I'd also like to add that the overall plot, characters, etc aren't the only value of a story, regardless of medium.
With books, the author's ability with the language may make a lame recycled plot and characters brilliant.
With movies/tv, the camera work, audio, pacing, etc are just as important as the story (and sometimes more so).
With video games, the level of immersion can have a drastic effect - compare (the original) doom with half-life: practically the same plot, yet one pulls you in and makes you part of the world.
You could sell me the same story every day in a new form as long as I thought your treatment of it was good.
I've gone through three PS3's (one first gen, one second gen and current one is third gen, if I'm keeping track of them properly) and three 360's. Though the sample size is still a bit small. I'm too lazy to dig for more data right now;)
Each gen of PS3 has had features removed, features that I used (PS2 compatability, card readers, etc, I might be a minority in that regard but meh). Each 360 gen I've owned has added features, bigger hard drives, HDMI, built in wifi (ok, so PS3 had HDMI and Wifi from first gen). So overall, I tend to find the 360 to be the better value (I also prefer the 360 controller, but hey, we all have our preferences). Though I do play the occasional game on my PS3, it's becoming more and more rare. I used to use it heavily as a blu-ray player, but we have other blu-ray players in the house now, so the PS3 ends up collecting dust mostly.
As far as PSN vs. Live, I don't mind paying for Live, it's a superior service in terms of connectivity and ping times. Both services have menu and browsing systems that suck balls, but meh.
As far as the costs go though, I personally would not purchase the $99 xbox with contract as at this point in my life buying all of that stuff together at once is not a problem for me. Though there was a point in my life where that plan would have been very attractive.
There is a significant difference between money and income (though they are related). When your income is low, it may be tough to build up a stockpile of money, when your income is high it's a bit easier (and honestly, at this point my income is high enough to where I put more in savings each month than what it costs to buy an xbox or ps3, though when I was 18-20 my income was low enough that I felt spending it all was a better use than saving it ie, I could save $40-$50 a month, or use it for a night out - it would have been more financially responsible to save it, but at the same time it's good to get out, be social and entertain yourself as well, not doing so seriously sucks). If I found myself in that situation again, I'd probably opt for this deal, $99 up front is putting away some extra money for a couple months and then increasing my monthly bills by $15 so I'd have $25-$35 to spare instead of $40-$50.
They are not the first company to offer a package like that and wont be the last. Yes you pay more overall, but you may be getting a deal that is better suited to your income level.
To think, I could have just googled that. For some reason I was thinking heat pump as something totally different.
This reminds me, the houses here aren't very well insulated (if at all), which definately does not help. Though the winter isn't so bad since I live upstairs from my landlord and can effectively steal her heat;)
I'm not sure which part of Japan heat pumps are common as all I've seen are electric heating units (I'm not really sure of the specifics of my dual purpose heat/AC unit as my kanji is a bit weak). Last winter my wife was running a portable electric heater (450W or 900W mode whee!) AND using an electric blanket. I tend to opt for throwing on a sweater myself. Though the fact that we don't have CENTRAL heat and AC probably helps (never seen it anywhere in Japan, and I've lived here for 6 years now). Granted the only places I've spent a good amount of time are the greater Tokyo area and Kyushuu, so I have no idea how they do it up in Hokkaido.
My electric bills are freakin expensive lately, even with the amount we try to conserve (my wife does attempt to limit her heater usage and we never use the dryer for laundry except certain items). My last bill was close to $150 for what probably would have been less than $50 in the states. Less energy concious friends of mine routinely have electric bills over $500, and they're single (my wife stays home all day, so power is being used most of the day).
Anyway, winter is much more doable here than summer is in terms of energy. Mold is a huge problem here so AC tends to get run just to spite that. My wife will even scold me if I turn the AC off if I don't need it because of the mold.
Though I have no idea in regards to whether or not an employee should be able to be fired in circumstances like this, I do think it is inappropriate for those employees to voice their opinion regarding their boss in a public forum.
Reasoning goes something like this: Being employed by the sheriff's department, the opinions of those employees may be considered to have more weight than a normal citizen/voter. They know the ins and outs of the job, the day to day routine, the policies, etc. An endorsement either way from them could sway more people and also could be viewed as an endorsement by the department itself. Probably wont have a drastic effect on the election itself (possibly in a close race), but if their was a loud voice for one candidate from the department itself (perceived), that could also undermine the elected officials authority (if everyone in the department supported the other guy, as a third party observer, what does that tell you, regardless of any truth?).
For similar reasons active military members are not supposed to show support for any political candidates, attend protests/demonstrations and other similar events if their status as a military member is publicly known. They may do these things 'anonymously' but not 'publicly' . It's quite alright for them to show up to a protest as long as their status isn't known, it's alright for them to put up an Obama or Romney sign on their lawn if they live off base, but if they live on base, are in uniform or publicly state they are in the military it's a no go.
The office of sheriff varies from locale to locale in the states and I think the wikipedia blurb sums it up decently enough:
In the United States of America the scope of a sheriff varies across states and counties. The sheriff is always a county official, and serves as the arm of the county court. In urban areas a sheriff may be restricted to court duties such as administering the county jail, providing courtroom security and prisoner transport, serving warrants, and serving process. Sheriffs may also patrol outside of the city or town limits. In many rural areas, sheriffs and their deputies serve as the principal police force.
I didn't know Christians and heroin addicts had so much in common!
On a more serious note, I don't give a rats ass about christianity, it's teachings or any of that. I don't consider it unique among religions and see no reason to go through it all and give it the logic wrangling you desire. If I did, then in the name of equality, I'd have to do it for every possible belief system. It's just easier and less time consuming to deal with religion as a whole rather than isolate a specific belief system.
I am not a religious person because no religious belief system I've encountered has any similarities to reality, at least as I've observed it. There is no more reason for me to take Christianity seriously than their is for me to take Voodoo seriously.
Yes, but according to the Youtube comments, the older cars have more style and class which is way more important than whether or not your car is a death trap.
Because I'm bored and procrastinating - (initial numbers pulled from wikipedia)
There are 4 x 10^11 stars per galaxy (average) There are 8 x 10^10 galaxies in the observable universe This gives us 3 x 10^22 star systems in the observable universe.
I am now going to assume that each star system has planets, and that one third of star systems have an "earth like planet" (planet capable of supporting life as we would recognize it). I have just pulled this number out of my ass as we really have very limited data on exoplanets. It may be a severe overestimation, it may be a severe underestimation.
Number of "earth like planets" in the observable universe based on my assumptions - 1 x 10^22 Using the one in a trillion probability above gives us 1x10^10 planets in the observable universe with life. That's a lot of planets in the observable universe, but ends up being less than one per galaxy (8 x 10^10 galaxies).
Of course we have no way to know what the probabilities actually are, and our data on exoplanets is really limited so it's difficult to extrapolate this out to the entire universe. I'd personally like to think the probability that life springs up is better than one in a trillion, but that's not based on any evidence, only hunches and wishes. For all we know life is common in this galaxy (and every galaxy) but the limits of physics make it difficult to find and connect with that life (assuming it even evolved "intelligence" in the first place).
I'm curious as to what you mean by "getting all the conditions right".
There is a huge difference in odds if there is only one possible combination of localized initial conditions that give rise to life or if there are multiple possible combinations. Based on my current limited knowledge of how the universe works, I would tend to think it's the latter.
We currently don't have the technology to observe life outside of our solar system, but we have plenty of data concerning this planet which we could use to develop assumptions and possible testable hypotheses.
Stop trying to apply your shill spin to chemicals. Everyone knows chemicals are bad for mother nature gaia and are used by the evil corporate farm lobby to increase profits and destroy kittens and the poor.
Though I agree with how the consumer will perceive it, if you're comparing these to a common 75W Incandescent, they will more than pay for themselves over the life of the bulb. As for the margins, I wouldn't be surprised if they were fairly low at the moment (R&D and all that), but I have no idea how much the materials, labor or plants cost.
Riiight.They are too stupid to use Apple stuff. You realize that when someone claims ignorance and stupidity in technology that the default response is to shove some Apple products into their face, right? It isn't technical nature of Apple's locked down products that makes them what you give grandma. Apple stuff is literally built so that a moron can use them. They ask themselves, "If I was a moron, how would this work?" and then make it that way. It isn't a bad design philosophy if you are shooting for mass market appeal, but it is about as far from nerd nirvana as you can get.
Sometimes it's even taken to the extreme. Single light that will indicate all possible statuses plus 4 arrow buttons for data entry? Yeah that's right, I'm talking about you AppleTV, you fucking worthless piece of shit.
I don't remember the thread count on my current set of sheets, but I do know that everytime I see decently high count, I talk myself out of it and then go buy something electronic and twice as expensive, that I will probably use for about 3 hours before it sits in the corner collecting dust. Poor impulsive financial decisions are awesome.
Slashdot Mirror
That there is such a thing as a for-profit prison industry is a clear sign of a sick society.
Fixed that... ;)
That sounds like a hell of a brunch.
I'd also like to add that the overall plot, characters, etc aren't the only value of a story, regardless of medium.
With books, the author's ability with the language may make a lame recycled plot and characters brilliant.
With movies/tv, the camera work, audio, pacing, etc are just as important as the story (and sometimes more so).
With video games, the level of immersion can have a drastic effect - compare (the original) doom with half-life: practically the same plot, yet one pulls you in and makes you part of the world.
You could sell me the same story every day in a new form as long as I thought your treatment of it was good.
Wishing I still had mod points for the first comment I've read that states you don't actually have to buy the shitty theatre food.
Your sample size is a bit small ;)
I've gone through three PS3's (one first gen, one second gen and current one is third gen, if I'm keeping track of them properly) and three 360's. Though the sample size is still a bit small. I'm too lazy to dig for more data right now ;)
Each gen of PS3 has had features removed, features that I used (PS2 compatability, card readers, etc, I might be a minority in that regard but meh). Each 360 gen I've owned has added features, bigger hard drives, HDMI, built in wifi (ok, so PS3 had HDMI and Wifi from first gen). So overall, I tend to find the 360 to be the better value (I also prefer the 360 controller, but hey, we all have our preferences). Though I do play the occasional game on my PS3, it's becoming more and more rare. I used to use it heavily as a blu-ray player, but we have other blu-ray players in the house now, so the PS3 ends up collecting dust mostly.
As far as PSN vs. Live, I don't mind paying for Live, it's a superior service in terms of connectivity and ping times. Both services have menu and browsing systems that suck balls, but meh.
As far as the costs go though, I personally would not purchase the $99 xbox with contract as at this point in my life buying all of that stuff together at once is not a problem for me. Though there was a point in my life where that plan would have been very attractive.
There is a significant difference between money and income (though they are related). When your income is low, it may be tough to build up a stockpile of money, when your income is high it's a bit easier (and honestly, at this point my income is high enough to where I put more in savings each month than what it costs to buy an xbox or ps3, though when I was 18-20 my income was low enough that I felt spending it all was a better use than saving it ie, I could save $40-$50 a month, or use it for a night out - it would have been more financially responsible to save it, but at the same time it's good to get out, be social and entertain yourself as well, not doing so seriously sucks). If I found myself in that situation again, I'd probably opt for this deal, $99 up front is putting away some extra money for a couple months and then increasing my monthly bills by $15 so I'd have $25-$35 to spare instead of $40-$50.
They are not the first company to offer a package like that and wont be the last. Yes you pay more overall, but you may be getting a deal that is better suited to your income level.
To think, I could have just googled that. For some reason I was thinking heat pump as something totally different.
This reminds me, the houses here aren't very well insulated (if at all), which definately does not help. Though the winter isn't so bad since I live upstairs from my landlord and can effectively steal her heat ;)
I'm not sure which part of Japan heat pumps are common as all I've seen are electric heating units (I'm not really sure of the specifics of my dual purpose heat/AC unit as my kanji is a bit weak). Last winter my wife was running a portable electric heater (450W or 900W mode whee!) AND using an electric blanket. I tend to opt for throwing on a sweater myself. Though the fact that we don't have CENTRAL heat and AC probably helps (never seen it anywhere in Japan, and I've lived here for 6 years now). Granted the only places I've spent a good amount of time are the greater Tokyo area and Kyushuu, so I have no idea how they do it up in Hokkaido.
My electric bills are freakin expensive lately, even with the amount we try to conserve (my wife does attempt to limit her heater usage and we never use the dryer for laundry except certain items). My last bill was close to $150 for what probably would have been less than $50 in the states. Less energy concious friends of mine routinely have electric bills over $500, and they're single (my wife stays home all day, so power is being used most of the day).
Anyway, winter is much more doable here than summer is in terms of energy. Mold is a huge problem here so AC tends to get run just to spite that. My wife will even scold me if I turn the AC off if I don't need it because of the mold.
I for one am looking forward to a second summer of rolling blackouts! (Granted last year wasn't that bad)
Though I am also not looking forward to my power bill.
Someone is neglecting their Guide.
L**k, th**e d*ys i*s e**ier t* e** o* th* s**e o* c**tion th*n r**k o**end**g s***o**.
Though I have no idea in regards to whether or not an employee should be able to be fired in circumstances like this, I do think it is inappropriate for those employees to voice their opinion regarding their boss in a public forum.
Reasoning goes something like this: Being employed by the sheriff's department, the opinions of those employees may be considered to have more weight than a normal citizen/voter. They know the ins and outs of the job, the day to day routine, the policies, etc. An endorsement either way from them could sway more people and also could be viewed as an endorsement by the department itself. Probably wont have a drastic effect on the election itself (possibly in a close race), but if their was a loud voice for one candidate from the department itself (perceived), that could also undermine the elected officials authority (if everyone in the department supported the other guy, as a third party observer, what does that tell you, regardless of any truth?).
For similar reasons active military members are not supposed to show support for any political candidates, attend protests/demonstrations and other similar events if their status as a military member is publicly known. They may do these things 'anonymously' but not 'publicly' . It's quite alright for them to show up to a protest as long as their status isn't known, it's alright for them to put up an Obama or Romney sign on their lawn if they live off base, but if they live on base, are in uniform or publicly state they are in the military it's a no go.
The office of sheriff varies from locale to locale in the states and I think the wikipedia blurb sums it up decently enough:
In the United States of America the scope of a sheriff varies across states and counties. The sheriff is always a county official, and serves as the arm of the county court. In urban areas a sheriff may be restricted to court duties such as administering the county jail, providing courtroom security and prisoner transport, serving warrants, and serving process. Sheriffs may also patrol outside of the city or town limits. In many rural areas, sheriffs and their deputies serve as the principal police force.
believe in Christ are doing it in vein.
I didn't know Christians and heroin addicts had so much in common!
On a more serious note, I don't give a rats ass about christianity, it's teachings or any of that. I don't consider it unique among religions and see no reason to go through it all and give it the logic wrangling you desire. If I did, then in the name of equality, I'd have to do it for every possible belief system. It's just easier and less time consuming to deal with religion as a whole rather than isolate a specific belief system.
I am not a religious person because no religious belief system I've encountered has any similarities to reality, at least as I've observed it. There is no more reason for me to take Christianity seriously than their is for me to take Voodoo seriously.
The only rational solution is to outlaw all forms of science and technology and implement the death penalty for anyone caught applying either.
Yes, but according to the Youtube comments, the older cars have more style and class which is way more important than whether or not your car is a death trap.
Because I'm bored and procrastinating - (initial numbers pulled from wikipedia)
There are 4 x 10^11 stars per galaxy (average)
There are 8 x 10^10 galaxies in the observable universe
This gives us 3 x 10^22 star systems in the observable universe.
I am now going to assume that each star system has planets, and that one third of star systems have an "earth like planet" (planet capable of supporting life as we would recognize it). I have just pulled this number out of my ass as we really have very limited data on exoplanets. It may be a severe overestimation, it may be a severe underestimation.
Number of "earth like planets" in the observable universe based on my assumptions - 1 x 10^22
Using the one in a trillion probability above gives us 1x10^10 planets in the observable universe with life. That's a lot of planets in the observable universe, but ends up being less than one per galaxy (8 x 10^10 galaxies).
Of course we have no way to know what the probabilities actually are, and our data on exoplanets is really limited so it's difficult to extrapolate this out to the entire universe. I'd personally like to think the probability that life springs up is better than one in a trillion, but that's not based on any evidence, only hunches and wishes.
For all we know life is common in this galaxy (and every galaxy) but the limits of physics make it difficult to find and connect with that life (assuming it even evolved "intelligence" in the first place).
I'm still not certain that we've confirmed the existence of life on Earth.
I'm curious as to what you mean by "getting all the conditions right".
There is a huge difference in odds if there is only one possible combination of localized initial conditions that give rise to life or if there are multiple possible combinations. Based on my current limited knowledge of how the universe works, I would tend to think it's the latter.
We currently don't have the technology to observe life outside of our solar system, but we have plenty of data concerning this planet which we could use to develop assumptions and possible testable hypotheses.
Stop trying to apply your shill spin to chemicals. Everyone knows chemicals are bad for mother nature gaia and are used by the evil corporate farm lobby to increase profits and destroy kittens and the poor.
I propose a world without chemicals.
Though I agree with how the consumer will perceive it, if you're comparing these to a common 75W Incandescent, they will more than pay for themselves over the life of the bulb. As for the margins, I wouldn't be surprised if they were fairly low at the moment (R&D and all that), but I have no idea how much the materials, labor or plants cost.
Riiight.They are too stupid to use Apple stuff. You realize that when someone claims ignorance and stupidity in technology that the default response is to shove some Apple products into their face, right? It isn't technical nature of Apple's locked down products that makes them what you give grandma. Apple stuff is literally built so that a moron can use them. They ask themselves, "If I was a moron, how would this work?" and then make it that way. It isn't a bad design philosophy if you are shooting for mass market appeal, but it is about as far from nerd nirvana as you can get.
Sometimes it's even taken to the extreme. Single light that will indicate all possible statuses plus 4 arrow buttons for data entry? Yeah that's right, I'm talking about you AppleTV, you fucking worthless piece of shit.
Yes, but there would be a sad face on the display when it misfires.
You're missing interpretations involving a designated "fucking space"
It may be a minor oversight, however you cannot deny the importance of having designated space for fucking.
It was intended as more of a joke ;)
I don't remember the thread count on my current set of sheets, but I do know that everytime I see decently high count, I talk myself out of it and then go buy something electronic and twice as expensive, that I will probably use for about 3 hours before it sits in the corner collecting dust. Poor impulsive financial decisions are awesome.