I don't understand. Are you saying that we should continue building expensive mechanical weapons and ignore the threat of chemical and bio weapons? How do you bomb someone into the stone age when they live in your community?
Hypersonic weapons, rail guns, tanks, naval vessels, drones
Chemicals and bio weapons are so cheap, so easy to develop and distribute to large and small populations that any money spent on stupid hardware is a ridiculous waste. Any college student (much less an angry mob or small nation) with some talent could wipe out a large population right now in 2015.
Those with the tech, money and talent should be thinking seriously about how to defend against these weapons. This is a new century- wake up!
You may be aware of the 'window tax' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...
In UK, France & Scotland property tax was based upon the number of windows extant. Tax assessors can be very creative, and avoiders too.
Without such missions we would not have had the Blues Brothers. Think of all that we would have missed without the inspiration of a just and kind God.
It is not for us to say God is capricious when She puts airplanes in the ocean and sets fire to ocean going vessels. We are not qualified to judge It when It chooses to rain ebola, aids and a thousand pestilences upon the poorest people on the planet. Our place is to be grateful for the benevolence of our Lord and Master, to be thankful that we are not smote even as we tap our undeserving fingers on the keyboard.
Ouch!
Maria, for those who haven't heard the sad tale, was a dedicated employee at the M&M factory. She got up early every morning, packing the 5 children off to school, and bracing herself for the arduous bus ride to work. Despite her best efforts she was fired from her desperately needed job. Her only failure seems to have been that she dutifully discarded the 'W' candies that passed her inspection station.
No government decree will convince people that a cheap laser pen is not a toy.
Are lasers not also dangerous to airline passengers? Of the 60 cases of 'laser interference' how many were blinded or otherwise injured? And why are Finnish pilots looking out the window?
I am a creative writer. Like a fine artist or a serious music composer I will not be displaced easily. But I depend upon serious consumers. If you are satisfied with pop art, pop music, pop video
The trick here is that algorithms will discover ways to fake art, music, performance in a way that seems natural. You will find compelling elements in artificially generated 'art' and be tempted to abandon real human experience.
Real human experience will be supplanted with programs that cleverly emulate the type of story that mathematically elicits the best response from readers. You will need me and other real humans to document your descent from valued individuals who provide useful services to those who suck resources from the economic totality.
Genuine human sensitivity trumps algorithms sometimes!
Not so much an opposite reaction but
The tragedy here is not the fate of Sony or the movie or the movie-going public. It is the people who live in North Korea and their suffering.
What if every citizen of the free world displayed a bumper sticker or t-shirt that displayed the words "Kim Jong Un has a teeny weeny", along with appropriate artwork? Even better if done in Korean and other languages. [I can't take credit for this ridiculous idea as a similar one was already used]
Repressive regimes rarely exhibit a robust sense of humor. I believe the people of N Korea would quickly become aware of the campaign and maybe they would be inspired to see their leader in a new light. Maybe they would act toward change. That would surely inspire the rest of the world to help the citizens of North Korea.
This reminds me of the recent controversy over the mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley California.
http://worldgeographicchannel....
Many attempted to explain the phenomena but only a cleverly timed photographic sequence was able to explain the relatively simple process by which stones moved across the sand. Not everything on earth and in the heavens is beyond human comprehension.
Please stop confusing 'taxi drivers' and 'taxi companies'.
Drivers work their ass off for less than minimum wage, and many have families to support. They put in long hours on dangerous roads and face passengers even more unpleasant than you. It is one of the most unpleasant jobs on the planet, but it's all that these people can get.
Taxi companies own the formerly lucrative and exclusive rights to operate the service in their community. These can be very wealthy investors. They allow drivers to lease cabs from them at exorbitant rates to recoup their investment.
Uber and the like pop up and disrupt this balance. Taxi drivers lose fares, can't make their lease payment, can't feed their family. Taxi owners lose the huge investment that the government assured would give them exclusive rights. Uber has no social responsibility, no community presence, no loyalty to government, citizens or their own drivers & passengers. They are a parasite and they are destroying the only job available to many taxi drivers.
Most of us are rational and accept that science has presented the facts accurately. Yet there is a danger.
In the USA, our Food & Drug Administration has given us the Food Pyramid as a healthy scientific guideline for nutritious eating. They've told us to avoid fats and eat lots of carbohydrates. And they've killed millions with this advice.
When government sticks its nose into science, a bad odor emerges. In this case, the intention seems to have been to support certain commercial food producers (corporations with the ability to influence government decisions). As far as vaccines, nobody is profiting enough to buy congress.
Government decided some years ago that second-hand smoke was dangerous. They commissioned some studies to prove it. But when the studies came back without statistically valid evidence, the government simply redefined the term 'statistically valid' to fit their purpose. When it comes to sin- smoking, drinking, drugs
So science can be wonderful. It's essential for an honest evaluation of such things. But sometimes government trumps science. Here's where we have to be diligent.
Some day we will discover the drug that government dreams of: the brainwash pill. We will hear many lovely stories about how this drug will improve our lives, make us taller and studlier, make us happy and smarter
Beware the mix of government and science.
Where I live, and probably you too, arsenic is found naturally in the soil. It may have been filtered from your water. Or maybe not. Here an annual report is required on certain (but not all) contaminants in the public water supply.
A construction site near me was studied because there seemed to be more arsenic than usual. Eventually they decided that construction could continue- not a problem. Many of us are probably breathing arsenic.
Personally, I've had massive exposure to mercury, asbestos, lead and probably arsenic in the past 70 years and I'm remarkably healthy. I take certain nutrients and I find at least 100 hours/year keeping up with the science of good health is a good investment. Simply turn off your sports channel and spend some time with science. Yeah, that's Science- not some fitness magazine or gym guru! Could be the difference between a short wasted life and a long useful one for you and the people you care about.
Has any individual ever been held responsible for a privacy leak?
Gone to jail? Paid a fine? Flogged in the village square?
Would it make a difference if a particular person or group would be named as the responsible party and dire consequences would result from any leak? Consequences including loss of income, fines, jail time and never being able to take a similar job? OTOH, if they do the job well, they are well paid and respected.
Why wouldn't Sony or Target or a big government agency want this?
This is exactly what the airline industry does. They have a fall guy for every airline disaster. 'Pilot error.' That way the manufacturer, the airline, the maintenance company and all the 'too big to fail' companies are free to continue and the man with no voice takes the hit.
We know that the pilot does his best, regardless of the challenge. He knows the penalty for failure is severe. Management and IT professionals in charge of security should face serious consequences for failure as well.
After following PV solar developments for over 40 years, I've noticed two things:
#1 - Every month there is a technology breakthrough that will 'revolutionize' the industry.
#2 - After 40 years (40 X 12 = 480 breakthroughs) we are 2X as efficient as before.
The utility industry needn't panic immediately. We'll need a few hundred more revolutionary breakthroughs first.
Oh, and storage technology? You guessed it, many more revolutionary improvements needed. Or maybe we should just return to the original meaning of revolutionary and dump the hype.
"This generation may be the one that will face Armageddon." -- Ronald Reagan, "People" magazine, December 26, 1985
