
Nobody cares about how efficient your regenerative braking is, because it's never going to be all that high (there are too many other factors involved--friction, air resistance, etc--for it to approach double digits). And the "loss" you're talking about in the clutch/transmission system is already accounted for in the 15:1 ratio mentioned above.
What is needed for electric to really take off is a breakthrough in battery technology. Until batteries approach the energy density of fossil fuels, gasoline is going to be #1.
Generators sold to consumers do not need to meet the strict exhaust regulations the government imposes on passenger vehicle engines. If you do a power-to-power comparison between (for instance) a Honda 1000 and a Honda Accord, you'll find that the generator produces significantly more pollutants than the car. I'm curious to see how Aptera is going to get around this when they have to get their car to pass CARB's tests.
This is why it's not done commercially--though your retrofit idea would work.
Just asking
idle really IS pants
If you can manage to get bitten by a radioactive spider, or otherwise exposed to unusual radiation, you're hired. Though for slashdotters, I suppose sunlight qualifies as "unusual radiation"