- All those officers and enlisted in the Pentagon would be surprised to know they are civilians.
- Are they going to release KSM if he is acquitted? If not, this is just a show trial and a sham.
- Whatever your stance on waterboarding, they didn't do it to KSM to get him to confess. They did it to acquire intel to prevent further attacks and/or take the battle to Al Qaeda.
- During an interview with NBC tonight, the interviewer asked Obama if people would find it offensive that KSM would receive all the rights of an American citizen in a trial. Obama replied "I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." Pre-judging much? Tainting the jury?
Come on. This is no trial in any real sense of the word. Other observers have pointed out that no one wants to see this guy walk, so the judges and prosecution will go through any contortion, no matter how ridiculous, to see him convicted. Whatever rulings they issue will then become precedent the Govt can use against everyday criminals (i.e., you and me).
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the *enemy*. He cannot be rehabilitated. He cannot be reconstructed. He and his comrades would seek the overthrow of our system of government and its replacement with Sharia law. He is not a common criminal, and it is disrespectful to treat him like one - and you should always respect your enemy. Send him to his god and be done with it.
I would argue zombies stand in for a fear of general societal breakdown, with our friends and neighbors becoming the "other". Amongst all the movie bogeymen (vampires, Frankenstein, mummies), only zombies bring with them the overall collapse of civilization.
I find the GPs attitude very common among those who have little/no exposure to the military. Having been an officer in the Air Force, and having gone to college three times now (once for undergrad, twice for advanced degrees), I would say this: If you told me my very life depended upon an utter stranger doing a job properly, and my choices were between an enlisted person in the US military and a college undergrad - and that is the only information I would get - I'm going with the enlisted military. Shit, it's not even close.
Disclaimer: IAAAS/IANYAA (I am an architecture student/I am not yet an architect).
Good for them, but it doesn't really surprise me that you can make a building of that type/size earthquake-resistant. While the building is technically "wood", they are using a lot of engineered lumber (lumber that is made from particles/chips of wood held together with a binder). Looking at the pictures in the article, the building is sheathed in OSB (oriented strand board), which acts as a very good shear panel. The floors are supported using TJIs (Truss Joist I-Beams), where the top and bottom of the TJI is made of laminated wood and OSB is used as the webbing of the truss. These things are very strong, and they are anchored on the ends with galvanized steel hangars, which are very secure. The weak point in wood structures is frequently in how the pieces are joined together, and the hangars largely address that. Engineered lumber is increasingly popular in US wood construction, not for earthquake reasons, but because it is very consistent - it comes in the exact size you order, doesn't warp/twist/bow, etc., and it doesn't have knotholes. Where this building uses regular milled lumber they often stack it 6-7 deep to make columns.
They are still using steel - in the foundation and in the tiedown system, to do critical structural work. Nothing wrong with that, it's the smart thing to do. Steel has awesome tensile strength.
My guess is that a mid-rise made using this method would be significantly cheaper than reinforced concrete, and somewhat cheaper than steel. The difference is that a steel framed building will be put together by skilled welders, while the framers putting this building up will tend to be of a lower skill level - one reason this building would be cheaper - and you'll have to keep a closer eye on the construction. Given the need for engineered lumber, selective use of steel, and close attention to how the building is put together, I don't see this as a panacea for earthquake-resistant housing in the third-world. I'm sure they would love it in California, though. The big challenge is ensuring consistent construction and getting the changes in the building code (particularly in CA, which is more earthquake conscious than other states). Beyond that, it's just a question of cost.
I think part of it is that it implies betrayal/ingratitude, and in a related way, wastefulness. The *only* reason we keep cows or chickens around is as a source of food (meat, eggs) and materials (leather). Dogs, on the other hand, provide not just companionship but a myriad of other services to us: hunting dogs, seeing-eye dogs, seizure dogs, service dogs, search and rescue, bomb- and drug-sniffing, etc. They help the disabled among us. We take them to war. It seems ungrateful to eat an animal that provides us so much. As I recall from a Nova (or perhaps Nature) documentary, we did not domesticate dogs, they (the Asian wolf) essentially self-domesticated - in exchange for our leftovers they hung around and provided warning against predators, particularly at night when we were vulnerable. There was a social contract made, and by killing and eating them we break the social contract.
Even if one is not so sentimental, there is still the utility/waste aspect of it - why eat an animal that is so otherwise valuable? Eat the stupid cows, that's what they are there for. Don't eat the animal that helps your blind aunt get around every day. I think this helps explain our lesser taboo against eating horse (and perhaps why it is stronger in the US than Europe) - in the Old West horses were vital as the only practical means of transportation. Who would be so stupid to eat something so valuable except in the direst of circumstances?
Except that the data on the Wikipedia page you cite doesn't support your assertion - teenage pregnancy rates in the US have been falling since peaking in 1990: http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2004/02/19/index.html (Linked from the Wikipedia page). In 1990 it was 116.9 per 1000, in 2000 it was 83.6, and in 2002 it was 75.4.
Yes, it is still way higher than Europe (so is our overall fertility rate btw, Europeans are reproducing at below replacement levels), but the reasons don't boil down to something so simplistic as "no boobies on TV". From the above article:
"Declines also occurred among adolescents in all racial and ethnic groups. The pregnancy rate among black women aged 15-19 declined 32% between 1990 and 2000 to 153 per 1,000 women; among white teenagers it declined 28% to 71 per 1,000. The rate among Hispanic teenagers fell 15% from 1992-2000 (following a brief increase from 1990-1992) to 139 per 1,000."
So black and hispanic teen girls in the US get pregnant at about twice the rate of whites. Are they watching different (and by your theory, more repressed) media than white girls? Should we blame BET? Telemundo? Or does it maybe have something to do with other factors altogether?
Most of the comments so far have addressed the lifestyle impacts of your job, and for the most part I agree with them. I would recommend a fitness regimen like P90X (yeah, it's sold via infomercial, but it does work), but you seem to feel you don't have the 1-1.5 hours a day to devote to it. If you really feel that pressed for time, I would recommend getting a kettlebell. A kettlebell is basically a shotput-sized ball with a handle on it. They come in all sizes now, but traditionally the 'standard' one is 24kg, a 'heavy' is 32kg, and a 'junior' is 16kg. I would recommend starting with the 16kg junior size. I have a 16kg and a 24kg, and that 24 is a heavy bastard. I can't imagine what a 32 is like.
Learn to do snatches properly (there are videos on the web) - 100 total, 50 each hand in sets of 25-15-10, alternating between each hand. Short breaks between each set (like 1 minute). That one exercise works almost all major muscle groups in the body, particularly core muscles. Is it a magical replacement for all other exercises? No, of course not, but I can't think of another exercise that gets so much done in so short a time. You can be done with the whole thing in under 20 minutes. Of course, be careful and start slow - if you lose your grip on 16kg of cast iron, that can put a big dent in almost anything, including your skull.
Kettlebells used to be a specialty item, and you could only get them at places like http://www.dragondoor.com/, but they have become much more popular, and you may be able to locate them at you local sporting/fitness stores now.
I have to wonder about the future of the CMP. Once the supply of Garands and M1 Carbines runs out, the military rifles that follow are all selective-fire (i.e., "machine guns" as far as the ATF is concerned). I can't see the government allowing more "machine guns" to pass into the hands of the Unorganized Militia. I suppose conversion to semi-auto is possible, but that takes money, and CMP seems to operate on a shoestring budget. I bought my Garand from the CMP, but I'm not holding my breath for an M14 or M16.
Homer: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you saying you're *never* going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, *magical* animal!
Umm, you are aware that Shell is a *Dutch*, company, right? Getting a little blood on your hands for a few extra dollars/pounds/yen/euros/whatever is hardly just an American corporate phenomenon. TotalFinaElf was plenty happy to develop oil fields for Hussein under the utterly corrupt Oil for Food program, while ordinary Iraqis starved. Toshiba illegally sold submarine propeller tech to the Soviet Union. Shall we even get started on Chinese companies and food safety?
Well, the facts as you see them seem to be parsed in a very particular way. Bush's decision only prohibited federal funding of new embryonic stem cell lines. Any state was free to fund new embryonic stem cell lines - and California did. Any private entity was free to create new embryonic stem cell lines. Researchers could receive federal funding for the embryonic stem cell lines already in existence. So, let's review: Federal/New - NO, Federal/Existing - YES, State/New - YES, State/Existing - YES, Private/New - YES, Private/Existing - YES.
As of 2007, based on median income 10 out of the 20 wealthiest counties in the nation were located in the DC metro area. As recently as 2000, it was only five. So now that the economy has tanked, where should we spend stimulus money? Why, in the wealthiest part of the country, where all our 'public servants' live. All hail Versailles on the Potomac!
It goes well beyond Gore's supposed needs as a person of wealth. His house is a McMansion, period. Despite green washing it by installing solar panels, it is a horrid example of energy inefficient design and construction, and no amount of indulgences, I mean 'carbon offsets', will change that. By comparison, the Crawford Ranch of that eeeevil George W. Bush is much more eco-friendly.
Slashdot Mirror
- All those officers and enlisted in the Pentagon would be surprised to know they are civilians.
- Are they going to release KSM if he is acquitted? If not, this is just a show trial and a sham.
- Whatever your stance on waterboarding, they didn't do it to KSM to get him to confess. They did it to acquire intel to prevent further attacks and/or take the battle to Al Qaeda.
- During an interview with NBC tonight, the interviewer asked Obama if people would find it offensive that KSM would receive all the rights of an American citizen in a trial. Obama replied "I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." Pre-judging much? Tainting the jury?
Come on. This is no trial in any real sense of the word. Other observers have pointed out that no one wants to see this guy walk, so the judges and prosecution will go through any contortion, no matter how ridiculous, to see him convicted. Whatever rulings they issue will then become precedent the Govt can use against everyday criminals (i.e., you and me).
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the *enemy*. He cannot be rehabilitated. He cannot be reconstructed. He and his comrades would seek the overthrow of our system of government and its replacement with Sharia law. He is not a common criminal, and it is disrespectful to treat him like one - and you should always respect your enemy. Send him to his god and be done with it.
Yeah, like those fundies at PBS!
Or those zealots at National Geographic!
Or all those bible thumpers at Columbia University! Buncha holy rollers!
I would argue zombies stand in for a fear of general societal breakdown, with our friends and neighbors becoming the "other". Amongst all the movie bogeymen (vampires, Frankenstein, mummies), only zombies bring with them the overall collapse of civilization.
I would be more worried about it constricting and cutting my head off...
Gordon Brown can finally play those Region 1 DVDs he got from Obama! Oh, happy day.
Sounds like you've got the start of a good country music song right there...
New York Times headline will be: Sun to End All Life on Earth: Women, Minorities to be Hard Hit
I find the GPs attitude very common among those who have little/no exposure to the military. Having been an officer in the Air Force, and having gone to college three times now (once for undergrad, twice for advanced degrees), I would say this: If you told me my very life depended upon an utter stranger doing a job properly, and my choices were between an enlisted person in the US military and a college undergrad - and that is the only information I would get - I'm going with the enlisted military. Shit, it's not even close.
True enough, and even here in the US, we would think it foolish to turn a good dairy cow (e.g., a Holstein) into steaks.
Disclaimer: IAAAS/IANYAA (I am an architecture student/I am not yet an architect).
Good for them, but it doesn't really surprise me that you can make a building of that type/size earthquake-resistant. While the building is technically "wood", they are using a lot of engineered lumber (lumber that is made from particles/chips of wood held together with a binder). Looking at the pictures in the article, the building is sheathed in OSB (oriented strand board), which acts as a very good shear panel. The floors are supported using TJIs (Truss Joist I-Beams), where the top and bottom of the TJI is made of laminated wood and OSB is used as the webbing of the truss. These things are very strong, and they are anchored on the ends with galvanized steel hangars, which are very secure. The weak point in wood structures is frequently in how the pieces are joined together, and the hangars largely address that. Engineered lumber is increasingly popular in US wood construction, not for earthquake reasons, but because it is very consistent - it comes in the exact size you order, doesn't warp/twist/bow, etc., and it doesn't have knotholes. Where this building uses regular milled lumber they often stack it 6-7 deep to make columns.
They are still using steel - in the foundation and in the tiedown system, to do critical structural work. Nothing wrong with that, it's the smart thing to do. Steel has awesome tensile strength.
My guess is that a mid-rise made using this method would be significantly cheaper than reinforced concrete, and somewhat cheaper than steel. The difference is that a steel framed building will be put together by skilled welders, while the framers putting this building up will tend to be of a lower skill level - one reason this building would be cheaper - and you'll have to keep a closer eye on the construction. Given the need for engineered lumber, selective use of steel, and close attention to how the building is put together, I don't see this as a panacea for earthquake-resistant housing in the third-world. I'm sure they would love it in California, though. The big challenge is ensuring consistent construction and getting the changes in the building code (particularly in CA, which is more earthquake conscious than other states). Beyond that, it's just a question of cost.
I think part of it is that it implies betrayal/ingratitude, and in a related way, wastefulness. The *only* reason we keep cows or chickens around is as a source of food (meat, eggs) and materials (leather). Dogs, on the other hand, provide not just companionship but a myriad of other services to us: hunting dogs, seeing-eye dogs, seizure dogs, service dogs, search and rescue, bomb- and drug-sniffing, etc. They help the disabled among us. We take them to war. It seems ungrateful to eat an animal that provides us so much. As I recall from a Nova (or perhaps Nature) documentary, we did not domesticate dogs, they (the Asian wolf) essentially self-domesticated - in exchange for our leftovers they hung around and provided warning against predators, particularly at night when we were vulnerable. There was a social contract made, and by killing and eating them we break the social contract.
Even if one is not so sentimental, there is still the utility/waste aspect of it - why eat an animal that is so otherwise valuable? Eat the stupid cows, that's what they are there for. Don't eat the animal that helps your blind aunt get around every day. I think this helps explain our lesser taboo against eating horse (and perhaps why it is stronger in the US than Europe) - in the Old West horses were vital as the only practical means of transportation. Who would be so stupid to eat something so valuable except in the direst of circumstances?
Truth or Consequences! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico
Except that the data on the Wikipedia page you cite doesn't support your assertion - teenage pregnancy rates in the US have been falling since peaking in 1990: http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2004/02/19/index.html (Linked from the Wikipedia page). In 1990 it was 116.9 per 1000, in 2000 it was 83.6, and in 2002 it was 75.4.
Yes, it is still way higher than Europe (so is our overall fertility rate btw, Europeans are reproducing at below replacement levels), but the reasons don't boil down to something so simplistic as "no boobies on TV". From the above article:
"Declines also occurred among adolescents in all racial and ethnic groups. The pregnancy rate among black women aged 15-19 declined 32% between 1990 and 2000 to 153 per 1,000 women; among white teenagers it declined 28% to 71 per 1,000. The rate among Hispanic teenagers fell 15% from 1992-2000 (following a brief increase from 1990-1992) to 139 per 1,000."
So black and hispanic teen girls in the US get pregnant at about twice the rate of whites. Are they watching different (and by your theory, more repressed) media than white girls? Should we blame BET? Telemundo? Or does it maybe have something to do with other factors altogether?
Most of the comments so far have addressed the lifestyle impacts of your job, and for the most part I agree with them. I would recommend a fitness regimen like P90X (yeah, it's sold via infomercial, but it does work), but you seem to feel you don't have the 1-1.5 hours a day to devote to it. If you really feel that pressed for time, I would recommend getting a kettlebell. A kettlebell is basically a shotput-sized ball with a handle on it. They come in all sizes now, but traditionally the 'standard' one is 24kg, a 'heavy' is 32kg, and a 'junior' is 16kg. I would recommend starting with the 16kg junior size. I have a 16kg and a 24kg, and that 24 is a heavy bastard. I can't imagine what a 32 is like.
Learn to do snatches properly (there are videos on the web) - 100 total, 50 each hand in sets of 25-15-10, alternating between each hand. Short breaks between each set (like 1 minute). That one exercise works almost all major muscle groups in the body, particularly core muscles. Is it a magical replacement for all other exercises? No, of course not, but I can't think of another exercise that gets so much done in so short a time. You can be done with the whole thing in under 20 minutes. Of course, be careful and start slow - if you lose your grip on 16kg of cast iron, that can put a big dent in almost anything, including your skull.
Kettlebells used to be a specialty item, and you could only get them at places like http://www.dragondoor.com/, but they have become much more popular, and you may be able to locate them at you local sporting/fitness stores now.
I have to wonder about the future of the CMP. Once the supply of Garands and M1 Carbines runs out, the military rifles that follow are all selective-fire (i.e., "machine guns" as far as the ATF is concerned). I can't see the government allowing more "machine guns" to pass into the hands of the Unorganized Militia. I suppose conversion to semi-auto is possible, but that takes money, and CMP seems to operate on a shoestring budget. I bought my Garand from the CMP, but I'm not holding my breath for an M14 or M16.
Hey, I only get infected with certified 100% organic free-range H1N1 virus. None of that test tube "swine flu" for me.
Homer: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you saying you're *never* going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, *magical* animal!
Umm, you are aware that Shell is a *Dutch*, company, right? Getting a little blood on your hands for a few extra dollars/pounds/yen/euros/whatever is hardly just an American corporate phenomenon. TotalFinaElf was plenty happy to develop oil fields for Hussein under the utterly corrupt Oil for Food program, while ordinary Iraqis starved. Toshiba illegally sold submarine propeller tech to the Soviet Union. Shall we even get started on Chinese companies and food safety?
Well, the facts as you see them seem to be parsed in a very particular way. Bush's decision only prohibited federal funding of new embryonic stem cell lines. Any state was free to fund new embryonic stem cell lines - and California did. Any private entity was free to create new embryonic stem cell lines. Researchers could receive federal funding for the embryonic stem cell lines already in existence. So, let's review: Federal/New - NO, Federal/Existing - YES, State/New - YES, State/Existing - YES, Private/New - YES, Private/Existing - YES.
As of 2007, based on median income 10 out of the 20 wealthiest counties in the nation were located in the DC metro area. As recently as 2000, it was only five. So now that the economy has tanked, where should we spend stimulus money? Why, in the wealthiest part of the country, where all our 'public servants' live. All hail Versailles on the Potomac!
...is it just me, or does that cover look like it could be the box for a feminine hygiene product?
You made Polonium Putin mad!
Actually, they did the same thing in Iraq under Saddam Hussein..
...I would also point out that Bush's Crawford Ranch uses a geothermal heat pump.
It goes well beyond Gore's supposed needs as a person of wealth. His house is a McMansion, period. Despite green washing it by installing solar panels, it is a horrid example of energy inefficient design and construction, and no amount of indulgences, I mean 'carbon offsets', will change that. By comparison, the Crawford Ranch of that eeeevil George W. Bush is much more eco-friendly.