Comment Re:The real question is... (Score 1) 380
Because abusive monopolies or oligopolies have *never*, ever happened.
Because abusive monopolies or oligopolies have *never*, ever happened.
Asteroid capture and mining is potentially lucrative but completely unknown in terms of economy, safety, proper technique, etc. Generally what governments excel at is exploration of unknowns. You think there would BE private space flights and planned space stations if NASA and the USSR hadn't gone up first to see if, oh, people could even survive in zero-G, let alone get up there and back? Is it inefficient? Sure. But governments can take risks that private agencies, with shareholders that demand risk prevention, can't. Once the maps have been made, so to speak, then you can get the massive influx of private sector enterprise.
In other words, it's an investment.
BumWine.com lists the only wines you'll ever need.
So take the challenge, easily beat it, and donate the money to the charity of your choice. A million dollars can feed a lot of starving orphans.
Yes they are. And that's a huge problem if you want to look at their source code, as in Microsoft departments tend to be incredibly clannish and intra-competitive. So Microsoft Research has the following choices:
A) Spend weeks or months bickering back and forth with the gaming division for access to the Halo source code, or
B) Just grab some open source code and get on with it.
Pen15 fits easy in the hand, interfaces well with both sides, and works well digitally.
You might not want to whip it out at the local coffee shop though.
(time to burn through all that excess karma I guess...)
I agree. A xenogenetics lab on Earth is not a good idea, especially if they decide to work with 'hot' DNA. Better to put it on the Moon, or even better, in a free orbit between Earth and Mars so that if something does go wrong, the solar wind will blow the bugs out of the solar system.
Nonsense.
Xenogenetics labs working on tiny fragments of alien DNA (or equivalent) would be of no danger whatsoever. How do I know? Bacteria. Millions of species of hardy, survivalist badasses that have survived through more globe-spanning apocalypses than you've had hot dinners. So let's say there's an accident and some tiny sequenced fragments of alien genetics fall into a pond somewhere. Assuming A) the environment doesn't immediately kill them and B) they're complete enough to form autonomous life, they'll have to contend with the fact that they're competing for survival against creatures that are built to survive the shit that Earth throws at them. Not a chance in hell.
Barring some situation where you've got incriminating stuff on the drive, your best approach to this problem is just to be honest. Approach the IT department and state the following case:
-I've been here for ten years. While I didn't squander my time on personal crap, there's bound to be a personal email or credit card number somewhere in a browser cache or temp file.
-I've got (X instant message/skype/whatever) account running on login, and I don't want to leave that hanging around.
-What can we do to protect both myself and the company?
Suggest a drive wipe and reimage. It's a bit overkill, so if that's an issue suggest you be given supervised admin privileges to wipe temp folders, uninstall software, wipe leftover program and document folders, delete your old user account, etc. Ask about a place to back up all your work files in case anyone needs them.
Of course, your IT might not be retarded, but it doesn't hurt to ask. And if you've got admin privileges, do all that stuff yourself.
You just have to be more creative. For instance:
Not as much as the Rolemaster elementalist with first level spell "boil water",
If that was me?
Boil your waterskin, throw it in your opponent's face.
Boil your opponent's saliva.
Boil your opponent's urine.
Boil the sweat inside your opponent's armor.
Boil the aqueous jelly in your opponent's eyes.
Shitty starting spells and low hitpoints only sucks if you don't consider it a challenge.
"Windmills do not work that way!"
-Morbo
If A = B and B = C, then A = C, except where void or prohibited by law. -- Roy Santoro