The apple website does confirm that this is an accelerometor and not a mere pedometer. Pedometer's can be as simple as a pendulum swinging back and forth to check your number of steps.
Compasses far predate clocks. The first compass made a copule of hundred years B.C. The first clock that was usable for navigation (solving the longitude problem) was made in the early 1700's. This made widespread colonization possible, because regular trips could be made.
Indeed, market surveys have shown that the average age of a video-game purchaser is 37, and that parents are present 92 percent of the time when games are purchased or rented.
Yeah, the parents of the 37-year-old want to make sure nothing untoward happens in their basement.
My son is playing this, and he wanted to get into the Dark Brotherhood, or whatever it is. To do so, you have to murder someone for no reason, and then when you next sleep they come to you and tell you you're in. So he murders this guy in his bed, then lays down in that same bed to sleep. The dark brother comes to him and says "Ok, you're in the brotherhood. If you're wondering how I know that you've done the deed, the Dark Brotherhood knows many things..." while the body was still laying right there. Funny.
You crazed coveter of freedom! What you don't see is that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, so Bush is taking those away to protect us from the terrorists! Simple, brilliant plan.
Ya see, on slashdot (and to the geeks at infinium) hookers count as consultants, because the aforementioned are unfamiliar with the acts for which hookers are paid. Get it? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Please respond with inevitable "in Soviet Russia, hookers consult you", "in South Korea, only old people consort with hookers", etc.
I recently had this future-history vision of my now-teenaged son's future children complaining to him that "all you old guys talk about is how great it was when you had oil." while skinning cats around the campfire. Of course I shared it with him so that he'll have deja-vu in 50 years.
Note that on his page about AI, he claims that Revelations is a symbolically coded map of the brain.
Uh...
...yeah.
Then, he goes on to say
The main conclusion which can be drawn from the above is that no incremental non-anticipatory process could possibly come up with all seven cell assemblies, let alone connect them all together in a meaningful way. But, even supposing that there is a flaw in this argument (there is not), a much bigger problem for evolutionists is that now we see the correct solution to the riddle of intelligence coming, not from the scientific community, but from the Bible!
No, Goedel's second incompleteness theory showed that if you can prove a suitable* system to be consistent (consistent means only able to prove true things, and thus not all true things), then that system is in fact inconsistent. Yes, you can use a more powerful system to prove another consistent, but that gets you nowhere. So, while we'd all like to believe that the ZF or ZFC set theory systems are consistent, we can't prove it. No one has provided a counter-example to date, but that's not a proof. Wikipedia has a great article discussing the issues; here.
They don't dissapear entirely. Goedels' proof says that ANY formal system which admits the positive integers will be incomplete; that is it will be able to prove non-true things to be true, or it will not be able to prove all true things. This puts a fundamental limit on formal systems and mathematical truth. This doesn't require any appeal to authority outside of mathematics to accomplish, as Goedel proved.
For those interested in a short summary:
He postulates a mathematical theorem which states: "This statement is not a proveable in the current formal system." And if that is proveable, then it is not true, but if it is not proveable, then it is true. He showed that whenever you have a system admiting integers, that one of those integers can be said to represent such a theorem and therefore must exist within the system.
Sounds like we're on the same page re: source code. As for free markets, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Markets should be free of such artificial constructs as "corporations" and "unions". After all, it's a lot of government regulation that allows for the creation of corporations and gives them "rights". How's that for a libertarian view?
I agree that it is unstable and that it is impossible to eliminate every last source of tiny perturbations. However, your arguments don't mean that even radical shifts in election outcome won't be tried. In the 2004 election, many people felt that there was some sort of differing outcome to what was expected, especially since the exit polls disagreed so drastically with the final result. What was done about this? What could be done about this, given that there is no paper trail? Granted, paper isn't perfect, but with no real audit trail and software that was seemingly designed to be insecure (by an ATM company, no less - there are paper trails on those things, I assure you), widespread fraud is possible. A few thousand votes here and there in a lot of places, which is the sort of global manipulation made possible by this technology, can certainly alter the outcome in a national election to something other than the result desired by voters. Given that the source code is closed, Diebold could literally do anything to any election results with little recourse. How can we *prove* that a result was invalid, even if it is a 40% swing in the other direction? That is the problem with these systems.
Am I saying this is the way things should work? No. But right now this is how it does work.
I agree that this is how things work in the current political climate, as created by people like Karl Rove. It started (in the national theatre anyway) with his outrageous attacks on John McCain in the primaries, and continues to this day. If you really are a conservative, as am I, you should be embarrased by the turn the political discourse has taken in this country, because it is largely the national political machine that is currently in power that causes it. I don't think it has to do with blogs, I think blogs are just a reflection of the current leadership.
Also, as a long time conservative (and slashdotter), I am against the privacy invasions, runaway spending, pre-emptive wars, and so on that have happened over the last five years. And I don't understand really where it comes from entirely, either. George W. was a good Texas Governor, and he really was a uniter at the state level. He was known for "reaching across the aisle" to work with Dems here. He almost never called out the Texas Army to attack other states;-).
Your idea that close elections don't matter would be true in a non-partisan system. However, as divided as we are now as a country, you can't say that a close election of a senator which toggles the senate from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority doesn't matter. Suddenly all the conference chairs are Repub rather than Demo, etc., and lock-step party-line votes such as we see now go one way rather than the other. All because of a few thousand votes in one election.
Correct (mainly). I've started separating my pre-1982 pennies from the other ones I get. Not coincidentally, 1982 was the last time copper prices were this high. I see this as akin to when Quarters and Dimes ceased being made from silver and switched to more base metals (in 1965). Many people collected those and they are largely out of circulation now. In fact they are sold by gold dealers as junk silver for about 5 times the face value.
For the (geeky) record, pre-1982 pennies weighed 3.1 grams, but were 95% copper. Thus 2.95 grams of copper per penny, or about 153 per pound. So at today's copper price of $2.13/pound, each penny has 1.38 cents worth of copper in it. So, any time copper is above $1.53 per pound, you come out ahead separating pennies.
p.s., don't expect pennies to stop production any time soon; the current zinc prices are still at 93 cents; 2.15 is the break even for them because zinc is lighter. At the current price, there is still a handsome profit to be made from pennies, and no, the mint doesn't mind you keeping that giant jar of $100 worth of pennies out of circulation.
Conversation from last week: Me: Ok, now that I've installed your first DVD player and shown you the play and stop buttons, let me explain the menu. My Mother-in-law: No, I really don't need to know about that. Me: Oh, it's simple, you just move these arrows around, and you can select the scene you want to jump to, and so on. M-I-L: No, I think that will just confuse me. Me (remembering that she didn't know how to work the thermostat after her husband died): Yeah, OK, maybe all you need to know is the controls that work like the VCR: fast forward, rewind, play,... M-I-L: Which, frankly, I never really understood...
Slashdot Mirror
The apple website does confirm that this is an accelerometor and not a mere pedometer. Pedometer's can be as simple as a pendulum swinging back and forth to check your number of steps.
Yes, at one point he seems to say Emo about 12 times in a row.
watch it. No sense does it make.
Compasses far predate clocks. The first compass made a copule of hundred years B.C. The first clock that was usable for navigation (solving the longitude problem) was made in the early 1700's. This made widespread colonization possible, because regular trips could be made.
it kills termites. No profit in that.
1. Keep termites alive, but at bay.
2. Lather, rinse, repeat.
3. ????
4. Profit!
<tinfoil off>
compared to Neal Stephenson. If you like the schlock put out by Dan Brown, just know that Dan Brown is Neal Stephenson's Ashley*.
*Ashley - n. Less talented younger sister.
Yeah, the parents of the 37-year-old want to make sure nothing untoward happens in their basement.
You must not have tried firing an arrow up into a thunderstorm yet, then.
My son is playing this, and he wanted to get into the Dark Brotherhood, or whatever it is. To do so, you have to murder someone for no reason, and then when you next sleep they come to you and tell you you're in. So he murders this guy in his bed, then lays down in that same bed to sleep. The dark brother comes to him and says "Ok, you're in the brotherhood. If you're wondering how I know that you've done the deed, the Dark Brotherhood knows many things..." while the body was still laying right there. Funny.
(zoom out)
IV
LIVI
BLIVIO!
You crazed coveter of freedom! What you don't see is that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, so Bush is taking those away to protect us from the terrorists! Simple, brilliant plan.
Ya see, on slashdot (and to the geeks at infinium) hookers count as consultants, because the aforementioned are unfamiliar with the acts for which hookers are paid. Get it? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Please respond with inevitable "in Soviet Russia, hookers consult you", "in South Korea, only old people consort with hookers", etc.
My sig is already a haiku. Maybe I should make the next one a limerick.
I recently had this future-history vision of my now-teenaged son's future children complaining to him that "all you old guys talk about is how great it was when you had oil." while skinning cats around the campfire. Of course I shared it with him so that he'll have deja-vu in 50 years.
Because, it's not possible YET, dummy. ;-)
Uh...
Then, he goes on to say
No, Goedel's second incompleteness theory showed that if you can prove a suitable* system to be consistent (consistent means only able to prove true things, and thus not all true things), then that system is in fact inconsistent. Yes, you can use a more powerful system to prove another consistent, but that gets you nowhere. So, while we'd all like to believe that the ZF or ZFC set theory systems are consistent, we can't prove it. No one has provided a counter-example to date, but that's not a proof. Wikipedia has a great article discussing the issues; here.
* by suitable I mean including basic arithmetic
They don't dissapear entirely. Goedels' proof says that ANY formal system which admits the positive integers will be incomplete; that is it will be able to prove non-true things to be true, or it will not be able to prove all true things. This puts a fundamental limit on formal systems and mathematical truth. This doesn't require any appeal to authority outside of mathematics to accomplish, as Goedel proved. For those interested in a short summary: He postulates a mathematical theorem which states: "This statement is not a proveable in the current formal system." And if that is proveable, then it is not true, but if it is not proveable, then it is true. He showed that whenever you have a system admiting integers, that one of those integers can be said to represent such a theorem and therefore must exist within the system.
Did Not Finish.
Sounds like we're on the same page re: source code. As for free markets, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Markets should be free of such artificial constructs as "corporations" and "unions". After all, it's a lot of government regulation that allows for the creation of corporations and gives them "rights". How's that for a libertarian view?
I agree that it is unstable and that it is impossible to eliminate every last source of tiny perturbations. However, your arguments don't mean that even radical shifts in election outcome won't be tried. In the 2004 election, many people felt that there was some sort of differing outcome to what was expected, especially since the exit polls disagreed so drastically with the final result. What was done about this? What could be done about this, given that there is no paper trail? Granted, paper isn't perfect, but with no real audit trail and software that was seemingly designed to be insecure (by an ATM company, no less - there are paper trails on those things, I assure you), widespread fraud is possible. A few thousand votes here and there in a lot of places, which is the sort of global manipulation made possible by this technology, can certainly alter the outcome in a national election to something other than the result desired by voters. Given that the source code is closed, Diebold could literally do anything to any election results with little recourse. How can we *prove* that a result was invalid, even if it is a 40% swing in the other direction? That is the problem with these systems.
Your idea that close elections don't matter would be true in a non-partisan system. However, as divided as we are now as a country, you can't say that a close election of a senator which toggles the senate from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority doesn't matter. Suddenly all the conference chairs are Repub rather than Demo, etc., and lock-step party-line votes such as we see now go one way rather than the other. All because of a few thousand votes in one election.
Correct (mainly). I've started separating my pre-1982 pennies from the other ones I get. Not coincidentally, 1982 was the last time copper prices were this high. I see this as akin to when Quarters and Dimes ceased being made from silver and switched to more base metals (in 1965). Many people collected those and they are largely out of circulation now. In fact they are sold by gold dealers as junk silver for about 5 times the face value.
For the (geeky) record, pre-1982 pennies weighed 3.1 grams, but were 95% copper. Thus 2.95 grams of copper per penny, or about 153 per pound. So at today's copper price of $2.13/pound, each penny has 1.38 cents worth of copper in it. So, any time copper is above $1.53 per pound, you come out ahead separating pennies.
p.s., don't expect pennies to stop production any time soon; the current zinc prices are still at 93 cents; 2.15 is the break even for them because zinc is lighter. At the current price, there is still a handsome profit to be made from pennies, and no, the mint doesn't mind you keeping that giant jar of $100 worth of pennies out of circulation.
Conversation from last week:
Me: Ok, now that I've installed your first DVD player and shown you the play and stop buttons, let me explain the menu.
My Mother-in-law: No, I really don't need to know about that.
Me: Oh, it's simple, you just move these arrows around, and you can select the scene you want to jump to, and so on.
M-I-L: No, I think that will just confuse me.
Me (remembering that she didn't know how to work the thermostat after her husband died): Yeah, OK, maybe all you need to know is the controls that work like the VCR: fast forward, rewind, play,...
M-I-L: Which, frankly, I never really understood...