User:	v_grina
	Date:	2008-10-11 12:47
	Subject:	Минск. Скульптуры.
	Security:	Public

В мой последний день в Минске у меня образовлось свободное время для самостоятельной прогулки по центру Минска. Я прогулялся от Гордского Вала по Немиге. Потом вышел на площадь Свободы. Через нее вышел к Дворцу Республики. И далее до площади Победы и обратно по бывшему проспекту Ленина...
На пути попадались скульптуры. Первая - это Адам Мицкевич в сквере на Городском Валу. Совсем рядо моя школа, где я проучился 10 лет.



( +8 ( 800 х 600 ) )

	User:	v_grina
	Date:	2008-10-11 12:25
	Subject:	Минск. Зоопарк.
	Security:	Public

Такая же надпись была на клетке с мангустами...

	User:	ygam
	Date:	2008-10-10 11:33
	Subject:	Национальное
	Security:	Public

Позывной дня: "Christianity was started by a young Palestinian named Jesus."

(via scienceblogs.com)

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-10 13:11
	Subject:	Moral systems and evolution
	Security:	Public

Moral relativists are very fond of pointing to cultural differences in moral norms across the world, which is supposed to prove that morality is human in origin and, as such, is subject to social convenience and consensus. The objective ethical standard does not exist. Interestingly, in their search of these differences they need to go half around the globe. In the olden days, all they needed was traveling a few miles. And yet even in that heyday of moral diversity there was no lack of moral absolutists telling that such a standard does exist.
( Survival of the bestest )
Do moral systems evolve through the same process the species evolve? What in the moral system makes it a winner? Can it be said that this attribute is human in origin?

	User:	zadacha (posted by vsexnax)
	Date:	2008-10-10 08:55
	Subject:	И многое другое
	Security:	Public

Какие слова приходят в голову на эшафоте?

	User:	dda
	Date:	2008-10-10 00:52
	Subject:	[Politics] Kibble, eh?
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	annoyed
	Music:	None, it's still late

I've seen this posted by a few people on my friends list and all I can say is that if you posted that and own a house, I can only assume you paid cash for said house, right?

Right?

	User:	dda
	Date:	2008-10-10 00:06
	Subject:	[Corrvin] She's here
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	tired
	Music:	None, it's late

This is a bit late but cornute arrived yesterday safe and sound if a bit delayed; the last leg of her flight was delayed 45 minutes for "unscheduled maintenance" (and isn't that a worrisome thing?) But other than being a tad airsick and a bit crunched from wedging herself into a coach seat, she was fine.

Once we got home, it was pretty much nap time since she had been up for almost 24 hours and I had been cleaning all day. Today was a lazy day with talking, food shopping and a trip to the local yarn store. She liked the new couch once she was able to stretch out on it. :-)

Tomorrow might be the Topsfield Fair or lunch with amysuemom. So far, so good. :-)

	User:	yelya
	Date:	2008-10-09 00:33
	Subject:	Всяко-разное
	Security:	Public

Вчера, впервые за всю президентскую кампанию посмотрела дебаты (отрывками, разумеется, так как целиком это асилить было невозможно). С прискорбием вынуждена сообщить, что, несмотря на то, что голосовать за него я не собираюсь, Обама побил МакКейна по всем фронтам. Его ответы были более подробны и обоснованы, и смотрелся он более спокойно и уверенно, в то время, как МакКейн повторял одно и то же и был похож на маленького злобного гнома. Так что поимеем мы себе Обаму со его Омаросой в Белом Доме на следующие четыре года - what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Теперь единственной радостью для меня на выборах будет голосование "за" по второму вопросу, предлагающему легализовать владение марихуаной в количествах не более одной унции.

Вообще, за последнее время я собиралась записать много разных, не связанных с политикой мыслей, но к концу дня у меня не остаётся уже ни сил, ни вдохновения. Но одну мыслю про возраст я всё же запишу (не то забуду!), заодно приурочив её к не так давно прошедшему собственному Дню Постарения^TM. Впервые я ощутила свою взрослость в 19 лет в ходе чтения журнала "Плейбой". В том конкретном номере, как и в каждом другом, на развороте имелись фотки "Playmate of the Month" и приложенная к ним личная анкета, из которой я тогда с удивлением узнала, что рассматриваемая мною плеймейтка младше меня на целый год! И, несмотря на эти недоработки, уже отрастила себе внушающие всякого рода уважения сись... ресницы, и всевозможные другие органы человеческого тела. При таких обстоятельствах мне уже навсегда стало категорически невозможным ощущать себя ребенком. Второй возрастной шок случился со мной на прошлой неделе при посещении врача. С самого детства во многих их нас прочно сидит впечатление, что доктор - он многоопытен и мудр, и, как следствие, всегда намного старше тебя. При знакомстве же с моей новой докторшей, мы с ней немедленно выяснили, что закончили МИТ в один и тот же год и обсудили надвигающийся в следующем году десятилетний реюнион. А уже потом, дома, я, разумеется нашла её в нашей Yearbook. В связи с данными обстоятельствами мне стало очевидным одно: старость не за горами.

Абыдна!

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-08 22:46
	Subject:	Nobel prize in ?
	Security:	Public

GFP is a wonderful discovery, but why is it chemistry?

Incidentally, the discovery of red fluorescence protein in a coral obtained from a pet shop in Moscow is every bit as exciting. What I've heard about Yuli Labas and the others is the staff of legends.

Alas, people still have no idea what these fluorescent proteins are for in nature. There are only speculations. It is also not quite known how the all-important fluorophore is formed. One of the mechanisms is shown here
http://www.olympusconfocal.com/java/fpfluorophores/gfpfluorophore/index.html

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-07 22:21
	Subject:	A most sweet refuge
	Security:	Public

"There came upon me," said Xerxes, "a sudden pity, when I thought of the shortness of man's life, and considered that of all this host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive when a hundred years are gone by." "And yet there are sadder things in life than that," returned Artabanus. "Short as our time is, there is no man, whether it be here among this multitude or elsewhere, who is so happy, as not to have felt the wish -- I will not say once, but full many a time -- that he were dead rather than alive. Calamities fall upon us; sicknesses vex and harass us, and make life, short though it be, to appear long. So death, through the wretchedness of our life, is a most sweet refuge to our race, and G-d, who gives us the tastes that we enjoy of pleasant times, is seen, in his very gift, to be envious." (Herodotus 7.45-46)
( Death wish )

Do ALL people have the wish of which Artabanus spoke? Why?

If the unit of natural selection is species rather than individuals, then phenoptosis is possible and Freud's Thanatos can be quite real.

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-07 01:03
	Subject:	The unusual ride
	Security:	Public

cont. http://shkrobius.livejournal.com/133566.html

Jonah Winter, "Barack," published Sept 30 (Harper Collins)



...Sometimes it was a lonely journey. Sometimes it was an enchanted journey. But throughout this most unusual ride, this boy often wondered: Who am I? Where do I belong? The answer was revealed to grown up O. during the memorable sermon of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the tear of sudden joy streaming down the cheek of the attendee. I do not want to spoil the pleasure of reading this book targeting ages 4-7.

( The correct answer is )

	User:	panikowsky
	Date:	2008-10-07 02:28
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Я прожил в Израиле 7 лет, из них пару ночей в Тель-Авиве.
Ни малейших сантиментов к этому провинциальному клоповнику.

	User:	ygam
	Date:	2008-10-06 16:03
	Subject:	Программистское
	Security:	Public

Оказывается, не все мои френды-программисты читали письмо школьника Бьярне Строструпу. Предполагая, что его автор - действительно школьник, а не тролль, удивительно, насколько четко он подметил недостатки строструпского креатива.

Я это письмо когда-то прочитал в блоге lambda_ultimate.

	User:	ygam
	Date:	2008-10-06 14:28
	Subject:	Статистическое
	Security:	Public

Позывной дня: The odds of Obama being truthful in his claim that he converted to Christianity are less than 100 to 1 against it, as fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.

(via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-05 16:33
	Subject:	AI
	Security:	Public

http://ivanov-petrov.livejournal.com/1014927.html
http://ivanov-petrov.livejournal.com/987875.html
http://ivanov-petrov.livejournal.com/966679.html
http://ivanov-petrov.livejournal.com/959400.html

Can there be such a thing as artificial intellect? To make AI one has to redefine our own intellect in such a way that a facet of it can be modeled. What facet? That depends on what is seen as the essence of intellect. Perhaps the best and also the simplest definition of the intellect belongs to Henri Bergson.

To Bergson, intellect is the power of seeing things as separate from each other. That is all. Intellect is the quintessential property of Life. The latter is the fundamental notion of Bergson's philosophy, in which Life is opposing matter. The matter is how the intellect views the inert building blocks from which Life creates itself. How Life does it and through what adaptations it overcomes the resistance of matter is unimportant; it will find a way. The process itself is creative, meaning that its result is unknown and it is not predicated on the past. The only way to know the goal of Life is to let it create itself. This goal is identified with the Absolute. As Life overcomes the resistance of matter in its upward motion towards the Absolute, intellect is Life looking onward and downward, "adopting the ways of unorganized nature in principle, in order to direct them in fact." It is the contemplation of what passes by, not of what drives Life forward, which is intuition. Intellect is breaking into fragments this continous flux of discarded and deflected garbage. Bergson considers mathematics and logic as activities in which the will is suspended and mind is not active: these are pitiful attempts of the intellect to construct something out of the pieces of rubbish it itself separated from the reality. The pieces have no meaning whatsoever. Russell aptly calls Bergson's intellect a "carver that has peculiarity of imagining that the chicken always was the separate pieces into which the carving knife divides it." Intellect is a flaw in our design; in better designed forms of Life it is not needed, because it is counterproductive and unnecessary. In this respect, my own view is similar to Bergson's, see http://shkrobius.livejournal.com/121946.html

...While the relationship between consciousness and matter instantiated in the instinct of animals is sufficient and well adapted to their survival (from the point of view of the species), humans are not adequately equipped in this respect; hence the necessity of something like intelligence.

...His argument consists of four main steps. First, he shows that there must be an original common impulse which explains the creation of all living species; this is his famous vital impulse (élan vital). Second, the diversity resulting from evolution must be accounted for as well. If the original impulse is common to all life, then there must also be a principle of divergence and differentiation that explains evolution; this is Bergson's tendency theory. Third, the two main diverging tendencies that account for evolution can ultimately be identified as instinct on the one hand and intelligence on the other. Human knowledge results from the form and the structure of intelligence. Intelligence consists precisely in an analytic, external, hence essentially practical and spatialized approach to the world. Unlike instinct, human intelligence is therefore unable to attain to the essence of life in its duration. The paradoxical situation of humanity (the only species that wants to know life is also the only one that cannot do so) must therefore be overcome. So, fourth, the effort of intuition what allows us to place ourselves back within the original creative impulse so as to overcome the numerous obstacles that stand in the way of true knowledge.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bergson

One may or may not agree with Bergson, but suppose he is right. Then AI is hopeless and pointless. Intellect has its purpose only in living things and this purpose is to compensate for the flaws of intuition. It cannot be created "artificially" because to have intellect the object has to be alive and only life brings forth life, so the artificiality is deceptive; at best, one succeeds in creating another deficient life form. Furthermore, it seems completely wasteful to create something which is no more than a handicap. The only worthy task would be enhancing intuition rather than modeling and re-creating a facet of the already facetous and corrupt intellect.

Can there be such a thing as artificial intellect?

	User:	v_grina
	Date:	2008-10-05 17:38
	Subject:	Листья клена
	Security:	Public

Сегодня чудесный прозрачный день...



О, кленовые листья!
Крылья вы обжигаете
Пролетающим птицам.

Сика (перевод В.Н.Марковой)

	User:	shkrobius
	Date:	2008-10-05 09:29
	Subject:	Anthropocene
	Security:	Public

The Earth After Us: What legacy will humans leave in the rocks?
Jan Zalasiewicz, http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199214976

...This book imagines the world 100 Myr from now and looks at what future aliens may find as they piece together the history of the planet from the rocks. It asks intriguing questions, such as what kind of fossils will humans leave behind? What will happen to cities, roads, cars, and plastic cups? How thick a layer would the human stratum be? And what clues might the rocks reveal about our demise as a species?

The idea is summarized here
http://www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2008/Anthropocene-Zalasiewicz-GSA1feb08.htm
It suggests that our presence will be, after all, marked by a stratigraphic boundary, so it will be possible to at least speculate about this presence.

What a tremendous relief!

	User:	golger_i
	Date:	2008-10-05 21:37
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Yesterday we played another flamenco gig.
It was very strange to look at the stage, and see all these Spanish women.
And then look into the audience and see all these Japanese people.
Of course, the ones on the stage were Japanese also, but they were wearing such dresses, and moving with such character, and their hair was done in such a way...

	User:	panikowsky
	Date:	2008-10-05 11:28
	Subject:	К переходу на "зимнее время"
	Security:	Public

 По случаю перехода на зимнее время мною был совершен ритуал "перестановка часов" в следующем объеме:

- настенные часы в гостиной
- телефон с автоответчиком - там же
- кондиционер (имеющий встроенный таймер, которому нужно правильное время)
- настенные часы в столовой (a.k.a. пинат охель)
- часы в духовке
- часы в микроволновке
- настенные часы в комнате сына
- настенные часы в комнате дочери
- настенные часы в кабинете (он же кладовка)
- будильник мой
- будильник супруги
- мобильник мой
- мобильник супруги
- таймер, управляющий работой бойлера
- часы в автомобиле моем
- часы в автомобиле супруги

(посылаю, как сейчас принято выражаться в ЖЖ, луч диарреи авторам идиотской идеи перехода на летнее/зимнее время, от которого никакой пользы, а только путаница и головная боль)

Обе писишки - и моя с Windows XP, и сынова с Вистою, к нашему немалому удивлению. переключили время на зимнее совершенно самостоятельно и в правильном направлении. Однако наладонник с Windows Mobile 5.0 остался на летнем времени, в результате все записи в календаре сползли на час, а записи "на весь день" (типа дней рождения) теперь начинаются в 11 часов ночи предыдущего дня и заканчиваются в 11 часов вечера текущего дня, занимая две клеточки в календаре.

(двойной луч диарреи создателям программы Active Sync)

	User:	v_grina
	Date:	2008-10-05 11:55
	Subject:	Прогулки по Риге. Осень.
	Security:	Public

Как-то резко осень вступила в свои права. Посыпались листья...



( + 5 ( 800 х 600 ) )