Walsingham

I know it only underlines my being a wanker, but I was really in the mood for this as the late autumn sunshine blasts in:

Ponces.

I'm really losing interest in this debate with the personal attacks. Besides which, who says "ponce" any more?

Your concept of a Science! robot sounds good. Except that, as I underlined in my original question, science doesn't occur ina vacuum. Any scientifically observed phenomenon only becomes useful in human terms when it married to a human individual or organisational need. Leaving aside the issue of who'd want to finance an AI that was enquiring at random, just consider the raw size of the volume of ignorance it'd be attacking. An almost infinite variety of permutations in experimental conditions and subjects. Further I think you're underestimating the actual value of having humans doing experimental work. Yes, they get bored and distracted by pretty first year students. But they also spot 'extraneous' data that is useful. Like the way a garbage lorry is outside whenever they get weird data. Or that the green mold which keeps upsetting their experiments is actually penicillin. The reason I'm belaboring this point is that you're an educated guy with a lot of energy. The sooner you understand that everything has to have a point, and people invested in it, the sooner you'll be able to turn some of that energy into useful work.

Hahaha. I'm curious about the Saudi reaction to it. It would seem to me that in any war with Iran, the West could count on very strong Saudi support. I have only the vaguest notion of what the Saudis could put in the field, but I think they're probably much MUCH more worried about internal dissent and places like Yemen, than they are about invading Iran. Invading Iran is not terribly likely. Where the **** would the money to do it come from? Half our population appear to be more willing to give the Iranian government credibility than our own. Plus we're overstretched on our existing commitments. Keep in mind that Iran's not Iraq. It's got a lot of mountains, and a HUGE trained irregular force in the Revolutionary guards and Basij. You couldn't do them any significant damage on the cheap, I don't think. *thinks* Well, maybe shoot the crap out of their oil infrastucture. But that would probably just strengthen their hand, domestically. Iran knows this and that's why they're gokking about in this way. Note that Iran lofted a salvo of mortars at Afghanistan today. Not in the major news. But it happened. Just a little "**** you" to show they don't give a rat's ass about indignation over the terr attempt. And to maybe threaten ramping up their efforts in that country.

Only contextually, if you energy heavy food and don't exercise then it's bad - but it's more because you don't exercise.. While excessive workout and a low energy diet would also be pretty bad for you. In which case the "good" calories would be bad.. so again, it's contextual. I've seen people live on a pretty much fast-food only diet and be in perfect health, simply because they used all the energy - and my gf, who is vegan, is gaining weight (no offence honey) simply because she isn't using the energy intake - and no, she's not eating unhealthy vegan food. No wonder she's not using it. I'd be curled up in a foetal ball, whimpering, if you put me on a vegan diet.

Purely by way of devil's advocate, what if increases in computing power, and manifold applications for 'dumb' computers will actually fracture and dissolve efforst to achieve true AI? After all, when it comes right down to it, what's the pointof having true AI? What would it actually do? Clean the house? Plan my accounts? Fight wars?I can have a human do these things for next to nothing compared with the cost of AI.

May have a point there. Could be something about not being able to rely on a population they often terrorise worse than their 'enemies'. But it's probably more to do with how expensive war is, even for terrorists. Buying papers, explosives, sending people abroad to lie low for a year or two... it all adds up. Maybe it's also to do with folks just getting older. Even terrorists want to feel they've tucked something away for their old age.

Can't afford new games so I'm going back through my library. On Fallout 3 now. Being New Vegas-ish. Everyone hates me. Blasted boyscouts.

AGH! Hi, DR. Agree ''Isolated' is a great track.

I have no idea what a gavial is, but it sounds cool. How about... an attempt to survive genetic degradation was executed by splicing in animal genes. It's B-Movie science, but why not? Not furry-tastic, but more Wild Cards style deformities. Outsized elephantine noses, extra long red-furred arms, snake eyes. Twists of rancid lemon peel in the genetic martini. I like the temple setting idea. A lot. But frankly you could bung something like that in anywhere, and not have any danger of inciting religious fundamentalists to riot for transgressing some simulated sacred taboo. No need to use a real world specific temple. Commmercially speaking, surely the Far East and Oz are a good market. Give the poor bastards a break and throw them a bone.

Sure you can, man. You can learn about it while running for your life. I enjoyed the counterpoint. Dead Money is- hands down - my favourite DLC. I actually save it up until late in the game so I can enjoy my replays more. The whole thing with beginning again. I wait until my character starts to struggle with their personal ethos... far too much thought going on. BTW, Lucian, being trapped in the Vault is entirely deliberate. I thought it was a great touch because I damned nearly did myself, but luckily was pondering the vault construction and thought 'hang on...'. I mean, didn't it strike you as odd that the builder was nowhere to be seen? Why Vera wasn't down there?

The notion that measuring a foodstuff's impact on the human body by how much water it boils <sic> has always struck me as borderline insane.

You're assuming it's linear, I'm positing it could be circular. Aha. I can't think of any direct examples, unless... I suppose the Mexicans could be on example. Pablod Escobar also fancied himself a bit of a revolutionary once the government eventually cracked down on him. Worth thinking about, certainly.

Actually, what we see historically is a trend in the other direction. That is from guerrilla/terr to organised criminal. essentially because if you've got the organisational features of the former than you've a perfect setup to become the latter. The temptation arises because really successful gureillas/terrs almost always turn to criminal enterprise to fund the 'revolution'. That often becomes their main activity, and so on... A further point to bring up here is exactly how aggressive the Mexican cartels are: "...there have been two recent events in Mexico City that give us cause to re-evaluate what could be occurring here and they are the murder of the two female journalists that were found naked, bound and gagged and their bodies dumped in a park in Mexico City. And most recently two severed heads were found on Oct. 3 in close proximity to the Mexican military office Sedena in Mexico City. ... The signal resonates with the murder of the journalists, which is a very powerful example to others who may be writing about cartel activity inside of Mexico, and now with the severed heads being found in close proximity to the Mexican military office, this is also a very powerful signal to the Mexican military from the cartels that anybody is accessible in Mexico." (stratfor.com) The entire theme of the narco-violence in Mexico is that pressuring the cartels has chiefly resulted in the official forces getting smacked about. The clear intention by the cartels is to make the government and people weary of the violence and trigger a tacit stand-down. Plus I'd guess they are smart enough to realise that a maoist emphasis on shaking people's faith in the power of the authorities serves a criminal just as well as a terrorist.

Don't you know that this was a flase flag operation? Iran is a peaceful country and would never sponsor terrorism.

To be precise, you'd have to be Colonel Sebastian Moran!

Is it wrong that my first thought was "Hold on. You mean all I have to do to get beaten senseless by Scarlett Johansson is threaten the survival of the planet? I'm bloody in!"

I se your logic, Tale. But I don't think you're approaching this with numbers in mind. 1. Kidnapping is a substantially harder crime to commit. 2. The profits from kidnapping are significantly lower than drugs. 3. The availability of quality kidnap victims is lower. Cash is critical because at present the money from drugs is financing massive recruitment, sustainment, and arming of drug cartel 'soldiers'. Plus financial corruption of the police. Cut the strings of that finance and *fwoop* the cartel's have a serious problem. Conversely, killing off a few thousand 'soldiers' won't hurt the cartels at all. Provided they have the cash to recruit more, and there are physically men available.

I'm looking for something readable, with exercises, to brush up my UML. Recommendations?

Condolences, Enoch. Small comfort, but I'm glad to hear your wife's health wasn't endangered.

The crossborder trade is worth 200 billion. 200 BILLION, gentlemen. I'd remind you that it's almost impossible to stop drugs getting into maximum security prisons. Can anyone seriously assert that it is possible to achieve a better security level on a national border? Maybe, maybe legalisation isn't the answer. But FFS can we quit wasting assets on this ludicrous fantasy and work what the alternative is, and get stuck in?

I have to agree with Numbers. You've recently adopted a somewhat mesianic fervour about green policies which I just don't see justified by all the (many) green politicals I've met. As archbishop Desmond Tutu would say: they're bonkers in a big way. We're talking human culls, compulsory closure of factories, eugenics. It's pure dreaming outside of a dictatorship, and I'd rather be picking dessicated penguin out of my teeth in the Birmingham desert than live under a dictatorship. Also as Numbers points out you can't impose an academic test as a means of delivering voting rights. It's far too easy to abuse. But what you CAN do is to make it a part of the curriculum, and at least get keen people thinking logically. It's not beyond schoolchildren. I know a couple of public boarding schools who teach it as young as 14!

Utterly baffled and amused to discover that there is a perfectly serious and high profile US firm called 'Palantir' who do intelligence analysis. Talk about Tolkein nerds!