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Comment Re:Look at the parents (Score 1) 534

Indians could come to America on the basis of wealth too. Incidentally, the number of well-educated but poor Indians far outweigh the number of uneducated wealthy Indians, and even then there aren't many uneducated wealthy Indians who are looking to come to America because in India they live like kings.

Comment Re:The steady slide to Police State continues (Score 1) 1123

Shows like 24 epitomize this, that police are hindered by laws and the "bad guys" get away the more we enforce the constitution.

Mm. I think that may be too simple a view?

I always saw the cops in 24 as more incompetent than anything. It wasn't that they were enforcing the constitution, the average cop knows very little of the constitution. It was that they were following rules. They couldn't think for themselves. They couldn't make the tough ethical decisions on their own. They always had for their authority a set of rules, not a set of principles. Jack Bauer, on the other hand, was a man driven by principles. And that's why he was the hero in the show. Not because he caught bad guys by any means possible, but that he caught bad guys because they were bad.

I think the calling that a show like 24 demands is one towards being able to think about tough moral questions on your own. If you've ever seen the show Justice on PBS, this is the sort of tackling of questions that the show attempts to inspire. But the creators of 24 choose not to confront these tough questions in mere stories or words, but to try to connect with their viewers on a more emotional, personally invested level.

Comment Re:Tolerance and Withdrawal (Score 1) 506

In general it takes only a few days for the painful symptoms of withdrawal, such as headaches and nausea, to subside. However, for alertness, and cognitive abilities to return to their baseline state, I need about two weeks. Around then my tolerance for caffeine is basically gone as well.

Comment Tolerance and Withdrawal (Score 1) 506

This idea applies to caffeine addicts. But to someone new to caffeine who hasn't developed a high tolerance, caffeine has its perks. So for addicts who want to relive those first moments, the idea is to go through periods of withdrawal intentionally in order to lower their tolerance, and then return to caffeine when needed. I do this all the time. Caution: withdrawal is not fun.

Comment Re:People, people everywhere (Score 1) 386

I remember story on slashdot awhile ago about possibilities of aliens and whether they would be hostile or not. Some guy proposed that since most wars on earth were caused by scarcity of resources, and since the universe is such a big place and the resources we need to live on are so abundant, that war wouldn't exist so long as we ventured out far enough.

He forgot to imagine a universe where everywhere is like China.

But it doesn't have to be the universe. Just a small enough area with a dense enough population. For example, China. Or any other corner of the galaxy, so long as its small enough and packed enough.

Comment Re:Whats the big deal (Score 2, Informative) 386

In India bottled water fraud is widespread. When I traveled there a few years ago, it was far more safe to drink coke than the water, even bottled water. If you've ever seen the movie Slum Dog Millionaire there is a scene where they take used water bottles refill them and glue back the top. I actually had some friends drink such water and get sick. What my friend told me to do was to crush the water bottles after drinking them because there aren't really trash cans or dumps in India. People just throw the trash out on the side of the road, and burn it. So you'll see lots of people walking picking up used water bottles to refill and sell.

Comment Re:Open Source Textbooks? (Score 4, Informative) 895

There's a few projects like that. As far as I know, they aren't really in widespread use.

A professor of mine once said that if you really want to know the material you should try writing a textbook on it. He was in the middle of writing various textbooks on Group Theory and Abstract Algebra. I think that's good advice for any expert in any field.

Here are some links I found after a quick google search:

California Open Source Textbook Project

Textbook Revolution

Open Textbook Repository

An open source Linear Algebra Textbook

A list of open source Math textbooks

Hope this helps!

Comment Re:Blasphemy? (Score 1) 949

(but sure, I probably should have used "most" instead of "every" there; though the latter is probably sufficiently close anyway...)

Well, that's the game isn't it? To say the most outlandish thing and try to get away with it?

What I mean is, when we attempt to articulate patterns we see in the world, all we're doing is trying to find the most general statement and still have it be true.

The problem is that most statements of that sort are vacuous or by definition. The key is finding the truths which are implied, or just beneath the surface.

Comment Re:Blasphemy? (Score 2, Informative) 949

Every religion is the "true" one according to its followers. "Blasphemy", in this context, is really only the case when it is done to the mythology held dear by...those who determine whether it is blasphemy or not.

Not "true".

Buddhism, Hinduism, and many other Eastern Religions believe in and practice Pluralism. That is, they think that all paths lead to Heaven. Or in other words, that all religions are true.

Whether or not this stands up to logical scrutiny is a different subject.

Comment Re:f.lux (Score 1) 351

It changes the temperature of your screen according to the time (sunrise/sunset).

There's a much simpler solution. Works with or without a computer. It's called a "sleep mask" and does not require USB, batteries or proprietary power connector.

Or you could try using both of them?

Comment Re:Looking great (Score 1) 182

Rock on Durian team :)

I hope their name isn't a reference to the fruit. From wikipedia, "Its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock."

But maybe their team is like durian: smell crappy, but taste delicious.

Anyhow, the trailer looks beautifully epic. I just hope they're not aiming for too epic.

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