"Anonymous reader" and "a friend". I think you're right. Mark you, someone I was talking to at the bar last night said his cousin's best mate's sister's uncle had the same thing happen to him.
I live in NZ. If the media can bring sex or movies into a news story, it'll be there. I'm surprised no-ones flashed a picture of Paul Newman, with the heading "In scenes worthy of the Newman movie, Slap Shot, a hockey game..." yatta yatta yatta.
I'm still coming across businessmen of a certain vintage (typically 50+) for whom it's a matter of pride that they "don't know anything about computers". FFS, it's 2011. Get a grip or retire.
Hey, I'm a businessman in my 50s, you insensitive clod!
My grandmother died of Alzheimers; and her life, even after she was pretty far gone, was valuable. I would have missed a pretty big chunk of it if she had committed suicide while she was still lucid.
The laws against assisted suicide affirm that all human life is valuable. Not only is Terry Pratchet's life valuable, even as he slides into senility, but so are the lives of all of those who are disabled physically and mentally by old age. Those lives are worth protecting.
Disagree. In a way. My grandmother (charming lady) also died of Alzheimer's (I guess - she went, back in the late '70s). She'd mentioned while compos mentis that she'd wished she could just take a pill, before she got to that state. And when she got to that state, she had no idea what was going on.
But - even though I loved her dearly, and was grateful for her being around for those extra months/years - I don't think she was grateful. If the suicide pill was available, she'd have taken it earlier (as she'd said). Her choice, not mine.
So it's Mr Patchett's choice, not ours. And when it's our time, it's our choice, not anyone else's.
I read somewhere that Bill Clinton put some solar panels on the roof of the White House. His successor (GWB?) took them off, as soon as he can. So, has Obama put them back on? After all, energy policies begin at home.
I wouldn't have phrased it quite that way, but I tend to agree. Asimov years ago said that either the birth control must fall, or the death rate will rise.
Or he can just fire the screenwriters. It's not like Star Wars has actually seen any benefit of good dialogue.
Amen to that, brother. My favourite line was "Being with you is... intoxicating". Anakin to Padme, #2 or #3 - I forget which. I never watched it again. Watching that show was... nauseating.
Tell your mum to teach the kids how to write a paper (as in, essay) and how to think things through (maths - logic, thinking skills). CS, such as it is, is not as important as those subjects. Certainly not at high school level.
I can't tell you the number of times I've seen badly written, unclear, badly formatted reports, papers, recommendations, audits from graduates who may have excellent CS skills but can't string sentences together to put over an idea.
So I'm a grammar Nazi. We're in an exact business. Be exact in putting out ideas. And please don't reply to this with "your welcome"...
And it's the size of a garage-door opener (I was going to say Pager, but we're far enough into the future that there are people who have no idea what that is reading these fori).
Hey, I used to carry a pager, you insensitive clod!
2) The issue with nuclear in my mind isn't with the death toll, but rather the land impact. If something of the Japan scale was to happen at a plant in the Northeast US, you're looking at HEAVILY populated areas that would need to be evacuated potentially for years. That would have MASSIVE economic impact. For instance a quick look at a map in my area (Boston), puts much of the metro Boston area within 30 miles of Pilgrim. Last I heard the evac zone in Japan was 20-30 miles at least from the plant. Thats like 3-4 million people in the case of Boston. While few people might die, it would SERIOUSLY impact the country as a whole.
Ifs, maybe, woulds, possiblys....... If we put a nuclear plant somewhere in Siberia/Northern Territories/ and it had an issue, then NO-ONE would be affected. If we had it in central London, Manhattan or then MILLIONS would be affected.
I'm not saying that the effects could be catastrophic... but there's little point (beyond audience capture) in postulating a worse-case scenario.
As another poster said - surviving a level-9 quake and tsunami with only this amount of damage is a credit to their engineering. Pity it wasn't better - but who'd have thunk?
My friend installed a shower stall in his old man's home made RV (1959 Dodge Stepvan with a '55 DeSoto V8). You had to sit ON the toilet to shower though.
Oblig quote: - remember that "Space is Big, Mind-blowingly big. I mean, you may think it's a long way down to the chemist but that's peanuts compared to Space"
And also we haven't been dropping crap up there for too many years, from too many spacecraft. We're sort of like Columbus and his boys worrying about a toffee wrapper that someone left behind on the beach somewhere in the Caribbean.
Can we get back to this in, say, two centuries when there's enough crap to worry about? We have other issues more pressing that this (oh sorry - forgot this was slashdot....thought I was in a US Government thinktank...).
Slashdot Mirror
"Anonymous reader" and "a friend". I think you're right. Mark you, someone I was talking to at the bar last night said his cousin's best mate's sister's uncle had the same thing happen to him.
I live in NZ. If the media can bring sex or movies into a news story, it'll be there. I'm surprised no-ones flashed a picture of Paul Newman, with the heading "In scenes worthy of the Newman movie, Slap Shot, a hockey game ..." yatta yatta yatta.
US: walmart has a $300 sale on widescreen TVs.
Cheaper in Vancouver. You just throw a brick through a window and grab it.
I'm still coming across businessmen of a certain vintage (typically 50+) for whom it's a matter of pride that they "don't know anything about computers". FFS, it's 2011. Get a grip or retire.
Hey, I'm a businessman in my 50s, you insensitive clod!
My grandmother died of Alzheimers; and her life, even after she was pretty far gone, was valuable. I would have missed a pretty big chunk of it if she had committed suicide while she was still lucid.
The laws against assisted suicide affirm that all human life is valuable. Not only is Terry Pratchet's life valuable, even as he slides into senility, but so are the lives of all of those who are disabled physically and mentally by old age. Those lives are worth protecting.
Disagree. In a way. My grandmother (charming lady) also died of Alzheimer's (I guess - she went, back in the late '70s). She'd mentioned while compos mentis that she'd wished she could just take a pill, before she got to that state. And when she got to that state, she had no idea what was going on.
But - even though I loved her dearly, and was grateful for her being around for those extra months/years - I don't think she was grateful. If the suicide pill was available, she'd have taken it earlier (as she'd said). Her choice, not mine.
So it's Mr Patchett's choice, not ours. And when it's our time, it's our choice, not anyone else's.
Do or do not. There is no "try". (Oblig. Yoda quote...)
I read somewhere that Bill Clinton put some solar panels on the roof of the White House. His successor (GWB?) took them off, as soon as he can. So, has Obama put them back on? After all, energy policies begin at home.
I wouldn't have phrased it quite that way, but I tend to agree. Asimov years ago said that either the birth control must fall, or the death rate will rise.
Overpopulation alarmism has become trite and hackneyed.
Yeah, but it sells papers.
Ooh, westerns... (wait for it) in SPACE!
Firefly. You must be new around here.
Or he can just fire the screenwriters. It's not like Star Wars has actually seen any benefit of good dialogue.
Amen to that, brother. My favourite line was "Being with you is ... intoxicating". Anakin to Padme, #2 or #3 - I forget which. I never watched it again. Watching that show was ... nauseating.
I can't tell you the number of times I've seen badly written, unclear, badly formatted reports, papers, recommendations, audits from graduates who may have excellent CS skills but can't string sentences together to put over an idea.
So I'm a grammar Nazi. We're in an exact business. Be exact in putting out ideas. And please don't reply to this with "your welcome"...
I make it easier on myself. I just don't fly to or through the States. Great country, some lovely people, insane security.
(Thank you - I'm here 'til Thursday)
Ah... car analogies... I knew they'd be here somewhere.
Devil's advocate: What would be a disproof of evolution?
Someone answered this once. Rabbit fossils next to a dinosaur's fossils. Same layer.
But this isn't democracy. Look it up. Who was asked to vote whether the troops went into Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan? This is Elective Oligarchy.
Atheism is a religion the same way that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
... you'll be facing zombie hunters with guns.
Lady Gaga commented that cybercrime also is one of her concerns. There you go, that will pull in a few more search-engine hits.
And it's the size of a garage-door opener (I was going to say Pager, but we're far enough into the future that there are people who have no idea what that is reading these fori).
Hey, I used to carry a pager, you insensitive clod!
2) The issue with nuclear in my mind isn't with the death toll, but rather the land impact. If something of the Japan scale was to happen at a plant in the Northeast US, you're looking at HEAVILY populated areas that would need to be evacuated potentially for years. That would have MASSIVE economic impact. For instance a quick look at a map in my area (Boston), puts much of the metro Boston area within 30 miles of Pilgrim. Last I heard the evac zone in Japan was 20-30 miles at least from the plant. Thats like 3-4 million people in the case of Boston. While few people might die, it would SERIOUSLY impact the country as a whole.
Ifs, maybe, woulds, possiblys....... If we put a nuclear plant somewhere in Siberia/Northern Territories/ and it had an issue, then NO-ONE would be affected. If we had it in central London, Manhattan or then MILLIONS would be affected. I'm not saying that the effects could be catastrophic ... but there's little point (beyond audience capture) in postulating a worse-case scenario.
As another poster said - surviving a level-9 quake and tsunami with only this amount of damage is a credit to their engineering. Pity it wasn't better - but who'd have thunk?
My friend installed a shower stall in his old man's home made RV (1959 Dodge Stepvan with a '55 DeSoto V8). You had to sit ON the toilet to shower though.
Kills two birds with one stone ...
And also we haven't been dropping crap up there for too many years, from too many spacecraft. We're sort of like Columbus and his boys worrying about a toffee wrapper that someone left behind on the beach somewhere in the Caribbean.
Can we get back to this in, say, two centuries when there's enough crap to worry about? We have other issues more pressing that this (oh sorry - forgot this was slashdot....thought I was in a US Government thinktank...).
I still have a slide rule that I used for my Maths "O" level in 1976, to check my answers. Now get off my lawn.