I'm not saying *you* are engaging in this behavior, but what's your position on demonizing an entire religion and culture (Islam) based on the actions of a few radicals? Isn't that kinda like making sweeping generalizations about Americans?
As for sweeping generalizations about Americans, that's exactly what they are. Obviously, there will be exceptions. If you go by what we see in the media, though (which, to be fair, is not an accurate representation of public attitudes), the sweeping generalizations which you condemn are pretty spot-on.
The key is balance, isn't it?
My 6-year old son has an old PII Sony Vaio (running SuSE Linux 8.1, of course), a digital camera (old Sony Mavica (writes to a floppy disk)), and an old videogame console (original PlayStation). He enjoys playing with them quite a bit.
However, I also try to get him and his sister up into the woods each weekend to play in the dirt, eat wild clover and look at the banana slugs. We try to get some time in at the park every day after school. We draw frequently with pencil, crayon and paper.
We watch movies and videos on DVD, but we don't have cable or satelite TV at home. We also try to read each night.
Both my children have very fertile and active imaginations--my son is working on writing and illustrating his first book and, last week started a "math book". The problem isn't the electronics, it's relying on them too much.
I probably spent too much time as a child reading books. I'd probably be better adjusted socially if I'd have been out playing with other kids more instead.
I recently read one by MIT researcher Richard Lindzen that was a real eye-opener. People criticize him for accepting funding from Big Oil, but he sounds reasonable enough, his academic credentials are beyond reproach, and, hey, everybody needs to get their funding *somewhere*, and *all* funding sources (unless they are inhuman) have *some* sort of bias, right?
I saw it a few days ago. "Will" is a strong word. "May" is more like it. Sure, complex systems can react in non-linear ways; sure there are "positive feedback" factors here (like the example in the movie about melting water tunneling down to lubricate the ground under the glacier), but there are also negative feedback factors--with an increase in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, one would expect an increase in CO2-consuming, oxygen-releasing phytoplankton in the oceans, would one not? After all, it's the oceans, not the forests, which are generating the most oxygen at the global level.
My only point is: we know all sorts of statistical facts, but, as others are pointing out, we simply do not have enough data to prove that we are causing this.
>
How so? I did not find that to be the case. The largest time-span of any of the data cited in the film is 650,000 years (from the Antarctic ice cores). While it can give some sense of CO2 and temperature levels for that time period, in geologic terms, a million years is not very long. The stated fact that 200 cities in the US had record temperatures last year is meaningless without context. How many cities have record temperatures on any given year? One would expect a number of those. Also, I can think of a more plausible explanation than global warming--cities are increasing in size. With fewer trees and more pavement, is it any suprise that local temperatures are climbing. That still doesn't *prove* that we're causing global warming.
The earth is a very dynamic and adaptive system. While we could certainly kill ourselves off, the Earth will recover amazingly quickly. Just look at the surprises we've seen at Chernobyl.
As has been pointed out by other posters, we're talking about a net increase of one degree in temperature. As has also been pointed out, the earth's climate has natural cycles. The fact is: it's impossible to prove that humans are the cause of this regardless of how much deforestation and fossil-feul burning has occurred--it's basic science: correlation does not equal causation (search Google for "pirates global warming")
While I consider myself to be an environmentalist, I'm opposed to using FUD to scare people into doing the right thing. We oughta stop destroying the environment because we're poisoning ourselves at the local level (and many other valid reasons), not because of a slight warming trend which we may or may not be causing.
All the articles refer to "scientific consensus", not "conclusive proof". May I remind the Slashdot readers that, in the time of Galileo, the "scientific consensus" was that the Earth is the center of the solar system (or is that the universe?).
Thanks for the informative post! I've developed some web apps featuring streaming Windows Media content, but, I've got to say, Windows Media Player 9 and 10 helped me make several iTunes converts ("I just want to play a CD, dammit!! I don't need all this confusing crap!").
I'll have to give this new version a whirl when it's officially released.
Well, having had a quick look at the MSDN article linked to from the eWeek article, it doesn't look like such a big deal.
If the object is instantiated by in-line code, it will still respond to scripting commands but will not respond to user commands until they click somewhere in particular. If an external "JScript" file (does it hurt that much to say "Java", M$?!?!), is used to instantiate the object, there is no change in the way the page will behave.
So, we can make minor changes to all our ActiveX control-embedding pages to keep them behaving the way they do now, or not. The world will not end.
Wait!!! We'd die off, or we'd have to go back to living the way we did before we had all this (plastic) technology (or do you posit we've depleted enough natural resources to make that untenable (or are you referring to geeks as the "we" who'd die off))?
Someone remind me though, are there levels of security that are illegal to use?
This is right off the top of my ass--er, head--but...I don't think there are laws in the U.S.A. governing what levels of encryption you can *use*, but there certainly have been laws governing what encryption technologies can be *exported*.
While I've worked mostly with hardware synths (not samplers) and software samplers and synths, it seems like MIDI would be a poor way to transfer audio due to the low data rate (true, samples tend to be brief and relatively small (as audio files go)). Most of the hardware samplers I've seen had SCSI ports for external data devices (or direct transfer from Mac/PC). I'm not saying you couldn't do it via MIDI SysEx, just wondering why you'd want to (if there were other options available). Of course, floppy disks aren't all that speedy either...
Read "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins for an interesting view on this (and all sorts of other diet-related issues). He contends that all the hormones we're feeding our dairy cattle as well as meat animals are contributing to earlier puberty (he was citing 8 year-olds developing breasts, etc.).
I wish I still had a copy of the facts sheet used to promote the book. Had all sorts of gems (like the fact that the average American house-cat eats more meat than the average El Salvadorean (IIRC)).
Yep. I didn't see any URL. I tried going straight to iTunes and searching for "Stanford"--no luck. Somewhere else in the discussion, I found a link to:
Judging by the sperm bank jokes and general paucity of insight (except for that mono-culture Monsanto post and a couple others), this seems to indicate that this is not really news for nerds.
Now, an article about a pizza and soda bank--*that* would be "News for Nerds"!!
Saw this at The Register as well. The note had been ammended to indicate that putting tape on your CD is not a very good idea (most of us could probably figure that out for ourselves). Disabling Auto-run is a much less messy way of getting the same result.
You must be my evil twin (or am I yours?). I posted almost the same thing you did 38 milliseconds after you hit "submit" (I *knew* I shouldn't have bothered previewing).
Oh, yeah. I hope I made it clear I don't fault Williams. There's no doubt regarding his skill and creativity as a composer. I was just trying to be cheeky.
Even more impressive is the fact that he does what he does on a *very tight* schedule. I forget which film it was, but, from watching some bonus material on a DVD (one of the more recent Star Wars films maybe?) that he had like three months do score, arrange and record the whole soundtrack. For a folk album that might not be so impressive, but for a symphonic score...Wow!
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I'm not saying *you* are engaging in this behavior, but what's your position on demonizing an entire religion and culture (Islam) based on the actions of a few radicals? Isn't that kinda like making sweeping generalizations about Americans?
As for sweeping generalizations about Americans, that's exactly what they are. Obviously, there will be exceptions. If you go by what we see in the media, though (which, to be fair, is not an accurate representation of public attitudes), the sweeping generalizations which you condemn are pretty spot-on.
The key is balance, isn't it? My 6-year old son has an old PII Sony Vaio (running SuSE Linux 8.1, of course), a digital camera (old Sony Mavica (writes to a floppy disk)), and an old videogame console (original PlayStation). He enjoys playing with them quite a bit.
However, I also try to get him and his sister up into the woods each weekend to play in the dirt, eat wild clover and look at the banana slugs. We try to get some time in at the park every day after school. We draw frequently with pencil, crayon and paper.
We watch movies and videos on DVD, but we don't have cable or satelite TV at home. We also try to read each night.
Both my children have very fertile and active imaginations--my son is working on writing and illustrating his first book and, last week started a "math book". The problem isn't the electronics, it's relying on them too much.
I probably spent too much time as a child reading books. I'd probably be better adjusted socially if I'd have been out playing with other kids more instead.
Thanks, I'll have to check out that article.
I recently read one by MIT researcher Richard Lindzen that was a real eye-opener. People criticize him for accepting funding from Big Oil, but he sounds reasonable enough, his academic credentials are beyond reproach, and, hey, everybody needs to get their funding *somewhere*, and *all* funding sources (unless they are inhuman) have *some* sort of bias, right?
Dang!! I screwed up my quotes from the post I was responding to--hopefully they can be figured out from the context. I shoulda previewed.
>
I saw it a few days ago. "Will" is a strong word. "May" is more like it. Sure, complex systems can react in non-linear ways; sure there are "positive feedback" factors here (like the example in the movie about melting water tunneling down to lubricate the ground under the glacier), but there are also negative feedback factors--with an increase in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, one would expect an increase in CO2-consuming, oxygen-releasing phytoplankton in the oceans, would one not? After all, it's the oceans, not the forests, which are generating the most oxygen at the global level.
My only point is: we know all sorts of statistical facts, but, as others are pointing out, we simply do not have enough data to prove that we are causing this.
>
How so? I did not find that to be the case. The largest time-span of any of the data cited in the film is 650,000 years (from the Antarctic ice cores). While it can give some sense of CO2 and temperature levels for that time period, in geologic terms, a million years is not very long. The stated fact that 200 cities in the US had record temperatures last year is meaningless without context. How many cities have record temperatures on any given year? One would expect a number of those. Also, I can think of a more plausible explanation than global warming--cities are increasing in size. With fewer trees and more pavement, is it any suprise that local temperatures are climbing. That still doesn't *prove* that we're causing global warming.
The earth is a very dynamic and adaptive system. While we could certainly kill ourselves off, the Earth will recover amazingly quickly. Just look at the surprises we've seen at Chernobyl.
As has been pointed out by other posters, we're talking about a net increase of one degree in temperature. As has also been pointed out, the earth's climate has natural cycles. The fact is: it's impossible to prove that humans are the cause of this regardless of how much deforestation and fossil-feul burning has occurred--it's basic science: correlation does not equal causation (search Google for "pirates global warming")
While I consider myself to be an environmentalist, I'm opposed to using FUD to scare people into doing the right thing. We oughta stop destroying the environment because we're poisoning ourselves at the local level (and many other valid reasons), not because of a slight warming trend which we may or may not be causing.
All the articles refer to "scientific consensus", not "conclusive proof". May I remind the Slashdot readers that, in the time of Galileo, the "scientific consensus" was that the Earth is the center of the solar system (or is that the universe?).
Agreed!! Next step, robots to do *all* the killing and dying. Heck, while we're at it, let's just skip to fighting all our wars in emulators.
Thanks for the informative post! I've developed some web apps featuring streaming Windows Media content, but, I've got to say, Windows Media Player 9 and 10 helped me make several iTunes converts ("I just want to play a CD, dammit!! I don't need all this confusing crap!").
I'll have to give this new version a whirl when it's officially released.
The song "Little Boxes" is by Malvina Reynolds. Pete Seeger just made the song more popular with his cover of it.
Sir, I think it's time for you to switch to decaf. Also, you might consider putting in less brandy.
What I want to know: does it come with a text version of Clippy?
Well, having had a quick look at the MSDN article linked to from the eWeek article, it doesn't look like such a big deal.
If the object is instantiated by in-line code, it will still respond to scripting commands but will not respond to user commands until they click somewhere in particular. If an external "JScript" file (does it hurt that much to say "Java", M$?!?!), is used to instantiate the object, there is no change in the way the page will behave.
So, we can make minor changes to all our ActiveX control-embedding pages to keep them behaving the way they do now, or not. The world will not end.
Wait!!! We'd die off, or we'd have to go back to living the way we did before we had all this (plastic) technology (or do you posit we've depleted enough natural resources to make that untenable (or are you referring to geeks as the "we" who'd die off))?
Someone remind me though, are there levels of security that are illegal to use?
This is right off the top of my ass--er, head--but...I don't think there are laws in the U.S.A. governing what levels of encryption you can *use*, but there certainly have been laws governing what encryption technologies can be *exported*.
Your overall point is well-taken.
l
Small quibble here:
MIDI's data rate is: 31.5 kBaud.
http://www.harmony-central.com/MIDI/Doc/intro.htm
While I've worked mostly with hardware synths (not samplers) and software samplers and synths, it seems like MIDI would be a poor way to transfer audio due to the low data rate (true, samples tend to be brief and relatively small (as audio files go)). Most of the hardware samplers I've seen had SCSI ports for external data devices (or direct transfer from Mac/PC). I'm not saying you couldn't do it via MIDI SysEx, just wondering why you'd want to (if there were other options available). Of course, floppy disks aren't all that speedy either...
Read "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins for an interesting view on this (and all sorts of other diet-related issues). He contends that all the hormones we're feeding our dairy cattle as well as meat animals are contributing to earlier puberty (he was citing 8 year-olds developing breasts, etc.).
4 66893-7535803?v=glance&n=283155
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0915811812/103-4
I wish I still had a copy of the facts sheet used to promote the book. Had all sorts of gems (like the fact that the average American house-cat eats more meat than the average El Salvadorean (IIRC)).
Yep. I didn't see any URL. I tried going straight to iTunes and searching for "Stanford"--no luck. Somewhere else in the discussion, I found a link to:
http://itunes.stanford.edu/
which, in turn will link you back to iTunes and open the relevant iTunes section (which seems to be pretty well hosed at the moment).
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
I'm still trying to think of a good Disney joke...
Obligatory Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_(Disney)
Judging by the sperm bank jokes and general paucity of insight (except for that mono-culture Monsanto post and a couple others), this seems to indicate that this is not really news for nerds.
Now, an article about a pizza and soda bank--*that* would be "News for Nerds"!!
Hey, parent post is funny--why'd it get modded down?
Saw this at The Register as well. The note had been ammended to indicate that putting tape on your CD is not a very good idea (most of us could probably figure that out for ourselves). Disabling Auto-run is a much less messy way of getting the same result.
But, then, you were being funny weren't you?
You must be my evil twin (or am I yours?). I posted almost the same thing you did 38 milliseconds after you hit "submit" (I *knew* I shouldn't have bothered previewing).
I wonder if this is a capital crime in Texas?? They're real good at killin' folks legally down there. Yeeee-haaaw!!
Oh, yeah. I hope I made it clear I don't fault Williams. There's no doubt regarding his skill and creativity as a composer. I was just trying to be cheeky.
Even more impressive is the fact that he does what he does on a *very tight* schedule. I forget which film it was, but, from watching some bonus material on a DVD (one of the more recent Star Wars films maybe?) that he had like three months do score, arrange and record the whole soundtrack. For a folk album that might not be so impressive, but for a symphonic score...Wow!