MSN has a reputation? I guess if they have a reputation, its "another generic web portal", kind of like Yahoo!, only Yahoo!, as bland as it is, is rather useful.
To sum up everyone's responses to this: 1. No one respects Mensa since they base their membership on tests of dubious veracity and not on real world accomplishments. 2. And signing up with a deal with MSN kind of just drives the point home, doesn't it?
Is thermodynamics a "self evident proposition"? See, now here is a question that can at least be asked logically, if not answered. The first law of thermodynamics is "self-evident" to me, in that I can't imagine my way around it. However, this doesn't mean it is true as much as it means that I have a limited imagination. I can not imagine something "disappearing" from existence. That entities and bodies must obey these rules we can accept as an a priori truth, or at least as a condition of reality that it is hard for our minds to work around. The second law of thermodynamics is not something that is neccesary a priori, because I can imagine a system where energy does not dissipate. For example, in a universe where there was a single elementary particle, this rule wouldn't apply, so it is not an a priori truth.
So, from the first law of thermodynamics, explain the logical conclusion that homeopathic medicine doesn't work.
This is kind of an old argument, so I don't know if it is worth getting into. Heidegger wrote, when the balls were dropped from Pisa, they didn't hit the ground at the same time. Its often been considered that medieval science was based on theory, and that the age of science introduced facts. However, science is not a collection of facts. Science is a collection of facts shaped by mathematical models. Or rather, science is facts shaped by the projection of Cartesian geometry into the world. Cartexian geometry is a very elegant model, but we don't know how true it is. By Cartesian geometry, I don't mean just the grid, but the metaphysical distinction between field and matter, a metaphysical distinction held so closely to that it can't even be thought about. Anyway, that is the short description. Basically, some facts lead to a model. But don't assume that every fact you will get will fit into that model. I personally don't know any of the evidence of homeopathy. And I don't see any reason for it to work. But I won't disbelieve it a priori because it doesn't fit my model.
Guessing the results of research before it is through? Give me an a priori reason why homeopathy can't work. Why would you predict a study isn't going to work? If you think homeopathy isn't going to work because the mechanics of it don't make sense to you, that means it doesn't jibe with your metaphysical ideas. And I really don't care about your metaphysical ideas. I can't find words to express how dangerous your monument to non-existence is.
I have big objections to the word "technology", on the basis that it doesn't mean anything. Martin Heidegger can go on for pages and pages about "enframing", but really, "technology" means nothing.
"Derived from" and "based on" are complicated words, in arts and technology. Its not technically correct to say that Linux is based on Minix, but it is true that if not for Minix, Linus would have probably never had the idea.
Yes, we all know that Darl and company has been on the rocks for quite a while. Although once they run out of money, they won't have money to buy rocks, and will have to drink rubbing alcohol or something.
Girls do play video games! And, from my experience, their favorite type of video game is the Squaresoft RPG. So we may see a big upswing in girls who are overdressed princesses with tragic stories and magical powers. Which I don't think would be a bad thing at all:)
It is true that when I was a kid, bee bee guns (and probably squirrel rifles) were omnipresent, but most of the kids were smart enough to not shoot each other with them (most of the time).
Anytime I hear about "centers" in the brain, my red flags go up. I can't give the entire history as well as I used to be able to, but from the "prehistory" of brain research, to the present, schools of thoughts on mental processes have bounced between a holistic view, that the entire brain does the thinking, to the "phrenology" view, that there is a part of the brain that controls, say "slothfullness". Although the modern "phrenological" view does have a lot of science behind it, it also has a lot of guessing behind it. We do know about lower brain structures that control physical structures such as breathing, and we do know that limbic structures such as the Amygdala control fear, but mostly in radical cases. Severe damage to parts of the limbic system cause strange behavior, but we can't say that a smaller limbic structure is responsible for different behaviors. The cerebral cortex, which is the "human" brain is very complicated and very unspecialized. We do know that much "higher" thought occurs in the forebrain, but we can't say "This forebrain is where the good, advanced thoughts are. This temporal lobe is full of bad thoughts." Anytime anyone claims that you can, or just seems to take it for granted that this is how the brain works, take a very very close look at what they are saying.
ever recurring debate about video games and violent behavior
And people will keep on discussing this, until they find another topic to blame on the declining morals of today's youth. Back in the 1950's, we had "Seduction of the Innocent", where the wave of crime that swept the nation in the 50s was blamed on comic books. We still have comic books around, but people don't seem to complain about them much, because they've moved on to different fish to fry.
As a side note, one of the things that is brought up about comic books and censorship is that comic books are often censored based upon their effects on children, even with no proof that children are the main readers of comic books. The same thing with video games: the main market of video games is arguably people who have moved out of their formative years.
Anyway, until someone invents a new shocking form of popular communication (brain broadcasts, anyone?), we are going to have to put up with this.
That being said, I am hungry, so I think it is time for me to go out and turn some monsters into fruit for breakfast.
I know a lot more open source developers than the average person. (although perhaps not more than the average Slashdotter), and I can't figure out how there can be enough of them to keep all these projects floating. For example, how many people were neccesary to put together libsdl-sound1.2 which is one of tens of thousands of packages hiding in the Debian repository, which is just a small piece of all open source projects. Where are all these open source developers hiding? Is this what my bus driver does when they aren't at work?
I have heard the word "blog" for close to a year now, and I still don't know what it is. Very few people I know would use the term "blog", it seems mostly in use by media people, talking about "them crazy internet kids". "Blogs" are websites that are updated with material, periodically, I suppose. Lumping webpages that are updated regularly under one category is like lumping items made of wood under one category. "Blogs" could include personal sites, like LiveJournal, that are mostly people's personal business, and aren't really meant to be taken seriously. Is their some other type of blogs that I am not aware of?
Well, some background on why I hate propietary rails. I work at Free Geek. We have, right now, about 1000 computers in our warehouse. (We don't bother to count, its somewhere in the four digits). People bring us systems in all parts of repair and disrepair. Many of them are missing things like drive rails and bay covers. Some clever companties try to make clever case designs, with no standard bay covers and drive rails. When we can't find the drive rails for the Compaq ConsumerStation5000, we have to recycle the entire system. Which isn't a problem, becuase we have a thousand more, buts its still annoying to recycle a computer system because the manufactors wanted cute pieces of plastic.
Does this mean sneaky little proprietary rails that keep things in by friction, but can never be exchanged with another system.
I hate those things.
The proper way a drive should be secured is with a Phillips screwdriver. It is not like a Phillips Screwdriver is some exotic tool that is hard to come by.
I don't like to get political, but this reminds me so much of the Bush administration. Its not the politics of the Bush administration that bothers me (I don't like their politics, but I can disagree with people without thinking they are corrupt), its the fact that they can have repeated failures, and still with a straight face claim that they have a success. How big does the debt have to get, and how many people in Iraq have to die, before Bush & Co. admit that perhaps they made some mistakes?
Same thing with Microsoft. If they can say with a straight face that Windows is more secure than Linux, how big of a disaster has to happen before they realize the real situation?
Slashdot Mirror
MSN has a reputation?
I guess if they have a reputation, its "another generic web portal", kind of like Yahoo!, only Yahoo!, as bland as it is, is rather useful.
To sum up everyone's responses to this:
1. No one respects Mensa since they base their membership on tests of dubious veracity and not on real world accomplishments.
2. And signing up with a deal with MSN kind of just drives the point home, doesn't it?
Is thermodynamics a "self evident proposition"?
See, now here is a question that can at least be asked logically, if not answered.
The first law of thermodynamics is "self-evident" to me, in that I can't imagine my way around it. However, this doesn't mean it is true as much as it means that I have a limited imagination. I can not imagine something "disappearing" from existence. That entities and bodies must obey these rules we can accept as an a priori truth, or at least as a condition of reality that it is hard for our minds to work around.
The second law of thermodynamics is not something that is neccesary a priori, because I can imagine a system where energy does not dissipate. For example, in a universe where there was a single elementary particle, this rule wouldn't apply, so it is not an a priori truth.
So, from the first law of thermodynamics, explain the logical conclusion that homeopathic medicine doesn't work.
::: sighs :::
This is kind of an old argument, so I don't know if it is worth getting into.
Heidegger wrote, when the balls were dropped from Pisa, they didn't hit the ground at the same time.
Its often been considered that medieval science was based on theory, and that the age of science introduced facts. However, science is not a collection of facts. Science is a collection of facts shaped by mathematical models. Or rather, science is facts shaped by the projection of Cartesian geometry into the world. Cartexian geometry is a very elegant model, but we don't know how true it is.
By Cartesian geometry, I don't mean just the grid, but the metaphysical distinction between field and matter, a metaphysical distinction held so closely to that it can't even be thought about.
Anyway, that is the short description.
Basically, some facts lead to a model. But don't assume that every fact you will get will fit into that model. I personally don't know any of the evidence of homeopathy. And I don't see any reason for it to work. But I won't disbelieve it a priori because it doesn't fit my model.
I guess you don't know what "a priori" means.
"3*3=9" is an a priori statement.
"Penguins can fly faster than any other birds" is a statement that is not a priori.
Guessing the results of research before it is through?
Give me an a priori reason why homeopathy can't work. Why would you predict a study isn't going to work?
If you think homeopathy isn't going to work because the mechanics of it don't make sense to you, that means it doesn't jibe with your metaphysical ideas. And I really don't care about your metaphysical ideas.
I can't find words to express how dangerous your monument to non-existence is.
I have big objections to the word "technology", on the basis that it doesn't mean anything.
Martin Heidegger can go on for pages and pages about "enframing", but really, "technology" means nothing.
What is a blog?
And how exactly, does "Writing about your employer in a blog" differ from "writing about your employer on a webpage"?
"Derived from" and "based on" are complicated words, in arts and technology.
Its not technically correct to say that Linux is based on Minix, but it is true that if not for Minix, Linus would have probably never had the idea.
Oh come on, no one has thought of this joke yet?
Yes, we all know that Darl and company has been on the rocks for quite a while. Although once they run out of money, they won't have money to buy rocks, and will have to drink rubbing alcohol or something.
Girls do play video games! :)
And, from my experience, their favorite type of video game is the Squaresoft RPG.
So we may see a big upswing in girls who are overdressed princesses with tragic stories and magical powers.
Which I don't think would be a bad thing at all
It is true that when I was a kid, bee bee guns (and probably squirrel rifles) were omnipresent, but most of the kids were smart enough to not shoot each other with them (most of the time).
But that is a totally different flame war...
Anytime I hear about "centers" in the brain, my red flags go up.
I can't give the entire history as well as I used to be able to, but from the "prehistory" of brain research, to the present, schools of thoughts on mental processes have bounced between a holistic view, that the entire brain does the thinking, to the "phrenology" view, that there is a part of the brain that controls, say "slothfullness". Although the modern "phrenological" view does have a lot of science behind it, it also has a lot of guessing behind it. We do know about lower brain structures that control physical structures such as breathing, and we do know that limbic structures such as the Amygdala control fear, but mostly in radical cases. Severe damage to parts of the limbic system cause strange behavior, but we can't say that a smaller limbic structure is responsible for different behaviors.
The cerebral cortex, which is the "human" brain is very complicated and very unspecialized. We do know that much "higher" thought occurs in the forebrain, but we can't say "This forebrain is where the good, advanced thoughts are. This temporal lobe is full of bad thoughts."
Anytime anyone claims that you can, or just seems to take it for granted that this is how the brain works, take a very very close look at what they are saying.
And people will keep on discussing this, until they find another topic to blame on the declining morals of today's youth. Back in the 1950's, we had "Seduction of the Innocent", where the wave of crime that swept the nation in the 50s was blamed on comic books. We still have comic books around, but people don't seem to complain about them much, because they've moved on to different fish to fry.
As a side note, one of the things that is brought up about comic books and censorship is that comic books are often censored based upon their effects on children, even with no proof that children are the main readers of comic books. The same thing with video games: the main market of video games is arguably people who have moved out of their formative years.
Anyway, until someone invents a new shocking form of popular communication (brain broadcasts, anyone?), we are going to have to put up with this.
That being said, I am hungry, so I think it is time for me to go out and turn some monsters into fruit for breakfast.
I know a lot more open source developers than the average person. (although perhaps not more than the average Slashdotter), and I can't figure out how there can be enough of them to keep all these projects floating.
For example, how many people were neccesary to put together libsdl-sound1.2 which is one of tens of thousands of packages hiding in the Debian repository, which is just a small piece of all open source projects.
Where are all these open source developers hiding? Is this what my bus driver does when they aren't at work?
I have heard the word "blog" for close to a year now, and I still don't know what it is.
Very few people I know would use the term "blog", it seems mostly in use by media people, talking about "them crazy internet kids".
"Blogs" are websites that are updated with material, periodically, I suppose. Lumping webpages that are updated regularly under one category is like lumping items made of wood under one category.
"Blogs" could include personal sites, like LiveJournal, that are mostly people's personal business, and aren't really meant to be taken seriously.
Is their some other type of blogs that I am not aware of?
Well, some background on why I hate propietary rails. .
I work at Free Geek
We have, right now, about 1000 computers in our warehouse. (We don't bother to count, its somewhere in the four digits).
People bring us systems in all parts of repair and disrepair. Many of them are missing things like drive rails and bay covers. Some clever companties try to make clever case designs, with no standard bay covers and drive rails.
When we can't find the drive rails for the Compaq ConsumerStation5000, we have to recycle the entire system. Which isn't a problem, becuase we have a thousand more, buts its still annoying to recycle a computer system because the manufactors wanted cute pieces of plastic.
Does this mean sneaky little proprietary rails that keep things in by friction, but can never be exchanged with another system.
I hate those things.
The proper way a drive should be secured is with a Phillips screwdriver. It is not like a Phillips Screwdriver is some exotic tool that is hard to come by.
Whenever I do anything scientific or medical, I always remember to "sterilize" myself with alcohol beforehand. It makes things go much more cleanly.
I think you mean telecom=fraud
unless this is an assignment.
because you might have
while death && taxes
telecom==fraud
Unless that one bill alone costs double what the five would.
I don't like to get political, but this reminds me so much of the Bush administration. Its not the politics of the Bush administration that bothers me (I don't like their politics, but I can disagree with people without thinking they are corrupt), its the fact that they can have repeated failures, and still with a straight face claim that they have a success. How big does the debt have to get, and how many people in Iraq have to die, before Bush & Co. admit that perhaps they made some mistakes?
Same thing with Microsoft. If they can say with a straight face that Windows is more secure than Linux, how big of a disaster has to happen before they realize the real situation?
www.gs , I meant
The South Sandwhich Islands
Microsoft is also ripping off Debian's release schedule! ::: rimshot :::