There needs to be a balance between inbreeding and infusion of outside genes.
In a closed population, cousin breeding is "less bad" than sibling breeding, but in the long run it will also result in higher incidence of genetic disease.
Also please note that major birth defects are selected against pretty agressively. Over time, in a big enough population, the culling effect tends to limit their prevalence. Other genetic diseases may be selected against less aggressively, in which case cousin-breeding will, in the long term, result in much higher incidence.
*Note -- I bred sheep for a couple decades. Yes, I allowed cousin-breeding from good stock. And the controlled breeding of livestock doesn't compare well to what would happen in a wild population (of humans or of animals). But any livestock breeder will confirm that cousin-breeding needs to be limited in any stock bloodline that has a history of congenital disease.
Evolution is defined as natural selection of random mutations.
No it's not.
Please, please stop spreading this falsehood.
The process of evolution is independent of the source of the genetic variation. It doesn't matter if the variation is due to "random" sources like cosmic rays, radiation exposure, etc, or from things like retroviral disease.
for that matter, it doesn't matter what the selection process is ("natural" selection via reproductive success (which includes survival as a factor) or artificial selection via the method in TFA).
The only things that define evolution are genetic variation and selective reproductive.
So please, before you jump all over the "it has to be random mutation" business, stop and think.
Inductively scaling procreation rights up can easily lead us to a tall, trim, blue eyed, blond haired, heap of flu-ridden corpses. The very fact that this clinic offered such frivolities as eye and hair colour screening shows that this is exactly what will happen if we replace proven randomness with such vapid heuristics.
Random != Variation. We need to preserve variation, but it need not be random.
Maybe it's a semantics issue, but I cringe every time someone says that evolution is based on random mutations. It's not. It's based on expressed genetic variation of any source.
It's very important to note that the death statistics are misleading.
Because of the enormous attention paid to this flu variant, the level of medical care has been much higher than normal. Furthermore, the season may reduce casualties due to reduced incidence of secondary infections, etc.
Because the casualty level is in line with "normal" flue variants, but mitigating factors mentioned above are present, it's very likely that this strain *is* deadlier than the typical strains.
Furthermore, for countries with lower standards of medical care, or other factors that increase severity (like poor nutrition and sanitary conditions, for example), this strain could have disastrous impact -- especially if it is spreading like wildfire come winter in the northern hemisphere.
In short -- yes, the media has whipped up a frenzy. But, prevention of infection is still a worthy goal, and *some* extra attention is probably a good thing.
Sorry to post two responses, but I forgot another significant issue.
A lot of countries require incoming travelers to answer some questions about their health, to help prevent the spread of disease. Not sure if the country in question is currently doing this, but I suspect they are.
So you won't be allowed to board the plane unless you answer "no" when asked if you've had any symptoms of illness.
So the fact that they took a fever-reducer means they knew they were ill; the fact that they answered no to the question means they knew they weren't supposed to travel while ill; so the the conclusion is that they took the antipyretic partly to avoid detection.
Assuming, of course, that the country in question requires incoming travelers to answer the questions about illness.
Anecdotal, of course... but a coworker of mine flew to China last week and took tylenol and cough medicine specifically to reduce the chance that he'd exhibit symptoms that could be mistaken for the flu. His travel agent suggested he do this, since if one person on the plane exhibited flu symptoms, all the passengers would have been quarantined for 7 days.
Asian countries (like South Korea and China) are primed to respond quickly and strongly to pandemic threats, due to their recent experience with the avian flu.
Another coworker of mine was supposed to fly to China to visit family this summer... her friends and family have told her that they won't see her if she goes, since there are confirmed cases of H1N1 Mexican flu in our area. So she's putting off the trip until the vaccine is available.
The goal of these must be to program people to get used to ridiculous measures for their "security."
Or, you know, to prevent a pandemic flu from becoming established inside your borders, thus saving potenitally thousands of lives and countless hours of productivity.
Seriously. The fact that people can be incubating the virus while not presenting symptoms does not mean that identifying those who ARE symptomatic is useless. Identifying people who potentially have the disease, and quarantining them, is one of the most important and effective ways to prevent the spread of communicable disease.
Especially since a vaccine is on the way, the goal right now for any country is to prevent penetration of H1N1 Mexican flu through their borders until the vaccine is widely available.
You may think it's security theater... but then again, we can all be glad you're not the one making the decisions relating to national health concerns on this.
And, FWIW, regarding carrying a virus asymptomatically... almost all viral diseases have predictable incubation times. This is what makes quarantine effective. For example, if you travel to China right now, and someone on your plane has flu-like symptoms, you get quarantined for seven days (several days longer than the incubation time of H1N Mexican flu). So by the end of quarantine, you're either symptomatic, or cleared as not infected.
I'm rambling a bit here, but... the threat of pandemic is real, and fever scanners are a useful tool in helping prevent the spread of the disease. Sure, they're not 100% effective... but for an exponential expansion of victims, a small decrease in vector individuals can drastically reduce the number of people affected before a vaccine is readily available.
Any who participate or who knows someone who participates are sinners and will go straight to the Pit upon death, to live an eternal existence in utmost torture. Is it worth it?
Why yes, yes it is.
What do I care if my eternal existence after I shuffle off this mortal coil is in utmost torture? Once I die, my existence points to a null reference.
Which reminds me, I've got to talk to someone about the awful garbage collection on this planet.
It's when fertility clinics start to offer to change the hair or eye color (or other traits) of a baby to be.
That's what bugs you? Because that's what they are doing... except much less efficiently. The clinic will create, say, a dozen embryos, and then test each of them -- the ones with the undesirable traits are then offed, and the good ones implanted. Sure, it reeks of eugenics more than a little bit.
But I think it's a little odd that you don't mind the eugenics, but you do mind the efficient process to make the eugenics work.
As a resident of NJ, I've read a lot on this issue.
And here's the thing... as a progressive, it does not bother me that the wealthy states help poor states. If I were a "conservative", it would piss me off to no end.
But the conservatives who live in red states but decry programs that benefit the poor at the expense of the wealthy? Hypocrites. If they had a taste of their own medicine, they might be singing a different song.
It's like the ultra-conservative mormons and other groups who live of the federal teat (IOW, the teats of wealthy states) but justify it because they are "bleeding the beast".
Anyway, didn't have much to add, just that the hypocracy of many on the right is really infuriating.
Yea, it has everything to do with loss of jobs and the auto industry. Let me keep it simple enough someone with a government schooling should be able to follow along. Democrats destroy jobs. The greater thier majorities and the longer the time they hold it the worse the damage. Go plot the demographic trendlines yourself if you don't believe me. The Bluer the state and longer it has been blue the more seats it has lost in the last couple of Census reallocations. The Red states have been picking up seats. People are voting with their feet.
Did you mistakenly confuse correlation with causation?
You know why the red states are growing in population? Maybe this link will be of assistance. If you don't feel like checking the statistics yourself, that's fine... but the birth rate in red states is far higher than in blue states. And this also correlates with education level and with economic status. The highest birthrates are observed in the lowest quintile of income. And the red states have a disproportionate share of households in the lowest (and second-lowest) quintile.
So, please, tell me that you didn't overlook this basic fact, and that you have a citation for disproportionate population growth in red states being due to migration due to economic factors (particularly due to job loss). Because I'd love to see it.
Yes, unemployment is higher in blue states, by and large, than red states. But the previous decade saw a lot of migration to the blue states, due to better employment situations than in red states. So I really wonder if you're extrapolating the current readjustment to apply as a generality. Especially since the nature of employment in the blue states make employment in those states more susceptible to economic downturns.
I have a warpship, and the design doesn't need to rely on
our current knowledge of spacetime and superstring theory to arrive at this futuristic concept
Instead, the design relies upon our future knowledge of spacetime and superstring[1] theory. That's the nice thing about it... warping space time in a bubble around the ship can result not only in FTL travel, but also time travel. So why should I constrain myself to the currently available theory?
[1] Also a little bit of sillystring theory, but it gets messy at that point, so I won't go into details.
I've done my homework, while you apparently have just heard what you wanted to hear, without actually reading any of the facts.
The link you provided? Guess what -- it doesn't refer to small companies at all. It refers to large companies.
As a matter of fact, the cost of SOx compliance for smaller public companies (less than $75 mil in revenues) is less than $80,000 per year -- far less than 1% on average. If $80,000 a year is driving your public company out of business... well... you've got bigger problems.
So, douchebag, before you are so quick to call someone a lazy smug ass, why don't you do your homework and actually look into the costs. Get up off your lazy smug ass and bother to research your mistaken assertions before you make them, next time.
You're flat-out wrong about the impact of SOx on small companies... and to be nice, rather than point out how wrong you were, I chose instead to write "[citation needed]" to give you the opportunity to defend your written words, or restate your assertion if needed. Instead, you reacted by spewing a bunch of completely misplaced insults, while linking to an article that doesn't support your argument at all. So besides being an asshole, I find that you are either lazy (didn't bother to read your supposed citation), dishonest (read it but felt like making an entirely different claim), or just plain stupid. Based upon your vitriolic hyper-defensive reaction, I'm inclined to believe the third possibility is the most accurate.
It's difficult to argue against something that, so far, seems to work.
Is that a challenge?
The NSA has overstepped its bounds far too often (with or without the complicity of the AG's office or the Executive's office) that there is no justification for them to be assigned more capabilities. "Cyberdefense" or whatever you want to call it is two small letters away from "cyberoffense". And given the track record, it'd be only a matter of time before those capabilities were used against American citizens without proper oversight.
Just because a tool works doesn't mean it should be used. For example, my chainsaw has proven very capable of cutting down trees. I'm sure it would be just as capable of preventing people from trespassing, if I just used those very effective parts to cut people's legs off.
See, it's relatively easy to argue against, especially with ridiculous metaphors. But it's important to note that the NSA operates under so much secrecy that lack of proper oversight is a recurring problem. I do not think that the existing agency should be handed such a mandate without extensive reorganization to reduce secrecy and increase judicial and legislative oversight. And if that is the case, why not assign a different agency to the matter? If there are resources in the NSA (individuals or even departments) that are truly so effective, transfer them to the other agency.
I read that headline, and my first question was: WTF? NSA III? What happened to NSA I and II? As a matter of fact, I never even heard about NSA II -- that must be some super-secret black ops org.
And then my second questions was: WTF? Why is NSA II wearing a suit? Is it even possible for a TLA to wear a suit? Or does "suited" mean someone brought a lawsuit against them, in which case the corollary query is "Who would sue to grant *additional* powers to a TLA?
And then my third question was: Why am I using such a stupid default font that capital I looks like lowercase l? But then I realized that it's slashdot that specifies the headline font on the main page, and it's not really my fault at all, and can someone please call the Waaahmbulance?
Which leads me to my fourth question, which is: Why am I responding to a piss-poor FP attempt? And what does that say about the quality of my life on a Friday afternoon?
Unfortunately, the moderation on the Googol the Destroyer posts tends to fluctuate.
The posts are too long, which hurts -- brevity is the soul of wit.
Also, the Apple fanboys don't like the satirization of Jobs AND they tend to have a lot of mod points, the Google fanboys don't like the anthropomorphic satirization of Google, and both the Microsoft fanboys have issues with the satirization of Gates.
It's like an exercise in how to piss off the most people and still end up with positive moderation.
I just have to be careful that I don't piss off the slashdot editors, They of Infinite Mod Points. Though they tend to have a light touch... maybe I should consider who the editor-on-duty is when I make these posts...
I hate the disney cult... (Score:2)
by t0qer (230538)
I misread your nick as t0ger, which I assumed was a "leet" form of Tigger.
And I got very confused.
But then I realized you probably call hats silly names like "toque" because you're Canadian, and all came clear to me.
OTOH, I really don't think Disney is tentacle-raping our society. I just thing they are very effective at industrializing the distillation of cash from fools.
So anything hitting the ground will be 1) not glowing (the glowing part is long over) and 2) not hot (in fact, it should be covered in frost).
Well, the "meteorite" was magnetic, which implies either a high iron content or a high nickel content. Either one is shiny. Surely the sun reflecting off the "meteorite" could explain the "streak of light".
Seriousoy, though... can you please do the calculation that proves for a meteor of some diameter N, and some density M, it is impossible for the meteor to enter the atmosphere at some speed O, at an angle P, that would result in the meteorite not being cool to the touch at elevation Q? Please account for atmospheric and local weather conditions. Or, you could link to a source with the required info.
See, here's the thing... most meteors enter the atmosphere obliquely, which results in a long path of travel before touchdown (if they don't burn up completely). But just assume that it's possible for a meteor to not hit obliquiely (and factoring in rotation, etc)... surely it is possible for a meteor of sufficient density and size to be traveling at higher than terminal velocity, and above normal temperature, when it hits the surface (or a teen standing on the surface).
I think you're overlooking the impact of this as a challenge to Oracle and other DB providers.
It's not just marketing. This will revolutionize how DB services are provided. For one thing, now all your data is belong to Google (but that's a small price to pay for free/low cost data hosting, right?). For another thing, this DB exists in four dimensions. Unfortunately, one of those dimensions is the home of Googol the Destroyer, who has been summoned to our dimension to wreak the End of Days via the Rite of a Thousand Targeted Ads. Development of this DB was actually how Googol the Destroyer was accidentally summoned to our dimension; following his summoning, he quickly turned all of Google to his cause.
When last we saw our heroes, they were continuing work on their plan to convert all the world's sorcerors to their cause, building the One True OS with Built-in Global Web Search to stop Googol. We learned the source of Stallmanx's power were the beard gnomes that live in his Beard of Druidic Prowess when they helped him escape from Googol's clutches.
Meanwhile, Googol's crack team of evil underlords continue their preparation of preventative solutions to all the possible ways the world can be saved (probalby stored in this new 4-dimensional DB, by the way). Googol the Destroyer continues to devour data gathered by the Webcrawling Spiders of Doom with gobsmacking satisfaction.
So what are our heroes, Joba and Gatus, up to?
JOBA: Gatus, how are you fairing in your quest to buy out all the greedy sorcerors?
I did well for a while, and I've still got cash left thanks to issuing those bonds last month... but it seems that the remaining sorcerors are resisting the charms of my cold, hard cash. For some reason they are not responding to my efforts to Embrace and Extend them.
JOBA: Perhaps you should rethink your pitch. I'm good at marketing, let me help. For instance, maybe the "Extend" part of your methods should not involve use of the Rack. Maybe a new slogan, like "Embrace and Embrace". Then it's just hugs all around.
GATUS: Perhaps you have a point. But I think that's a little extreme. How about "Embrace and Exsanguinate"? I could use an Iron Maiden to drain their blood, surely that's not as bad as Extending them on the Rack?
JOBA: No, no, that doesn't work at all. Trust me... "Embrace and Embrace" is the best way for all the sorcerors to come to appreciate your strengths. And who knows, you might like it. [wink]
GATUS: Very well. But how goes your plans to subvert the Ministers of Fashion to get th low-self-esteem sorcerors to come to your side?
JOBA: Splendidly. Though there is some backlash from the sorcerors who want "open" hardware or somesuch. Apparently they are incapble of appreciating the "experience" I deliver. We'll have to work on them.
Meanwhile, Googol instructs his acolytes in the finer points of using his 4-dimensional database to represent n-dimensional space, where n equals the number of souls fed to the Targeted Advertising Machine of Futile Resistance. This information is to be used by them in a nefarious plot to neutralize the efforts of our heroes. Coinciding with this, Googol has instructed his crack team of evil underlords to collect the threads of the Ultimate Evil Woven Tapestry of Universe Description, known as "Dark Fibers", in one place.
What is Googol the Destroyer planning with the Dark Fibers? How will He utilize the Evil Woven Tapestry of Universe Description in his bid to wreak the End of Days?
Will Gatus and Joba be able to complete the One True OS with Built-in Global Web Search in time?
Tune in to next week's episode of Google the Destroyer to find out!
That's just because among certain people, "entitlements" is a codeword for "welfare" and "affirmative action", which has its own set of negative connotations among those people.
Better to call it something else entirely that is not overly burdened by connotations.
Slashdot Mirror
There needs to be a balance between inbreeding and infusion of outside genes.
In a closed population, cousin breeding is "less bad" than sibling breeding, but in the long run it will also result in higher incidence of genetic disease.
Also please note that major birth defects are selected against pretty agressively. Over time, in a big enough population, the culling effect tends to limit their prevalence. Other genetic diseases may be selected against less aggressively, in which case cousin-breeding will, in the long term, result in much higher incidence.
*Note -- I bred sheep for a couple decades. Yes, I allowed cousin-breeding from good stock. And the controlled breeding of livestock doesn't compare well to what would happen in a wild population (of humans or of animals). But any livestock breeder will confirm that cousin-breeding needs to be limited in any stock bloodline that has a history of congenital disease.
No it's not.
Please, please stop spreading this falsehood.
The process of evolution is independent of the source of the genetic variation. It doesn't matter if the variation is due to "random" sources like cosmic rays, radiation exposure, etc, or from things like retroviral disease.
for that matter, it doesn't matter what the selection process is ("natural" selection via reproductive success (which includes survival as a factor) or artificial selection via the method in TFA).
The only things that define evolution are genetic variation and selective reproductive.
So please, before you jump all over the "it has to be random mutation" business, stop and think.
Random != Variation. We need to preserve variation, but it need not be random.
Maybe it's a semantics issue, but I cringe every time someone says that evolution is based on random mutations. It's not. It's based on expressed genetic variation of any source.
It's very important to note that the death statistics are misleading.
Because of the enormous attention paid to this flu variant, the level of medical care has been much higher than normal. Furthermore, the season may reduce casualties due to reduced incidence of secondary infections, etc.
Because the casualty level is in line with "normal" flue variants, but mitigating factors mentioned above are present, it's very likely that this strain *is* deadlier than the typical strains.
Furthermore, for countries with lower standards of medical care, or other factors that increase severity (like poor nutrition and sanitary conditions, for example), this strain could have disastrous impact -- especially if it is spreading like wildfire come winter in the northern hemisphere.
In short -- yes, the media has whipped up a frenzy. But, prevention of infection is still a worthy goal, and *some* extra attention is probably a good thing.
Sorry to post two responses, but I forgot another significant issue.
A lot of countries require incoming travelers to answer some questions about their health, to help prevent the spread of disease. Not sure if the country in question is currently doing this, but I suspect they are.
So you won't be allowed to board the plane unless you answer "no" when asked if you've had any symptoms of illness.
So the fact that they took a fever-reducer means they knew they were ill; the fact that they answered no to the question means they knew they weren't supposed to travel while ill; so the the conclusion is that they took the antipyretic partly to avoid detection.
Assuming, of course, that the country in question requires incoming travelers to answer the questions about illness.
Anecdotal, of course... but a coworker of mine flew to China last week and took tylenol and cough medicine specifically to reduce the chance that he'd exhibit symptoms that could be mistaken for the flu. His travel agent suggested he do this, since if one person on the plane exhibited flu symptoms, all the passengers would have been quarantined for 7 days.
Asian countries (like South Korea and China) are primed to respond quickly and strongly to pandemic threats, due to their recent experience with the avian flu.
Another coworker of mine was supposed to fly to China to visit family this summer... her friends and family have told her that they won't see her if she goes, since there are confirmed cases of H1N1 Mexican flu in our area. So she's putting off the trip until the vaccine is available.
Or, you know, to prevent a pandemic flu from becoming established inside your borders, thus saving potenitally thousands of lives and countless hours of productivity.
Seriously. The fact that people can be incubating the virus while not presenting symptoms does not mean that identifying those who ARE symptomatic is useless. Identifying people who potentially have the disease, and quarantining them, is one of the most important and effective ways to prevent the spread of communicable disease.
Especially since a vaccine is on the way, the goal right now for any country is to prevent penetration of H1N1 Mexican flu through their borders until the vaccine is widely available.
You may think it's security theater... but then again, we can all be glad you're not the one making the decisions relating to national health concerns on this.
And, FWIW, regarding carrying a virus asymptomatically... almost all viral diseases have predictable incubation times. This is what makes quarantine effective. For example, if you travel to China right now, and someone on your plane has flu-like symptoms, you get quarantined for seven days (several days longer than the incubation time of H1N Mexican flu). So by the end of quarantine, you're either symptomatic, or cleared as not infected.
I'm rambling a bit here, but... the threat of pandemic is real, and fever scanners are a useful tool in helping prevent the spread of the disease. Sure, they're not 100% effective... but for an exponential expansion of victims, a small decrease in vector individuals can drastically reduce the number of people affected before a vaccine is readily available.
Yes. Yes you can.
2 cm diameter nylon rope will rarely break under normal fishing use.
What... you wanted to be able to *catch* something with it?
Blah blah blah, we're in a financial crisis, yada yada yada.
I'm sick of the Chicken Littles bemoaning any public spending because of this "financial crisis".
If the sky is falling because of this financial crisis, having NASA research stuff up in the sky is a good idea, I say.
Why yes, yes it is.
What do I care if my eternal existence after I shuffle off this mortal coil is in utmost torture? Once I die, my existence points to a null reference.
Which reminds me, I've got to talk to someone about the awful garbage collection on this planet.
That's what bugs you? Because that's what they are doing... except much less efficiently. The clinic will create, say, a dozen embryos, and then test each of them -- the ones with the undesirable traits are then offed, and the good ones implanted. Sure, it reeks of eugenics more than a little bit.
But I think it's a little odd that you don't mind the eugenics, but you do mind the efficient process to make the eugenics work.
As a resident of NJ, I've read a lot on this issue.
And here's the thing... as a progressive, it does not bother me that the wealthy states help poor states. If I were a "conservative", it would piss me off to no end.
But the conservatives who live in red states but decry programs that benefit the poor at the expense of the wealthy? Hypocrites. If they had a taste of their own medicine, they might be singing a different song.
It's like the ultra-conservative mormons and other groups who live of the federal teat (IOW, the teats of wealthy states) but justify it because they are "bleeding the beast".
Anyway, didn't have much to add, just that the hypocracy of many on the right is really infuriating.
Did you mistakenly confuse correlation with causation?
You know why the red states are growing in population? Maybe this link will be of assistance. If you don't feel like checking the statistics yourself, that's fine... but the birth rate in red states is far higher than in blue states. And this also correlates with education level and with economic status. The highest birthrates are observed in the lowest quintile of income. And the red states have a disproportionate share of households in the lowest (and second-lowest) quintile.
So, please, tell me that you didn't overlook this basic fact, and that you have a citation for disproportionate population growth in red states being due to migration due to economic factors (particularly due to job loss). Because I'd love to see it.
Yes, unemployment is higher in blue states, by and large, than red states. But the previous decade saw a lot of migration to the blue states, due to better employment situations than in red states. So I really wonder if you're extrapolating the current readjustment to apply as a generality. Especially since the nature of employment in the blue states make employment in those states more susceptible to economic downturns.
Instead, the design relies upon our future knowledge of spacetime and superstring[1] theory. That's the nice thing about it... warping space time in a bubble around the ship can result not only in FTL travel, but also time travel. So why should I constrain myself to the currently available theory?
[1] Also a little bit of sillystring theory, but it gets messy at that point, so I won't go into details.
I paid attention, you twit.
I've done my homework, while you apparently have just heard what you wanted to hear, without actually reading any of the facts.
The link you provided? Guess what -- it doesn't refer to small companies at all. It refers to large companies.
As a matter of fact, the cost of SOx compliance for smaller public companies (less than $75 mil in revenues) is less than $80,000 per year -- far less than 1% on average. If $80,000 a year is driving your public company out of business... well... you've got bigger problems.
So, douchebag, before you are so quick to call someone a lazy smug ass, why don't you do your homework and actually look into the costs. Get up off your lazy smug ass and bother to research your mistaken assertions before you make them, next time.
You're flat-out wrong about the impact of SOx on small companies... and to be nice, rather than point out how wrong you were, I chose instead to write "[citation needed]" to give you the opportunity to defend your written words, or restate your assertion if needed. Instead, you reacted by spewing a bunch of completely misplaced insults, while linking to an article that doesn't support your argument at all. So besides being an asshole, I find that you are either lazy (didn't bother to read your supposed citation), dishonest (read it but felt like making an entirely different claim), or just plain stupid. Based upon your vitriolic hyper-defensive reaction, I'm inclined to believe the third possibility is the most accurate.
[citation needed]
Is that a challenge?
The NSA has overstepped its bounds far too often (with or without the complicity of the AG's office or the Executive's office) that there is no justification for them to be assigned more capabilities. "Cyberdefense" or whatever you want to call it is two small letters away from "cyberoffense". And given the track record, it'd be only a matter of time before those capabilities were used against American citizens without proper oversight.
Just because a tool works doesn't mean it should be used. For example, my chainsaw has proven very capable of cutting down trees. I'm sure it would be just as capable of preventing people from trespassing, if I just used those very effective parts to cut people's legs off.
See, it's relatively easy to argue against, especially with ridiculous metaphors. But it's important to note that the NSA operates under so much secrecy that lack of proper oversight is a recurring problem. I do not think that the existing agency should be handed such a mandate without extensive reorganization to reduce secrecy and increase judicial and legislative oversight. And if that is the case, why not assign a different agency to the matter? If there are resources in the NSA (individuals or even departments) that are truly so effective, transfer them to the other agency.
You're telling me.
I read that headline, and my first question was:
WTF? NSA III? What happened to NSA I and II? As a matter of fact, I never even heard about NSA II -- that must be some super-secret black ops org.
And then my second questions was:
WTF? Why is NSA II wearing a suit? Is it even possible for a TLA to wear a suit? Or does "suited" mean someone brought a lawsuit against them, in which case the corollary query is "Who would sue to grant *additional* powers to a TLA?
And then my third question was:
Why am I using such a stupid default font that capital I looks like lowercase l? But then I realized that it's slashdot that specifies the headline font on the main page, and it's not really my fault at all, and can someone please call the Waaahmbulance?
Which leads me to my fourth question, which is:
Why am I responding to a piss-poor FP attempt? And what does that say about the quality of my life on a Friday afternoon?
Unfortunately, the moderation on the Googol the Destroyer posts tends to fluctuate.
The posts are too long, which hurts -- brevity is the soul of wit.
Also, the Apple fanboys don't like the satirization of Jobs AND they tend to have a lot of mod points, the Google fanboys don't like the anthropomorphic satirization of Google, and both the Microsoft fanboys have issues with the satirization of Gates.
It's like an exercise in how to piss off the most people and still end up with positive moderation.
I just have to be careful that I don't piss off the slashdot editors, They of Infinite Mod Points. Though they tend to have a light touch... maybe I should consider who the editor-on-duty is when I make these posts...
I misread your nick as t0ger, which I assumed was a "leet" form of Tigger.
And I got very confused.
But then I realized you probably call hats silly names like "toque" because you're Canadian, and all came clear to me.
OTOH, I really don't think Disney is tentacle-raping our society. I just thing they are very effective at industrializing the distillation of cash from fools.
Well, the "meteorite" was magnetic, which implies either a high iron content or a high nickel content. Either one is shiny. Surely the sun reflecting off the "meteorite" could explain the "streak of light".
Seriousoy, though... can you please do the calculation that proves for a meteor of some diameter N, and some density M, it is impossible for the meteor to enter the atmosphere at some speed O, at an angle P, that would result in the meteorite not being cool to the touch at elevation Q? Please account for atmospheric and local weather conditions. Or, you could link to a source with the required info.
See, here's the thing... most meteors enter the atmosphere obliquely, which results in a long path of travel before touchdown (if they don't burn up completely). But just assume that it's possible for a meteor to not hit obliquiely (and factoring in rotation, etc)... surely it is possible for a meteor of sufficient density and size to be traveling at higher than terminal velocity, and above normal temperature, when it hits the surface (or a teen standing on the surface).
The best trolls are smart people, I think. They'd need to be smart to be able to regularly troll people without being detected as a troll.
I personally find good, creative trolls amusing. It's the stupid repetitive ones that are truly annoying and add nothing to the site.
Yes. Their keystone product is now System Z Office DB.
Have fun figuring out your licensing costs.
I think you're overlooking the impact of this as a challenge to Oracle and other DB providers.
It's not just marketing. This will revolutionize how DB services are provided. For one thing, now all your data is belong to Google (but that's a small price to pay for free/low cost data hosting, right?). For another thing, this DB exists in four dimensions. Unfortunately, one of those dimensions is the home of Googol the Destroyer, who has been summoned to our dimension to wreak the End of Days via the Rite of a Thousand Targeted Ads. Development of this DB was actually how Googol the Destroyer was accidentally summoned to our dimension; following his summoning, he quickly turned all of Google to his cause.
When last we saw our heroes, they were continuing work on their plan to convert all the world's sorcerors to their cause, building the One True OS with Built-in Global Web Search to stop Googol. We learned the source of Stallmanx's power were the beard gnomes that live in his Beard of Druidic Prowess when they helped him escape from Googol's clutches.
Meanwhile, Googol's crack team of evil underlords continue their preparation of preventative solutions to all the possible ways the world can be saved (probalby stored in this new 4-dimensional DB, by the way). Googol the Destroyer continues to devour data gathered by the Webcrawling Spiders of Doom with gobsmacking satisfaction.
So what are our heroes, Joba and Gatus, up to?
JOBA: Gatus, how are you fairing in your quest to buy out all the greedy sorcerors?
I did well for a while, and I've still got cash left thanks to issuing those bonds last month... but it seems that the remaining sorcerors are resisting the charms of my cold, hard cash. For some reason they are not responding to my efforts to Embrace and Extend them.
JOBA: Perhaps you should rethink your pitch. I'm good at marketing, let me help. For instance, maybe the "Extend" part of your methods should not involve use of the Rack. Maybe a new slogan, like "Embrace and Embrace". Then it's just hugs all around.
GATUS: Perhaps you have a point. But I think that's a little extreme. How about "Embrace and Exsanguinate"? I could use an Iron Maiden to drain their blood, surely that's not as bad as Extending them on the Rack?
JOBA: No, no, that doesn't work at all. Trust me... "Embrace and Embrace" is the best way for all the sorcerors to come to appreciate your strengths. And who knows, you might like it. [wink]
GATUS: Very well. But how goes your plans to subvert the Ministers of Fashion to get th low-self-esteem sorcerors to come to your side?
JOBA: Splendidly. Though there is some backlash from the sorcerors who want "open" hardware or somesuch. Apparently they are incapble of appreciating the "experience" I deliver. We'll have to work on them.
Meanwhile, Googol instructs his acolytes in the finer points of using his 4-dimensional database to represent n-dimensional space, where n equals the number of souls fed to the Targeted Advertising Machine of Futile Resistance. This information is to be used by them in a nefarious plot to neutralize the efforts of our heroes. Coinciding with this, Googol has instructed his crack team of evil underlords to collect the threads of the Ultimate Evil Woven Tapestry of Universe Description, known as "Dark Fibers", in one place.
What is Googol the Destroyer planning with the Dark Fibers? How will He utilize the Evil Woven Tapestry of Universe Description in his bid to wreak the End of Days?
Will Gatus and Joba be able to complete the One True OS with Built-in Global Web Search in time?
Tune in to next week's episode of Google the Destroyer to find out!
Either that, or (more likely, IMO) worst failure to realize someone was being trolled in a while...
Looking back, it seems that the parent to my post made a pretty good quality troll, and I fell for it -- badly.
That's just because among certain people, "entitlements" is a codeword for "welfare" and "affirmative action", which has its own set of negative connotations among those people.
Better to call it something else entirely that is not overly burdened by connotations.