Ok, you feel free to off yourself any time you like.
Please don't slow progress down for those of us who want to seek out new solar systems... and wrap them with Dyson spheres.
As to your non-sequitor end quote, a line from the bible fits: "even the devil can quote gospel" -- in other words, a liar sometimes tells the truth, you cannot simply state "I don't like this person therefore I disagree with everything they say" and expect to be internally consistent.
And as to the book, there are many authors who make their living scaring the public. It appears this was one of them. Living forever is no way boring; perhaps it might have been 50 years ago, but we're now on the rapid stream of advances leading up to the singularity, and there's no way I'll be bored during that! Beyond the singularity there's so much more to know and learn and do as well; seeking out new universes as an escape measure for when this one suffers its heat death (we know it won't collapse, that was proven a few years ago). And overpopulation won't be a problem either, since we'll be able to create habitats in environments that are current unsuitable for life (deserts, underground, in the ocean, orbiting, in the asteroids, etc).
You should read this book: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect", which contains some of the same elements as the book you read (people killing each other in the future, for pleasure), but does so from the premise that we have backups, so "killing" someone (or even yourself!) does not mean the end of that person's experiences.
Reminds me of one of the producers on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005): "Jay Roach".
Even funnier, this guy really exists: imdb -- and it states "Sometimes credited as M. Jay Roach" which makes his name even less obscure a reference.;-)
First off, you're wrong: the article you referenced said that "sundial time" varies from "clock time" by as much as 16 min, 33 sec. That's not what I said, though: I said that time is constant. And it is: time marches forward one second every second, regardless of what angle the earth is at relative to the sun. (I.e., a sundial is artificial when talking about absolute time; thanks for pointing that out, but 16.55 minutes is "nothing" compared to transporting us an hour into the future/past.)
Second, of course there's no end to pi. I was referring to this attempt at passing a law.
I hope that John Deere (not the military communications spammer; the farm equipment producer) is currently working on Prius-type technology for their farm equipment. If not, their competitors surely are!
Thanks, I now remember having read Neal Stephenson's "The Big U", which (if memory serves) had Casimir Radon creating a railgun and then using it to maintain order once the university had fallen into decay.
Yes, and also: when the invaders arrived in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "Footfall", one of the first things they did was eliminate all the sattelites.
Airships are slightly lower altitude, but will still be targets.
We should strive to maintain terrestrial methods of communication, even if the airborne methods are much faster.
FUCK YOU it allows "everyone a fair chance at posting a comment" -- we're all geeks here, tell us "you can't post more than one comment within two minutes so that we can slow the bots down."
Also, the fucking thing still says "It's been 1 minute since you last successfully posted a comment" (no ending period), but doesn't fucking say how long I have to wait before posting any more! It used to be 2 minutes, so I expect once I've typed all these expletives that it'll post.
But, in point of fact, I don't take it as fixed that corporations must have as their sole goal the instantaneous enrichment of their stockholders.
Not a businessman, are you?
If a corporation spent greater than 0% of their resources on something that was not profit-related, then the corporate officers need to explain to the shareholders why that money was spent, and how it will lead to increased profits (like Apple donating computers to schools, for example; it was a short-term loss, but resulted in new tech grads knowing (and recommending purchase of) Apples).
Please defend your position, because I just don't see it. Yeah, it's nice in a "communism would work if nobody cheated", but capitalism works even when people cheat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I developed an immune system so that certain bacteria and viruses no longer bother me, and you're going to say I'm "50% of the infection problem." Bull fucking shit. The problem is that people actually buy the crap they see in these ads!
As someone else responded, "they'll just bomb the blurry bits."
And Google's response is rather unhelpful as well, since governments don't tend to move their palaces with any regularity (so "two years old" is still fairly accurate).
I think it's amazing that there's such an "industry" around ringtones. I keep my phone on vibrate because a) I'll always feel it, regardless of ambient noise (concert/bar), and b) it won't piss people off in low ambient noise environments (movie, classical concert).
That said, I recently got a new phone and within a day had purchased the Bluetooth USB device to allow BitPim to talk to the phone, and followed forum posts to get music and movies transferred over, and also set the music as a ringtone.
So, I have the capability to set any sound I want as the ringtone. Yet I do not because it's far less convenient (for me).
To address the original question "why do people pay $2?" It's because, for most people, following the forum posts, purchasing a $35 device, downloading some free software, and figuring out how it all works "costs" them far more than $2.
Interesting that you mention "public performance". I wonder if the "ringtone police" will be stationed in crowded areas, asking for "your papers" when your cell phone rings, and fining you if you cannot provide documentation that you have purchased a license to the ring tone? (Or, perhaps the devices will just automatically bill you a micropayment every time the phone rings. No, wait, it already does that, it's called airtime!)
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, for the record, YHBT ... by a superior intelligence. I apologize for playing.
Please don't slow progress down for those of us who want to seek out new solar systems ... and wrap them with Dyson spheres.
As to your non-sequitor end quote, a line from the bible fits: "even the devil can quote gospel" -- in other words, a liar sometimes tells the truth, you cannot simply state "I don't like this person therefore I disagree with everything they say" and expect to be internally consistent.
And as to the book, there are many authors who make their living scaring the public. It appears this was one of them. Living forever is no way boring; perhaps it might have been 50 years ago, but we're now on the rapid stream of advances leading up to the singularity, and there's no way I'll be bored during that! Beyond the singularity there's so much more to know and learn and do as well; seeking out new universes as an escape measure for when this one suffers its heat death (we know it won't collapse, that was proven a few years ago). And overpopulation won't be a problem either, since we'll be able to create habitats in environments that are current unsuitable for life (deserts, underground, in the ocean, orbiting, in the asteroids, etc).
You should read this book: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect" , which contains some of the same elements as the book you read (people killing each other in the future, for pleasure), but does so from the premise that we have backups, so "killing" someone (or even yourself!) does not mean the end of that person's experiences.
Jail me all you want, you won't stop me smoking pot.
Reminds me of one of the producers on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005): "Jay Roach".
Even funnier, this guy really exists: imdb -- and it states "Sometimes credited as M. Jay Roach" which makes his name even less obscure a reference. ;-)
And I stopped meta-modding about a year ago, since I haven't had mod points for 2 years prior to that. WTF did I do wrong, and how can I fix it?
Second, of course there's no end to pi. I was referring to this attempt at passing a law.
Sorry to be a bit cryptic, it was a joke at the "dear john" letters that are becoming more and more common as stays in Iraq are extended.
Site is currently down.
Here ya go.
Perhaps you're too busy to be a parent in the first place?
Drunk, again?
I hope that John Deere (not the military communications spammer; the farm equipment producer) is currently working on Prius-type technology for their farm equipment. If not, their competitors surely are!
Your locality can even change the work hours based on the change in sunrise/sunset.
But changing the time? That's like declaring that pi is 3.
You should start laughing while you're eating. Just in case.
So, no, schooling won't help. I, for one, think that socialization is the best answer.
But then again, wtf do I, for one, know?
And perhaps an air exchanger which can extract helium from the atmosphere (using any excess energy obtain from the solar collectors)?
Thanks, I now remember having read Neal Stephenson's "The Big U", which (if memory serves) had Casimir Radon creating a railgun and then using it to maintain order once the university had fallen into decay.
Airships are slightly lower altitude, but will still be targets.
We should strive to maintain terrestrial methods of communication, even if the airborne methods are much faster.
FUCK YOU it allows "everyone a fair chance at posting a comment" -- we're all geeks here, tell us "you can't post more than one comment within two minutes so that we can slow the bots down."
Also, the fucking thing still says "It's been 1 minute since you last successfully posted a comment" (no ending period), but doesn't fucking say how long I have to wait before posting any more! It used to be 2 minutes, so I expect once I've typed all these expletives that it'll post.
That reminded me of one of my favorite Jon Stuart quote (or John Stewart, as his book-signing friend wrote): "Why did God put our oil over there?"
The Constitution of the United States states that, if something is not illegal, then, yes, it is an invitation for anyone to do it!
Not a businessman, are you?
If a corporation spent greater than 0% of their resources on something that was not profit-related, then the corporate officers need to explain to the shareholders why that money was spent, and how it will lead to increased profits (like Apple donating computers to schools, for example; it was a short-term loss, but resulted in new tech grads knowing (and recommending purchase of) Apples).
Please defend your position, because I just don't see it. Yeah, it's nice in a "communism would work if nobody cheated", but capitalism works even when people cheat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I developed an immune system so that certain bacteria and viruses no longer bother me, and you're going to say I'm "50% of the infection problem." Bull fucking shit. The problem is that people actually buy the crap they see in these ads!
Throw phone to left, drive to right. Problem solved (on paper).
And Google's response is rather unhelpful as well, since governments don't tend to move their palaces with any regularity (so "two years old" is still fairly accurate).
That said, I recently got a new phone and within a day had purchased the Bluetooth USB device to allow BitPim to talk to the phone, and followed forum posts to get music and movies transferred over, and also set the music as a ringtone.
So, I have the capability to set any sound I want as the ringtone. Yet I do not because it's far less convenient (for me).
To address the original question "why do people pay $2?" It's because, for most people, following the forum posts, purchasing a $35 device, downloading some free software, and figuring out how it all works "costs" them far more than $2.
Interesting that you mention "public performance". I wonder if the "ringtone police" will be stationed in crowded areas, asking for "your papers" when your cell phone rings, and fining you if you cannot provide documentation that you have purchased a license to the ring tone? (Or, perhaps the devices will just automatically bill you a micropayment every time the phone rings. No, wait, it already does that, it's called airtime!)