This claim doesnt need backing up, its entirely obvious when you look at the orbit parameters.
Just as the sun orbits the earth, which is entirely obvious if you observe its track through the sky.
I happen to agree that it's most likely that Pluto is a captured object, but another theory out there is that Pluto formed the same as the first eight planets, but then was knocked out of a normal planetary orbit by collision with another object (like its moon).
In science, the term entirely obvious is a very bad one -- it limits the drive to seek alternate explanations, which may end up being the correct ones.
I'm not saying that the Alberta fields won't become extremely important in the long run -- but we've a long way to go before they produce anything close to the current oil production from traditional sources.
OK, apparently I'm a complete moron. A little more research shows that the oil production from these oilsands is already over half of Alberta's oil production, and is expected to be a very significant portion of North American oil production by 2012. More info here.
How about: "I promise to redirect tax revenue to the purpose of implementing whatever technology is prudent to quickly wean ourselves from foreign oil."
That's not so unpalatable, is it?
The problem is that foreign oil dependency is an abstract that most voters care very, very little about. Instead, we're focused on who gets a blowjob or who IMs a 16-year-old or who is a coward or who took a bribe for political activity.
I'm not saying that these are irrelevant issues, but issues like them garner 99% of public attention, leaving precious little room for non-immediate concerns.
As the Alberta Tar Sands become more and more viable Canada's exports will increase substantially.
Not necessarily. You assume that extraction from the oil sands is a near-instantaneous process (it's not), you assume that upscaling production from these reserves is near-instantaneous (it's not, think about the infrastructure required)), you assume that Canada and Canadian firms will choose to export more (when these massive reserves could serve them better if they hold off on exploiting them).
I'm not saying that the Alberta fields won't become extremely important in the long run -- but we've a long way to go before they produce anything close to the current oil production from traditional sources.
Of course, the odds of there being aliens, that can travel through space in a reasonable time, and stumbly upon this message is very, very, very low. about 1/Googol
Well, I was partly being sarcastic, but I wonder if the 'time capsule' will indeed capture the worst as well as the best of what the human race has to offer.
If so, I think this could be a neat project not just for the slim chance of an alien race receiving it, deciphering it, and understanding it, but also for humankind to recognize what we are. Kind of like a massive introspection that can help us transcend our violent and uncaring ways.
Oh wait, it appears that some optimism has crept into my usual cynicism, excuse me while I go watch the news for a few minutes to recover:)
After browsing through some of the pictures posted, I would hope extraterrestrial life would be more hesitant to exterminate us -- if not for anything else than curiosity.
Hiroshima, famine in post-colonial Africa, the Killing Fields, the Trail of Tears... you get where I'm going with this? Is that stuff being included?
With any foresight, they'll go Vogon on our asses.
Though, perhaps if we can get them to hold off for a bit, we'll be in better position to take advantage of their technology and separate them from their resources.
So, when was this all settled?
According to the Wikipedia article on this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_antitrust_c ase
It has not been finalized... so.. Perhaps they should be lobbying here in the states too.
Any chance they're waiting for a perhaps more favorable clime for antitrust lawsuits? Not that the upcoming midterm elections will change much in the judiciary in the short run, but there is a presidential election looming.
The make-up of the nation's courts may be significantly different 5 years from now... better to stall until conditions are better.
The question is whether or not gamers want HDTV. And you only have to look at the history of increasing PC graphics resolutions to get the answer to that.
Umm, no. That is not the conclusion to draw from the recent history of increasing resolutions -- rather, the conclusion to draw is that video game makers believe that's what gamers want.
Not to digress too far, but the reason I'm more of a console gamer now than a PC gamer is because gaming PCs are too expensive, and most of the newer games require expensive rigs to run well (or they require me to dedicate a box to gaming -- which I cannot do for space reasons). Sure, we all want more polygons and more pixels -- but I'm not willing to pay out the wazoo for those. This is why the Wii is ideal for me, and others like me.
That said, if I played my console games on a honkin' big TV, then I'd want HD -- SD looks miserable on a 60" set unless you sit 20 feet away.
On the plus side, that might convince the judge to rethink the order.
Sometimes we have to live with uncomfortable outcomes. If I get 4x as much spam to filter, and it overwhelms my system, that's my fault for not preparing adequately (and a lesson learned about depending on others, I'd say). One cannot ignore the law just because one thinks the net result of doing so is beneficial to more people -- that is why we have courts, where supposedly, laws and torts can have their day and be judged on merit.
Few people in government are willing to do what is right, rather than what is expedient -- and I hope that the judge in this case sticks to his guns. If Spamhaus failed to meet its obligations, well, we all have to live with the after-effects, and it is not the fault of the judge, but rather the fault of Spamhaus.
I sympathize with the small guy, honestly -- but Spamhaus chose to play games with the court at its own, and our, peril.
Tangentially, I think it's bad form to make a decision like this based upon potential inconvenience to the public -- it smacks too much of nannyism to me. Sometimes the welfare of the individual is more important than the welfare of the public, and until the case is decided, the alleged spammer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Gah, does this clichéd joke really have to be explained?
Since he's posting on slashdot, it's implied that he has a geek card. Since he doesn't know what a PHB is, it's understood that he must have obtained his geek card fraudulently. Hence, his geek card is being taken away because he doesn't merit one.
Yes, Microsoft designed and built that to protect us hmmhmmm.
Of course. Obviously, MS is the best provider of services. If MS gets hurt, it prevents them from protecting us. Therefore, by protecting MS, we protect ourselves. The logic is infallible, no?
Somehow i suspect the US would never bend over and take it like that
Maybe not, but apparently they have no problem giving a reacharound. If you think for one minute that the US isn't allowing passenger data to go to the EU, then you're a little naive.
The EU's concern was that the US would too freely share such information with non-terrorism-related agencies; the US has no such compunctions, and has no problem forking the information over to the EU.
However, the EU doesn't currently have as much of a centralized intel system, so the info is (from what I've read) distributed to the member states, but without a central database that can be easily scraped.
he last place he interviewed at, everybody on the team loved him but when his resume got to the VP he threw it away because he doesn't have a college degree. Threw it away. Over the objections of all the people who actually talked to him.
But he's probably better off for it. Seems to me that the VP is obviously someone who doesn't value the input of his staff, and doesn't make sure he has the best information before making a decision. Not the kind of person I'd want to work under (though I'm in that boat at the moment).
A few things I can tell you to steer clear of is Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer or Microsoft Office Power User. In my workplace, all I hear is people making fun of those certifications over and over and over again. I don't know if they are jokes but from what I hear, it's a stupid idea to pay for them.
(Emphasis mine)
Just wanted to point out that this doesn't hold true for every employer. If you enjoy working for a PHB, go ahead and get those certs. In my case, the MOPU landed me a very decent position, based on the assumption I'd be able to (1) Figure out what the hell my predecessor was doing with his spreadsheets, and (2) Teach others (like the PHB) how to be more efficient with Excel (primarily).
That said, I'd rather work somewhere that wasn't run by PHBs.
His research simply confirmed something that's been known for a long time. Vagus nerve stimulation helps with all sorts of neuromuscular conditions, including cardiac arrest -- anyone who has taken a CPR class should know this.
Another, slightly less awkward way to stimulate the vagal system is to press hard in the soft spots beneath the ears; this is how I normally cure my hiccups (2-3 bouts weekly, since I was about 20).
Never mind the fact that you can't schedule to pay the balance the same day each month -- I tried this (with a 5-day window for holidays, weekends, whatever) and Chase thoughtfully moved my due date up by 7 days, wuthout prior notice.
All my charges on that credit card are for fixed monthly amounts, so I had been just verifying the bill amount each month, knowing that my payment would go on time...
They were kind enough to waive the finance charges, but it took half an hour of my time.
which spawned the article, included in the list of prohibited items:
Fundraising for external organizations or purposes (except as required as part of your official duties under applicable statutory authority and bureau policy)
Can anyone please identify when a government agency should have employees using government equipment on government time to fundraise for external organizations? I can't think of any examples where it should be legally sanctioned and/or permissible by bureau policy.
Slashdot Mirror
I happen to agree that it's most likely that Pluto is a captured object, but another theory out there is that Pluto formed the same as the first eight planets, but then was knocked out of a normal planetary orbit by collision with another object (like its moon).
In science, the term entirely obvious is a very bad one -- it limits the drive to seek alternate explanations, which may end up being the correct ones.
Just curious, since as recent as this spring I remember the fiber funding issue rearing its ugly head yet again...
How about: "I promise to redirect tax revenue to the purpose of implementing whatever technology is prudent to quickly wean ourselves from foreign oil."
That's not so unpalatable, is it?
The problem is that foreign oil dependency is an abstract that most voters care very, very little about. Instead, we're focused on who gets a blowjob or who IMs a 16-year-old or who is a coward or who took a bribe for political activity.
I'm not saying that these are irrelevant issues, but issues like them garner 99% of public attention, leaving precious little room for non-immediate concerns.
I'm not saying that the Alberta fields won't become extremely important in the long run -- but we've a long way to go before they produce anything close to the current oil production from traditional sources.
If so, I think this could be a neat project not just for the slim chance of an alien race receiving it, deciphering it, and understanding it, but also for humankind to recognize what we are. Kind of like a massive introspection that can help us transcend our violent and uncaring ways.
Oh wait, it appears that some optimism has crept into my usual cynicism, excuse me while I go watch the news for a few minutes to recover
With any foresight, they'll go Vogon on our asses.
Though, perhaps if we can get them to hold off for a bit, we'll be in better position to take advantage of their technology and separate them from their resources.
The make-up of the nation's courts may be significantly different 5 years from now... better to stall until conditions are better.
Body thetans are actually the advance guard of He Who Lies Dead but Dreaming... something told me that John Travolta and Tom Cruise serve Cthulhu.
Not to digress too far, but the reason I'm more of a console gamer now than a PC gamer is because gaming PCs are too expensive, and most of the newer games require expensive rigs to run well (or they require me to dedicate a box to gaming -- which I cannot do for space reasons). Sure, we all want more polygons and more pixels -- but I'm not willing to pay out the wazoo for those. This is why the Wii is ideal for me, and others like me.
That said, if I played my console games on a honkin' big TV, then I'd want HD -- SD looks miserable on a 60" set unless you sit 20 feet away.
Few people in government are willing to do what is right, rather than what is expedient -- and I hope that the judge in this case sticks to his guns. If Spamhaus failed to meet its obligations, well, we all have to live with the after-effects, and it is not the fault of the judge, but rather the fault of Spamhaus.
I sympathize with the small guy, honestly -- but Spamhaus chose to play games with the court at its own, and our, peril.
Tangentially, I think it's bad form to make a decision like this based upon potential inconvenience to the public -- it smacks too much of nannyism to me. Sometimes the welfare of the individual is more important than the welfare of the public, and until the case is decided, the alleged spammer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
The title of the article is "The Holy Grails of Console Collecting", not "The Holy Grails of Hard-to-Find but yet Still Fun-to-Play Old Games".
Besides, we've already got one. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.
Gah, does this clichéd joke really have to be explained?
Since he's posting on slashdot, it's implied that he has a geek card. Since he doesn't know what a PHB is, it's understood that he must have obtained his geek card fraudulently. Hence, his geek card is being taken away because he doesn't merit one.
I think technically, they hatch *when* they hit the ground.
The EU's concern was that the US would too freely share such information with non-terrorism-related agencies; the US has no such compunctions, and has no problem forking the information over to the EU.
However, the EU doesn't currently have as much of a centralized intel system, so the info is (from what I've read) distributed to the member states, but without a central database that can be easily scraped.
PHB is Pointy-haired Boss.
Now please hand in your geek card.
Just wanted to point out that this doesn't hold true for every employer. If you enjoy working for a PHB, go ahead and get those certs. In my case, the MOPU landed me a very decent position, based on the assumption I'd be able to
(1) Figure out what the hell my predecessor was doing with his spreadsheets, and
(2) Teach others (like the PHB) how to be more efficient with Excel (primarily).
That said, I'd rather work somewhere that wasn't run by PHBs.
Sleep apnea + foreign objects lodged in bodily openings --> Bad happenings.
It was intended as a joke (albeit it was before my 2nd coffee, so not very funny).
Sheesh. When did all widely-believed falsehoods become urban legends, instead of just plain old legends, myths, etc?
His research simply confirmed something that's been known for a long time. Vagus nerve stimulation helps with all sorts of neuromuscular conditions, including cardiac arrest -- anyone who has taken a CPR class should know this.
Another, slightly less awkward way to stimulate the vagal system is to press hard in the soft spots beneath the ears; this is how I normally cure my hiccups (2-3 bouts weekly, since I was about 20).
Never mind the fact that you can't schedule to pay the balance the same day each month -- I tried this (with a 5-day window for holidays, weekends, whatever) and Chase thoughtfully moved my due date up by 7 days, wuthout prior notice.
All my charges on that credit card are for fixed monthly amounts, so I had been just verifying the bill amount each month, knowing that my payment would go on time...
They were kind enough to waive the finance charges, but it took half an hour of my time.
Can anyone please identify when a government agency should have employees using government equipment on government time to fundraise for external organizations? I can't think of any examples where it should be legally sanctioned and/or permissible by bureau policy.