It's good that the government is stepping in. It saves me the trouble of making even the slight parenting effort of telling my kid "No." It's the best thing to happen to parenting since Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic babysitter.
They call up and say they can't find button X, and you show them where it is now, and they write it down on a post-it and stick it to the monitor along with the 20 others.
Yeah, try fielding a few hundred of those calls, every 5 minutes. Then start updating your resume, because your boss (who has been making many of those calls himself) is about to call you into his office and let you know what he thinks of your brilliant new security plan to install Linux on everyone's computer.
This is, after all a Chinese city redirecting search traffic away from Google. Hardly surprising, considering the recent lack of love between the Chinese government and Google (even though Hong Kong is *supposedly* exempt from much of China's more repressive policies)
Pressure is the ONE big problem of colonizing the sea. Colonizing space has *hundreds* of problems, pressure being just one of them (and a minor one at that). The biggest problem of colonizing space is resources. You make the presumption that there are sufficient resources out there to even build an infrastructure in any practical manner, but that's FAR from clear. And even if there were large quantities of water out there somewhere, and it was practical to mine it, and we had a way to convert it efficiently into oxygen; we would still need some pretty revolutionary advances in propulsion technology (and efficiency) just to GET to it.
If you really want to explore space, your money would be MUCH better invested in developing new propulsion technology down here on earth than in sending up more shuttles and useless ISS missions. Until we have a way to travel a *lot* faster and a *lot* more efficiently, we're just throwing away our money in space.
They looked the other way because so many big name companies (and individuals, for that matter) have made it a habit now to exploit either illegal or H-1B labor. Everyone knows exactly how to end illegal immigration. You don't need to build a fence. You don't need "papers please," or minutemen, or more border guards. If the federal government wanted to end illegal immigration, all they would have to do is start hitting the companies and individuals that HIRE these illegals with real jail time. Once the companies got the message and the jobs dried up, the illegals would stop coming, end of story.
Most illegals are people trying to feed their families with tempting American jobs. They're not going to stop coming as long as the jobs are here. Do you think a few new border guards is going to stop a guy whose family is counting on him? Do you think some new petty enforcement measures are going to deter them? No, the only way to end this is by removing their incentive at the root. All these new laws are doing is punishing desperate people (who are only doing what any of us would do in similar circumstances). The law should be punishing the people who EXPLOIT them (at the expense of the legal job market). Don't drag Juan the desperate family man off to jail, drag Jim the cheap-ass farmer off to jail.
Except the first sale doctrine has alwasy been considered sacrosanct part of the law in the U.S., especially for tangible goods. If I want to sell my used car, I shouldn't have to check in with GM first to see what price they'll let me sell it at, or to whom I may sell it.
That was just so much NASA PR (about the only thing they do well anymore). NASA has always regarded the ISS as their exclusive territory. Remember how pissy they got when the Russians wanted to bring up a tourist (just because they realized it would give the Russians another "first" in space)?
Don't bother. Way too many/.ers have been raised on science fiction bullshit to ever really contemplate the scale involved or the challenges involved (or impracticality of) actual space colonization. It doesn't do any good to point out that it would be MUCH easier to build a sustainable colony at the bottom of the deepest ocean on earth than to build one anywhere out in the black.
Barring some amazing discoveries, it's pretty unlikely that any other body in our solar system could ever support even a small colony for any length of time without massive imports of resources from earth. It's a nice dream, but a dream is all it will remain. Our course true believers always fire back with the "But what if an big asteroid is heading for earth?" scenario. But unless the asteroid in question is going to reduce earth to dust (and that's a BIG asteroid indeed), it's still going to be a lot easier to survive here than anywhere out there.
Just tack on a parody of Henley on at the end. Considering his legendary ego and penchant for self-serving aggrandizing, it should be like shooting an overrated fish in a barrel of more talented fish.
If I were the cops, I'd be WAY more interested in why a guy was hiding $100,000 in cash in a suitcase in his house than in the people who happened to buy said suitcase when his wife tossed it. I would think the Australian equivalent of the IRS would be interested in that question too.
In the 60's the hippies told us overpopulation would kill us. Then in the 70's it was global cooling. Then in the 80's it was the hole in the ozone layer (which is what prompted us to pass that damn clean air act and get rid of those aerosols in the first place). Now it's global warming. And they wonder why some of us are so skeptical.
China could just bomb the shit out of us with their Air Force, or nuke the shit out of us with their ICBM's (both much easier and effective than any mere conventional cruise missile attack). And Iran could already be giving terrorists a lot more powerful stuff than they are, but they know better than to provoke an all-out war with the U.S. And Afghanistan is too poor to afford any large scale weapons system.
Again, this whole thing is much ado about nothing.
Iran has always held back. They may go to the brink, but they know if they ever cross the line they're toast. Why? Because wiping out the country would be as easy as bombing their oil fields, blockading the Persian Gulf, and just waiting for them to surrender.
And I want to see a terrorist group that can afford 126 of these systems (not to mention the ship and trained personnel to actually operate the system), or a government that would go to that much effort just to take down a ship when conventional aircraft strikes would be much more efficient and effective.
Seriously, this is much ado about nothing. There are a multitude of powerful weapons that are way more portable than this (like Stringer missiles) that terrorists could potentially use but never have (unless you count the time we GAVE them Stingers). Even Iran isn't stupid enough to give these yahoos their top-grade stuff.
As long as his shareholders are okay with him treating the company as a means of indulging his "Girls Gone Wild" fantasies, instead of treating it as a serious business, I suppose that's their prerogative. Personally, I would be embarrassed by the whole thing.
Slashdot Mirror
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
It's good that the government is stepping in. It saves me the trouble of making even the slight parenting effort of telling my kid "No." It's the best thing to happen to parenting since Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic babysitter.
But every time the Ralph Nader action figure enters the bag, he just spoils the food.
Yeah, try fielding a few hundred of those calls, every 5 minutes. Then start updating your resume, because your boss (who has been making many of those calls himself) is about to call you into his office and let you know what he thinks of your brilliant new security plan to install Linux on everyone's computer.
This is, after all a Chinese city redirecting search traffic away from Google. Hardly surprising, considering the recent lack of love between the Chinese government and Google (even though Hong Kong is *supposedly* exempt from much of China's more repressive policies)
Pressure is the ONE big problem of colonizing the sea. Colonizing space has *hundreds* of problems, pressure being just one of them (and a minor one at that). The biggest problem of colonizing space is resources. You make the presumption that there are sufficient resources out there to even build an infrastructure in any practical manner, but that's FAR from clear. And even if there were large quantities of water out there somewhere, and it was practical to mine it, and we had a way to convert it efficiently into oxygen; we would still need some pretty revolutionary advances in propulsion technology (and efficiency) just to GET to it.
If you really want to explore space, your money would be MUCH better invested in developing new propulsion technology down here on earth than in sending up more shuttles and useless ISS missions. Until we have a way to travel a *lot* faster and a *lot* more efficiently, we're just throwing away our money in space.
They looked the other way because so many big name companies (and individuals, for that matter) have made it a habit now to exploit either illegal or H-1B labor. Everyone knows exactly how to end illegal immigration. You don't need to build a fence. You don't need "papers please," or minutemen, or more border guards. If the federal government wanted to end illegal immigration, all they would have to do is start hitting the companies and individuals that HIRE these illegals with real jail time. Once the companies got the message and the jobs dried up, the illegals would stop coming, end of story.
Most illegals are people trying to feed their families with tempting American jobs. They're not going to stop coming as long as the jobs are here. Do you think a few new border guards is going to stop a guy whose family is counting on him? Do you think some new petty enforcement measures are going to deter them? No, the only way to end this is by removing their incentive at the root. All these new laws are doing is punishing desperate people (who are only doing what any of us would do in similar circumstances). The law should be punishing the people who EXPLOIT them (at the expense of the legal job market). Don't drag Juan the desperate family man off to jail, drag Jim the cheap-ass farmer off to jail.
Except the first sale doctrine has alwasy been considered sacrosanct part of the law in the U.S., especially for tangible goods. If I want to sell my used car, I shouldn't have to check in with GM first to see what price they'll let me sell it at, or to whom I may sell it.
That was just so much NASA PR (about the only thing they do well anymore). NASA has always regarded the ISS as their exclusive territory. Remember how pissy they got when the Russians wanted to bring up a tourist (just because they realized it would give the Russians another "first" in space)?
Don't bother. Way too many /.ers have been raised on science fiction bullshit to ever really contemplate the scale involved or the challenges involved (or impracticality of) actual space colonization. It doesn't do any good to point out that it would be MUCH easier to build a sustainable colony at the bottom of the deepest ocean on earth than to build one anywhere out in the black.
Barring some amazing discoveries, it's pretty unlikely that any other body in our solar system could ever support even a small colony for any length of time without massive imports of resources from earth. It's a nice dream, but a dream is all it will remain. Our course true believers always fire back with the "But what if an big asteroid is heading for earth?" scenario. But unless the asteroid in question is going to reduce earth to dust (and that's a BIG asteroid indeed), it's still going to be a lot easier to survive here than anywhere out there.
However, a manned mission could in fact visit Venus...briefly.
Just give them banana's when they stop. Karl Pilkington says it works.
Just tack on a parody of Henley on at the end. Considering his legendary ego and penchant for self-serving aggrandizing, it should be like shooting an overrated fish in a barrel of more talented fish.
It worked for me when I was renting out a room.
If I were the cops, I'd be WAY more interested in why a guy was hiding $100,000 in cash in a suitcase in his house than in the people who happened to buy said suitcase when his wife tossed it. I would think the Australian equivalent of the IRS would be interested in that question too.
Without their oil fields, China and Russia wouldn't give a rat's ass about Iran.
Plus, as a narcissistic former beauty queen, she already has a great deal of expertise with mirrors.
Mars has an atmosophere that would presumably get in the way and dirty up the mirrors over a short time period.
Are you saying all out previous ice ages and warmings are just myths?
In the 60's the hippies told us overpopulation would kill us. Then in the 70's it was global cooling. Then in the 80's it was the hole in the ozone layer (which is what prompted us to pass that damn clean air act and get rid of those aerosols in the first place). Now it's global warming. And they wonder why some of us are so skeptical.
China could just bomb the shit out of us with their Air Force, or nuke the shit out of us with their ICBM's (both much easier and effective than any mere conventional cruise missile attack). And Iran could already be giving terrorists a lot more powerful stuff than they are, but they know better than to provoke an all-out war with the U.S. And Afghanistan is too poor to afford any large scale weapons system.
Again, this whole thing is much ado about nothing.
Iran has always held back. They may go to the brink, but they know if they ever cross the line they're toast. Why? Because wiping out the country would be as easy as bombing their oil fields, blockading the Persian Gulf, and just waiting for them to surrender.
And I want to see a terrorist group that can afford 126 of these systems (not to mention the ship and trained personnel to actually operate the system), or a government that would go to that much effort just to take down a ship when conventional aircraft strikes would be much more efficient and effective.
Seriously, this is much ado about nothing. There are a multitude of powerful weapons that are way more portable than this (like Stringer missiles) that terrorists could potentially use but never have (unless you count the time we GAVE them Stingers). Even Iran isn't stupid enough to give these yahoos their top-grade stuff.
Well, guess I'll have to cancel my Carnival Iranian Fun Cruise this year.
As long as his shareholders are okay with him treating the company as a means of indulging his "Girls Gone Wild" fantasies, instead of treating it as a serious business, I suppose that's their prerogative. Personally, I would be embarrassed by the whole thing.