You're ignoring the fact that truly effective gun legislation (e.g. total ban on gun ownership) is a political non-starter. Banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines may have very little effect on gun homicide rates, but at this point anti-gun lobbyists will take whatever they can get, and it is not irrational to start by banning the most egregious examples of gun proliferation even if it saves an "insignificant" or "negligible" number of lives.
I use it all the time. Currently watching Downton Abbey.
Anyway, I dropped Netflix streaming and started using Prime, since I also shop a lot on Amazon and appreciate the quick free shipping. I keep the cheapest Netflix DVD plan to get movies that are not free on Prime or aren't available for streaming anywhere.
And this is also why I didn't end up buying an iPhone for my wife.
I'm a happy Android user, but when I was looking at getting my wife her first smartphone, I was thinking about going with an iPhone, mainly because she saw one of her friends playing with Siri and said, "I want that!" I'm glad now that the whole maps problems happened before I bought a phone. She now has a Galaxy Nexus and loves it. The maps on Android are awesome, and one of the apps that both of us use the most.
So, anecdotally, I'd say this is hurting Apple a lot.
I disagree. I think the breakdown happens when people think that scientists "believe" in evolution in the same way that creationists believe in what is said in the Bible. If the evidence for abiogenesis is flimsy, then there is room for alternative theories. And if one of them explains observed phenomena well and is better supported by scientific evidence, I'm sure there will be scientists willing to listen. In other words, you can't just reject the prevailing theory without offering an alternative and call yourself a scientist.
I'm also surprised that you say that abiogenesis is the main sticking point. You may be right, but I thought it was more the suggestion that man shares ancestors with other primates.
If somebody has studied evolution closely and still rejects it as an essential underpinning of modern biological science, then perhaps they fall into one of the other categories that Dawkins mentions: stupid or insane.
This was my first thought too. It might make sense to assume that some sort of artificial gravity will be a requirement for manned deep space travel. I mean, let alone the advantages for surgery and all the other things we do on earth that are made easier with gravity, but it would probably have a profound impact on the overall health of the travelers.
The point is that it's not the same story. The story you refer to is, as you point out, a satirical story that was not taken seriously by anyone except the most gullible. The more recent story was, according to many news outlets, being investigated by the secret service.
Well, if their stock price reflected the fact that people thought they were going to make 1.2 billion, then it makes sense that it would go down when they make less than that. I'm no expert, but I think that's the way the stock market works.
... and StatCounter has a bias towards small sites.
Swilden's point is spot on. Arguing over the specific percentages produced by NetApps and StatCounter is useless since neither can remotely claim to provide a random sampling of websites. The stats are useful to see overall trends in browser usage, but that's about it.
It's not stereo, but is well-made and inexpensive. Definitely a cut above a mere toy. My kids don't use it often, but we've had it a couple years and they still pull it out occasionally when they have something to look at. I would say 7yo is old enough to start operating this kind of microscope too rather than just viewing (isn't he really going to want to do that anyway?), so something inexpensive like this makes a lot of sense.
I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree completely.
I've been working from home for 11 years. I have 2 kids, 7 and 10. I sometimes think it would be nice to go to an office, see my coworkers more often, have regular ping-pong breaks (like my last job). The one thing that makes my truly glad that I work from home is that I get to be there to see my kids grow up. I walk them to and from school; I'm there for all significant events. I am not always available to help with homework, and they can be a distraction sometimes, but no more than other office workers can, in my experience. I don't know, maybe I'm lucky to really like my kids, but the extra distraction and stress that comes with being closely involved in my kids' lives is all worth while for me.
Does it really need to be a totally random 20+ character string? One great feature of KeePass is that it allows you to set up a pattern to use for generating automatic passwords, which allows you to have passwords created that are much easier to remember while still having a lot of randomness to them. For me, this at least creates passwords that I can hold in my head long enough to type out without having to check back for each character.
It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's a generally well-written a produced magazine that often features articles about computer science and engineering, along with articles about all of the other sciences. It's also unlikely to drop its print format any time soon.
Since you're asking, I may as well plug the book I have enjoyed the most in the past year. Kesey is of course most famous for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Sometimes a Great Notion is beautifully written -- one of the few books to combine great poetry with an absolutely compelling and fulfilling plot. It's also quite long, which will make it last on those long plane rides.
I said real choice, not perfect choice. And yeah, I think that who gets elected matters. You can call me naive, but I think it's more naive to think that it doesn't.
What Russians are protesting right now is not who gets elected, but how they get elected. The protesters draw from a wide swath of political parties who agree on very little except that they want free and fair elections.
The truth is that many Russians do think exactly the way you do. My mother-in-law is a Russian living in Moscow. She thinks maybe there was voter fraud, but only a little and not enough to matter. Putin is maybe corrupt, but only a little and look at all the good things he's done! Her overriding argument, though, is that there isn't anyone else worth electing, which is exactly how Putin has managed to arrange things.
It's easy to be cynical here in America, but we do have real choices and who gets elected does matter. It would matter in Russia too if a real opposition candidate could live long enough to make it to election day.
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Having a small effect is not the same as having no effect.
You're ignoring the fact that truly effective gun legislation (e.g. total ban on gun ownership) is a political non-starter. Banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines may have very little effect on gun homicide rates, but at this point anti-gun lobbyists will take whatever they can get, and it is not irrational to start by banning the most egregious examples of gun proliferation even if it saves an "insignificant" or "negligible" number of lives.
In other words: bad example.
I use it all the time. Currently watching Downton Abbey.
Anyway, I dropped Netflix streaming and started using Prime, since I also shop a lot on Amazon and appreciate the quick free shipping. I keep the cheapest Netflix DVD plan to get movies that are not free on Prime or aren't available for streaming anywhere.
On the website you can search and then check "Prime Eligible" on the left.
And this is also why I didn't end up buying an iPhone for my wife.
I'm a happy Android user, but when I was looking at getting my wife her first smartphone, I was thinking about going with an iPhone, mainly because she saw one of her friends playing with Siri and said, "I want that!" I'm glad now that the whole maps problems happened before I bought a phone. She now has a Galaxy Nexus and loves it. The maps on Android are awesome, and one of the apps that both of us use the most.
So, anecdotally, I'd say this is hurting Apple a lot.
Actually, Nate explained a few days ago that the main reason for the relatively low probability is the very real possibility that the state polls may be systematically biased:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/nov-2-for-romney-to-win-state-polls-must-be-statistically-biased/
I disagree. I think the breakdown happens when people think that scientists "believe" in evolution in the same way that creationists believe in what is said in the Bible. If the evidence for abiogenesis is flimsy, then there is room for alternative theories. And if one of them explains observed phenomena well and is better supported by scientific evidence, I'm sure there will be scientists willing to listen. In other words, you can't just reject the prevailing theory without offering an alternative and call yourself a scientist.
I'm also surprised that you say that abiogenesis is the main sticking point. You may be right, but I thought it was more the suggestion that man shares ancestors with other primates.
If somebody has studied evolution closely and still rejects it as an essential underpinning of modern biological science, then perhaps they fall into one of the other categories that Dawkins mentions: stupid or insane.
Actually, Mozilla is signed on:
http://www1.webplatform.org/stewards/mozilla/
Which IS very important since Mozilla arguably has the best current documentation wiki.
This was my first thought too. It might make sense to assume that some sort of artificial gravity will be a requirement for manned deep space travel. I mean, let alone the advantages for surgery and all the other things we do on earth that are made easier with gravity, but it would probably have a profound impact on the overall health of the travelers.
The point is that it's not the same story. The story you refer to is, as you point out, a satirical story that was not taken seriously by anyone except the most gullible. The more recent story was, according to many news outlets, being investigated by the secret service.
It may in fact be a hoax, but the article you link to is from over a month ago and appears to be totally unrelated to the current story.
True, and I'm not saying I read the whole article, let alone the patent. I just saw the word "limited" and immediately posted the link.
The "pinch to zoom" patent is certainly getting a lot of attention. Based on this, though, it is more limited than most people seem to think:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/13/apple-awarded-limited-patent-on-pinch-to-zoom/
Caveat: I don't really follow this stuff closely.
Well, if their stock price reflected the fact that people thought they were going to make 1.2 billion, then it makes sense that it would go down when they make less than that. I'm no expert, but I think that's the way the stock market works.
... and StatCounter has a bias towards small sites.
Swilden's point is spot on. Arguing over the specific percentages produced by NetApps and StatCounter is useless since neither can remotely claim to provide a random sampling of websites. The stats are useful to see overall trends in browser usage, but that's about it.
We got this one and are pretty happy with it:
http://www.amazon.com/My-First-Lab-Duo-Scope-Microscope/dp/B000NOU54O
It's not stereo, but is well-made and inexpensive. Definitely a cut above a mere toy. My kids don't use it often, but we've had it a couple years and they still pull it out occasionally when they have something to look at. I would say 7yo is old enough to start operating this kind of microscope too rather than just viewing (isn't he really going to want to do that anyway?), so something inexpensive like this makes a lot of sense.
I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree completely.
I've been working from home for 11 years. I have 2 kids, 7 and 10. I sometimes think it would be nice to go to an office, see my coworkers more often, have regular ping-pong breaks (like my last job). The one thing that makes my truly glad that I work from home is that I get to be there to see my kids grow up. I walk them to and from school; I'm there for all significant events. I am not always available to help with homework, and they can be a distraction sometimes, but no more than other office workers can, in my experience. I don't know, maybe I'm lucky to really like my kids, but the extra distraction and stress that comes with being closely involved in my kids' lives is all worth while for me.
Does it really need to be a totally random 20+ character string? One great feature of KeePass is that it allows you to set up a pattern to use for generating automatic passwords, which allows you to have passwords created that are much easier to remember while still having a lot of randomness to them. For me, this at least creates passwords that I can hold in my head long enough to type out without having to check back for each character.
It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's a generally well-written a produced magazine that often features articles about computer science and engineering, along with articles about all of the other sciences. It's also unlikely to drop its print format any time soon.
Since you're asking, I may as well plug the book I have enjoyed the most in the past year. Kesey is of course most famous for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Sometimes a Great Notion is beautifully written -- one of the few books to combine great poetry with an absolutely compelling and fulfilling plot. It's also quite long, which will make it last on those long plane rides.
Not sure where you live, but here in Virginia online election results are posted throughout election night and kept up for anyone to see:
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Election_Information/Election_Results/Index.html
I guess all I can say is that I disagree that republicans and democrats are identical.
I said real choice, not perfect choice. And yeah, I think that who gets elected matters. You can call me naive, but I think it's more naive to think that it doesn't.
What Russians are protesting right now is not who gets elected, but how they get elected. The protesters draw from a wide swath of political parties who agree on very little except that they want free and fair elections.
The truth is that many Russians do think exactly the way you do. My mother-in-law is a Russian living in Moscow. She thinks maybe there was voter fraud, but only a little and not enough to matter. Putin is maybe corrupt, but only a little and look at all the good things he's done! Her overriding argument, though, is that there isn't anyone else worth electing, which is exactly how Putin has managed to arrange things.
It's easy to be cynical here in America, but we do have real choices and who gets elected does matter. It would matter in Russia too if a real opposition candidate could live long enough to make it to election day.