Because artists never had to worry about making a living until the horrible videogames came along. What you are actually pissed off about is a lack of ability on the part of gamers to separate real life from interactive media. That's not the artists fault.
If you don't like that your kid:
...comes home mouthing sexually explicit lyrics...
Then the next time it happens, smack him in the back of the head. He'll learn real quick that the garbage people sing about in rap music is not something that is acceptable in general society. Stop blaming poor parenting and childhood misbehavior on artists. It's the kid's fault for acting like a douchebag, and the parents fault for never having taught them better.
And p.s. Learn to use paragraphs. They help you organize your thoughts into something that sounds somewhat more coherent than the crazy homeless guy outside the 7-11.
And as far as rescue work, there aren't that many non-military vehicles (ground and air) in service in any part of the world that can move mountains of rubble, lift amazingly large pallets of supplies and get equipment into regions that may be inaccessible by vehicles in the area.
This. 100% this.
A bonus capability of our aggressive and powerful military is that we are capable of putting people, supplies, and equipment anywhere we want to really freaking fast. Usually it's bombs and guns. Sometimes it's food and water. And as you said, in an area devastated by natural or human disaster, having those supplies delivered by people intent on maintaining order is a very good thing.
It also wakes you up on Saturday and forgets to wake you up on Monday because you turned it off not wanting it to wake you up on Sunday.
Stupid computers. Only doing exactly what users tell them to do.
My clock has persistent mon-fri alarms that will not shut off unless I explicitly press the buttons to make that happen. If I shut them off and forget to turn them back on again, that's hardly the clocks fault.
My alarm clock does that, I can set an alarm for each day of the week. During the week I like to be awakened by a little AM country music radio. On the weekends if I'm not up by a reasonable time I get some soothing bird sounds.
And to the GP's point, I've got a 2xAA battery backup built right in just in case of power failure. I like being able to go to bed at night without having to make sure I have my phone on the nightstand. Sometimes I just leave the phone in my pocket, but I never have to worry about missing the alarm.
The difference between what Texans speak and what New Yorkers speak is almost as striking as the difference between anything Americans speak and anything Englanders speak.
I live in Boston and, while we are known among Americans for having a distinct dialect, there are notable differences in speech as close as NY city, a mere 220 miles (350 ki) away.
It seems to me that this is an "all or nothing" kind of thing. Either all vehicles are computer controlled, or none of them. My experiences seeing average humans interact with computers would make me not feel safe in my computer controlled car while panicky meatbags are on the road with me.
At one point, a van stopped to pick up hitchhikers.
I thought you were joking, so I checked TFA. This actually happened. Which is crazy. Horror movies start with stuff like this.
Robot vans picking up hitchhikers? In what twisted universe does a hitchhiker: 1) flag down a van 2) discover that it is driven by nobody and 3a) trust the van's occupants that they are "researchers" 3b) trust that "it's totally cool, nobody's going to steal your organs".
I had some billing disputes with VZW in the past, and that's exactly how they did it.
As far as I can remember, the only time I've ever had a wireless company actually cut me a check was when I got back the deposit from my very first cell phone contract (I was too young to pass a credit check at the time).
I get your point. But if I put aftermarket rims on my Ford Fiesta, it is still a Ford Fiesta.
I could see your argument about rifles manufactured as semi's, but there are plenty of AK-47's floating around the US that were manufactured as automatics but modified to be semi. Those are still AK-47's.
Well, as someone who went through K-12 in the NSW public school system, I believe that a parent should have the right to get the same amount of government funding to educate their child be it at a public or any other school that teaches an approved curriculum.
I live in the US, in the state of Massachusetts. We have this thing called charter schools, which in theory is mainly that. These are small, selective, mission based schools that rely on public funding. The problem is that these schools tend to receive more funding per child than the public schools. Parents of course want their kids to go to these charter schools, and (rightly IMO) raise hell when their kids are rejected.
If your ultimate goal is having each child receive the same amount of funding, then the only really fair option is state run public schools. If the objective is making sure everyone receives an effective education then you can create multiple different school systems. In my opinion we need to get politicians thinking in terms of quality of education rather than simply in terms of dollars spent per child.
I was fortunate. The local public school where I grew up was terrible (this was in rural Maine, which is itself sub-par by national standards). My parents were able to afford to send me to a private school. Of course they were still obligated to fund the public school with their taxes.
Plus it's not like they're contracting for a $5 toilet seat from Wal-Mart.
The apochryphal $XX,000 toilet seat includes design and tooling costs for a very limited run of specialty seats designed for a very unique environment. Never mind the costs imposed by having to call for multiple competitive bids for said seat, and document the expenditure to whiny tax payers.
Some level of redundancy is nice. 10 individual weapons seems like not enough to guarantee on demand nuclear capability. Having multiple redundant weapons systems including land based installations, SSBNs, and 'dumb' bombs makes some sense simply from a fault tolerance perspective.
That said, you're right in that we don't need the massive arsenal that we have just to serve as a deterrent.
A non-shooty failure mode is, I think, desirable in that situation.
YES! I would hope that these sites are designed in such a way that any disruption of power or control systems is interpreted as a potential loss of control, and makes the missiles not go whoosh.
Three instances happens to be the most common number that people go to for determining patterns and routines. One or two instances of an event is not enough to label it a pattern, but three is usually enough for most.
With a 3 Strikes policy, you have a very reliable and understandable basis for taking action based on a perceived pattern of events. Wether it be criminal offenses, copyright violations, or failure to hit a ball.
I recall many of my professors would kindly put their textbooks on reserve at the library and suggest that we could just do our readings there instead of buying the book. This worked fine until someone in the class decided they would rather have it all to themselves and liberate it.
IMO (possible ignorant) is that the community of people developing home brew extensions for browsers is a lot smaller than the community developing extensions for open office apps.
Whoops. Meant to say that the community for browser extensions is larger than the community for office extensions. That should teach me to proofread.
IMO (possible ignorant) is that the community of people developing home brew extensions for browsers is a lot smaller than the community developing extensions for open office apps.
Internet browsers are a gateway and window to the internet. The internet is home to a lot of business applications, but is also home to fun things like LOLcats and girls using cups in inappropriate ways. It will be difficult to get a community contributing to an office project with the same kind of fervor.
Presumably the 2015 that old Biff returned to was in the timeline where Doc and Marty were successful in recovering the almanac. Old Biff had succeeded in delivering it to his past self but was somehow unaware that his past self had lost it mere days later.
From what I remember from BTTF II Biff had made most of his fortune making big bets on upsets for just the first few years, then started rolling his fortune into his casino. That's why he had the Sports Almanac shrink wrapped in a safe in 1985, even though it contained sports scores through 2001.
I don't know that I would label it a "degradation" of morals at all. Parents have strong societal and evolutionary pressures to prioritize the protection of their own children over the protection of others. This is an inefficient prioritization from a Utilitarian perspective, but I would be hesitant to call it degraded morality. Especially because I think that most decent parents would act, as you would, to protect their kids first and foremost.
Slashdot Mirror
Because artists never had to worry about making a living until the horrible videogames came along. What you are actually pissed off about is a lack of ability on the part of gamers to separate real life from interactive media. That's not the artists fault.
If you don't like that your kid:
...comes home mouthing sexually explicit lyrics...
Then the next time it happens, smack him in the back of the head. He'll learn real quick that the garbage people sing about in rap music is not something that is acceptable in general society. Stop blaming poor parenting and childhood misbehavior on artists. It's the kid's fault for acting like a douchebag, and the parents fault for never having taught them better.
And p.s. Learn to use paragraphs. They help you organize your thoughts into something that sounds somewhat more coherent than the crazy homeless guy outside the 7-11.
And as far as rescue work, there aren't that many non-military vehicles (ground and air) in service in any part of the world that can move mountains of rubble, lift amazingly large pallets of supplies and get equipment into regions that may be inaccessible by vehicles in the area.
This. 100% this.
A bonus capability of our aggressive and powerful military is that we are capable of putting people, supplies, and equipment anywhere we want to really freaking fast. Usually it's bombs and guns. Sometimes it's food and water. And as you said, in an area devastated by natural or human disaster, having those supplies delivered by people intent on maintaining order is a very good thing.
It also wakes you up on Saturday and forgets to wake you up on Monday because you turned it off not wanting it to wake you up on Sunday.
Stupid computers. Only doing exactly what users tell them to do.
My clock has persistent mon-fri alarms that will not shut off unless I explicitly press the buttons to make that happen. If I shut them off and forget to turn them back on again, that's hardly the clocks fault.
My alarm clock does that, I can set an alarm for each day of the week. During the week I like to be awakened by a little AM country music radio. On the weekends if I'm not up by a reasonable time I get some soothing bird sounds.
And to the GP's point, I've got a 2xAA battery backup built right in just in case of power failure. I like being able to go to bed at night without having to make sure I have my phone on the nightstand. Sometimes I just leave the phone in my pocket, but I never have to worry about missing the alarm.
The difference between what Texans speak and what New Yorkers speak is almost as striking as the difference between anything Americans speak and anything Englanders speak.
I live in Boston and, while we are known among Americans for having a distinct dialect, there are notable differences in speech as close as NY city, a mere 220 miles (350 ki) away.
Can we just go ahead and get a "-1, Goatse" mod option?
It seems to me that this is an "all or nothing" kind of thing. Either all vehicles are computer controlled, or none of them. My experiences seeing average humans interact with computers would make me not feel safe in my computer controlled car while panicky meatbags are on the road with me.
At one point, a van stopped to pick up hitchhikers.
I thought you were joking, so I checked TFA. This actually happened. Which is crazy. Horror movies start with stuff like this.
Robot vans picking up hitchhikers? In what twisted universe does a hitchhiker: 1) flag down a van 2) discover that it is driven by nobody and 3a) trust the van's occupants that they are "researchers" 3b) trust that "it's totally cool, nobody's going to steal your organs".
I had some billing disputes with VZW in the past, and that's exactly how they did it.
As far as I can remember, the only time I've ever had a wireless company actually cut me a check was when I got back the deposit from my very first cell phone contract (I was too young to pass a credit check at the time).
If I had a gasoline line already running to my house I would LOVE to just trickle charge my vehicle overnight.
Your scenario is the only one that I can see working. Homes and employers offering trickle charges with quick fills available at stations.
Bonus points if those trickle charging stations are inductive. Tremendous energy loss, but it saves me from forgetting to plug my car in at night.
Yeah, I don't understand that gritty filter that's getting applied to things. I think it looks terrible.
The Mass Effect games have the same thing, but at least there you have the option to shut it off.
I get your point. But if I put aftermarket rims on my Ford Fiesta, it is still a Ford Fiesta.
I could see your argument about rifles manufactured as semi's, but there are plenty of AK-47's floating around the US that were manufactured as automatics but modified to be semi. Those are still AK-47's.
I'm not sure if you are entirely joking or not. While I was reading your post on my laptop I was also skimming through Facebook on my phone.
Needless to say, you really just made me step back and evaluate myself right there.
Well, as someone who went through K-12 in the NSW public school system, I believe that a parent should have the right to get the same amount of government funding to educate their child be it at a public or any other school that teaches an approved curriculum.
I live in the US, in the state of Massachusetts. We have this thing called charter schools, which in theory is mainly that. These are small, selective, mission based schools that rely on public funding. The problem is that these schools tend to receive more funding per child than the public schools. Parents of course want their kids to go to these charter schools, and (rightly IMO) raise hell when their kids are rejected.
If your ultimate goal is having each child receive the same amount of funding, then the only really fair option is state run public schools. If the objective is making sure everyone receives an effective education then you can create multiple different school systems. In my opinion we need to get politicians thinking in terms of quality of education rather than simply in terms of dollars spent per child.
I was fortunate. The local public school where I grew up was terrible (this was in rural Maine, which is itself sub-par by national standards). My parents were able to afford to send me to a private school. Of course they were still obligated to fund the public school with their taxes.
Plus it's not like they're contracting for a $5 toilet seat from Wal-Mart.
The apochryphal $XX,000 toilet seat includes design and tooling costs for a very limited run of specialty seats designed for a very unique environment. Never mind the costs imposed by having to call for multiple competitive bids for said seat, and document the expenditure to whiny tax payers.
Some level of redundancy is nice. 10 individual weapons seems like not enough to guarantee on demand nuclear capability. Having multiple redundant weapons systems including land based installations, SSBNs, and 'dumb' bombs makes some sense simply from a fault tolerance perspective.
That said, you're right in that we don't need the massive arsenal that we have just to serve as a deterrent.
A non-shooty failure mode is, I think, desirable in that situation.
YES! I would hope that these sites are designed in such a way that any disruption of power or control systems is interpreted as a potential loss of control, and makes the missiles not go whoosh.
Three instances happens to be the most common number that people go to for determining patterns and routines. One or two instances of an event is not enough to label it a pattern, but three is usually enough for most.
With a 3 Strikes policy, you have a very reliable and understandable basis for taking action based on a perceived pattern of events. Wether it be criminal offenses, copyright violations, or failure to hit a ball.
I recall many of my professors would kindly put their textbooks on reserve at the library and suggest that we could just do our readings there instead of buying the book. This worked fine until someone in the class decided they would rather have it all to themselves and liberate it.
Absolutely serious when I say this, my college Fraternity used pledges to do just that (probably still do).
All the guys taking a given class would throw in a few bucks for one copy of the text, then as if by magic we would receive an electronic version.
Terrible copyright infringement, pyramid scheming, slavery, hazing, and all that. But it was so convenient.
IMO (possible ignorant) is that the community of people developing home brew extensions for browsers is a lot smaller than the community developing extensions for open office apps.
Whoops. Meant to say that the community for browser extensions is larger than the community for office extensions. That should teach me to proofread.
IMO (possible ignorant) is that the community of people developing home brew extensions for browsers is a lot smaller than the community developing extensions for open office apps.
Internet browsers are a gateway and window to the internet. The internet is home to a lot of business applications, but is also home to fun things like LOLcats and girls using cups in inappropriate ways. It will be difficult to get a community contributing to an office project with the same kind of fervor.
Presumably the 2015 that old Biff returned to was in the timeline where Doc and Marty were successful in recovering the almanac. Old Biff had succeeded in delivering it to his past self but was somehow unaware that his past self had lost it mere days later.
Which of course doesn't make any sense either.
From what I remember from BTTF II Biff had made most of his fortune making big bets on upsets for just the first few years, then started rolling his fortune into his casino. That's why he had the Sports Almanac shrink wrapped in a safe in 1985, even though it contained sports scores through 2001.
I don't know that I would label it a "degradation" of morals at all. Parents have strong societal and evolutionary pressures to prioritize the protection of their own children over the protection of others. This is an inefficient prioritization from a Utilitarian perspective, but I would be hesitant to call it degraded morality. Especially because I think that most decent parents would act, as you would, to protect their kids first and foremost.