All rating systems are inherently broken, Not just the ESRB. They are all based on giving a thumbnail description of what somebody else is second guessing you will find offensive.
The only true record of content is an exact copy of the content. If you wish to find out if the content will offend you, you will have to risk being offended by viewing it yourself. Them's the breaks.
If you have some special thin skinned needs to be met the ESRB ratings aren't the only ones available. Many special interest groups produce their own reviews and rating systems. They aren't printed on the box, but you can still read 'em before you buy.
In a world where everyone has a "right" to not be offended everyone will have duct tape over their eyes, ears and mouths.
And what is the rating for those of us who are offended by that concept? Wal-Mart does not label the bowdlerized content they sell as such. Stamping a big, red "B" on 'em might be nice, to let me know to avoid them and go off in search of a true copy.
In future we might see somthing like an "L" rating; for "Libre."
Warning! Warning! This media is a free speech zone. We make no guarantees against its content. Use entirely at your own risk.
You might be surprised to find that I do not welcome that day, because I have always thought of that as the default.
Albert Michaelson, the first American to win a Nobel in the sciences was born German, although educated in the US. His parents came to America when little Albert was two years old to escape the German guild system (which also brought America Martin of guitar fame and Steinway of piano fame. Their experiments in instruments were illegal in Germany, violating guild rules).
Einstein, of course, was also born German and educated in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. He did his seminal work in Europe, but came to the US seeking an open climate and continued to do valuable work. Heisenberg, who remained in Germany effectively had his useful career cut short by being forced to abandon "reality based" science, because it was deemed "Jewish."
Iquiring minds want to know and they will go wherever it is they are allowed to think and publish freely. Those who choose to remain will, in large part, cease to do valuable work.
Of course, the true test will be to see if we can keep it up in a few years.
Exactly. Brain drains take time to manifest. Research takes time. By the time you can see a brain drain in results it is already over.
The reason was for preservaton because a 78 RPM records is apparently extrememly easy to play even without much technology.
You don't even need a source of electricity. Put the needle (a real needle, just a sharpened sliver of steel) in the groove and spin the plater. Sound comes out. The process is purely mechanical, not even electromechanical. Electromechanical cartridges are to send an electrical signal to an amplifier, not simply to reproduce the sound.
In early days these things were sold from the back of a van, i.e. a covered wagon.
And because the recording is a phonograph, i.e. it is a visible analog recording, even imaging technology can be used to recover the data.
I'd hate to be in the shoes of a 23rd century researcher trying to play back a 2005 issue SONY drm'd compact disc. ..
But plastic Ronald McDonald figurines will last damned near forever. Future archeolgists will think he must have been extremely important in our culture to have made his image in such durable materials.
At least make it mandatory that media have to be deposited in DRM free format with some agency. ..
In the US all sound recordings whose copyrights are registered have a copy deposited in the Library of Congress. The library has been known to make format changes for archival purposes (such as digitizing old newspapers), the problem being the sheer volume of material that they have to deal with.
There was a guy on Book TV a couple of weeks ago who modeled the difference between political Conservatives and Liberals as being people who believed in a strict parental role and those who believed in a nurturing parental role.
Sitting there listening to the guy all I could think was, "Doesn't leave a lot of room for grownups, does it?"
I think it says a whole lot about our culture when even a harsh government critic can only think of the populace as children who have to be babied.
Various God hypothesis have been tested, and falsified. Some God hypothesis are untestable.
. ..you can't come up with a concievable method to test it; String Theory is too hard for us to test now, but it could be concievably disproven.
No, the problem with string theory, right now at least, is that it is not merely too hard to test, it is inherently untestable and no one has yet concieved of a way to make it testable. There are 1001 string theories, just as there are 1001 Gods.
Fix that and then I will test it. Make it simple enough to test. Until then it is quasi-Buddhist philosophy at best. Just because you use abstract mathematical symbols to build an obtuse argument doesn't make it any more science, or any less philosophy, than an argument built with abstract linguistic symbols.
The lab coat does not make the science. The testability does.
. ..players still buy games for their graphical splendor.
Perfectly achievable with art. In fact, my personal opinion is that the modding community has deteriorated the graphical splendor of my favorite game by persuing photorealism.
And thus indistinguiasable from any God hypothesis, thus suffering from the same weakness as any God hypothesis, competing hypothesis cannot be tested for factual basis.
Why argue over semantics anyway?
Bring your dog around and we'll fly it to the abverb.
Until someone comes up with a better theory that is testable then we aren't likely to see string theory disappear.
And there are still Millerites waiting on the top of the hill.
If you want me to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, first show me an angel whose properties can be tested. Until then the argument is a philosophical exercise, not science.
As the summary points out, few (if any) of String Theory's propositions can be tested or even observed. So it is simply an unknown right now. We cannot measure the proposed strings so how can we prove if they exist or they don't? We simply can't yet.
Therefore they are God, not theory. An untestable hypothesis. What makes a theory a theory is testability.
And the problem with looting during Katrina wasn't the people poking around the abandoned Rite-Aid for stuff to stay alive; it was the people stocking up on TV sets to be sold out of a van later.
I do. Some of the people around me are slow learners. There are disasters, such as Katrina, where even that is of limited help. Even stockpiled stores can be lost and destroyed. My mother lived in a grocery store during the Great Hurricane of '38. Didn't do her any good, everything in it was lost.
And not everyone can afford to sit on four months of goods.
I live in ice storm country. Happens all the time, if only because when the power goes out the computers go down and the batteries are left to "rot" on the shelves because managment has forgotten how to take your money without 'em.
You have a different perspective on "looting" if you've been through a disaster or five. Sometimes you've just got to take the fucking shit you need to survive and let the insurance companies deal with it later.
Do some volunteer work afterwards to deal with the broader social karma.
It's in the original story; to stop selling DVDs of companies that sell movies online. Wal-Mart is the 800 lb. gorilla of retail and are already powerful enough that they have forced the sound recording industry to produce bowdlerized versions of CDs for sale at Wal-Mart (and I'll note, as an aside, that the artist is usually clueless about this; and would be powerless if he had a clue).
What Wal-Mart does not seem to fully grasp is that by selling online the studios cut them out of the distribution chain, even though this is Wal-Mart's very complaint. They ain't the 800 lb. gorilla no mo'. For the first time the studios can say "Well fine, we don't need you. Go away."
. ..any country that is able to get into space in any significant way is also capable of building and delivering nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.
That horse has already left the barn. Go watch Damnation Alley or something. Not a good movie, but I like that one because where I am ends up being the only place left looking better after the Holocaust.
Slashdot Mirror
. . . a good game can last forever, too!
I have posted quite recently, more than once, that that is my criteria for a good game.
KFG
Oh poor misguided youth...
Quite the contrary, I think that because I am old.
KFG
A good book doesn't last a quarter of that!
A good book lasts forever.
KFG
All rating systems are inherently broken, Not just the ESRB. They are all based on giving a thumbnail description of what somebody else is second guessing you will find offensive.
The only true record of content is an exact copy of the content. If you wish to find out if the content will offend you, you will have to risk being offended by viewing it yourself. Them's the breaks.
If you have some special thin skinned needs to be met the ESRB ratings aren't the only ones available. Many special interest groups produce their own reviews and rating systems. They aren't printed on the box, but you can still read 'em before you buy.
In a world where everyone has a "right" to not be offended everyone will have duct tape over their eyes, ears and mouths.
And what is the rating for those of us who are offended by that concept? Wal-Mart does not label the bowdlerized content they sell as such. Stamping a big, red "B" on 'em might be nice, to let me know to avoid them and go off in search of a true copy.
In future we might see somthing like an "L" rating; for "Libre."
Warning! Warning! This media is a free speech zone. We make no guarantees against its content. Use entirely at your own risk.
You might be surprised to find that I do not welcome that day, because I have always thought of that as the default.
KFG
Albert Michaelson, the first American to win a Nobel in the sciences was born German, although educated in the US. His parents came to America when little Albert was two years old to escape the German guild system (which also brought America Martin of guitar fame and Steinway of piano fame. Their experiments in instruments were illegal in Germany, violating guild rules).
Einstein, of course, was also born German and educated in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. He did his seminal work in Europe, but came to the US seeking an open climate and continued to do valuable work. Heisenberg, who remained in Germany effectively had his useful career cut short by being forced to abandon "reality based" science, because it was deemed "Jewish."
Iquiring minds want to know and they will go wherever it is they are allowed to think and publish freely. Those who choose to remain will, in large part, cease to do valuable work.
Of course, the true test will be to see if we can keep it up in a few years.
Exactly. Brain drains take time to manifest. Research takes time. By the time you can see a brain drain in results it is already over.
KFG
The reason was for preservaton because a 78 RPM records is apparently extrememly easy to play even without much technology.
You don't even need a source of electricity. Put the needle (a real needle, just a sharpened sliver of steel) in the groove and spin the plater. Sound comes out. The process is purely mechanical, not even electromechanical. Electromechanical cartridges are to send an electrical signal to an amplifier, not simply to reproduce the sound.
In early days these things were sold from the back of a van, i.e. a covered wagon.
And because the recording is a phonograph, i.e. it is a visible analog recording, even imaging technology can be used to recover the data.
KFG
I'd hate to be in the shoes of a 23rd century researcher trying to play back a 2005 issue SONY drm'd compact disc. . .
.
But plastic Ronald McDonald figurines will last damned near forever. Future archeolgists will think he must have been extremely important in our culture to have made his image in such durable materials.
At least make it mandatory that media have to be deposited in DRM free format with some agency. .
In the US all sound recordings whose copyrights are registered have a copy deposited in the Library of Congress. The library has been known to make format changes for archival purposes (such as digitizing old newspapers), the problem being the sheer volume of material that they have to deal with.
KFG
Right, and the best way to deal with a bad law . . . is to ignore it.
Capital One is not going to bite the hand that feeds it.
KFG
You might want to look into alternative means of exchange as well.
. htm
Ithaca Hours:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/7813/ccs-ithi
KFG
. . .we need to put some teeth in the founding documents, I guess.
That was supposed to be the Second Amendment, but mommy doesn't like us playing with toys that might put somebody's eye out.
Especially if that somebody might be mommy.
KFG
That the government is not my mommy. . .
There was a guy on Book TV a couple of weeks ago who modeled the difference between political Conservatives and Liberals as being people who believed in a strict parental role and those who believed in a nurturing parental role.
Sitting there listening to the guy all I could think was, "Doesn't leave a lot of room for grownups, does it?"
I think it says a whole lot about our culture when even a harsh government critic can only think of the populace as children who have to be babied.
KFG
. . . its still a prize, and you still gambled.
The issue is not gambling. The issue is compliance with law.
KFG
I stopped buying DVDs since I'm never certain if the version out today won't be replaced by a extended version in six month . . .
The less stitches the more riches, you anti-capitalist scum.
KFG
God is intrinsically untestable . . .
.you can't come up with a concievable method to test it; String Theory is too hard for us to test now, but it could be concievably disproven.
Various God hypothesis have been tested, and falsified. Some God hypothesis are untestable.
. .
No, the problem with string theory, right now at least, is that it is not merely too hard to test, it is inherently untestable and no one has yet concieved of a way to make it testable. There are 1001 string theories, just as there are 1001 Gods.
Fix that and then I will test it. Make it simple enough to test. Until then it is quasi-Buddhist philosophy at best. Just because you use abstract mathematical symbols to build an obtuse argument doesn't make it any more science, or any less philosophy, than an argument built with abstract linguistic symbols.
The lab coat does not make the science. The testability does.
KFG
. . .players still buy games for their graphical splendor.
Perfectly achievable with art. In fact, my personal opinion is that the modding community has deteriorated the graphical splendor of my favorite game by persuing photorealism.
KFG
God? WTF? It's merely untestable right now.
And thus indistinguiasable from any God hypothesis, thus suffering from the same weakness as any God hypothesis, competing hypothesis cannot be tested for factual basis.
Why argue over semantics anyway?
Bring your dog around and we'll fly it to the abverb.
Until someone comes up with a better theory that is testable then we aren't likely to see string theory disappear.
And there are still Millerites waiting on the top of the hill.
If you want me to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, first show me an angel whose properties can be tested. Until then the argument is a philosophical exercise, not science.
KFG
As the summary points out, few (if any) of String Theory's propositions can be tested or even observed. So it is simply an unknown right now. We cannot measure the proposed strings so how can we prove if they exist or they don't? We simply can't yet.
Therefore they are God, not theory. An untestable hypothesis. What makes a theory a theory is testability.
KFG
A bunch of scientific equipment was setup to measure plants behaviour/electrical impulses.
Setting up a bunch of scientific equipment is not what makes an experiment scientific.
KFG
Sometimes that works; sometimes it doesn't.
And the problem with looting during Katrina wasn't the people poking around the abandoned Rite-Aid for stuff to stay alive; it was the people stocking up on TV sets to be sold out of a van later.
Some of those people were cops.
KFG
I do. Some of the people around me are slow learners. There are disasters, such as Katrina, where even that is of limited help. Even stockpiled stores can be lost and destroyed. My mother lived in a grocery store during the Great Hurricane of '38. Didn't do her any good, everything in it was lost.
And not everyone can afford to sit on four months of goods.
KFG
No, I'm afraid that things are not moving fast enough to stop the world and let me off.
Actually, now that I think of it, if most of you would just be so kind as to bugger off to Mars I'd probably start to like it here just fine.
KFG
I live in ice storm country. Happens all the time, if only because when the power goes out the computers go down and the batteries are left to "rot" on the shelves because managment has forgotten how to take your money without 'em.
You have a different perspective on "looting" if you've been through a disaster or five. Sometimes you've just got to take the fucking shit you need to survive and let the insurance companies deal with it later.
Do some volunteer work afterwards to deal with the broader social karma.
KFG
It's in the original story; to stop selling DVDs of companies that sell movies online. Wal-Mart is the 800 lb. gorilla of retail and are already powerful enough that they have forced the sound recording industry to produce bowdlerized versions of CDs for sale at Wal-Mart (and I'll note, as an aside, that the artist is usually clueless about this; and would be powerless if he had a clue).
What Wal-Mart does not seem to fully grasp is that by selling online the studios cut them out of the distribution chain, even though this is Wal-Mart's very complaint. They ain't the 800 lb. gorilla no mo'. For the first time the studios can say "Well fine, we don't need you. Go away."
One might almost think that's the very idea.
KFG
Q.E.D. :)
KFG
I hope you're wrong. . .
.any country that is able to get into space in any significant way is also capable of building and delivering nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.
So do I; but I'm not.
. .
That horse has already left the barn. Go watch Damnation Alley or something. Not a good movie, but I like that one because where I am ends up being the only place left looking better after the Holocaust.
KFG