Isn't the easiest way to deal with the underlying problem (fraudulent asylum applications) just to not offer asylum?
I've often thought asylum is counter-productive for the countries where abuse occurs. How is rebellion against oppression encouraged by the option to run away?
I'm all for immigration. I voted with my genes, as many of my family have, for diversity. I currently live (for the last 4 years, hopefully for only one or two more) in a toilet of a country where everything is owned by the political party in power. They kill people and hold sham trials where nobody important is ever in the dock. The dock (and jail) is full of opposition politicians. My neighbours all ask me to help them get into the UK.
By all means - if someone wants to come and join a society, let them. If they want to run away from one, I think they should be turned back with a citizen activism handbook and best wishes for the future.
No la, Malaysia has its own definition - it's broadband if it's > 56kbit/s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_malaysia
My 70RM (USD20) / month 512kbit/s has recently started to frequently exceed the local threshhold for broadband. For the previous 2 years, the line was completely dead for several days per month. This is the kind of 'competition' US ISPs are presumably focussing on.
I read once - or maybe imagined it - that some research showed that the optic nerve was very sensitive to anything in the field of vision that looked like eyes. There was a description of an experiment to do with circles and dots on flashcards and timed responses I think - I've had a quick search, but can find nothing, does anybody recognise that description? I also think I recall the suggestion that this was evolutionarily beneficial, as it gave advance warning when a predator or enemy was watching you.
Human women have two comparatively large (even more noticeable on the Internet), round breasts with dots in the middle. Your eyes point at these things before you even realise that they're there. Why is that? My explanation is that it's an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of the eye's 'eye detection' mechanism. Human breasts are large fake eyes that confer additional fitness on the possessor by causing males to look at them before they look at females with less apparent 'eyes'.
Original research. You read it here first.
After working on a hexapod project some time ago, I thought the way to go would be to start with lying down on the floor. My 15 month old son can run much faster than this - in short bursts. Then he wipes out spectacularly, picks himself up (or waits for me to do it) and does it again.
I think a great part of the reason for these things running the way they do is an effort to avoid them expensively decking out. I'd really like to see some less shiny robots put in a few impressive strides, crash spectacularly and get up again. I think HRP could get up from a lying position, but it wasn't quick, if I remember right.
Hmm, wonder where they sell speedometers...
They're called seedometers
When I added the article to a hobby project I've been working on, it choked the page indexer. Not only was MJ dead, but the HEAD was missing, and still is:
http://blog.lolyco.com/sean/2009/06/26/la-times-reports-michael-jackson-dead-head-missing/
Imagine if your brain suddenly never changes.
So a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did a PhD on crystalline computation - something like artificial neural networks, but no plasticity at all. It was very low level, but I always wondered about the plasticity / memory issue. A human brain is a very complex organ. If plasticity was the only medium for memory, it would have to be instantaneous. As I recall, there's no suggestion that very short-term memory involves plasticity. The issue with '5 minutes ago' - is that capacity, or just a good adaptation or behaviour, given the availability of some more reliable medium?
I haven't looked at the topic for a while, so if anybody has some interesting references for plasticity / memory - particularly memory performance in the absence or impairment of plasticity, I'd be grateful at least until the new tab opens!
I imagine (RTFA? GTFO!) the solar collector won't often be casting a shadow on the Earth. That means it's collecting solar energy that the Earth wouldn't. The energy transmitted to Earth will eventually cause something to warm up, won't it? Isn't this a problem for any kind of 'extra terrestrial energy' idea that isn't direct sunlight or its ancient effect?
I think 'significant' might be hard to judge. If space solar makes a significant contribution to Earth's energy, I think it might make a significant contribution to the temperature of something terrestrial. Otherwise, I think it's a great idea. If the heating issue were really a problem, you could always run pipes up the side of the space elevator and dump the heat into the moon.
Will there be a fork project?
Apparently there's a lot of interest in the forums on a 'lite' version that will only have 2 wheels, can carry the same number of passengers, just as much load, and you can run it off body fat. That project also has its own forks.
I've used that version and it's pretty good. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to keep it running at its best, but that's half the joy, isn't it? You know what users are like though - they just want effortless bloat, so I suspect it won't catch on.
I'd never done anything with Google Maps other than look for my house on it - until recently. Too few people are wondering why so few people are in the dock for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu. I read one blogger asking where and when a photo of her was taken, and it seems like detailed overhead imagery is exactly what concerned citizens need:
http://isono.my/2009/03/where-in-the-world-was-altantuya/
As a citizen (temporarily living overseas) of the United Kingdom of Cameras and Background Checks, I would be almost happy to have my life captured by cameras, if the data was completely public.
Say "twenty-three-skiddoo" to logout.
