Vibrant political deabate featuring the characters from Alpha Centauri!
Watch Chairman Yang and Lady Deidre square off against CEO Morgan and Professor Zakharov on the subject of agricultural subsidies! While at the same time, Colonel Santiago and Sister Godwinson secretly conspire to overthrow both sides of the debate and emerge victorious... Noticeably absent is Brother Lal, whom the author pretty much forgot and only included as an afterthought.
Set your Tachyon Bolt to "fun" for this engaging and witty exchange of ideas... Hosted by Chris Matthews.
(Note for moderators: There should probably be a "+1 Drunk" or "-1 Drunk" choice available. Any stats on how many Slashdotters post while wasted? I only bring this up because I've noticed a substantial drop in the level of the bottle of rum beside the computer, and I'm pretty sure the dog isn't responsible...)
Then they were put into space planes that looked exactly like DC8s (except they had rocket motors instead of propellers).
Ummm... DC8s have jet engines, not propellers. Unless this is referring to some older model? (But the DC8 has been around since the late fifties, IIRC.)
Not that it makes one lick of difference, it's all poorly written sci-fi misconstrued as being meaningful.
Just reading the story summary made me think that the story had something to do with NASA inflating an actual *cell* to some gargantuan size. How far can a phospholipid bilayer stretch?;)
Gotta stop reading Slashdot while drunk at three in the morning... Brain to body.... Come in body... Only read Slashdot at work so you can get paid for doing it... Brain out...
While we're discussing politically intelligent, well-drawn comics, I'd like to throw in a plug for Aaron McGruder's strip "The Boondocks". You can check out some of the strips here: http://www.boondocks.net/main.html
It's a great strip, and one of the only ones worth reading in the paper anymore (along with Foxtrot, Dilbert, Curtis, and... I guess that's about it for my local rag). Sadly, it's also problematic, since it generates a lot of hate mail from all races, especially here in the south... The good thing is that McGruder has just recently published his first book collection of the strips.
For a web comic, I'd have to say my hands-down favorite is Sinfest (http://www.sinfest.net). The art style is somewhere inbetween Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes, though far more subversive and lewd than either. Enjoy!
Both tracks are available via Napster... When I found my copies there were plenty of people out there sharing them. Pretty decent rips too, considering.
...the secret stash of all the Troy McClure movies ever made!
Seriously, have you guys read the titles? I'll use some in a sentence: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such educational films as The Adventures of Junior Raindrop and Goodbye, Mr. Roach."
Regardless of whether or not it's technically adultery, would your feelings on the issue change if your partner were participating in online sex?
Of course, this wouldn't work for everyone, since my personal definition of adultery falls into the category of "things which would make her come after me with the 16 gauge shotgun and should thusly be avoided".
Sorry about that, my browser crashed on the first attempt. Anyway, if oral sex isn't actually sex, then online sex wouldn't be sex either! Besides, doesn't it all matter on what the definition of "is" is?;)
(OK, I know it's a cheap shot, but he's such an easy target...)
I'll probably get stomped for mentioning this, but...
Apple has a Hebrew Language Kit. It's not perfect, and the list of compatible software is pretty weak, but it's better than nothing. I believe this is a standard feature of OS9 & up, though I'm not sure how things are going to be for OSX.
Fingerprints are formed as part of the last stages of development, and are not genetically encoded. It's sort of a random finishing process, which means that a cloned hand grown from the body's DNA would not have the same prints. Frankly, the DNA is much more reliable than fingerpriting.
I had some of both Gobots and Transformers as a child, and I seem to recall that the Gobots were made out of die cast metal as opposed to the plastic Transformers. Hence, the Gobots were a lot more durable and could be trusted around younger siblings... Grumble grumble lousy kid brother breaking an arm off Optimus Prime... Grumbel grumble...
One of the many things I like about iCab for the Mac is the ability to change the identity of the browser if necessary. I can go into the preferences menu and choose IE, Netscape, and assign specific version numbers if necessary. I don't use the feature that often, but it is handy to have. (There are some ultra-radical Mac websites that block entry by Internet Explorer out of some weird grudge against Microsoft.)
How many Winodws/Linux/etc. users out there in Slashdot Land are using the original mouse that shipped with their computer, if one came with it? Hands, please?
Spend $20 bucks, get a decent Kensington USB mouse (2 button, scroll wheel), and everything's just ducky. The Mac0S supports the second button, with great contextual menus. My recent experiment with Yellow Dog Linux on a Blue & White G3 had no problems recognizing and using said 2 button mouse.
For Joe Sixpack out there, yeah, a 1-button mouse is probably a bit easier to use. But for the "power user", that individual is going to be making modifications anyway--hard drive space, extra cards, extra memory, maybe even an alternate OS. Getting a decent mouse is the easiest thing in the world.
Do I wish that Apple shipped 2-button mice? Sure. Frankly, I'd just like a decent ergonomic mouse from Apple (haven't tried the new optical mouse) since their previous models have been hell on the hands and wrists. But for God's sake, don't trash an otherwise decent machine for not shipping with a 2-button mouse.
This is only marginally related but might spark some interesting discussion...
What about putting weather information gathering pods on commercial aircraft? I know that we get a lot of weather data from satellites and ground stations, but would it be helpful to be continuously gathering and transmitting data from 30,000 ft. over long distances and time spans?
I don't know how significant the weather is at normal cruising altitude, but I'm thinking that a massively distributed data acquisition net could yield some pretty reliable data. How effectively that information is used to predict future weather I'll leave to another discussion...:)
C'mon, a 1 button mouse is not very usefull. Even most Mac Zealots will agree that Apple needs a better mouse
This Mac Zealot* agrees, which is why he dropped $20 on a nice Kensington 3 button mouse with scroll wheel. As much as I love it, I think it's going to be replaced with a similar optical mouse very soon.
The extra buttons are quite handy, and Apple's use of contextual menus is excellent (though not as well known as those of Windows). Frankly, I've always felt that the Apple mice were pretty bad throughout the ages, regardless of the number of buttons. Much better mice can be found for very reasonable prices--it's worth it for your wrists and your sanity.
*Does being a Mac Zealot mean that I have swords of blue psionic flame weapons on either hand? (Obligatory StarCraft reference);)
I read this article about a half hour ago, and was beginning to submit it to Slashdot when I noticed I'd been beaten to the finish. Anyway, glad to see that it got accepted...
I wrote a lengthy letter to the editor in response to this article, I would suggest that Slashdot readers do the same.
What really infuriated me about the whole thing was the notion of "We'll protect you from knowledge that might be dangerous." And he thinks the government is the best institution to do this? How many people here were spoon fed lies, outright contradictions, and gross factual errors during a stint in the public education system? I remember getting into an argument with an eighth grade science teacher who said there were only three parts to the atom. I argued for the myriad other subatomic particles, but he denied their existence in class and moved on to the next topic. While a small, isolated incident, this demonstrates that the government is by no means perfect and does not have a great track record of information integrity.
"From the good folks who brought you 'Duck and Cover', welcome to the US Internet Authority Stamp of Accuracy!"
Yes, there is a whole hell of a lot of misinformation on the net. Some of it is probably harmful or dangerous, but anyone that is unable to perform even the most meager feats of skepticism or critical thinking is going to be duped by something else--tabloid newspapers, weird rumors, religious cults, shiny objects, etc. I'm not suggesting that we kill off all the stupid people (hopefully natural selection will prune the tree along the way);), but assuming that the entirety of the human population is unable to think for themselves is preposterous and frankly insulting.
Just for the chance of added moderation, should we rely on the government to tell us which operating system is the safe and "right" choice?
While I enjoyed Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" (an excellent bit of turn of the previous century historical fiction), I don't think I'll be picking up a copy of "Killing Time".
For those who consider Pluto to be a boring and unimportant piece of the solar system....
Based on current knowledge, it appears that Pluto represents a class of Trans-Neptunian bodies. Triton, a moon of Neptune, appears to be another large member of this class. The Voyager 2 spacecraft took some wonderful pictures of Triton (JPL Planetary Photojournal), which showed some surprising features such as smoky vents.
It's even theorized that Titan, the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, might represent what would happen when a Triton or Pluto-like object gets close enough to the sun for the atmosphere to thaw out.
For those who aren't interested in the purely scientific reasons to go to Pluto, consider that the budget for it is not that much in the grand scheme of things, and that the beneficiaries of this research will include the entire world and generations to come, as opposed to say, sending a bunch of money overseas to build palaces for rich dictators so they can have a more comfortable view while oppressing the masses.;)
It's not a transcription of Slashdot, but many of the same topics show up. I read it once in a blue moon, and this very topic is being hashed out over there.
Of course I'm not sure what a paintball does on impact at -350 degrees farenheit.
Back many moons ago (no pun intended), I was on a winter camping trip with my Scout troop. One of the guys had smuggled in his paintball gun. He didn't want to take it out and demonstrate what it could do during the day for fear of having it confiscated.
Late that night, he pulled it out of his duffle bag and asked for a volunteer to be shot. No one wanted to be first, so he decided to demonstrate that it didn't hurt by shooting one of the pellets into his hand. It would have made quite a mess except for the fact that the paintballs were frozen. He broke a couple of bones in his hand in the process, and gave us all a good laugh.:)
Big Science... Another political target like Big Oil, Big Tobacco...;)
Is this something that will come up in the campaign finance wars? "This senator is a pawn of Big Science... He believes in such factors as gravity, inertia, and entropy. He is firmly in the lab coat pocket of this special interest... How much longer must the American people suffer?"
Re:Intelligent computers are inevitable and essent
on
Son of HAL For Sale
·
· Score: 2
Let's put it another way. You can grow twice as tall every 18 months for as long as you want, but that doesn't mean you'll eventually have red hair.
If you keep going at that rate, eventually there will be red shift involved, and your hair would get redder from the perspective of ground based observers.;)
Slashdot Mirror
Watch Chairman Yang and Lady Deidre square off against CEO Morgan and Professor Zakharov on the subject of agricultural subsidies! While at the same time, Colonel Santiago and Sister Godwinson secretly conspire to overthrow both sides of the debate and emerge victorious... Noticeably absent is Brother Lal, whom the author pretty much forgot and only included as an afterthought.
Set your Tachyon Bolt to "fun" for this engaging and witty exchange of ideas... Hosted by Chris Matthews.
(Note for moderators: There should probably be a "+1 Drunk" or "-1 Drunk" choice available. Any stats on how many Slashdotters post while wasted? I only bring this up because I've noticed a substantial drop in the level of the bottle of rum beside the computer, and I'm pretty sure the dog isn't responsible...)
Ummm... DC8s have jet engines, not propellers. Unless this is referring to some older model? (But the DC8 has been around since the late fifties, IIRC.)
Not that it makes one lick of difference, it's all poorly written sci-fi misconstrued as being meaningful.
Gotta stop reading Slashdot while drunk at three in the morning... Brain to body.... Come in body... Only read Slashdot at work so you can get paid for doing it... Brain out...
The Harry Pitts Band ("I'm a Boinger"):
by Richard LaClaire with Scott Freilich, Rich Kazmierczak, Mike Brydalski
Mucky Pup ("U-Stink-But-I-Love[heart symbol]-U"
by Bill Casler with Chris Milnes, John Milnes, Danny Nastasi, Scott Lepage
It's a great strip, and one of the only ones worth reading in the paper anymore (along with Foxtrot, Dilbert, Curtis, and... I guess that's about it for my local rag). Sadly, it's also problematic, since it generates a lot of hate mail from all races, especially here in the south... The good thing is that McGruder has just recently published his first book collection of the strips.
For a web comic, I'd have to say my hands-down favorite is Sinfest (http://www.sinfest.net). The art style is somewhere inbetween Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes, though far more subversive and lewd than either. Enjoy!
Seriously, have you guys read the titles? I'll use some in a sentence: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such educational films as The Adventures of Junior Raindrop and Goodbye, Mr. Roach."
Of course, this wouldn't work for everyone, since my personal definition of adultery falls into the category of "things which would make her come after me with the 16 gauge shotgun and should thusly be avoided".
(OK, I know it's a cheap shot, but he's such an easy target...)
Apple has a Hebrew Language Kit. It's not perfect, and the list of compatible software is pretty weak, but it's better than nothing. I believe this is a standard feature of OS9 & up, though I'm not sure how things are going to be for OSX.
Info can be found at http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n568 66
Fingerprints are formed as part of the last stages of development, and are not genetically encoded. It's sort of a random finishing process, which means that a cloned hand grown from the body's DNA would not have the same prints. Frankly, the DNA is much more reliable than fingerpriting.
I had some of both Gobots and Transformers as a child, and I seem to recall that the Gobots were made out of die cast metal as opposed to the plastic Transformers. Hence, the Gobots were a lot more durable and could be trusted around younger siblings... Grumble grumble lousy kid brother breaking an arm off Optimus Prime... Grumbel grumble...
One of the many things I like about iCab for the Mac is the ability to change the identity of the browser if necessary. I can go into the preferences menu and choose IE, Netscape, and assign specific version numbers if necessary. I don't use the feature that often, but it is handy to have. (There are some ultra-radical Mac websites that block entry by Internet Explorer out of some weird grudge against Microsoft.)
Hmmmm... Does that mean you just cut out all the parts featuring Leonardo DiCaprio? That would fit my definition of "acceptable quality". ;)
Spend $20 bucks, get a decent Kensington USB mouse (2 button, scroll wheel), and everything's just ducky. The Mac0S supports the second button, with great contextual menus. My recent experiment with Yellow Dog Linux on a Blue & White G3 had no problems recognizing and using said 2 button mouse.
For Joe Sixpack out there, yeah, a 1-button mouse is probably a bit easier to use. But for the "power user", that individual is going to be making modifications anyway--hard drive space, extra cards, extra memory, maybe even an alternate OS. Getting a decent mouse is the easiest thing in the world.
Do I wish that Apple shipped 2-button mice? Sure. Frankly, I'd just like a decent ergonomic mouse from Apple (haven't tried the new optical mouse) since their previous models have been hell on the hands and wrists. But for God's sake, don't trash an otherwise decent machine for not shipping with a 2-button mouse.
What about putting weather information gathering pods on commercial aircraft? I know that we get a lot of weather data from satellites and ground stations, but would it be helpful to be continuously gathering and transmitting data from 30,000 ft. over long distances and time spans?
I don't know how significant the weather is at normal cruising altitude, but I'm thinking that a massively distributed data acquisition net could yield some pretty reliable data. How effectively that information is used to predict future weather I'll leave to another discussion... :)
This Mac Zealot* agrees, which is why he dropped $20 on a nice Kensington 3 button mouse with scroll wheel. As much as I love it, I think it's going to be replaced with a similar optical mouse very soon.
The extra buttons are quite handy, and Apple's use of contextual menus is excellent (though not as well known as those of Windows). Frankly, I've always felt that the Apple mice were pretty bad throughout the ages, regardless of the number of buttons. Much better mice can be found for very reasonable prices--it's worth it for your wrists and your sanity.
*Does being a Mac Zealot mean that I have swords of blue psionic flame weapons on either hand? (Obligatory StarCraft reference) ;)
I wrote a lengthy letter to the editor in response to this article, I would suggest that Slashdot readers do the same.
What really infuriated me about the whole thing was the notion of "We'll protect you from knowledge that might be dangerous." And he thinks the government is the best institution to do this? How many people here were spoon fed lies, outright contradictions, and gross factual errors during a stint in the public education system? I remember getting into an argument with an eighth grade science teacher who said there were only three parts to the atom. I argued for the myriad other subatomic particles, but he denied their existence in class and moved on to the next topic. While a small, isolated incident, this demonstrates that the government is by no means perfect and does not have a great track record of information integrity.
"From the good folks who brought you 'Duck and Cover', welcome to the US Internet Authority Stamp of Accuracy!"
Yes, there is a whole hell of a lot of misinformation on the net. Some of it is probably harmful or dangerous, but anyone that is unable to perform even the most meager feats of skepticism or critical thinking is going to be duped by something else--tabloid newspapers, weird rumors, religious cults, shiny objects, etc. I'm not suggesting that we kill off all the stupid people (hopefully natural selection will prune the tree along the way) ;), but assuming that the entirety of the human population is unable to think for themselves is preposterous and frankly insulting.
Just for the chance of added moderation, should we rely on the government to tell us which operating system is the safe and "right" choice?
While I enjoyed Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" (an excellent bit of turn of the previous century historical fiction), I don't think I'll be picking up a copy of "Killing Time".
Based on current knowledge, it appears that Pluto represents a class of Trans-Neptunian bodies. Triton, a moon of Neptune, appears to be another large member of this class. The Voyager 2 spacecraft took some wonderful pictures of Triton (JPL Planetary Photojournal), which showed some surprising features such as smoky vents.
It's even theorized that Titan, the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, might represent what would happen when a Triton or Pluto-like object gets close enough to the sun for the atmosphere to thaw out.
For those who aren't interested in the purely scientific reasons to go to Pluto, consider that the budget for it is not that much in the grand scheme of things, and that the beneficiaries of this research will include the entire world and generations to come, as opposed to say, sending a bunch of money overseas to build palaces for rich dictators so they can have a more comfortable view while oppressing the masses. ;)
Is your .sig a noble Finnish effort, or am I mistaken? :)
Barrapunto.com
It's not a transcription of Slashdot, but many of the same topics show up. I read it once in a blue moon, and this very topic is being hashed out over there.
Back many moons ago (no pun intended), I was on a winter camping trip with my Scout troop. One of the guys had smuggled in his paintball gun. He didn't want to take it out and demonstrate what it could do during the day for fear of having it confiscated.
Late that night, he pulled it out of his duffle bag and asked for a volunteer to be shot. No one wanted to be first, so he decided to demonstrate that it didn't hurt by shooting one of the pellets into his hand. It would have made quite a mess except for the fact that the paintballs were frozen. He broke a couple of bones in his hand in the process, and gave us all a good laugh. :)
Is this something that will come up in the campaign finance wars? "This senator is a pawn of Big Science... He believes in such factors as gravity, inertia, and entropy. He is firmly in the lab coat pocket of this special interest... How much longer must the American people suffer?"
If you keep going at that rate, eventually there will be red shift involved, and your hair would get redder from the perspective of ground based observers. ;)