Well, I would say that Sridhar (known as "Mike" on the switchboard) and his friend Narednra (known as "Tim" on the switchboard) who want to be more western world, what else ARE they going to search for to fit in with the rest of us?
Having said that, I only ever recall seeing one bit of bollywood porn, and it was a blooper (don't ask), so maybe it's just not around that much. Of course I might just not be that into that sort of thing and be missing out on a vast cultural experience. Better to use the simplest English description and go from there than sort through all manner of strange things eh?
Indeed, one of the first times in my life that I think I will actually make a valid input (aside from voting) on how the country I live in is actually being handled - and how I think it should be.
Dreams can turn into reality. Look at history for many amazing people with amazing dreams and wishes and how the right person can influence the minds of so many around him or her. In one of your earlier examples you mentioned Mother Teresa. One person, yes. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity which now consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. In addition a male version of the same thing is the Missionaries of Charity Fathers which was co-founded by Mother Teresa.
Wishes can be horses my friend. It just takes the right person wishing.
And if you can just go pick up a car or see a doctor for free, where's your incentive to work? I'm sure some people would be altruistic enough to work for free -- but many (the majority?) would not. How do you intend to solve that problem? Put a gun to their head and make them work? That seems to be SOP for most Communist states that we've seen up until this point.
If a man's primary motivation in life is to serve himself only, it certainly fails, but if our motivation was advancing ourselves as a race with every person willing to do his share of work for the greater good, then it would be a different kettle of fish. I just find it sad that unfortunately for us as a whole, the first part seems to be much more common.
To quote a character who is fairly popular around these parts, "They will swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that."
Well, quotes from Serenity are fine, but every time you take a headache pill, eat vitamins, have an operation, you are in fact "making people better". You can make people better. You can tell people that eating three serves of fast food a day is bad, they start eating healthy food. You just made them better. Oh, don't smoke so much, it's bad for you. You will be better if you don't smoke so much. Twenty minutes of exercise a day will make you better.
Also as Chris Mazuc points out nicely in this post not ALL people are greedy self serving animals.
The only difference between us and the apes is that we horde money instead of food. You'll never change this. Attempts to do so ignore our biology and invariably produce an even more insidious evil than that which they set out to correct.
Okay, then explain how the Tibetan people were quite happy living for centuries as a peaceful state, helping others and living lives that were focused around cherishing all that is alive and enjoying the simple beauty of their world? Where was the greedy self serving animals?
It's easy to convince a man that someone is taking advantage of him, and that he should fight a war to "make things right". However, historically, that story has most often been a lie told to simple minded people.
Communism and freedom/self-determination are mutually exclusive.
Not at all. The ideals of a communist state SHOULD be all about COMMUNITY. Each person shares the combined requirements of the overall population and it's shared out equally. Unfortunately, greed normally comes with power, so in implementing this community state, the amount of work that is done by different parts of the community end up quite different.
A perfect implementation would be fantastic. I need a car, I go pick up a new car, it's free. The mechanic who has a sore back goes to a doctor who for no fee directs him to a physiotherapist, who then for free goes to a mechanic to change the oil in his car. Sadly it would get bogged down in the fineprint.
Taking the fruits of your neighbors labor to supply for yourself would be called stealing if it was done directly and without the government as a middle man.
Nothing is wrong with that, if your neighbor in turn lets you take some of his fruit. If everyone plays an equal role in production of fruit, sharing is very beneficial. Sure, it likely isn't going to ever become a reality, but it would be nice.
The concept isn't evil at all, but in most cases, the implementation seems to be.
Browsers with "Stealth" (porn) browsing features, schoolkids sending naked pictures of themselves via cellphone, laptops loaded with porn, and you really expect company pagers not to be used to shmooze with others?
See, another Teenie weenie little error that makes all the difference. Seriously, with all these nerds and engineers and OCD ridden slashdotters, you would think people would check both summaries and posts before hitting the submit button no?
Actually, I never had any issues with Internode (www.internode.on.net) throttling my P2P. Initially, I used to be with TPG (and to be honest, when they were first around, they didn't throttle it either and were half decent) but around 2-3 years ago, they changed their policy and throttled the buggery out of anything P2P. I can tell you that trying to download a warcraft patch (well, the major ones anyhow) for 2 days just isn't good enough.
At the moment, Optus Cable seems quite good too, though I only get Warcraft patches from it.
And all this time I seriously thought that it was some unimaginably interesting plot all about a russian missile program, underwater subs and secrecy beyond everyone's wildest imagination. Wait... what?
When I first encountered this I assumed it was a scam to get me to buy my duty-free at Auckland airport.
I was recently flying back to Australia from Europe. I was also quite surprised at the "no, you cant buy duty free booze and board that plane". I thought it was a safety measure of some sort... blah blah, fine, no cheap booze.
Sadly, the whole safety element went RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW when the stewards then brought round duty free brochures which you could buy (and I did) spirits and so forth, which were given to you right away, then and there.
Safety? My ass it's about safety! If it was a "no spirits at ALL on the place" policy, okay, but when you can only buy spirits from their own mobile duty free up and down the isle trolley, it's a farce.
It all depends on how you measure intelligence, and, like TFA said, the IQ of both sexes is roughly equal, it's just that perhaps more men put it to noticable uses - for all I know, my hairdresser could be calculating the exact follical trajectory for a perfect styling or integrating my hair line to calculate the total (h)area.
No, that's exactly what I mean. I am guessing you are male, you see intelligence as being logical, being able to calculate things, doing maths and science. The article I refer to basically split up intelligence into "classical intelligence" (which meant the sciences) and "emotional intelligence" which meant being much more insightful into how other people are reacting, thinking and so forth.
To put it another way, Men are interested in the HOW. Women are interested in the WHY.
Looking at a historical example, lets take a war. Men will want to know HOW an invasion was performed, what sort of strategy was used, the units involved and the outcomes. Women would be much more interested in what drove the country to invade, how it impacted the country being invaded.
Your wife hating the news simply means she hates the "how". News generally just says what happened. Period drama doesn't focus so much on the how, but much more on the why. Now do you see what I mean?
I recall reading an article earlier (no idea where it is now) that looked at exactly what the different genders "know" and are "smart at". Men generally fared well in the more science and maths based questions, while women fared significantly better at sociology and understanding emotions in others. Assuming this is true (and it seems accurate based on the people I know) then this may support the "men think they are smarter article". People generally associate intelligence with the sciences, while paying less detail to other parts that make up a persons intelligence. I would say that if the association with sciences and intelligence wasn't there, women would certainly see themselves as being quite smart. After all, how many women would say "oh, yes, my partner is so much better than me when dealing with an emotional crisis over the phone" and by the same token, not many males would say "My partner is certainly smarter than me, she knew just the right thing to say when I was arguing with my brother...".
The proposed deluge has been connected with various Great Flood myths, notably Noah's Flood. Based on their interpretation of the Bible, the Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis have stated that "Noah's Flood was not a local flood in the Black Sea area, but a world-wide flood that has left its mark on every continent on this planet"; the proposed date of the Black Sea deluge does not match what they believe to be the date of the biblical flood.[16] "Proof of Noah’s Flood at the Black Sea?". Answers in Genesis. http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4168.asp. Retrieved 2006-03-08.
Regardless if global warming is a problem, we should ALL strive to lessen our effect on the environment. Restricting emissions that may not heat up the planet, BUT have noticeable problems on health of humans and wildlife. I feel like I have to remind people that even if global warming is false we should always do what we can to conserve our resources and lessen pollution.
Hippie.
Actually, if I had a choice (regardless of any other environmental impact) if I wanted to live in a place that had clean air or a place that was filled with smog, I choose the clean air. I would prefer my kids not to grow up with hacking coughs and running short of breath after a short run.
Add to that, that whatever we put up into the air often comes back down in the rain, and suddenly rivers are lifeless or algae blooms, our nature reserves if we have them are infested with weeds as the native fauna struggles to survive, and it's very quickly a bleak picture.
If you can't cause less pollution to stop a greater environmental impact, stop polluting so much to keep the little area around you alive and hospitable. Your health, your kids health will be so much better for it.
I can certainly appreciate that they want to do better, but it still amazes me that we send people into F'ING SPACE with less than 1% failure rate.
Unless you want to send people into space with a greater than 1% failure rate, sending them into space with LESS than a 1% failure rate seems more sensible. I don't know about you, but I would want the failure rate to be smaller, not larger.
Or sit here posting Anon on the web. Not that I disagree with any of the things you said were more entertaining or enlightening, but you know, sometimes when I am doing some housework, I like to have some pointless trashy TV going, so I can mainly focus on the housework, but feel like I am watching TV.
Yes, much of TV is crap, but you ever tried getting the latest news update on DVD at your local DVD store? How about the weather updates? TV has it's benefits.
Actually, I think more to the point (some people might call that fun) I was wondering if it's a game, how do you "lose" or get out? Do they have one of the eight choices inserted as knowingly wrong? Bzzzt! Start over and see how many you can get in a row this time?
I am all for Galaxy Zoo and the like, but if it's more human brain grunt-working, just call it that, chances are the people who are keen to do it won't mind either way.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I would say that Sridhar (known as "Mike" on the switchboard) and his friend Narednra (known as "Tim" on the switchboard) who want to be more western world, what else ARE they going to search for to fit in with the rest of us?
Having said that, I only ever recall seeing one bit of bollywood porn, and it was a blooper (don't ask), so maybe it's just not around that much. Of course I might just not be that into that sort of thing and be missing out on a vast cultural experience. Better to use the simplest English description and go from there than sort through all manner of strange things eh?
How can a game be on something that doesn't exist?
It's like subtracting a negative number you see. 10 - -5 = 15
A non existent game on a non existent phone MUST BE REAL!
Geez, I thought this place was full of mathematicians and logical thinkers!
Indeed, one of the first times in my life that I think I will actually make a valid input (aside from voting) on how the country I live in is actually being handled - and how I think it should be.
If wishes were horses.....
Dreams can turn into reality. Look at history for many amazing people with amazing dreams and wishes and how the right person can influence the minds of so many around him or her. In one of your earlier examples you mentioned Mother Teresa. One person, yes. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity which now consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. In addition a male version of the same thing is the Missionaries of Charity Fathers which was co-founded by Mother Teresa.
Wishes can be horses my friend. It just takes the right person wishing.
And if you can just go pick up a car or see a doctor for free, where's your incentive to work? I'm sure some people would be altruistic enough to work for free -- but many (the majority?) would not. How do you intend to solve that problem? Put a gun to their head and make them work? That seems to be SOP for most Communist states that we've seen up until this point.
If a man's primary motivation in life is to serve himself only, it certainly fails, but if our motivation was advancing ourselves as a race with every person willing to do his share of work for the greater good, then it would be a different kettle of fish. I just find it sad that unfortunately for us as a whole, the first part seems to be much more common.
To quote a character who is fairly popular around these parts, "They will swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that."
Well, quotes from Serenity are fine, but every time you take a headache pill, eat vitamins, have an operation, you are in fact "making people better". You can make people better. You can tell people that eating three serves of fast food a day is bad, they start eating healthy food. You just made them better. Oh, don't smoke so much, it's bad for you. You will be better if you don't smoke so much. Twenty minutes of exercise a day will make you better.
Also as Chris Mazuc points out nicely in this post not ALL people are greedy self serving animals.
The only difference between us and the apes is that we horde money instead of food. You'll never change this. Attempts to do so ignore our biology and invariably produce an even more insidious evil than that which they set out to correct.
Okay, then explain how the Tibetan people were quite happy living for centuries as a peaceful state, helping others and living lives that were focused around cherishing all that is alive and enjoying the simple beauty of their world? Where was the greedy self serving animals?
It's easy to convince a man that someone is taking advantage of him, and that he should fight a war to "make things right". However, historically, that story has most often been a lie told to simple minded people.
Communism and freedom/self-determination are mutually exclusive.
Not at all. The ideals of a communist state SHOULD be all about COMMUNITY. Each person shares the combined requirements of the overall population and it's shared out equally. Unfortunately, greed normally comes with power, so in implementing this community state, the amount of work that is done by different parts of the community end up quite different.
A perfect implementation would be fantastic. I need a car, I go pick up a new car, it's free. The mechanic who has a sore back goes to a doctor who for no fee directs him to a physiotherapist, who then for free goes to a mechanic to change the oil in his car. Sadly it would get bogged down in the fineprint.
Taking the fruits of your neighbors labor to supply for yourself would be called stealing if it was done directly and without the government as a middle man.
Nothing is wrong with that, if your neighbor in turn lets you take some of his fruit. If everyone plays an equal role in production of fruit, sharing is very beneficial. Sure, it likely isn't going to ever become a reality, but it would be nice.
The concept isn't evil at all, but in most cases, the implementation seems to be.
Browsers with "Stealth" (porn) browsing features, schoolkids sending naked pictures of themselves via cellphone, laptops loaded with porn, and you really expect company pagers not to be used to shmooze with others?
Maybe he meant freshly sliced pepperoni...
See, another Teenie weenie little error that makes all the difference. Seriously, with all these nerds and engineers and OCD ridden slashdotters, you would think people would check both summaries and posts before hitting the submit button no?
Actually, I never had any issues with Internode (www.internode.on.net) throttling my P2P. Initially, I used to be with TPG (and to be honest, when they were first around, they didn't throttle it either and were half decent) but around 2-3 years ago, they changed their policy and throttled the buggery out of anything P2P. I can tell you that trying to download a warcraft patch (well, the major ones anyhow) for 2 days just isn't good enough. At the moment, Optus Cable seems quite good too, though I only get Warcraft patches from it.
And all this time I seriously thought that it was some unimaginably interesting plot all about a russian missile program, underwater subs and secrecy beyond everyone's wildest imagination. Wait... what?
If we see Poland invaded tomorrow from the east by hovertanks on antigravs with huge red stars painted of them, we'll know for sure.
You insensitive CLOD!
When I first encountered this I assumed it was a scam to get me to buy my duty-free at Auckland airport.
I was recently flying back to Australia from Europe. I was also quite surprised at the "no, you cant buy duty free booze and board that plane". I thought it was a safety measure of some sort... blah blah, fine, no cheap booze.
Sadly, the whole safety element went RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW when the stewards then brought round duty free brochures which you could buy (and I did) spirits and so forth, which were given to you right away, then and there.
Safety? My ass it's about safety! If it was a "no spirits at ALL on the place" policy, okay, but when you can only buy spirits from their own mobile duty free up and down the isle trolley, it's a farce.
You forgot to supplement and emphasize your post with a WHOOSHing sound as it passed over the GP head.
Good god, I think I opened my Christmas presents early by reading this article...
If there is such a thing as a glee/giggle dance, I just did it.
It all depends on how you measure intelligence, and, like TFA said, the IQ of both sexes is roughly equal, it's just that perhaps more men put it to noticable uses - for all I know, my hairdresser could be calculating the exact follical trajectory for a perfect styling or integrating my hair line to calculate the total (h)area.
No, that's exactly what I mean. I am guessing you are male, you see intelligence as being logical, being able to calculate things, doing maths and science. The article I refer to basically split up intelligence into "classical intelligence" (which meant the sciences) and "emotional intelligence" which meant being much more insightful into how other people are reacting, thinking and so forth.
To put it another way, Men are interested in the HOW. Women are interested in the WHY.
Looking at a historical example, lets take a war. Men will want to know HOW an invasion was performed, what sort of strategy was used, the units involved and the outcomes. Women would be much more interested in what drove the country to invade, how it impacted the country being invaded.
Your wife hating the news simply means she hates the "how". News generally just says what happened. Period drama doesn't focus so much on the how, but much more on the why. Now do you see what I mean?
I recall reading an article earlier (no idea where it is now) that looked at exactly what the different genders "know" and are "smart at". Men generally fared well in the more science and maths based questions, while women fared significantly better at sociology and understanding emotions in others. Assuming this is true (and it seems accurate based on the people I know) then this may support the "men think they are smarter article". People generally associate intelligence with the sciences, while paying less detail to other parts that make up a persons intelligence. I would say that if the association with sciences and intelligence wasn't there, women would certainly see themselves as being quite smart. After all, how many women would say "oh, yes, my partner is so much better than me when dealing with an emotional crisis over the phone" and by the same token, not many males would say "My partner is certainly smarter than me, she knew just the right thing to say when I was arguing with my brother...".
“For the Noah's Ark Hypothesis to be correct, one has to speculate that there was no flowing of water between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea before the speculated great deluge. We have found this to be incorrect.”[9]
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2002-09-01). "Noah’s Flood Hypothesis May Not Hold Water". Press release. http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=245.
The proposed deluge has been connected with various Great Flood myths, notably Noah's Flood. Based on their interpretation of the Bible, the Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis have stated that "Noah's Flood was not a local flood in the Black Sea area, but a world-wide flood that has left its mark on every continent on this planet"; the proposed date of the Black Sea deluge does not match what they believe to be the date of the biblical flood.[16]
"Proof of Noah’s Flood at the Black Sea?". Answers in Genesis. http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4168.asp. Retrieved 2006-03-08.
Regardless if global warming is a problem, we should ALL strive to lessen our effect on the environment. Restricting emissions that may not heat up the planet, BUT have noticeable problems on health of humans and wildlife. I feel like I have to remind people that even if global warming is false we should always do what we can to conserve our resources and lessen pollution.
Hippie.
Actually, if I had a choice (regardless of any other environmental impact) if I wanted to live in a place that had clean air or a place that was filled with smog, I choose the clean air. I would prefer my kids not to grow up with hacking coughs and running short of breath after a short run.
Add to that, that whatever we put up into the air often comes back down in the rain, and suddenly rivers are lifeless or algae blooms, our nature reserves if we have them are infested with weeds as the native fauna struggles to survive, and it's very quickly a bleak picture.
If you can't cause less pollution to stop a greater environmental impact, stop polluting so much to keep the little area around you alive and hospitable. Your health, your kids health will be so much better for it.
I can certainly appreciate that they want to do better, but it still amazes me that we send people into F'ING SPACE with less than 1% failure rate.
Unless you want to send people into space with a greater than 1% failure rate, sending them into space with LESS than a 1% failure rate seems more sensible. I don't know about you, but I would want the failure rate to be smaller, not larger.
Don't blame him, he voted for Kodos!
What do big lumbering World of Warcraft Kodo mounts have to do with this?
Same as the old boss, indeed. What amazes me is that we're still a two party system and that people continue to think that their vote matters.
What amazes me is that people still think it's really a two party system.
Or sit here posting Anon on the web. Not that I disagree with any of the things you said were more entertaining or enlightening, but you know, sometimes when I am doing some housework, I like to have some pointless trashy TV going, so I can mainly focus on the housework, but feel like I am watching TV.
Yes, much of TV is crap, but you ever tried getting the latest news update on DVD at your local DVD store? How about the weather updates? TV has it's benefits.
Actually, I think more to the point (some people might call that fun) I was wondering if it's a game, how do you "lose" or get out? Do they have one of the eight choices inserted as knowingly wrong? Bzzzt! Start over and see how many you can get in a row this time?
I am all for Galaxy Zoo and the like, but if it's more human brain grunt-working, just call it that, chances are the people who are keen to do it won't mind either way.