Let me start out by saying that I'm playing devil's advocate here. I wear leather and love a good steak.
Depends who you ask. I content we are because we are capable of intelligent thought and self-awareness.
Dolphins, elephants, and other animals have demonstrated the same. While it may be at a lower level, it may not be that far off in OUR evolutionary history, either. Do they count?
More religious folk might tell you it's because God created us in his image and made the animals for our service.
If you read those biblical passages closely, you might notice that we were called to have dominion over the animal kingdom. Can't have dominion over something if you've hunted it into nonexistance.
It would be hard for one who has the moral conviction that human life is not superior to animal life to live a morally consistent life. How could they justify eating meat, that would be tantamount to eating a fellow human's flesh.
While it may not be superior, it wouldn't be inferior, either. I'd point at Native Americans for a good example of respect for nature, while not starving.
Gotta disagree here. I've never seen any other character that was able to steamroll over Picard, Worf, Riker, Deanna Troi, AND Q with the ease that Lwaxana did. That was half the fun!
These hippies apparantly would much rather not live with the pollutants they are absorbing, but they have no reasonable recourse.
Considering how long radio, TV, cell phones, and other RF sources have been pumping out just as much juice through their bodies/karma/astral-selves, I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic for them. Shades of Don Quixote....
I never wonder where they are: they're either on me, where they belong, or stolen. Life is very simple when you take responsibility. It's all black and white, easy to differentiate, and on the whole much more pleasant.
Let me guess... there aren't any toddlers or shiny-object-hoarding pets at your house, either...
My Uncle is a photographer, and has literally hundreds of memory cards...
Silly question: Does he buy a new card for every shoot? What's his take on data archival as opposed to a huge cash/space/orginization cost on all those cards?
Unless you're doing something requiring a ton of numeric entry work (a minority of users) then any keyboard with a numpad is stupid. I hate the numpad with a passion and it's idiotic that so many keyboard have them. It takes up space where the mouse should go. You don't want to reach too far for the mouse because that contributes to injuries and fatigue. Plus it just plain takes up desk space for no reason. If you really think you need a numpad then at least get a detachable one.
I still play a number of older games, some without joystick support. I'd rather not hold down both "up" and "right" when the "9" key works just as well...
I'm nuts for my ol' Logitech wireless. Date-stamped 1997, this little workhorse has yet to fail, even if the mouse for the set is a little clunky.
Logitech may have a few lemons, but all considered, they're the company I can feel comfortable recommending for keyboards, pointing devices, and webcams.
It represents a breakthrough in the way NASA explores space, with lower-cost, highly focused planetary science investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.
So yeah, in order to lower the cost of the M3 mission, the launch was outsourced to India.
-shrug- Could've been Sealaunch for all I care, but the fact IS that the M3 was outsourced to another launch program to save money, per program specs.
Wrong on every point. My reference is not to emotion but to fact.
Ok, let's go to the Merriam-Webster and look at your use of the word "fact". The closest definition to what you're describing is as follows:
Fact - a piece of information presented as having objective reality.
This means that most rational people will view a "fact" as unvarying from person to person. "The sky appears blue on a clear day in most of the world" would be a factual statement. However, you didn't assert what many would call "fact". Here, let's look at your original post a line at a time.
This is likely to be an extremely unpopular view but there are very legitimate reasons for a state to seek limits in the distribution of news, and limits to what its citizens communicate to outsiders.
Why, sir, would a government seek to deny simple truth to those under its control? We're talking about factual occurances here, not gossip mags or celebrity gossip. If 100 people die on a bridge because the officials in a certain province have been lax in bridge inspection, it would stand to reason that they may have failed to inspect OTHER bridges in that province. If citizen safety is TRULY the aim of a government, then why not warn those citizens if a hazard exists?
As for communicating with outsiders, can you be more specific on what subjects would be better held from "outsiders"? Other than military secrets, I'd be interested to find what information you feel would be SO hazardous to the citizens {not the government} that outsiders shouldn't recieve it.
Using the bridge example above, do you believe that information should be suppressed in order to maintain civil order? If you do, can you accept the idea that many other people would not consider your view to be "objective reality", if just for the fact that a large majority of people would disagree?
Those of you raised in the west or who have lived your lives mostly in the west may not understand or remember the reality of living in weaker states.
Can you please define "weaker states"? If you mean militarily, Switzerland spends less than Vietnam does, with a total population of 7.6 million. Vietnam, on the other hand, has ready for military service more than DOUBLE the population of Switzerland. That's right, the Vietnam military has more people available to it than the population of Switzerland. Even Vietnam's present standing force of 500,000 is more than the entire population of Luxembourg, and FAR larger than Luxembourg's army of 800.
...and yet Switzerland's Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of information for each citizen. They spend less on the military than Vietnam, have fewer people available for the military, and enjoy more freedoms. Same with Luxembourg. Are they somehow less "safe" than the Vietnamese? If you think so, why?
Not all states are the same, and not all populations are the same. Conflicts are everywhere.
While arguably "fact", it in itself doesn't seem to universally justify censorship. Wisdom is the answer to conflict... wisdom that might be hard to gain without access to all available information.
You're getting the reactions here about censorship because most of the world's population disagrees...which might not make your assertation of "fact" as convincing as you'd hoped.
I agree that great special effects are not able to support a sub-par script, but I'd have to disagree that a story (how implausible/impossible it might be) can not be told without the use of great special effects.
Check the date on this movie... then grab a copy to watch. The effects were, to say the least, painful...
Heck, in one story arc I remember he gets taken over by some foreign entity and essentially manages to take out every other member of the Justice League, single handedly (including keeping a piece of kryptonite on reserve "just in case").
Actually, Superman GAVE him that kryptonite as a fail-safe in case Supes should turn "bad"... 'n' if I'm not mistaken, he used it to beat the crap outta Kal-El... right before he had a heart attack... {Dark Knight Returns}
The fact that Superman thought he was more trustworthy than ANYone else says volumes for Batman.
Windows is a lot closer to it than Linux on most fronts.
Not even close.
I work at a PC shop. We have users try to reinstall Windows all the time. Y'know what they can't wrap their heads around? Drivers. If I had a buck for every time someone said "well, I reinstalled Windows, but now I can't get on the internet and my screen colors look funny!"
A PC that's hardware-spec'd to Linux? Drop the disk in. Install. Enjoy.
Regardless, why should Windows be expected to get there first anyway?
Maybe 'cause with each OS iteration Microsoft tells us that they're already there... even though they're lying through their teeth... See my point above.
I think that sums up the attitude of far too many Linux devs/supporters - content to be second best on the desktop and hope that this "Free" thing will take it the rest of the way. It really won't though.
"Free" has caught the attention of quite a few of our clients. Most of them had Joe Q. Relative build them a PC on the cheap, drop a pirated copy of Windows on there, and leave them to the mess they created. When we tell 'em their choice is to buy Windows, or get a functional equivilant for free, LOTS choose Linux. Heck, just OpenOffice itself [another fine FOSS project] has quite literally saved our clients thousands of dollars.
The trick is to let 'em know an alternative exists to begin with. Not everyone will jump at it, but the boulder's still at the top of the hill. Let it pick up some steam first.
I don't understand how it's apparently so fashionable on/. to make disgusting "jokes" about horrific things.
Probably 'cause the best choice in dealing with a horrific situation boils down to humor. The other choices being uselessly wailing, freaking out, or other emotional responses that do nothing to change or improve the situation. Finding the humor, however dark, and getting a chuckle is probably the best defense mechanism we humans have ever developed to stress...
If I want to watch "live" movies from Netflix, I'm screwed 'cause of my dialup.
Your dialup isn't bodily integrated, is it? With other media streamers able to send CC/subtitles, this is a glaring omission from NF's services... and a reason NOT to tout them as firmly as above.
Let me start out by saying that I'm playing devil's advocate here. I wear leather and love a good steak.
Depends who you ask. I content we are because we are capable of intelligent thought and self-awareness.
Dolphins, elephants, and other animals have demonstrated the same. While it may be at a lower level, it may not be that far off in OUR evolutionary history, either. Do they count?
More religious folk might tell you it's because God created us in his image and made the animals for our service.
If you read those biblical passages closely, you might notice that we were called to have dominion over the animal kingdom. Can't have dominion over something if you've hunted it into nonexistance.
It would be hard for one who has the moral conviction that human life is not superior to animal life to live a morally consistent life. How could they justify eating meat, that would be tantamount to eating a fellow human's flesh.
While it may not be superior, it wouldn't be inferior, either. I'd point at Native Americans for a good example of respect for nature, while not starving.
Just another point of view to ponder...
Gotta disagree here. I've never seen any other character that was able to steamroll over Picard, Worf, Riker, Deanna Troi, AND Q with the ease that Lwaxana did. That was half the fun!
A human life is superior to an animal's life.
Why?
What rhymes with Limerick?
"Dimmer wick."
Not that that holds a candle to yours...
Got kicked out of a Kroger's once by the assistant manager for paying with a two. Same deal, but his reasoning was amusing as hell.
"What? You never heard the term 'fake as a 2-dollar bill'?!?! Now get out of my store!"
One call to corporate, and the idiot wouldn't even look in the eye whenever I shopped there afterwards. I still laugh about it.
These hippies apparantly would much rather not live with the pollutants they are absorbing, but they have no reasonable recourse.
Considering how long radio, TV, cell phones, and other RF sources have been pumping out just as much juice through their bodies/karma/astral-selves, I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic for them. Shades of Don Quixote....
Damn hippies.
*I'M* a hippie, you insensitive clod!
THOSE hippies, however, are morons.
Watching his political shenanigans, up to and including his wife trying to "bail him out", made me sign the petition to get rid of him...
...of course, there's the flip side to that petition...
CNN summed it up pretty well here....
He is the founder
No, he's the CO-founder. Time to turn in your geek card if you don't know who the other founder is...
....especially since he's the ONE person I could peg that would keep the fan base energized...
I never wonder where they are: they're either on me, where they belong, or stolen. Life is very simple when you take responsibility. It's all black and white, easy to differentiate, and on the whole much more pleasant.
Let me guess... there aren't any toddlers or shiny-object-hoarding pets at your house, either...
My Uncle is a photographer, and has literally hundreds of memory cards...
Silly question: Does he buy a new card for every shoot? What's his take on data archival as opposed to a huge cash/space/orginization cost on all those cards?
This is the concept of profit.
I am intrigued by this concept, "profit". How may I subscribe to your newsletter?
Guess you two missed the "No joystick support" part...
Unless you're doing something requiring a ton of numeric entry work (a minority of users) then any keyboard with a numpad is stupid. I hate the numpad with a passion and it's idiotic that so many keyboard have them. It takes up space where the mouse should go. You don't want to reach too far for the mouse because that contributes to injuries and fatigue. Plus it just plain takes up desk space for no reason. If you really think you need a numpad then at least get a detachable one.
I still play a number of older games, some without joystick support. I'd rather not hold down both "up" and "right" when the "9" key works just as well...
I'm nuts for my ol' Logitech wireless. Date-stamped 1997, this little workhorse has yet to fail, even if the mouse for the set is a little clunky.
Logitech may have a few lemons, but all considered, they're the company I can feel comfortable recommending for keyboards, pointing devices, and webcams.
Nobody "outsourced" this particular space trip to India.
Actually, NASA did... as part of the Discovery Program.
From the DP page:
It represents a breakthrough in the way NASA explores space, with lower-cost, highly focused planetary science investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.
So yeah, in order to lower the cost of the M3 mission, the launch was outsourced to India.
-shrug- Could've been Sealaunch for all I care, but the fact IS that the M3 was outsourced to another launch program to save money, per program specs.
Wrong on every point. My reference is not to emotion but to fact.
Ok, let's go to the Merriam-Webster and look at your use of the word "fact". The closest definition to what you're describing is as follows:
Fact - a piece of information presented as having objective reality.
This means that most rational people will view a "fact" as unvarying from person to person. "The sky appears blue on a clear day in most of the world" would be a factual statement. However, you didn't assert what many would call "fact". Here, let's look at your original post a line at a time.
This is likely to be an extremely unpopular view but there are very legitimate reasons for a state to seek limits in the distribution of news, and limits to what its citizens communicate to outsiders.
Why, sir, would a government seek to deny simple truth to those under its control? We're talking about factual occurances here, not gossip mags or celebrity gossip. If 100 people die on a bridge because the officials in a certain province have been lax in bridge inspection, it would stand to reason that they may have failed to inspect OTHER bridges in that province. If citizen safety is TRULY the aim of a government, then why not warn those citizens if a hazard exists?
As for communicating with outsiders, can you be more specific on what subjects would be better held from "outsiders"? Other than military secrets, I'd be interested to find what information you feel would be SO hazardous to the citizens {not the government} that outsiders shouldn't recieve it.
Using the bridge example above, do you believe that information should be suppressed in order to maintain civil order? If you do, can you accept the idea that many other people would not consider your view to be "objective reality", if just for the fact that a large majority of people would disagree?
Those of you raised in the west or who have lived your lives mostly in the west may not understand or remember the reality of living in weaker states.
Can you please define "weaker states"? If you mean militarily, Switzerland spends less than Vietnam does, with a total population of 7.6 million. Vietnam, on the other hand, has ready for military service more than DOUBLE the population of Switzerland. That's right, the Vietnam military has more people available to it than the population of Switzerland. Even Vietnam's present standing force of 500,000 is more than the entire population of Luxembourg, and FAR larger than Luxembourg's army of 800.
...and yet Switzerland's Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of information for each citizen. They spend less on the military than Vietnam, have fewer people available for the military, and enjoy more freedoms. Same with Luxembourg. Are they somehow less "safe" than the Vietnamese? If you think so, why?
Not all states are the same, and not all populations are the same. Conflicts are everywhere.
While arguably "fact", it in itself doesn't seem to universally justify censorship. Wisdom is the answer to conflict... wisdom that might be hard to gain without access to all available information.
You're getting the reactions here about censorship because most of the world's population disagrees...which might not make your assertation of "fact" as convincing as you'd hoped.
I agree that great special effects are not able to support a sub-par script, but I'd have to disagree that a story (how implausible/impossible it might be) can not be told without the use of great special effects.
Check the date on this movie... then grab a copy to watch. The effects were, to say the least, painful...
Heck, in one story arc I remember he gets taken over by some foreign entity and essentially manages to take out every other member of the Justice League, single handedly (including keeping a piece of kryptonite on reserve "just in case").
Actually, Superman GAVE him that kryptonite as a fail-safe in case Supes should turn "bad"... 'n' if I'm not mistaken, he used it to beat the crap outta Kal-El... right before he had a heart attack... {Dark Knight Returns}
The fact that Superman thought he was more trustworthy than ANYone else says volumes for Batman.
For recent versions of Ubuntu, fire up Synaptic {or use apt-get, or any other preferred method} and get the package called Startup Manager.
Beats the hell out of tweaking GRUB entries.
Windows is a lot closer to it than Linux on most fronts.
Not even close.
I work at a PC shop. We have users try to reinstall Windows all the time. Y'know what they can't wrap their heads around? Drivers. If I had a buck for every time someone said "well, I reinstalled Windows, but now I can't get on the internet and my screen colors look funny!"
A PC that's hardware-spec'd to Linux? Drop the disk in. Install. Enjoy.
Regardless, why should Windows be expected to get there first anyway?
Maybe 'cause with each OS iteration Microsoft tells us that they're already there... even though they're lying through their teeth... See my point above.
I think that sums up the attitude of far too many Linux devs/supporters - content to be second best on the desktop and hope that this "Free" thing will take it the rest of the way. It really won't though.
"Free" has caught the attention of quite a few of our clients. Most of them had Joe Q. Relative build them a PC on the cheap, drop a pirated copy of Windows on there, and leave them to the mess they created. When we tell 'em their choice is to buy Windows, or get a functional equivilant for free, LOTS choose Linux. Heck, just OpenOffice itself [another fine FOSS project] has quite literally saved our clients thousands of dollars.
The trick is to let 'em know an alternative exists to begin with. Not everyone will jump at it, but the boulder's still at the top of the hill. Let it pick up some steam first.
I don't understand how it's apparently so fashionable on /. to make disgusting "jokes" about horrific things.
Probably 'cause the best choice in dealing with a horrific situation boils down to humor. The other choices being uselessly wailing, freaking out, or other emotional responses that do nothing to change or improve the situation. Finding the humor, however dark, and getting a chuckle is probably the best defense mechanism we humans have ever developed to stress...
Linux is built by titanium-skinned gods that were trained by magical ninja fairies.
I, for one, welcome our metal-god-educated-mystical-assassin-fairy overlords.
If I want to watch "live" movies from Netflix, I'm screwed 'cause of my dialup.
Your dialup isn't bodily integrated, is it? With other media streamers able to send CC/subtitles, this is a glaring omission from NF's services... and a reason NOT to tout them as firmly as above.