bench.free weights. 'nuff said

How far do you take the right/left hemisphere argument? Do you subscribe to a J. Jaynes breakdown of a once bicameral mind? Has the language centric left hemisphere put a ring in the nose of an affective, right hemisphere?

I can't see it that simply but YMMV.

Well for us up here, it's pretty easy. If you can't play hockey or brew a proper beer then you're American. Tried and True. :)

I've not been able to stay current with security affairs since about Windows 98, not because staying current with computer security isn't important, but because I just don't have the time. Fortunately I'm able to keep my work computers offline. But as a Luser look at it this way, every security patch is a bullet you hoped to have dodged, now think of how many security patches a Window's box needs, especially if it's always online and loaded with 3rd party software, it's like the Gunfight at the OK Corral. What does it say about the true state of the internet?

Wind eye, an etymological, all time favourite of mine. From old norse, I can imagine my winter bound ancestor, The Seafarer looking through a wind eye. Not that anyone cares about the above or that I'm doing taxes today. :(

Lucky bastard, obviously the peyote still grows wild and free in abundance down there. Although, given the hypothesis as put forth in the article, I sense there's a pipeline for good B.C. bud running down there too.

As much as I'd like to address the issues you've raised I'm not prepared to do so because I don't think I've fully grasped the mechanics of genetics, especially in terms of gene expression and concepts like epigenetics. I'm currently, given time constraints, trying to come to a clear understanding of these issues at a Freshman/Sophomore level because they train directly on issues I have in epistemology. All the same, I enjoyed your vigorous response.

cheers

Prof. Terrence Deacon pod casts his anthropology courses from Berkeley. IIRC he suggests, when thinking about nature versus nurture debates, it's necessary to keep in mind that both nature, in terms of genetic predisposition, and nurture, in terms of the impact of environment, both play roles @ 100% each. Much like bipolar disorders and schizophrenia there must be a genetic predisposition but there must also be environmental factors. Suggesting that the gene alone is sufficient might be a bit of an overreach in a creature as complex and socially nested as ourselves.

Agriculture? What is it? How did it arise? The basis of civilization or so many often say. Forethought, planning, experimentation, settlement versus nomadic hunter gatherers, and on and on. If you subscribe to the idea that agriculture arose in the Mediterranean about 12K yrs ago then it's likely it arose because our dumb ass ancestors stumbled across Polyploidy crops. The Mediterranean then was somewhat different. It may have been a transitory ecotone. There's a theory that the Sahara Desert acted as a giant pump for humanity, drawing people in when wet, colder climates turned it into a hospitable environment, then driving them out when conditions changed and the Sahara dried out. Such a climate change could have created a ecotone in the Mediterranean region about the time polyploidy crops were discovered. I'm way out of my depth on stuff like polyploidy crops but the Biology 1A and 1B lecture series as Berkeley speak to it, in passing, in terms of the "discovery" of agriculture.

For my purposes I define agriculture as the practised exploitation of the sort of Darwinian superfecundity or overproduction of offspring that Gould addressed in his book 'The Structure of Evolution Theory'. It suits my needs because it speaks to hunter gathers as well as what we tend to think of as agriculturalists. There's ample evidence that hunter gathers live as well or better than farmers so questions pop up as to agriculture arose. I hold to slavery for the most part. Agriculture is tied to the earth just like the slave and serfs who worked the earth. If you take this as a jumping off point it presents history, especially in light of the landed aristocracy, in terms more in keeping with the failure of socialism, at least it makes it a little more interesting.

I don't pretend to even an elementary working knowledge of this stuff but the Anandtech articles seem to be the most frequently cited reference starting points. The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ and The SSD Relapse. I've a rudimentary understanding of the problems but have yet to come across anything that speaks to whether a SSD can be "refurbished" at the end of it's relatively short life, or, if a technology could be developed that would be profitable to refurbish SSDs at the end of their life. Just to underscore how little I know about this, I'm not at all sure what I mean when I say "refurbish" a SSD.

Every body knows masturbation leads to blindness, so, now, she's gonna push these people even further. Haven't they paid a big enough price already for their obsession?

Thanks, I looked at the mini as well as the full sized model. I'm usually on the couch when using my HTPC so the idea of a handheld keyboard is appealing. I've no problem with extending the dongle out from behind the box, and, like you, I like to keep my front usb ports open for other stuff. One of things I'll look for in my next box is more than the usual 2 usb ports on the face of the box.

Furtive was my favourite word in Junior High. I named my cat Furtive. As the link to the free dictionary points out furtive means "secret and sly or sordid", but I always thought it had to do with being a cat or a cat burglar, and, of course, there's the fur bit at the beginning. Furtivology is my take on futurology. The Japanese English newspaper Asahi has an interview with Mathew Burrows, expert of geopolitical futurology. I've always thought futurologists are well served being furtive and circumspect.

Mr. Burrows makes a number of interesting point by one is, I think, particularly germane to this thread.

"Small is no longer beautiful

Q: Throughout the 1990s, when very dynamic globalization was under way, there emerged the perception that small is beautiful.

Small countries like Singapore, Ireland, Israel, Estonia and Finland are clearly much more agile and much better at adapting to globalization.

Would I be wrong in saying that an era will come where the perception that big is powerful will gain ground over the next 15 or 20 years?

A: No, I think you're essentially right."

What is of note is the perception that big is powerful and highly centralized, large states like China will be in a better position to put in place the infrastructure necessary to compete. As noted in the linked article we, the world population, are facing a population bomb and the rise of states like India, Brazil and China. Intellectual Property is just one barb when it comes to grappling with the problems the next 5 or so generations are going to face. One of the cornerstones of democracy is the checks and balances founded upon the temporal and geographic dispersal of power. The idea of Intellectual Property as a stopgap against losing ground to a country like China is appealing only until it runs up against our basic rights; but federal agencies are obliged to protect the interests of the country in the world at large. It generates a double bind that probably won't be resolved in our lifetimes, if at all, if we fuck it all up big time.