Comment Re:This is how liberty dies. (Score 1) 416
NO: democracy is what it is partly because two lambs stayed home on voting night to let 2 wolves and one lamb vote on whats for dinner
Comment ROBOCOP (Score 1) 416
ROBOCOP script variant enough said
Comment Connections Matter not race (Score 1) 464
Its really that simple: connections and network within scientific community will do wonders for ones career when Einstein level research results are not there. I mean giving grant to study the mating habits of tree frogs isnt more relevent than a line of research on the common cricket mating song frequencies -so who gets the grant? the one who knows Professor X who was buddies with grantees uncle in College. no? Still dont believe me? well look at other disciplines: eg. Architecture: there are more architects successful among those from rich parents than poor ones why? because a backstreet Brooklin grad can't draw? NO! because when rich kid and poor kid graduate which do you think has the family connections to start his practice by designing Uncle Thurston's penthouse? not the kid from Brooklyn. The kid from Brooklyn probably couldn't afford to go to the best Universtity (and was payin his own rent at 17)
this AA always told by their hardworking (not so rich) parents they's got to be brillant and talented beyond the norm just to get by.
Structural violence of racism is just that:
But there's no excuse :life gives you a hand and you work with it and make the best of it.
Im basicly rambling about interrelated ideas in my paragraph but they are connected: society, privilege, talent, luck and perseverance.
Submission + - American Grant Writing: Race Matters (ht.ly)
PHPNerd writes: You might expect that science, particularly American science, would be colour-blind. Though fewer people from some of the country’s ethnic minorities are scientists than the proportions of those minorities in the population suggest should be the case, once someone has got bench space in a laboratory, he might reasonably expect to be treated on merit and nothing else. Unfortunately, a study just published in Science suggests that is not true. The study looked at the pattern of research grants awarded by the NIH and found that race matters a lot. Moreover, Asian and Hispanic scientists do just as well as white ones. Black scientists, however, do badly.
Comment Re:Shouldn't governments impose balance? (Score 1) 305
Maybe it does in the USA, doesn't mean it should nor exist in all countries. Take China for example, where govt exist to pursue its own empire building using commerce as a tool achieve that goal while technically still communist. wrap your head around that one!
Comment Re:Levine edited it not wrote it (Score 1) 288
Ok so host the superbowl on Mars, every five years ought to do it
Comment Re:There it goes. (Score 1) 319
to take a back seat when showing no clear intention of contributing anything constructive. The GoP had no intention of implementing Health care reform. eg. Palin's contribution to the discourse: Death Panels??! and other such nonsense. Obama was being too nice in telling her likes to shut up and let grown ups do their work.
Comment TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS: outsourcing (Score 1) 542
Its a race to the bottom when corps threaten a host country with outsourcing elsewhere. Look what happened to manufacturing in the USA; Wallmart bought cheap forcing companies like Rubbermaid to shut its doors in the USA and buy cheap from China; either that or their competitors would do it first. The US economy got gutted for short term gain in a sort of twisted tragedy of the commons. Now corps have no scruples about doing it to Ireland over a tax issue. Some corps insist that countries PAY them before they invest or exploit a resource.
Comment Re:No good answers (Score 2, Informative) 216
internet was developed with tax dollars.. did the ISP pay for the development costs? no
Comment NETWORK : remember that movie? (Score 1) 216
a fast lane for advertising tv network gone digital
slow lane virtual open slum for the rest?
Comment KANBAN BABY (Score 1) 366
Thats right: I manage the complex and ever changing drawings and specs connected to construction-architecture projects and find post-it notes and kanbantool.com (essentialy post it notes for your computer) VERY useful. Kanban is a Japanese based method of quality control, management and "lean manufacturing method which allowed companies like Toyota to outperform their competitors and gain immense growth." I find using actual post-it notes work well and is portable and legibly convenient when placed at the bottom of my computer monitor. I update these frequently and consult the computer version for more long term strategic planning. Switching screens is such a chore and the real post-it balance quite well the visual dynamic of screen info. If kanban was a dashboard app it would be even better.
How Do You Manage the Information In Your Life? 366
An anonymous reader writes "How do you manage the multitude of information sources in your lives? How do you keep track of the electronics or programming projects you're working on, or the collection of photos you took from your last holiday, or the notes and reading you're doing to learn a new language? Do you have a personal wiki, a blog, or maybe a series of tablet based notes, or voice recordings? Or is it pen and paper, and a blank book for each different hobby? I'm a student, and like most of you, have a few different interests to keep track of (as well as work). But I realise I also have a little OCD, and struggle a bit to keep on top of information (whether hobbies or personal life) in a way that I feel I have complete control over. So how do you all do it?"
Comment Re:Sounds great... (Score 1) 277
I already commented on this @ the original article. I don't bother here since, glib, off topic jokes make up 90% of the comments on slashdot.org; moderators?
Tapping Solar Wind's Renewable Energy 277
A few folks noted a story making the rounds about the huge energy potential just blowing past the planet in the form of solar wind. This research involves putting a satellite into orbit with a thousand-meter cable and a 5,000-mile sail to generate more power than the earth currently uses.
Genetically Altering Trees To Sequester More Carbon 279
An anonymous reader writes "Forests of genetically altered trees and other plants could sequester several billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year and so help ameliorate global warming, according to estimates published in the October issue of BioScience. The study, by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, outlines a variety of strategies (PDF) for augmenting the processes that plants use to sequester carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into long-lived forms of carbon, first in vegetation and ultimately in soil."
