Portal was one of the freshest gaming experiences for me in a long time. I haven't replayed a game since mario, but I played Portal a couple times start to finish to pick up extra GladOS smack talk that I missed the first time. Particularly the line "you will be baked, and then there will be cake".
Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and 2 were pretty good too, mainly because of mostly having someone running with me the whole game. And the funny part is they were actually USEFUL for a change. Like crossing a field of zombies with Alyx manning the sniper rifle and blowing zombies' heads off.. or the good alien dude who shoots lightning and tears up bad guys like nothing. Definitely a nice change of pace from WoW escort quests.
Yep, but see that one of the things I like best about it (the difficulty, political price, etc). It would be the next US project to get everybody feeling patriotic about American ingenuity, etc. We just need a really good demo to sell the idea and make sure it's really possible, etc. And if it is, then it COULD even become a source of national pride. It would get NASA back in the budget also. I don't know much about the real science that they do in space, but I believe them when they say it is good for humanity. Space solar has a lot of potential positive effects aside from just the energy potential, and that's one of the reasons I like it. Besides, it would still be cheaper than running out of oil and crashing our economy.
I'm voting for him just because any funny looking little guy who's not rich and can get a hot piece of ass wife like Kucinich's got who actually seems to be in love with him must have some serious Mojo. I know this sounds funny, but that's exactly the kind of guy we need to deal with the Iranians and Chinese.
Hells yeah! If Bush Sr doesn't want to travel with Bill Clinton, then put Kucinich on that pimp train.
Some of Ron Paul's followers are so enamoured with him, that this close inspection will never happen. Sometimes it seems more like a religion than a grassroots movement.
I think it is desperation for substantial change that is driving his campaign. It's the whole burn-it-down-and-start-over mentality. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I know, it almost sounds like a new recipe for global warming, but I have faith that science could figure it out. And if not, then oh well, but it's still worth a try. There is such a retardedly huge amount of energy just flying past us, it would be nice to hang a bucket out to catch some, if it didn't have any overwhelming drawbacks. There is definitely a potential to turn it into a weapon.. that could be scary. Spontaneous human combustion suddenly becomes real again, at least in Iran.:/
If there was ever an argument for instant runoff elections, that's it right there. I like candidate A, but if he/she doesn't get enough votes, then I go for candidate B. That way you don't completely lose just 'cause your first vote didn't win.
Well, yeah, that's basically it in a nutshell.. unfortunately, I haven't heard any of them talk about that. Why would they? The only people interested are 3rd party long shots and people who would like to vote for 3rd party long shots. The best thing about IRV is that we could stop holding primaries. To get on the ballot in any state, you just need enough signatures in that state. To win, you need to be on the ballot in enough states. That would keep the ballot from being a mile long and still have all the major candidates as available choices. Supposedly, Condorcet and IRV in general have problems, mathematically, but I feel it would fix much more than it would break. The combination of the 2 party system, primary voting, and electoral college got Bush Jr in for 8 years, so anything would be a step up at this point, imho.
A troll? no, sorry, maybe the post he responded to was a troll, but his post was a fairly cogent argument. "If you believe the crap around greenhouse emissions" is clearly a bait statement. "Eco-loonies"? If he's a troll, then so are you, but I don't think either you are, so lighten up. I'll give you +1 on the "banana" acronym, though, heh, that's pretty funny. I hate those nimby types too. The ones that kill me are the dolts who won't even let a cell tower go up in their neighborhood, even though you know there's nothing they love better than driving their 3 ton SUV while jabbering away on their cell phone at 10 miles under the speed limit while barely staying between the lines. Of course they probably couldn't give a crap less about the environment. I wonder if we could turn them into fuel somehow?
Hmm, like they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The article about Iceland does mention that the whole place smells of sulfur, but that's because it just pours out of the ground in big, hot, bubbly, stinky mud pits. It's already there anyway. I suppose once you tap the ground and really get the juices flowing, the sulfur could get out of hand. Can you imagine being the only one in your group of friends to work in such a place? So you're all out at a bar, and you're the one guy who reeks from head to toe like a rancid fart.. green doesn't always mean clean. =]
I'm not a huge fan of hydroelectric dams anyway. People upstream and downstream always seem to get completely screwed, and then the salt water from the ocean comes upstream and starts killing everything.. I wonder if it's worth it. Mm, article says basically the same stuff. Yep, no free lunch.
It seems like any time you capture natural energy from the earth, there will be consequences to toying with million-year-old natural balances. At least with nuclear, the fuel wasn't doing anything useful. Tidal, wind, and solar seem pretty green, but these are all part of the earth once implemented, whereas a nuclear reactor in the basement of an apartment building isn't part of anything. No fish get near it, no birds, no volcanoes, etc. The isolation factor, in my mind, does outweigh a bit of the dirtiness of it.
Personally, I'm kind of cheering for space solar power. The light is so pure and powerful in space, it seems a no brainer. Here's just one site I found on the subject, but I can't vouch for it.. it will give an idea though. http://www.sspi.gatech.edu/
Geothermal looks great on paper but AFAIK there are still tech barriers involved.
I heard a report on NPR about Iceland where they have active volcanoes (or at least volcanoish activity), and they run the whole town off of steam pipes that they shove into the ground. If you're in a spot where the Earth is conducive to it, the technology has been licked. They're traveling around trying to spread the word now, but I imagine the application will be necessarily limited, just like tidal, soloar, etc. Huzzah, I found the article http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16780339
It's definitely greener than nuclear, but we shouldn't argue about what's the greenest, as long as it's green
I did look it up, and thank you for the new word, but my opinion still stands that the Preamble states the spirit and context that the rest should be interpreted. The government is going to do, and should do, things that aren't specifically in the constitution, as long as we are in keeping with the spirit of it. Truth, justice, and the American way, etc. That means interpretation, which means opinion, which means we all draw the line somewhere else. Saying that so-and-so department is not specifically enumerated is a specious argument, because it's just not a realistic way to do business. The fact is that we all draw our own line, and so saying that "it's not in the constitution" is a fallacious appeal to authority, in my opinion. I see your point, though. I think you took me a bit too literally. Are you actually disagreeing with me, or just calling me out for a bogus argument? As a RP supporter, I suppose there's a chance you're one of those ultra-literalists that I tend to disagree with. Not that there's anything wrong with that. That's why we vote.
It certainly speaks to the spirit, and it *is* right there at the beginning.. I mean, talk about context. Plus, I did look it up, which is how I quoted it without messing it up. =]
The department of education is not Constitutional first off, neither is the DHS or FEMA.
The preamble to the Constitution would like to have a word with you:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
A woman's right to control her own body is one of those inalienable rights that should have made it into the top ten, but they hadn't thought of it yet. The states should have more authority over things, but, IMHO, abortion is not one of them.
Abortion may be an ugly thing, and there will be eternal debate over whether or not it SHOULD happen, but I don't see any reason to outlaw it. Just try to talk people out of it if you feel that strongly about it. (not you, mdm, I didn't see you state a specific opinion on the topic). Turning abortion into a fed versus state issue seems silly to me.
Good. More power to the states and less power to the federal government.
Roe v. Wade strips power from both. Giving the power to the states would be giving power to one where before the power was held by neither. Frankly, I like it better the way it is now.
To treat the crime any different because of the perceived action of the defendant is WRONG. It should make no difference whether person X killed person Y and that person Y happened to be of a different race that person X did not like. Why should there be "more justice" for person Y, then say person Z that X might have killed who was the same race?
That's exactly the point, and it's exactly wrong. You're found guilty or not based on the evidence, but you're sentenced based on a lot of factors, and it does not seem like stretch to me to factor in whether or not you currently harbor blind, murderous hate for arbitrary groups of people. The group issue raises another point in that one side of the penal system is to protect the public. If you still have it in your heart to kill lots of people, that's a continuing threat, and I, for one, would like to see Teebo and Bubba broaden your anu^H^H^Hhorizons.
You're probably right then.. I remembered the quote, but slightly different wording, more like "I'm sorry about sending you such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one".. anyway, the first 3 hits in google were Twain and all had the same wording, so I said what the hell:) Wikiality strikes again
But really, don't people have any manners anymore? Isn't sending files in an unknown/unreadable/not-yet-universally-accepted format impolite?
One would think so. It is either rudeness or incompetence, and I go back and forth by the day on which I think I would prefer. I wholeheartedly agree with you, though. It really should be a matter of simple manners and courtesy. That is part of the reason why I said we are standard on 2000 AND 2003.. the administrative staff is on 03 for maximum compatibility with incoming documents (they may get 07 soon), and the sales staff is on 2000 for maximum compatibility on outgoing documents. 2000 and 2003 are actually pretty compatible, though. I think 03 saves in 00 format in most cases by default. 07 is intentionally being a prick about the whole thing.
Well, sure, there's a bit of that, but I have another theory aside from people thinking they "need" it. I especially hate it here at work, because I have Office 07 due to being in the nerd quarter, whereas everyone else is on 2000 or 2003.. So we have clients that will send us docx or xlsx files, and I have to convert them. Well a VAST majority of the time, and so far I would say 100% of the time, the docx's in particular could have been written in notepad, since they have basically no formatting. The xlsx files could have just as easily been created in any version back to lotus 123. Based on the corporate pant-load asshats that send us these files, my personal theory is that MS has somehow elevated their software to be a status symbol, especially the $400 versions. These too-rich dingleberries who send us.docx files are basically showing off and getting a little power trip off of making us convert their files. I've actually had smarmy corporate types giggle at me on the phone and say things like "can't afford to migrate the whole office to 07 yet, eh? yuk yuk".. these are people who are doing things for the wrong reason, of course. I just don't think there is yet a "right reason" to use docx or xlsx for 99% of business.
Maybe we need a class action lawsuit that prescribes a remedy such that MS is required to install an option to choose the default format, and be able to set the format via group policy?
See, I don't think that secrecy is the only thing that makes ms office worth buying. It really is a fairly nice package in most respects (except price.. $400?!), and of course it integrates well with Windows. The latest versions come with lots of options and clip art and little niceties that users like, and I think even if MS switched to ODF by default, they would still sell just as many copies of Office. Hell, they could sell a suite of conversion tools to batch convert from proprietary formats to odf across Windows networks. So the question then becomes: if you can make just as much money by playing nice, why do you still feel the need to throw sand in everyone's face at every turn? If only MS would use its powers for good instead of evil... instead, it's a big game of monopoly (literally and figuratively) where they haven't won unless they get every single dollar.
My favorite (aka, most hated) is along those lines, but not quite:
Me: click the thing User: Ok Me: click the next thing User: Ok Me: click the next thing User: Ok Me: right-click the next thing User: what? Me: click the right button on it User: Ok Me: click the next thing User: Is that left click or right click? Me: left click User: Ok Me: click the next thing User: Is that left click or right click? Me: AAAUAHGGHGHAHG!!1
And my favorite question: User: Is the Internet down? Me: Is there panic in the streets today?
Slashdot Mirror
Portal was one of the freshest gaming experiences for me in a long time. I haven't replayed a game since mario, but I played Portal a couple times start to finish to pick up extra GladOS smack talk that I missed the first time. Particularly the line "you will be baked, and then there will be cake". Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and 2 were pretty good too, mainly because of mostly having someone running with me the whole game. And the funny part is they were actually USEFUL for a change. Like crossing a field of zombies with Alyx manning the sniper rifle and blowing zombies' heads off.. or the good alien dude who shoots lightning and tears up bad guys like nothing. Definitely a nice change of pace from WoW escort quests.
Yep, but see that one of the things I like best about it (the difficulty, political price, etc). It would be the next US project to get everybody feeling patriotic about American ingenuity, etc. We just need a really good demo to sell the idea and make sure it's really possible, etc. And if it is, then it COULD even become a source of national pride. It would get NASA back in the budget also. I don't know much about the real science that they do in space, but I believe them when they say it is good for humanity. Space solar has a lot of potential positive effects aside from just the energy potential, and that's one of the reasons I like it. Besides, it would still be cheaper than running out of oil and crashing our economy.
I'm voting for him just because any funny looking little guy who's not rich and can get a hot piece of ass wife like Kucinich's got who actually seems to be in love with him must have some serious Mojo. I know this sounds funny, but that's exactly the kind of guy we need to deal with the Iranians and Chinese.
Hells yeah! If Bush Sr doesn't want to travel with Bill Clinton, then put Kucinich on that pimp train.
Uh, yeah, that argument isn't going to fly here.
Some of Ron Paul's followers are so enamoured with him, that this close inspection will never happen. Sometimes it seems more like a religion than a grassroots movement.
I think it is desperation for substantial change that is driving his campaign. It's the whole burn-it-down-and-start-over mentality. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I know, it almost sounds like a new recipe for global warming, but I have faith that science could figure it out. And if not, then oh well, but it's still worth a try. There is such a retardedly huge amount of energy just flying past us, it would be nice to hang a bucket out to catch some, if it didn't have any overwhelming drawbacks. There is definitely a potential to turn it into a weapon.. that could be scary. Spontaneous human combustion suddenly becomes real again, at least in Iran. :/
If there was ever an argument for instant runoff elections, that's it right there. I like candidate A, but if he/she doesn't get enough votes, then I go for candidate B. That way you don't completely lose just 'cause your first vote didn't win.
Well, yeah, that's basically it in a nutshell.. unfortunately, I haven't heard any of them talk about that. Why would they? The only people interested are 3rd party long shots and people who would like to vote for 3rd party long shots. The best thing about IRV is that we could stop holding primaries. To get on the ballot in any state, you just need enough signatures in that state. To win, you need to be on the ballot in enough states. That would keep the ballot from being a mile long and still have all the major candidates as available choices. Supposedly, Condorcet and IRV in general have problems, mathematically, but I feel it would fix much more than it would break. The combination of the 2 party system, primary voting, and electoral college got Bush Jr in for 8 years, so anything would be a step up at this point, imho.
A troll? no, sorry, maybe the post he responded to was a troll, but his post was a fairly cogent argument. "If you believe the crap around greenhouse emissions" is clearly a bait statement. "Eco-loonies"? If he's a troll, then so are you, but I don't think either you are, so lighten up. I'll give you +1 on the "banana" acronym, though, heh, that's pretty funny. I hate those nimby types too. The ones that kill me are the dolts who won't even let a cell tower go up in their neighborhood, even though you know there's nothing they love better than driving their 3 ton SUV while jabbering away on their cell phone at 10 miles under the speed limit while barely staying between the lines. Of course they probably couldn't give a crap less about the environment. I wonder if we could turn them into fuel somehow?
Hmm, like they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The article about Iceland does mention that the whole place smells of sulfur, but that's because it just pours out of the ground in big, hot, bubbly, stinky mud pits. It's already there anyway. I suppose once you tap the ground and really get the juices flowing, the sulfur could get out of hand. Can you imagine being the only one in your group of friends to work in such a place? So you're all out at a bar, and you're the one guy who reeks from head to toe like a rancid fart.. green doesn't always mean clean. =]
I'm not a huge fan of hydroelectric dams anyway. People upstream and downstream always seem to get completely screwed, and then the salt water from the ocean comes upstream and starts killing everything.. I wonder if it's worth it. Mm, article says basically the same stuff. Yep, no free lunch.
It seems like any time you capture natural energy from the earth, there will be consequences to toying with million-year-old natural balances. At least with nuclear, the fuel wasn't doing anything useful. Tidal, wind, and solar seem pretty green, but these are all part of the earth once implemented, whereas a nuclear reactor in the basement of an apartment building isn't part of anything. No fish get near it, no birds, no volcanoes, etc. The isolation factor, in my mind, does outweigh a bit of the dirtiness of it.
Personally, I'm kind of cheering for space solar power. The light is so pure and powerful in space, it seems a no brainer. Here's just one site I found on the subject, but I can't vouch for it.. it will give an idea though. http://www.sspi.gatech.edu/
They said the same thing about the computer.
Good luck purchasing enough high quality vacuum tubes there, buddy, har har
Geothermal looks great on paper but AFAIK there are still tech barriers involved.
I heard a report on NPR about Iceland where they have active volcanoes (or at least volcanoish activity), and they run the whole town off of steam pipes that they shove into the ground. If you're in a spot where the Earth is conducive to it, the technology has been licked. They're traveling around trying to spread the word now, but I imagine the application will be necessarily limited, just like tidal, soloar, etc. Huzzah, I found the article http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16780339
It's definitely greener than nuclear, but we shouldn't argue about what's the greenest, as long as it's green
I did look it up, and thank you for the new word, but my opinion still stands that the Preamble states the spirit and context that the rest should be interpreted. The government is going to do, and should do, things that aren't specifically in the constitution, as long as we are in keeping with the spirit of it. Truth, justice, and the American way, etc. That means interpretation, which means opinion, which means we all draw the line somewhere else. Saying that so-and-so department is not specifically enumerated is a specious argument, because it's just not a realistic way to do business. The fact is that we all draw our own line, and so saying that "it's not in the constitution" is a fallacious appeal to authority, in my opinion. I see your point, though. I think you took me a bit too literally. Are you actually disagreeing with me, or just calling me out for a bogus argument? As a RP supporter, I suppose there's a chance you're one of those ultra-literalists that I tend to disagree with. Not that there's anything wrong with that. That's why we vote.
It certainly speaks to the spirit, and it *is* right there at the beginning.. I mean, talk about context. Plus, I did look it up, which is how I quoted it without messing it up. =]
The department of education is not Constitutional first off, neither is the DHS or FEMA.
The preamble to the Constitution would like to have a word with you:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
A woman's right to control her own body is one of those inalienable rights that should have made it into the top ten, but they hadn't thought of it yet. The states should have more authority over things, but, IMHO, abortion is not one of them.
Abortion may be an ugly thing, and there will be eternal debate over whether or not it SHOULD happen, but I don't see any reason to outlaw it. Just try to talk people out of it if you feel that strongly about it. (not you, mdm, I didn't see you state a specific opinion on the topic). Turning abortion into a fed versus state issue seems silly to me.
Good. More power to the states and less power to the federal government.
Roe v. Wade strips power from both. Giving the power to the states would be giving power to one where before the power was held by neither. Frankly, I like it better the way it is now.
To treat the crime any different because of the perceived action of the defendant is WRONG. It should make no difference whether person X killed person Y and that person Y happened to be of a different race that person X did not like. Why should there be "more justice" for person Y, then say person Z that X might have killed who was the same race?
That's exactly the point, and it's exactly wrong. You're found guilty or not based on the evidence, but you're sentenced based on a lot of factors, and it does not seem like stretch to me to factor in whether or not you currently harbor blind, murderous hate for arbitrary groups of people. The group issue raises another point in that one side of the penal system is to protect the public. If you still have it in your heart to kill lots of people, that's a continuing threat, and I, for one, would like to see Teebo and Bubba broaden your anu^H^H^Hhorizons.
You're probably right then.. I remembered the quote, but slightly different wording, more like "I'm sorry about sending you such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one".. anyway, the first 3 hits in google were Twain and all had the same wording, so I said what the hell :) Wikiality strikes again
But really, don't people have any manners anymore?
Isn't sending files in an unknown/unreadable/not-yet-universally-accepted format impolite?
One would think so. It is either rudeness or incompetence, and I go back and forth by the day on which I think I would prefer. I wholeheartedly agree with you, though. It really should be a matter of simple manners and courtesy. That is part of the reason why I said we are standard on 2000 AND 2003.. the administrative staff is on 03 for maximum compatibility with incoming documents (they may get 07 soon), and the sales staff is on 2000 for maximum compatibility on outgoing documents. 2000 and 2003 are actually pretty compatible, though. I think 03 saves in 00 format in most cases by default. 07 is intentionally being a prick about the whole thing.
Well, sure, there's a bit of that, but I have another theory aside from people thinking they "need" it. I especially hate it here at work, because I have Office 07 due to being in the nerd quarter, whereas everyone else is on 2000 or 2003.. So we have clients that will send us docx or xlsx files, and I have to convert them. Well a VAST majority of the time, and so far I would say 100% of the time, the docx's in particular could have been written in notepad, since they have basically no formatting. The xlsx files could have just as easily been created in any version back to lotus 123. Based on the corporate pant-load asshats that send us these files, my personal theory is that MS has somehow elevated their software to be a status symbol, especially the $400 versions. These too-rich dingleberries who send us .docx files are basically showing off and getting a little power trip off of making us convert their files. I've actually had smarmy corporate types giggle at me on the phone and say things like "can't afford to migrate the whole office to 07 yet, eh? yuk yuk".. these are people who are doing things for the wrong reason, of course. I just don't think there is yet a "right reason" to use docx or xlsx for 99% of business.
Maybe we need a class action lawsuit that prescribes a remedy such that MS is required to install an option to choose the default format, and be able to set the format via group policy?
Just remind him of Mark Twain's quote: I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.
You tell 'em! There's only two things I hate in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.
See, I don't think that secrecy is the only thing that makes ms office worth buying. It really is a fairly nice package in most respects (except price.. $400?!), and of course it integrates well with Windows. The latest versions come with lots of options and clip art and little niceties that users like, and I think even if MS switched to ODF by default, they would still sell just as many copies of Office. Hell, they could sell a suite of conversion tools to batch convert from proprietary formats to odf across Windows networks. So the question then becomes: if you can make just as much money by playing nice, why do you still feel the need to throw sand in everyone's face at every turn? If only MS would use its powers for good instead of evil... instead, it's a big game of monopoly (literally and figuratively) where they haven't won unless they get every single dollar.
the commas look fine to me.. maybe you meant to complain about lack of hyphen in the middle adjective phrase?
My favorite (aka, most hated) is along those lines, but not quite:
Me: click the thing
User: Ok
Me: click the next thing
User: Ok
Me: click the next thing
User: Ok
Me: right-click the next thing
User: what?
Me: click the right button on it
User: Ok
Me: click the next thing
User: Is that left click or right click?
Me: left click
User: Ok
Me: click the next thing
User: Is that left click or right click?
Me: AAAUAHGGHGHAHG!!1
And my favorite question:
User: Is the Internet down?
Me: Is there panic in the streets today?