Assuming an EMP event, then most of the hams would be out of business and only the govt would still be able to communicate with the equipment that we paid for them to harden... Just sayin'
You may have it backwards. Hams are known for collecting what are known among hams as "boat anchors"...vintage equipment using vacuum tube technology. Attend any hamfest and you'll see almost literally tons of such equipment for sale/trade. Some of the more recent tube-type shortwave radios ('60s-'70s) are even capable of SSB (Single Side Band) and other modes of operation besides the traditional CW (Morse) and AM voice.
Tube-based communications equipment by it's nature is usually capable of surviving far higher/more-intense EMP pulses than comparable solid-state equipment, all else being equal. Russia/USSR kept producing and using vacuum tube electronics in military gear into the '80s and Russia is today a major supplier of vacuum tubes used in such things as guitar amplifiers and audiophile equipment.
It could possibly turn out that the US government would need communications assistance from hams, rather than the reverse.
Wait, the FAA is now saying airlines can't take passengers on their flights?!
No, the FAA is saying (like every other agency/dept. of the Federal government) that they choose which laws to enforce (or not), how they're enforced (or not), against whom they're enforced (or not), and when they're enforced (or not) based on what increases their and their crony's wealth, control, & power the most. The US has become no better than some corrupt 'banana republic' as far as Rule of Law goes. If you're extremely wealthy and connected in the US you're untouchable and likely to be elected POTUS.
The left isn't trying to eliminate voter registration laws and you know it, just make them meaningless. They're just trying to stop the right from making the process verifiable. Remember, we actually want more people of certain socio-economic & ethnic backgrounds who would be very likely to vote for us to vote as many times as possible, not less, to have more certainty of a win for the Left/Democrats regardless of how the majority of qualified voters actually voted.
So by your definition, no species can be considered intelligent until after it has survived for a few millennia.
More precisely, after a species has survived for at least a millennia or two after developing the capability to destroy themselves
That would make it less likely we will find intelligent life.
No, it just makes it more likely we will discover life that has not achieved intelligence before we discover life that has achieved intelligence. Mass destruction usually generates traces which are much more easily detected at great distances.
Use big mirrors and sunlight to heat space rock until it goes lava. Then blow gas inside the molten blob until it is big enough for your needs. Let it cool down, add holes for doors and windows.
Nice but what when sun is not shining?
I guess you missed the "0G" part of the post's topic line?
I believe he refers to orbiting habitats fashioned from asteroid material using solar mirrors (also in orbit) so periods when sunlight is unavailable are typically short when placed in an orbit suited for purpose. Neither the manufacturing infrastructure nor the habitats ever leave space in such a case.
More needs to be known about the surface soil structures, densities, and behaviors in order to design a practical human habitat whether intended for the Moon or Mars, as it will almost certainly need to be buried and/or covered with topsoil/sand/rock as radiation shielding in either case. There's no practical/economical way to haul sufficient amounts of heavy shielding material from Earth or incorporate such heavy shielding into the habitat designs.
The USA has crap similar to this also. Big co's legally bribe* politicians to help them milk money out of the little guy (little co's and individuals) for unrealistic reasons.
* Thanks to Citizens United ruling etc.
Apparently you share a common misunderstanding of the Citizens United decision. Large corporations and wealthy individuals could donate large amounts of cash indirectly before CU and they still can. What changed is that CU allows groups of private individuals to pool their resources to do the same thing. It's been vilified by both sides (actively by the (D)s, passively by the (R)s) and strongly propagandized as being almost the exact opposite of what it is and does *precisely because* it empowers citizens to pool resources to fight for what they want.
Why should the EPA believe that their regulations are unreasonable when all these manufacturers seem to have no trouble at all meeting them without even needing to sacrifice performance?
"All these manufacturers", if you're referring strictly to passenger-car diesel engines here, are mostly all non-US. I'm not aware of any US makers of diesel passenger cars. This is probably why US diesel passenger car emission standards are more strict than most other countries. Purely to put up roadblocks against competition from foreign diesel passenger car makers in order to favor domestic makers of gasoline engines.
Follow the money/power. Who benefits? That usually answers the who & why for most issues/decisions/actions by those in power.
Unless the US is engaged in a secret war with journalists, they would not be considered an enemy under the definition of the treason law.
Oh, it's *much* more serious than that! The US is engaged in a double-secret war against journalists! Snowden is guilty of double-secret treason!
One would think that the saddest part is that the above is not 100% satirical, but the truly sad part is that when those in power have their crimes exposed there are so many willing to jump to their defense and attack whistle-blowers for partisan and ideological reasons.
Now it's not even a plausible insurance plan, it's a blatantly-obvious Ponzi scheme that's on course for a collapse.
If you're under 50, you would be wise to not count on any Social Security retirement benefits or health coverage being around when you get older. All that money the SSA takes from your paychecks will simply be gone. It's a tax with a cool story bro.
Bonus points if you eliminate in the process the 1% also.
Sad to see you've allowed yourself to be taken in by the old Marxist class-warfare, bourgeois vs proletariat propaganda. Wealth is not a zero-sum game. One person or group growing wealthy does not require that someone else lose out.
Wealth can be created by the individual by nothing more than his own effort, be it physical labor, valued skill, or wise investment in others who create wealth, thereby allowing them to add value to society as a whole...*IF* there is sufficient individual freedom and Rule of Law to allow such investment of personal value/wealth/labor/time to be a worthwhile and safe enough risk to choose to take to grow wealth and empower others to do so as well.
In these companies' position, I'd respond "Sure, we'll provide a way to block infringing content. You'll merely have to present a judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction stating that that content has been found to be infringing. We aren't a court, we're not going to hear cases and make rulings like one.". When the whines start, I'd go "Oh, you want it blocked because you allege it's infringing? OK, we can do that. We'll block any content that anyone alleges infringes on their copyrights until presented with a court ruling saying it isn't infringing. But again we aren't a court, we will not get into the business of hearing cases and making rulings on whether the evidence supports the allegation or not.".
Government always holds the ace of being able to declare things illegal and pass laws and acts backed up with the monopoly on the threat and use of deadly force and prisons. It took a constitutional amendment to prohibit alcohol (and another to repeal the prohibition), and the only way around the first attempts to ban marijuana were the use of 'tax stamps' with the catch-22 that to qualify to purchase the stamp, you broke laws ('possession'. 'transport', etc of 'non-Stamped' contraband and federal tax law violations, blah blah blah).
Now with tactics like redefining the plain, long-established usage/meaning of words and/or going along with huge expansions of what existing laws are "interpreted" to cover, and implementing acts/laws to "fix" but effectively implement reductions/elimination of (or never include) limits restricting in what manners and under what circumstances such laws/acts/decisions/etc apply, the federal government tightly regulates and legislates drugs and drug laws with a bit of favorable Judicial-interpretation jujitsu combined with negative propaganda to sway public opinion.
No need these days for all that 'amendment' nonsense that takes an overwhelming majority of people in agreement to alter/abolish rights and/or vastly increase the size, scope, power, and intrusiveness of the central government.
The powerful decide; You obey. Sometimes we even get some Kabuki theater if they feel that 'selling' what they decide about something to people will benefit them more than silence or disinformation will, as most are distracted by the effectively meaningless political team-sport of (R) vs (D).
Meanwhile, the government surveillance grows and control/manipulation of groups against each other, the monitoring/control over channels of communication, and influence over what the average person believes he "knows" increases by the day.
With such generic wording, it would also apply to Steam, Blizzard games, and a good many phone/tablet games. How would this be enforceable short of restricting access to the internet and phone services as a whole to registered offenders?
Winner, winner chicken dinner!
That's the next step...virtual banishment from modern communications for "sex offenders'...for now...other groups like people on the 'no-fly' list later...and people like Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos shortly after that (or maybe before).
Are all (or even most) compounds and delivery devices made this way?
The major brands like Kanger, Innokin, ELeaf etc all seem to offer temperature-controlled devices.
The thing many may not understand is that when the temperature comes anywhere near the temperature required to produce toxic chemicals in any significant amount, the vapor tastes bad!
I mean, really, really horrible! That's one of the (other) things they never mention in these "studies" (along with precise details of the testing protocols/conditions etc). It's why people use and enjoy vaping on gear/devices with no temperature control, maybe just a voltage or voltage/wattage (selectable) control. The byproducts produced by even mild overheating taste extremely bad to the user and typically start to occur at far lower temperatures than where really possibly-problematic types & levels of toxins are produced.
People must remember that there are 3 big powers who would like the vaping industry and vaping gone. Government, as smoking brings in large amounts of taxes, particularly State taxes, although tobacco is also taxed Federally as well (plus it's another area to extend government control into and employ more government bureaucracy & enforcement to oversee it), 'Big Pharma' stands to lose from 'smoking-cessation' products they sell as well as all the drugs/products used in treating smoking-related diseases, and 'Big Tobacco' because fewer people will smoke and more will quit.
As far as plastic bags go, it wasn't "some". It was "most" - maybe "all". I really really REALLY wanted to dispose of plastic bags properly, but had no way that I could figure out to do so
You can't just throw them in the trash and let the garbagemen take them away??
What's wrong with that...?
Those evil "garbagemen" take those bags and tie them around the throats of poor, innocent dolphins, you insensitive clod!
So yeah maybe this dudes system would work. But *only* if he can measure *everything*.
The dangerous part here is that those attempting to implement such collectivist-oriented, central-planning type systems know this and opt instead to take the easier option to institute control/regulation where they cannot measure, and eliminate/ban/outlaw where they can neither measure nor control/regulate. The failure is that the measurement/control/regulation they seek to implement can never become perfect enough on large scales except to create tyranny, and the attempts become increasingly harmful and counterproductive until the system breaks down and/or revolution replaces it. You cannot have a successful system that runs counter to and/or ignores basic human nature...or requires it's elimination.
What Capitalism attempts to do is simply set up a common framework to allow peaceful, law-abiding people to do what they do and have always done normally anyways (trade goods/services, buy/sell land/property, make investments/contracts, etc) on a relatively even playing field as far as pragmatically and realistically possible.
Although no system is perfect, Capitalism has successfully raised more impoverished people out of poverty over the last ~250 years and consequently empowered them with more control over their lives, than any other system yet tried...by orders of magnitude...while simultaneously driving science and technology ahead at an amazing pace, from Kitty Hawk to Apollo 11 in under 100 years.
"I'm the only one who can fix this problem", run away as fast as you can.
"Come with me if you want to live!" (- from the movie "Terminator" [and hand in your geek card if you needed this citation])
It seems that "question authority" has more recently been all but replaced by a more-PC "question only authority (and those who hold it) that we say to question...all other authority that agrees with us is sacrosanct".
Start questioning the authority of certain things and suddenly all that "question authority" crap goes right out the window for many, many people and turns to "get 'em!"...sometimes even to the point that calls are made for laws which would criminalize publishing certain arguments and opinions. This sort of behavior is not limited to only one of the 2 major US parties in case you think I'm being partisan. I'm not.
When any group/party/etc must resort to supporting a position by silencing speech and criminalizing opposing thought and opinions, that's a sure sign that they and their position are another "authority" that must be strongly questioned.
Well, having male and female bathrooms at all is discriminatory (it's the same shit as whites only bathrooms/ drinking fountains).
Wow.
There are male and female bathrooms because males and females are anatomically different because they are different sexes and have methods of expelling bodily waste which are different! The two sexes also each have personal and individual rights and needs for privacy.
And did you really actually just dare compare separate bathrooms for males & females to fucking *slavery*!?!? OMG! You think MLK or Malcolm X would be OK with that comparison? Do you think anyone with any knowledge of the history of slavery, with a rational and reasonable sense of proportion and relative importance/significance, would agree?
I can easily understand why you would post this garbage as AC.
Slashdot Mirror
Assuming an EMP event, then most of the hams would be out of business and only the govt would still be able to communicate with the equipment that we paid for them to harden... Just sayin'
You may have it backwards. Hams are known for collecting what are known among hams as "boat anchors"...vintage equipment using vacuum tube technology. Attend any hamfest and you'll see almost literally tons of such equipment for sale/trade. Some of the more recent tube-type shortwave radios ('60s-'70s) are even capable of SSB (Single Side Band) and other modes of operation besides the traditional CW (Morse) and AM voice.
Tube-based communications equipment by it's nature is usually capable of surviving far higher/more-intense EMP pulses than comparable solid-state equipment, all else being equal. Russia/USSR kept producing and using vacuum tube electronics in military gear into the '80s and Russia is today a major supplier of vacuum tubes used in such things as guitar amplifiers and audiophile equipment.
It could possibly turn out that the US government would need communications assistance from hams, rather than the reverse.
Strat
Wait, the FAA is now saying airlines can't take passengers on their flights?!
No, the FAA is saying (like every other agency/dept. of the Federal government) that they choose which laws to enforce (or not), how they're enforced (or not), against whom they're enforced (or not), and when they're enforced (or not) based on what increases their and their crony's wealth, control, & power the most. The US has become no better than some corrupt 'banana republic' as far as Rule of Law goes. If you're extremely wealthy and connected in the US you're untouchable and likely to be elected POTUS.
Strat
$10 says that the US and most of the West will *deeply* regret this within a year at most.
Strat
This already existed in the 60's. There was a documentary series on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I thought that *this* was the '60s documentary you meant!
https://youtu.be/uUa3np4CKC4
Strat
Who uses Luddite thumbscrews!?!?
Modern Inquisition inquirers use Greek scientific methods using water-displacement, density vs volume, and buoyancy experimentation!
Tie rocks to the bound suspect and toss him in deep water. If he floats he's obviously guilty, if he drowns then he *was* innocent!
Strat
The left isn't trying to eliminate voter registration laws and you know it, just make them meaningless. They're just trying to stop the right from making the process verifiable. Remember, we actually want more people of certain socio-economic & ethnic backgrounds who would be very likely to vote for us to vote as many times as possible, not less, to have more certainty of a win for the Left/Democrats regardless of how the majority of qualified voters actually voted.
The above edited for accuracy.
YW HAND
Strat
So by your definition, no species can be considered intelligent until after it has survived for a few millennia.
More precisely, after a species has survived for at least a millennia or two after developing the capability to destroy themselves
That would make it less likely we will find intelligent life.
No, it just makes it more likely we will discover life that has not achieved intelligence before we discover life that has achieved intelligence. Mass destruction usually generates traces which are much more easily detected at great distances.
Strat
Unfortunately with my faith in humanity, I'm guessing the intelligent species tend to destroy themselves options is more realistic.
My view is that intelligent species indeed do not destroy themselves, it's simply that humans have not yet been proven to be intelligent.
If humans are still around in a few millennia, then maybe humans can be considered "intelligent".
Strat
I guess you missed the "0G" part of the post's topic line?
I believe he refers to orbiting habitats fashioned from asteroid material using solar mirrors (also in orbit) so periods when sunlight is unavailable are typically short when placed in an orbit suited for purpose. Neither the manufacturing infrastructure nor the habitats ever leave space in such a case.
More needs to be known about the surface soil structures, densities, and behaviors in order to design a practical human habitat whether intended for the Moon or Mars, as it will almost certainly need to be buried and/or covered with topsoil/sand/rock as radiation shielding in either case. There's no practical/economical way to haul sufficient amounts of heavy shielding material from Earth or incorporate such heavy shielding into the habitat designs.
Strat
The killer will get jack rubyed...
But who jack ruby's the jack rubys?
Is it rubys all the way down?
Strat
The USA has crap similar to this also. Big co's legally bribe* politicians to help them milk money out of the little guy (little co's and individuals) for unrealistic reasons.
* Thanks to Citizens United ruling etc.
Apparently you share a common misunderstanding of the Citizens United decision. Large corporations and wealthy individuals could donate large amounts of cash indirectly before CU and they still can. What changed is that CU allows groups of private individuals to pool their resources to do the same thing. It's been vilified by both sides (actively by the (D)s, passively by the (R)s) and strongly propagandized as being almost the exact opposite of what it is and does *precisely because* it empowers citizens to pool resources to fight for what they want.
Strat
Why should the EPA believe that their regulations are unreasonable when all these manufacturers seem to have no trouble at all meeting them without even needing to sacrifice performance?
"All these manufacturers", if you're referring strictly to passenger-car diesel engines here, are mostly all non-US. I'm not aware of any US makers of diesel passenger cars. This is probably why US diesel passenger car emission standards are more strict than most other countries. Purely to put up roadblocks against competition from foreign diesel passenger car makers in order to favor domestic makers of gasoline engines.
Follow the money/power. Who benefits? That usually answers the who & why for most issues/decisions/actions by those in power.
Strat
In 39 states both hillary and trump gets over 100 million votes, and third party candidates wins by over bilion votes.
All hail President Zaphod Beeblebrox!
Strat
Unless the US is engaged in a secret war with journalists, they would not be considered an enemy under the definition of the treason law.
Oh, it's *much* more serious than that! The US is engaged in a double-secret war against journalists! Snowden is guilty of double-secret treason!
One would think that the saddest part is that the above is not 100% satirical, but the truly sad part is that when those in power have their crimes exposed there are so many willing to jump to their defense and attack whistle-blowers for partisan and ideological reasons.
Strat
It's an insurance plan, not a savings vehicle.
That's not how it was sold to the people.
Now it's not even a plausible insurance plan, it's a blatantly-obvious Ponzi scheme that's on course for a collapse.
If you're under 50, you would be wise to not count on any Social Security retirement benefits or health coverage being around when you get older. All that money the SSA takes from your paychecks will simply be gone. It's a tax with a cool story bro.
Strat
Bonus points if you eliminate in the process the 1% also.
Sad to see you've allowed yourself to be taken in by the old Marxist class-warfare, bourgeois vs proletariat propaganda. Wealth is not a zero-sum game. One person or group growing wealthy does not require that someone else lose out.
Wealth can be created by the individual by nothing more than his own effort, be it physical labor, valued skill, or wise investment in others who create wealth, thereby allowing them to add value to society as a whole...*IF* there is sufficient individual freedom and Rule of Law to allow such investment of personal value/wealth/labor/time to be a worthwhile and safe enough risk to choose to take to grow wealth and empower others to do so as well.
Strat
In these companies' position, I'd respond "Sure, we'll provide a way to block infringing content. You'll merely have to present a judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction stating that that content has been found to be infringing. We aren't a court, we're not going to hear cases and make rulings like one.". When the whines start, I'd go "Oh, you want it blocked because you allege it's infringing? OK, we can do that. We'll block any content that anyone alleges infringes on their copyrights until presented with a court ruling saying it isn't infringing. But again we aren't a court, we will not get into the business of hearing cases and making rulings on whether the evidence supports the allegation or not.".
Government always holds the ace of being able to declare things illegal and pass laws and acts backed up with the monopoly on the threat and use of deadly force and prisons. It took a constitutional amendment to prohibit alcohol (and another to repeal the prohibition), and the only way around the first attempts to ban marijuana were the use of 'tax stamps' with the catch-22 that to qualify to purchase the stamp, you broke laws ('possession'. 'transport', etc of 'non-Stamped' contraband and federal tax law violations, blah blah blah).
Now with tactics like redefining the plain, long-established usage/meaning of words and/or going along with huge expansions of what existing laws are "interpreted" to cover, and implementing acts/laws to "fix" but effectively implement reductions/elimination of (or never include) limits restricting in what manners and under what circumstances such laws/acts/decisions/etc apply, the federal government tightly regulates and legislates drugs and drug laws with a bit of favorable Judicial-interpretation jujitsu combined with negative propaganda to sway public opinion.
No need these days for all that 'amendment' nonsense that takes an overwhelming majority of people in agreement to alter/abolish rights and/or vastly increase the size, scope, power, and intrusiveness of the central government.
The powerful decide; You obey. Sometimes we even get some Kabuki theater if they feel that 'selling' what they decide about something to people will benefit them more than silence or disinformation will, as most are distracted by the effectively meaningless political team-sport of (R) vs (D).
Meanwhile, the government surveillance grows and control/manipulation of groups against each other, the monitoring/control over channels of communication, and influence over what the average person believes he "knows" increases by the day.
Strat
With such generic wording, it would also apply to Steam, Blizzard games, and a good many phone/tablet games. How would this be enforceable short of restricting access to the internet and phone services as a whole to registered offenders?
Winner, winner chicken dinner!
That's the next step...virtual banishment from modern communications for "sex offenders'...for now...other groups like people on the 'no-fly' list later...and people like Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos shortly after that (or maybe before).
Welcome to Amerika!
Strat
Doesn't it violate US antitrust law or some other anti-monopoly regulations?
In the New Amerika, no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against Clint^W^W^WMS.
Welcome to the Corporate-Political Oligarchy.
(new word suggestion: "Corpoligarchy")
Strat
They demand mechanical horses.
...And thus, Harley-Davidson motorcycles were born. (j/k)
Strat
Are all (or even most) compounds and delivery devices made this way?
The major brands like Kanger, Innokin, ELeaf etc all seem to offer temperature-controlled devices.
The thing many may not understand is that when the temperature comes anywhere near the temperature required to produce toxic chemicals in any significant amount, the vapor tastes bad!
I mean, really, really horrible! That's one of the (other) things they never mention in these "studies" (along with precise details of the testing protocols/conditions etc). It's why people use and enjoy vaping on gear/devices with no temperature control, maybe just a voltage or voltage/wattage (selectable) control. The byproducts produced by even mild overheating taste extremely bad to the user and typically start to occur at far lower temperatures than where really possibly-problematic types & levels of toxins are produced.
People must remember that there are 3 big powers who would like the vaping industry and vaping gone. Government, as smoking brings in large amounts of taxes, particularly State taxes, although tobacco is also taxed Federally as well (plus it's another area to extend government control into and employ more government bureaucracy & enforcement to oversee it), 'Big Pharma' stands to lose from 'smoking-cessation' products they sell as well as all the drugs/products used in treating smoking-related diseases, and 'Big Tobacco' because fewer people will smoke and more will quit.
Strat
Those evil "garbagemen" take those bags and tie them around the throats of poor, innocent dolphins, you insensitive clod!
Strat
So yeah maybe this dudes system would work. But *only* if he can measure *everything*.
The dangerous part here is that those attempting to implement such collectivist-oriented, central-planning type systems know this and opt instead to take the easier option to institute control/regulation where they cannot measure, and eliminate/ban/outlaw where they can neither measure nor control/regulate. The failure is that the measurement/control/regulation they seek to implement can never become perfect enough on large scales except to create tyranny, and the attempts become increasingly harmful and counterproductive until the system breaks down and/or revolution replaces it. You cannot have a successful system that runs counter to and/or ignores basic human nature...or requires it's elimination.
What Capitalism attempts to do is simply set up a common framework to allow peaceful, law-abiding people to do what they do and have always done normally anyways (trade goods/services, buy/sell land/property, make investments/contracts, etc) on a relatively even playing field as far as pragmatically and realistically possible.
Although no system is perfect, Capitalism has successfully raised more impoverished people out of poverty over the last ~250 years and consequently empowered them with more control over their lives, than any other system yet tried...by orders of magnitude...while simultaneously driving science and technology ahead at an amazing pace, from Kitty Hawk to Apollo 11 in under 100 years.
Strat
"I'm the only one who can fix this problem", run away as fast as you can.
"Come with me if you want to live!" (- from the movie "Terminator" [and hand in your geek card if you needed this citation])
It seems that "question authority" has more recently been all but replaced by a more-PC "question only authority (and those who hold it) that we say to question...all other authority that agrees with us is sacrosanct".
Start questioning the authority of certain things and suddenly all that "question authority" crap goes right out the window for many, many people and turns to "get 'em!"...sometimes even to the point that calls are made for laws which would criminalize publishing certain arguments and opinions. This sort of behavior is not limited to only one of the 2 major US parties in case you think I'm being partisan. I'm not.
When any group/party/etc must resort to supporting a position by silencing speech and criminalizing opposing thought and opinions, that's a sure sign that they and their position are another "authority" that must be strongly questioned.
Strat
Well, having male and female bathrooms at all is discriminatory (it's the same shit as whites only bathrooms/ drinking fountains).
Wow.
There are male and female bathrooms because males and females are anatomically different because they are different sexes and have methods of expelling bodily waste which are different! The two sexes also each have personal and individual rights and needs for privacy.
And did you really actually just dare compare separate bathrooms for males & females to fucking *slavery*!?!? OMG! You think MLK or Malcolm X would be OK with that comparison? Do you think anyone with any knowledge of the history of slavery, with a rational and reasonable sense of proportion and relative importance/significance, would agree?
I can easily understand why you would post this garbage as AC.
Strat