Basically it boils down to the fact that spamming is really cheap. So even if only one in a million people says "Oooohhh, shiny! I must buy, I must buy" it'll still be worth your while.
Someone's sig a while ago suggested that we use a ~ at the end of a sentence to indicate sarcasm/snarkiness over the internet, as it doesn't always translate well.
If you have little enough of a sense of humor to be prepared for an infectious disease outbreak anyway, then you're not really part of the target audience.
Yeah I get that point. We were discussing the possibility of that bacteria evolving to become resistant to the treatments we have developed for it. It would be quite unlikely for there to be a viable evolutionary pathway for bacteria to become resistant to this new tactic of including sugar in the treatment, so to 'evolve' resistance it would require the help of a greater being to guide it along the right path.
I'm cool with a divine being that let's us face the consequences of our own actions, but if it starts changing the rules halfway through the game you'd have a hard time convincing me that it isn't completely malevolent, and is just looking for excuses to punish us.
I agree with the ideal of taxing lifestyles rather than incomes, but no one is sitting around 'hoarding' millions of dollars.
Even if they were, why would you care? All that money being effectively taken out of circulation makes the money you have worth more? I collect interesting coins and notes, whenever I get coins that are the old styles that are no longer being printed I hold on to them, should I be punished for 'hoarding'?
You mean it's a higher proportion of their disposable income. Case study: Family A makes 30k per year, and spends 20k per year on the essentials, leaving 10k free. Any more than a 33 1/3% tax rate cuts into their ability to live. Family B makes 100k per year, and spends 40k living a nicer life than family A, leaving 60k. They could afford a 60% tax rate without cutting into their standard of living.
Of course, KermodeBear probably thinks that Family A is pretty much worthless and deserves to live in the gutter, while Family B are the only productive members of society.
Yeah, but once you get to the point where (s)he's intelligently 'designing' (more like modifying) bacteria to be more resistant to our attempts to keep ourselves alive, you've definitely crossed the line into malevolence.
Actually, you probably could do the smartphone thing with existing technology. Use the same stuff the jet fighters use. You'd probably start off with some bulky ugly glasses, but we'd find ways to make them smaller. Miniaturizing stuff we already have has consistently proven to be easier than inventing all new stuff.
The alien line sounds more like a joke that you've taken out of context.
I'd prefer to have the tools to fix problems available to me, even if it means I need to use them somewhat frequently. Not having the tools means that when something does go wrong you have no way to fix it.
But yeah, it all comes down to selecting the right tool for the job, LaTeX works better than Wordperfect in that aspect, and Word works better for the simple stuff.
To some safety is more important than fame and notoriety. That's why we need regulations, to keep the people safe who want to be safe, and let the people who want to get famous or die trying have a go at it.
Sure people are free to take whatever risks they want with their own lives. Regulations are there to stop people taking risks with other people's lives, who don't wish to accept that level of risk.
Because the secret's out so if they don't find what they want with the password you give them, they continue beating you until they get the real password.
I remember one hotel I stayed in had quite a witty note in the room. Something along the lines of;
"Lot's of people seem to like our towels, so we've decided to make them available in the gift shop for $10. If you don't feel like walking all the way to the gift shop, you can simply take the towels from your room, and we'll just charge the $10 to your credit card."
Slashdot Mirror
Basically it boils down to the fact that spamming is really cheap. So even if only one in a million people says "Oooohhh, shiny! I must buy, I must buy" it'll still be worth your while.
Someone's sig a while ago suggested that we use a ~ at the end of a sentence to indicate sarcasm/snarkiness over the internet, as it doesn't always translate well.
If you have little enough of a sense of humor to be prepared for an infectious disease outbreak anyway, then you're not really part of the target audience.
Yeah I get that point. We were discussing the possibility of that bacteria evolving to become resistant to the treatments we have developed for it. It would be quite unlikely for there to be a viable evolutionary pathway for bacteria to become resistant to this new tactic of including sugar in the treatment, so to 'evolve' resistance it would require the help of a greater being to guide it along the right path.
I'm cool with a divine being that let's us face the consequences of our own actions, but if it starts changing the rules halfway through the game you'd have a hard time convincing me that it isn't completely malevolent, and is just looking for excuses to punish us.
Must be like one of those Escher drawings, coz I look down on you too!
I agree with the ideal of taxing lifestyles rather than incomes, but no one is sitting around 'hoarding' millions of dollars.
Even if they were, why would you care? All that money being effectively taken out of circulation makes the money you have worth more? I collect interesting coins and notes, whenever I get coins that are the old styles that are no longer being printed I hold on to them, should I be punished for 'hoarding'?
You mean it's a higher proportion of their disposable income. Case study:
Family A makes 30k per year, and spends 20k per year on the essentials, leaving 10k free. Any more than a 33 1/3% tax rate cuts into their ability to live.
Family B makes 100k per year, and spends 40k living a nicer life than family A, leaving 60k. They could afford a 60% tax rate without cutting into their standard of living.
Of course, KermodeBear probably thinks that Family A is pretty much worthless and deserves to live in the gutter, while Family B are the only productive members of society.
Yeah, but once you get to the point where (s)he's intelligently 'designing' (more like modifying) bacteria to be more resistant to our attempts to keep ourselves alive, you've definitely crossed the line into malevolence.
Real instruments will still exist for people who are serious about playing them, they'll never go away.
This is basically just a toy, a way to 'try out' a bunch of different instruments without the capital outlay of having to buy them all.
I still don't get it. :(
Yep, they thought of that. How about you try and find time to read the paper before talking about the contents of the paper?
Seriously, you've gone that far off the deep end that you no longer consider clean water an entitlement?
While I do largely agree with your premise, I can't help but think of http://www.xkcd.com/451/ when I read your post.
Actually, you probably could do the smartphone thing with existing technology. Use the same stuff the jet fighters use. You'd probably start off with some bulky ugly glasses, but we'd find ways to make them smaller. Miniaturizing stuff we already have has consistently proven to be easier than inventing all new stuff.
The alien line sounds more like a joke that you've taken out of context.
You don't trust anyone who isn't American?
Actually that kinda makes sense now that I've said it out loud...
I'd prefer to have the tools to fix problems available to me, even if it means I need to use them somewhat frequently. Not having the tools means that when something does go wrong you have no way to fix it.
But yeah, it all comes down to selecting the right tool for the job, LaTeX works better than Wordperfect in that aspect, and Word works better for the simple stuff.
That was my first thought too. I thought a basic part of that kind of training was 'only bite what your handler tells you to bite.'
I guess if you have that little faith in your government, you're already pretty screwed, so there's really nothing I can do for you. Sorry. :(
To some safety is more important than fame and notoriety. That's why we need regulations, to keep the people safe who want to be safe, and let the people who want to get famous or die trying have a go at it.
Sure people are free to take whatever risks they want with their own lives. Regulations are there to stop people taking risks with other people's lives, who don't wish to accept that level of risk.
Because we care more about getting cheap crap from Walmart than we do about a bunch of factory workers on the other side of the world.
Because the secret's out so if they don't find what they want with the password you give them, they continue beating you until they get the real password.
I remember one hotel I stayed in had quite a witty note in the room. Something along the lines of;
"Lot's of people seem to like our towels, so we've decided to make them available in the gift shop for $10. If you don't feel like walking all the way to the gift shop, you can simply take the towels from your room, and we'll just charge the $10 to your credit card."
You can never have too many towels.
If you're happy with the avi quality, he could be going for DVD quality, which granted would still leave him with 3 movies a day to watch...