This man has been an inspiration to many people, myself included. He has inspired hope and shown the true courage and grit that humans can possess. Mr. Hawking has contributed man things to the fields of science and written some truly great books. His legacy will extend far beyond when he shuffles off this mortal coil.
I wish him the best and hope that the end to his current predicament comes swiftly, no matter the resolution.
I wanted to say thank you for this well thought out intelligent post. Pointing out to people that global warming is largely irrelevant in regards to reasons to stop polluting tends to make lots of them angry. There are long term solutions to long term problems (global warming) that have immediate benefits that should be emphasized.
This is/was war. I know it is a hard concept to understand for many Americans. If you think it is/was a justified war or not it is/was WAR. In war people die, it is how things work. This is not the Mojave Desert, middle America, or any other place where the police force functioned.
It was a WAR ZONE. Right or wrong it was REALITY, the coalition forces make an effort to minimize unnecessary casualties and damage, if the locals decide to ignore us there isn't much we can do. You can only lead the horse to water.
You do realize we made it very public in and around Fallujah that we were going to attack the city before hand right? We encouraged people to leave the city before we took it. These were no unenlightened individuals struck by a surprise attack.
I would say that I've come late to the party (I wasn't old enough to hold an intelligent conversation with myself much less anyone else in '83) so I'd say our assessment is fair. I have no problem having an incorrect view of things, it's the best thing about this site since the people here have not problem correcting me and at least a large portion of them are more learned in the subjects I'm interested in.
I'm a strong believer in human caused global warming, I think it's likely a bad thing, and I think we can and should be taking steps to rectify the situation. None of that changes my point of view that people are blaming too much shit on global warming (and the ice is probably correctly being blamed too if you like a little irony)
I tend to be financially conservative but I think that a large government investment in off shore wind (or other tech) that significantly reduces our dependence on oil, coal, and paves the way for an alternative vehicle fuel would be money very well spent.
I'll give you a direct example from my past. There was a pond on the college campus that has experienced an increase in the amount of green algae. The biology department did some work and determined that the water was warmer and concluded it was caused by global warming. My chem prof (who didn't much like the bio prof, hence his motive) asked the grounds crew a couple questions about fertilizers and did a couple tests of the water. When they changed fertilizer the algae died off.
It's anecdotal and hardly proof but it is an example of what I'm talking about. Scientists losing their perspective when tackling an issue start making decisions based upon faith and not facts.
What I was saying was more in reference to some people claiming that the human contribution so small that it didn't matter. My point was that each yearly amount may not have much effect but the gas builds up in the atmosphere causing a greater cumulative effect, and yes it was probably a bad analogy.
My issue is not with Global Warming. I fully support decreasing the effects of human activity by moving to renewable resources as much as possible for reasons both environmental and economic. My concern is that scientists are getting caught up in the Global Warming dogma and it is narrowing their search patterns. The first reaction of blame Global Warming is as dangerous as ignoring Global Warming.
I'm of the mind that Global Warming isn't a short term issue so much as a possible catastrophic future that we should take steps towards preventing. Solar and wind power both have great potential to ease the world's reliance on oil and coal, we just need to make use of them.
The human contribution to the overall greenhouse gas levels may be small as a percentage (I've seen debate on this) but works like compound interest on a savings account, the total only gets larger with time.
It mentions that a lot of the dynamics of this situation are poorly understood. Whether or not you believe in global warming or what you think is causing it we don't know what the results are going to be.
There are so many possibilities with some scientific basis and the whole environment as a system is so complex that we can't predict details. We can paint broad strokes of the future but saying the sea level is going to raise 2.37 feet and believing that the sea will raise exactly 2.37 feet put blinders on you just like believing that a Divine Being created the universe in 6 days.
We have an idea of what MAY happen but there is so much complexity that we don't know what WILL happen. Right now it looks like shit is going to get warmer, ice is going to melt, sea levels will get higher and who knows the Gulf Stream may stop flowing causing Europe to get cold.
Some of you seriously need to stop beating the Global Warming Manifesto like it is a Bible.
I think Obama's inability to give decent gifts is pretty indicative of general inexperience to me. This isn't necessarily a bad thing considering why he was elected (as a force of change) but it will certainly result in a few bumps in the road like this. He has been thrust into a very high stress environment especially with the economy, war, and the era of the Hollywood president.
He doesn't have the leisure time to think about all of the nuances of foreign relations and doesn't have the general experience to know all of it either. I was unaware of the gifting traditions but I've never been in his position. I think this is more a failure of his aids and the failure of hiring competent aids for assisting in foreign relations.
I looked at the headline, thought well that sucks. Then I wondered where the years of dragging it out, crying for help, and withering away in painful destructive lawsuits against the internet, google, and yahoo for undermining their business model went.
Thank you for the response. I am a very strong believer in evolution and have been able to come up with a few of those (such as the probability of molecules) with my physical science background. The paper is very interesting and addresses a lot of the arguments I don't have the background to discuss.
Thank you very much for the post. I'm always down for more ammunition against the ID and creationist fools.
From what I understand they have issues with the probability of non-life becoming life (abiogenesis), they claim that the theory of evolution cannot account for events like the Cambrian explosion, and the last thing I seem to find as a common theme for issues with evolution is their supposition that mutations are almost never if ever beneficial.
Agreed, everytime I was looking for a file and the only hosts were filefront and fileplanet I figured I didn't really need the file and went to go do something else.
It's pretty much the same with Rapidshare etc... these day. If I can't get it from a website that isn't a pain to use or a torrent it's not important enough to download.
Mod + Informative.
I got out of the physics game when strings where the big popular thing... Thanks, I think, for enough reading material for the rest of the deployment.
This theory has implications that could revolutionize scientific thought across numerous fields. It may even provide some direction for the unified theory people to look in that isn't horribly complex and require inventing 1700 dimensions to make the math work.
Also if people don't understand how large 42 orders of magnitude really is 10 is one order of magnitude. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is 42 orders of magnitude... Granted the numbers they are dealing with are very very small to start with and even 42 magnitudes larger is still pretty damn small this change in scale is mind boggling and shows much more we have to learn about the universe in general and the properties of superconductors in particular.
It's also pertinent to ask the questions of how does this include retirement income, is it just people that retire from the military, and can it be attributed to the desire to spend time with their family since they've already completed one career and are more interested in spending time with the families they may have missed until this point. I know several retired officers and enlisted persons who sought careers that would allow them flexibility and/or face time with their families, such as teaching, with little consideration for pay.
There are many extenuating circumstances to these statistics. Can the females improved performance be attributed to more the mentality and personality required by a military career more than the actual fact she was in the military?
I suspect that military service is more an indicator of future performance than a causal factor.
It looks like the updated the order to anything that connects to the networks. Originally it was just Windows machines. Gotta love complex bureaucratic shit like this... It's my job to enforce these orders and even I can't keep up with them all...
Great Post but you missed the mark on thumbdrives slightly. The DoD didn't ban them from all computers, the banned them from all Windows computers. They're perfectly ok (by the DoD order) to use on Linux, Unix, and Mac boxes.
Fair enough. Sean Patrick Timmons, I'm sorry I'm not going to give you my SSN and DOB, though you might be able to find them anyway.
While I understand your issue with the hive mind the disagreements appears to be more rooted in ignorance than just opinions. Your supposition that closed source is more secure because the code can't be inspected is hilarious. In the same way that turning off a light and shutting the door makes a room secure.
This is an excellent idea, probably the best thing he can do. As a Marine in Iraq at the moment as long as he doesn't need to get full power everyday he'll certainly be able to power himself especially if he can charge up a USB battery device (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800997042) continuously and then use that to power his IPod etc as long as they will charge from USB (a consideration for the camera).
Slashdot Mirror
This man has been an inspiration to many people, myself included. He has inspired hope and shown the true courage and grit that humans can possess. Mr. Hawking has contributed man things to the fields of science and written some truly great books. His legacy will extend far beyond when he shuffles off this mortal coil.
I wish him the best and hope that the end to his current predicament comes swiftly, no matter the resolution.
I wanted to say thank you for this well thought out intelligent post. Pointing out to people that global warming is largely irrelevant in regards to reasons to stop polluting tends to make lots of them angry. There are long term solutions to long term problems (global warming) that have immediate benefits that should be emphasized.
This is/was war. I know it is a hard concept to understand for many Americans. If you think it is/was a justified war or not it is/was WAR. In war people die, it is how things work. This is not the Mojave Desert, middle America, or any other place where the police force functioned.
It was a WAR ZONE. Right or wrong it was REALITY, the coalition forces make an effort to minimize unnecessary casualties and damage, if the locals decide to ignore us there isn't much we can do. You can only lead the horse to water.
You do realize we made it very public in and around Fallujah that we were going to attack the city before hand right? We encouraged people to leave the city before we took it. These were no unenlightened individuals struck by a surprise attack.
I would say that I've come late to the party (I wasn't old enough to hold an intelligent conversation with myself much less anyone else in '83) so I'd say our assessment is fair. I have no problem having an incorrect view of things, it's the best thing about this site since the people here have not problem correcting me and at least a large portion of them are more learned in the subjects I'm interested in.
I'm a strong believer in human caused global warming, I think it's likely a bad thing, and I think we can and should be taking steps to rectify the situation. None of that changes my point of view that people are blaming too much shit on global warming (and the ice is probably correctly being blamed too if you like a little irony)
I tend to be financially conservative but I think that a large government investment in off shore wind (or other tech) that significantly reduces our dependence on oil, coal, and paves the way for an alternative vehicle fuel would be money very well spent.
2.37 was completely made up... It was supposed to be a random example that was too close to the real numbers they were talking about.
I'll give you a direct example from my past. There was a pond on the college campus that has experienced an increase in the amount of green algae. The biology department did some work and determined that the water was warmer and concluded it was caused by global warming. My chem prof (who didn't much like the bio prof, hence his motive) asked the grounds crew a couple questions about fertilizers and did a couple tests of the water. When they changed fertilizer the algae died off.
It's anecdotal and hardly proof but it is an example of what I'm talking about. Scientists losing their perspective when tackling an issue start making decisions based upon faith and not facts.
What I was saying was more in reference to some people claiming that the human contribution so small that it didn't matter. My point was that each yearly amount may not have much effect but the gas builds up in the atmosphere causing a greater cumulative effect, and yes it was probably a bad analogy.
My issue is not with Global Warming. I fully support decreasing the effects of human activity by moving to renewable resources as much as possible for reasons both environmental and economic. My concern is that scientists are getting caught up in the Global Warming dogma and it is narrowing their search patterns. The first reaction of blame Global Warming is as dangerous as ignoring Global Warming.
I'm of the mind that Global Warming isn't a short term issue so much as a possible catastrophic future that we should take steps towards preventing. Solar and wind power both have great potential to ease the world's reliance on oil and coal, we just need to make use of them.
The human contribution to the overall greenhouse gas levels may be small as a percentage (I've seen debate on this) but works like compound interest on a savings account, the total only gets larger with time.
Wait you mean it's not like filling a bath tub?
It mentions that a lot of the dynamics of this situation are poorly understood. Whether or not you believe in global warming or what you think is causing it we don't know what the results are going to be.
There are so many possibilities with some scientific basis and the whole environment as a system is so complex that we can't predict details. We can paint broad strokes of the future but saying the sea level is going to raise 2.37 feet and believing that the sea will raise exactly 2.37 feet put blinders on you just like believing that a Divine Being created the universe in 6 days.
We have an idea of what MAY happen but there is so much complexity that we don't know what WILL happen. Right now it looks like shit is going to get warmer, ice is going to melt, sea levels will get higher and who knows the Gulf Stream may stop flowing causing Europe to get cold.
Some of you seriously need to stop beating the Global Warming Manifesto like it is a Bible.
I think Obama's inability to give decent gifts is pretty indicative of general inexperience to me. This isn't necessarily a bad thing considering why he was elected (as a force of change) but it will certainly result in a few bumps in the road like this. He has been thrust into a very high stress environment especially with the economy, war, and the era of the Hollywood president.
He doesn't have the leisure time to think about all of the nuances of foreign relations and doesn't have the general experience to know all of it either. I was unaware of the gifting traditions but I've never been in his position. I think this is more a failure of his aids and the failure of hiring competent aids for assisting in foreign relations.
I looked at the headline, thought well that sucks. Then I wondered where the years of dragging it out, crying for help, and withering away in painful destructive lawsuits against the internet, google, and yahoo for undermining their business model went.
but I find that it lacks pants. I think we need a Pantsless Achievement
Thank you for the response. I am a very strong believer in evolution and have been able to come up with a few of those (such as the probability of molecules) with my physical science background. The paper is very interesting and addresses a lot of the arguments I don't have the background to discuss.
Thank you very much for the post. I'm always down for more ammunition against the ID and creationist fools.
From what I understand they have issues with the probability of non-life becoming life (abiogenesis), they claim that the theory of evolution cannot account for events like the Cambrian explosion, and the last thing I seem to find as a common theme for issues with evolution is their supposition that mutations are almost never if ever beneficial.
Here is a page for the weaknesses of evolution according to some people that want to play both sides. http://www.strengthsandweaknesses.org/Weaknesses/essential_weaknesses.htm
I have on occasion, but I have to deem it important enough to put up with the shit first.
Agreed, everytime I was looking for a file and the only hosts were filefront and fileplanet I figured I didn't really need the file and went to go do something else.
It's pretty much the same with Rapidshare etc... these day. If I can't get it from a website that isn't a pain to use or a torrent it's not important enough to download.
Mod + Informative. I got out of the physics game when strings where the big popular thing... Thanks, I think, for enough reading material for the rest of the deployment.
This theory has implications that could revolutionize scientific thought across numerous fields. It may even provide some direction for the unified theory people to look in that isn't horribly complex and require inventing 1700 dimensions to make the math work.
Also if people don't understand how large 42 orders of magnitude really is 10 is one order of magnitude. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is 42 orders of magnitude... Granted the numbers they are dealing with are very very small to start with and even 42 magnitudes larger is still pretty damn small this change in scale is mind boggling and shows much more we have to learn about the universe in general and the properties of superconductors in particular.
-Lify
It's also pertinent to ask the questions of how does this include retirement income, is it just people that retire from the military, and can it be attributed to the desire to spend time with their family since they've already completed one career and are more interested in spending time with the families they may have missed until this point. I know several retired officers and enlisted persons who sought careers that would allow them flexibility and/or face time with their families, such as teaching, with little consideration for pay.
There are many extenuating circumstances to these statistics. Can the females improved performance be attributed to more the mentality and personality required by a military career more than the actual fact she was in the military?
I suspect that military service is more an indicator of future performance than a causal factor.
It looks like the updated the order to anything that connects to the networks. Originally it was just Windows machines. Gotta love complex bureaucratic shit like this... It's my job to enforce these orders and even I can't keep up with them all...
Great Post but you missed the mark on thumbdrives slightly. The DoD didn't ban them from all computers, the banned them from all Windows computers. They're perfectly ok (by the DoD order) to use on Linux, Unix, and Mac boxes.
Fair enough. Sean Patrick Timmons, I'm sorry I'm not going to give you my SSN and DOB, though you might be able to find them anyway.
While I understand your issue with the hive mind the disagreements appears to be more rooted in ignorance than just opinions. Your supposition that closed source is more secure because the code can't be inspected is hilarious. In the same way that turning off a light and shutting the door makes a room secure.
This is an excellent idea, probably the best thing he can do. As a Marine in Iraq at the moment as long as he doesn't need to get full power everyday he'll certainly be able to power himself especially if he can charge up a USB battery device (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800997042) continuously and then use that to power his IPod etc as long as they will charge from USB (a consideration for the camera).