Every time I trot that quote out I get +5 karma. I'm already at max so it doesn't matter anyway, but it's good to see someone else learn that trick.;-)
I don't even keep a copy of it. Whenever I want to find it, I just google for "ayn rand pikers guilt criminals" and it's one of the top three. Enjoy!
You said it. There's a great book on this, "Comedy Writing Secrets", which if you only take one thing away from it, make it this: put the twist in the last word if possible, or the last two words if not.
That makes all the difference in humor. Try it.
Some short examples: "This baby seal walked into a club."
"Great minds think a lot."
"So, do you live around here often?"
I really enjoyed the book, and your step 2 is exactly what to avoid -- put the punchline as far at the end as possible; even better is to avoid the punchline altogether and leave it as an exercise for the listener. My favorite example, and it has to be the most compressed joke of all (two words and a gesture):
"Short term..." (snapping fingers as if can't remember)
A month or two ago, a midwest Electrical Engineer named his son 2.0. The funny thing is his name is John Blake Cusack 2.0. No, not the actor's son (dunno if he has one) but that's why I remember it.
I believe Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s book with Ice 9 and Bokonon (or were those two separate books? I read them both the same semester waaaay back in college) had a form of premonition: if a person's name started (or ended?) with an asterisk, that meant they were going to die at some point in the book.
So you could make several jokes and name your kid "*roid".
Reminds me of the Aorist rods from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. They were used to rob energy from the past, until... well, DNA says it better:
It was only when it was realized that the present really was being impoverished, and that the reason for it was that those selfish plundering wastrel bastards up in the future were doing exactly the same thing, that everyone realized that every single aorist rod, and the terrible secret of how they were made, would have to be utterly and forever destroyed. They claimed it was for the sake of their grandparents and grandchildren, but it was of course for the sake of their grandparent's grandchildren, and their grandchildren's grandparents.
If their products are absurdly overpriced, why do you need absurdly overpriced products? A Ferrari is absurdly overpriced too, does that mean you should illegally acquire one? Do you need a Ferrari? Or do you just want one because it's a damn good car, but you can't afford it?
What will the argument be in 10-20 years, once nanotechnology has sprouted wings and created a matter copier? If you can duplicate a Ferrari without depriving anyone else of their copy, do you think that doing so should be illegal?
If so, why?
Personally, I think that would be just fine. And it doesn't "hurt" the Ferrari corporation, because they won't need money anyway -- they'll have a matter copier as well, to create anything they need. This is not a pipe dream but it certainly looks like one; for the time being I'll have to continue working. But seriously, why would duplicating a Ferrari be wrong if it harmed noone in the process?
And if you agree with me, then work backwards. We already have digital matter copiers; things will only get weirder.
We don't trust our code to automatic generation, and we don't trust our testing to automated processes. I think we come out ahead both times.
This may be picking nits, but if you use anything other than assembly language then you are trusting your code to automatic generation.
Even assembly is interpreted; you'd have to write in machine language to have no generation involved.
I do understand what you were saying, which is why I mentioned the nits. And I don't work in the game industry, which I would imagine is a lot more difficult to automate than the general applications that I automate.
Especially the XBox, you'd need a super-fast cluster to process the images coming from the video splitter between the XBox and the TV; you'd need software that can take the 2-D representation on-screen and attempt to pull out 3-D info from it; you'd need to similarly split the controller's cable so the cluster could provide input; and you'd need to custom-write each test for each game.
This is me going overboard, but perhaps game testers of the world could unite and create an open-source framework for game testing which would take all of these variables into account. Sure, it would be a rather big effort to get the first game tested, but once the framework was there, the second, third and fourth games would take significantly less time.
But it may not be worth it to considering starting such a project, because human labor is cheap and getting cheaper as we globalize.
In a perfect world, the robots would do all the work. We'll get there, it's just a matter of time. So I suppose in a roundabout way I agree with you: you do come out ahead by making do with what you have, and not chasing pipe dreams which have a short-term money vacuum and only long-term benefits.
Also see Larry Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers"; at the beginning the protagonist was a "wire-head" who basically drooled while hooked to a wire stimulating his pleasure centers. He was also fairly ninja-adept, so when those guys busted into his apartment, he (very jovially) kicked their asses.
Or how about getting a site license for NetLimiter, so your users can download to their heart's content but limit their upload to, say, 15 KB/s?
That works for me on my cable connection, and I regularly get 300 KB/s downloads. Well, it depends on how many seeds and peers there are, sometimes it maxes out at 5 KB/s but with multiple torrents running (gotta collect those TV shows that I'll never watch!), it's regularly 200-250 KB/s.
I completely agree with you that traditional usage should continue.
However, when the vernacular starts changing the nature of meaning, how long should we attempt to prevent change? Sometimes it's best just to accept it and move on.
It just Dyolfs the Knip whether what he is objecting to was actually true. If it was, then the judge should throw it out, after listening to some choice On The Run.
What we need is a (this is the important part here!) catchy turn of phrase that can take the place of "begs the question" but can be easily seen to mean "demands to be asked" or "prompts the question", as the parent put it.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't even keep a copy of it. Whenever I want to find it, I just google for "ayn rand pikers guilt criminals" and it's one of the top three. Enjoy!
That makes all the difference in humor. Try it.
Some short examples: "This baby seal walked into a club."
"Great minds think a lot."
"So, do you live around here often?"
I really enjoyed the book, and your step 2 is exactly what to avoid -- put the punchline as far at the end as possible; even better is to avoid the punchline altogether and leave it as an exercise for the listener. My favorite example, and it has to be the most compressed joke of all (two words and a gesture):
"Short term ..." (snapping fingers as if can't remember)
420!
Who cares about reasonable women? I'm still trying to find that book that Badger got in the mail: "How to Pick Up Trashy Women."
I believe Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s book with Ice 9 and Bokonon (or were those two separate books? I read them both the same semester waaaay back in college) had a form of premonition: if a person's name started (or ended?) with an asterisk, that meant they were going to die at some point in the book.
So you could make several jokes and name your kid "*roid".
I've run into office politics and now preface my biting remarks with "With all due respect," ...
Which basically means, "You're an idiot, but ..."
I'm growing into management. ;-)
I want to listen to Foo Fighters, because they ... um, ... fight for the users, right?
Ow, stop hitting me!
Reminds me of the Aorist rods from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. They were used to rob energy from the past, until ... well, DNA says it better:
Anyone else remember MST3K's "Gekko Roman Wrestlers"?
I believe that's frikkin' shark.
Oh, and before you think to answer ... zip it!
So ... you're saying Dick Clarke dropped the ball on Iraq?
<ducks>
Yes, but my grandfather's dying of heart disease right now you insensitive ... <sniff> ... dammit, his name is Claude... <bawl>
What will the argument be in 10-20 years, once nanotechnology has sprouted wings and created a matter copier? If you can duplicate a Ferrari without depriving anyone else of their copy, do you think that doing so should be illegal?
If so, why?
Personally, I think that would be just fine. And it doesn't "hurt" the Ferrari corporation, because they won't need money anyway -- they'll have a matter copier as well, to create anything they need. This is not a pipe dream but it certainly looks like one; for the time being I'll have to continue working. But seriously, why would duplicating a Ferrari be wrong if it harmed noone in the process?
And if you agree with me, then work backwards. We already have digital matter copiers; things will only get weirder.
This may be picking nits, but if you use anything other than assembly language then you are trusting your code to automatic generation.
Even assembly is interpreted; you'd have to write in machine language to have no generation involved.
I do understand what you were saying, which is why I mentioned the nits. And I don't work in the game industry, which I would imagine is a lot more difficult to automate than the general applications that I automate.
Especially the XBox, you'd need a super-fast cluster to process the images coming from the video splitter between the XBox and the TV; you'd need software that can take the 2-D representation on-screen and attempt to pull out 3-D info from it; you'd need to similarly split the controller's cable so the cluster could provide input; and you'd need to custom-write each test for each game.
This is me going overboard, but perhaps game testers of the world could unite and create an open-source framework for game testing which would take all of these variables into account. Sure, it would be a rather big effort to get the first game tested, but once the framework was there, the second, third and fourth games would take significantly less time.
But it may not be worth it to considering starting such a project, because human labor is cheap and getting cheaper as we globalize.
In a perfect world, the robots would do all the work. We'll get there, it's just a matter of time. So I suppose in a roundabout way I agree with you: you do come out ahead by making do with what you have, and not chasing pipe dreams which have a short-term money vacuum and only long-term benefits.
Of course, there's always a need for manual testing, but the better testers learn automation skills and move up in the organization.
Only 80 more years until the robots take over! (I loved the Brain levels myself; tanks were fun too.)
Also see Larry Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers"; at the beginning the protagonist was a "wire-head" who basically drooled while hooked to a wire stimulating his pleasure centers. He was also fairly ninja-adept, so when those guys busted into his apartment, he (very jovially) kicked their asses.
What if you combine the red and blue lasers? Then you have a Superman laser!
That works for me on my cable connection, and I regularly get 300 KB/s downloads. Well, it depends on how many seeds and peers there are, sometimes it maxes out at 5 KB/s but with multiple torrents running (gotta collect those TV shows that I'll never watch!), it's regularly 200-250 KB/s.
Excellent! Thanks.
I went on to use it correctly, here.
While I agree with the sentiment, I do not believe Redmond currently has nuclear weapon capabilities.
So wouldn't it be better worded as "emptively"?
Many fathers use that technique of child rearing... (pun intended)
However, when the vernacular starts changing the nature of meaning, how long should we attempt to prevent change? Sometimes it's best just to accept it and move on.
It just Dyolfs the Knip whether what he is objecting to was actually true. If it was, then the judge should throw it out, after listening to some choice On The Run.
Hmm, how about "Dylofs the Knip?"