In My Memory

I mentioned to bascule in the SFN chatroom that there a few songs I find absolutely beautiful, like feeling like falling in love everytime I hear it. I dont know how to define "beauty" in music, but I'll share my short list of songs anyway: Tiesto: In My Memory JEM: Amazing Life Shakira: Dia de Enero Shakira: Obtener un Si Bascule suggested Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence, but then again he doesnt have taste in music Share your list of songs you find beautiful

Happy Birthday, Azure! My gift to you, a beauty secret for a lifetime of soft youthful skin: try bathing the blood of at least 2 virgins once a month, prefably during the full moon. Use epsom salt if desired

yourdad, IE6 supports the <q> tag, its just that the <q> tag is purely definition. It doesnt render as anything in IE or any browser, unless you use stylesheets. Theres a <blockquote></blockquote> tag which all browsers support, it indents text by 1 em on left and right margins.

I googled and found a person who looks like a radical member of animal rights movement who claims responsibility for rescuing rabbits and cats...oh wait... oh dear, nevermind...

My apologies for not getting to this earlier Jim, I could see that limits based on health could be justified, and possibly reasons of national security. Ecoli, I dont really have a problem with little Chinatowns or Koreatowns popping up. You're not one of those types that calls illegal immigration a foreign invasion? So you wouldnt have a problem with illegal immigration if we just made them pay taxes like everyone else? So that, when you say "supporting illegals rests on the taxpayers", the people included in the group of taxpayers are the illegal immigrants themselves. This is exactly what I said in my first post. But I'm also interested in just what taxburden you're talking about. Illegal immigrants are ineligible to recieve welfare, social security, and most public-funded healthcare. I could imagine that they are a tax burden because in the sense that employers can hire immigrant workers without being required to pay additional social security taxes because illegal immigrants would never reports those kinds of problems, but then the tax burden is a consequence of the crackdowns on immigration itself (i.e. policies restricting immigrants are actually the cause of the tax burden associated with immigration), and this can be solved really easily by treating immigrants like legal residents and requiring them to pay taxes. However, I can also imagine that there would be a tax burden when immigrants get hurt and require surgery, and because they are not covered by insurance the state has to pick up the tab. However, that isnt a problem with illegal immigration itself, its a problem with certain business practices. For instance, Walmart has a notorious problem of refusing to pay health benefits which forces all its workers to rely on the state to pick up health bills. That kind of unnecessary tax burden exists no matter who fills the jobs, illegal immigrants are not, so cracking down on illegal immigration doesnt solve the actual problem. Now, if you think there is *still* going to be a tax problem even when we require immigrants to pay taxes (I'll leave it up to you to find the data to support that claim), then your objection really wouldnt have much to do with enforcing legal immigration, but it would have everything to do with reducing the total number of immigrants altogether (both legal and illegal). This is basically the same thing as saying that you would refuse citizenship to immigrants altogether, or even strip existing citizenships away. How exactly do we go about fighting corruption in foreign countries? Should we invade, overthrow the governments, and replace them with one of our own making? And then what about those foreign markets? Theres no single "foreign market", there are *a lot* of different kinds of foreign markets, including currency exchange, investing overseas corporations, investing in hedge funds. And the exchange in these markets are controlled by huge corporations like Citigroup, Merrel Lynch, JP Morgan, and some foreign counterparts, and they've been around for years and years and will continue to exist for decades in the future. Unless you feel like making really bad monetary decisions like trying to tie the Argentina dollar to the US dollar, then its pretty safe to invest in the foreign market. Ironically, if you enjoy the ramblings Pat Buchanon, investing in any foreign markets is the same thing as sucking money out of our economy (he bases this reasoning on situations where very rich Americans spend US$millions on vacations in foreign countries, which could have been reinvested into our own economy... Pat Buchanon doesnt believe in fungible economies, so he's an advocate of isolationism). I'm not sure what illegal immigration has at all to do with the stability of any of the foreign markets.

Daniel, Wikipedia - Venus Flytrap:

I've been in the process of tracking down a geneology of my family, because for the most part no one really knows where my family came from. Heres what I've learned so far: Back a long long time ago, my ancestors were Hungarians who immigrated to England, who later immigrated to Canada, who came down to the United States. My surname is anglicanized French, but my ancestors surnames were Slavic, so the surname seems to be a fairly recent (within 2 or 3 generations) origin. I havent discovered any notably famous people in my ancestory, nor any famous soldiers (lousy Canadians never fought for their freedom), nor any famous inventors. My sisters claim that are family has some Cherokee Indian, although thats anyones guess. Go ahead, share your ancestory

Bluesmudge,

Every so often, at least once a day, my mouse starts acting strangely: - Sometimes the cursor will stop responding all together, but the keyboard works. When I ctrl-alt-delete and enter "stand-by" mode, then immediately return to what I was doing, the mouse works fine. - Sometimes the mouse will act like its possessed, and when I touch the mouse the cursor will randomly appear on the screen and click things. If I click the mouse without moving it, then it will shift to the right a few pixels. I have to press ctrl-alt-delete to get the cursor working normally again. (The possessed mouse has been known to close out programs or documents I'm working on.) - Sometimes the mouse wheel stops responding. I have to restart my computer to get it working again. I apologize that I cant really be more specific, but is there a patch or something I can install to fix my mouse?

Phi for All, Darling, are you seriously blaming the death penalty on the USs lack of interest in the Darfur genocides? I dont really think theres a connection at all, and it probably has much more with what sells in the US, which for now is the evil evil gays kissing in the park and immigrants taking our jobs. If it doesnt affect who people vote for or sell papers, then its not a front page story.

Entwined,

Bascule, Its just a principle of justice theory itself: the punishment should be proportioned to the severity of the crime. But for the worst people on the planet, like Hitlers and bin Ladens, the punishment in proportion to the crimes exceeds the value of even their own lives by a significant margin, so the death penalty doesnt do anyone injustice. I dont really "support" the death penalty, because it makes no difference to me whether its implemented or not (its not a voting issue for me). From a justice point of view, I dont really see that its wrong, and some of the most common talking points against the death penalty just arent very persuasive.

Bascule,

CapnRefsmmat suggested that I should learn Python, so I downloaded it last night and I do some very very simple things with it now. I learning it for fun, to increase my NQ (nerd quotient), and maybe to help me out in my work. So I have some questions: - Is it possible to force variable declaration? Forced declaration is automatic in C++, and it is optional in VB, but I've looked through the python handbooks and online and I havent seen anything. - What can I do with Python? Does it support bitwise operations like rotate-left, right-shift, and other bitwise arithmatic? Not that I really need it, but will support the creation of 3D graphs or shapes? Is it possible to write an IMM-bot that will respond to posts on SFN when I'm not around? - Would you like to share some python examples So far, heres my most successful program: print 'cat' It works like a charm And if you have any other pearls of wisdom you'd like to share to a newbie programmer, share them!

Hades, This claim has actually been around for quite some time. Michael Shermer wrote a response to it in Scientific American demonstrating that the arbitrary percentages and numbers can works out to prove anything the statistician wants. Using the same methodology as Swinburne who showed that Christs resurrection is 67% certain, Shermer showed that Christs resurrection is just about 2%. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000E350F-2F66-10CF-AD3D83414B7F0000&colID=13 Demosthenes, I think the number is based on something called a Bayseian Probability, where if you start out knowing no other facts about the universe (maximum ignorance), apart from that claim that Gods either exists or he doesnt, then its fair to start out saying that Gods existence is 50/50.

With only a few exceptions like the song "Changes" by Tupac, rap is completely unlistenable. I remember listening to the radio and a song called "Air Force Ones" by Nelly played and I laughed so hard because the lyrics are hysterically awful, its a song about buying sneakers. It was such a bad song, but Nelly made millions with it. The worst part about rap is that it has no timeless value. We'll still be talking about Elvis and everyone will still know the lyrics to American Pie 50 years from now, but names of rappers like Chingy and Snoop Dogg are going to be completely forgotten. Rappers dont write music for the sake of writing music anymore, they only write music because they have a built-in audience of millions who will buy whatever they create no matter how awful it is.

Conservatives want to invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders, and covert them to Christianity. (Agree.) Liberals are all limp-wristed hippies who want to smoke pot and kill all their babies. (Disagree.)

Entwined,

Augment, On that note, arent we all made of atoms from previously living organisms? So then, does that makes us all cannibals?

Silkworm, Instead of being moderate, someone can always be pragmatic, where they pick and choose the political ideas that just get the job done rather than the ones that match any ideology. The US Green party is very pragmatic, although they predictably lean to the left on social issues and lean to the right on economic ones. And instead of being a Democrat, Republican, or moderate, theres also the category of single-issue voters. Even though Democrats and Republicans have defined foreign policy and guns, a lot of people are just apathetic on those platforms and will vote for the party who supports their opinion on abortion or gay rights.

This is a feel-good-about-yourself thread, and maybe even a brag-and-gloat-and-be-better-than-everyone thread Share with everyone what you really like about yourself, and why its just the best thing in the world to be you. I'll go first: It probably comes to no surprise to anyone that I'm incredibly vain and feminine, but thats one of the thing I really like about myself. Theres nothing better than the feeling of being very girly and feminine, its the best! I mention this because I got a comment from someone today who said "I dont think I've ever seen you wear pants", which is true because I dont ever wear pants because they make me feel too masculine (and I dont wear shorts because they are ugly), so my wardrobe is almost exclusively skirts and dresses. But only classy ones, usually pleated black or white fabric cut a few inches above the knee, so that its cute and adorable without being unprofessional. And I embody other girly things like practicing yoga, owning lots of shoes, and having lots of girl power. Also, I like the people who I work with every night at work, they are like my family. We are very fond of opening up and spilling our guts on things that made us happy or upset during the day, we like to rant about things, exchange recipes, knit sweaters for each other (everyone in my career field is a man, so I taught the guys how to crochet ), and more. Its not even like they're coworkers, they're friends, and our friendship is something I really take a lot of pleasure in having.

The Peon, Actually the system of government you defined is very very anti-communist, because of its rigid tier of a ruling class elite presiding over a working class, something that makes communists hide under their covers at night. What you have is an aristocracy In principle, an aristocracy might be better for everyone overall, because some politicians just arent very good at looking after people or making smart decisions. And when 11 states unanimously voted away the rights of gays to get married in the past election, then theres some indication that democracy isnt the best rule of law either. Except for the part where the government micromanages each of its citizens diet and exercise habits (I know I have very particular dietary habits and like to the gym everyday on my own schedule, not on someone elses), the way you described your ideal government didnt sound like too bad. At least no worse than any form of government that already exists.

w00t!

Heres something you can experiment with, this is a very simple blur I wrote with MS Excel's VB: Before blur: ---------------------------------------- |4 |55 |100 |136 |192 | |242 |61 |56 |138 |246 | |77 |205 |167 |6 |82 | |---------------------------------------- |182 |143 |205 |38 |135 | |213 |159 |106 |152 |87 | |130 |117 |27 |177 |229 | |---------------------------------------- |114 |89 |1 |248 |178 | |144 |200 |229 |1 |11 | |148 |178 |245 |165 |54 | |---------------------------------------- |9 |174 |239 |110 |9 | |195 |50 |91 |164 |130 | |104 |206 |158 |196 |177 | |---------------------------------------- |250 |172 |182 |194 |62 | |138 |206 |25 |118 |90 | |203 |5 |66 |46 |86 | |---------------------------------------- After blur: ---------------------------------------- |43 |77 |75 |90 |56 | |75 |93 |75 |87 |69 | |59 |80 |78 |76 |55 | |---------------------------------------- |65 |99 |113 |137 |103 | |113 |157 |122 |114 |71 | |95 |144 |143 |128 |79 | |---------------------------------------- |79 |128 |139 |129 |80 | |107 |154 |128 |108 |61 | |98 |146 |163 |159 |111 | |---------------------------------------- |90 |137 |157 |136 |89 | |104 |142 |120 |95 |57 | |94 |146 |141 |133 |80 | |---------------------------------------- |67 |114 |119 |88 |42 | |65 |78 |73 |69 |56 | |58 |82 |75 |81 |56 | |---------------------------------------- The blur works like this: each new RGB value is the average of all the RGB values of all its nearest surrounding pixels (if its missing a pixel on either side, those values are ignored, or strictly speaking they are considered black). For instance, the pixel in center is calculated like this: R = (143 + 205 + 38 + 89 + 1 + 248 + 174 + 239 + 110) / 9 = 139 G = (159 + 106 + 152 + 200 + 229 + 1 + 50 + 91 + 164) / 9 = 128 B = (117 + 27 + 177 + 178 + 245 + 165 + 206 + 158 + 196) / 9 = 163 And the pixel on the bottom-right corner is calculated like this: R = (110 + 9 + 194 + 62) / 9 = 42 G = (164 + 130 + 118 + 90) / 9 = 56 B = (196 + 117 + 46 + 86) / 9 = 56 I dont know if its possible to undo the kind of very simple blur above, I've tried figuring it out and I just cant. There are up to 9 unknowns for every pixel, and the color of each pixel depends on its surrounding neighbors (whose colors you dont know either). While there is probably only 1 original configuration that can account for the distorted configuration, I dont have any idea how to start with the distortion and work backwards to the original. Try writing your own distortions and seeing if you can undo them

Pangloss, I know for a fact you can distort and reverse distortion with something really simple, like changing an images hue, but I dont think its possible to reverse engineer something more complicated like smearing a image or even reversing a blur. Probably, most distortions are one-way only because they loose pixels and original image data from compressing the image. Its just like if you resize a picture smaller, you'll lose pixels and never be able to get them back, you cant make the image bigger and expect resolution to magically fill in all the blank spots. You cant undo shrinking a picture because the information doesnt exist in the image anymore. Almost any distortion like adding a "fisheye lens" or a swirling effect is going to compress a part of your image, so you're going to lose pixels no matter what, and you'll lose the original image data. When you lose the pixels, you can never undo a distortion. You also couldnt reverse an image that was distorted in a non-mathematical way. For instance, using a paintbrush tool to change the colors of the pixels doesnt distort the image mathematically, it distorts the image by changing the pixel colors directly. You might be able to reverse this kind of distortion if the new color was semi-transparent, but not reverse it entirely, for instance if the color (255, 100, 0) was darkened to yield the new color (155, 0, 0) then you cant get back the original G value (if you brighten the image again you'll get a completely new color). If the pixels are shaded and one or more of their RGB values goes to 255 or 0, then you cant get it back. If a distortion has to initialize some kind of random seed each time it executes, then you probably couldnt undo the distortion without knowing both the seed it used and the algorhythm. And if the distortion depends on the users input, such as dragging the mouse cursor across the image, then you have to know the exact X-Y coordinates of the mouse cursor (and probably the speed the cursor was dragged) to undo the distortion. This only makes the task or reversing a distortion 1000x more complicated, if its even possible at all.