Why is anyone surprised? This happens all the time. Anonymous reviews on the Internet + unscrupulous company + morally-gray bloggers looking for a bit of easy cash = cheap, positive publicity.
So... yeah, my blog is in my profile and, uh, I'm willing to sell a bit of my soul if any companies reading this are interested...
a plaque bacteria that could not digest teeth (made no cavities). Of course, gross factor was high and was summarily pulled from market...Perhaps they were right, just 20 years too early.
Now, they would just have to spin it right ("Pro-biotic! No artificial whiteners! Organic ingredients!") and they could make millions.
If it weren't for space travel our world wouldn't be as technologically advanced as it is.
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we would have other technological advancements, we don't have the ability to peer into alternative universes to compare.
You're only looking at the main benefit of space travel in your statement, completely ignoring the spillover benefits of advanced technology.
Fair comment, but I didn't ignore it, I just didn't think of that.
I still think the prime motivator for space exploration was cold war expansionism, and that's how governments sold it to people - 'we've got to get up there before the Reds!' There's no "sales campaign" today with that kind of appeal to convince people of the value of space exploration.
I was going to flame you but then I re-read your post and I somewhat agree with you.
But I don't think it's fair to lump parents into two categories - those close-minded fundamentalists who shelter their children, and open-minded free thinkers who teach their children to make their own decisions. That's stereotypical nonsense.
Violence is part of life. Animals eat other animals, and even my three-year-old daughter is starting to understand that. But gratuitous violence which we watch for our enjoyment and amusement is not part of life and I think kids deserve to be sheltered from as much unnecessary violence as possible. We put too much emphasis on our right to be entertained, and justifying our appetite for violence in our entertainment by mocking anyone who disagrees with us (not that you are doing that) but I think a kid's right to an innocent, happy childhood should take precedence.
For the record, I have enjoyed violent FPS games since Wolfenstein 3D but when I'm playing STALKER I don't let my daughter watch because I don't want to fill her mind with violent images. She used to sit on my lap while I would play Half-Life 2 but when she started trying to tell me which gun to use I realized that maybe it would be more appropriate to shut down the game and go play soccer with her outside.
I'll save the "appreciation of violent art" discussion for when she's in her teens, when her reasoning skills really start to develop.
That was kind of a long-winded way of saying I'm glad the team put a no-blood option in the game. That actually could broaden their audience. My wife played and loved the first two Fallout games because there was a violence filter. We passed on Fallout 3 because as far as I can tell there is no such filter (at least, when I contacted the company directly to ask this question I received a useless generic form letter which did not answer the question).
The problem isn't that space exploration is dangerous - everyone knows that. The problem is that space exploration requires a lot of money for no return other than glory and prestige.
The only good quote from that Esquire article:
Space demands sack. In a country that couldn't figure out how to mortgage a suburban family home, Mars suddenly seemed a long way off.
There's no cold war driving the shuttle program anymore, so it's over. And after the moon landing, and robotic probes sent to other planets, we all realized something - space is really fucking huge. It tales a long time to get anywhere, and costs a huge amount of money to send even a tiny amount of stuff out of this atmosphere. People hear about crazy plans to send people to Mars and ask "Why bother?" I tend to agree with them.
On the other hand, the space station project is something that makes sense. It's a baby step, it's something that (ideally) allows all interested countries with space agencies and some cash to participate and could someday evolve into a shipyard where exploration probes - and even manned craft - could be built and launched without having to burn a lot of rocket fuel escaping earth's gravity. Yeah, I've probably been watching too much Star Trek. But if the public could be made to understand the value of this program maybe interest would revive in space again.
The age of Asimovian idealism is over. It's the Pragmatic Age. If people can see the value of investing in space, they'll do it. But no one is buying dreams anymore.
Well, I like Linux and all, but when it comes to gaming articles published on a big gaming site, posting Linux benchmarks would be a bit like comparing a train's performance on Russian versus European rail grades, interesting but kind of pointless.
I know a lot of people are holding on to Windows software for gaming (like myself, I would switch if it was easy to run all my games) and Linux has potential, but game publishers just aren't interested in such a financially insignificant market. They are the ones that need to make the push.
I suspect Apple realized this and that this was one of the reasons it introduced Boot Camp.
the real reason of operating a newspaper or site is to make your audience see the world through your goggles.
No it isn't. The real reason is to make money. If your competitor is stealing your work and using it for their own financial gain, I think you have a right to be pissed off and sue.
You give the media too much credit -- its motives are surprisingly shallow. It doesn't really care what you think, you are free to agree or disagree, as long as you are reading/watching/listening, and of course, paying attention to those wonderful advertisers who make the whole thing possible.
Thank you, that was very well-said! The "official" versions of history often require a lot of reading between the lines, and when compared with other, first-hand information from the "common folk" can paint a much more clear picture of what was really going on.
While it will be daunting for future historians to sift through the vast amount of personal stories published in the 21st century, it will be invaluable in understanding life in our times.
You know, when robots dig our frozen corpses and archives out of the vast glaciers of the second great ice age and want to learn how to be more human.
You can get scrolling marquee licence plate holders. This is just the first link I found, I have seen them cheaper at places like Canadian Tire (which will probably confuse 98 per cent of readers here). But they do exist.
Still, making my own would be fun, I could put it up on the wall of my cubicle and do Facebook-style status updates with it. "Jabbrwokk is picking his nose and flicking it at the back of Jeff's head."
No, no, no, you've got it wrong. They just don't know about all the free porn they can get with broadband. No more lurking outside Bobbi Sue's trailer tonight!
Seriously though, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Who gives a shit if the "Superbar" looks like the "Dock" or if one car looks like another or if three movies came out this year with suspiciously similar premises.
This dipshit probably has a golden parachute clause in his contract somewhere. They always do. Maybe he's the idiot nephew of someone high-up in Redmond, that's why he's with Microsoft Mobile UK, they sent him off where they thought he couldn't do any real harm. Woops.
a lot of the viewing public went "So what? That doesn't look so bad to me." A callous view to begin with, but tempered by the fact that they simply haven't seen or heard about the things that anyone would call torture.
I hate to ever "blame the media" because it's my industry but I think most mainstream news (especially TV) are at fault for shallow reporting, choosing to focus on the superficial (man-on-a-box picture, e.g.) instead of launching in-depth investigations like Seymour Hersh. Investigative journalism takes time and money, and angers powerful people (and advertisers). Expect to see it dwindle in North America to little or nothing in the next five years. The best we'll get is "Next on Dateline: we investigate five top-selling SUVs with safety issues you should AVOID!"
I also think people have been desensitized by the endless amounts of Saw-style torture porn they are watching and don't understand what torture really is. Maybe the awful videos and uncensored photos and documents from Abu Ghraib would wake up a desensitized nation of couch potatoes.
But on the flip side, I would hate to see the soldiers involved pilloried, crucified and scapegoated for their involvement. Abu Ghraib is a mirror reflecting what's wrong with the military chain of command, and of the attitude of many powerful politicians and businesspeople. America needs to look long and hard at that reflection and pinch that zit.
It's the plethora of sources in the Wikipedia articles that are most valuable. I know the Wikipedia article is a cobbled together opinion that might be worthless and even wrong.
I agree with that, the articles are often suspect but Wikipedia does a great job of putting sources on a topic in one place.
the Wikipedia article probably cites the most relevant and recent papers
Also a very good point for Wikipedia, and against Brittanica, which is outdated as soon as it's published. Anyone want to buy a set of used encyclopedias at the flea market? Thought not.
Google's ranking is appropriate because it reflects the fact that people link to the Wikipedia articles more, probably because those articles really are more useful as a starting point for research.
Also agree 100 per cent. But I don't think that's why most people use Wikipedia.
While you are correct, I think most people reading Wikipedia don't bother to check the sources, or think for themselves.
I believe the problem is that parents and schools do not adequately teach critical thinking skills. It's all about passing tests and getting a good job now. Being able to think critically and make decisions about the reliability of information is a dying skill set. Just look at the legions of Fox News and CNN viewers, or hell, people who get all their information from TV news. Do they look further? Do they look for alternative opinions and news sources to compare? Or do they just believe whatever Nancy Grace and Anderson Cooper tell them?
Good point, and not only that, but if the ugly isn't out in the open, eventually people will forget.
If we didn't have all those awful photos and films of holocaust victims and emaciated survivors, in 20 years once all the people are dead who lived through that time period revisionist historians could argue that the holocaust really wasn't all that bad, and people would believe them.
First-hand sources -- diaries, pictures, films, videos -- keep us all honest.
Yeah, whatever happened to Minh Le? The guy creates the most popular Half-Life mod ever, which helped sell a LOT of copies of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (people buying it for the Source version), and now appears to have vanished from the gaming scene.
So... how secure is this? I can't imagine anyone other than my doctor (and not even him, probably) are that interested in my biometrics, but I am not comfortable with the information being broadcast over a network.
The summary links to a stub which links to the actual article, which describes how the network-enabled system could be used:
Caregivers or relatives will know when and what pills patients have taken or if the patients failed to take their medications.
So you can watch Grandma forget to take her pills - in real time!
That is *funny*. You think you *see* Orz but Orz are not *light reflections*.
Maybe you think Orz are *many bubbles* too. It is such a joke.
Orz are not *many bubbles* like *campers*. Orz are just Orz.
I am Orz. I am one with many *fingers*.
My *fingers* reach through into *heavy space* and you *see* *Orz bubbles*
In light of the article's suggestions, the Orz suddenly make a lot more sense. And I am going to reinstall that game and play it for the umpteenth time.
Slashdot Mirror
Why is anyone surprised? This happens all the time. Anonymous reviews on the Internet + unscrupulous company + morally-gray bloggers looking for a bit of easy cash = cheap, positive publicity.
So... yeah, my blog is in my profile and, uh, I'm willing to sell a bit of my soul if any companies reading this are interested...
a plaque bacteria that could not digest teeth (made no cavities). Of course, gross factor was high and was summarily pulled from market...Perhaps they were right, just 20 years too early.
Now, they would just have to spin it right ("Pro-biotic! No artificial whiteners! Organic ingredients!") and they could make millions.
The pragmatic age is coming, when people realize they are in debt up to their eyeballs and bring back those 70-inch TVs they bought on credit.
And you're kind of making a Reductio ad absurdum argument. No need to be combative, I agree 100 per cent with your premise.
If it weren't for space travel our world wouldn't be as technologically advanced as it is.
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we would have other technological advancements, we don't have the ability to peer into alternative universes to compare.
You're only looking at the main benefit of space travel in your statement, completely ignoring the spillover benefits of advanced technology.
Fair comment, but I didn't ignore it, I just didn't think of that.
I still think the prime motivator for space exploration was cold war expansionism, and that's how governments sold it to people - 'we've got to get up there before the Reds!' There's no "sales campaign" today with that kind of appeal to convince people of the value of space exploration.
Thank you for picking up on my poorly-worded sentence. Your input is truly valued, even if it's delivered in an asinine, trolling manner.
What I should have said was "if the public could be persuaded of the long-term value of this program."
And no, I won't persuade you. That's the job of the space agency in whatever country you're from.
I was going to flame you but then I re-read your post and I somewhat agree with you.
But I don't think it's fair to lump parents into two categories - those close-minded fundamentalists who shelter their children, and open-minded free thinkers who teach their children to make their own decisions. That's stereotypical nonsense.
Violence is part of life. Animals eat other animals, and even my three-year-old daughter is starting to understand that. But gratuitous violence which we watch for our enjoyment and amusement is not part of life and I think kids deserve to be sheltered from as much unnecessary violence as possible. We put too much emphasis on our right to be entertained, and justifying our appetite for violence in our entertainment by mocking anyone who disagrees with us (not that you are doing that) but I think a kid's right to an innocent, happy childhood should take precedence.
For the record, I have enjoyed violent FPS games since Wolfenstein 3D but when I'm playing STALKER I don't let my daughter watch because I don't want to fill her mind with violent images. She used to sit on my lap while I would play Half-Life 2 but when she started trying to tell me which gun to use I realized that maybe it would be more appropriate to shut down the game and go play soccer with her outside.
I'll save the "appreciation of violent art" discussion for when she's in her teens, when her reasoning skills really start to develop.
That was kind of a long-winded way of saying I'm glad the team put a no-blood option in the game. That actually could broaden their audience. My wife played and loved the first two Fallout games because there was a violence filter. We passed on Fallout 3 because as far as I can tell there is no such filter (at least, when I contacted the company directly to ask this question I received a useless generic form letter which did not answer the question).
The problem isn't that space exploration is dangerous - everyone knows that. The problem is that space exploration requires a lot of money for no return other than glory and prestige.
The only good quote from that Esquire article:
Space demands sack. In a country that couldn't figure out how to mortgage a suburban family home, Mars suddenly seemed a long way off.
There's no cold war driving the shuttle program anymore, so it's over. And after the moon landing, and robotic probes sent to other planets, we all realized something - space is really fucking huge. It tales a long time to get anywhere, and costs a huge amount of money to send even a tiny amount of stuff out of this atmosphere. People hear about crazy plans to send people to Mars and ask "Why bother?" I tend to agree with them.
On the other hand, the space station project is something that makes sense. It's a baby step, it's something that (ideally) allows all interested countries with space agencies and some cash to participate and could someday evolve into a shipyard where exploration probes - and even manned craft - could be built and launched without having to burn a lot of rocket fuel escaping earth's gravity. Yeah, I've probably been watching too much Star Trek. But if the public could be made to understand the value of this program maybe interest would revive in space again.
The age of Asimovian idealism is over. It's the Pragmatic Age. If people can see the value of investing in space, they'll do it. But no one is buying dreams anymore.
Well, I like Linux and all, but when it comes to gaming articles published on a big gaming site, posting Linux benchmarks would be a bit like comparing a train's performance on Russian versus European rail grades, interesting but kind of pointless.
I know a lot of people are holding on to Windows software for gaming (like myself, I would switch if it was easy to run all my games) and Linux has potential, but game publishers just aren't interested in such a financially insignificant market. They are the ones that need to make the push.
I suspect Apple realized this and that this was one of the reasons it introduced Boot Camp.
the real reason of operating a newspaper or site is to make your audience see the world through your goggles.
No it isn't. The real reason is to make money. If your competitor is stealing your work and using it for their own financial gain, I think you have a right to be pissed off and sue.
You give the media too much credit -- its motives are surprisingly shallow. It doesn't really care what you think, you are free to agree or disagree, as long as you are reading/watching/listening, and of course, paying attention to those wonderful advertisers who make the whole thing possible.
Oh thank god for a second there I thought you were posting a rickroll.
There's something that can be stricken from the archives of history forever.
Thank you, that was very well-said! The "official" versions of history often require a lot of reading between the lines, and when compared with other, first-hand information from the "common folk" can paint a much more clear picture of what was really going on.
While it will be daunting for future historians to sift through the vast amount of personal stories published in the 21st century, it will be invaluable in understanding life in our times.
You know, when robots dig our frozen corpses and archives out of the vast glaciers of the second great ice age and want to learn how to be more human.
You can get scrolling marquee licence plate holders. This is just the first link I found, I have seen them cheaper at places like Canadian Tire (which will probably confuse 98 per cent of readers here). But they do exist.
Still, making my own would be fun, I could put it up on the wall of my cubicle and do Facebook-style status updates with it. "Jabbrwokk is picking his nose and flicking it at the back of Jeff's head."
No, no, no, you've got it wrong. They just don't know about all the free porn they can get with broadband. No more lurking outside Bobbi Sue's trailer tonight!
I wish I had mod points today, thanks for posting that. It was an excellent and constructive criticism.
Spore 2: The Search for More Money
Why make a sequel when you can release umpteen expansion packs full of material that couldn't possibly have been shipped in the original game, no.
Oops, my bad, got you mixed up with your half-brother Jubal.
Sorry everyone, Wendy's had the Superbar long before anyone else.
Seriously though, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Who gives a shit if the "Superbar" looks like the "Dock" or if one car looks like another or if three movies came out this year with suspiciously similar premises.
Survivor: Microsoft (or any other big corporation these days): The biggest backstabbing prick wins.
PS -- your name. Aren't you the guy in the Bible who invented music? You must have some interesting insights into the whole "DRM in Music" debate.
This dipshit probably has a golden parachute clause in his contract somewhere. They always do. Maybe he's the idiot nephew of someone high-up in Redmond, that's why he's with Microsoft Mobile UK, they sent him off where they thought he couldn't do any real harm. Woops.
You make a good point:
a lot of the viewing public went "So what? That doesn't look so bad to me." A callous view to begin with, but tempered by the fact that they simply haven't seen or heard about the things that anyone would call torture.
I hate to ever "blame the media" because it's my industry but I think most mainstream news (especially TV) are at fault for shallow reporting, choosing to focus on the superficial (man-on-a-box picture, e.g.) instead of launching in-depth investigations like Seymour Hersh. Investigative journalism takes time and money, and angers powerful people (and advertisers). Expect to see it dwindle in North America to little or nothing in the next five years. The best we'll get is "Next on Dateline: we investigate five top-selling SUVs with safety issues you should AVOID!"
I also think people have been desensitized by the endless amounts of Saw-style torture porn they are watching and don't understand what torture really is. Maybe the awful videos and uncensored photos and documents from Abu Ghraib would wake up a desensitized nation of couch potatoes.
But on the flip side, I would hate to see the soldiers involved pilloried, crucified and scapegoated for their involvement. Abu Ghraib is a mirror reflecting what's wrong with the military chain of command, and of the attitude of many powerful politicians and businesspeople. America needs to look long and hard at that reflection and pinch that zit.
It's the plethora of sources in the Wikipedia articles that are most valuable. I know the Wikipedia article is a cobbled together opinion that might be worthless and even wrong.
I agree with that, the articles are often suspect but Wikipedia does a great job of putting sources on a topic in one place.
the Wikipedia article probably cites the most relevant and recent papers
Also a very good point for Wikipedia, and against Brittanica, which is outdated as soon as it's published. Anyone want to buy a set of used encyclopedias at the flea market? Thought not.
Google's ranking is appropriate because it reflects the fact that people link to the Wikipedia articles more, probably because those articles really are more useful as a starting point for research.
Also agree 100 per cent. But I don't think that's why most people use Wikipedia.
While you are correct, I think most people reading Wikipedia don't bother to check the sources, or think for themselves.
I believe the problem is that parents and schools do not adequately teach critical thinking skills. It's all about passing tests and getting a good job now. Being able to think critically and make decisions about the reliability of information is a dying skill set. Just look at the legions of Fox News and CNN viewers, or hell, people who get all their information from TV news. Do they look further? Do they look for alternative opinions and news sources to compare? Or do they just believe whatever Nancy Grace and Anderson Cooper tell them?
Good point, and not only that, but if the ugly isn't out in the open, eventually people will forget.
If we didn't have all those awful photos and films of holocaust victims and emaciated survivors, in 20 years once all the people are dead who lived through that time period revisionist historians could argue that the holocaust really wasn't all that bad, and people would believe them.
First-hand sources -- diaries, pictures, films, videos -- keep us all honest.
Yeah, whatever happened to Minh Le? The guy creates the most popular Half-Life mod ever, which helped sell a LOT of copies of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (people buying it for the Source version), and now appears to have vanished from the gaming scene.
I think that helps prove your point.
can be passed on to a 3G mobile network
So... how secure is this? I can't imagine anyone other than my doctor (and not even him, probably) are that interested in my biometrics, but I am not comfortable with the information being broadcast over a network.
The summary links to a stub which links to the actual article, which describes how the network-enabled system could be used:
Caregivers or relatives will know when and what pills patients have taken or if the patients failed to take their medications.
So you can watch Grandma forget to take her pills - in real time!
You are definitely on to something:
That is *funny*. You think you *see* Orz but Orz are not *light reflections*. Maybe you think Orz are *many bubbles* too. It is such a joke. Orz are not *many bubbles* like *campers*. Orz are just Orz. I am Orz. I am one with many *fingers*. My *fingers* reach through into *heavy space* and you *see* *Orz bubbles*
In light of the article's suggestions, the Orz suddenly make a lot more sense. And I am going to reinstall that game and play it for the umpteenth time.
Just remember what happened to the Androsynth.