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Making it in America
The Atlantic Monthly has an excellent article on the future of manufacturing in the United States, which is also something of a meditation on declining opportunities for workers with low and moderate skill levels:
This may be the worst impact of the disappearance of manufacturing work. In older factories and, before them, on the farm, there were opportunities for almost everybody: the bright and the slow, the sociable and the awkward, the people with children and those without. All came to work unskilled, at first, and then slowly learned things, on the job, that made them more valuable. Especially in the mid-20th century, as manufacturing employment was rocketing toward its zenith, mistakes and disadvantages in childhood and adolescence did not foreclose adult opportunity.
For most of U.S. history, most people had a slow and steady wind at their back, a combination of economic forces that didnt make life easy but gave many of us little pushes forward that allowed us to earn a bit more every year. Over a lifetime, it all added up to a better sort of life than the one we were born into. That wind seems to be dying for a lot of Americans. What the country will be like without it is not quite clear.
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We need people to take care of people, to babysit, do after-school care, drive older people to appointments, keep company to the very elderly and help them get around, cook for them or help them eat. We need more people to help parents of young families. We need unskilled workers in hospitals to alleviate the workload of nurses and make the hospital more humane. Manufacturing work may be disappearing, but there is, to my eyes, a clear need in many places for workers with low and moderate skill levels. There ought to be many opportunities.
Nice two paragraphs, nicely written. Will read the article. Thanks. Excellent magazine - but I can't tell whether it just keeps getting better or is beginning to go downhill.I don't think a highly ethical society can accept a situation in which scut work is all that's left to the slow, undisciplined, and undereducated. But I wonder whether we're capable - as a species - of seeing that and making a conscientious effort to prevent it.Another way of thinking about this leads to where I think we may be heading anyway - to societies in which work is no longer the only honorable way to survive. As machines replace people in producing products and performing services, it seems unlikely that there will always be enough "work" for all the potential "workers" to do.
Just finished the article. Not as good as it might have been, but enlightening.Here's the paragraph before the two you quoted:
I came to realize, though, that Maddie represents a large population: people who, for whatever reason, are not going to be able to leave the workforce long enough to get the skills they need. Luke doesnt have children, and his parents could afford to support him while he was in school. Those with the right ability and circumstances will, most likely, make the right adjustments, get the right skills, and eventually thrive. But I fear that those who are challenged now will only fall further behind. To solve all the problems that keep people from acquiring skills would require tackling the toughest issues our country faces: a broken educational system, teen pregnancy, drug use, racial discrimination, a fractured political culture.
That seems to be the crux of the dilemma - bad schools, unwed mothers, drugs. I'm not sure what he meant by "a factured political culture"; racial discrimination may be thrown in just to be politically correct; I suspect it's no longer anywhere near as big a problem as the first three. And those three come down to one: broken families. If families taught kids responsibility, honesty, discipline, and the importance of hard work, there wouldn't be bad schools, which are a direct result of the discipline problems caused by kids reared badly. Problems caused by sexual irresponsibility and drug use aren't new to our times. What's new is the failure of the culture to teach its children not to yield to them.I guess that sounds naive and old school. But, I think, it's just common sense. If so, a simple solution might be to set high standards for families and do everything possible to grow them. The more difficult of those two might be setting high standards. How, in a society that's come to believe everyone has the right to behave badly, can you start telling people that behaving badly is unacceptable?
These 2 paragraphs remind me of the malaise speech given by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s. He missed it, and I think The Atlantic has too. People of a certain downbeat temperament seem to congregate together, and often in journalism. Misery does love company, after all.Meanwhile, the majority of Americans have the wind at their backs, that wind being their optimism in America, and the future in general. That's why they chose to be led by another man, making Carter the first president to lose a re-election bid since...well, I can't even rememer the last one before him.
Until her senior year of high school, Maddie seemed to be headed for the American dream [...] When she was 17, she met a boy [...] Around Christmas, she found out she was pregnant. She did finish school and, shes proud to say, graduated with honors. [...] The father and Maddie didnt stay together after the birth, and Maddie couldnt afford to pay for day care while she went to college, so she gave up on school and eventually got the best sort of job available to high-school graduates in the Greenville area: factory work.I wonder if the father also had the same raw deal?Certainly, Maddie made plenty of mistakes that limited her options in life: she chose to have sex, to not use contraception, and to not have an abortion. From the viewpoint of her economic welfare, those were three big mistakes back-to-back. In addition, the social fabric is not supportive of teenage mothers, so she is doomed by her mistakes.
It's lovely to see Mark channeling Emile Coue ("Every day in every way I am getting better and better"). Coue was extraordinarily popular before the Depression, but then, well, it got a little hard to see improvement in the handouts. The gospel of optimism made a comeback during the 1980s -- at about the same time the trends observed in the Atlantic article became irreversible.Well, now, Chipper Ones, President Obama promises you that green technology will put a wind at our back. But if that were going to happen, computer technology would have put a wind at our back. Green production, like computer production, no doubt will be outsourced to the lowest-wage country. That is the genius of capitalism maximizing return on investment. President Obama's would be successors hope to emulate Greece, Spain and Italy, where unemployment is rising and growth has stopped. So all we have left is our optimism. Unless we decide to get realistic, as, I am afraid, the authors of the Atlantic article are.
There has been a neglect on the nations infrastructure and by that I don't just mean the big bridges stuff. A lot of our Housing is now about 50 years old. The fringe suburbs were built fast and not too well.. Plumbing, heating, electric are all needing upgrades by repair workers that can't be outsourced , I just met a gas heating repairman who makes about $200,000 a year.. call up one and get a quote.. new college grads eat your heart out.
" Manufacturing work may be disappearing, but there is, to my eyes, a clear need in many places for workers with low and moderate skill levels. There ought to be many opportunities. "But will these new kinds of job come remotely close to replicating the wages and benefits that manufacturing jobs delivered post-WWII? Will they enable a stable middle class to raise a family, own a home and raise and educate children?$5-$15 per hour jobs will not do that. $20 per hour jobs will not do that.
These 2 paragraphs remind me of the malaise speech given by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s. He missed it, and I think The Atlantic has too. People of a certain downbeat temperament seem to congregate together, and often in journalism. Misery does love company, after all.So, are you suggesting that this should be the new national anthem? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGqfGJds5fE
Will they enable a stable middle class to raise a family, own a home and raise and educate children?Not clear, but is that the first concern? My first worry would be to see the ranks of the unemployed swelling. The first priority is for people to be able to get a job even without skills, the next one is for those jobs to provide fair living wages, and the next one is for workers to have a realistic shot at improving their situation. There won't be social unrest if people can get jobs and if they have a chance of getting better jobs. Maybe "owning a home" is a dated XXth century dream. Why is that so important in the absolute? Maybe its was a transient value and will soon become historical.
The first priority is for people to be able to get a job even without skills, the next one is for those jobs to provide fair living wages, and the next one is for workers to have a realistic shot at improving their situation.
Seems to me the author thinks the first priority might be getting serious job training for the unskilled workers who can't afford either the cost or the sabbatical from work they'd need.Of course, that would do nothing for those who are untrainable, who simply don't have the native aptitude to become skilled machinists.
Claire, owning a home means putting down roots, having a piece of the earth to call your own. In America, with a superabundance of land within the reach of people of modest means, that's been an important goal, since well before the last century. We're a strongly induvidualist culture. It's one of the perduring things that define us.
owning a home means putting down roots, having a piece of the earth to call your ownIt's a natural desire, but that doesn't make it worthwhile or a top priority. Especially for Christians, why does it matter so much? There's nothing inherently good about owning a home, it seems to me.
Claire 01/15/2012 - 7:29 pm :
Theres nothing inherently good about owning a home, it seems to me.
Do you see it as bad? Unhealthy attachment to material things?
Possibly, especially if it becomes an obsession. When I saw Jimmy Mac's comment, Will they enable a stable middle class to raise a family, own a home and raise and educate children? I was struck to see owning a home put at the same level as family and children, which I think of as much more important.
I have often growled to myself about the raise-yourself-by-your-bootstraps crowd who say we can prosper if we only buck up and do it. One thing I always remember is that half of the American population falls below the median IQ. It is great for the intellectually and physically blessed to do well, but the rest? I don't think our society has a clue about how to give the less privileged half a life with dignity. There are no structures, no plan, no priorities. This needs a lot more discussion than we have been willing to give.
I dont think our society has a clue about how to give the less privileged half a life with dignity. There are no structures, no plan, no priorities.
We talk as though society were a person, with a philosophy and a plan. It's a collection of individuals and a horrible number of laws constricting them in thousands of ways. Government isn't a producer that can go out and make money. All it can do is confiscate your money. There will never be an end to need. Fill one hole, and you'll discover a myriad others that need filling. Whatever "we" do will never be enough. Governing isn't about making everything nice and right and just - it's about preventing the worst abuses. For making everything perfect, you need a dictator. Alas, all we have is a democracy.
Fr. Taylor --A psychologist friend assured me years ago that psychological studies have shown that with the right teaching methods people of ordinary intelligence can learn a lot more difficult material than is commonly assumed. I assume that this is true of at least some people of lower than average intelligence. The method used to be called "mastery instruction". It involved teaching the simplest concepts of a subjectfirst, but not letting a student progress until those simple matters have been mastered. Then, in very small incremental steps, more and more difficult material is introduced and mastered at each level of difficulty before the student is allowed to progress.. I used the method in a freshman logic course and was was amazed at how ordinary students can master difficult material if they can learn it their own rate of speed.My psychologist friend said that the best news is that the less than brainy people, once they learn a subject, retain it just as well as the brainier ones. In other words, it seems that the difference in learning ability is at least partly a matter of how quickly one learns -- and how well one is taught.I don't know whether those findings have held up, but given my own experience, I have a lot of faith not only in the ability of ordinary intelligence, but some of the not so bright folks as well. And for theological reasons I cannot believe that the Lord put a majority of people on Earth without the ability to do what they need to do to live a decent life.
"Thats why they chose to be led by another man, making Carter the first president to lose a re-election bid sincewell, I cant even rememer the last one before him."Mark, you sure show your political colors. So George Bush Sr. did not get re-elected because college grads and mba's could not find work during his watch. Clinton got the country rolling again which W ruined by removing all controls.
This is the story of my hometown in Vermont as well. It was a machine-tool town. (Machine tools are machines that make machines, essentially, so engineered with great precision. Another name for the region was "Precision Valley.") In high school, there was a track for students to begin learning the skills needed to work in the shops, while others were groomed to go on to engineering degrees. So business and education worked together, and people had solid jobs, if only in a limited area. Even less-educated shop workers with families could make enough to own a modest home, the marker of economic security and respectability at the time. The jobs were outsourced, and little is left. The town cut a deal to let a new prison (a growth industry!) be built in exchange for a community rec center, but even that didn't generate many jobs. A couple shops remain, but they're not enough to be the economic engine that the industry once was. A town that was once enough of a player to be high on the list of cities the Germans planned to bomb when they invaded, (a backhanded compliment, to be sure,) now is best known as the town that hosted the premiere of the Simpson's movie a few years back (another backhanded compliment, I suppose, but one not associated with actual jobs.) So Vermonters can work in ski areas, cleaning up after tourists, in resorts mostly owned by non-Vermonters, whose money leaves the state. Or they can join the military--Vermont has suffered disproportionate casualties from the recent wars due to the state's economic travails. There's no shame in janitorial work, but there's something sad when that's one of your best job options. And don't get me started on our "all-volunteer" military. Not to glamorize the past--not a lot of opportunities for women, e.g.,--but it was a system that protected workers at many skill levels, and provided decent wages.
Richard Russo's novel, Empire Falls, is about the people in just such a town in New York State. Some of his other works also are about the effects of unemployment on people's psyches. Fine book. Won a Pulitzer Prize. Sad to say, now the rust belt is starting to understand what the South was like economically for generations.
I used the method in a freshman logic course and was was amazed at how ordinary students can master difficult material if they can learn it their own rate of speed.
Ah, yes, Ann. And the one-size-fits-all classes in universities aren't made with the slow - like me - in mind. We need to learn in our own way, at our own pace. Unfortunately, what you discovered either hasn't been learned by the education-policy people or it's been discarded as not beneficial to a great enough number. Perhaps its time has come, but I wonder. The examples given in the Atlantic article suggested that the people most likely to be given training are the fast learners. Faster payback, of course. Makes sense. Also, faster learners can deal more easily with dumber machines, which are no doubt cheaper to make. And, of course, faster learners can adapt much better to changing circumstances or unexpected events. The slow may soon find more doors opening, but there'll always be far fewer for them than for the fast.I imagine that in a work environment that because of never-ending technological innovation is constantly evolving, the fast learner will always have the advantage. Seems inevitable - and hardly unfair - except in the sense that life is unfair.Eventually, perhaps, we'll reach a place where working to survive will be something people did in ancient, primitive times. Wouldn't it be nice if we eventually return to a situation like that of classical Greece, with machines taking the place of the slaves. We'd all be free to think and talk all day, every day.
Peter, thanks for calling attention that Atlantic Monthly piece. It's a very good primer on the state of manufacturing in the US.The unskilled worker, Maddie, certainly seems educable. If community college education is all that is required to operate the Gildemeister system, then that shouldn't be beyond her reach. It seems clear to me that, despite her excellent employee qualities, her position is terribly at risk; she is a cost adjustment away from having her job shipped overseas. It is incumbent on her to make herself more marketable. What would it take for her to enroll herself in the same classes that Luke took? Perhaps the most important thing would be an adequate support system for this single mom.
Jim Pauwels 01/17/2012 - 10:41 am :
The unskilled worker, Maddie, certainly seems educable. If community college education is all that is required to operate the Gildemeister system, then that shouldnt be beyond her reach.
Except that according to the author - at least implicitly - it is, because she can't afford to stop working and study for two or three years. That would be far too expensive for her, both in time and work experience lost and in the cost of the schooling. That seems to me the main point of the article: that a great many people have failed to take the necessary early steps to succeed financially in life at the time when they had to take them. Now, they have to catch up, and now, it's much harder to do that than it would have been at the time that society had allowed for that.Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the time society allots for learning the necessary things (math, language skills, correct attitudes and behavior) is extremely long - about twelve years, from age four to age eighteen. Unfortunately, so many families are so dysfunctional that all during that long period they fail to engage their children in that learning, and the children not only fail to learn but they learn self-destructive thought and behavior patterns, instead. The fundamental problem lies in the child's early formation, and the responsibility for that is almost always a family, not "society".
Accepting the Bain Capital approach means we devalue the lives of local citizens and rush to destroy what may be redeemable by other means. We consign people to low minimum wages and limit severely their ability to even survive in a cruel social and economic Darwinism. Our society can do much better than that. All it takes is to stop blaming the victims and begin mitigating their suffering and offering a way for them to recover not only economic but personal dignity. We have so many things that need to be done - we certainly kind find ways to put these folk to work doing so. And pay them living wages with real benefits and a future!
David S - we'd need more information in order to understand whether Maddie would need to give up working in order to take the classes needed to move up to a skilled classification. My observation is that programming an industrial system doesn't require a full degree - perhaps just a handful of technical courses would suffice. Also, community colleges (and a lot of four year institutions) usually are pretty good about offering evening classes to accommodate working adults.It would also be good to understand whether the employer subsidizes work-related college courses, and gives preference to qualified internal employees when filling job openings. Those are employee benefits that we can reasonably demand of employers.


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We have a database that is in full recovery mode. The database is not in production yet so does not have a backup plan in place and is thus not being backed up. In other words, there is no existing backup. Recently, during an update, about 400 rows of data were wiped out.
Is there a way to recover those rows given that we have full transaction logging? I understand that if we had a full backup w/ transaction logs we could do a point in time recovery. Will this work if we now take a full backup of transaction logs and the database, then do a recover?
I feel like there is one path to recovery, I'm just unclear of the order in which to proceed.
Thanks for your assistance!
UPDATE: We ended up using this tool http://www.apexsql.com/sql_tools_recover.aspx I would still be interested if anyone comes across this and knows a better way. For now, we paid the price, but we got the results. Thanks for the responses!

subset: commoncrawl


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4' x 8' Vinyl Banner made of 13 oz. reinforced white, glossy scrim material. Suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Dual lockstitch sewn with hemmed edges. Brass grommets positioned at corners and every 2 feet. Optional solid braid polyester rope sewn into top and bottom hems with 6' on each end available at an additional charge; please call for details and pricing (rope will replace grommets). Individually packaged in boxes.
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text: Stephen Hawking, born January 8, 1942) is a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. Among his significant scientific works have been a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularities theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. (Wikipedia Notes) I would sum that he is our present-day Einstein. Let me know what you think of this tut by commenting, faving or clicking on "Love It"! Peace n love to ya!


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Spending all day on your feet and suffering from foot pain on a regular basis is frustrating and demands viable treatment solutions. Ordinary foot pain is a common affliction for most people at some point, and usually treatment is simple and effective. Here are some simple tips for treating and alleviating pain, no matter the cause of the pain.
Awareness about your gait: Remaining conscientious of how you move is very important to both avoiding and dealing with foot pain. The way your foot strikes that ground and rolls from heel to toe tells a lot of whether your movement is anatomically correct. It can be hard to remain aware of how you walk, however, paying attention to your gait can be a first step to identifying abnormal movements that cause foot pain. Pronation is the natural motion of movement that occurs when we walk, and abnormal pronation is a main cause of foot pain and even more severe muscle and joint problems. Overpronation refers to movement that places more weight on the inside of the feet, so the weight is distributed unevenly, and can cause hip, knee, and ankle problems in addition to foot pain. Underpronation, or supination, is the opposite where the foot strikes and transfers more weight to the outside of the foot. Both types of abnormal pronation can cause discomfort, ongoing pain, and even lasting foot conditions like plantar fasciitis.
Rest and Ice: The most obvious and natural of the tips for foot pain, rest and ice are proven ways to eliminate pain and get back to activities you love. For minor strains and stress injuries, taking a little time off your feet each day and treating the affected area with ice typically resolves the problem in a matter of days to weeks. More serious or prolonged pain may take more time, but don't overlook rest and ice as a proven treatment strategy.
Stretching and Exercise: A regimen of stretching the feet and partaking in moderate exercise to work the affected part of the foot is healthy. For conditions like plantar fasciitis this is especially helpful. There are a few plantar fasciitis exercises which are viable for relieving tension and increasing flexibility in the bottom of the foot. Wall stretches, towel stretches, and heel raises are great for working the plantar fascia tendon and can be a good complementary treatment to other things.
Better Footwear: Investing in a higher quality, more cushioned and supportive pair of shoes is essential to managing foot pain on a daily basis. Taking other measures to treat pain can be undone when constantly wearing flat, unsupportive shoes each day. Finding a pair of good plantar fasciitis shoes and a deep heel cup will help support your feet better on the many changing surfaces and long hours on your feet throughout the day.


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South Fork American River Trail
The South Fork American River Trail is the latest trail in El Dorado County that opened the beginning of October this year. You can start the ride from El Dorado Hills (Salmon Falls), Coloma (Magnolia Ranch) or Pilot Hill (Cronan Ranch). Today the ride begins out from the Salmon Falls bridge to the east side of Salmon Falls Road crossing Acorn Creek on a newly constructed bridge. The trail zig zags up the canyon about 1.3 miles from about 450′ to about 930′ above sea level and by mile two, you hit about 1000′. You continue to meander through old Oak growths, Manzanita bushes and depending on the time of year lush green grass. The views are awesome and at times the need to stop for a photo opt will call you. Riding the trail provides a great climbing cross-country routine. The surface of the trail is smooth without technical rock gardens. Equestrians are not allowed but once you enter into Cronan Ranch, you will need to be mindful of the horses. It is recommended to stop riding, communicate with the rider and typically speak calmly to the horse and allow for them to pass. This is just good riding etiquette. I would highly recommend this trail, get out and ride! Happy trails!


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2001 to Timecop: 8 Movie Futures Already Proven Wrong
In a few days it will be 2008, well into the future. Movies promised us we'd be flying cars to our jobs at the robot factory. Instead, we have to settle for iPods, free online checking accounts and AIDS. Of course, the future wouldn't have been such a disappointment if Hollywood hadn't gotten our hopes so high.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Set In
2001, according to our research of the title on the DVD case
The Premise
Mankind has begun colonizing space (awesome), leading to the discovery of an alien artifact under the lunar surface (even more awesome). An investigative space mission is undertaken with the help of a self-aware murderous supercomputer named HAL 9000 (so fucking awesome we just peed a little bit).
The Predictions
Advanced Artificial Intelligence: The closest thing we had to HAL in 2001 were AOL Instant Messenger Bots, which can "chat" in an irritating, judgmental way. These bots were designed to function at an intelligence level on par with your average AOL user, so let's just say we weren't in immediate danger of a HAL-like consciousness taking over a NASA mission and eliminating its crew members. Luckily, our 2001-era highly-combustible space shuttles were quite capable of killing astronauts on their own, thank you very much.
Innovative New Technology: There's a scene in 2001 in which a character is dozing in front of a flat-panel screen built into the seat in front of him--an impressively accurate prediction of JetBlue and other airlines with TVs in their seat back. Even more noteworthy is that he's watching programming that's obviously from the 1960s, eerily anticipating Nick at Nite.
Widespread Space Travel: It's easy to chide Space Odyssey for its ambitious forecast of turn-of-the-century space travel, but keep in mind that the film was released in 1968, a full year before we faked the moon landing. Nobody could have guessed that the Soviet Union would forfeit the Space Race for fear of getting its dress dirty, and then finally collapse like a little girl. This deprived us the fruits of competition. Were the Soviets still tinkering around with satellites, we'd probably be colonizing Pluto instead of bitterly revoking its status as a planet.
Overall Accuracy
2001 is often celebrated for its clairvoyance, because a few of its inane predications came vaguely true. But, the major plot elements still seem like crackhead visions of the distant future. And the movie's notion that we'd still have attractive flight attendants in 2001 now seems preposterous.
Timecop (1994)
Set In 2004
The Premise
Jean-Claude Van Damme (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a Time Enforcement Agent tasked with making sure people don't use time travel to dick around with the past.
The Predictions
Time Travel: Obviously we didn't actually have access to time travel in 2004. But, what sets Timecop apart is its asinine treatment of the subject. Timecop's major rule is that when you're traveling to the past, you can't come in direct contact with your past self because "the same matter cannot occupy the same space." Right, Timecop. We suppose it can't.
Futuristic Cars: The cars in Timecop are able to navigate by themselves, with a voice activation system so advanced it can understand Jean-Claude Van Damme. Assuming the auto industry would whip up such advanced vehicles in 10 years is like making a movie today that is supposed to be set in 1985 and having everyone driving Model Ts.
Overall Accuracy
Absolutely nothing Timecop promised has come true. At one point, there's a throwaway sequence of a man preparing to masturbate with a VR headset, something we've all dreamed about at one time or another (that is, we've all dreamed of having VR porn. Hopefully your dreams aren't haunted by some guy in a big futuristic helmet masturbating). We probably shouldn't be surprised these guys weren't able to predict 10 years into the future since these are the same people who gambled their movie on the staying power of Jean-Claude Van Damme's popularity.
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Set In 2000
The Premise
After a national financial crisis, America's fascist president has created a sadistic annual Transcontinental Death Race. We've been pro-Death Race for years, but the government refuses to include it as a ballot initiative.
The Predictions
Futuristic Skyline: Even though it's only been 25 years--of financial crisis, mind you--New York has become an incredible futuristic city filled with countless metallic spires and emerald domes. The filmmakers apparently assumed construction would begin on these buildings immediately after filming was concluded. Or, they believed that by 2000 our cities would be replaced by fanciful matte painting backdrops.
Prevalence of Idiotic Violent Death Racing: OK, so we'll give them NASCAR. The only difference is that in the Death Race points are accumulated by running over pedestrians, and the points vary based on the age and gender of the person killed, whereas NASCAR is completely fucking pointless.
Overall Accuracy
Since Death Race is a goofy '70s satire, it's pretty hard to actually criticize them for their embarrassing vision of the year 2000. It's far easier to make fun of a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone, who plays a woman-beater named "Machine Gun" Joe. One thing we could have never predicted at the time is that "Machine Gun" Joe wouldn't even crack a list of the 10 all-time stupidest Sylvester Stallone character names.
RoboCop (1987)
Set In
They claim an indeterminate "near future," but a careful analysis of the fashions, haircuts, vehicles, and computers seen in this 1987 movie lead us to believe it took place no later than 1988.
The Premise
After suffering fatal wounds, Officer Murphy is reconstructed as an unfeeling cybernetic police officer. But in a world of crime and corruption, RoboCop might just be the most human character of all-- except for the whole cyborg freak thing.
The Predictions
Cyborg Technology: Although we're still years from ungainly, plodding cyborgs like RoboCop, bionic implants and artificial hearts are inching us closer to that universal American dream: a cyborg sexual servant in every home.
Privatization of Government: The crooked Omni megacorporation is contracted to oversee the police department, leading to large-scale corruption and the cruel manipulation of RoboCop. This is an astute anticipation of the present-day debates over private military contracts. Of course, Blackwater continues to maintain it never deployed cyborgs in Iraq, if you're naive enough to believe their official account.
Detroit Even More of a Shithole: RoboCop shrewdly takes place in Detroit, the only city that actually turned out to have the dystopian future sci-fi movies have been predicting for years. The movie version of the city is so overrun with crime and poverty that the Omni corporation hatches a plan to simply replace it with "Delta City." In reality such a dramatic last resort was never undertaken. Instead, everybody just kind of gave up.
Overall Accuracy
RoboCop is an odd mixture of the incredible (cyborgs, orbiting defense lasers) and the comically obsolete (cathode ray tube televisions, the 1986 Ford Taurus.)
So, even though no specific year is given for its setting, no matter what year you assign it, everything's still going to be completely wrong.


text: Thanks a ton for writing this piece of code up for me. This solution worked for my site, which indexes all html and non html files. test_url => sub { my $url = shift; return 1 if $url->path =~ /\.html?$/; # .html or .htm # will this work on your site? # any files that have a dot are not html: return 1 unless $url->path =~ /\./; return 0; }, I am happy I finally have a great working site search. I just have one observation to make on the above code. I can't figure out how to index ONLY html still (trying to figure out how the code works, but even though the above code works, I still am confused of the logic. I just find it weird that the above code indexes my html and non html files perfectly, but something like this doesn't index just the html's: test_url => sub { my $url = shift; return 1 if $url->path =~ /\.html?$/; # .html or .htm }, After referencing http://swish-e.org/docs/spider.html#test_url, to me, that code says, return TRUE (yes, index it only) if the url ends with an html or htm extension. How come this code only executes with the first example? -----Original Message----- From: firstname.lastname@example.com [mailto:email@example.com] On Behalf Of Bill Moseley Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:15 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [SWISH-E] Re: search only .html and no extension files On Wed, Nov 09, 2005 at 02:53:13AM -0500, Michael Porcaro wrote: > Great, after an agonizing week of research of swish-e, I think I almost > have the basics to spider a site, but not quite yet. Let me just > explain what was confusing for me, and most likely other newbies, and > hopefully I am now on the right track. You don't have to answer my > rhetorical questions or comments, maybe just a "your on the right track, > or your totally off": I think, in general, using swish-e is a bit confusing for new users because there's more than one way to deal with things. It's clearly not a plug-n-play program, but that's one thing that makes it more useful. Maybe I'm wrong, but it didn't sound like you spent a lot of time with the documentation as you asked some clearly documented questions. There's no doubt that the documentation could be improved. Plus there's a lot of it to try and read all at once. > 1. Using a config file (-c config) doesn't seem to work well when using > the -S prog command. I also noticed you can't run a config file and a > SwishSpiderConfig.pl at the same time. Is this true? There really is > no point in doing this anyway. I have not heard this much. Once people get that indexing and spidering are two different tasks then it makes sense. http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-faq.html#can_i_index_documents_on_a_web_se rver_ http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-faq.html And this has a break-down of config options used for various input methods: http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-config.html # Directives for the File Access method only # Directives for the HTTP Access Method Only # Directives for the prog Access Method Only Plus, http://swish-e.org/docs/install.html#general_configuration_and_usage really does a walk through from basic indexing files on a hard drive to spidering, giving config examples along the way. What part of that was confusing? > 2. You need the -S prog command when you choose to use spider.pl. When > indexing with spider.pl, you don't need swish.conf, (not sure if you CAN > use it though) you DO need SwishSpiderConfig.pl. Use this command: > swish-e -S prog -I spider.pl and SwishSpiderConfig.pl will be called > automatically, as long as that file is in the same directory. Well, the example in the INSTALL file shows using spider.pl with a swish config file. http://swish-e.org/docs/install.html#general_configuration_and_usage "~/web_index$ swish-e -S prog -c swish.conf" You don't *need* one, but you can use one. You don't *need* SwishSpiderConfig.pl. That's just the default it looks for if you don't specify one: > 3. .swishcgi.conf was REALLY confusing me. This file apparently isn't > used for the spidering process, it seems to be used AFTER the process is > done, to control how many searches per page, the title, etc. Correct? Correct. It's the conf file for swish.cgi. > 4. SwishSpiderConfig.pl replaces a config file and is more efficient. > It is written in perl, so it has more complex coding, but more power and > control. SwishSpiderConfig.pl is simply the config file for spider.pl. Correct again. Again, it was named to indicated that. > My question now is regarding the test_url function. Basically, I am > interested in only spidering html and non extension files. Here is an > example of a non extension file: > http://www.youngcomposers.com/articles/History-of-Young-Composers > > I tried this command in SwishSpiderConfig.pl which was in your > documentation: > > test_url => sub { $_[0]->path =~ /\.html?$/ }, > > But it doesn't seem to work. It keeps saying error, no files were > indexed. When I comment this file out, the spidering does work, so > there seems to be a problem with that line of code. Any suggestions? > Are there other ways to "index only html" or is test_url the best way to > do this? This is *clearly* documented in this: http://swish-e.org/docs/spider.html#callback_functions Think about how a spider might work. It fetches an initial web page, indexed its content, then it looks at all the links in that document. You might want to follow some of those links (like to html files) but others not (say, image files). How do you know which is which before you actually fetch the file? You don't. But, if it's your own site, you can make a guess by looking at the file name. test_url is assigned a subroutine that returns true if it's OK to fetch the file, false if it's not OK to fetch the file. test_url => sub { $_[0]->path =~ /\.html?$/ }, creates a subroutine that returns true if the URL's path ends in html or .htm. Do any of your files match that? What about files that don't have an extension? Well that's a bit more tricky. test_url => sub { my $url = shift; return 1 if $url->path =~ /\.html?$/; # .html or .htm # will this work on your site? # any files that have a dot are not html: return 1 unless $url->path =~ /\./; return 0; }, Or maybe look at just the last part of the path? A slower, but better way is to not use test_url, but use test_response. Again, this is right out of the docs, so I'm not sure how you missed it: test_response => sub { my $content_type = $_[2]->content_type; return $content_type =~ m!text/html!; }, -- Bill Moseley email@example.com Unsubscribe from or help with the swish-e list: http://swish-e.org/Discussion/ Help with Swish-e: http://swish-e.org/current/docs email@example.com on Wed Nov 9 12:38:21 2005


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The simplistic undergrad explanation aside. I've never really understood what energy really is. I've been told that it's something when converted from one kind of something to another kind does some "work", as defined by us, but what is that something?
Moreover, if the total amount of energy in the universe is finite and we cannot create energy. Then, where did it come from? I've learnt from thermodynamics where it goes, but where does it come from?
I know this sounds as something trivially simple, but there is so much going on over here and I just can't grasp what it is. Of course, I lack the mathematical understanding to grasp the subtle things the universe is doing, but what is it doing and how do I get to point of understanding what it's doing?
(Note: What prompted me to ask this was this answer. I'm afraid that it just puzzled me further and I sat there staring at the screen for a good 10 minutes.)


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I want to develop facebook applications and I have bought some books from amazon. But this books contents are for old facebook APIs. (2008-2009). Can I develop applications with old api? Or I have to use new version?
We started with Q&A. Technical documentation is next, and we need your help.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, you can contribute.
You can still use the old api's, but as you can probably imagine it is discouraged. Read more in the facebook developer documentation.
EDIT Given your name, I assume that you know a bit of php. To get started just go to http://www.facebook.com/developers and create a new application. Facebook then presents you with the following tutorial, that I think you should be able to follow:
I would definitely not start a new app with the old APIs. Facebook has deprecated many of the old APIs and is in the process of deprecating the rest of them. Additionally, the authentication system changed completely about 6 months ago. Sorry for the bad news but books on Facebook that are more than about 3-6 months old are basically worthless at this point.


text: I set the camera to manual mode, and the white balance to sun light setting, for outdoors..... I take the 6 pano shots around and 1Z and 1N. Is this the correct way to achieve consistent exposure or am I missing something. For example, the 1Z may be directly facing the sun and be over exposed, so how do I compensate for this to get smooth exposure stitching?


text:
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One question I have is regarding some names. I've read of name changes and different names being from different languages (e.g. "Matthew was the Greek name and Levi was the Hebrew name"), but I could use some help.
Q: How many different individuals are there among the following three?...
-Levi the tax collector
-Matthew the Apostle
-The author(s) of the Gospel of Matthew.


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From the Blog
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Sustainable Britain - Tidal turbines given the go ahead
Are we able to meet challenges of a global knowledge economy? Are we in the right position and can we attract bright young students into research careers to be able to drive us forward? With technology & innovation moving fast, can we quickly develop truly sustainable energy? Can we optimise scientific and technological progress in both Europe and the rest of the world?
For the most recent 'War on Waste' report, published last week, a research group bought a range of 37 common food items from several retailers. Analysis of these items uncovered that local retailers and market traders produced less packaging and that much more of it could be used again with the bigger supermarkets lagging behind.
Research found eight per cent of the entire weight of shopping baskets consisted of packaging. The most eco-friendly shops have low levels of packaging a high proportion of which is recyclable. The supermarket which had the weightiest packaging was Lidl's while Marks & Spencer's products had the lowest level which could be recycled (60 per cent).
It was acknowledged that recycling rates in Britain are increasing because more people are doing their part to help the environment. Councils are also enlarging and improving their services in an attempt to cut down on the amount of waste thrown into rubbish sites. People have been warned that these efforts to meet the EU's targets will not be successful unless big shops like Tesco do more to cut down on the ridiculously excessive packaging.
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i am making a facebook tab which using iframe to show the tab content from other url. Everything work fine but when users use secure http connection (https) the tab no longer loads and shows error saying page not secure.
The pages that the iframe showing is not using ssl. Do i need to have a ssl to show the page in secure connection or i have to change some setting in facebook?


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N +41º 22' 29.63" / W +2º 10' 13.43"
Tel: (34) 93 343 30 00Fax: (34) 93 443 0059
Check-in after 15:00h
Check-out until 12:00h
Barcelona is located on the north east coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea and is one the country's most important cities, alongside Madrid. It has played a prominent role in the cultural and political development of Spain, a fact that can be seen and admired in its different buildings and historical monuments.
The city's official languages are Spanish and Catalan, although due to its rich history and cosmopolitan nature you can hear all kinds of languages all around the city such as English, French, Portuguese, Italian and Arabic dialects. A great number of tourists come and visit the city every year as well as business travellers and university students.
Depending on the time of year, Barcelona offers many different options for the visitor, the weather is rarely inhospitable. However, it can be wet in September and October.


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- Vitamin Guide
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Soba is available in several varieties, including jenenjo soba, which contains wild yam flour; cha soba, made with tea leaves and buckwheat; and youmugi soba, made with buckwheat and mugwort.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012
On the fundamental question--evolution or creation?--Americans are on the fence. According to one survey, while 61% of Americans believe we have evolved over time, 22% believe this evolution was guided by a higher power, with another 31% on the side of creationism. For some, modern science debunks many of religion's core beliefs, but for others, questions like "Why are we here?" and "How did it all come about?" can only be answered through a belief in the existence of God. Can science and religion co-exist?
Director, Origins Project and Foundation Professor, ASU
Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
Author, What's So Great About Christianity
Author & Correspondent for ABC News
Director, Origins Project and Foundation Professor, ASU
Lawrence Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist. He is the Director of the Origins Project and Professor of Physics at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. Krauss has written several bestselling books including A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing (2012). Passionate about educating the public about science to ensure sound public policy, Krauss has helped lead a national effort to defend the teaching of evolution in public schools. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.Learn more
Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author
Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and Editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University. Shermer's latest book is The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths (2011). He was a college professor for 20 years, and since his creation of Skeptic magazine, has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, and Charlie Rose. Shermer was the co-host and co-producer of the 13-hour Family Channel television series Exploring the Unknown.Learn more
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT
Ian Hutchinson is a physicist and Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and his research group are international leaders exploring the generation and confinement (using magnetic fields) of plasmas hotter than the sun's center. This research, carried out on a national experimental facility designed, built, and operated by Hutchinson's team, is aimed at producing practical energy for society from controlled nuclear fusion reactions, the power source of the stars. In addition to authoring 200 research articles about plasma physics, Hutchinson has written and spoken widely on the relationship between science and Christianity. His recent book Monopolizing Knowledge (2011) explores how the error of scientism arose, how it undermines reason as well as religion, and how it feeds today's culture wars and an excessive reliance on technology.Learn more
Author, What's So Great About Christianity
A New York Times bestselling author, Dinesh D'Souza, has had a distinguished 25-year career as a writer, scholar and intellectual. A former Policy Analyst in the Reagan White House, D'Souza also served as an Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute as well as a Rishwain Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Called one of the "top young public-policy makers in the country" by Investor's Business Daily, he quickly became a major influence on public policy through his writings. In 2008 D'Souza released the book, What's So Great About Christianity, the comprehensive answer to a spate of atheist books denouncing theism in general and Christianity in particular. D'Souza is also the former President of The King's College in NYC,
62% voted the same way in BOTH pre- and post-debate votes (31% voted FOR twice, 24% voted AGAINST twice, 8% voted UNDECIDED twice). 38% changed their mind (6% voted FOR then changed to AGAINST, 2% voted FOR then changed to UNDECIDED, 7% voted AGAINST then changed to FOR, 2% voted AGAINST then changed to UNDECIDED, 13% voted UNDECIDED then changed to FOR, 8% voted UNDECIDED then changed to AGAINST) | Breakdown Graphic
I think the debate topic is the real problem. Does science refute God. Since God can't be quantified in any sense for lab purposes then yes I would have to say that science probably does refute God.
The debate seemed to run amok and turned into science versus Christianity.
I think a better topic might have been Can science refute God. Once again God is not amenable to study in the lab and it would seem the thought process would lead down the same road but there are differences because of the question.
When a massive star goes nova and the core collapses to a black hole, science is fine right up to the event horizon. Beyond that boundary we have given a name, the singularity. What is a singularity? Basically the term singularity is science's way of saying we don't know. We can no more see what is happening inside the event horizon than we can peer beyond the cosmic microwave background.
Science is looking at the possibility of a multiverse where for every time I made a right turn, in some other universe I made a left. Very quickly we arrive at an infinite number of alternate realities.
As to creation, the Big Bang. Once again that nasty term singularity shows up. Since we cannot understand singularities we can only look at those we know to exist for some hint of their nature. Non-feeding black holes slowly evaporate. The singularity of the Big Bang did not. It burst giving rise to all that is. The question is how? Was it a random quantum fluctuation or a divine push? If the multiverse idea is correct then each happened giving rise to and infinite number of quantum anomaly created universes and an infinite number of divinely created universes. In which do we live?
god created evolution to help everything created to evolve and create.
Refute god? Maybe refute of existence of god? Or maybe refute which religions interpretations of god? Poor choice of words I think. Since you can only refute the words of people who are claiming god said this or that. Can science refute religion? Definitely. Every religion is so full of sins and other moral crimes, from killing to enslavement, from greed to vanity, and the brainwashed effect that every religious person no longer believes god exists they know for a fact that god exists that religion itself has become ungodly. God's existence is part of a belief system, belief means trust, faith, confidence, opinion, conviction, etc. none of which is proof, fact, or established as truth. So how can science refute god when we didn't actually hear god say anything, if god did say something......now that would be proof.
I enjoyed the show but don't understand the voting. Couldn't the "victory" be rigged simply by many people claiming to be undecided in the initial vote, when in fact they are not?
This was a great debate. I felt like the Con side came into a hostile audience though.
I personally liked the point that was something to the nature of "You cannot disprove God anymore than you can prove a thought."
I have a few comments.
This was the most emotionally charged debate I've ever come across on iq2. Both sides have emotional reasons to push their side.
I would also like to put forth that I have personally seen a tangible, real & verifiable miracle. (young man cured of aids with no real treatment, he was born HIV positive & now tests flat 0)
Best argument from each side (in my view):
Science has no power to say anything about God because God is not bound by it's rules & he operates in realms that cannot be consistently observed.
When one does scientific experiments one must not expect the likelihood of miracles in order for scientific findings to have any reliability.
@John Stark while I do believe in G-d, I have to comment that your argument is based on the assumption that G-d does actually exist, and is therefore moot.
I would like to say that I was very disappointed during the debate when the question regarding out of body experiences was not answered.
One can find the most compelling experiences from patients who were pronounced dead but miraculously came back to life. The question is, what does it mean to be pronounced dead? If thoughts and consciousness are related with brain, nerve, and electric signal, then how could a legally dead person, that is to say that their brain and therefore conciousness has shut down, experience anything at all?
I believe in G-d; however, I do not think that everyone has to. I only think things that are wrong should be corrected and things that cannot possibly be answered correctly can not possibly have a correct answer.
I agree with the believers of God or theologians. When something is concrete and truth it stays the same forever. God and the story of us remains the same and does not change based on trends and opinions of the times and zeitgeist.
Not only can science provide no proof of anything, it cannot seem to make it's mind up.
One minute it is this idea, belief, and theory, and then next, it is another idea belief and theory, and all presented as if it is fact, but it isn't because fact is concrete and remains the same for all to see and know.
Science is blind people in darkness and are like the ignorant and blind witch hunters that had no proof of people being witches, but insisted that they were and contradictingly did things to people in the name of God that God says not to do.
They do not see that the old testament along with the whole bible from begining to end is the story of how sin came to be, God making aware to mankind the existence of his sin by laws that were given to show humans their inability to love and follow basic principles and instructions, and the happiness that they should now have having their sin erased through the sacrifice of a sinless body taking the place of sinful ones that were bound for destruction because God is love, and perfect love and harmony, and evil is contrary to who he is and what he created life to be, and will be destroyed as rotten fruit is discarded and good fruit is kept and eaten.
The creator God created man and all life perfect and to live forever. Evil is what a life form became and so disconnection from the perfect condition of health with no disease for eternity, man died physically and became susceptible to disease and illness that was inherited with his sin.
The creator of the inherited perfection of love good and eternal life and perfect health which is who and what God is, creates life that way and can give it to a person that has lost it because it is who he is, how he creates when he creates things in his image, and is a giver of life and is good and never a deliverer of death or evil, hence the creator performing what science calls a miracle which is God doing what he does, giving life and perfect health.
It is not feasible to a person who has accepted their notion of what life is, to believe that, and neither is it feasible for a person who 'believes', that what we see, is all that there is, and their conclusions, are the only ones that make sense to them as if they are detectives of logic, yet however, are ignoring the revelation of God and creation and sadly and foolishly, believe that if anything is done, it can only come from nature, and from the mind, discovery, and hands of a man alone, without any pre and former revelations from God, or any instructions from him.
Mankind see's himself as great but it is based on selective views and not on the views that prove that he is not great and in fact, is a orchestrator of chaos, and all his ideas are based on his own reasoning, and not truth and fact.
That is why we have a world of 'divided' opinions and ideas. If there was one truth to mankinds greatness would not man have the same mind all over the world to create harmony love, peace, and oneness of mind cooperation?
Science is ideas and assumption that are thoughts and views that change like fashion and trends.
In fact science is based on trend and not concrete fact that last forever and can never be disputed.
Ideas, hypothoses, and theories are eventually considered outdated, and deemed primitive, and obsolete, by predecessors all the time, and that is what science is, and all that it is.
A belief and views that caters to human 'vanity' based on his admiration of himself because of abilities that come from God that lead him to believe that he can live without God and sustain and rule and lead himself without any guidance, and input from God.
The technology, and creations of his hands during a 'particular' point in time becomes the popular and accepted idea of that day, and time, and what he uses to further his impressed with, and vain view of himself, but it is soon seen as outdated and obsolete later by people who think in their vanity that they are more advanced that the previous generation and generations.
Never coming to one point of knowledge, but claiming instead to have better ideas than the last bundle of ideas.
Scientist do not agree and Science cannot make it's mind up! One minute researchers say and studies show and say that something is good for us, and the next minute they say that it is bad, and recant former claims, that they insisted on, and present as facts using the term 'studies show'.
Ideas, beliefs and assumptions based on 'no' knowldege is what science in itself is.
If we has facts and concrete knowledge of all things then science would not exist and need to exist. Science exists because mankind is 'searching' for answers (because he is blind and does not know, because he has rejected God's truth) and so the 'existence' of science itself can and is defined my the definition and phrase 'not knowing' and so are searching'.
So by that very definition science cannot claim, or refute, 'anything' because it is full of theories and 'momentary reasonings' that are later replaced by other theories, and reasonings due and based on a blind and or, 'science' mind and view, and it exists because man has formulated his own 'belief and defintion' of what is, and why it is there, and it exists, and is on a search because he doesn't know, but he doesn't 'know' because he has rejected what God has already shown and told him, and us'.
It reminds me of the expression: "no matter how much things change they remain the same."
'Progress' and 'evolution' is a delusion brought on by the disbelief of God.
Mankind is sadly blinded by (the devil Revelation 12:9) his own sin and technology and sees 'advancement'.... yet human nature, and war, and greed and corruption and barbaric acts and crimes are committed toward one another daily, since the begining of what God has shown us from the begining, ... that explains sin, and why it exists.
Cain and Able, the Roman and Egyptian Empires, and all other Empires that people foolishly think that we don't 'resemble' because of what they believe is a time 'difference', not realizing that on a scale of eternity the begging and the Roman empire was just yesterday!
A mankind, and all generations, plunging head first into destruction, because they foolishly believe that yesterday is not linked to today on the scale of time and eternity.
As things get worse, 'technology' and the vanity of each new generation that believes that it was better and is more 'advanced' than the previous, ignores the reality and signs that it in fact 'isnt' and is blinded by the admiration of the work of their hands, and the vanity that comes with it, while they make the same mistakes of the past, and worse, but due to vanity and technology they don't see it.
Science wants to have it both ways. They want to tell you that their ideas, hypotheses, and theories are fact, but when they are proven wrong, they immediately use the escape Clause= 'it is "science" and so it was always just a 'theory' to begin with, because that is what science is, a searching for knowledge'.
And yet by doing so, are admitting that they never really had any facts, while they were claiming their theories to be fact, and even teaching them as such!
Neftali: if you think that all of the scientists, activists, corporate leaders and politicians who have publicly recognized, acknowledged and shown the significant, real threat that global warming represents to the earth are part of an international, liberal conspiracy theory. In order for such a conspiracy theory to exist, there would have to be some substantial motive for such a plethora of people to come together and create such a hoax. Why would so many people across so many spectra of expertise come together to further such a conspiracy theory? What would they possible have to gain?As for your citation to the disagreement between the EPA-Department of Energy, there is bound to be some disagreement and measurement discrepancies with a new area of science. Their disagreement does not prove global warming untrue and your implicit conclusion otherwise shows your lack of logic to all readers of your post. I also find it humorous that you appear to bash liberals in the first paragraph of your response, but then cite to two government agencies that are socially perceived as liberal (especially under a democratic administration) in the third paragraph of your response to bolster your argument (or lack thereof). Talk about having one's cake and eating it too I could simply dismiss your entire post as part of some conservative conspiracy theory to post Internet comments, articles and blogs in an attempt to create a counter-discourse that attempts to refute the veracity of global warming (please note my sarcasm), but instead I will urge you to get your head out of the sand and wake-up. Read a book that's not written by Bill O'Reilly or Michael Savage for a change. Vapid nay-sayors with hollow arguments like yourselves will only be to blame when our human-wide response to global warming comes too slowly to counteract the damage being done to the earth that future generations will inherit.-Jack
Everyone:I will try and break this down at a very simple level.(1) I hope we can all agree that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. That means that as carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the atmosphere gets hotter because carbon dioxide traps heat radiated from the sun. (Like a greenhouse in the sun, or a car with the windows rolled up on a hot day carbon dioxide acts like the rolled-up windows, trapping the heat).(2) I hope we can all agree that petroleum (oil and gas) and coal are made up of carbon.(3) I hope we can all agree that burning coal, oil and gas creates carbon dioxide as a byproduct (it comes out of the smokestacks of power plants and out of the mufflers on vehicles, etc.)Now it might get a bit tougher for the doubters to follow (4) The petroleum and coal that we have been harvesting and using for energy took tens of millions of years to form. Over a period so long that it is hard to comprehend, plants sucked carbon dioxide and, through photosynthesis, created oxygen and carbon, which it stored in the form of wood and plant matter. As those plants died and collapsed, they were covered up by other plants, or oceans, or rock over millions of years and put under tremendous pressure, which squeezed the dead plants and animals (carbon) into coal and petroleum (depending on the environment of formation, sometimes coal and sometimes petroleum).(5) The earth, over a period of roughly 5 billion years, has slowly and gradually evolved into a very balanced, delicate system where everything has a niche and everything is roughly in proportion to create a sustainable, dynamic, complex system. When species don't fit in, they become extinct and another species evolves (or perhaps two or three species) to take that one's place.(6) In the 150-200 years since the industrial revolution, humans have used carbon-based fuels that took roughly 300 million years to create. That's 200 vs. 300 million. Using these fuels releases carbon dioxide (locked into the coal and petroleum over millions of years) back into the atmosphere. Humans' rapid release of 300 million years worth of carbon (which was slowly, gradually stored by the earth) has created rapid changes to the earth's atmosphere and eco-systems. The earth simply was not designed to respond to such quick changes.As the planet's most intelligent species (and the species causing this dramatic climate change), we have a responsibility to work cohesively and intelligently to try and slow (it's already too late to reverse) this process as much as possible.For more information, read Fieldnotes from a Catastrophe or Beyond the Limits.
It depends on the level we are talking about. People like Stephen Hawking even think Einstein's Theory of Relativity can be improved upon because it is an approximation and does not meet the observations exactly. There are still questions about the differences between quantum physics and relativity. There are still things in the quantum world that remains mysterious such as entanglement. There are new species being discovered all the time which open a new light into the time period of evolutionary occurrences. And so on. I wouldn't label any of these total failures. More of a narrowing down to the truth.
Change is the hallmark of the universe as we know it. Stars, planets, galaxies are created out of a fog of energy, and to say that life can't have been created out of the interplay of forces and particles as well is arbitrary. Primitive man created gods to explain phenomena they didn't understand. That process continues, and there's no basis for declaring today what it might or might not be able to explain tomorrow.
Science examines the material world and the relationship between finite measurable objects. Nothing in that finite observable universe is capable of creating itself. Nothing. Thus an infinite force unconfined to the observable world must not only exist but have the capacity to create that which it is not bounded by - finit capacity. God exists.
Where did life come from? No one has the answer to that. If you say it came from God, the obvious next question is "where did God come from?" You can't have it both ways. Either everything has to be created or it doesn't. To say that life does but God doesn't is setting up your own rules with absolutely no logical basis.
It's much easier to make some educated guesses about how all those organic chemicals floating around the universe came together various environments to start replicating themselves and setting evolution in motion than to figure out how an invisible, pervasive, all-powerful intelligence either suddenly came into existence or, having always been there, suddenly decided, after an infinity of time, to create the spark of life. Why did it wait forever to create life, and why did it suddenly change its mind? Face it, that path creates more conundrums than it solves.
A response to nelsen_temple:
They are not debating evolution, they are debating the existence of a supernatural being, "God."
The Atheist isn't obligated to "prove what they believe." In this case, it is something they DO NOT BELIEVE. It is up to the Theist(s) to provide the evidence and rationale for the act of believing.
Furthermore, no atheist I have ever heard debate or ever read, and certainly not Dr. Kruass, has EVER stated that "evolution created everything" or that "everything came from evolution." Evolution is a biological process, and explains biology perfectly well. So well, infact, biology doesn't make sense with out it. If you don't believe in evolution you are on the hook to explain why Whales have pelvis' and there are legless lizards and snakes with legs! You have to explain why dinosaurs had feathers and birds have left over DNA for creating TEETH. Lots of explaining to do on your part.
Add also, that evolution isn't an explanation for the CREATION of life, but the PROCESS of change once life got started. The start from non-life to life is called ABIOGENESIS, which is a completely different process that has nothing to do with evolution or the origin of the universe. All three: Evolution, Abiogenesis, the "Big Bang" are separate explanations for separate processes that have nothing to do with each other---other than they don't rely on the magical man in the the sky and they have vast amounts of supporting evidence--none of which is contradicted.
Intellectuals will continue to debate, as they always have, evolution. They don't believe in God or believe there is a God so they will do all in their ability to prove what they believe is real. Those who believe in evolution will insist that evolution created the universe and all therein. Christians, and most other religions, will continue to believe it all came from God. I think most everyone believes in change, and if change is evolution then we all can believe in evolution, but evolution cannot create. When science can create a life form in a test tube, then they can win the debate. Of course it will take a test tube, a lab and a scientist and these things were not there in the beginning. So what did it evolve from?
The proposition is simply true or false based on the definition of God. What was really debated was the definition of God.
If, as the opposing team almost, but not quite, pointed out, your definition of God is a Holy God - that is, a creator of the Universe who is not part of the Universe (yet is free to act inside the Universe He created, or not), then the proposition is preposterous. Science can only refute assertions about the Universe. Such a God is outside the Universe.
If God is defined as the supporting team defines God, some really big and powerful being within the Universe, who lives someplace we can't see, who has power to manipulate the Universe in supernatural ways, who "created" the Universe by scooping up a handful of Universe stuff from his back yard and forming it into our Universe, then the proposition is again unarguable. Clearly science refutes such a God.
Science clearly refutes a God who is part of the universe.
Science clearly cannot refute a God who is not part of the Universe.
Mr. D'Souza was quite right in pointing out that athiests like to knock down fundamentalist theology and worldly Gods such as Neptune. Yes, science clearly refutes all forms of fundamentalism, and the God Neptune, because both Neptune and fundamentalism are worldly, not holy, concepts. Science has nothing to say about the holy, by definition.
I'm quite surprised no one asked for the scientific explanation of observable and reproducible placebo effect.
There is only energy (matter) in our universe; and at places where there is more energy than in the near environment, it will try to equalize itself, 'spread out'.
There are a few 'Universal Laws'; one of them is the fact that energy has to equalize itself (The Second Law of Thermodynamics).
Our universe is expanding at this moment, and thus energy has to fill up that bigger space (or as old-school taught 'tendency for disorder or entropy increase'); that's why many things around us disintegrates, tectonic plates drifting apart, planets moving further apart (in general).
However, this 'overall tendency for disorder or entropy increase' is just a result of energy's reaction on the (maybe temporarily-) expanding universe and is not a Universal Law.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics can sometimes result in 'order to increase; entropy to decrease'.
For example: a river flowing down from a mountain can have a rock sticking out the water; behind that rock the water might flow upstream... but the overall trend is still that water flows down the mountain.
Along the same lines, The Second Law of Thermodynamics can permit order to arise; but the over-all trend is disorder.
Life forms; they display disorder PLUS order... but life still has to cope with the expanding universe and thus the 'overall tendency for disorder or entropy increase' stays in effect.
Life forms display disorder PLUS order; all energy in our universe is part of one- or more cyclic systems. Each 'living thing' on earth is likewise a cyclic system.
Life behaves like 'running around in circles'; you become tired but you're not getting anywhere! Yes, that includes human beings, our purpose in this world kinda sucks.
For example: a tree is a 'cyclic system'.
The trunk, roots and leaves are formed which is an increase in order.
Evaporation of water while the sun shines on the leaves is dissipating energy; and just like a rotting tree gives an increase in disorder.
Does this mean it all leads nowhere? No.
Lo and behold; the scorching sunlight plus the scattered around water, soil nutrients and minerals are now gracefully circling around in what we call a 'forest' and all that energy (matter) is more equally spreaded out than before.
Thanks to The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Approximately 3.9 billion years ago, around our Earth's equator there was much unequally divided energy/matter. Sunlight, water, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen; all scattered around.
Obviously, at that point in time and at that region, the 'activation energy' was reached for 'life' to begin.
It took around 1.8 billion years for the first cells to form, and another 1.4 billion years before some simple animals appeared.
This 'Wonder of Life' and our universe having a 'flawless design' is actually nothing more than many, many particles (energy /matter) following some simple laws and repeating those over a very long, long time.
Denying this can lead to fruitless debate about divine intervention.
Oh by the way; Probably the Big Bang never took place and neither will we ever reach the 'cosmic heat death'; our universe will contract after reaching an 'activation energy', then expand again etc.
Why? Because it's all about 'cyclic systems' and nothing in our universe ever reaches extremes; not the speed of light, not a temperature of zero Kelvin.
Movement never stops. Energy can not be destroyed.
Make sure you enter the (*) required information where indicated. HTML code is not allowed.


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I am building an app using qgis in Windows 7 with VS 2008. It was diagnosed that I must have the wrong versions of the libraries because of a potential name mangling problem. I have 12 unresolved externals and I can find them in gis_core by micreosoft name. Does anyone have a different library for me to link to?
Does your project have the option Treat wchar_t as a built-in type turned on?
Assuming QGIS is built against a default version of Qt on Windows, Qt has Treat wchar_t as a built-in type turned off. So the library you're linking with probably has no idea what wchar_t is
Another thing to note is that Qt is more than just a C++ library/framework. It uses its own pre-compiler (moc) to set up reflection and signals/slots in your classes. If you created your project in raw Visual Studio, it won't know to run moc against your code first before compiling it. Whereas QtCreator or a project created by Qt's Visual Studio addin does.


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All apps
...or check out Hot or Top apps instead.
A-Dock X uses Themes to customize its appearance. Do you want your icons to float into flames, grass, snow, flowers ? A-Dock X features 9 built-in Themes. Plus you can download more cool Themes here,
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Data exploration, graphing, statistics. Aabel is an original, powerful, and dynamic data analysis and graphing application for Mac OS X.
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AACrT Movies is a database designed for storing your video library, complete with search capabilities in all categories. The user can set dropdown box options; sort movies by any field in list view;
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Aa Match Preschool Alphabet
"Aa Match Preschool Alphabet" is a premium Mac alphabet learning game for preschoolers. If your children love letters and the alphabet song, they will love this game.
The game consists of
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This widget displays current monthly usage statistics for Australian aaNet ADSL broadband connection. It displays the following information: * Graphical view of data transferred * Bar indicating
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Aargon Deluxe
A ridiculously addictive game where you bounce laser light around the board to hit targets.
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Fruit and Veg Growing Calendar
Part of the Growing Your Own Fruit & Veg For Dummies Cheat Sheet
If you thought that growing your own fruit and veg in the UK was a fair-weather hobby, think again! You can take steps all year round to make your plot a fertile one and to give your plants the best possible chance of producing a successful crop. This calendar enables you to remember all those little things that go towards making your year in the garden a productive one.
Concentrate on indoor activities if the weather is wet. Get your seeds ordered, browse catalogues for fruit trees and bushes, and even buy your fertiliser, sprays and pots. January is a quiet time in garden centres and they often have sales, so getting supplies in now can save you money.
In the greenhouse, get clean labels and pots ready for sowing and check that your propagator and heater work if you don't heat it all winter.
Pick your winter crops such as Brussels sprouts cabbages, and leeks. As soon as the soil is clear, dig it over.
Buy your seed potatoes and start to sprout them. January is still early to sow most vegetable seeds but you can sow your first onions now.
Try to complete all your digging this month so the soil has a chance to benefit from frost breaking it up.
In the greenhouse or on the windowsill you can sow more seeds this month such as tomatoes, onions, celery and peppers.
Cover rhubarb with a large, upturned pot to encourage tender new growth.
Plant fruit trees and bushes when the soil isn't frozen.
Cover areas of soil to be sown with seeds next month with black plastic or fleece to warm it and prevent it from getting too wet.
When the weather is warm and the soil is drying out a bit, you can sow lots of seeds outside. In the greenhouse and on the windowsill, March is the main month for sowing many crops.
Dig up the last of the overwintered crops such as parsnips and leeks.
Plant asparagus in well-prepared soil that you've cleared of weeds.
Towards the end of the month you can plant out the first potatoes. Also plant onion sets, shallots, garlic and Jerusalem artichokes.
Apply fertiliser around fruits and vegetables, mulch around fruit trees and bushes, and earth up potatoes.
Start feeding all plants in pots and make sure that they don't dry out.
Look out for the first pests of the season. Organic or chemical controls can help you avoid the problems of slugs and snails attacking young seedlings, aphids – or blackfly – covering broad beans, and greenfly attacking the new shoots of plums and currants.
Continue to sow seeds outside – April is often the best month to sow because the soil is getting warmer. Continue to sow seeds in the greenhouse.
Plant potatoes.
Plant up a herb pot for the patio.
Keep weeds under control by hoeing around your fruit and vegetables.
Under cover, sow fast-growing tender vegetables such as courgettes, French beans, marrows and runner beans.
Continue to look out for pests. As well as slugs, snails and aphids, gooseberry sawfly is a common problem this month and you need to put codling moth traps in apple trees at the end of the month.
In dry weather, water newly sown and planted crops.
Plant out leeks, brassicas such as cabbage and calabrese, and celery and celeriac.
Continue to sow salad crops and herbs regularly.
Sow more French beans.
Put the tender plants that are growing in the greenhouse outside to get them used to conditions before planting out at the end of the month (this is known as hardening off). If you don't do this, the change in conditions can 'shock' the plants and check their growth.
Plant out tender veg: either your own-grown plants, or just buy ready-grown ones.
Protect strawberries from damage from slugs, from getting dirty with straw or mats, and from birds with netting or fleece.
Keep weeds under control by hoeing.
Keep removing the side shoots of tomatoes and feed them once a week. Make sure that you don't allow tomatoes in growing bags or pots to dry out.
Stop cutting asparagus in the middle of the month. Mulch the rows with compost and give some fertiliser to build up the roots for next year.
Thin out apples, plums and pears if the branches are laden with small fruits.
As soon as strawberries have finished cropping, cut back the foliage and remove any runners that grow from the mother plants.
Cover blueberry bushes and other soft fruit with netting or fleece to protect them from birds.
Cut down early peas and broad beans that have been harvested. Leave the roots in the soil to add nitrogen to it.
Be prepared to spray potatoes against blight. Lift and harvest new potatoes.
Continue to sow salad crops and weed among your crops.
Prune blackcurrants as soon as the berries have been picked.
Mulch around squashes and pumpkins with compost or manure and keep them watered well.
August is the perfect time to sow Oriental crops such as pak choi and Chinese cabbage. Also sow spring cabbage and fennel.
You should have lots to harvest this month – pick while young and fresh.
Pull up any crops that have finished and sow fast-growing salads in their place, or if you're not using the ground for crops until winter or next spring, sow green manures.
Sow overwintering onions and plant special new potatoes for Christmas.
Summer prune apples and many other fruit bushes and trees.
Continue to sow Oriental vegetables, salads and herbs. Sow endive, land cress and lamb's lettuce for winter.
Pinch out the tops of tomato plants to prevent fruits being formed that won't ripen.
Pick sweetcorn and squashes as they mature.
Start to harvest apples and pears as they reach ripeness.
Dig up potatoes as soon as they finish flowering and if the foliage starts to yellow.
Earth up or stake Brussels sprouts and other overwintering brassicas to help them stand up to winter gales.
Harvest all squashes before the first frost damages them. Finish lifting and storing potatoes.
Dig over bare soil. Put all green plants and weeds in the compost heap.
Plant garlic and broad beans.
Cut back Jerusalem artichokes and pull up sweetcorn.
Pick the last tomatoes from plants in the greenhouse.
Clean out the greenhouse, and make the most of any under-cover growing space there (and in the porch and conservatory for winter herbs and salads.
Order seed catalogues and fruit catalogues.
Clear the soil of crops that are past their best.
Pick up and pull off yellowing leaves from brassicas.
Harvest leeks, celery, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips and the last of the carrots and beet.
Check the ties on trees and cover brassicas with netting to prevent bird damage.
Dig over any bare soil. Empty the compost heap and dig this into the soil.
Prune grapes and do any winter pruning of fruit trees and bushes.
Make sure that you add some garden items to your Christmas list!


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March is Severe Weather Awareness Month, and today, schools and businesses across Kentucky, practiced duck and cover, in case of a tornado.
At 9:07 Tuesday morning the COWS Sirens went off, and area schools had students practice the drills.
Principal Jim Tinius says students at Potter-Gray Elementary in Bowling Green practice the drills several times, because it's important to keep them prepared throughout the year.
"The big thing we tell them to do is just to do it the way we practiced it, to listen to their teachers. Just remain calm. We've had to go out in the hallways a few times with precautionary measures, and we try to tell them it's for safety and we want them to be in the right place in case the weather changes on a dime," Principal Tinius says.
March starts the spring severe weather season.


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Crew members of the 1st Battalion 108th Aviation Regiment and Company G, 2nd-135th General Support Aviation Battalion take off from Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport for their first mission to support Colorado with Bambi buckets in their fire fight at High Park, June 15, 2012. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jessica Barnett, Kansas Adjutant General's Department Public Affairs Office)
FORT COLLINS, Colorado -- Soldiers of the Kansas National Guard's 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment and Company G, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion) carried out their first mission to assist firefighting operations underway in Colorado today.
The Guardsmen deployed to Colorado June 12 at the request of that state's emergency management officials to support ongoing ground firefighting efforts in an area at the High Park in Larimer County, Colo., approximately 15 miles west of Fort Collins.
The crew provided structure protection by delivering more than 8,000 gallons of water, totaling 18 buckets in two and a half hours.
"We train for Bambi bucket missions on a regular basis," said Sgt. Ryan Kohlman, standardizations instructor with Co. G, 2-135th GSAB. "The training really pays off when we are called to other states in their hour of need."
Prior to conducting their mission, the Kansas Guardsmen were updated on the current situation and mission to familiarize themselves with the terrain, flying conditions and the location of water sources for the 660-gallon Bambi bucket they use to release water on target areas.
"The flight crews and support members were ready and eager to go," said Maj. Gen. (KS) Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general. "Today's flight went off without a hitch and they are looking forward to resuming their mission tomorrow."
The Kansas Guardsmen will remain in Colorado for up to 15 days, depending on the progress of firefighting operations, conducting Bambi bucket missions. Currently, the lightning-caused fire is 15 percent contained. So far it has burned more than 52,000 acres and destroyed approximately 100 homes and other structures. Approximately 1,300 firefighting personnel are involved.
The aircrew is working in junction with other National Guard aircrews and support teams from Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming as part of the emergency management assistance compact, a mutual-aid agreement that allows state-to-state assistance during declared states of emergency, which allows unaffected states to provide resources to affected states including the use of National Guard forces and equipment.
Kansas aviation units have deployed to Oklahoma and Texas in 2006 to help fight grassfires and to California in 2008 to assist with wildfire operations.


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Can somebody please give me an easy application of vector projection in 2D. I dont want to see an example in physics.
Can somebody please give me an easy application of vector projection in 2D. I dont want to see an example in physics.
The shadow of a thin object in the plane of the object and the light source.
Component of load force along one member in a joint of two straight beams. (Engineering.)
I know it's not specific to $\mathbb{R}^2$, but least squares approximation is a very well-known application of orthogonal projection to very "real world" purposes.
Think about simple linear regression (OLS) in statistics. In this case, we want to model data $y$ in terms of $x$, such that $$y = \alpha + \beta x + \epsilon.$$
If $y$ is your $n \times 1$ vector of data, then you are projecting it onto two vectors:
Bringing these two vectors together as columns of a $n \times 2$ matrix $X$, we can then write the OLS esitmate of $(\alpha, \beta)$ as a parameter vector $\hat{\beta} = (XX')^{-1}X'y$, such that $$E[y] = X\hat{\beta},$$ and the projection matrix is $P = X(XX')^{-1}X',$ thus the expectation is really $$E[y] = Py,$$ or the projection of $y$ onto $x$ and a scalar dimension.