Pity I didn't click the Post Anonymously checkbox.

Posting AC because I moderated the parent up.

Although the quote above is somewhat idealistic (unless you can work for yourself or happen to have a pretty non-typical workplace there are "political" considerations as well), in essence it's spot on. At the end of the journey we all end up as a pile of bones or ash. I'd rather spend that journey being poor and doing something I love than rich and doing something I hate (you will feel like a slave and not enjoy all that life offers). Each to their own, though.

At this point in time, no.

There is no direct quote... it's an allusion. That's why it's funny and clever.

I like how you say Sunday school and at the same time give the big bang theory gospel status. Very clever post.

I think that the proposed "rainbow gravity" (http://phys.org/news/2015-01-black-holes-space-theory.html) and the big bang theory are mutually exclusive

http://www.scientificamerican....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

I also own a G27 and won't be "upgrading" to that G920. If I was going to spend that money I'd be looking at getting something that offers more than the G27 does, and quite honestly my first upgrade would be the pedals -- specifically the brake pedal, first -- rather than the wheel itself (although I might upgrade the G27 brake pedal using a Perfect Pedal or maybe a load cell or something I hack together myself)

See my comment below regarding force feedback. There is no practical way to make the base heavy enough to work without clamps due to the force feedback. Possibly you could strap some lead weights to it, but that would be quite a bit more bothersome than some quick release clamps on your desk.

Are you forgetting about the force feedback? Without clamping the wheel to your desk the wheel is going to jump around like a piece of cooking popcorn and that's before you even get to the first corner. To turn the wheel overcoming the force feedback generated by the turn wouldn't really be possible unless the base weighed 100kg (ok, maybe not that much but it'd have to be a darn heavy base). I suppose it might be possible with force feedback turned off but then what's the point?

Intelligent Design has failed once, and so has Evolution. Of course it won't happen again. The principal who said that may be the only sane person in the universe. We all know that both ID and Evolution are flawed and only theories; they're not law. The obvious and only correct answer is that it (it? what is it?) is a combination of both theories. And I can assure you that this will not happen again -- it was a disaster.

I guess my last post was a but abrupt but it does summarise my view of the modern world pretty well. We've, in my opinion, moved into an era where knowledge and research that has no practical application equates to something that's not worth all that much. Capitalism seems to be the dominant (economic) system that drives modern research and I hate it. If there is no concrete monetary profit from a venture then good luck pursuing an avenue of research that does not yield a "return on investment".

As an example, at the job before my last job my role was to study plants, the environment and ecology, and write plans that would direct on-ground works to achieve restoration of degraded ecosystems. At first it seemed like a dream role. After a while I discovered that the accountants classified me as a "non-earner"; i.e. my work did not directly earn income for the company (for the most part -- I did consultancy work that did, but that was pretty minor compared to my overall workload). Therefore every time pay grades and, hey I would have appreciated this even more, thanks and acknowledgement I was always at the bottom rung of the ladder despite my work guiding the on-ground teams who implemented the works, corrective interventions, etc. that I developed. They were classified by the accounting department as "money earners" whilst I remained a "non earner" and therefore of less value to the company. In the end I acknowledged that they were stupid and resigned.

Guess what. The next company, which I only left a month or so ago, had a similar system! I was told that as a researcher I did not directly earn money for the company and therefore I could not expect to get paid as much. I was also told that because I didn't directly control a team of people (only indirectly through my plans and development of project goals) that I was worth less. They didn't use those words but that's what it boiled down to. So I left that train wreck of a company as well. But, to my dismay, every single job I've applied or interviewed for since then has the same attitude! "How can you directly earn us money". They (the managers or whoever) cannot see indirect value.

I guess what I am trying to say is that science or research without direct fiscal benefits is not, in my experience, that the modern world wants to pay for (well, maybe in academia but they don't pay that well either and you'd be constantly seeking grants that nobody wants to provide or sponsor).

Archaeology must be even worse... in their case there is probably not even a hope of gaining a return on investment (fiscally). It's a shame that knowledge for knowledge's sake apparently means so little to so many these days. But, that's the society we've chosen I guess.

I guess that's all the funding they could get. Fuck you, modern world.

Do you know the rest of them?

http://www.languagemonitor.com...

The way these viruses are mutating, sharing RNA (code), and recombining to form new strains is ridiculous. My main concern is that my computer is in close contact with Windows, OSX and also Linux. Even if I was just dual booting Windows and Linux it would be bad enough. Dual booting with the obvious genetic soup it forms between the two different operating systems is a recipe for disaster. Such close contact between operating systems and a virus that mutates to form new strains, frankly, makes me quite uneasy. Because the operating systems run on the same underlying hardware, sharing the same genetics (opcodes) means that the likelihood of the virus crossing species (OS's) is pretty damn likely. We could seriously have an uncontrollable pandemic on our hands withing weeks unless the governments of the world (and their health organisations) proactively get together and tighten air traffic so that laptops and other computers come into contact. Without cooperation I fear that we face a pandemic that will make SARS look like a baby chicken (after it comes out of the egg all nice and fluffy).

Follow up. So why don't some of you folk follow Bruce's pretty good advice:

a) A personal preference is no excuse for a rabid hate
b) [You] may dislike the direction certain projects are going, and even consider them misguided, but that is very different from condemning them wholesale