Immediate attack on the parent poster's political affiliation... obviously the party that he belongs to (judging by this one issue, even though I don't know where he stands on others) is absolutely full of complete psychos and want to do all kinds of other bad things that will destroy civilization as we know it. And they completely fulfill the most extreme version of every stereotype about them.
Immediate attack on the two-party system. Accuse Democrats and Republicans of being exactly the same in every way. Baseless claim that Libertarians offer the only meaningful solutions stemming from my mistrust of the horrific lurching monstrosity called "government," whose true functions, in actuality, I only vaguely understand.
This is a ludicrous mindset, that making a living should only be secondary for an artist. Replace "artist" in your sentence with any other profession. Try, "the purpose of being a teacher is to teach because it is what you love. If you can manage to not starve while you do it, more power to you." Artists serve an important function in our society (arguably as important as any other profession), and to dismiss their needs because of some cliche mentality of how the arts should operate is trivializing how important they are to our culture. I'm not saying you should go into the arts expecting to become rich, just as you shouldn't go into ANY profession expecting to get rich, but by the same token being an artist is a profession like any other and artists should be able to make a living from their work if there is a sufficient market for it.
Yeah, I can't see how this will withstand a constitutional challenge. Commercial speech in the US is less protected than political/expressive speech, so if anything the government should have a weaker case than it did when that New Hampshire conviction got overturned (it will have much greater difficulty showing compelling interest for the statute, assuming the same level of scrutiny is used). Freedom of speech includes freedom not to speak.
My phone has a keyboard, and the developers of Tetris for Android won't let me use it.
Have you ever tried playing Tetris using a touch screen? It's a joke.
...Cue hordes of bitter posts bitching about how they won't play the game because it doesn't support LAN, without regard to how good or bad the game actually is.
Bullshit. Morality changes all the time, and has constantly throughout history. Try reading the Old Testament and then tell me that we should live by the code of morality expressed within - one that sanctions slavery, genocide, repression of women, and countless other atrocities (by our modern standards). If morality is absolute, then how do we even know that our society has it right, considering how many other standards of morality have prevailed throughout human existence? Absolute morality is a myth, as any cursory examination of history will reveal.
Unfortunately, for a member of Gen Y, it is not a question of an interest in personal privacy. Facebook has become a legitimate part of our social identity. A great deal of communication and social interaction goes on through Facebook. While I agree that the changes to Facebook are horrendous, deleting my profile is simply not an option if I want to continue to have a full social life - for example, many events/parties/gatherings/whatever are coordinated solely through Facebook, and off the top of my head I cannot think of a single friend of mine that does not have a profile. Not having a profile at this stage would be akin to an 18th-century Frenchman deciding not to go to salons because he thought they were lame. It is simply not an option unless I want to become a pariah.
Of course, the trouble is that Facebook knows how important it has become, and now can essentially do whatever it wants knowing that very few people will ever leave due to the reasons I expressed above.
'It is something that would really capture the imagination,' said Dr Ellen Stofan, from Proxemy Research, who leads the study team. 'The story of human exploration on Earth has been one of navigation and seafaring, and the idea that we could explore for the first time an extraterrestrial sea I think would be mind-blowing for most people,'
Sometimes the point of science need be be nothing more than to capture our imaginations and/or blow our minds.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws making texting while driving illegal and seven states and the district have banned driving while talking on a handheld cell phone.
This is an example of states setting their own laws to respond to an issue that directly affects the lives of their citizens. The possibility of the federal government stepping in and usurping this power is analogous to America's situation as far as the legal drinking age goes - MADD used its lobbying power to get Congress to essentially coerce the states into following its will. Keep in mind, barring a constitutional amendment, congress lacks the power to directly affect the drinking age - hence their questionable approach (albeit one that has been upheld by the courts) of saying, "well look, states, we're not telling you you HAVE to set the drinking age at 21, but if you don't, something might happen to your federal highway funding. We're just saying, it could happen." I realize that it would be somewhat impractical for the federal government to stay limited by an extremely strict interpretation of the Constitution, but there is absolutely no reason for the national government to waste its valuable time meddling here (don't we have a health care crisis or recession or whatever that they should be dealing with?). Cell phone use, like the drinking age, is one of those areas which should not be controlled nationally - if we take away all the powers of the states to set their own laws, then what's the point of even having a federal system to begin with?
My high school did actually have a mandatory Intro to Computers class, with a required typing speed in order to pass... 15 WPM. A typing speed that for all intents and purposes is the same as teaching calligraphy in place of handwriting. In any job where typing is a requirement, 15 WPM is completely useless. And many people in my class couldn't do it. They spent what felt like months trying to figure it out and cursing the teacher for giving such an unnecessarily stringent requirement.
How long until someone comes by and paints over the camera lenses disabling the tailored ads?
"As a service to our customers, the Digital Rights Management technology in our TV will disable the machine if it detects that our advertising technology has become inoperative."
...It'll only come with one authorized set of 3D glasses. Just like they do with console controllers, you'll have to buy more and the only authorized ones will come from Sony (you won't be able to use any ol' 3D glasses - remember these use super special "shutter" technology). And they won't be cheap either.
The US Supreme Court has touched on an issue similar to hate speech as recently as 1992. In the case R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul, the following law was struck down:
Whoever places on public or private property, a symbol, object, appellation, characterization or graffiti, including, but not limited to, a burning cross or Nazi swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The questionable part of the law being the last portion. The rationale for this decision is that it's fine to outlaw certain behavior, but not solely in the instances where it's brought about by motivations that we disapprove of. It's different from say, hate crimes, because hate crime laws penalize behaviors that were illegal to begin with. In the US this decision would certainly be applicable to hate speech legislation, if ALL speech including hate speech weren't already protected in all cases except where it can be shown to cause an imminent lawless action or certain cases dealing with state secrets. I am not aware of any relevant cases where, as you suggest, a "hate speech charge will crop up" due to some politician having his feathers ruffled. In theory this would be blatantly unconstitutional, but I can't dispute your facts as you didn't provide any specific instances.
In any case, knowledge unverified by scientific experimentation is not knowledge at all.
I'm for science as much as anyone on this site, but don't you think that's a bit of an exaggeration? You can't learn ANYTHING except through the scientific method?
So-called intuition and common sense are usually nothing more than widely held but unquestioned assumptions.
We DID actually evolve intuition for a reason. It's obviously not right all the time, but there's a reason why we're told to "go with our gut." Intuition is the means by which we pick up all those hundreds of subconscious signals that would otherwise slip by. It's kind of important.
Oh and one more thing while I'm on this tangent: the scientific method uses intuition as part of its process. All scientific experimentation begins with a hypothesis, and without intuition, scientists would be totally unable to come up with a hypothesis to test. Try it: using ONLY deduction, try to think of a hypothesis to test for an experiment. Sorry for the off-topic post, I juar felt like this needed addressing.
... a Republican is a Democrat is a Politician... they're all the same
Well that's not an overhasty generalization at all, is it? I know "Boooooo all politicians are the same it's all corrupt" flies over well with the mods, but come on. One of the major problems with American politics is that the parties aren't the same at all, more specifically that they can't agree on anything. That's why we have large majorities being fillibustered on every single piece of legislation (I admit this does seem to be a constant no matter which party is in power). In a two-party systm that's elected in the way ours is (first past the post with single-membered districts that are chosen by partisan bodies), the two parties will inevitably drift farther apart until they are at their ideological extremes. If all politicians were the same we certainly wouldn't be having the extreme partisan bitterness that we're seeing in the last month or so.
Natural selection in terms of the evolution of life forms is quite analogous to cultural phenomena taking shape over time. In both cases traits that are more beneficial to an environment are more likely to flourish. It's called memetics, and is often compared to genetics/natural selection in writings by experts on the subject. If you can't (or are unwilling to) see the similarities you're being obtuse.
How long until we get DRM-esque provisions that state that the sensor must be working for the TV to work? Soon they'll be stipulating that you're not buying the TV... you're simply licensed to use it at the discretion of the cable company.
Perhaps they "understand" up to 200 words, but do they understand them in the same way a 2-year-old human learns language? It is possible they have just been conditioned to associate certain words with behaviors - if a human says "sit" and the dog sits because it knows that will get it a treat, that isn't the same as the dog understanding the concept of "sit." (See Operant Conditioning.) This is an ongoing debate among those who study animal intelligence.
For my money, the most interesting animal intelligence case study was Alex the African Grey Parrot, whose species is believed by many to be the smartest non-human animal. His scientist keeper did a number of studies to demonstrate that Alex at least had some understanding of the concepts he was learning. Fascinating stuff.
Speaking as an actor, I can also tell you that videogame voiceover jobs pay for crap. I read a report on how the voice actors for GTA IV, one of the most expensive games ever produced, were essentially paid a stipend to cover their transportation costs. This sort of thing abounds, and it is the reason why it is difficult to find good (and funny) voice acting in the industry. The work is very often non-union, the actors are treated like crap, and the hours are absurd. Is it any wonder that characters in many videogames sound like a game developer dragged along his or her high school drama student kid brother to play the hero?
Slashdot Mirror
Immediate attack on the two-party system. Accuse Democrats and Republicans of being exactly the same in every way. Baseless claim that Libertarians offer the only meaningful solutions stemming from my mistrust of the horrific lurching monstrosity called "government," whose true functions, in actuality, I only vaguely understand.
Blee-otch.
"I have an existential map; it has 'you are here' written all over it." -Steven Wright.
What an injustice. Perhaps someday all will recognize the important contributions of German mathematician Dr. Johann F*ckton.
This is a ludicrous mindset, that making a living should only be secondary for an artist. Replace "artist" in your sentence with any other profession. Try, "the purpose of being a teacher is to teach because it is what you love. If you can manage to not starve while you do it, more power to you." Artists serve an important function in our society (arguably as important as any other profession), and to dismiss their needs because of some cliche mentality of how the arts should operate is trivializing how important they are to our culture. I'm not saying you should go into the arts expecting to become rich, just as you shouldn't go into ANY profession expecting to get rich, but by the same token being an artist is a profession like any other and artists should be able to make a living from their work if there is a sufficient market for it.
Yeah, I can't see how this will withstand a constitutional challenge. Commercial speech in the US is less protected than political/expressive speech, so if anything the government should have a weaker case than it did when that New Hampshire conviction got overturned (it will have much greater difficulty showing compelling interest for the statute, assuming the same level of scrutiny is used). Freedom of speech includes freedom not to speak.
My phone has a keyboard, and the developers of Tetris for Android won't let me use it. Have you ever tried playing Tetris using a touch screen? It's a joke.
...Cue hordes of bitter posts bitching about how they won't play the game because it doesn't support LAN, without regard to how good or bad the game actually is.
Bullshit. Morality changes all the time, and has constantly throughout history. Try reading the Old Testament and then tell me that we should live by the code of morality expressed within - one that sanctions slavery, genocide, repression of women, and countless other atrocities (by our modern standards). If morality is absolute, then how do we even know that our society has it right, considering how many other standards of morality have prevailed throughout human existence? Absolute morality is a myth, as any cursory examination of history will reveal.
...at a sound-stage on Mars.
Unfortunately, for a member of Gen Y, it is not a question of an interest in personal privacy. Facebook has become a legitimate part of our social identity. A great deal of communication and social interaction goes on through Facebook. While I agree that the changes to Facebook are horrendous, deleting my profile is simply not an option if I want to continue to have a full social life - for example, many events/parties/gatherings/whatever are coordinated solely through Facebook, and off the top of my head I cannot think of a single friend of mine that does not have a profile. Not having a profile at this stage would be akin to an 18th-century Frenchman deciding not to go to salons because he thought they were lame. It is simply not an option unless I want to become a pariah.
Of course, the trouble is that Facebook knows how important it has become, and now can essentially do whatever it wants knowing that very few people will ever leave due to the reasons I expressed above.
Sometimes the point of science need be be nothing more than to capture our imaginations and/or blow our minds.
...that when he was talking about increasing openness and accountability, he meant from himself?
I can't wait to see what causes it to malfunction this time!
This is an example of states setting their own laws to respond to an issue that directly affects the lives of their citizens. The possibility of the federal government stepping in and usurping this power is analogous to America's situation as far as the legal drinking age goes - MADD used its lobbying power to get Congress to essentially coerce the states into following its will. Keep in mind, barring a constitutional amendment, congress lacks the power to directly affect the drinking age - hence their questionable approach (albeit one that has been upheld by the courts) of saying, "well look, states, we're not telling you you HAVE to set the drinking age at 21, but if you don't, something might happen to your federal highway funding. We're just saying, it could happen." I realize that it would be somewhat impractical for the federal government to stay limited by an extremely strict interpretation of the Constitution, but there is absolutely no reason for the national government to waste its valuable time meddling here (don't we have a health care crisis or recession or whatever that they should be dealing with?). Cell phone use, like the drinking age, is one of those areas which should not be controlled nationally - if we take away all the powers of the states to set their own laws, then what's the point of even having a federal system to begin with?
My high school did actually have a mandatory Intro to Computers class, with a required typing speed in order to pass... 15 WPM. A typing speed that for all intents and purposes is the same as teaching calligraphy in place of handwriting. In any job where typing is a requirement, 15 WPM is completely useless. And many people in my class couldn't do it. They spent what felt like months trying to figure it out and cursing the teacher for giving such an unnecessarily stringent requirement.
"As a service to our customers, the Digital Rights Management technology in our TV will disable the machine if it detects that our advertising technology has become inoperative."
...It'll only come with one authorized set of 3D glasses. Just like they do with console controllers, you'll have to buy more and the only authorized ones will come from Sony (you won't be able to use any ol' 3D glasses - remember these use super special "shutter" technology). And they won't be cheap either.
The questionable part of the law being the last portion. The rationale for this decision is that it's fine to outlaw certain behavior, but not solely in the instances where it's brought about by motivations that we disapprove of. It's different from say, hate crimes, because hate crime laws penalize behaviors that were illegal to begin with. In the US this decision would certainly be applicable to hate speech legislation, if ALL speech including hate speech weren't already protected in all cases except where it can be shown to cause an imminent lawless action or certain cases dealing with state secrets. I am not aware of any relevant cases where, as you suggest, a "hate speech charge will crop up" due to some politician having his feathers ruffled. In theory this would be blatantly unconstitutional, but I can't dispute your facts as you didn't provide any specific instances.
I'm for science as much as anyone on this site, but don't you think that's a bit of an exaggeration? You can't learn ANYTHING except through the scientific method?
We DID actually evolve intuition for a reason. It's obviously not right all the time, but there's a reason why we're told to "go with our gut." Intuition is the means by which we pick up all those hundreds of subconscious signals that would otherwise slip by. It's kind of important.
Oh and one more thing while I'm on this tangent: the scientific method uses intuition as part of its process. All scientific experimentation begins with a hypothesis, and without intuition, scientists would be totally unable to come up with a hypothesis to test. Try it: using ONLY deduction, try to think of a hypothesis to test for an experiment. Sorry for the off-topic post, I juar felt like this needed addressing.
Well that's not an overhasty generalization at all, is it? I know "Boooooo all politicians are the same it's all corrupt" flies over well with the mods, but come on. One of the major problems with American politics is that the parties aren't the same at all, more specifically that they can't agree on anything. That's why we have large majorities being fillibustered on every single piece of legislation (I admit this does seem to be a constant no matter which party is in power). In a two-party systm that's elected in the way ours is (first past the post with single-membered districts that are chosen by partisan bodies), the two parties will inevitably drift farther apart until they are at their ideological extremes. If all politicians were the same we certainly wouldn't be having the extreme partisan bitterness that we're seeing in the last month or so.
Natural selection in terms of the evolution of life forms is quite analogous to cultural phenomena taking shape over time. In both cases traits that are more beneficial to an environment are more likely to flourish. It's called memetics, and is often compared to genetics/natural selection in writings by experts on the subject. If you can't (or are unwilling to) see the similarities you're being obtuse.
How long until we get DRM-esque provisions that state that the sensor must be working for the TV to work? Soon they'll be stipulating that you're not buying the TV... you're simply licensed to use it at the discretion of the cable company.
Perhaps they "understand" up to 200 words, but do they understand them in the same way a 2-year-old human learns language? It is possible they have just been conditioned to associate certain words with behaviors - if a human says "sit" and the dog sits because it knows that will get it a treat, that isn't the same as the dog understanding the concept of "sit." (See Operant Conditioning.) This is an ongoing debate among those who study animal intelligence.
For my money, the most interesting animal intelligence case study was Alex the African Grey Parrot, whose species is believed by many to be the smartest non-human animal. His scientist keeper did a number of studies to demonstrate that Alex at least had some understanding of the concepts he was learning. Fascinating stuff.
Speaking as an actor, I can also tell you that videogame voiceover jobs pay for crap. I read a report on how the voice actors for GTA IV, one of the most expensive games ever produced, were essentially paid a stipend to cover their transportation costs. This sort of thing abounds, and it is the reason why it is difficult to find good (and funny) voice acting in the industry. The work is very often non-union, the actors are treated like crap, and the hours are absurd. Is it any wonder that characters in many videogames sound like a game developer dragged along his or her high school drama student kid brother to play the hero?