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The Internet

Pope Rails Against the Internet and Transparency 840

tcd004 writes "At a conference on digital media at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI attacked the idea of transparency in the Internet age, warning that digital transparency exacerbates tensions between nations and within nations themselves and increases the 'dangers of ... intellectual and moral relativism,' which can lead to 'multiple forms of degradation and humiliation' of the essence of a person, and to the 'pollution of the spirit.' All in all, it seemed a pretty grim view of the wide-open communication environment being demanded by the Internet age."

Comment Translation (Score 0, Troll) 150

We've been looking for 50 years, and... we got nothin'.

So let's see if an army of tinfoil hat types and Star Trek nerds can find enough false patterns in the static to ensure our job security, because we're worried Obama wants to derail our gravy train. Something about "results." Don't people know that SETI is about giving hope to the world that we can find aliens that we can't communicate with in any way. Imagine what we could learn from the broadcast of an interstellar Jay Leno. The mind boggles!

Comment Re:I think expectations are too high... (Score 1) 454

It is foolish to assume that there is no other life in the universe. It is also foolish to assume it is only a matter of scanning the skies with a radio telescope to find it.

There are a lot of these "What if?", pie-in-the-sky arguments for SETI, but the hard truth is that it may be impossible for us to detect intelligent life with current instruments, and we have nothing we can do if we were to find that life.

I'd like someone to tell me the SETI endgame. Let's assume we can detect a signal. Then what? We can't communicate with them. We can't visit them. It wouldn't be likely that they are broadcasting information we could really use, and even if they were, it probably wouldn't be strong enough to decipher.

SETI is a foolish waste of money. People argue that it is like winning the lottery, and it is worth the cost to play. I say that the chances aren't significantly better paying a dollar for a number than they would be simply finding the winning number discarded in a gutter.

Comment Re:Pedal was stuck physically to the floor. (Score 1) 499

Not in Drive-by-wire. It used to be that the pedal was hooked to the throttle, so a cruise-control system had to open and close the throttle (and the move the pedal) to adjust the speed. Toyotas now use a pedal position sensor attached to the pedal itself that gives the position of the pedal to the main computer and that computer adjusts the throttle. Since the throttle is no longer physically connected to the pedal, the pedal is not adjusted by the computer when in cruise control or ever.

I work on the automotive industry and have held the offending pedals in my hands. They are simply spring loaded and there are no servos that would hold the pedal down while the throttle is open.

Comment You know what? (Score 1) 1136

I don't fucking care anymore. You can run around like chickens with your heads cut off and ruin all scientific debate. Not like there is a science that hasn't been completely poisoned by politics and greed at this point.

There are very few scientists that have the guts to say that they may not know something. I thought that was the point to science. They are all too afraid to lose that grant money or corporate sponsorship. Science isn't about a scientist's career. It is about finding the truth. Cooperate. Listen and address valid criticism. And can we stop with the poorly veiled Holocaust references. A "Climate Change denier" doesn't want to destroy the world or your family or Jewish people. Act your fucking age.

One final thought: stop pretending that environmentalism is altruistic. That's complete bullshit. Environmentalism is about the survival of humans, and honestly, that's the way it should be.

Comment Re:I was bullied constantly until... (Score 1) 938

My anger boiled over tons of times, but I never had the heart to really hurt someone. I'd lose my temper, perform a pathetic display of attempted violence, and then I'd cry afterward. That didn't help. People said I was socially inept, but I'm thinking more and more it was just that I was different. Then again, I have gender problems, so I'm probably a rare case.

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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