On March 8, Peggy Noonan had a particularly wonderful article in the Opinion Journal.
Within that article, she had these things to say:
I am experiencing a change of temperament, if that is the word. I have mostly gone through life as a short-term pessimist and a long-term optimist, but now I find, and perhaps it's only temporary, that I am increasingly a short-term optimist and a long-term pessimist. That's not quite right. I am certain there is a heaven, which is not a pessimistic belief. But my long-term thoughts about the world are not as sunny as once they were.
And yet I am happy each day and enjoy my life.
While I am worried about the future in a way I cannot shake.
...
The friend who had e'd me followed up with news that the Chinese are creating dozens of cloned embryos in their labs. The British medical journal New Scientist has reported a Chinese team "based at Shanghai No. 2 Medical University" says it has "derived stem cells from hybrid embryos composed of human cells and rabbit eggs." The journal said scientists throughout the world fear similar research in the US and UK has been "bogged down" by "ethical concerns."
Ah, those pesky ethical concerns. They slow you up just when you could be creating in a Petri dish the recipe for Rabbit Man. And then of course you could grow him, bring him into being, for all but dunces know that what man can do he will do(*). And then perhaps once you've grown him you can have Rabbit Man for dinner.
(* - My emphasis, not original)
I certainly don't think that this is the step that is going to break the camel's back. Clearly, this is an awesome and great and GOOD achievement. And we will do great things in this fashion. But research like this requires great responsibility, and not everyone will understand that.
Quite frankly, I don't really understand why people think anyone will care if a few users leave, 'cause we won't. Yes, that's right, you will not be missed. We are not going to cry. We aren't going to beg you to stay. We aren't even going to try to explain the merits of the site, because, you know what - you don't get it and you won't get it.
Let's be honest - this is a website for people that are wasting time - either by not studying, or by not working. It has semi-interesting articles, but it is most definitely not NPR, the Washington Post, or CNN. It's a geek site, run by a few guys who thought it would be a cool idea. I don't even understand why they stick around (CmdrTaco and Hemos) because quite frankly, I would think that they'd be tired of all the flames they get day in and day out. Do you get as attacked at your job as they do everyday?
If you don't like the site - don't come to the site. If you don't like the site on AFD, don't come to the site on AFD. It's one day. (Ok, kindof two days, but there are now legit articles up, so I'm still going to count it as just one day.)
And furthermore (as I stand a little straighter on my soap box) I don't understand all of the flames about spell checking stories and whatnot. It's not like Taco was a BETTER speller 3 years ago! Nothing has changed. If you didn't like it then, you shouldn't have set up camp in the first place. It hardly makes sense to flame away for flaws that have been here since the beginning.
I know I may well pay painfully for this post, but so be it.
You can apply a modifier of up to -6 to anonymous posts. This assures that even if an AC were to post a comment that was moderated up to a 5, there's still no way you'd see it.
They weren't talking about the Simpsons as a means of any serious sort of study, they were talking about the Simpsons as a means of making their classes fun.
Their argument is this: for those in college right now, the Simpsons has been on television for almost all of their lives. This year's freshmen were in 1st GRADE when the Simpsons first came on the air. And, these kids LOVE the Simpsons. Lucky for Math professors, a wide range of mathematical topics are covered within the Simpsons. So, if you want to connect with your students, try finding a Simpsons clip that is connected to your current topic and use that as a launch pad for in class discussion.
I think you have to give these guys props, because they are actually trying to break through the wall that is between the professor and the average student so that the student might actually become interested in mat. Wow. Professors who care! This is cool.
Thanks for your condescending response. I did read the notes. Sorry I didn't qualify my remarks (in fact, I did qualify remarks I made earlier in the day), but the parent was talking about the hypotheticals of identify theft. If a person wants to steal my identity, sure, modifying the data on my card might cause me a real pain, but I'm not too worried about it. In the long run, I could prove I am ME. However, if a government did have a database of such information, real theft would be possible by changing the records that the government possesses about me. (DNA, thumb print, retinal scan....) This latter option is the only sort of identify theft that I'm concerned about, and that is what I had in mind when I wrote my response.
You see, the parent was talking about hypotheticals. S/he was NOT talking about the specific case in hand. So, once we're talking about hypotheticals, I can talk about a hypothetical government controlled database.
This is why it is so bloody necessary that governments archive this sort of data in systems or on media that cannot be overwritten. I understand the Hong Kong governments worries about crackers, because it would be very bad indeed if someone managed to get into the government database and change the information about MY fingerprints. So, in the case of a dispute, it will become vitally important that there are ways to check that database data against read-only data from another archive.
I suggest they burn LOTS of CDS, and that they put them in many places, so as to avoid problems of having their eggs in one basket.
I'm not sure I understand why it is that if they are worried about forgeries, they wouldn't keep data like fingerprints in an online database. (The article specifically said they were not going to keep such data in a government database, in case it was hacked.) It seems that there ought to be a way to verify that the data that is on the card is in fact data that was placed there by the government when the card was issued.
Furthermore, if they are worried that a cracker might access the government data and change it, then they should also create a backup of that data on a permanent storage (ROM) device, like on a CD. That way, they can always check to make sure the government database data is in fact correct.
Without allowing for a way to easily cross check the data on the smart card with data held elsewhere, this ID card will be of little use to anyone, since there will be no guarantee that the card is accurately identifying the card holder as a citizen. In other words, there is no guard against false positives. It has the same limitations as paper Social Security cards, as there is no way to authenticate that the ID card itself is legitimate.
"I have a bad feeling about this"
"What's that smell?"/"What an incredible smell you've discovered."
"It's not my fault!"
"What a hunk of junk!"/"You fly that thing? You're braver than I thought."
Everybody turning C-3PO up or otherwise shutting him up.
Star Wars has always been loaded with intense amounts of corny schtick. We should not be surprised by any occurrences of it in these latest movies. In fact, its part of why we like these movies so damned much - because they are both great (in the heroic\world myth\good vs. evil sense) and because they are so human. The difference, of course, is that it seems to me that the earlier group of actors were better able to pull it off.
I'm fairly certain that this doesn't fall under the definition of temporary incapacitation in regards to chemical warfare. Their definition of temporary incapacitation is probably referring to temporarily disabling nerves and other system functions in able to prohibit muscle movement, and hence, locamotion.
But with this slippery slim, you are free to move your muscles as much as you like, it just won't be very effective because the surface you are on isn't being particularly responsive. Regardless, you still aren't incapacitated. You can still move - you just might end up falling a lot.
The cut and paste on the Mac is rather difficult, being a combination of mouse and keyboard, rather than pure mouse use.
What's funny is that for a second I thought to myself, "you can't do cut and paste with just a mouse." I'm so used to using the keyboard commands, that it never even occurs to me to use the context menus.
Wow.
What I love best about the new macs are the new file view options. The new column view is killer - I love being able to see as much of the directory structure as I like.
Actually, out of all the performances in AI, it is the snubbing of Jude Law that surprises me. I thought surely this performance would have garnered a Best Supporting Actor for him.
I didn't like the film, but I definitely felt that his performance in the role of Jiggolo Joe was exceptional.
Amelie is up for Best Foreign Film, as well as Cinematography, Art Direction, and Original Screenplay.
I absolutely adored Amelie, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to go and see it if it is still playing in a theater near you. Like "Life Is Beautiful", it is thoroughly enchanting. If you are a confirmed cynic, without a skosh of whimsy in your heart, don't bother, but otherwise, this is a fabulouse flick.
"Come What May" - Christian and Satine's love song - couldn't be nominated for Best Song because it wasn't originally penned for this movie. Apparently, it was originally written for Luhrmann's earlier movie, "Romeo + Juliet".
Likewise, I'm not certain that it could have been nominated for Best Original Score since most of the themes are borrowed.
How far are we allowed to manipulate genetics before we no longer allow a being human rights? For example, in the United States, how different does a being have to be from "human" before we don't allow them the opportunity to to become a citizen or to vote, before we stop allowing them in our public schools, before we don't allow them the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness?
Keep in mind that our laws today protect low-functioning humans (people with medical and mental problems that prohibit them from leading a "normal" life - some in near vegetative states) - how far will we be willing to go to protect these new beings?
Personally, I think our first impulse will be to treat these beings as test creatures, with no rights of their own. Our tendency will be to use them as a slave race, denying them their humanity. Would we ever find a Stephen Hawking within one of these created species if he existed, or would we have already destroyed him because he seemed to be incapable of living?
There is a VERY important question here. While religious, it is not ONLY religious - what IS a human?
[3] Charge accouting would most likely be done by uour ISP who -already- has your credit into.
Well, here's the problem with that - it will kill public access to the internet. No more surfing at your public library, or in your campus computer lab. Secondly, lets say I live with other people. We are all simulatenously using the same cable modem connection, but we're not going to want to split the cost of our page views equally. Nor is it going to be feasible for the ISP to send us a listing of every page view we've been charged for in the past month so that we can each pick out our page views. Finally, is your work really going to foot the bill for the hundreds (thousands ?) of times you view slashdot over a month? Not likely.
You will know that they have become ubiquitious when you can have a robot rock band, complete with robots actually playing guitars, piano, etc. doing the dancing, etc
The recording industry has already done this. Maybe you're familiar with a few of these "artists": Britney Spears, NSync, the Backstreet Boys, OTown, Christina Alguilera... =)
They could have picked the name first and then looked for an acronym to fit it.
Organization is amoral.
on
God's Debris
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Organization in a religion is neither good nor bad. It is amoral. Organization merely provides structure.
Christian theologians talk about the wine and the wineskins. The wine is the good message that Christians have to share with others. The wine is vitally important - it is what has real value. The wineskins are the structures that facilitate the growth of the message. The value of the winkeskins is directly related to their effectiveness in delivering the wine to the people. They have no value apart from the wine.
The problem of most Christian organizations is that they have forgotten the importance of the wine. They have allowed the wineskins to be seen as valuable in and of themselves. The structures of the church - the buildings, the meeting formats, the hymns (Oh the hymns!!), even the chairs - have remained the same for hundreds of years because they have been valued for their tradition. But they should not be valued if they do not effectively communicate the wine, and judging by the number of people bored out of their minds on Sundays, they are definitely not serving this purpose. They were once effective, but they are not any longer.
Organized religion is good when it provides an effective means of distributing special revelation to the populace. Every part of a Christian organization should be geared towards distributing the wine. Organized religion is bad when it is not willing to prune away the dead branches. If members are not willing to do so, if they value any part of the structure more than the wine, their organization is destined for trouble.
You have to admire the man's rhetorical skills. He says its not worth getting into what the GPL is, but in so doing, he implies that the GPL is a mysterious, evil force that is going to keep people from making money. Gates states that the normal business cycle is one in which companies hire people and pay taxes. But the GPL tries to break that, so now you won't be able to feed your family and there won't be any tax money to pay for public schools and neighborhood patrols. Its a terribly insidious idea that the he has planted into peoples heads, and yet he avoids making a single factual statement about the GPL.
It occurs to me that maybe he should run for public office. His debate skills are most impressive. But then he'd probably find some way to oust the Chancellor, hunt down all the Jedi, and disband the Imperial Senate. (Can't you just see Ballmer jumping up and down in Vader's outfit? Tee hee hee.)
One typo. One intentional misspelling. Also said "study" when I meant "studying".
Count the number of times you use the word "I".
My reply was a personal example - an illustration using my life as source material of how a person can attempt to find a field that resonates with his/her own interests. Hence the use of the word "I". (Oh no! Sentence fragment. Uh-oh -there I go again.) Of course, the final paragraph makes a deliberate shift from "I" to "you", as it concentrates on applying the lessons learned in my life to John Q. Public. ("I"s are still present, of course, but you will notice a great many "you"s and "your"s)
Slashdot Mirror
Let's be honest - this is a website for people that are wasting time - either by not studying, or by not working. It has semi-interesting articles, but it is most definitely not NPR, the Washington Post, or CNN. It's a geek site, run by a few guys who thought it would be a cool idea. I don't even understand why they stick around (CmdrTaco and Hemos) because quite frankly, I would think that they'd be tired of all the flames they get day in and day out. Do you get as attacked at your job as they do everyday?
If you don't like the site - don't come to the site. If you don't like the site on AFD, don't come to the site on AFD. It's one day. (Ok, kindof two days, but there are now legit articles up, so I'm still going to count it as just one day.)
And furthermore (as I stand a little straighter on my soap box) I don't understand all of the flames about spell checking stories and whatnot. It's not like Taco was a BETTER speller 3 years ago! Nothing has changed. If you didn't like it then, you shouldn't have set up camp in the first place. It hardly makes sense to flame away for flaws that have been here since the beginning.
I know I may well pay painfully for this post, but so be it.
You can apply a modifier of up to -6 to anonymous posts. This assures that even if an AC were to post a comment that was moderated up to a 5, there's still no way you'd see it.
OY!
Their argument is this: for those in college right now, the Simpsons has been on television for almost all of their lives. This year's freshmen were in 1st GRADE when the Simpsons first came on the air. And, these kids LOVE the Simpsons. Lucky for Math professors, a wide range of mathematical topics are covered within the Simpsons. So, if you want to connect with your students, try finding a Simpsons clip that is connected to your current topic and use that as a launch pad for in class discussion.
I think you have to give these guys props, because they are actually trying to break through the wall that is between the professor and the average student so that the student might actually become interested in mat. Wow. Professors who care! This is cool.
I find it difficult to believe a drug dealer would be stupid enough to approach a Jedi knight with an offer to sell him drugs.
You see, the parent was talking about hypotheticals. S/he was NOT talking about the specific case in hand. So, once we're talking about hypotheticals, I can talk about a hypothetical government controlled database.
I suggest they burn LOTS of CDS, and that they put them in many places, so as to avoid problems of having their eggs in one basket.
Furthermore, if they are worried that a cracker might access the government data and change it, then they should also create a backup of that data on a permanent storage (ROM) device, like on a CD. That way, they can always check to make sure the government database data is in fact correct.
Without allowing for a way to easily cross check the data on the smart card with data held elsewhere, this ID card will be of little use to anyone, since there will be no guarantee that the card is accurately identifying the card holder as a citizen. In other words, there is no guard against false positives. It has the same limitations as paper Social Security cards, as there is no way to authenticate that the ID card itself is legitimate.
Tee hee hee.
I'm going to pay for that one, aren't I?
"What's that smell?"/"What an incredible smell you've discovered."
"It's not my fault!"
"What a hunk of junk!"/"You fly that thing? You're braver than I thought."
Everybody turning C-3PO up or otherwise shutting him up.
Star Wars has always been loaded with intense amounts of corny schtick. We should not be surprised by any occurrences of it in these latest movies. In fact, its part of why we like these movies so damned much - because they are both great (in the heroic\world myth\good vs. evil sense) and because they are so human. The difference, of course, is that it seems to me that the earlier group of actors were better able to pull it off.
But with this slippery slim, you are free to move your muscles as much as you like, it just won't be very effective because the surface you are on isn't being particularly responsive. Regardless, you still aren't incapacitated. You can still move - you just might end up falling a lot.
What's funny is that for a second I thought to myself, "you can't do cut and paste with just a mouse." I'm so used to using the keyboard commands, that it never even occurs to me to use the context menus.
Wow.
What I love best about the new macs are the new file view options. The new column view is killer - I love being able to see as much of the directory structure as I like.
Actually, out of all the performances in AI, it is the snubbing of Jude Law that surprises me. I thought surely this performance would have garnered a Best Supporting Actor for him.
I didn't like the film, but I definitely felt that his performance in the role of Jiggolo Joe was exceptional.
Parent comment was knowingly making that joke. =)
Amelie is up for Best Foreign Film, as well as Cinematography, Art Direction, and Original Screenplay.
I absolutely adored Amelie, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to go and see it if it is still playing in a theater near you. Like "Life Is Beautiful", it is thoroughly enchanting. If you are a confirmed cynic, without a skosh of whimsy in your heart, don't bother, but otherwise, this is a fabulouse flick.
"Come What May" - Christian and Satine's love song - couldn't be nominated for Best Song because it wasn't originally penned for this movie. Apparently, it was originally written for Luhrmann's earlier movie, "Romeo + Juliet".
Likewise, I'm not certain that it could have been nominated for Best Original Score since most of the themes are borrowed.
Kate Capshaw, Spielberg's wife, is set to reprise her role as "Willie Scott" (aka, the annoying blonde from Temple of Doom) for Indy IV.
*sigh* Why have the movie gods seen fit to damn us?
How far are we allowed to manipulate genetics before we no longer allow a being human rights? For example, in the United States, how different does a being have to be from "human" before we don't allow them the opportunity to to become a citizen or to vote, before we stop allowing them in our public schools, before we don't allow them the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness?
Keep in mind that our laws today protect low-functioning humans (people with medical and mental problems that prohibit them from leading a "normal" life - some in near vegetative states) - how far will we be willing to go to protect these new beings?
Personally, I think our first impulse will be to treat these beings as test creatures, with no rights of their own. Our tendency will be to use them as a slave race, denying them their humanity. Would we ever find a Stephen Hawking within one of these created species if he existed, or would we have already destroyed him because he seemed to be incapable of living?
There is a VERY important question here. While religious, it is not ONLY religious - what IS a human?
Well, here's the problem with that - it will kill public access to the internet. No more surfing at your public library, or in your campus computer lab. Secondly, lets say I live with other people. We are all simulatenously using the same cable modem connection, but we're not going to want to split the cost of our page views equally. Nor is it going to be feasible for the ISP to send us a listing of every page view we've been charged for in the past month so that we can each pick out our page views. Finally, is your work really going to foot the bill for the hundreds (thousands ?) of times you view slashdot over a month? Not likely.
The recording industry has already done this. Maybe you're familiar with a few of these "artists": Britney Spears, NSync, the Backstreet Boys, OTown, Christina Alguilera... =)
They could have picked the name first and then looked for an acronym to fit it.
Christian theologians talk about the wine and the wineskins. The wine is the good message that Christians have to share with others. The wine is vitally important - it is what has real value. The wineskins are the structures that facilitate the growth of the message. The value of the winkeskins is directly related to their effectiveness in delivering the wine to the people. They have no value apart from the wine.
The problem of most Christian organizations is that they have forgotten the importance of the wine. They have allowed the wineskins to be seen as valuable in and of themselves. The structures of the church - the buildings, the meeting formats, the hymns (Oh the hymns!!), even the chairs - have remained the same for hundreds of years because they have been valued for their tradition. But they should not be valued if they do not effectively communicate the wine, and judging by the number of people bored out of their minds on Sundays, they are definitely not serving this purpose. They were once effective, but they are not any longer.
Organized religion is good when it provides an effective means of distributing special revelation to the populace. Every part of a Christian organization should be geared towards distributing the wine. Organized religion is bad when it is not willing to prune away the dead branches. If members are not willing to do so, if they value any part of the structure more than the wine, their organization is destined for trouble.
It occurs to me that maybe he should run for public office. His debate skills are most impressive. But then he'd probably find some way to oust the Chancellor, hunt down all the Jedi, and disband the Imperial Senate. (Can't you just see Ballmer jumping up and down in Vader's outfit? Tee hee hee.)
But, hey, thanks for playing.