jlc

But one does have to take into account that the purpose of this investigation is not to 'right a wrong' but to enforce political correctness. Exxon Mobil has dared to publish data and expectations that do not agree with global warming - and that is not to be continuanced by the liberal body politic.

This is about conformity as much as regulations or accounting.

Jan

Take what blarman and johnpe and several others advise to heart: Get back on the horse and ride it again. I failed my first two tries; On my third try, I looked so nervous that the examiner took a Valium out of his desk drawer and offered it to me. I was offended enough by this to overcome my nervousness and I did just fine. Ha!

I generally 'test well' but certain tests for physical abilities seem to bypass that and I have trouble. Persist!

Jan

I have researched this several times, as I am approaching that age. I found a citation at one point that indicated that Clinton succeeded in linking Social Security and Medicare such that you could not receive payments on the former unless you signed up for the latter. This quote was in context of 4 or 5 people who were trying to take this to the Supreme Court for judgement - but I have not subsequently been able to find that information. (I think this is a key word problem, not that the info is not there.)

I too do not want to sign up for MCare but I resent that I will not see any return on the money I have been forced to invest in MCare and SS if I do not sign up for both. I want my money back!

I too do not intend to retire, which sounds boring and fraught with peril, so I will continue to have my work insurance - but apparently I am not allowed to not let MCare interfere with me medical life.

If you find additional info, please post it. I will look again to see if I can find the mandatory MC-SS requirement and post the link if I do.

Jan

I have done modestly well by buying my current home and my previous house from the 'white elephant' discard heap. What I could bring to the table that other people could not is 'imagination'. I think that this applies to the future of 3D printers.

Having the capability to create things (let us assume the Star Trek 'replicator' level of capability of printers that Temaklos specifies) does not magically endow 95% of humanity with the imagination or inclination to create their own products. What you 'sell' is your ability to imagine a product that other people would like - like selling a book: The book contains letters and words that are in the common domain, but it has proprietary plots and characters that are copyrighted.

Anyone can stroll up to a replicator and say, "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." but if you want the unit to reproduce a new gourmet dish, you buy the right to that recipe from the chef who created it. Similarly, you can order your shipsuit for free, but if you like the latest fashion that the actress wore on the Holovid, you buy the design from the studio.

What 3D printers add to physical society is what we are currently experiencing with information technology and news: the dissolution of gatekeepers. It used to be that the news you heard/saw/read was filtered through a few major 'gates' - now we have people posting their videos directly on the Net and there is nothing that social censors can do to stop them.

I am looking forward to an increase in the sophistication of 3D printers that allows me to be free from the fetters of 'what people in Paris tell me I am supposed to want'. I can do a much better job imagining my world than they can. And if other people like my ideas, I will be glad to sell them to those people.

Jan

The liberals I have spoken with correctly do not care if Hillary is guilty of various crimes: All they care about is that she will enact the programs, policies, and philosophies they believe in. Since these policies involve a lot of 'taking' and a belief that 'Since I am one of the correct-thinking elite, rules do not really apply to me.' it is immaterial to them if Hillary is 'first in taking' on a personal level as well.

I think that she will probably win. The only chance that she will not is if the polls reflect a bias of conservatives being asked less often/ being less willing to be surveyed. If that is the case, then there might be enough secret voters to tip the scales, even if a thumb is on it.

Jan

To quote: "Because today’s DNA testing seems so compelling and powerful, increasing numbers of Native Americans have begun to believe their own metaphors: “in our blood” is giving way to “in our DNA.” In Native American DNA, Kim TallBear shows how Native American claims to land, resources, and sovereignty that have taken generations to ratify may be seriously—and permanently—undermined."

from https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-divis...

Recall that my assertion is that discoveries in paleoanthropology can effect our modern world. I do not say anything about 'should' or 'logic'...just that they 'do'.

Jan

It may not make a difference to you or me, but it does make a difference in the real world: The claims of the Indians were undermined by discovery that they were not the original inhabitants.

And yes, I agree that science is worthwhile per se. Technological advancement may eventually make Hillary and her ilk moot (and us too).

Jan

Interesting. Thank you.

Jan

Actually, I was thinking of this, "...Mal’ta genome [from 24,000 years ago]..., which shows a possible Siberian conduit for mixture between the ancestors of today’s Europeans and indigenous New World populations." (John Hawks' blog)

(Mal'ta is in Siberia; not the Malta in the Med.)

Jan

I do not disagree with your concern. But I still enjoy wallowing in the myriad genetic details of paleoanthropology...just for fun.

Jan, wallowing

Well, it is important to my life in an intellectual sense. Paleoanthropology fascinates me. And the knowledge of how we got to where we are, both mentally and physically, can send reverberations into the modern world.

Example: a tribe of Indians would not release a skull to archeologists for examination. The feared - correctly - that when the archeologists did genetic testing on the bones they would determine that the Indians were not the 'original settlers' of their land, but had replaced an earlier group of different genetic heritage. This impacts the sense that we 'owe' American Indians for the land we took from them by force...the truth turns out to be that the current Indians occupying the land took it from someone else by force as well.

So, if you are looking only at a practical use for such knowledge, knowing these things can effect our modern lives. Aside from that, though, intellectual pursuits are worthwhile for their own sake.

Jan

The rate of decay is constant. You do not have to measure more than a fraction of the output of an isotope in order to calculate its half-life. This is the same as not needing to measure the entire point-to-point travel of a car in order to know its velocity; you can measure a few feet of that distance and calculate the (assumed constant) velocity from that.

Jan

You are correct to question the constancy of the production of C14. Since, as you state, solar radiation initiates most of the C14 production, changes in solar output will alter the atmospheric C14 load. C14, as well as any of the other isotopic dating systems (there are a dozen major ones) need to be calibrated. C14 is generally calibrated my measuring the C14 content of tree rings and using that figure to calibrate the C14 reading taken from some other object, such as a deer bone.

Good article: http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/embed.php?Fi...

Jan

Ahh... the 666 problem with barcodes. No, that is not what I was talking about. There was a huge furor in the 1970s about the introduction of scanning at grocery stores.

And the standardized unit is needed whether you are dealing with cash or virtual money (though not so much with metals).

Jan

You do not see cash being used on the Starship Enterprise. The movement to virtual transactions is inexorable, though it is best that it move with glacial slowness so that people can get use to it. What money does is track a unit of work in an nominal format and electronic transactions do a better job of that than coin or cash.

The concern about being tracked via electronic transactions is completely valid - but it is a separate topic. (We need to be concerned about being physically tracked via our phones and likewise tracked via video cams as well. This is a topic about surveillance in general, not really about money.)

Do you remember the over-the-top reaction to grocery stores introducing scanning of barcodes instead of people entering the items manually? This was an endoftheworld topic for a while; now it is a trivial fact of life. I think that electronic transactions are in the same category of reaction: This is not 'the way it used to be'.

Change happens. And now it happens all the time, not every 10th generation.

Jan

That is very cheering to hear, SarahMontalbano. Thanks for sharing a moment of good news with all of us.

Jan

I agree, though they still had humans do the dogfighting nav and firing. Considering the difference in reaction times between humans and computers, it makes sense for the pilot to establish general tactics - and provide for an occasional anomalous decision - and leave the fighting to the firing computer.

I did like the 4th season. I especially liked that the answer was not "The Vorlons were Right", the answer was "Both of You: Get Out of Our Playground".

Jan

Yes! That was terrific.

Jan

If your brain is a library, it is appropriate for Emotions to be the supervisor of the Art and Aesthetics section. Rationality is the head librarian, however.

Jan

B5 is a superb show, and Garabaldi was excellent in it - probably tops after J'kar and Londo. There is great potential for a good remake, eliminating some of the weak 'topical' episodes, and bringing back into the plot arc some of the groundwork laid for the final battles - groundwork that went unused because the show was cancelled...and then reinstated at the last minute. (This forced 2 seasons into 1 (the 4th) and made the 5th season pretty 'empty'.)

When I saw Jupiter Ascending I thought that the effects in that movie hinted at how B5 should be remade.

Jan

Interesting observation. I would not have made that connection, but I think you are right.

Jan

Chang Kai-shek came to prominence in China after Sun Yat-sen's death as a result of being kidnapped and held hostage in a cave by bandits for a couple of weeks. (It did not hurt that he was also Sun Yat-sen's close friend and married to his wife's little sister.) People who were knowledgeable about that situation have suggested that Kai-shek hired the kidnappers.

So, this sort of thing has happened before and it is certainly not beyond conception that it occurred in Turkey.

Jan

It is not our business to support or overthrow the leaders of a foreign country; we are not the world's police. It is quite possible the Erdogan staged the coup himself, but Occam's Razor says that it is more likely that disaffected officers (perhaps influenced by Gulan's moderate philosophy, but not necessarily directed by him) attempted it on their own.

Gulen is legitimately present in the US and we should not extradite him unless Turkey can prove criminal involvement. We are not pawns of Turkey.

Jan

This is a conversation I frequently have. Older societies - bronze age and before - had 'braggadocio' as a required virtue for alpha type leaders. The thought of honor being an aspect of quiet integrity vs virtue display was quite novel...and we still get confused about it. Both models are correct in their own times and societies, but we use the same modern words to describe them.

Jan

Good points.

Jan