As far as "kill training" goes, I recall a game violence episode of Bullshit where they had a 10yo gamer try out a real semi-auto rifle. Not only was he no good at it, but they showed what happened after they finished filming the segment -- it reduced the kid to sobbing in his mother's arms.
That's one of my favorite "Bullshit!" episodes. It choked me up a little too; here was a kid who gibbed countless npc's and avatars of real humans, and it hadn't turned him into a desensitized monster. He seemed crushed by the reality of a noisy, heavy gun that does horrible damage. It restored a little of my hope for humanity. Of course, plenty of kids who were *already* prone to becoming desensitized monsters would have picked up that gun and creamed their jeans at the thought of what they could do with it. But what the hell, sour with the sweet.
How well did you do in the separation agreement? "Formal courtesy between husband and wife is even more important than it is between strangers." - RAH Even that old sexist got a few of them right.
if it is true, and flying is already safer than road travel, then why do we need all the security?
Your question goes to the heart of half the waste in human society - humans are REALLY BAD at risk assessment. We'd be better off scaling back airport security and putting a tenth of the saved resources into looking for plots, if at the same time we seriously enforced traffic safety laws (including speeding, reckless/aggressive driving, and seat belt use), and hey, while we're at it, stop feeding our kids so much high fructose corn syrup. Get into the habit of looking both ways before crossing a street (even one-way streets), wash your hands before eating, use a damn condom! Wear a helmet on your bike or motorcycle. All of these simple precautions will do more to save lives than subjecting people to more invasive searches at airports. But that won't happen, so just go back to pounding Jagermeister and thinking, "nah, I'm okay to drive".
You know...when ever there's a news story about a portable music device they automatically refer to the Apple iPod, which is irritating as hell.
The same thing happens with tablets now.
It's nice that they still drag Apple into a conversation like this...but it's still bullshit.
Quit saying Apple, ipod, ipad, etc unless it is a story actually about just them.
Whenever I mention something about Apple being subject to the laws of business like any other company, people often come out of the woodwork to say something like, "Oh no you dint! Apple is the largest purchaser of in the WORLD, and they can do it faster, cheaper, prettier... etc. etc."
So, since Apple be the largest X of Y in the WORLD, and first in market share and mind share, I find it entirely appropriate to drag Apple's name into the negative aspects of consumer electronics, including suicides among poorly treated workers, and outright poisoning of them. After all, with the Zune's laughable market share, how many workers could be dying assembling them?
The Kindle already was improving my life - my wife and I both read about 40% of the books either of us buy. We have the ability to read any of those books, both of us at the same time, on our Kindles, phones, or PC's. This is actually superior to the ability to lend either hardcopy or electronic books.
I have friends and family, and we're diverse enough from each other that we seldom are interested in sharing books. I've never felt deprived of any of the features that dead tree books provide, quite the contrary.
So nice addition, Amazon, but you already had me. I'll be interested in whatever next-gen Kindle you offer that will let me do some easy side research on the net while reading, so I don't have to put up with the weight, lock-down, or film of smug that comes with an iPad.
Ok. You don't seem to get it. Apple is the largest flash memory consumer in the "WORLD" which means that they can negotiate the lowest price possible which means that they can offer their flash memory based products at a much lower price and still maintain a healthy margin./p>
Nope, it's still you who's missing the salient point. Apple COULD offer those flash memory products (which contain a lot more than flash memory) at a much lower price than they do, but they choose not to, and they get away with it because of the quality of their design (I admit), the cachet of their brand, and the fact that there are few or no competitors with similar products.
When there are equivalent competitors, Apple will be forced to lower prices. That's pretty much the only thing that does make them do that.
If you can't get that, then you're wasting your time fulminating against my opinion. I'm done with this thread, enjoy.
So you think that the iPad is overpriced but you think that Android tablets will bring the price down? Are you talking about subsidized or unsubsidized prices? The 3G iPad is not subsidized or locked and analysts were expecting that the starting price was going to be around a thousand dollars. The Samsung tab with carrier subsidization costs around the same price as a an iPad without it so I would expect that the unsubsidized price is over a thousand dollars.
Maybe you can get back to us when you decide to join us in reality.
So you think it's a good thing that the iPad was under analysts' expected price point? As if you respect those analysts' opinions, and as if you think the actual iPad prices aren't outrageous? Take another sip of the Kool Aid.
I expect competition from multiple Android tablet offerings will force Apple to lower their crazy prices, as they lose the exclusivity of products in this form factor.
And if that doesn't sound to you like the history of consumer electronics for the past 20 years, then you're not well acquainted with reality yourself.
I think it's hilarious that my criticism of Apple - not you personally, Apple - stung you so hard that you had to attack my opinion. Oddly, my implied criticism of Verizon in the same post didn't seem to faze you.
Could it be that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is computer illiterate?
Yes, because she of course typed in the url. And was responsible for QA, and for fixing any problems that show up.
She does all her own technical and scut work. Yesterday, she got her own coffee and collated those new defamatory fliers. Tomorrow she's going to run the cabling under the server room floor in her campaign headquarters.
Your comment reminds me of Futurama; when the Planet Express is being dragged under the ocean, Proferror Farnsworth is asked how many atmospheres of pressure the ship can take, and he says that because it's a spaceship, it was designed to withstand, "between zero and one".
WSJ article a few days ago indicated that Verizon should have the iPhone in early 2011. Assuming that's true, a good indicator that they're moving that direction is having Verizon bundle the iPad. The MyFi device is probably just a temporary measure to get around the GSM-only hardware for cellular data.
Don't bet on them bundling it when they can get the sheeple to shell out data fees for the iPad AND the iPhone. The iPad is hideously, insultingly overpriced. I'll be watching to see if the upcoming Android tablets bring Apple back to earth, or at least within surface-to-air missile range of it. I may choose to switch to a tablet for some of my reading, but only if I can tie it at no extra monthly cost to the data plan I already pay for.
The Kindle is still best for pleasure reading (and using the built-in dictionary for the occasional unfamiliar word), but when reading manuals, philosophy, or economics, I could use a better browser for brief research on topics and people in my reading.
(Though I might be seduced by what I recently read is the single most popular use for an iPad these days, playing some masterpiece of productivity called, "Angry Birds".)
Seriously, I can't remember any time in the past several years I saw a commercial for a car/cookie/cereal/mouthwash/etc and planned to buy the item.
Content of commercials just has not ever figured in to how I shop. When I go to a store, I know what I want, I find the best deal, I get the hell out of there.
Perhaps you don't consciously plan purchases based on advertising, you just tend to buy the products you've been exposed to, whether you realize it or not. Maybe you're a little less susceptible than the average person, maybe not.
How do you know what you want, or what deals are available? Advertising!
They haven't actually done this yet. Save your sarcasm for if/when they do.
Exactly. And don't condemn Mahmoud Ahmad-been-working-on-the-railroad-inejad when he says "the occupying regime [Israel] must be wiped off the map for great justice", condemn him after he actually does it.
Good lord, imagine the outrage if Ballmer had filed this patent.
...anyone who cares to look, can see lies and half-truths for what they are. Detecting them, then, is not the problem. The problem is that so many people can't, or won't.
It gets worse when you consider the studies that show that debunking lies tends to reinforce those lies in the people who believe them.
Deceptive tactics, such as using data mining, social network analysis and crowdsourcing?
None of those are deceptive tactics, certainly not in themselves. The researchers mention one, astroturfing, but why should you bother to RTFA when you can toss off something that looks clever as long as one doesn't think about it?
Hmm, I do believe you employed a deceptive tactic. Bravo.
My little town in Queens, NY was far from rich, but we had a decent high school. Not cutting edge, but moderately well equipped. Good enough teachers, courses and materials that getting a good education was each student's choice.
I live in a state with a large number of concealed carry permits. Forceful robberies are becoming less common.
What state is that? I'd be curious to see whether "forceful robberies" are actually becoming less common or if you're passing on anecdotal observations, whether the decline is statistically significant, if it correlates with issuance of said permits, if there's a case for causation, rather than just correlation, and whether incidents of "oh god! i shot my friend Timmy with daddy's gun!" are becoming more common.
Suddenlink is my provider...I'm not happy with them over this, and will send them a message, but cancel my subscription and not have Internet isn't an option.
So, the message you're going to send them is, "i hate that you guys do this bitchin' evil crap and stuff, and i should quit being your customer, but i'm totally not going to do that"?
I did the same thing in 2003 when Cheney, Powell, Bush, and Condi lied us into a war. I told them I thought they had betrayed the country and their oaths, and were no better than the enemy, and I should move to Canada as a matter of principle, to save my soul. But I wasn't going to do that, because the pizza's much better where I live."
I'm a little disheartened by all the responses to this post where people apply whatever rote methods they were taught, and because the notation is not what they're used to, come up with results other than the intended, "solve this motherfucking problem".
Why are so many people acting like machines, and ignoring context? Machines are cheap and plentiful, it's humans who can think that are in short supply.
I am speaking of high technology credibility in general...
But this isn't a "general" point, it's quite specific; can they test whether the iPhone has that antenna flaw, or not? The answer; yes, they can, they did, and the fucking phone has a major design flaw in it.
You can piss and moan about CR not having "the mental savvy" (this from a guy who says he doesn't take their technology "advise"), but Consumer Reports is right about this.
You're mad about something - unfortunately, you're mad about facts, cold facts. Tough shit.
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That's a big fucking gun!
As far as "kill training" goes, I recall a game violence episode of Bullshit where they had a 10yo gamer try out a real semi-auto rifle. Not only was he no good at it, but they showed what happened after they finished filming the segment -- it reduced the kid to sobbing in his mother's arms.
That's one of my favorite "Bullshit!" episodes. It choked me up a little too; here was a kid who gibbed countless npc's and avatars of real humans, and it hadn't turned him into a desensitized monster. He seemed crushed by the reality of a noisy, heavy gun that does horrible damage. It restored a little of my hope for humanity.
Of course, plenty of kids who were *already* prone to becoming desensitized monsters would have picked up that gun and creamed their jeans at the thought of what they could do with it. But what the hell, sour with the sweet.
How well did you do in the separation agreement?
"Formal courtesy between husband and wife is even more important than it is between strangers." - RAH
Even that old sexist got a few of them right.
the last line of the summary says it all
if it is true, and flying is already safer than road travel, then why do we need all the security?
Your question goes to the heart of half the waste in human society - humans are REALLY BAD at risk assessment. We'd be better off scaling back airport security and putting a tenth of the saved resources into looking for plots, if at the same time we seriously enforced traffic safety laws (including speeding, reckless/aggressive driving, and seat belt use), and hey, while we're at it, stop feeding our kids so much high fructose corn syrup.
Get into the habit of looking both ways before crossing a street (even one-way streets), wash your hands before eating, use a damn condom! Wear a helmet on your bike or motorcycle.
All of these simple precautions will do more to save lives than subjecting people to more invasive searches at airports.
But that won't happen, so just go back to pounding Jagermeister and thinking, "nah, I'm okay to drive".
You know...when ever there's a news story about a portable music device they automatically refer to the Apple iPod, which is irritating as hell.
The same thing happens with tablets now.
It's nice that they still drag Apple into a conversation like this...but it's still bullshit.
Quit saying Apple, ipod, ipad, etc unless it is a story actually about just them.
Whenever I mention something about Apple being subject to the laws of business like any other company, people often come out of the woodwork to say something like, "Oh no you dint! Apple is the largest purchaser of in the WORLD, and they can do it faster, cheaper, prettier... etc. etc."
So, since Apple be the largest X of Y in the WORLD, and first in market share and mind share, I find it entirely appropriate to drag Apple's name into the negative aspects of consumer electronics, including suicides among poorly treated workers, and outright poisoning of them. After all, with the Zune's laughable market share, how many workers could be dying assembling them?
The Kindle already was improving my life - my wife and I both read about 40% of the books either of us buy. We have the ability to read any of those books, both of us at the same time, on our Kindles, phones, or PC's. This is actually superior to the ability to lend either hardcopy or electronic books.
I have friends and family, and we're diverse enough from each other that we seldom are interested in sharing books. I've never felt deprived of any of the features that dead tree books provide, quite the contrary.
So nice addition, Amazon, but you already had me. I'll be interested in whatever next-gen Kindle you offer that will let me do some easy side research on the net while reading, so I don't have to put up with the weight, lock-down, or film of smug that comes with an iPad.
Yes, it was Austin. Steve Austin. Don't worry, they have the technology, they can rebuild him.
Too soon?
Ok. You don't seem to get it. Apple is the largest flash memory consumer in the "WORLD" which means that they can negotiate the lowest price possible which means that they can offer their flash memory based products at a much lower price and still maintain a healthy margin./p>
Nope, it's still you who's missing the salient point. Apple COULD offer those flash memory products (which contain a lot more than flash memory) at a much lower price than they do, but they choose not to, and they get away with it because of the quality of their design (I admit), the cachet of their brand, and the fact that there are few or no competitors with similar products.
When there are equivalent competitors, Apple will be forced to lower prices. That's pretty much the only thing that does make them do that.
If you can't get that, then you're wasting your time fulminating against my opinion. I'm done with this thread, enjoy.
So you think that the iPad is overpriced but you think that Android tablets will bring the price down? Are you talking about subsidized or unsubsidized prices? The 3G iPad is not subsidized or locked and analysts were expecting that the starting price was going to be around a thousand dollars. The Samsung tab with carrier subsidization costs around the same price as a an iPad without it so I would expect that the unsubsidized price is over a thousand dollars.
Maybe you can get back to us when you decide to join us in reality.
So you think it's a good thing that the iPad was under analysts' expected price point? As if you respect those analysts' opinions, and as if you think the actual iPad prices aren't outrageous? Take another sip of the Kool Aid.
I expect competition from multiple Android tablet offerings will force Apple to lower their crazy prices, as they lose the exclusivity of products in this form factor.
And if that doesn't sound to you like the history of consumer electronics for the past 20 years, then you're not well acquainted with reality yourself.
I think it's hilarious that my criticism of Apple - not you personally, Apple - stung you so hard that you had to attack my opinion. Oddly, my implied criticism of Verizon in the same post didn't seem to faze you.
Could it be that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is computer illiterate?
Yes, because she of course typed in the url. And was responsible for QA, and for fixing any problems that show up.
She does all her own technical and scut work. Yesterday, she got her own coffee and collated those new defamatory fliers. Tomorrow she's going to run the cabling under the server room floor in her campaign headquarters.
Your comment reminds me of Futurama; when the Planet Express is being dragged under the ocean, Proferror Farnsworth is asked how many atmospheres of pressure the ship can take, and he says that because it's a spaceship, it was designed to withstand, "between zero and one".
WSJ article a few days ago indicated that Verizon should have the iPhone in early 2011. Assuming that's true, a good indicator that they're moving that direction is having Verizon bundle the iPad. The MyFi device is probably just a temporary measure to get around the GSM-only hardware for cellular data.
Don't bet on them bundling it when they can get the sheeple to shell out data fees for the iPad AND the iPhone. The iPad is hideously, insultingly overpriced. I'll be watching to see if the upcoming Android tablets bring Apple back to earth, or at least within surface-to-air missile range of it. I may choose to switch to a tablet for some of my reading, but only if I can tie it at no extra monthly cost to the data plan I already pay for.
The Kindle is still best for pleasure reading (and using the built-in dictionary for the occasional unfamiliar word), but when reading manuals, philosophy, or economics, I could use a better browser for brief research on topics and people in my reading.
(Though I might be seduced by what I recently read is the single most popular use for an iPad these days, playing some masterpiece of productivity called, "Angry Birds".)
'Still, your violating laws.'
You're violating grammar laws too.
They're more 'rules' than 'laws'. You know, suggestions, like STOPPING AT THE FUCKING STOP SIGN INSTEAD OF SLOWING TO 25 MPH AND BLOWING THROUGH IT.
Ahem. Sorry, I live in Center City, Philadelphia.
Seriously, I can't remember any time in the past several years I saw a commercial for a car/cookie/cereal/mouthwash/etc and planned to buy the item.
Content of commercials just has not ever figured in to how I shop. When I go to a store, I know what I want, I find the best deal, I get the hell out of there.
Perhaps you don't consciously plan purchases based on advertising, you just tend to buy the products you've been exposed to, whether you realize it or not. Maybe you're a little less susceptible than the average person, maybe not.
How do you know what you want, or what deals are available? Advertising!
They haven't actually done this yet. Save your sarcasm for if/when they do.
Exactly. And don't condemn Mahmoud Ahmad-been-working-on-the-railroad-inejad when he says "the occupying regime [Israel] must be wiped off the map for great justice", condemn him after he actually does it.
Good lord, imagine the outrage if Ballmer had filed this patent.
...anyone who cares to look, can see lies and half-truths for what they are. Detecting them, then, is not the problem. The problem is that so many people can't, or won't.
It gets worse when you consider the studies that show that debunking lies tends to reinforce those lies in the people who believe them.
Deceptive tactics, such as using data mining, social network analysis and crowdsourcing?
None of those are deceptive tactics, certainly not in themselves. The researchers mention one, astroturfing, but why should you bother to RTFA when you can toss off something that looks clever as long as one doesn't think about it?
Hmm, I do believe you employed a deceptive tactic. Bravo.
My little town in Queens, NY was far from rich, but we had a decent high school. Not cutting edge, but moderately well equipped. Good enough teachers, courses and materials that getting a good education was each student's choice.
Can i buy your phone? serious question. Must accept sim cards and be 3g.
He doesn't have a phone for you to buy. He's a "magical! revolutionary!" fanboi troll.
I live in a state with a large number of concealed carry permits. Forceful robberies are becoming less common.
What state is that? I'd be curious to see whether "forceful robberies" are actually becoming less common or if you're passing on anecdotal observations, whether the decline is statistically significant, if it correlates with issuance of said permits, if there's a case for causation, rather than just correlation, and whether incidents of "oh god! i shot my friend Timmy with daddy's gun!" are becoming more common.
Suddenlink is my provider...I'm not happy with them over this, and will send them a message, but cancel my subscription and not have Internet isn't an option.
So, the message you're going to send them is, "i hate that you guys do this bitchin' evil crap and stuff, and i should quit being your customer, but i'm totally not going to do that"?
I did the same thing in 2003 when Cheney, Powell, Bush, and Condi lied us into a war. I told them I thought they had betrayed the country and their oaths, and were no better than the enemy, and I should move to Canada as a matter of principle, to save my soul. But I wasn't going to do that, because the pizza's much better where I live."
I'm a little disheartened by all the responses to this post where people apply whatever rote methods they were taught, and because the notation is not what they're used to, come up with results other than the intended, "solve this motherfucking problem".
Why are so many people acting like machines, and ignoring context? Machines are cheap and plentiful, it's humans who can think that are in short supply.
I am speaking of high technology credibility in general...
But this isn't a "general" point, it's quite specific; can they test whether the iPhone has that antenna flaw, or not? The answer; yes, they can, they did, and the fucking phone has a major design flaw in it.
You can piss and moan about CR not having "the mental savvy" (this from a guy who says he doesn't take their technology "advise"), but Consumer Reports is right about this.
You're mad about something - unfortunately, you're mad about facts, cold facts. Tough shit.
Netflix uses Silverlight to stream on-demand movies and tv. It works quite well for me.
Nope, didn't know that. I assumed Apple was still locking people into their proprietary format.
Thanks for the correction.