I agree with you completely. Personal information - your preferences and shopping habits, for example, should remain your own. There is too much potential for abuse, as you've aptly demonstrated.
I certainly do not wish to be pigeon-holed by a company because some marketer has decided that it is statistically likely that I fit profile xyz.
The area where profiling concerns me most is the online news media. It does not bother me so much that media outlets would like to find out what their customers are reading and with what frequency. When they start requiring me to provide information such as my sex and age on sign-up for their paid services, however, I start to become leery. How long until I start being provided with the "service" of seeing different news than people who fall into different marketing groups?
Keeping the prices up helps keep the status up. It would be harder for them to create an iPod craze if the iPods were only $10 and everyone could afford one.
(Now I know why they call it the "why?" chromosome.)
Fortunately, evolution has granted/. women brains in lieu of sperm - I'm sure that none of us will have difficulty accessing the NYT site without your help. In other words, don't gum up your keyboard on our account.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood recently wrote the futuristic tale Oryx and Crake, in which the chimera was a "pigoon". It's a good read for a fictional look at chimeras. (If I remember correctly, the pigoon ended up being very high-thinking - possibly it was a chimera because it had a human brain?)
Another calculator of 197x
on
Digital Retro
·
· Score: 1
Your first calculator worked in Reverse Polish? Your father must have really loved you.
My first calculator, the Texas Instruments Little Professor, was not quite so advanced. Also, it was considerably more bulky than your Sinclair Scientific. However, it was a gift from a cherished engineer-type uncle, and I was quite attached. Unlike your calculator, it preferred to ask questions than provide answers (this makes it similar to some professors I know). Mostly, it asked about the times tables, which I became quite proficient at as a child.
My only complaint is that to this day the professor only comes in a male version.
I hope for your sake you know what an imaginary number is - it'll become important when you try to figure out how many koalas, toucans, and monkeys I 'didn't eat' in the 14 years I've been a vegetarian.
I think it should power vegetarians. That way we won't have to worry about being low on energy when the menu items on offer are carrot sticks and bland salad.
If it makes you feel any better, for seven years I cycled in Edmonton, Alberta. That's sort of like Manitoba...at least it's closer than California!:) Edmonton has a bike-path laden river valley park that connects many parts of the city. Cycling in Edmonton was hardly perfect (it's bitterly cold in the winter - you really have to dress for it - but it's also cool riding over crunchy snow), but the valley made things easier and there was a free map for cyclists that indicated the safest roads.
Having worked in air quality, I frankly welcome advances that reduce polluting emissions from cars, but my preference is still to walk or cycle whenever possible.
According to this DOE fact sheet article, until recently they were flaring off almost all the natural gas
Flaring is a method used in the oil and gas industry to get rid of the portion of flammable gas that is produced during oil recovery, and which is uneconomical to recover. Safety issues are also sometimes a driver for flaring - you don't generally want a lot of flammable gas just hanging around your well site. Blowing up is bad. If you sum over the well sites in a geographical area, there may be a considerable amount of gas being lost, but if there is only a tiny bit being released at each site it's often not feasible to do recovery.
You might be interested to know that the practice of flaring is common in the "developed" world. In Alberta, Canada, for example, there are many, many flare sites spread throughout the province and in the last few years a lot of effort has been put into strategies for flaring reductions. In fact, Alberta's efforts have become a model for other countries, including Nigeria, which have expressed a desire to make flaring reductions.
We could do a lot more good in the world if we spent more time helping and less time finger pointing - especially when we don't understand the issues. People who are working to bring the internet to those who don't have it should be commended
>I mean that You can't strip someone of knowledge.
Having a PhD implies a certain level of knowledge, but does not having a PhD necessarily imply a lack of it? I don't think so. In my field (oceanography) some of the most revered scientists never completed PhD's - they just knew the ocean (Charlie Yentsch, for example).
The major consequence of not having a PhD is having to work harder to gain credibility for your research (or for the opportunity to research). Considering that this guy has repeatedly falsified data, taking away his PhD seems just.
I don't think having easy access to motorized vehicles makes a society inherently "more advanced". (I don't have one myself, by choice, so consider me biased). More advanced in what? Rate of motor vehicle accidents? Ahead in environmental degradation?
I agree with you on one thing, though - "we" should cut back on the energy consumption.
It will be interesting to see if fitness levels go down and weight goes up as users take to the e-bike. The benefits of a regular bike are not purely environmental.
I do agree that e-bikes are a great option for those who are otherwise unable to ride, though.
>Now, if this book is aimed at people for whom money is a problem, isn't it naive to think that they have access to a computer (and enough time on that computer to read and understand the text)?
You're assuming that students would have to read the entire textbook on the computer. Those without full-time computer access would undoubtedly print the textbook out, if the format was amenable. Most students (at my university, at least) have access to university computer labs and could print there. Even if there was a fee for printing, the textbook would likely come out cheaper than the formally published version. Also, it would be possible to print only the portions presently needed, which means that the demand for cash would not be so heavily weighted towards the beginning of the term. Redistributing the demand for cash helps those who don't have loads of cash lying around, but who have income during the term, for instance.
I congratulate professors who make their textbooks available to students for free.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with you completely. Personal information - your preferences and shopping habits, for example, should remain your own. There is too much potential for abuse, as you've aptly demonstrated. I certainly do not wish to be pigeon-holed by a company because some marketer has decided that it is statistically likely that I fit profile xyz. The area where profiling concerns me most is the online news media. It does not bother me so much that media outlets would like to find out what their customers are reading and with what frequency. When they start requiring me to provide information such as my sex and age on sign-up for their paid services, however, I start to become leery. How long until I start being provided with the "service" of seeing different news than people who fall into different marketing groups?
Keeping the prices up helps keep the status up. It would be harder for them to create an iPod craze if the iPods were only $10 and everyone could afford one.
(Now I know why they call it the "why?" chromosome.)
Fortunately, evolution has granted /. women brains in lieu of sperm - I'm sure that none of us will have difficulty accessing the NYT site without your help. In other words, don't gum up your keyboard on our account.
PS. There's no remainder in a ratio.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood recently wrote the futuristic tale Oryx and Crake, in which the chimera was a "pigoon". It's a good read for a fictional look at chimeras. (If I remember correctly, the pigoon ended up being very high-thinking - possibly it was a chimera because it had a human brain?)
Your first calculator worked in Reverse Polish? Your father must have really loved you.
My first calculator, the Texas Instruments Little Professor, was not quite so advanced. Also, it was considerably more bulky than your Sinclair Scientific. However, it was a gift from a cherished engineer-type uncle, and I was quite attached. Unlike your calculator, it preferred to ask questions than provide answers (this makes it similar to some professors I know). Mostly, it asked about the times tables, which I became quite proficient at as a child.
My only complaint is that to this day the professor only comes in a male version.
I hope for your sake you know what an imaginary number is - it'll become important when you try to figure out how many koalas, toucans, and monkeys I 'didn't eat' in the 14 years I've been a vegetarian.
I think it should power vegetarians. That way we won't have to worry about being low on energy when the menu items on offer are carrot sticks and bland salad.
Um, why are we assuming that the astronauts themselves won't BE women?
If it makes you feel any better, for seven years I cycled in Edmonton, Alberta. That's sort of like Manitoba...at least it's closer than California! :) Edmonton has a bike-path laden river valley park that connects many parts of the city. Cycling in Edmonton was hardly perfect (it's bitterly cold in the winter - you really have to dress for it - but it's also cool riding over crunchy snow), but the valley made things easier and there was a free map for cyclists that indicated the safest roads.
Having worked in air quality, I frankly welcome advances that reduce polluting emissions from cars, but my preference is still to walk or cycle whenever possible.
Oh, yes, I'm incredibly aggressive about my viewpoints. I'm especially fond of raving and telling others to shut the hell up.
(If this is all about the user names, and I'm fond of eating vegetables, are you fond of eating crow?)
If you really want an energy-efficient sports utility vehicle, try a bicycle.
My dick is too big
It would seem that it goes with your head. Perhaps you're a dickhead?
Moderators have small penises
Or (revolutionary idea) none at all and proud of it.
According to this DOE fact sheet article, until recently they were flaring off almost all the natural gas
Flaring is a method used in the oil and gas industry to get rid of the portion of flammable gas that is produced during oil recovery, and which is uneconomical to recover. Safety issues are also sometimes a driver for flaring - you don't generally want a lot of flammable gas just hanging around your well site. Blowing up is bad. If you sum over the well sites in a geographical area, there may be a considerable amount of gas being lost, but if there is only a tiny bit being released at each site it's often not feasible to do recovery.
You might be interested to know that the practice of flaring is common in the "developed" world. In Alberta, Canada, for example, there are many, many flare sites spread throughout the province and in the last few years a lot of effort has been put into strategies for flaring reductions. In fact, Alberta's efforts have become a model for other countries, including Nigeria, which have expressed a desire to make flaring reductions.
We could do a lot more good in the world if we spent more time helping and less time finger pointing - especially when we don't understand the issues. People who are working to bring the internet to those who don't have it should be commended
>I mean that You can't strip someone of knowledge.
Having a PhD implies a certain level of knowledge, but does not having a PhD necessarily imply a lack of it? I don't think so. In my field (oceanography) some of the most revered scientists never completed PhD's - they just knew the ocean (Charlie Yentsch, for example).
The major consequence of not having a PhD is having to work harder to gain credibility for your research (or for the opportunity to research). Considering that this guy has repeatedly falsified data, taking away his PhD seems just.
I don't think having easy access to motorized vehicles makes a society inherently "more advanced". (I don't have one myself, by choice, so consider me biased). More advanced in what? Rate of motor vehicle accidents? Ahead in environmental degradation? I agree with you on one thing, though - "we" should cut back on the energy consumption.
It will be interesting to see if fitness levels go down and weight goes up as users take to the e-bike. The benefits of a regular bike are not purely environmental. I do agree that e-bikes are a great option for those who are otherwise unable to ride, though.
>Now, if this book is aimed at people for whom money is a problem, isn't it naive to think that they have access to a computer (and enough time on that computer to read and understand the text)?
You're assuming that students would have to read the entire textbook on the computer. Those without full-time computer access would undoubtedly print the textbook out, if the format was amenable. Most students (at my university, at least) have access to university computer labs and could print there. Even if there was a fee for printing, the textbook would likely come out cheaper than the formally published version. Also, it would be possible to print only the portions presently needed, which means that the demand for cash would not be so heavily weighted towards the beginning of the term. Redistributing the demand for cash helps those who don't have loads of cash lying around, but who have income during the term, for instance.
I congratulate professors who make their textbooks available to students for free.