getting high to make yourself feel better about all your problems and pretending that it makes them go away is not healthy at any usage frequency.
Perhaps, but that's not all marijuana does. Marijuana can also be used to enhance creativity, increase productivity, improve focus, increase stamina, and improve cognitive functions in certain ways. It can be used to treat depression, anxiety, pain, epilepsy, and psychosis. It can do all sorts of useful things, in fact -- it's all in how you use it.
Why? They could grow/sell it just as easily as they grow/sell tobacco.
Switching production from tabacco to marijuana would be a huge effort that would require the cooporation hundreds of people, many of whom probably don't think highly of pot. It's not a small deal.
I've always had a terrible memory and a tendency to space out, so I had a really hard time with school. People were always asking me if I was high... however, I didn't actually touch weed until I was in my early twenties. Honestly, I wish I had started smoking it earlier. As a sufferer of anxiety/depression/suicidal impulses/a bunch of other crap it makes my life better in a million different ways, and it would have made school a hell of a lot easier.
Coincidentally, I recently had a particularly bad spate of depression during which I was pretty much incapable of "magical thinking." It was awful, because without it there was absolutely no reason to live. Why read or play games? It's pointless unless you're having fun, and "fun" is not a wholly rational pursuit. What's the point of doing anything? To live longer, to have more material possessions? It doesn't really matter. Nothing does until you decide it matters.
I'm on medication now, and feeling much better. Yesterday I ate a hot dog and a slurpie to honour Goddess, then played Skyrim for six hours. My beliefs haven't changed, but I can suspend them temporarily and it's super fun.
Most users don't care overmuch about having a "bleeding edge" browser; they would rather the browser be stable. Additionally, I find that the average user doesn't appreciate being asked to update every month and a half.
When technology kills less productive jobs, like telephone operators, it also creates new, higher-paying technology jobs. It may be painful in the short run for those who lose their job, but eventually those people can get other jobs that are more productive
Actually, no. That's not exactly what happens. Say a manufacturing factory replaces a couple hundred of its employees with robots. How many jobs is this going to create? Not the same number it destroyed, that's for sure. Furthermore, most of those factory workers probably aren't very smart or well educated - that's why they were low-paid factory workers. Rather than getting the higher paying technology jobs, most of those workers will find other low paying jobs in industries where it's still easier to higher human workers. Others will be unable to find work and will go on welfare.
I'm not sure what the future economy is going to look like, but we're going to have a hell of a time getting there.
One of the top complaints of many gamers today is that games are getting shorter. The problem here is that increasingly, the focus of the gaming industry is shifting to the casual gamers, the ones who just want something fun to do while they're on the bus or chatting with their friends online. Most of the hardcore gamers want longer games, along with many other elements that aren't usually present in short, casual games. Unfortunately, the number of casual gamers is much larger than the number of hardcore gamers. However, the gaming industry would be retarded to ignore the gaming community in the same way that the Syfy channel would be retarded to ignore sci fi fans. There may be less of them, but they're the most valuable customers the industry has.
Case in point, I'm a hardcore Elder Scrolls fan and have played those games for hundreds of hours. I own two copies of Morrowind, four copies of Oblivion, all purchased new, and I've pre-ordered Skyrim. I buy the Collector's Editions and all the DLC's. So tell me, is Bethesda stupid for spending years making each game as rich and epic as possible? Should they shift their focus to the casual gamers? It could be more profitable in the short run, but they'd be losing out in other ways - and they know it. People will still be playing Elder Scrolls games long after Farmville has died and the casual gamers have moved on to the next new thing.
"This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself."
Eh, it's a figure of speech. Generally, when someone says he "basically" did something, he usually means he mostly did something. Zuckerberg's just saying that the amount of meat he consumes has dramatically decreased since he started killing the animals himself, which need not be a bad thing no matter how he phrases it.
I've personally believed that people should do this for a long time now. I would do it myself if it weren't so impractical. Most people really do take the source of their food for granted. I have heard many, many stories of people swearing off meat after visiting a slaughterhouse, and that was just from watching the animals get killed - and seeing the horrible conditions they live in, of course. Trust me; if everyone had the resources and willingness Zuckerberg does to kill their own animals, the meat industry wouldn't be nearly so overblown.
In any case, you should note that it was never Zukerberg's intention to become a vegetarian, nor was it his intention to eat healthier. He just decided to start doing his own dirty work. Eating better was a side effect of that, not the goal. If you're going to be hatin', you should start with the millions of people who eat meat every day and think nothing of it even though they like animals and would be horrified to see one die.
I absolutely agree. When a whole bunch of scientists say that something's possible I'm usually inclined to think there must be something to it, but I've never understood why so many believe it might be possible to travel backwards in time. It just doesn't doesn't jive with my understanding of time. I feel that the very existence of time paradoxes is an argument against the possibility of f time travel. It defies logic, and thus far I have seen no evidence suggesting this could happen. I really just don't think it works that way.
Of course, this is mostly just common sense talking, and science has often proved that wrong.
I have huge issues with the way women are portrayed personality-wise in all relevant media. However, compared to books, television, and common societal views, games are far from the most serious offender. There's a good number of strong female characters in video games who can kick ass just as well as, if not better than, the male characters. Furthermore, romance and childrearing are generally not the top priorities of these women. Sex objects or not, these things alone set them above the majority of female characters in all media.
On the other side of things, as a lesbian, I'm pretty okay with the way video games handle sex and sexuality. Sex sells, after all, and games are supposed to be fun. As an adolescent, I wouldn't have enjoyed Sudeki half as much if I hadn't been so enthralled with watching Buki's ass as she ran. Now, as a marginally more mature adult, the modded addition of large breasts and sexier clothing to TES4 makes an already awesome game even more entertaining. It would be a great game no matter what the women looked like, but the 10-15% fun factor added by sex appeal really makes a difference.
I would love it if media would stop portraying all women as stereotypes who are vulnerable deep down and in need of a man to protect them, obsessed with romance and fashion and cute things. But please don't take away our sexy ladies. The sexy ladies make awesome things even more awesome, and lame things somewhat tolerable.
He/she said a child *today*, not ten years ago. Things change. My godmother's son begged for a cell phone for months, and since he got one he's been texting 24/7. Does he need a cell phone to have friends? Probably not. Does he need one to be popular? Maybe. It seems to be a large part of the way kids today communicate.
no psychologist will argue that the effect of fucking 50 strangers a day is generally as benign as serving 50 burgers a day
That is a terrible comparison. Clearly, most prostitutes do not service fifty customers per day. At best that's an argument that unregulated prostitution is immoral, not prostitution as a whole.
I know for a fact that some people really don't have a problem with working as a prostitute. There are, in fact, many people who can have sex without forming an emotional attachment, including both prostitutes and customers. I haven't yet seen you make a single good argument for why this is universally a bad thing.
In any case, morality is all relative. That's why geeks don't try to apply the scientific method to such discussions: it's impossible, because there are no right or wrong answers. Any attempt to do so will ultimately just turn into an argument about semantics. And the opinions of the world's many hard working prostitutes aren't worth any less than yours.
It's not going to kill you all to actually pay for some of the stuff out there.
I think you're underestimating how little disposable income many consumers have. $4 may not kill you, but for a lot of "starving artists" it may be the difference between having some sheet music to practice with and eating for a day. No sheet music should be worth going hungry.
Besides that, the girl's issue was that she *couldn't* buy the sheet music. Even if she had had the money (which she did not, and I've never found more than pennies in any of *my* couches*), a credit card was required to buy the music. She certainly doesn't have one, and her parents don't support her interest in theatre; pirating that sheet music was the only way she was going to get it.
I'm personally very disappointed with this decision. Having a fairly fast computer and a music library containing under 2000 files, I've experienced none of the delays and usability problems other people are complaining about. My only problem with it is that a third party addon I favor is incompatible with the latest builds.
It has tons of addons, it looks great, and the UI is pretty simple. It's my favourite music player. This news makes me very sad.
Slashdot Mirror
getting high to make yourself feel better about all your problems and pretending that it makes them go away is not healthy at any usage frequency.
Perhaps, but that's not all marijuana does. Marijuana can also be used to enhance creativity, increase productivity, improve focus, increase stamina, and improve cognitive functions in certain ways. It can be used to treat depression, anxiety, pain, epilepsy, and psychosis. It can do all sorts of useful things, in fact -- it's all in how you use it.
Why? They could grow/sell it just as easily as they grow/sell tobacco.
Switching production from tabacco to marijuana would be a huge effort that would require the cooporation hundreds of people, many of whom probably don't think highly of pot. It's not a small deal.
Just think how well you would've done if you *hadn't* been a pothead all these years!
Are you trying to imply that he would have accomplished more if he hadn't been exposed to marijuana? From where do you derive that assumption?
I've always had a terrible memory and a tendency to space out, so I had a really hard time with school. People were always asking me if I was high ... however, I didn't actually touch weed until I was in my early twenties. Honestly, I wish I had started smoking it earlier. As a sufferer of anxiety/depression/suicidal impulses/a bunch of other crap it makes my life better in a million different ways, and it would have made school a hell of a lot easier.
Coincidentally, I recently had a particularly bad spate of depression during which I was pretty much incapable of "magical thinking." It was awful, because without it there was absolutely no reason to live. Why read or play games? It's pointless unless you're having fun, and "fun" is not a wholly rational pursuit. What's the point of doing anything? To live longer, to have more material possessions? It doesn't really matter. Nothing does until you decide it matters. I'm on medication now, and feeling much better. Yesterday I ate a hot dog and a slurpie to honour Goddess, then played Skyrim for six hours. My beliefs haven't changed, but I can suspend them temporarily and it's super fun.
Most users don't care overmuch about having a "bleeding edge" browser; they would rather the browser be stable. Additionally, I find that the average user doesn't appreciate being asked to update every month and a half.
When technology kills less productive jobs, like telephone operators, it also creates new, higher-paying technology jobs. It may be painful in the short run for those who lose their job, but eventually those people can get other jobs that are more productive
Actually, no. That's not exactly what happens. Say a manufacturing factory replaces a couple hundred of its employees with robots. How many jobs is this going to create? Not the same number it destroyed, that's for sure. Furthermore, most of those factory workers probably aren't very smart or well educated - that's why they were low-paid factory workers. Rather than getting the higher paying technology jobs, most of those workers will find other low paying jobs in industries where it's still easier to higher human workers. Others will be unable to find work and will go on welfare.
I'm not sure what the future economy is going to look like, but we're going to have a hell of a time getting there.
One of the top complaints of many gamers today is that games are getting shorter. The problem here is that increasingly, the focus of the gaming industry is shifting to the casual gamers, the ones who just want something fun to do while they're on the bus or chatting with their friends online. Most of the hardcore gamers want longer games, along with many other elements that aren't usually present in short, casual games. Unfortunately, the number of casual gamers is much larger than the number of hardcore gamers. However, the gaming industry would be retarded to ignore the gaming community in the same way that the Syfy channel would be retarded to ignore sci fi fans. There may be less of them, but they're the most valuable customers the industry has.
Case in point, I'm a hardcore Elder Scrolls fan and have played those games for hundreds of hours. I own two copies of Morrowind, four copies of Oblivion, all purchased new, and I've pre-ordered Skyrim. I buy the Collector's Editions and all the DLC's. So tell me, is Bethesda stupid for spending years making each game as rich and epic as possible? Should they shift their focus to the casual gamers? It could be more profitable in the short run, but they'd be losing out in other ways - and they know it. People will still be playing Elder Scrolls games long after Farmville has died and the casual gamers have moved on to the next new thing.
"This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself."
Eh, it's a figure of speech. Generally, when someone says he "basically" did something, he usually means he mostly did something. Zuckerberg's just saying that the amount of meat he consumes has dramatically decreased since he started killing the animals himself, which need not be a bad thing no matter how he phrases it.
I've personally believed that people should do this for a long time now. I would do it myself if it weren't so impractical. Most people really do take the source of their food for granted. I have heard many, many stories of people swearing off meat after visiting a slaughterhouse, and that was just from watching the animals get killed - and seeing the horrible conditions they live in, of course. Trust me; if everyone had the resources and willingness Zuckerberg does to kill their own animals, the meat industry wouldn't be nearly so overblown.
In any case, you should note that it was never Zukerberg's intention to become a vegetarian, nor was it his intention to eat healthier. He just decided to start doing his own dirty work. Eating better was a side effect of that, not the goal. If you're going to be hatin', you should start with the millions of people who eat meat every day and think nothing of it even though they like animals and would be horrified to see one die.
I absolutely agree. When a whole bunch of scientists say that something's possible I'm usually inclined to think there must be something to it, but I've never understood why so many believe it might be possible to travel backwards in time. It just doesn't doesn't jive with my understanding of time. I feel that the very existence of time paradoxes is an argument against the possibility of f time travel. It defies logic, and thus far I have seen no evidence suggesting this could happen. I really just don't think it works that way.
Of course, this is mostly just common sense talking, and science has often proved that wrong.
I have huge issues with the way women are portrayed personality-wise in all relevant media. However, compared to books, television, and common societal views, games are far from the most serious offender. There's a good number of strong female characters in video games who can kick ass just as well as, if not better than, the male characters. Furthermore, romance and childrearing are generally not the top priorities of these women. Sex objects or not, these things alone set them above the majority of female characters in all media.
On the other side of things, as a lesbian, I'm pretty okay with the way video games handle sex and sexuality. Sex sells, after all, and games are supposed to be fun. As an adolescent, I wouldn't have enjoyed Sudeki half as much if I hadn't been so enthralled with watching Buki's ass as she ran. Now, as a marginally more mature adult, the modded addition of large breasts and sexier clothing to TES4 makes an already awesome game even more entertaining. It would be a great game no matter what the women looked like, but the 10-15% fun factor added by sex appeal really makes a difference.
I would love it if media would stop portraying all women as stereotypes who are vulnerable deep down and in need of a man to protect them, obsessed with romance and fashion and cute things. But please don't take away our sexy ladies. The sexy ladies make awesome things even more awesome, and lame things somewhat tolerable.
Well, there's always porn for the blind...
He/she said a child *today*, not ten years ago. Things change. My godmother's son begged for a cell phone for months, and since he got one he's been texting 24/7. Does he need a cell phone to have friends? Probably not. Does he need one to be popular? Maybe. It seems to be a large part of the way kids today communicate.
no psychologist will argue that the effect of fucking 50 strangers a day is generally as benign as serving 50 burgers a day
That is a terrible comparison. Clearly, most prostitutes do not service fifty customers per day. At best that's an argument that unregulated prostitution is immoral, not prostitution as a whole.
I know for a fact that some people really don't have a problem with working as a prostitute. There are, in fact, many people who can have sex without forming an emotional attachment, including both prostitutes and customers. I haven't yet seen you make a single good argument for why this is universally a bad thing.
In any case, morality is all relative. That's why geeks don't try to apply the scientific method to such discussions: it's impossible, because there are no right or wrong answers. Any attempt to do so will ultimately just turn into an argument about semantics. And the opinions of the world's many hard working prostitutes aren't worth any less than yours.
It's not going to kill you all to actually pay for some of the stuff out there.
I think you're underestimating how little disposable income many consumers have. $4 may not kill you, but for a lot of "starving artists" it may be the difference between having some sheet music to practice with and eating for a day. No sheet music should be worth going hungry. Besides that, the girl's issue was that she *couldn't* buy the sheet music. Even if she had had the money (which she did not, and I've never found more than pennies in any of *my* couches*), a credit card was required to buy the music. She certainly doesn't have one, and her parents don't support her interest in theatre; pirating that sheet music was the only way she was going to get it.
I'm personally very disappointed with this decision. Having a fairly fast computer and a music library containing under 2000 files, I've experienced none of the delays and usability problems other people are complaining about. My only problem with it is that a third party addon I favor is incompatible with the latest builds. It has tons of addons, it looks great, and the UI is pretty simple. It's my favourite music player. This news makes me very sad.