easy to fix - just place a micro sized digital camera flash on the back, call it a retinal scanner and make the iPod refuse to play until it's blinded someone. People will be too busy blinking away afterimage to know the difference.
Extensive deployment of the GRT air capture system makes it possible to envision an actual reduction of CO2 levels in the atmosphere, perhaps even to pre-industrial levels.
I find this idea somewhat concerning. All too often the human race is guilty of doing things because they can, before they learn whether or not they should. I'm all for reducing carbon emissions, but in all honesty, what the hell will we break if we start trying to extract too much carbon from the atmosphere.
Mind you, find a way to quickly and efficiently separate the carbon from the oxygen, install in long range space craft and you suddenly have near limitless air for deep space voyages.
The problem is, every country approached by the US for free trade agreements is asked to agree to certain things. These things include prosecution for things that are only a crime in America, and also to honour the American copyright and patent systems. This is why so much of the world has to pay attention to laws like the DMCA, since everyone seems to actually want free trade with the good ole US of A.
What this aforementioned luddite bastard (Note to parent: i liked the term, so I borrowed it =)) fails to realize is this is not a new scenario, its simply changing with the times.
I remember as a primary school student watching deals going down between kids. Lunch money being exchanged for pages ripped from playboy mags. Bottom line, if kids want it badly enough, be it porn, drugs, alcohol etc etc. they will get it, no matter how much you try to prevent it.
It seems to me that they're too busy trying to derail the train by picking off the last carriage in line. The should be going for the locomotive, by actually trying to educate people.
Also I've found if you call support during the graveyard shift you'll get much more friendly and intelligent people on the other end.
This is mainly because those helpdesk techs (ones who know how to fix the problems, and object to the call scripting) have been shuffled back into the darkened places of the helpdesk. When a tech seems to be more interested in fixing problems than towing the party line, this is often the case.
Other posters are correct, if you simply describe the problem, as well as any troubleshooting steps you've already taken, without making any assumptions or diagnosis of the issue yourself, a good phone tech will appreciate and respond to you in a positive fashion.
While I agree with the philosophical implications in your statement, perhaps data storage is the only truly necessary function of the brain. If we invented a computer that could store data as efficiently as a brain, and also gave it artificial senses (touch, taste, hearing, etc), and the standard neurological processes (pain, pleasure etc), who is to say that it wouldn't develop a consciousness.
Give an efficient data storage and processing system the ability to sample the world around it at its own speed, and who knows what might occur.
What you quote is absolutely correct, as far as it goes, but from having read deeper, it seems that the following is true:
Original mosquito + malaria parasite = sick mosquito
ie. the malaria parasite carrying insect isn't healthy enough to compete with the immune insect. If a GM mozzie meets an uninfected original mozzie, then the playing field is equal, and neither has an advantage.
I can't tell if you simply misread the article, or you're deliberately misquoting in order to run an agenda, however I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
If Israel were attacked with a WMD? The US wouldn't have to do a thing, the entire arabian peninsula would be irradiated glass by the time the rest of the world caught up.
One thing you can be sure of, the Israelies won't be pulling punches at that point.
Does this mean all the TV screens and advertisements in Times Square have to go as well? since they might distract a pedestrian at the (in?)opportune moment?:P
The only things you missed in what was otherwise an excellent breakdown of costs, is the cost of training a replacement squaddie for the duration of the injured soldiers convalescence, and the expense of the medical staff needed (in training and time spent).
I agree with the parent totally, there is no one industry that has a monopoly of this sort of attitude, but to bring it back to the topic at hand:
Speaking as a member of this technical group, I can honestly say that there are three major groups of client. The honestly clueless, the willfully ignorant and the technically savvy.
I personally enjoy working with the honestly clueless, as they admit they don't know much, and are willing to learn the things they don't know. I don't cop abuse or arrogance from them, and we work together to solve the problem.
I also don't mind working with the technically savvy, as they often have pinpointed the problem, but don't have the access to actually fix the issue.
The willfully ignorant are the problem. They often create their own problems, and then refuse to listen to the solution. They think that they know better than the technician, which in 99% of ALL cases is simply incorrect. They are almost always abusive and condescending to technical staff, and spend much of their time not only making our lives miserable, but also putting road blocks in front of us when we try to fix things for them.
Courtesy is a two way street, and while I agree that it is lacking from the IT industry as a whole, to say that we are the only ones guilty of it is very short sighted.
While I don't disagree with the sentiment expressed by the parent, and I subscribe to the theory of "never argue with an idiot, they'll simply drag you to their level and beat you with experience", I also think that sometimes the only way to get the message through to some people, is to be very un-subtle with your message.
How about in a country like Australia. Here we have an arid center to the country. Increase the average temperature, and that arid zone spreads out further towards the coast. Combine that with slowly rising sea levels and I'm sure I don't need to explain the net result.
Mind you, I'm one of the ones that think this would all have happened eventually, and that we mere mortals have only hastened the inevitable.
The best solution I've seen is a random, 5 pass wipe process, followed by grinding the platters into powder. Knowing the magnetic polarity on a grain of HDD platter is one thing, figuring out the alignment and positional information of it is something else entirely.
Slashdot Mirror
easy to fix - just place a micro sized digital camera flash on the back, call it a retinal scanner and make the iPod refuse to play until it's blinded someone. People will be too busy blinking away afterimage to know the difference.
I find this idea somewhat concerning. All too often the human race is guilty of doing things because they can, before they learn whether or not they should. I'm all for reducing carbon emissions, but in all honesty, what the hell will we break if we start trying to extract too much carbon from the atmosphere.
Mind you, find a way to quickly and efficiently separate the carbon from the oxygen, install in long range space craft and you suddenly have near limitless air for deep space voyages.
The problem is, every country approached by the US for free trade agreements is asked to agree to certain things. These things include prosecution for things that are only a crime in America, and also to honour the American copyright and patent systems. This is why so much of the world has to pay attention to laws like the DMCA, since everyone seems to actually want free trade with the good ole US of A.
What this aforementioned luddite bastard (Note to parent: i liked the term, so I borrowed it =)) fails to realize is this is not a new scenario, its simply changing with the times.
I remember as a primary school student watching deals going down between kids. Lunch money being exchanged for pages ripped from playboy mags. Bottom line, if kids want it badly enough, be it porn, drugs, alcohol etc etc. they will get it, no matter how much you try to prevent it.
It seems to me that they're too busy trying to derail the train by picking off the last carriage in line. The should be going for the locomotive, by actually trying to educate people.
This is mainly because those helpdesk techs (ones who know how to fix the problems, and object to the call scripting) have been shuffled back into the darkened places of the helpdesk. When a tech seems to be more interested in fixing problems than towing the party line, this is often the case.
Other posters are correct, if you simply describe the problem, as well as any troubleshooting steps you've already taken, without making any assumptions or diagnosis of the issue yourself, a good phone tech will appreciate and respond to you in a positive fashion.
While I agree with the philosophical implications in your statement, perhaps data storage is the only truly necessary function of the brain. If we invented a computer that could store data as efficiently as a brain, and also gave it artificial senses (touch, taste, hearing, etc), and the standard neurological processes (pain, pleasure etc), who is to say that it wouldn't develop a consciousness.
Give an efficient data storage and processing system the ability to sample the world around it at its own speed, and who knows what might occur.
so there really might be millions of micro-orgasms in the water hereabouts? :P
Your entrails will become your extrails.. and... pain! lots and lots of pain!
What you quote is absolutely correct, as far as it goes, but from having read deeper, it seems that the following is true:
Original mosquito + malaria parasite = sick mosquito
ie. the malaria parasite carrying insect isn't healthy enough to compete with the immune insect. If a GM mozzie meets an uninfected original mozzie, then the playing field is equal, and neither has an advantage.
I can't tell if you simply misread the article, or you're deliberately misquoting in order to run an agenda, however I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
If Israel were attacked with a WMD? The US wouldn't have to do a thing, the entire arabian peninsula would be irradiated glass by the time the rest of the world caught up.
One thing you can be sure of, the Israelies won't be pulling punches at that point.
Does this mean all the TV screens and advertisements in Times Square have to go as well? since they might distract a pedestrian at the (in?)opportune moment? :P
The only things you missed in what was otherwise an excellent breakdown of costs, is the cost of training a replacement squaddie for the duration of the injured soldiers convalescence, and the expense of the medical staff needed (in training and time spent).
I agree with the parent totally, there is no one industry that has a monopoly of this sort of attitude, but to bring it back to the topic at hand:
Speaking as a member of this technical group, I can honestly say that there are three major groups of client. The honestly clueless, the willfully ignorant and the technically savvy.
I personally enjoy working with the honestly clueless, as they admit they don't know much, and are willing to learn the things they don't know. I don't cop abuse or arrogance from them, and we work together to solve the problem.
I also don't mind working with the technically savvy, as they often have pinpointed the problem, but don't have the access to actually fix the issue.
The willfully ignorant are the problem. They often create their own problems, and then refuse to listen to the solution. They think that they know better than the technician, which in 99% of ALL cases is simply incorrect. They are almost always abusive and condescending to technical staff, and spend much of their time not only making our lives miserable, but also putting road blocks in front of us when we try to fix things for them.
Courtesy is a two way street, and while I agree that it is lacking from the IT industry as a whole, to say that we are the only ones guilty of it is very short sighted.
actually, since I'm not American - yes, yes I do.
for the slow imobile = immobile.
One would hope they didn't use the name imobile - it puts me in mind of the old 1980's "portables" =)
Jones, Indiana Jones.
While I don't disagree with the sentiment expressed by the parent, and I subscribe to the theory of "never argue with an idiot, they'll simply drag you to their level and beat you with experience", I also think that sometimes the only way to get the message through to some people, is to be very un-subtle with your message.
You must be new here..
How about in a country like Australia. Here we have an arid center to the country. Increase the average temperature, and that arid zone spreads out further towards the coast. Combine that with slowly rising sea levels and I'm sure I don't need to explain the net result.
Mind you, I'm one of the ones that think this would all have happened eventually, and that we mere mortals have only hastened the inevitable.
Make me wish I had mod points why doncha! =)
Someone rigged a defrag and checkdisk process to run once every 12 hours? =)
Modded insightful no less =)
If earth stops orbiting the sun, it could either be defined as "dead" or "a comet". Either works for me =)
The best solution I've seen is a random, 5 pass wipe process, followed by grinding the platters into powder. Knowing the magnetic polarity on a grain of HDD platter is one thing, figuring out the alignment and positional information of it is something else entirely.
Don't forget we'd also all be force fed about 200 square meals of spam a day