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And I'm an Asthmahound Chihuahua named 'Stimpy'.

I'm skeptical of this claim. You didn't call me an "eeeediot".

Yeah, "overkill" isn't strictly the right word. The *AA takes an Orkish perspective on overkill.

I'm just saying that burning down a house may imperil the ability of other well-tamed media consumers in that household to properly and subserviently pay for and consume media. So the slave collar is a more nuanced and somewhat less damaging approach. The only thing it lacks is the unthinking terror that accompanies indiscriminate mass reprisals, which is valuable in of itself.

So both approaches may be called for, depending on whim, time of day, phase of moon, output of random number generator, or extensive cost/benefit analysis.

Nonsense. If they are performing science, then they are scientists.

Yeah, right. Except that most of them thinks that "performing science" means wearing a lab coat and playing with some test tubes containing brightly colored smoking liquids. (BTW, enjoy your Wiki Walk.)

Nonsense. If they are performing science, then they are scientists.

Yeah, right. Except that most of them thinks that "performing science" means wearing a lab coat and playing with some test tubes containing brightly colored smoking liquids. (BTW, enjoy your Wiki Walk.)

The pig is the web app, not Firefox.

There's a point where you have to say "this is no longer an experimental toy, it's a real information-handling tool which real people are using to store information for decades to centuries, and it needs to remain stable so we can continue to access important documents more than six week old."

And it's also a place of innovation where new developments enable us to do things we've never done before. And unfortunately Mozilla doesn't have infinite resources, primarily non-volunteers.

But who are those using FF has to "access important documents"? Mostly companies. So why don't they get up from their asses and together pay for a small team of developers to support an LTS release of Firefox? It'd cost a thousandth of what they benefit by having an excellent platform for developing such apps.

Bitch and moan, is all people do. They get an Audi delivered to their house for free and complain it's not a Mercedes. And they call file sharers entitled. Sheesh.

Human language changes on a far slower scale than HTML, and yet we somehow seem to get by with using an alphabet designed by the Romans and numerals built in ancient India.

Wrong analogy. Of course low level change much less frequently; we're also still using TCP/IP and even HTTP hasn't changed that much.

But you can be sure our vocabulary is evolving every day. Do you also complain when old documents have to be rewritten due to unfortunate changes of meaning?

Well, except speed tape isn't duct tape...so, -1 Misleading Subject.

Yes, speed tape is so much cooler. In addition to making the plane faster, it also looks like racing stripes on a car. Or you can attach speed tape to the wings, and you get speed stripes!

Haven't you seen Apollo 18?

No, I was waiting for 14 through 17 so that I wouldn't have to worry about big late arrival spoilers in 18.

a product comprising a hardened Linux kernel with trusted path execution, PaX and grsecurity, ClamAV, mod_security, mod_evasive, OSSEC, rkhunter, SSH hardening and comes with continuously updated custom rulesets for its components. It can do geoblocking, active response based on security events and comes with a web interface for management.

Woah, that's like the digital version of More Dakka

Yep

Also the next version of Chrome is removing the "+" on the new tab button so get ready for complaints about that.

Also butthurters gonna hurt.

Yes, the sidekick is the furry character played by the midget guy. Reduce manufacturing costs for the toy companies by making him a furry sphere and have him bounce around using some fly-wire. Hell, let's have a whole squadron of them in different colours, and turn them into a set of collectibles.

There seems to be a summary of just about every plot line as well TV and Movie tropeshome).

The best type of physics fail I generally see in games is that no matter how many times you get shot, you are completely fine until you hit 0HP.

Why would they remake something when they can just go see the original?

Because some people find subtitles distracting, and others find dubbing distracting. I watched the 2002 remake of Pinocchio with Roberto Benigni, and the dubbing of the Italian dialogue into English was distracting (even if not as distracting as the miscast Benigni, who should have played Geppetto and let the kid from Life Is Beautiful play Pinocchio). Dubbing isn't so distracting on an animated film, where there's less of an uncanny-valley-fueled expectation that mouth flaps will match the voice frame by frame, but then North America has what's called an animation age ghetto, where an animated film has to either appeal to kids or be a dead baby comedy like South Park, nothing in between.

hard to tell after that garden story

Satan's message was (and continues to be) "God does not want what is best for you." In Eden, Satan spoke through a snake and claimed to Eve that her creator was holding back the knowledge of good and evil because God allegedly did not want what was best for her.

just load up with gutenberg downloads

If Gutenberg is to be believed, no new world views and no new literary techniques were created after the end of 1922. A steady diet of only Gutenberg may cause people to hold views that have since become politically incorrect, a phenomenon that TV Tropes calls once acceptable targets.

I wouldn't be surprised if unchecked muscle growth also leads to bone/tendon damage/poor muscle control/heart issues etc.

I think that would probably be the most likely scenario, if not simply because people with these sorts of mutations IIRC tend to have shortened lifespans and various health issues. There's something to be said about how biology doesn't give a crap about how a gene got there and all, and that activating something doesn't necessarily mean there will be side effects, but we're talking about genes that affect the growth and development of the physiology of the animal here, not some gene that will have no other affect besides producing a fluorescing protein or green fur or something like that. No, evolution doesn't always work out nice and smooth, but it does do some honing over millions of years, and this does change something that the rest of the animal has not honed to. It's possible that this will have no effect on the animal's health, but my guess is that accommodating the rest of the body with a stronger heart, bigger bones, and better tendons to suit these changes may be the Required Secondary Powers needed to make this trait mean anything beneficial to the mouse.

I was going to suggest http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/, but based on your questions, I think a better place to start would be
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay

This news has been bouncing around the biology world for a few days now. To add some perspective, the "super flu" was created via the technique known as Serial Passage, developed by Louis Pasteur. Yup, that Louis Pasteur. All you really need is a sufficiently large colony of ferrets, a source stock of H5N1, and some time -- there is not going to be any secret Atomic-Bomb recipe in the paper, the virus does the hard work itself, via evolution.

Oh, and by the way... At one of the labs I used to work at, my fellow researchers once were chatting about what the various stereotypes for their colleagues were. I learned that the virologist stereotype among the other researchers was "a little bit crazy". Nightnight.

steps on glasses

The Outer Limits Twist strikes again!

You put their claims to the test. Is the universe eternal? Nope... there goes most Eastern religions.

Last I heard the Universe was just below critical density, making it unbound (eternal). Furthermore, there are all kinds of theories about how one could go about making new universes by manipulating vacuum energy levels, for example. Finally, even if the Universe is bound and eventually collapses, we don't know if this would actually destroy it because we don't have a theory of quantum gravity yet (for the same reason we can't really say that it hasn't existed always - we simply don't know what happens near or at a gravitational singularity).

For that matter, do you actually know those Eastern religions (or any religion) well enough to know what they're claiming in any sufficient detail to test? Especially when such claims would have been described by people lacking training or context to understand what they're seeing to other people who also lacked it, and the subject is notoriously difficult even for modern people to comprehend.

It's easy to take a theme park version of a religion (or any subject, really) and disprove it. Apart from making you feel smarter than the morons who believe such obvious bullshit, that accomplishes nothing, and especially doesn't disprove the original. Unless, of course, when you yourself don't know the science you're using ot "disprove" your strawman, and thus end up losing to it - then it's A-class parody :).

And all these older seasons shown on Amazon Prime are probably going to be spoiled by Netflix's advertisements for the new season.

if itunes updates.. it asks you to confirm the eula.. you press decline.. wait 20-30secs. and it asks again.

But thou must!

Netflix

I was under the impression that only films distributed by a major distributor got into Netflix streaming.

YouTube

Witness the takedown of Dirty Spaceman.

a shit-ton of fan-made derivative works on sites like deviantArt

See "Fanwork Ban" on TV Tropes.

And is that an argument against Network Neutrality?

A repeal of network neutrality could easily get rolled into one of the more draconian copyright bills that have been making the rounds in the U.S. Congress because "network neutrality benefits dirty pirates".

You chose to uninstall Flash. What would you say to a business that said 'negros, tattooed people, and Flash not allowed" ?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArsonMurderAndJaywalking

There's a good list of real life occurrences of this on tvtropes. Just scroll down and look for the Real Life section.

WARNING!!! This is a link to tvtropes.org. While there, don't click on any links to any other sections of tvtropes. Tvtropes is a trap! I say again, it is a trap! Start following links there, and next thing you know it will be a week from now and you'll have a thousand tabs open and still be reading. You have been warned!

Apparently they did try incendiary and that was the only way they got this to work (I haven't seen the episode myself, but according to TVTropes).

Hasten the obsolescence of these "middlemen" by promoting and developing replacement technology

Replacement technology whose makers will inevitably draw lawsuits from the big incumbent publishers for "inducing" copyright infringement. It tends to happen every time there's such a disruptive development.

Become politically relevant.

I send letters to my representatives, and I get back a form letter claiming that the draconian laws are in the best interest of America, which just reinforces my belief in how strongly bought my representatives are. I vote, and my preferred candidate loses. I try to spread word of mouth about my preferred candidate in those few venues I know of that haven't already put up a complete ban on political discussion, and nobody appears to show any interest.

Make them fear you by providing a threat of being voted out of office for not representing your interests.

This doesn't help for people who happen to live in a district whose representative has a "fairly safe seat" for one of the two largest parties.

Support and promote open-source/free technology and content.

"Content" referring to works of authorship other than computer programs, I assume. What's the business model to fund the creation of entertainment works with professional production values to be distributed under some license for free cultural works?

What would be the way most befitting a nerd?

Well since this is /., I'm thinking throwing the virgin into the volcano would be most befitting.

The cheapest Mac is $599 new which you know because you mentioned it above.

With the BYODKM and optical drive sharing concepts, the Mac mini appears to be marketed to share a KVM switch with the Windows PC that Apple presumes that one already uses regularly. So it'd still be a $599 buy-in.

Aren't you just sorta making false comparison in a desperate attempt to make your point?

I'm starting with a comparison that may be unfair and trying to refine it to make it fairer. Assuming $0 for hardware costs isn't fair either, as real life averts the Everyone Owns A Mac trope. So the correct expected hardware cost is somewhere in the middle.

There were examples of people being pretty accurate 150 years ago, i.e. From the Earth to the Moon.

Huh? I don't think Verne was particularly serious about that whole adventure, although he did get a few minor details right. Parts of it are almost as ridiculous as Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

20 000 Leagues Under the Sea, on the other hand, describes a pretty sensible design comparable to a modern submarine, although he overdoes it a bit in dramatic interest. His most amazing achievement in predicting the future I've read is Paris in the Twentieth Century, where many of his predictions are eerily accurate. So yeah, there were examples, pick the right ones :)

Hey, this is slashdot.org - anything is physiologically relevant if it has or has the potential to evolve tentacles, noodles, suckers and other spindly appendages.

A survey of real-world and fictional sauces

Room at the top is an illusion; you make your own room.

That's generally not a socially-acceptable action.

i doubt there's even close to enough flash vector animations on the internet that re-encoding would affect any sane cap, i know i look at 1 every week or so

Unless you end up doing an archive binge on Newgrounds or something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D#Controversy
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoSwastikas

In politics, people have memory. Deals are made. Losers sit tight. Times change. Deals forgotten. Sharp headlines ensue.

The SFS page is completely useless in not provided the least explanation about why we need all this launch tonnage.

I read this change in budget priority as being driven by technical continuity. With the Shuttle shut down, you have find some way to keep this kind of expertise assembled and moving forward, or you lose a lot. Must be galling for the planetary explorers to be stuck carrying The Load of covert tonnage requirements. Still, times are tough and planets can wait.

That's Ok, the flora and fauna will sort them out.

So in other words the Unobtainium is just Applied Phlebotinum? Try saying THAT three times fast!

As for TFA, it looks like China trying to hoard all the rare earth metals is gonna bite them right in the ass. Nobody was really looking as long as China was selling, but the second they stopped suddenly it was worth looking for again. Isn't there a pretty big rare earth metal deposit in the USA as well? Of course they probably won't be allowed to dig it up, as we learned from all those superfund sites we got stuck with miners tend to be a little messy when it comes to the environment.

I've heard people talk about playing a game and being unable to see the game for the involuntary analysis of programming, organizational, or stylistic choices crowding on their brains.

It happens to writers too. Eventually they end up unable to see the plot for the plot devices, character devices, etc. It ruins your life in the same way that TV Tropes allegedly does.

And when something breaks you're not supposed to move on or work around it; your job is to break it again and again and again until you can document how, when, and maybe even why it breaks for the developers.

Which is exactly what Aspies like me are good at.

Wikipedia and TV Tropes have more examples of these "programming games". But they forgot to mention WarioWare DIY, a tool for creating four- to eight-second microgames that runs on a Nintendo DS. The "dojo" missions are to complete the last line of a game's logic.

It's closer to "a boat" than "a boot" if the articles about Canadian raising on Wikipedia and TV Tropes are to be believed.

Libertarians have their ideal, utopian state - its called Somalia. Kindly go live there.

More precisely (and more funny): "Would you kindly go live there".

Steve Jobs was the vey definition of a magnificent bastard. The guy made some poor choices in his life, as have we all (a life without regrets is a very sheltered one indeed.) He obviously had issues, with his naming a computer after his daughter Lisa while at the same time denying her and all. It's worth mentioning though that he and Lisa were eventually reconciled :

"Steve Jobs did eventually claim paternity for his out-of-wedlock daughter and opened his home to her during her teenage years. He sent her to Harvard where she realized a flair for writing and earned her chops at the Harvard Crimson and The Harvard Advocate."

And you want the people who do watch ESPN-9 to help you pay for whatever it is you watch.

No I don't - I want to pay a la carte and let the market decide what lives and dies.

These days I want to pay a la carte by -show- instead of by network. 15-20 years ago I would have been happy to pay by network, but then Network Decay happened, and SyFy has little to do with Sci-Fi, MTV has nothing to do with music, the History Channel has almost no history-related shows, A&E dropped all pretence at being Artsy, etc. Every channel is trying to show the same shows as every other channel now. What station still tries to serve its core mission? Comedy Central?

See also, Adaptation Displacement.

Ignoring for a moment that we are watching evolution in progress and have even influenced it to some degree, do you honestly think "a wizard did it" is a better explanation?

Who was the rich asshole, and what did they talk about on the phone?

</cmtp>

Just to ward off any [CITATION NEEDED] protesters, here is some original research :P

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathOfTheAuthor

how do Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade rereleases of 1980s games make money?

Nostalgia.

Likewise, modern era retro-style games play off nostalgia for the play styles and lower budgets from the 1980s.

Why remember that X is caused by Y when you can just input Y into a computer and it gives X?

Disaster recovery in case of EMP or in case of The Change.

It's Been Done. Just add some blurry photographs and character sprites and your done.

like the trope says...

Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking

SAP. It's much cheaper to hire an assassin than to pay 1.3 billion to an extortionist

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