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That's a slightly different situation. SUVs make drivers feel safer, while actually being less safe. ("Canyonero!) In general, though, auto safety tech actually does make driving safer, and the result is, overall, a net benefit, even if some percentage of drivers end up driving a little more dangerously.

So auto safty tech may not be as effective as one might hope, due to stupid people, but it's still reasonably effective at its job. SUVs, however, are better at improving the gene pool by helping to eliminate people who are stupid enough to buy and drive SUVs, which is not really their intended job, even if it is a net benefit to society. :)

NEVER gonna happen. Not from the big names anyway.

That's what open source and reverse engineering are for. Check out CHDK - a firmware add-on mainly for the Canon Powershot and Ixus series. It allows several of the things you mentioned (maybe all, I only tried out some of the stuff), and in addition it gives your camera the ability to run scripts, making things like exposure or focus bracketing a cinch.

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Not for every camera out there but it addresses your point about firmware.

The Hobbits dealt with this once, too. Brief summary:

Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak, a great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.

Wasn't Adrian Veidt working on marketing the Watchmen in exactly this sort of way?

No, Veidt was marketing the Crimebusters

I have http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Char

It started when I reformatted my drive and started using Linux exclusively and gave up TV about 10 years ago. Up until then, I used to buy games and had game consoles around. I last remember playing Metal Gear Solid like a man obsessed and getting a sound beating or two playing Starcraft online.

On Linux, there were plenty of games - GNU Chess, Same Gnome and so forth. There was no buying any games for Linux at that time, so I learned to like these games a lot. I imagine people must have had a similar experience with Microsoft's Solitaire.

When I got married, my wife needed a Windows machine to access work applications, so we had a Windows machine and I could purchase games again if I were inclined. But, it just didn't occur to me to buy games anymore. I found free games to be more interesting in some respects because they didn't have money for graphics, so they focused more on other things. This isn't knocking professionally created games. In my experience they're great, I just wasn't looking for them at this point.

I tried playing games that won The Interactive Fiction Competition because I remember playing Zork back when I was young. I couldn't get into text adventures anymore, but I think it is worth exploring.

I had played Civilization before too. So, I tried freeciv, which led to other free turn-based games like Battle for Wesnoth and even returning to older games like Nethack.

I then went on to try independent games that you had to pay a small amount for, like those made by Positech.

I also tried Second Life and similar and found them to be glorified IRC chat rooms.

I'm getting into this history because I think it raises an interesting question. Why would anyone buy Halo III when they have never played the the first one? Particularly, if someone can buy the earlier editions for a fraction of their original cost now, and they would likely enjoy them as much as most people did the first time they played them, why not start there?

You may not be as extreme an example as I am, but I bet there are older games, free games or low-priced independent games that you have never played and would like. So, why are you buying the newest WOW expansion set (and paying the subscription fees) or HALO 3 - as soon as it comes out? Is it that you are so involved in these games? I can understand that because the one game I have purchased was Sid Meyer's Pirates - again, partially because I had played it before and liked it a lot. But, I don't want to assume that is true of everyone.

What about a new game? It's one thing to get the new Grand Theft Auto. It's another to get a totally new game. How do you decide to go with something just released - rather than buy something older that you haven't played before? Is it about having the newest and greatest in graphical features? What's the appeal?

Maybe you are such a hard core gamer that you've played most new games. But given the amount of time they require - is this really so? Maybe it is playing with friends, a la Quake. Maybe it's checking the review on Gamespot or Slashdot. Since I don't play them, I don't know. So was wondering if someone can offer a clue.

I guess part of my question is that I am looking at new things to try. I know there are a lot of good games out there that I haven't played. So, why would I be interested in these new models of game production or even new games? What do you suggest? What games do you think everyone should know? Is there a great game out there that you think most gamers have missed?

For example, I remember reading about one game in Slashdot where you are a pencil or something and you role around and things stick to you - something from Japan. I've also heard someone that taught fo

Is it sad that even after all these years and having actually been forced to upgrade to Vista, I still think of this UAC when people talk about it?

No, because I thought of the same thing. Ipso facto, E pluribus unum, YMMV.

You obviously haven't played high end PvE in Guild Wars - Mesmers are the easiest way to find parties in the Deep, Urgoz's lair (though Monk is good there, too, which is what I've run there), and for a long time Slaver's Exile, but that has shifted more to 3/4 man Assassin and Ranger groups.

Not as my Mesmer, no. I should be clearing Frost Gate with her this weekend (Made her to play GW with my girlfriend who is a complete MMO newbie, so we have to do prophesies... I hate prophesies).

But what use to mesmers have in high end, besides the current flavor of the month (i.e. Cryway?) I'd like to know because Lindsey has gone a bit mad with the nerfbat the past few months (apparently she dislikes the idea of secondary classes being useful?)

I actually don't play much high end, but I'm in a guild with people that do and they talk about it incessantly (and I do listen in on our ventrilo channel quite a bit, even though most of my gaming time is dedicated to Empire: Total War and Fallout 3).

In fact, the three classes that most people consider the worst for PvE (Assassins, Mesmers, and Paragons) are in the most demand in high end PvE - Assassins for permaform (permanent shadowform which is immunity to all damage), Mesmers for Cry of Pain spamming (armor ignoring, interrupting damage), and paragons for massive armor and damage reduction buffs (in fact, many people in my guild still consider Imbagon the only good Paragon build).

My guild has recently gotten bitten by the Paraway bug. It's fun, I'll admit. I've been a Perma since back when you had to use A/Me for it, but I find that I can CoP just fine on my ranger, since it's a Sunspear skill and she's r10.

But all of those *are* bad for actual non-gimmick PvE (as in, playing through the game, not just clearing UW for ectos or whatever).

Sins weren't, if you weren't a moron, until they went crazy with the nerfbat (Crit Agility has to be the best Sunspear skill in the game. I love it love it love it.) because of PvP "balance."

Paragons can be a decent buffbot, but that gets mighty boring H/Hing all the way through NF.

And Mesmers are all about shutdown, which doesn't help in HM when you're facing mobs of 10-20 with way more energy than they could ever hope to use, so at best, they're ok interrupters (or awesome interrupters, with an Me hero.) or Cryers, which only requires a mesmer secondary and a high sunspear rank. In PvE, they are like Ritualists: Anything they can do can be done better by another class taking /Me (or /Rt) as a secondary.

You obviously haven't played high end PvE in Guild Wars - Mesmers are the easiest way to find parties in the Deep, Urgoz's lair (though Monk is good there, too, which is what I've run there), and for a long time Slaver's Exile, but that has shifted more to 3/4 man Assassin and Ranger groups.

Not as my Mesmer, no. I should be clearing Frost Gate with her this weekend (Made her to play GW with my girlfriend who is a complete MMO newbie, so we have to do prophesies... I hate prophesies).

But what use to mesmers have in high end, besides the current flavor of the month (i.e. Cryway?) I'd like to know because Lindsey has gone a bit mad with the nerfbat the past few months (apparently she dislikes the idea of secondary classes being useful?)

I actually don't play much high end, but I'm in a guild with people that do and they talk about it incessantly (and I do listen in on our ventrilo channel quite a bit, even though most of my gaming time is dedicated to Empire: Total War and Fallout 3).

In fact, the three classes that most people consider the worst for PvE (Assassins, Mesmers, and Paragons) are in the most demand in high end PvE - Assassins for permaform (permanent shadowform which is immunity to all damage), Mesmers for Cry of Pain spamming (armor ignoring, interrupting damage), and paragons for massive armor and damage reduction buffs (in fact, many people in my guild still consider Imbagon the only good Paragon build).

My guild has recently gotten bitten by the Paraway bug. It's fun, I'll admit. I've been a Perma since back when you had to use A/Me for it, but I find that I can CoP just fine on my ranger, since it's a Sunspear skill and she's r10.

But all of those *are* bad for actual non-gimmick PvE (as in, playing through the game, not just clearing UW for ectos or whatever).

Sins weren't, if you weren't a moron, until they went crazy with the nerfbat (Crit Agility has to be the best Sunspear skill in the game. I love it love it love it.) because of PvP "balance."

Paragons can be a decent buffbot, but that gets mighty boring H/Hing all the way through NF.

And Mesmers are all about shutdown, which doesn't help in HM when you're facing mobs of 10-20 with way more energy than they could ever hope to use, so at best, they're ok interrupters (or awesome interrupters, with an Me hero.) or Cryers, which only requires a mesmer secondary and a high sunspear rank. In PvE, they are like Ritualists: Anything they can do can be done better by another class taking /Me (or /Rt) as a secondary.

You obviously haven't played high end PvE in Guild Wars - Mesmers are the easiest way to find parties in the Deep, Urgoz's lair (though Monk is good there, too, which is what I've run there), and for a long time Slaver's Exile, but that has shifted more to 3/4 man Assassin and Ranger groups. I actually don't play much high end, but I'm in a guild with people that do and they talk about it incessantly (and I do listen in on our ventrilo channel quite a bit, even though most of my gaming time is dedicated to Empire: Total War and Fallout 3).

In fact, the three classes that most people consider the worst for PvE (Assassins, Mesmers, and Paragons) are in the most demand in high end PvE - Assassins for permaform (permanent shadowform which is immunity to all damage), Mesmers for Cry of Pain spamming (armor ignoring, interrupting damage), and paragons for massive armor and damage reduction buffs (in fact, many people in my guild still consider Imbagon the only good Paragon build).

You obviously haven't played high end PvE in Guild Wars - Mesmers are the easiest way to find parties in the Deep, Urgoz's lair (though Monk is good there, too, which is what I've run there), and for a long time Slaver's Exile, but that has shifted more to 3/4 man Assassin and Ranger groups. I actually don't play much high end, but I'm in a guild with people that do and they talk about it incessantly (and I do listen in on our ventrilo channel quite a bit, even though most of my gaming time is dedicated to Empire: Total War and Fallout 3).

In fact, the three classes that most people consider the worst for PvE (Assassins, Mesmers, and Paragons) are in the most demand in high end PvE - Assassins for permaform (permanent shadowform which is immunity to all damage), Mesmers for Cry of Pain spamming (armor ignoring, interrupting damage), and paragons for massive armor and damage reduction buffs (in fact, many people in my guild still consider Imbagon the only good Paragon build).

Is it sad that even after all these years and having actually been forced to upgrade to Vista, I still think of this UAC when people talk about it?

It means that we're a step closer to Mr. Fusion.

No. I was amazed to find it was on the same server as my stuff, and that my stuff is in such esteemed company. The guy who actually runs the server told me it was Linux, but it appears it's actually TFA 2006.

The Library. So big it doesn't need a name - just a great big "the."
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Library

All this fanboy talk can cease.

Sony's gaming division lost $1.24 billion in 2008. This means that anyone who lost less than 1.24 billion dollars in 2008 is more profitable than Sony's gaming division. Sony did NOT make money on the PS3 in 2008.

That said, your other statement is more accurate. Third party developers have finally stepped up and begun releasing games people might actually want to play, and Sony finally lowered the price of the console, leading to an increase in sales of 156%. Their share of the market increased by about 5% in 2008, but it's still a tiny slice of the market.

By most measures, the PS3 is a flop. It's trailing both it's competitors by double digits in market share, their gaming division is losing money while both competitors are making money hand over fist, and there's very little light on the horizon, since they're selling the most expensive console in the middle of a recession. The only real upside for Sony is everyone who wanted a Wii and 360 has bought one, so the PS3 is next on the list.

suck.com did one a few years ago called "suckdot", it was hilarious. Tux wearing a turban and wielding a scimitar was priceless! I wish I could find it.

There are two uncyclopedia articles about slashdot, there's slashdot.org, a parody of slashdot, and slashdot (country).

From the parody (formatted to look like slashdot):

Jump to: navigation, search
Slashdot
News for nerds. Stuff that is unimportant and pulled from various web sites across the internets and really doesn't matter all that much.
Userpage | Preferences | Subscribe | Why should you pay us even more? | Are you sure you don't want to pay us? | Logout | Come on, just try subscribing!

Slashdot journal entries can be automagically submitted as stories! No, we aren't kidding! You could submit a story to us!!

The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but guess what?! SUBSCRIBERS can beat the rush and pay us to see it early!!
You have not meta-moderated recently! Moderate our moderators, and then get moderated! Great fun, yes?
You have found the marble in the oatmeal. You get to take a drink from the Firehose! (I don't know what that means, I've just always wanted to put that phrase on top of the Slashdot front page. So here it is.)

You have 5 Moderation Points! Use 'em or lose 'em! But don't use them in threads you actually want to post in okay? And use them before 3 days is up, or else they will be gone. 3 days, 5 points, GO!

Ask Slashdot: Network problems and upgrades
Posted by Konk
from the it-doesnt-work-pause-NET! dept.
c1337us asks:

"I recently purchased an expensive network router for the small business firm where I am the head of the IT department. Unfortunately, I have no clue how to set it up, much less a basic understanding of networking principles. First of all, could someone explain to me what exactly a socket is and second, where can I find this alleged "ether"-net I hear so much about? Will that solve my problems?"

  itsatrap, network, router, slownewsday, loltag, whatcouldpossiblygowrong (tagging beta)<snip>

From slashdot (country)

"Netcraft confirms it - Slashdot *is* filled with Linux fanboys." ~ Bill Gates on Slashdot

"No good editors like Kuro5hin has, No nice layout like Digg.com, Lame !!!."~ CmdrTaco on Slashdot

"In Soviet Russia, slashdot trolls YUO!." ~ Russian Reversal on Slashdot

"On the streets these days, a dime bag of kittens costs a pretty penny." ~ Oscar Wilde on Slashdot's "offtopic" moderation

The Sovereign State of Slashdot is an americanized independent territory roughly located between the Republic of Pakistan and India. The citizens of this unincorporated area, commonly referred to as "dotheads" due to the mark of the beast prominently displayed upon their foreheads, have been denied membership in the UN due to their radical viewpoints since the war of 1912. As a result,Slashdot joined the UN's arch-enemy, NATO, following its invasion by Oprah Winfrey in the Gulf War. The current Prime Minister of Slashdot is CmdrTaco (pronounced KIM-dir-TAY-co).

<snip>Trolls
It is common knowledge that Slashdot is populated entirely by trolls, and no other form of life exists within its borders. The trolls constantly go around beating up other trolls through the use of arcane rituals such as '-1 Offtopic'. It seems that the Slashdottians do nothing except this constant abuse of each other (moderation in Slashdottese, although a more complicated version exists, called metamoderation, generally regarded to be one of the most evil products of our era).

[edit] Economy
The currency of Slashdot is the Karma Point (which recently replaced the archaic reputation point used under the barter system). In 2001, the Karma Point was cursed by an evil witch who got modded flamebait. Expert moneyologists agree that the curse is a serious matter... <snip>

suck.com did one a few years ago called "suckdot", it was hilarious. Tux wearing a turban and wielding a scimitar was priceless! I wish I could find it.

There are two uncyclopedia articles about slashdot, there's slashdot.org, a parody of slashdot, and slashdot (country).

From the parody (formatted to look like slashdot):

Jump to: navigation, search
Slashdot
News for nerds. Stuff that is unimportant and pulled from various web sites across the internets and really doesn't matter all that much.
Userpage | Preferences | Subscribe | Why should you pay us even more? | Are you sure you don't want to pay us? | Logout | Come on, just try subscribing!

Slashdot journal entries can be automagically submitted as stories! No, we aren't kidding! You could submit a story to us!!

The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but guess what?! SUBSCRIBERS can beat the rush and pay us to see it early!!
You have not meta-moderated recently! Moderate our moderators, and then get moderated! Great fun, yes?
You have found the marble in the oatmeal. You get to take a drink from the Firehose! (I don't know what that means, I've just always wanted to put that phrase on top of the Slashdot front page. So here it is.)

You have 5 Moderation Points! Use 'em or lose 'em! But don't use them in threads you actually want to post in okay? And use them before 3 days is up, or else they will be gone. 3 days, 5 points, GO!

Ask Slashdot: Network problems and upgrades
Posted by Konk
from the it-doesnt-work-pause-NET! dept.
c1337us asks:

"I recently purchased an expensive network router for the small business firm where I am the head of the IT department. Unfortunately, I have no clue how to set it up, much less a basic understanding of networking principles. First of all, could someone explain to me what exactly a socket is and second, where can I find this alleged "ether"-net I hear so much about? Will that solve my problems?"

  itsatrap, network, router, slownewsday, loltag, whatcouldpossiblygowrong (tagging beta)<snip>

From slashdot (country)

"Netcraft confirms it - Slashdot *is* filled with Linux fanboys." ~ Bill Gates on Slashdot

"No good editors like Kuro5hin has, No nice layout like Digg.com, Lame !!!."~ CmdrTaco on Slashdot

"In Soviet Russia, slashdot trolls YUO!." ~ Russian Reversal on Slashdot

"On the streets these days, a dime bag of kittens costs a pretty penny." ~ Oscar Wilde on Slashdot's "offtopic" moderation

The Sovereign State of Slashdot is an americanized independent territory roughly located between the Republic of Pakistan and India. The citizens of this unincorporated area, commonly referred to as "dotheads" due to the mark of the beast prominently displayed upon their foreheads, have been denied membership in the UN due to their radical viewpoints since the war of 1912. As a result,Slashdot joined the UN's arch-enemy, NATO, following its invasion by Oprah Winfrey in the Gulf War. The current Prime Minister of Slashdot is CmdrTaco (pronounced KIM-dir-TAY-co).

<snip>Trolls
It is common knowledge that Slashdot is populated entirely by trolls, and no other form of life exists within its borders. The trolls constantly go around beating up other trolls through the use of arcane rituals such as '-1 Offtopic'. It seems that the Slashdottians do nothing except this constant abuse of each other (moderation in Slashdottese, although a more complicated version exists, called metamoderation, generally regarded to be one of the most evil products of our era).

[edit] Economy
The currency of Slashdot is the Karma Point (which recently replaced the archaic reputation point used under the barter system). In 2001, the Karma Point was cursed by an evil witch who got modded flamebait. Expert moneyologists agree that the curse is a serious matter... <snip>

Clearly, you must be new to the Internet. Welcome! With a nick and sig like yours, though, I can see why you jumped to conclusions about it being a sexual reference...

Professor Farnsworth: No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/The_Luck_of_the_Fryrish

Maybe he was just trying to do some kitten huffing.

Alice Margatroid?

Well this has been an intelligent and interesting conversation. I have to check to make sure it is still Slashdot. :)

Anyway Wookieepedia is all about Star Wars, don't forget Wiki sites. Like a book, they have content and sometimes covers the secret history of Star Wars the same as a commercial book would. I cannot verify that the Wiki site covers the same material as that book as I didn't buy that book, but I am sure it is interesting.

I am trying to write my own book based on computer history to try to find out what went wrong in the industry. It is hard to write, and I read Stephen King's "On Writing" book and I am 75% finished with it. I have to make the book fiction to avoid being sued by the companies I mention in it. Like when IBM sold computers to Nazi Germany and they were used in the Holocaust, or all of the blunders that Microsoft and Apple make. I found that if I cannot get a publisher that Lulu.com will help me self-publish the book as an eBook and paper book and for $100 more list it on Amazon.com for sale. I thought I'd mention that an eBook helps people like me get published better by self-publishing my book through Lulu.com or some other web site. I have a lot of web links, so eBook is preferred over paper as one cannot click the links in paper format.

Wiki article on Oscars

"If I was alive, I'd have a ton of these by now."

        ~ Oscar Wilde on Oscars

Awards created with the purpose of formalizing celebrity circle jerking, something more Americans care about than anything else. Winners use a secretive process of election that consists of nominees. These nominees are determined by the following:

        * Is the movie financially successful?
        * Is the movie well known?
        * Will the movie sell more DVDs after it is nominated?
        * Was the movie shown no more than three months prior to the Oscar night?
        * If we give the Best Actress award to Angelina Jolie, will we get some?
        * Can we tell our own ass from a hole in the ground?
        * Is there a retarded guy in it?
        * Number of Brian Peppers references
        * Amount of color removed
        * Amount of characters who die
        * How ugly the actors\actresses are
        * How much weight has he\she gained\lost?
        * Has anyone connected to the production recently passed away?
        * Does the director's name start with Martin and end with Scoresese?
        * How many times did the lead actress sleep with the director? (fewest/most)

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Semicolon_Cancer

Well, consider that Steel, which is used in construction left and right, is made from Iron with a melting point of 1538C

Also, Silicon is 1414C, and yes they melt the silicon to make the wafers. Don't forget that we also melt a lot of silicon for windows.

As for keeping the temperature up for 24 hours, well, the vast amount of the cost is getting the temperature that hot, after that it just depends on how well insulated your oven is.

Well, consider that Steel, which is used in construction left and right, is made from Iron with a melting point of 1538C

Also, Silicon is 1414C, and yes they melt the silicon to make the wafers. Don't forget that we also melt a lot of silicon for windows.

As for keeping the temperature up for 24 hours, well, the vast amount of the cost is getting the temperature that hot, after that it just depends on how well insulated your oven is.

Damn, it's already there

ROFL I'm not sure that double vision simultaneously contracted with beer goggles is the same thing as photonic entanglement... though I'm certain that there is room for such a story somewhere

http://documentation.wikia.com/wiki/METRo

http://metpx.sourceforge.net/

http://iti-iit.cnrc-nrc.gc.ca/colloq/0708/07-10-25-print_e.html

usage: http://openconcept.ca/blog/mgifford/what_people_arent_saying_about_nrcan_wiki_and_gcpedia

Because only in the Russian language are there enough curse words to accurately describe yum breaking X.org, the video drivers, and itself after downloading 450 MB of updates because you didn't update in two weeks.

"Any Hungarian word can also be used to substitute for the english word Fuck as it can in Polish, Russian, Canadian and Martian. The Hungarian language is exceptional, having the most swear-words of them all. An average, well-mannered hungarian is able to curse for more than 3 minutes without repeating a single phrase. Not to mention the agressive idiots, who can twist and turn these wonderful words for hours, which has become an art-form in this small country."

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Hungarian

I know it's meant as a joke, but it's actually accurate...

I know you're joking, but it's been my observation that the opposite is true. If you say anything at all bad about Microsoft, no matter how true, you're modded "troll" or "flamebait".

OTOH look at the post you responded to: 2, interesting. And your post modded 2, insightful despite the fact that it is so obviously incorrect or the GP wouldn't have a 2.

There are a lot of people working at Redmond, they're all logged in to slashdot and many of them have mod points. I expect this (my) comment to be downmodded, but you never know.

Note: Uncyclopedia is "the content-free encyclopedia" and when they quote Gates as saying "Netcraft confirms it - Slashdot *is* filled with Linux fanboys" you're NOT supposed to take it seriously.

Captain Obvious, is that you?

Well, what is a significant purpose, anyway? Why value the life of an organism - sentient or otherwise - above your own vanity, or anything else? And if you decide to value life, what of the opportunity cost - the lives of the beings that you might create, but decide not to?

I'm reminded of another topic close to my heart: Creatures . The Norns were created by a race of genetic tinkerers, the Shee. It took them a good number of attempts to get it right, and doubtless there were many failures. But they weren't criticized for them - even those considered nuisances, like the Grendels. Instead, they were celebrated for their successes. Without the norns, Albia would have been a poorer place.

Bear in mind that the Shee had no greater goal but create servants to bring them tea and biscuits, or perhaps the intellectual curiosity of seeing what would happen. To them, genetic engineering was just engineering; it was a tool to solve problems, and if they found a problem in their genes they'd fix themselves, as naturally as we would wear a pacemaker or fit a stent. Some would see that as incredibly wrong. Others wouldn't.

As for the systems question - well, it depends on the system. I'm reminded of evolutionary circuits, which were very unstable and might well be impossible to modify with any certainty. Right now, it's easier, if more inefficient, to build our own circuits based on logic. On the other hand, some biological mechanisms, if not straightforward, appear quite amenable to modification. Yes, if you were creating something totally new it might make sense to do it all over, but the whole point of animal-human hybrids is that we aren't - we're building on and adapting what was there already. At some point it may prove more trouble than it's worth, but right now we don't even know enough to estimate the cost.

Well, what is a significant purpose, anyway? Why value the life of an organism - sentient or otherwise - above your own vanity, or anything else? And if you decide to value life, what of the opportunity cost - the lives of the beings that you might create, but decide not to?

I'm reminded of another topic close to my heart: Creatures . The Norns were created by a race of genetic tinkerers, the Shee. It took them a good number of attempts to get it right, and doubtless there were many failures. But they weren't criticized for them - even those considered nuisances, like the Grendels. Instead, they were celebrated for their successes. Without the norns, Albia would have been a poorer place.

Bear in mind that the Shee had no greater goal but create servants to bring them tea and biscuits, or perhaps the intellectual curiosity of seeing what would happen. To them, genetic engineering was just engineering; it was a tool to solve problems, and if they found a problem in their genes they'd fix themselves, as naturally as we would wear a pacemaker or fit a stent. Some would see that as incredibly wrong. Others wouldn't.

As for the systems question - well, it depends on the system. I'm reminded of evolutionary circuits, which were very unstable and might well be impossible to modify with any certainty. Right now, it's easier, if more inefficient, to build our own circuits based on logic. On the other hand, some biological mechanisms, if not straightforward, appear quite amenable to modification. Yes, if you were creating something totally new it might make sense to do it all over, but the whole point of animal-human hybrids is that we aren't - we're building on and adapting what was there already. At some point it may prove more trouble than it's worth, but right now we don't even know enough to estimate the cost.

Well, what is a significant purpose, anyway? Why value the life of an organism - sentient or otherwise - above your own vanity, or anything else? And if you decide to value life, what of the opportunity cost - the lives of the beings that you might create, but decide not to?

I'm reminded of another topic close to my heart: Creatures . The Norns were created by a race of genetic tinkerers, the Shee. It took them a good number of attempts to get it right, and doubtless there were many failures. But they weren't criticized for them - even those considered nuisances, like the Grendels. Instead, they were celebrated for their successes. Without the norns, Albia would have been a poorer place.

Bear in mind that the Shee had no greater goal but create servants to bring them tea and biscuits, or perhaps the intellectual curiosity of seeing what would happen. To them, genetic engineering was just engineering; it was a tool to solve problems, and if they found a problem in their genes they'd fix themselves, as naturally as we would wear a pacemaker or fit a stent. Some would see that as incredibly wrong. Others wouldn't.

As for the systems question - well, it depends on the system. I'm reminded of evolutionary circuits, which were very unstable and might well be impossible to modify with any certainty. Right now, it's easier, if more inefficient, to build our own circuits based on logic. On the other hand, some biological mechanisms, if not straightforward, appear quite amenable to modification. Yes, if you were creating something totally new it might make sense to do it all over, but the whole point of animal-human hybrids is that we aren't - we're building on and adapting what was there already. At some point it may prove more trouble than it's worth, but right now we don't even know enough to estimate the cost.

Well, what is a significant purpose, anyway? Why value the life of an organism - sentient or otherwise - above your own vanity, or anything else? And if you decide to value life, what of the opportunity cost - the lives of the beings that you might create, but decide not to?

I'm reminded of another topic close to my heart: Creatures . The Norns were created by a race of genetic tinkerers, the Shee. It took them a good number of attempts to get it right, and doubtless there were many failures. But they weren't criticized for them - even those considered nuisances, like the Grendels. Instead, they were celebrated for their successes. Without the norns, Albia would have been a poorer place.

Bear in mind that the Shee had no greater goal but create servants to bring them tea and biscuits, or perhaps the intellectual curiosity of seeing what would happen. To them, genetic engineering was just engineering; it was a tool to solve problems, and if they found a problem in their genes they'd fix themselves, as naturally as we would wear a pacemaker or fit a stent. Some would see that as incredibly wrong. Others wouldn't.

As for the systems question - well, it depends on the system. I'm reminded of evolutionary circuits, which were very unstable and might well be impossible to modify with any certainty. Right now, it's easier, if more inefficient, to build our own circuits based on logic. On the other hand, some biological mechanisms, if not straightforward, appear quite amenable to modification. Yes, if you were creating something totally new it might make sense to do it all over, but the whole point of animal-human hybrids is that we aren't - we're building on and adapting what was there already. At some point it may prove more trouble than it's worth, but right now we don't even know enough to estimate the cost.

Really? You have some weird tastes.

... I've done this several times.

Weather names (tornado, hurricane, etc.)

The Rugrats (angelica, tommy, chuckie, etc.)

Doctor Who companions (zoe, romana, etc.)
I almost had one project up to sv7, but the bean counters only bought six servers.

My latest project had the workstations named after muscle cars of the '60s (Mustang, Camaro, Chevelle, etc) and the servers named after land-yachts (Fleetwood, Continental, etc).

The bigger the tubes are, the more Zerg you can fit down them.

You could say they're getting upgraded Nydus Canals.

I don't disagree with your argument but I think you shot yourself in the foot by equating AGW and religion.

Lovley Angels, aka Dirty Pair

What do you mean brute force a joke?

I just heard of Windows Hitler Edition.

I did not know that it is an old joke that originated here.

Sorry, citation: http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Sales

At Uncyclopedia we made fun of it.

Well, I never... That would be the first time Uncyclopedia is funny.

At Uncyclopedia we made fun of it.

Including Sci Fi references:
"No! Davros, you can't!"

        ~ Doctor Who on switching on the LHC

"The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator that has not yet destroyed the world.[1]"

I think the first sentence pretty much sums up what it is and what it possibly can do.

Some people have a theory that at least some of the black holes in the universes used to be Earth like planets until they invented a LHC device which made small black holes that quickly became giant black holes and swallowed their planet and then later their star. That is why there is no intelligent life, each planet that reached our current stage of technology developed a LHC that either destroyed the planet or made a big a** large black hole that swallowed the planet and its star.

Of course miniaturizing it into a planet sized black hole gun, we can use it as a weapon and aim and fire black holes at enemy planets, swallowing them into the man made black holes or even create a black hole bomb.

It is tempting to just withdraw all US and EU troops from the middle-east and then drop a LHC black hole bomb on them and see it wipe out part of the planet and sacrifice innocent lives to finally get rid of terrorists living their and their support from dictatorships that use oil money to fund terrorist networks. But doing so would be highly immoral and unethical, killing billions of lives and destroying what natural resources are available there.

Which is why we should propose a ban on black hole weapons just like we want a ban on nuclear bombs.

What if Iran invents their own LHC? The horror, the horror!

the name might as well be Sqzqz Kzxzxzxzx.

No, that's a Necromancer Boss in the Crystal Desert. This guy's brother...

I've given up again after getting about 1/6 of the way down this page [interlinked.org] and seeing the diagram detailing movement commands. ctrl+e, ctrl+d, and ctrl+f to move various portions of a page up?

WTF. I'm pretty pissed myself that most such VIM tutorial are written by "vi" old farts. Forget about the darn thing - it is a copy past from ancient vi-compatible "vimtutor".

Learning VIM is relatively easy. Arrow keys, PgUp/PgDn - unlike vi - work. Pressing F1 as one would expect brings help screen. Searching help is trivial: type ":help something" (do not press Enter yet!) and press ^D - default competition key - and VIM would show you all help topics which have "something" in their names. Check output of ":set all" to see available configuration options. Check also out VIM Wiki. Generally, VIM documentation is written by and for human being, in contrast to Emacs documentation written by and for RMS or other aliens.

If you have real questions... Well you can always ask me ;) As my /. homepage (link in the header of the post) I have my own vim blog which was initially started as a way to preserve and document my own .vimrc. Anonymous comment posting enabled.

But unless the House page discussing the bill is failing to mention something fairly fundamental, this bill doesn't do that. The bill wouldn't affect end users. It doesn't take away the user's right to modify a phone to not make a sound. It mandates that the phone, as shipped from the manufacturer, must do so and must not provide a way to turn it off. I'm not sure why the blogger thought that this allows prosecution of individuals. This bill could not prevent possession of cameras that don't beep even if it wanted to, as doing so would criminalize the possession of (and thus completely obliterate the resale value of) nearly every cellular phone built to date. If you want to ensure you never get elected to another public office as long as you live, pass a law that makes every one of your constituents replace his/her cell phone under penalty of incarceration.... :-)

Even still, this bill is beyond idiotic for so many reasons, it's hard to know where to begin. I'll take a shot, though.

• It now becomes unacceptable to take ANY digital photographs in concerts, weddings, etc. even without a flash because suddenly it disturbs everyone in the audience.
• It does not affect video cameras, nor camera phones when used to record movies. I'd go so far as to say that 100% of the people this law is trying to prevent do NOT take still pictures, and therefore this law will do precisely NOTHING to prevent what they're trying to prevent! Ever try to take a picture with any kind of still camera in secret (much less a camera phone)? It's really hard. But a video camera? Trivial. You start it recording (a minute before you encounter the person you're stalking), attach it to your shoe or whatever, and... you get the idea. Want stills? Use a high definition camera and take a still frame from it. Just shy of 1MP, which is good enough for most purposes unless you need to digitally zoom in further because of distance. And before you say "it could make a continuous sound while shooting video", that would make the video feature completely and totally useless.
• It adds additional complexity to cameras, resulting in larger shutter lag. Shutter lag on cheap digital cameras is already so slow that the cameras border on unusable. Add an extra fraction of a second to play that sound, and... you get the idea. If you wait until after the picture is taken, you're increasing the inter-shot delay, which is also so high that it borders on unusable. Either way, this is going to significantly reduce the usability of these things as digital cameras.
• It is completely unenforceable. Since these devices won't hard-wire a button to make a beep, this is just going to be a little bit of firmware. Given that we already have open source camera firmware for a wide variety of digital cameras, all these people have to do is use any of those cameras and presto, no more beeps. I'd imagine there are similar hacking efforts for camera phones, and I don't even think it's necessary to mention Android around here, but... yeah, Android. There is simply no possibility of preventing people from disabling something that intrusive and obnoxious. It is fundamentally impossible to ship a camera phone in which the beep can't be turned off.
• Even if you ignore software patches, your average idiot could take out four screws, remove the back, and cut one of the speaker wires. Presto. No more beep. Want to make calls? Put in a switch. You've just raised the level of difficulty from "average idiot" to "unskilled amateur with a soldering pencil". Either way, it's eye-roll simple.
• Real stalkers don't use camera phones anyway. They use 300mm zoom lenses from 300 feet away. Even with a real mechanical shutter, the intended victim won't hear the click.

So basically, this A. is completely unenforceable, B. turns cell phone cameras into a HUGE nuisance, and C. creates yet another regulatory headache for manufacturers, all without do