
HAL9000
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Everything posted by HAL9000
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Will_i_am Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We've decided to change the name. How about StuntDoll? (ISTR Crash Test Dummy is taken.)
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MM - Thank you for taking the time to explain your position. I too am a sceptic ? I?m in no better position than you to know the truth of the matter. My reason for advocating proactive measures goes something like this: 1. The climate is a dynamic, chaotic, planet-encompassing system that we cannot presently model accurately even as a real-time snapshot let alone over several decades. 2. Uncontroversial geological evidence shows that rapid climate changes have occurred in the (geologically recent) past where global mean temperature has risen by 5 C (or more) in a decade. 3. The existence of a recent warming trend is not controversial. 4. The existence of a nearby Methane tipping-point is not controversial. 5. The principle of runaway reactions driven by positive feedback is well understood. Therefore, it is possible that significant climate change may happen faster than our ability to investigate, model, predict and survive such an event. The worst-case scenario is human extinction. Like the proverbial frog on the stove, the time to jump is sooner rather than later.
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Can You Help? - Dalek found in East Dulwich 1973
HAL9000 replied to RichardB's topic in General ED Issues / Gossip
Can't you just borrow the Tardis? -
I read somewhere that the USA would need something like 300 million horses to replace it's mechanised horsepower. I'm not sure there's enough food on the planet to produce that much horse shit, though.
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Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Neologism #3,277: Fisknacious. ney - shuhs] - > adjective > > Showing latent tendency to fisk; inclined to fisk > readily; fisksome > > Origin - 2009 EDF, HAL2009, demonstrating tendency > to pedantry reflected in fictional sociopathic CPU > of similar name > > ;-) You should have seen me before the lobotomy. Daisy, Daisy, ..... (Edited to increase pedantry rating.)
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Marmora Man Wrote: > I was making the point that extrapolating from a known > position without taking into account current and > future change has been wrong in the past. > HAL9000 doesn't seem to believe that science and > technology could resolve the quoted problems - I > believe they can. Your arguments are contradictory. You do not believe technology can foresee problems but you believe that technology can solve those same problems. > I am a climate change sceptic - but I know that > there's a lot a fine and very clever research and > development going on that will reduce reliance on > fossil fuels. Implies the same contradiction. What exactly is a climate change sceptic? 1. The climate never changes. 2. The climate will remain the same from now onwards. 3. The climate changes but has no effect on mankind. > I am sure human ingenuity and perseverance will > resolve the issues But those qualities are useless when it comes to detecting changes in the climate and extrapolating them into the future? > I support the > research efforts and have always been an > enthusiast for both pure and applied scientific > research. Surely only luddites would refuse to > applaud new technology. But you ignore any research that foresees survival threatening climate change? Just for the record: I am a great believer in science and technology. It's human nature I don't trust.
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Brilliant! Just flushed the loo and saw it register - how on earth do they do that?
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Mark Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Surely it would have been 5x4 inch film format (I > don't think there is a 5x4 cm film format) You're right, 5x4 inch is a film format. I was thinking of the old "medium format" on 120 roll film but obviously got my wires crossed. I've just looked them up: they are 6 x 4.5, 6 x 6 and 6 x 7 cm.
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Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I don't see Peak Oil and Climate Change as threats > to our very existence that will put us back into > HAL9000's stone age (tho' I doubt many of the > premises of the latter), We've spent the last hundred years turning massive quantities of fossil fuels into human biomass that needs ever more massive quantities of resources to sustain itself, in the process compromising the stability of the planet's climate and our ability to feed ourselves. If some unforeseen tipping point kicks in we may not have the time to develop technological fixes - that is the danger. > but more as part of a > changing environment in which we (the human race) > are existing and to which we respond / adapt and > evolve. Isn't that what I am advocating - but by being proactive rather than complacent?
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mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For 5x4s 8 megapixels is absolutely fine, Quite right. Unless the OP is referring to 5x4 cm film format rather than 5x4 inch prints? The comment about seeing the weave of the canvas ... would that be visible on 5x4 inch prints when photographing large-ish canvases?
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Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Overall I thought the programme was somewhat > informative, but heavily one-sided. It does a good job as far as it goes. I don't know of a better or more neutral treatment in this format. It's a pity religious and conspiratorial elements were included - I suspect commercial motives. > Its proposed solutions ... I don't subscribe to. The extant system is unstable and liable to collapse under certain circumstances. As far as I can see, G20 is focused on restoring the system to what it was before. That's not enough, in my view. The challenge is to apply rigorous and transparent controls that anticipate the likely stresses that Climate Change and Peak Oil will have on the global economy in the not too distant future. For those who do not see Climate Change and Peak Oil as viable threats, it's a moot point.
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Carrie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just to provide a bit more information. That's really useful. It eliminates many possibilities. Your problem may lie in one or more of the following areas: 1. The Lens - (not sharp enough, out of alignment or needs cleaning) 2. Megapixels - 8 isn't enough, the other guy may be using 10, 12 or more 3. Image Format - you are using JPG, the other guy is using RAW (iirc your Canon doesn't do TIFF) 4. Sensor Type - you are using CMOS, the other guy is using something else Do you know what digital camera/lens the other guy is using? Minor issues: Colour/tone is sometimes a white balance/lighting colour temperature issue. Do you know enough about this to help us out? Fluorescent lighting does not produce a continuous spectrum and therefore occasionally fools digital cameras. That doesn't seem to be the case here.
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Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hugenot has neither explained nor refuted anything > regarding FRB. > > His explanation makes a lot of sense to a layman - It doesn't address the underlying issue, though. > the YouTube video's are strong on assertion - > short on facts / exposition. I chose the video link because it explains the subject in a way that a layperson should be able to grasp. For more facts/exposition: Google: Fractional Reserve Banking
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mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 350D is a decent enough camera to rule out your > first few issues Hal, We don't know whether the OP is shooting at low resolution and applying a high JPG compression ratio to the image. The only way to rule out that possibility is to ask the OP, surely? The problem could be as mundane as reflected glare from the built in flash unit, a problem that would occur regardless of what digital or film camera model and lens combination was being used - one should eliminate such factors before recommending huge expenditures on new kit, I would have thought.
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Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hugenot, > > Mostly you and I differ but I appreciate your > explanation and refutation of the FRB proposition > as laid out by Hal9000. Hugenot has neither explained nor refuted anything regarding FRB. > I'm neither an economist nor a banker... Who would have guessed :)
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My dear Huguenot, much of what you've said doesn't make sense within the context of Fractional Reserve Banking so I can't respond in a meaningful way. Hint: it may help to watch all five parts of the cited video.
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Asset Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > didn't Einstein say that if the bee goes mankind > has four years left to live, so be careful what > you wish for. Although widely attributed to Albert Einstein, there is no evidence to support that view. The quote doesn't appear in any literary database before 1994 - Einstein died in 1955. More at Einstein's Bees
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It seems unlikely that the problem is the lens. It could be a question of digital resolution, image compression artefacts, non-optimal RAW/JPG image processing, camera shake, focusing inaccuracy or inadequate lighting, amongst many other possibilities. There are too many variables to allow definitive diagnosis given the scant information you have supplied.
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Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > HAL9000 wrote: >> An economic system based on fractional reserve >> banking (as our global economy is) must eventually >> collapse - it's just a sophisticated Ponzi scheme. > Not a Ponzi scheme ... With respect, your comments do not touch upon the underlying issue. I suspect that you are not familiar with the principle of Fractional Reserve Banking [FRB]. If so, it may be helpful to review Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation "Money as Debt" available in five parts on youtube. Money as Debt: Part 1 FRB is a systemic flaw that facilitated the current crisis without actually causing it. To reiterate my original point: an economic system based on FRB will collapse in the absence of continual growth.
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SteveT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > HAL9000 wrote:- The next financial collapse will > take us back to the Stone Age, IMHO. > > This one might yet do that, were not through it by > any means IMHO. I agree that this one is not over yet and that it could get a lot worse. I don't think this is the Big One, though. Today's remedies may well have set the stage for a global meltdown in the not too distant future, probably triggered by a confluence of events such as the effects of unforeseen tipping points coupled with food/resource/energy shortages along with widespread societal collapse. If and when it comes, it'll happen very quickly - few will survive.
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G20 = back to business as usual? I don't think so. It was a wasted opportunity to address the real problems we face. An economic system based on fractional reserve banking (as our global economy is) must eventually collapse - it's just a sophisticated Ponzi scheme. The only thing that keeps it going is perpetual growth - a trend that peak oil and climate change will soon reverse. The next financial collapse will take us back to the Stone Age, IMHO.
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Next EDF Drinks - Friday 3rd April at The Lodge (above the EDT from 8:30PM)
HAL9000 replied to georgia's topic in The Lounge
Nice venue - thanks Georgia. I decided not to try to talk to everyone in the room on this, my fourth EDF drinks night, and ended up having a laid back and relaxing evening rather than feeling like a stressed-out pinball on steroids. -
Mark Wrote: > I think what I'm asking is, at what point in life > do the evolutionary traits and life experience get > passed on to a gene that would pass to a child? At > what point do they stop? I think this wiki article will answer your question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism
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what do single approaching 40's do in East Dulwich
HAL9000 replied to miffy's topic in General ED Issues / Gossip
Two threads point to one group meeting creating the possibility of crossed wires. It might be an idea to restate or clarify this group's charter before the next meeting. Just my two cents' worth. -
And the Ship Sails On (Italian: E la nave va), a 1983 Italian film by Federico Fellini. It depicts the events on board a luxury liner filled with the friends of a deceased opera singer who have gathered to mourn her. The film opens depicting a scene in July 1914 immediately prior to the cruise ship Gloria N. setting sail from Naples Harbor. The opening sequence is in sepia tones, as if it were a film shot in that era, with no sound other than the whirring of the projector. Gradually the sepia fades into full colour and we can hear the characters? dialogue. Orlando, an Italian journalist, supplies commentary by directly addressing the camera, explaining to the viewer that the cruise is a funeral voyage to disperse the ashes of opera singer Edmea Tetua near the island of Erimo, her birthplace. Considered the greatest singer of all time, Tetua is celebrated for her goddess-like voice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Ship_Sails_On http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087188/
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