If your question is: Whether suffocating or having your chest explode/blood boil is more painful, I think it is obvious that suffocating is better. Think of how many people die while sleeping due to gas leaks. There is no pain there. So you make yourself pass out (like a little kid mad at Mom) and go painlessly.
Ouch. That's a quite big misinterpretation of the facts.
a) Your chest (and your head) explodes and your blood boils in the intellectual vacuum of Hollywood movies only. Not in a real vacuum.
b) There are different types of suffocation. Roughly, there's suffocation due to lack of oxygen, and suffocation due to excess CO2. The former is quite painless, and is what happens in case of a gas leak or exposure to vacuum or atmospheres with too little partial pressure of oxygen. The latter causes extreme discomfort and an overwhelming feeling of asphyxiation, since the breathing reflex is mainly triggered by the level of CO2 in the blood. Especially if the level of CO2 rises slowly.
Certainly spaceflight is different from espionage.
Yes. In espionage, your options to kill yourself once captured are fairly limited, and the desired method of suicide has to be non-obvious, fairly fast and difficult to prevent. Note that "painless" is not on the list.
In space flight, it is fairly easy to kill yourself ("acting stupid" is sufficient), so you might as well go for the least painful way.
I'm not a big conspirationalist, though, so perhaps suicidal astronauts would just vent the cabin atmosphere. That would hurt, though, no?
Not if done slowly enough, and even if done quickly it would be less painful than cyanid poisoning.
The story might be a little sensationalist, but let's not forget that if a three-deep redundant system is made of components that have at worst a 50-50 shot of failure, that's a 1 in 6 chance that you go spinning off into the void.
Ok.
If you have one component with a 50% failure rate, the chance for total failure is 1 in 2.
If you have two components with a 50% failure rate each, the chance for total failure is 1 in 4.
If you have three components with a 50% failure rate each, the chance for total failure is not 1 in 6.
You'd feel plenty, as your blood boils and the capilliaries in your eyes rupture.
You've been watching too many bad movies and reading too few books about physics and physiology.
With having the air run out (rather than "let out"), you'd have positive pressure and nothing to breathe -- CO2 poisoning would give you a headache, after which you'd pass out... forever.
Asphyxiation by slowly rising levels of CO2 is a pretty bad way to die. Imagine being suffocated.. over a period of many, many minutes, very slowly...
The painless way would be to reduce the pressure to just about the level where unconsciousness sets in. No feelings of asphyxiation, no exposure to a vacuum. The lights just go out.
But, if one had to kill themselves in space, personally a pill that slips one into a deep sleep and then death in my opinion would be a lot more respectable in my opinion, more peaceful,
Well, sorry to tell you this, but cyanide poisoning is a fairly agonizing way to die, especially if taken in small amounts (just about the lethal dose).
Depressurizing the capsule (slowly) will lead to unconsciousness and then death, without much discomfort. No feelings of asphyxiation or anything, since your body can still get rid of excess CO2. The lights just go out.
At those points it's like, do you want a mentally handicapped or dead baby and a dead mother... or no baby and a healthy mother?
Ah, right. You're in the fantasy world where abortions are only done for medical reasons... and not because the little brat would be inconvenient because he'll interfere with the vacation plans, or because she has the wrong sex. What a wonderful world.
For the record, I am not at all opposing abortions for medical reasons (the mother's life is in danger or the fetus is going to die anyway). But even there is plenty of room for abuse (got several GynOBs in the family, and they've got some pretty good stories about colleagues).
Being gay happens when there is over population. It's a way to limit breeding.
Hahaha. Get a clue on how reproduction works. Hint: Males are pretty much irrelevant. You can take 90% or more of the males out of the reproductive business and you still won't be limiting breeding in any way (and the remaing 10% will probably have more, uh, fun than they can handle).
If there's an arm, leg, head or eye in the blood mess, then it bloody well wasn't "a clump of cells".
Or do you live in the fantasy world where abortions only occur in the first month after conception, huh ? Nice fantasy world you have there.
Ever heard of really later term abortions, like, at the onset of labor ? Stick a blender in the "clump of cells"' brain cavity, turn on for a few seconds, drain out brain, remove rest of "clump of cells". Huh ? Don't want to think about that in you fantasy world, do ya ?
My point is simply that just because someone is on your property, they haven't automatically committed a crime serious enough to merit shooting them dead.
Apparently, American courts think differently. Not speaking the local language perfectly and being on someone elses property merits being shot dead.
There was a case where we were pleading for extradition for a Dominican citizen who had brutally murdered three americans in New York city and then fled back to DR.
He had already been convicted of the murders ?
The only people who may, in legal terms, determine the guys guilt are a judge and/or a jury in a trial.
The Dominicans didn't consider him a murderer since as far as they were concerned he had killed nobody.
Unless the guy was already convicted, they were probably right. Innocent until proven guilty (and convicted in court). That's the difference between a murder suspect and an actual murderer. If you want a murderer to be extradited, you better damn well have a conviction. If you don't (and call him murderer or claim he murdered someone, instead of calling him a suspect and claiming that he allegedly murdered someone), you're disregarding some of the basics of proper procedure.
Would you say that the Spanish government was "bending over" for the UK in this case?
They extradited a British citizen to Britain. So ?
Perhaps the Italians are feeling bent over by the UK?
They extradited some non-Italian (and probably British) citizen to Britain. So ?
Or, perhaps the Germans, when they extradited a former US Marine to the UK?
They extradited a non-German citizen to Britain ? So ? (And if they guy had had a German passport, the German authorities would have said "Fsck you very much." to that extradition request).
In none of these three cases the authorities extradited one of their _own_ citizens to a foreign nation.
Anyone ever thought of this ? Would be a great way to verify that an area has been completely demined, or find the approximate position of mines that have been moved (by flood/other explosions/etc).
Until the enemy learns how to tell the mine "the war is over" and passes by them unscathed.
Not really a problem. Insert a delay before the deactivation really occurs (say, ten days). That way, you'll have plenty of advance warning if someone tampers with your minefield. After the war, ten days will be nothing.
I've never understood how mine clean up is so expensive or hard.
You're confusing military and civilian demining.
Military demining is about getting a safe path through the minefield. That is relatively simple to do, but takes a bit of time (enough for whoever laid the minefield to respond).
Civilian demining is about making sure that there's not a single one of the damned things left. That's the hard part, since you need to find every single one of the little buggers and disarm it (or, if that is not possible, detonate it on site, but this is not preferred since it might toss other mines around, and maybe into areas that were already demined).
A picture of watching eyes that aren't actually watching is not "Big Brother".
Oh. Then why does the second paragraph in the first chapter describe, in great detail, the posters of Big Brother that seem to be ubiquitous ?
Hidden eyes that are actually watching and then take action: that's "Big Brother".
No, that's only part of it. The telescreens and the regular police watch quite openly, and they are very much part of the system that makes up "Big Brother". Along with the ubiquitous posters.
Power lines are buried 3 to 6 feet deep, and they aren't marked for the length of their runs. They are only visually marked where the terminations occur and the runs themselves are only marked on power company maps.
As I said. Hodgepodge recordkeeping.
When the things are marked at every turn, and when property owners were informed about any lines running across their property (that's how it's done right), the problems suddenly decrease markedly... almost into nonexistence..
You cannot buy these maps at a gas station. BTW, what kind of "proper" training would you suggest that will enable me to see things buried underground?
The kind of training that makes you run and call the bomb squad when the backhoe goes *clunk*. Oh wait, that doesn't happen over there. Never mind.
Just the kind of training that tells you to plan any excavation beforehand and not just jump in the operators seat and start digging away.
I'll have to involve (and possibly pay) the power company before bottom-plowing my cornfield.
Odd. 71% of the power lines around here are buried, and farmers can still plow their own fields. Maybe running power lines under fields is a bad idea and should be avoided ? Maybe the property owners should be informed about anything buried under their property ? Are they really disregarding these simple guidelines over there, and run the lines in pretty convoluted patterns instead of straight lines ? If yes, then I can absolutely understand why you consider underground power lines a bad idea. If done right, they keep my life outage-free. The last really big power outage in the country happened when the weight of freezing rain caused some of the above-ground tower to collapse. Oops.
Just don't connect phases together. There's no situation where it would be necessary.
Here, the colors are brown/black/grey for the three phases, blue for neutral, yellow+green for earth. Whoever mandated the use of red in.au obviously did not know that a significant portion of the male population is red/green blind... (yes, that is often overlooked, but using red or green for important distinctions is generally a bad idea if there are no other clues, like red being at the top in traffic lights)
I'm talking about me trying to regrade my yard, bottom-plow my field, the neighbor putting in a sprinkler system, or an old man digging post holes.
I think you're underestimating both the depth at which these things are buried, or the general shape and size of the conduit. Underground power lines aren't thin wires buried a foot deep, without any markings whatsoever, y'know. At least if whoever laid them wasn't a bunch of completely brainless morons.
Damaging them accidentially with a shovel is definitely out. Damaging them with a backhoe, yep, that works, but anyone who operates heavy construction equipment without proper training and preparation should be sued or shot, whichever is faster.
Which would you prefer? Having your heat and lights go out in the dead of winter maybe once or twice every year, but you get to have it back in an hour or two; or having your heat and lights go out once every couple of years and not being able to have it back for a day or more (i.e. after grandma's dead because she's frozen to death or because she fell down the stairs or couldn't find her pills in the dark or her respirator's backup batteries died)?
I would prefer one short (few hours) outage every couple of years, and that's what I'm currently getting. It's not as impossible to achieve as you make it appear.
Slashdot Mirror
Ouch. That's a quite big misinterpretation of the facts.
a) Your chest (and your head) explodes and your blood boils in the intellectual vacuum of Hollywood movies only. Not in a real vacuum.
b) There are different types of suffocation. Roughly, there's suffocation due to lack of oxygen, and suffocation due to excess CO2. The former is quite painless, and is what happens in case of a gas leak or exposure to vacuum or atmospheres with too little partial pressure of oxygen. The latter causes extreme discomfort and an overwhelming feeling of asphyxiation, since the breathing reflex is mainly triggered by the level of CO2 in the blood. Especially if the level of CO2 rises slowly.
Yes. In espionage, your options to kill yourself once captured are fairly limited, and the desired method of suicide has to be non-obvious, fairly fast and difficult to prevent. Note that "painless" is not on the list.
In space flight, it is fairly easy to kill yourself ("acting stupid" is sufficient), so you might as well go for the least painful way.
I'm not a big conspirationalist, though, so perhaps suicidal astronauts would just vent the cabin atmosphere. That would hurt, though, no?
Not if done slowly enough, and even if done quickly it would be less painful than cyanid poisoning.
Ok.
If you have one component with a 50% failure rate, the chance for total failure is 1 in 2.
If you have two components with a 50% failure rate each, the chance for total failure is 1 in 4.
If you have three components with a 50% failure rate each, the chance for total failure is not 1 in 6.
[nitpick mode off]
You've been watching too many bad movies and reading too few books about physics and physiology.
With having the air run out (rather than "let out"), you'd have positive pressure and nothing to breathe -- CO2 poisoning would give you a headache, after which you'd pass out... forever.
Asphyxiation by slowly rising levels of CO2 is a pretty bad way to die. Imagine being suffocated .. over a period of many, many minutes, very slowly ...
The painless way would be to reduce the pressure to just about the level where unconsciousness sets in. No feelings of asphyxiation, no exposure to a vacuum. The lights just go out.
Well, sorry to tell you this, but cyanide poisoning is a fairly agonizing way to die, especially if taken in small amounts (just about the lethal dose).
Depressurizing the capsule (slowly) will lead to unconsciousness and then death, without much discomfort. No feelings of asphyxiation or anything, since your body can still get rid of excess CO2. The lights just go out.
Ah, right. You're in the fantasy world where abortions are only done for medical reasons ... and not because the little brat would be inconvenient because he'll interfere with the vacation plans, or because she has the wrong sex. What a wonderful world.
For the record, I am not at all opposing abortions for medical reasons (the mother's life is in danger or the fetus is going to die anyway). But even there is plenty of room for abuse (got several GynOBs in the family, and they've got some pretty good stories about colleagues).
Hahaha. Get a clue on how reproduction works. Hint: Males are pretty much irrelevant. You can take 90% or more of the males out of the reproductive business and you still won't be limiting breeding in any way (and the remaing 10% will probably have more, uh, fun than they can handle).
If there's an arm, leg, head or eye in the blood mess, then it bloody well wasn't "a clump of cells".
Or do you live in the fantasy world where abortions only occur in the first month after conception, huh ? Nice fantasy world you have there.
Ever heard of really later term abortions, like, at the onset of labor ? Stick a blender in the "clump of cells"' brain cavity, turn on for a few seconds, drain out brain, remove rest of "clump of cells". Huh ? Don't want to think about that in you fantasy world, do ya ?
Apparently, American courts think differently. Not speaking the local language perfectly and being on someone elses property merits being shot dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattori_Yoshihiro
He had already been convicted of the murders ?
The only people who may, in legal terms, determine the guys guilt are a judge and/or a jury in a trial.
The Dominicans didn't consider him a murderer since as far as they were concerned he had killed nobody.
Unless the guy was already convicted, they were probably right. Innocent until proven guilty (and convicted in court). That's the difference between a murder suspect and an actual murderer. If you want a murderer to be extradited, you better damn well have a conviction. If you don't (and call him murderer or claim he murdered someone, instead of calling him a suspect and claiming that he allegedly murdered someone), you're disregarding some of the basics of proper procedure.
They extradited a British citizen to Britain. So ?
Perhaps the Italians are feeling bent over by the UK?
They extradited some non-Italian (and probably British) citizen to Britain. So ?
Or, perhaps the Germans, when they extradited a former US Marine to the UK?
They extradited a non-German citizen to Britain ? So ? (And if they guy had had a German passport, the German authorities would have said "Fsck you very much." to that extradition request).
In none of these three cases the authorities extradited one of their _own_ citizens to a foreign nation.
... it still tastes like chicken, right ?
Maybe you meant www.weownyourdvds.com ?
I think you need to consult with your dictionary about the secondary meaning (especially the more vulgar ones) of the word "tool".
Here's a link for you:
www.websters.com
Anyone ever thought of this ? Would be a great way to verify that an area has been completely demined, or find the approximate position of mines that have been moved (by flood/other explosions/etc).
... but because they do much more damage that way.
Not just per individual mine, but also per weight. You can have one mine that'll kill a person, or four that just maim but cover four times the area.
Or that you will still dig up duds 60+ years after cities have been bombed.
Not really a problem. Insert a delay before the deactivation really occurs (say, ten days). That way, you'll have plenty of advance warning if someone tampers with your minefield. After the war, ten days will be nothing.
You're confusing military and civilian demining.
Military demining is about getting a safe path through the minefield. That is relatively simple to do, but takes a bit of time (enough for whoever laid the minefield to respond).
Civilian demining is about making sure that there's not a single one of the damned things left. That's the hard part, since you need to find every single one of the little buggers and disarm it (or, if that is not possible, detonate it on site, but this is not preferred since it might toss other mines around, and maybe into areas that were already demined).
So why do you waste two more paragraphs on lashing out at him, huh ?
Oh. Then why does the second paragraph in the first chapter describe, in great detail, the posters of Big Brother that seem to be ubiquitous ?
Hidden eyes that are actually watching and then take action: that's "Big Brother".
No, that's only part of it. The telescreens and the regular police watch quite openly, and they are very much part of the system that makes up "Big Brother". Along with the ubiquitous posters.
As I said. Hodgepodge recordkeeping.
When the things are marked at every turn, and when property owners were informed about any lines running across their property (that's how it's done right), the problems suddenly decrease markedly
You cannot buy these maps at a gas station. BTW, what kind of "proper" training would you suggest that will enable me to see things buried underground?
The kind of training that makes you run and call the bomb squad when the backhoe goes *clunk*. Oh wait, that doesn't happen over there. Never mind.
Just the kind of training that tells you to plan any excavation beforehand and not just jump in the operators seat and start digging away.
I'll have to involve (and possibly pay) the power company before bottom-plowing my cornfield.
Odd. 71% of the power lines around here are buried, and farmers can still plow their own fields. Maybe running power lines under fields is a bad idea and should be avoided ? Maybe the property owners should be informed about anything buried under their property ? Are they really disregarding these simple guidelines over there, and run the lines in pretty convoluted patterns instead of straight lines ? If yes, then I can absolutely understand why you consider underground power lines a bad idea. If done right, they keep my life outage-free. The last really big power outage in the country happened when the weight of freezing rain caused some of the above-ground tower to collapse. Oops.
Just don't connect phases together. There's no situation where it would be necessary.
Here, the colors are brown/black/grey for the three phases, blue for neutral, yellow+green for earth. Whoever mandated the use of red in .au obviously did not know that a significant portion of the male population is red/green blind ... (yes, that is often overlooked, but using red or green for important distinctions is generally a bad idea if there are no other clues, like red being at the top in traffic lights)
Damaging them accidentially with a shovel is definitely out. Damaging them with a backhoe, yep, that works, but anyone who operates heavy construction equipment without proper training and preparation should be sued or shot, whichever is faster.
I would prefer one short (few hours) outage every couple of years, and that's what I'm currently getting. It's not as impossible to achieve as you make it appear.