Slashdot Mirror


Search

Search the archive with full-text matching across story titles, bodies, and comments. Phrases are quoted; or, -word, and parentheses behave as in a web search. Queries must be at least 3 characters.

Comments · 3,522

  1. Re:how women react to this? by acb on Russian Chatbot Passes Turing Test (Sort of) · · Score: 1

    Given that the target audience would consit of lonely, sexually frustrated men who have little experience of how a real woman behaves, that's probably not a problem. It could be grotesquely caricatured and still bring in a good harvest of suckers; and perhaps even leaving them thinking that they just got lucky.

  2. A picture worth a thousand words by westlake on Picture-Sorting Dogs Show Human-Like Thought · · Score: 1
    Dogs can identify other dogs as dogs?!? OMG! What a mind-blowing revelation!

    A dog can find a dog in a two-dimensional landscape photograph.

    In an experiment far removed from the ordinary way in which he experiences his world - and do it with no other sensory or behavioral cues.

    That does not strike me as an insignificant achievement.

    It would be interesting to know if a dog could recognize a painting of a dog, a sculpture, a cartoon or caricature.

    Even more interesting, perhaps, if he could sort the results. Recognize different breeds of dogs. Recognize that one dog appears in several pictures.

  3. Re:"Secret"? by JoshuaZ on Secret Mailing List Rocks Wikipedia · · Score: 1

    What you said is if you banned someone who typed "teh" instead of "the" more often than not, you'd be more likely to ban users who did that in the future in fear that they are "sock puppets" for the banned user. That's as flimsy as it gets. You're playing whack-a-mole with anonymous users, and it is a certainty that you're screwing innocent people along with good people. I believe the polite term for what you say above might be a caricature. We're not talking about banning people based on a single common issue like that. We wouldn't ban someone unless they met a large number of different identifiers that aren't common. To return to the hypothetical example of my being a banned user, if another user made the same spelling mistakes, and edited in the same fashion (using two edits to add in refs, similar edit summaries, etc.) and had the same areas of interest in editing, then that would be a start. If you want a look at an example that might help somewhat that is already public you could take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Agapetos_angel/Evidence#Evidence_that_220.245.180..2A_is_Jonathan_Sarfati where I publicly presented strong evidence that an anonymous editor was Jonathan Sarfati editing the articles about himself (some of the links in that piece are no longer functioning but the basic point remains the same)

    Yea, you picked on a high profile target, which turned out to be stupid, there was uproar and it was overturned. And I'm sure you never banned someone who was innocent-seeming before. Of course, we'd never know. I don't know who you mean when you say that "you picked on a high profile target". Durova made the block, not some amorphous group of admins. I wasn't on the list in question and didn't see the evidence until fairly late in the process. The admins are not some monolith. And while I'm at it, I'll help you out, in at least two cases I'm aware of an innocent user was temporarily banned based on similar evidence. In one of those cases the ban lasted for 4 hours, in another it lasted for 8 days (which was unfortunate but there were complicating factors). In both those cases the user in question was not high-profile at all. That's out of literally hundreds of cases where we've been ok. Many of these socks have been independently confirmed (for example by looking at underlying IP addresses which only a handful of highly trusted users are able to do).

    Shrug. I like how you respect to the utmost the privacy of your users (and, incidentally, yourselves) and not that of the people who are apparently so outraged at what's been written about them that they issue death threats. Actually, in my experience we rarely get threats over privacy concerns. Much more common are threats over not letting someone have an article about them, or not describing some political or religious issue with slavish adherence to their viewpoint.

    Anyway, death threats are a reality on the internet. I've gotten death threats here, and more than a few times. Maybe I should have been more specific, we're not talking about little "I'm gonna kill you!" edits but editors getting calls in the middle of the night threatening them and their families. And again, not just death threats. People have lost jobs.

    Coming to Slashdot and arguing "Security through Obscurity" is stupid. It doesn't work. Pass that information to your contributors, and they'll do a better job of finding the people who're gaming the system than your little "Black Chamber". I suggest you take a cryptography course so you can learn what the phrase ""Security through Obscurity" actually means? We aren't talking about cryptographic protocols here. In any event, do you have a suggestion for how to find socks or are you just going to engage in name calling?. If you have some magic technique to find sockpuppets I'm sure we'd all like to hear it. Many internet communities would be very grateful for your technique. On the other hand if you don't have one...
  4. It may not be much consolation, but... by Anonymous Coward on All US Border Crossings Now Require A 'Terrorist Risk Profile' · · Score: 0

    Recognizing that people make mistakes and that we also make mistakes, that perhaps we should forgive, or even trying to understand what led to the act...all of these have been caricatured and stigmatized as "liberal" soft-headedness. Even pointing out that someone's childhood may have an effect on their actions as an adult elicits scorn and contempt. No doubt there are some "liberals" out there who wouldn't even punish a serial child rapist/axe murderer, but instead of arguing against specific bad arguments, our entire capacity to understand, forgive, and move on has been thrown out like a baby with the bathwater. To understand and forgive wrongdoing you have to have humility, which is not only lacking in our culture but which is actively discouraged.


    Well, at least one Christian out there agrees with you and thinks that it seems like you're behaving in this respect in a more Christian manner than some who identify themselves as Christians.

    I am a Christian and on this matter I feel the same way you do and I have the same worry over what this is doing to our society.
  5. well, at least you can still be our President! by misanthrope101 on All US Border Crossings Now Require A 'Terrorist Risk Profile' · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Seriously, compassion and understanding for wrongdoing has been stigmatized out of our culture. I was watching the news at work a few months ago and I said about some miscreant "maybe we shouldn't judge too much, since we don't really know the story." A co-worker responded, "you must be a liberal." What's a liberal? A dirty varmint, which has undermined and weakened our nation.

    Recognizing that people make mistakes and that we also make mistakes, that perhaps we should forgive, or even trying to understand what led to the act...all of these have been caricatured and stigmatized as "liberal" soft-headedness. Even pointing out that someone's childhood may have an effect on their actions as an adult elicits scorn and contempt. No doubt there are some "liberals" out there who wouldn't even punish a serial child rapist/axe murderer, but instead of arguing against specific bad arguments, our entire capacity to understand, forgive, and move on has been thrown out like a baby with the bathwater. To understand and forgive wrongdoing you have to have humility, which is not only lacking in our culture but which is actively discouraged.

    I've been faulted multiple times for trying to have humility. You aren't supposed to admit that you could be wrong, or that that person in the dock could, by the grace of God and bit of luck, be you as well. Everything is black and white, all the time. Well, unless we're talking about Rush Limbaugh's drug conviction or something like that--people seem to have no trouble handling nuanced arguments about blame and addiction when it comes to Rush. Anyway, I can't tell you how surreal it is for me, an atheist, to be lectured by an evangelical Christian I work with that I shouldn't be so humble, that I should be more proud of what I've done, and so on. Humility and forgiveness go hand in hand, and right now forgiveness, and that whole "don't judge a person till you've walked a mile in their shoes" thing, has been caricatured and shunned almost out of existence, or at least out of influence, in the USA.

  6. Re:Mod parent up by Headcase88 on Greenpeace Down on Games Industry, Logic Flawed? · · Score: 1

    "On a side note, is there some natural law that dictates that every well-intentioned non-profit group must eventually degenerate into a caricature of their former selves? ie Greenpeace, PETA, MAD, etc"

    2 cents incoming:

    non-profit groups are just like any other corporations. The company doesn't make profit, but people are still earning their rent\mortgage running them. Company growth = less chance of getting canned + likelihood of increased salary(?). Not sure exactly how salary increases work in a non-profit, but I'd be surprised and elated if they didn't exist.

    Does anyone have actual info on paid positions in non-profits? I'd be interested to know just how similar (or not) they are to regular corporations.

    But my point is, these people with paid positions in the company have something to gain from org growth (even if it is just job security), so at least a little (if not a lot) of corporate greed bleeds into the bigger non-profits out there.

  7. Re:Mod parent up by LithiumX on Greenpeace Down on Games Industry, Logic Flawed? · · Score: 1

    This is the type of logic that reduces the utility of a user rating system. Troll != discord.

    Since when did a "troll" mod apply to any cynical (but commonplace) opinion directed at a popular company? I don't believe he is entirely correct in the case of Nintendo, but he had a very valid point in that it is common for corporations to skim over details they aren't as proud of. He never said they were guilty, he merely presented the same cynical view common on Slashdot - only he directed it at a company that has managed to maintain excellent PR and a loyal following (myself included) for decades.

    Replace the company name and the subject being discussed, and his argument would be accepted much more readily. Using "Microsoft" would be far too easy, so try it with a company you have a neutral opinion of - perhaps a waste management company. If they go into detail on all the areas of ecology that they are doing well at, and another organization points out major (to them) factors not covered by the company's statement, you're going to naturally assume that it's for the usual reasons - specifically, that PR departments tend to ignore or downplay shortcomings. That's not always the case, and probably is not in the case of Nintendo, but the logic is defensible, at least as a reasonable opinion to express.

    Also, he implied it as one reasonable possibility, not as a proclamation of guilt. Even if he did, would that make him a Troll, or just someone you disagree with?

    On a side note, is there some natural law that dictates that every well-intentioned non-profit group must eventually degenerate into a caricature of their former selves? ie Greenpeace, PETA, MAD, etc. I fearfully await the day when the Red Cross begins to refuse assistance in non-allied countries, or when the Audubon Society is found guilty of sponsoring EcoTerrorism. Then again, I'm not certain PETA ever had credibility...

  8. Re:!! JESUS! HELP ME KILL MORE PEOPLE FASTER!!! by sqrt(2) on How Tech Almost Lost the War · · Score: 1

    I can't tell if you're joking or not (you seem to be almost a Republican caricature, but I know real Republicans who appear as such), but you do know there are other religions in this world other than yours, and all of them have the same amount of proof backing them up and legions of followers just as devoted and convinced they're right as you are. No, I don't expect this to change anyone's opinion, but have you actually ever considered that before--and NOT just wrote them off as sinners, heretics, or charlatans who shouldn't be listened to? I know a very kind hearted Buddhist who's a loving father and an overall caring and decent human being, is he going to hell too?

    Notice how I treated you, a complete stranger, with respect and I used no profanities or insults to make my point.

  9. I saw this at my Church by tompaulco on Creationists Violating Copyright · · Score: 1

    I can't remember if the Harvard copyright notice was in there or not. Not much reason to edit it out, since the short video doesn't say anything one way or the other about evolution, and Harvard was found as a religious school. There was some guy who gave the introduction to the video, who talked about how wonderfully complex cells were. But obviously looking at this video, most of the things that we see are extremely simplistic caricatures of stuff that actually happens in a cell. I mean come on, some stick figure with big old goofy shoes hauling a big bag up a pipe? That doesn't scream evolution at me.

  10. Bad? Good? by jandersen on When Did Star Wars Jump the Shark? · · Score: 1

    Were the Starwars movies really that bad? I think they were bad in so many respects, from the very beginning: the dubious understanding of science, the strange coincidence that all these aliens in a galaxy far, far away looked exactly like humans with the occasional funny hairdress, the utterly uncool wookies, the jedis with their supposedly deep wisdom who still educated their apprentice jedis like a caricature of the archetypical 'Zen master/student' relationship; isn't it likely that if a hugely gifted boy like Anakin had been treated with care and understanding, he might have had the strength to resist the rather naff temptations of Mr. Palpatine, Esq.? In this context things like midichlorians and Ewoks are simply natural and quite cute.

    I think it is simply being seen from the wrong perspective - Starwars was never more than an entertaining, exciting story, and as such brilliant. I remember when I saw them in the beginning I felt hugely disappointed, but now I really enjoy them for what they are. They are just not 'deep' or insightful, that's all.

  11. levels more realistic? by xPsi on Why Do Games Still Have Levels? · · Score: 1

    I supposed some games lend themselves to the level-less experience, some don't. Some of it is probably just organizational on the part of the creators. Nevertheless, it is probably true that levels in many modern games are a legacy effect from bygone eras and could be done away with. However, even back in The Day, games like Zork didn't have levels as such, you just played. Ironically, a level-based game may actually be somewhat more realistic. Although we think of life itself as a continuum of moments, our real circumstances actually do break naturally into something approximating "levels": that is, well defined cycles and milestones based on shifting local goals. These milestones are often separate by periods of routine. Perhaps levels in games (like chapters in books or acts in a play) are just a caricature of that real-life organizational effect with the routine periods removed to expedite the entertainment value.

  12. Re:This comes up every few years by misanthrope101 on Cannabis Compound Said To "Halt Cancer" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm just tired of it being presented as a snake oil cure for everything when it isn't.
    I'm tired of people claiming that medical marijuana proponents claim that marijuana cures everything, when in fact they don't. You're making a sensible, supportable position--that marijuana can help with a wide variety of conditions--and turning it into a caricature, then objecting to the caricature you've made as if it's the position people actually hold.

    Cue the tin foil hats about how this is a conspiracy from the government/Big Pharms.
    If people are working in concert to do something they shouldn't be doing, that meets the textbook definition of a conspiracy. Government used fraudulent data and scare tactics to ban marijuana, and "Big Pharma" supports them in this--that isn't "tin foil hat" material. You're caricaturing a reasonable position, one backed up by well-documented facts, and then spewing your contemptuous bile at your own caricature, once again pretending that it's the position people actually take.
  13. Re:seriously? by Anonymous Coward on Aqua Teen Art 'Terrorist' Describes His Ordeal · · Score: -1, Troll

    Welcome to the USA my dear friend. They keep you terrorized with the fear that the (FAKE!!!!!!!!LIE!!!!!BS!!!!!!OUR VERY OWN CIA BLEW THE AIRPLANES!!!!!) 9/11 is going to happen again, so you cooperate being meek and not complaining when they torture immigrants, force you to carry and show an ID, or when the NSA invades your privacy by chasing the logs of your ISP and knowing each and every site you visited on the last two months. Kinda like the USA became a caricature of the Soviet Union they so proudly destroyed...
    The constitution and the forefathers' ideals got all killed by the GOP-NAZI Fox News tyranny.

  14. Re:"KISS" by hobo+sapiens on Gene Simmons Blames College Kids For Music Industry Woes · · Score: 1

    What?!

    Gene Simmons is not a musician. He may play an instrument, but he is no musician. Hopefully you understand the distinction. Prince is actually a very good musician and a damn good guitar player. You may not like his music due to your prejudices, but you cannot discount him as a musician.

    Another contrast: Gene Simmons is a tool who just wants to make money. He has no morals or principles, he is just a self-absorbed jerk who wants to fill his pockets. Gene Simmons is the essence of a sellout -- one who uses every possible means to make money, integrity be damned. Practicality over idealism every time. Prince actually speaks out against the record industry and their draconian practices. I attended one of his shows and was given his latest CD. So was everyone else who attended. Prince embodies what people here talk about: using CDs to advertise his shows.

    You can always tell a good musician by how he plays live, not how he plays on record. Why else do you think all the posers are so pro-RIAA? Because if they had to make a living performing they wouldn't be able to cut it. Real musicians, ones who can play their instruments, write songs, and express themselves, sound GREAT in concert and the CD is just a substitute for the live performance. Posers are the ones where after you have the misfortune of attending one of their shows, you feel ripped off. Real musicians stay relevant for decades, and posers fade out after a few years. If it weren't for his outspoken idiocy, Simmons and the horse he rode in on (KISS) would have faded away a LONG time ago. Even if people still know who Gene Simmons is, who gives a CRAP about the music? Even if you like the 70's thing, there are WAY better bands from the era who were doing things that were actually groundbreaking. KISS appealed to kids because it made their parents and teachers gasp. KISS is the musical equivalent of pro wrestling; a caricature of itself, just a bunch of kitsch.

  15. Re:Well, he's over 40. by coastwalker on Gene Simmons Blames College Kids For Music Industry Woes · · Score: 1

    I'm not surprised that the gentleman is finding his audience resistant to buying his 'music'. Technically the product he sells is not music. Its a stage show backed up by a caricature of heavy rock music with a very limited range of variation. The music is entirely a secondary matter in his product so we can hardly be surprised that it is treated as the valueless disposable rubbish that it truly is. I look forward to hearing a proper rock band when the reformed Led Zeppelin perform in London on Dec 10. The whole pop mainstream heavy rock genre is excruciatingly embarrassing these days. The whole thing went off the rails in the UK when the hard working but talentless Motorhead took the genre away from its melodic roots. Bugger, Spouting all this trial rubbish means I must be over 40 too. Drat.

  16. Re:Okay that does it- I want Queens day to be hono by Etrias on Google Honors Veterans Day, Finally · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder how they would make a caricature of Freddie Mercury embedded in the Google logo?

  17. I'm mildly curious at the motivation by argStyopa on City of Heroes Purchased By NCsoft · · Score: 1

    I mean, was it just that NCSoft offered unrefuseably large piles of cash?

    I met & interviewed Jack Emmert at E3 the year before CoH released - if there's anyone who was developing a game as a labor of love, it was him. He was almost a caricature of the Simpsons' comic book guy, but it was in a charming way because he was so genuine. I agree with his characterization of comic books as 'modern day mythology' and while I can't quite yet personally consider them quite 'literature', there are some fantastic stories being told.

    It was such a product of his particular personality and desire, I'm curious what it would have taken to get him to relinquish creative control.

  18. Re:matter of time by HoldenCaulfield on Cell Phone Jamming on the Rise · · Score: 1

    I guess I should have clarified that the pictures are largely tongue in cheek and featuring their staff and caricatures of actions being taken . . . sorry about that!

  19. Re:The magic of "Something like it." by LordVader717 on Wal-Mart's Terrible Nintendo Wii Knock-Offs · · Score: 1

    The point is that this is a "toy" and not the "real thing" and, by definition, that's pretty much what a toy is. Try remembering what it was like to be a kid with an imagination, and from that perspective it doesn't seem like such a horrible concept.


    So they can pretend to be playing a game where they can pretend to be doing something?
    No, that isn't entertaining, and someone must have surprisingly low expectations of their child if they think they will.
    Even very young children will be able to tell that what they got isn't what they wanted, but a ingeniously boring piece of crap.
    Nothing against parents who can't afford to buy their children a Wii, but this thing is probably the most extreme caricature of a disappointing gift.

    Sure, I remember what it was like to be a kid and play round with cheap toys and reap countless hours of entertainment, but I also remember being bored like shit over cheap LCD games that gave me a headache. And no, I couldn't use them as a sword/Frisbee/house.
  20. Caricature != stereotype by Chuck+Chunder on Iwata Explains Mario Galaxy · · Score: 1

    No, there is a vast difference between caricature and stereotype.