At one time someone tried to imply that Tolkien's books were about the Cold War and that the rings were nuclear weapons. Tolkien was having none of it and pointed out how the story would have to be different to mirror that.
Zuck's comments can be boiled down to: It costs us too much money to maintain a hoard of people and machines to monitor the content on our sites. We want the government to take over that expense to both lay it at the feet of the taxpayer and take over the bad PR censoring and making decisions on content gets us.
Yeah, I was amused/annoyed that Patreon thought that the 2 Kinds side comic pics were too racy for public consumption. That pic of Kat having a bit too much to drink and Zen admiring her figure is obviously going to undermine the fabric of society and result in dogs and cats sleeping together.;)
(For those who don't follow it, 2 Kinds is a furry comic that has side sketches on Patreon. The sketches often are idea submitted by the readers and are generally pretty harmless. You can find far worse searching on Google with safe search on.)
They can stop selling coffee in California since they think it's a carcinogen.
That means that all of the coffee drinkers in Silicon Valley will either have to stop or move to some place sane.
This is a double win for those of us in the "flyover" states. Coffee will be cheaper due to decreased demand and companies will be forced to pay higher wages to programmers to lure them to the lands of soybeans and corn where coffee can be had!
Obviously, if it can be used for executions we must ban this toxic substance and pay contractors large amounts of money to remove and hazmat landfill all of it..
Will California start requiring labeling for anything containing it?;)
We've been going back and forth on that one for years, Ratzo. You want to impose your black and white on the world (perhaps because it makes for more entertaining arguments) and my science background leads me to be pretty non-judgemental.
In the end we're just both old fools sniping back and forth at each other on a website whose best days are long past it (perhaps much like us:) ).
It's: My guy can do no wrong. And the other side's guy is Hitler/Stalin/$Satan_Figure.
If something good happens while my guy is in office it's totally his doing. If something good happens while the other side's guy is in office it's totally due to luck/the previous guy.
Etc, Etc, lather rinse repeat.
And my side is virtuous unlike the immoral other side that has mostly the same human in_group/out_group motivations.
I've thought a fair bit about it, but it's unclear to me where the subjective individuality in me resides (even if it is just a convenient illusion that I foist off on myself).
Backup copies are certainly something you'd want if you have long term plans that you want achieved whether or not a particular instantiation of "you" is still around.
My personal suspicion is that Bones McCoy was right and the transporter isn't to be trusted. (But then again, does that mean he was knowingly committing suicide whenever he beamed down with Kirk?) So, yes, I'd say that there is a difference in a particular drop of water (an old scifi story reference).
This why I chuckle when people worry about "immortality" and the moral impications.
If you just end aging and the accompanying decline, you'll still die at some point from accidents (Even if you do something like put your brain in an armored box and tele-operate your body).
So, if nothing else, there's a rusty old Volkswagen on an unfortunate spacetime trajectory intersecting with you at some point in your future.
Slashdot Mirror
At one time someone tried to imply that Tolkien's books were about the Cold War and that the rings were nuclear weapons. Tolkien was having none of it and pointed out how the story would have to be different to mirror that.
This is even more of a stretch.
Money is what this is about.
Zuck's comments can be boiled down to: It costs us too much money to maintain a hoard of people and machines to monitor the content on our sites. We want the government to take over that expense to both lay it at the feet of the taxpayer and take over the bad PR censoring and making decisions on content gets us.
Yeah, but saying "they made the cage bigger" doesn't get clicks for your article.
Moonwalking shoes!
Whenever I see the name Sundar Pichai, my mind changes it to Tsundere Pikachu.
I use a small jet of helium sprayed out of a nozzle to find leaks in vacuum systems.
It is so tempting to direct it at an unsuspecting iPhone user just to test this out.
To find out why your smartphone won't connect to the internet, just connect to the internet to download the manual telling you why you can't connect.
What could be simpler?
"I'm sorry. We no longer support that equipment. I'll be happy to connect you with sales to purchase a new model."
Uh, yeah. It's a quarter million dollar piece of lab equipment that's 6 years old and you want us to just buy a new one in a time of tight grants.
Yeah, I was amused/annoyed that Patreon thought that the 2 Kinds side comic pics were too racy for public consumption. That pic of Kat having a bit too much to drink and Zen admiring her figure is obviously going to undermine the fabric of society and result in dogs and cats sleeping together. ;)
(For those who don't follow it, 2 Kinds is a furry comic that has side sketches on Patreon. The sketches often are idea submitted by the readers and are generally pretty harmless. You can find far worse searching on Google with safe search on.)
Of course they know exactly what it means. It means that when they used it, it had an effect in their focus groups that led to greater sales/usage.
Whether it had any such results when actually fielded is a different question.
They can stop selling coffee in California since they think it's a carcinogen.
That means that all of the coffee drinkers in Silicon Valley will either have to stop or move to some place sane.
This is a double win for those of us in the "flyover" states. Coffee will be cheaper due to decreased demand and companies will be forced to pay higher wages to programmers to lure them to the lands of soybeans and corn where coffee can be had!
Obviously, if it can be used for executions we must ban this toxic substance and pay contractors large amounts of money to remove and hazmat landfill all of it..
Will California start requiring labeling for anything containing it? ;)
We've been going back and forth on that one for years, Ratzo. You want to impose your black and white on the world (perhaps because it makes for more entertaining arguments) and my science background leads me to be pretty non-judgemental.
In the end we're just both old fools sniping back and forth at each other on a website whose best days are long past it (perhaps much like us :) ).
It's: My guy can do no wrong. And the other side's guy is Hitler/Stalin/$Satan_Figure.
If something good happens while my guy is in office it's totally his doing. If something good happens while the other side's guy is in office it's totally due to luck/the previous guy.
Etc, Etc, lather rinse repeat.
And my side is virtuous unlike the immoral other side that has mostly the same human in_group/out_group motivations.
Yes, you can fight climate change with rocks.
You can also fight mental illness with exorcism.
(I give the rock absorption a better chance than the exorcism, but not by all that much.)
"Liberals/progressives don't think everyone is equal"
"To put it simply: Liberals have a heart. Conservatives do not."
They apparently know that those who aren't are all heartless wretches.
This is all more of: Good people like me as opposed to the bad people who disagree with me.
Don't feel lonely. The religious right does it too with Godly people like them as opposed to the Godless ones who will be sent to hell.
Exactly. Catenary wires or other 3rd rail systems are a fantastic idea that has been in use for over a century.
Now, if we could just get our long distance highways refit to allow battery or hybrid semi-trucks to do this.
Advanced civilisation is curing the Kuru you get from a bowl made from a poorly cleaned out enemy's skull. (We ain't there yet)
"Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do"
Gee, who thought Kenny Loggins wrote literary classics? ;)
Remember the days when the TV colorburst frequency was slaved to an atomic clock? Many things were calibrated with that.
Dammit, if I get a tsunami warning, I better get my tsunami!
Who do I complain to about this?!
The emissions scandal and the related monkey business may do more to that end than anything else.
I've thought a fair bit about it, but it's unclear to me where the subjective individuality in me resides (even if it is just a convenient illusion that I foist off on myself).
Backup copies are certainly something you'd want if you have long term plans that you want achieved whether or not a particular instantiation of "you" is still around.
My personal suspicion is that Bones McCoy was right and the transporter isn't to be trusted. (But then again, does that mean he was knowingly committing suicide whenever he beamed down with Kirk?) So, yes, I'd say that there is a difference in a particular drop of water (an old scifi story reference).
This why I chuckle when people worry about "immortality" and the moral impications.
If you just end aging and the accompanying decline, you'll still die at some point from accidents (Even if you do something like put your brain in an armored box and tele-operate your body).
So, if nothing else, there's a rusty old Volkswagen on an unfortunate spacetime trajectory intersecting with you at some point in your future.
You can reduce risk, but not eliminate it.
Within this vale
Of toil and sin
Your head grows bald
But not your chin
Burma Shave