Heh, reminds me of my ex-roommate who I now refer to as "Meydi the bacon-eatin' Iranian". Despite retaining quite a bit of culturally-derived sexism, he loved the freedoms of Canada and yes, enjoyed eating bacon. Basically, like some other Iranians I met, he wasn't a particularly religious man, and resented being held to religious rules in his homeland. Also, apparently, the Iranian PhD student in my lab was widely believed by other Iranians in town to be a "spy" for the religious authorities. So he never got invited to their parties where *gasp* men and women, some even unmarried, would hang out together and even talk to one another. Innocent as all hell by our standards but they all would have been in big shiat if word of it got back home...
American corporations (who are accountable to no one, as Enron has shown).
Well actually, corporations are accountable to their shareholders. That's part of the problem. Even in the unlikely event that a wise and well-meaning CEO wants to slightly reduce the company's profits by performing an act of "good corporate citizenship" she'll be out on her ass. The shareholders, while individually many may be good people who want to help the world, as a group they care about ONE THING. Stock price and dividends (every Quarter, not even over the long haul). This is why most publically-held corps behave like robber-baron serial killers.
Arguably, we've let corporations get away with far too much. They have many "rights", but few obligations. As "people", they are some of the most sociopathic people in our society.
The Internet is only as free as its users, and slaves are signing up in droves.
I don't think Lucky looks much like the velociraptors on JP, except for being a bipedal dinosaur. Without consulting any references, I'd say he looks a lot more like a prosauropod (bipedal ancestors of the giant quadripedal sauropods) or possibly camptosaur. The head is certainly very sauropod-like./humourless scientist
Also depriving us of the desperately important answer to "does his wang also get bigger?". Surely one of those classic stoned/drunk-geek-argument questions.
Where's the bad? The guy was having fun (I assume), and had the extra realism & challenge of not choosing where he was flying to (if anyone took him up on the offer that is). "Pathological", maybe, but only if you think that a very weird hobby = disease. It's not like he was out raping nuns or something.
An interesting point, because IIRC, part of Adam Smith's theory of the free market is that the market is no longer "free" if the flow of information about the products, pricing etc. is restricted. Thus, if Circuit City throws you out of the store for standing in the TV aisle copying down prices (as I have heard sometimes happens), they are making the market not-free, because they have restricted your ability to comparison-shop. They have likely also restricted your desire to ever shop at Circuit City again, but you gotta break a few eggs... In this case, a crap movie can make big box in a few days before everyone figures out it's crap. This is a major H'wood strategy. They are now realizing that it is becoming obsolete. It has not yet trickled in that if they made really good movies, then FAST word-of-mouth would drive their first-weekend box even higher. Dumb asses.
I know the impact of this blackout was exacerbated by the fact that we are so much more dependant on electricity for the tiniest things than the Iraqis are. As well we are not used to ever having blackouts that last more than a few minutes. Points:
- I had no way to cook. I don't own a camp stove, and even if I did, I probably would not save fuel for it. Stores closed immediately so I couldn't have even run out to buy fuel. - I had no candles. I'm a dumbass:-) - As I said stores closed, because they couldn't process payment without registers, and/or had no emergency lighting. As a result there were many supplies of food/equipment/candles/batteries that were *immediately* unavailable. - Many transit systems are heavily electric (subways and streetcars). People were stranded miles from home.
Whereas Iraqis, aside from being more used to the heat, have probably been accustomed to doing without power for years. It doesn't hurt that they probably don't view air conditioning as a fundamental human right either.
That my army of xenophobic, AK-47 toting illiterates can out-kill your genetically-engineered disease, at least in the short term. My point is, people are going to find ways to kill large numbers of other people, biotech or no. It'd be a lot easier for some wack-jobs, terrorist or rogue state variety, to make dirty bombs or truck-nukes than to engineer a whole new disease.
This is exactly what I stand for. You don't trust me, I'm gone. Simple as that.
Yeah, I'd have that attitude, except that between the goofing off and pilfering office supplies I can sort of understand why they don't trust me. I may be "gone" at some point too.
The gaming culture is still very hostile/patronizing to women and girls. This isn't because all male gamers are immature, sexist pigs who run around EQ yelling "A/S/L?" and offering magic items in exchange for a quick cyber. Basically, the gaming culture started out as a very male-dominated one (as was I.T. at the time) and the remnants of this still linger as sexist advertising and attitudes.
So... if somebody thinks GGA is a good idea, more power to them. If it's an oasis of female-positive gaming journalism in a desert of sexist mags like PC Gamer and testosterone-pumped rocket-launcher-happy FPS sites, that's great! If it's just another website with a slightly different outlook, that's great too. I find many of their articles very interesting, for instance the one on gender construction in gaming, which I'm re-reading right now. Would PlanetQuake run the same article? Probably not.
Who a) brought Philip K. Dick back from the dead, b) gave him a Slashdot account, and c) severely damaged his writing ability? Where does the giant alien spaceship orbiting the earth and sending you signals fit into this scheme, Phil?
:-) Seriously, PKD was right. If the government could pull this sh*t off (pun intended) and get away with it, they would.
Sending notice to third parties is INSURANCE. What local paper wouldn't love a feature story about the local school screwing over a smart, observant student who was only trying to help them? Sure beats covering the local dog show... again. This goes double for the STUDENT paper.
Some Freudian slip. Because you're the monkey if you're dumb enough to pay real $ for stuff in a computer game, the existence of which is dependent on the solvency of the parent company and their desire to maintain the service.
Actually, I suspect you'd find more nuns willing to admit to dildo usage (at least at Confession) than Slashdotters who'd admit to performing such a mundane household chore. That's why our moms make us live in the basement where the floors are concrete.
Well, that'll teach you to jack in to the 'Net and try and hack Sense/Net FROM YOUR CAR! Better to rent a back room at the Gentleman Loser. (/super geek)
Whenever I get antsy waiting for the next big FPS to come out, I just sit down and watch a TV news report on Liberia/Iraq/Congo. After I'm done all I want is a new Hello Kitty game where you collect flowers for hug points.
In the SW universe, cheap (eg. Luke's landspeeder) and ubiquitous repulsor "antigravity" technology has made atmospheric design a lot less important for space/aero vehicles. You just fly atmospherically with repulsors holding you up instead of aerodynamic lift. You'd design space fighters optimally for their space use, and worry much less, if at all, about what to do once they hit atmosphere. I assume there'd still be a niche for traditional fighter planes which could be designed to use "old-fashioned" aerodynamics.
The basic lego bricks may be ideal for very young children, but once you hit 6 or 7 you get very frustrated by the fact that there are no fighter canopies/big wheels/flexible hoses etc. Fortunately, in my case that was exactly when Lego started to produce more of these parts (I had a spiffy train set with quite a few specialized parts). The "old" parts were still useful of course, it's all about balance.
I agree that they have gone a tad overboard on the specialized parts in recent years, but the Star Wars line actually uses a lot of the old basic bricks, simply because they're needed to replicate the arbitrary shapes of the SW universe vehicles. I bought several SW Lego sets and they're loaded with great simple parts.
Um, he may be financially well-off, but DirecTV would crush him. "Once a man is a father he is never truly free" - Frank Miller, Batman: Year One. One of the neccessities of barratry is making a harsh example of anybody who resists. We are talking about extortion after all, and if you don't KNOW Tony Soprano is willing to break your kneecaps and burn down your store, why on earth would you pay? DirecTV taking you or I or especially smart, affluent Dr. Sosa to the poorhouse would send a lot of the other "defendants" scrambling to pull together that $3500.
The ugly truth. Makes you wish for a silenced Sig Sauer, a roll of duct tape and the keys to the DirecTV board's houses.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh, reminds me of my ex-roommate who I now refer to as "Meydi the bacon-eatin' Iranian". Despite retaining quite a bit of culturally-derived sexism, he loved the freedoms of Canada and yes, enjoyed eating bacon. Basically, like some other Iranians I met, he wasn't a particularly religious man, and resented being held to religious rules in his homeland. Also, apparently, the Iranian PhD student in my lab was widely believed by other Iranians in town to be a "spy" for the religious authorities. So he never got invited to their parties where *gasp* men and women, some even unmarried, would hang out together and even talk to one another. Innocent as all hell by our standards but they all would have been in big shiat if word of it got back home...
American corporations (who are accountable to no one, as Enron has shown).
Well actually, corporations are accountable to their shareholders. That's part of the problem. Even in the unlikely event that a wise and well-meaning CEO wants to slightly reduce the company's profits by performing an act of "good corporate citizenship" she'll be out on her ass. The shareholders, while individually many may be good people who want to help the world, as a group they care about ONE THING. Stock price and dividends (every Quarter, not even over the long haul). This is why most publically-held corps behave like robber-baron serial killers.
Arguably, we've let corporations get away with far too much. They have many "rights", but few obligations. As "people", they are some of the most sociopathic people in our society.
The Internet is only as free as its users, and slaves are signing up in droves.
Soooo true.
I don't think Lucky looks much like the velociraptors on JP, except for being a bipedal dinosaur. Without consulting any references, I'd say he looks a lot more like a prosauropod (bipedal ancestors of the giant quadripedal sauropods) or possibly camptosaur. The head is certainly very sauropod-like. /humourless scientist
having warm water sprayed on my ass was the highlight of my overnight stay.
You must have not met a girl who does the thing with the string of beads.
Also depriving us of the desperately important answer to "does his wang also get bigger?". Surely one of those classic stoned/drunk-geek-argument questions.
Where's the bad? The guy was having fun (I assume), and had the extra realism & challenge of not choosing where he was flying to (if anyone took him up on the offer that is). "Pathological", maybe, but only if you think that a very weird hobby = disease. It's not like he was out raping nuns or something.
An interesting point, because IIRC, part of Adam Smith's theory of the free market is that the market is no longer "free" if the flow of information about the products, pricing etc. is restricted. Thus, if Circuit City throws you out of the store for standing in the TV aisle copying down prices (as I have heard sometimes happens), they are making the market not-free, because they have restricted your ability to comparison-shop. They have likely also restricted your desire to ever shop at Circuit City again, but you gotta break a few eggs... In this case, a crap movie can make big box in a few days before everyone figures out it's crap. This is a major H'wood strategy. They are now realizing that it is becoming obsolete. It has not yet trickled in that if they made really good movies, then FAST word-of-mouth would drive their first-weekend box even higher. Dumb asses.
Joking about prison rape is the same as joking about some woman being raped on the street. Period. That is all.
I, for one, do not want to welcome any DNA overlords into my body cavities.
;-D
Uhhhh, that's not what I heard
I know the impact of this blackout was exacerbated by the fact that we are so much more dependant on electricity for the tiniest things than the Iraqis are. As well we are not used to ever having blackouts that last more than a few minutes. Points:
:-)
- I had no way to cook. I don't own a camp stove, and even if I did, I probably would not save fuel for it. Stores closed immediately so I couldn't have even run out to buy fuel.
- I had no candles. I'm a dumbass
- As I said stores closed, because they couldn't process payment without registers, and/or had no emergency lighting. As a result there were many supplies of food/equipment/candles/batteries that were *immediately* unavailable.
- Many transit systems are heavily electric (subways and streetcars). People were stranded miles from home.
Whereas Iraqis, aside from being more used to the heat, have probably been accustomed to doing without power for years. It doesn't hurt that they probably don't view air conditioning as a fundamental human right either.
They killed a perfectly good baboon (of which there are few) to temporarily prolong the life of a human infant (of which there are very many).
That my army of xenophobic, AK-47 toting illiterates can out-kill your genetically-engineered disease, at least in the short term. My point is, people are going to find ways to kill large numbers of other people, biotech or no. It'd be a lot easier for some wack-jobs, terrorist or rogue state variety, to make dirty bombs or truck-nukes than to engineer a whole new disease.
This is exactly what I stand for. You don't trust me, I'm gone. Simple as that.
Yeah, I'd have that attitude, except that between the goofing off and pilfering office supplies I can sort of understand why they don't trust me. I may be "gone" at some point too.
The gaming culture is still very hostile/patronizing to women and girls. This isn't because all male gamers are immature, sexist pigs who run around EQ yelling "A/S/L?" and offering magic items in exchange for a quick cyber. Basically, the gaming culture started out as a very male-dominated one (as was I.T. at the time) and the remnants of this still linger as sexist advertising and attitudes.
So... if somebody thinks GGA is a good idea, more power to them. If it's an oasis of female-positive gaming journalism in a desert of sexist mags like PC Gamer and testosterone-pumped rocket-launcher-happy FPS sites, that's great! If it's just another website with a slightly different outlook, that's great too. I find many of their articles very interesting, for instance the one on gender construction in gaming, which I'm re-reading right now. Would PlanetQuake run the same article? Probably not.
Who a) brought Philip K. Dick back from the dead, b) gave him a Slashdot account, and c) severely damaged his writing ability? Where does the giant alien spaceship orbiting the earth and sending you signals fit into this scheme, Phil?
:-) Seriously, PKD was right. If the government could pull this sh*t off (pun intended) and get away with it, they would.
Sending notice to third parties is INSURANCE. What local paper wouldn't love a feature story about the local school screwing over a smart, observant student who was only trying to help them? Sure beats covering the local dog show... again. This goes double for the STUDENT paper.
relation real monkey directly to game money...
Some Freudian slip. Because you're the monkey if you're dumb enough to pay real $ for stuff in a computer game, the existence of which is dependent on the solvency of the parent company and their desire to maintain the service.
Actually, I suspect you'd find more nuns willing to admit to dildo usage (at least at Confession) than Slashdotters who'd admit to performing such a mundane household chore. That's why our moms make us live in the basement where the floors are concrete.
Until an unplanned meeting with some black ice...
Well, that'll teach you to jack in to the 'Net and try and hack Sense/Net FROM YOUR CAR! Better to rent a back room at the Gentleman Loser.
(/super geek)
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Have you considered a career in the U.S. State Department?
Whenever I get antsy waiting for the next big FPS to come out, I just sit down and watch a TV news report on Liberia/Iraq/Congo. After I'm done all I want is a new Hello Kitty game where you collect flowers for hug points.
Why would it need to be aerodynamic? With powerful engines (also ubiquitous in SW) and antigrav, you could fly a washing machine in atmosphere.
In the SW universe, cheap (eg. Luke's landspeeder) and ubiquitous repulsor "antigravity" technology has made atmospheric design a lot less important for space/aero vehicles. You just fly atmospherically with repulsors holding you up instead of aerodynamic lift. You'd design space fighters optimally for their space use, and worry much less, if at all, about what to do once they hit atmosphere. I assume there'd still be a niche for traditional fighter planes which could be designed to use "old-fashioned" aerodynamics.
The basic lego bricks may be ideal for very young children, but once you hit 6 or 7 you get very frustrated by the fact that there are no fighter canopies/big wheels/flexible hoses etc. Fortunately, in my case that was exactly when Lego started to produce more of these parts (I had a spiffy train set with quite a few specialized parts). The "old" parts were still useful of course, it's all about balance.
I agree that they have gone a tad overboard on the specialized parts in recent years, but the Star Wars line actually uses a lot of the old basic bricks, simply because they're needed to replicate the arbitrary shapes of the SW universe vehicles. I bought several SW Lego sets and they're loaded with great simple parts.
Um, he may be financially well-off, but DirecTV would crush him. "Once a man is a father he is never truly free" - Frank Miller, Batman: Year One. One of the neccessities of barratry is making a harsh example of anybody who resists. We are talking about extortion after all, and if you don't KNOW Tony Soprano is willing to break your kneecaps and burn down your store, why on earth would you pay? DirecTV taking you or I or especially smart, affluent Dr. Sosa to the poorhouse would send a lot of the other "defendants" scrambling to pull together that $3500.
The ugly truth. Makes you wish for a silenced Sig Sauer, a roll of duct tape and the keys to the DirecTV board's houses.