I'm a dad of a 6 year old girl, and I have to tell you- I'm surprised.
TheseBarbiemovies are intensely moral, and advocate for girls to develop an interest in science, delight in learning, sacrifice, strive, and struggle courageously for what is right and true. By my read, it's all straight out of Aristotle. Check out the Amazon reviews, especially this one, if you're a guy.
I don't know what bizarre turn of fate made it such that great talent should go to work on Barbie movies, but I can't deny what I've clearly seen: They're good movies, with positive message, and I now have absolutely no qualms buying Barbie toys for my daughter.
I recognize this is an odd bit of news to hear, but there it is; I can't deny what my own two eyes have seen.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
If it's not Congress making a law, I don't understand how it's unconstitutional.
Agreed. Incidentally, Secret of Mana is my favorite game, of all games ever made. I don't remember that FF6 was multiplayer, though... You could probably use the second controller, though- I seem to remember a level up sequence at the beginning of the game, where you tape down left & A on the one controller, and right & A on the second controller, and then, overnight, level up dozens of levels.
Single-Player RPG's have always excelled, and will always excel, at what they do: They tell stories.
Like books, before them.
I don't see any danger here to the RPG.
That said, it might be fun to read a book (play an RPG) with others some time, and if they made it possible in the game, that might be neat, if it worked out.
Perhaps you get cues, on what to say and act, but you do it in your own words, with language tips to the side, and briefings before-hand? (Like a computer-mediated LARP?) Could be neat.
How do you reason that the universe can't be both spatially infinite, and time having a beginning?
Further: Inflation should cast doubt on the white sky story. If there were light from a non-inflating region of space, it would be "caught in the buffer" (so to speak) when it hit the space where space was rapidly growing.
Space, as far as we can tell, is almost completely flat. We cannot detect a perimeter of any sort. As far as we can see back the light cone, things look uniform (per the given age we're looking back to,) we do not perceive an edge of any sort.
Barring any convincing evidence or argument otherwise, I see no reason to say, "Well, it probably goes on forever."
Feel free to call me to correct me, my cell phone number is 206.427.2545. No guarantees that it'll be a good time, but I welcome the attempt, even if it doesn't work out.
If you own a house, it's only really at the "OK" of the government.
Actually, if you own "stuff" just generally, it's only really at the OK of the government.
We may think we own our bodies, but I doubt that we do. We can be induced to war and probably labor as well. We can certainly be plugged into a jail, and we know for certain it can happen unjustly.
Our cybernetic attachment to all the other people out there is a well established fact, as of at least a few millenia.
So, clearly, there should be no resistance to this safe little chip I'd like you to implant in your brain...
This is a common misconception, that the big bang began at a point, and exploded spherically outwards.
The universe may well have been infinite in all directions, and filled with "stuff" everywhere, at the point of the big bang. At the inflation, space grew and grew and grew between all of the "stuff." There is very plausibly no "origin" point, at all.
Another way to think of it: Envision that space extends infinitely, in all directions, and is populated by galaxies, ordered much like we see, say, looking around us in a billion light year radius.
Now, "squish" it all up. Choose a point, any point, in the 3 space. Name it your origin. (The results of this operation make no difference, regardless of your chosen origin point!) Divide the (x,y,z) coordinates of all things by, say, 5,000,000.
Congrats! The universe *still* extends infinitely far in all directions, it's *still* populated with infinite stuff, it's just 5,000,000 times more dense. Do that a few more times over. Do it an infinitely many times over.
You can reach any desired degree of density. You still get an infinite universe, with infinite stuff.
4. Few people know how to legitimately promote a website on Google.
No, they know how. They just don't want to.
My friend with his company calls me, asking about different SEO options. I say, "(A) Change your title from (default) to the actual title of your website, (B) buy Google key words. Guaranteed, number one."
He'd much rather shell out thousands for SEO, than buy google key words.
I've not had, in 10 years, an easy or simple or quick Java "first time install."
Every single time it has been hard, complex, and slow. This despite wanting it to be good.
I generally have to go visit some download page, figure out which of the myriad Java acronyms I need to install, have it fail, then have to visit the page again and figure out how to do it manually, work at it, fail, and then ultimately, give up. In the very few occasions I've seen it work, there is the infamous Java load time to roll my eyes at.
Contrast with Flash, which I hate, and which I practically have to struggle, to avoid having on my computer.
That is, with Flash apps: I visit, it says, "You need flash," I click on the "OK install Flash thing," and after like 2 seconds, it's installed, and then playing whatever it was I wanted to look at.
After the very first install of Flash, I don't notice that it even loads, at all. I don't even think about it.
I met a guy once who speculated that time doesn't exist. There's just one ever-present now. His idea was that there are "credits" and "debits" existing in some form, but there's no actual "temporal dimension." We form memories over the iterations of the ever-present now, but there's no actual past or present like there is a here and a there.
It seems reasonable to me. I don't understand what backs up the past and future as (ontologically speaking) existing coordinate spaces.
Imagine, if you will, that Intel somehow made an accidental but breakthrough discovery: They could make computers that work 1,000x faster, and have only scratched the surface.
But: They won't sell them to anybody.
They make tons of money, selling their grid computing capacities, at way below cost.
"Intel Search" replaces Google search.
Now suppose Intel were, then, to take a sudden interest in AI research,...
Mind you, they've patented their work, and said, "We won't sell our work to anybody, on the entire planet."
But we can rest assured,......this kind of scenario could never happen.
Heh; I guess our friends down under can't play the Final Fantasy series anymore! Well, at least George Orwell can live on in Metal Gear......for a time, I suppose.
A huge population (Tacoma,) would have to be uncommonly decent, some might even say unnaturally decent, in order for there not to be a few vultures present.
As it is, it's Tacoma, and thus only has merely common levels of decency, and thus there's a few vultures present.
But for myself, I practice things like: Giving people the benefit of the doubt, letting all sides be heard, and so on.
I do not require a legal system, to give people what I think is their due.
My name for this is, "due process." The process that I think a person is due.
It doesn't have to come from a legal system- it can come from the heart, as well.
I appeal to all people to grant due process: the process that a person is due, given a concept of decency that is commonly recognized in mature adults.
Granted, this sense of decency may not be universal. But it is broad, regardless of party affiliation, nation, language, and so on.
I'm talking about the process that you learn with maturity-- things like, "Check the evidence first, before making a decision," and "Let the other guy speak in his defense," and so on.
Due process.
You don't need a legal system to understand these ideas; You only need to have lived in a community or two. Like, in pre-school, and then kindergarten. There's 2, and we meet quota.
Quota? Of course, there's not a legal quota; This is just a narrative fiction for the purpose of communication,...
I'm a big fan of Kathy Sierra; I own several of her books, and have evangelized for her for a long time.
But right now, I'm worried about mob "justice."
I've seen that, several times, "Joey" has said, "This is a big misunderstanding," and "please, let's talk about this."
The response? "We've seen all the evidence we need-- shut up, you're in big trouble."
Have they seen all the evidence they "need?" Need, for what purpose? I agree that they've seen disturbing, gruesome pictures. But is it all connected up right? I'm not so sure-- did e-mailed death threats really come from Joey & Co.?
But there is something that I'm sure of: Due process is not happening here. We're witnessing a dog pile. I'm sure that a great many of these people are hearing Kathy's story, seeing the pictures, and then calling "Get a rope."
I read the story. It's disgusting. I know how the wanna-be vigilantes feel. But this is no way to do things, and I find the popular response disgusting, as well.
If some of the people responsible are willing and ready to talk, and have a side of the story, it's everybody's duty to give it a fair hearing. We should be encouraging conversation right now, not discouraging it. I'm sure Kathy & Joey & all can have a conversation, and work this out, and make a follow-up announcement.
Slashdot Mirror
Have you ever checked out a Barbie movie?
I'm a dad of a 6 year old girl, and I have to tell you- I'm surprised.
These Barbie movies are intensely moral, and advocate for girls to develop an interest in science, delight in learning, sacrifice, strive, and struggle courageously for what is right and true. By my read, it's all straight out of Aristotle. Check out the Amazon reviews, especially this one, if you're a guy.
I don't know what bizarre turn of fate made it such that great talent should go to work on Barbie movies, but I can't deny what I've clearly seen: They're good movies, with positive message, and I now have absolutely no qualms buying Barbie toys for my daughter.
I recognize this is an odd bit of news to hear, but there it is; I can't deny what my own two eyes have seen.
I think the other posters are right--
It's not the 1st amendment that is violated, which, very clearly, is about laws passed by congress.
Rather, it has something to do with the 14th amendment, which seems to somehow bridge state and federal law in ways that are unknown to me.
But I mean- the 1st amendment *alone,* it's pretty clear- you can just read it-- it's *only* about Congress.
If it's not Congress making a law, I don't understand how it's unconstitutional.
Wow! Thanks for the link! I may try that out some time. :)
Agreed. Incidentally, Secret of Mana is my favorite game, of all games ever made. I don't remember that FF6 was multiplayer, though... You could probably use the second controller, though- I seem to remember a level up sequence at the beginning of the game, where you tape down left & A on the one controller, and right & A on the second controller, and then, overnight, level up dozens of levels.
Single-Player RPG's have always excelled, and will always excel, at what they do: They tell stories.
Like books, before them.
I don't see any danger here to the RPG.
That said, it might be fun to read a book (play an RPG) with others some time, and if they made it possible in the game, that might be neat, if it worked out.
Perhaps you get cues, on what to say and act, but you do it in your own words, with language tips to the side, and briefings before-hand? (Like a computer-mediated LARP?) Could be neat.
If people were just as kind and fair to the beautiful as to the ugly, then I might agree with you.
But they are not.
Yes; Much more helpful.
:)
Thank you.
And then, the questions:
So, you've begun with:
and:
It's a start, but it's not really answering his question. Any other ideas?
How do you reason that the universe can't be both spatially infinite, and time having a beginning?
Further: Inflation should cast doubt on the white sky story. If there were light from a non-inflating region of space, it would be "caught in the buffer" (so to speak) when it hit the space where space was rapidly growing.
Space, as far as we can tell, is almost completely flat. We cannot detect a perimeter of any sort. As far as we can see back the light cone, things look uniform (per the given age we're looking back to,) we do not perceive an edge of any sort.
Barring any convincing evidence or argument otherwise, I see no reason to say, "Well, it probably goes on forever."
Feel free to call me to correct me, my cell phone number is 206.427.2545. No guarantees that it'll be a good time, but I welcome the attempt, even if it doesn't work out.
If you own a house, it's only really at the "OK" of the government.
Actually, if you own "stuff" just generally, it's only really at the OK of the government.
We may think we own our bodies, but I doubt that we do. We can be induced to war and probably labor as well. We can certainly be plugged into a jail, and we know for certain it can happen unjustly.
Our cybernetic attachment to all the other people out there is a well established fact, as of at least a few millenia.
So, clearly, there should be no resistance to this safe little chip I'd like you to implant in your brain...
This is a common misconception, that the big bang began at a point, and exploded spherically outwards.
The universe may well have been infinite in all directions, and filled with "stuff" everywhere, at the point of the big bang. At the inflation, space grew and grew and grew between all of the "stuff." There is very plausibly no "origin" point, at all.
Another way to think of it: Envision that space extends infinitely, in all directions, and is populated by galaxies, ordered much like we see, say, looking around us in a billion light year radius.
Now, "squish" it all up. Choose a point, any point, in the 3 space. Name it your origin. (The results of this operation make no difference, regardless of your chosen origin point!) Divide the (x,y,z) coordinates of all things by, say, 5,000,000.
Congrats! The universe *still* extends infinitely far in all directions, it's *still* populated with infinite stuff, it's just 5,000,000 times more dense. Do that a few more times over. Do it an infinitely many times over.
You can reach any desired degree of density. You still get an infinite universe, with infinite stuff.
Play that backwards, and you get the big bang.
4. Few people know how to legitimately promote a website on Google.
No, they know how. They just don't want to.
My friend with his company calls me, asking about different SEO options. I say, "(A) Change your title from (default) to the actual title of your website, (B) buy Google key words. Guaranteed, number one."
He'd much rather shell out thousands for SEO, than buy google key words.
That's horrible.
30% of the fun: old pictures of friends.
70%: rereading what your friends (& crushes) wrote in your book.
I've not had, in 10 years, an easy or simple or quick Java "first time install."
Every single time it has been hard, complex, and slow. This despite wanting it to be good.
I generally have to go visit some download page, figure out which of the myriad Java acronyms I need to install, have it fail, then have to visit the page again and figure out how to do it manually, work at it, fail, and then ultimately, give up. In the very few occasions I've seen it work, there is the infamous Java load time to roll my eyes at.
Contrast with Flash, which I hate, and which I practically have to struggle, to avoid having on my computer.
That is, with Flash apps: I visit, it says, "You need flash," I click on the "OK install Flash thing," and after like 2 seconds, it's installed, and then playing whatever it was I wanted to look at.
After the very first install of Flash, I don't notice that it even loads, at all. I don't even think about it.
They'll do it like this.
I met a guy once who speculated that time doesn't exist. There's just one ever-present now. His idea was that there are "credits" and "debits" existing in some form, but there's no actual "temporal dimension." We form memories over the iterations of the ever-present now, but there's no actual past or present like there is a here and a there.
It seems reasonable to me. I don't understand what backs up the past and future as (ontologically speaking) existing coordinate spaces.
Imagine, if you will, that Intel somehow made an accidental but breakthrough discovery: They could make computers that work 1,000x faster, and have only scratched the surface.
...
... ...this kind of scenario could never happen.
But: They won't sell them to anybody.
They make tons of money, selling their grid computing capacities, at way below cost.
"Intel Search" replaces Google search.
Now suppose Intel were, then, to take a sudden interest in AI research,
Mind you, they've patented their work, and said, "We won't sell our work to anybody, on the entire planet."
But we can rest assured,
Heh; I guess our friends down under can't play the Final Fantasy series anymore! Well, at least George Orwell can live on in Metal Gear... ...for a time, I suppose.
1. Yes, YouTube works. It works *great.*
:)
My favorites page is full of YouTube videos that I like to share with guests, friends.
2. Get in line at 4AM, like I did, and they'll sell you one.
Depleting those,
Planet KDE, WorldChanging, Citizendium:RC, Del.icio.us, Digg, and
YouTube.
What happened to common decency?
A huge population (Tacoma,) would have to be uncommonly decent, some might even say unnaturally decent, in order for there not to be a few vultures present.
As it is, it's Tacoma, and thus only has merely common levels of decency, and thus there's a few vultures present.
Common decency itself remains intact.
I won't speak for you.
But for myself, I practice things like: Giving people the benefit of the doubt, letting all sides be heard, and so on.
I do not require a legal system, to give people what I think is their due.
My name for this is, "due process." The process that I think a person is due.
It doesn't have to come from a legal system- it can come from the heart, as well.
I appeal to all people to grant due process: the process that a person is due, given a concept of decency that is commonly recognized in mature adults.
Granted, this sense of decency may not be universal. But it is broad, regardless of party affiliation, nation, language, and so on.
I'm talking about the process that you learn with maturity-- things like, "Check the evidence first, before making a decision," and "Let the other guy speak in his defense," and so on.
...
Due process.
You don't need a legal system to understand these ideas; You only need to have lived in a community or two. Like, in pre-school, and then kindergarten. There's 2, and we meet quota.
Quota? Of course, there's not a legal quota; This is just a narrative fiction for the purpose of communication,
I'm a big fan of Kathy Sierra; I own several of her books, and have evangelized for her for a long time.
But right now, I'm worried about mob "justice."
I've seen that, several times, "Joey" has said, "This is a big misunderstanding," and "please, let's talk about this."
The response? "We've seen all the evidence we need-- shut up, you're in big trouble."
Have they seen all the evidence they "need?" Need, for what purpose? I agree that they've seen disturbing, gruesome pictures. But is it all connected up right? I'm not so sure-- did e-mailed death threats really come from Joey & Co.?
But there is something that I'm sure of: Due process is not happening here. We're witnessing a dog pile. I'm sure that a great many of these people are hearing Kathy's story, seeing the pictures, and then calling "Get a rope."
I read the story. It's disgusting. I know how the wanna-be vigilantes feel. But this is no way to do things, and I find the popular response disgusting, as well.
If some of the people responsible are willing and ready to talk, and have a side of the story, it's everybody's duty to give it a fair hearing. We should be encouraging conversation right now, not discouraging it. I'm sure Kathy & Joey & all can have a conversation, and work this out, and make a follow-up announcement.