This is more psychos than psychics, so even though it's an old dead horse, it's a lot more like 1984. You have actually read 1984, haven't you?
Title: 1984 Author: George Orwell Online Computer Library Center Number: 52187275 Dewey Decimal Number: 823/.912 22 Library of Congress Classification: PR6029.R8 N647 2003
That sucker was first published back in 1949, so in the USA it's still in copyright for like a billion years or something, but it's pretty easy to find, as even the smallest public libraries try to keep it on hand. Heck, it was required reading in several of my high schools.
Beating up people is called Assault and is illegal. Arresting someone that isn't breaking the law is itself illegal. (Taking pictures in public, as well as using a heads-up display device in public are both totally legal, so long as you aren't driving.) Calling someone a 'Glasshole' for simply wearing a specific accessory is not only close-minded and uncalled for, but totally rude. (Try waiting for them to do something to deserve the insult, like insulting people without just cause.)
As far as I'm concerned, the 45 minute battery life is not a 'feature', it's a huge freaking defect.
Also, the price is currently WAY too bloody high. In my opinion it's only worth about $80 new. Feel free to disagree.;)
This is NOT a GMO issue, it's the same measure/counter-measure issue that's been plaguing agriculture since farming began. It's an example of evolution in action as a species changes in response to a change in it's environment. Stop trying to make it out to be more than it is.
They do, no joke, and they have for many years. Back in the late 90s, Macs had over a 1000 viruses, linux, less than 10. (It's been a few years, I forget the exact numbers.)
Did those infections occur a lot? No, but it did happen sometimes. After all, there's a huge benefit to NOT being the most common user OS. Those scum writing the malware usually want to hit as many victims as possible, and if there's an OS that has 70% or more of the desktops out there, it's pretty obvious what they will aim for.
If you want to continue to believe marketing and fanboys, that's up to you, but don't be surprised when you get infected by some kind of malware for not taking the proper precautions because you believe in computing myths and the protective power of obscurity is magically unbeatable.
By the way, I've done the tech support, and have seen the reality, this isn't just some random opinion. If you don't believe me, that's your problem.
Don't forget about Mike Jittlov's 30mph Briefcase. It had a fun scene in the 1989 movie "The Wizard of Speed & Time". Yes, it was a prop, and yes, it was fully functional according to all the reports I've seen.
So anyhow, these guys built one 25 years later and it's a bit snazzier. yawn.
It's been over 3000 years, so there's a chance there are a lot of people related to him, though not direct descendants as there seems to be little chance of him having had kids.
The differentiation between species is still being defined, but within a species there are many variations and sub-species. It's only when those differences become significant enough do biologists consider it a separate species. Even then, yes, there may be hundreds of descendant species from a single ancestor species, and the more time that passes, the more diversify from their progenitors. Of course, nature is a total bitch, and a lot of species go extinct for various reasons, including competition from their related species. Of the many species alive now, some have no closely related species that we know of, and others have tons of them.
Now if you're upset about not knowing about the intermediate ones, you're worried over nothing. The fossil record has shown a clear progression of those in many different animals, so it's not like it's some big mystery as the creationists claim, rather it's their ignorance of evolutionary and paleontological studies. In fast replication species, we have a lot more experience with this, and samples of the intermediate forms are stored. Mostly this is bacterial for the simple reason that those suckers multiply faster than Bugs Bunny locked in a room full of viagra with Jessica Rabbit. There are of course other studies with non microbial life, but those have far fewer generations to work with and so aren't as advanced.
Evolution has been observed, tracked, and even experimented with. It's existence is not in doubt among biologists, though they are constantly refining and testing it.
By their request for proof, they have clearly indicated that they do in fact have that ability. Otherwise they'd have started and ended the conversation with a simple, "I'm sorry, but we do not have the capability to compromise any users security. Without the login information or passwords we are unable to assist you.". Or something equivalent.
Most people, especially those that aren't as tech adept as us, would consider those one and the same, so bequeathing the ipad to someone automatically includes all the apps and data on it, needed by it, or associated with it.
They don't have to release the info when he wants it, assuming they have it in the first place. Remember, he's not asking for the release of photos they already have, he's demanding they take a 100 new high res closeup images following his instructions, and 24 microscopic images, also as per his instructions.
The Freedom of Information Act has nothing to do with his demands, it only covers information the government has, not stuff that hasn't even been done.
He's not a NASA administrator, supervisor, project lead, project member, or any other kind of NASA employee of any kind. He has the same authority to demand these things as any other American citizen, zero.
That rock is interesting and unique, but then again, so is every other rock they check out. Since it has wildly different mineral levels than most of the others, it would be very interesting, at least for geologists & mineralogists, to have a more detailed examination of that rock, but whether or not it will happen depends on the limited resources they have available, and if it shoots to the top of the priority list. There are a lot of things there that the scientists on the team are jonesing to check out.
Is it life? Um, no. That's not an absolute, but the probability of that rock being a life form is less than you winning the lottery and getting hit by lightning. Does Mars have life? Maybe. Of course there's also the chance that Mars had life, but it's all extinct now. Sure, a probe might find it, but they are not well equipped to find or analyse that kind of thing. At this current time, it would be a task optimally performed by a human on Mars with appropriate tools. Skilled humans are very effective, capable of dealing with unknown situations, and not crippled by a 30 minutes time delay with every instruction. Actual time varies depending on orbital positions of both Mars and Earth. This is also assuming 2 way communication, sending instruction, receiving reply that instruction was received and possibly resultant data.
Learning to program is in many ways like learning to design and build a car. It's not for everyone, nor should it be, though having an understanding of how it works is probably a good idea to dispel the notions of magic pixie dust.
Of course, back when Wargames was made, the computers were so slow a fast touch typist could easily overload the keybuffer. Yes, you could type faster than the computer could handle. On my computers I would change the size of the keybuffer to give me more leeway. I'd type till I filled the buffer, then take a drink while waiting for the buffer to catch up. I hated that slow speed. And now it's popular in games to display text in a super slow teletype one character at a time thing that is even slower than computers in the 80s.
Here's one for you. The party had decided that the Merchant was actually a thief (now known as rogue) and tried to force him to open a chest in an empty room. He figured it was a big obvious trap, and refused, also taking offense to being called a thief. They responded by putting a crossbow to his head (and other weapons pointed at other body parts) and forced him to open the chest. So he wouldn't try something, and so they'd be there to grab the loot, they went in the room as well. To avoid getting caught in the trap that must be on the chest, they were all 15' back. The merchant wasn't very happy about that. Seeing no other options that included possible survival, he unlocked and opened the chest. At this point, the entire floor of the room, except for the chest, and the tiny area in front of it collapsed into a very deep pit trap. All of the party except for the merchant were seriously injured by this. Taking advantage of the situation, the merchant spotted a handful of large gems in the chest on top of the coinage, which he promptly pocketed before yelling down to see if the party survived.
Now you might think the GM was pulling a fast one to punish a party that turned on one of their own for loot and broke their vow to not harm one another. Well, we all pretty much thought that, including the player of the merchant. So we called the GM on it. He laughed and pulled out his map of that small area, and pointed out the room, and the trap notations. He didn't fudge a single thing. That's exactly how that trap was supposed to work. The GM thought this was hilarious. After seeing that the GM didn't pull a fast one of his own, the merchant player did to. On top of that, his character ended up with more valuables than the rest of the party did combined on that little delve, and he couldn't have done it if they'd have just trusted him. (Actually he wouldn't have even tried to steal those gems, except for the threats to his life. They convinced him that he needed some just compensation for their blackmail and attempts to kill him.)
The Forgotten Realms was just one setting. By the time 3rd edition came out, my groups had mostly moved to other settings. I like the 3.x (3.5 more than 3.0) but they had there problems. (what doesn't?) I was excited about 4th, until I got the actual rules. That was a major let down, unless you were a fighter. Then Pathfinder saved the day. D&D Next (don't know if they will call it 5th or not) looks good. Of course, the still have plenty of time to screw it up.
Currently I'm playing Numenera, which is a completely different rules system.
The various computer rpgs (mmo or otherwise) are cool, but they just don't do a good enough job. They are all to limited and linear, except for the ones that are empty of content and story where you just run around killing people, those bore me in nothing flat. The main advantage of the pen & paper variety (even if you play it online in a chat room or virtual tabletop) is that you aren't bound to a script, and a human is moderating the story. It can respond and change to suit the needs of the game. (And trust me, you try to railroad the players, and they'll go so far off the tracks you won't even freaking know where the tracks even were.)
Gaming isn't for everyone. No big deal. If you don't like a form of entertainment, nobody really cares. It's like football, or opera, or country music, or chocolate, so many other things. You like it, or you don't. It's just the way it goes.
Unless of course you happen to be one of those ignorant douche-bags that rag on hobbies you don't understand or don't like. If that's the case, then I'll just point out that I've made a number of those types miserable and horribly embarrassed in front of their peers and have no regrets for the divine retribution they were slammed with. It's rather easy to do with that type, and their 'friends' tend to be the ones to thoroughly enjoy watching it happen.
Slashdot Mirror
Well I guess that explains why they can't type Shakespeare, now could somebody get a makak in here to finish this post.
This is more psychos than psychics, so even though it's an old dead horse, it's a lot more like 1984.
You have actually read 1984, haven't you?
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Online Computer Library Center Number: 52187275
Dewey Decimal Number: 823/.912 22
Library of Congress Classification: PR6029.R8 N647 2003
That sucker was first published back in 1949, so in the USA it's still in copyright for like a billion years or something, but it's pretty easy to find, as even the smallest public libraries try to keep it on hand. Heck, it was required reading in several of my high schools.
National Mall?
Do you mean Mall of America?
That's owned by Canadians I believe.
LA Police are doubly suspicious.
There's a good reason they have a worldwide reputation for corruption.
Beating up people is called Assault and is illegal.
;)
Arresting someone that isn't breaking the law is itself illegal.
(Taking pictures in public, as well as using a heads-up display device in public are both totally legal, so long as you aren't driving.)
Calling someone a 'Glasshole' for simply wearing a specific accessory is not only close-minded and uncalled for, but totally rude.
(Try waiting for them to do something to deserve the insult, like insulting people without just cause.)
As far as I'm concerned, the 45 minute battery life is not a 'feature', it's a huge freaking defect.
Also, the price is currently WAY too bloody high. In my opinion it's only worth about $80 new.
Feel free to disagree.
This is NOT a GMO issue, it's the same measure/counter-measure issue that's been plaguing agriculture since farming began.
It's an example of evolution in action as a species changes in response to a change in it's environment.
Stop trying to make it out to be more than it is.
They do, no joke, and they have for many years.
Back in the late 90s, Macs had over a 1000 viruses, linux, less than 10. (It's been a few years, I forget the exact numbers.)
Did those infections occur a lot? No, but it did happen sometimes.
After all, there's a huge benefit to NOT being the most common user OS. Those scum writing the malware usually want to hit as many victims as possible, and if there's an OS that has 70% or more of the desktops out there, it's pretty obvious what they will aim for.
If you want to continue to believe marketing and fanboys, that's up to you, but don't be surprised when you get infected by some kind of malware for not taking the proper precautions because you believe in computing myths and the protective power of obscurity is magically unbeatable.
By the way, I've done the tech support, and have seen the reality, this isn't just some random opinion. If you don't believe me, that's your problem.
There are two ways to maintain those stated "high editorial and ethical standards".
First, as someone else mentioned, requires the use of certain smoked, injected, or ingested materials of an often illegal yet popular variety.
The second, it's relative to what you compare it to, such as the National Enquirer, which has been around longer than 80 years.
Don't forget about Mike Jittlov's 30mph Briefcase.
It had a fun scene in the 1989 movie "The Wizard of Speed & Time".
Yes, it was a prop, and yes, it was fully functional according to all the reports I've seen.
So anyhow, these guys built one 25 years later and it's a bit snazzier. yawn.
Please don't give them suggestions, they imagine enough b.s. now.
People hate flippers, and if you 'double-side' the drives to avoid that, you'll be about doubling their costs, and that's not popular either.
I agree, anything piloted by a human, even if remotely, doesn't really qualify as a robot.
It's been over 3000 years, so there's a chance there are a lot of people related to him, though not direct descendants as there seems to be little chance of him having had kids.
The differentiation between species is still being defined, but within a species there are many variations and sub-species. It's only when those differences become significant enough do biologists consider it a separate species. Even then, yes, there may be hundreds of descendant species from a single ancestor species, and the more time that passes, the more diversify from their progenitors.
Of course, nature is a total bitch, and a lot of species go extinct for various reasons, including competition from their related species. Of the many species alive now, some have no closely related species that we know of, and others have tons of them.
Now if you're upset about not knowing about the intermediate ones, you're worried over nothing. The fossil record has shown a clear progression of those in many different animals, so it's not like it's some big mystery as the creationists claim, rather it's their ignorance of evolutionary and paleontological studies. In fast replication species, we have a lot more experience with this, and samples of the intermediate forms are stored. Mostly this is bacterial for the simple reason that those suckers multiply faster than Bugs Bunny locked in a room full of viagra with Jessica Rabbit. There are of course other studies with non microbial life, but those have far fewer generations to work with and so aren't as advanced.
Evolution has been observed, tracked, and even experimented with. It's existence is not in doubt among biologists, though they are constantly refining and testing it.
By their request for proof, they have clearly indicated that they do in fact have that ability. Otherwise they'd have started and ended the conversation with a simple, "I'm sorry, but we do not have the capability to compromise any users security. Without the login information or passwords we are unable to assist you.". Or something equivalent.
Most people, especially those that aren't as tech adept as us, would consider those one and the same, so bequeathing the ipad to someone automatically includes all the apps and data on it, needed by it, or associated with it.
They don't have to release the info when he wants it, assuming they have it in the first place. Remember, he's not asking for the release of photos they already have, he's demanding they take a 100 new high res closeup images following his instructions, and 24 microscopic images, also as per his instructions.
The Freedom of Information Act has nothing to do with his demands, it only covers information the government has, not stuff that hasn't even been done.
He's not a NASA administrator, supervisor, project lead, project member, or any other kind of NASA employee of any kind. He has the same authority to demand these things as any other American citizen, zero.
That rock is interesting and unique, but then again, so is every other rock they check out. Since it has wildly different mineral levels than most of the others, it would be very interesting, at least for geologists & mineralogists, to have a more detailed examination of that rock, but whether or not it will happen depends on the limited resources they have available, and if it shoots to the top of the priority list. There are a lot of things there that the scientists on the team are jonesing to check out.
Is it life? Um, no. That's not an absolute, but the probability of that rock being a life form is less than you winning the lottery and getting hit by lightning.
Does Mars have life? Maybe. Of course there's also the chance that Mars had life, but it's all extinct now. Sure, a probe might find it, but they are not well equipped to find or analyse that kind of thing. At this current time, it would be a task optimally performed by a human on Mars with appropriate tools. Skilled humans are very effective, capable of dealing with unknown situations, and not crippled by a 30 minutes time delay with every instruction. Actual time varies depending on orbital positions of both Mars and Earth. This is also assuming 2 way communication, sending instruction, receiving reply that instruction was received and possibly resultant data.
Learning to program is in many ways like learning to design and build a car. It's not for everyone, nor should it be, though having an understanding of how it works is probably a good idea to dispel the notions of magic pixie dust.
Of course, back when Wargames was made, the computers were so slow a fast touch typist could easily overload the keybuffer. Yes, you could type faster than the computer could handle. On my computers I would change the size of the keybuffer to give me more leeway. I'd type till I filled the buffer, then take a drink while waiting for the buffer to catch up. I hated that slow speed. And now it's popular in games to display text in a super slow teletype one character at a time thing that is even slower than computers in the 80s.
In most movies, they never even hit the enter/return key.
Often the same with the spacebar.
Here's one for you. The party had decided that the Merchant was actually a thief (now known as rogue) and tried to force him to open a chest in an empty room. He figured it was a big obvious trap, and refused, also taking offense to being called a thief. They responded by putting a crossbow to his head (and other weapons pointed at other body parts) and forced him to open the chest.
So he wouldn't try something, and so they'd be there to grab the loot, they went in the room as well. To avoid getting caught in the trap that must be on the chest, they were all 15' back.
The merchant wasn't very happy about that. Seeing no other options that included possible survival, he unlocked and opened the chest.
At this point, the entire floor of the room, except for the chest, and the tiny area in front of it collapsed into a very deep pit trap. All of the party except for the merchant were seriously injured by this.
Taking advantage of the situation, the merchant spotted a handful of large gems in the chest on top of the coinage, which he promptly pocketed before yelling down to see if the party survived.
Now you might think the GM was pulling a fast one to punish a party that turned on one of their own for loot and broke their vow to not harm one another. Well, we all pretty much thought that, including the player of the merchant. So we called the GM on it. He laughed and pulled out his map of that small area, and pointed out the room, and the trap notations. He didn't fudge a single thing. That's exactly how that trap was supposed to work.
The GM thought this was hilarious. After seeing that the GM didn't pull a fast one of his own, the merchant player did to.
On top of that, his character ended up with more valuables than the rest of the party did combined on that little delve, and he couldn't have done it if they'd have just trusted him. (Actually he wouldn't have even tried to steal those gems, except for the threats to his life. They convinced him that he needed some just compensation for their blackmail and attempts to kill him.)
No, you just had a stingy GM.
The Forgotten Realms was just one setting. By the time 3rd edition came out, my groups had mostly moved to other settings. I like the 3.x (3.5 more than 3.0) but they had there problems. (what doesn't?) I was excited about 4th, until I got the actual rules. That was a major let down, unless you were a fighter. Then Pathfinder saved the day. D&D Next (don't know if they will call it 5th or not) looks good. Of course, the still have plenty of time to screw it up.
Currently I'm playing Numenera, which is a completely different rules system.
The various computer rpgs (mmo or otherwise) are cool, but they just don't do a good enough job. They are all to limited and linear, except for the ones that are empty of content and story where you just run around killing people, those bore me in nothing flat. The main advantage of the pen & paper variety (even if you play it online in a chat room or virtual tabletop) is that you aren't bound to a script, and a human is moderating the story. It can respond and change to suit the needs of the game. (And trust me, you try to railroad the players, and they'll go so far off the tracks you won't even freaking know where the tracks even were.)
Gaming isn't for everyone. No big deal. If you don't like a form of entertainment, nobody really cares.
It's like football, or opera, or country music, or chocolate, so many other things. You like it, or you don't. It's just the way it goes.
Unless of course you happen to be one of those ignorant douche-bags that rag on hobbies you don't understand or don't like.
If that's the case, then I'll just point out that I've made a number of those types miserable and horribly embarrassed in front of their peers and have no regrets for the divine retribution they were slammed with. It's rather easy to do with that type, and their 'friends' tend to be the ones to thoroughly enjoy watching it happen.
Gotta link it :D
http://youtu.be/jFhgupR565Q